Another Week has whizzed on by!

Well actually... two weeks have flown by....... not quite sure where the time goes these days. Last weekend I was in Columbus at the zoo... wow! what a fun place.... I'm working on the bazillion pictures that I took and hope to get them posted soon.... I finshed a dishcloth and started another.......I have all my april swap blocks done and mailed out and even have one of my May blocks ready to go tomorrow. Our 3rd RR is about to start and that block is also done and ready to mail in the morning.... hubby has a new doorag...... it's planting season and he forgets to wear his hat sometimes so maybe this will keep his head from burning......

This weekend I taught a class on the Wedding Ring block and tested a pattern for a new purse for a fantastic designer.... that new pattern should be out in May and I'll tell you about it and show you mine when I've been given permission to do so

The female Pileated Woodpecker has been spending a lot of time on the feeder... I'm taking that as a really good sign that she'll be staying here for the season instead of migrating on...... I'd love to have baby woodies in my trees! She still won't sit still for me to take a picture and she just seems to know when I have the camera in my pocket.... she flys off just as the camera clicks..... oh well... maybe one day

We're back to more seasonal temps here also.... high 30's over nite and 60's during the day.....lots of blue sky and bright sunshine!!

I'll post the last two barn blocks here and some of the other goodies are over on the flickr site....... the red/white block isn't quite right so it'll be redone... I forgot the borders! sheeesh!

Oh.... one of the super giant zip locks full of scraps is finally empty!!!!!! Ahead of schedule too! I had planned on having that one done by June.......and the second one done by thanksgiving.........so this is a really GOOD thing!! I've been looking for more patterns that I can use up scraps with....and I actually thought I saw a little dent in the fat quarter cabinet!!! wow!! I think this week I'll work on some table runners.... sister pat has requested a few in various seasons and holidays..... now to find some fun patterns!

Guess that's it till next week......

Lish

What a week!

Well it's been a busy week here!! We switched from cable to directTV so that installer was here the same time the guys were installing the new furnace.... on Thursday... a semi intoxicated older teen with a suspended drivers license and no insurance blew the intersection and ended up in my yard........ took out part of my corner grass and yucca garden and stopped about 12inches short of the big fat old tree! His small truck ended up sunk into the soft dirt there........ the gardening folks will be out next week to give an estimate... but we have a $1000 deductible on our policy and if the driver has no insurance...well.... you understand........

I did get a lot of sewing done this week..... I made some placemats and hot pot mats using up a jelly roll I had in my stash... it's the Happy Camper line....... I plan to make some potholders and a table mat yet ....... I also completed all of my swap blocks for April and they are going out in tomorrows mail.... the april BOMs for the 30's quilt... the sentimental journey quilt and the golden thimble barn quilt are done as well as the block of the week this week for the Wisconsin Barn quilt..... whew!!!

I have a few projects I want to work on this month so I needed to get these out of the way.....

A female hairy woodpecker was on the feeder on friday... she flew off just a nanosecond before I took her picture and returned right after... guess she's just camera shy!

A few more rows were added to both the dishcloth and the white scarf and a fancy scarf was started this week....... I also went thru another huge pile of scraps and pressed and sorted them into the color boxes.....which are now full! gotta get another set of boxes!

The tally for March for stash and scrap usage is
3.5 yards of scraps
9.5 yards of fat quarters and yardage
3 1/2 yards of batting
1 Jelly Roll
6 skeins of embroidery floss
3/4 yard fusible interfacing
assorted purse hardware
velcro
6 zippers
1.5 yards of twill tape
11 yards of ribbon...

all in all another good month of scrap and stash busting.

I've made a list of things I want to do for April from the scraps and stash.... I hope I can keep this up for awhile.... I thought I saw a little dent in the stash but I was mistaken lol

Have a great week!!! Pictures are below and the rest is on the flickr site

Where did spring go??

I missed posting last week ( hanging head in shame) I got a new laptop and a sinus infection! I spent most of the weekend last week setting up the laptop and trying to make friends with windows7.... I think we are almost there!! W7 likes to hide things and make you go on a scavenger hunt to find them.... lol As far as the sinus infection goes.... I still have it.... it still hurts....but hopefully when the warm weather comes back this week it will be gone!!!

It's been rainy and cold and windy and generally ca-ca here! I was just getting used to the nice warm weather and BAM!!! winter returned! I guess that's all part of living in Indiana where the weather changes about every 22 minutes!!

I did get some things done over the last two weeks...... The baby quilt is done... in it's bag and on it's way to PA to be taken to the baby shower next week....... All of my March swap blocks and BOM's are complete......I did up 8 foldup easterbaskets to take to work tomorrow and a set of 6 tater bakers for another person at work... all of this is in my wheelie cart ready to go with me in the morning.....

Block 11 and 12 for the Wisconsin BOW are posted below and you can see the other stuff on the flickr site....... I think I'll start a new set of placemats and potmats for ME before I start on Aprils blocks.... I have the fabric for the 30's BOM but I think I'll wait a bit before I start it........

I also made myself a new purse and wallet for spring..........and finally!!!! my first giant bag of scraps is down to about 3 handfuls left that need to be pressed and sorted!!! I'm amazed for sure!!! That's one almost down and one more to go!!I'm really enjoying using up scraps for various projects.....and I don't miss ( well not too much) adding to the stash.......

Guess that's it for this week........ have a warm and wunderful week

Lish

Signs of Spring

I look for three things to signal spring in Indiana... the first is the robins... but I can't use that this year cuz the little buggers never left! They were out and about in January!! The second thing is my pileated woodpeckers... I have a pair that swing by every spring... hang around for a few weeks then move on... they come back again the fall... I saw the male on my woodie feeder on Friday!!! I heard the female out in the trees calling ... I'm so excited! I just love these birds... they are very large and absolutely gorgeous! The third sign is the warm rains that soften the earth...well we had major rains this past week... and saturday the earthworms were out and about!! That means the ground is soft and warm... wooo hooo!!!!

I spent this week working on this and that and the other thing mostly... I have a baby quilt for a shower gift sandwiched and 1/2 way tied... I added a number of rows to the scarf and found a cute pattern for fingertip washcloths... I knitted 3 of these this week... they only took about 2 hours and they are quite cute! I think they would be great for little ones as their whole hand would fit inside... maybe I'll make some in primary colors and add some soap sticks for their christmas stockings!

I finished up my blocks for this month... sentimental journey is done... the barn block is done and the wisconsin block of the week is done..... I also ventured into the world of triad interlocks...wow... I made a table topper using batiks!! It came out quite nice...even though I hate working with batiks.. they feel funny! lol

I also have 3/4 of a spring purse done.. trying a pattern from a company I haven't used before for bags.... it's looking pretty nice and the instructions are very well written....... Lazy Girl Designs is due out with a new bag in April so I'm sure I'll make that one to go with it...I always carry a bag and a tote for work.....

I hope this week to finish up the bag and the baby quilt...... I have some strata left from the table topper that might work out well for a wonder wallet or two... might take a bit of tweaking and twisting but I think I can make it work.....

Guess that's it for now

See you next time
Lish

Spring is in the air!!

It's almost spring in Indiana... of course that's subject to change every 20 minutes or so here but for now it's bright and sunny and temps close to 60! That's incredible! Hubster and I went to the zoo over the weekend and it was a gorgeous day!!! A sweatshirt was plenty to keep the chill away. The animals looked happy lying in the bright sun too!

This week was a productive week, but not a finish week. A lot of things were done... strips sewn together... baby quilt top cut and sewn....some kits made for future sewing days... patterns and fabric gathered for assorted projects.... but nothing completed except for the GoldenThimble Barn Block and the Barn Quilts of Wisconsin BOW.... that little thing gave me fits this month! I reversed the colors on the center pinwheel and that threw my colors off all over the block......so it's done and it's nice but it's nothing like it should be!... it's staying the way it is! lol Yet to go is the block central sentimental journey March block..then the blocks for this month will be done....... I have several block swaps that are finished for March also......and just one of those left to do.......

I have a long list made up of things that need to be complete by the end of March... with any luck they will be.

On the UFO front... the baby boy quilt binding has been started.... a few more rows were added to the christmas scarf and I found where I put the sack with the dishcloth in it...... now maybe it will get some knit time of it's own. I found a cute pattern for a knit mini wash mitt that is just begging me to be done..... perhaps one more started project won't matter....provided it's finished by the end of March! lol

I'll post the barn blocks at the bottom as usual...and you can visit the photo site to see the swap blocks. Hopefully this week will be even more productive

Have a wonderful springy day

Lish

The Olympics are Over and so is February!

Tomorrow is March 1st.... wow........ I know february is a short month but it sure flew by quickly!!

I didn't accomplish as much as I had hoped to this month... but I still got a lot done..

I managed to complete one of the UFO's...the pink baby quilt..... it's all bound and stored in the box now awaiting the next baby girl to come along. The blue boy quilt is now in the process of having it's binding stitched down...... so hopefully that will be a finish for March

No progress on the dishcloth goal...the sock goal or the scarf... just couldn't seem to find the time to do any knitting this week.....

I did get some kits made up......which is good........ I cut a quilt called Up the Lazy River... it's all cut and bagged and ready to sew... .I also cut 12 wonder wallets and have them bagged and ready for pressing top stitching and sewing......

I made a few table runners this month also....... those pics are on the flickr site and I've completed my 30's repro BOM...and my block 8 of the Barn Quilts of Wisconsin...

My stash/scrap totals for this month are.........17 3/4 yards of stash and 5 3/4 yards of scraps... 1 1/2 yards of batting... a few buttons and some ribbon........ I think this was a productive month!!!

I'll post the BOM's below and the other photos are all on flicker.....

I also want to mention that Jen of Cre8tivequilter has started a flickr group for the Wisconsin Barn Quilt Blocks... right now it's just hers and mine but hopefully the others will join in too! http://www.flickr.com/groups/barnquilting/

I think March is coming in like a lamb.... so the rocky weather isn't quite done yet.... but I know spring is close by.... I can almost smell it!!

til next week

Scrap busting Olympics

This week was not much of a sewing week........ it was, however, a Scrap Busting Olympics! For some reason my scrap bag #1 just got the best of me and I spent most of the week watching the olympics and cutting and organizing scraps....... I made 32 more scrap diddly blocks...that gives me a total of 65 scrap blocks now....that's enough for TWO throw size scrap quilts!! That's 2/3rds of my scrap quilt goal for the year!! I may have to increase that but for now... this is GOOD!! My XXXL zip lock bag is now down to about 1/4 full...... my scraps that were not used for the scrap blocks are organized by color in shoebox size plastic containers...... all of the containers at this point are pretty well full.... these will be used for paper piecing projects and small quilt blocks.......the scraps that are left from these scraps will go in a bag and then make their way to the local animal shelter where they will be used in pillows and mats for the animals that reside there... this is a no kill shelter so some of the residents are there for quite awhile before they are adopted. I recently sent 4 big bags of scraps down to them.

I did make 2 burpers and 6 pee pee tee pee's for the box..... I have several babies coming and dont' know if they are boys or girls.....so I'll be making a few sets of tee pees and a number of burpers to bust the flannel stash. One of the UFO baby quilts is 2/3 done with it's binding.... about an hour or so and it will be completed! The boy quilt has it's binding on and is next on the wob list. so bring on the babies!! I'll be ready!

I also embroidered and made a table runner...... this will be a club project for March so this runner is my sample... it will then become part of my personal table runner collection... I love placemats and table runners of all sorts!!

Block 6 ( I think) of Crea8tive Quilters Barn Quilts of Wisconsin has been completed also. That pic will be posted below as well as the burps and teepee's...... the rest can be seen on the flickr site......

I've been knitting a few rows each nite on the scarf while watching the olympics so that's coming along also.... about 8" long at the moment.... so quite a ways to go.

Thats it for this week...... Happy Sewing

Lish