Design floor Monday....

Results from Sunday sewing! I decided that since I got some working hours in Sunday morning, the kids were at Grandma's and the kitchen got a little cleaning and organizing my reward was to sew for a few hours.

I had left out my grandmothers choice blocks on the floor from last weekend..... but some 4 legged animals decided to have a party and this is what I was looking at on Sunday morning.

By the end of the day it is in three sections and looking like this....

Adding the maroon and red squares to the dresden plates was next up. I still have 6 of these left to finish off (4 are on their background waiting for the squares, 2 need middles, backgrounds and squares) but here is a shot of the blocks I have done. These are coming out at 16 inches.

I also have been making selected blocks for a row by row quilt over at the RSC Challenge. I had not sewn a few month's blocks into their rows but had made the blocks, so between projects I got these 4 rows sewn together.

Progress is a good thing. Not sure that quilt will be finished by the end of the month but it should get to a top stage by then.

Slow Stitching Sunday...

After some time doing some things that need to get done I really hope to have a nice afternoon of relaxing with some slow stitching and pool time. Not at the same time though, hehehe.

I finished that last square of hand quilting last night and need to find and mark the first border for stitching on my fireworks quilt. That is my planned project for hand stitching today.

I also really need to print out more inklingo shapes for my lemoyne stars to work on in the car line this week. Time to load the new ink into the printer so I can get that done.

Head on over and see what others are hand stitching on this lovely Sunday of Slow Stitching.

RSC Last week of red....

I'm getting my red in just in the nick of time this month!

Red and Maroon dresden plates - got their middle this month, were hand appliquéd to the background. I have the squares cut for their frames and hope to put them on today.

The neighborhood is increasing - 4 red and 4 maroon were added this week as well.

Then... I can't forget the row by row. Red and gold got selected and started. I hope to get them finished off today as well. The bobbin started complaining so I need to pull it out and clear out the lint to get it happy again before I can continue sewing.

I already had enough birds in the air so didn't need to add those into the sewing this week.

How have you done with your red scraps this month? Head on over to the RSC Challenge  and see how others did.

Wednesday lemoyne stars....

The printer ran out of ink. I ran out of parts and pieces that were prepped.
I finally got new cartridges this weekend but have yet to put them in and print more parts out. I really should do that later this evening.... but these are the two waiting for the white parts to get printed from last week.

This pretty vase of flowers arrived with a few other goodies for me this morning. He is a keeper! Today is our 10 year anniversary.

Now that homework is done, we are just waiting to take Flower the guinea pig to the vet. He has a growth on his neck that needs checking out.

Tuesday... really?

It has been over a week since the last post.. and sadly little to no stitching. Busy, busy as usual with Scouts Monday, Soccer Tuesday and Thursday and last week we threw in two visits to the kids doctor  30 minutes away, with Emily's outer ear infection (Monday/Friday). A dentist appt for me and my week leaves me too tired to do much of anything at night. Homework with Emily.... very draining and way too long for a second grader. We are talking 1.5-2 hours of homework at night!

I did finally sew a little red today to make part of my 4 red houses. The sewing machine thanked me =).  I also pulled the red and maroon dresdens and found the circle fabric, basted it and sewed it down to the plate in the car line. I cut the background and pressed it - two middles and two creases in the corners - just in case I have to take them to soccer practice tonight. 90 minutes... I really hope Greg gets home in time to take them so I can pop back onto work for a few more hours tonight. If not, I'll have something to work on while I am there. I just need to stick a few pins in to keep them in place while they travel to the soccer practice field.

Appliqué block done!

Ok, after 2 hours working trying to till and weed the overgrown garden, it was time to rest.
Yes Mom, I drank lots of water and power zero and took breaks. The heat just gets to me, but there will be a fall garden at some point!

I decided to watch Harry Potter - movie 5 and started movie 6 before the kids were returned.
This block finally got done... I had to take a break as a cat decided my lap was needed for her nap. Hard to stitch with a napping cat on your lap! That corner peel is really off.... it might get fixed at some point or it might just stay as is.

All my blocks so far this year. I am a couple months behind and still have a few of the more difficult blocks to go. Oh well, it is not a race and I'll get to them as I get to them!

Sunday stitching....

Kathy at Kathy's Quilts reminds us to slow down each week, take a deep breath and relax with some slow stitching. It is a great reminder and I plan to get some slow stitching in today - off and on through the day.

I know I need to print and cut out some more shapes for my lemoyne stars...I finished adding the white to these two last night. These are unfinished 5 inches and all hand pieced.

I have this 1857 block that has been back basted for weeks now... and has moved along a little this week. It would be so nice to get this one finished today. Of course, that means I need to prep some more... I think I drew on the back  for the August ones and just need to pull fabrics for them. I really should take a photo of all of the completed blocks so far. One of these days....

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and the other Slow stitchers.

RSC Red.....

With a picked up sewing area, you would think I got some sewing in this week in red! Nope, but I do have some reds cut out to make some houses later today. You can see the UFO - grandmothers choice blocks are on the floor laid out to be sewed into a top. They were getting their sashes added to some blocks yesterday. The pink house is what those red strips will become.

A shot of all my houses this year. Only 4 have the wonky surround on them. They all will eventually get that added - some going up and some going down. It is a bright and cheerful neighborhood - which just needs some red, maroon and yellows added I think. A neutral one or two might get added as well.

It has been a busy week.

Monday was spent clearing the kids play room out to become my office... and move some things out of my sewing area and into that new office space.
Tuesday was back to school for the kids and to work for me while they were at school. That night - we split up and Greg took the kids to soccer practise and I hit the open house for Emily at school.
Wednesday - school/work and lots of homework... then I had a girl scout leader meeting that night.
Thursday -school/bowling for me, then the standard homework and a first soccer game. We lost 8 to 1... and Aidan played goal for the first half. A big net this year but he made some great saves. Not too shabby with only one practise for my kids (we had an open house for the other kid the first practise day).
Friday - school/work - clean the house up a bit and then make dinner and a Skype call with Grammy and Grandpa R... and Uncle David and Aunt Donna stopped in right before we got off the Skype call with my parents. The kids got to say hi to both (last saw them in July when we were up in VT) before we threw them into bed (late night Thursday so tried to get them in bed 7:45 last night. Didn't do too bad.
Saturday morning - Emily has a bowling meeting then her first day of bowling on a league for kids. Aidan will head to a new boy scout troop with his Dad to check it out. This afternoon Grandpa A will come for his weekly visit and then..... I hope to till the garden space and then sew! Oh, I told the kids after they clean the guinea pig cage and vacuum up the living room I'll get the other box of fall decorations out for them to finish transforming the house!
Sunday - will become Grandma day for the kids. Greg asked when she wanted them that day and she said early.... somehow 5AM came up! I'd be happy to get up at 4 to pop the kids in the car at 4:15 to get to her house for 5AM....Think she was serious???????

Linking up with the RSC Challenge. See how well the others did with playing with their red scraps this week.

Wednesday.....

I got a few more stars to add to the collection this week. I was thinking I would finish off my two stars at soccer practice last night..... but Greg was home and Emily's teacher had her rescheduled open house last night. I got to do the inside open house while he took them to soccer. I added the white to two stars last night after the kids went to bed.

With my added 3 stars I am up to 9 hand pieced lemoyne stars. I guess it looks like I can do about 3 a week.

Results of yesterday's 6.5 hours of cleaning and clearing....

I was too ashamed to take a before of the playroom or the sewing room. Trust me.... this is so much better. Just picture paper and toys all over the floor, on the table and every surface that was in there! I still have work to do...there are kids things that I need to finish sorting and find a place for or get rid of, and of course the quilts and my pictures will need to be hung up in my office. Yes, the flag will come down and be replaced with my newest quilt finish. The recliner will be put right next to where the garbage is... My back was not up to moving it in last night with Greg's help. Much better today though so it will move in later this afternoon before the kids go to soccer practice.

This is the photo of the quilting area..... there is a floor! Still could use lots of sorting and organizing in there but at least I feel like I can go sew in there now. The printer is also now in my office area so I can easily print out things like my 1857 quilt blocks and my Inklingo printing on fabric.

Oh boy, that wall could use a day of sorting and refolding. The bins in the corner also were stuffed with all the fabrics from the floor..... some day they will get sorted into colors, I hope!

Not to shabby for a long day of work.

Happy Labor Day...

I should be putting a few hours in at my programming job.... but instead I decided to clear out the kids play room and that will now become my office. I warned them... we've picked it up numerous times and it ends up as a disaster zone.  You could not see the floor in there with things thrown everywhere. No more!  It will now become my office area... for working from home. I'll have my Avon things in there and out of my sewing area (which is right over the wall) and maybe store my stamping up things in there... since the kids keep going in and grabbing them out of my sewing area and making a complete mess (ok, adding to my mess but that's creating right?). I'll have some of their games and puzzles stored in there and will keep their kitchen (unless I can clear out the entrance area in the garage and pop it there =)) and things for when they play school.
That means I'll have almost all the 'garage' area that was already converted to an office space with AC and carpeted when we moved into the house! Hehe.. I'm going to pop one of the recliners in there and Greg kindly moved out the bulky tv and put the flat screen in with the amazon/netfix/hulu box. Other than a kitchen and bathroom maybe I don't need to come out?

Back to work... more to move and organize. If it gets presentable I might take pictures later. I've got the crock pot bubbling away with some chicken soup and the steaks will be thrown on the grill for dinner later tonight. With things planned out it's back to reclaiming my space.

Sunday stitching

Sometime today I'll settle into my chair and finish the quilting on this last block. Then.... it will be time to start the first border! First, I need to pop into work at the store for a short day.

Linking up with Kathy's quilts and the other hand stitchers at Slow Stitching Sunday.yahoo

RSC Rainy Saturday....

I found out this morning that our color for September is reds with a touch of gold! I had guessed correctly when I changed my blog colors yesterday to the deep red color.

After a nice walk this morning before the rain started again I headed out with hubby to run some errands and then home for lunch. Grandma got the kids yesterday afternoon since they had cancelled school due to the hurricane. She will return them sometime later today. We had no damage and just about 3 inches of rain where I live.

My plans for today were to clear out the kids 'play room' that they never use (except yesterday cause I told them I was taking it over this weekend!)... which I will start on at some point this afternoon I think. I am going to make it into my office for working from home and some storage of Greg's business things. Instead... I started moving things off my sewing table (lots of things thrown on there so had to uncover to see where things are!)... and found this little place mat I put together last year at some point. It had a batting cut to size. I grabbed a marbled red/pink/orange for the back, used the walking foot to sew next to the seams and made a binding and put it on. 20 minutes.... why did it take a year to do? These are really easy to make I just cut 2.5 or 2 inch strips to a 13.5 inch length and sew them together until they are about 18.5 inches long. Add a batting and backing, quilt it and then bind. A nice easy placemat for your table. I have one in blue and green already so I just have to add one more and I'll have one for everyone at my table. This one is for Emily... she loves the color red.

 Oh well, I fear that is all my red sewing for the day... other than maybe some hand stitching later tonight on my Fireworks quilt. I think this might be the last block before I can start on the borders for this little wall hanging. I think it is around 30x30 or 40x40.

Linking up with the RSC Challenge. Hope you find something fun to sew on this holiday weekend.