Please don't faint!
I received three of the four ordered Groovy Boards last night. And yes, I've already contacted the shop owner about the 4th one.
Good grief, what an ordeal!
Love ya,
Cathy
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Progress
Just out of curiosity, I made a list of the quilts I have in my sewing room which are actively being worked on. TEN!!!! Well, they are at various stages of development - one, for instance, is just the pattern with its fabric sitting in a shopping bag. Another, was quilted last night and just needs the binding attached.
It made me realize that I like every stage of creating a quilt. When I first started quilting I detested doing the binding because I wasn't taught the correct way. I learned by watching other quilters and reading quilt magazines.
So, here's what's "cooking" in the sewing room:
- Betty Boop comfort quilt - binding
- baby quilt for co-worker - ordered the fabric this morning from Connecting Threads
- graduation quilts for twin nephews - have seven blocks done for one, the pattern picked out for the other, fabric in bag from Joann's
- wedding quilt for late June wedding in England - fabric and pattern in shopping bag
- 1600 quilt - jelly rolls at the ready
- pampered pooches - ordered the back this morning from Connecting Threads
- Civil War reproduction fabrics layer cake quilt - pieced and ready for frame
- snowball quilt - waiting, rather impatiently, for the Groovy Boards to get here before putting it on the frame
- Sunshine and Shadows - need to select border fabric
- 10 minute blocks - needs sashings and borders
That's just the current projects,folks, doesn't count the flimsies in the tote by the frame. I'd like to think I have a "handle" on all this. LOL Well, today is the first of February. Let's see if I can get 50 percent of these completed by the end of the month.
Doable? Yes. Just keep me out of the fabric shops.
Love ya,
Cathy
It made me realize that I like every stage of creating a quilt. When I first started quilting I detested doing the binding because I wasn't taught the correct way. I learned by watching other quilters and reading quilt magazines.
So, here's what's "cooking" in the sewing room:
- Betty Boop comfort quilt - binding
- baby quilt for co-worker - ordered the fabric this morning from Connecting Threads
- graduation quilts for twin nephews - have seven blocks done for one, the pattern picked out for the other, fabric in bag from Joann's
- wedding quilt for late June wedding in England - fabric and pattern in shopping bag
- 1600 quilt - jelly rolls at the ready
- pampered pooches - ordered the back this morning from Connecting Threads
- Civil War reproduction fabrics layer cake quilt - pieced and ready for frame
- snowball quilt - waiting, rather impatiently, for the Groovy Boards to get here before putting it on the frame
- Sunshine and Shadows - need to select border fabric
- 10 minute blocks - needs sashings and borders
That's just the current projects,folks, doesn't count the flimsies in the tote by the frame. I'd like to think I have a "handle" on all this. LOL Well, today is the first of February. Let's see if I can get 50 percent of these completed by the end of the month.
Doable? Yes. Just keep me out of the fabric shops.
Love ya,
Cathy
Monday, January 30, 2012
Productivity
Managed to spend a lot of quality time in the sewing room this weekend. I finished piecing the Betty Boop comfort quilt, created six 10-Minute Blocks for myself, pieced ten more 10-Minute Blocks with five inch squares - scarlet and grey - for my nephew's graduation quilt, and read on line about the 1600 quilts. That last idea is rather intriguing and I made give it a go soon But first I need to get some things quilted on the frame. As soon as payday arrives (tomorrow) I can purchase the backing for the comfort quilts I'm working on.
After church yesterday, my brother and sister-in-love invited me to accompany them to Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. It was lovely walking around and looking at all the plants and flowers. Inspired me to come home and water my poor excuses for plants. LOL. Not really, but it was neat to see the conservatory's angel wing begonias looking worse than mine. My angel wings get battered around on a regular basis by the kitties.
As a special treat, I made a turkey breast with stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy and brussel sprouts for dinner yesterday. Andrea was ga-ga. "Best meal, we've had in a long time," she claimed. Lots of left-over turkey, so we'll have turkey tettrazini for dinner tonight. It is kind of hard to learn to cook for just the two of us. And I'll be honest, we probably have gone out to eat more often than we should have since Michael died. Slowly, but surely though, I'm cooking more. I made a chocolate pudding cake last week - one of my Weight Watchers recipes - and it lasted a week.
Speaking of Michael, the oddest thing happened to me yesterday while I was on Facebook. I was reading the comments from other folks on the main page, when all of a sudden Michael's name popped up - like I was receiving an instant message. But there was no message - just his name.
I was on You Tube for a bit on Saturday night - watched some of Michael's recordings - just to hear his voice again. When he made those videos I really did not like them - they sounded too negative to me. But now, I'm glad they're there, if anything just to hear him again. He had a lovely voice before pulmonary fibrosis destroyed his lung capacity. He used to phone me at work and I'd put him on speaker phone just so my friends could hear him too. Nice memory.
Love ya,
Cathy
After church yesterday, my brother and sister-in-love invited me to accompany them to Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati. It was lovely walking around and looking at all the plants and flowers. Inspired me to come home and water my poor excuses for plants. LOL. Not really, but it was neat to see the conservatory's angel wing begonias looking worse than mine. My angel wings get battered around on a regular basis by the kitties.
As a special treat, I made a turkey breast with stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy and brussel sprouts for dinner yesterday. Andrea was ga-ga. "Best meal, we've had in a long time," she claimed. Lots of left-over turkey, so we'll have turkey tettrazini for dinner tonight. It is kind of hard to learn to cook for just the two of us. And I'll be honest, we probably have gone out to eat more often than we should have since Michael died. Slowly, but surely though, I'm cooking more. I made a chocolate pudding cake last week - one of my Weight Watchers recipes - and it lasted a week.
Speaking of Michael, the oddest thing happened to me yesterday while I was on Facebook. I was reading the comments from other folks on the main page, when all of a sudden Michael's name popped up - like I was receiving an instant message. But there was no message - just his name.
I was on You Tube for a bit on Saturday night - watched some of Michael's recordings - just to hear his voice again. When he made those videos I really did not like them - they sounded too negative to me. But now, I'm glad they're there, if anything just to hear him again. He had a lovely voice before pulmonary fibrosis destroyed his lung capacity. He used to phone me at work and I'd put him on speaker phone just so my friends could hear him too. Nice memory.
Love ya,
Cathy
Friday, January 27, 2012
No Groovy Boards
Ah, the never-ending saga of the Groovy Boards. I got an e-mail yesterday from the shop owner - they still haven't been shipped. Don't fully understand why the latest delay, but I may have them next week. Yeah and piggies fly!
Despite all the work stacked on my desk at the office, I am NOT going there tomorrow. I need to spend quality time with my sewing machine.
Love ya,
Cathy
Despite all the work stacked on my desk at the office, I am NOT going there tomorrow. I need to spend quality time with my sewing machine.
Love ya,
Cathy
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Ten Minute Blocks
Last night I met with my church's quilting group. There are a lot of nice things about this group: we share a similar faith, love quilting, and we learn something every meeting.
Our group leader taught Ten Minute Blocks last night. It uses 10 inch squares (layer cake pre-cuts) and only takes three seams to put together. Conceivably, one could piece a decent sized quilt in a REAL short period of time.
I was amazed how it worked and had three blocks put together in less than 30 minutes. With all the quilts I have to create for graduations, weddings, etc. this year, several of them just may be Ten Minute block quilts. I may even experiment with five inch blocks once I'm home this evening.
My dear friend, Mary, has asked me to create a quilt for her sister who is battling lung cancer. She wanted Betty Boop fabric to be the "theme" fabric. Further cementing my belief that one can find ANYTHING on EBay - that's where I found two yards of what I needed and the mailman delivered it yesterday. I have a really easy, nice looking pattern for a comfort quilt and that's what I'll start tonight.
Before quilt club, I had to venture into the craft room to fetch my sewing machine tote. A lot of Michael's things are also stored in that room. It's time to start mailing some items to his kids and figure out what to do with all the record albums. They're certainly not doing anybody any good where they are now.
Love ya,
Cathy
Our group leader taught Ten Minute Blocks last night. It uses 10 inch squares (layer cake pre-cuts) and only takes three seams to put together. Conceivably, one could piece a decent sized quilt in a REAL short period of time.
I was amazed how it worked and had three blocks put together in less than 30 minutes. With all the quilts I have to create for graduations, weddings, etc. this year, several of them just may be Ten Minute block quilts. I may even experiment with five inch blocks once I'm home this evening.
My dear friend, Mary, has asked me to create a quilt for her sister who is battling lung cancer. She wanted Betty Boop fabric to be the "theme" fabric. Further cementing my belief that one can find ANYTHING on EBay - that's where I found two yards of what I needed and the mailman delivered it yesterday. I have a really easy, nice looking pattern for a comfort quilt and that's what I'll start tonight.
Before quilt club, I had to venture into the craft room to fetch my sewing machine tote. A lot of Michael's things are also stored in that room. It's time to start mailing some items to his kids and figure out what to do with all the record albums. They're certainly not doing anybody any good where they are now.
Love ya,
Cathy
Friday, January 20, 2012
Emma
My daughter's French Bulldog, Emma, has been my constant companion in the sewing room the last few months. During the evenings when her mistress is at work, Emma's presence has been a source of amusement and frustration at times.
You see, I'm one of those strange people who talk to their pets. Of all four of our family pets, Emma is the only one who seems to listen; she cocks her head and looks at me rather stupidly, but heck, she does listen. The cats? They never give me the impression they EVER listen - they're cats and they're known for ignoring their humans.
Emma has dragged all her toys and a fleece bed into the sewing room. If I get busy and don't hear her chomping on a chew toy or terrorizing the cats, I know she's wandered to the front door and wants outside. I have to drop what I'm doing, put a leash on the dog and take her out. Surely don't want that dog messing in the house -she smells!
Oh, my word, she does stink at times! I've never, ever had a dog fart as much as she does and they are d-e-a-d-l-y.
Except for the interruptions and the occasional smell, she's a good companion and she chases the cats off the quilts I'm working on. Once she and I have achieved our sewing goals for the night, we watch television together. Emma puts her head on my lap and rests....until her "mom" comes home.
The odd thing is until the last few months, I truly resented that I had to care for this animal whilst Andrea was at work. Somehow, this odd dog who snorts and grunts like a pig, eats like there's no tomorrow and has a mile-long stubborn streak has wormed her way into my heart. There's just something endearing about an animal who gets excited when the door to the sewing room is open and dashes into the room ahead of me.
I guess we're both happy to be in there.
Love ya,
Cathy
You see, I'm one of those strange people who talk to their pets. Of all four of our family pets, Emma is the only one who seems to listen; she cocks her head and looks at me rather stupidly, but heck, she does listen. The cats? They never give me the impression they EVER listen - they're cats and they're known for ignoring their humans.
Emma has dragged all her toys and a fleece bed into the sewing room. If I get busy and don't hear her chomping on a chew toy or terrorizing the cats, I know she's wandered to the front door and wants outside. I have to drop what I'm doing, put a leash on the dog and take her out. Surely don't want that dog messing in the house -she smells!
Oh, my word, she does stink at times! I've never, ever had a dog fart as much as she does and they are d-e-a-d-l-y.
Except for the interruptions and the occasional smell, she's a good companion and she chases the cats off the quilts I'm working on. Once she and I have achieved our sewing goals for the night, we watch television together. Emma puts her head on my lap and rests....until her "mom" comes home.
The odd thing is until the last few months, I truly resented that I had to care for this animal whilst Andrea was at work. Somehow, this odd dog who snorts and grunts like a pig, eats like there's no tomorrow and has a mile-long stubborn streak has wormed her way into my heart. There's just something endearing about an animal who gets excited when the door to the sewing room is open and dashes into the room ahead of me.
I guess we're both happy to be in there.
Love ya,
Cathy
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Update on Groovy Boards
I finally got a non-nasty e-mail from the shop owner. Apparently, he has "straightened out" (i.e. remembered to order) the long-anticipated Groovy Boards for my Avante. They should be here early next week. We shall see.....
Just finished piecing the last of the blocks for my "Sunshine and Shadows" quilt! I started this two years ago, my friends...with a lot of stuff in between. My design wall's not big enough for them all, so I suppose I'll wing it when I sew them together.
I had a lovely lunch with Linda S. this afternoon. We're going to put our heads together and make plans for a sew-in with a couple of other quilters later this summer or fall. It's been ages since we've done that. None of us can afford a fancy quilters' cruise or trip to California, so we'll make do with what we can - perhaps half-way between us all.
Love ya,
Cathy
Just finished piecing the last of the blocks for my "Sunshine and Shadows" quilt! I started this two years ago, my friends...with a lot of stuff in between. My design wall's not big enough for them all, so I suppose I'll wing it when I sew them together.
I had a lovely lunch with Linda S. this afternoon. We're going to put our heads together and make plans for a sew-in with a couple of other quilters later this summer or fall. It's been ages since we've done that. None of us can afford a fancy quilters' cruise or trip to California, so we'll make do with what we can - perhaps half-way between us all.
Love ya,
Cathy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)