Sun Bonnet Sue is moving along

Well it has been a while since I have posted time does fly by. I have all the Sun Bonnet Sue’s attached to their blocks for the first quilt. “Yes there is going to be two of them”  I have them laid out on two twin beds the black sashing is not in place yet. I not sure I like the placement of the blocks.

Take a look and tell me what you think!

I still have to put black sashing between each block and that will help I just trying to balance the light and the dark borders.

 

What is going on in my sewing room!

LOL that title sound very ominous. I have been sewing like crazy the last week on the Sun Bonnet Sue project. There are 14 Sue’s to be attached to the black background in there block. I have 30 total Sue blocks so that is going to mean a second quilt. Originally my thought was to make a smaller wall hanging quilt to use the blocks that were not in the main quilt.

Then after laying things out if we use 14 Sue blocks in the quilt and then do a picture of the block maker on one of the squares there are enough blocks to make two quilts. I doubled my work on this project but I think it is a perfect plan to have two quilts they are both going to be queen size.  So far they are going together just as easy as pie. I debated at first if I was going to machine button hole stitch around the Sue blocks when I put them on the black background but the more I thought about it with the Sue blocks all hand button hole stitched I just could not go to the sewing machine for that part.  It is a showy part of the quilt and so I really feel that they should be hand stitched down.

Yepper it is more work but it really is going fast. I have 7 blocks all ready stitched down and only 7 more to go for this top. Then I need to sew the black sashing around the blocks and the top will be done. I am debating if this quilt would be better to have it hand quilted or if machine quilting would be good.  Decisions decisions. Though the owner will have some say in that part of it.  I am leaning toward suggesting that the quilt be hand quilted.

I took a picture of the blocks that I have done and the one I am working on as they are on my flannel wall. Some of the colors are not where I want them to be on the outer border of the blocks but they can be moved around that is not a big deal yet.

I also am working hard on getting the blocks done so I can sew the black sashing on them since it is on sale this coming weekend and 20% off is a good deal.

Fun and interesting New Years

We had a fun and interesting New Year’s Eve. A lot of times have some friends stop over and that was the plan. We got together during the day with some other friends and then they ran back went back to where they were staying and the other friends stop in.
Usually we hang out until midnight and then everyone heads home well the next group went out to eat and then the decided to head home around 10:00. They had a long day the day before and just decided that they were going to give them selves a break and head home early.
Along with all of this our granddaughter came to stay also. So she and I stayed up until midnight and then headed off to bed. Grandpa only made it until about 11:00 and he decided to head up stairs to bed then. I might of gone along but somebody wanted to see in the new year.
Along with New Years we gave our granddaughter and  her mom a Christmas presents but I did not get my camera out so no pictures sorry. Each one got a quilt this year. Then on New Years Day  DGD and I made a Cell phone carrier for her cell phone from a pattern I had. She picked out the colors from my stash an then we went to town it is a cute little kitty face and then has a pocket on the back of it that hold the cell phone and a loop so she can put it around her wrist or loop it around her back pack. It was a cute little item I may try and make another one.
DGD stitched the whiskers on the kitties face and had so much fun doing that little bit she wanted to try some more embroidery so I have a simple design with a vine around it and a snowman in the middle and the words Let it Snow and so we drew that on some fabric and she took that home with her last night to work on and when it id done I promised to finish it off.  It is a little wall quilt item I picked up I think last year after Christmas.
If I did not have so many projects all ready I would be tempted to make one up for me. I have a group of blocks to try and get done on my Farmers Wife quilt. Plus the Sun Bonnet Sue’s to attach down on the black squares.  I think there are a couple other projects to work on finishing also.
So no new things to start for a little while I do think I should finish off a couple of those UFO’s first and catch up on what I am to have done by my self imposed deadlines.
I wished we had snap a picture of the little kitty purse for her phone I may try and get her Mommy to do that for me. Along with the quilt too.

A Dr. Seuss Give away

Check out this give away of some fun Dr. Seuss Fabrics. See the Give away here.

I hope to get back to working on my Farmers Wife quilt blocks this week. I have all the blocks sewn and am ready to attach the Sun Bonnet Sue blocks in the black area. I cannot decided if I should had stitch them down or machine stitch them down. I am leaning towards the hand work even though I have tons of hand work going right now.  After putting the block together I recounted where we are at and I have 13 Sun Bonnet Sue blocks left.  I stop over and had Pat the lady I am making this quilt for check it out. She paying for the fabric and I am putting it all together free for her.

If I take one of the Sun Bonnet Sue’s out of this first top we could put a picture of her mother in once square and then there are enough blocks to do a second quilt and putting a picture of her mother in that quilt too.  Since she has a son and daughter she could then in time have a quilt for each of her children or she has 2 granddaughters and a grandson that maybe these quilts could then go to them. The jury is out yet but I think that would be a wonderful plan.

She is so happy with how the quilt is looking so we are moving forward in a very positive way on this project.

Cookies

I have not made this recipe in a while but was in the mood for some Chocolate Chip type cookies

So this is what I decided to make
Chicago Crunch Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup margarine, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 T milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 Cup Vegetable oil
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup corn flakes
3 1/2 cup flour
3 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-12 oz chocolate chips
Slivered Almonds
Cream first 5 ingredients. Add egg; beat. Add oil, oatmeal, and corn flakes and mix well. Sift dry ingredients and add to moisture. Stir in Chips and almonds. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 min.

It has been a Christmas with some sad news in it. We received a call from a niece that her sister had passed away. She is not that much older then our son and so the news was very unexpected that is for sure. As to what happen they are not sure. It is just a sad thing she was so happy earlier this year she just got married on 10/10/2010 and was starting her new life with her new husband and able to now go back to teaching what she loved because he covered her under his insurance so she could substitute teach and in time hope to find a job at a school.

We have not heard yet when the funeral  will be but I am sure that her parents and sister are having a hard Christmas.

No Sun Bonnet Sue’s on the quilt yet

Well I am working on the Sun Bonnet Sue project and I am moving along nicely. I put some of the blocks up on the wall to see how they look and so far so good. You have to use your imagination a little bit. the blocks are going to have black sashing between them and right now on my white flannel wall there is not black sashing between them.

Still not to bad for the rose blocks the Sun Bonnet Sue’s are going in the black open space’s I think they will be button holed down around the edges of the muslin squares that they are on centered in the black squares.  The Sue blocks are to close to the edges for me to piece them into a quilt and so this seem to be the best plan.

Tuesday the week of Christmas

Well we got a bunch more snow yesterday at least no freezing rain or sleet that was predicted. I think it quit snowing around 6:00 or so might have been a little earlier then that not sure.  Today is one of my late start days I get two in the week. Unfortunately I got up early and got ready to go in because with the weather I was not sure if my co worker could make it she lives on a gravel road and if the wind got nasty last night it would not of been easy for her to make it in.

I called her around 5:30 and she was in and all was going well so I now have extra time this morning. That I seem to be not using constructively and playing computer games. I have lots of other things I could and probably should be doing. Oh well that is how it goes.

I did get a bunch of the rose blocks and black squares sewn with outside color strips.  So this project is coming along nicely!

New Project Sun Bonnet Sue, Weather

Last year at Christmas I promised a good friend that I would finish off the quilt blocks she had. They were made by her mother and are Sun Bonnet Sue on a swing. With each Sue’s dress made out of left over fabric from her school dresses. These blocks have been around a while and a few of them needed to be button hole around and over the last year that has gotten done.

So I am going to set the blocks together with a black fabric and border them with another fabric around that and opposite blocks are a rose preprinted fabric.

Here is a picture of sort of how they are going together.

 

I have a different print to go around the blocks so that each Sun  Bonnet Sue and each rose block will have the same border then a black sashing between them.  Each Sun Bonnet block is button holed down on a muslin piece of fabric the plan is to button hole that into the center of the black square.   They were to fragile and the applique part was to close to the border to actually piece the blocks with out loosing part of the applique.

So this is the plan.

On to weather  this is what it looks like out my window as I sit at my sewing machine.

 

Farmer’s Wife update

Well I have all but one block done off the list I am to be working on the last two months Oct. and Nov. Now there are more blocks for Dec but I am not going to worry about doing them until the week between Christmas and New Years.

 

All of these are hand pieced.

Dec. and now what!

I am moving along nicely with my Farmer’s Wife quilt blocks I got another group just about done I am one short of the ones I was to do in Nov. Today is the group meeting but it is not going to work out for me to go to it.

We have two vehicles and unfortunately one of them has been acting up and this weekend decided to just not work/start.  You turn the key and it grinds and grinds but will not turn over.

Today was my guild meeting but Fred had a job interview/appointment and since I kind of think that is more important them my going to a quilt meeting I am staying home.  I had scheduled to get off work early so I did that and am thinking I will do some cleaning this morning/afternoon and go to the evening guild meeting. 

Farmer’s Wife quilt continued

Well earlier this week I was able to get a group of the blocks ready to sew together. I have 2 sewn together now and 1 about half done. So they are moving along nicely the goal is to have this group done by the next quilt guild meeting. on Dec 7th. So far if I can keep at them over the next few days I am pretty sure I will have them done in time.
The organizing the sewing room has not gotten far. As I seem to take one step forward the progress goes backward as I cut out blocks for a quilt or do some other project. Oh well as long as thing seem to swim to the surface where I can find them no big deal.
I will try and take some pictures of the new blocks done later I need to pick up batteries for the camera.

Electronic gadgets can be such a pain

I have an iPod touch that I normally dearly love to use.  Yesterday I found a book in a set of 3 I wanted to download off the web site provided by our local library. I love having downloadable books to listen to as I am working on projects specially if the project is one that does not take a lot of concentration to complete.   So found the book added it to my cart and downloaded it to my computer then you need to transfer the book from that program to your devices that you are using to listen to the book with.

Sounds easy right well to download it to my iPod you have to use iTunes also no big deal make sure the setting are right and go for it. Then you can let it transfer and you are good to go. For some reason this book will not transfer. The previous book moved over to the iPod no problem but not this one. I figured ok no big deal I would just reload the iPod not a huge deal just have to adjust some things and the I can put things back into it.

You know what it is like when you think messing with an electronic gadget will not be a problem that is when you run into major issues. It took me most of the evening to get thru all the hoops and get it reloaded. Then the final straw is this morning I go to transfer the book and nope it will not transfer. So now I am in a quandary as to what to try next.

I have a second smaller player that I have not used in a while since I got the iPod so figured I would just charge that and use it to listen to this book well that plan is not going well either. I cannot find that player any where so it looks like I am going to be doing a major cleaning search for that gadget and hopefully I will find it before my 1 week loan on the book has run out.

I can listen to the book by playing it on the computer but that is just not as convenient having to move the lap top to what ever room I travel too since I don’t always stay put when listening a lot of time I am working on cleaning up and you know how that never seems to work all in one space at one time. You have to run and put something away etc.

I may just have to contact apple and see if they have any ideas though the last time they said it was the other program not there sure easy to blame something else.

Wonder where that Post Went

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Yesterday I did up a post and now I check and it does not seem to be any where. Hmm weird

Sunday started out with a scratch throat and Monday turned into a full blown cold that pretty much made the rest of this week miserable.

It has gone from a sinus cold to a chest cold and much more workable to deal with a simple cough and a little congestion and I am guessing a few more days to another week knock on wood I can shake that off too.

So all I have been doing is either sleeping or working and not a lot of anything else. Yesterday and today have not been to bad the rest of the week I do not want to do over!!!!

I skipped my small guild meeting on Monday one I did not want to share the germs with them and two after doing my think at work all I wanted to do was crawl back into bed and that is exactly what I did.

Today is a cold dark and rainy day. At least we are not seeing any of that white rain stuff. That too will probably happen as time moves on

Farmer’s Wife Update

Today I finished the first 6 block for the month of Oct. Our two wonderful group leaders have gone thru the list of blocks and selected blocks that use similar type of units in the blocks.
So far I have enjoyed the hand piecing of these blocks it is an experience but a rather fun one.
I also took pictures of my sewing room after the program on an organizer I thought it might be interesting to see what I can do with the info she told us in the program.

This is a panoramic view starting with the south West corner and working around the room. sure is looking kind of messy in this shot but that is how it is.
The closet area with the shelves full of fabric most of it is organized either by size of piece or color. The set of drawers has different things like elastic, ribbon, zippers, and rick rack in the different drawers. I have finished quilt  tops and some fabric that is suited for clothing hanging.

Quilt Guild

Well Tue at quilt guild we had a speaker Becky Esker about organization and setting up a system etc. A lot of what she said made so much sense.

Plus I always thought of those movie/tv sets you know nothing out of place etc. Well she definitely stated you can be organized and not be all fussy and neat. I thought that was interesting and in a lot of ways true being organized means that you can find what you are looking for. Not that everything is all sealed away in closets/drawers/or shelves.

I also thought it was interesting that the plan is to go thru things sort it and figure out what you need/want and what you can clear out and then get things to organize into and not to do it in reverse get a bunch of containers and then try and organize what you have to fit the containers.

Definitely a worth while program put on by an excellent speaker

I started a new quilt a little while back

Farmer's Wife quilt has 111 block in it and are 6 inch square finshed size blocks. I am going to attempt to hand piece these blocks. So this is the first block done.

Not the greatest photo but it works. I don't know if I will like hand piece or not but figured it might be fun to try.

Pictures from Northeast Iowa Quilt Guild show.

I did not take a lot of pictures just a few here and there.

 

This quilt is called Star Spin and won a Viewer’s Choice on Saturday of the show.

This quilt won best of show of the judged items. Not all items at the show are judge it is a choice made by the member entering the item if they wanted it judged or not. This is a very light pastel quilt and the photo is not the greatest.

Another wining quilt

The shading in this quilt was done with thread it is a machine stitched whole cloth with lots and lots of stitching  on the quilt

Where has the time gone

Hard to believe how long it has been since I have been on here with the blog. Life has been crazy busy it seems like. Between going to a niece's wedding and reception, quilt show and getting the binding on a quilt.  

I had two quilts in the show  this one a 9 patch that you make and cut in quarters and a Triple Irish Chain. The tops have been done for a while but got them to a quilter this summer. Love how she quilted them. 

I got the fabric for the Triple Irish Chain and had a lot of the pink, blue and light print I made the 9 patch quilt I think it is called Shattered 9 patch.  I also took my Over the Fence wall hanging for display (it was in an earlier post.

I will try and post a few more pictures from the show later.

Labor Day Weekend

Had a wonderful weekend with son and his wife. DS got my old lap top up and running now I think I am going to need to replace the heat sink in it and probably get a cooling pad for it. So now Fred will have a computer too.

  
    We wandered around the country side  and took Stef to pet a cow.( I do have pictures of that I will post later)  I don’t know if it was a life time dream but it was an experience. The cow wanted to lick her just like a doggie would only the tongue is a lot longer.


So this morning we sent them on there merry way home to Colorado. Hope they have a good drive home and don’t run into any funky weather on the way.


Also we have been picking a friends garden and have an over abundance of produce so did some dealing with that also. Shredded  a bunch of what is called Zucchetta it taste and is like zucchinis and we have been eating it sliced and fried, in a quick bread, and today I mixed a cup of zucchetta with 2 eggs, added onion, garlic and salt to taste then decided it was kind of runny so added a Tablespoon of flour.  Plopped about a 1/3 cup of the mixture in a skillet and fried it kind of like you would a potato pancake. We ate it with some left over Pesto sauce and it was good something to make again that is for sure.  It would be a good side dish or morning breakfast dish. I think it would be good with a salsa on the side and maybe some sour cream. (sorry I did not think to take a picture of it)

So many things to do now to get at it

I been busy finish off baby bibs for the Friends of the Library baby gift bag kits. I think I have two bib left to get done.

I think that and some housework is the plan for the day. Plus going out to visit Jeana and Loren and seeing their new to them camper.  So I should get off my hind end and get to it.

Plus there is always some house work to be done.