Life changes?

I got a call from my hubby, while I was at home today, and he is gonna interview for another job (actually another employer, same type of job -- Auto technician) on Friday. He's gonna go to where his recent service manager left to go to. His present job is a good dealership, sales-wise, but the son doesn't run it as good as his father did.

On similar notes, I have this week left before I go back to work on Monday. Poop! I really was getting to like it. Let's see how much stuff I can get done before I go back! (The race is on....)

Such a Deal!...?

I took a break from sewing and took my hubby shopping for a mattress for us. We've been married for 13 yrs and our bed was mine when I was just divorced... 1990?... can't remember if it was a hand-me-down back then, so it's old and saggy and lumpy... and my shoulders hurt when I wake up and my hubby's hips hurt when he wakes up, so  ... since we came into some money, we're doing it right this time. I assume it will be the last time we buy one.
Anyway, Better Bedding had a nice set for $700.... then we went to Sleepy's.... BIG mistake, since we spent almost twice as much there (although the bed was made for us-- not a sleep number, just computerized for each side to be conditioned for us on our side of the bed). They doubled the 'rebate' that thay originally were gonna give us (we told them we found one we liked at BB)... and they couldn't give us free delivery (BB would have), nor free removal (BB would have), but since we asked if that could happen, they reduced the price of the set the amount of Delivery & Removal so that when they added it on, it looked like it would be free! It was still an Expensive set.... more than I almost was comfortable, but hubby was set on them (AND they were throwing in two $100 pillows that we'd been carrying around to try out beds with. Very comfy!
We slept on it last night for the first time and I'm not sure yet, even though it comfy to lay on, to sleep the whole night may take a little getting used to. VERY different from my old bed. I'm trying it with my old feather pillows tonight. Maybe that will be okay, til I get used to the bed.

Organize, then sew?

I haven't been doing much sewing in my sewing room, because 1) I was given about 6 plastic tubs of fabrics (mostly batiks, tone-on-tone) and it's still sitting on my cutting table, because there isn't any room in my closets where I store my fabrics, 2) I haven't taken my sewing machine out of it's case since I went to sew with a friend in MA... AND I am attending a quilt-a-thon at our church in three days, so I might as well keep it in the case and really should bring it downstairs now (it's really heavy) and 3) I've been trying to get taxes finished and house decluttered (didn't I post a while ago that I needed to finish taxes??). Whew! One long sentence.

Well, I plan to go up after posting this and organize the space in the sewing room, at least. I'm working on some plaid (white centers) heartstring blocks so I thought I'd go finish those (have to count how many I need to finish a quilt- have 13 done).

I thought this was cool with a label from the inside of the neck showing...(I saved everything from the plaid shirts).

... or I could clear the cutting table so I could cut my outer border for the Alexa's quilt (swimmer with leukemia). I found some purple Hannah Montana fabric for the back (although I'll need to add Chinese coins to extend it- that's ok).

I did get to put the two inner borders on at Cricket's house last week, so I did get SOMETHING done. See? oh. I guess you don't see, since I didn't post any photos here. Here you go....



I even got the back finished.

I really wish I had enough time to put together a few tops (36"x 36" or 45" x 45") for the Project Linus quilt-a-thon on Tuesday, but I won't, ....I know it.

One week left....almost

In just over a week I'll be back to work. Damn! Yup, that's just how I feel about it. When do I retire?? (Obviously, not soon enough).
I've gotten alot of things accomplished, but I could have gotten a lot more done, if I was more organized. We are getting a lot of things done within the renovation mode we were in, but things did stop for a while when we were notified that we need to think about replacing the boiler. That will put us back about $4,000-9,000 ... AND we need to replace the outside electrical line to the house (the one that runs down the side of the house- not coming from the pole on the street), since it's so frayed!! These became priorities when there was a safety issue involved.
The only good news is that we got a 'gift' from my mom that enabled us to reconsider at least looking into a mattress for us and redoing the floor in the kitchen/hall/bath. We'll see.

In the meantime, I've gotten a lot of things done sewing, too! The projects this week have been to go over to church and clean out the complete set of cupboards (not particularly my job), and in that process I organized the Parish Life cabinets (my old committee), and the Peace by Piece Quilters cabinets. I also learned we have been given all of the lower cabinets for our 'stash'!!

I also, bit the bullet and machine quilted the "Swimming with Montana" heartstring quilt (leg/bone cancer for Alexa Marie Feragne). I wasn't sure how much machine and how much tying I was to do on it. It would speak to me, I'm sure. I'm almost pleased with how it came out... one little wrinkle. But that's not bad for how hard it was to keep it straight/flat when we were pin-basting it at church.

I cut the borders for an experiment quilt that our church group made... spikes on a Heartstring quilt, instead of the 2" straight cut center strip. I wanna name it "Starlight".Came out rather nice with the black border, I think, but I hope adding the yellow outer border doesn't make it look too much like a bumble bee! I'll find out today.

I also signed up our group for a little girl 8yr old who loves pink & black!! This should be a fun quilt to do... She has been on Charlotte's Garden since last July or August, so I have to work quickly. I think I'll put a few blocks together of 9-patches with Pinks and various blacks.

Quilt-a-thon

Our church has an annual quilt-a-thon for Project Linus, usually in Feb or Mar. and this year I was able to attend (I am still on layoff 'til the 26th of this month). This year they ended up with about 100 quilts put together on that day, but the Lutheran church always seems to add another 20 or so. Here are some pictures of this year's day... (Some are just fabric, sandwiched and tied.... no piecing done).

Here are Margaret (front) and Linda and Marilyn, working diligently on piecing (some were) and on sewing them envelope-style...

...these ladies were doing the tying

Here is the batting area...

Anna is hard at work... Notice the pile next to her? They need to be sewn and turned, then tied.

Lots of work going on....

Margaret is finally done with her heartstring quilt.

Here's the start of them getting put up.

Here's more...

and more...

and more... Good work, ladies!

GHQG Quilting Retreat-3 days!

I just got back from a quilting retreat, from Friday 2pm until Sunday 5pm... and let me tell you, other than eating and sleeping (and there wasn't much of that going on) all we did (43 of us) was SEW~!!!!! It was done through our guild (GHQG), and although I went solo (didn't know who else was going), I had a great roommate and met some great fun ladies! Oh, and did I SEW!!! 

This quilt is one that a woman named Janet made with crumbs and 9-patches...with a wild print sashing. Looked great!

While others took time off occasionally to head to Walmart for fabric, supplies, etc (Not what I wanted to be wasting my time with), I kept my nose to my machine. The theme was a MHS (Material High School) reunion, where we even had a chance to dress up for the Sat prom (dinner). We all got MHS Homecoming 2007 t-shirts (Manchestger High is near where I live), a Financial totebag with lots of goodies in it, including scissors, unbrella, setting ruler, leather thimbles, and so much more. For the prom, some had some pretty crazy outfits!! It was the only time I didn't mind being away from the machine (I considered it an extension from dinner). The only thing I wished I had done, is send money with someone to get me lithium batteries for my camera, since it died early Sat morning. Drat!! I took these pictures after the event. I'm posting the link to GHQG so you can see photos when someone posts them there. As of this posting there weren't there yet, but check back.

Although no one needed a 'hall pass' for the bathroom, we were asked to 'ring the teacher's bell on the desk" when we'd finished a project ( sometimes only to whatever stage you could get it done to at the retreat) and then show everyone what you got finished. There were some great quilts done there!! It got to the point where 'my friends' wouldn't let me ring the bell on Sunday, since I 'finished' 7 projects by Sat afternoon!! I brought various UFOs and a few projects from my PbPQ crew, so some really didn't have much to do, but I moved them a few steps further than they would have had just sitting in the drawer at home. I offered to teach a class (pillowcases) on Sat. and learned (in someone else's class) a really interesting trick with bindings that actually helps me iron those little suckers really fast (works the same for my trim on the cases). I'll post a photo tutorial regarding it in another post soon.

Finished: (kinda)... 1. Smokey Mountain Stars (this link is for Bonnie Hunter's version, I still need to take a picture of mine, but I will. I only just had a third of the blocks put together ahead of time, so I finished the blocks there and made it into a top-- My version is not as 'smokey', but still plaids. I'm sure there is a great green plaid backing material at church, and I'll probably make a dark binding or roll the green backing around to the front.

2. I prepared a binding for a quilt "Diamonds in the Mud", that I've had in my UFO drawer for at least 3 yrs. Now I'll go find material for the backing.

3. I fixed a backing for a quilt that I knew the backing fabric was too narrow for, by cutting it diagonally and shifting it to widen. It goes with a quilt that was my first bargello (a test size)-- I liked it so I kept adding borders until it told me to stop. I think I'll make it into a tablecloth. ANYONE KNOW WHAT/WHETHER I NEED TO PUT BATTING IN OR NOT? I thought maybe I'll use a flannel sheet (good idea?).

4. Learned how to make a 'snap bag' from a placemat and a metal tape measure (that's what makes it go snap!), so I finished one! Cute.

5. I also brought a quilt that I loved how it got created, but I was so afraid how to quilt it by machine (I still have to figure how to quilt the border-- 'cuz I think it needs it). I bit the bullet and DID IT! Whew! Now just to figure if I have the soft green materials to bind it.

6. I brought the 'Liberated Log Cabin" (it was just to the block stage) and got it to a top. I realized afterwards that one block (bottom row) got turned... oops! Not sure if I'll turn it yet, but isn't this "Furrowed Rows"? Maybe I'll call this "Don't Drink with a Plow Horse" or "Furrowed Rows on the Rocks".

7. I finished the last border of Alexa's quilt ("Swimming Star"- 9yr old with leg cancer who just had surgery), and used the leftover fabrics to make Chinese coins to piece her backing. Then I cut up some of the Hanna Montana fabric from the back and made the binding, so it's ready to sandwich and quilt/tie/bind.

8. Decided to cut up some Oriental 5" charms for a quilt I saw at a quilting event (jotted the design on notepaper) and have that ready to make at some point.

9. and last but not least, I made four last RWB HS blocks (I had 20) for a quilt we are making for a returning soldier, put it together, then added the first of two borders. I plan to make a red scrappy binding.

Of course the only way I got so much accomplished is because I got up at 6:30am each morning, ate, then sewed....ate lunch, sewed... ate dinner, then sewed until 12:30am-1am both nights....then stayed until 4:45 pm on Sunday. Nothing like staying until the last shot's fired, huh? I also got 2nd place with a quilt challenge….Great weekend!

Sewing Plaids this time

I have to go to church this morning to help a lady check out the sewing machines we store there for an upcoming Quilt-a-thon in March (23rd). Then I get to come home and continue sewing on my heartstring blocks, plaids with a white center strip.

I even have the Izod label showing on one.

I really need to work on my taxes, so I may work a couple of hours on taxes, THEN play with plaids! I really like the way the plaids are looking. I wasn't sure since I wasn't gonna do them the way I'd seen them on someone's blog. Our version was much simpler (the other had cornerstones-4-patches- and white sashing).