Birthdays and Chunky Churn Dashes

 My birthday was last Thursday and I had a really nice day!  Kathy got me the Once Upon a Book Club selection and I saved it to read that afternoon.  If you have never seen this before, you get a book and several gifts to open on certain pages of the book.  The gifts relate to the story.  (If you get this and have not read August's yet, do not scroll down as I do post a picture of what the gifts were--do not want to spoil it for anyone!).  I loved this so much I ordered another one --the classic David Copperfield which I have never read.

 I decided to settle in on a quilt in the backyard with my ice coffee and start reading.  The dogs loved it! Here are the gifts I got.  The book was good "The Last Piece" by Imogen Clark.  Not one I would have picked out on my own, but a nice escape and well developed characters--so much so that when it was over I still wanted to know what happened in the lives of the daughters!

 I have also been sewing and made two Chunky Churn Dash baby quilt tops so far.

Bug is modeling with the quilt

 Kathy also made me a chair for my birthday (we had a pair and a table in AZ and sold them since we knew she could make another set).

 I read in it a bit today and then we painted it Packer green.  Will need some touch up tomorrow.  Kathy will make a second one and a table we will paint yellow too.

 My Mom and Dad stopped by and camped near Milwaukee for four days so we could see them.  We went to their campground twice and played lots of Play Nine.  They came here and toured Hannah and Jeremy's house and hung out here far from the kids since they have been with lots of family in Chippewa and the kids are really protecting my grandbaby--just in case.  Hannah is about 34 weeks along in this picture....it is getting close!

It was nice to have some time with my parents who are now heading back to Arizona early to be with my sister.  Mom hopes to come back when the baby comes, but with Covid and her health I am not sure it will happen.  Mom and Dad gave me a pretty crystal angel for my window and some cash--which was partly spent on the David Copperfield book.  Seriously I was spoiled this birthday and I got to spend it with my parents and Kathy.  Super special since we now live so far apart.

Dr. Scrappy Kathy completed her Jelly Snowflake quilt and it looks great!  The blues were a good color choice for this.  Love it!  

Not Even Close to Catching Up...but Moving Forward!

 Last weekend BJ met up with us since this weekend (our usual meet up) she is out of town.  Always so good to see her!

 I am liking teaching high school.  Hard work but already had a parent email telling me her daughter's attitude about school has completely changed since starting ASL class. She loves it and me!  Another student told me my class was her favorite and I was her favorite teacher.  Not bad for two weeks in!  I am so excited to make a difference in these kids' lives!  So this Prince picture is me dressed for spirit week--I chose the 80's for my decade and wore my shirt from seeing Purple Rain in Minneapolis back in 84-85.  The shirt fits me again!  The green jewelry and headband (socks) are mine from the time too!  I dressed up each day and played music to match between classes.  Might as well make it fun!

 My mom and dad sent me birthday money so I promptly spent it at 35th Ave. when we went to pick up our blocks today.  I have eyed this cool baby quilt for the past few months..I bought the die to make all these animals and though I do not do applique I had to add it to my list.

 I also bought all this fabric at 40 percent off.  Mostly neutrals but some fox fabric for a gift too.  I went to Barb's to sew for the afternoon and made these blue Straits of Mackinac blocks for the Rainbow BOM for July. Yep, I am behind and I rarely get behind!

 Barb made the most recent Pat Sloan Children's Library BOM today.  I do not even have that cut (or last months' rows sewn)!

Happy Birthday to Me and PUP Challenge!

 My guild just started putting out a plate of fabric cupcakes for us to pick from for our birthday month.  I picked this one and it is so cute I am not sure I can unwrap it and sew with it!

We did our annual PUP Challenge where we bring in three poor unfinished projects and explain what tripped us up on not finishing the projects. I brought in Circa 2016, my desert landscape quilt, and my Modern Medallion and they picked the easiest one of the three as far as I am concerned...Circa 2016. So I will be making progress on this one so it will be done by July next year.  

I am liking my new job but no time to sew at all as life is crazy.  This week is Spirit week so my extra time this weekend was spent shopping at Goodwill to get ready to be a beach bum, 80's gal, Lifeguard, Surfer girl and Disneyland Tacky Tourist.  Should be fun!

Yesterday BJ was at our end of town so we got to see her!  Last Thursday, Kathy and I went to Benihana again for our birthdays--picture is fuzzy but always fun to look back on four years of doing that.  We sit at the same table and we get the same server!  She remembers us too.  Today we went and saw the Dark Tower and had pancakes at IHop (shh!). I am up 2.8 pounds still from my lowest, but working on it!  Hope I get to sew next weekend, I miss it!

March on Green Bay Packers!

 Last night I dug through my hst's (I have zillions!) and did not find one that would work for this block!  Wrong sizes, wrong colors, etc.  So eventually I made my own (took less time than the search, haha!) and so here is Bouncing Betty.  Linking up with Angela for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge!  While digging I found a leftover Orca Bay block that is the same size as these, so I threw it in the pile--may as well use it!

 I subcut my shirtings/whites and made four patches so I could whip these blocks up.

 It went together really fast and I have an extra block, extra parts and more than enough shirtings/whites left to make another one.  I am pretty sure one of my nephews will wind up with this quilt, so I should make another one so they have a matched pair.

 I had to see how it was looking.  I did not fussy cut the squares in the middle but I like how you get glimpses of Packer stuff!

 Amy's Passions has the tutorial for this quick quilt--she calls it "March" since hers was all green.  I shall call mine March on Green Bay Packers!  I am pretty sure I will add a yellow scrappy thinner border and then some Packer wider fabric on the outside...thinking on that still.  Thanks again to Tamara over at Bunbear Quilts for thinking of me and sending me Packer scraps and blocks--all these centers came from her gift!

 And while we are on the topic of GB Packers, my daughter surprised me with a belated bday gift of a Packer banner and a Melissa Etheridge coffee mug.  I love the thin lip of it and it has a cool design.  Hannah got to see Melissa in concert this past summer, one day I hope to see her too!  Already hung the banner in our Packer room!

  

 While I am on bday gifts, my best friend Monica in Wisconsin sent me all these goodies!  She says that these two air fresheners together are her favorite.  I hung one of each from my quilting studio fan and it smells fresh and clean in here!  One can never go wrong sending me books and coffee and I love trying out her favorite scent!

 A few days ago a coworker (Del) surprised me with gifts too.  It was completely unexpected, she is really a great gal who makes work go faster and a lot more fun.  She gave me some teas to try and a Starbucks card--cannot go wrong with that.

Last night I finished reading "A Sliver of Light" which was quite informative about prison in the Middle East and today I am listening to "China Girls" by Lisa See while I sew.  Kathy is off working, so I am going to go get some healthy spaghetti sauce going and work out before heading back up here to sew some more!
Lost 4.8 pounds this week for a total of 54.8!  Made up for last week's one pound gain!

Relaxing Day Off--Sewing, Dinner Out and a Fab Mail Day!

 I did a little sewing today--I decided to make my Home Sweet Home block into a pillow.  It is all sewn up (front above, back below) and is waiting for me to stuff it and sew it closed.

 Kathy and I went out for our annual birthday dinner at Benihana's.  We get a coupon for free food but they changed the rules and you must order a paid entree with the coupon (for the past two years we have had a free dinner since we have a birthday in the same week) so we had to order extra food (which could not be to go) and then box it up to take home to Coleman!  I did not overeat, I tasted it all and ate til I was full!  I did eat the ice cream for dessert though--we did not do cakes for our birthdays this year and we couldn't very well take ice cream home here in Arizona!  It was good and worth it!  I did come home and worked out for an hour and then went for a walk with the dogs (and Kathy) so I am fine with all that!  We weigh tomorrow but it will be a new week after that!

I also had a great mail day today!  I was a winner over at Taffy Talk's blog!  I won a charm pack of Elementary by Moda.  It is really a cute line and I cannot wait to figure out what to make with it!

 If you are not a regular shopper of Quilt Taffy's Etsy Shop you should check it out or at least stop over at the blog every Thursday for the generous giveaways Corrie has!  Thanks Corrie, you made my day!

Home Sweet Home and Happy Birthday to Me!

 I was really impressed that google had this as their design today in honor of my birthday!  LOL.  I got my first ninety minute massage and had a relaxing afternoon sewing since Kathy was at work and I had scheduled the day off!  The cat decided to help me--a lot!

 Can you guess which block I am making?  Hint:  It is designed by Lori Holt and interpreted by Bonnie Hunter!  Lori's post over at Bee in My Bonnet is really inspiring.  I love her style!

 Yep it is the block from Quiltmaker's Parade of Homes!  Bonnie's Quiltville post about her block is here.  If you want to see the other blocks from the parade head over to Quiltmaker's post.  I started out my block with the scrappy roofs that Bonnie went with and pretty much followed her color scheme.

 Decided the upper windows weren't working for me, but I liked the red door better than an orange door.

 See it all coming together!  Randy stopped by to wish me happy birthday while I was working on this block but other than that it was just me and kitty.  I finished off listening to "Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey" which was an okay listen and was due today (download library books on my ipod but it is hard to listen to the whole book in two weeks sometimes!) so that worked out.

 See--the orange door just got lost, maybe I should have tried a more orange door, ha!

 And done.  I really like it.  I haven't decided if I am going to turn it into a pillow or have it find its way into the back of my scrappy houses quilt top that I will be making in January when Bonnie comes to Arizona again!

*edit I forgot to mention that the large plaid (which is some kind of flannel) was my Dad's pajama pants! :) 

A Little Sunday Sewing

My first week back at the college interpreting (due to changes with Obama's health care laws I am not teaching because then I would have to really cut down on my interpreting hours because I have to stay "part time") went well.  I love that I get a new schedule each semester and it doesn't get boring.  I have great teams, students and for the most part teachers too.  

 We went up North this weekend for a celebration of my mom's birthday (and mine, Kathy's and my sister's too).  So here are my sister and I with my mom and her friend Jan is looking on.

 I sewed up eight blocks (easy for once) for the 35th Ave. BOM.  Then I made two of the four zipper pouch bags I cut out.  The top on has a tab, but I forgot to position it correctly, so it is on the inside--oh well!

Randy's daughter Rachel has come to Ohio (from Norway where she lives) with her almost one year old little guy.  I am getting a few things together for him to take when he visits her in two days.  She will most likely get one of these pouches, some dishrags and dish scrubbie, a fabric colored journal and whatever else I can think of.  I need to come up with something for the little guy too, he already has two quilts.  I should have been thinking of this sooner but hopefully I will come up with something!

A Little Bit of Sewing

 I made some disappearing nine patch blocks to donate to Hurricane Sandy folks.  Hoping some other sewers I know will also make a few and I can mail out a box of them to Erin over at  My Patchwork Life.  She plans to sew them up. get them quilted and send them on.  I want to help her at least a little bit.  http://vesuviusmama.blogspot.com/2012/11/taking-action-wanna-help.html for the specific post with a tutorial on how to make these fun and easy blocks. 

I did sew up another hexi flower in the car on the way up to see my sister (and way back) yesterday.  No Packer game this week, so I plan to be at my machine all day tomorrow!  

Today we had a family party...it was Megan (Kathy's niece) and her daughter Ayla's birthday party.  They had it at the park..it was a bit chilly today (I don't get to say that often in Arizona) and Ayla liked her big girl quilt we gave her.  Megan was equally tickled with the fabric and quilt book we gave her.  

Quilt of Valor Mystery Solved and Schnibble Progress

Today was my birthday!  Kathy and I went out to lunch at Benihanas.  It was practically free because we joined the birthday club and since our birthdays are three days apart we each used our certificate.  We had sushi!  After that we went over to Bath and Body Works and used another coupon for a buy one get one free deal.  Kathy picked out some Ocean Men's cologne and I got the Sleep lotion that smells so good!  A few days ago our big gift to each other arrived and we already love it!

 Today while watching Man on a Ledge and Gone we did a bit of squaring up and sewing of the Quilt of Valor Mystery Quilts.  Here is the one I did.  Still needs a border.  It is called Star Path.

 This one is Kathy's.  I like the scrappy look better.  This one was made from leftover bits I still had even after making a full size quilt and a schnibble from this fabric.  This is finally the end of it, and I still love it!  There might be enough bits left to cut up for bow ties!

Dimestore Schnibbles is slow to see progress.  This sucker is a bit of a pain.  The directions say to use a scant quarter on the pieced border strips, but then the cornerstones don't wind up in the right place.  So I am painstakingly adding in extra seams to make things line up better.  It is half way done and I am finally getting some sort of a rhythm to it.  It is not one I will be making again!  I like the look of it though..sort of like a huge window and the colors remind me of Monet's paintings.  So it is all good Carrie!  I am sure other quilters are having no problem with getting things to match up.  I will say that my normal quarter inch is finally perfect on the featherweight!

Birthday Times Three!

 Kathy and Tina share a birthday and three days later it is my birthday (and two weeks later it is mom's) so the four of us got together and went and got pedicures.  Tina got Green Bay Packer toes, I am going to do that later this fall!  Mom and I got similar colors which just happens to be close to Angela's Rainbow color of the month and Kathy got more of an electric blue!

We went out for dinner and plenty of drinking.  All of the family in this area was there so that was nice.  We even had a cake.  Here I am between my mom and my (step)dad.  We had a really nice night and spend the night at Tina's new place.  Then bright and early this morning we headed off to Ros' to sew.

BJ's handwork blocks

I felt like I was sewing in slow motion today.  I didn't take too many pictures..got BJ's blocks and didn't take pictures of Meridith's blocks (first time I have met her at the Huggy Bunch) and have no idea what Ros was working on in between taking care of her adorable grandson Matthew.  As you can see I had to do some unsewing, not once but twice on these blocks but I am happy with them now!  These are the Jack in the Box blocks for August.

SoScrappy Rainbow Challenge Color for August

 Friday before doing toes we stopped and picked up the three quilts Ros had done for us and then I whipped up the binding so I could give it to her later that night.  She has several of my quilts and is always appreciative of them but she absolutely raved about this quilt.  She loves it and facebooked about it and everything.  I know she will cherish it always!

Tina's Crown Quilt--she loved it!

 We arrived home from Ros' and our joint birthday gift to each other had arrived!  We got a Kitchenaid mixer (pay no attention to the messy counter behind the mixer, lol!) which Kathy and I have talked about getting for a long time.
 I then went and finished up these stars for Smith Mountain Morning (I worked on the units at Ros').

 Now all three of the different blocks are done and the border units are sewn too.  Kathy helped iron and trim them today, yay!  I am anxious to get this one together, but I have several other projects pulling at me.  The good news is I don't work tomorrow or Monday so I might get several things done!

 Squared up a few more of these and got them together.  Waste not, want not!