Knock, knock...

... is anyone home?

I'm here.  Just hadn't been feeling that great and ended up in the big white house again for a few days last week after some trouble breathing.   After an oxymoronic "minor" invasive procedure ("It's done hundreds of times a day."  "Well, not to me it's not!"), I'm home and feeling better than I have in months.  I can live with nothing but D5W to eat, but they really need to work on that letting the patient sleep thing.

Some good news was that I'd lost 9 pounds in the month since my last episode.  Yeah, it may be fluid loss, but it's still a loss.  I've been 99% diligent about what I eat, eating only fresh foods prepared by me and splurging with one meal out on paydays.  Not entirely easy when you cook for one, but it has to become a way of life if I want to be around to see those grandkids grow up!

AND!  I have a hunky new workout partner and personal trainer.  He's the antithesis of my preferred tall, dark & handsome, but a cutie nonetheless. Please meet Oscar:

Sorry for the dark pic, but with the flash on you see nothing but green eyes; he blends into everything!  Oscar's a terrier mutt/mix sweetie and comes to me from my daughter-in-law's sister who was here visiting. I was thinking about finding a rescue pup anyhow, so this works out perfectly for me.  He'll be 5 years old next month and is so very mellow and a snuggler.   He's used to being out in a fenced yard whenever he wants, so it's a bit of an adjustment for him since I have an upper level condo, but he's doing great.  We're working on getting him on the P&P schedule that works best for ... ummm... both of us!?  Double treats for him when he makes deposits near  a dog dropping container instead of after our walk is done and nearer my door.

Hopefully back to some quilting this week... it seems like it's been forever.

Take care,
Sheila

Let's Kick-off November

Okay, so October was a near total loss in the quilting department and I'm determined to make November better.

No sewing being done. Sadly, no October Schnibbles. Yesterday I summoned the energy to work on cleaning out some UFOs. Joanne wants to practice with new pantos, so these are on their way to her for quilting. I can't wait to see what magic she works on them!

From 2003 -Stars & Moons- This has a really cute backing of a little boy riding a spaceship.

From 2005 - The non-pattern I've only known as "Rainy Day Satisfaction."

From 2007 - another Disappearing 9-Patch. These make such cute kid quilts for donation.

From around 2005 (and my matchy-matchy, scared of scrappy days), I think.

Barbara's Antique pattern by Debbie Caffrey.

*****

Thanks for all the cards, emails and general good vibes regarding my health. You all are the best, and your good thoughts mean the world to me. There are definitely issues but we are going to watch-and-wait for now while trying some non-surgical, non-medicinal interventions first. I'm crying over NO CAFFEINE, though!

*****

Make the most of today!

Sheila

Although I've never been a prolific blogger, I hope to be back to posting soon. I had a bit of a health scare a couple of weeks ago and have been through the mill with tests and such. I hope to know more this week and get life moving forward again, one way or another.

My younger grandson turned 1 on Friday, and his party and baptism were today. Of course, I went off and left my camera at home, so I have to wait for others to send me pictures to post.

There's definitely no quilting going on, but hopefully soon!

September wasn't a total loss

September didn't start out too well. My dishwasher went on the fritz. I thought my sewing machine died, but it was just a faulty power strip. My iron died and had to be replaced. Then my sewing machine really did start acting up, just as I was trying to finish and mail some promised quilts.

I managed to get the County Lines quilt to the semi-flimsy stage and just need to add borders and get it quilted.

My challenge quilt for JSS made it to the flimsy stage and was turned in on time, along with backing & binding; it got 2nd place for best use of pink. Now to find time to get to the center and get it quilted and bound.

I got the bindings on couple of Heartstrings quilts and am working my way through the handstitching, then they'll be ready for washing and pictures.

Cricket from the Heartstrings group mentioned needing a couple of quilts for homeless kids, and I certainly have plenty of those ready for completion. I got the binding on this lasagna quilt before my machine gave out. The gifted coin quilt from Megan was already bound and didn't make it to it's intended destination back in April or May, so it was in 'the stack' and ready to go. I added a couple of coordinating purchased blankets because I was told these quilts would be all these girls had and I was concerned they wouldn't be warm enough.

blogger seems to have flipped this on its head

the quilt Megan hated

Onward and upward.... making goals for October.

Take care,

Sheila

September Schnibbles (part deux)

I have been stalled on this since Saturday, not knowing how I want to finish it.

Not only have I decided to try to work from my stash for the remaining months, but I'm going to make them all at least lap size and donate them. To do that, I think turning it on point gives me more bang for my buck in getting it up to size. At least this month.

I will not admit defeat

September's child in the Year of Schnibbles

Kinda sorta not finished.

Trying to stay organized

Two blocks done.

My two favorite fabrics in the Mill House Inn line.

Tomorrow's another day.

And I'm challenging myself to work with stash only for the rest of the months.

Star mystery

Friday was the final class for our advanced mystery at the LQS. Remember the Tucker Trimmer? We'd made a total of 48 stars (I think) along the way and then made 12 more in this class. The twelve small accented (my black) background stars become the center of an even bigger star, then the medium and other small stars surround it to make a 17" finished block. Here is one of mine. In hindsight, I would not have tried to use all those different yellows, but I think it will look fine when it's done and quilted. Crossing fingers.

Something's wrong with my sewing machine; it won't turn on (which doesn't bode well for my wallet). So procrastinator me wasn't able to finish up the homework, but I decided to go to the class anyhow to see how it was put together. As it turned out I was able to borrow a machine there, but in addition to being behind because the homework wasn't done, I had issues with 1/4" on that machine. So, I still have eleven more of these babies to make.

Anyhow, this is how the instructor's quilt turned out. She was jumping out of her shoes to be to a point to show us this. My picture doesn't do it justice; her gold accents just sparkled. This whopper turned out at 93x110 I think she said. None of us had intended to make the larger version, but after seeing it put together we all decided we just might have to. I've since decided to split my blocks into two lap-size quilts with six blocks each and then a similar border.

The pattern is Rangeley Stars by Deb Tucker/Studio 180. Here's her gallery of other versions of this quilt.

All in all, a fun time with good people!

My challenge quilt

James Stitching Sisters has a challenge once or twice a year. The one that ended Sunday involved taking a bolt of fabric to use in a backing, then make a quilt top to go with. The bolt fabric had to appear in any amount on the front. Part of what I also remembered was, do not bring the bolt back to the Center; if there's some left, cut it up to use in other JSS quilts, make more backings, etc... you get the picture. Just don't bring it back.

Of course, I took the prettiest bolt of those I could choose from. It just happened to be a nearly-full bolt, and I now have about 10 yards left. With a couple of more backings and bindings and a scrappy quilt or two added in, I should be able to finish this up sometime in the next decade. ha!

So, here is the challenge quilt I delivered Sunday, the deadline. (I love deadlines!) I hadn't planned to use that much of the challenge fabric on the front, but I sort of peter'd out on the design end here and just slapped on the borders after weeks of staring at it and trying to decide what I wanted to do. Part of my problem was in using those particular pinks & reds, which were in limited supply in the stash. I wasn't about to tear apart the blocks I had made in order to make it more scrappy.

another crappy pic from my LR floor

The quilt pattern is Winner's Bouquet by Terry Atkinson. It really was quite easy to put together--gentle curves and a couple of remembered tips from other bloggers helped me immensely along the way. In my 10 years of quilting, this is the first time I've used templates, but Carrie's tape idea worked so well on the templates I put it on all my rulers too! And Wanda's tip about stitching the end of the curve first was a lifesaver. I did stitch mine the opposite/ crosswise direction from the stitching line because at the time I remembered the process but not the specifics. It worked great. Thanks ladies!

We'll have a little banquet next week where all the challenge quilts are revealed, so I hope to have pics from that.

Have you heard...

of Karen's Tool Time Tuesday? I've been following her blog/these posts for several months and I'm always amazed at what she comes up with. Very creative! One of my favorites is recycling the TimBits box.

I haven't been to a quilt show in years, so I made a list of those coming up this Fall in Ohio or nearby and hope to make it to several. Yesterday afternoon I decided to get my lazy butt out the door before the weekend traffic kicked in and drove to a little town south of Columbus for the Circleville Quilt Show. The show was nice, if small, with quite a few hand-quilted quilts. Some of my favorites are shown here, but it was hard to get good pictures in such small spaces and less-than-optimal lighting.

This navy and dark red kaleidoscope quilt was by their featured Master Quilter, Katie Schneider, and one of my favorites. It would have been my viewer's choice if it had been eligible.

Because I don't have enough UFOs or ideas, I picked up this Amazing Nickel Quilts book while I saw it and was offered a 'show special' of 20% off. I wasn't even aware there was a third book until recently. And since *someone* signed up to participate in A Year of Schnibbles, those patterns made it home too. Of course, neither are what I need this month, but I hope they're in the queue.

Last but not least, I didn't know she was going to be there but had the good fortune of meeting Debra at the show. She was manning the booth for an LQS and is just as sweet in person as in email. She does beautiful redwork too and gave me a few good pointers.

When we're not at cookouts, I plan to spend the rest of the weekend quilting--a couple more blocks and then borders for the Winner's Bouquet; more blocks for the mystery quilt; and some diamond blocks for Heartstrings. I best get a move on.

Take care, and have a safe weekend~

Sheila

Off the Beaten Path

These are a few of my daily or weekly favorites.

The Daily Motivator -- I've been reading messages on this site since 1998 or 1999, and they are archived and searchable from 1995.

Notes from the Universe -- Along the lines of a saying I heard many years ago: "What you think, you are." I found these books at the library initially.

Indexed -- Jessica Hagy is an Ohio native who condenses the -isms of life to index cards. If you look around a bit, you're sure to find something that makes you laugh out loud or say "ain't that the truth!"

PostSecret -- Anonymous homemade postcards, sometimes graphic, showing the secrets that people harbor. Postcards change weekly on Sunday.

What web sites that make you think about life in different ways?

Binding is the sum total of my quilty pursuits this past week. I can’t even claim to have made these.

A couple of years ago I read online about a local group, the James Stitching Sisters, that has a sewing center near my home as well as sit-n-stitch groups at several LQS. The Sisters group makes quilts for local breast cancer patients going through chemo and has a really neat setup in donated space with everything needed to make quilts. It’s seriously like a mini quilt shop… bolts and bolts of fabric, thread, patterns, sewing machines, cutting areas, and two HQ16s for quilting. I’m really shy and hate to walk into groups where I don’t know anyone, but I couldn’t be more glad I took the plunge and finally met this group a few months back. I’ve met different women each time, and they are all uniquely skilled and a lot of fun to be around.

As with most donation quilting, there are quilts in various stages of completion. The cute TATW variation made with rectangles was already quilted so I brought it home to bind. The pattern for the quilt below is, I believe, in Evelyn Sloppy’s 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. I quilted it there and brought it home for binding also; one side left to go.

Of course, I needed something to get me through all that binding, so I rented a few movies. Each was good in its own way. Gran Torino was my favorite of the three. Stepbrothers was funny, but not for the prudish faint-of-heart! Revolutionary Road left me wondering.

*****

In other news last week, someone turned 30!!! My gosh, I am definitely not old enough to have a child that age. This 5-generation picture was taken 30 years ago at my cousin’s wedding shower when Chris was just three months old. (ETA: not sure what's happening with this picture; I guess I'll try to post it later.)

Have a quilty week!

Sheila

Worst blogger award

Yeah, well. I'm the worst blogger in the world. It is what it is. But I have been busy.

Last weekend the kids went out of town for a little R&R before school starts up and to celebrate the sale of a portion of their company. GMan stayed with me and O.P. went down the road to the other grandparents. We are really fortunate to all live within a few miles of each other and I have never once regretted moving back from Texas to be near this one. In addition to a little fun at the big scary mouse house, we played badminton inside and had endless hours of trains, watching movies, and peeling tons of apples to make applesauce. G was thrilled that the owner beneath me was out of town too, which meant he could run and jump without me trying to keep the rambunctiousness of a 3 y/o in check.

This was a little gift/blog win from Joanne, who moved this past week from Indiana to New Hampshire. Really cute stuff, but I'll have to let those fabrics age a bit while I decide on a pattern. Thank you, Joanne, and let me know when your machine is up and running again!

Yesterday was a PIGS day at the LQS... lots of fun, people, and food. What more could ya ask for? I knew no one but the owner, so I didn't spend as much time gabbing as others, but still felt like I didn't accomplish much. Then the power went out with an hour left to our day, so we all had to pack it in.

One of the things I worked on was this County Lines project that I bought a couple of years ago. This will most likely be a charity quilt.

Friday was the 2nd class of our Mystery and we are now making these 5-inch blocks -- twelve with the accent as the background and another 24 with the usual background. Slooooow going; here are eight done with the black/accent background shown with the 12 blocks we made from the first class. Friday's class was short and I only got one made then, and another seven yesterday. Thankfully the next class is a month away, with 28 blocks to go. I did come to appreciate the Tucker Trimmer though. It will be interesting to see how this all comes together. That stuff on the right in the picture below is the S&W I had to pull out of the way.

Here are two UFOs I took that I didn't get around to working on. The blocks in the top are pair sets for disappearing 9-patch which, when it all came together, I lost interest in when I didn't care for my choice of background. The fabric on the bottom is a Lasagna quilt that just needs the rows sewn together and decide on a border. These will both be Project Linus quilts.

More stuff I took and didn't work on!

I'm still enjoying my fruit every week, although it's starting to pile up! Yellow Shiro plums and apricots and apples out the wazoo right now, and no time to do anything with them. This fresh-from-the-oven pic was a Plum Torte I made for a birthday celebration at work last week. I figured something that (urban?) legend says gets printed in the New York Times for 20 straight years might be tasty. I threw in the blueberries so it would have a little color, and they provided a little more sweetness thankfully, as the Shiro plums were amazingly tart when cooked (tart skin, sweet flesh).

What are your favorite apricot or plum or apple recipes?

Until next time,

Sheila

Creating more WIPs

My favorite LQS was having buy two get one free special on classes this summer, so I signed myself up for a little quilting camaraderie that I miss so much from my days in Texas.

Friday was day 1 of 3 for the 'Advanced Mystery' and this is the result of this portion of the class. I would have had another block but screwed up cutting it. I'm assured my mistake will be put to use later in the quilt. I need to make nine more this size and then cut more fabric for the next session.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a total mystery to me. If it's "highly recommended" that you have two tools for a mystery class, you investigate the tools, don't you?? One of them was this Tucker Trimmer...

which is basically a half- and quarter-square triangle block trimmer. The black dot and solid lines at the top end of the ruler indicate trimming for whole-inch sizes; when flipped around to the half dot side, the dotted lines indicate trimming for half-inch sizes. Below shows a QST made from two HST, which was then trimmed to 4". Line up the crosswise center seam on the solid line marked 4, and trim two sides. Flip the block around, line it up and trim again.

At $13.50, I don't make enough QSTs to justify this, but at least I didn't buy the Magic Wand. I already have a Quick Quarter for that, even if I don't know where it is.

This pretty thing is the result of Saturday's class using Terry Atkinson's Winner's Bouquet pattern. This will be a lapsize quilt when done.

The background fabric (light blue floral) for this is my challenge fabric for a project due Labor Day weekend and the fuchsias and pinks were from the stash.

Here is all the fabric left from cutting blocks for the Winner's Bouquet. I only cut enough for 16 blocks to begin with, and I'm not sure how many blocks the other lady cut for. She was going to throw all those batik leftovers in the trash, but I convinced her I would put them to work in Heartstrings quilts. I think this is what I like least about cutting with templates.

What I've been reading: David Baldacci's First Family: an excellent page-turner featuring Sean & Michelle, the former Secret Service agents from his previous novels.

I slept from 6-11pm last night and have been up since... so I'm off to breakfast with the boys and then a nap!

Until next time,

Sheila

I missed the ferry on the "first quilt" thingy going around. Just as well, since my first ever quilt attempt is still in pieces. In a container. In storage in Texas. It was The Rambler pattern with muslin and a green floral from the big box fabric store. No directions, just something I'd seen at a show. I'd always sewn clothes since I was 10 or so, but knew nothing about quilting angles and triangles. Very humbling, and someday it will be finished.

My second quilt was an I Spy for my then-significant other's daughter, and I'll have to ask for a picture of it. Snowballs with a schoolbus border. Lots and lots of snowball blocks. At the time, I swore I would never make another snowball as long as I quilted.

So, here is the 3rd started/2nd finished quilt I made the year I began quilting (1999). Little flange and all. I need to photograph this outdoors to get the true colors.

It was for my Grandfather for Christmas in 1999, and it lives with me now. It was from the book Four Blocks Say More, which I believe is out of print.

Several years ago I started another that will eventually go to QOV:

Take care,

Sheila