Rose Log Cabin is finished....... Woohoo!!!

 I finally have a finish, and it feels soooooooo good. Rose Log Cabin, designed by Deloa Jones, started, according to this blog in July of 2011. It is now on my bed, because this one is staying right here.

Here's a close up of the center section. I quilted leaf shapes into the dark green areas, and petal shapes into the reds. The beige backgrounds are filled with fern type leaves, and the dark green geese shapes and squares have continuous curves.

I decided to keep the design simple, and put the fern type leaves and curls into the light green background areas as well.

And I also managed to get the matching pillow cases done. I used the fabric from the backing for the main body of the pillow case, the green as the contrast colour, and red as the cuff.

And here's the binding, done with the mock piping technique, again using the red, with the same fabric as the backing and the pillow case for the piping. So, that is 3 out of 5 goals that I set for this week done. Once more...... Woohoo!!!

I'm linking this post up to Amylouwho's Sew and Tell and to Sarah's Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, because I am definitely whoop whooping. I'm also linking to a new Friday linky that I found, hosted by Elizabeth at Pieceful life called Show off Friday

UFO progress and a customer quilt.

Actually, that should read lack of progress. The UFO for May didn't even get out of its box, and I don't think the one for June is going to get touched, either. (sigh) The good news is that I got April's loaded back onto the machine, and it is now 3/4 finished. It is being quite densely quilted, so it is taking a while to get it done.
Right now I'm kind of in the middle of a bunch of projects, and not close to getting anything done. I always end up feeling so frustrated when that happens, with there being not enough hours in the day to get finished what I want to finish. I want to get this quilt finished. I want to finish the Heartland Star. I want to work on more New York Beauties. I'm really wanting to start a new quilt, a scrappy type one. And I'm really bad at sticking to just one thing at a time until it is finished, since most of my projects are big, and take lots of time. Sometimes I get to the point where there is so much that I want to do that I end up frozen, and not able to do anything, because there are too many choices. I am there now. So, I have decided that I am going to keep working on this Rose Log Cabin quilt until it is finished, binding included. Then I will finish the Heartland Star, or at least get it to flimsy stage, before I start anything new. And there have been 3 customer quilts finished in the last 2 weeks, as well, 2 of them I can't show yet, because they haven't gone home yet.

I can show you one that I did for Gail. She did up a Swoon block as table topper as a gift, that I quilted for her.
I love the colours that she used in this. They are so bright and happy and summery. It has continuous curves in the pieced areas, and feathers in the borders.There is another one of these here waiting to be done, but in earth tones that will go on the machine once I've finished with mine. It will get quilted the same way. And now, if I have any hope at all of getting something done today, I really should get off the computer and get something quilty done.

Sneak Peak

 Well. I really can't say that I've gotten a lot accomplished this week. Not in terms of something I can see, or put my hands on, at least. I did get My Rose Log Cabin quilt loaded and started. I have 2 rows of it done, with 10 more to go. I'm doing a petal shape in the rose section and a leaf shape in the dark green. I'm doing continuous curves in the flying geese, and a fern type leaf background fill in the light green and beige areas. I'm happy with the way it is looking, but it is taking forever, mostly since I haven't had large chunks of time to work on it.
My husband and I have been spending a lot of time talking and planning lately. He has lost a lot of his hearing due to Meniere's disease, which has impacted his ability to work. He is a nurse, and being able to hear the patients is rather important. So, he'll either be going on a disability pension,

or he'll be retiring. Either option involves a large decrease in our income. And of course, it is no where near as simple as that, when dealing with hospital corporations and their "protocols" they have to follow in cases like this.
We've made a few decisions. We are going to be purchasing a new freezer to replace the one that died shortly after Becca's wedding. We'll put in a small vegetable garden this spring, and then attempt to go out to the farms in our area and freeze fruits and vegetables in season. There are a lot of organic farms very close to us that sell both vegetables and beef, pork and chicken.
Yesterday, after going out to see about ordering a new front door, we went to pick up a few groceries. I must confess right here that I haven't been out to do a major grocery shop in quite a while. Scott does the majority of our grocery shopping.  (He takes such good care of me) I was absolutely knocked over by some of the prices, especially for the ground beef. They wanted $7.99 for a one poundish package of lean ground beef. I remembered reading not that long ago  Judy Laquidara's post about her meat grinder. I pulled it up, re-read it, talked to Scott about it, and the possible cost savings in the long term. On top of that, there have been e-coli scares about ground beef here lately, and our wonderful government is talking about cutting costs by reducing the numbers of meat inspectors out there. So, we've ordered one. The other thing that blew me away was the cost of a loaf of bread, over 3 dollars for a good one. So the bread machine has been put back to use. And then, as if that isn't enough, I've been seeing posts lately for making our own laundry detergent. There is a good one about it here. So, after the last of our current bottle is done, we'll be doing that as well. In the past, I've been the one to do the vegetable prep and freezing, the bread making and the vegetable gardening. But Scott will now take it on, once I show him how, since he will be home, and I'll still be working. All this has taken up TONS of time, just with the research and the talking about it. But I'm hoping we're over the hump, and on the road to putting into practice some of what we've been talking about. The first step is done, the freezer is ordered, and will be picked up May 5th. If the meat grinder is here by then, we plan on going out to our local Costco and picking up a couple of their large beef cuts and making some ground beef. And I'm going to order some chickens from a local organic producer to put in the freezer, as well. I'll put up the occasional post about how it is all going. Somewhere in all this there has to be time to quilt. (sigh)

Work in Progress Wednesday Aug. 31

I need to give a loud WOOHOO!!! here. I just finished my Rose Log Cabin quilt. The border is on, and it is ready for quilting. Now all I have to do is finish the quilt that is currently on the machine. That is going to take some more time. But, for at least the next day or 2, my WIP list is one shorter, but my lists still look pretty grim, and there is a lot of work to do to get them finished.

Finishes:            1
Active WIP's, 3, My Tweets, RRCB, and Shakespeare in the Park
Leaders and ender projects: 2
Waiting to be quilted:                  10
Waiting to be bound:         4
UFOs:                                    6
Hopelessly UFO:             9

Yikes, that's still a lot of projects waiting to be finished. Oh well, at least it is now 1 shorter. However, I have another project that is going to get started sometime in the next week, so it isn't likely to get  any shorter anytime soon. The Batman fabric is all washed. So, after doing the ironing of all that fabric, I can start the Batman quilt for my son for Christmas. So much fun!! I'm going to link this post to the Freshly Pieced blog which hosts a linky party for work in progress reports. My numbers are big, but it is a relief to know that I'm not the only one.

Design Wall Monday August 29

The blocks are all finished!!! Woohoo!! I can start sewing it all together. And I'll give another woohoo!! I got the last of the dark green triangles sewn on yesterday, at 2:15, 25 minutes before I had to go to work. Plenty of time left over for getting changed into uniform, making my large coffee to go to work with me, and taking out a frozen leftover meal to take for supper. Depending on traffic, it is only a 5 minute drive, so lots of time to spare. I am really looking forward to getting this all sewn together. And that is what I am planning for the rest of today. For more design walls, hop on over to Judy's Patchwork Times I'm making this a short post, so I can get to sewing.

Design Wall Monday August 15

As you can see, I've made some progress on the Rose Log Cabin. I first saw this pattern quite a few years ago on the APQS forums as designed by a very talented lady named Deloa Jones. I fell in love at first sight, but never did anything about it, until I finally ordered the pattern a month or 2 ago. I worked on it for quite a while yesterday, and the blocks are now more than half done. I'm really, really liking it.
There's not a whole lot more new here, and I have to run and get  DH back to work, so that I can get to work this afternoon. To see more design walls, check out  Patchwork Times where there is always lots to see.

Design Wall Monday August 1

There is something kinda sad about August. It's still summer, but it means the end of summer is in sight, now. I love summer, even with all the heat and humidity. I love being able to hook up the trailer and go. I love being able to sit out on the swing in the yard for my morning coffee. I love being able to head out the door without all the layers of clothes winter requires. I love the smell of laundry dried outside. I love the colours and scents of flowers, especially roses and dahlias and lavender. There is lavender planted right beside our patio, and when the breeze comes from a certain direction, the scent is wonderful. All those things, and more, that I don't want to see end. I guess I'll just have to make sure I enjoy them all the more while the time is still here.

On another note, I was able to get a lot of sewing done on my Rose Log Cabin yesterday. So it has grown, quite a bit, and I am definitely liking what I am seeing. The lighting in the room where I have my design wall has changed, as the sun has moved, so it is difficult to get a good picture, with consistent colours. The light greens are the same in all the blocks, but the lighting has washed them out in the bottom right section.
To see more design walls, go on over to Judy's Patchwork Times And now, I'm off to do a little quilting before I go in to work this afternoon.

Design Wall Monday July 25

This is going to be another quickie post, since I have to work this afternoon again, and I want to get some sewing done before I go. I have a little bit more progress on the Log Cabin Rose quilt. There are 2 more rounds of logs and triangles left to add to the green/cream blocks yet, but this gives a bit of an idea of colour, and placement. The green/cream blocks will end up being the same size is the rose squares. In the meantime, I have gotten all the 6 inch squares pieced together for the backing of the Bear Tracks quilt, and now just have to sew them down the middle of the backing. Then, I can load it, and start quilting it, and have another finish to add to my list for the year. Woohoo!! If you have some spare time today, grab a glass of iced tea, it's too hot for a cup of tea, and go look at some of the other design walls at Judy's  Patchwork Times

This looks much better

Well, I've ripped out 4 so far, and fixed them, and finished them the way they are supposed to look. You'd think after all these years of quilting and sewing, I would know enough to do a test block, or 2, just to make sure all the measurements are right, and that it turns out the way it is supposed to. However, I've never done that. I have this bad habit of jumping in, usually without looking first. Maybe I should change that habit, and start doing that from now on. The good news is, I love how this looks, so far. So, I'm off to do some more ripping and reconstructing.

When all else fails, read the instructions, again

I've done it again. Gotten all enthused about a new project, and dived right in. I've been cutting and sewing up a storm on the Rose Log Cabin quilt. It needs 36 of the rose blocks, and I have half of the done to the point of putting the last 2 logs, that represent the leaves onto them. However, there is something wrong here, they don't fit. I looked, and looked and looked again at the pattern, and was coming to the conclusion that there was something wrong with the cutting instructions, when, in frustration, I looked one more time. And that's when I found the goof.  The light logs that frame the rose come in 2 different sizes. The ones that are on there right now were cut at 1.5 inches. They are supposed to be 1 inch. The last of the light logs that go on after the green logs are the ones that are 1.5 inches. Groan!!!!!!! So all of the squares I have done have to be ripped back to the round with the first of the light logs, which I can then trim down to the right size. And all this was after I had cut a bunch of the green logs the wrong size, 7" instead of      7 1/2". Then, I went and cut too many of the 7 1/2" green logs, which meant I ran out of dark green fabric for the rest of the 9" dark green logs. That means I have to go out and purchase some more dark green fabric to finish them. That's a fun part, at least. Something tells me I should just give up and try again another day. But, no way, I'm determined to get this one on it's way and working, because I just love the way it looks when it is finished. But, needless to say, I am not a happy quilter at the moment. 4 blocks ripped out and trimmed, 32 more to go. (sigh)