Saturday, April 30, 2016

An afternoon of sewing...

So nice to get an afternoon of peace and quiet with the sewing machine. A mystery with my old guild in Vermont gave the final clue this week. I had the 12 blocks made but finished this little quilt into a top today.

I sewed all the purple butterfly's today and added my last orange pinwheel and sewed them all into rows.

I also got the orange bird in the air blocks completed.....which was photo bombed by Sophie.


Grandma kept Emily too so it is a no kid night. Come back tomorrow....a little more orange got worked  on today too....but that one is for another post.

Last Saturday in Orange....

I did manage to get a little bit of sewing in this week. I have 8 of 9 blocks made for the row along quilt. Not sure how I miscounted when cutting but I should be able to squeeze one more in today.


I added a couple 16 patch blocks to help even out some color options from last year's blocks. I failed on my OMG this month... did not even touch it... maybe I'll try and get these into a colorful Goodnight Irene quilt top in May?


I keep looking at the pile of dresden plates I made last year... I think I will start to appliqué them to the background by the color each month. I hope to cut the background and hand stitch that orange one down tonight. Maybe I'll cut 4 backgrounds and cover the colors we have hit so far this year?


Hopefully I will get some sewing time in today to finish up some orange scraps... lots of birds in the air parts are waiting to be sewn together....and to make my purple butterfly's. I have them cut out... and ready to sew.

First up.... weeding the garden before it gets way too hot! 90 degrees and humid.... I guess summer is here. At least I have my nice quiet air conditioned house to look forward to this afternoon. Greg is taking the kids to Grandma and she is putting him to work trimming in her yard for a little bit. If only I didn't have this lovely sore throat and cough....

Linking up with Angela our host of the RSC Challenge.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

Sunday....

We survived the first night of Guinea Pig Ownership! We got two new additions to the family yesterday after heading to the Appleton Museum to see Emily's art working hanging in the Youth display.  Her art teacher selected about 12 pieces from the 800+ students in K-5 at her school. Quite an honor! We enjoyed the museum - Aidan was fascinated with the Japanese little figures and Emily loved all the horses, animals and vases. She was intrigued with the Buddha statues... and wondered why none were female!
Emily's drawing

Emily and her drawing at the top left.


The stop at PetSmart with Papa Andy and Grandma H on the way home was interesting. They had the same 3 there as on Thursday. Our store only has male guinea pigs. Emily has the brown and white one she named Flower. Aidan selected the brown and black one and named him Jimmy Jr. We were not sure where he got the name and he finally said it was after his great Uncle Jim who sings songs with his guitar for them and makes youtube video's. He sends the links to their Grandma (his sister) to share with the kids. He made them each a CD for Christmas of his songs. Pretty lucky kids!




With the exception of our girl scout troop bowling for a couple of hours this afternoon it should be a nice relaxing day. The kids will probably be sitting in front of the cage for most of the day =)

Gives me plenty of time for some hand work while they are occupied. I need to prep the next round for the Trip quilt as I finished up the red/orange round on Friday. I'm thinking a black to transition and tone it down a bit.


I also have my 1857 border blocks. One corner is completed and two more are prepped with their back basting and ready to trim and turn for appliqué.


I also started knitting a dish cloth. I was pulling out a few rows last night when my arm started acting weird. A pain where I had a fracture in 7th grade on my right forearm and then it would force itself down. Probably a muscle twitch which has gone away. Hopefully it does not start back up again when I pick that up tonight.

Linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for the Slow Stitching Sunday link party. Head on over and check out the slow, relaxing stitching happening all over the world today.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Saturday in orange.

I have lots of parts and pieces cut out in orange but have yet to sew them. I did pop into the sewing room this morning to sew up these three blocks. Hopefully I can get some more sewing in later today.



First up today - We are headed to the Appleton Museum for a reception of young artists. Miss Emily had her artwork selected by her art teacher to display in the museum through Mothers Day. After that...... we might pop to PetSmart and pick up some new additions to the family. The guinea pig cage arrived last night and was put together before the kids went to bed. We had gotten the needed supplies on Thursday after school so it is all ready for 2 guinea pigs.  Pictures of that and them tomorrow!

The kids are scheduled to go to Grandma's this afternoon...although we'll see. They might want to stay with the pigs. Me... I need to get about 3 hours of work in sometime today to make up for lost time this week. Aidan had a widening appliance added to the top and braces to the bottom of his mouth on Tuesday... I had to take him back Wednesday and get one snipped that came off Tuesday evening. He has been pretty miserable this week with all those changes.

Linking up with the RSC Challenge. Head on over and see what orange is being sewn this week.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Slow Stitching Sunday.....

My slow stitching is going to have to wait until this evening. I am scheduled to work at the store today for the last day of a sale. At least it is a 4 hour day for me.... well not including the 1 hour before of paperwork I need to catch up on.
I'll get through the day looking forward to working on one of these projects.

Adding the next round to the Trip Around the World Quilt with my 2 inch blocks.


Or....
Prepping and starting the next 1857 block. I got my border fabric and some more purples and greens for the project in the mail from Connecting Threads yesterday. I think I might prep some of the border blocks while drawing my own block to replace the tools block #8. I think I'll do 3 tulips with a yellow butterfly near one. I see lots of yellow butterfly's down here in Florida all the time so want to include one in this block. This is the last block I completed in the 1857 album quilt. 7 blocks completed so far of the 14 that have been released.

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

Saturday, April 16, 2016

RSC in Orange.


Ok, I had to enhance the stash as my orange was sorely lacking this year. Must have really went to town with them last year =) I hit Joanns on Thursday after bowling... and since FQ's were 75 cents..... yes, that is three quarters each..... I had to pick up a few! Some others jumped into the cart too. At least that allows me to make some orange scraps this year so I'll have a nice variety to play with next year. I was looking on the computer Wednesday and found this pattern - diamond star. Those bottom three yardages are for that and the yellow is for borders on my appliqué quilt top.

Off to a play date at the park with the kids in a few minutes but I hope to cut into those oranges and make some Birds in the Air blocks later today. My cheat sheet is calling for 16 of them...... can't wait to get home and play with fabrics.

Linking up with the RSC Challenge. Head on over and see what orange projects are popping up in sewing rooms all over the world.

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Slow Stitching Sunday......

After a full day playing in the soil to prep the garden yesterday I think I deserve some slow stitching today. First up.... the grandparents are coming over for a cookout to celebrate Emily's 7th birthday this past week. I made up the potato salad this morning and got the house vacuumed and swept and a little picked up. The kids (mostly Emily) cleared out the back porch and swept so we can be out there to entertain. Greg is firing up The Big Green Egg to prep for the BBQ.

I think I'll pull up the glider on the porch and get some yellow squares added to my trip around the world quilt while waiting for the company to arrive.


Linking up with Kathy at Slow Stitching Sunday where she reminds us to not feel any guilt as we take a few moments to recharge our batteries. For me ... that is sewing and hand stitching running some thread through fabric. I feel the stress of life melt away when I stitch. My view as I stitch. That brush in the fire pit is burned down to nice embers now.




Friday, April 8, 2016

RSC in orange...

I finally got a chance to sew on Friday afternoon..... instead of doing my month end but I guess that will get done in the evening.

I built 4 orange houses.... and that baseball in the window is just for you Mom!

Saturday... hopefully will be some sewing to make 3 paper pieced snowflakes, tilling the garden and a little cleaning of the house. I'll make sure to pop on the computer and check out the RSC links during the day too.

Someone decided to turn 7 on Thursday so I also have a few programming hours of work to make up this weekend since we went in and had lunch with her on Monday (neither could do Thursday but we both could do Monday), Aidan had an ortho appointment on Tuesday morning and Wednesday was an early release... and I was feeling icky so figured I'd hang with the kids that afternoon and run some errands. Sunday will be a BBQ with the grandparents who are down here for some Brats, burgers and potato salad. It will be a beautiful mid 70's - perfect weather for a BBQ here in Florida. I hope to finish the garden that afternoon and plant my tomato's and the 'mystery' plants. I can't remember if there were watermelon or squash or both! Hopefully I find out in another month or so.

Some pics of the birthday girl Emily since I think I did some for her brothers birthday in February. . The kids and I went to Yamata's Japanese Steak House on her birthday for dinner. Always a fun time and yummy food.

Emily 3 months



That hair!

I love this shot =)

Wearing Grammy's little christmas stockings!



Watch out - she's driving.

Easter Egg

Flying up to Vermont for Christmas 2014

Picking Blueberries 2015

At Yamata's Steak House 4/7/16 Aidan Age 8 and Emily age 7!

Her Mc2 Lab kit - as requested.



Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Appliqué progress....

I got another block completed in my 1857 Album quilt. I also have all 24 circles prepped for my next block. I'll start sewing those down this evening. Slow and steady wins the race!


Sunday, April 3, 2016

OMG for April (One Monthly Goal)

April already? Time to select one monthly goal for this month. What will it be? Well, I promised to pattern test something for last month and have yet to finish it. I do love the pattern and life got busy and I missed the deadline.... but this quilt really does want to get made. It has become my OMG for April. What is it you ask? It is a very pretty snowflake quilt called Hoarfrost made by a blog friend Joanne over at Canuckquilter.  This is a picture of her top. I have the four patches made and the big blocks cut. I need to cut and make the 3 snowflakes and the borders. My goal is to get mine to a top stage by the end of April.
Hoarfrost pattern available in her craftsy store.
Joanne is a bit famous right now.... she just got a beautiful table runner pattern published in American Patchwork Quilting June 2016 issue! Her patterns are awesome and I have been so lucky to make a few. Great instructions and such neat patterns she comes up with. These are the patterns from Joanne that I have made so far.....


Quilters Scrapbook - available in her Craftsy store
This one needs to get from a top to a finished quilt sometime this year!

Starlight Wishes - pattern available in her craftsy store

Snowflake pattern available in her craftsy store
This one needs some friends to become a table runner for this winter.

Geese Across the table - pattern in her craftsy store
These are finished I promise... and are used daily since I made them! Love these place mats.

I am linking up with OMG for the month of April. Check out the other links and then again at the end of the month to see how everyone did! 

Slow Stitching Sunday...

I am so glad it is Sunday and time for some slow stitching! After the last two days..... I plan to sit around and relax with some stitching, maybe some sewing with the machine and generally relaxing today. The question is.... what to work on?
My guess right now would be some appliqué on the 1857 quilt blocks and maybe adding more yellow to the hand pieced trip around the world block.



Linking up to Slow Stitching Sunday over at Kathy's quilts.

After a full day at Sea World with Aidan's 2nd grade class (amazingly the kids were very good but one chaperone kept us all on our toes as she did not follow rules or stay with us! I wrote an e-mail to the principal and vice principal Friday evening explaining that if she was to chaperone again I would not send my child if she was in charge of him as it would be endangering my child). Yesterday was all day at girl scout camp in the woods with lots of rain and thunderstorms most of the day. The girls still had a good time and were pretty good at going with the flow and keeping their smiles on. They got an award for 'great attitude' from one of the coordinators as every time she saw us she said they were smiling and having fun despite the cancellation of a few favorite things and the rain causing us to be inside a lot in the morning.
Got to see the penguins!
Right before he splashed the majority of the class! I got hit at the Seymour and Clyde show - completely soaked!

Two long days so today will be a day or rest. Sounds like my breakfast is ready... Dad and Emily are making pancakes. Aidan is at Grandma's for a sleepover. He raced in the regional Pine Wood Derby yesterday, placed first in his first race and then got beat..... no advancement to the next level but he had fun.