Beginning of School Giveaway

Wow!!! It is a beautiful day today, the humidity is down, the sky is blue, the clouds are big and puffy white..... and tomorrow is the first day of school.

I had started this bag as an instructional piece for a bag class I taught and decided it would be a great giveaway to launch the school year. It is made over the Weekender Bag pattern and I used the end of my Charisma Jelly roll. I have one just like it and love the way the fabrics go together.

So, here's the deal. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite school memory is. Please remember I MUST have a way to get in touch with you so anonymous blog comments won't be counted.

The drawing will be held on Friday, September 4 at 4 pm EST.

Good luck!!!

My Quilt Odyssey Purchase

You may recall that Quilt Odyssey was held in Hershey, PA at the beginning of August. I only made one purchase..... and that was to order a Tutto case for my Bernina. It finally arrived last Friday and I just got around to unpacking it last night.

I love it!!!! Can't wait to pack Bernie in and take him to retreat. They had a great show price and no shipping charges. Can't beat that!!!

Giveaway at Anka's Treasures

Heather Mulder Peterson is having an awesome giveaway at her blog to celebrate her blogiversary. I love her designs and have a couple of her books waiting to be open and patterns picked - a great way to use a jelly roll by the way.

Anyway, click on over and wish her a happy day!!!! The grand prize is this beautiful quilt !! I love blue and yellow and white together. There are two other prizes offered as well.

Happy blogging!!

AQS now hosting the Lancaster Show

I just got an email newsletter that AQS is hosting the Lancaster Quilt Show in March, 2010. Just wanted to pass along the news.

Quilty hugs and dreams!!!

When making pattern adjustments......

it is always wise to write down ALL of the new measurements correctly. Needless to say I had to re-cut 144 pieces for the crayon box. They were to be 5-inches long instead of 4.5-inches. So now I have these pieces for another project. Maybe another crayon box or a pineapple blossom. Thankfully it isn't a total loss.

Hope your day is measuring up a bit better (hehehe)

Counting down

We start school on the 31st. Actually teachers have to be there on the 26th and 27th; the kids come back on the 31st.

I spent most of today in school going through some of my beginning of the year things, tweaking here and there. I'll be back in tomorrow to do collaboration with the other two teachers that teach World Cultures. The district wants us to try and stay as together as possible if you know what I mean.

My pieces for the Crayon Box quilt are tucked neatly in their box staring at me. They might come back out sooner than I had thought........... major fabric manipulation withdrawal going on here.

*sigh*..............................

Last big cutting fling of the summer

I think I'm coming down with an end of the summer cold......yuck!! This isn't something I wanted to start the school year with. Needless to say I'm not in the best of moods to start thinking about getting ready for school. So I decided to spend a couple of hours cutting pieces for another project.

Thanks to Bonnie Hunter's Scrap Users System, I've been cutting ends of pieces of fabric into useful size strips and my drawers holding those strips are over-flowing. Two years ago a few of us at guild got together and shared strips and made her Pineapple Blossom pattern. Now I've decided to use more of the strips and make her Crayon Box pattern. I've changed it a little as I am using two inch wide strips instead of 2.5-inch.

As you can see I was busy cutting. I had made one block a long time ago to see if I liked the scrappy look of it and only found it a couple of weeks ago. Love the little tally marks on the post it note? By the end I was getting a little tally mark crazy. I had to cut 216 pieces at 3.5-inches long, 144 pieces at 4.5 inches long, 72 pieces at 6.5 inches long and 36 squares 3.5 inches square for the centers of each block.

So tomorrow I will head to school while the twins are out school clothes shopping with their grandmother. Time to get my rear in gear for the year (LOL.... great rhyming).

End of summer hugs to you all!!!

The light bulb came on again!

I'm going to be teaching a tote bag class next weekend and need to get my sample pieces ready. I decided to cross-hatch the outside pieces. I start out making one line in two of the corners as a starting point, then use the 'little metal thingy' on my walking foot as a guide set at 2.5-inches.

Going along the first side, I was eye-balling the angle to start at when I thought, ' why not put a piece of blue painters tape on the table surface in line with the metal thingy?' That way I can line-up the line I just quilted on the tape and hopefully it will be a little better than eye-balling from a couple of inches away.

Here are some pics if you aren't sure what I'm talking about.

Does anyone else have these light-bulb moments??

Scotland for the Senses

I'm surfing blogs again when I should be cleaning up the sewing room and possibly rearranging again (I know I know, I have to figure this out some day!).

I found a blog (from another blog) called "Scotland for the Senses". Scotland has always been one of those places of intrigue and interest for me. My oldest daughter has a pen pal in Scotland and has come home twice with some really lovely pictures.

Anyway, if you are at all interested in this area of the world, please go check it out.

Unexpected Accomplishment

Kevin's cousin announced she is expecting her first a couple of months ago and then last week I found out it is going to be a boy. I went to the LQS last week and found some cute duck fabric and was able to get this rail fence quilt pieced, pinned and quilted over the last few days.

I really like making rail fence for baby quilts. It is quick, easy, and you can show off your fabric choices in a simple way.

It is quilted using a loopy meander and a variegated YLI thread called California Poppy. I decided to use the Red/Orange/Yellow thread to quilt it to bring out the color of the ducks. It is about 48x54.... I like making big baby quilts so that it can be grown into.

Where were you??????

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music Festival. What was I doing in 1969? I was seven, and we lived in Scotia, NY........ about 68 miles north of where the festival took place.

Obviously, I was totally clueless. We were in the process of selling our house and little did we know that the winter of 1969-70 would be incredible ........... so much snow that the "For Sale" sign was on a mound of snow that was actually taller than the garage. It was like driving down a tunnel to get to the house.

So where were you? Did you go to Woodstock?

Another friend hooked on blogging

My friend Judie has discovered blogging.... she is the Quilted Scottie. Please take a moment and go say hi and give her a big "Woo-Woo" welcome.

Quilty hugs,

Van - again

Ok, so I picked up the van yesterday. The only change right now is that the AC pump is disconnected which means there is no AC. It goes in on the 24th to get the pump replaced......around $1000 give or take. So, my 'new refrigerator' is sitting down in the garage on four wheels.

"sigh"

Dead Van update

First of all this is not my van........ it is a picture of what my van looks like that I found through Google Images. I am sure that this van actually runs.

I love my mechanic........ he is my new best friend. I called up today (less than a mile 'behind us over the hill) and wasn't sure I would get anyone on the phone as they don't have operating hours on Monday. Yahoo!!!! Someone answered. When I told the gal what was up, she said "Hold on" and the next thing I knew my favorite car dude was on the phone asking "What did you do now???". Of course my response was "I wasn't driving..... HE was".... which got him to laugh.

Long story short, when I described what happened he said "Are you gonna be there a while? It sounds like you have more wrong than a busted belt." HOW MANY MECHANICS MAKE HOUSE CALLS!!!!!! Apparently the AC pump locked up.

He drove it up (power steering is out), I drove his truck...... and he brought me back.

You know, Random Acts of Kindness still exist in this messed up world. I think there is hope for the future yet.

Finally Finished!!!!

Bonnie Hunter is a fantastic scrappy quilter. This quilt is from the Orange Crush mystery she posted on her yahoo list a year or two ago (been so long I can't remember). Anyway, I finished it last night!!!

This was my "I want to get this quilted and done" this summer project and I was determined to have it done this weekend. I quilted it on my Bernina 440QE without the BSR. I think it turned out well. I've decided to call my version "Tropical Rush" because of the pink, lime, and blue. The flowers were done freehand and the then meandering was done on the other areas.

I'm just glad it's finished......... I feel like I actually accomplished something quilty this summer.

Wanted (looking for): Crocs

I am looking for a pair of Burgundy Mary Jane crocs in a size 10. The store near by that carries Crocs does not have burgundy, and the website no longer carries them.

If you have a store near you (US only please) that carries these and you happen to find a pair of maroon in my size, and you are willing to purchase and ship and wait for my return check, please let me know.

I had the chance to get these last fall and fooled around (aka talking myself out of them) until I couldn't get them anymore.

Oh why burgundy you ask? Our school colors are maroon and gray. Go Team!!

Thank you!!!

New Car and a Dead Car

I figured I had better introduce the new car. Thanks to the President's program we were able to trade in our '93 Voyager Mini-van for a new Chevrolet HHR. We've had it for a week and we really like it. Beth really likes the Broadway station on the XM radio.

Of course, now that we have the new car, the '04 Dodge Caravan has pitched a fit and busted a belt. It smells like burned rubber in the garage, but thankfully it happened today and not tomorrow when Kevin rides to Dulles to pick up Erin. She's coming home after six weeks in England.... and I'm anxious to see her.

Hope you all have happy vehicles!!

I love my children................

did you hear the big BUT on the end of that sentence?????

Am I doing something wrong here? I had to run some errands this morning; and before I left I told the twins THREE times "When the dryer buzzer goes off, please make sure to get the clothes out so your father's shirts don't wrinkle up and move the laundry over from the washer."

I guess only one of my three heads was speaking and evidently not in English because three hours later, nothing had been taken care of. So while I was getting little short of angry the oldest calls from England and wants to know how we can best get her friend to Richmond from Dulles so that ................. well, you don't need to know all of that.

This was a test of the Everyday Parenting System....... this was only a test. Had this been an actually meltdown, you would have been advised to proceed to pulling your hair out and banging your head against the wall. Please return to your normal activity and wait for the next breakdown.

Hope you are having a good day wherever you are.

My kind of summer weather!!

The humidity is down/gone/non-existent today. Low 80's today, in the 50's tonight..... My kind of summer weather. It could be like this all summer and I would be one happy camper. As soon as the humidity starts to rise, the AC will go back on again.

Anyway, here a some pics I just took out in the backyard. You can see Kevin is just thrilled to death to have his picture taken with Smokey. She doesn't get out much being an indoor cat so we have to babysit her. The Hibiscus is blooming like mad and the Butterfly Bush exploded this year. It will have to be moved before next summer - away from the house a little and getting a little more sun.

Hope you have a nice evening wherever you are!

Charming Girls Quilt Club August Challenge

I started quilting this yesterday, and realized this morning that I need to post my August 'hope to finish' for the Charming Girls Quilt Club. I hope this counts .....as it has been pinned and ready to quilt since Easter break. It is my last major 'want to get done' in the summer project before I dive into getting ready for school.

Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Regulated v Non-regulated

I guess I should start off by saying I love my Bernina machine(s) that I have owned. I love the way they sew and I loved my 150 for quilting. I had decided to give Viking a try and while I liked the way it sewed, I didn't like it for free-motion quilting because of the shape of the front of the machine - I couldn't see what I was doing.

Now that I have the Bernina Aurora 440 QE, I decided it was time to give the regulator a second try (I had test driven it when it first came out). My impression is still the same....... I don't like it. I have been told that if you learn to free-motion without a regulator, trying to use one is nothing but frustration. I totally agree. I know that when I go to a quilt show and play on the long arm machiens, I always asked them to turn the regulator off.

So while I love the way Aurora sews, I won't be using the BSR and it will be sleeping in its little box in the drawer. I do know one thing........... if I tell hubby I want to change machines again, I'll be sleeping out in the garage LOL

Quilty Hugs!!

Free Bag Tutorials

I love surfing blogs and finding blogs on other blogs and discovering blogs and........... well you get the idea. I just added two new blogs to my reader list.

One of the blogs I found today is Just Another Hang Up. While scrolling down through her posts I found some info on the DIY Bag Lover Blog. WOW!! Loads of free bag tutorials. Click on the name of the blog and go explore. I've also loaded her button on my side bar.

Tri-Recs and Jelly Roll Strips - Final Chapter

I'm not going to scream.... actually I think it turned out OK. I might lose a point here and there, but that can be fixed by more accurate piecing. I didn't like the method in the book at all. I found if I cut a 6-inch section out of the strips (two strips laying right sides together) I can get 2 cuts which is four star points. I do have to remember to take a scant 1/4-inch seam though.

Overall I'm pleased. Only 11 blocks and 9 partial blocks to go.

I'll keep you posted. Thanks for letting me growl.

Jelly Roll strips and tri-recs ruler

For those of you who read my blog, the post I made the other day asking about tri-recs rulers and jelly rolls trips............ well I took your advice and tried it out on scraps.

Well, it ended up one-eighth inch shy; and after stepping away for a while I guess I could take a scant 1/4-inch seam.

This is truly frustrating me....... maybe I should come up with a plan B

Stay tuned for the next episode when we hear Nancy say........... ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!