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Monday, February 28, 2011

Snowflakes Are Falling & Design Wall Monday

I have all of the blocks pieced for the "Snowflakes are Falling" quilt. I laid them all out on my living room floor. I moved them. And moved them. And moved them.

The blocks will have a 1 inch white sashing in between them to make the snowflakes.


Now I need your opinions. Are there any that stand out as needing moved around?

If you haven't been by Judy L's yet, be sure to drop by to see what other quilters are working on. I'm going to try to comment on as many as possible. It's always so fun to get comments.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting?

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Just "Piddling" Around

Larry told me it was time I updated my blog. I told him that it was hard to think of things to write about when I haven't really done anything.

Last night I did a little bit of hand quilting on the "Angels Among Us" quilt.


Then I worked a little bit on the embroidery of "A Christmas Wish" by Gail Pan designs.


Today was spent "piddling" around. We planted some lettuce, spinach, and carrots seeds. Then I cleaned the kitchen and washed our bedsheets. After that, we drove to Clarksville, got groceries, went to Mass, and then to eat. By the time we got home it was 8 o'clock.

Now, I'm watching season two of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix. I'm going to sit back down and start hand quilting in a little bit. Sooner or later, I will get it finished.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

A Little of This-- A Little of That

What have I been up to since my last post?

Well, let's see. I have finished all of the applique on my "Snowflakes are Falling" quilt by Natalia Bonner.   I think I appliqued a few more Poinsettia Blocks and I cut out and pieced some more arches for the Double Wedding Ring quilt.

I'm up early watching the news as I do every morning. I just saw a news story on a new drink to do the opposite of "high energy drinks". One of them is called "Relaxation". Hmmm. I assume they will be about as good for you as high energy drinks are.  Here's a link to an ABC news story. 

What will they come up with next?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Friday Night Sew In Results

Hopefully this sluggish feeling I've had for the past week or so is gone. After school yesterday, I walked a mile. The weather was great and it felt good--even if I am a little sore.

I came home from walking and fixed me a light supper and then headed to the sewing room. First, I sat down and finished the binding on the 2nd t-shirt quilt. It seems like it takes forever to get the binding on--even when doing it all by machine. And a small quilt to boot.

Then I decided to machine applique a couple of blocks for the poinsettia quilt. I actually got 3 done in no time at all.


My plans were to work on 3 blocks of the Snowflake Are Falling Quilt but I was falling asleep at the machine. And only 9 o'clock. Goodness, I'm usually up until at least 11 p.m.

So this is how I left my sewing room last night.


Does yours ever look like this?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Feeling My Age ?


I used to say I never felt my age. 
Now, unfortunately, it must be catching up with me 
because there are some days . . .

I'd like to think a 2 hour trip to the doctor . . .
and then surgery . . .
topped with Parent Teacher Conferences two days later is just too much. 
But, I'm not sure.

Maybe I just need to make myself get up 
 and
Get back into the Sewing Room
and 
GET BUSY!

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!


Monday, February 14, 2011

It Sounds Promising . . .

Well, I caught two mice and I hope that is it.

I went into surgery today to stretch my trachea but after they got into it, they didn't have to. The doctor first had to suction some mucus off (what I keep telling him I have to cough up) but then it looked like my airway is completely open. Yipee. The tissue is healing well with the treatment we are on.

So all-in-all I'd say things sound and look very good. Hopefully just another check up or two and I will be finished.

And now just because I don't have a picture and some of us are soooooooooo ready for spring.




Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Friday, February 11, 2011

I Hate Mice!!!!

When Larry is working I often text him instead of calling. If he is busy he can usually quickly text me and say "I'm busy."  Or if he doesn't answer for awhile I know he is busy and he'll answer when he can. 

Text conversation from a few nights ago!!!

Me: Okay. Either me or the mouse has to go. I hope you choose the mouse. It just ran across the bottom shelf of the coffee table. I can't take this.

Larry: I will get new traps tomorrow. Setting a reminder now.

Me:  Gosh, I take it you picked the mouse to go.

Larry: I'm kinda attached to you after all this time.

Me: Awe


One Hour Later

Me: Okay now it was on my shoe. Aaaaaagh!!!! What's the deal? Does it really think I need a pet or company or something. This is RIDICULOUS!!!


Yes, I now have traps set. I sure hope when I get up in the morning, the little fellow is in the trap. 

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Opinions Please!!!

Do you ever have days when you have nothing to say? You would think with no school for the last 2 days (and no school tomorrow) and being home alone the whole time, I would be Chatty Cathy. But nope.

You would also think I would have been sewing away. Nope, not today. I did clean and keep two fires going so the heater would kick off every once in awhile. I also shoveled part of the driveway so I could get out tomorrow. (Now I don't have to.)

I sat down Wednesday evening and tried to design a quilt in EQ using my Tree Time blocks. I thought about using pieced tree blocks in between the applique blocks. But after I sat down tonight and looked at it again, I decided it was much too busy.

I've seen a lot of quilts made lately with the Irish Chain in between so I though I would try that. But I didn't like the way the center block worked out. So I used a 16 square in the center and the outside middle blocks. I used a dark blue fabric as the main color and then played around with the randomize color. This is the color combination that really struck me. I think it's kind of a slate blue. Then I added some black and really like the way it framed the rest of the quilt.


So, what do you think? Too busy? Do these colors work with the blocks? (Slate blue and black are not in the blocks.) I'm not even sure I can find this fabric in this color.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

A Lot to Think About

I have decided to go ahead and take orders for t-shirt and memory quilts. I spent today making another sample quilt. This one only uses t-shirts and does not have sashing between the blocks. I was able to get some t-shirts from our local Community Outreach. They are normally 50 cents apiece but you can stuff as many in a bag as you can get in there for $5. I only wanted 9 or 10 shirts so the lady only charged me $2.50. I love the variety I got.


Not a great picture because it is laying down. I still need to add the binding.

I'm working on a pricing table. I have done lots of research and am kind of surprised that the prices most quilters charge for t-shirt quilts are very comparable. I think I have a good idea of what to charge. I'm going to start out trying to get local orders and then add on-line orders. I may be going about this backwards. But it would be really nice if I could just keep it local and never have to worry about mailing quilts.

I also spent a little time in EQ6 trying to decide what I wanted to do with the "Tree Time" blocks. Not sure I got anywhere on that.

No school again tomorrow. I really need to clean the house. Oh well, who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Busy--No School Again

I've had a  busy couple of days. Went to UAMS in Little Rock again on Monday for a 24 hour acid reflux test. They inserted an acid measuring device through my nose into the esophagus and it had to stay there overnight. I had it taken out yesterday--hence another trip to Little Rock (over two hours one way). The worst part was trying to sleep without knocking the tube out and not being able to drink anything between meals. Or chew gum. Can you believe it?

Another snow day today. I'm working on my final three "Tree time blocks".


If anyone has ideas on sashing or in between rows, please let me know. Not sure what I want to do.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

It worked this time!

I made cinnamon rolls again today.

I could tell right away that they would turn out better because the dough looked right.



Mmmm, mmmmm, good!

Craig said they weren't sweet enough and/or needed more cinnamon. But I just had my 2nd one and I think they were just right. I used this recipe because it was less sweet and used less butter than Judy's did.

I wonder if I made them with Splenda--could Larry eat them? I'd have to leave off the icing, of course. I guess I could by some sugar free icing to use on his.  I'll have to think about that.


I'll definitely make them again.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Becca's Hat

Becca text me a picture of the hat I crocheted her.


I held two different colors together as I crocheted. I may have to make me one.

I was kind of lazy today and didn't really get a lot accomplished. I laid out the last 3 blocks for Molly's Tree Time BOM today. Not these. These were the first ones I made.


I appliqued parts of each block before I stopped to cook dinner. Then we went to church and when I got home I parked myself on my couch. I remembered my blocks waiting for me around 9:30 and decided I didn't want to start again. There's always tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, snow and sleet is predicted again. I'm listening to the weather now to see if accumulations are expected. Yep, 1 to 2 inches. Then another system is predicted for Tuesday night and Wednesday with even more accumulations.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting! 

A Chef -- I am NOT

In fact, I have almost forgotten how to cook.  You see, for ten years after I was married, I worked in a grocery store. Shortly after starting, I was trained to count the money drawers and close the store down. So many shifts for me were 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. So Larry took over cooking so we could eat before 10 pm. Most night I would get home at 8:15 or 8:30 and the meal was ready and waiting for me.

And he has been doing most of the cooking for the last 30 years. (Lucky me!) But, I have forgotten how to cook.

While home alone yesterday, after reading Judy's post about the scrumptious cinnamon rolls, I decided to see if I could make the dough for them in my Bread Machine. I put everything in the machine (in the same order I do for making bread dough) and turned it on. When it finished, I knew immediately that the dough definitely did not look right. It was very heavy and off colored.

I decided to go ahead and let them rise and see what happened. After about an hour -- nothing. Now it is really cold here and my house is around 70 degrees so I thought maybe it was just too cold to rise quickly. So I let them rise all night and got up this morning to put them in the oven. They still hadn't risen.  I baked them to see what would happen.  Nothing!!!


Still heavy and not really edible.

The only thing that was different (besides ingredients) was that I had melted the real butter and dumped it in instead of using soft margarine.

So tell me, all of you chefs out there. Is it possible to make cinnamon roll dough in a bread machine? If so, I sure need some tips.

Friday, February 4, 2011

A New Project

Karen from Quilts... etc. posed the question, "What do you do on a snowy day?" 

Well, sew of course. Actually, I made a new bag. Don't you like it?


 You must be wondering what in the world I am going to do with it.


Well, I have been spending so much time waiting in doctor's offices for the past 5 months that I decided it was time to be productive (besides playing solitaire on my cell phone). So I made this . . .


I have chosen a new portable project. A Christmas Wish by Gail Pan Designs. I have the first three blocks traced off and ready to go.

Finished quilts can be seen here. I like the pillow and have said this was going to be the year of the pillow. But I haven't made any yet. Then after seeing the quilts that were not Christmasy, I really think I'll make one not using red or green or Christmas fabric. I really liked the 6th one from the end and thought it would make a beautiful Valentine's wall hanging. But then I realized you could use any color and make it an "everyday" wall hanging. As a Christmas quilt, I really like the 1st quilt in the 3rd row. Then again, maybe I'll just design my own.

There are so many talented quilters in blogland, aren't there?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Here Comes the Snow

Well, we made it until 10 am at school this morning. The roads were pretty well covered by then. I didn't have any trouble but I was glad to be home. The last 30 minutes at school was utter chaos trying to find out where to send kids. The buses ran but we had to make sure working parents had someone at home to meet the kids.


And I bet everyone uses their quilting rulers to measure snow, right?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Goodness Gracious . . .

A call for snow again.

I have always lived in Arkansas. When I was growing up, it seemed to be so unheard of to have snow, much less, snow over 1 or 2 inches.

Now, it seems like every year we have at least one major snow storm. I'm watching the weather (at 5:30 am) and they tell me that we have 2 or 3 more winter weather fronts heading through. As Kelsey would say, "Really, that's ridiculous."

Actually, she would say, "Really, Craig, That's ridiculous." Right, Craig. lol

Becca purchased some yarn last winter so I could make her a stocking hat.


Needless to say, the yarn was still in the bag in my sewing room. So I sent her this link to pick out a pattern so I could get started. She picked out the Beginner Macaroon Hat and I stitched it out in no time.  Don't you love the name. I wonder if she saw the "beginner" on the name of the hat and decided to make it easy for me. lol It was a very easy pattern but truthfully I had to start over twice because I was watching TV while working on it.

So, it is now finished and I'm sure she is wearing it today. But, I forgot to take a picture of it. So, Becca, I need you to snap a picture and text it to me or come use my camera to take one so I can show it off.

Time to get ready for work.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Problem Solved -- I Think!!!

I think I solved my blogger problem of not being able to leave comments. I went into my computer settings and clicked "allow 3rd party cookies" and now I can comment on those I could not before.

So if you have this problem you may want to try changing your settings.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Need Binding Advice

Nope, we didn't have school today. Yes, we should have. There is a dusting of snow on the ground but nothing on the roads as of 2:30. A light snow is blowing around right now but I don't think anything else is called for today.

I was able to sit down and get the t-shirt quilt quilted.



Now,  I can't decide what to use for the binding. Do I pull out the blue in the quilt by using blue for the binding?


Oh--here's the back. It's s blue and black marble with a black strip at each end.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

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