Saturday, December 25, 2010

Bonus Quilt

Well, I finished my bonus quilt that I was going to use for the UFO challenge. I guess that is good, but I will have to pick out a new bonus quilt now. I decided to give it to a friend who could probably really use a quilty hug. I want to give her one of my queen ones for her new bed too. She said it was the first "new" bed she has ever gotten (her son bought it for her), she is 58. It won't be for Christmas, but whenever I get it done. It is done in civil war prints.

 

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

If anyone was wondering...

...how that deer left the antlers in the feeder?

There he is, that little stinker. I guess I can feed him a bit for leaving us such a nice present. The feeder is about 5.5 feet off the ground, and in a different shot, he had his leg right in the feeder too. They have to be bedding down close to the house, since I went out to feed them and they came running AS SOON as I opened the garbage can of food. The dogs chased them off, but they didnt go far, they were back as soon as the dogs were in the house.
Of course, deer bring wolves, so every year we watch and worry a bit. But we ARE in the wilderness, so can't really blame them. And we ARE bringing THEIR food to us. So they happen to get a quick meal with a dog instead, I would feel horrible, but nature has it ways, and they were here before us. I can only hope and pray it doesn't happen.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Minnesota Quilt done

Believe it or not, it is a BQ pattern. Not till I finished the blocks did I realize the pattern doesnt work for directional fabrics, when you can't turn the blocks. All the stipes line up! No- that is WRONG! So, I added parts and pieces to jog it up and sideways. Bugger. It is a wedding present that was supposed to be done in July! Opps! Now it has to also get shipped to England. If you notice the dark brown squiggle on the top, that is a leach. I put a few on here, since I took them fishing and they would have nothing to do with them. Understandable, but you ARE fishing! now for the worst part-The LABEL. For some reason, I don't like doing labels....

UFO Challenge

So, over on Judy L.'s blog (www.patchworktimes.com) she is doing a UFO challenge, where once a month, she will pick a number 1-12, and we work on that UFO from our list, hopefully until it is done. I am going to give it a try. Of course I will have to work on other things also, but maybe this is a way to MAKE myself work on some of these. I might not get them done in the month, but if I stick with it, I will at least get a lot closer to being DONE with some of these projects that have been hanging around for a while. I am not going to count quilting, since I will do that as needed. I have no more space for finished quilts-yet. So, here it goes:
where to start?

#1-Homespun Charms-4 patches done, needs everything else!
#2-Morning Splash-Center done, needs borders (pic earlier on blog).

#3-Bill's Trip Around The World-Bill picked out the fabric. Strips are mostly made.
#4-Batik Circular-(looks like a cathedral Window)-some circles done, MANY more to go!
#5-Rhubarb Twist-(pic also earlier on the blog)-parts cut.
#6-Green and Purple Scrappy Toes-(Same as RWB one early on the blog!) strips cut.
#7-Sister's Choice-Strips cut
#8-Pinwheel Strings-Needs borders, one of them is a sawtooth....
#9-Shakespeare In The Park-this is it! Needs LOTS of work, probably one I won't get done in a month! But at least I will work on it! Fabric has been around for about 6 years as was the "plan". I still love it.
#10-Ancient History-parts cut. Free pattern from Andover, makes a 15" block. Only 12, so this should go fast! (Famous Last Words...Ha!)
#11-Carolina Christmas-most parts cut, some done.

#12-30's Pinwheels-blocks done, needs border blocks.

And as a Bonus-I got the HSTs for free, already done, so this is what I came up with. It was hard, since nothing was the same. 20-10" blocks-7 are done, do a border and donate. I will work on this if I get the others done for the month!

I still really like all of these, so that is good. It will make it easier. And yes, there are twice as much still there. Let the fun begin!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Lucky Find #2

Well, our friend left us the other antler! and how convienient, right in the bird feeder. Thank you Mr. Buck. It's o.k., you'll grow new ones.....

Monday, December 6, 2010

Long Time-again...

I really don't know why it always takes me so long to get back here. It is not like I haven't been busy. I have spent many hours in the sewing room in the last few weeks. (Bill can attest to that, and WILL...) I have cut up 4 new projects, made a list of all of my UFO's (27, including the 4 I just cut up, since they WILL be UFO's in a few weeks...) trying to purge scraps and make things more "travel friendly" so I have projects to just grab and go, and just the piecing part. Dealing with cutting and borders is too much in motels and on the road.
I have played with some leather, (I LOVE working with leather) and made a couple of snap bags for my phone. This one is a bit large to make sure the "snap" worked easily and to fit my ear buds in the bottom. Might play with this idea a bit after the holidays.
I didn't want my phone to get all "linty" so I lined it with some tie fabric. Used heat and bond to fuse it to the inside of the leather. Days later, I went and washed my wallet which holds all my credit cards. It was in my pants pocket-oops! So, it must have been a time for a new one of those too!



I put a tie lining in this too. I like this, and it looks a lot more "finished". Found a new use for all those ties! (The pictures are going in sideways-not my fault!)
So, I have been busy. Haven't been getting in too much sewing. I have been working on this project-Rhubarb Twist, out of Fons and Porter Mag. M/J 2006 so I guess that means that is when I started it. Not my oldest UFO, but getting there. They are 8 inch blocks.

I cut up the parts for that too, and decided (when I started) that it was going to be queen size. But, ran out of yellow fabric, naturally. Found something else that will work for those alternate blocks, and shouldn't look like I didn't "plan" it that way! It has 72 blocks, but after trying to make everything "work", I will put it back in the box for now. I cut batting and put together backs for a few other quilt tops, and now hopefully in a couple of days, I will be back to show pictures of that. I am excited to have a new quilt for the bed!
Oh, one more thing. I looked out the window today, and found a present left for me at the bird feeder, probably last night.
And funny enough, just this second, that BIG boy was stealing more bird feed, I went the window, and he didn't even CARE. But the dogs heard him too, so they went out back in the kennel. Bet he's gone now! Maybe he will drop the other one!