Monday questions.... Easy Street

I pulled out Easy Street this afternoon and auditioned some fabrics for borders. This top has decided it wants to get completed sometime soon. The quilt is together  at this point and is about 83x83. I want it a bit bigger for my bed.
I was thinking an inner border of the light tan print with the maroon for the outer border. Another option is brown and then maroon.

There is always the choice of tan or brown for the inner border and green for the outer border.

Mom likes the tan with green. I think maybe the brown for the binding. Which way would you go?

Happy Easter!

I'm a little late for posting for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this weekend. This week to wrap up I have orange peels to show. I have five left to do and will work on those later this afternoon when things quiet down and most of the company has left for the day. I just need to cut out some more background prints first.
It was a busy orange month with some snail's trail blocks, 64 patch square and orange peels.

I finally finished the Halloween top and should be able to get it quilted and bound for Halloween this year.

I never got to my crumb blocks as those scraps are somewhere in the closet that is my parents room while they are here. Maybe I can sew those up next week after they head home to Vermont.
I am hooking up with SoScrappy for her RSC Challenge on Saturday and Kathy with Kathy Quilts for slow stitching Sunday. Head on over and take a look at what others are working on for this Holiday weekend.

Never too late for a Midget block....

I am a bit late for posting my Midget block this week. I finally was able to grab a bit of time on Friday afternoon after mopping floors to paper piece the middle part of this block together. I removed two of the lines on each of the four parts to make it a bit easier to sew. I then hand pieced the brown parts along the outside of the block while the kids were playing next to me on the computer. Nice and easy and most important - it's done!

This is #83 - Evening Star.

Grandmothers Choice on Grammy's machine!

I have not done much with my singer machine since the hubby got it all oiled up and working for me back in November. Something about threading and figuring out the bobbin...... Well, Mom is here this week and I conned convinced her to play with it and get it running for me! She got it threaded and then has the tension all adjusted for the top and bottom. While doing this, both my kids were watching her as she explained she used to sew on this machine when she was in 4-H years and years ago! I was surprised at how quiet it is when it sews. I had heard that it made clacking sounds when sewing. I could easily be doing this in the front room and no one would be bothered in the living room with the noise.
I thought it was fitting to try and sew this week's grandmothers choice block on my grandmothers machine!

Here she is in all her glory.

Last night we just did a basic meal and since I had some broccoli hanging around that needed to be used I came up with this little salad. Broccoli florets, some crumbled cooked bacon, sliced black olives, cucumber quarters and some chopped red pepper. I just drizzled some ranch dressing over it and it tasted pretty good.

A busy spring break week.....

Life has been a wee bit hectic at my house. The kids are on spring break and I've been fiddling with a bank change at work... boy is that a total pain in the behind! One last thing to get fixed and I think I can close that old account next week after the last two bills pay from there.
Mom and Dad are back for the week and I've been scheduling things for the kids. Tuesday.... we attempted to go bowling but the lanes were all full. We'll try again on Friday after I do some costume work with the girls for Emmy's dance recital in April. We ended up at IHop for lunch instead and both kids demolished a funny face pancake for lunch.
Yesterday we hit the Citrus County Fair in Inverness with Grandma H, my parents and the kids. The carnival rides were not open during the day but there were plenty of animals to look at and pet, horses to ride and cows to milk (not a real one).

There was a building of trains set up and running that entertained the kids and adults. I also got to see a few quilts hanging up.

Of course - Emmy saw a cow outside of the barn with all the cows, a big black one. She really wanted to pet it. I asked - the adult there said - 'It's a 1400 pound heifer, but if you pick her up I'll hold the cow and try to keep her still. So.... Emmy got to pet the pretty black cow. She also was petting a pig, rabbits and the horses she rode. Did I mention my girl loves cows? That was her request for a birthday present. Daddy - get me an ambulance, grandma is getting her a princess clock and Mommy has to get her a cow!

They also played with a two person band that was playing around the fair. They had a box of instruments for kids to play along with them. Mine joined right in!


Today, I was thinking of taking them to a farm but I think we need a stay at home day today. Maybe I can find some sewing time..... I need to make a Midget block and my GC block for the week.

Slow stitching Sunday....

Today Mom and Dad are coming back for the week so I think I will be unstitching my pineapple blossom quilt today! I seem to have sewn one of the inner borders on wrong so I need to do a bunch of frogging so I can get to it and put it on correctly.

Wish me luck. It is a very windy and rainy day today with two very cranky kids. Sounds like a good day to cuddle on the couch and chat. The hubby has the big green egg fired up with some ribs on slow cooking. I can't wait for dinner! I have one of these french loaves left from Friday. It was soooooo good.

If I get through the frogging, there are always orange peels waiting in the bag for some hand stitching.

Head on over to Kathy Quilts and see some other hand work in progress this week.

Another Saturday in Orange

This week I was able to finish the orange/black block and a few of the orange peels.

All my blocks so far.

Why I tend to wait until the 20th plus day of the month to do these when I have them all prepped at the beginning I'll never know. I guess it is just the procrastinator in me! The rest should be done by next Saturday as my parents are coming back for the week and heading home on April 1 after celebrating Easter and an early Birthday for Emily. I think the sewing machine will be left out of their room so I can sew a bit while they are here. Now to pick up the room and get it ready for company again tomorrow.

Head on over to SoScrappy's blog and see what others are working on in the orange colorway this week. I am so glad I have another week... I still have some crumbs to make!

Easy Street progress.....

I saw this sign when leaving bowling the other day.

I took it as a sign to finally begin sewing my blocks into rows this week. I have a very large living room.... and this quilt makes it look tiny! This is the progress so far... lots of rows ready to be sewn together.

and of course a picture with my models who are on spring break starting today.

I was thinking this would go to my niece..... but I have a feeling it will end up as a quilt for my bed!

As for dinner...... does anyone else completely forget to take things out of the freezer like I do? I have been thinking of chicken Marsala all week and still have not taken the chicken out. Well today (yes, I know it's lent - we had fish last night, does that count?) I decided since I have the mushrooms, pepper and onion that need to get used and canned tomato's in the pantry, I would try making chicken cacciatore in the crock pot.

Now I have fond memories of Mom making this. She always used the electric yellow skillet to make this and used bone in chicken breasts. I remember this pan since she always made this and the sausage gravy in this pan... nothing else! Just like she had certain bowls to make certain things. To this day if we are referring to the small metal spatula (which all 5 of us kids have) it is the lasagna spatula! I just have to boil up some noodles around dinner time and hopefully we'll have a tasty meal tonight. No recipe - just a little of this and that thrown in on low to cook all day. I also plan to try some french bread that Ellen has been making. It looks so good I am going to give it a try. The recipe can be found here. I see the leftover bread being made into french toast on Sunday morning and the second loaf will pop into the freezer until next week to go with some lentil soup.

Tiny Tuesday - Wind flowers

This weeks block is number 81 - Wind flowers. It is a combo of hand applique and machine piecing. Other than these little squares being very tiny, it went together very easily.

Slow stitching Sunday

After a very busy day yesterday, I enjoyed some sewing time today and some hand work.
After a little girl woke us up around 7:30 telling us ' It's Mornin' she decided she was hungry and wanted to go out for breakfast. We hit Ihop and had a good breakfast.... she was hungry and ate her whole smiley face pancake!

After we got home I was able to finish off my needle turn applique for my Midget block this week in between reading some books to Emmy. I forgot to take a picture of those pieces but they were quarter circles onto a 1 and 5/8 inch block. Can you say tiny?

After running a few more errands and having lunch - Em and Daddy took naps so I got to SEW!!!! I got this top put together today. This is completely from stash and yes, I was out of the green and cream fabrics I used in the hour glass blocks. I think it came out ok.

Tonight I hope to finish off this little 12 inch block from a quilt block along last year. I just have a little of the inner border and then the outer border to go. I have one more of these blocks ready for quilting.... I guess it is time to go back and make some more of them.

Head on over to Kathy Quilts and see what other slow stitches are being taken today.

Saturday in Orange....

This week was about finishing up a few things. I have a few UFO's on my sidebar that I took out and examined. It seems I needed 6 more blocks for two of them before I could start putting them together.

First, I made a 16 patch block to go with the purple one from last month. I  also made a few nine patches that will end up in this UFO.

Then I checked my birds in the air blocks from last year's RSC and made 6 more blocks. Two orange, two blue and two green.

They will end up at some point as a top with these blocks.

I also got some time on Wednesday and was able to finish off my Halloween wall hanging into a top this week. Hopefully this will get quilted and bound sometime before October.



Today is my 'kid free' day so I'll drop them to Grandma for the day and then head to my aunt's house for a paternal family reunion of my Dad's siblings. Then it will be off to meet the hubby for a date night dinner after he is done working. I guess I'll have to pick up one kid after that and the other will be having a sleepover with Grandma. Just another busy day at my house.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other orange projects are being worked on this week.

A UFO..... has come out to play

This nine patch quilt has been sitting patiently in a drawer waiting to come out and play. I think I started the nine patches a few years ago back in Vermont. Last year during the RSC green month I made a bunch of the hourglass blocks but needed 6 more of the nine patches. On Wednesday around sick kids and cleaning - I pulled some fabrics and made 5 more of the nine patches. The sixth one is all cut out and waiting to get sewn. Then I laid them out......I just need one more nine patch and then I can start putting this one together. I need to search and see if I have any more of this green and cream to make a finishing border. If not.... it will be time to get creative again!

A finished top

I started working on this little Halloween wall hanging last year during the RSC challenge in September. It started from this little drawing.

 My parents were visiting then and Mom got to see the start and some progress on this. She came down again this month and since orange was the color picked, I had planned to pull this little wall hanging out again. She did ask if I had finished it when she walked in the door last week! Nope - had not touched it since last year. I had not noticed I forgot a couple of the inner borders when putting it together last fall.

After a little frogging....... I made a few more of the four patches and attached them to the right spot.
Next was to figure out the Boo. I had no clue how I was going to do this. Thank goodness I am not a perfectionist as I just drew a B and an O on some interfacing. Cut it out and then made another O and pressed them onto the fabric. I didn't want it to fray... so I tried a new stitch on my machine. Ok, I confess. I have a nice sewing machine and I really only use the #2 straight stitch on my Viking. Well, I decided to try a zig zag... nope. Not what I was thinking. So I tried #28 which was a satin stitch maybe? Anyway... it covered the edges but does take some practice to do curves and corners. It is not perfect but not bad for a first try. This is 24x35 right now.

I am not sure it is done... it might want another border and I do see a spider on a web somehow around that Boo in the quilting. I think I'll let it sit for a week and then revisit it and see what it tells me.

Handy to have a quilt ready to go......

We found out last Friday that my son's teacher at pre-k has to leave for personal reasons. Aidan has two teachers in his room but this one is his favorite. She is so great with the kids and gets to know all the parents so I wanted something for her to remember her class by. I just happen to have 3 quilts completed right now without any person designated to them. I gave Aidan the choice on Monday morning and he said since she is a girl she should get the pink one. This actually has a nice cream triangle on each side of the scrappy block for the kids to write their names! They could also write on the back pink print with black. I checked with his other teacher and I'll bring it in on Thursday so they have a couple of days to write their names on the quilt for Ms. Dawn.

Now lets hope the boy's fever breaks so he can go to school tomorrow so I can drop off the quilt for the kids to sign. He had a 101 fever Tuesday night and around 100 on Wednesday. I worry with him since his normal temp is around 97 and as a toddler he had a seizure from a high temp around 101 or 102. The girl is running a bit of a temp too but she tolerates it well and other than being cranky you never know she has a fever.  I finally decided I am sick of everyone being sick (I had it last week) and have hit the house with Clorox wipes (light switches, phones, remote controls, door handles, computer keyboards, etc...). It needed a good cleaning too - so the bathrooms are cleaned, the floors are swept and mopped and all the rooms have been vacuumed and dusted. I did get my rewards.... sewing time or prep work in between each task! More on that this weekend.

I'm so glad I got a few finished quilts done the last couple of months so I had this available without any stress to finish something. Now I just need to get a few more of the pens for the kids to write with.
A big Thanks to Ms. Dawn for caring so much for my little ones and hopefully you are able to be back in August for Emily to be in your class. I guess it is time to finish off a few more UFO's... just in case. Hmmmm. I'm thinking the butterfly one might go to his other teacher.... that or another scrap quilt that is in my head. We'll see.

Grandmothers Choice - Ocean Waves

My parents headed out Tuesday around 12:30 and I had settled the kids down for their show before naptime. Me.... I ran into the sewing room and started cutting my parts for this block! Yes, the house is a mess and could use a deep clean but I needed to sew something.

For week 28 the block is called Ocean Waves. I love this block and hope someday to make a very scrappy ocean waves quilt. I have a bag of little hst's leftover from various projects just waiting for the day they get sewn together. For today, here is my purple and green block for the week.

All 28 of my blocks so far in this BOW.

Tiny Tuesday #84

Another one that I got worked on ahead of time. This is number 84 - Mill Wheel. After cutting out the blocks, make sure to read the directions. I made the 4 patches and then reread and I was intended to make HST's. Oops. Instead of picking out, I just recut them and made the block. The middle circle was hand turned applique. A very easy block to make.

Orange weekend....

The last time my parents were down to visit was in September and the color in the RSC was orange. I decided it was a good time to pick up the project I started then and try and get it finished this month. Mom did ask me about this when she walked in the house earlier this week. She'd like to see it get done and 'experience' the whole project. Mom is not a crafter or quilter. It seems to be turning into two projects as the orange pumpkins just didn't fit into the little wall hanging.
I think I stopped working on it because once I had the final borders on I realized I forgot two of the check borders in the middle! So, this one will get frogged today and after I make some more of the four patches we'll see how it goes together again. I think a pumpkin or two will end up getting appliqued in the middle section..... or Maybe a BOO? Thoughts? I made the parts using some stencils that came with some construction paper for Halloween last year. Kids coloring books are also a great way to find patterns for applique or quilting designs.

The original three pumpkins will become a tiny little runner for the table.... although the thoughts are spinning and I may have another idea for that one.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other orange projects are being worked on this weekend.

As for us - I have lived here for a year and a half and have not made it to the Market of Marion flea market that is just 20 minutes from my house. We are heading there today with the kids. Wish me luck! At least I am feeling much better today than the last few ... I picked a good time to get sick while I had grandparents here to watch and care for the kids for me. A big thanks to my Mom and Dad for taking care of them for me.

Grandmothers Choice - Grandmothers Dream

This week's block was full of Y seams so I decided to piece this baby by hand. I was able to cut it out, draw my hand sewing lines and then piece it all Wednesday. It went together very easily - so don't let those Y seams scare you!
I would have posted this yesterday but I came down with something (stomach bug and dizzy) and it was a good thing my parents are down to watch the kiddo's for me yesterday and today. Hopefully I am back to normal tomorrow so I can do a little rainbow sewing.

Excuse the non ironed block. The iron and ironing board were put away in the guest room closet.

Tiny Tuesday #82

I was able to work ahead a bit since it will be a busy month of company. I was able to do #82 Old Mississippi last week. This was very easy to do and went together very easily.

A new project....

This pile of washed fabrics

has turned into this pile of kaleidoscope triangle 1+2's. The fabrics are much brighter than in the below picture.

I need to press and cut the black triangles out still.... but it is almost time to start playing and seeing how it will look. I have cut 120 of each but I know I want this to be twin sized so will be cutting a few more out after I figure out color placement.

This will be a graduation quilt for my niece and she chose bright blue, green and yellow with black. I chose the Kaleidoscope pattern from Don't call me Betsy's blog. She had a quilt along last summer and I love the quilts that came out of it. I am looking forward to sewing this one together. I got these hand dyed fabrics from Stone Row Studio and she was so nice to hand dye some green/yellow's for me after I had purchased the blues at a quilt show last November.
I think the most difficult part will be deciding how to place the colors and if I try and keep the two triangle's in the same color family or not. Maybe I'll let the future quilt owner in on that one tonight when she stops in to see our place down here in Florida.....

A Disney Day!

Today we are heading to Walt Disney World as a family and meeting my brother and his family. A fun but chilly day is in store. Emily has recovered enough from her fever the last few days to go.
Hopefully I don't get roped into driving again so I can do some hand stitching. I plan to work a little on this 12 in block from Lori Smith and maybe some knitting today.

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other hand stitching is happening today.