This morning I pieced (and a dog story)

Debby's Beau  and Seppy

As I was sewing the rows on "Debby's Beau" together I reverted to using little fabric leftovers for leader/enders.

It was bothering me.  I don't want to start anything new (we all know I don't need another project) until I see how much the basement deconstruction  construction is going to go. They say that I will still be able to use part of the area, but I'm thinking perhaps I won't want to be so close to all that noise and stuff.

ANYWAY,  I had a light bulb moment and started using the sashing and squares for "Seppy" as leader/enders. 

So now I have Debby's Beau together with the stop border, which I really wanted on because of all that outside bias and Seppy is oh I'd call it 1/2 together. My goal is to get it all done today and off the wall. 

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Yesterday I finished the yard work projects for this summer....over the last 2 days I bought, lugged and spread 18 bags of mulch.  Silly me I thought 6 bags would do it! 

3 bags of the big pine nuggets went here

and 15 bags of cypress went here.

Can you see the wire fence along the brick edger? 

If you click on it and enlarge you will also see that I ran out of bricks, so I'm not actually completely done with this...

What a major pain in the duppa that was.

A few weeks ago my dad gave me 2 extra tomato plants he couldn't fit in his garden.  

When I first made this bed after the white fence was installed, I put that weed block fabric down and planted a few perennials, but I didn't know what else to put in there: shrubs, maybe a small ornamental tree, an herb garden....so I just mulched and thought I'd get around to it eventually.  Otis saw this spot right off the deck steps as the perfect "marking" area.  He was diligent in watering anything vertical.  I marvel that he's not in a constant state of dehydration!  The only bad thing about Otis's vigilance is his need to scrape his little back legs for emphasis that he is "dominant dog of the mulch bed" and before I realized what was happening, he had in a matter of a few days ripped to shreds the landscape fabric under the mulch.  I tried to keep him out but animal instinct was stronger than my will to run up and down those steps every 5 minutes.  The spot was his and it looked like hell.

Then the 2 tomato plants arrived.  The perfect spot would be right along that fence.  If they were going to go there a fence would be needed and if I was going to do a fence then it was time to fix the shredded fabric disaster. 

It turns out the fence I bought; although high enough to keep Annie from jumping in- 18 inches,

(well she could jump in if she wanted but she would rather sit under the apple tree all day and wait for the squirrel who lives in one to venture out--she's obsessed) not too high that I can't straddle it and get in, had openings 3 3/4" wide.  Apparently Otis is about 3 5/8" wide! 

Seriously, does this stuff happen to anybody else?

I put the fence up and started raking the remaining old mulch out of the way so I could put down new fabric and in 2 minutes; OK  I might be exaggerating it may have been 45 seconds. Otis is beside me!  I chased him around not knowing HOW THE HECK he got in there and he squirted right through the fence. 

Agggghhhhh!

After trying to scare him out of going in there, which one time got Annie's attention and she saw him squirt in and she tried to follow....SHE is not 3 5/8 inches wide at her narrowest!

And going back and forth on whether I should take it back, get something else, throw the tomato plants over the hill, I ended up buying the same fence again and double it with the openings being off centered so he can't get his little nose through.

I think that means I win....

Debby

Last week Libby cleaned out her sewing room.  One of the little patterns she was letting go was this one from Carol Hopkins Designs.

I looked at it yesterday and new I had some already made 4-patch blocks made.

I put the main part together in the morning and then after dinner, finished the borders. 

I named it "Debby" (of imaginary friend lore).

18 x 18

A few evenings ago I stitched this cute little pillow and finished it yesterday morning as well.

 

My whole life

           is a little off kilter these days.
I think it's the effect of grief, and the effect it's having on the ones I love most. I think of it as we've been knocked out of our normal 'orbit'.  Healing will occur and we'll become comfortable in a new 'orbit'. It won't be the same as the original (how could it be) but it will be ok and hopefully, because of what we've lost, we will become better people, separately and together as a family.

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And now back to the regularly scheduled quilty stuff: 

 I will NOT be making the 2011 Shop Hop Progressive quilt.  I'm putting that in writing here so as to help me remember my resolve.
I forgot to take my camera this year.  Seeing each shop's version  of the quilt is one of my favorite
parts.
        *the link above will take you to one of the shop's Blog with pictures of most of the tops*


Quilter's Corner 's quilt isn't shown.  The owner, Mary Beth Harnett designed an applique section to go along with the blocks and a unique setting. It was made using French General fabrics and is to die for.  I have a picture on my cellphone, but not the skills to transfer to my computer....heehee.  Will post a picture when techno-daughter/nursing student has a few minutes to help me.
    **as she was going out the door she gave me instructions...I must email picture from my phone to me....Oh bother....trying it now.  Ok sent first picture to my computer, the 2nd picture I sent to my phone (what is wrong with me??) then resent to my computer....TADA!!!

Seeing this may cause me to re-think making the quilt. But for now the 2 blocks I had already made are in with the rest of the CW 12" blocks from 2010 Bl-a-days (which bumps the total to 48 blocks) so what I SHOULD do is use 12 of my blocks, their setting, will think about doing the applique part and that way I'll  have another bl-a-day quilt top done....did I think of that earlier and forgot? I think so... See what I mean, I'm off kilter.

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I think I've blogged before that I live in a teeny-tiny house.  I love it.  I only pine for a bigger house around holidays, actually just a big huge dining room would work.  I can't fit everyone here for dinner; it bums me out.   
Anyway, I sew and quilt in our basement. We put a bedroom down there for the boys years ago.
             (It's a 2 bedroom house-- they had to go somewhere!!)
It's very nice and except for not having a window you wouldn't know you were in a basement. The rest of the basement is 1/2 finished (read: 'crappy'), and were my HQ lives. There is a laundry room that is just big enough (not really) and under the basement steps is what is called a "Pittsburgh Potty". The builders of our old house put a toilet in the space under the steps (with walls and a door, thank goodness) but no sink so you can't call it a powder room and can't count it as a bathroom for resale. AND I don't want visitors using it and then having to traipse across the room past HQ and into the laundry room to wash their hands. (it's ok for family....you know what I mean right?)
Soooo, we're having a little renovation (insert heart palpitations).  They will be digging up the floor to hook up the plumbing for a small vanity...and since it's dug up we can move the toilet to a better configuration and add a closet (MUCH needed storage in this teeny-tiny house).  They will also finish the stairwell.  That's phase one.

Phase 2 will be to remove the walls of the bedroom and laundry room.  Make the laundry room a foot or so wider (Paul needs the space to better be able to work on furnace, hot water heater etc that is back there)  I didn't want to give up an inch of sewing space but DANG it is his house too!!! :)
and open the basement and finish it so that it could be a nice family room....but it will be "sewing central".  
In between the heart palpitations I'm really excited, then I get really nervous. Today I have to start figuring out where all my stuff is going to go during the destruction, I mean construction! Cue the heart racing...:)

I'm going to take 'before pictures' but don't think I'll share until I can show 'after ones' too.
 
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Last Sunday we went on a long bike ride (153 miles according to my biker hubby!) with his sister and her hubby. And although the weather was overcast and a tad chilly.
We had a great ride.

 Lunch at Rachel's Roadhouse and a stop at McConnells Mill State Park. I had never been there before. BEAUTIFUL.

Paul, me and Mary

Me, Ed & Mary

Mary & Ed leading

 We're going to go back in the fall when the leaves change....won't that be gorgeous!

I am one tired Shop Hopper!

We finished the Shop Hop yesterday afternoon, logging 227 miles! (just for Friday) I don't know how many miles we did on Wen. evening and all day Thursday--Libby drove and we forgot to check.  Regardless it was a lot of miles and ALOT of fun.  It took us to the final 1/2 hour of the ride home to finally be 'talked out'! 

I bought mostly fabric, fat quarters and yardage-got a good deal on fabric for backing (3.99/yd!)....you know how that goes:

 Walk up to the stack of bolts... see the sign...do a double take.... look closer at the bolts (holy-moley it's all quilt shop fabric: Moda, Thimbleberries etc)... your heart beats a little faster....you're eyes dart around to see if anyone else has spied this gold mine... And then you start really looking, counting the layers on the bolt (2 layers = 1 yard, good estimator) Yup, 6 yds at least...IT'S MINE! For practically a song....

...Yeah, you know what I'm talking about! ;)

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My sewing room is a mess.  Since I'm a prewasher that's what I did today, 'washed the loot'...but I'm dragging and not in the mood to press. So it's all neatly, was sorta neatly, piled on my sewing chair.  I'll get to it soon.

This morning I finished quilting The CW Medallion quilt. Woo-Hoo.  No picture until it's done cuz it's also in a pile (not nearly as neat as the fabrics) waiting to have the edges trimmed and  then; Oh man, Oh man have the binding wrestled sewed on.
Yuk.

Today I looked at my design wall at this.

 

and decided that I do not like it.

 

So I spent the next few hours, 3-4 hours is more like it.

But time flies when I'm having fun.

And I now have this

(not necessarily the final block arrangement)

Oh joy 2 more quilt tops have been born! 

I'm super happy with them both.  The one on the left is probably going to get a final dark blue border and the one on the right....hmmmm not sure yet it could be 2 borders but maybe just one. It has a name though "Seppy".  So I guess I could call the one on the left "Debby" and I'd have my 3 imaginary friends (Seppy, Debby and Juber) immortalized in my quilts. 

But it doesn't look like a Debby to me, more like a Frank, or maybe a "Jedediah" or "Josiah". 

"Bob" would have been easier, had to spell check the other two....

;)

I've been quilting my Civil War Medallion quilt with baptist fans. 

At the start, I was marking the arcs with chalk and a plastic template I have. After a few passes, I wondered if I could just do it without marks.  I found I was no more but no less consistent without marking and it went a lot faster. 

Last night I thought I would finish it.  Paul had gone out for a bike ride; he's off all week since his Mom's funeral on Monday, and Meghan was at school. 

Perfect!

But no, it wasn't to be.

I ran out of the So Fine thread (#407 Clay) I was using in the top.  I wasn't sure how much was on the spool when I started and sorta thought I might not have enough, but the further along I quilted the more likely it looked like I was going to make it....Nope. 

So I looked through all my threads and thought I had a good match, but ran out of steam and called it a night.  This morning when I started to stitch, Eegads! It's not a match or even close.  I ripped it out and will wait for another cone. 

The Western PA Shop Hop starts today.  Libby and I are going to hit a shop (or two if we're lucky) this evening and then the other 9 shops over Thursday and Friday. 

And miracle of miracles I actually have a list!!!!!

One of the shops carry Superior Threads so if they have what I need I'll be finishing this weekend, if not I'll have to order it and wait a few days.  I did toy with the idea of securing the unquilted area and unloading it and loading a smaller quilt that I could do in the mean time.  But since this quilt is 94 x 94 the thoughts of unloading and reloading...nah.

****

Since I couldn't quilt I had to sew!

I know, I know, it's a tough life ...

I cut out and fused the 6th block of Henrietta Whiskers yesterday.

I sure am enjoying this BOM.

I forgot to flip the applique pattern sheet when I was transferring to the fusible so my squirrels are jumping to the right instead of the left.  hee-hee.  It really doesn't matter, so why do I mention it???

*smile*

After blanket-stitching this block and taking a picture, I got out the other finished blocks to see how it looks.

and sewed the top two rows together. 

The bottom rows I prepped yesterday

too.





Last week I started to frog an old quilt that I made from leftover blocks from Little Quilts that I had made...l-o-n-g time ago.

I really like it but every time I look at it the quilting just glares as me.  It was my first attempt at something that size on my DSM and my first stippling.  I think I could live with the jerky stipples and all. But what drives me bonkers is the thread. I used a brown variegated! YUK.

It is taking me F-O-R-E-V-E-R to un sew this baby. 

What is amazing to me is that ANY machine quilting stitches ever come out of a quilt. The quilting on this is not real good, the tension is OK, sorta--trying to be nice to myself-I was just learning....the stitch length is all over the place.  You'd think I could just rip a couple inches grab the tail an zip pity do da pull a nice section out.  Not a chance!

~pick, pick, pick~ 

It makes me feel much better about my quilting now.  I don't think I will ever do something like this again.

(oh dang-"famous last words"  just popped into my head!)



Inspiration came in the mail and Zentangles

I received this sweet tiny quilt from Susan.

The quilt is perfect.

My picture is crooked and doesn't do her workmanship justice.

 I have it hanging in the dining area of our kitchen-perfect.

Of course, holding this in my hands made me want to make one too. 

(WHY DO I DO THAT?)

And I can because Susan also shared how she made it!

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I've been doodling Zentangles I've occasionally read blog posts from others who do this and for a long while I've been intrigued but afraid to try. 

I'm not a "real" artist, ya' know.  (WHY DO I DO THAT?)

I started while watching TV.  At first I stressed about them, I still am, but not as much and dang I'm starting to enjoy them. 

 I think this is proof I have a 'feather problem'.  They seem to turn up everywhere.

2nd Charm Tote

the Front



The Back

I like the back better.  :)

I'm glad it's done.
I'm not doing much sewing.

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Paul's mom passed away on Sunday at home in Arizona.
We're all still reeling from his brother's untimely death in February.

Time will heal; but it's going to be a while.