Where to Begin?

It has been so long since I last posted that I don't even know where to begin.  The good news is that I survived tax season and immediately reopened the quilt studio and have been quite productive!  I had planned to do many posts over the past couple of weeks with progress reports of what I have been working on, but somehow I never got around to actually writing the posts *sigh*.  I did, however, get around to taking pictures of the quilts projects as I worked on them.  That's progress from my last post!

As soon as the tax deadline was over I started my own personal quilting retreat and did basically nothing but quilt for about 5 days.  Oh, and take care of Maya since she decided to blow out her good knee on April 13th.  More about that in a bit.  First I want to talk about the quilting I have been doing.  Echo found the pile of quilts on my sewing table today and decided they were there for him to lay on.  What is it about cats and quilts???

So anyway, as soon as the tax deadline was over, I got busy in my sewing room.  Oh, and I washed the mountain of fabric that I had purchased during the past few months.  But I digress.  The first order of business after April 18th was to get Chocolate Covered Cherries basted and ready for quilting.  I have all of the ditch quilting done and have started the quilting of the blocks. 

Next I basted Fruit Cocktail.  Twice.  I forgot that the backing was just the right size and left the usual margin on the one side only to discover a drastic shortage on the other side when I went to baste that part.  So I undid all of the basting and redid it with the backing properly centered.  This quilt was made during my beginning quilting class in, ahem, 2001.  Yes, it has been sitting here unquilted for nearly 10 years.  But now it is not only basted and quilted, but I have the binding half sewn down.   Speaking of the binding, I have had that made and stored with the quilt for literally years.  As I'm sewing it on by machine, I realize that it is about half as long as it needs to be.  I think I had another quilt with the same binding and probably switched them.  As luck would have it, I found another binding the same width in my drawer of leftover bindings that matched well and was just the length I needed so I added it to the other one and finished up the machine sewing.  For the quilting, I did straight line quilting in the blocks and my wavy line quilting in the border.

The quilted top:

A closeup of the block quilting:


And the back.  It's kind of hard to see the quilting on the back since the fabric is so busy.

Then I quilted this little orphan bargello block.  It had been basted since last fall.  Took all of 15 minutes to quilt so I don't know why I let it sit so long *sigh*.

And finally, I quilted this little Friendship Star quilt.  It is also from my beginning quilting class which hopefully explains some of the whacked off points on the stars.  Thankfully my piecing has improved!  The binding is attached and ready for the hand sewing, which I'm hoping to work on tomorrow at Dawn's.  I ran out of the top thread with about 4 inches left to go on the quilting.  I found a similar purple thread in my stash and finished it with that.  Done is better than perfect!

And the back:

Amidst all of the quilting I also got bit HARD by the needlepoint bug.  I have had some charts forever, as well as threads, but just never got around to trying canvas work.  That has all changed.  I went to a local shop a few days after tax season ended and came home with the canvas and chart for a new project.  I already had the threads in my cross stitching stash.  Shocking I know lol.  For about two days, the quilting sat untouched as I stitched away on my new project.  I have made quite a bit of progress and plan to work on it more tomorrow, so I will save the pictures, etc. for a separate post.

And then there is the real life stuff that has been going on.  As I mentioned above, Miss Maya decided to tear her ACL (her knee) on April 13th.  She had surgery on her other knee in August 2007 when she tore that ACL, but the surgery was hard on her and at her current age, surgery is not an option.  There was quite a bit of drama for a few days as the ex and I came to terms with her situation.  We thought we were going to have to put her down since surgery wasn't an option.  Thankfully the vet said she could heal on her own.  Funny how everyone said differently when she tore out the first knee.  At that time we were told that her knee could only heal with surgery costing in excess of $2000.  So of course we did the surgery.  That was pretty annoying to find out that we wouldn't have had to put her through that, or spend all that money, but at least we didn't have to put her down. 

The other complicating factor was that my ex had arranged for a pet transport service to pick up Maya, Koda and Sammy the cat on April 30th to take them from Phoenix to his new place in Ohio.  He thought for sure that they wouldn't take Maya while her leg was healing, but he was wrong, thankfully, and they all were picked up on the 30th and arrived in Ohio this past Wednesday safe and sound.  So in the last week I have reduced my pet population by half, which has taken a huge load off.  No more barking dogs day and night and no more getting up 50 times a day to let someone out or bring someone in.  Could be why my blood pressure was down to 102/76 at my physical on Wednesday!

So that is what has been happening in my corner of the world for the last month or so!



So to recap...

This is what I have been doing since I last posted:

Working.

Working some more.

Doing a little more work.

Letting the dogs in and out 60 times a day.

Working.

More working.

Spending an evening at Urgent Care to get super duty drugs for the sinus infection that came raging back.

Working some more.

And then more as I started feeling better again.

Hmmm, what else?  Oh yeah, eating and sleeping, although the sleep has been hard to come by at times.  And I've scooped litter boxes multiple times a day.  And dog poop on the weekend.


What I haven't been doing:

Sewing.  Not one stitch. 

I did take yesterday off for a quilting day at Dawn's, but did I quilt?  No I did not.  I was too mentally brain dead to even attempt it.  Even the simplest quilting task seemed too difficult.  So we went to the quilt store instead.  I found a few fabric bargains, a great pattern and we both got a new marking tool for quilting using our 40% off coupons.

Did I take pictures of any of the stuff I bought?  No I did not.  Because that would involve more effort than I've got energy for right now.  Just know that the fabrics are brights, some with dots, and they are right up my alley lol.

Oh, I did do a bit of mindless crocheting on a cat mat for the shelter while at Dawn's yesterday and after I got home, using some yarn I recycled from a thrift store afghan.  Do I have a picture of my progress so far?  Again, no.  But I'll tell that so far I've used bright purple yarn, yellow yarn, and green yarn.  It's very colorful.

So that's what I've been doing.  And now my 15 minute break from work is over, so have to get back to it.  We are in the final push to April 15th and I am counting the days!!

Happy Days!

Yes, the days are very happy around here lately.  In spite of the tremendous amount of stress on a daily basis from the dogs and work, my days are definitely much, much happier than they were a year ago, so it's all good. 

I have found some time to work on the blocks for my dot quilt nearly every day.  Some days more than others, but even little bits of time add up.  The fabrics in the blocks are so happy that I'm thinking that Happy Days might be the appropriate name for this quilt, particularly given how happy I am feeling while I am making it.  What do you think?  Or maybe Happy Days Are Here Again would be better?  That was the first name that came to mind, but it seemed a bit long.  Maybe not.

I plan on making 90 blocks at a finished size of 8 inches.  I have been working on the first 30.  Here they are so far.  I will keep adding strips to each until I can trim them to 8 1/2 inches.

And here's a closeup of a few of the blocks.



 

A Good Week in the Sewing Room and Look What Arrived!

I had a very productive week in the sewing room, but don't have anything really exciting to show for it.  I got the backing made for Chocolate Covered Cherries and also got the batting cut so that quilt is now ready for basting.  The rest of the time I spent pressing my new dot fabrics that I purchased back in November and cutting a strip from each for my dot quilt.  I am now ready to start sewing on the dot quilt, so I should have some actual progress pics to show soon.  During the pressing process, I also finally admitted that my iron is indeed going, so I ordered another one off Amazon that will hopefully arrive soon.

Speaking of Amazon, this arrived this week:

Woo hoo!  I tried so hard to win a copy during the blog tour, but alas, I didn't win.  This new book by Kim is everything that everyone has said about it and more.  Awesome, awesome quilts in this book!  I had thought I knew which one I was going to make first, but when the book actually arrived, I changed my mind and I think I am going to make the cover quilt, Picnic, using the Kaffe Fasset fabrics that I started collecting last summer.  So add that to the "must do soon" list, along with the zillion other projects that are already on that list lol.

I needed a bit more in my order to qualify for free shipping, and forgetting all about the power cord I need for my new postage scale, I ordered this:

I truly loved the music that was popular when I was in high school, so as they come out with CDs of some of this older music, I have been picking them up when I need something extra on Amazon to get free shipping.  I have been listening to this CD since it arrived and it is great!  As a side note, I forgot about the power cord AGAIN when I ordered the iron and ordered a book to get free shipping.  For the exact same price as the power cord I might add LOL.

Burgundy Buttons also got the Max & Whiskers yardage in, so I ordered the background piece that I needed for my applique project as well as a few extra cuts of the bone prints that will work with some of the other pet fabrics I've collected for a different pet quilt.

This weekend will be filled with lots of tax work as well as some yard work, but I'm hoping I can squeeze in some time to start sewing on the dot quilt.

The Mother Lode of Fabric Arrived Yesterday!

I have gone on a bit of a buying spree lately, to ahem, put it mildly.  One of the shipments was delayed, so everything showed up yesterday.  I almost had to make two trips from the mail box because the stack of priority boxes was so big!  The unusual thing about these purchases is that I have a plan for everything.  Normally I am either just stash building, or collecting fabrics of some type for a future quilt.  Not this time.  All that means is that I need to get using this stuff right away.  No pressure or anything LOL. 

The first order I had placed that got delayed was for these two cute little fat eighth bundles from Moda.  I think it was genius when they came up with these bundles.  Fat quarter bundles are just too much for so many of us, and a fat eighth bundle is more usable than two layer cakes.  Oh, and I got both of these from Judi & Clint at Green Fairy Quilts.  This was my first order from them, and I will definitely order again.  After my budget recovers from these latest purchases!

The first one is Max & Whiskers by Basic Grey.  Did you know that this fabric line is also available as scrapbook paper, which Basic Grey also designs?  In fact, I think they started out designing scrapbook paper and then extended that into fabric.  In any event, here is my little bundle of Max & Whiskers.  I plan to make an applique quilt with it, already have the layout, etc. pictured in my mind, but will leave you wondering until I actually get around to making it.

The second fat eighth bundle I got is Lovely by Sandy Gervais.  Sandy is one of my favorite fabric designers, but usually I'm drawn to her autumn and dot fabrics.  For some reason, I was really drawn to the color palate of this line even though  floral prints are not something I work with a lot and there are quite a few in this line.  My plan for this bundle is a Schnibbles Times 2 quilt by Carrie Nelson, pattern still to be selected.

And now to the really big purchases.  I am not a coffee drinker, except for occasional coffee shop splurges, but that doesn't stop me from loving coffee themed fabrics.  Especially those by Deb Strain for Moda.  Last summer I found some of her Bistro line on sale, so picked up some pieces in the blue/tan colorway.  On Saturday while avoiding on a break from work, I was poking around the Burgundy Buttons site just for fun.  Note to self...if you stop just "poking around" you will probably stop making so many purchases!  Anyway, I found the Java fabric line by Deb Strain on sale.  Within 30 minutes I had selected a pattern, another Carrie Nelson pattern, Radio Flyer, figured out that the FQ bundle had the perfect amount of fabric for it, found border and binding fabrics from the line also on sale, and placed my order.

And then I realized that A) I really didn't like the two major colorways of the line all mixed together, which meant I didn't have enough fabric for the quilt, and B) I couldn't figure out where the orange and green really fit in with the rest and wondered why they were even in the line, particularly the orange.  To me, that is really out of place.  So now I was stuck with a pattern I wanted to make and not enough fabric and remembering why I make scrap quilts and not quilts from specific fabric lines!

I thought about it for a bit and then started wondering what my chances were of getting more of the Bistro fabric line, even though it came out in October 2008.  When I am looking for older items like this my first stop is Ebay and once again, Ebay came through.  What are the chances of finding an entire FQ bundle of Bistro on Ebay, just when I needed it, on sale and with free shipping?  I figured it was meant to be and bought it immediately.  Both orders arrived yesterday and here are the fabrics in all of their loveliness.  I actually like the Bistro line better overall, but there are also some great fabrics in the Java line that I can't wait to use.  Java is on the left and Bistro is on the right.

The current plan is still to make Radio Flyer with the Red/Black/Brown colorway and use the red yardage you see for the outer border and the brown fabric below it for the inner border and binding.  Then I want to make a second quilt with the Blue/Tan/Cream colorway, with possibly some of the green from Bistro thrown in.  The green and orange in the Java line are definitely out at this point.  The oranges will fit in perfectly with my autumn fabric stash and the greens can just go in the general stash.  The blues are different, with the Java blue having sort of a teal tint to it, but I think they can work together when mixed with the tans and creams.  So that is what arrived in the mail yesterday and my plans for it.

If you want a better look at both lines, here are links to them on the Moda site:

http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_java.pdf

http://www.unitednotions.com/fcc_bistro.pdf

I've also still been plugging away on getting fabrics ready for the dot quilt, so I'll have a progress update on that soon.  As well as the pictures of my finished bedroom.  I got so busy, I forgot that I had never done that post and I got a reminder about it last week.  Soon, I promise.



A Sneak Peek

Even though I still haven't sewn the backing for Chocolate Covered Cherries, I have technically started on my next project.  What can I say...I have a very short attention span!  But the backing will get sewn.  And soon. 

Here is a sneak peek at the next project:

It all started with this, a pile of dot fabrics that Wanda sent me awhile back.  She saw my post about all of the new dot fabrics I had purchased and asked if I wanted her leftovers from her dot quilt.  Duh, of course I wanted them!  I love playing with other people's scraps.  Even better than playing with my own lol.  And now I have a plan for them and am almost ready to get started.  I need to go through some more fabric and then I should be ready to go. 

It's been awhile since I've posted any pictures of the feline members of the household.  That is because I've hardly taken any!  Shocking I know.  But I did get a few of Sassy helping with dinner on Sunday.  

Hmmm, what's this thing that has cool water droplets on the top and smells good?

Maybe I should get a closer look...



And how about a view from the other side?

Maybe touching it will help me figure out what this is...

She was totally fascinated with the crock pot for about 10 minutes and then finally gave up and left.  Oh, and she's also trained me to run water for her in the front bathroom sink so she can drink it while it's running *sigh*.  I don't know why I do those things for that cat.  It's not like it keeps her out of trouble LOL.











Chocolate Covered Cherries Top is Done!

This will be another short post as it's a work day (no day is without work at this point in tax season), as well as yard work day if the weather cooperates later.  Anyway, I finished sewing the borders on Chocolate Covered Cherries last night, so the top is officially done!  Woo hoo!  I had to wait until this morning to get pictures as the lighting in my sewing room is not very good at night.  I hope to remedy that once tax season is over.

Here is the finished top:

I also pulled out the backing fabric that I purchased some time ago.  All it needs is pressing, the yardage cut in half, salvages trimmed off, and a quick seam lengthwise to sew the two pieces together.  I'd like to get that done today, but we'll see.  Here's the backing fabric laying with the top.  The binding will be the same pink as in the top and it is already cut, but not sewn together and pressed.

And here's a bigger picture of the backing fabric.  It will run lengthwise as shown on the back of the quilt. 



It has been a very productive week both work-wise and in the sewing room for sure.  I finally have some decent energy to get things done.  I started giving Maya a benedryl before bed each night, so she is finally mostly sleeping through the night again, which means I am too.  Thank goodness.  And I also broke down on Monday and called for antibiotics for a suspected sinus infection after trying natural remedies to kick it.  After a couple of days on the antibiotics I started feeling much, much better.  Just in time to start putting in those 11 and 12 hour days for work LOL.