The Third Day - October Quiltathon

This is silly!  I've sewn for 6 - 8 hours before and NOT become exhausted.  Yesterday - 5 - 6 hours in and it was all I could do to drag my feet for a "quick" lie down!  (and sleep for 3 hours until my son called and woke me - TWICE!)

Of course, it probably doesn't help that my sinusitis is raging and storming around! And that I'm doing my level best to sneeze my head off! (we will NOT discuss how my cats are totally avoiding me with my VERY loud and explosive sneezing fits!)

Nevertheless.... I REALLY have a LOT to do in this quiltathon!  Not the least of which is to actually have STASH gone Gone GONE!!!! to report!  Besides it's always fun to participate in Judy L's quiltathon!  I get to see other people's work and both wish I were half as good as some of them - or want to start MORE new projects (WIPs) right away!  Not the least of which is the ones Judy is working on!

However - that being said - I will (as in I WILL) work on my current projects and I WILL complete some at least before tomorrow evening - no matter how late it is!

Being that as it may - what did I complete yesterday?  A LOT of the 4-blocks - and more to be pressed for the Apple Cider quilt (I did say that they kinda took over, didn't I?),

 

 

all the 9 patch plus sashing units (just needs sewing together now into strips), and now have ready - the posts - rather what I call the square in a square blocks (some are done, trimmed and already attached to the strips - CUTE!!!!), and a world of trimming and finishing.  Who knows - I may actually get this quilt either finished today - or ALMOST finished!  Yeehaw (oops! I didn't say that - at least not yet!)

 

More in a bit.............
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Lunch break (turkey wrap with cream cheese.  Only a few little tiny yellow pear tomatoes to "decorate" the 12" Wrap!)

Decided to go pick up the mail at the post office (didn't know they could put so much junk mail and so many bills in one PO box!) then to the library to drop off the Advice and Consent video (only 4 days overdue) - and thought maybe it is time to start really focusing on my pre-election videos and DVDs on presidential and senatorial stuff (I have 8 so far) - will see what I can scrounge at the library as well next trip!  Also stopped by the other rental property to see what improvements have been made - but the door was locked, the saws were screaming, and the music was turned so high that there was NO WAY son or anyone else, ftm, could hear me!  Came home and ran into my missing neighbour (not missing, really - she had moved and I miss her!).  We discussed Quinoa as a "grain/not-grain" (I didn't realize at first what she was talking about until suddenly I realized she was pronouncing Quinoa as Keenah! which is probably the correct pronunciation.  Sounds really good and I think I will definitely look into it!  And I invited her to partake of the Swiss chard/greens that I've got out in the garden!  She in turn gave me a VERY delicious apple that grew wild in her yard!  Yum!

Now it's back to quilting - and I feel so much happier with my break!  First pressing time - to the tune of Dark something or other - a sci fi film - then it's back to Mansfield Park (I think chapter 32 or so!)

Fall must be almost right here - I can see yellow leaves on trees already, a touch of red on the green trees - but so far - mostly green!  And if I get done/tired early enough - I think I'll head outside and remove all the last of the beans - readying those 2 beds at least for tilling.  And start back on the potatoes again!  The dried out corn stalks can go in a bundle for fall decoration if I pull the leaves on what ears there are back a bit. and maybe I can get rid of some of the leaves, etc.  (Pix added later)
 
More later!........................

Quiltathon - the Second Day

This is the second day of the October Quiltathon that Judy L. is hostessing!  And she previewed the CUTEST block today - am so anxious to try it!

HOWEVER - that being said - I MUST MUST MUST see what I can do about finishing SOMETHINGS that are in the between this and that stages!

Plans for today -

 

1) Press EVERYTHING (I tend to wait until I have a LOT to press then do a massive "press-in"!)
2) October Triangles

3) Put the walking foot on - and GET BRAVE!!!!!  Start with the Pink baby blanket - and finish all the SITD (Stitch in the ditch) and X's on there (THOUGHT I was done with that!  Nope!) Put aside for when I do FMQ this weekend!
4) still with the walking foot - pin-baste, mark and stitch the green polka dotted baby quilt.
5) Stitch in the Ditch on the Threadhead quilt.
6) Put ALL finishes on the blog - AND on my Stash page so I can keep track!
7) Finish stitching all the Apple Cider 4 blocks (yup - I KNOW they are supposed to be LE - but I'm getting anxious - besides I have a lot of singles to start doing AGAIN!)
8) Granny's Scrap quilt - which I both love and am getting sick of! and haven't even finished yet!
9) Solve World peace in my spare 5 minutes!

Well, another cup of coffee - and off to iron everything in the universe that needs it! (wonder how my night owl upstairs neighbours who are NOT quiet at 3 AM will like being awakened this AM to the tune of Advice and Consent on the DVD or to Mansfield Park on audio book!!!!  Suspect I will find out!  After all - it IS 758 AM now!  Although I WAS tempted to play Reveille LOUDLY at 5 AM when I gave up and got up!)
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(short break here - 907 AM)
Had decided to return to Granny Squares and the Apple Cider 4-blocks (did those first - didn't I ever tell you I'm compulsive?????)

REALLY added to the pile I had to press out - but then - I feel soooooooo much further along!  (further-farther - hmmm.  Farther-distance! And I'm not traveling far!  Sor Further it is!)

I shouldn't really - since I'm STILL on the same step - BUT I did finish up all the last dabs of items I had set up to sew last night!  PLUS almost all the rest of everything!

   

Quiltathon - Day 1

Oops!  I remembered this YESTERDAY!  But today?  An altogether different matter!  Has been an upside down/inside out day so far - starting when I woke up, knocked my phone for a loop and lost the battery for a while.  Eventually got that together.  Grabbed my weakened (melted ice) lemonade I had by my bed and carted that into the family room.  MEANT to put it on the filing cabinet/side table like I usually do and missed the whole derned thing!  Wiped up the mess - will have to scrub my wood floor later since it is sticky - but I would really like to get sewing!

Went to cook breakfast - tossed the egg innards and tried to fry shells!  UGH!!!!!!  This is NOT good!

However.... having gotten all the messups out of the way for the day, that means the rest of the day will progress smoothly and lovely!

I do believe in getting challenges out of the way early!

I'll post here off and on throughout the day - and may even post pix - who knows!  So stay tuned for more!
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(later - about 230 PM)

I finally decided to look at the time - and realized that I WAS hungry!!!! Lunch today is leftover stir fry and rice, grapes for dessert.

In the process of re-heating lunch - I decided dinner tonight will be chicken and noodles (it's leftover night - and I have LOTS of left over fried chicken from the deli - I don't fry decent chicken - and maybe some grain pudding - made from a mixture of grains that have eggs, sweetening, a little shortening, sometimes a dab of leftover cottage cheese or ricotta, any dried fruit, maybe vanilla (or rum or brandy extract) - and baked at 350 - a guess and by gosh and gee that looks about right kind of recipe - all that for dessert (a portion - the rest gets frozen in portion amounts)

Until now I ironed to the first part of Advice and Consent - BOY is that movie dated!  Good though if you can get past all the stereotypes.  Was pleased to recognize some of the names there - including my favorite Senator Dirkson from IL.

After I finished ironing (there was a LOT of pressing on work I did yesterday), I worked on the Granny Scrap quilt.  I sliced and diced the long strips I had previously gotten all ready - and on the strip conglomeration.  Also prepared my daily 6 S&D on the apple cider quilt.  All this to the sound of Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - on audio.  Starts like many Victorian and before novels - VERY slowly!  But now it is funny and I'm really enjoying it!  Especially when I can imagine Sir Thomas' astonishment when he arrives back home from his visit in the Carribean islands and discovers his room and study have been turned into a stage for a play that he THOROUGHLY disapproves of - with almost all his household (save Fanny) activing various parts in the play!  I do think though that were I he, I would have been a LOT more vocal about it!  and probably enough so that the neighbours would have complained of all the noise! 

I will say though that so much of this book reminds me so very much of Old Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott - a much beloved favorite of mine!

Anyway - am going to eat now - then back to the sewing machine!  (salt mines?????)
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Am quitting for a bit now.  It is 505 PM - and I'm tired!  I've sewn a big bunch of the 2 blocks into 4 block units (Apple Cider quilt) - much like the second to last picture above.

As far as the Granny Scrap quilt is concerned - MOST of the 9 patches (first picture) now have a 3.5 inch strip (first and second pictures) sewn to them (why do I poop out BEFORE I finish a step?) and quite a few of the "posts" (aka square in a square) units now have 4 sides.   Haven't done anything to the little HST's (need to measure and trim ears - sew together in twosies then foursies)

Probably going to read now for a bit!  Mansfield park is going along great!

More later
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This is the later!!!

Nathan stopped by (twice) - told me he was going to Taco Bell - took me along (I seldom pass up any chance to eat out - so chicken and noodles are on the menu for 10-05!!!!

We talked a bit - he is trying to finish up work on the other house to get at least one unit ready for renting (which will pay the mortgage plus give a bit of additional income to "recoup" some of the money that went into the money pit - uh - house! (House didn['t look bad - UNTIL we after we started renovations - OH MY!  Anyway - it's in VERY good shape now for sure!  Should last forever.  And it had better!)

(Btw - should the text on this look wierd - that's because my computer is doing wierd things to most of the text around.  Silly thing!)

Didn't get back to sewing last night like I thought I would.  Instead I read until about 830 - then fell asleep! 

Design Wall - 10-01-12

THIS week - my projects are:

1. Choose the rest of the colors for the CP

2. Begin work on the Christmas Town Sampler

3. See if I can finish this one up (hopefully today)

4. And as always - the Apple Cider (aka Sweet and Sassy) quilt for LE!!!!

5. For hand applique - work on my Halloween hanging (this is year #3 - I want it DONE!)

6. Stitch in the ditch and some FMQ on my Threadhead mini-quilt

October (part II)

1. October UFO - Child's choice - a re-make

 

2. LOL - this is almost the October Color Palette.  Thinking on this!

3. Apple Cider Quilt - ALMOST ready for putting it all together!

4. Granny's Scrap quilt - I'd LIKE to finish this ASAP - it's the season for a fall quilt!

5. Christmas Town Sampler - you can see how much I've gotten done!

 

6. Those triangles again - this time for October. 

 

Hand Applique!!!!



This is a project that has been hanging around for several years!  DEFINITELY would like to finish (and display it!!!) this October!

October (hoped for!) projects!!!

Events!!!!

1. October Quiltathon!!!!! (10-4,-5,-6,-7 - THIS weekend!!!!)
2. Sukkot - and it is DEFINITELY rainy and cold!
3. Karen's birthday! (and I'm NOT saying how old she is - because, unfortunately - I'm the OLDER!
(Nevertheless, I'm still good for rubbing in a pound of salt! hmmm - maybe send her a cane????)

House!!!!

ok - this is the NOT fun part - need to work on THESE items - and trying to pick ONLY 5 is going to be interesting!

1. My room - this project is to go through these drawers, sort patterns, etc. and get this OUT of this room and into my sewing room!!!!

 

2. Relatively quick project here - light for the room and paint these nasty walls!  (pale blue? for spaciousness and reflectivity?  white can be sooooooo boring) 

 

3. MAJOR project - to sort out all this paper mess and toss/file/re-allocate (give to Nathan!) and to respond as needed

4. Weekend project - to sort out this one set of shelves - refold all the red non-cottons so they are neat - PLUS decide whether or not to keep all of one color together or to put all cottons together and then on a separate shelve put all non-cotton together.  May try it that way - not sure!  Sure is messy!  PLUS some of this stuff needs to be re-homed!

5. Laundry room - needs shelving up high plus a grid to hang cleaning stuff on.

 



Garden!!!!
My Garden needs cleaning and clearing up - A LOT!  Will post pix of each section on the garden page!  4 sections -  with 5 x 10 wide (4 foot) beds 28 foot long!  and the rest broken in half (at least 6 beds - 4 wide by 14 foot long) 

My fruit trees need their fall mulching, and some stuff needs to be cleared for winter and transplanted to their permanent grounds.

And yes, I'm still harvesting!

My greenhouse - I would LOVE to keep it up - but have been told that it can't stay up because of the snow (I COULD knock the snow off!!!!)  Will see!

Sewing wardrobe!!!!

2 patterns - at least 2 pairs slacks, 1 dress, 1 skirt, 1 jacket plus 2 - 4 blouses or tops.

Quilting - machine

Walking foot -

All this needs is quilting - walking foot - then FMQ in the borders

Walking foot all the way

 

Walking foot sampler square

Walking foot placemats plus Stitch in the ditch!

 

Stitch in the Ditch time with some FMQ on the green

Picnic table - sampler????? Walking foot sampler

 

 

Free Motion Quilting

FMQ all the way.  Meandering - not sure about borders.

 

 

 

 



 



 

 

September slips by and now it's October!

Isn't it amazing how one month just sorta slips by before you know it - and then another one looms mercilessly overhead, telling you how you didn't finish LAST month's projects and now you've got a whole New Month of projects to contend with!

Just so you (and I) won't think I didn't do ANYTHING in the month of September - let me review (and add some DONE pix as well)

Eventwise.....

First there was a combination of a family wedding and family reunion at the same time

My daughter Wendy and son-in-law Vince

My sister Karen and brother in law Bill

I like this picture of Bill a lot better!

 

and then there's

THE BIG EVENT.....

 

The WEDDING!!!

Son Nathan

new daughter, Lynn

and this is the sweetest picture!!!!

Two hearts melded into one!!!!

(Lynn's mom officiated as minister)

 

Of course, this means a whole new family added together (I'm one for including whole families and thinking of us all joined together).  I haven't figured out all of who's who - but eventually I'll get there!

 

 

Lynn's mom, who officiated and married Nathan and Lynn

Some of the groomsmen - Mike Toth, Doug - both good friends (Donovan - where WERE you in this picture?), one of Lynn's cousins and Lynn's grampa who is one sweetheart for sure!

ummm - not going to mention which aunt had ouchy feet from her shoes!!!!

Just trust me that this picture WILL come back to haunt her! LOL

 

Groomsmen and Nathan

Doug from South (?) Carolina, Mike Donovan, of course the next person is Nathan, then Mike Toth and then Lynn's cousin whose name I STILL don't know

 

Housewise....

While I didn't get ALL of my projects done by any means - I DID prevail upon my son to complete 2 projects......

The set of bathroom shelves

Some of the shelving needed for laundry room (which immediately filled up - Need MORE!)

Sewing room project shelves and quilting bookshelf

(individual patterns and book binders are stored elsewhere)

 

 My room - picked up and (it WAS clean!) almost clean (note the iron!!!!)

 

I also cleared out most of the mess in my living room and in my dining room (room will henceforth be called the study/office and dining room is the new family room!)  And, no, I'm NOT posting before pix - and after pix are under duress (from me) because they are STILL needing more decluttering!)

 

Quiltwise......

 

Baby quilt - August UFO

Row by row - September UFO quilt