A Gaggle of Geese & Other Random Stuff

Tax season is officially underway, but I have been trying to carve out some sewing time in the midst of the chaos as it helps keep me sane.  And calmer lol.  I have been working on a few things this week as I've had some snippets of time.

Way back when, a number of years ago, I started a Corn & Beans quilt made with batiks.  I had extra in all of the strips so using my triangle rulers, I cut flying geese units as well as other block components from the extra.  This week I sewed up a bunch of the geese.  And no, I have not yet finished the original quilt.  In fact, I still have probably half of the cutting left to do.  It's going to be a very large quilt made up of 6" blocks :-).  So here are my gaggle of geese for the week:

I also got the binding attached to this little orphan block trivet that I quilted at least two years ago, probably three:

I haven't posted many cat pics lately, so I thought I would remedy that as well.  When I prepare the fabric bolts for sale in the shop, I clean up the end of the bolt and get rid of the wrinkly part and make a nice straight edge to start with.  Of course being a scrap quilter, I am keeping all of those cutoffs.  In fact, I am keeping them separate and have selected a pattern to make a quilt just from those cutoffs.  Kind of a scrapbook for the shop and a record of all of the fabrics I have ever carried. 

I washed the latest dark cutoffs yesterday and had them piled on the cutting table.  Sassy of course thought they were perfect for a nap.  But then she decided the basket with the unwashed light cutoffs was even more comfortable :-).

Santa's Workshop Has Been Busy!

I am not a last minute Christmas shopper.  Actually, I am not a last minute anything.  I hate the stress involved with situations like that.  Some people thrive on it.  I do not.  So, I am not only a NOT a last minute Christmas shopper, I am an early Christmas shopper.  After my trip out tonight, I will have probably 85% of my gifts purchased and the ones that are left will be easy to take care of.

The kids were with us this past weekend so yesterday was wrapping day at our house.  The kids wrapped all of their gifts for their dad and Scott and I wrapped the rest after they went home.  And here is the result of all of our hard work:

Our Christmas isn't until the last weekend in December when we have the kids, but we are sending all of these gifts home with my Dad and Stepmother when they are here this week for Thanksgiving.  Then all we need to add are the ribbons and bows which we will put on when we get there for Christmas.  That way they won't get squished while in transit :-).

My afghan is almost done.  Just one and a half rows of the final border to finish and then blocking it.  I will probably finish the border tonight during the Bears game.  Here are the youngest two felines playing on the sewn together blocks. Those two seem to have a lot of fun together.  I think Sassy likes having another cat close to her size.  For now lol.





Getting There...

I've made good progress on my dishcloth afghan, which I think will be renamed "Patchwork Afghan" since it has a quilt-like look to it. 

I've got the bottom three rows sewn together and the blocks are sewn together for all but the last two rows.  The assembly is going really fast and is an excellent tv watching project.  Then it will be on to the border and it will be done!

Of course Sassy had to get into the picture.  She says she hasn't been on the blog much lately and that needs to change!  lol

My Latest Project

I have been in crochet mode lately, which is good since I seem to be spending a lot of time watching football these days and I can crochet while I watch :-).  I have a lot of cotton yarn on hand from my dishcloth crocheting and have also just bought a bunch of new colors that have come out since the last time I went cotton yarn shopping.  I just can't resist the fun little balls of color lol. 

I am not interested in making more dishcloths at the moment and in fact probably need to sell some of the stockpile I have, so what to do with all of this yarn?  Well, I decided to make an afghan using some of the dishcloths I already had made and then filling in the rest with more dishcloths (squares) made from some of the new colors as well as yarn I had on hand.  I wish I could say that I used more of my stash yarn than new yarn bought, but I would be lying.  So this is my progress on my "dishcloth" afghan. 

I know it is not the norm to use cotton yarn for afghans because it is a little heavier, but I always get a little sad when these beautiful colors are used in dishcloths that get dirty and fade over time.  This way I can look at them and enjoy them while sitting under my afghan :-).  Dodger helped me some too lol. 



He is such a good kitty.  Very playful, but loving too.  We are very lucky that he found us.  Here is another cute picture of him on my office chair.

And don't forget that free shipping continues at My Very Own Quilt Shop through 10/21.  Use coupon code BDAY2012.

http://www.myveryownquiltshop.com/



Free Shipping and Meet Dodger

Free shipping continues through 10/21 at

http://myveryownquiltshop.com/

Use coupon code BDAY2012 to get the discount.

And one lucky customer will get this extra bonus in their package:

Just kidding!!!!  I am pleased to introduce you to Dodger, our latest feline addition. Dodger became my unplanned birthday present when my husband found him running in his youngest son's school parking lot on Friday.  He was dodging cars (successfully) so that's how he got his name.  He went to the vet yesterday and tested negative for diseases but does have a bad case of ear mites and worms.  He is a total sweetheart and hasn't been any trouble at all so I guess we are now officially a five cat household.  Yikes.

Look Ma, No Fingers!

Ok, that's probably not a very good title for a post, but I bet it got your attention, didn't it lol?  I find that many times in the winter time, my hands are cold but the rest of me is fine.  I've always thought I should get some fingerless gloves, but never got around to actually doing it.  When I was in Hobby Lobby a month or so ago, I found a free pattern for some really cute crocheted fingerless gloves.  Score!  I've seen patterns before, but they were always knitting patterns.  Since I don't know how to knit, this posed a problem.

I pulled out the pattern last week along with some cool twisted yarn that I had found at the Humane Society thrift store many moons ago.  It looked like it would work perfectly and I was right.  After a test run and making some modifications to the pattern to accommodate the yarn weight, I was on my way and had the first glove done pretty quickly.  The second went even faster since I wasn't trying to modify and adjust as I went along like I was with the first one.  The pattern called for cuffs, but I left those off because I liked them just the way they were without the cuffs.

So here are my new fingerless gloves, which I am actually wearing as I type this.  I have two more colors of the twisted yarn left, so I think I'm going to make a couple more pairs.  As a side note, I found it very difficult to try and take a picture of my hand while holding the camera with the other hand!

And of course the felines are still around and keeping me entertained.  I got a couple of pictures this past week.  After two years of watching the other two go up on the plant shelves, Echo finally figured it out a month or so ago and now it is favorite past time.  So here are the boys up on a perch overseeing us girls down below.  I have vaulted ceilings, so they are about 8 or 9 feet up.



And Sassy looked so cute sleeping on the bed yesterday that I had to take a picture.  The first picture is the first picture I took and the second is after she covered her eyes and begged me to stop taking her picture cause she needed her beauty sleep lol.

Hope everyone is keeping their stress to a minimum as they get ready for Christmas.  I am flying north on Sunday for about ten days.  I am all packed except for toiletries so way ahead of schedule.  Half the stuff packed is either Christmas gifts or extra towels I'm transporting since we are hosting Christmas and are a bit short in that department.  I had a set of brand new ones down here, so it seemed silly to buy more up there if I could just bring these.  Thanks to space saver bags, I was able to fit them in.  I put Scott's quilt in one of the bags too, so that is also in my suitcase, along with my hand mixer, some food items I am taking, a pinking shears, and some large pocket knives that Scott bought at Cabala's while he was here for Thanksgiving.  I would love to see what TSA does with all of that!  I hope they don't mess up my stuff too much.  It is perfectly packed right now so everything fits.

As I was previewing this post, I heard the birds scatter outside and looked out to see this guy on the wall.  Guess he wanted breakfast too.











A Flurry of Finishes!

I have had a very productive weekend and managed to finish up a few projects that have been hanging around for awhile.  The first finish was this Friendship Star wall hanging, which was one of the quilts that I made in my beginning quilting class in, ahem, 2001.

And the back.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see the quilting outline of the stars on the front.

This afternoon I finished up this ornament while I was watching the Bears game.  S and two of his sons are huge Bears fans and I don't get to see many games down here since I pretty much only have the main network stations, but today's game was on Fox, so I was able to watch.  Our AZ Cardinals pulled out a come from behind win over the Eagles too, so good job to them.  Please excuse the wrinkles in the ornament.  I didn't take time to iron it before taking a picture.

The other thing I finished during the game was this cat mat for the shelter that was started on one of my airplane rides this summer.

I actually have some feline pictures to post as well.  First I have Tyrone testing out S's quilt.  I got the binding attached by machine this weekend, and also did the same for Chocolate Covered Cherries, so now I can work on the hand stitching as I am watching Christmas movies.

Sassy was sleeping yesterday all curled into a tight little ball.  If you look closely, you can see her little foot tucked behind her shoulder.  Cats are so flexible!

And finally, here is Echo being his usual dorky self.  I have been going through the contents of some of the drawers in my rolling sewing cart and Echo took advantage of finding one empty and decided to take a nap in it.  As you can see, he's a little too big, but that didn't seem to bother him lol.

And I had to add this final pic.  What are the chances?  No, not of having your bobbin run out, but having it run out when you are exactly at the end of attaching a long binding to a quilt.  That is what happened to me yesterday when I attached the binding to Chocolate Covered Cherries.  I hit the thread cutter, pulled the quilt out, saw the empty bobbin, and thought oh, no, I have been sewing without bobbin thread for who knows how long.  But lo and behold, the binding was attached all the way to the end.  Amazing.

Back From the Quilter and Echo Approved!

I was back in ND the last couple weeks of October working on the house some more and seeing family.  It was a great trip and I have been accumulating pictures for some blog posts with before and after photos of what we have done so far with the house.  Guess I should probably finally post those for my bedroom down here too since I completely forgot about that.  A sneak peek of the bed and one of the lamps is in the picture below.

When I got back from my trip, S's quilt was ready for pickup from my long arm quilter, so here it is, all quality control tested by Echo and ready for trimming and binding.  I am hoping to get the trimming done yet today and the binding attached by machine.  The binding is made, so I should be able to get that done.  I want to start sewing it down while I watch the new Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel tonight.  I just love that channel during the holidays.  It seems to have the best movies.  In my opinion anyway :-).

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, it is my birthday today...43 years old.  I have a thing about the number 3, I hate it, so I told S that I may just tell people that I'm 44 for two years and skip 43 lol.  As a little birthday gift to myself, I bought these yummy batiks from Jackie during her sale last weekend.

Of course I had help with them when I started getting them ready to wash.

Echo simply moved to the pile once I pulled the pieces out from under him that he was laying on in the above picture.

On an unrelated feline note, I have an orange and white cat that has started coming around, usually in the back yard. He drinks out of the pool and hangs out a bit from time to time.  This morning I was laying in bed when I heard the most awful sound.  It was cool outside so the windows were open and apparently Echo and Tyrone were looking out the front window when the orange and white cat showed up outside the window.  To say that Tyrone wasn't happy to see him would be an understatement!

Sassy Strikes Again!

Yes, Sassy has managed to break something else.  This time it was my ancient blender with a real glass container, not the plastic ones you get now days.  You can about guess what kind of mess that made when it met up with the ceramic tile.  She managed to get the thing, which probably weighed as much as she does, all the way from the back of the counter to the front and off the edge.  Here is what part of the floor looked like (you can't see the pile of crushed glass under the counter) and what the pitcher looks like now.

It's a good thing she's so cute or she would be looking for a new home!  Just kidding.  Really :-). 

Hot Off The Sewing Machine!

Lest you think I have been sitting around eating bon bons since my last post on, ahem, August 19th, I assure you that is not the case.  I have actually been sewing!  Yes, it's true lol.  And I took lots of pictures during the process that I intended to post, but obviously that didn't happen.  But I am posting the finished quilt top, so surely that should count for something. 

This quilt is S's Christmas present, and he knows about it, so no worries about spoiling the surprise.  In fact, I was furiously sewing blocks into rows and then rows together when he was here last weekend.  Last night I attached the borders and here is the finished top, which apparently meets Sassy's approval lol.

The pattern is Radio Flyer by Carrie Nelson and the fabrics are a mix of the Moda Java and Bistro lines by Deb Strain combined with creams and tans from my stash.  More backing fabric is on the way, after I realized I didn't have enough, so next up is piecing the backing when that gets here so I can get the quilt to my longarm quilter by October 6th and the bound and finished by Christmas!

In addition to working on this quilt and preparing tax returns for the tax deadline that was yesterday, did I mention that S and I bought a house while I was in ND in July and that it closed escrow on the 8th of this month?  No kidding.  So we've had a bit going on with that and now that he has taken possession this week, next up are flooring changes and painting.  Lots and lots of painting.  I will be heading up there to help in the near future and on my to do's for today is a trip to Lumber Liquidators to look at the laminate in person that we picked out together online last night.  If it's a go, then he will get it ordered so it is ready for us to install during my October trip. 

This weekend is the big move for him so he can get his house on the market ASAP.  My big move will come early next summer.  Since our real estate market is so poor down here, we figure the best move is to rent my house for now.  Anyone looking to rent in Phoenix starting next summer?

So that is what has been going on in my neck of the woods.  Oh, and killing scorpions.  I'm getting kind of sick of that, but hopefully scorpion season will be over soon.  I will spare you the pictures of those.  Suffice it to say that in the last week I have not only seen the smallest scorpion I have ever seen in my house, but also the largest.  Yuck.  And I have a new pet.  Stuart.  As in Stuart Little.  Yes, it is a mouse.  He lives in my garage and I did buy a trap with which to humanely kill and dispose of him, but then I read online that mice eat scorpions.  He seems to be a bachelor mouse, so as long as that is the case, he gets to stay, provided he eats the scorpions, which I think he does since the dead ones I leave in the garage seem to disappear by morning.  That seems like a win/win to me.

Pets on Quilts Show

The 2011 Pets on Quilts Show is underway and hosted by Sewcalgal. I have not entered the show in the past, but decided to this year since I have plenty of both pets and quilts lol. So here is my entry.


I am currently owned by three fun, feisty felines that love to "assist" with my quilting.  All three were rescued from shelters here in Phoenix.  Echo and Sassy came home with me on the same day in October 2009 from the Arizona Humane Society and Tyrone was adopted in November 2005 from Sun Valley Animal Shelter.

Echo is by far my most reliable helper and can be counted on to be around nearly every time there is some quilting activity going on. 

He has a rather unhealthy obsession with cardboard boxes, so he is generally the first to show up to inspect a new box of fabric that has come in the mail.

He also loves to supervise the cutting and pinning of blocks.
 

He helps squish the fabric down so the lid fits on the container.

 
He rearranges blocks when the layout is not to his liking.
 

He makes sure that the quilting is "just right".

He checks finished tops to make sure they are soft and cuddly.

 
He supervises the basting, although he can't be left unattended with the pins as he has an unhealthy obsession with those too *sigh*.
 

 
And finally, he checks the finished quilts to make sure they are all ready to go.
 

 
Sassy is also a pretty good helper, although she is more selective about the activities in which she participates. 
 
One of her obsessions is the iron and she will get as close as she possibly can without getting burned.  She will often lay on one end of the ironing board while I am pressing on the other.  Goofy cat.
 

 
She also really likes to help me prewash and dry fabric.
 

Then she checks it again once it's dry to make sure it will be acceptable for our quilts.

 
On occasion, she will also supervise the actual sewing.
 

And sometimes she is just too exhausted to be any help at all!



Tyrone is my oldest assistant and now that there are younger workers available, he tends to take it easy and generally doesn't show up for work most days lol.  But here is in his glory days helping me to attach the binding to a king size quilt.
 

He also helped sew on a label one time.

As I said, Tyrone is pretty much retired these days from his quilting helping, at the ripe old age of 6!  What a life!  But no worries, as you can see, I've got two other helpers that are more than willing to pick up his slack lol.

Sunday Morning Sewing

I woke up early this morning, as in 3:30 a.m. early.  That is early even for me.  I laid there for about another hour before I finally gave up and got up.  I was in the mood to sew and really wanted to do some piecing.  I wanted something fairly easy as I had a headache and was tired from waking up so darn early. 

I remembered that I had some cute little courthouse steps blocks that were sent to me quite some time ago by a blogging friend, who I think prefers to remain nameless, so I won't share who made these little cuties.  But trust me, the piecing is perfect.  And the pieces finish at 1/2 inch for a finished block size of 6 inches.  And these blocks weren't paper pieced.  Like I said, this friend is a quite a precise piecer. 

I was just hoping that I could at least sew them together adequately so I didn't do the blocks a disservice.  I thought I did ok until I got all of the rows pieced together and stood back to take a look.  Aaack!  I didn't pay attention when I laid everything out and some of my "courthouses" don't line up.  Oh well.  Instead of a humility block, I will have an entire little humility quilt lol.  I refused to unsew the rows so it is what it is at this point. 

I debated about leaving the little quilt border free when it looked like this:

I wasn't sure I was completely happy with that look so I pulled some border candidates from my stash and consulted my trusty quilt advisor (i.e. Dawn).  I texted her a couple of pictures and the border fabric we settled on was this one:

A quick press, a few passes with the rotary cutter and I had the borders cut and ready to attach.  Shortly thereafter I had this:



Not bad for a few hours work.  Thank you to my generous blogging friend that sent me these blocks!  She also sent her leftover blue star fabric and that is what I will use for the backing.  Dawn and I have a quilting day this coming Saturday so I'm hoping to get the basting done and get started on the quilting.  Who knows, maybe I can even have the entire quilt ready for display for the 4th of July, but don't hold your breath on that one lol.



A closeup of the blocks so you can see just how great the piecing is.



I am also happy to report that Echo has performed the quality control test on Chocolate Covered Cherries and has deemed it acceptable lol.

Sassy was enjoying the sunshine the other day, probably while plotting her next way to get in trouble. 



She knocked a picture off the wall below the plant shelf one night last week and I stepped in the shards of plastic on my way to the kitchen the next morning.  Thankfully it was plastic and not glass.  When asked about the incident, her reply was that the evidence against her was circumstantial and therefore she could not be judged guilty of the crime.  Typical.