Much to be thankful for!

We had a really great Thanksgiving with our son (home from college) and our niece. They both arrived around 6 pm on Wednesday and we headed out for dinner at the local Mexican restaurant and then went up to the mall so the son could get a new phone (his old one was giving him some problems). I ran in to the book store and got a few books to take over for the grandson next week when he has dental surgery.

Thursday morning I got up and cleaned up the kitchen from making chex party mix, dinner rolls and bread on Wednesday and started right in on further dinner preparations. I made sure the turkey was thawed and got it ready to go in the oven and slipped it back in the fridge and then got started on pies.

When the pies were done my niece and I ran a couple of errands and then came home and got started on the project for the weekend - fabric sorting. We got all the boxes down from the attic and sorted it out so that there was one kind/size/quality of fabric in each bin or box. This included sorting three bins of scraps!

Here is what we ended up with today when we were done.I found a couple more bins in the attic so I didn't have to use the open boxes and all of these went back in the attic but at least they are sorted and labeled so I can pull down one box at a time and work my way through them. Most of this will become Lutheran World Relief quilts but the flannel might be for Project Linus. I did have one box that is going to the thrift store and a small amount that is nice fabric either in larger pieces or scraps that will be incorporated into my stash. Some made it way to the trash because it was just to small. A box of corduroy stayed down to be taken care of soon and there was quite a bit that will become 1.5" strips for more log cabin blocks and lots for crazy quilt blocks.

Our Thanksgiving dinner was one of the best I have made I think (thanks to Katie's help) and the pies were, by far, the best I have ever made!

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Stupid people

Just got a call from one of our property managers about a tenant who cut a wire to the oven timer because it was clicking. Now nothing works and he gets to face his wife and tell her they might not have an oven for the turkey! And as a bonus - he gets to pay for the repair! Serves him right!

Quick Update

Again it has been almost a week since my last post! We left home Thursday afternoon for a visit with the grandkids (and their parents and uncle too).

Yesterday I spent most of the day talking to customers and getting them scheduled to get their appliances repaired. Why do people wait until three days before Thanksgiving to get their oven fixed that has been working poorly for 6 months? Why do people decide to self-clean their ovens right before Thanksgiving? Do they not know that when the oven is self-cleaning it goes up to 800-900 degrees and is more likely to break down? Okay probably they don't know that but they should! Self-clean your oven when you know you aren't going to need it for at least a month just in case it dies and needs a part that has to come from the factory!

Today we have had some calls but not as many as yesterday - thank goodness! Because of that I was able to spend most of the morning working on log cabin blocks. I finished the next batch so I have 35 finished now! I have the center squares cut for the next 12 so I hope to get some done on that this afternoon. There is still quite the pile of 1 1/2" strips to use up so I am hoping I will be able to make at least a total of 63 but I can't be sure. Since the blocks will be finished at 8.5" I should be able to make a fairly decent sized quilt with lots of layout options.

Time to get in the shower and head out to do some math tutoring. Later!

More log cabins

I finished off the first 8 blocks and then started and finished 12 more today so that is a good start on the next log cabin quilt. This one might end up twin or double sized or bigger depending on how many blocks I get.

Life has been very hectic recently. Lots of business calls to make, trying to get caught up on some things around the house, trying to get some sewing done, taking the dog to the groomer, dropping off and picking up sewing machines from the repair show, volunteering at the church, raking leaves, etc. Mix all that up with a nasty cold and you probably wouldn't be surprised that I am all worn out in the evenings!

I finished up 42 blocks for this log cabin quilt top over the weekend and got the top together yesterday. It was hard to come up with a layout I liked but I finally decided on this one.

Yesterday, I also got started on the first neutral and print log cabin blocks for the next top. I plan to go until I finish up my 1 1/2" strips. Once those strips are gone I need to work on my crazy quilt blocks so that pile gets whacked back again.

I have joined a flickr group for stash busting so this morning I took pictures of most of my scraps (well contained in bins for the most part) to show. This is inspiring me to haul those bins down and get it all sorted out one of these days so I have a bin of flannel, one of polar fleece, one of 'good' quilt fabric, one of LWR quilt fabric, etc. Then I will be able to just pull down one bin at a time to work with and empty. Maybe I can get Katie to help me over Thanksgiving if I offer movies and special beverages while we work?!?!?!

I realized that both of these minis have been received too so I can post pictures here now.

The first is my first attempt at a disappearing 9-patch and I am pleased with this effort but now I want to try a more planned one. I have the perfect fabrics waiting for a good pattern so I will get to that one of these days. This was for the Plain Jane Mini Swap for November.

This second one was for the 'theme' side of the Mini Quilt Swap for November. My partner loves roses and was pretty happy with my effort.

I think now I have posted all the little quilts I have sent out recently.

It can be shown

Here is the little quilt I had the honor of finishing off in Spring Fling Round Robin 2. It has arrived at its new home and will be well loved by Kathy. As I was doing the quilting it reminded me of Neapolitan ice cream and you would be very proud of me since I did not run down to the closest store to pick up a container as a snack!

Road Trip

I have been feeling crummy this week but it is Fabric Depot's sale weekend and I needed 60" black Kona so I sucked it up and headed south to Portland. I was really quite proud of myself. I didn't allow myself to fall in love with any fabric - my sewing closet just couldn't bear it if I did! I got my bolt of Kona, ordered a new needlethreader hookie-do thing for my Pfaff, picked out 17 lovely neutrals and 8 lovely reds and found the pattern I think I will use for the wedding quilt for June which will be made out of reds/maroons/golds/neutrals such as I purchased. The multi colored floral fat quarter is one I received with one of my October minis and was my guideline for purchases.

The best thing about the trip was the fact that dinner was in the crock-pot waiting for me to get home!

A little of this, a little of that

I have been a little under the weather so it is harder to get things done - I seem to just want to sit around! So Saturday I took advantage of that and got some computer work done and then I got the binding on one November Mini and got the labels done for it and my DQS5 quilt and even whipped up a cute little number for my second November Mini and got it sandwiched, quilted and bound. Since Chelsea took my one Pfaff that was working well I had to decide on another machine to use so I tried out my 1956 Singer 301. It was really amazing! So quiet and did such a nice job of stitching and even free motion quilting!

Saturday evening I was at a friend's house for a candle party so I didn't get anything more accomplished but Sunday I decided to do some sewing on log cabin blocks and got a good start on 12 more blocks using the black strips. When I was tired of that I went out to the living room and watched some TV and did the hand-sewing on the two mini's bindings and got the two labels stitched on.

Today I had to take my car in for an oil change and on the way home I picked up the mail - I had three quiltie packages! It was almost like Christmas!

This first one is my October Mini from Lin in Thailand! That is one of the coolest parts of all the swaps - you get packages from great quilters all over the world! I just love this little house.

This next one is from Marilyn in California. There are so many fun details in this quilt - the more you look the more you find. This is Marilyn's first month in the Mini Quilt Swap and I look forward to seeing what she comes up with in the future!

This last picture is my quilt from Another Little Quilt Swap 2. It came from Trish up in Ontario. It was definitely a 'pink' mail day. In fact, two of the 3 quilts were wrapped in the same pink tissue!

After I was done looking at all my fun mail I got 4 quilts packaged up and in the mail to their recipients. I will post pictures when they get to their new homes. I goofed a little in that I mailed my Spring Fling Round Robin 2 quilt today and it wasn't supposed to go out until next week but there's not much I can do about it now. I was worried it might get lost in the sewing room and not get sent at all!

Incommunicado again!

My daughter arrived on Tuesday afternoon with my two adorable grandkids so time on the computer was limited to checking email and reading blogs. I also got no sewing done to speak of. I did help Chelsea with cutting out and sewing of her wool coat but mostly with advise, etc. - no actual sewing! For being a new seamstress and quilter she is really coming into her own. Not afraid to tackle most things. You can check out her new crafting/sewing/quilting blog here.

Today will be spend washing sheets, towels, etc. and getting the house back in order. I also have a fun lunch date with two friends.

The weather here has been very rainy so I have not done anymore raking, though there are now lots more leaves that need raking!

I hope I will get lots of sewing done over the weekend but "the best laid plans..."

VOTE!

Please exercise your right!

Another wedding quilt and another baby quilt

My niece (my brother's daughter) emailed a couple of weeks ago that she is expecting her 4th baby so I am starting to think about a quilt for her/him. I am personally hoping for a girl since she has three boys already! I will need to have it ready sometime around the beginning of May. I ordered a pattern today from Clotilde that I thought was cute so that might be it.

Another niece (my husband's brother's daughter) is getting married in June so I am starting to think about a quilt for her also. I am thinking something in this color scheme. Not sure what pattern I will use yet but I would like it to be more scrappy than not. Any ideas?

I got my names for the 6"-12" Mini Swap for November. I will be doing one with words (our theme) and one plain jane. I had a great idea for the word mini and got started and realized when I had the first letter done that it was backwards - I forgot about the whole mirror image thing when you are paper piecing!!!! Frustrating, but I snapped out of it and climbed back on that horse and now have 3 letters done correctly and I think it will be very cool! Hopefully my partner thinks so too!