I really look forward to JudyL’s Design-Wall Mondays.  It’s good to have a regularly scheduled time to take stock of what you’re doing (or sometimes not doing).

Quilting:  Nothing too exciting.  Well, I think the colors are kind of exciting, by it’s only strip sets, and the rest is a *shhhh* secret.

Knitting:  Got the heel done on my Zauberball Crazy socks.  This is the crazy yarn that has no repeat, so no two socks will be alike.  Kinda takes the pressure off!

This yarn is very soft and nice to work with.  My problem has been I’ve been taking them downstairs to “coffee”, and I end up taking out as many stitches as I put in.  New Rule:  Only work on socks alone.  Conversation is too distracting.  Movies are okay.  Yesterday I watched a very old Miss Marple movie and a couple of episodes from Season 3 of Monk.  What a great afternoon!  Another afternoon like that and this pair should be pretty close to done!

Waiting in Bags Somewhere:  Appliqued Tree of Life (due in May).  Knitted Fish Hat (due in July).  Circle Socks (due in July), Embellishing & Quilting Skinny Beach Table Runner (due in April, I THINK!).  How’s that for a “Too Due” list?

A look at what I’ve done this past week, and what I’m working on.  Here is a close-up of one of the 28 Valentine’s Day cards I stitched up on Saturday.  Nothing fancy, to be sure, but I thought the fabric was adorable for an at-the-beach card.

Our “crafting group” (such a catchy name, don’t you think???) made these easy coasters from this tutorial.  They were a huge hit, and a fun easy way to use up some stash and have some gifts ready to give in the process!

I’m working on this Patricia B. Campbell Tree of Life 1 applique’d wall hanging.  Not much progress, I know.  I had a comment last week about perhaps not having enough contrast between the rocks and the background (although not many of the rocks are in place yet this week).  For better or for worse, this is intentional.  I am hoping the rocks look like they are coming forth from the “ground”.  We’ll see how it goes…I may end up changing fabrics out…I’ve been wrong before! 

Socks:  I’m STILL working on the same sock as I’ve been working on for quite a few days now…ready to do the heel flap, so that’s always exciting!  It will start to really look like a sock.  No photo this week, toooooo boring!

Other News: I have a give-away starting today, so click here for the give-away posting. Your comment(s) MUST be on the give-away posting(s) to be included in the drawing, although I would love it if you commented here also — it just won’t be your entry in the drawing.

–Sue

Oh, how I love Mondays when I have something to show!  I finished my apron.  Don’t love it, but don’t hate it either.  I’m going to make it again in a small print and a near-solid, and I think I will be much happier.  As Mary-Kay said, spots won’t show on this apron, so it will make a good “working apron”.

I’m at a waiting point on my at-the-beach skinny wall hanging.  I do love how this one is coming out.  It needs more embellishment and quilting, but I don’t have access to all my “stuff” right now.  Most of the “sky” is hidden because I had to wrap it around the railing and pin it.

I’m still working on my Crazy Zauberball socks.  This is the crazy yarn where there is no repeat in the striping pattern in the yarn, so your two socks are going to be different no matter what you do.  And mine are.  The yarn is wonderfully soft, and I’m guessing these socks are going to be favorites.  They will look great with denim.

And I started a new project.  This is an applique’d Patricia Campbell pattern, Tree of Life 1.  I started by doing a flower, but I need to work on the rocks and the tree trunk and branches.  What is most exciting to me is I’m using one of Vicki Welsh’s hand-dyed fabrics for my background (and also some FQs of hers for the tree itself).  I LOVE this piece of fabric.  To me it looks like a fiery sunset.  So you don’t think I’m getting myself in too deep for my second applique’ project?  Of course I am, but that seems to be what I do when I learn something new.  Okay, I can paint a stick man; now I think I will try to replicate the Cistene Chapel. 

I just eye-balled laying out some of the pieces, so it isn’t quite right; just wanted to give you an idea of what I’m doing. 

And I’m missing some of the rocks on the left-hand side, but I’m still debating on those fabrics.

And, guess what?  I passed 100,000 visits sometime in the night last night, so I’m going to have a give-away later this week!  The theme of the give-away is “At the Beach”, so be sure to check back. 

Wondering what other quilters are working on?  Pop on over to  Judy Laquidara’s blog.  And thank you, Judy, for hosting Design Mondays.  It’s a lot of fun, and a it encourages us to take stock once a week of our progress. 

And a thank you to Vicki for her wonderful hand-dyed fabrics.  To visit her shop, click here.

–Sue

(This is kind of a UFO Thursday Prevention post) 

Reflecting on my choices in life, I’m not disappointed.  I have a wonderful husband, love my kids, enjoy my neighbors, both in Minnesota and Texas; I maybe would have made different career choices early on if I would have had the opportunity to go to college (but then I wouldn’t have met Wonderful Husband).  All in all, not too bad and no regrets.

When it comes to fabric choices though, I don’t always hit a home run.  In making this apron, I’m barely making it to first base.  In fact, if I make it to first base, it will be on an error.

I mimicked the light/dark arrangement that was shown on the pattern cover.  My light fabric has MUCH too large a print for this pattern, and it really bothers me.  It would be marginally better (maybe 2nd base, but doubtful) if I had switched the light and the dark and put the bigger print on the trim and scallop pieces.  I also think it would have been better if I had left off the contrasting pockets on this one — it just cuts into the big print too much.  I think in my second go-around (or second at-bat), I will make one of the fabrics a nearly solid. 

When I reach this stage of not loving a project, that’s when it’s so easy to pack it away somewhere and it becomes a dreaded UFO.  I’m about 75% done with this apron, and the construction is going so well, I’m going to hold my nose and power sew right through to completion.

I love this pattern, and it is going together nicely.  I can’t wait to try it again with much smaller scale fabrics.  How are your projects going?  I hope you are loving whatever you’re working on!  It’s so much more fun.

–Sue

Wow, it’s February 1st and this is my first Design Wall report of the YEAR!!!  Thanks to Judy Laquidara for hosting these Design Wall reports.  If you have extra time, swing by her site and check out what other people are working on.  It’s always interesting!

I’ve been working on a wall hanging from the Skinny Quilts & Table Runners book, edited by Eleanor Levie.  The wall hanging I’m making is by Karen Eckmeier (page 61, if you have the book).  This is for a skinny quilt challenge issued by Pam of my sewing group in Minnesota.  Since we all make resolutions to lose weight in the new year, and few actually succeed, let’s make a skinny quilt!  The odds of success are soooo much better…

The pattern called for lights, mediums and darks of both blues and turquoises.  I had no trouble sorting my (mostly) batiks by color.  It was the color value that was getting tricky.  I was just reminded a week or two ago by Vicki W. to use your camera as a tool.  (See if your photo-editing software  has an option to change the picture to black and white.  Another way to do it is to look at your camera’s options and you can possibly select taking a black and white photo (remember to change it back!).)  It is so much easier to see what fabrics are out of place in grays.

I wasn’t planning on using the fabrics absolutely from darkest to lightest, but I did want to sort them that way initially.  It was also a good test to try when I did have them organized how I thought I wanted them.  I changed them around several times before I had an arrangement I was pleased with.

Now I’ve started embellishing with some beads, trim, lace and yarn.  There’s quite a bit more to do on it, but it is really a fun piece and will be a wonderful memento of our time at the beach.

No, it isn’t quite straight, but the designer allows an each on each side to be trimmed off when everything is done to ensure it squares up.  Also, I have the top inch of sky tucked into the armoir, so there is a little more sky than shows here. 

I have a throw-sized top finished (can’t show it yet), and a queen-sized top started as well.  And I’m working on the same pair of Zauberball Crazy socks I’ve been working on for a l-o-n-g time, but I am on the second sock!  That’s a good thing for me.  It’s always so tempting to switch to something new, and I have a knit stocking cap that I want to get done this month.

I will share a crafting report later in the week.  Two weeks ago we embellished dishtowels, and this Wednesday we are making those cute criss-cross coasters.  Two weeks from now we are making Vicki W’s pot holders.  (The alternate weeks are strictly “social” get-togethers.)  If you’re wishing you were in Texas at the beach, you can do the crafts with us electronically!  Fun, fun, fun.

Notice I’m not talking about the weather.  For beach weather, this week leaves a lot to be desired.  However, for getting-away-from-the-snow-and-cold weather, it’s pretty darned wonderful!

–Sue

Well, that title pretty much covers my life lately!  Well, to be accurate, I would have to include hot-tubbing, potlucks, crafting group, eating out and parties in general.  Have I mentioned that we are having a lot of fun in Texas?  Well, we are!    Decent weather, great people, lots of fun things to see and do. 

Today was a better day than forecast, so we went to the birding center and Paradise Pond.  (By the way, in the mile or so between them, there’s a quilt shop!)  We saw some new birds added into the “duck soup” at the birding center.  The first is a little guy (compared to the ducks).  He’s a Least Grebe, and of course I happen to have a photo:

He is recognizable by his golden eye and the narrow bill.  The grebes aren’t good at walking because their legs are so far back on their bodies, but they are excellent swimmers and divers.  Doesn’t he look like the back part is just missing?

In the same area was a Ruddy Duck:

He really stayed close to the reeds.  He is one of the stiff-tailed ducks.  They use their tail as a rudder when they swim under the water.  They are also identified by their white cheeks.  Their bills are blue when it’s mating season.  In some pictures his bill looked more blue than others, but mostly at the base.  Cute, isn’t he?

Then, moving on to not-so-cute…

was this Turkey Vulture.  There were three of them, mostly sitting atop this big pole.  (Gotta win the lottery and get that really good camera with the monstrous lens that’s on my dream list!)

And for the quilty part — I’m making a skinny runner out of Eleanor Levie’s book, Skinny Quilts & Table Runners.  Actually, mine is a wall hanging, not a runner, and it’s a beach scene.  Here’s a picture of the pieces laid out together (it’s been changed a zillion times since though) with a picture of the pattern…

I’ve since picked up the fabric for the “sand”, but the quilt shop didn’t have any “sky” fabric.  I should be able to get that Saturday when we go to the quilt show in Rockport.   (A quilt show!!!  The fun just continues.)

–Sue

PS:  In a month or so, I will hit 100,000 visits.  I think I feel a give-away coming on!

I’m looking for a couple of craft/sewing ideas for a group of ladies to do in a couple of hours.  Previous things we’ve done are making pillow cases, little zippered bags, quilted postcards, placemat purses, and little pincushions on a golf tee that inserts into a spool of thread.  Here are a few photos from previous “craft days”…

I’ve had a request to repeat the placemat purses, and I figure there are a few people who will want a refresher on the pillowcase pattern.  I found a new little zippered bag pattern with some beading (optional) on it that would fit the little reading glasses.  We will do postcards again, with new, better techniques.

Now I’m looking for a pattern for a reusable market bag.  There are a zillion patterns out there.  Is there one you tried that you liked (and the pattern is free and online)?  Not that I’m asking for much here…

but as long as I’m asking, is there another easy project that comes to your mind that would be fun to throw into the mix?

Help!!!

–Sue

First of all, I’m not a big resolution maker, because after 60 years on this earth, I find I am still making the same resolutions:  get organized, stay focused on one project, lose weight, be taller…..so my resolutions this year are a little different.

I am going to continue participating in Judy Laquidara’s Design Wall Monday.  I find that helps me take stock of what I’ve accomplished in the past week and think about what I hope to accomplish in the next week.  (If you’re interested in participating, nothing to sign up for — just prepare a post on your site on Monday, go to Judy’s site and add a link.)  PLUS it’s fun to just check in and see what other quilters are working on.

Something new is Vicki Welsh’s involvement in a new site:  3 Creative Studios.  They are starting something new in January, Creative Cue, every Sunday, where they will throw out a word as astarting point for a creative exercise (drawing or sketching), and it’s up to you to interpret it however you would like.  You can participate even if you don’t draw!  Yea!!!  I plan to use this to be more creative in my photography, but I’m sure it will overlap into other areas of my life as well.  Same deal — prepare a post on your site, go to the 3 Creative Studios site and post a link.  Sounds like fun!  Even if you don’t have a blog or photo site or don’t care to participate for whatever reason, check out this site.  Click on all the tabs and buttons and see all the wonderfulness they are offering up!

Work on completing my mountain of UFOs, a project at a time.  (Tab at the top of my page, if you’re interested in tracking my progress.)  By the middle of January, I will be back to having UFO Thursdays.

Work on developing some of my designs into actual patterns.

Keep knitting socks.  I have a lot of sock yarn in the basket waiting for the *magic* to happen and turn them into socks.

AND be better organized, stay focused on one project, lose weight, get taller…wish me luck!

–Sue

Last stash report of the year!  Used in last three weeks:  4.5 yards.  Bought in last three weeks:  Nada.

2010 will be a different kind of quilting year for me.  I’m not going to take customer quilts any more, and I’m going to focus on finishing my many, many UFOs.  I also want to spend some time sewing quilts from my designs I’ve made using Electric Quilt.  It will be a fun and challenging year for me, and I think I’m ready! 

Design Wall Monday Report:  Quilting is definitely on the back burner this week.  Waaay back burner.  DS#3’s recently purchased duplex is in the midst of renovation, and DH and I are the paint “crew”.  Saturday was spent scraping off wall paper and washing one bedroom; Sunday was spent painting Kilz primer in the same bedroom.  So out of 14 rooms, we have one room half done!!!  Yikes!!!!!!!!!  Things will start to go a little faster, hopefully.  We can only work when the regular subcontractors aren’t there, so that limits our time during the week.  That’s good, because our bodies couldn’t survive doing this  all day, every day! 

This is what happens when small children have access to magic markers (and picture this on most of the walls in one of the units):

Kitchen of one side with new cabinets, new flooring, old icky paint (imagine nice neutral walls, a light neutral countertop, and a real light fixture) — and here is where my old dishwasher came to live:

When I do get back to quilting, I have some projects waiting for me:

• Quilt my 9-patch new antique quilt for DS#3 (Rob) for his new place (amandajean’s design)
• Finish my purple placemats
• Finish my Shine On Bayou Cane UFO (Judy L’s design)
• Finish my Freeze Frame UFO (JudyL’s design)
• And many more projects than I care to think about right now!!!

Christmas was wonderful, although we did miss DS#1 Dave who was home in Virginia.  A picture of DS#3 & DS#2 (Rob & Tony), in their matchy-matchy sweaters from (of course) their matchy-matchy mommy (they are so very tolerant):

And a photo of lovely DIL Lynn with her sampler quilt (ALMOST done — need to finish the binding Wednesday at DayStitchers — you didn’t think I would let painting get in the way of ALL my fun, did you???):

We are taking tonight off from painting so I can rest my sore muscles and so DH can cheer on the Vikings.  This afternoon we are off to do a little shopping and an early dinner out.  Sounds fabulous to me!  Tuesday night through next weekend will be pretty much painting filled, so if my blog is a little sparce in the next few days, you will know why!  Think of me with my bottle of Motrin and BioFreeze for those sore muscles!  It’s really amazing what a person can do when you know it’s short term, and when it’s for one of your offspring!

–Sue

It’s been snowing and blowing for the last day or so.  We have about 8″ or so of new snow on the ground, but it looks like much more than that because of drifting.  Lots of things to do today to get ready for our Christmas celebration, but I was so pleased to get this little lap quilt quilted last night, I wanted to share it today.

This is the BOM our quilt guild did this year.  I changed out the last two blocks, as I found I was procrastinating on finishing this quilt because I really didn’t care for the last two blocks.  (It takes me a long time to figure things out sometimes!)  Such an easy solution:  make two different blocks!  Do you ever do that, get stalled on a quilt and don’t really know why?  Lost interest, disappointed in how it’s coming out, just not enjoying the process?

These are all Asian-inspired fabrics I bought in a FQ sale last New Year’s Day for $1 each.  Then I had no idea what I would do with them!  A lot of the fabrics have shiny gold printed on them, so they aren’t something you could throw into any quilt. 

 Then I found I had nothing in my stash that would work for the sashings.  I found this cinnamon-colored marbled fabric at a LQS on Tuesday, and I think it turned out to be a good choice.  It wasn’t at all what I was envisioning, but luckily I took some blocks with me to “audition”.  My only complaint about this cinnamon color is it’s hard to photograph the quilting!

I quilted it with wonky loose feathers in the sashings and border, and pretty much ditched the blocks.  Time consuming, but I think it was the right choice.  I can sneak in a little handwork time for the binding later on in the day.

Someone asked me about my camera this week (I think it was Luanne, but I could be wrong!).  It’s a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20.  Mine has the 12x optical zoom and 4x digital, for a possible total of 48x zoom, plus it has Image Stabilization.  If you like taking pictures of birds, look for something with a super zoom on it.  I’ve had mine for about three years, so it’s probably just about obsolete, and there are probably better choices out there now.  This would give you something to compare with, however.  On that note, I feel the need to throw in a bird photo.  In the interest of color coordination, how about a Cinnamon Teal?

Have a fabulously wonderful Christmas Eve!

–Sue