Finally A Finish

It has been months since I've finished a quilt top. Today I finished two tops!!!!  Peace in the Valley designed by Pat Wys of Silver Thimble Club is ready to be quilted. I put the backing fabric together too.  Floragraphix is also finished, but I need to purchase backing fabric. I don't have anything in my stash that coordinates with the top. I took a picture of the completed Peace in the Valley. I'll have to take one of Floragraphix tomorrow. I also worked on some of the blocks of  Christmas Toile. I have two other quilt tops that just need borders. I'm not crazy about doing borders, but I'd love to have these two tops finished. FIU or Finish It Up! 

Bernie Goes To School

Bernie, my mechanic Bernina 810, went to school with me today. I actually sewed at school! It was so much fun! In our news show studio, the County had provided enormous backdrops for our new show. They were way too long. I took one home to hem. It was like a huge parachute in my sewing room. It still was too long and I had another one to shorten. It just made more sense to bring my machine to school and work there. It felt so good to do some machine sewing. With this cold/virus/crud still lingering, I come home from work without energy to do anything. The backdrops involved lots of straight sewing - pedal to the medal sewing. What a fun afternoon!

The backdrops look much better. We were having problems with the students stepping on it. We actually had one come down during the morning show. Luckily, the camera was on the other backdrop. We quickly made some adjustments to finish the morning show.

F.I.U. - Finish It Up

Several challenges have been issued. Pat Sloan on her Pat Sloan's Corner blog calls it FIU or Finish It Up. Judy L. of Patchwork  Times blog challenges her followers to Use the Stash. In all honesty, I don't have a big stash. I do have a couple of shelves with fabric and lots of Fat Quarters. I'm not as innocent as this sounds. I buy kits. Lots of kits!!!! I buy for a project and put it all in a plastic container or large ziplock bag. So my goal this year is not to buy fabric to begin new projects. My goal is to continue working on all those projects that I do so love. I seem to have an aversion to borders. There are several tops just begging to have borders added. Because my friend Karin of Life in the Slow Lane blog had the courage to put out photos of her UFO's, I took my digital camera into my sewing room. Oh gosh.....

This past week I did resist the temptation to visit one of my favorite shops. Sweet Home  was having a sale on Fat Quarters. I just couldn't visit. While at my LQS, I used a Christmas gift certificate from my hubbie to purchase some scissors for rag quilts and a pattern for fabric I purchased at Quilt Market. I need fabric for binding for Peace in the Valley, but decided to dig in my plastic containers to see if I have something that will work.

This week, I really want to attempt spending time each day in my sewing room. Nancy Z. in her Sewing with Nancy books used to recommend 15 minutes a day. I'll try that to see if I make some progress this week. 

Achoo!

What a week! Correction. What a two weeks it's been at our house! I don't ever remember all four of us being sick at the same time or one after the other. I do remember years ago, Michael having a touch of a virus and Marion and I getting after him. We were sick for a day. Michael was sick last week. Jason came down with it on Thursday. Marion had symptoms on Sunday. By Wednesday, I waved the white flag. We all had different versions, but everyone had upper respiratory virus/cold/bug/flu/crude. I am so thankful for a job with wonderful sick-leave benefits. Thankful for a team at work that takes care of my responsibilities. Thankful for a friend who steps in to substitute in my place. Thankful for a boss wants us to stay home and heal! Also, thankful that we took turns being down. My boys and hubbie were fabulous nurses. The best nurse was my faithful companion, my dachshund Rusty.