Kathy's Double Stack in Progress

Kathy was sewing away last night and I was her assistant for a change. She had me ironing and color consulting, lol. She didn't even need me to walk her through the directions...not bad since when she first started to sew I had to pretty much explain each step and watch her do it...she always worries she will mess it up. Now I think she has gained confidence and realizes she is an expert at frogging (she helps with mine too!) so she just went for it and did great! At first she was not doing the block the way they have it but by adding a half block to the top and bottom of the one she did she made it look like two rows of theirs. She got up this morning and faxed a bunch of stuff on the house out (house passed inspection, only a few things to address!) and after getting me coffee so I could lay around and read my blogs in bed (what a perfect morning) she got right back on the sewing machine. She isn't even sure she should give this away since she has fallen in love with the dotty fabric....lol. This is supposed to be for JoAnn in MA....might have to pry it away from her. She is turning into quite a quilter..I just heard her say "it's a little bit wonky" which she used to make fun of me for saying! SMILE.

Today we are doing some cleaning, packing and then getting Hannah's stuff to her new storage so there is space in the garage for more stuff we pack. Oh-I stopped over and visited my Papa DeLos yesterday and today need to visit my Dad's mom, Grandma Nan and give her the Vera Bradley purse I got her (and one for me!) I can hardly wait to see if she likes it! I think it is the Betsy (need to check the lable) so here is a picture of it....I LOVE this purse! http://www.verabradley.com/Site/Store/ProductDetail.aspx?colorid=2&sku=152%3a2 if you need one too!

Orange Crush Step Four In Progress!

Here is a sideways sneak preview of Kathy's "Double Stack" quilt. She did quite a bit of cutting last night and now is finishing it up. This is what one block looks like--they are quite big so it should go together pretty quickly for her. She is turning into quite the quilter. Used to be she came with me to the store and got bored, now she often finds something before I do and I wind up helping her coordinate fabric and forget what we went there for in the first place! She is making this for her sister JoAnn in MA.
Bonnie suprised us with the fourth step of the Orange Crush Mystery early today! I was busy doing online searches, resumes and phone calls so that I will have a job in Arizona to pay for my gorgeous house and as a reward I started reading blogs in the early evening...low and behold the first blog I read (Doxies on my Quilt) mentioned the fourth clue was out! So I was way behind on the news but good thing or I would have spent the day sewing instead of finding a job! GRIN. I quickly cut out some of the triangles and put one block together so I could give you a preview of what they will look like. The orange fabric underneath is what will go in the Orange Crush somewhere but not sure where yet! So this weekend I am going to be sewing some more of these blocks...think it said we need thirty so twenty nine to go!

Starry Eyed Block Ten (before block nine, lol)

I had my last long work day until after I move and find a new job or jobs! So to celebrate I picked fabrics for starry eyed block nine and ten. I decided to go right to block ten and cut it out and sewed it. These half square triangles gave me a few problems but it works. If you are interested in the link it is http://mccallsquilting.com/qb/pattern_403/I decided to lay out all the starry eyed blocks just to see what I had going on. I didn't spend any time frogging around rearranging since I had to hold back four dogs the whole time I was trying to take a picture. I can't wait to have my quilting studio with a real design wall that I can gate the dogs out of if I need peace to piece! SMILE. I am sure the cat will help me regardless!
I wanted to show you the very first redwork that I talked about here the other day...not winning any awards with it, but it was enjoyable and now lives in the car so when I have time there I can work on it some more!
I have to work on making calls to AZ for job info tomorow (and I have one terp job in town too) but other than that I am hoping to work on that other block. I am anxiously waiting for Bonnie's next clue for Orange Crush too! Tonight Kathy is cutting out jelly roll strips to make Ingrid Barlow's "Double Stack" quilt for her sister JoAnn. Here is a picture of the pattern, though she is using Moda's fabrics (Mix and Mingle) which are much darker. This should go together pretty easily for her. I may help if she wants...we just kind of work together on "her" projects and she often cuts and irons for me. How great is that?

Some Pictures of the Weekend

I managed to find quilting inspiration at the Festival of Nations...WOW this Hmong quilt was so pretty! The colors in some of the wood paintings really popped too. Below is Abdikadir in "Somalia" after getting his passport stamped. The gal at the booth welcomed him like an old friend though they had never met. It was really sweet.

Off to Monday night Margaritas with my bestest friends!

The Weekend

We had a crazy busy weekend and I am almost happy it is Monday! I took some pictures, but the camera batteries are dead and the cord is not quite where I can grab it so no pictures this post. Saturday morning I quickly finished off the second group of step 3 OC units. They went quickly, got them ironed and put away. We then hit the road to the Festival of Nations in the Twin Cities where we met up with our group of Somalian and Mexican students. I then spent the next four or so hours trying to explain things to Abdikadir. I tried Somailian food (Sambusa) which was really good! Also ate food from India, Pakistan, Norway, Poland..etc. I was an equal opportunity sampler! We did a little bit of shopping at the bazaars from the various areas and got our "passports" stamped in a zillion countries. It was fun and we walked a lot and our legs are still sore. We even did a wine tasting there--wine from six different countries. I will stick to my Lambrusco though it was fun. We then went to Barnes and Noble for a few hours and then believe it or not out for Indian food! Didn't get home and fall into bed until late! Then we got up Sunday morning and drove four hours to see CJ. We played lots of card games and I think I only won two hands! Kathy and CJ are definately better at King in the Corner and Crazy Eights but I held my own at Cribbage. CJ was happy to see us and looks good. It was a nice few hours, but short. We then meandered back home, stopped at the Oshkosh outlet and bought some gifts, and in Wausau for dinner. Got home and fell into bed again...read my email and all that and was out! So I will post some pictures when I locate all the parts I need to do so! Oh I did start working on my first redwork in the car on the way home...did a little bit though I had no hoop and it wasn't so easy in the car!

Step Three of the OC

Tonight I finally did manage to sew for a few hours! I have all of my step three units together (and almost all of Kathy's too). I am kind of glad I didn't have time to work on these right away because I benefited from all the discussion about the mirror image and how to avoid winding up with too many of one side and not enough of the other! I tried to do one side at a time and only threw in a wrong one here and there so I was able to catch it with no problem. Considering they are all triangles I think they look okay. Next clue we will be working with the fabric we chose--I am ready for this!
I had another great mail day! My Quilt Talk group's ABC swap arrived! In this picture "a" is in the bottom left and "b" is above it if you try to figure out what is what. Since today is quite rainy (getting CJ's stuff from storage was great fun as is DOWNPOURED just as we were loading the car!) I think my favorite fabric in here is the cute umbrellas! The fabrics are all really cute. I am waiting on another groups exact same swap then I am sure Ben (my nephew) will find himself another quilt...he has two at home, one at my sister's and needs one at my place and one at grandma's yet the way I figure it! He will be one year old on Cinco de Mayo...I can't wait to meet him when I get to AZ...time sure does fly! The picture below is of Ben wiht my mom helping him ride the horsie. Not sure he feels like a cowboy for this picture, but he sure is cute!

While I was busy sewing, Kathy was busy cutting some wood. She sells stuff on ebay and now on etsy and right now with Mother's Day around the corner the "I Love You, Mom" signs are hot! She did up about a half dozen this afternoon. Aren't they great? If you are dying for this or any other wood sign with names or I love you hands, etc. look her up. I think if you search for Onegrtemt you can find her...or search Deaf, Sign Language, wood signs, etc.

Our New House and a Good Mail Day!

Here is our new house! I love the outside look of it and really wanted a two story...I have had my eye on this house since I came across it on my first online search last fall! I never thought it would still be available or affordable by the time I could put in an offer.

This picture is of the loft and the designer fans they put in. The house has three bedrooms, so I could use one bedroom as a quilting studio, or I could use this loft as a quilting studio. If it is big enough that is my plan since I can see into the living room from there and can still feel connected to the house as I sew...but without seeing it in person I am waiting to decide for sure. That IS the most important decision right?!

We have another picture of the living room printed off but it isnt' available online anymore..it shows the other half of the living room with the rounded out front window you can see from the front of the house picture. This is the back half of that room, garage off to the left, stairs in the middle and kitchen is to the right. You can also see that the owners were really thoughtful and put in a dog door for our four dogs! GRIN.

Underneath the stairs you can see a custom painted screen! The pictures are Tuscan in style, which is what my current living room is and I am more than happy to keep that area Tuscan, I LOVE IT! This is one of the things that made me feel I had to have this house!

This is the back or side yard...we aren't sure which. The neighbors are CLOSE so I sure hope we get along. The little orange trees rock and the dogs will love the grass. The yard is smaller than we would like (as far as we know) but it is bigger than the area the dogs have been able to use for the past few years...we have a huge yard, but a small fenced area.

This picture is obviously the kitchen. There is a pantry off to the right behind the fridge I am told and looks like another set of doors on the right. Nice island..this kitchen has FAR more storage than the little one I have here in Wisconsin, all updated too. We aren't too sure about that shade of yellow in the kitchen so pretty sure we will paint it more of the tuscan orange/yellow that we have here in our kitchen and living room or possibly paint it this other kind of coral color that we saw in a different house--both of us loved the color and that was our house choice # 3.

I hope others are excited about me getting my "Dream House" as I call it. My family had various things to say such as "are you sure you can afford it?"--I sure hope so-- and "it looks kind of small" --it is 400 square feet bigger than the house we are in and I am not taking the two kids that live in this one--Hannah is going to college and Mac is staying with his Dad--and "I can't believe you are buying a house without seeing it"--Kathy's sister and brother and law did go see it and gave us details and the thumbs up--and one good one "That's great!" but so far no one really is as happy as us...my sister is bummed we are an hour from her but that is far better than across the country and I will be driving to see her or meeting her in the middle as much as I can. I may even be able to freelance up in her area so I am conveniently nearby so I can visit her.

My good mail picture is below. I really enjoyed the handsewing on the bus trip back from Chicago so I ordered this little pattern and the paper pieces to make a small hand sewed project. I am hoping I can kit this up and do it while driving to AZ and whenever I get time but we will see. I also need to iron on the pattern for the redwork I bought in Chicago so I can work on that in the car too!

Thanks to all of you for your comments. I really am enjoying getting to know all my blog friends. Today I have no jobs (but do have papers to grade--ugh) but am planning to go to CJ's storage and get a few loads of his stuff (we already started) and go through it and organize, toss, etc what will come with us to AZ since CJ can't do it right now. After that we need to grab some groceries, then if there is any time left in the day I need to sew the OC part 3! We also have two movies to watch--The Kite Runner (great book) and Neverwas so busy, busy. Tomorrow I am going to the Festival of Nations in the Twin Cities with one of my Deaf students and his ESL class and on Sunday we are driving almost four hours to go visit CJ. Should be a fun filled/busy weekend!