Finish it Friday on Saturday

I have a couple of finishes. The place mat for the colour challenge was handed in at the guild meeting on Thursday, so I can now show that project.  I used a Mariner's compass pattern out of Electric quilt, but I told the program to make it 14x20. Then I left off the background areas that would have made this into the rectangle, and left it in the oval shape. This is going to the Meals on Wheels people in our city, who will use this as a decoration for someone who will receive their Christmas dinner from Meals on Wheels this year.                                                  And I can also now show Road to Brenham. I'm going to attempt a picture out in the snow. It still has to be washed and dried before it goes to its forever home at the wedding the weekend, so if it gets damp or a little wet, it won't matter.
I started writing this post, yesterday, which was Friday, expecting to go to the wedding today. Well, it is winter, and plans get changed along with the weather. There is a snow storm today both here, and in the city where the wedding is happening. The roads are awful, with lots of cars in lots of ditches. So, we're not going to be able to make it. :(  We'll stay at home and wish them well from here.
I'm going to link up to Finish it Friday even if it is Saturday.

Design Wall Monday, Sept. 23, 2013

Well, it really isn't a design wall. It's more like a design lawn? The lighting was good, and it was dry and sunny, so I got the pictures I wanted outside. Here is the Road to Brenham quilt in all it's wonderful finished-ness.

 I really enjoyed making this quilt. The instructions were clear, and in small enough doses to be able to finish each step in one day. I started this quilt around August 12th, and finished it yesterday, September 22. That's the fastest I've done a quilt in a long time, without getting sidetracked and putting it aside and starting something new. I think I like it. I wonder if I'll keep this up, finishing something before starting something else?




                                                                            Also on the design lawn this afternoon, is my version of Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay. This one is going to get its borders on and finished in the next month. And I even know where the pieces are for the triangle borders, as well as the rest of the fabrics I need for finishing this one.
Unfortunately, this is as far as I've gotten today. Some very kind and generous person shared their cold germs with me about a week ago, and it's still hanging on and making me feel ready wrung out, with no energy. Even worse, it seems to be scrambling my thought processes. My brain feels like it's made of mush, not a great way to feel when using  sharp and pointy instruments, so I've spent today knitting. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday. I must say that I've spent a lot of time browsing the fun eye candy over there today.

Stash Report, week 38, 2013

I spent today finishing up this quilt. It is now done, with all nine borders added. I'll get a better picture of it tomorrow, when it's light out, and I can either hang it from the deck or spread it out on the grass. There simply isn't the space down here to spread it out, let alone good enough light to take a picture with. It feels god to have this done. This quilt generated the usage numbers this past week. For this coming week, I think I am going to dig out a UFO, and get it's borders made and on. Pics of it tomorrow as well.







Used this week:                               1.6 yards
Used this year:                             101.65 yards
Added this week:                              0 yards
Added this year:                           163.55 yards
Balance:                                         61.9 more yards in than out. I wonder if I can get that number down to 50 before the end of the year? I wonder if I should make that a goal?
I'm linking up to Judy's Stash Report

Dreambird Progress

I haven't made a lot more progress, but some. I'm up to 7 feathers. I have no idea how many more feathers I'll get out of this yarn. The ball of grey seems to be going down fast, but it might get twice as big as this. And, I suppose if I have lots of the fuschia left, I could always go get another ball or 2 of the grey, and use whatever is left for socks. The bigger this gets, the more I'm liking it.
I made the mistake yesterday of clicking on a link while reading this post , which makes it all Judy's fault. I ended up buying 12 skeins of this yarn, 6 each of 2 different colours, a green and a rusty red. I have plans for this yarn, because, it's impossible to look at yarn without looking at patterns. I have 2 sweaters that I really want to do. One is called Pinery, which is appropriate, since it is named after the park we go camping at a lot. We might be going there at the end of the month. If the yarn is here by then, wouldn't it be cool to be working on a sweater called Pinery at the Pinery? The second sweater is called Central Park Hoodie. I'm beginning to think I'm getting as bad with too many knitting projects as I am with quilting projects. I have a really bad case of start-itis. I need to get some finishes to go with it.

On the finish subject, I did get border number 1 onto Road to Brenham. Only 8 more to go.
I'm linking up to Judy's Dreambird Progress Report

Design Wall Monday on Tuesday

I was so intent yesterday on getting more work done on my Road to Brenham quilt, that I ended up not writing a post about it. So, this morning, I took what I have done and put it on the wall up in my studio. I am ready to start sewing on borders.
WOOHOO!! I really like the way this one is turning out. Tonight, I start cutting and sewing on the borders..... all 9 of them..... yep, that's right, nine different borders. But when it is done, I think this quilt is going to sing! The final instructions were issued on the 14th, just 3 days ago, so I've actually managed to catch up, and then keep up with this one.
I'm linking up, even though I'm late, to Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Design Wall Monday Sept. 9, 1013

I have, or should I say, had, Road to Brenham, on my design wall. This picture was taken yesterday. It is now almost sewn together into rows. I was hoping to be able to do some more work on it today, but the bushel of tomatoes that was sitting waiting for processing won the draw on what I was going to do today. I had thought that I'd maybe be able to do some sewing in between batches of tomatoes, but the batches sort of just ran one into the other.







But, I now have 13 quarts of tomatoes to add to the shelves of my cold storage room.

And then there's this pot of salsa that is in the process of cooking down. I've never made salsa before, so I did some online research, and found a recipe for Mild salsa. I've also never used jalapeno peppers before, so when the recipe said 4 or 5 for a mild salsa, what did I know. I've tasted it, and I'm not too sure I'd classify it as mild, but then I very rarely ever cook anything that remotely classifies as spicy. And yes, I used gloves when cutting it up, and I cleared out all the membranes and all the seeds, since I've been told that those add to the heat.

I'm linking up to Judy's Design wall Monday, and then I think I'm going to put my feet up and knit until the salsa is ready to be bottled up.

Saturday News

I've been away from the blog for a couple of weeks. We took a week for vacation, and after we got home last Tuesday, I've been really busy up in the studio. I've had a couple of quilts come in that have really tight deadlines. Maureen is coming to pick hers up tomorrow, although hers didn't have a deadline, other than I had to finish it before I could work on the others. I'll post some pictures of it, once she sees it.
While we were away, up at Awenda Provincial Park, we got to spend some time with our son and grandson. Our son, Noel, was in between his summer theater job, and his winter theater job, so he came to stay with us for a few days. It was wonderful to see him, and spend some time with him. I'm not sure he thought it was quite so wonderful. He was sleeping in a 2 man tent, during several quite rainy days and nights. He showed up in the trailer one morning, shortly after 7 am, saying he'd been "damped out" of the tent. Nothing was soaking wet, but everything was damp.

While we were away, I got lots of chances to do some hand work, both stitching and knitting.
 This is Avery's Bunny Balaclava, so far. I think I'm up to where the decreases for shaping the top of the head start. I like the amount of coverage this one gives for over the face to keep him warm.

 This is my Dreambird I have 2 1/2 feathers done. It's been pretty slow going, due to the need to count closely, so I need to be focused while working on it. I wasn't too sure about the colours, and how they were working together when I finished the first feather, but now that I see it here, it is starting to grow on me.

 And I made some progress on the Road to Brenham quilt along I finished step 6 last night. Judy posted step 12 today, so I'm halfway there. I'm hoping to spend most of today working on this and maybe get close to being caught up. However, I want to go out and see if I can pick up a bushel of tomatoes, so maybe I'd best get moving and get the day started, especially considering it's almost noon. I'm going to link up to Judy's Dreambird progress post where everyone is way ahead of where I am, and they look so pretty.

Design Wall Monday, August 19, 2013

 There is nothing on my design wall today, zero, zip, zilch. I haven't even been up there today. These jars here are the reason there is nothing on my wall, because there are 3 quarts of tomatoes and 5 pints of peaches on the counter, and 6 more pints of peaches in the water bath canner. Does it ever smell good in here. And I am so glad that our kitchen is here in the basement, rather than upstairs. It's so much cooler to do this kind of thing down here. I still have tomatoes that aren't ripe enough to process, and peaches as well, that aren't ripe enough yet. So I'll be doing this again later on this week.

While I've been waiting on the water bath canner to process, I've been sewing. It's quite handy having the sewing machine just steps from the
kitchen. I'm working on step 4 of Judy's Road to Brenham quilt along, and actually have it all done. So far, I'm keeping up. Whether I remain caught up remains to be seen. We're going away in the trailer next week, so I don't know if I'll take anything like this with me. the chances of getting a hydro site are pretty slim, if we want to stay over the long weekend. And even if I do take it with me, there is no internet signal at the campground we'll be at, so I won't be able to get the instructions, even if I do take my machine with me.
I'm linking up to Judy's Design Wall Monday link box. By the time I'm done, the peaches in the canner will be ready to come out.

Stash report and Sunday almost stitching.

What an absolutely gorgeous summer day today has been. I think we've had maybe 3 or 4 days like this so far this year, and that's it. A perfect day to spend most of it outdoors in the yard. So, I grabbed my ironing board, and my mini iron, and a bunch of shapes for My Tweets, and starched and pressed under the edges. The ironing board was too high, even on its lowest setting, for sitting in the lawn chair, so I stretched it across the arms of a couple of spare chairs. I've spent most of the day out here, and this is what I've ended up with.
Block nine of My Tweets, almost fully prepped and glue basted. There is a smaller set of petals to go on top of the dark pink one in the middle at the top of the piece, and then all the flower center circles, the birds' top knots and beaks. This will keep me happily hand stitching for weeks. I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this process.
This isn't the only thing I've been up to, though. Remember how I said I didn't want to start anything new, that I wanted to finish a few more things? We all knew that wasn't going to last. I really wanted to do the Road to Brenham quilt along, so I started that. But, it really isn't that big of a time commitment. Judy gives really small bits at a time to work on. These are my bits, so far. I'm caught up, and waiting for tomorrow's instructions. I'll be canning tomatoes tomorrow, so I figure I can sew while the jars are in the water bath canner for the 85 minutes needed to process them.

 And then, just because I've been watching these, mostly Kathy's, (it's all her fault for making hers so cute), I decided to give myself a sewing day for my birthday last week, and I put together the ginger bread men for the Deck-ade the Halls Quilt Along. So much for not starting any new projects. LOL!!

What this means, though, is that there has been a bit of a stash reduction. Not a lot, since none of these things, by themselves amounts to much, but it's better than adding to it, so I'm told. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Now, come next week might be another story altogether, since Gail is hosting another fabric party on Thursday.

Used this week:                           2.3 yards
Used this year:                              94 yards
Added this week:                            0 yards
Added this year:                          160.75 yards
Balance:                                             66.75 more yards in than out.

I'm linking up with Judy's Stash Report and Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching and also, on Tuesday when it goes up, I'll link up to A Quilting Readers' Garden.