Finished by Friday, Just Barely

More Winter Wonderland! Are you tired of these yet? These are the last two - I can hardly believe it. This one is called sledding and goes right in the middle of the quilt.



















In the Winter Wonderland quilt the embroidered blocks come in several different sizes. The largest one is the entire width of the quilt and goes at the top with the others scattered underneath it. This block I put off nearly until the last because it seemed so intimidating because of it's size. It actually didn't take as much time as I thought, though I did spend a couple of weeks on it. I know I'm going to love this quilt!


On Monday and Tuesday this week our quilt guild had Debbie Maddy here to do two workshops and a lecture/trunk show at the meeting. I took her class on Monday called Carpenter's Star. Debbie's claim to fame is the "no Y seams" method of piecing and she has showcased it on Simply Quilts as well in books and patterns. (There are no diamonds in this quilt - it's all half square triangles.) This quilt is supposed to be scrappy (8 fat quarters plus background and borders) but I wanted a two color quilt so this is what I ended up with. It is supposed to have a couple more borders on it but I'm waiting to do those after I measure the place it's going to hang. There may not be enough space for more borders. Right now this is about 52" square. The actual colors here are a deep burgundy, almost purple, and mustard. Debbie is a good teacher, very personable and laid back. She's not intimidating at all - just regular folks. Because she drove she was able to bring 5 or 6 suitcases of her quilts to show. She absolutely amazed me because she could tell you what fabric line she used for every one of them....I can never remember that stuff! If you get a chance to take a class her I would recommend that you do it. It's fun, no pressure and the top is fast. I only got through row 5 in class and put rows 6-8 and the background border on today. She also gave us a good tip on getting good points which I sort of expanded when I got home and it really helped me. It's one of those things you'd have to see to understand but I love it when I learn something that I can really use in one of the classes I take. I think I'd like to make this one in Christmas colors.

Finished by Friday Despite Busy Grandchildren

I know you thought I couldn't do it. You did, didn't you? You spent all week thinking, no way can she finish anything by Friday this week. She has grandchildren. Lots of grandchildren. Grandchildren who want to eat every hour and who want to tee tee every 15 minutes. Grandchildren who run everywhere and change clothes every time you take your eyes off them. Grandchildren who want to sew with you and sit in your lap and go outside and swim and, and, and.....watch tv! Sometimes they will sit/stand/dance for a couple of hours with Studio DC and Hannah Montana! Sometimes they will watch Nanny McPhee over and over and over and over till you want to scream. I'm not sure their parents would approve but who's gonna' ask them. This is grandma's house and at grandma's house we eat brownies and "pasgetti" (spaghetti) and Oreos and we watch all the tv we want. Until bedtime because that's where grandma draws the line. Grandma needs sleep. All that tv watching does allow grandma to get a little handwork done while she sits with them.

I added the snowflakes to this one that I showed you last week!

And I started and finished these two! They're small, granted, but they're also done and done is good. :) I have only two more to do on Winter Wonderland and then it's time to make the pieced blocks and put the whole thing together. The last two are Big and Bigger. That means that when the grandchildren are gone I better get into high gear and get that checkerboard and rails quilt top done!

Finished by Friday and Freaked Out

Are you getting tired of Winter Wonderland yet? I hope not because this is only the 5th block I've finished and I think there are 5 more! There are only 2 more small ones and the rest are large - one of them is the width of the quilt! Don't expect another one to be finished next week because I'm going to do some machine sewing instead of hand work.

I actually finished two other things this week but I can't show them to you yet. They are both gifts for bloggers who read my posts and I don't want to spoil the surprise. Next week I'll have pictures of them since I plan for everything to go in the mail by Tuesday.

When I e-mailed one of the giftees yesterday to tell her I'd be mailing her gift this is what I said, "I'll be mailing you your gift on Tuesday. That's the day I go to the post office." When I realized what I'd said I screamed. Really loud. Scared my husband, who came running to see if I'd seen a snake or gotten electrocuted or lost my mind. I'm sure I was babbling when I said, "I've become my grandmother!" I go to the post office on Tuesday. Do you realize what that means? Routine. My life is in a routine. It's like those vintage tea towels I love that are embroidered:

Monday Washing, Tuesday Ironing, Wednesday Baking, Thursday Cleaning, Friday Mending, Saturday Gardening, Sunday Church. I go to the post office on Tuesday.

I'm going to have to make up new tea towels:
Monday Blogging

Tuesday Post Office

Wednesday Blogging

Thursday Sewing

Friday Blogging

Saturday Cooking/Cleaning/Mending/Washing/Ironing/

Sunday Church

I'm telling you it freaked me out. I don't mind some routines - you know the kind like get up in the morning, brush your teeth, wash your face, shower, put on makeup, get dressed. That kind of routine is comforting. But the kind where I always do something on a certain day makes me feel kind of June Cleaverish. Which is not totally bad, except then Wally and the Beaver would be my kids. Wouldn't that freak you out too?

Do you have a routine?

Finished by Friday, etc.

Not much sewing this week because of the holiday but I did finish another block from Winter Wonderland - this one is called The Snow Family.

When you get this post I'll be in Cancun for my niece's wedding. Just picture this...posh resort, blue ocean, white sand, guacamole dip, frozen drinks, waiters at my beck and call, wedding at sunset on the beach, surrounded by family. God gives us great blessings and I can't wait to enjoy this one!

Finished by Friday....Thank Goodness!

Before you read this you should hop over to Sharons because she's giving not one, but two really cute bags!

I cooked, I cleaned, I did laundry, I washed dishes, I shopped for groceries, I swept (but I didn't mop) and I still got something Finished By Friday! It's another Winter Wonderland block - this makes the third out of (I think) eight. It's going quickly, don't you think?

And, ta da! The electrician came! He came early, he stayed a long time, he stood in the hall between the sewing room and the bedroom and scratched his head, he climbed into the attic, he charged a lot of money, but.....he fixed it! I have light in the sewing room and I can actually turn on the ceiling fan in the living room without turning on the light in the sewing room. :) And when I could turn on the light I was able to find the counter top! I really did have a cutting mat under there!

So I was able to cut out this Checkers and Rails Quilt. Apologies for the picture but it's in a book that I couldn't get to lay right and I couldn't get the glare off. :( It's a very traditional pattern first documented in the early 1800s. I thought it was an appropriate pattern to choose for a young couple who have old fashioned traditional values. If you look closely you will see that the pattern is actually made from the sashing, rather than from a block.

Even though this young couple is very traditional in their views of family, they are very modern in their style. They've lived in Manhattan, worked at jobs most of us don't understand, hail taxis like the pros they are, and take museums and theater for granted. They are dot com kind of people and I adore them both. But muslin and navy just didn't feel right for their wedding quilt. So I chose these two fabrics. One is a beautiful light teal batik with swirls of a darker teal running through it. The other is a dark brown with the exact shade of teal polka dots as the batik. I know it doesn't look like it here, but my camera leaves a little to be desired.

I think the batik looks like the water at Cancun where they will be getting married next week. So Natalie and Josh, if you're reading this, I finished cutting out your quilt!! You can expect it to be mailed to you in a few weeks, strike that, months. :) Quilts take a while. I will be praying for each of you as I sew - praying that you will continue to love the Lord, to love each other, to have many years of joy with lots of babies.

Finished By Friday - Chapter 3

Before you look at all I've done this week check out the great give-away by Jackie at Canton
Village Quiltworks - she's offering to quilt a quilt for you. It doesn't get better than that, ladies.

This Quilted Notebook Cover pattern was created by quiltingdiva07@aol.com. Sorry but that's all that I have - I ran into her at my hotel in Houston in 2007 on my way to the International Quilt Festival. She had a notebook in her hand and I loved it. She told me that she had designed it and one of the booths was selling the pattern so I made sure to buy the pattern. Since then I've made about 20; some I gave as presents and some I sold. It takes 2 coordinating fat quarters, a piece of batting and some velcro to hold it closed. I can make one in less than hour! I have put a pretty button on some, a rhinestone pin on some, and one woman I know monogrammed hers.

This is the second block I've done in Winter Wonderland. I call this one Snowmen and Birds....seems like a rather redundant name doesn't it!

In my guild we have a silent auction in July of patriotic blocks. These are two I've made for that. Uncle Sam came from an Art to Heart book and the star block is just a star block! However, notice the great fireworks fabric. The blocks are supposed to be 12 1/2" - Fireworks is actually 12 3/8" but don't tell anybody.

And finally!

I made a table runner like this one last summer. I liked it so much that I cut out and pieced three more to give as gifts. Notice I said pieced, not quilted. This week I finally got them out again and quilted one. Still two to go. I'm sorry but I don't remember where I got the pattern.

What have you finished this week?

Finished by Friday

In a previous post I told you that shallowthoughtsfromiowa had suggested we post about everything we finished this week - small or large - and I thought, "what a great idea - if I tell people I'm gonna' write that then maybe I'll actually finish something!" So here are this week's finised accomplishments:

1. Mystery quilt top is complete! Yippee!!!! At our next guild meeting the committee will be showing us how to trim the edges and, I assume, what border to put on it. I'm not saying that I "unsewed" more on this top than any top I've ever made in my quilting life, but it was close. Who woulda' thought getting those last three rows on there would be so tricky! It might have helped if I hadn't tried to talk on the phone, check on my e-mails, do the laundry, and eat some lunch while sewing. And by the way, I wear glasses on a string thing around my neck (so I won't lose them) and I keep glasses on my sewing table, my cutting table, my telephone table, my bedside table, my desk table, oops. You get the picture - they're everywhere. I buy them at the Dollar Tree for a buck apiece so if they break it's no big thing. I only need glasses for reading - it's an aging thing" according to my doctor. I coulda' slapped him. Anyway it happens that sometimes I have a pair hanging on my bosom (love that word!) and a pair perched on my head and a pair on my face. Well, you get the picture. If you do that too I advise you not to eat Peco de Gaya for lunch because it drips - either on the glasses or the bosom. I was gonna' say it's a hassle to have to clean it off your glasses but that's easier than cleaning it off your bosom, especially if God blessed you indeed like He did me.

2. GingerPatches posted this week about a purse she made from a pattern in the newest "American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine" (remember the two magazines I told you I got this week - well this was one of them!) She bragged about how easy it was to make. The pattern uses two tea towels and store-bought wooden handles to make a simple little summer purse. Well Ginger was right - it really did take less than an hour and that included starching and ironing the tea towels. Here's my version! I don't like wooden handles so I used a third towel to make straps and added the little flower pin to the front. The pin was made by my friend Jo. If I make another I would want the straps to be a little longer and, I'm thinking of using a nice heavy fabric instead of the tea towels. I'd also like the purse to be a little larger so..... I know, I never do anything exactly by the pattern, but what's the fun in that!

3. The holly block for Winter Wonderland is done and ironed. But not trimmed, 'cause I won't do that until all the other blocks are finished. I put these pictures on in order left, center, right because this is such a long block but I feel sure the blogger elf will separtate them by the time this post is actually out there in cyberspace so try to picture it as one looooong block.

Now there are a few other things I did this week but they don't have anything to do with quilting. I made 15 bean soup and chicken salad and Peco de Gaya. All that from a gal who hates to cook! I finalized plans to keep four, yes four, of my grandchildren next week and to take them camping for a couple of days. I think I might have been temporarily insane when I agreed to camping with four children, and if I wasn't I will be by the time we get home. And I confirmed the due date for grandchild #8 (January 8) so I can clear my calendar after he/she is born. My daughter-in-law is a teacher and when she goes back to school I'll be babysitting until school is out for summer. Oh, and I got a haircut. :) Whew! It was a busy week....

And The Journey Begins

Remember when I told you I would start Winter Wonderland as soon as I finished the project I was working on? Well, today's the day - the journey began. I always think of big projects like this as journeys because when you make that first stitch it's like the first mile of a trip. You're so excited and you can't wait to see each block finished and start the next but after a while you're like one of the kids saying "are we there yet?" The more you stitch the more you think will I ever be done? Why in the world did I tackle this? There are way too many blocks! Hand embroidery takes forever, I have an embroidery machine, what was I thinking, why didn't I just do it on the machine, maybe I could just take a little bigger stitch on this part and no one would notice, yada, yada. But for right now I'm just on the first block so I'm still excited, just like a little kid bouncing on the seat and wanting to look in all directions at once. I chose to start on what's probably the easiest block - a long skinny one of holly leaves and berries and vines.




Now why in the world would I choose the easiest block to start? Everyone knows you tackle the hardest ones first and get them done so it gets easier with the others. The truth is (I better whisper this cause I don't really want everyone to know) I'm addicted to NCIS and the TWO HOUR SEASON FINALE was tonight. Knowing it was the finale it was a sure bet that someone would die. Little did I know....well if you're addicted like me you already know and if you're not it wouldn't make any sense to you. But, what in the world are they thinking!!!! Back to the redwork.....I had to do the easy one so I could concentrate on the show. Makes perfect sense to me!

And for those of you wondering about the mystery quilt...you won't believe what the pattern was! I'd show you but, alas, I have not finished that last set of blocks, let alone started putting the blocks together. Soon, but not this week. On Friday I'm off to San Antonio with my sister to visit my aunt and cousin. Can't wait to check out some quilt shops I haven't been to, stroll on the River Walk, wander through some missions, oh yes, and visit with my family. :)