Shop hop Friday

It has been a full day. We have visited 4 quilt shops since 9am and are finally in the hotel. I bought a kit of fabric and 1 fat quarter of gold fabric. Three different patterns and 3 more books are also going home with me.
I have visual overload from all the beautiful fabric and colors. Each shop was different with different fabrics and arrangements. Between the visual overload and the auditory overload, I have been totally over stimulated.
Well, more tomorrow night.
Have fun gators. Lator!

Thoughtful Thursday

Oh, I am getting excited! Tomorrow and Saturday I will be going on my first ever bus shop hop and I will be doing it without my usual traveling companions - Dee & Pam. This is a big step for me b/c not even Pape is coming with me. I put on my "big girl panties" as my daughters say and signed up to do it. Lots of ladies in my guild will be on the trip so I will know people although I did invite my DD#1 and family to join me in Hammond for supper Friday night.
I have my dresden plates to hand sew on the bus and am going to B&N to get a book /magazine to read and my iphone to entertain me. Be ready to see lots of pictures on Sunday. My stash will definitely be enhanced not reduced on Sunday.Now how much will I come home with, I can not say since DH 'borrowed' half my stash enhancement money to pay Mr. Kenneth, our AC man, but I am ready to travel.
Poor Pape has Spirit duty Friday all alone until someone comes to help. GIGGLE! No homework duty for me...yeah!
Well, off to get passport at BQ and books/mags at B&N! Lator, Gators! Have a blessed day and I will talk at ya on Sunday.

Wednesday WIP Report

Well, I am working on my dresden quilt and am liking the way it is coming out. I started with the first layout but then went to the second which I like best b/c I can add my red border around the center squares. LOL I will complete the 4 center pieces and then quilt them on my home machine. DD#1 keeps asking me when I am going to use my Phaff on the frame but I am not ready to devote the time to that yet so I will ask her when is she coming to help me set the machine back up. LOL
I am working on step 2&3 of my plan for this quilt. I am spending the time to applcate by hand the blades to the background b/c I am scared to use the invisible thread on my machine. Silly-I know!
Well, I think that the powers that be are laughing at me. I have had so much good luck winning fabric that they decided I had to have a bit of bad luck: 1) stepping on 4in1 tool; 2) AC going out. I know a third one is coming but hope it will be mild.
Well, time to get dressed and moving. DGD needs to be go back to school and we are the transportation for her and the things she is bringing. My Element can hold as much as a truck and it is so full that I wonder where she or Pape are going to sit. LOL
(Well, Kristin is now at college and we are back home. So far no accidents or bad luck but the day is not over. AC is working and Kenneth is coming this afternoon to fix capi....don't know what he said needed replacing. He will be back in fall/winte to fix cooper pipes that leak. I am waiting for grandkids to get back from school so we can start hw. ugh!)
That is it gators so LATOR. Have a blessed week and sew many projects.

81010 Not so hot either

Well, today started pretty good. I woke up and my foot wasn't swollen or that painful. I started cleaning the sewing room and got around to finishing step 2 & 3 on several blocks. I have broken the project into steps.
1) Cut out and sew blades. Done
2) Sew blades into sets and applicate to yellow background.
3) Sew fans blocks together to form larger plates.
4) Applicate red circle to each plate and cut away excess fabric.
5) Quilt large blocks and sew them together as quilt-as-you-go with sashing only on back.
6) Sew outside border of fans together an quilt as rows.
7) Sew second red border to end quilt.
8)If quilt is required size, then bind. If it is not, add borders until it is.
It's a good plan and will work for me b/c I get bored doing the same thing for very long.
Well, then electricity started going on and off. Then when that settled, the AC stopped working. This house stays cool normally so I didn't notice anything until I got back from picking grandchildren up from bus stop. It was 90 in the house and my DH didn' notice it. Then to make things worse, DSD#2 decided that I should do homework with her son. He didn't want to come so she helped matters by bringing a paddle for me to whip him with. That made me even hotter since she had refused my offer earlier b/c the other 2 would be here. The boy was upset and didn't want to do his work. It took 2 hours to do his Spelling words and a English essay. So in this gosh awful heat, I am working with him. Thankfully the other 2 remembered my procedures for homework. Then DH comes in to tell me that the icebox in camper had gone out again and he was cleaning it for me. So when it gets a little cooler outside, I have to go clean that. Tomorrow we will be spending the day helping DGD move back to the dorms. This is the daughter of the same mom who dumped her son for me to do homework while she rested!
Well, maybe I will see the funny in this after I get cool air.
Well, Lator Gators. Have a blessed week.

8910 not a good ending to a good day

I had a good day today. DGDSpirit helped me quilt all day long...she rearranged fabric so she could sit and "help" then she tried to make her own quilt from scraps but doesn't know about pins. It was interesting. I put the red,black,&white circles on the dresden plates and then changed them to red & white with DGDKristin's help. Then DD#4 came and said arrangement didn't look "finished" so I took the non-quilters advice and rearranged the blocks. I like that arrangement better for this quilt and the pattern/method I want to use to quilt it. Holes are what I was working on when
it HAPPENED! I got up to iron a block and caught my chair with my foot control. As I moved the chair, I hit and cut my toe and then stepped on the pointy end of an Alex Anderson tool. It went into my foot all the way up to the wood. It hurt to pull it out and bled like a pig. I have blood all over the sewing room floor (it will wait until I am not hurting so dang much). Pape and Kristin were helpful but not too sympathic. Kristin said that she had never seen me with tears and she was ready to cry too so she got out of there. Pape just can't stand me in pain so he leaves. Then to add insult to injury...I had to use that dang tool to unsew the block I had just finished. I quit sewing and came to bed.
Lator Gators~ Have a blessed week and keep the feet and tail away from sharp objects.

Design Wall Monday

Well, it is too hot already to leave the house w/o a waterbottle, hat, and umbrella. Camping in this heat is not fun and starting tomorrow we have after school duty for the grandkids so we won't be camping til it cools down. My computer is being moody so this means that I am sewing..woohoo!

So I am working on my black & white dresden plate quilt on yellow background with red,black, & white centers. I need to piece 10 more blocks in this part then I can start putting together blocks. I think I need to put a 1" red border around each round of plates/fans to set them off. Since this quilt is not in my usual bright popping colors, it looks bland to me. What do you think? Borders or not?

Next thing I am working on is the Labels presentation for my guilds at the end of the month. Doing the research for this presentation has taught me so very much about labels. Do you label? How?

Lator gators! Have a blessed day.

Sunday Stash Report

Stash Report

Added this week: 2 yards won at LQS

Added YTD: 113.25 yards

Used this week: 0 yards

Used YTD: 91.25 yards

Net stash reduction/enhancement: -21.5 yards

In the last month I have won 18.5 yards of fabric. How can I reduce my stash by not buying and using when I keep winning fabric? Well, it is grand fabric all of it. The picture shows what I won this week.

Now next Sunday, any gain will be mostly bought unless I am lucky again, since I am going on a Shop Hop on Friday & Saturday. I don't plan on buying much but who knows what fabric will take my fancy.

I did sew this week. I worked on my dresden plates handsewing the blades to the background. The majority of my sewing was for my DD3's classroom. It was a ugly tan/brown from ceiling to floor when we walked in Monday. Well, we added color with posters and blue curtains and other covers. Only probem was DD3 didn't want to use my stash b/c I didn't have Panda bears. So none of the fabric/sheets count. But her classroom is much more inviting and cheerful for those 3rd graders.

I am off to work on my dresden plate. I have to finish something so that I can count it.

Lator gators! Have a blessed week.