Tiny Tuesday

Well, while the kids were playing games with their cousins last night (2 teenagers playing Rumacube and trouble) I got a little stitching time. This little umbrella joined the party just in time for some rain today.

This other one will probably get some stitches in the car line.... I seem to be one behind with not making one last week. I use back basting so I draw the pattern on the back.

 I do wonder what color umbrellas will be popping up in March?

Hand Pieced Quit Along - Block #5

I got both my blocks completed Sunday just in time for the release of block #6 on Monday!

I really like how these came out. So fun to hand piece these blocks. I am really loving this project.

Linking up with ElmstreetQuilts and Homemade.Simple.Everyday.

Slow Sunday.....

It looks like a nice day to sit on the back porch and do a little stitching as I wait for family to arrive from up north (after I do a deep vacuum of the house to try and get cat hair up for the allergic people arriving!). The kids are out there right now playing with their kinetic sand....

I have the units for the hand pieced quilt along block #5 made..... I just need to trim them, then stitch them together. I get to do it all over again since I am making 2 each of the blocks so I can make the quilt a little bigger. I have the second set cut out... just need to mark and stitch them together.

Emily decided it was movie night last night and I had to pay attention to the movie... so I can knit and still watch (I can't with hand stitching) so this yellow dish cloth was started as well. I think I can knit this pattern in my sleep so it was perfect for movie watching. [Cast on 4, knit, turn, start of row - knit first 2 stitches, yarn over, knit to the end. Turn and repeat until you are at around 50 stitches. Then you decrease - knit, knit 2 together, yarn over, knit 2 together and then knit to the end of the row. When you are down to 4 stitches, cast off.] I did the blue one last week in the bus on the way to and from St. Augustine with the 4th graders.

We watched Cats and Dogs, the revenge of Kitty Gallore. It was a cute movie!

Linking up with the other slow stitchers today over at Kathy's Quilts.

Yellow!

I made progress finally! All the yellow hexagon flowers are appliquéd down to their black 6.5 inch background squares. 2 colors down.... 8 sets to go!

A shot of the red and yellow flowers that are done.

Then it was inspection time according to Peanut.

I will link up Saturday to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Head on over and see what everyone is creating with their yellow scraps. 

Hand Pieced Quilt Along - Block #4

I finally got both of my block #4's done! I do love how these are coming out. It always amazes me how fabric and color placement can completely change the look of the block. I do love that hand piecing is so portable.... I believe I did most of these in the car line waiting on the kids! Good thing soccer starts next week - an additional 90 minutes of practice time to sit and stitch!

I found an on point setting that will work perfectly for the 18 blocks I am making (2 of each!). 

Linking up with the Hand Pieced Quilt Along. Head on over and see all the beautiful blocks people are making.

Slow Sunday Stitching.....

Time to sit back in my recliner and relax with a little slow stitching! I have had my hand pieced quilt along block #4 cut out since Wednesday and have not marked it for hand piecing yet! That is next on the list after posting this. Then it will be stitching it together tonight to make my 2 blocks before block #5 is released tomorrow.

My day was busy but fun. We headed up to Gainesville to the UF Gater Womens College Basketball game today. Emily was recognized as a Champion with Character and the kids got into the game free and it was only $1 for us adults to tag along. It pays to know someone! The kids had fun - Em was quite nervous to go out on the court but she did good and had fun at the game. They were ahead when I took her down at the end of the first quarter.....and then the other team - South Carolina took over. It didn't take very long to get up there and was a nice ride. The campus is beautiful! We may have gotten there a wee bit early and had to walk around a bit to find food.... but I did hit my 10K in steps! I think there were 7 other kids from our school and a good number of schools represented from the surrounding areas. Some went out onto the court between the 1+2 quarters. Em's group of 8 schools went out at the beginning of half time.

Now to mark my stitching line, put the foot rest up and relax with some slow stitching.

Linking up with the other turtle stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts.

Yellow anyone?

I was able to do a little bit of yellow this week. The first two umbrella's got created and I added a couple of yellow hexagon flowers to their black backgrounds. I think I had 13 yellow flowers to applique this month. Both are 6.5 inch blocks - the umbrellas and the hexagons.

I hope to get a little sewing in today as well..... although I am not sure if it will be yellow or not.

Greg has gone to retrieve Aidan from Grandma's. Emily just took a coffee cake out of the oven for breakfast. After a long day yesterday with a field trip to St. Augustine  with the 4th graders (hey - we came home with the same amount of kids!) it is a relax day for us....... by that I mean no actual plans!

I do hope to trim bushes and weed a bit in the front flower beds, pin Aidan's quilt...and maybe have him quilt it a bit.... but we will see.

Tomorrow - we head to Gainesville to see a Womens college basketball game. Emily was selected by her PE teacher as a 'Champion with Character' and she gets to see the game free and be recognized on center court with the other kids from her school. It should be fun.

Linking up with the RSC Challenge. Head on over and get inspired by all the yellow projects popping up.

Wednesday.....

I was able to get the second yellow umbrella done for the month. I really like how this one came out.

I also finished off the second block #3 of the hand piecing quilt along. Now I can prep the parts for the hourglass units for block #4. I may be piecing them at bowling or at soccer free play tomorrow. Time will tell.

Edited on Thursday...... Blueprint sent me a fun coupon as a member today..... I ordered an embroidery starter kit for $17. March will be the month to try something new! 

Tiny Tuesday -

An umbrella in yellow! This is the one I had prepped for last week. Maybe I'll get the next one done for a post tomorrow?

Slow Stitching on Sunday....

I have plans to slow stitch..... after all the errands are run! I already did a trip to the girl scout store to pick up badges. Home for lunch (spinach salad with apples) and now I need to go get groceries.

Then... I promised to fix one opening on the boy's quilt top I found when I was rolling it onto the boards yesterday. That will allow us to roll it and get it pinned for quilting. If I still have patience, I might let him quilt it today.

After all that.... I plan to sit and relax in my recliner and work on some hand stitching of flying geese for my second Block #3 of the Hand Pieced Quilt Along..... Here is the first with all the parts for the second block all prepped and ready to go!

Then I'll work on the yellow umbrella that I never got to last week. You will notice the small piece of brown... yes, that is what I cut on the day I planned to work on it in the car line. It was a wee bit small and so that plan got delayed. It will get made tonight... who knows, I might even pull the next fabrics and get that one done too!

Linking up with the other Slow Stitchers over at Kathy's Quilts.

RSC Saturday in Yellow -

A crazy week (again!)

I did finish up the red and got a crumb block done to add to the pile.... these started out as 6.5 inch blocks years ago and since I had 4 of most.... I just sewed them together last year to make 12.5 inch blocks. I needed to add a red but I already have a couple of yellows.....

So I get to work on friendship stars in yellow this month. I don't have any of those made! I have 12 red, purple and about 6 of the blues. I am making these with 2.5 inch parts.

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Sunday - kids were at Grandma's and after a late start I did get to sew a bunch of green and cream log cabin blocks. The kids were returned early so Grandma could get home to watch the super bowl. The kids watched until 8:30 when I sent them to bed. I did get a little hand stitching in as well.

Monday - work then scouts. I had the 3 juniors tonight to work on a play with the past badge. They got to see pics of me and hear about life before the internet and cell phones! Make chocolate fondue and dipped in strawberries and pound cake for a snack after we made tie dyed shirts. They came out pretty good - although I have only seen 2 of the 3!

Tuesday - work then homework with kids (and an afternoon conference call) then horses with Emily. She asked about cookies and sold 16 boxes for delivery next Tuesday! We got home a wee bit late as the cookie sales distracted her and her helmet and gloves were left at the barn... which she noticed half way home so we turned back to get it then home again. The barn is 30 minutes from our house.... so a long night.

Wednesday - work then homework then mopped the kitchen floor (it was disgusting!) then dinner out with the birthday boy to Red Lobster. It was a late night for the kids and they were tuckered out when we got home around 8. Love the check in from the internet as we got seated when we walked in!

Thursday - no working! It is a bowling day for me and I unloaded lots of girl scout cookies and a case of mints is spoken for. I just have 9 mints and a case of Samoa's left with a couple do si do and a smore...... and I'm sure those will go next Thursday! That will put her past the half way mark in sales with her goal of 300 this year.  A little picking up then headed over to get a few more boxes of cookies I needed to fill orders and help out my cookie Mom a bit (her first time doing it) and turn in a bunch of $. Got home in time to grab the boy and bring them to Publix for the schools Math night. Each class has a different sheet of questions for them to answer. I got my steps in walking all around the store! Aidan took off with his friend Jackari and his parents supervised them while Emily and I worked on hers.
Friday - work, pick up kids and then it was time to tackle the bathrooms. I hate cleaning bathrooms.... but it needed to get done. All sparkly clean for Saturday's birthday party with the grandparents.  Emily is off to a sleepover and I am off to Cooking Club .....A.K.A Deb's night out with the ladies!

Saturday - will be finishing picking up the house and then tackling some yard work since the temps are back down to comfy (70 today instead of 80's like the last couple of afternoons).

Hand Pieced Quilt Along....

Crazy week..... finally got around to piecing my Block #3. I used my fons and porter flying geese ruler and strips of 2 inch fabrics I pulled from the drawer. I marked my sewing lines at bowling.... in dim light.... and oops... marked on most of the front side of the white triangles. Fixed some of them in the car line today and started sewing. I'm happy with my first Block #3. It could use a press....

I need to cut some more white triangles and mark them and I'll plan to make my second Block #3 on Sunday.
Linking up with the Hand Pieced Quilt Along over at Elm Street Quilts and Homemade. Simple. Everyday.

Tonight - girls night out for me (A.K.A Cooking club with my Pampered Chef consultant). I really don't need anything... but it is a planned one night out a month with the ladies to chat and eat... and I do find some fun recipes to try out on the family.  Emily went to Emily N's house for a sleepover tonight. They boys will be home on their own for a few hours.

Edited this morning... I actually pressed the block! It was after 10PM last night when I finished it!

All of them so far.

Birthday Boy is 11 today!

Aidan 3 months

Aidan almost 11

The boy work up happy, positive and ready for school today! He is also looking forward to a special birthday dinner out at Red Lobster tonight (his choice).
Dad took him shopping on Saturday afternoon while Em and I went to get her cookies. He picked out a new bike and a watch. He has outgrown his bike and it was time for a new one... something about being 5 feet tall at age 11! Yikes.  (FYI - I'm 5'2") He donated his old bike to Casa - the women shelter in Inverness.

Sunday results...

It was a Sunday day of stitching.... with a little shopping for scouts and food mixed in. I got a later start than I had planned in the sewing room.... something about getting into a book and reading until 1:15AM Sunday morning......

I did get some good progress on the green and cream log cabins. These take a lot longer than I think they will! They are fun to make though.

These will just need another couple of logs added and then they should hit the 12.5 inches I am shooting for. I think there are 10 close to being done and I started a couple more with the bits I trimmed off. That's the fun thing about this one.. you keep making scraps to start new log cabins as you go!

Dinner

is all set so maybe I can add some logs this afternoon after picking up the kids.


Just need to make sure I am all set for scouts - my 4 juinors will be working on a badge and learning about the 70s, making chocolate fondue and tye dye shirts. Should be fun!

Some Slow Stitching....

I had cut out the parts for my second block #2 of the hand pieced quilt along earlier this week. I drew the lines when the Super Bowl game started.... and managed to get it all stitched together in the first quarter!

Stitching parts together.

Rows done.

All 4 finished blocks.

Now to find something else to work on while watching the game! I think I'll pull out the knitting needles and blue yarn for a dish cloth.

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC in Yellow...

I had plans to sew last night. We did family game night instead. Sometimes you just gotta spend time with the family. The boys won the first game of pictionary. Aidan and I won the second game.

Now the question... do I just put the red away or finish making a few crumb blocks today? I think I'll finish up the 4 - 6.5 inch crumb blocks to make another 12 inch crumb block to join the collection.

I did get 5 red umbrellas done for the month of January. These are my tiny Tuesday posts... if I get them done in time!

I have almost all those hexagons in the header photo basted - just dark blue and green to go! I pulled a couple of yellows and cut out the 13 black backgrounds I needed this month for them. These 2 got appliquéd down in the car line yesterday.

Taking stock of my 'in process' blocks.... looks like I could make 12 yellow friendship star blocks,

some 9 patches (that I started this year... and think a applique circle will go with these) ,

and I need to check the bow tie blocks but I think I have yellows done for that set.

I *might* have to start the graduation quilt..... since that is blue and yellow in a chevron pattern. Time will tell.

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Until then... it is girl scout cookie season at my house. The cookies are being picked up this morning. Emily wants to sell 300 boxes this year! Yikes.... she has about 80 spoken for so far. We have a lot of work to reach her goal. Unfortunately... the first weekend of cookie booths is Feb 15...... we are on a long field trip that day to St. Augustine and that Sunday the 17th ..... Emily is one of the kids with character picked by her p.e. teacher to attend a college womans basketball game in Gainesville! I'm taking that weekend off!

The boy is going with Grandma today birthday shopping and lunch out. I told Emily we would go get a pedi today.... my feet need some pampering and the temps are warming up and I should be able to wear shorts/sandals again this week. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE wearing jeans and the cooler weather in Florida the last 2 weeks has been lovely. But the sandals will be worn again this week so it is time!

February Goal(s) ....

Ok, I technically have 2 goals this month.

First - make the backing for Aidan's quilt, help him pin it and then let him quilt it on the machine. Make binding and attach. Someone is going to be 11 on Wednesday.... would be nice to have it done by then... but he has a busy weekend planned with a day outing with Grandma tomorrow and normal Grandma day on Sunday.

Second - finish all the log cabin blocks in green and cream for the donation quilt I am making.  I have 14 blocks (12 inch finished) made and a lot to go. When I tidied up the sewing room floor I have all the creams and green scraps in a nice bin to pull from. I need 64 blocks for an 8x8 setting and 96x96 quilt size.

What are your goals for the month?