A Finish!

My quilt holder had a difficult time holding the quilt up today, but he did conquer the "attitude" long enough for me to get a photo. This is my "Completed" Orange Crush mystery quilt top. The rows were almost done. As usual, it was the borders that stopped my progress. Yesterday, I was determined to sew until the borders were firmly attached. Melisa at Sweet Home helped me select the border fabric. Kristie and Karin had lots of input, too. We all had to like the fabric before Melisa could cut the needed amount. Many of the fabrics for this top (except the borders) were left-over scraps from other quilt projects. It's so fun to look at the top and recognize the fabric from another quilt. I'm glad to have this one Done!

Celebrating Birthdays

My quilting buddy Karin from Life in the Slow Lane also celebrated her birthday this week. Her birthday was Saturday. (Happy Birthday, Karin! ) My MIL likes to send money for birthday gifts. I like to get "a little check" for my birthday. My birthday check was burning a hole in my pocket. A trip to Sweet Home Quilt Shop seemed a perfect match to purchase my own birthday gift. I e-mailed several other quilting friends suggesting a little shopping at Sweet Home on Saturday followed by lunch. Luckily for me, this idea also appealed to Karin and Kristie, M.S. Doolittle Quilter.

All three of us are planning to join in the fun of Bonnie Hunter's lastest mystery quilt, Christmas Lights in Quiltmaker magazine. With the help of shop owner Melisa and her staff, we searched for the perfect red, gold, green and black fabrics for each of our projects. I purchased a gold fabric and a red tone-on-tone to coordinate with a green and a black already in my stash.

This week I worked on my version of last year's mystery quilt Orange Crush (more on another post) I needed border fabric. Melisa and Kristie helped me select this wonderful blue dot fabric for the outer border. The black will be the inner border and the black and white stripe will work for bias binding.

Melisa showed us a sample she had finished using a Christmas charm pack. Kristie worked on her table-runner last Thimbles get together. I have several charm packs from an old Christmas line that I would love for a holiday table runner, so this lovely little pattern followed me home, too.

We went into the historic area of Conyers for lunch. We had great sandwiches and wonderful talking time. We were hungry. I didn't remember to take pictures of our sandwiches.

Orange Crust... Step 5

It has taken me most of the week, but I can now check Step 5 of Orange Crush off of my sewing  list. I used different oranges in my blocks. Hope that doesn't play badly in the finished quilt. I'm loving my fabric choices, but now sure if I will like the finished result. I do like Bonnie's quilts so I'll just have to have patience. I have to remember that at this stage in a quilt I have doubts even if I'm sewing a kit that I love. 

Lot so errands today, physical therapy for me (I'll have to explain the bruises), swim team for my son, doctor's appointment, a bit of shopping and lunch at Chick-Fil-A (one of our favorite fast-food places) I may have time this evening to sew, but maybe not. We need to buy a new dishwasher. Our dishwasher is working, but being to rust. Any suggestions on a new dishwasher ?

Quiltathon

    Judy L. is hosting a Quiltathon this weekend. It was a wonderful day to sew. My husband left this morning on a business trip. Our oldest son is camping with friends. Our youngest son was at a overnighter for a buddy's birthday. My dear companion Rusty and I had the house to ourselves this morning. We hit the sewing room early. Last night I had cut the triangles for Step 4 of Orange Crush. This morning we sewed half-square triangles. Most of the day I've been assembling the nine-patch blocks. I'm pleased with how these blocks are coming together. I still have to sew the horizontal rows together. Hope to get to that tomorrow.

Orange Crust... Step 2 .... Step 3

Orange Crush. This has been a fun quilt to make.  It is so not like me.I have absolutely no idea what this quilt will look like.  I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to quilt patterns and fabric. It's fun seeing parts of this quilt take shape. 

I didn't expect to have much time to sew last week. A couple of things fell in place early in the week. I pushed myself on Saturday to take care of obligations. This gave me some time on Saturday and most of Sunday to sew. Step 2 has taken the longest amount of time to finish. I did square up my blocks. I even had to resew some of them, but I'm really pleased with how they look.

When Step 3 was revealed, I figured this step would give me lots of trouble. I can easily get directions turned around. It actually went together very quickly. I worked on one side and completed all those blocks before I did the other side. I had not used the Easy Angle or Companion Angle before. Step 2 and 3 made me "stretch" a bit. 

Step 4 was posted last Friday. I've pulled my fabric. I'm not positive which ones I will use. I'll probably make two or three trial blocks to find "the right mix of fabrics."

Eight more days of this school year. It's been a fabulous year, but it will be wonderful to have more sewing time. 

A Dirty House... Where No One is Cleaning

I love storytime. It's one of my favorite parts of my job. I have read aloud The Napping House at least one hundred times (ok, maybe thirty)   The line "a napping house where everyone is sleeping" repeats throughout the book.  Today, the entire family was cleaning and doing yardwork. Goodness gracious! Both the house and our yard are in terrible shape. As I was cleaning,  the line "a dirty house where no one is cleaning" kept going through my mind. The house is a bit better now. I've earned a break. I'm heading to my sewing room to work on Step 2 of Orange Crush. I'm a bit behind. Step 4 was posted this week. I'll bring my Ipod and listen to These High Green Hills and sew. My reward for "laundry and latrines." - my job  in an all-male household :)

A Mini Get-Away

It was wonderful! My family had the opportunity to just get-away. Our friends, Mike and Lynn have a lake house at Lake Hartwell (on the Georgia-South Carolina border). Lynn and I taught together my first year in Georgia over 21 years ago. For the past 17 years, our husbands have worked together. We drove to Hartwell after work/school on Friday. We even packed our dog Rusty :) Their lake home is

quite beautiful and spacious. It was just wonderful to look at the water 

while sitting on the porch eating breakfast. Later during the day on Saturday, other families from our husbands' work group joined us. Wow! The food was fabulous. There was smoked pork, beer-can chicken, boiled shrimp, salads, beans, pound cake. The cooks did an outstanding job.

Three weeks of school left or rather 15 contract days left in this year. I love my work, but it will be wonderful to have a different pace - to sleep a bit later than 5:00 a.m.

Not alot of sewing this past week. With all the activities of the next couple of weeks, it will be difficult to get much sewing done, but I'll try. I did work on Step 2 of Orange Crush after laundry and cleaning this afternoon. 

Trying Not to Whine

Pollen. Springtime in Atlanta is magically beautiful. It is my favorite time of year. Pollen in Atlanta is brutal. I've completed the entire allergy/allergist routine for years and years. I'm faithful with medications and indoor environmental controls. This year the pollen just seems to be taking it's toll. Add to the mix that we have four weeks of school left. State testing has been the last two weeks. It's all been draining. Ok. That's out of my system. I have faithfully read blogs this week, but haven't felt up to posting a comment or creating a new post.

This week has been the week of birthdays. Last Saturday, we had our crawfish boil with our dear friends and neighbors, Kathy and George. Kathy is from New Orleans. George is from Meridian. Monday, was my husband's actual birthday. We ordered Chinese and had a semi-party.  Wednesday was our oldest son's birthday. We all went out to eat at a  Mexican restaurant. Thursday was the Spring Band Concert for our youngest son. Saturday was the Spring carnival for my school. My son and I volunteered for a time to help our PTA group. These are the ladies that help me at book fair time. 

Michael, my youngest son, is back from New York City. The high school band takes a trip every two years. They don't bring instruments. It is just a tour/fun trip. He had a blast. The highlight of the trip for him was a visit to the Nintendo World shop. Video games especially all things Nintendo are his passion. He purchased a T-shirt that he proudly wore to school on Monday.  We all have our obsessions. Michael's is videogames. My husband's is cooking/grilling. He owns six bar-b-que pits. Jason, our oldest son, loves music especially gus guitar and music by The Beatles. Of course, my obsession is quilting/fabric/sewing machines. 

The end of the month is closing in on me. I set a goal to finish one quilt a month. I have been working on two projects. Step 2 of Orange Crush and my Christmas Toile quilt. I'm pushing ahead to finish the top for Christmas Toile. I'm sewing the rows together. I've been working on it off and on since November. This will be a big finish. It used quite a bit of fabric. I pinned all the rows last night. I'm hoping to get the top assembled today. It's another busy week with lots of end-of-year activities. Here's hoping I meet my goal.

Have a wonderful, relaxing Sunday!

Four Patches - Step One

The four patches for Bonnie Hunter's Orange Crush Mystery Quilt are done! I actually put all the fabric and four patches in a container and put them away until Step 2 is given. I have a terrible habit of leaving piles all over my sewing area. This week I am sorting magazines and books. I'm really trying to get my room in better order. I had about 10 sewing/quilting books that I didn't really want anymore. I knew that I wouldn't use them again. I posted the books on www.paperbackswap.com.  I love this website!  I already had 8 of the books requested by other members. I had to pay to mail the books to them (about $1.50 to $2.50 each), but I earned a book credit for each one that I shipped. I can use the credits for books that I will use or read. I sometimes am able to get an out-of-print book here too. My most recent request has been the two humorous books by LIsa Boyer (Stash Envy; That Dorky Homemade Look)  and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. There are not many quilting books, but I have received a couple through this site. I was just real pleased to make room on my shelves. I'm giving lots of my old magazines to my friend Susan to donate to her guild. I haven't even made it to the other side of the room with my projects. I still have a bit of time left before going back to work. 

Two Steps Forward..... One Step Back

Hi Friends,

I made progress  on several projects this week. I did finish the Giggles top and even pieced the backing. I'm hoping to take it to the Stitch 'N Quilt  tomorrow as it is the shop sample for our Stitch 'N Sisters Club. It is a cheerful quilt. I keep thinking little girl for this one. Perhaps, one of my nieces will find this one under her Christmas tree.

The background fabric for Sunshine/Crossed Path came in the mail this week. I'm much happier with the new fabric. Sunshine is on the design wall. I've started sewing the rows together. I have a border fabric that I love. This quilt will have to be mine. I don't think I can part from it. I'll post a photo when I have the top finished including borders, my downfall.

That's the two steps forward.  Here's the one step back.  I can no longer resist the Orange Crush Mystery Quilt designed by Bonnie. I did make a decision that the fabrics had to come from fabric already  in my sewing room. I played with my '30's fabrics for a bit. I have one or two solids, but not enough for this project. I'd need to purchase more '30's solids.  So I decided to use the orange pieces remaining from the band raffle quiltI finished last summer.  I'm pleased with most

of my selections. I'd like to find a tone on tone black instead of the purple. I thought I had a piece from Little Quilts, but can't find it. What do you think of these choices?

I do have plenty of light and dark strips left-over from other projects. Even thought this is a new project, it will use up scraps and fabric that I've already have on hand. 

 Care to join me in this exciting mystery? Bonnie has even created a Yahoo group to discuss the project. Check the Orange Crush guidelines on  Bonnie's site for more details.

Happy Sewing,

Becky

Temptation!

No new projects! No new projects!  I know I've said, "No new projects", but what's a gal to do. Temptation is hitting from all sides. Bonnie Hunter is starting a new mystery quilt on April 1st. I was able to resist the mystery quilt she did a couple of months back. Carolina Crossroads is one spectacular quilt, but I resisted that one. I did so enjoy the mystery quilt that my guild did several years ago. I did complete it in the past couple of weeks. I even looked at my stash. Surprisingly, I have the right fabric to do the new mystery quilt, Orange Crush. I have some neat orange left over from the raffle quilt that I made for my son's marching band. I have lots of green, blue and black. What do I do? 

That's not the only temptation starring me in the face. The Fat Quarter Shop announced a new kit in their e-mail this morning. It's made in one of my favorite patterns, the bear paw. It's also in the colors that I love. I don't have a quilt with the bear paw block. Ok. .... I can resist this one. I do have some neat bear paw patterns in my files from quilting magazines. I think I can probably find fat quarters in my sewing room in these colors. It's a dream, an inspiration. A  maybe.....