Slowly Making Progress

 

 

If I get any slower, I will be standing still.  Some days it seems like I’m doing that now.  I am seeing a little progress in getting caught up on my current sewing projects.  I’m glad to see some of them reaching a conclusion. 

The EVQG Mystery Top is completed.  Yeah!  I’m quite pleased with the way it turned out.  I did scrappy with a color scheme.  The pattern is  from the Nov. 2007 McCall’s Quick Quilts magazine.  I haven’t looked to see if I have that magazine or not.  Sure would like to see what the original quilt looked like.

All the Purple Sage blocks are made.

It will be an on-point setting.  I’m impatiently waiting on the finishing directions to be posted. I had hoped they would be ready today.  The blocks are on my design wall and I would like to finish the top before moving on to something else.  The last thing I want to do is take them down this close to the end, so my hands are tied as far as working on something else.  No room on the design wall for any other projects. 

 

The four patch blocks for the 2nd border on the Delightful stars top are all made. Just have to sew them together, but would like to but them on the design wall to try to get an even distribution of color.

Here it is with the 1st plain border.  I want to get the 4-patch border on before deciding what color to use for the other pieced border.  I’m not doing it scrappy.  That was just a little too much for my mind to grasp.  Just couldn’t see it turning out well.  I’ve really enjoyed this quilt a-long and hope Michelle will do another one next year. This is the 3rd one of her quilt a-longs that I have done.

 

Almost forgot to take a picture of the September Saturday Sampler block when I finished it this afternoon.

I’m ready to go get the October block.

Sewing Time

 

Finally finding time to sew.  I’m trying very hard to get caught up on all my current projects.  Making a little progress, but not enough.  I’m currently working on our guild mystery. have it put together and the first border on.

I have all four sides of the 2nd border pieced.  Maybe I can get them attached today.  This is turning out very nicely.  I’m glad I decided to participate. 

 

I decided to start another Saturday Sampler.  A group of us go down together to Tiny Stitches in Marietta. It is a lot of fun.  On the way home we stop at Dunkin Doughnuts and sit and chat. 

 

Here are the June and August blocks.  Can’t figure out why I didn’t take a picture of the July block. We had 3 choices for the color way, blue & yellow, red and Kaffe Fassett.   I decided to go with Kaffe.  Aarin, Jean and Nancy decided to do the blue and yellow.  All the choices are lovely. When we were down there on the 3rd Saturday, I couldn’t resist getting a couple of mug rug kits.

I think these are just adorable.  They are from Stitches of Love.

 

This is the second set of Scrap Busting blocks that Pat did.  I just do 5 each time.  I’m trying to use a color scheme so I can make a quilt using all the blocks, instead of a small lap quilt each time.

 

I’ve been working on some of my on-line BOMs and have gotten caught up on 2 of them.  Still 3 months behind on the rest.

This is the Aurifil blocks so far.  I guess it goes for the entire 12 months.

 

 

This is Pat Slone’s Globetrotting BOM.  All the blocks are made.  I’m just waiting on the finishing instructions.

 

I’m glad some of these projects are winding down.  I’m going to try not to get involved in so many next. year.  I’ve had my hands full trying to keep up with so many and not let them turn into UFOs.  I sure haven’t had much luck at working on my UFOs this year. I’m fighting to keep from acquiring any more.  Think I will have to be satisfied with that for this year.  Hopefully I will have better luck with finishing up more of my “old” projects next year. 

Road Trip

 

 

The Row by Row Experience shop hop was a good excuse to take a road trip on Saturdays in August.  I really enjoyed it, but now it is time to wind down.  I didn’t get to do all the Georgia shops that I would have liked to, but we did get to visit many new to us shops in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee.  The first trip took us to five shops in NE GA.  The first stop was Intown Quilters in Decatur, and then on to Georgia Sewing & Quilting in Buford, Betty Sue’s Quilt Shop in Flowery Branch were the people were so friendly.   We also found the people very friendly at Annie’s Pretty Pieces in Hartwell and lastly, we just did make it to Thread Bear Fabrics in Cumming before closing time.

The 2nd Saturday found us heading to Tennessee where we again visited five quilt shops. Our first stop was Ready Set Sew which carried Janome sewing machines and was a nice shop.  Our second stop was Spools, the home of the Bad Ass Quilter’s Society.  I like the atmosphere and will stop there again when I’m up that way.  Next, we headed to Pins & Needles and was very disappointed to find them closed and no sign telling us why, although there posted hours said they were open on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.  I hope that whatever reason that kept them away wasn’t too serious.  It looked like a nice shop from what we could see through the windows.  We moved on to Bernina Sew N Quilt Studio where they had there demo machines on sale.  It was so tempting to buy a new Bernina. At least I know to head to Chattanooga when I do get ready to buy a new machine. Our next stop was Chattanooga Quilts in Ooltewah with lots of old time charm. 

 

Here are Jean and me in front of Hyderhangout: Quilt Fabric & More in Cleveland, our last shop of the day.

We stopped for some good Barbeque before heading home. 

The third Saturday, Jean, Nancy and me headed to North Carolina.  We stopped at the Fabric Center & Quilt Shop in Blairsville, GA on the way north. 

 

We stopped to enjoy the scenery along the way.  We finally arrived in Franklin and A Stitch in Time.  Our next stop in Franklin was Deb’s Cats N Quilts where we found lots of stuffed cats, but no real ones.  It was a nice shop and well worth a return visit.

Next we visited Bless My Stitches Quilt Shop in Murphy, NC.  We ate at a retro diner that had real malted milk shakes.  It sure did bring back memories of my younger days.

The fourth Saturday started with Jean and Mine’s first stop being the Comcast Cable office.  From there we went to The Stitchery in Rome, GA.  She has some really nice fabrics.  I couldn’t resist getting a FQ bundles on clearance.  We then moved on to Douglasvill,e to a wonderful shop, Pickleweeds Quilt Shop.  We kept wondering why we hadn’t heard of it before now,  It is worth the drive.  On the way home we stopped at a little fruit stand advertising “the world’s best peanuts”.  I have to admit they are pretty good.

There is one more Saturday this month, but I’m pretty well shopped out.  Unless Jean and Nancy really want to go, I’m through,.  It will take me awhile to get all the rows made that I’ve already collected.  I don’t know if I will have one large quilt or two smaller ones.  It has been fun and maybe next year I can get to some of the ones I wasn’t able to this time.

Passing Through

 

 

It seems like lately all I do is pass through my sewing room on my way somewhere else.  I’m beginning to wonder if I will ever stop in long enough to do any sewing.  Needless to say, I am very behind on my BOMs and Quilt Alongs.  Maybe I can get caught up next month.  I am working on the EVQG July mystery clue.  I haven’t even been to the website to get the August clue yet. 

This is the June M for Mystery clue.  July and August’s kits are still in the envelopes they came in waiting on me.  Soon the September one will be here. 

I worked very hard tying to get caught up on the Delightful Stars blocks.

 

 

Lesson 16                                                        Lesson 17

 

 

Lesson 18                                                                              Lesson 21

 

I

Lesson 22                                                           Lesson 23

 

I haven’t made the block for Lesson 19 yet, plus there are a couple more, lessons 24 and 25, that I need to make.  The block for Lesson 20 is made, I just didn’t take a picture of it.  The instructions call for joining it to some of the other blocks and of course I haven’t done that yet. 

 

We went to Villa Rica and bought 10 baby chicks.  One was sickly and died and another was killed by our other chickens.  The babies managed to get out of the coop and into the chicken run were the other two were at.  We sold 3 of the roosters from the first chicks.  We kept one and plan to get rid of it when the babies get old enough to put in with Juni.  I think we should keep a rooster as part of prepping just in case we don’t have the luxury of buying chicks from a hatchery. 

 

We got 2 each of 5 different varieties.  On of the pale yellow ones was sickly and one of the brown ones was killed. This picture was taken right after we got them.

 

I got a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy S 4 active. I really wanted the S 5, but At&T isn’t giving them away.  The cheapest price with 2 yr. contract that my daughter found was $149.00.  The most I’ve paid for a phone is $49.00 and that was for the S 2. I was so anxious to get it and then when it arrived last Wednesday I was chicken about activating it.  Maybe I will give it a try today.  I’m worried about getting all my contacts and pictures moved to the new phone.  Although I think most of the pictures have been sent to my computer, or at least the ones I wanted to keep, so I don’t know why I think they need to be moved to my new phone to take up space I’ll need for new pictures.

New York Trip

 

 

Our New York trip was short but nice.  We visited relatives and went to the class reunion.  We stopped at 2 quilt shop on the way up.

We stopped at Batiks Etcetera and Sew What Fabrics in Wytheville, VA. I’ve never seen so many batiks in one place before.  It is definitely the place to go for batiks.  Just wish it was a little closer to me.  Even my husband liked this shop.  Think he liked it because it is in an old house in the old part of town.  There were several quaint little shops on that street. Unfortunately, I forgot to ask for their license plate for the Row by Row Experience shop hop. Our second stop was at The Sew’n Place in Chambersburg. PA. That shop was in a strip mall and didn’t have a lot of fabric, but it was a nice selection.  Think they were more in the business of selling sewing machines. 

We took our Granddaughter with us so she could meet her great great grandfather.

Lydia with Grandpa and her great great grandpa.  The Urn on the coffee table contains his wife’s ashes.

This was taken at one of the rest areas we stopped at. 

We ate supper Friday night at this retro dinner in Watertown, NY.  I like the atmosphere in the old timey restaurants.

On the way home we stopped at 2 quilt shops in NY.  We had to drive a little out of our way to get to them.  The first one was in Ithaca, NY.  The Quilter’s Corner was a nice quilt shop.  We stopped there on our way to Pucky Huddle Delight in Candor, NY.  With a name like that, I just had to make the detour  to check it out.

This is my granddaughter’s favorite quilt shop because it is purple.  There was a house for sale right across the street.  I was ready to move.  The trip was over all too soon.  There were several places I would have like to gone to, but time didn’t allow for it.

 

Well, I’ve managed to get hooked on another book series; this one is by William Kent Krueger.  It is the Cork O’Conner mysteries. 

My legs are sore. I haven’t been to the gym in several months.  I lost my exercise buddy and I so hate going by myself.  I really need that friend to be accountable to, to keep me going.  I went yesterday morning early and got on the treadmill for 50 minutes.  I didn’t think walking on a treadmill would make me this sore. One thing, the gym is quiet early in the morning.  It doesn’t start getting busy until around 7:45.  Hope I have recovered by Monday so I can try it again.

Still Doing June!

 

 

Will I ever get caught up on my Block of the Months?!  I’m still doing June’s.  I’m currently working on M for Murder.  I have finished quite a few. 

Tell It To The Stars June block.

 

Purple Sage for June.  I’m renaming it Purple Haze.

 

Vice Versa June Blocks.

 

The June Aurifil Block.

 

Globetrotting in June.  Don’t even remember where we went.  Australia, maybe.

 

And a new one.  Just what I needed!  Hope I don’t regret this.

 

The latest Saturday Sampler from Tiny Stitches.  This is the June block done in Kaffe fabrics. The other choices where red and the one my friends chose, blue and yellow.  I just had to be the odd ball.  There are four of us that go down together and then we stop off at Dunkin Donuts on the way home.  I missed our little outings.  We hadn’t gone in a year and a half.

 

Lydia’s boats. 

 

We leave Thursday for New York to visit relatives and my husbands class reunion.  we are taking Lydia with us.  Hope she travels well.  Grandma is getting a little short on patience in her old age and she can be very stubborn.

How Time Flies!

 

I can’t believe it is July already and I’m still working on my June BOMs.  I haven’t even printed any of the July ones or received any in the mail yet.  Aarin, Jean, Nancy and I started a new Saturday Sampler at Tiny Stitches last month.  Will get this months on Saturday. Hope I can get caught up this month.  I still have one more customer quilt to get done soon.  Waiting on thread from Superior Thread to see if it will match better than the thread I have on hand. 

Here are the fabric combinations I finally decided on for the “Never Enough Chocolate” blocks.  All of the blocks are made, just waiting on me to get around to putting the top together.

My Delightful Stars block from Lessons 13, 14, 15. Don’t remember if I posted these before or not.  I haven’t done any of the June blocks yet. Hopefully I can get caught up next week.

My Lilies bloomed this spring.  I used to have a lot more.  these are the only ones that were saved when we leveled out the front yard. I had a good sized garden, but it was a little over ambitious for me. I like flowers, but not so much gardening.

We are planning to take a trip to New York in a couple of weeks to visit my husbands family and to attend his high school class reunion. We will probably take our granddaughter with us.

Lots of Walking

 

The 90 Mile Yard Sale is this week-end.  We went yesterday. I’m still tired.  Dora and Cecile made out good.  They did so good that we had to drop off the 1st load before we could continue on. All I got was two Christmas ornaments for $1.00 each, a book for 50 cents and an office chair for David for $15.00. Oh, yes, and a cup of lemonade at our last stop where we did the most walking.  Plus, I bought our breakfast at Martin’s as we were starting our adventure. We drove around 115 miles even though we only did about 35 or 40 miles of the yard sale.

 

This picture is from our last stop and where we did the longest walk.  This is along Hwy 41 north of Cartersville headed toward Adairsville.  My truck is parked on the side of the road about 1/2 a mile down the road. We did 3 set-up spots along this strip.  Glad they only do this once a year.  That will give me a chance to get in better shape for all the walking required.

 

These pictures were taken the day before Mother’s Day.  I like the one of Lydia smelling the flowers.

 

The chickens are in their new home.  Think they like it.  So far I can tell that we have 1 rooster  and 1 hen.  I haven’t figured out what the other 3 are.  I’m thinking about just giving them to the man we got the eggs we hatched them from and ordering some hens from a hatchery. That way I can get the kind of chickens I want.

 

We down sized our garden this year.  I’m not planning on doing a lot of canning.  Mostly we just want to eat out of our garden this year.  We’ve got tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cantaloupe, cucumbers and green beans.

May BOMs Finished

 

Can’t say the same for my Quilt A Longs.  I’m behind on them and getting further behind by the minute.  I didn’t make it into my quilting studio for the past two days.  Today a lady is supposed to bring me a quilt to quilt for her and the Quilty Fun quilt is still on the frame. I’m waiting for more fabric for the “Never Enough Chocolate” quilt A Long and I’m two weeks behind on “Delightful Stars” because of issues with Comcast email.  It seems they have taken a dislike to the Quilting Gallery and won’t let the emails through.  I requested a change of email address for the emails to be delivered to and now have my missing patterns, but haven’t had time to even think about making them. 

Still deciding on fabrics, but getting close.  Think I will go with the fabrics in the blocks on the left, but waiting on another with black background to replace the one with the green in the blocks on the right.

 

This is clue (month) 5 of the M for Mystery.  I especially love the blue paisley fabric that came this month. I want to add some to my “paisley” stash.

 

After nine blocks I really am regretting some of my purple fabric choices.  That’s what comes from working from my stash and refusing to buy more fabric.  Use what is in my stash or forgo the project.  I’ve lighten up a little on that plan.  Although I still think it is a good way to operate. 

 

May Vise Versa blocks.  I so am loving this BOM.  It may be partially due to the colors I picked.

 

So far the May block is my favorite.  This is another scrappy project.  So far I’ve been able to dig through my scrap bin for fabrics. 

 

These plastic molded chairs sure have held up well.  Think I’ve had these for around 20 years.  The one Lydia is sitting in was here mother’s when she was little.