Time off

Just before Thanksgiving my boss did our evaluations. I work for a non profit organization and it's been pretty slim donations so I was asked to voluntarily reduce my hours. They wanted my room partner and I to reduce our hours so Tony took another 2 off and I lost 4. He suggested leaving early on Friday or coming in late on Monday.. Coming in late would make me not want to go to work at all but leaving early sounded okay. So the beginning of Dec. I went from 40 to 36 hours. It's not much but when you put out $355 for insurance the $120 I'm loosing could be tough when Ben has slow days.

Last week my boss talked to me about my hours and my vacation and said if it got to bad for me we could go back to 40. The reduced hours is only suppose to be temporary for a couple months.

So far I haven't been able to enjoy my Friday afternoon..have had errands for Christmas but I'm sure they will be nice next month. I would like to take the afternoon and maybe see a movie. I like going to the movie with the kids and Ben but it takes a couple hours out of my day and I sometimes feel guilty but on Friday it's free time so taking a couple hours for a movie would make it sort of a special day for me. We'll see how long it really lasts.

Christmas at our house...

Can you believe another year has almost passed us by again... How did you spend your holiday? This is how we spent ours.

Christmas Eve at our place is pretty strange. My husband and kids go bowling at noon. While they are gone I get eats ready. What we usually do is have crackers, cheese, Hickory farms summer sausage, dips and Christmas cookies. this year I made little smokies w/BBQ, carrots & celery and added artichoke & cheese dip. My boss made if for our Holiday party and it was super so decided to give it a try. It's very rich but they all seemed to love it.
They are usually gone a couple hours so when they come back and we just end of snacking for the next couple hours, & finish wrapping presents. When it gets dark, usually about 5:30 or so we go out Christmas light looking for an hour or so then come home, put National Lampoons Christmas vacation and open presents. All in front of a roaring fire.
Santa comes in the morning with a couple small gifts for all.

I received a new mouse for my laptop. this one stays plugged in all the time and is really out of the way. The connection doesn't stick way out..very cool. I also received a 365 day Maxine calendar, a couple packages of Moose Munch, choc covered cherries (all from harry & Davids), new kitchen towels both for hand and dish drying. a polar bear that poops jelly beans (from hubby), a stuffed moose called Peppermint which came with a little case of peppermint candy , a new kitchen timer, can of Creme brule almonds (again hubby) and then together the kids gave us a gift card to The Electric station, a very nice restaurant.

We sort of stretch out the gift opening, mainly because we also give gifts to the girls. I got them a ball & bone out of lambskin, a toy made out fire hose and a rope made into a knot with legs. The rope they've had before but not the others. They go crazy ripping the paper off and we laugh hysterically..so funny. Unfortunately the ball didn't last long once Chase got a hold of it and the supposedly indestructible fire hose toy didn't either. She is not a destructable dog except for some toys. the bone is the only one that made it through the night and Tootsie took it over form Chase. She chewes on the rope toys too but this was funny to see her almost sucking on the toy. Chase does that on her bed which is sort of the same lambskin material..but first time for Tootsie.

By the time we get done it close to 10 and time to clean up for bed and Santa.

I got up this morning and made cinnamon rolls. We put The Family Stone in to eat breakfast and open presents from Santa. Santa gave me a new faucet for my kitchen sink. We have a super deep & wide sink that has a small shallow side w/the disposal and the faucet we have doesn't stick out that much and I'm always worried about breaking my bowls when I rinse them out. I want a new sink someday that doesn't have the divider and isn't quite as deep but for now having a longer faucet will be great. Maybe I can even get him to put it together on Sunday or Monday while he's still off.

the kids seemed happy with their gifts. We make them do a Christmas Wish list of movies, music, books or whatever. Nothing is ever really expensive but at almost 18 & 28 it's really tough to get what they want.

Cassie just made a Pumpkin Cream Pie and we just took the sweet potatoes out of the oven. Now to get the sweet potatoes in the food processor; potatoes peeled and on the stove; the fruit salad made and in the fridge for a bit and the ham out and some in the oven to warm. We did Honey Baked ham this year that way not to much left over and everyone likes it.

Well I'm off until the 30th where I'll go absolutely nuts trying to catch up because we then have a three day week end where I then come back for the 1st of the month... I will enjoy my long weekend/vacation until my next time off.

Hope you all had a great holiday with your family and friends.

It's almost Halloween

Well, it's almost Halloween and the end of October.. Thought I'd share a wall hanging I did last year for the season.. Boy the year has gone by so quick. I can't believe it's only two months until Christmas from today and I have no clue as what to get anyone.

I've been so lazy the last couple weeks. I didn't work on anything after the pillow and started feeling guilty. I pinned all the inner sashing to the rows and then sewed them on. Then they sat on my table until this last weekend when I pressed the sashing and pinned the rows together two at a time so I have three sets to sew. I finally folded the dark and white cloths from last weekends wash. Told you I was feeling lazy.

I was thinking I might work on them after dinner tonight. Once the row sets are stitched then I need to stitch the three sets together and then decide what I'll do for the next border. I thought I might continue with the green strip with the lavender corners for the outside border. Then maybe a lavender border. Still not sure if that will be all or not. Because of the block designs you really can't put any print border. It would really take away the inner design.

Getting that wild hair again, I think to finish it off I'll have to do some stitching on the block itself to hold it in place besides the stitching at the sashing edge. Otherwise when my sister washes it, it will all pull and become distorted. Putting the quilt together is a lot of work but nothing compaired to cross stitching 30 blocks. I think she'd be a little ticked if it came apart in the wash. This part will take a little while. Maybe a couple weekends. That way I will have plenty of light to see the printed lines.

well maybe next time I'll have more pictures to show of the quilt and my running husband and dog...

Another memory project.

Well this has not been a good summer for some of my computer friends. 3 months ago we lost Lucy, who just turned 10, to what they think was a heart attack. Very sad and heart wrenching for her owner, Silas (her canine brother) and family. Picture in an earlier post.

Then we have Gretchen, who was 13. She had cancer and it was really rough on her and even rougher for my friend. Seeing her suffer just trying to walk with out falling was getting more and more difficult. There wasn't much else they could do so after a long and lengthy discussion, they decide to have the Vet come to the house and give the shot there. Like humans not wanting to die in a sterile hospital, it's probably the same for for our pets. They know about going to the doctors and it isn't always pleasant so by having the Vet come to the house she would be a little more relaxed and would be around her mom & dad and her canine brother. To me it had to have been the hardest decision they would ever make and once done hold your baby while she closed her eyes and took her last breath .

I remembered Lynn talking about Gretchen getting up on the bed and resting next to her while she read so I thought a pillow would be the right gift. After roaming through the local quilt show the 2nd, I found a couple pieces of doggie fabric that I thought would work just right.

It took me a couple days to put it together and I sent it out the 15. Living on the opposite coast they said ti would take a week to reach her. I was really surprised last night when I read she got it yesterday and she loved it.

Gretchen's canine brother, Wolfgang (don't you just love that name for a Doberman) was having his 3rd birthday this Saturday so my package arrived just in time. I knew he loved stuffed animals so I found this really cute hedgehog to include in the box. It rattles, squeaks and makes a farting sound.... what's funny about that is he's deaf and can't hear but can feel the little vibration the toy makes.. She says he gets really goofy when playing with the toys because since he can't hear the noise doesn't know what they are laughing at so he just keeps going.

I was really glad to hear she liked my gift and so did Wolfgang. I really have loved making the gifts for both friends but no more... they make me so sad because that's all I can do...

Sisters blocks continued...

Well I was back at my sister's quilt again this weekend. I've had a couple small projects and tired body the last couple weekends so haven't done anything.

I decided instead of making one long strip pieced together that I'd make corner blocks. She had said she liked pale green or lavender and the green was all we could find that really matched, so that's what will seperate all the blocks. Then yesterday I went out and found pale lavendar, really the bolt end said it was orcid. but I took a strip with me to make sure they were the same pale colors and the worked together. I may even put a small border around the outside to sort of break up the green.

Now that I have the strips all cut, I need to cut them into block size. I think that takes the longest...the prep time. Sewing the strips together and then onto the blocks is quick. Well if it was a quick process, more people would be doing it.

next picture will be the rows with the new sashings...

Surviving Pansies

Can you believe it but these were transplanted from a flower box we inherited when we bought the house. They left two planter boxes on the front porch and we moved them to the back yard. At the end of the first summer these pitiful little pansies showed up amongst the few weeds. It was nice to see them florish so I just left them. Ethan pulled the weeds so it was just a few pansies in this lonely box. A little bunch has bloomed each summer.

Then this summer we decided to use the box for our tomatos so Ben transplanted them to the front yard next to my little carnation plants, which by the way have a couple flowers on all three plants. There were only 3 or 4 flowers and they looked pretty pathetic the first few weeks. Of course it started to get warm so the watering dried up pretty fast. I'm really weird because I look at my plants every morning when I go to work. Mainly because I'm so amazed that they are still alive and florishing. Imagine my amazement when what seemed like overnight they just went wild and there were twice as many flowers.. it wasn't long before this little bunch grew into what you see in the picture.

Here it is the 3rd of October and they are so full and thriving.. Guess they were a lot hardier than I thought. It will be really interesting to see if they come back next year after a long winter.

My Sister's blocks

Okay, I said I was starting a new project so here it is. If you click on the picture, it gets bigger and you can see it better.

Early in the spring my sister, who lives in Las Vegs asked if she finished cross stitching some blocks a friend gave her would I quilt them. As long as she wasn't in a hurry, because I might have to set it aside for a Christmas project, then sure. She even said she would pay for the addition fabric.. again a plus.

So last week I received the package. It was 30 17" plus squares. I used my EQ6 program to come up with what a 5 by 6 block quilt would look like. What was nice is that they had the printing still imprinted so it was easy to cut down to a uniform size....16 1/4. This took me a couple nights of trimming to get them all cut down.

The next step was to cut the strips for the sashing. She had said she would like pale green or lavender but what ever color I thought would work. Took both kids with me to the quilt shop and while Cassie and I were looking at the greens and purples, Ethan walks up with this one and it worked great.

So I cut strips, then the sashings. Then began to sew the sashings on. Then once I got the sashings sewn on then I started sewing the blocks together . Once you have the strips cut, it doesn't really take any time at all to start the assembly. Goes by rather quickly.

By the time I stopped Sunday night, I had all the rows sewn together and the size measured for the strips in between. I'll sew several on then start sewing the rows together. this will take a little bit more time because I'll want to make sure they line up okay.

I'll probably have to put off the next step for a few days...have a large basket of cloths to fold and supposedly that type stuff is suppose to come first... more later.

Memories

One of my Flicker friends lost her 10 yr old Dobie one day in June. After an afternoon of play, she just lay down and took her last breath being held by someone who loved her dearly. She was completely devastated, Lucy's death hit her hard and her 6 year old male, Silas who was lost without her too.

It took me a bit to finally decide what I wanted to do in memory of Lucy. After collecting pictures, the week before Labor Day I printed out a bunch that I thought went together to make ready to quilt.


I worked over Labor day weekend on cutting down to size, and putting the black borders on all the pictures. I had the puppies and paw print in my stash. so what I bought to go with this was the bright pink, Lucy's favorite color and the fuzzy backing. I decided I didn't want it to be really heavy with batting and all the stitching.

Once I finish a quilt I have to make a label. I don't consider my quilts done until until the label is complete. I usually labor over this for days to make it just right. This one took me all Saturday. Leaving it alone for a while then coming back to work more. I thought there was something missing so Ben read it and helped fix a couple of the last lines. I thought it turned out just perfect. Off to the left is what it actually looked like but below is what it say. I was pretty proud of how it turned out so I thought I'd include the real thing.

Memories of Lucy
June 11, 2000 – July 5, 2010

When you brought her home she was just a wee thing
With floppy black ears that flew like wings.
She romped and she rolled, making best friends from the start
She found a small spot way deep in your heart.
You might think it a handicap running on three
But not this ol’ girl, she would dance with glee.
They would whine and bark, making plenty of noise
She would tease poor Silas by taking his toys.
Just like her siblings, she had a poor heart
She was taken too soon, not yet ready to part.
She lives on in our hearts at ease
With oh so many lasting memories.
We’ll miss Sweet Beans and her love of all pink
You’ll see her again before you can blink.

Made with love by Shannon Coutant
Eugene, Oregon
September 2010

I sent it out Tuesday and it arrived today. I kept checking to see if it arrived and then it drove me crazy until I say her comments. I even sent Silas a little stuffed bunny, he loves his animals. She put a picture up of him opening his package and then of one with him holding his new toy in his mouth. the look on his face was great. It was funny because she thanked me for the gift but couldn't do much more..

I did forget to put my flicker name so she wasn't really sure who had given it to her, so after I left that info she left another message. she said she had tears after reading the card, and then after reading the label she lost it. I figured I'd done my job well if it made her speechless.

I took it into work to show it off and I guess the real shocker to everyone was, I've never met this person or her dogs. Sometimes you just have to go a little further to make someone happy and this was one of those times.

Now I have a new project...my sister sent me 30 cross stitch blocks.. that's another entry...

I finally finished the Barn Yard friends a few weeks ago. I had finished the center but decided I needed to get the garage done so spent the summer doing exactly that. I think I started working on it just after my birthday putting the extra borders, then sandwiched it together. the machine quilting I did over a weekend because it was brighter than at night.

I have several other tops to finish now too. It was nice to get back to quilting. I was coming up to my quilt room after dinner, sitting down on the loveseat and falling asleep before the show I was watching was half over. Was really making me a little ticked at myself. I really felt good when this one was done. Oh, I should have takend a picture of the back too. It's a dark green with chicken wire and little fat white & black chickens that have spots. maybe later. Just excited it was finally done.

My birthday weekend

My birthday started on Friday afternoon. While I was covering the phones for lunch the FedEx guy showed up with a flower box. While I was signing he made comment about someone receiving flower. I just said "cool". he read the box and it was to me.. said it was my birthday Monday. He wished me happy birthday as he was leaving. Turned out to be a dozen red roses. She said I wouldn't tell her what I wanted for my birthday so she decided to send me flowers. Very pretty.

Saturday was just a normal morning, running errands then home to rest. I had taken Monday off for my birthday so I wasn't in any rush to do the laundry. We decided to go to Outback Steakhouse for dinner. We were getting ready to go when the mailman showed up at the door..of course Tootsie went nuts as usual. Turns out I got a package, card & letter from one friend in Ohio and another card and letter from my other friend in Washington. Couldn't wait so opened the package. It was the framed cross-stitched picture above. She does beautiful work. I had to save the letters for after dinner.

At dinner I had a 9oz sirloin steak with a baked potato. I also had a Wallaby Darned. It's a frosty combination of peaches, champagne, Boomerang® Vodka and DeKuyper® Peachtree™ Schnapps. Sort of a frozen Icee. If you're feeling really in the mood you can get one Downunder. It's got a shot of Schnapps on top....but not tonight. We also have cheese fries that are super. We always have a great time when we go out so it was a good night.

Sunday wasn't bad either. Ben, Cassie & Ethan went to a movie and left me home with the girls. I did laundry and had a nice quiet afternoon.

Now Monday we had talked about going to the beach for the day but then Sunday night I thought Ben should take Ethan golfing. School will be starting in a couple weeks and I thought they should do something special.. Well morning came around and it was on the cool side and thought the beach might be close to the same. We check and it was suppose to be around 61 and a little cloudy.. so the beach it was.

So Monday morning I got up, took a shower and started getting stuff together. When we take the girls to the beach we take a large Igloo cooler, and towels to clean the sand off, plus water for us....we took a few snacks to for us and the girls. We got shoes for the sand and away we went.

it's only an hour drive to Florence but we drive about 35 more minutes north to a beach with easy access. Because it was Monday Ben stopped at a quilt shop I like and I was able to roam around for about 30 min. I was in just after the new owners took over last summer and I had already liked the new layout. this year they had changed the doors for better access, put new windows in the front to give more light and sort of put in a loft area for a classroom. I just couldn't believe the difference in the atmosphere. they did a super job. What's nice is that he's a quilter too and has even designed a couple patterns. I bought his pattern he was working on when I was in last..beautiful...plus a few fat quarters.

When Ben was at the coast for a run earlier in the year he found a street that led right to the beach, which would be better than some of the parks along the way. Unlike California, Oregon has a ton of beaches that you can use during the day, some might cost a couple bucks but you still can get down to the beach and have a good time. Well this new place was great. We were ale to pull right up to the top and park. The beach access was an easy walk down and for the hour we were there the was only two other people. You can go to my Flicker link and check out the pictures from our day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/23113511@N07/ There are also a couple videos too.

We were only there for about an hour but it was long enough to give the girls a good run, Ethan time to play in the sand. I don't think it got up to the 65 they predicted but with the little breeze it was just an all around nice day. We decided to drive up to Newport and head back through Corvallis to home. It seemed sort of silly to backtrack if we didn't have to, besides they were working on the road and there would have been a short delay. Besides that we could go to Mo's for clam chowder... a great place to go. Well that was a bust because there was no place to park close with the girls and they had a waiting line outside.

We ended up going to the candy shop for fresh salt water taffy and karmel Corn for me.. a weakness of mine. Then it was to Article Circle for lunch and the drive home. After we got home and got everything put away Ben brought up 3 packages and a couple cards from him and Ethan. They gave me DVDs for John Wayne's Chisum, season 4 of Bones (one of my favorite shows) and season 1 of Warehouse 13, another favorite. I watch a lot of movies while I sew so this was good stuff.

gotta tell you about the card Ben gave me...not the normal traditional Husband to Wife B-day card. the front is two ladies chatting over lunch. One says "where's the pool part at?", the other says "don't end a sentence with a preposition.".. open the card and she says "Where's the pool party at, bitch?" Like I said not the normal card.... loved it though.

I guess that's about it for now. Oh, I did buy myself a gift. I really love Tom Selleck and his latest Jesse Stone movie came out so I bought it. There isn't a lot on TV to watch these days so I watch a lot of old series' and movies....our collection is rather extensive... Whenever I retire I'll have more than enough entertainment to get by with... and I don't mind watching them over again....usually some space in between.

Until later.

Garage finally done.

I've spend the last couple months on the weekends working in the garage. When we moved into the new house the end of Sept 2007 we basically set the house up and the rest sat in the garage. a lot of it was what had been in storage from years ago. I went through a lot but not all and of course didn't want to get rid of everything. This time I went through all the boxes and got rid of so much...8 boxes of books, mine and kids, games, cloths and just stuff. Asked my Cassandra if she wanted any of the old stuff and she said no so out it went. We piled it all up in the driveway with some old wood that burned really bad.and the guys from work came and picked it up and took it to the dump. they did take the kids books and games to one of our programs for the kids. As you can see the pile was pretty big.

My husband and son finished putting the table away I'd been using, used the blower and blew out the dust, cobwebs and dog hair. They put out the rug, vaccumed it and brought up the treadmill. Now it looks like a regular garage.

We've never used the garage for the cars but now we can put the Honda in during the winter if we want. I can use the treadmill and not bother anyone. It was down in Ethan's room and usually had cloths hanging on it. All I need now is a fan for the summer and a small heater for the winter.

I'll have to take a picture it finished.. just can't beliveve it's done.. Now I even have room to put my cutting table so I can pin my quilts together. If I have to leave it overnight, it won't be in anyones way. Just turn the music on and pin away. since I have the larger area now, I've thought about having Ben get a big piece of plywood to lay on top when I have a queen or king to pin. I wouldn't have to move it as much as I do now.

Now that the garage is all done, I won't feel guilty if I'm on the computer or sewing.

My spring yard

Well, I bought flowers for my front yard and on Mother's Day the guys got them planted. There are two light and two dark pink carnations, plus to white flowers. Only a couple of the hydrangeas

came back.

These are in front of Ethan's windows. They are suppose to grow to about 4 foot tall. They are a light lavender. I'm really looking forward to seeing them bloom more.

Here's my pole Hydrangea. We had to move it from a nicer spot but it seems to have come back nicely. I'm hoping it will flower again this year. they are sort of a small white cluster.

I just wanted a little color in front of the house. I thought about getting a few pansy plants but they all thought this was enough. I think it was because they didn't want to do any more planting.

Ruler organizer almost finished.

Well, the front is finished at last. Now I have to find a backing..think I have one with coffee cups that I might use. Not sure why but the colors remind me of coffee.

The only part I'm not crazy about is the top pocket. All the pockets are made of 5 inch squares with a tuck at the bottom center. They all seem okay but the top one is so floppy. I think if I put the large rulers in the pocket they will just fall forward so I think I need to make the tucks a little longer. It might make the pockets stand up a little better.

This was a pretty quick project, now to finish it up. So the next couple weeks will be getting the ufo's ready to quilt.

finally a picture

Well, I finally laid out the pockets and took a picture. Now I have to sew a strip to the bottom and top of a couple then stitch them all together. Funny thing is I don't remember if there is batting as a liner.

I'm sort of excited to get it finished. I've wanted to make something for my rulers for a long time and just never found the right pattern. this one just seemed right. The pockets seem a little big but once it's all done and hanging on the wall it will hang right.

more pictures when all done.

new project

Do you ever buy fabric that you think is neat and then don't do anything with it .... forever. Well I bought several fat quarters at a neat shop in Lake Oswego Oregon, a couple Octobers ago. My husband and I were coming home from a conference and decided to take a little detour. So instead of coming straight down I-5 , he decided to check our a quilt shop for me. What a neat little shop too. Right in the middle of old town Oswego. I found a new line of Coffee colors neat. They were brown and torquise and a flower print with similar colors. I had intended to do something for my daughter, the big coffee drinker but never got around to it.

I decided I needed one more project before I finished the 3 sitting around. I like to sandwich a couple together and then machine quilt them all so I have my Moose head, my Sudko top and my Little Red Hen top ready to be finished.

I bought a pattern a while back that is to hold your rulers....something I much needed. I have the pockets all sewn onto the individual sections and now need to add the dividing strips and outside borders then can add get them all ready to quilt.

I'll have to try and take picture of what I have so far. Love the colors.

Monday Apirl 19th

Can you believe it ... tomorrow is Ethan's 17th birthday.

My Little Red Hen quilt

Finally Finished the top. The two color border was Ben's idea. The computer doesn't do the color justice. It's really bright yellow and red. I drew up the design on EQ6. It's really lots of fun. The hard part is not having the colors or fabric designs that are really current so at times it's hard to come up with the right look.

How about a more up close look at the block. the Hens around the outside have a white background and those in the center have a pale yellow.

I have the batting for it but not sure what to put on the back yet. I also have my moose, the barn yard gang and the sudoku top to sandwich together. I figure I need one more project to work on then sandwich them all and the quilt them all. I like finishing them up that way, especially if they are not meant to go to someone. Then I'd finish them right away.

Can you believe it's the middle of April already...

Happy Quilting

Weekend trip

Well, Ben finally took a Saturday off so he could run in the Pear Blossom Run in Medford. This is the 34th year and his first. We headed down on Friday night (a 2 1/2 hr drive), we even had to wear our sunglasses it was that bright once we were away from Eugene. He ran 5th out of 62 in his age group and 98 out of 1580. Pretty good.

We left Medford about 11 so the clouds were still across the hills. I thought they looked pretty neat so I took a couple pictures. Of course they looked a lot neater when I first thought about taking the pictures.

It was a nice quiet weekend. I was a little disappointed because the quilt shop we have gone to since Ethan was little and maybe before closed. they had moved a few years ago from a sort of cramped shop where they had to share the parking lot with a strip mall to a place all their own with plenty of parking. Could be the new overhead got to be to much but I really loved the shop and the ladies were always really nice. Then Ben was going to stop at an old CD/Record shop but the were closed for the Pear Blossom Festival that was going on all weekend. It was still a nice relaxing weekend.

my quilting companions

I think Tootsie is jealous of Chase. If I'm sitting on the love seat, one of them has to be beside me...it's usually Chase. If Tootsie comes in she will walk all around trying to find an empty space where she can get up.. Of course there isn't one. Her solution is to lay on the floor as close to me as possible. Most of the time I'm sitting where she is laying and she will lay between my legs, usually propped up on the footstool and the cabinet. they both want to be close to me most of the time.


As you can see the big girls take up the whole love seat. the whole point in getting it moved to my quilt room was so that if I was done sewing for the night I could sit and relax, but how do you kick one off....

Ben usually comes up to get Chase a little before 10 to go outside before bed. Tootsie is so quick to go out and back in so she can get up beside me. It is really rather comical. Really I should say both do the same. Chase likes to lay in the door way. I think it's so she can hear what is going on downstairs. They just want to be near me...sometimes that's good sometimes it's not.

My newest project

I decided to try and make a smaller lap type quilt that will cover my lap to my feet. The lap quilts I have are rather large and I wanted something that I can use in the summer. It get cool in the evenings so instead of closing up all the windows, I love fresh air, I can just throw my little quilt on.

With the new arrangement in my quilt room I ran across the Little Red Hen fabric I bought some time ago. As you can see it's on the bright side. So March 27th I used my EQ6 program to design a simple quilt. Of course once it's designed then you have to figure out exactly the right size...always a challenge.

By the next Satruday I had all the 4 patch blocks made and everything else cut. It's basicly a 4patch block with extra squares. So over the rest of the day and through Sunday I sewed it all together. All this plus washing my laundry.

We fixed rib eye steaks that had been marinating all day along with the best au gratin potatoes. Cassie found the recipe in the Pioneer Womens cookbook. We have tried close to a half dozen or so recipes and don't think we've had one that we didn't like.

by Sunday afternoon I had sewen all the blocks into rows. By bedtime I had all the rows into a top. Now I think I'm going to sew a 1 inch border of the checks to sort of break up the design. Still trying to decide whether to put the red hens with the white or yellow backgroun as the outside border. Once I get the checks on I'll lay the two pieces out and have Ben look at it. He has a much better eye for the finishing touches. He's helped me finish up so many quilts. Cassie too. I see what I like and they see what is best. We make a good team.

Chase isn't a real outside dog. She does like to lay on the deck in the sun once in a while but is happy to be in the house. However she also doesn't like cats, never has. At our old house we had cats pooping in our front yard. We'd tell Chase there was a cat and open the door... Okay don't yell at me, she never caught one or even got close. All she did was run out the door barking which made the cats run to the next yard. Chase would stop at our border and give little barks, like she's saying "take that"... I could go out yelling at them to leave and they'd just stand there.. Chase was so quick and I never had to worry. I really haded going out to clean the weeds and grab a handful of cat poop and at that house we had a lot of flowers to weed. Anyway the neighbors behind us have a cat that likes to crawl under the fence now and then and it just ticks me off. It kept poking it's nose and paw under the fence so I just opened the sliding door and quietly told Chase there was a cat out back. she was at the back door sniffing the air... a couple seconds later she was across the yard barking at the fence, than meandered back to the house and her bed. My tough girl.

Spring is here...

This is a patch of Daffodils in my back yard. Funny thing is it's under a tree where the grass doesn't grow, mainly because when it's full the sun can't get too it. So we have the flowers for a little while. Pretty neat. With all the snow and other bad weather that's been happening in the East, we have had daffodils blooming all over Eugene the last month or so. It sort of lifts the gloomygus' around here who are tired of all the gray skys. Me it only means that the heat is coming and I can wait for that.

Busy time off

Well, this was suppose to be my vacation and I was going to clean out the garage but I decided to catch a cold instead so that sort of put a stop to being out in the cold garage. It's funny the left side of my nose and throat is running and sore. I'm fine then all of a sudden I get this tingling in my nose and it starts running. So instead of the garage, I worked on my quilt room.

I had a large cabinet in the corner but couldn't get to the fabric so decided to take it out and put in shelves. Plus I needed to go through the fabric again and get rid of the stuff I really wouldn't use. Still holding on to some of the stuff a friend gave me.

this is the before shot. The other stand under the moose had craft cabinet that held my rulers. Think it's on the sewing table for now. I was using it for a catch all so it was time to get rid of it too. I guess I'm in one of those purging moods. I just want things to look clean and neat and easy to get too.

this is the after shot. I put shelves up again; put my Halloween fabric on one shelf and Fall stuff on another; moved a small stand in to put my quilt books; moved the set of drawers from beside the TV to the stand for a better access. I also moved the little love seat we bought from a co-worker last summer from Ethan's room to here. Figured it would give me something a little more comfortable to sit on in the evenings when I was done sewing, plus a more comfortable place to sit when I'm doing hand work like bindings. It gets a little uncomfortable sitting in my office chair all the time. Of course, now I have company with the dogs and they are both jealous when I'm sitting with one beside me...not room for two dogs and me.. They do both get up there while I'm at the sewing table. The cabinet under the window has stuff one shelf for stuff like tape and fusible stuff. I also have my solids and then a bunch of misc. stuff.

This corner had a book shelf that had my quilt books, notebooks and all kinds of stuff but not quite wide enough shelves for fabric. So I decided to put shelves for the fabric. It's a couple feet off the floor for the plastic boxes to sit underneath. I went through all my fabric again and tried to place the different piles that I would use as often. I still need to go through the cabinet under the window and pull out other stuff so I'll have easy access to it too. My sewing table is still full of the extra little things that I'm still going through.

this is the TV corner. I put the little shelf next to the TV to hold stuff like the remotes, and movies I bring in to watch. It also holds whatever... I put the Christmas fabric up on the shelves since I won't be using any of it for a while. When I want either the Christmas or the Halloween or Fall stuff from the other shelves, I'll call Ben or Ethan to get it down. I'll have them down while working with them, then move them back.

I think I'll like this new arrangement a lot. I figure if I can see it more, I'll maybe use it more. I've also wanted the love seat up there since we got it but hadn't figured out how to do it. It will be a little tight when I put up my cutting table to pin quilts but I'll make do . We'll see how it all goes once I get another project going. Can't wait....

Another No-Quilting Week

It's been a long drawn out week that I thought would never end. Nothing extraordinary happening at work but just seemed like when Thursday rolled around, it should have been into the next week. I wanted to take a personal day on Friday but the receptionist was going to be off at noon and it was the last day of the month, so not possible.

I am going to see about next Friday. Ben, Ethan and Cassie are all driving to Redding on Friday for a run on Saturday. It will be a nice weekend for the girls and I...very quiet and completely free to do as I please...except feeding the girls, the rest is all up in the air.

It's funny...the East coast is getting dumped with tons of snow and we are having a weird winter/spring. Days up into the high 50's and off & on rain. Which could only mean new buds..
I'll have to take some pictures of the pretty pink budding trees. And the Daffodils are outrageous. They almost grow wild around town and are blooming in stages.

I've been finishing up on my recipes and have almost all my favorites in the computer and printed out for my cookbook. I still have a few on cards that I want to get on the computer and then printed out but no hurry for those. At least I don't have all the pages laying around loosely anymore and that was my main goal.

The guys are out at the movie and library, so I'm doing laundry. folding cloths has never been a favorite past time of mine but it needs to be done.

There probably won't be a lot of quilting over the next couple weeks. Since I took the week of spring vacation off, I'm trying to go through a little at a time in the garage to get ready. I don't want to be working in the garage the whole week. Since I won't have but a day or two off again until Christmas I do want to enjoy a few day of rest.

Until next time...

No quilting weekend

Well, this weekend was very productive but not quilting of any kind. Since it was too cold to work in the garage cleaning and I had my card table up I decided to do something else I'd been working on for a while and that's organizing my recipes. I have my recipe box with cards but things just aren't fitting anymore. We have been making copies of recipes off the Internet to try and the ones that have been good, keeping but they don't fit and i don't want to fold them up. So a new book was in need.

The kids wanted to go to Barns & Noble this Saturday morning. We go, find two tables then sit and look through magazines...have a morning coffee and pastry. This is good for me because it keeps my quilt magazine buying to a couple instead of several subscriptions and big purchases. If I like several of the patterns then I pick it up but it is safer this way. Most of the time I see several I really like but know I'll never do them so it saves me dollars.

What's also good is that I can sit back and read my book in sort of a quiet atmosphere and chat with the kids. This week I looked at my magazines and went in search of a recipe book and found one on the discounted shelves. It's from Betty Crocker, had dividers and a little heavier set of pages you can put into your printer and print your recipes with cute borders. I know I could have gone to Staples and bought a notebook but it wouldn't have been as cute, plus with the discount we get and a coupon and the already low price, it only cost me about $6.00 and it already had all the stuff with it. Oh, it also had a pad to make my grocery list on.

So while the cloths were washing and Ethan was busy doing whatever, I proceeded to put all my pages to work. I was able to go back on-line and print out a bunch we had on the nice paper. A lot of the recipes are wrinkled and spotted. Oh, the other thing the book had was two clear plastic sheet you could put your recipe between and still be able to point and not get it dirty. Just wipe it off.

This got me to thinking about my other recipes on cards. They are on the small print side and typing them up and reprinting them in larger font (old age creeping up) would be more beneficial for later. So now I have a dozen or so on the laptop ready to thumb-drive and print.
This is something I've been meaning to do for ages so it's working out pretty good. I've also been making a recipe book to give to Cassie of those I've collected from family and ones we've used as she's grown up. I might do this for Ethan too but it will probably be a while before I give him his. He does like to cook too, just not sure how much yet.

This will be a work in progress too but I think I'll work on it in the evenings and again this weekend to see if I can at least get what I have done. If I stop now it will stay in the box and collect dust and I'm really trying to consolidate stuff...

Another, Almost Finished Project

Well, as you can see I finished my moose today. I had it all put together last night but then discovered two missing pieces for the antlers but since it was so late decided to wait until morning to finish. It is now hanging up on my design wall. The only thing left now is to sandwich it together and quilt.

I do like the looks of him but I'm sort of disappointed the fabric was not quite the same as the original pictures. The area around his nose and eye was a little lighter so they stood out a little more but Ben says he looks great. I guess I'm just so used to looking at the picture while putting it together I see the difference more. Overall I think it turned out pretty good. Not sure where I will put it in the house but it will definitely go up somewhere.

I've sort of neglected my room for a while just bringing stuff up and setting it around so I'm going to try and clean it up a little. Figured I could clean this week and sandwich it together and quilt it next weekend. The binding will be the same as the outside border so it won't look much different.

Once I get it quilted I'll have to think of something else to do that isn't quite as intense. Once I began tracing the pieces I started having second thoughts but he's great.

Happy Valentine's Day

Well, with the 3-day weekend came a lot of busy work. I'm wanting to clean out the garage and get rid of a lot of unwanted stuff. I had been checking into a drop box to be able to junk it all at once but it was so expensive. When I talked to the Maintenance Manager at work I found out they were given permission to work for employees. So I found out if I get it all together they will bring the big truck and haul it all to the dump for less than $75. Almost a quarter of what it would have cost me to have something dropped. It's hard for me to do it alone so on Sunday Ben and I went through several boxes and took a load to a friends dumpster (not something we can do all the time). This gave us a bunch of big empty boxes that I can use when going through other stuff. I have spring vacation week off so if I get my act together I can have it ready for them to pick up one of those days or even sooner if lucky.


Because Ben was so good to help, I made meatloaf and real mashed potatoes for dinner. When they came in to dish up their dinner they both thought I was crazy because the meatloaf was in the shape of a heart. Well, it is Valentine's day.

Then for dessert I made a small devils food cake...also in the shape of a heart. It turned out really good.

Moose Background

I didn't do any real work on the moose last night but decided to put the borders on even though it says to have the moose ready to assemble first.
Again if you click on the picture you can see how much more vivid the colors are. I was really tempted to lay the nose down but it was getting late and if I started I'd want to keep going. The area from here up to the antlers has a lot of tiny pieces so it will take a little more time.
With the 3-day weekend coming up, at the rate I'm going I might have the rest of it done come next Monday. Then the quilting.

body parts

as you can see, certain parts do make the quilt. If you click on the picture and see it a little bigger the eye just sort of pops out at you. I love the nose. The picture used a little lighter fabric for the outside left section and that around the nostril. I was almost thinking about using some of the lighter fabric and redoing it but Ben said I should wait. There is more to the antler but I decided since I couldn't put it on until the body was done I'd wait. Sometimes his ideas are pretty good.

oh, if you happen to click on the picture to see it up closer, you'll see another picture in the background. this is a picture of me around 75 out target shooting when my X was stationed on Adak Alaska in the Aleutian chain. Another fun time.

Not So Busy Weekend

Well, it was a busy weekend. Ethan and I went grocery shopping Saturday morning. We had to pick up a bag of dog food so while we were in the area I stopped at the local quilt shop, Something To Crow About. It had been a while since I was in last and they had rearranged everything. They have a rather short ceiling so at times it looks dark but with the rearrangement of the tables it looked pretty good. No I didn't buy anything but was sure tempted.

When we got home Ethan helped put away the groceries and went off to play his game we rented before it had to go back on Sunday. We don't rent very often but this was a new one and he had been really wanting to play. Me, I went up to my room and played with my moose a little.

Sunday was pretty quiet. Cassie came up about 1 and we started fixing the Mexican layer dip for the big game. Instead of meat and cheese, I fixed carrots, celery and dips, crackers, salsa and chips. Wanted something a little different. The kids both whined about it be good stuff but they still munched away.
I fixed the dip on the platter for them and a small plate for me to take up-stairs. Tootsie was going crazy. We set up the long card table with chips & salsa and the dip. Lucky for me she stayed with them and I only had Chase.
I did remember about 3 or so that I hadn't done the laundry yet so between taking care of the cloths, I worked off and on most of the afternoon and evening and made pretty good progress.
I had slept in to about 9 so wasn't tired but decided 1:30 was late enough to stay up.
They suggested you do the eye and antlers first and set them aside, then continue with rest. Well I did put the eye together and part of one antler and decided that it wouldn't make a difference if i did the antlers first or last because they go on the background last regardless. Besides I wanted to work on the moose. I got several pieces onto the background and the little side border on then the bottom border. Then I decided to work on the nose and got most of it done but now need to sort of put the two together. I think the tough part is going to be the quilting.
I am sort of disappointed because the fabric doesn't all match the picture and I'm not sure how it will look. It has light spot on the nose but the fabric is one of the brown/rusts. Will just have to see what comes next.
I'll try and take a couple pictures of the pieces and post them tonight or tomorrow. I might have to rest my hands tonight and fold laundry instead. They were sort of stiff this morning.

Did anyone watch the big game with the husbands? I switched it off and on, mainly wanting to see the commercials. Loved the Doritos w/dog color and the Clydesdale's. The horses are always a big hit with me. Oh, the Betty White w/snickers was pretty good too. They have cut way back on the super commercials..

pieces trimmed

Well, it took me all week, a little each night to trim away the excess fabric and fusible. What was nice about having this to do at night is that I could sit with the heating pad on my neck and shoulder. They have both been aching a lot lately.

Now the real fun begins with laying them out. According to the instructions, I need to stitch as I go. I've not done that before so we'll see how it works out. I do have to put the base of the moose down before I sew the first little border on, then I can think the outside border comes next before I finish sewing it together. This is going to be a real challenge.

Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday and I have all day to sew. Tonight is prepping the Mexican layered bean dip for the game. We make our own pi co de ciao and guacamole to go on top so my Saturday night sewing is sort of put off until tomorrow. Cassie found the recipes in the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook and they are very good. Ben is going to drive up to Salem in the morning for a run, then back home for the game. It's just us so nothing special but it's still a sewing day for me. Can't wait.

Having a project like this that stretches out over a period of time makes the work week go by so much faster. Really gives me something to look forward to and incentive to not stress during the week.

Huge pattern

I had taken the picture before but forgot about it so here is what the pattern looks like. It is up on my design wall next to a 7ft cabinet so you can see how large it is.

part B of Step 1

Guess there really isn't any part A or B but it's still part of the tracing process. Finished all the tracing mostly Saturday and all the excess paper away. Figured the detailed cutting was for later. On Sunday, as you can see by the picture I fused them all on to the fabric and then cut them out.

I did sort of follow one of their hints. Each pattern piece had two sets of numbers (A1-5 and #4). The first was the pattern piece number and the second was the fabric number. Remember I said I had Ben come in and help me decide which colors were what and then put numbers on each to keep straight. Well they suggested you put them in bags. Since I didn't want to drag out bags from the kitchen, I used folders. I put a small post-it with the number on the tab and as I cut the fusible out I put the pieces in the prospective fabric folder. Then when I was ready to fuse the pieces to the fabric I just had to go folder by folder. Since the pieces sort of roll it kept them flat. This, I think is a good suggestion for any pattern that has a lot of pieces.

I did start cutting out one of the colors and it is going to be slow going. A lot of the pieces show the fur in points and small points at that. Of course it was about 10:30 when I started to cut so that might have been a factor to look at. I was wanting to start the cutting before bed to at least see what they looked like. The fabric is all different designs and until you start putting it together, don't see the Moose. I've done several smaller projects batiks before so know it will work out fine.

Now the hard part will be, how much house work like dinner, laundry or family time will I forgo to work on my moose. At least I know during the week I come home and start dinner right away. If I had time to sit at my table first, dinner would probably be late. Laundry now is sitting in a basket from Sunday waiting to be folded.... oh well there is always tomorrow....

Step 1...

Now it really begins. Off to the left you can see the pattern page. There are 9 11x17 pages of pieces to trace onto fusible web. This I buy sort of in bulk so I have it on hand all the time. I ran out last night so had to stop for the night.

I just went to Joann's this morning to buy more. I handed the bolt to the cutter and said I wasn't sure how much was there but thought I wanted the whole thing. She started to check and said it hadn't been used yet so there was 20 yards. Well it was 1.89 a yard and I had a 50% coupon so I took the whole thing. I have an old hard tube that I bought the fusible on years ago that I keep with maybe a couple yards at a time. This way I can put the bolt away and just have a little out at a time. it keeps it from getting all shredded on the ends too.

In the box is what I've traced so far. I think I'm going to do it in several steps. Tracing out a bunch then fusing it and at least cutting out the pieces. Then doing more. That way I don't have a huge box of the fusible. Once I get it fused to the fabric then I can do the more final detailed cutting.

The posting of pictures might not be as often since I think this Step will be a long one but I'll still try to post a little now and then. I like having something to do with my hands in the evening, otherwise I'll sit and fall asleep as soon as I sit down.

Well it's early yet but I'm off to make chili so I can work on it while it's still light out. We don't usually do much on the weekends but for a while now I'll have something to look forward to at the end of a crappy week. Later

It begins...

The colors don't show up as well as I'd like but you get the drift of what they sort of look like. Buying a Kit to make a project used to make me think it was cheating but to tell the truth, I could never make the selection they do and with limited quilt shops the time it saves is amazing.

New project

Here is a picture of the Moose. I might be good at producing a quilt but those that create the pattern are outstanding.

We'll see how long it takes to put it together. I guess this is a good way to do it. By blogging my progress sort of forces me to keep going and not slack off.

Hope everyone enjoys my stuff. I really like writing about it.

Lucy's done

Well, I finally got my camera back from Ethan and took pictures. It is a rather busy looking quilt for me but I love it. If you look closer at the top you can see Lucy on the candy line.

It's started....

Well, I ran to Costco after work last night for a new bed for Chase...she had chewed holes all over the last one so it was time. Picked up a couple other things and hot dogs all around. Really cheap dinner and everyone loves them.

After dinner we sat around for a bit before I said I was going to my room to work. I started tracing the pattern and managed to get through the first 4 pages. They are about the size of an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper folded and there are 9 pages. I said it would take a bit to get them all done. The smaller pieces aren't to tough but the large pieces take longer because you have to be careful when you shift that you stay aligned with what you have already done. Because the fusible likes to come loose, I'm trying to trim the excess off as close to the outside line as possible so i can just fuse it to the fabric. Cutting out all the points out only once would be nice.

I did have to stop about 10:30 to clean Chase's ears. She's a lab and has had ear problem since she was little. Most of the time she is okay but once in a while she has stages where they bother her and she looks lopsided. Of course after I clean, mom has to love so that took a bit. Then back to work.

I think I must have stopped for a few to watch what was on TV because the next thing I knew it was almost 11:15. Well I knew if I went to bed then I'd be awake off and on...that's what little naps do to me. So I worked on the tracing til about 12:30 and decided it was time for bed. Now Friday night if I work on it, who knows when I'll go to bed because I don't have anywhere to be Saturday. Just plan on messing around the house and I already have Chili planned for dinner so I'll be in 7th heaven most of the weekend.

Don't know, but is it still illegal (copywrite stuff) to take pictures of projects like this as you go. I mean you aren't going to really be able to see the pattern well enough to copy it and pictures of my work in progress won't probably tell you anything either. I just might do it, just to have pictures to post with my progress or frustration (I'm sure there will be plenty). If anyone hollers, I'll stop.

Again...so excited to get home and work.... having leftover homemade lasagna. It's amazing what quick meals you can come up with when you want to work on something exciting.

New Project

Well, last night I decided to get out the moose kit. I put my cutting table back in the bedroom and took out my card table for better height. Laid out the fabric and it is wild and will make him very good looking. Then I took out the pattern and unfolded and unfolded and unfolded. Even though it tells you on the front of the pattern how large it will be (30.5 x 28.5) you don't really realize how big that is until you see it all laid out. I pinned it up on my design wall for now and started reading the instructions. I'm definitely going to be doing a lot of tracing and cutting. Having to take breaks in the tracing and fine cuttiing, I have a feeling it will take me several months from start to finish. It's sort of scary looking at the pieces I need to trace on fusible but excited to see it come together too.
I"m taking a break from my postings at work and just thinking about it makes me want to go home and get started.

Lucy's done

Well, I finally finished the binding last night and if I'm not tooting my own horn, it looks pretty good. Busy but good. I need to take a picture and post next. My son was using the camera to take pictures of his model for school.. That does come first.

Now to decide what will be next. I bought a kit called Summer Serenity designed by Toni Whittney from Big Fork Bay Cotton Company of a Moose Head a couple years ago but have not been into working on it. I want something to do with my hands at night and I think this might be time to make my moose.

If you want to see what the pattern really looks like you can go into Quiltshops.com and type in moose applique patterns or Summer Serenity and it will bring up a bunch. Will have to really see how brave I am when it comes down to getting started.

Almost finished

I keep saying that but I have the binding sewn on, now to just trim off the excess. I was sick last weekend and missed two day of work . Not what I wanted to do for my 3 day weekend. I have a couple errands to run this morning then home to do laundry before my daughter and son get back from the movie and photo run. She wants to take picture of a small town near us. It has an old section of town...brick buildings and such. She's really into photography and gets some really great shots. Anyway I should get mine done before she gets home that way I can get it trimmed and pinned down. It will probably take me all day tomorrow to get the binding stitched down but didn't have anything else planned. Will post another picture when it's done.