Motivational Friday....

What's more motivating than to realize you have done NOTHING all week ....at least in the sewing department?

On a private message board we report what we have done for the week to help motivate others and I had nothing to report, so today I got busy to remedy that.

I made a template to help with getting my circle blocks centered perfectly on the grid of bronze Cherrywood I had made previously.

I have glue basted the first four on the first section and will stitch them down  in front of the TV tonight. 

Then I got the Roaring Waves on the long arm this morning.

Early this week I had made copies of a free panto pattern and taped  all the 8x11 sheets together to use on the long arm.  I wanted to use this one on Roaring Waves.  It is called Starlets.

Here's a couple close ups of the quilting. 

Roaring Waves is quilted.

I love the backing I chose for this quilt.  It is all the states.

The binding is made, but that will wait for another day.  This weekend is busy; and I am feeling good to have something to report for this week. 

MishMash

Right now I have no business sewing at all.  The washing machine died, so we went out and bought a new washer and dryer.  Since they were out of the laundry room, I decided to tear down the wallpaper that has been in there 20 some odd years.  That in itself has been a disaster.

Just prior to this escapade, the gals and I went on a little shop hop with instructions that I was NOT to buy any fabric.  You'll see that they were not of any help in that department.

Bought this adorable fox fabric for Jude who just moved into his "big boy" bed and his room has a fox theme, so I made him a pillowcase. 

Then I found this adorable little wallet that I am going to make from stash fabric.  Problem is...there are too many choices and I don't know which route to go.  

Also, I bought a KIT.  I never buy kits, but this one was adorable in one of my favorite quilt shops.  I have already purchased backing online and had to buy one of the fabrics that they had substituted something else in the kit.  

So far, I have stitched together the strips getting them ready to be sliced up.  It would have been nice to have this for the Fourth, but it will be ready for next year for sure. 

Quite awhile ago, I won a contest on Jan Patek's website for naming one of her blocks or quilts (can't remember which).  I was to get a pattern.  Well, they lost my info and a lot of time passed and I kind of forgot about it until the other day when the pattern came in the mail along with another pattern for being so late (they finally found my info).  I love them both!!

Then today when we realized that the drywall mud was not dry enough to sand, I started putting the Hearts and Hands blocks onto their respective places on the  background and pinned them in place.  Now I can get ready to stitch them down.

Ok....back to getting the laundry room into shape.   

Still prepping, plus.....-

Yes, I am still prepping for my retreat that will take place in a couple weeks.

I planned on "buying" fabric for the alternating blocks for the 9-patch quilt, but ended up finding  several yards of gold florals  in the  Robyn Pandolph line lying around in my cupboard.  That's what I get for putting some of these projects away for "years".  It's a blessing though, I don't have to buy fabric that I don't need. 

Laid out my 9-patches and the alternating 6 1/2 " squares.

It's a good thing that I decided to lay these out because apparently my math isn't too good.  I would have been very disappointed to get to retreat and realize I was short some blocks.  So, I went through some more of my 9-patches (some had to be re-sewn because they were not the correct size) and cut out some more alternating blocks.

All the blocks are there now and I have my rows pinned and ready to be sewn at retreat.  This will work up to be 90 x 96.  

Also, I got the baby quilt cut out, too.  

I had bought these little "On the Dot" markers quite some time ago and decided to give them a try.

Just one of my cuts for the baby quilt required  28 - 1 1/2" strips and I thought I would lose my way.  These little markers kept me on track.  I would highly recommend these.  

Then there are my Hearts and Hands blocks.  I've mentioned that I probably have 50 of these prepped and ready to paper piece, but the other day I was looking for something to work on,  so since I have so many, I decided to complete the 10 that I had started.  

I was sure I wouldn't be getting a whole of these done at retreat as they are very time consuming, but "hey!" what a good feeling to have these done now.  There's plenty more where they came from.  

Now, if I can just keep from getting into anymore of these prepped projects before I leave or I will have to find something else to take.  

I think I will just pack these up so they are out of site and maybe out of mind until I get to St. Louis. 

Now....what to do to keep my hands busy in the meantime?!!

60 MPH winds.....

holid

Well, that warm weather we were experiencing yesterday was absolutely wonderful. It was nearly 60 degrees out. DH and I took a walk downtown Rochester to see the Christmas lights before they are done for until next year.













Of course, this morning 60 mph winds blew in the cold weather again and we are back down to 32 degrees. We did find that the winds blew down our pear tree early this morning. This is the tree that DH was going to cut down but he was waiting for all the leaves to drop. If you notice, we are at the end of December and there are still leaves on this tree.


Since it was so windy and chilly out, I stayed in my sewing room most of the day and made up another three rows of blocks for the Merry Go Round quilt. One whole tower of Strawberries and Lemonade made this 62 x 82 quilt and all I have left is 8 half blocks and several wedges that will be used for charity baby quilts (or at least that is my plan).





I, also, made up one of my Hearts and Hand blocks. This quilt is going to be so pretty. I have a couple more prepped and ready to stitch, but since I have been neglecting my Dear Jane, I am sure this one is going to take some time to do, too.




Well, I hope the weather is good where you are; and I hope I have more to report to you in regards to my sewing soon.

Is it Spring yet?

Well, at least that is how I felt when I got up this morning. We are getting 52 degree weather today after living in what has felt like arctic weather here in Michigan. This good weather (even though it is raining) is only going to last for a day before it goes back to arctic temperatures. I do have to say though that we got to enjoy a beautiful "white" Christmas.


Thought it was time to get back into the sewing room now that all the festivities have died down. I have plenty of things to choose from where projects are concerned. First off I decided to pick up a box of blocks that have been sewn into rows since I think September. I now have all 21 rows sewn together and am thinking of making a couple more rows before deciding if I am going to put a border on this quilt or not. This project came about because I had won a "tower" of Strawberries and Lemonade fabric while at my St. Louis, MO retreat back in June of 2008. I am hoping to get this project done for the 2009 retreat.







Secondly, I decided to get out my Hearts and Hands pattern and cut out a bunch of pieces from freezer paper. The fabric stack of beautiful fabrics that Nancy gave me for Christmas will be used for this hand applique project and I am looking forward to picking out which fabrics go where.