GO PACK GO--Handsewing while Cheering!

 Mostly all I did today was watch the Packer game, grade tests and prep for Unit 3 for my ASL classes.  It was a relaxing day..oh and I did knit another dishcloth too!  This little arrangement in the picture above is from Etc. store.  I loved the roses and Jacki bought the pattern so I am hoping she will make me one..lol or let me borrow it to make one! (or a half dozen!)

 I did a tiny bit of handsewing...ran out of glue in my sewline thingy.  One little flower...

 So now I have two made...lol I think I did the first one several months ago when I prepped a bunch.  It takes me about an hour to do a flower...so ten to go.  Maybe if I shoot for one each time the Packers play?  I can work on it between plays and such and I feel like I am doing something.  They will go into a doll quilt that Sentimental Quilter has us making.  I have fallen off of making the doll quilts each month, but will work on this one and do it eventually.  All the petals are half prepped already!

Linking up with Kathy!  http://kathysquilts.blogspot.com/2012/09/slow-sunday-stitching.html

 Oh and this is the Twister Christmas Tree I really think we should make.  It is so cute!

This cute modern looking pillow was at Quilter's Oasis.  I doubt I will make one, but it made me smile.  :)

Olympic Progress-Not Really!

 Well I was accused of ruining a mystery on a new group I recently joined because I posted my blocks and someone thought I was guessing at the layout.  I had forgotten to take pictures like these two so I just used the ones I had put on my blog not even thinking that I could be revealing a layout.  I meant no harm, but had my feelings hurt by those who seemed to think I was out to ruin their fun on purpose.  PLEASE.  I felt like telling them my recent life story.  My heart has been broken several times in the last few months and I am doing all I can to just put one stitch in front of the other.  I am not my usual sharp self and just wasn't thinking at all when I posted the pics.  But knowing my story doesn't really matter to the masses and some people just look for something to be pissy about I apologized and let it go.  I was so excited to find the group and have a more fun way to make my Quilts of Valor donation quilts--I love mysteries but now I will finish up this mystery and quietly take my fabric and go home.  Sigh.

 We have been watching a lot of the Olympics and I did some knitting last night while the USA's girls gymnastics team was winning!

 I also unpicked my bow tie cheddary challenge and then today I took in some seams, did some trimming and made it fit.  I noticed that some of the previous row was also a little bigger and I hadn't see it before.  I am over it.  It looks better and so too bad if it isn't perfect.  My perfectionist tendencies are leaving me, my give a damn is busted.  I am happy with this one and really should do one more row on it to see if it is big enough.

This morning, I also did some fast quilting on this little dolly quilt and have put it on our ottoman for a doggy quilt.  It will serve its purpose.

Sunday Sewing or Third Time is the Charm!

I typed this post up twice at work but the computer I was on didn't have google chrome and so all my stuff was lost.   GRRRR.  So I am now at home after a day at work and a few hours at June's place getting organized for the thrift sale.  Wowza, lots of work that is.  Anyway, this first picture is Daisy, Joe, Rosey and Zoe all eating on schedule...no more free feeding for them, they all chubbed up too much so we have changed things up a bit and it is going well.  

This is Kathleen Tracy's Simple Doll Quilt.  I whipped this up for my small quilt group challenge of the month for June.  It comes out of the book below and was made from leftover charm squares.  It will be made into a doll quilt for a gift.  

I caught up on season 7 of Desperate Housewives this past weekend with Kathy on Hulu.  When I wasn't watching that I was listening to this audiobook Randy gave me.  It is keeping my attention too.

Cut more bow ties and sewed another block for the Cheddary Challenge.  I am trying to get another row on before the year is up.  I can't believe it has been almost a year since Bonnie got us sewing these.  I have really enjoyed it--especially knowing I will remember so much about the year based on the fabrics!  This block has two of my just finished Cal Mystery quilt and one from Kathy's.  It also has several floral pieces that were leftover bits from cutting the Florabunda swap for my quiltville swap group.  I sent mine off today and can't wait to see what I get back from the others.  I don't have time to do Florabunda right now, but I will kit it up for when I do.

Also took out the messed up tacking from a week or so ago and redid A is for Adiminaby til I was happy with it.  I got the binding on and hand sewed that down too.

So "Feeling Blue" is hanging in my sewing room (with other tiny quilt peeking out from behind) and now cheers me up.

Judy pulled # 12 for the UFO for June which happens to be my Season Bargellos (all made in a Quilt University class) which is the oldest UFO I have since it was made like four years ago when I was still in Wisconsin.  In case you haven't been with my blog since the beginning, I had this great idea to put them into one quilt so DJ and I worked hard on figuring out borders (not my thing) and putting them all together earlier this year.

Here is what it looked like when it was all together...it is hard to tell but the border fabrics are actually coordinating prints that each of them has in them (just in different colors).  I hate it.  Ros liked the idea of quilting it even less when I brought it to her.  So now it is in the UFO pile and I have to figure out what to do with it.  Seriously.  UGH!.  Please comment with any suggestions you might have.

Crossing fingers this posts....

Sewing at June's Again

Well the plan changed last minute again and June and I wound up sewing at her place instead of heading up to Ros'. I managed to get the borders on my Bonnie Hunter Pineapple Blossom quilt. It is very colorful!

I also decided to just put all my little cheddary challenge bow ties into one quilt like this. I tried laying it out with a different layout around the blocks I had already made but didn't like it afterall.
I still have more bow ties to make and a few made for a block, but this is growing pretty good!
I brought Bug with me and as usual she had to get in the pictures every time!
On Thursday I grabbed a few leftover blocks and whipped this up following the doll quilt group's plan led by Kathy Tracey. Mine is a bit smaller but otherwise it is made. Not sure what to do with it because I think it is too small for a doll quilt. But it was a good diversion to sew it.

Two Challenges Met!

These first two pictures are actually pictures of a page and picture in my quilting journal...which is sadly not up to date anymore because the Modern Diary is now my quilting journal! But this large basket wallhanging quilt is my quilt number 4 from February 16th of 1991. I am including it here because today I worked on some TINY baskets which made me remember this wallhanging back from our peach bedroom days a lifetime ago. Seriously...this was made before # 3 was born and he is 19 now! It was from Eleanor Burns' May Basket in a Day book and I tied it with peach ribbon. No idea who I passed it on to, but it has been MIA for many years.
On to what I did today:
Here is Eye Spy Two all tied and ready to be gifted! Completed that while watching Phantom of the Opera recorded live from Royal Albert Hall. My daughter saw the show on Broadway four or five years ago and loved it..so we bought her the movie but twice I fell asleep trying to watch it so concluded it wasn't my kind of thing. I should have concluded I was too tired to watch it! DJ (Deaf, lol) picked up this dvd at the Redbox because she has actually seen it performed and enjoyed it. I went ahead and put it in at about 3 AM (after watching Whistelblower which was also really good) and managed to stay awake til "intermission" when I just had to crash. This afternoon (when I got up, lol) I watched the second half--I really enjoyed it and now I understand what Hannah meant! Now I have added that to my bucket list (since Wicked is not crossed off it). Randy is watching it now downstairs and so I am enjoying the music all over again as I sew and type!
Close up of the tying. Nothing special just yellow variegated embroidery floss. I am still pretending I don't see the two monkey blocks that found their way into this one! And back to baskets:
So today I worked on my tiny "Remembering Adelia" Civil War Basket Quilt. I planned to make at least four baskets and would love to have made twelve, but.... Here is the start of the block without the handle. I hand stitched the handle (first time and it look ok from a galloping horse in a misty dawn) and then unstitched where the handle should be in the seem allowance and resewed that part. I also make the bottom part of the other three blocks but the one that came out the best was the first one, go figure.


I hung it up and am happy with it! This was the challenge that Kathleen Tracy of Sentimental Quilter challenged on her blog and in her yahoo small quilt group. I have now managed to complete all of the March things I planned on, so now I will have to figure out what is next on my own!

Actually Spring Break is over in two days so I need to see what is up for teaching this coming week, grade some papers and then go over my powerpoint for the Math Interpreting Workshop Christine and I are doing on Friday. Time is flying but we are just about ready. Hope your sewing weekend was productive and fun!