Spewing Ears

When we traveled to Georgia recently I didn't take any projects along because I felt like I had a real handle on everything. The loose ends were fairly tidy and nothing was hanging over my head.

Now I have projects spewing out of my ears.
My sister sent fabric for dust ruffles and wedge covers. No problem there, those should go quick. Poor little Paige is the only one of her children that does not have an Aunt Angie quilt. (I made one for her doll, but not one for her.) The cute pink and brown polka dotted fabric made me think that whilrygiggles would be cute and simple. That goes on the someday soon list. My girlfriend has a husband with a machine that needs a sun shade, I can give it a try, that goes on the list. Mom has a new guest bedroom and wants a quilt to match a jigsaw puzzle. Sounds good, I decide on the Sister's Choice pattern and add it to the list.

Then Anna decided to redecorate her room and requested a star quilt like Starlight Starbright. But with blue background and yellow stars. The list is getting longer, but she is my daughter after all. Wait, don't forget the painting and decorating, add those to the list. (Kurt is not to be trusted with a trim brush)
Then Kurt decides that the drapes in our room have to go and I start browsing catalogs for new window treatments. The window treatment ideas lead to quilt ideas, and both of those go on the list. I have this happy hour pattern that I have been saving just for that purpose. Mabye those better be at the end of the list. I think the paint is OK though, so that is spared from the list.

Now July has rolled around, and UFO #9 goes on the list. I'm halfway through now and hate to break a streak.

I think I'd better prioritize. Because if I start at the beginning and go through the whole list, it will be a while. I'm thinking that the UFO might need to be the first to bite the dust, because nobody wants it. When I started it in 2002 it was for our bedroom. We've moved houses and changed colors since then, so I don't know what I will do with a purple and green quilt. I could try to rework it into something else. Still, I keep coming back to the idea that nobody needs it.

I did finish up the binding on Tea Rose Sampler, so I guess that one can get crossed off the list. Instead of sitting here pondering, I think I'll go try to go finish something else. The list beckons.

Chuffed

I have been getting better at FMQ with each quilt that I finish, but I have to pat myself on the back for this one. Not a single pucker or pleat on the back, it lies flat as a board, and the stitch length is somewhat even. As my British friends would say, I'm somewhat chuffed with myself. The binding has just been cut out so it is almost officially done. I was planning on making this a charity quilt, but I'm liking it better and better as it goes along. Maybe charity will have to get a different quilt.

Anna has decided that she wants to redecorate her room. Today she asked for permission to start pulling off the wallpaper. Her BFF Sierra was over for a play date and they thought destruction would be way too much fun.

Now I wish that I has stopped her for long enough to get a "before" pic. She had a lovely lavender bedroom in a princess theme. The bottom half of the wall had castle brick wallpaper with "stone" columns flanking the bed. The headboard was shaped like a big crown and covered in purple satin. Apparently 10 year old girls, "are not so much into princesses anymore". It was all a little tired after 5 years, so I guess it is a good time to redo it all, but I will miss the castle wall.

Blasted Basting

A massage would feel really good after an evening of crawling around on hard wood floors to baste the Tea Rose Sampler quilt. It is done now and ready to be quilted. Maybe I'll settle for a celebratory soak in the whilrpool. My sewing room is a bit of a mess, as is the living room where I lay out my quilt tops. A bit of putting away and organizing is probably in order before I start in on the quilting. I think I'll go see what I have for thread and stencils while I think about how ambitious I am feeling at 10:02 in the evening.
Kurt has just gotten back from his event. Another person from his company was retiring and he was recruited to sing at the party. He used to sing with a group when we were in Chicago, but it was barbershop with lots of other people. I guess he did sing with some quartets, but never alone, and never with musical accompaniment. They rewrote the words to Take This Job and Shove It along with some other country ballads. I was a little sad that I wasn't invited to come along and watch, but he said it went well.

Missed it by THIS Much

I actually had fabric in my stash for the Tea Rose Sampler. I don't usually have big quantities on hand, but sometimes I will order backing fabric if I find a good sale. This Anna Griffith print was almost big enough, so I just added a few of the extras in the middle to make it fit. Kurt had a thing tonight, so I've promised the kids McDonald's for dinner (!). We are going to go grab that now before the rain comes back and then I can get this puppy pressed, layered and pinned.

June is Over

I'm so close to finishing my June UFO. I'm not sure why I have been so unmotivated lately. Maybe just because I can be. So I'll just pretend that June is a 31 day month and finish this one off before too much longer. I think I'll quilt it with a light green thread and put some sort of round motif in the middle of each square? I'll have to see if I have any stencils that will work for that. I'm not exactly thrilled with the purple, but at the same time it reads pretty flat and I guess that gives it a little interest? I seem to enjoy the idea of sampler quilts much more than actually finishing them off. Somehow they take so much longer than regular quilts. I've still got the Starlight quilt out in the middle of the formal living room, so I should do something about finishing the border up on that. I could even pull out Double Delight and finish all three borders at the same time! On second thought, maybe that is too much ambition. I would like to get some of these checked off the list so that I can switch gears for a bit. I've had a number of requests for non-quilt sewing. It might make me nervous to sew on things that are not flat.
Summer has been peaceful around here. There are no more trips planned in the near future, and most of our summer camps are finished. We've been having play dates, sleepovers and even a few days of hanging out around the house. I've haven't accomplished any major projects, but I've had plenty of time to putter on small things. I organized part of the garage and laundry room, and sorted through clothes and closets. It is nice to be able to just hang out with the kids for a while, especially now that they are getting past the point of needing constant supervision.

Slip Slidding Away

I looked at a calendar today and came to the startling realization that June is almost over. Where did it go? Obviously that made me think about getting my act in gear on my June UFO. I have been so happy to check the moldy oldies off my list, but it can be a struggle to power through some of these. I guess there is usually a reason that a project gets moved from the active list to the back burner. I've got 16 blocks done, so just 8 more and I can put the top together. I went ahead and cut out the lattice strips and corner stones, so I should be all set to get this puppy ready to layer. I'm not super happy with the way the colors are all coming together, but things usually look better when they are all put together, so I'll reserve judgment for a while longer. It's going to be a donation quilt anyway, so maybe someone else will like it better.
I've been busy around here with many exciting projects like cleaning out closets and pressure washing the driveway. How fun does that sound? Last night we got a babysitter so we could go to a retirement party for one of the guys on Kurt's team. We don't get out very often without the kids so it was nice to hang out with grown-ups for a while.

Little Bits

I was following links on a blog from my bloglines list and ended up at a site that had a link to a calendar quilt challenge. Most of the blocks they showed were made of strings that were 1 inch by 10 inches I think. One string is added each day of the month and then all of the blocks are sewn together to represent a year. The fabrics can be from what you are working on that day, or the season, and embroidery can be added on special days. While I didn't care for the shape of the sting blocks, I thought it might be fun to try a similar idea with 2 inch squares. They could be sewn into rows of 7 to represent weeks and then groups of 4 to represent months. Although I'm not anywhere near the beginning of a new calendar year, I just celebrated my birthday, which is the beginning of MY year. I don't know if I'll follow through for an entire year, but here is the first week of my 38th year. The little present represents my birthday. Most of the week was spent on the Things Quilters Think quilt, but I spent some time at the end of the week working on the sock monkey happy blocks. Next week the colors will shift to a more pastel palette. I guess it's a more systematic way to approach a charm quilt.
I decided that paper piecing was the only way to make the flying geese work out for the Tea Rose Sampler Quilt. I drew the pattern out on graph paper and then traced it onto tear away stabilizer. After that I spent most of the day puttering around the house doing organizational things. It is now possible to locate things in the pantry and the CDs are no longer mixed in with the DVDs. Little bits of order in a world full of chaos make me happy. What makes you happy?

June UFO

Number 11 is the UFO for the month of June. For me that is my Tea Rose Sampler. I think that is what I was calling it anyway. This quilt started as a beautiful bundle of fat quarters that my mom got me for Christmas two years ago. I wanted to allow the fabrics to remain in large pieces and designed a number of blocks built around 6.5 inch squares with variations of patterns in the 3.5 inch area surrounding each block. I was doing pretty well until I got to the flying geese sections which did not want to fit nicely. It got put away neatly in a labeled box which contained all of my sketches and plans. Despite being better organized than most UFOs, it will still take a bit of remembering and figuring to decide how this is all going to come together to make a quilt. Other than that, I think today calls for a bit more laundry, cleaning out the fridge and some time with the girls. Sydney has a gift card from her birthday that needs spending and Anna wants to get a digital watch. I think tomorrow is going to have a trip to the library and Friday is a day off for Kurt. Welcome to summer vacation.

Cookies Almost Gone

The last couple of weeks have been full of cookie booths, and Girl Scout meetings. I have only two cases left, and so the end is in sight! My cold made a come-back and I spent most of last week in hibernation. I finally found a few minutes last night to sew for a bit and decided to pull out my Tea Rose Sampler. This is from fat quarter bundle that my mom got for me last Christmas. The colors are very soft and pretty, with a large scale floral as the focus. I decided to use a large center block to keep the large floral intact and use a variety of patterns around the edges. I'm not sure why I put it away, I think I got frustrated trying to get 3 flying geese to fit on a side and put it away to simmer.