Sunday evening relaxing....

It has been a very eventful day. Grandma is getting a new couch and it should arrive early this week. Since our love seat was old and showing it's age, we got Grandma's old couch. G went and collected it this morning while the kids and I cleared out the pigsty  playroom. The old love seat was fixed (handy to have a Mr. Fix it for a hubby!) and placed into the play room. I get the job of attempting to work on the new covering this week. The new sofa looks great in the living room. Thanks Grandma!

While the boys worked on the love seat and Matter (Aidan was using the tools to fix his car!) he had a snack and then informed us his tooth was loose. Another bite of the rice krispie treat and the tooth was out! His first tooth lost at age 5 and a visit from the tooth fairy tonight. He was beyond excited and had to make lots of phone calls to inform everyone. Then he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy to tape to his door - he is a wee bit afraid of things at night so she is instructed that the tooth is in the living room for her viewing! Too funny. At least it was a bottom tooth as pictures are this Thursday! It seems the one next to it is now loose too - I have a feeling the tooth fairy will be making some trips to our house this week.

Then I took a trip to get groceries. I pulled into the driveway and there was a snake! I stopped the car. Got my cell phone and called into the house....
 Me: G.... there is a snake by the door I think and one in the driveway.
G: The one by the door is black and is fine.
Me: The one in the driveway is more colors than black and there are diamonds.
G: Hold on.... he got shoes on and checked it out. Yup, that's a rattler.
Me: I'm not getting out of the car.
He then went to the back shed, got a hoe and killed it for me. The black one slithered back into the bushes.
One dead snake, one other one gone. I finally got out of the car!

After that it was make dinner while G and the kids played soccer out back. Then a quick bite and pick up so we could go for a bike ride. A dip into the bath tub for the kids and off to bed.

As for me.... it is time to sit back and relax with some slow stitching. Too many things to choose from but it will either be some crochet on this baby blanket which is on skein three.... (new couch in the background).

Or some hand quilting on the apple quilt.

Hooking up with Kathy's Quilts - slow stitching Sunday. Head on over and see what is being stitched on this weekend.

Another top finished.....

Boy, do I really need to machine quilt a bunch of these tops!
This is the Easy Street Mystery that I was working on last fall/winter over at Bonnie Hunters blog - quiltville.com. It is a great blog and wonderful website full of free patterns and tips. I finally decided this was the week for boarders and put all three onto this quilt to get the top finished. It is now 97x97...... that is one huge quilt!

Since Wednesday was an early release day the boy got picked up at 12:05. We went directly for haircuts and Emily can now see (those bangs were getting long) and Mr. Scraggly hair is all trimmed up and neat for soccer pictures tonight. To keep them entertained, we did a science experiment yesterday and made a volcano! It is amazing what a little baking soda, food coloring and vinegar can do. 

Then they wanted to clean pennies..... so I got them each a bowl of salt and vinegar (always makes me want some salt and vinegar chips!) and they cleaned up some pennies. A great little experiment that will keep them entertained for a while.... and clean up your pennies! I guess it is time to start getting these two quilts pinned for quilting. Yesterday's will get pinned today and hopefully this one will get pinned on Sunday so I can start plugging away at it next week while the kids are at school. Then it will be time to figure out a backing for the blue and cream log cabin........

Nabby's Dowry is a top!

This is my Nabby's Dowry top that I did as a Sew Along over at Pam's  Heart Spun Quilts. All the fabrics are from my stash... and since I could not find enough of the blue homespun print I had planned for the boarder I just used what was left from the sashing print. I think it came out stunning. Thanks so much to Pam for doing this fun little mystery. 

The yardstick is for Mom - this one is about 37 x 37 inches and should be a great size for a wall hanging. I plan to try and free motion quilt this one on my machine and see if it will cooperate with a small quilt. If it does - then I might tackle that blue and cream log cabin. If not..... I guess it will be time for a service and cleaning at the Viking dealer.

Tiny Tuesday...... Snails Trail.

Oh My Goodness. This was 2 hours of my life to get this little 4.5 inch block done this week. It's a good thing it is a very rainy day and perfect time for sewing. After some fixing on one of the blocks where I missed one of the triangles and got to pull out three parts to correct it, it is now finished and crossed off the list.

Last night I was baking some potato's in with the meatloaf when I heard a pop. Yup, a potato exploded. What a mess in my oven. I guess I am really going to have to clean it now =(.

I have 15 minutes until I have to go pick up Emmy - so I am going to go throw two more boarders onto Easy Street. That will leave me with the last green boarder to put on this afternoon (I hope). I am trying to get that one finished in the next week or two. 

Tonight is Open house at school - Aidan is so excited to show us his classroom. It should be a fun night.

It's peel time!

Here is a shot of the peels so far this year. Each set of four peels is seven inches unfinished. I really like the X and O blocks I decided to make them into. This has been a fun project each month to work on applique while waiting here and there. As you can tell there are very different numbers of my colors so far but I cut a bunch of peels out this week to work on - adding some blue, light blue, yellow, purple and brown. I think I'll add some more green, pink and orange at some point too. I have no clue how this one will end up looking - it may be in blocks of four colors together or just random colors scattered through the quilt. Lots of time for this one to decide how it will end up with three months left for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other light blue projects are being worked on this month. As for me - no sewing today since I get to work this weekend and then go out on a date with G to celebrate out 7th Anniversary tonight. Grandma has kindly taken the kids to Coco Beach for the weekend so we actually get to sleep in on Sunday with no kids waking us up around 6AM!

Nabby's Dowry Big reveal is today!

I was so excited this morning to check Pam's post over at HeatSpunQuilts since today is the big reveal for the Nabby's Dowry Sew along I have been working on the last couple of months. I just love her setting and had to dig into the stash and see what mine is going to look like. Since I have pulled all the fabrics from the stash and leftover hst's in a basket so far, I figured I should do that will the whole top. I pulled a mottled blue and a mottled green knowing that I had a blue plaid and a green plaid in the closet. I just hope I have enough of the blue.... since that is the color I went with! I cut the setting triangles and the sashing out and this is a shot of what it will look like sometime soon.

Lori Smith Quilt Blocks.....

I made another one of the 12 inch blocks this week. This is a star block from her #6 pattern of little quilts. The hardest part of all of these is to select the colors. I went with hers for the green and red in the middle and then decided to surround it with blues and golds with a final green border. I think it came out pretty good. That leaves one more pieced block and two applique ones to go.

I started the hand quilting on last weeks in the car line today. This is about 10 minutes worth of work. Those little 10 minutes of time really add up.

The little girl is down with the bug now. She just had a high fever and her medicine this morning didn't stay down - but everything else she has eaten today has. Lots of crackers and toast.
Now the boy is getting restless and wants to do his HIPPY lessons and then I need to have him do his homework.

Tiny Tuesday - Indian Hatchet....

Well, I did mark this one before I cut out all 16 parts to paper piece it BUT.... somehow I mixed it up. So this is a unique version and I am happy to call it done as it is certainly not perfect.

Slow Stitching Sunday....

A wee bit late but it is still Sunday! After getting home from work to a partially sick household (Aidan and Daddy), making dinner for me and Emmy of some Swedish meatballs with noodles and then picking up and taking the kids out for a ice cream treat that they were promised (I found the Wendy's drive through by the interstate - nice and close!), it is time to have them wind down for bed. After they are in bed, I get to wind down with some slow stitching on my apple quilt. For now, I am going around the apples and doing an X through the nine patches. I may go back and add another echo or two in the apples and probably a diamond in the nine patches. I broke down and am using a little circle hoop for this one and it seems to be working OK for me - no having to hold the bunch of the quilt in one hand while quilting with the other. I might as well get used to it before I get a big one ready for hand quilting!

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what other projects are being worked on.

Saturday in baby blue

This week I made a few crumb blocks with my baby or light blues. I think they came out pretty cute! I have a little pile of blue left so I plan to cut them into 2 inch squares for the basket (how are there no blues from last year?)  or strips and put the rest into a few more crumb blocks.

I also cut a few baby blues and made this snails tail block for the month. Since it is easier to have two going at once, I also cut another purple one and added that to the pile. I think I need two more and I'll call these blocks done. Should I go with brown and cream for the last two or add another yellow and orange one to the mix?

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

Nabby's Dowry.....

This week we get to make four blocks. I decided to keep the geese in a similar color while making them. Here they are with the other nine blocks around them. I do wonder where this little quilt is headed.... and maybe we'll find out next Friday! I can't wait.

Wednesday, Wednesday.....

Another block for the Quilt Square pile was completed this week. This one was a cross between Lori Smiths design and mine. I had four leftover hst's and made two of these little squares in the middle. They were 4.5 inches and one of her designs had a star that size with some borders. You guessed it, I just popped my squares where the stars were and made my own block. Another one down... five to go!

I finished off the hand quilting on the log cabin from last week. Now to decide how to quilt the new one.

Tiny Tuesday

This week I got around to block number 94 - Contrary Husband. This one was hand pieced and then I sewed the four blocks together by machine. Another one crossed off the list.

Slow stitching Sunday

I forgot how much I missed working on these small 12 inch blocks by Lori Smith. I started them last year and have hand quilted each one and plan to sew them together in a quilt as you go method. First, I need to make a few more of the blocks so I have a nice sized quilt when I am done. This is the log cabin block and I am just doing two rows of hand stitching in each log.

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts and see what others are slow stitching on this weekend.

Baby blues this Saturday.

Baby blues was the color chosen for September over at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I pulled some baby blues from the scrap bin and made my 16 patch block for the month. While I was in there I also made my pink one that I am still unable to find. It should turn up sometime soon! A shot of all my blocks - these are 8.5 inches right now and I have no clue what they will turn into.

Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other blue blocks are being worked on.

It's Friday - Nabby's Dowry block

Today a new block was posted over at the Nabby's Dowry sew along. After finishing up my month end and getting it into the package to mail off, I rewarded myself with sewing up this little block. I am running low on some of the colors but have plenty of blue and green....

Time to pick up Emmy and then mail my things off to the accountant.
Mom - Good luck bowling today. Your goal is to beat a 169, 161 and 136.... the last game didn't turn out too good.

UFO Block Wednesday...

Since the Grandmothers Choice BOW is done I am at a loss as to a Wednesday post. I decided to have Wednesday be a UFO progress update and hopefully that will get me working on some UFO's so I can eventually get them crossed off the list as completed.
This week I pulled out the Lori Smith 12 inch blocks that I was working on last year through Jo's Country Junction. 

I had actually completed all the blocks on the first pattern but had finished the first one into a little quilt before deciding to hand quilt each one and then put them together into a quilt top. That meant that I had to make another little log cabin block. I had so much fun hand quilting this one that I can't wait to get this prepped for some hand quilting. I used a very old line of the Kansas Troubles fabrics that I had purchased at VQF way before the kids were born..... so it is at least 5 years old!

All the blocks from  Lori Smith's Quilt Squares #1

Two log cabin blocks.

From pattern two I have all the blocks completed except the applique one.  Now that I learned how to back baste I have a feeling I should be able to get that one done now. The third pattern also has an applique block and a pieced block that need to get put together.  That will give me 18 - 12 inch blocks. I may have to create a few more to make the quilt a little bigger!

Tiny Tuesday - Magnolia Bud

This week I made block 100 - Magnolia bud. This was a paper pieced block and went together very easily while everyone in the house was napping on Monday afternoon.