Just checking in . . .

Once again, Kelsey text me to let me know it was time to update the blog. I've been working on the Double Wedding Ring quilt and doing odds and ends to get ready for the wedding.

When Craig and Becca became engaged last year, I felt like the wedding was far, far off and the time would never come. Now, it is upon us, and only 4 days away. Where does time go?

This is a picture of the sunrise while I was heading to school yesterday morning. Just beautiful. (Not a great pic--taken with my iphone.)

The only problem was that I was driving into it so seeing was a problem.

I'll be back on Sunday, excited about the wedding, I'm sure. And with pictures soon. We have a fabulous photographer lined up so I'm going to see if I can make myself leave the camera at home. lol

Until then . . .

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

It's Bittersweet!

The applique has almost come to an end. As of 9:40, Monday evening I was down to the last yellow centers for the corner square flowers.

By 10 o'clock they were finished and I was pressing the border.  I laid it out on the floor to be ready to put it together tomorrow night. (So glad I have wood floors instead of carpet. So much cleaner.)

Becca, do you realize that sometimes I make quilts and decide I like them too much to give away?

Now I'm excited and ready to go tomorrow evening after school. It will take me awhile to get the quilt top placed exactly as I need it and pinned on to applique. Then the applique will take longer than I think it will. And I know sandwiching the quilt will take a long while.

Then I just remembered that my basting pins are in my "Tree Time" quilt.  When I made the last baby quilt I had to purchase another package of pins. There was only one more package at Walmart and who knows if they have ordered any more. It's only been about two weeks now.  But I'll stop by on my way to school tomorrow and hopefully they will have 3 or 4 packages.

If all goes well, I'll begin quilting later this week. Hopefully Wednesday. Thursday we have Parent-Teacher conferences from 1:15 to 7:00.  Talk about a long, long day.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Design Wall Monday

My favorite part of the double wedding ring quilt is the inside four corners. Yesterday I was able to get 2 corners completed.  The applique on the third corner is almost complete. And the fourth corner applique is pinned on ready for me this evening.

(Oops. That photo is really blurry. I took it with my phone and am too tired to take another.)

My goal is to at least complete the remaining corners tonight. . My hope is too also get the quilt top fastened to the borders.  The end is in sight.

Head over to Judy's for Design Wall Monday.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Quick Update

I made the mistake of sitting down after I got home from my dinner last night. I was checking a few things on the internet when my eyes grew heavy. I had to make myself get up or I could have easily been there all evening. I thought I would go outside to read a chapter and help me get work up but I got chilled and went back in.  The temp was 82 degrees. lol

I did finish the outside applique border for the double wedding ring quilt. I was not able to get the four corner applique blocks completed. Hopefully, I will get to that tonight. I have decided to cut out some of the fabric behind the applique so that will probably take me a couple of evenings.

Happy quilting, snipping, and quilting.

Double Wedding Ring Update

Well, I just knew I would be able to get the double wedding ring quilt top ready to sandwich tonight. I am down to the last 11 orange petals and the last 10 red petals. (Yes, I counted them last night.) lol

Then . . . all of the sudden I realized I don''t have backing fabric. I don't know what I was thinking. I know some people use sheets for the back of their quilts and some don't. Since I am going to machine quilt, I may just use a sheet so I don't have to piece the back. 

And . . . then I realized that I still needed to cut out the applique flowers and leaves for each of the corners of the main double ring section. I do have one corner figured out so it will be very easy to copy it to the other three corners.

I have the monthly dinner with my teacher group tonight. But, believe it or not, we don't really hang around that long. We usually arrive at 5 and leave by 6:30. Not bad for a bunch of gabbing women.

So plans for tonight . . .

• purchase a sheet and wash it (Selecting the color will be the hardest part. Perhaps Becca will tell me what color she wants. Hint, hint. A text message will be fine.)
• finish appliqueing the red and orange petals on the final border section
• get all of the corner applique cut out and pinned on

I figure if I type and post my plans this morning, I will be more apt to sit down and get busy tonight.

I'll let you know how that goes. lol   I'm getting excited. The end is in sight.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Design Wall Monday

I'm linking up with Judy L. at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday.

Yippee, I'm down to the last 25 inches of applique. The end is in sight.

I was really more interested in showing the last area than I was the applique. Hopefully, I will have that part finished by the end of the evening on Tuesday. It will take me a couple of hours to draw the last applique part and cut out the flower petals and leaves tonight. Hopefully I will have time to start on the applique also.

Well at the shower today, someone broke the news to me today that the wedding is now just a mere 3 weeks away. Boy the time has flown by since the engagement.

Craig was trying to give me tips on how to use a camera. Believe me, I need all the help I can get. Hey, I wonder if they know they dressed alike today. I didn't notice until now. Too funny.

I have the rehearsal dinner all planned. But I guess it's about time to go shopping. Although, I'll have to wait until a day or two before to get the produce and bread. Recipes are ready. Help is lined up.
It's all downhill from here. I hope! lol.

Will the wedding ring quilt be finished before the wedding? It is doubtful. But it could be. I do plan to keep the quilting on it simple.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Another Baby Quilt Finished!

It is 10 p.m. on Saturday night and I just sat down from finishing the baby quilt. Binding and all.

I kept the quilting very simple. Stitch in the ditch and wide apart cross hatching.

Tomorrow is a wedding shower for Craig and Becca at our church. I hope afterwards I am able to sit down and work on the Double Wedding Ring quilt applique. I am getting so close I can feel it. Yippee.

Geez! The wedding is only a few weeks away. And then it will be over in a blink of the eye. But we should have lots of great photos for memories.

It just dawned on me that I have two more baby quilts to make in the next few months.  I need to go ahead and get them planned now. Oh, wait a minute, I did that on this last one and then changed it completely. So maybe I'll just wait.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

A New Camera . . .

. . . well, to me, that is.

My niece asked Craig to take pictures for her wedding next April. He told her his camera was not good enough so she said she would pay him x amount so he could get a new camera. So he purchased a new camera and gave me his old one, which is a step or two or ten up from mine. Now I can take my old camera to school and leave it there and have this one for home. The only problem is I don't really know how to do anything but point and shoot. I'm thinking about taking an on-line class when things settle down here a bit.

I am coming right along with my baby quilt.

I actually added a 3 inch white border all the way around it. But when I started looking for backing fabric, I decided to use the Arkansas Razorback fabric that was left. It wasn't large enough to have the border so I took it off.  It always amazed me how long it takes to rip things out.

The quilt is actually laid out on my floor right now waiting for me to pin baste it. I realized after 9 o'clock that my pins were in another quilt and I would need to purchase some more. Even though our Walmart stays open until 10, I didn't want to get out.

And I have started working on the last applique border for the wedding quilt. I have the applique laid out on half of it. If I sit down to work each nigh this week, I will probably get the baby quilt top finished and the applique for the wedding ring finished by Sunday. Yippee.

If I blog about it beforehand, it has to happen, right?

Update Thursday evening -- I have the horizontal stitch in the ditch completed. It is almost 10 o'clock and time to call it quits for the night.  Now, I have to decide how to do the vertical stitching. Any ideas?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

WIP on Wednesday

I'm linking to Ester's WOW = WIP's on Wednesday and Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday Be sure to stop by her blog.

It feels really good to be back in the sewing groove. I keep thinking about everything I could have accomplished this summer if I would have been sewing. But, alas, I didn't.

I am moving right along on the baby quilt.

I had hoped to spend a little time on the Double wedding ring applique yesterday evening also. But, it didn't happen. It took over two hours to sew the final 10 strips and add a border to the baby quilt. So, it was 9 o'clock before I knew it. The computer and blogs were calling me.

Anyway the baby quilt is ready to snip threads, and sandwich. I am going to keep quilting really simple. Stitch in the ditch and then probably add some straight vertical stitching. Or I may do some crosshatching on the diagonal. What do you think?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

"B Date"

Oh, we had such a relaxing evening last night. I set the table in the back yard with fancy smancy dishes and even used Mama Brown's gold (silver) ware.

We had filet mignon and grilled veggies. We haven't really grilled vegetables before so it was the blind leading the blind. I used yellow squash, carrots, potatoes, a yellow pepper, onions, and mushrooms. They were marinated in a 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup soy sauce, and 1/2 cup lemon juice. We added 1/2 clove of garlic for seasoning. I think we could have used a whole clove.

But it turned out really good and we didn't have nearly as much food leftover as I thought we would. I will have a plate of veggies for lunch tomorrow.

After dishes were cleaned up, we played a friendly game of scrabble. For the first time ever (and I don't play very often) I started out the game using all of my letters forming the word "quacked". Poor Larry didn't have a chance. 

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

A Heavenly Fall-Like Day

I awoke this morning to a heavenly fall-like day. The temps were in the 70's instead of 90's as it has been for the past two months.

I would love to have a couple of months of these cooler temperatures before it gets unbearably cold. Usually on days like these I text Larry and say, "Perfect camping weather" or "We need a campfire."


I worked this morning on a baby quilt (that I am two months behind on). The baby's room is in Razorbacks (the state college team). I just happened to have some Razorback curtains that I took out of my classroom. I washed the fabric and it has laid around the house for two years. I decided there was not any reason to buy new fabric so I am using the curtain.

The quilt is going to be a simple strip quilt personalized with the baby's birth stats.

With the coming of cooler weather, I decided to change my headers. I headed outside to find a spot I haven't used to photo a quilt before and decided on the railing going up to the gazebo.

"B Date" is scheduled for this evening. We will be heading out to the backyard for a cookout and then probably boardgames. Anything to celebrate the cooler temperatures and a quiet evening outdoors. I may have to see if I can find a movie to watch later.

Have a great day. I hope the temperatures are cooler where you are or warmer for you friends on the other side of the world.

Be sure to drop by Judy's for Design Wall Monday. A perfect way for me to end the afternoon today. Sitting on the patio looking at beautiful quilts. 

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.