More mail

My daughter walks in with the mail the other day and says "Why are you getting so many big envelopes all of a sudden?"  I laughed, cause I have told her about the block swap...so I told her I was getting bocks this month and then she asked to see them. So I showed her. She was impressed! Me too.
I got this package from Ruth, thanks Ruth pretty blocks and extra goodies too.

I go this package from Marsha, thanks Marsha for the pretty blocks and the ornament.

This package came from Christine, Thanks for the beautiful blocks.

I did finish my blocks for Snowbound. These little snowmen are so much fun to do. I can't wait to get the quilt done so that I can embellish some of the blocks.

Still planning meals and trying to cook healthy for the family. Tha favorites this week coucous tacos (with tofu) and spinach roll ups ( rolled in a lasagna noodle). Have I mentioned that it is hard to find vegetarian stuff that I like???? I do not like those tacos, but the DD and DH love them. Oh well...

I better get a move on, I have to work today. More later!
Happy sewing.

Oh happy day

After I posted yesterday I was wandering around the house thinking about eveything I needed to do when the door bell rang. It was the Mail!!!! THREE packages!  So exciting. Here is what I found.
From Joanne beautiful blue blocks, thank you

From Kathleen these great green blocks and some fabrics (notice the tatoo fabric) thank you

From Katie the wonderful blocks, the fob, the flower pincushion and a tasty treat, thank you Katie.

This swap has been so much fun that actually getting blocks seems like a bonus. I'll keep you posted on new arrivals.
Happ stitching!

Do you ever go through times when it seems you are very busy, but have nothing to show for it? I think I am having one of those times. I guess it is partly because I have been working some extra hours at the shop.  The boss was off on vacation so we all cover for her and keep things going. Of course she always leaves us lists of things to do. LOL.

The other thing taking up my time is cooking. I really am not a fan of the planning, cooking and cleaning up. It takes up too much of my sewing time. I slowly moved  away from making proper meals and depended on quick fixes. I am now trying to plan out meals and cook everyday or most days anyway. My family is happy with my plan so far. The highlights so far, pasta carbonara, mini spinach fritattas, and pesto pizza.

I posted in June that I was going to see Bonnie Hunter at our guild meeting. Well I did and she is warm and friendly and funny and wonderful. Her trunk show was so much fun to see. Now I have to tell you that she is also a crazy woman. She never sits down. Someone asked her if she ever sleeps. She laughed, do you think that is a yes or a no?? If you haven't checked out her website you really should there are tons of free quilt patterns on there as well as a link to her blog.  The site is http://quiltville.com/. All of her quilts are scrap quilts, so if your scrap basket is overflowing....

I finished another quilt on the frame. The pattern is baby bricks. I got the pattern at a quilt show a few years ago along with a bundle of pastel fabrics. I ended up having enough fabric to make two baby quilts from the bundle and I have made two more from scraps. It is quick and easy and a great way to use up some smaller scraps.

I am working on two more scrap quilts. I first heard of leaders and enders on APQ blogs and I started working with some scraps then.  I have all the blocks done for one of the quilts and I am almost done with the blocks for another. I have to find another leader and ender project fast!

I didn't end up starting my swap blocks back when I said I was going to..so I have the fabric pulled and I better get going on them. Off to sew now.
Happy stitching.

aloha shirts

A few of my blogging buddies asked for the information on the Hawaiian shirts pattern. The pattern company is beyond the reef.  The website is http://beyondthereefpatterns.com/.  From there you can link to her blog and her facebook page. I saw the Aloha shirts listed at the bottom of the home page but I couldn't get any further info up. I have emailed her about the pattern and I will let you know the response.

Just a short one for now. Back soon. Happy stitching.

Hi all! Last week I got my swap blocks in the mail. Woohoo. Not at the last second this month.  I plan on starting on next month's now. I sure love seeing everyone getting their blocks.

This is called charm party tote and I made it for my friend's birthday. This is the friend that got part of her Xmas gift right before Easter. Good thing she is a good sport. Honestly, her birthday was 1 month ago and she only got part of her gift. (Seeing a trend here). Anyway on Thursday she will get the bag and hopefully she will like it.

Last month at guild I bought his pattern and kit from the vendor. It isn't all stitched yet, just the large squares. I just put them on to the background and added the letters today. I just love working with wool. It is so soft and seems so easy  to sew on. This month at guild our speaker is Bonnie Hunter ad I am so excited!!! I can't wait to meet her.  (I am such a dork, I plan to go early so that I can say hi to her).

These little shirts have been in the works for a long time. I made one with 9 shirts a couple years ago for my BIL. He was not impressed. I still think they are cute so I am making a couple of minis with them to donate to the silent auction at the guild quilt show next year. Hope somebody there likes them better than the BIL.

This is the first quilt that I did on my frame. I am not sure if the quilting will show up, but I tried. I think you might have seen this as a top. I have another baby quilt on the frame now. I hope to get it done this week and get a halloween table topper on there to quilt

Happy stitching!

Some finishes

I spent the weekend getting my BOMs ready to hand stitch. So I did lots of tracing, fusing, cutting and more fusing. I also finished the first quilt I put on my frame to quilt. I just did a pantograph. It was a panto that "came with" my machine. I will show it to you once I get it trimmed and maybe bound.

Last night I started doing some of the hand stitching on the BOMs. Did I tell you I started another one?? I menioned that I am doing Hop to IT  (the BOM at the shop I work at). My friend saw the same BOM on line from Primative Gatherings in wool. Of course we had to jump in. See how I get myself in trouble? I'm  just a girl who can't say no  ( to projects). LOL.

Today the work started on my new furnace and air conditioner. It is a two day job and I am glad that it is cool out today. I am also glad it didn't crash during the winter. It is a little easier to sweat than to freeze. That is easy to say when I am not doing either.

I have been working on my plan to finish some of the partialy completed projects stuck in every nook and cranny of my house. I framed some cross stitch pieces. (5x7)

I framed a couple of  punch needle pieces.

I also used a small piece I stitched a while ago, but had no idea what to do with it. While wandering around Jo-Ann Fabrics I saw the basket and my little wheels started to turn. Anyway, no big deal, but I hate throwing out projects.

Happy Stiching

all the news

Where does the time go? Lets catch up. I finished my swap blocks and mailed them last Saturday...just at the last minute again. I start them early in the month but my quilter's ADD keeps making me hop from project to project. I have started June's blocks..... hopefully I'll be done earlier in the month this time.

I took a quick photo of the log cabin I showed you in block stage. I  tried out some borders but they just were not talking to me. I was thinking that I would leave it without borders and tea dye it. (This started out as a few fat quarters and I ended up adding a lot of scraps to it along the way. Does that count as finishing a scrap quilt Katie? Cause the other one is so not done. ) BTW, does anyone have advise on tea dying? Should I do the top and back  and then layer and quilt, or should I quilt it then dye it?

I finished another little wool project. It was very quick and easy to put together. I still have a few small woolies all cut and ready to stitch. Sometimes I like to trace and fuse and cut out, so I will do a bunch of projects and then bag them up for when I feel like just hand stitching.

I finished the mini quilt for the store for June. I always forget to take a photo before I take it to the shop to hang. I have a new project I'm starting for the shop. It is a secret right now, but you will see it soon. The boss brought the pattern back from market. (Hint... it is a Halloween project)

I worked on my little snowmen for snowbound. Here they are so far.

Our weather has been kind of crazy, really hot, then rainy ,and last night it got cool. The cool was fine with me because the air conditioner could not be saved and the new one will not be here until next Monday. New furnace too..ouch$$. We have been lucky, the heat/air was not new when we moved in and we have been here 15 years. I have never lived anywhere for that long. The longest I ever lived in one place before this house was 5 years. My youngest was in first grade when we moved here. She went to school with the same kids from second grade all the way thru high school. To me that is just so weird... ( I have to confess that every couple of years I get the urge to move on). I guess that we will be here a bit longer.

Lastly.. my ongoing saga of the bent quilt frame. None of the local dealers were really able to help me with a replacement part. One guy says he called the warehouse and they are checking. That was about 4 weeks ago.When my boss went to Quilt Market she saw the after market sales rep and talked to her and got me another contact. SO I was so excited!!! I called and the guy was really not very helpful. He wanted me to fax him the parts list (REALLY?) you sell the frame and you need my parts list? Ok. I took the fax # but my hopes were deflated. On the same day I talked with one of my friends who had just returned from her home in Arkansas. Her husband offered to take a look and see if he had suggestions. What the heck I thought. I took the bent piece with me and went to visit my friend. While J and I sat on the deck and discussed quilting and books and kids, her hubby FIXED my bent frame piece. He is an experienced metal worker, so he pounded and unbent and even cut the metal. He was so sweet, he was worried that it had a couple of dents in the front. Anyway, I took it back home and put the frame together and put the carriage on and it seemed to roll on the frame fine. So I mounted the machine and it still seemed to roll fine. I have a quilt on the frame right now!!! How exciting is that??? I am having some trouble with threads breaking , but my friend D has the same machine so she will help me work that out.

Maybe I can  start reducing my stack of unquilted tops?

Happy stitching everyone.