Sunday, June 29, 2014

Turtle stitching on Sunday....

I attempted to put these together last Sunday only to discover that my two parts did not go together! I have made nine more of the colored flowers and three are ready to go to connect the two parts. I need to prep more whites to make a row of white for the top portion and then I'll add my six flowers to the side. We'll see where it goes from there.

Linking up with Kathy's Slow stitching Sunday.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

June Monthly Mayhem wrap up and goals for July.

I had four things on my list of goals this month.

1.) machine quilt and bind the blue double bed size log cabin quilt. Blue parts are outlined and I started the feathers - about 1/4 of the quilt is done. No where near perfect but we all need to start somewhere! 

2.) Complete a 12 inch applique block for the Century quilt. - Completed!



3.) Hand quilt the Little T quilt. No progress because of #4.

4.) Start assembling the spring hexagon flowers into a little quilt. Great progress was made here with lots more flowers made and a bunch of them have been assembled into two sections. Then I realized my two parts will not go together... so I needed to make nine more colors and a bunch more white ones. The colors are done and will get attached tonight so I can make a little more progress on this.

One got done and two made progress. I am calling that a win! We had some unexpected things happen in June and some know things. Grandma landed in the ER and had surgery to remove her gall bladder. She is all better and nearly back to 100%. We did have a dog visiting with us for about 10 days while she was recovering. Then our assistant manager was on vacation for 10 days. She is home but not scheduled to work until Wednesday. Thank goodness they did not happen at the same time! I worked a bit more than normal this month to cover her hours. I hope for more sewing time in July.

Goals for July.

1.) Finish that Log Cabin quilt - quilting and binding. Outline quilting of the blue parts is done. Now to continue on with the feathers in the cream parts and then figure out the borders.

2.) Prep and applique another Century quilt block this month.

3.) Continue assembling the spring flowers little quilt.

4.) Hand quilt the Little T quilt for a change of pace =).

5.) Continue with the RSC challenge in the color selected for July. 12 churn dashes, 13 or so hexagon flowers hand pieced with yellow centers, a 16 patch block of 2.5 inch squares, sampler blocks. I'll have a post on Wednesday of all the blocks I have made so far this year!

6.) Continue Tiny Tuesday blocks from The Civil War Love Letter quilt.

7.) Start step 2 on the Celtic Solstice mystery from last fall. Good thing I printed them all off - the pattern is no longer available on line at Bonnie Hunters website but it will be in a future book.

8.) Get to the beach with the kids at least one day this month. I'd love to do an overnight but will be happy with a day. Booked for an overnight at the beach this month, Yippee!

9.) See some fireworks this year - it has been ages (before kids) since I have gone to see fireworks.

I'm linking up with Kathi over at KCDesigns for the Motivation Mayhem Monthly Muster Linky Party.... I think I got that right!

Last Sunny Saturday in Yellow....

And it is a kid free one for me for a few hours. I plan to run back into the sewing room and play with some machine quilting - hopefully the feathers will cooperate for me after lunch. I have a little more walking foot work to do in blue first.

Yellow this week - I made the two sampler blocks that were posted - butterfly and fiesta bock. Here are all the yellow samplers I made this month. I am going to do the lemoyne star during the orange month...whenever that one shows up.

I made a 16 patch block in yellow. Sorry the outside sun did not make for good pictures this morning.

I also finished the last five churn dash blocks for my 12 this month.


Then I did a couple of crumb blocks while putting the above together.


Head on over to SoScrappy  and see what other yellow projects are being worked on. I can't wait to find out what color will come out to play in July next week. I'm going to guess red but I'll just have to wait and see.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Tiny Tuesday....

I got a little time in the sewing room this morning while the kids were playing school in the living room. The first block is called Pretty Long March.
The second block is called Single Thrashing. This one went together much easier than the first one. Note to self - finish the second cup of coffee in the morning before doing math!


Two more pages have little check marks as done in the top left corner. I don't have to go back to work until Friday.... and hopefully I will have a kid free day Saturday if Grandma is up to taking the kids for the day. I really, really want to get a quilt machine quilted and there is no way I can do that while kids are in the house with me. Until then, I'll plug away on some more of these blocks, five churn dashes in yellow and some yellow crumb blocks. I prepped some hexes to work on during swim lessons today. Only 30 minutes waiting on them so I should be able to draw my sewing lines on the 35 hexagons I have prepped for five more colorful flowers.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Slow down Sunday.....

It has been so crazy busy this week it is a good time to sit down, relax and remember to breathe while stitching a few slow stitches this evening. After we get the kids settled in for the night I plan to grab my needle and thread and put these two parts together.
I think I may need to make five more of the colored ones for another column the length of it to make it wider. Then maybe another set of the white with colored middles..... oh boy, this is going to be the never ending one isn't it! It is a good thing these hexagon flowers are so fun to hand stitch.


Head on over to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday and see what others are working on today.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Scrappy Saturday in Yellow....

I see that there have been seven sampler blocks posted with yellow. There are seven yellow blocks in Angela's RSC layout so I do believe she is all done with the samplers this month.... Maybe? I have six..... I need to go back and make the lemoyne star block in yellow and orange. Could it be orange for the month of July? Red or Maroon? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I still have a bit of yellow bits to sew together this month. Hopefully I can get my churn dashes and my 16 patch completed before the end of the month. It has been a bit hectic this month. Grandma is on the mend from her surgery and we are still Buddy (horse.... I mean dog) sitting. He is being really good and the cats are tolerating him. I'm not sure who is more afraid of the other!

My sampler blocks so far this month.


Head on over to SoScrappy and see all the yellows that have come out to play this month.

As for me..... I have worked the last two days and had a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this morning with the kids. They just took Buddy out back to play so I can attempt to pick up the disaster house and attempt to vacuum, dust and mop. Hopefully it does not look like it does now after I work the next two days at the store. I have more swim lessons with the kids for the next two weeks. Mr. Aidan was tested on Thursday - the last day of lessons and passed his two lap test of three strokes and breathe to the side on the fourth. He actually swam three laps to pass it and got his official swim cap to mark his entrance to stroke school. Greg mentioned he overheard one of the parents who tried to buy one of the caps and Ms. Sue said no - the kids have to earn it! That made it extra special for Aidan.

I'd better get busy on the housework (note - I did my sewing first =)) so it is time to throw in some laundry and make some bread dough for burger buns for dinner (assuming the rain and thunder storms don't come back) and then cleaning will commence around here.


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Wednesday, Wednesday.....

I've had the parts for the churn dashes sitting on the sewing table for a little while now. This morning I took the 15 minutes to sew the seven of these together. I need to cut 5 more out to have my 12 yellow churn dashes for this month. Maybe I can prep those on Friday.... if I don't have to work. I know I am swapping with G tomorrow so he can watch the kids final swim lessons. Aidan's second coach wants to test him for the 2 lap swim - which would get him a swim cap and goggles and advancement to stroke school. I was not planning more lessons for this summer... but maybe we'll try and squeeze in another 2 weeks if he doesn't get tested and pass tomorrow.

This afternoon after swim lessons I sewed together 'Treats from home'. I picked an easy one today.

Then I had a little girl bugging me about making a pillowcase as a present for their friend's birthday. Her party is on Saturday. After a text to her Mom this morning to find out her favorite color - 'pink' - we looked in the stash and selected this cute pink check print with a white accent to make the pillow. They have also been busy making her some paper craft gifts and cards to go with this. Em ran the foot pedal for two of the three seams.

Buddy is laying in the bathroom - so he either hears thunder in the distance that we can't or he just likes the small cool and dark room this afternoon! Hopefully if there are any storms they are done by 6:30 so we can get another walk in with him tonight.





Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Tiny Tuesday...

 Where did the week go? I popped into the sewing room for the first time this morning since Thursday! I needed it. I made these three blocks - Jersey Boys, Mr. Rabbit and 64-Pound Shell.


Now we are headed out to walk Buddy. This is a picture from last night with the kids walking him.


Saturday, June 14, 2014

RSC Saturday...

I had a change of plans today and the kids are both cranky and home with me. We did get the garbage and recycling done, hit the fruit stand and the grocery store and now are trying to pick up the house a bit to dog proof it. We will be having a house guest for a little bit while Grandma is in the hospital dealing with some gall bladder issues. She is scheduled for surgery but we are not sure if it will be today or Monday. Until she is back on her feet and ready to care for her horse... I mean dog we will have him at our house! This is a picture of Greg and the kids at Easter with Buddy the Boxer. He is a small horse size but very gentle with the kids.



While picking up I decided to lay out my hexagon flowers and see what I have done since January. Lots of pretty flowers... and I have no clue what I will do with them! Plenty of time to figure that out as I add a few more colors to the mix.



The kids also had a graduation ceremony to celebrate the end of their HIPPY lessons on Thursday afternoon. Aidan finished his last fall and Em finished up her 5 year a couple of weeks ago. 




Head on over to SoScrappy and see what other yellow fun is happening in blog land. I hope to visit later today or tomorrow as time allows. I also need to sneak away and work on a few sampler blocks.... someone is on a roll posting new ones this week!

Thursday, June 12, 2014

A productive week so far....

It has been a very productive week! I finished my appliqué block yesterday.... not bad for 3 day's work! Who knows... maybe I'll prep the next one to work on next week =)


I've also been working on my Tiny Tuesday blocks a bit to catch up from the two months I did not post regularly. I think I am going to try and make one a day for the rest of the month of June. Today I made Awful Tragedy. Lots of cutting but it went together very easily.


I also got this lovely in the mail last Friday. Thanks so much to Kathi for sending it. Lots of pretty blue and white prints in the little bundle of fun.



I won it as part of the List, Tick and Party link up they started this month. You write a post about your list of things you'd like to get done in the month and then work on your list. Check in at the end of the month and see how you did. So far - I started the machine quilting on the log cabin and hope to try those feathers on Saturday when I have free time with no kids to concentrate on it. I got my appliqué block completed. I have made progress on my springtime hexagon flowers and they are almost into the middle of a top stage. I admit, I have not touched the little T hand quilting in a bit but there is still half a month left to get that little wall hanging done. It does feel good to check things off a list. I know I'm going to pull out the Celtic Solstice next month and work on moving that one forward.... and finishing off another UFO on the list.
Time to head out to the kids HIPPY Graduation. They had a play date this morning and made it through one swim lesson before the torrential downpour with thunder and lightning cancelled the second class.

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Wacky weather Wednesday....

Storms normally start mid to late afternoon during the summer months in Florida. Today - they started around noon. A crash of thunder in the distance just as the horn went off to signal the swim lessons were done for the morning. Both kids did great and got stickers to advance to the next level. Em is now onto big arms and Aidan passed that one and is working on three strokes and breathing to the side on the fourth one. Both swam all the way across the pool - 8 or 9 lanes worth!

Before we headed out I quickly cut and sewed this CWLLQ block together while the kids were gathering up their towels, change of clothes and their waters.

This is called The Fall of Richmond. It went together very easily. 3.5 inch square in the middle and the rest were made with a 2 inch strips of fabrics.

I had prepped the appliqué to work on at swim lessons but ended up sewing a row of white hexagon flowers together and then attaching them to one of the sets I have already made. Sometimes you just need to go with whatever project you are in the mood for. It was 86 in the car with the sun beating down on me today.... and it was down to 72 on the way home with the kids as the storm was going through. Hopefully it moves through quickly and I can get them outside and in the pool this afternoon. It was overcast with thunder most of yesterday afternoon again so they are going a little stir crazy.... and getting a few too many shows on tv.


Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Tiny Tuesday

Did you think I forgot? I made two little blocks today. One is a wee bit too small but I'll 'fix' that when I set it. These blocks are from The Civil War Love Letter Quilt - 121 quilt blocks.

No Serious Fighting.

 Skirmishing, Cannon Firing and Uproar.

Day two of back to back swim lessons and the kids are doing great. I did a little crochet yesterday while waiting and did some applique today. I got four of the leaves done on my Century quilt. After deciding I 'had' to get this one moving this week I pinned the circle down yesterday and sewed in bits of 5 minutes here and there all day and a little this morning to get those all sewn down. I pinned the leaves (I need to clean the closet out and find the applique glue!) down before heading out to swim lessons. One quarter of the leaves are done! After those I just need to add the four tulips with their little bud. This was not so difficult after all..... why oh why do I keep putting applique off when it is not so bad once you just do it! This was the first two done after the first 30 minute swim lesson.
I should have this whole block done by the end of the week!


Friday, June 6, 2014

RSC First Saturday in Yellow (a day early!)

Since it is a working weekend for me - if figured I'd better write my post up today.
I got to play with some yellow this week.

Two RSC blocks were completed.
Lovers Knot and Framed Four Patch

I also did a lot of hand work this week - mainly with hexagon flowers. I cut out 8 earlier this week and sewed them up over the last two evenings. I cut out an additional 5 this morning. Just need to use my new handy dandy template I created to mark my sewing line for these on the back.
VTQuilter - hexagons. 1 inch finished each side.


I finally had a light bulb moment and created another template for my hexagons (I use one to trace them for cutting out.) and drew lines 1/4 of an in on the inside and then cut out the middle on that line. Perfect sewing line every time and so much easier than how I was doing it. You can see my new template here.



1 inch hexagon template with the center cut out. This is used to mark my hand sewing lines.

Yesterday after our play date at the park I took the kids to Walmart to get 3 things.... and then I added a yard each of their choice of fabric. Ok... they each got to pick out two yards and I picked one in purple. We then made one set of pillowcases yesterday! The purple is for my niece Kristin - who never got one with her quilt  3 years ago. Emily picked a cotton fleece with princesses in pink. Aidan picked super hero's.
















They want to make their second one today (dinosaurs and tinker bell) .... but first we did a bike ride, next will be pulling up the garden and attempting to replant and weeding a bit out back in the other ones. We just need to remember to water the garden every morning! A quick shower for me -then some errands to run, including the library to pick out books. Home for lunch and then homework time for both (ridiculous amount of homework sent home with Aidan for the summer). Then...... pillowcase time. I think we'll all deserve some pool time after that. Speaking of which... I'd better go check the balance now in case I need to add some chemicals. Did that while the pictures were loaded and we are good to swim!

Head on over to SoScrappy on Saturday morning for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge link party.






Thursday, June 5, 2014

Thursday.....

We are heading out to a play date at the park but I wanted to show my progress on the hexagon flower assembly. I just need to prep and make 4 more white flowers so I can hook the two together and make one more colored flower to finish one row. I think lots of white all around it for the 'border' and I'll call it a nice little quilt.


I also made the pillowcase for the graduation quilt which is currently flying around in the dryer before it fly's up to Vermont in a box. I added her initials and 2014 and an SHS somewhere in the quilt last night while watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Time to go chat with some Moms..... =).

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Last day of school.....

Em and I have been coughing for a few days now so yesterday we decided to take it easy.... before I have two kids home all day with me starting tomorrow.

Today is Aidan's last day - so I had to make this little box up last night. I wish I had used pink thread instead of the cream. She also got a gift card tucked in to use for her classroom supplies (she does lots of crafts with the kids all year) or to use however she likes.

Aidan in the car ready for his last day of Kindergarten.


While Em was watching some kids shows off Netflix, I was able to cut out some yellow hexagons for my RSC hexagon flowers. Then I had to sit next to her..... so I started putting my hexie flowers from my leftover triangle quilt together. I now know the key is to make rows and then sew the rows together by hand. I have hand pieced my hexagons rather than using English Paper Piecing. I need to prep a bunch more white ones to make more flowers and connectors. That will give me something to do for the last wait in the car for a boy at school for a couple of months.

I do love how this is coming together...... and it is helping me to figure out what in the world I will do with all my rainbow hexagon flowers I have been making all year.


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Tiny Tuesday

I managed to make another block this week! I'm on a roll. This one is called Liberal with Furlough.




I also whipped up two of the yellow RSC sampler blocks yesterday. Lovers Knot and Framed Four Patch.


Then I started some outline quilting on the log cabin quilt in the blue sections. It's not the feathers yet but it is progress =).

On the way back from dropping Aidan to school this morning we saw a cat, a bunny and two adult wild turkeys with a bunch of babies. Aidan did mention he saw the baby turkey's last night on our scooter ride but they were gone by the time I caught up to the kids. You just never know what you will see when you leave the house in Florida.


Monday, June 2, 2014

ABC's of me.....

Andee had the neatest post last week - the ABC's of me. I learned a lot about her and figured it would be fun to play along.



A- Age: 40-ish


B- Bed size: Queen


C- Chore you hate: cleaning the shower.


D- Dog's name: no dog but I do have two cats: Sophie and Maxie.


E- Essential food/item: chocolate.


F- Favorite color: blue followed by green. No wonder I have so much blue and green in my stash!


G- Gold or silver: Gold.


H- Height: 5'2 - good things come in small packages, right?


I- I am: trying to stay sane while being a Mom to my two munchkins (age 6 and 5)


J- Job: Stay at home Mom who also keeps the household running. In my spare time I do the books and work a couple of days running our business - a pool supply company.


K- Kids: I have two. Aidan is 6 and Emily is 5. I am counting down the days until August 18th when they are both in school full time!


L- Living arrangements: We live in a 4 bedroom house (one bedroom is my sewing room!) in Ocala, Florida with a nice big back yard.


M-Mom's name: Arlene


N- Nickname: Deb to my friends, Debbie to my family and anyone who knew me up until I graduated from high school. Mom or Mommy to my kids..... or Aidan's Mom or Emily's Mom!


O- Overnight hospital stay: When I had my kids. When they were sent back to have some beach time under the billie lights for jaundice - twice for Aidan and once for Em. I also had an overnight the end of December when my blood pressure got low or I got dehydrated and passed out and knocked my head pretty good. All is better now thank goodness. Just have to drink a power zero a day and I am good to go.


P- Pet peeve: People who constantly check their phone while out at restaurants.


Q- Quote from a movie: 'To infinity and beyond!'.... sorry, only thing I could think of from Toy Story.


R- Right or left handed: Right handed but I am ambidextrous. Found that out when I broke my arm in the seventh grade and had to write left handed for a bit.


S- Siblings: Two older brothers and two older sisters.


T- Time you wake up: 6AM but I get out of bed 6:20 or 6:30 ish. I'm looking forward to the day the kids start sleeping in.... age 10 maybe? I've got 4-5 more years!


U- Unique thing about your car: I got nothing!


V- Vegetable you hate: Okra


W- Ways you run late: I am usually early..... but the kids tend to make me late.


Y- Yummy food you make: The kids are trained to say everything =). I learned to cook and bake from the best - my Mom.


Z- Zoo favorite: I like the monkey's and the panda bears.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Slow Stitching and Monthly Mayhem....

I am combining a couple of link up's today.

Kathi from Design Originals by KC has started a new link up to challenge us to make some monthly goals and then report back how we do at the end of the month. I am hoping that will help me to check off some of my UFO's listed on my sidebar and get a few other things moved along.

First - I really, really, really want to get my blue log cabin quilt quilted and bound this month. It has been sitting patiently in my sewing room all pinned for quilting for a couple of months now. The issue, I really want to try some feathers in the cream parts but I'm a wee bit afraid to mess up my pretty quilt. =) Hopefully I'll report back at the end of the month with a completed quilt that I can hang on my wall in the kitchen. The intimidation is that it is a double bed size quilt and I just have my little domestic sewing machine.

Second- I really want to move along the Century Quilt - so I want to get one of the four applique blocks I have left to do, completed.


Third - It is time to finish off the Little T quilt. Very little progress on this one so far but if I have a good week I think I can get it done.


Fourth..... I have a bunch of these hexagon flowers made from leftovers of the triangle quilt. I want to start putting these together into a mini quilt top this month, but I see I need to prep a bunch more of the whites to make more flowers first.

Head on over to Kathy's Quilts to see the slow stitching link party, and then check out Design Originals by KC for the Motivation Mayhem Monthly Muster Linky Party.