Get Ready, Get Set.......

One of the groups I'm in is having a challenge for August to "Finish it up". We're supposed to keep track of how many sewing projects we finish for the month....I have a huge pile ready. My goal is to get at least 6 tops done. Some of those might be small but at least they'll be done.

I will be adding a sidebar to keep track of progress....

Going, going, gone part 2

Here are some more blocks I'm giving to Michelle....I was on a roll again last night. I sat and looked at blocks and if I couldn't picture a top in my mind, they went in her box...

A Christmas Row Robin that didn't turn out like I'd wanted...
Amish Baskets
Cotton Reels
Flower of Friendship
and a bunch more orphan blocks.

She is also sending me some Preschool curriculum books and had asked for some "noodles" in exchange so I've got a large baggie of strips ready for her. I went through my box of them and picked out all the bright ones and the ones I'm saving for the dark log cabin and gave her the rest.
(Noodle= 2 1/2 inch strip x width of fabric)

In exchange for all these blocks, she has graciously offered to quilt a couple of tops for me this fall if I need her to. Tirane has been getting lots of business! Yea!

Didn't get any sewing done yesterday, but you can now see more of the floor . I'm not tripping over boxes just to get to my desk. LOL.

End of an Era

Tonight I am sorting through my clothes again and getting rid of all the stuff that is too big. My clothes are fitting looser, I just wish the scale would reflect that. I've got several shirts that just a month ago were too tight in the upper arms that now fit perfectly. I haven't really been doing anything different except drinking even more water than I was. It is too hot to walk outside for very long. I can't afford the gym membership, so I have been trying to do aerobics and such around the house.

So goodbye dragon t-shirt, quilt show t-shirts, irish festival shirts, etc. You are getting packed away for a t-shirt quilt I'll make one of these days. The other clothes will get "freecycled" as I did with the last bunch.

I'm bouncing back and forth between 65 and 70 pounds gone. I soooo want to hit the 75 mark! Then it will be on to 100.....would like to hit that before my birthday in November. It can and will be done!

Cactus

I don't know why I was thinking about this today.

Many years ago, I don't remember exactly how old I was but somewhere between 18 and 25, I was living at home and I remember being really depressed about a lot of things. One day my Mom came home from the store with a small cactus plant for me. I had tried having plants in the windowsill and I always killed them. A cactus I could take care of. I sat it up in the windowsill and gave it just a little bit of water.

Every Saturday for several weeks, or maybe even months, I watered that cactus. I remember one Saturday my Mom walking by the doorway and she asked me what I was doing. The conversation went something like this....

Mom: What are you doing Barbara?
Me: watering the cactus Mom.
Mom: Why?
Me: So I don't kill it.
Mom: Look at the cactus...
Me: What? ( I look)
Mom: Pick up the cactus Barbara.
Me: No, it's a cactus, it's gonna prick me.
Mom: Pick up the cactus.
I remember giving her a weird look and picking up the cactus.

Mom had given me a PLASTIC cactus. All I was doing was watering dirt and peat moss. Somewhere in there I'm sure Mom was trying to teach me a valuable lesson or at least give me a small boost to my self esteem at the time. I don't know.

We have this cactus garden in our backyard. Until recently it was being invaded by weeds and a crepe myrtle tree that kept growing up in the middle of it. We finally had our lawn guys dig it all out and they now keep it free from weeds and the tree. It is thriving and growing.

Sometimes you have to water a plastic cactus and sometimes you have to dig out the weeds. Life can be very prickly, but if you get to the fruit, (although I've never eaten any) I hear it is really good. I love to look at that cactus every May when the flowers bloom. Bright orange and yellow buds that peek out from the sea of green. Sounds like a colorful quilt.

I don't know what ever happened to that plastic cactus, but it is a reminder today that sometimes life needs "watering".

Going, Going, GONE!

Well, a while back I posted a long list of all the block sets I have.

I am happy to report the following:

now completely finished and ready to be sold

Bright Double 4 patch ( a small section of which is shown in my header)
Purple Lovers
Red/White/Gray/Black

weren't on that block list but also ready to be sold...

several "girly" I-Spy quilts (am currently making "boyish" ones)
an animal I-Spy
2 Texas A&M kid size quilts
1 University of Texas quilt
1 pastel Baby Buds quilt
Sampler quilt done in Greens/golds/browns/Blues. Queen size-ish.


in progress...

2 I-Spy quilts- at tirane's being quilted
Christmas Stack-n-whack- blocks are together, needs border/backing/quilting
Kids Square in Square- 2 tops are together, 1 needs a border I think, backing/quilting
Kids Rail Fence- top is at tirane's house being quilted
Fall Rail Fence- not enough blocks for a quilt so these are being sewn together for a nice large tablerunner. Have partly done.
Spiderwebs- are all sewn together. Still needs border/backing/quilting.
Scrappy Swappers Stars- a friend has these- making the top for me
Stitched Scraps- blocks are in rows, rows need to be sewn together
Scrappy Cats- blocks are squared up, some are in rows. Still haven't decided on border.

I have traded away these blocks in exchange for fabric...

Basket of Chips
Bright/White Challenge blocks
extra set of Baby Buds

And these I am giving to a great friend because I'm tired of looking at them...

Scrappy Jacob's Ladders
Scrappy Depression
Scrappy Buckeye Beauty
Red/Beige Split 9-patch
All orphan blocks

In the last month I've also sold a total of about 60 yards of unwanted fabrics and made over $100. Have started another pile of fabrics to get rid of. Selling these through the QuiltersFleaMarket yahoo group.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Gorgeous Guilt Giveaway!

Dana over at OldRedBarnCompany is having a drawing for a BEAUTIFUL quilt! I don't have stuff to do the video, but I'll get the other extra entries!

Check it out!

BTW, can anyone tell me how to edit that picture in the sidebar so it shows the whole thing? I can't figure it out.

Playing Around

Playing with the look of my blog, it might change from day to day, so come back and check and tell me what you think... I just want something different.

The new headline picture is one of my latest- shown on the frame at tirane's I got to pick it up on Saturday. The quilting is superb! She truly has a knack for design and filling in the space.

July 9

Awoke at 5:20, it's now 9am.

• Breakfast- cottage cheese, applesauce, protein shake
• Took a 30 minute walk along the pond. No animals this morning.
• 3 loads of laundry
• Sorted through a huge pile of junk deciding what to keep for a yard sale and what to give the Charity truck coming Saturday
• Worked on cleaning junk off the bar area and Dining Room table
• Sewed 30 minutes
• Checked some job ads on the internet.
  
• Sorted out some fabrics for another "I Spy" quilt

Back to my boring life....

Weekend Progress

Over the weekend I:

finished 12 blocks for various projects. Made a charity quilt top. Sewed a total of 20 hours. Some gals and I from a group are keeping track of just how much we sew.

Since I was on a roll with the sewing, I stayed home and flipped channels and caught the fireworks from Washington DC, New York, Boston, and Houston.

David has been sick with a really bad summer cold, but we did work a little on the CD's. Maybe we can get some more done this week.

I have today off and am gonna do some housework and see what progress I can make on the "Stitched Scraps" quilt. All the blocks are made, but I need to square them up and start sewing them together.

Going for a walk now before it gets hotter out there.

well, almost!

OK, so I am still 1/2 asleep. But 3 days this week is pretty good!

3 days in a row!

Good Morning! Don't faint, yes I've posted 3 days in a row. Don't expect it to keep going, I don't have much computer access on the weekend.

What do you have planned for the weekend? Other than going to a church cookout/sing along/fireworks watching party, I plan on having one heck of a long sewing marathon. That and David and I are going to get a start on re-organizing our hundreds of CD's. They have been in piles all over the place. We've been very lax in putting them back on the shelf. We typically keep them alphabetically organized. Right now we have stacks of the CD's for the letters A-K. Will sort those by Artist and get them onto the shelf. I have lost track in just how many CD's we have, but I bet it's close to 1000 now. Most of my collection falls into 3 categories...70's/80's music, Classical, and Broadway. I do own about 10 country & western CD's and a few comedy albums. I have some compilations of 80's music. My favorite is a "One Hit Wonders" CD.

For my sewing marathon, I have some swap blocks to finish for a few friends, and then a couple of stacks of blocks that I would love to get sewn into some tops. I have a goal of giving tirane about 10 tops next weekend. Some of those will be small, crib size but they count too! Going shopping today with her to get some backings and more bright tone-on-tone's for my stash...somehow I seem to have greatly depleted all colors but pink, red, and lime green...

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe holiday weekend!

Double 4 patch

Here is a quilt I recently finished. I had made the blocks a LONG, long time ago. I discovered them on my spring fling clean up. The last time our sewing bee got together, I squared them up and sewed them together and left the top at tirane's house. She's my best friend and my quilter. She got her machine earlier this year and I have given her a lot of work. I trust her so much that I let her explore with designs on my quilts. I think most of her designs are originals. She added the borders for me and this is the quilt still on the frame at her house.


I will post some more quilts later this week. I have a few more I'll be picking up when I see her on the 12th! and several tops I'll be dropping off too...

I do have some quilts ready for sale, but am still exploring the best way to showcase them. I'll keep you posted!