Waking up is just the first part

Nice way to wake up, under a quilt you were sewing the binding on before you went to sleep :-)

Bonus #1 Not getting stabbed while you were asleep by the needle

Bonus #2 Actually finding the needle on the couch with little effort

Bonus #3 Only being about 16" away from having the binding finished on a long time UFO!

Finshed up the binding over first cuppa so now its a DONE!

This is the front of the 2006 RR at Mailblocks called I've Got The Blues Back made from swap blocks and long time unloved fabric from stash.

Swapping fun

For the past week or so, I've been dedicating myself to blocks for upcoming swaps. I like to get them done ahead of time so there's no huge rush right before a deadline.

First we have Scrappy Tennessee blocks from Quilterscache, actually done CORRECTLY this time :-) Its a really good thing I like these blocks, because I have made enough to make a king sized quilt from the mistake blocks and a twin size from the right ones. Scrappy Floating stars from About.com These are actually small, only 3½" I plan to make a nice table runner with the results of this swap.
And finally Pink and brown Courthouse Steps from AZPatch I have been in lots of pink and brown swaps, so I have quite a few 6½" pink and brown blocks, and I have collected tons of pink and brown fabrics, so I think these blocks will be then end of my pink and brown days.

Man I love that man!

We had a bit of a scare last week, DH was in the hospital Thursday and half of Friday. He was at work walking along holding a spiral notebook when suddenly he was doubled over in excruciating pain. He gave it a little time to see if it would pass and finally called me to say he was driving himself home and I would need to take him to the ER despite my urgings that he just go to ER in the city and I would find my way there. When he got here he was drenched in sweat (the high was like 12 degrees that day) completely gray, and couldn't stand without help. (I'm sure we looked hysterical getting him from his truck to my van, him outweighing me by 80lbs and standing a foot taller than me, it was like dancing with a drunken bear!) I have never seen him in so much pain. At the hospital they gave him 3 ultrasounds and a CAT scan and couldn't find anything to explain the pain he was in so they called a surgeon. Luckily the surgeon wasn't too anxious to cut into him without a reasonable suspicion and he spent Thursday getting pain shots every few hours. By Friday at noon, he felt a lot better, still a little sore in the area the pain was, but well enough, according to him, he would have gone back to work if they had released him earlier. Their best guess is a small muscle tear or strain in the abdominal wall. I'll tell you what, with the pain he was in I would have thought it was something MUCH more serious. I know we've been so fortunate and haven't had to deal with any health problems like this in the 18 years we've been together (knock on wood) but it sure did make me realize how vital he is to me!

Best laid plans

So I made 49 of these for a swap on Mailblocks. I used about 40 different fabrics and sewed my little heart out planning on making a quilt for our bed when all was said and done. I was so happy to have finished them early.

Then I was informed that what I made were not the Tennessee blocks from Quilterscache. Grrr! Back to the drawing board! I guess that's what I get for using a doodle for a pattern rather than using an actual copy.

However, a bonus will be a bed quilt and a couch quilt by the time all is said and done!

Mutterings 1/5 and 1/12

1. Mist :: morning


2. Eating :: table


3. Beacon :: light


4. Speaker :: woofer


5. Episodes :: soap opera


6. Conference :: call


7. Sneak attack :: fish


8. Medic :: army


9. Web :: spider


10. 2008 :: new

1. Dream big ::clouds


2. Competition :: beat


3. Torn :: fabric


4. Modeling :: clay


5. Coaster :: roller


6. Slut :: new york


7. Spread :: butter


8. Amanda :: cousin


9. Romance :: novel


10. Paradise :: palm trees

to play along, visit:

http://subliminal.lunanina.com/um/ind/week_258/

New year and busting through the stash

I guess the start of a new year makes every quilter retrospective. What did I accomplish? What didn't I finish? What new things did I start? This year, my thoughts are revolving around my stash. I considered pulling everything off the shelves and out of the drawers, refolding very neatly and reorganizing according to color and the size of the piece. But then I remembered all the UFOs and swap blocks I have sitting around and I feel irresponsible fondling fabric when I could be putting my energies to better use.

So my focus for the beginning of this year is to start working my way through all the fabric I have sitting here. I seem to go through cycles when I buy fabric. I go through a stock up on the basics phase, then I go through a buy huge pieces just because they're on sale phase, then I go through a buy fat quarters phase, etc. The fabrics that seem to be assaulting my sensibilities right now are the ones I bought on sale. I never fully fell in love with them so there's no reason to have 5 yards of black red and green floral hanging around anymore.
So I have decided to start using these unloved fabrics up in one way or another. I go to retreat in May and i will be taking whats left of the unloved fabrics with me for the 'dumping ground' and whatever is left will be donated to Peggy, the Project Linus coordinator for northern Indiana. I'm sure she'll be able to put it all to good use.

This is 2006 Rowrobin from Mailblocks. I was hoping for a Delftware looking quilt of all blues and whites only. However when it was returned to me there were other colors, pink included. It sat in my drawer for over a year while I pouted about the addition of other colors despite my specific instructions. Last week I pulled it out and decided I would just embrace the pink and used one of my unloved blue and pink florals to border it (rather difficult to see the pink in the blue border fabric) and do a small inner border of a pink that I have had lying around. Now I am working on a back made of swapped blocks and other blue and pink unloved ones to finish it up.

2006 Baglady done for me by Liz at Beyondbeginners

Liz did a great job working outside of her comfort zone regarding fabrics on this one. Its been sitting here for a while. I've been trying to figure out a quilting design to do it justice. (finally decided on a geometrical stippling of straight vertical and horizontal lines, sorry don't have a close up)

To back it, I pulled out some unloved, a yellow brick looking fabric and a pale green floral. Its hard to see the whole thing, there are four yellow squares framed in the pale green.

Muttering again

1. Memorable :: event


2. Resolution :: again


3. Goal :: field


4. 2008 :: new


5. Sensational ::too good to be true


6. Popular demand :: back by


7. Old :: shoes


8. Music :: lyrics


9. Intense :: training


10. 2007 :: old

to play along, visit: http://subliminal.lunanina.com

Happy Halloween?

Well doesn't time fly? Where the heck have I been? Hope you all had a great holiday, ours was pretty quiet, which was nice because the months leading up to it were pretty hectic.

I did want to share my

2007 Purple Purples! Row Robin from Mailblocks

That's it for now, hope to see you all sooner than 2 months from now! :-)