Quilt Blocks

I’m working on some old stuff!!!  I don’t know how many years ago I started this project.  It does feel good to finish old projects. Hopefully you’ll see this in all its completed glory very soon!

Laundry

Here’s the famous laundry room photo if you need to refresh your memory.  It doesn’t look like that today, but it did earlier this week.  I’ll bet I’ve done 25 loads of laundry this week.  As fast as I finish it, more crawls out of the kids rooms woodwork.

Yarn

My yarn arrived from Tess’ Yarn.  I have my first project planned.

Each of these skeins is 560 yards of superwash wool.  This it what it wants to be.

I’m off to hone my organizational skills on this house for a couple more hours before I become the taxi driver for the rest of the day!

Have a blessed weekend!

Don’t forget to check out the Great Yarn Destash of 2009!

Does that strike panic in your heart like it does mine? Yeah, it’s in 52 days. I looked it up. I’m feeling a little more prepared because I finished a quilt top. Huh? How does that make me more prepared? Take a look.

Instant decorating for my railing.  I started with a Sandy Gervais pattern, (the website for her patterns isn’t working right now) but added the stars, thanks to Happy Zombie and her free runner pattern.  The fabric is Holly Jolly by Sandy Gervais.

Yes, I still have to quilt it.  But I can do it.  I did a little research and found this post.   I made the blocks almost two years ago.  The quilt was inspired by that Happy Zombie runner that is also not quilted.  But I’ll get it done, because I joined a support group.

Jacquie over at Tallgrass Prairie Studio decided she needed to finish some WIPs, so she issued a challenge, complete with prizes, for others to join her.

I’ve committed to finish piecing 5 tops and quilting 3 quilts.  (Since I’m an idiot and have to make everything king size, that’s a big job!!!)  So, my Christmas Gift quilt is #1 of 5 quilt tops to finish piecing!  It’s a start.

Today, I’m going to finish that mountain of laundry, and go dig in my WIP cupboard, and I’m going to sob uncontrollably start sewing.

Yessiree!!!  I had the opportunity to work on a quilt with a rockstar.  You don’t believe me, do you?  Here’s the evidence!

You saw My Hero’s garbage can!  All that’s left of Frankie’s rockstar costume is his hair.  This quilt has a gazillion pieces, and my rockstar kid helped me get everything in the right place.  Hopefully you’ll see the finished quilt top soon!

By the way, I’ve been asked what I wore for a costume.  I dressed up as a dumpy housewife.  That costume took planning, let me just tell you!  Actually, I never got dressed on Saturday.  I didn’t leave the house either!!!  I did laundry (LOTS of laundry), sewed a binding on a quilt, and finished piecing the Christmas quilt on the photo.  It was a great day!

Yesterday was a great day with some very sad moments.  We’ve had the most awesome youth pastor for the last 7 1/2 years.  He showed up when The Genius hit junior high and saved all of us!!!  A couple years ago, they bought the house right next door to ours.  Ms In Charge spent a lot of time hanging out with their two small children.  Dreamboy played basketball and went running with Jon.  I sat on the steps with Kelli and visited while the kids played.  And today, they’re moving.  But yesterday…

Our awesome youth pastor baptized Superblonde.  (Yes, I can cry and take pictures at the same time!)  It’s amazing how one family can make such an impact on so many people!  And now they will bless a whole new group of people at their new church.

The other good part of yesterday?  It was Nascar day.  I know.  I’m just strange.  I got a quilt bound though!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I finally put a quilt on that great big quilting machine and quilted the dumb thing.  I’ve had a love hate (mostly hate) relationship with that quilt machine since I got it.  I want to be instantly great at quilting.  Now that I’ve figured out that I’m not going to get good by sleeping in the room right above it, it’s time to practice.  I’m pretty happy with this one and then next one is going on the machine soon!!!

If you’re looking for a quick pattern for a gift or for yourself, this is a great quilt!!!  It’s 1/3 yard of 5 fabrics, with a little more for the borders.  I first saw it made up in aqua and lime green batiks!  Gorgeous.  It’s certainly not the hardest quilt I’ve ever made, but I like it and there’s a bright red leather chair just to the right that it matches perfectly.

Here’s my favorite fabric in the quilt.

Love it!

Wow!  That was a long post.  Now I need to go clean up the results of this weekend!!!  My house is trashed.  Too bad the only trash can I can find has a great big hole in the bottom.  (Hint: last post!)

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure!

Believe it or not, he’s my treasure!!!

Why does going in circles take so much time???

I feel like I’m spending a lot of time doing things, and yet nothing gets done.  And most of the messes in this house are mine!  I’ve been up to my eyeballs sorting yarn.  I’ve discovered one of my problems.  If I like a yarn, I buy it in four colors.  Then another yarn comes along that I just love.  I then by it in four colors.  Then they discontinue my current favorite yarn so I buy lots more of it.  The end of that story is that I have lots of yarn for sale.  Take a look on ravelry.  If you buy more than one batch,  I may even cut you a deal.  Look at this!  And that’s not nearly all of it!

What else have I been going in circles doing?  I finally put a quilt on that quilt machine.  It’s done.  The binding is going on tonight, and I’m loading a king size one tomorrow.

I’ve also been knitting.  I’m making Mi Escuelita for Ms. In Charge.  I’m using Rowan Calmer.  I’ve always heard it’s a nice yarn, but I’ve never tried it.  I really like it.  And no, I’m not buying it in four more colors.

The body is knit from the bottom up in one piece, so it’s really brainless.  Since I’m spending most of my time going in circles right now, it’s a perfect project.

What else did I do this week?  I got that dreaded dentist appointment out of the way.  I played taxi for the kids.  I think I cooked dinner almost every night.  Some nights, the food was even good!  I cleaned stuff.  Yeah, I went in circles.

Ms. In Charge has 5 friends overnight tonight.  That’s a bunch of noisy ten year olds!  I’d better go get them their ice cream!  I’ll be back soon with a finished quilt!!!

I finally finished a quilt.  I haven’t finished anything in forever, but that’s another subject for another day.

Guess who showed up the minute I started taking pictures?  Yep, it’s Miss Georgie.  Oh, the first photo is a little faded.  I was too impatient to wait for daylight to take photos.

The center of the quilt was inspired by a Joanna Figueroa quilt.  From there, I added the braids along the sides and the stars. The fabric is an older April Cornell line by Moda.  It’s called Sonnet.

I’m very pleased with the way it turned out.  It’s going to end up on a big wall in My Hero’s office.  At least I’ll still get to see it occasionally.

If you look closely, you’ll see that each house depicts one of the four seasons.  For instance, here’s the fall house.

Oops!  We have an obstruction.  You can still see the acorns and the pumpkin.

This week, I have to get the rest of my yarn listed for sale.  You can take a look here. (It’s a ravelry link.)  It’s just time to organize around here!!!  There has been a little bit of knitting too.  More soon!

Have a blessed week everyone!

Frankie and I are watching The Dog Whisperer.  All of a sudden he says, “Mom look!  There’s yarn in that bowl behind that lady.”

Frankie’s 9 years old.   How can he be so smart already?

I got a little beat up on ravelry today over shipping prices!!!  I’ve lowered the prices on all the sock and lace yarns and I’ll refund any overcharges on the larger lots of yarn!!!

I’ve just listed 65 batches of yarn on Ravelry.  Take a look!  I’ve listed lace yarn, sock yarn, and lots of sweater quantities of yarn.

Here are just a few photos to entice you!

No, my box from Tess’ Yarn hasn’t come yet, but I need to make some room, or I’m going to have to start stashing under my bed!

And keep checking back, because I’m listing a lot more.  It just takes so much time.  I didn’t knit a stitch today!

I don’t think I’ve ever spent three hours hanging out in a yarn shop before.  I can’t begin to describe Tess’ Yarn, but I’m pretty sure my photos will help.

This is just one wall!

All the yarn is displayed by color.  There are about 30 different types of yarn in a rainbow of colors.  I had a hard time getting out of the purple, royal blue and lime green mode.  But I did it.

I kept going back to the browns as well.  They were so rich, and in such a variety of fibers!  I loved all the yarns with silk in them.  There was such a rich depth of color!

I’m not really a pink person, but look how gorgeous the variation is!

I had such a great time with Pamela.  She was working in the shop and sorting patterns.  We talked and laughed and analyzed color.  Then I’d make a few more rounds and come back with more wonderful colors.  She just made my afternoon even more delightful!

This is part of the Superwash Merino Lace.  They are sold in 500 yard hanks for only $10!

I think this was the silk laceweight.  Look at the sheen!

I kept coming back to this wall.  This yarn is called Baby Bunny.  It’s merino wool, angora, and nylon.  It makes darling baby garments. This is sock weight, but not recommended for socks because of the angora.  However, there were two full walls of sock yarn to make any sock addict happy!

I can’t show you any photos of my yarn, because I’m having Melinda ship it home.  You’ll see it in bits as I start working with it!

If you’re going to Stitches East, make sure you go find these ladies.  Otherwise, go take a look at their website.  You can order online as well.

The Genius and I are going to go pack the car and take a quick walk before we head back to Boston.  It’s sunny today, so I’m going to take a few photos.  I may freeze though.  It’s cold!

Tomorrow…..home!

Hi!  It’s Friday morning and I’m sitting in my jammies, thinking about the last few days.  Here’s the view out my window.

Well, sorta!  I took this a few days ago when the sun was shining.  It’s cloudy today.

Eat.

The Genius had Lobster with linguini.  She had to work for her dinner.  I was smarter.  I ordered scallops.  Excuse the bad photos.  I didn’t want to be obnoxious and use a flash in a nice restaurant.  My broccoli was really green!

Knit.  Did you really think we were knitting?  We are.  My Hero’s Carlito cardigan is moving along, although it’s slow going with all the moving cables.

And yes, my room matches my knitting.  This is the back of the sweater.  I’m about to start another set of cables that starts on the edges and travels inward to intersect these cables.  We’ll see how that goes.

The Genius is working on a secret project, so I can’t blog it.  I know.  How boring is that!

Peruse.  We’ve been traveling around the Portland, Maine area.  I love this photo!

Yesterday, we decided to drive down to Kittery to the outlet mall.  I know.  A total waste of time when you’re in New England, but the college kid needed clothes.  We did drive through Portsmouth first though.  What totally amazes me about this area (and all you Northeasters are going to laugh at me) is the tiny streets and very old buildings.  You see, in the Midwest, our idea of cool is a brand new big building.  That’s sad!  We’ve totally enjoyed soaking in the history and the life in these wonderful towns that have been here since the beginning of our country.  There’s such a rich heritage here, and we’re blessed to be able to share just a tiny bit of it.

Sleep.  I don’t think I need to explain the sleep part, except to say that a college student on break likes to sleep.  A lot.  That’s ok.  It gives me time to just enjoy the quiet.

What are we doing today???  It may just be the highlight.  We’re going to Tess’ Yarn.  We wandered around in her shop the other day and were totally overwhelmed.  So today the credit card comes out!  If I get permission, I’ll do a whole blog post.  The Genius and I are that excited about our day!

Tomorrow we head back to Boston and Sunday we fly out.  The Genius goes back to school and I’m going home to the rest of the fam.  My Hero deserves a medal.  He ended up doing tons of chasing, and one kid had the stomach flu.  We’ve both decided we don’t want each others jobs!!!

Gotta go wake up The Genius.  There’s yarn out there with our names on it!