Friday Focus

Normally I like to do a post on what I finished during the week, but I haven't had time to turn my machine on until today.

I am just smitten with the Quick Curve Ruler.  I used the ruler to make these pumpkins.  I wanted to try another pattern to see if it was easy also.  I looked through the book, then I settled on one of the free patterns from Jenny's blog.  Way back when, our quilt group was going to give the poinsettia pattern a try but never did.

I can say that it was really simple too!  The hardest part with these blocks is trimming them up.  It really isn't hard, but I can never figure out which way to put the ruler on the block.  It seems really silly, but I swear I have to turn the ruler 4 or 5 times before I get it right.  Being a leftie, I am sometimes challenged in the rightie world.  This is not my normal color range, but I am enjoying playing with the softer colors.  This is likely to become another pillow.  It will finish at 20"

Do you see those little bits of color behind the block?  You need to look really close.....



 I couldn't tease you and then not show.  These are the new bolts that just arrived.

 I have been tied up most of the week with serving shift dinners for my family. Delaney at 5:00, Gavin at 6:00, Mason and Estelle at 6:30 and be at the play at 7:00. That makes for a crazy evening!

My son, Gavin is one of the brothers in the play Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

I am proud of him for his hard work in learning all the steps and the songs. He is doing a great job.

My host daughter is not in the play, but the other 2 exchange students are.  This is their first experience being on stage and they are doing an excellent job (especially since English is not their first language)

The beauty on the left is from the Czech Republic, and the one on the right is from Germany.

Tonight is the last performance so I will be going to support them.  Delaney is in the choir and is doing a great job.  All the sets are really amazing.

Saturday is a wrestling day, but maybe Sunday I can have some sewing moments.

Bring it on Mr. Winter!

I know almost everyone is sick of snow, but I say "Bring it on!"  Another snow day today = more quilting time for me!  I quilted a UFO, and that wasn't even on my goal list.

I actually finished another quilt from the UFO mountain.  I may have even finished mine before some others in the group (like Ellen).  This has never happened before.  These are the blocks from the Lewis and Clark sampler that I taught many years ago.  I added the alternate blocks and set it on point.  I will take some better pictures once the weather isn't so gloomy.  

I mentioned in yesterdays post that I have been doing a fair amount of running for my kids.  Along with show choir, I get to watch my son wrestle.  It is a really hard sport for me to watch.  I am told that I make quite the funny facial expressions.  I don't think bodies are supposed to bend like they do in wrestling.  This is my son getting a pin last night.  I am quite certain my neck would be broken if I twisted it like that.  

Is it too much to ask for a fog delay tomorrow?

Monday - How can that be?

and...how can it be March already?

I have nothing new to show on my design wall.  It looks exactly the same as in my last post.  I have wrestling and show choir going on.

My DH had a problem with materials on a job so he switched gears and put the flooring in the boys room.  It went very well until the very end.  We are one board X 21" short.  That is the way projects always work out at my house.  We had to go buy another box of flooring for that 4" X 21" piece.  UGH!

Since the flooring was essentially done, that pushed me to get the paining finished.  I had the base coat of taupe on the walls, but I didn't get the stripes or the accent wall complete.  I looked at several tutorials on stripes, and I am pleased with how well they turned out.  I also managed to get the accent wall painted (sorry about the turned photo).  It is the dark blue.  The best part is both boys like the colors and the flooring.  Once we get them moved back into their room, we can work on the last bedroom that needs attention.  

I quilted 2 customer this weekend.  I quilted both of them with the pantograph popcorn.  I think it is the perfect choice of pattern.  It is funny that I received two different quilts with basically the same colors.  It made the thread choice really easy!

It feels good to check something off my March goal list so early in the month.

The Cabin

Several friends have asked about a cabin that my family recently acquired.  I finally had my camera and remembered to take pictures (of course the pictures are a month old).

 This is a picture from the deck the river is just  beyond the trees.  We had a local farmer plant the tillable acres with soybeans.

 This is also from the deck.  The river wraps around the bottom ground like a horseshoe.

 This is the cabin.

This is also part of the property.  The windmill pumps water into the pond.

This is a little bit of photo overload, but the fall colors were so amazing.  We have several deer that live in the bottom ground along with the wild turkeys.

Delaney took these last 4 photos of the river low ground.  Her photos of the reflecting trees were so great that I wanted to share.

Hoping to be back (to blogging) soon

It's hard to believe, but June 4th was my last post- 3 months ago.  A lot has happened in the last 3 months.

I survived the baseball/softball schedule.
I played nurse to an ailing dog and a son who had a serious injury
Household renovations moved forward
After a long delay, my daughter made it to Mudgee Australia
We welcomed a new daughter into our home from Switzerland as an exchange student

A lot has NOT happened in the last 3 months -

I haven't completed any UFOs
I haven't quilted a customer quilt
I haven't really done any sewing at all!

My goal for the month of September:

• Add borders to 3 UFOs
• Survive - Volleyball, 2- Football, Soccer, Baseball, and put dinner on the table at a somewhat reasonable time
• Quilt 2 Customer quilts
• catch up on paperwork

Mudgee, NSW Australia

As my daughter prepares to travel and all the paperwork that never seems to end, it is fun to use the internet as a resource of information.  We have explored the school website.  They have lots of different options than we have in the United States.  Sydney is so excited to see that the public school has uniforms.  This is helpful with our packing.   The thing that has her most excited-
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Yep - Mudgee has a library (photo from Google).  I am sure getting a library card is one of the things at the top of her list.  If you want to look around Mudgee check out their website.  There is a lot of information there.  It looks like she will be arriving in time for the wine festival in September.

Do you think there are any quilters in Mudgee?

We have a City!!

I know I have been rather impatient, but we have a city for my daughter.  My daughter will be traveling to the city of Mudgee in NSW, Australia this summer.  She will be there for about 11 months.  We were able to look it up with Google and see what her school will look like and take a bit of a virtual tour.  Mudgee is about 4 hours north and west of Sydney Australia.  It is a smaller community that is known mostly for farming (grapes and wine is the main crop).

Upon research I found some great images of Mudgee.


Hopefully she will get to the "The Drip" which is a little northeast of Mudgee.  Mudgee isn't too far from several forests.


She will never get tired of looking at the landscape -



I am so excited for her!

Design Wall Monday

Where have I been?  I haven't been sewing, so I don't have much sewing related to post.  I haven't even posted my goals for March and the month is half over.

I have been watching a whole lot of this.

 Don't ask me how my boys got interested in wrestling.  It does keep them active, but it is a very intense sport to watch.  As a parent, it is hard to watch their bodies bend at such unnatural angles.

I insisted Sunday morning that I have a little play time myself!  I had about a 2 hour window to work with.  I stitched up this pillow top using my Moda Candy pack. This pattern took 48 squares, so I used 6 squares from my 2 1/2" square bin.  I love how it turned out.  The green fabric is an older RJR line, but I think it matches perfectly.

If you are interested in making this pattern, it takes 48 - 2 1/2" and 1/4 yard of accent fabric.

(2 strips of accent fabric 1 1/2", and 2 strips of accent fabric 2 1/2")

The pillow is 20"

Thanks for visiting.  Stop over to Judy's to see what others are working on.

March Already?

How did that happen?  This whole year is just flying by!

It was a super exciting weekend for our household.  I have been patiently waiting to find out what country my daughter will be studying in.  We had a reveal party yesterday with family and friends.  The selected country was........

I had asked the baker to put the name of the country under the cake so that we could reveal the country together.  He really went out of his way and made it amazing.  The cake was delicious and there wasn't a single piece left.

Last year only one student from the United States was selected by Rotary to go to Australia.  She is so excited as this was her first choice as a destination country.  She will be there for about eleven months starting in July or August.  We should receive the city

I did pretty well on my February goals.  I accomplished everything except quilting and one more border on my Orange Crush quilt.  All things considered - it was a successful month.

I have been so busy with my family activities that I haven't had a chance to even think about March goals.  Today I hope to catch my breath, re-group, and think about March goals.

Design Wall Monday

It's Monday again and I am back to work.  It was fabulous to have an extra week off! I think I could be a hermit as it really didn't bother me to stay home for 5 days straight.  My kids really enjoyed the extra time off, but they were ready to go back to school today.

I have been working extra hard on my own projects during this time. I have been piecing projects 2 at a time which is working really well for me.  I have also started pinning my blocks together in the evenings while watching football with the kids.

I have finally finished this spring table runner.  I have had it in the pile to quilt for ages but I wasn't sure what I wanted to quilt on it.  I decided to use it as a practice piece (which means I had a no rip policy).  There are areas which could be lots better, so don't look to closely.  Overall I think the designs I chose worked well together.

 I have this quilt half quilted.  I need to finish quilting it so I can mark it off my list too.











This Oldie from the UFO list is now in rows.  I am not willing to admit how old, but I will tell you it was the very first Bonnie Hunter mystery.  I started 2 of them at that time.  I finished the other one, but this one has been sitting around for a long time.  I did not sew my 9 patches in strips (I used 1 1/2" squares).  I hope to get the rows sewn together this week.  Those 1 1/2" squares take a lot of pinning.

Please ignore my piles below the quilt.  It looks like I need to go a little cleaning from my flurry of sewing.
















It is hard to believe, but this beauty is now 16.  I am so thankful that she will be driving soon.  She is such a great kid and helper to me.  I will miss her so much when she studies abroad for 12 months.  She will be leaving in just 6 short months.  She purchased her rotary blazer last week and she was so excited.  We should find out later this month where she will be traveling to.  It will be such an amazing experience for her.

She insisted on making her own birthday cake.  She still let us sing the birthday song to her, but she insisted on no candles this year.  Perhaps that is because her wish of being an exchange student is coming true.  Her brother never misses an opportunity to pick on her.  She is a good sport about it most of the time.

I hope you have a productive quilting week!

The word of the year TACKLE.  It applies to so many things in my life right now.

School Begins

All my kids were up nice an early today.  They were eager to go back to school.  I don't know how long this will last, but I am going to enjoy it while I can.

I have already started working hard on my August goals.  I ran into a few problems.  Do you see anything unusual about this design?

 I guess I still haven't learned that symmetrical designs such as a log cabin need an even number of rows and columns.  I triple counted the blocks.  I had 56 blocks - yep, I planned to do a 7 X 8 block setting.  I had my little tantrum, then I got busy and cut out 8 more blocks.  The good news is I had plenty of scraps just waiting to be made into the 8 additional blocks.  They are almost completed then I will be ready to start my first August goal.   I love how the different shades of black play with each other.

 I started working on my second goal for August at the sew day last Sunday.  I have the quilt sew into 16 block sections.  This is my go to pattern for leftover bits of jelly roll strips.  This type of design needs an ODD number of rows and columns.  I like to start and end the rows the same (either horizontal or vertical).

I laid out my sections of blocks to see how they looked.  I like how the quilt looks, but I think perhaps I should make it a little larger to fit a twin bed.  As it it, it will be a large lap quilt.

Graduation Quilt

This is my youngest daughter Delaney all dolled up for 6th grade graduation.  Dressing up is not normally her thing, so I enjoyed taking the opportunity to snap some photos of her.

It was fun to watch both the girls working together.  They both seemed to be excited about the process. 

Delaney wanted a picture of herself with her teacher before the gift was given.  

I don't think I have ever seen this teacher without her infectious smile.  

Delaney predicted that her teacher would be releasing lots of tears during the graduation, but she was wrong.  She was able to keep herself together until she opened Delaney's gift.

My quilt was well received.  It was not perceived as John Deere or BP.  Her first thoughts were school colors.  It brought her to tears.  She loved and appreciated her gift greatly.

Weekend Retreat

I didn't get much sewing time at the retreat, but I enjoyed the time I had.  Family obligations kept me on the run.  I am sure someday I will miss the craziness of having a family involved in so many things.

The things I worked on had nothing to do with UFOs or goals.  Somehow those things slipped my mind.  I managed to put together a baby quilt for a shower that is coming up soon.

 I managed to put a second baby quilt together for another shower, but I didn't like it so I bonded with the seam ripper today.  Back to square one I go.











Judy made this great X-block runner.  I like how she placed the leftovers in the border.  And Ellen was demonstrating her squish and square technique.  Let's just say it took a lot of rulers, but it was successful.  This quilt will be displayed at Art Prize in Grand Rapids this year.

This is my little hillbilly girl.  She was in the production of the Hankerin' Hillbillies this weekend.    I am so proud of how she played the role of Betty with her hillbilly accent.  She did part of the choreography for the production.  She really enjoyed this role and had fun with it.

Her drama teacher couldn't believe she had patches that matched her shirt.  Wonder how they matched the shirt?

This will be our last library retreat until fall.  I will miss the designated time to work on my projects.