Brilliant!!!

I am just brilliant! Yes, really, I am!

Tomorrow the weather from central IL to Chicago is supposed to be downright nasty as the day goes on. We are projected to get freezing rain, sleet, ice and other bundles of joy. I need to be in Chicago by 3:15 on Sunday for the Bears game, for which I have a ticket. So what to do?

I have decided to go up early (like as early as I leave for work) tomorrow. Stop on Morris at the dealer to pick up the Janome. Then head into Brookfield and spend 2 nights with my sister (her 2 boys and our Dad, making it a 3 generational house of nuttiness, but that is another story for another day) (and let’s not forget the 2 cats and one dog).

As previously mentioned, I am making a quilt for my Dad for Xmas. So since I will have the Janome in tow, Kim and I will set up shop in her upstairs bedroom suite, and power sew the top. If I can leave early on Monday morning with the top all done (and studied through Chapter 6, another goal), it will have been a fantastic weekend!

Week 49 goals

Goals for Week 49:
Peter/Hunter quilt – progress of some sort
Trifecta – quilted (or at least started…)
Crayon – red crayon done
Giftie – progress
Coasters giftie – done
Dad – progress
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Pictures into guild for show
LCRR – final strips for final block set

I must study, and that takes precedence over all!

Week 48

Week 48 was better than I thought, but not as much as I would have liked. Studying and the stress of studying are freaking me out pretty good at this point.

Goals for Week 48:
King - 4 x 4 disappearing 9 patch center done
Peter/Hunter quilt – progress of some sort
Trifecta – quilted (or at least started…)
Crayon – red crayon done
Giftie – progress
Coasters giftie – done
Dad – progress
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Pictures into guild for show

What I got done:

I started week 48 on Sunday the 25th, which was the first full day home from KS. I made it a pretty productive day…

Sunday, 11/25/07:
King – 4 x 4 disappearing 9 patch center done. It’s 54 inches square and turned out really well.
Dad – Sewed 80 squares to 80 bricks and did all the bonus triangles.
Started 10 string blocks.

Monday, 11/26/07:
Nothing.

Tuesday, 11/27/07:
Made center for red crayon and added 2 strips. Finished string blocks. Sandwiched the roll up thing. Prepped 80 white squares and also made 8 4 patch centers.

Wednesday, 11/28/07:
Started red crayon and stopped after screw-up. Sewed the 80 squares and cut another 64.

Thursday, 11/29/07:
Started on the coasters giftie. I have hundreds of bonus triangles from my snowmen quilt and I am setting them together as Broken Dishes for coasters. I had 4 blocks made, then I did 6 more last night and I still do not have all the triangles ironed and sorted. I need 12 coasters – 6 for the gift and 6 for me, plus I will use the rest of the blocks in a table runner for me. So the more blocks the merrier.

Wednesday - So-So

Wednesday afternoon at work was a mess, so some of that work came home with me. Plus we went out for dinner, so that took time. I started red crayon and stopped after screwing up. It now needs some frogging. So then I sewed the 80 squares and cut another 64 for the Dad quilt. So it was not a total loss.

Tuesday's progress

Tuesday made for a better night for quilting. First of all, I studied, which always makes me feel better.

I made the center for red crayon and added 2 strips. 10 string blocks got finished (but I can't find the other 10 I've done...hmmm...). I sandwiched the top of the giftie. And I prepped 80 white squares and also made 8 4 patch centers for the Dad quilt.

Not as much as I would like, but progress is prgress. I absolutely must sew on the Dad quilt every day in order to make Christmas without a panic.

no progress

No quilting last night. Too busy catching up on grocery shopping, dishes, homework with DD and the like. And watching the Amzaing Race on tivo.

I didn't study last night, but I did study for 30 minutes throughout the day.

Week 48 Goals

And now on to Week 48…

Goals for Week 48:
King - 4 x 4 disappearing 9 patch center done
Peter/Hunter quilt – progress of some sort
Trifecta – quilted (or at least started…)
Crayon – red crayon done
Giftie – progress
Coasters giftie – done
Dad – progress
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Pictures into guild for show

Week 47

Since I was away from the PC for most of the week, I construed my week-end to be on Saturday.

Goals for Week 47 (traveling on holiday):
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Trifecta - quilted
Pictures into guild for show
GFG – done with goal (6 flowers finished)
Crayon - Cut red crayon, cut brown crayon, cut black crayon
Cut for OK Backroads
Peter/Hunter quilt – progress of some sort

What I got done:

Over the weekend, I cut everything I need (or should need) for 72 Backroads to OK squares. I also cut I don’t know how many pairs of nickels and also cut the red crayon and the black crayon. I also finished sewing the brown crayon. And the patches needed to sew a 4 x 4 disappearing 9 patch have also been cut.

Then I started on the giftie that is due mid-December. I have the ‘top’ done.

The goal of the weekend was to get everything cut so I can power sew on Sunday. We shall see.

During the week in KS, I did finish 3 GFG flowers: red #1, orange #1 and yellow #1. They took a lot longer than I have budgeted.

Gobble Gobble

This will be my last post until I return from KS over the weekend. I got a lot of Christmas shopping done after work today, and I have finished my cutting goals for before the trip. I also have started to work on my Secret Santa giftie, so that's always a plus.

Peace out.

I'm getting there...

It appears that I am getting the hang of this blogspot thing. Some pieces are far more intuitive than I thought they would be. That helps.

I dropped off my machine at the dealer yesterday morning and asked them to ask the tech if a leader/ender was required to sew on this machine. They were of the "no" school of thought, as am I, but others swear it's required. We shall see what the tech says. Now, I know the machine comes back with a piece of fabric under the foot, but I have always regarded it as proof that the tech tested and reset the tension for the various stitches, not as an endorsement of leaders/enders. Stay tuned.

Yesterday was spend up north doing various things, including celebrating Thanksgiving with my family with BLTs. Don't ask - it works for us! We arrived at my MIL's late in the afternoon and she about gave me the third degree about where we were all day. Um, I have family too? Whatever. Most importantly, she has my dog, and Taffy is going downhill fast. So I said my goodbyes and wished her well at the Rainbow Bridge. I would be surprised if Taffy lasted until year end. She's just really old.

So without a child this morning, Ted and I were befuddled with what to do. I actually finished cutting for the disappearing 9 patch center of my King quilt, and the colored patches for the Dad quilt, and the strips for the red crayon. I then finished sewing the brown crayon and started cutting the black crayon. I am nearing the completion of my cutting goals pre-gobble.

Yes, I did sew. My old Kenmore has weathered the move well. YAY! It will get me through until my Gem is ready.

So off to the basement to do more. I want to finish cutting the black crayon and start cutting the white squares for the Dad quilt and I don't know what else.

It's really too early to post...

A few odds 'n ends this early Saturday morning...

First of all, I'm taking machine in to the doctor for a check-up. I feel like Linus without his blankey. Waah! I'll be travelling this coming week, so it's a perfect time for it to go in. I'll also set up the other machine, which is still in its moving box, and assess its status as well. I actually can quilt a few things on the old Kenmore, so here's hoping I can get some stuff done done and crossed off the list.

I had great illusions of grandeur yesterday about getting a ton of things done when work was done at 12:45. I went home and took a nap instead. Best use of time; I felt great when I woke up. DH came home from Decatur and we went to get DD. DD decided to stay for parents night out (daycare stays open late so parents can go out - well worth the $7 per hour), so we went to my work's happy hour, had dinner, socialized, came home, watched a movie on tivo and then got DD. Worked for her, worked for us.

I retreated successfully last weekend, so this weekend's goal is to cut a lot. I want to finish cutting the Dad quilt, plus the patches for the King quilt, plus the piano key border for the Batik Lover's quilt. So I will cut like mad, tidy a bit more down here, and get ready for the machine's triumphant return! I need about 3 more hours down here busting tail and I will really be in good shape. So I hope to get 'r done this weekend.

Dinner's already in the crockpot (beef stew) and it;s time to get going to the dealer and to haircuts up north.

Week 46

Goals for week 46:
Finish sorting charity fabrics and all yarns
Fayge – done
Chiclets – done with goal of 12 blocks
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Batik lover’s – top done
Trifecta - quilted
Pictures into guild for show
Crayons – yellow done
Clean up workspace/garage

What I got done:
Chiclets – all 12 blocks done.
Fayge quilt – 11/11/07 – Done!
Clean up workspace/garage – 11/11/07 – All garage purple bins are done! 10 bins are down to 2, and those 2 are down in the sewing studio.
Crayons – 11/11/07 - yellow done; brown crayon has 50 strips on it! 11/13/07 – another 10 on brown. 11/14/07 – only 16 left, so I sewed on 24(?). 11/15/07 – started cutting red strips.
Dad & King – cut 3 colors – 11/12/07 – started to cut yellow. 11/13/07 – finished cutting yellow, cut orange and started to cut blue (first cuts done, subcuts need to be done). 11/14/07 – First cuts of green all done and red was started as well as the first cuts for the red crayon. 11/15/07 – started cutting red and green into subcuts and then Survivor came on….

I have picked out the fabric for the inner lining of an organizer thing that I am making for my Secret Santa on the Kansas Quilters list. I’ll go to JoAnn’s today to buy zippers and vinyl for the pockets.

So a good week, but not a great week.

Goals for Week 47 (traveling on holiday):
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Trifecta - quilted
Pictures into guild for show
GFG – done with goal (6 flowers finished)
Crayon - Cut red crayon, cut brown crayon, cut black crayon
Cut for OK Backroads
Peter/Hunter quilt – progress of some sort

Productivity Continues!

Productivity rolled into Wednesday night as well. I actually got in 2 mini-study sessions for my insurance exams (think boards, etc.) and if I’ve studied, I always feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders for the day. So with 35 minutes of studying under my belt, off I went to sew.

I sewed some more strips on to the brown crayon braid. Dimensions will be huge on this thing, based on my early math, so we shall see. It’s busting a lot of little scraps, but since Becky’s stash came into my stash, I can just whack some strips of her voluminous yardage pieces she sent my way. Oy.

I did finish all the subcutting on the blues and then did the first cuts on the green and started on the red. I also started cutting the 2” strips for the red crayon. The only crayons left are the red and the black, so I am getting there.

I did decide that I will quilt each crayon individually, then add some joining strips and join the crayons together and quilt some sort of cable or something down the join. Since my DSM is just a Janome Gem, there’s only so much it can handle. The stitch I want to use to quilt each braid is on my Kenmore, so once the Janome goes to the doctor for a check up on Saturday, I’ll set up the Kenmore and start on the quilting of the crayons. Not exactly the order I want to do everything in, but I will take what I can get. If I can get one braid all done and joined each week, then I will be finished well before the show.

And then a co-worker at Ted’s work had her baby and it was a boy. I have the Peter quilt nearly done, and frankly, since Peter’s parents have never once contacted me since the move and I only know them through my old work, I am deciding that the Peter quilt will now be the Hudson quilt (yes that is what they named him) and I will endeavor to finish that up tonight and tomorrow on the Gem and then finish the hand sewing this weekend.

So I’m torn. Finish the baby quilt or finish my cutting. I hope to handle both.

Tuesday night progress

A good quilty night, especially when compared to Monday night. Monday night’s lack of stuff can be attributed to white wine in the food and the scents of dinner and the scent of tropical breeze in the Glad Plug-in in the basement all clashing to make me feel nasty. Ted wasn’t doing too hot either, while DD was fine and she didn’t eat the same thing we did.

Anyway, Tuesday’s success. I did finish cutting yellow and then went on to cut all of orange and the first cut on the blues. The first cut is just whacking off a 5” strip from all of these folds of fabric. I was able to determine that 2 large yardage pieces from my cousin are nasty when ironed, so they are poly blends and off to charity they went.

So tonight’s goal is to finish cutting up the blues, cut the greens and make the first cut in the reds. I need to cut for the red crayon as well, and that will just take a ton of time. Tomorrow is our first Brownies meeting, so I have to leave work early to handle pick-up, so I will have more quilty time! Yay! I hope to handle the reds, the whites and the blacks on Thursday.

Oh, and I should do some more on the brown crayon, shouldn’t I?

Daily Update

Last night was ho-hum on the quilty front. I started by sewing 10 more on the brown strip (it’s a big long braid) and I started to cut yellow for the Dad quilt and the King quilt (for my bed). I need a 5” strip from 17 yellows, so into the milk crate I went.

I found 13 from large yardage cuts (mostly my cousin’s stash). Some will come from my baggie of small scraps. I need 1 pair of nickels (for the nickel bin) and 1 single nickel for the King quilt. Then I take the remainder and cut it lengthwise into 2 2.5” strips. One goes into the binding baggie (these 2 quilts will just have scrappy binding) and the other gets cut down into as many 2.5” squares and 2.5 x 4.5 bricks as possible.

Dad’s quilt is a Backroads to OK, a Bonnie Hunter pattern. The King quilt is going to a mish-mosh of a lot of stuff and we need another king quilt for our bed because the current one is too small (how 7.5’ by 9’ is too small, I have no idea, but whatever). I found in my sorting something like 50 9” friendship stars from a swap in 2002 and another 50 6” siggie squares from another swap in 2001 or 2002. So when I did the math, I can make a quilt that is medallion style.

Center: disappearing 9 patch, with the same center square in each 9 patch to provide some sort of continuity. 16 squares, set 4 x 4.
2” plain border
Flying geese
2” plain border
Friendship stars
2” plain border
Siggie squares
2” plain border
Friendship stars
2” plain border

Mathematically this turns out huge, but that’s what we need.

The goal is to have everything cut before I leave for my annual sojourn to KS for Thanksgiving and then to power sew upon my return.

And best of all, both will come 100% from stash and thus be free!

Virtual Retreat Success!

What a great quilty weekend! Stashbusters had a virtual retreat this weekend, and I was participating! I got a lot done for quilting, but not necessarily all at the machine.

The most important achievement of the weekend was that we went through all the Rubbermaid bins in the garage. I thought for sure that nearly all of them were full of crafts. Only 10 of the 30 were and I whipped through those 10 in an hour. Several bins had fabric that I bought 15+ years ago, so I went ahead and donated it all. It was not quilting cotton. One bin had my Looney Tunes fabrics in it and another had a tumbling blocks quilt that I had started, so I put those 2 together in one bin. Another bin was one I packed from my old sewing room and so it was just lost and now it is found. YAY!

There was another bin’s worth of stuff that was other crafts worth saving. Some cross stitch supplies and the hot glue gun and some other stuff, so those things got filed back into my craft supplies elfa shelving unit. And another bin was full of purple fabrics, so now purple has its own milk crate under my sewing table. I also found a ton of orphan blocks, so I added them to the orphan block baggie I’ve started. We’ll see what happens with those blocks. One set of blocks is enough to make a lap quilt I think, so that may be a good piece to practice some FMQ.

So overall, it resulted in 2 bags of donations, 1 bag of garbage, 2 bins of quilting fabric and general peace of mind. I thought for sure that my stash in the garage was far bigger. Now I think I have located all my stash, but I am still missing one project. That is the goal for this week.

I also cut 3 colors for the Dad quilt – brown, pink and purple. I sewed the yellow crayon and started the brown crayon. And I finished the Fayge quilt (while busting a bunch of tivo!).

So we shall see what I get done tonight. More of the brown crayon, and I want to cut yellow, blue and orange for the Dad quilt. And maybe sort the last charity fabrics in the sewing room, but let’s not get greedy.

Week 45 results and Week 46 Goals

Week 45 was interesting. I did get a lot of sewing done at the retreat, but none of that is reflected on here, since I revamped my list post-retreat.

Goals:
Crayons – yellow done
Chiclets – do some more blocks (I hate this one and will be very glad to get this over with and stick it back in its hidey hole!)
Sort charity fabrics
Fayge quilt – attach binding for handsewing
Trifecta – sandwiched
Clean up workspace

What I got done:
Chiclets – 1 side on the 12 blocks.
Fayge quilt – 11/08/07 – binding attached and one side whipped down during Survivor
Clean up workspace – 11/06/07 – 3 hours! 11/07/07 – 3 hours!

Goals for week 46:
Finish sorting charity fabrics and all yarns
Fayge – done
Chiclets – done with goal of 12 blocks
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Batik lover’s – top done
Trifecta - quilted
Pictures into guild for show
Crayons – yellow done
Clean up workspace/garage

We shall see how week 46 goes. I have insurance exams to study for, and that just has to happen.

Quilty Goals - 2008

Another post. I pilfered off my LiveJournal account so that my blogspot has a clear thread about what I am thinking on the quilting front. This was written a few weeks ago, so some paragraphs will have updates.

I have taken some serious stock of my quilting stuff since I had to integrate my cousin’s stash into my own and man, I have enough fabric. I have decided to participate in some quilty challenges in 2008. I’m on a yahoo group called Stashbusters, and they have several challenges to get people using or donating their stash and not making the problem worse. The 4 challenges I hope to participate in are:

The No Buy Challenge – I will not join officially, so I will do what is know as the Spirit of No Buy, which a lot of us do. The premise is that you can only buy to finish a project you are doing RIGHT NOW. These are legal purchases. I would love to do this for a year, if not longer. Right now I am aiming for starting after I get back from retreat (November 5) and getting through year end. I am thinking of saving up $10 per week for every week I can make it through. By the end of 2008, that would be a tidy sum. I am including books and patterns in that, but I do have a running tools list that I keep. If I find it, I buy it, as not every shop carries every thing. UPDATE: I bought nothing at the retreat, and so I need to start saving my $10 bills!

The 100 Yard Dash Challenge – Everyone just does this one by themselves; there’s no official challenge as we cannot come to a consensus on how to count it. Some want to do only things in your stash, but if you had to make a purchase (as indicated above), that doesn’t count. I just take the measurements of the project, count the front and back, convert to square inches and add the binding. Then I take the total square inches and divide it by 42” for the width of the fabric on the bolt and then by 36” for yardage. Right now, I’ve used about 20 yards in 2007, but should I bang out a ton of finishes here in the last 2 months, that could ramp up quickly. My goal would be 200 yards (this year and next) by the end of 2008.

The UFO Challenge – this one I join for real. It’s complicated to explain, but my personal goals for 2008 are 12 twin sized (or greater) finishes. This is basically finishing up old projects that have been abandoned. Another goal is not to start any more; the count needs to go down.

The WIPs and WHIMMs Challenge – this is another one I join for real. This rewards the projects started and completed within the same calendar year, thus reducing new UFOs. I don’t care how many of these I have.

UPDATE: I was the Linus Lady for my guild and then I moved. I spoke to my fellow guild members/bee members at the retreat last weekend (it is fantastic when your guild President and VP are in your bee. You can get so much done!), and they solved the problem for me. The ruling was that the guild will no longer support Project Linus as a guild. People are free to do their own thing. As for all the supplies and fabric that people dumped on me for Linus that I paid to move, I can sort through them and donate them in my local community to a like charity. YAY! I have been going through boxes and bins for the last 2 days, sorting into charity for Linus, charity other, garbage and my stuff. 3 boxes are gone, 1 more is full of Linus stuff, 1 garbage bag is other charity donations and there are 3 bags of garbage. YAY! This has been a huge hassle in my garage and we need to get it resolved. Now that it is, full steam ahead!

List through the Guild Show

Well, I’ve had this blogspot account reserved for quite some time, as it matches my LiveJournal account. I rather like my user name, so I’m fussy about keeping it. Kinda like Bonnie Hunter and Quiltville. My goal of this blog is to journal my quilting (my LiveJournal account handles everything else, and in that one, I swear like a sailor, so be warned if you go over there!). I love to quilt and have been at it for 20 years, making my first quilt at age 16.

To get this blog going, I’m going to list my goals between now and the end of the year. I decided to start journaling my quilting by week a few months ago. The week starts when my work week ends. If I’m done at noon on Friday, well then, that’s when the week starts. The week ends when I arrive at work on that last day of my work week. Typically the week ends on Friday morning and then the new one starts on Friday afternoon.

My list below contains all things that I want to finish by my guild’s show in early March. Fat chance, I know, but if I do not dream, I will never get anywhere. This does keep me on some level of task to get things done. I want to hang 3 quilts in the show and they are all on this list. If they are the only 3 things I get done, well, then it’s a success.

So without further adieu, the full list of everything I wrote down, just free form. I will put down some goals between now and year end and see where we are by then. Yes, it’s a lot of projects, but what can I say?

Batik lover’s – top done
Tumbleweeds - find
Crayons – top done
Fence rail/LCRR – top done, back done (both are quilts – it’s reversible)
Snowmen – sandwiched
Snow accessories - done
Peter quilt - done
Fayge quilt - done
Jackson quilt - done
Lasagna - done
Lasagna - done
St. Pat’s – find
St. Pat’s accessories - find
OK backroads - done
Charity LCRR 1 - done
Charity LCRR 2 - started
Charity LCRR 3 - nothing
Quiltfabric.com – blocks done
Shower curtain - done
Super Secret Quilt - designed
GFG – 6 flowers done
Denim – started
Strings – 100 blocks done
Gifties – need 10 – 1 has to be done by Dec 15, so 1 done. Blocks done for all, supplies purchased for all.
Silent auction item – aiming for St. Pat’s table runner, so need to find St. Pat’s stuff
Chiclets – 12 blocks done
QFAH batik quilt – through hour 10
Pink & Yellow LCRR – top done
Trifecta - done
Bedroom quilt – top done

So now by week:
45
Crayons – yellow done
Chiclets – do some more blocks (I hate this one and will be very glad to get this over with and stick it back in its hidey hole!)
Sort charity fabrics
Fayge quilt – attach binding for handsewing
Trifecta – sandwiched
Clean up workspace – 11/06/07 – 3 hours! 11/07/07 – 3 hours!

46
Finish sorting charity fabrics and all yarns
Fayge – done
Chiclets – done with goal (I really hate this one, can’t you tell?!?!)
Tumbleweeds – find!!!
Batik lover’s – top done
Trifecta - quilted
Pictures into guild for show

47
GFG – done with goal
Crayon - Cut red crayon, cut brown crayon, cut black crayon
Cut for OK backroads
Trifecta -done
(traveling on holiday)

OK, back to work!