Two of the 10 tops that I finished this year...

Well, I think this is the last of the tops for this year. It was at block stage for a while. As you can see, I just used the horse fabric for the border to use it up. That's all I had in Ash River. There is purple in the horse fabric...The rest will be the backing for the other quilt. I was hoping to use up some 3.5" squares, but didn't put a dent in them...BUT, I now have a "spare" quilt! Hope to start racking them up. I find it to be "o.k.", even tho I love scrap quilts.

This one is another horse quilt with the pattern Roy Rogers, from Quilting World. I did a brown one here.

Yes, I know there is a mistake, and I don't care. This one is for me. I am not thrilled with the layout for this either. I tried to find some navy for the checkered border and binding, but couldn't find the right color, so just used what I had, and that is a good thing too... I do love the colors, the binding will be purple...and it is a "maybe", if someone wants it...

I did have trouble with putting it together, which was frustrating, since the first one went together SO easy! got over the hurdle, and I think all will be o.k., but time will tell, when we do the quilting...

On to more UFOs and TONS of quilting...should be a fun week!

YES, Christmas is over!

I am so happy. Although, this year was not so bad. Not NEARLY as much stress as other years. In fact, not very many homicidal tendencies at all! Don't think I will ever get to "like" the season, but I can handle just tolerating it...

I can't believe another whole year has passed tho, and I have to make a new UFO list for Judy's challenge. My last one is here. And what did I finish? Sadly, #10-the Ancient History, and the Bonus quilt. BAD GIRL, BAD! Try, try again....I mixed it up a bit (the old list) and added a couple new ones....
So, for this year, I have on my list:

#1-Carolina Christmas-still at this stage...
#2-Circular Batiks-one where you make circles and make it look like a cathedral window...
#3-Morning Slash-no further along than last year...
#4-Homespun Charms-again, no further along then last year! ( I see a recurring theme here...)

#5-Rhubarb Twist-an Atkinson pattern that was in Fons and Porter-M/J 2006

#6-Sister's Choice- I did do some work on that this year, but far from finished.
#7-Virginia Bound-from Bonnie Hunter's book and new on the list, but not a new UFO...
#8-Green and Purple Scrappy Toes- just have to put rows together, and actually HAVE some rows together! I hate it when I am SO close!
#9-String Pinwheels-yes, this is at the same spot too...

#10-Shakespeare-again, didn't touch it...

#11-Star Sprinkles-new for this year. I cut this one, and it is new on the list. I believe it too is an Atkinson pattern...
#12-Star Struck-Bonnie Hunter-kitted last year and I have it ready to work on.
So you ask, what DID I finish last year? Not much on my actual list, but a quilt for Jenna, baby William, and 10 "tops" done, but need to be quilted...not much actually "finished"...and that is what I get to work on this week....after cleaning the house, hopefully...
Hope everyone had a good weekend...

Busy, but not too exciting....

Wow. July was the last post. Crazy. We have been busy, but not doing too much fun stuff. I am continuously quilting, and actually getting things done. I finished a quilt for Jenna, my nephew's step daughter. When she was here last summer, she picked out her own fabrics. It is now ready to be shipped. The photo is on my ipad, and I haven't moved it yet. So not like me. But I finished quilting this one, a Scrappy Toes, and hers looks the same, just with more brights, and a pink and green border...I am now officially tired of this pattern, and hope I don't have to make another for a LONG time...
I did finish my Weed Whacker, by Bonnie Hunter. It is a free pattern. I made mine a large queen...I have only been working on it for about 4 years! But I love those homespuns... I sent it out to be quilted, so it will be fun to have a new quilt on the bed! Or at least ONE of our beds!

I also have about 4 more queen quilts to quilt and get on the bed, or at least in the closet so I can have more choices! I have a Bonnie Hunter, Pineapple Blossom in blue, and a tumbler, my Ancient History, and one more I cant think of now. Most have been in earlier posts.
We did get to do some fun things a couple of weeks ago. We went to Sheboygan Wisc. and went to the Kohler Art Museum. It was fun, and they had a showing that was titled-get this- on MEMORY!! We had to laugh, how appropriate (both Bill's parents have Alzheimer's) It was a very good show. Of course they wouldn't let us take any pics, but the bathrooms were fun!

We also went up to Extrutec, in Manitowoc, WI. and got to see how they are making the extrusions for the new experiment. That was really interesting. But that is for tomorrow, along with the Mariner's museum there, which has a submarine you can tour...again, cool stuff. hope I can get back to this before MONTHS pass again!

Time Flies...

Hard to believe it has been 2 months since I wrote anything. At first there wasn't too much going on, now it has been pretty busy. Let's see...we went to the state of Virginia for a music festival (Floydfest) and to visit some friends in Salem at the end of July. Bill's sister Cathy came to visit the parents and take care of the mutts while we were gone. Thanks again Cath. You will be back soon...

This is the boys planning out their schedule of the music they want to see at the festival. They were so funny, like 2 kids, getting all excited...! I didnt care, I wasn't planning on going, in the upper 90's and humid-I'll pass. I went with Sue one evening (Thurs.?) and it wasn't bad when the sun went down, and I wanted to see Baka Beyond Sat. morning, so I went then, but by 1 on Sat. it was HORRIBLE for me. Sue got me out of there. Baka Beyond was AWESOME. That was a good show, I love them.

This was MY idea of a vacation...and of course, sitting in the air conditioning....Thank you Jim and Sue....!

We also drove down to Williamsburg to visit some other friends. We have been trying to get there forever. It was a short visit, but a fun one, as we visited the college (William and Mary) where Jeff works, and went into the old part of town and had dinner. That was really cool, but NOT, as it was again, too hot for me, and I needed to get into some AIR-FAST. I think I have a problem cooling down. Must be something wrong with my internal temp. gauge...this would be a fun day, in MARCH, not the end of July....

Although, this was kind of fun...how many of us want to do THIS?? I want to do it, just because that is the only way I could SLOW DOWN my husband...and "no dear, you CAN'T have your cell phone...."

Last weekend, we had company, my nephew, his wife and 5 of 7 of their kids came up. It was really fun. The kids are awesome, and SO well behaved, they can come anytime! And of course it was fun to see the parents too! Not long enough tho.

We did get in some canoeing, fishing, swimming, a campfire, and even some quilt planning. And somewhere in there, they managed to go to town and kids took some well needed naps!

Learning techniques...THAT was fun to watch...!

The boys had a blast, or it seemed like it!

And thanks to Isaac, Mason and Emile, we got our beach raked! Thank you all! It really needed it!

Warming up after an afternoon in the water! The water was a bit colder, but I remember you couldn't stop me from going in at that age either! And this year, I haven't been in ONCE. Sad, I know. And SOMEONE had to take pictures this day, so I picked ME. I did have more to share, but they wanted to turn sideways, and I don't know how to fix that yet. All a learning process...

One more event, then I will move on to something else tomorrow, or the way it is going-next month!

Ben and Bridget were up for a few days. We didn't get to see them until Sunday, really, and then they came up to Ash River and we rented a pontoon for the day (Monday). That was a really good idea. The lakes (Kabatogama and Namikan) are beautiful.

You could get lost, so you better know how to read a map. Luckily, Bill and Ben do, because I could get lost in my own yard. And I don't even HAVE Alzheimer's yet!

The dogs also love the pontoon, but they would have preferred a Bimini. Me too, but oh well...it wasn't too bad...the sun was intense, but it was cool.

We drove up to Kettle Falls Hotel, it is now a part of the National Park system. I think the last time I was here was '78, but it might have been earlier. Pauline? It is around an hour+ from here with a 90 HP motor. Of course we dilly dallied, and explored. We had lunch outside with the dogs. It was super. NO bugs, and about 70 degrees with a breeze. Now THAT's a vacation!

My dad worked on the dam there. Last time I think we were able to cross, but he probably had a key...I wish we had more old pictures of that. He has pictures of every other dam he worked on, I swear. Oh well.

It has been a good summer, and hopefully it isn't over yet. I don't count it done till November, but then, my summers don't start till August, in my mind, when there are no bugs and it cools off. I recommend that boat trip for anyone who wants to take it. This is a beautiful area, and part of the Voyager's National Park, so almost no houses, or people, but plenty of boat traffic. Until another day...

Tumbler Quilt

I managed to get together the tumbler blocks that I cut with the Accuquilt. My girlfriend and I were at our own retreat and we both cut out a quilt. I have many extra blocks, but need a few more, so there will be another, but it was her tumbler die, so it will have to be when we get together again, hopefully soon. Can't EVER have too many quilting retreats! I bought an Accuquilt after that retreat. They are fun. On to the next UFO. Time to trim down the pile...Now just to get them quilted, although, a lady from our guild just advertised a long arm business, so maybe I will send her some business...!

It always feels good to use up sets of fabric that I buy. Otherwise I feel a bit guilty, but I like the way this turned out. The color is a bit off, as the dark "green" looking color, is actually a brown, with some teal in it. This was a fast quilt. Total hours, I bet was 2 days or less. It took longer to put on the borders on then to sew the tumbler blocks together! Another I can't wait to get finished.

Ash River

We are almost all set up in Ash River. We have a house, and it is nice. It has a big yard, 2 bedrooms, (one which is now a sewing room) but a small kitchen. We have not spent a lot of time there yet, to really enjoy the area. Mostly it has been unpacking and CLEANING. The view is nice, but the boat traffic is CRAZY, and I swear, no one has a motor that is less than 75 hp., even the pontoons. I didn't know pontoons could go so fast!
I also painted the sewing room. Not exactly the color I was thinking, but those paint chips can mess with you. It turned out more peach than tan, but oh well. I am not doing it again, until maybe next year. I will still do the bedroom, but at a later date. Dirty sheet rock primer white, wasn't working for me. It is much "warmer" now, and very "cozy". The windows face East and south, so always good light.

(sewing room before, now tan/peach, changes with lighting.)

Since this picture was taken, I have a 36x60 cutting table, another sewing machine, and soon (if it ever gets here...) a 30x48 banquet table for ironing, so it is full, but organized. And it has a nice closet to put all my stuff in, out of the way. I left most of it all at home. Just took some kitted up projects.

The LR is a lot more full, as we have the futon, end tables, book case and another chair in there now. I like the one chair look. I am hating clutter these days.
The dogs are settling in well, and we really like the neighbors. The ones on one side have 5 Britney spaniels that have not quite gotten used to us yet. They still bark when they see us, but soon they won't care. No one has lived there for a while, so they are not used to the activity. On the other side we have some very nice summer folks, and I have already done "tea" and went for a walk, not to mention yacking in the yard...but so far, I am not there much.
We still have to put up a fence, so I can just let the dogs out without having to worry about them taking off. So far, they have been very good, and just enjoy laying in the grass and 'watching', that is their thing, but there is not too much happening at the end of the road. 
I hope we get some company, but there is not much to do there. Head to I. Falls for shopping,  but that is about it, unless you like to fish, or boat, then that is the place to be. We still think Everett Lake is better, and a LOT less boat traffic. Like-none. As it has been said, "there's no place like home..."

String Star Top Done

Well, I will add another flimsy (unfinished quilt top) to the pile. The pile is starting to get a bit large. I REALLY need to start quilting again. I don't know what the holdup is, but I have not been in the mood. This one was in parts on the bed and design wall in the spare bedroom for a while (months) and I decided I better get it out of there before I was forced to, and then having to shove it somewhere and dragging it out after more months, just didn't sound like any fun. It started with this. It is so big I could barely take a picture. And around here, now anyway, letting it hit the ground is not an option. I need to vacuum. It is 94"x103" and will have black binding when finished. The center is square, but I added extra to the top and bottom borders. I thought about using more strings and doing a piano key border, but just wanted it done. Unfortunately, that is the way a lot of my projects go. They are never all that they could be, but done is better then perfect, as they say. Of course, this one is not quite done either...but soon...as I need more quilts for my bed"s". I used muslin for the foundation, I had some yucky stuff to use up, but it makes it really heavy too.

Onto the next bunch of strings and the next ufo, or something...just need to keep sewing...

How bad was I?

Well, we stopped at a bunch of quilt stores on our vacation. I even got into a shop hop. It was my first one, and probably won't be the last. It WAS a lot of fun...and the damage...? (Still wants to turn the picture!)

It comes out to about 37 yards. Not great, but not as bad as usual. It looks bad, but most of those are single yards or fat quarters. Some good sales, and the batiks in the middle/top and the brights on the left were grab bags. Good ones too. And one can never have too many lights, which originally was my goal...

Now to washing ironing and putting it away.

Vacation- To Sudbury, Ont. to Chicago, to home.

We are taking the Scamp and hitting the road. Probably the only vacation we get for a while, so we are jumping on it. Well, I can, Bill can't. It started out we got the truck fixed, the camper checked and we were ready. I was having ankle trouble, of course, my GOOD one, so not sure what fun that was going to be. We just happened to bump into the chiropractor at the bank, and he said-"I'll adjust your foot" and so he did, right there. SWEET. Love him, and LOVE living in a small town!!

We were hoping to get to do some sight seeing. We were going to stop at Pictured Rocks national park in Michigan. I hear it is awesome. But when we got there, this is what we saw:

It had been raining for 2 days, and it was actually thicker then this when we stopped. We couldn't even SEE the lake beyond the beach, 50 feet in front of us. We drove on and camped at Grand Marias, Mich. We parked, went out for dinner, and came "home" and went to bed. Rather disappointing, since the next day was nice, but we had to leave.

We then crossed over into Canada at Sault St. Marie and noticed the truck was leaking "something". "@%$%$%&(**(_&%$#@" After spending $1700 to get it fixed, it is NOT supposed to break! We still don't know what it is, and hope to get it looked at tomorrow. We are constantly checking fluids, but have not idea. Nothing is low. Fricken vehicles! We are now in Sudbury, Ont. It is a big town, and too much traffic for me!

There is a nice park and trail around the lake that is in town, and we decided to check it out. Since Mr. Brown hurt his back, he has not been doing so well, but is better on and off. We decided to give it a try, but after a BLOCK, we knew it wasn't going to work, he has no strength in his back legs, poor baby. So, we figured that if WE were going to get any walks in, HE has to get a ride. So we thought we better go get a stroller or something.

And THIS is Buster's new ride...

It is a bike trailer/stroller, since we figured he/they can still go with when we go for bike rides too, and fits the big dog. Spoiled rotten mutts! But, I think he likes it! He would rather be out sniffing, and doing meet and greets, but I don't think he minds this too much either...

And we can carry all of our junk too. Win win. It worked great, and then MY ankle gave out! Whatever!

They also have an awesome sculpture in the park, mining related, of course. The detail was amazing.

And, of course, where ever Bill goes, there is live music. Walking in the park, these guys were playing, so we went up and checked it out. They were pretty good, but were almost done when we got there. (And there was a banjo player...)

Then we went to lunch. We of COURSE had to have fish and chips. When in Rome....

YUMM. The line says it all...I am not really into french fries, but give me fresh chips with vinegar, and I am ALL there! And out of an Airstream, no less!

Enough for one day. Hopefully we can get the truck looked at, and it is nothing serious. We have Internet for the next couple of days, so I should be able to check in again.

Poop Bag Holder Tutorial

As promised, I did up a tutorial of how I made these bags. Pretty simple, but seems to have taken a long time! I was trying not to forget anything, and hope I didnt. Here we go. If anyone has any suggestions to improve these bags, or if I forgot anything, let me know. I would like to improve how I write these things out.

Supplies needed:

-Pre-quilted fabric-6"x12" and 3-1/2"x7"  (these are estimates, big enough for one bag) Scraps are great for this bag, maybe after making some other bag...
-Matching Fabric-for tab-2-1/2" x 4-1/2"
-Plastic bags-I got mine from the dollar store. They are the small 4 gallon bags. (You will have to make measurement adjustments for your size bags, if they are different.)
-Plastic strapping-or something to stiffen the ends. (I save all the good parts of the plastic strapping that packages are wrapped in. This bunch came from insulation, when I helped a friend insulate their garage! She thought I was crazy- THEN...!)
-Caribeener
-Compass, or circle cutter-I used my circle cutter for the first time, but NOT the last!

For those who need to make theirs a different size, or want to know how to figure it out, hope this helps...if you are making the same size, you can skip this part!

Mine are 2-1/2" circles (finished). To find out how long your piece has to be, (sorry guys, this involves math...!) you take your circle (2.5) x 3.14 (Pi, remember that one??) and get 7.85, (.875 is 7/8", so I say-close enough!) I used 7-7/8". That, plus 1/2" turnover for each end-hem and sleeve for plastic (my strapping is 3/8", yours might be bigger, in which case add more)

plus, 1/2" overlap on circle. Makes 10"-again-close enough. I will make the overlap a bit bigger on my next batch, to make sure the bags don't fall out....they haven't been "field tested" yet!

• Cut 1 pc.-5-3/4" x10"
• Cut 2 circles-3" (adding in seam allowance of 1/4")
• Cut 1 piece 2 1/2" x 4-1/2" (tab)

                        

Fold tab piece in half, press. Open and fold both long edges in to center fold, press. Fold back in half, press, sew on both sides close to edge.

If you don't have a circle cutter, use a compass, and your old fashioned SCISSORS!

               

                          

Cut 2 strapping pieces at 5". Trim ends so it slides in easier.

I serged all around my rectangle piece to help prevent fraying. You can zigzag also, but make sure either is less then 1/4", or it will show! Maybe some of you can adjust your sergers, I can't, so will just zz next time! (or maybe I can, and just don't KNOW it!) 

Hem ends at 1/2", leaving room for plastic strapping. Insert plastic. My plastic had a "curve" to it after being wrapped up. I inserted the curves so that when together, they pushed against each other. One was up, one down. I thought this would help hold the bag closed.

Mark bag at 7-7/8" on both sides.

Right sides together, overlap on each end to your mark, and tack down.

Fold sewn tab in 1/2 and tack on right side of bag. (Sorry for fuzzy pics.) 

Sew in end, RST, back tacking, taking 3-4 stitches at a time realigning circle so that it is aways at the edge. Not too much fudge room for a 2-1/2" circle. Do other end, and turn right side out. Add caribeener and bags and you are done!

And for those of us with lots of friends with dogs...

Mass produce!

I have a feeling I will be making more!