A sneak peek

Thought I would share a little sneak peek of what I am working on. I am quilting my Scrappy Mountains Majesty designed by Bonnie Hunter. This is the biggest quilt I have made and quilted and probably my favorite. I kept putting off quilting it as it scared the poop out of me! I didn't want to mess it up and the size was daunting. As usual, though, I found that just jumping in was the way to go. I am about 2/3 done and since I am just doing a large meander pattern (again) it is going smoothly and quickly.
I still have so many ufo's to complete and so many new ones I want to get going on. Sigh...I guess if I ever ran out of either one, life wouldn't be so good!!

Sigh..weekend over

Where did it go? I swear it just started about an hour ago. This weekend just sped by. I didn't get nearly as much sewing done as I would have liked, but I did get a lot accomplished and I am pretty pleased with the whole weekend. I did get 48 of my smiley nine patches done and one set in it's final resting place yesterday. Today I promised myself I was going to get some housework done first, then reward myself with more sewing time. Well, you know how it goes. I started in the kitchen and barely left it all day! I ended up doing a MAJOR cleaning..you know..the kind that includes scrubbing the ceilings and walls, moving the fridge and stove and cleaning under them, cleaning IN them both, cleaning out all the cupboards, scrubbing and buffing the floors, taking out all the glassware in the open cabinets and scrubbing them up good, etc. The kids were fabulous, too. Patrick supervised me all day and Joe and Hannah cleaned the bathrooms, the family room (including steam cleaning the carpet), scrubbing the stairs, picking up their rooms and the living room, etc. Add in to that the 800 loads of laundry I swear I did today and I called it quits for the day. After that, it was off to my sis in law, Tammy's, for haircuts. Her hub, Paul, invited us to dinner, so after the haircuts we all had some yuuuuuummmmmmy beef soup and bread, a few glasses of wine and back home by 9. Remembering my sewing reward time, I planned on setting some more 9 patches in their new home, but that infamous guilt got a hold of me when I saw the 2 quilt sandwiches waiting to be quilted (next to the bigger pile of quilt tops waiting to be sandwiched!). So, I put my buddies...the boys from Creedence Clearwater Revival playing on the cd player and I got one of the quilt sandwiches all set and got about 1/4 of it quilted. I have to say..I know how to get myself moving on these UFO's. Having them all sandwiched and ready to be quilted really makes a difference for me. I think that is going to be my goal for next weekend...sandwiching up all the tops!! Well, that is it for me for tonight. Now I am off to a bath and book and then bed. Hope everyone had as enjoyable a weekend as I did!!

My happy place

Last night I wanted to work on something, but didn't want anything that required thinking or concentrating like quilting, so I decided to piece some 9 patch blocks. These are blocks that are so timeless. There are a million things you can do with them. They always make me happy and make me smile. After awhile, I guess I was overdoing it with the smiling, because look:



I swear they started smiling back at me!! I now am smiling even bigger because I found the perfect use for them, but it is a sneakret and I will let you know where they are going to make there home as soon as I finish it!
Still want to get at least 1 UFO quilted this weekend, but I don't think that is going to happen. That's okay. With smiling little friends like these...who needs finishes??

Pinning...I hate pinning!

I really do. I hate pinning my quilts together. I have tried the spray adhesives, but just haven't gotten the hang of that yet. So, today I decided that I have so many UFO's because I hate the next step...the pinning. Once I figured that out, I got two UFO's all sandwiched and ready to go! I would have done one or two more, but ran out of safety pins. This is definitely the way to go for me. Now, when I have some time, just grab one and start! No more procrastinating for me. Hmm...maybe tomorrow I will buy some more safety pins and get a few more of these ready.
The only other sewing bit I did today was to sew the borders on the Barn Raising quilt. Altogether, I am very pleased with what I got done this weekend.
Hope everyone else is as happy with their weekends!

Another UFO done!

Wooohoooo! Another UFO done. This was one of my Mystery #10's by Marge from Mysteries for Relay. I really love how this turned out. I used not only stash for both front and back, but I even pieced the batting, so it was a complete freebie. This one is going to be gifted to an older couple who come to the pharmacy I work in. They are always so kind to me...bring me baskets full of goodies, gifts when they travel, etc. This will be a little thank you from me to them. In honor of them, I am naming this quilt "Winn's Windmills".
I am putting the borders on the Barn Raising this weekend and also plan on getting another UFO pinned and ready for quilting. That is the very best part of completing a UFO...it motivates you to get going on the next one!

It's a barn raising!

Well, as you can see, I chose layout #2...Barn Raising (thanks to Lydia and Bonnie for helping me out with the name here!) I think #1 was really my very own favorite, but I had the feeling #2 would be the more popular and I was right according to the opinions. Since I was making this one to either donate or gift, I figured I better go with what I thought most people would like more so than what I would like.
It ended up being 64 x 64 (I know it looks longer than wide in the pic, but I swear it is just the angle!). So, now my dilemma is..do I add borders or not? My first thought had been not to. I didn't want to "stop" the movement by doing that, but now I am thinking I might. What do you guys suggest?
I also got one of my mystery #10 tops all quilted and the binding machine stitched on, now tonight I plan on just doing the hand sewing of the binding and then I can cross that off my UFO list. Hmmm...just added Barn Raising to the list while taking mystery #10 off the list. I don't think this is how it is supposed to work!! lol Pics of Mystery #10 top tomorrow when the binding is all on.

Look what wonderful hub got for me!!




Can you stand it?? Look at that pretty, pink, tiny laptop....all for me!! Tom, you are an amazing man. Sure hope I have told you that lately.

Super Stash Bowl

Well, I already had a bunch of scraps precut thanks to Bonnie Hunter's scrap user system, so I took the plunge into Marge's Super Stash Bowl (see previous post for more info). I had a lot of 5 inch squares, so figured I would start with those. I followed Marge's directions and ended up with almost 300 HST's without having to cut any more fabric so thought I would start there. Here are the layouts I am considering:


First is just a typical Light and Dark pattern



Can't remember what this one is called, but another variation.



Last is a pinwheel version.

I like all of them, though I am leaning towards one in particular. Which is your favorite? I would love to hear which you think I should work on. I do have 4 inch squares waiting patiently for me to get to them, also. That all depends on how much of this one I get put together tomorrow, plus I still want to get at least one UFO sandwiched and ready for quilting. I haven't even touched those this weekend!
Tomorrow I will fill you in on an outing with Shellie and Regina, a present, some winnings and some purchases. So many things..so little time!!!

Marge answers my call for help and doesn't even know it!!

Ohhhhhhhh..I think I found my answer to my quilter's block!! I just re-signed on to the Mysteries for Relay email group (I didn't sign up for the last mystery as I really wanted to get more UFO's done) and look what I found!! Marge is having a Super Stash Bowl event!! Click on the link and check it out! Marge has never disappointed me with her designs and I know she won't let me down with this one! I already have lots of fabric precut, and I think I will use some of my 5 inch blocks for this event. I am so excited!! I hope you all join me! While you are there, sign up for the email list and make a contribution so you can join us on other mysteries! With any luck, maybe I will get a UFO AND a brand new top done this weekend!!!

I am being tormented!!!

I have the piecing bug BAD!!!! I sooooo want to start something new...something...anything..I don't even have a project in mind. I do really want to make a Light and Dark scrap quilt like the table toppers I made. I also really want to make a quilt with my gorgeous 30's fabrics I have accumulated, but I have been doing so well at finishing some of my UFO's (of which I am down to 10 of) that I really feel like I should keep going at that!! Tonight I will sandwich at least 1 if not 2 of the tops waiting to be quilted. After that..I dunno!!! Arghhhhhh..torment!!
I have spent lots of time poring over my quilt books and online patterns and haven't found one yet that says, "It is sooooooooo time to make ME!!!" I think I would really like to make a basket pattern quilt for my 30's fabrics, but I can't find one that has a round handle. Can anyone help me??? Of course, I will probably change my mind and want to do something else entirely. Why am I being so wishy washy??? This isn't me. Where did decisive Reenie go? She needs inspiration for sure. I feel like I have writer's block for quilters. Is there such thing as quilter's block?? If so, someone send me the antidote fast!!!!