A weekend off....

Kind of. Back from another week away for training. Two weeks down and two to go. We do get this coming week off, so I hope to get a few things done or started on in the sewing room while I am home. I also have to work 2 days in a store as part of the training so that takes away 2 days there and there is Thanksgiving this week too. I'm hosting so a bit of time will go into cooking and cleaning as well. All in all.... a busy week at home for me.

I did manage to finish the binding for the Star Struck quilt. I just need to make the label, attach it and print out some pics of the kids and send this up to Vermont to it's new owner. I hope she likes it and thinks of the kids when she sees it.


I also did 2 more of the JL blocks last week and 2 today but didn't get a chance to write it up. I now have 8 of these blocks done and hope to make two more later this week. I have the 4 patches and HST's all set so this is easy sewing right now for the next 4 or 5 blocks I think.
These are the 2 from last week,
the two today

and all 8 of my blocks so far.

My goals this week are to get two quilts quilted and the bindings on so I can finish them while I am away at training again. I found the box of warm and natural batting and have the backings made already. Just need to pin and quilt... and maybe make one of the bindings.
I'd also like to get some of the creams cut for Em's quilt and get started on that. At least one Midget block done.... hope for two though. Of course... put out a few more of the JL blocks as well... all the parts are done so that one should be easy. I also need 4 more crumb blocks to be up to my 42 for the inside.... I think I can do that today as well. Of course... Bonnie Hunter has a mystery that started yesterday over at Quiltville.com.... I really want to do that too, but think I'll just have to print out those directions for the next couple of weeks. Maybe it will be a Christmas week mystery for me?
There. That's my goals for the week...... lets see how I do!

Jacobs Ladder Week 2

I was able to sew a bunch more of the HST's and the four patches and now have 4 of these pretty blocks put together.



I am estimating that I need 30 blocks for a set of 5x6. At 12 inches a block that should be a good sized lap quilt I think. I had enough HST's cut to make 11 blocks... so I'll need to raid the stash again and cut some more fabrics when I get home next weekend.

Tiny Tuesday - a Midget Block!

After a bit of time off from these, they have come back! They arrived down here in Florida two weeks ago and I was able to sew up #11 - Signal over the weekend. This one has 29 pieces in it. It shows really dark in the picture.


I have fabrics pulled for #9 and #10 and hope to get one of them done for next week.



These are the midget blocks that I have done so far. I never noticed before how many green's there are!


Go check out how others are doing over at Jill's.

Kids....

Wednesday, Grandma and Papa took the kids so I could complete some on-line training before I headed to 'pool school' this week. Grandma (MIL) decided to take the kids shopping and let them each pick out something for me for my birthday yesterday. They also ordered a triple chocolate cake.... which was Awesome!

They had the kids in the cart and pushed them through the whole store... lots of comments and quite the conversation as my 3 year old son is quite the talker (I really wish he came with an off switch sometimes!). It sounds like everyone in the store was getting a kick out of watching this process. AT had picked up a brown bracelet and held onto it all the way around the store..... until he got to the checkout. On it, was a clear jar with big colorful watches. He immediately said.....' I want that'. Had both in his hand and Grandma said, you can only choose one. What a dilemma! He decided I needed the watch so I can have 3... 'One, Two, Three! Just like Me!' I guess the check out person was laughing pretty good by this point! This is what my wonderful 3 year old picked out for my birthday.... all by himself.


Now, little Emily - age 2, was walking with Papa (who is 79) and found some long, sparkly, dangling earrings and was holding them all through the store (that explains the questions from AT about ear rings and pierced ears on Thursday!).... until she saw this on the shelf


She handed the ear rings to Papa and grabbed this little jewelry holder. Don't my kids coordinate well?



All in all, it was a great birthday. I was able to spend the afternoon in the sewing room and finished a Midget Block for Tiny Tuesday and got my Star Struck quilt quilted and the binding sewn on. All set to bring with me to training to finish up in the hotel room without any cats 'helping' me! I'll post that picture when it is completed.
Hope you all had as good a Friday as I did. Now... onto cleaning that 4th bedroom of moving boxes and craft things so it will be all set for MIL to sleep in while we are gone next week. I think I've done everything on my list so far.... except cut out the creams for Emily's quilt. I may bring with me to do some evening in the hotel.... unless I have some time tomorrow after the room is all set for company.

Jacobs Ladder..... some blocks!

Well, I've been busy working on my to do list from my last post. The 5 hours of training is done and all tests taken (big thanks to MIL for taking the kids yesterday so I could get that done). Since they had timers on the page...and sometimes only one little paragraph on the page.... I sewed some 2 patches and 4 patches and trimmed down those HST's... (I did the 4 inch squares and made 2 matching HST's). Today I put these two blocks together.

I am enjoying this process and think this will be donated to my friend Kelly for next June's 'Lacing up for Cancer' quilt for her to raffle off.

During the last 'class' I opened my midget box of civil war fabrics and pulled some fabrics for blocks 9, 10 and 12 while waiting for the timer to go off so I could turn the page. If I ever get a 30-60 minute block of time I think I'll put one of them together for next Tuesday's 'Tiny Tuesday'.

Oh no... I really need to do some more of the crumb blocks too.... but for now the kids finally settled down (1 hour after put down for naps and one huge booboo on a finger that I need to check once AT wakes up (he was under his bed and pushing the slats up with his feet and a finger that is a little swollen when it got smushed....but I think he was able to move it.) The joys of parent hood.

The next post.... I'll let you know what the kids did with Grandma and Papa yesterday in preparation for tomorrow!

November... how the time just fly's

Yikes, so long since the last post. Life just gets in the way sometimes. I had a quick trip up to Vermont to visit and then drive the second car down weekend before last.... good thing I didn't wait as they got a bit of snow up that way this weekend. I had a good visit with my siblings and families while there and brought Mom back with me! She was a trooper and we got down here in 2 days of driving time... 22 hours driving and probably around 28 hours in the car those two days. What a way to spend a weekend! She was able to come down and see the house and kids and headed back last Thursday to the snow covered ground in Vermont.

While there, I visited a cute quilt shop in Barre/Montpelier called A Quilters Garden and picked up a few FQ's of 30's prints.

Still have not found the ones I know I have somewhere in this house.... I'm sure I'll find them once I finish putting my sewing room in order. While gone, I had emptied out my closet of boxes and hubby installed a few shelves for me. Of course... that is the spare room so once Mom decided to come down with me... he got to throw all the boxes back into the closet and see about getting something for her to sleep on while down here. I was able to finally get in there last Friday and empty some boxes of fabrics and put them on their new shelves. Sill lots to do in there.... but lots of other things have to get done this week before my training starts next week.

On thing I decided to join is the Jacobs Ladder quilt along. I decided to do scrappy in green and creams. Since it is scrappy.... I need to have lots of patches and HST's sewn together before I can assemble a block. Having the greens out and on a shelf is much easier than pawing through a box of fabric. This is the stack I have so far.


I did try the 3.5 inch strips and the specialty ruler to cut them.. but it seems my seam allowance is off and they are too small. I need to pick those seams out and try again to get the correct size units.

I also had some quick sewing to do for Halloween. I got a bit of brown leather looking fabric to make a vest for AT's costume. I have never sewn anything but straight line for quilts...so this was an experience. I just took some packing paper and his shirt and came up with a back and two sides. Since it is just for play... I didn't do a liner. I think it came out pretty good for my first attempt. He made a cute pirate and will get more use out of it as a cow boy and sheriff in the future. That is one versatile garment! The good part, I have enough fabric to make another one for Em.
Here they are in costume last night.


Off to finish dinner... and see if I can get a few things finished this week. My list:
Do the rest of the 5+ hours of on-line training and the test before class next Monday. (Grandma is kid sitting tomorrow so I can get this done!)
Quilt the Star Struck quilt for C and get the binding put on so I can finish it next week while away. (need to unpin, re-iron everything, repin and quilt. Binding is made already)
Cut the creams for Emily's quilt so that log cabin can start construction.
Make more 2 patches, 4 patches and HST's for the JLQA.
Make a midget block (maybe tonight since it is Tuesday?) to keep that project going.
Clean and organize the 4th bedroom/sewing room for MIL (who is a neat freak... yikes!)
Wish me luck.. I'm going to need it!

A little of this and that

Not as much sewing this past week as I'd prefer. As you can see on my side bar, I've decided to join in on the Jacobs Ladder block along.... The tough decision was purples or greens...... I pulled some nice purple floral print and a coordinating purple leaf 'solid' and cut some strips for the 4 patches and the HST...... that turned into this...


The colors don't show well in this photo... but they are too much the same.... tone maybe? Not enough contrast. Back to the drawing board.... I know I had a good bunch of greens that I had packed. Green and creams it is. A scrappy quilt.... needs lots of things cut before I can assemble a block. I've been cutting away but have little to show for it yet. Hopefully I'll have enough to make a couple of blocks up in the next few days.

I seem to be running out of my 1.5 inch 30's prints and can't seem to find the other 4.5 inch strips I know came down with me in the car and are somewhere in the 4th bedroom. I've gone through it twice... still can't find them. Good news though... DH picked up 3 shelf boards at Lowes today and will be putting them into one half of the closet so I can get the fabric out of the boxes and out so I can see them. Hopefully, I'll find them when I do that. Until then..... my crumblies will be on hold. I did manage to make 4 of the log cabin blocks and think I have 36 of them right now.

Wanting to work on something different - I found a little bag with 4 dark blue rectangles, 4 dark blue triangles, 4 light blue triangles and 8 white triangles. No instructions. I sewed the triangles together to get 8 HST. Looked again for instructions... nothing. I set them like this

The next day... I found this!

Figures. Oh well, I like the one I came up with and think it may turn into a scrappy blue quilt. We'll have to wait and see....And yes... that said 1997 for this block. I don't think I have any of the other ones.. don't remember seeing that when I packed things up, but you just never know!
Time for some pumpkin mouse and hope the kids stay in their rooms and go to sleep.