Hump Day

It is hump day! The weekend is definitely coming. I have been working almost daily in the yard. It is starting to take shape. Mulch mountain is still a mountain but it has some big bites out of it. The weather here in Southwest Ohio has been much cooler. It makes working in the yard much more bearable. 

I have finished yet another quilted item. I finished the small wall hanging for my hall way. Once I get it hung I will take a picture of it. I am now working on my Patriotic wall hanging for my basement landing. It is slow going. I think I am going to have to rip out some more of it the next time I am at the sewing machine. That is such a fun job. 

I have already picked out my next two projects. I promised my sister some place mats for her dining room table. I am thinking something light and airy for the summer. In the current America quilts for the home is a quilt that is calling my name. I know it is on page 46 but I cannot remember the name of it. I have decided to use my brights and have pulled most of them. I am making it scrappy and each block will be different. I only need one 2.5 inch strip of 72 different fabrics. Not a problem. Also need some white tone on tone and some yellow. The pattern reminds me of pop beads from my childhood. 

I am also preparing for visitors for the 4th of July. My son, his wife, her mom, and their dog are coming for the holiday. My son has a request for Stuffed Manicotti  for dinner one night. That is one of his favorite meals. I am sure that his dad will come down for a visit while the kids are in town. So I am working on getting sewing room moved out of the dining room and back in the basement for at least the time I have visitors. 


In stitches,
Judy

Weekend

The weekend is here! Had a wonderful Saturday. Spent the first part of the with my sister, Karen. Changed the blade in her rotary cutter. Went to a yard sale, a thrift store, and Goodwill. Did not buy a thing. Went to a baby shower for my youngest sister, Patty. Finished the baby quilt last night but did take a picture of it. I will get a picture of it once the baby comes!

Tomorrow brings a drop in the temperature and more yard. I am still working on mulch mountain! Lots of weeding to do and I am having company for the 4th of July and I want the yard to look awesome! Lots of work to do and so little time!

In stitches,
Judy

Small steps

Life is just a series of small steps. I have spent most of this weekend taking small steps towards the bigger picture. Friday night I had to work late as I had traded with someone. There was one item on my list for Saturday. My washing machine. I went to Home Depot and a large wrench to fix my washer. I was not getting any cold water in my washer. With a little bit of knowledge, I set out to fix my washer and I have to say after a little bit of work, my washer is working just fine. 

Today, I did some work in my front yard and there will be a bit more work tonight once the sun has started to set. I put the binding on the quilt for my sister's shower gift and will do the hand stitching later in the week. I have all the pieces cut out for my red, white, and blue wall hanging and will start that in a few minutes. I had plans to have it done for Memorial Day but live got in the way!!!

This week looks to be another busy week. But keep taking small steps!!

In stitches,

Judy

The weekend so far!!

Last night was craft night at my house. Sadly, Nicole had to work and was unable to attend. Jennifer and I did a field trip. We went to both JoAnn Fabrics and Hancock's. I got a full bolt of elastic off the Notion's Wall at JoAnn for bag handles and Jennifer got a gob of thread. She was on the prowl for bright colors and she found quite a bit at both stores.

I showed Jennifer the fun use of Triangulations. She is already thinking about doing pinwheels, one of her favorite blocks to make. I also shared the blocks that I have constructed for my sister's baby quilt. I am hoping to finish it this weekend. 

We are still looking for sunshine. It was promised for yesterday but it did not show up. I am hoping for some sun but it would make moving mulch a lot easier if there is not a lot of sun.

Off to spend the day with my sister, Karen. Heaven knows what we will get into today. Then back to spent some time with my mom tonight. Hand piecing will rule tonight. I am chugging along on my hand piecing project. It is almost done. Then I will need to layer it and hand quilt it. I am hoping to get it done in time to enter it in the local fair this summer. 

In stitches,
Judy

The weekend

It is the weekend! It is going to be a three day weekend and I will not have to work the holiday. That is even better. I am planning on doing some sewing this weekend. I am also spending some time with my sister, Karen. We are gently hitting Hancock Fabrics and Harbor Freight. I need to change the blade in her rotary cutter. She has been busily cutting denim and flannel for a quilt for her brother in law. She is also on the prowl for more flannel for her flannel quilt. 

Nicole and Jennifer will be meeting here at the home for the last Friday night craft night in May!! I am not sure what projects we will be working on. I really need to put together the baby quilt for my sister. The baby shower is approaching rapidly. The blocks are done and I am hoping that by this time next week I will be hand stitching the binding down.


We have been promised some warm, sunny weather without any rain. We have had lots of rain and storms this week. I have spent more time in the basement an normal.

 
I am hoping to start on this pile of mulch. I would like to park my car in the garage in the future some time. And this is a large pile of mulch. And, yes it is smoking!!

In stitches,
Judy

Working from home and bad weather

 

I live in southwestern Ohio and last night we a had bout of bad weather. The tornado siren was going off and instructing us to go to the lowest floor, interior room away from windows. We know the drill and are very mindful of the situation after what happened in Joplin. I am now working from home and seem to be working in the smallest safe soft in my house. This is my home office. It is very tiny and also very safe. The storm passed over my neighborhood without much damage and we had power all night!

I have been sewing and finishing stuff. It is quite amazing. I have started working on a baby quilt for sister who is expecting in June. I had 10 leftover blocks from another baby quilt and a good bit of extra fabric. I constructed 20 more blocks and will put it together as a generous 45 x 60 inch quilt. I found some awesome striped fabric on the clearance rack at JoAnn's that I will use for the back. Of course, there are no pictures of this work in progress at this point. The blocks and backing are upstairs and I am in the basement. Pictures will follow.

In stitches,
Judy

Monday

Working from home is wonderful! I have been working from home for several weeks and I really enjoy it. Overtime is offered to the work at home (wah) associates more often than the people working in the office. I had an opportunity to work 4 hours of overtime yesterday. Of course, that did cut into my sewing time. I am trying to get bags done for my friend who line of kids clothing will include my bags. The launch is the end of this month. I have 6 large bags quilted and they need to be assembled. I have 6 medium bags started and still have  small bags in the thinking stage. I also want to make some change purses. I am working on these every waking minute of my day. It also helps that my commuting time is nil.

Nicole, Jennifer and I did our Friday night crafting this weekend. We did find out that alcohol and sewing are not friends. Nicole had one drink with dinner and that impaired her sewing just a bit. But after several tries she was able to finish her bag for her mom. And she did get to open her new sew ripper!! I think we forgot to put in the interior pocket. Oh well!! We had a good time. Jennifer was working on an embroidery project and doing a little bit of hand piecing. I worked on quilting the large bags. I ran into a bit of bad thread and a cranky sewing machine. But I was able to get a few bags quilted once I got my machine cleaned, oiled, lost the bad thread and changed the needle and the foot. 

In stitches, 
Judy

Sewing

Tomorrow is hump day sewing day at my house. Nicole and Jennifer are both coming over to sew. Nicole is going to be making a  simple dress and I imagine Jennifer will be working on her homespun quilt. I will be supervising the dress making. I may do some sewing on my hand piecing project or my bags. I am not sure at this point.

I have been playing with Triangulations. I am making gobs of half square triangles for a quilt called "Don't Break Bread into Your Soup" from Country Threads goes to Charm School. Instead of doing this pattern as a scrap quilt which is my favorite, I am doing it  as a patriotic wall hanging for my landing. The background will be red and I am using a red, white, and blue print for the scrappy part of the design. I am hoping to have it done and hung by end of the month.

 
I pulled out Challenge #9 and it is my scrap log cabin. Are we seeing a pattern here. I adore scrappy.  I pieced this years ago and I have found some strawberry fabric in my stash that was a gift from my friend, Roberta. Strawberry fabric is not my favorite but if it's free it's for me. And the monochromatic color this month is red. And that is a good thing. My sister did a redwork piece for me and I have the whole wall hanging all planned out in my head. It is going to be awesome considering the talent of my sister. I will post pictures soon!!

In stitches,

Judy

Weekend stuff

 

So far, it has been a wonderful weekend! Friday night, the crafters took a field trip to Marie Aullwood's Garden. We went to see and smell the Lila s in the Lilac Meadow. The scent was amazing!

 We also stopped at Joann's and got fabric for Nicole to make a dress. She is a new sewer and is really catching on to it!

Saturday, I got up early to make 25 simple autograph blocks for a friend whose god child is graduating from college. The blocks are done but the plans have changed and she does not need the blocks after all. The good thing about this is that the extra half square triangle blocks will make the border on the rework design that my sister made for me! I also started cutting more rectangles for my hand pieced project. Five more rows and ten more inches to each row will give me a quilt for my bed!

In stitches,

Judy

Wonderful Weekend

It was a wonderful weekend!! I spent Friday night with Jennifer and Nicole working on different craft projects, Saturday I spent the day with my sister, Karen, and Sunday was spent in Middletown at a concert hearing my sister, Becky play. Little bits of sewing stuck in wherever there was room!!!

Karen and I went to see mom and then on to shoot the sights of our hometown, Hamilton, Ohio. We will be entering some of our photography in the Butler County fair in July. There is a category for amateur photographers using black and white and color photos. And a category of sights of Butler County. So that is what we did.

We also made a stop at JoAnn Fabrics for some flannel for Karen's rag flannel quilt and some sewing machine needles for me. 

Sunday was the Red, White, and Blue concert put on by the Southwest Ohio Symphonic Band. The music was simply awesome!! Cannot wait for the next concert!

In stitches,
Judy

Weekend Fun

My weekend started last night with the Friday night crafters. I worked on my bags, Jennifer alternated between an embroidery piece and ironing home spun fabrics, which Nicole was cutting for the quilts they are working on. We had a great time with lots conversation and laughter. We had an early night as everyone was tired and Nicole was going to work early for some over time. 

My sister, Karen, is coming today to spend the day with me. We are going to go to Butler County in Ohio to take pictures. We are looking for that perfect shot to enter in the Butler County fair in July. The sun is supposed to be out and no rain. I am sure that we will see some flooded creeks and fields. Such is spring in Ohio.

Work is going well. I am now working from home and I love it. I can start dinner in my crock pot and do laundry while I am working. That is so cool. And next week my free mulch from the city is coming. I sure hope the rain stops so I can get started on my yard work!!

In stitches,

Judy

Stuff

It is hard to believe that April is almost gone and that May is rushing towards us! I live in southwest Ohio and it has rained here, alot. At least 13 inches of rain for the month of April. Everything is greening up and the grass is growing very tall. Today the sun is supposed to be out. I hope I recognize it!!

I have been doing bits of sewing. I have started a new hand piecing project. I found most of it already cut out in my sewing room. I did have to cut out some more background pieces. Good thing I am using bleached muslin, cause I have a bunch of that. I have made the bases of several bags and I am hoping that my Friday night crafters will be interested in doing the quilting on them. Jennifer and Nicole have started making quilts. They have raided my stash of homespuns and they are both making similar quilts using my stash. They are each making queen size quilts and there will be some homespuns leftover for me!!

It is time to start my moon flower seeds. I would like them to be blooming early in the summer instead of late in the summer. They are the most amazing flowers and they smell awesome. And they bloom only at night.

Enjoy the day, the weekend is almost upon us!!!

Judy

Design Wall Monday

 

It has been awhile since I have had anything on my design wall. This is the quilt that I have been hand piecing at work and this is the bigger of the two pieces. 18 rows. The other piece is 9 rows and I will be joining them together tonight at my quilt meeting. I have found an awesomely, bright piece of fabric for the back and then I will start hand quilting it. Check out Judy L's to see what everyone else is working on!!

In stitches,
Judy

Quilting styles

Have you ever thought about what your quilting style is? I have given this some thought over this past weekend and here are my thoughts on it. I have been quilting for over 20 years now and when I started, I pieced every thing on my sewing machine but quilted by hand. I did not finish many quilts at that time. I made mostly wall hangings. That was something I could finish. Then I had kids. Two in fact and that really cut down on my quilting time. I did some cutting, piecing, but not much quilting. I did make clothes for both of kids and built my stash!!

As the years have passed I have found that machine quilting any project is perfectly fine and things get done faster. I am a passable machine quilter and practicing and learning with each project.

But I am finding that I really enjoy hand piecing. I am currently working on a project that I started at work while my computer was clocking. Now that project is almost completed and I have found something else to start hand piecing. I remember cutting this one out when I was in the first building our department started in. That was 3 buildings and I think 13 or 14 desks ago!! I cut a few more background pieces and marked them all and I will probably start on this new project sometime today!!

I am thinking that these two projects along with my flannel quilt which is UFO #4 will all be hand quilted. Of course, it is spring and then summer and it is not the best time to start hand quilting. But I have never been conventional in my quilting style so why start now!!!

In stitches,
Judy

UFO challenge

 

Wouldn't you know that when the weather is finally starting to warm up and winter is a thing of the past, I pull out my UFO challenge for April and it is a flannel quilt!! I have the top finished and the backing is done and today I will layer it and start the hand quilting with long running stitches. I will be using black Cro-Sheen yarn for the quilting. My eye is on the prize of having a cozy flannel quilt to use next winter. I know it will be worth it. 

In stitches,
Judy

I have been sewing!!

 

I have been busy at my sewing machine this week. I have finally put together my brown bag challenge. The top is completed and I am going to machine quilt and give it to my sister in law in thanks for doing my taxes.

I also need to hand stitch the binding down and add a sleeve to this project and it will hang in my stairwell going down to the basement. I need to take down the snowmen!! Maybe we would get some nicer weather if the snowmen went into storage for the next several months.

Tomorrow will sewing on doggy scarves for the dogs up the street. I need to make 7 scarves. I can chain sew them and be done in no time. 

In stitches,
Judy

Friday night craft night

Tonight was craft night at my house. Nicole is learning to sew and it has been so many years since I learned to sew, I cannot remember what the best project for a beginner would be. So far she has made a scarf for her dog and is working on a tote bag for her grandmother. It is coming along quite nicely. She will be back later this weekend to finish it as her grandmother's birthday is Tuesday. 

Jennifer worked on her Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt tonight. She is making flowers right now. 

I have been having computer issues here at the house. My zoomtown is running faster on my big computer but it has not changed anything with my other issues. I suppose I will have to do something about it tomorrow.  

I brought my hand piecing home from work today and here is the first 18 rows that are sewn together. It will finish at 70" x 81". I am thinking about hand quilting it. That is always a restful thing for me to do.

In stitches,
Judy

A real weekend!!

It appears that the mandatory Saturday overtime is done for now. Yeah!! This will be two weekends in a row. I have big plans for the next two days. Tonight is craft night with Jennifer and Nicole. Nicole has been redrafting the pattern for doggy scarves and it should be done tonight. She has fabric to make 5 more scarves and she just started sewing on Wednesday. No telling what will come out of Jennifer's bag. She always has something interesting to share. I myself will be the bag lady. 

Saturday will be a welcome home party for my nephew who is home from Afghanistan, it will be good to see everyone. It has been a long winter. And Sunday will be sewing, sewing, sewing. 

The new monochromatic color at Judy L's is Orange. I like orange and I own orange  fabric. Just need a few ideas. That will come with time. I am so proud of myself that I got the March UFO challenge finished and delivered.

The hand piecing project is now 18 out of 27 rows long. Yeah!! It will become a machine project soon. And then hand sewing the binding down. Maybe it will become a fair project. I need to dig out my book from last year and see what category it will fall into. I did not do anything for the fair last year. There is a category for it if I hand quilt it. And that is an option I need to consider.
Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!

In stitches,
Judy

Shopping and sewing

Last night was shopping and sewing with Nicole from the Friday night group. Jennifer was unable to join us for this adventure.

We started at Jungle Jim's for a bit of shopping. And if you have ever been there you know you can get anything there. Here is what we went home with.

Asparagus

Edible flowers and bugs

Not beef jerky, but bufalo jerky, elk jerky

Then back to the house for a sewing lesson. Nicole has never sewed before and since Jennifer and I sew a lot she wanted to learn. I dug out the other machine that I bought for a back up and to do invisible zippers and got it set up for her. She practiced sewing seams and ripping out some nasty stitching. Then she traced out a pattern to make a doggy scarf and I got her some yucky practice fabric to make a practice scarf. She did a very good job and there was lots of laughter in the process. She was able to finish the scarf and next she will use the "good" fabric to make several scarves for her doggy and a friend's doggy. 

I did some sewing on my project but I had to stop when I starting more time with the seam riper and less time at the sewing machine!!!

In stitches,
Judy

Shopping with the girls

Last night was dinner and shopping with my Friday night craft gals. We had a blast. Nicole is the youngest and she does not sew. Our first stop was JoAnn's to pick up some thread. She picked out 4 random spools for me to use on my bags. Then she picked out fabric to make scarves for her doggy and a doggy friend. The fabric matched the thread without trying. Soon I will be teaching her to make doggy scarves. And in the process teaching her to sew! I taught her to crotchet so this would be the next progression one would think!! Knitting is also on the horizon. 


Then to we went to Bob Evans for dinner and shopping at Walmart. Three women can certainly fill a cart with the most unusual things. A blender to make drinks, sand paper, ether net cord, veggies, and yogurt. And lots of laughter and stares from our fellow shoppers. Oh well!!

I have three more strips to make on my hand piecing project. I am almost done with the hand piecing. I will post pictures soon. It is at work right now. 

In stitches,
Judy