It's Been Awhile....

But here I am...
I finished a couple of quilts that I wanted to share.
First up is a Blackbird Designs quilt that I wanted to do from the minute I saw the pattern in the book.  I collected the reds, greens and blacks for awhile, and then one day, somewhere around LAST Christmas, I decided to get started on it.

Im glad to have this one all finished, and after I share it with The Quilt Chicks later this week at out Christmas get-together I will hang it up on my wall.

I also finished up this quilt....some Very Good Friends announced earlier in the year that they were going to be grandparents for the Very First Time....and I was so excited at the news that I just had to make a quilt....and as soon as they let us know that the baby-to-be was a boy I knew what I wanted to make.
I took a trip to the local thrift store, grabbed some striped mens shirts and mad this:

As you can see, Jasmine the Resident Quilt Inspector approves of this one.....But I'll put it in the wash, AGAIN, to be sure that it is hair and allergen-free for Baby Mason.
After I share this one with the chicks I will make a date with the new mom and take it over....before that baby is full-grown.

Also to share:
What I'm reading,,,,

And what I have on -the-needles:

Day one of a mystery dishcloth...
and:

A merino lace weight cowl.  Yarn from a shop in East Tawas, Mi.....

So that's it chicks.  Nothing more to chat about.  I have a couple other projects to get to, so I better split!

Give Me n Inch....

And I will take up the whole house.

A serendipitous turn of events left me with an empty house this weekend (as well as the rare opportunity to use the word Serendipitous!)
Friday included a trip to the farm, the airport, and a wedding.
A very nice wedding....with a beautiful couple and really, ReallY good food.
Saturday was mostly mine...

Two of the Silvia's, Claudette and Sue, came by to finish up Sue's quilt that she started at our farm retreat back in February.  It's is Sue's first quilt....and she plunged right into it fearlessly. 

We worked together to finish sewing down the binding....and now the quilt is set to be given to Sue's daugheter at her high school grad party next weekend.

After the girls left the day was all mine, and I proceeded to spread out.

I'm working on a scrap quilt....trying my darnedest to work my way thru parts of my stash that I want out of the way. Too many new projects waiting to be shopped for and started, but no space for them has forced me to clear this stuff out.

The problem with that is the more I cut, the more that scrap pile grows...and so I must continue to cut.

No telling how large this quilt will be.

I'll keep you posted.

p.s.....where are the pics of my quilt?  Trapped somewhere in my camera.

I probably cant blame the camera.

I Like A Challenge

Or I'm an idiot.  Not sure which.

I have other things I could tell you about.

Like opening my garage door Monday afternoon and finding a (pocket-sized) dog locked inside.

Or opening my BBQ and finding (another) birds nest (filled with eggs).

Or I could show you more pics of the trip to NC.

But I'm lazy....so I'm going to start with this instead and if I get up the motivation (at a later date) to show and tell the other stories I will.

But for now....the challenge.

I finished this quilt top this week.  I bought the kit from Guildcrafters many, many months ago.  I don't know why I bought it because I found working on it to be a dreadfull experience.  I hated the fabric choices, the lack of variety, etc.  I will NOT buy another one of these kits.  (Next time you see me with one in my hands you have my permission to SLAP ME SILLY.)

So anyway, weeks back I made the 1/2 square triangles, and this week I laid them out on the floor.

After laying them out I just dreaded the idea of sewing them together.  More precisely, I dreaded the idea of getting in and out of my sewing chair and walking back and forth to where I had laid them out......

So I decided, after leaving the blocks on the floor for a couple of hours that I didn't want to pick them up and stash them away for ever....that I would just set my old machine up on the floor and sew like I did when I was a kid SO lazy that I couldn't even clean off my desk top to do my homework and would just spread out and work on the floor.

So anyway, it took Monday night to sew the blocks into rows, and most of Tuesday to get the rows sewn and pressed, and here is is, Saturday, and I'm finally getting around to taking photos....
Of course, I couldn't take any photos until today due to rain and lightning and MORE FRIGGING  RAIN....but today it's  WIND that I am battling....And THAT is what today's challenge is.  Trying to get  a picture of the damn thing.

Like I said, I'm not in the least bit fond of this quilt....so I'll be finishing it myself and giving it away to the next charity in need.

And that's that.

Sometimes I make mistakes....

I did have a couple of pics from our overnight roadside stay:

 We look so well rested, dont we?

 Stray dog.  He actually looked both ways before he crossed the road. 

Our very scenic view.  Mountains.  Fog.  Semi's.

Our view has changed quite a bit since we arrived at Tom Johnson's RV Resort:

RV'rs like their tow vehicles to match their rigs.  (Photos loaded huge...click for correct image!)
This ain't tent camping, chicks.

But I Did Stay In A Holiday Inn Last Night......

Oh no I did not!
(Monday, 16, 2011)
Location:  Somewhere north of Bluefield, West Virginia....No photos because it is dark and foggy.
We slept /stayed at a rest stop somewhere near Bluefield, WV.  I think.  With no cell phone service, no Internet connection, and no local radio station to tell us anything except that we were going to burn in the fires of HELL because we had not been saved, it was impossible to pinpoint our exact location.
Of course, we did have the option of getting out of our rv and walking over to the sign that tells you that You Are Here.......but it was very dark.  A little scary.  So we remained uninformed.

West Virgina, while being breathtakingly scenic, offers little in the way of food or lodging when traveling along I 77.  We drove past the capital city of Charelston, where we saw a high rise Marriott, but didn't think we wanted to maneuver the motor home thru city streets, and we ASSumed that there would be an exit on the outskirts with lots of hotel choices and restaurants .
There weren't.
Nary a restaurant (not even a Bisquit World????) nor a skanky motel were to be seen past Summerville. (Remember Summerville kids?  And Summersville Lake Retreat?  The Liger?  The fire that Would Not Start!?)
So we pulled off into the rest stop, parked amongst the idleing semi's, and attempted to sleep.
I had my earplugs in which did next to nothing to block out the  WISH sound of the airbrakes of the trucks, or the Womp Womp Womp sound of their J Brakes..... and wondered if we would die from carbon monoxide ppoisoning from the running truck engines parked just a few feet from where I attempted sleep..)

We awoke, un-refreshed, and Tim joked about how there was probably a huge exit just ahead with tons of restaurants and hotels.....and damn it if that wasn't the case.
There was even a Country Inn and Suites (My usual  lodging choice) and every imaginable restaurant (including a Biscuit World, Waffle House, and a Bob Evans, among others....
We stopped for gas ($154 bucks....)  and eventually Bob Evans for breakfast,
Got back I-77....and navigated hairpin turns at breakneck speeds in rain and fog..........

Sights we are seeing:  Mine Rescue Trailers
                                    Porn Palaces
                                    Fog
                                    Endless Rain
Sights we did not see: "Nipple Mountain"" (too foggy)

To Be Continued...................

Spring....It's Here!

Im sure hoping that it will last.....

I got the last couple of rows sewn together for my thrifted shirt quilt Sunshine and Citrus.
It looks like it's as big as it's going to get.  I might make a quick trip to the quilt shop to see if they have anything I would want to use as a narrow border, or maybe just call it a day and find a back ad binding.
I thought Id get a pic of it in its current Flimsey state, but Mother Nature had her own ideas:

Until the wind dies down, that is as good as it's going to get.

Until next time.........

Coming back to life, slowly..

Hey Girls. I feel like I'm starting to come back to life after the NYC trip.  Went Krogering, put some laundry out to dry in the sun, and ate some lunch. 
Since I also got the bills paid , I think I'll take some time to show you a few more red and white quilts.

Enjoy!

New York City, And Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts

I'm exhausted girls.  I don't even know if I have the energy to tell you everything I saw and did.....so I'll post some photos for you and hopefully you will be able to get a sense of what I experienced.

Sunshine and Citrus

I was out and about with my friend Claudette last week.  Our travels took us to The Salvation Army, as it frequently does.  Claudette found a couple of denim skorts...her go-to summer wordrobe staple.  She needed to replace her well-worn (worn-out) skort that has seen her thru many good times and adventures.  I wish I had a pic of it to show....

Anyway,  my search took me to mens shirts and this is what I found.  This pic does not do them justice. The shirts are in the colors of sunshine and citrus and bellinis. I just love the madras plaid shirt.  The colors in it are beautiful and blend with all the other fabics I chose. 

And this is what I did with them.  I cut them up into random sized strips and just started free-piecing log cabin blocks. I added some of my scraps to the blocks and I think they fit in perfectly.  These blocks are 6 1/2 inches...because that is the size ruler I had on hand.  All the shirts I purchased were large, XL, or 2 XL, so the amount of fabric I got from each shirt was tremendous.  The 30 or so blocks I've made so far only used the fronts of the shirts....the backs and sleeves are still whole.

And these little guys are 3 1/2 inches.  Not sure how they will all end up together, but I was having a great time working on them.

So that's what I worked on this past weekend.  Not spending any time at the machine this week, but I'll be back at it next week.  I'll post more progress when I have it.

Talk to you chicks later!

Project Update

Just wanted to show you chicks that sometimes I do finish (sort-of) some of the things I've started.

(I'be been wanting to share this with you for some time but I lost the transfer cord to my camera)

This is a from a kit I bought in the fall of  2009 at a quilt show in Oxford.  I have the binding all set to go....the back required  some piecing....and some more piecing....and I might applique some "loops" on the back so that it looks like a ribbon on a gift. I need to look thru my stash to see if I have some batting.  I plan to quilt it myself.

This is my Just One Star blockng ...waiting for my siggie and an envelope.  Its on my To-Do list for tomorrow.

And girls, I wanted to show you that I got out our Material Girl Challenge blocks from Way Back When and I'm going to try to work out a setting that I like and I swear, As Bob Is My Witless, that I will get this turned into a top...and a quilt, by the end of the year.

There....I said it.  I put it out there.  So it will happen.

Thats all for now girls.  Talk to you later.

February Fun

This past weekend I got to enjoy some perfect snow and a long weekend of sewing at the farm.
That delightful Snow Woman was built with assistance from my friend Claudette, a.k.a. The Drama Mama, a.k.a. Silvia.  She added the anatomically correct details, while I was responsible for her fashions.
I would have been fun to build an entire Snow Woman family, but with nothing but dish and garden gloves for protection our fun had to be brief.

 You can see that Snow Woman is thinking about warmer weather, wine and gardening.......

This apron and pot holders are a little housewarning gift I made for one of my daughter's friends.  She just got her first place and I wanted to send her something.  Now I'm just waiting on an address.......

This is a terrible self-shot pic of the holly applique quilt that I finished and will hopefully be taking to the quilter this week......

That's all I have to show you for now......I showed you mine....now show me yours!!!

A Little Knitting

I'm showing Nik in the cowl I knit for Elle....it's been done for a while, but the weather and pure laziness have kept me from posting the photo and then sticking it in the box and mailing it.
It's just a simple seed stitch.  Cant remember how many stitches I cast on, and I don't remember what needles I used, but I'd like to make another one for Nik as well as one for myself so I'll have to go on a search for my notes.
Elle sent me this pic from her phone after she received her package yesterday at work.  She loves it, but could have used it when winter hit in NYC....Not sure why cant spin this pic around.....

That's all for now.....Have a great day!