Attention Please

Why I find it difficult to blog or email...............

Round Robin

My friend Lindsay and I are starting two Round Robin quilts which we will exchange back and forth throughout the year. We are donating these quilts to our church for a fundraiser. This is my center - the Illinois Star from Carol Doak's Simply Sensational 9-Patch Stars book. I increased the size to make it 17" finished. And what are the visiting cats doing lately?

Well, Rudi is ON the bench watching what I am doing,

while Elliot is IN the bench having a quick nap.

Today I am grateful for -

1. Hazelnut coffee

2. Fleece (it is very cold where I live)

3. Time to sew and knit today

Puss in a Corner

Jeanne of Spiral (California) has been doing a block a day from Nancy J. Martin's 365 Quilt Blocks a Year perpetual calendar. Today I had to wait for my computer to download something and I decided I would give January 23rd's easy block a try while I was waiting. I grabbed my bag of scraps and before I knew it I had a block completed. Thanks Jeanne for the inspiration. I'll have to give more of the blocks a try when I have time. I don't know if I will tackle some of the more difficult blocks, but seeing what Jeanne has done is an inspiration to me.

A little time for sewing today......

Ever since I made this mini quilt I was not happy with how it looked. It just didn't come out how I had envisioned. I really wanted the batik fabric to be the focus, but the yellow dot fabric kind of took over as the dominant color. Today I appliqued three little pieces of the batik fabric onto the yellow to tone it down a bit and take the focus away from the yellow a little. I like it better now. Even though there are three unfinished projects on my table (not to mention the 30 or more UFOs tucked away in containers), I started on a new project idea today. This flower fabric appealed to me perhaps because outside there is nothing but snow and cold, cold weather.

My visiting cats make a sweet picture cuddled up on the sofa. Black & white cats on a colorful quilt..........lovely.

Cleaning out

In my waste basket is a pair of blue slacks that I am reluctantly throwing away. They are old, the elastic is gone, some seams are ripped and the color has faded. However, these pants are so comfortable - loose and soft. Alas though, they are too big and when I saw myself in the mirror with these pants on, I had to face the truth that they are baggy and make me look frumpy. Who wants to look frumpy! I know that I could just wear them around the house, but if something makes me look frumpy then I feel frumpy and even at home when no one is looking, I really don't want to feel frumpy. For the past week I have been working on cleaning out my office. I won't bore you with the long list of things I am donating to charity or throwing out, but suffice it to say that I had way too much stuff packed into file cabinets, drawers, and shelves.

After re-arranging the shelves the visiting cat discovered a new place to inspect. He is saying "Wow, look at all this space back here".

This cleaning project is almost done but I now have a pile of papers to shred - such a boring job. I think I will take a break and go read for a while.

Quilting? Maybe next week............

Lazy Girl Pouches

Here are some Lazy Girl pouches I made for the owner of my visiting cats. I made a new design element (mistake) on the pink and black one - the fabric is upside down. Hoping to distract the eye from my clever design element, I added sparkly paw prints. And for a gal who reluctantly gets flamingo gifts from all her friends, this paper-pieced flamingo with some iron-on sparkles.

(Reminder - you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.)


While I am busy sewing and making design decisions, my cats are busy meditating, thinking, planning, and dreaming of tuna.

Stash Report

0

Zero - nothing

No fabric added this week.

No fabric used this week.

I'm hanging my head in shame as I confess my lack of progress. I did work on some projects, but they are not done and I don't feel like I can count them yet. Sigh.

Total for the year so far - used 1/2 yard, purchased zero.

Question....

What do you call the husband of your niece? Nephew-in-law? Well, in my case I call him my Angel. See that beautifully shoveled driveway below? That is my driveway and an Angel came this morning to remove all the snow. My Angel is also handsome, a wonderful husband to my niece and a great father to two fantastic young adults. I know that no one is perfect, but he is getting mighty close.

When I walked back into the house after taking the above picture, my two visiting cats were staring at me. "What on earth is she doing now? Doesn't she ever sit down? And why is she taking pictures out in that nasty snow? She is weird, that's for sure."

Today I am grateful for -

1. Angels in my life.

2. Funny cats

3. The incentive to clean out files today.

4. Neat, organized file drawers.

Blocks Done

Tonight I finished up the house blocks for the Come-on-a-my-house quilt. If you click on the picture, it will enlarge and you can see the little girl and the rabbit in the windows. As I sewed and got up to iron the pieces, my visiting cat, Elliot, took over at the sewing machine. We argued over that chair all evening.
In the tub with the Come-on-a-my-house quilt pieces I found another project that I had forgotten about. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but fortunately I left an EQ print-out of the planned quilt with the clue I needed to figure the mystery out. I'm going to keep it a secret for now so I will only show you this bit of fabric.

In the meantime, Rudi is watching out the window for the Quilt Police.

Thanks Rudi.

From July

Determined to get some productive work done in my Quilt Studio today, I dug out the quilt I started last July and made six more house blocks. Only four more house blocks to go and I could start putting the quilt together. Please notice that my houses have such realistic colors - tourquoise siding and a paisley door among my savy choices.

By the way, do you think that I may be spoiling my visiting cats?

Wouldn't you like to be as stress free as this purring cat?

Knitting

When I got the news today that my sister was taken back to the hospital, I knew from experience that it would be a long wait in Emergency. Sitting and waiting is not something that I do well, so I stopped at Hobby Lobby on the way to the hospital and purchased some yarn and needles. Working on a simple knit scarf keeps my hands busy while still being able to visit with my sister and BIL. The yarn is a very soft pink, not my normal choice, but it looked Spring-like and hopeful. This lovely rose plant which I recently received as a thank-you gift, is also a lovely shade of pink even though the picture looks more coral. Today I am pretty in pink.

Encouragement

When I emailed my cousins last night (we write to each other every night) I told them I was a failure at working on my projects. My excuse was that I had volunteered at church and spent the time there and at home working on the Pledge Statements for 2008, shown below all finished, printed, folded and stuffed into envelopes. My cousins lovingly reminded me that I was not a failure. I had been referring to my quilting and stitching projects and they, of course, were referring to me. However, I wanted to be able to post on my blog progress on a quilting or stitching project each day and instead all I can show you is my pile of stuffed envelopes. Oh well, Elliot still follows me around waiting to jump into my lap. (That is my pajama-clad leg in the picture.)

Rudi, the loner in the crowd, waits patiently on his favorite rug to see what I am doing.

Today I am grateful for -

1. Cousins who love me

2. Cats who entertain me

3. Peanut butter toast that awaits me right now.................bye............

Week #1 - Stashbusting 2009

Yes, I am off to a marvelous start for 2009 in the stashbusting department. I worked on two small projects that probably took a total of 1/2 yard of fabric - all from my huge stash. Week #1 - used 1/2 yard
- purchased -0- yards.

Lady Bug

This little book cover with the paper-pieced lady bug was made for my cousin. In posting this picture I realized that I completely forgot to add the bugs antenna. Oops. To tell you the truth, I made so many mistakes in constructing the book cover it was laughable. I cut things incorrectly, sewed them together incorrectly and unsewed at least three times. The back has a stripe down one side because I messed up so badly with the cutting directions and ended up having to add a piece in order to make everything the right dimensions. I was pleased though when it was all finished. I will just have to ask my cousin to bring it when she next visits and I will embroider the antenna on to the bugs head.

Today I am grateful for -

1. Subway sandwiches and sugar-free apple pie

2. Playing with fabric scraps

3. Getting Bonnie Hunter's book (Scraps & Shirttails) in the mail.

Quick art quilt

A little "art" quilt - started yesterday and finished today. It did not turn out like it was supposed to - my fabrics are two contrasting and my strips are too big - but it is a lesson learned. In order to give it more interest, I used iron-on crystals to embellish the polka-dot fabric.
Does anybody want this little quilt? I will give it away to the first person that asks for it.

Today I am grateful for -

1. Good service at the Honda dealer

2. Good service at Barnes & Noble

3. Easy to make cornbread muffins

New Years Day

Last night I finished my New Years Eve puzzle, took this picture, and then dismanted the puzzle so that I could start on another one. Every year at the Christmas/New Years holiday time, I allow myself to do some jigsaw puzzles. They are addicting to me, so I only do them once a year. I surprised myself today though by deciding to NOT finish this next puzzle. It would have taken me all day and I was more interested in doing some work at my desk. So I dismanteled what little I had done and the puzzles are put away for another year.
The cats were bored with my puzzle activity.

Really bored!

Until I went to the kitchen and prepared my lunch. As I turned to sit at my table, eat my lunch and read my book, these two were wide awake and ready to join me. Silly cats.

While working at my desk, I was playing an episode of The Quilt Show with Ricky Tims. He had a super quick "art" quilt that I decided to give a try. My little quilt didn't come out as handsome as his, but after I add some border and do some embellishing, I will have a artsy quilt and will also have learned a new trick or two.

Today I am grateful for -

1. Scrambled eggs and a cinnamon scone.

2. Visiting cats that make me laugh.

3. Optimisim as I begin a new year.