FINALLY GETTING SOMETHING DONE....

Today is a good day....I'm finally getting something done. Even when the day didn't seem to be that great to start out. 

I must have been snoring last night, 'cause hubby kept waking me up to roll over. Trouble was I hurt my right neck/shoulder a couple weeks ago and it was really hurting last night, so every turn was painful. After about 4 hours of being poked, I got up and went to the couch....not much better. At least the heat is on in the living room, since I only have a lap quilt in there I could use. Went to the blue room to find a quilt and there wasn't one in there, so lived with just the lap quilt. I did remember the Hawaiian I'm quilting was behind the couch, so I finally did that about 5 am when the cat outside woke me up. After waking up two more times, I finally got up at 8 am......sore....ugh...

I played games on the computer, as I always do. When hubby got up, he was in the mood to clean house, so we ended up taking a couple hours cleaning...not my favorite thing to do, but it did need it after my folks left. Dad tracked in mud on my rug, so I'm going to have to figure a day when I can carpet clean my carpet. Not looking forward to that......anyway, cleaned a few things more then we usually do, and the house is looking good - with one exception - my quilt room. I ended up putting all my "stuff" on the table in my quilt room. I seriously need to go back down there and clean that up! Maybe this week....maybe not. I'll let you know how that goes....

Okay, now for the "finally getting something...."  We sat down at watched the old version of Ocean Eleven, with Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Frank Santra. I had forgotten half of it, but boy was it good! When it came to the ending, I remembered what happened just before it happened! lol  So, much fun! 

While we watched the movie, I quilted on the Hawaiian quilt. It's coming along nicely and is looking good. I can't wait to start doing the ecko (sp?) quilting around the center piece. Charlie (the cat) wanted to be in my lap the whole time, but got her to go to my feet. She got ticked and went to the couch where she looked at me and the quilt, then looked at the lap quilt she was on, and gave me one of those looks to say she wasn't happy. Then she turned her back on me and cleaned herself. Couldn't help but laugh! The Hawaiian quilt is getting farther along and really is looking good. I just hope I have enough purple quilting thread to finish it. I may go see if I can buy some more, since I have the brand and the number. Trouble is, not all dye lots are the same. Oh, well. 

Till next time, I'm happy quilting..... 

I DID IT!!

The frog quilt was completed (down to the wire) for the quilt show. I haven't taken a photo yet, but I will. It was at the quilt show yesterday and today at the Centralia Christian School. I had both of the wall hangings in the show. My neighbor was thrilled to see her rose quilt had a better binding on it. It looked a 100% better. I was able to complete it just before it had to be at the school for showing. I tried to get it done before then, but the storm brought on a lot more problems then expected. 

When the winter storm hit, my parents were without power last week from Tuesday till Wednesday this week. On Saturday they finally agreed with me that they needed to come into town and stay at our house. So, while they were here, I wasn't able to get as much quilting and crafts done as I would have liked. I did get working on them after they left Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, (the day the quilt was due), mom called to say the power went back out and she needed to come over for a shower. While she was here getting a shower, she was also asking a lot of questions keeping me from finishing the binding. I ended up taking the quilt to the TAS Haven't Missed A Stitch group and worked on it there. 

In the process of my parents being without power, my mother had foot surgery done a week before. So, she was unable to get around without a skutter (sp?) or later a walker. She had to crawl up the stairs at our house for a couple days before they gave her permission to walk on the foot. She is still using both to get around. 

All's well here. Now I can't wait to get back to the Hawaiian quilt and the butterfly quilt on the frame downstairs. I am going to take my runners to my mothers on Friday and work on basting those. I will also work on the blocks (crazy quilt) for the TAS Retreat at Seabeck in March. I'm really getting excited about going to that!  I will try a post something new this week. I want to get back into writing on here. Time seems to fly by. 

If you are a quilter, please click on the ads. Those are the things that keep this website going. Thank you for viewing my boring details of what is going on with me and quilting....till next time, Happy Quilting!

SNOW STORM IN THE PACIFIC NW

Guess I'm getting behind on writing on this page. I've been busy with the family genealogy and once I get going I can't seem to stop.

For the past two days it's been snowing off and on. We ended up with snow that came up to my knees this morning. My husband had to go to work, but ended up getting stuck for a little while just outside the house.

You can tell how big the snow flakes got. I talked to him after he got to work, and he thought a generator blew with all the flashes going off. lol I was taking pictures. lol

This is what it looked like at 7 am this morning:

At least the snow slowed down for a little bit. I guess we are supposed to get more tonight. So, of course bowling tonight has been cancelled. No big loss her for me anyway. I can use a break.

So, back to what I've been up to. I was working on my family history and found that there are more of my family buried in Bremerton, WA than I originally thought. I was in shock. I found about 10 of them there already and now I know there are at least 5-7 more. Plus I've been working on the www.findagrave.com to help me out in locating family. I'm even amazed at how many of them are already listed on the site. I did have my aunt and uncle transfered to my "care."

Okay, back to quilting stuff. At least writing I had taken out the binding to the Rose Arbor quilt that I made for a friend. I completed it not long after I posted the information and I took photos. This one was after I sewed the binding back on.

I decided to add a rose quilt pattern to the open area, to give it a feel of more roses in the background. I also added a leaf for a background effect. I usually like to fill in (with quilting) where the area is so wide open and bigger than my hand size. So, I tend to add more to quilting when it is needed. Plus the more quilting you have the prettier it looks - my opinion.

Once that was done, I could finish up the binding and have it completely finished.

Those photo's are how I stitched the binding on the back. As you can tell, I cut the strip too big for what I wanted, so I folded over the strip to line up with the batting, then I sewed it down. It was like folding in thirds with the last two folds to the back.

The gal I walk with in the mornings reminded me to take my camera on Friday last week and these are some of the photos of that walk.

Mt. St. Helen's is in this photo but hard to see.

Okay, back to quilting (again - grin). I started quilting on the frog quilt for another friend. I'm almost done with the quilting and hope to have it done for the quilt show at the end of the month. If I can get the quilting done by this weekend, then I'm on track and doing great.

I found using a smaller frame was easier around the edges of the quilt. I used a round hoop for the middle of it which made it easier to quilt.

Funny how people think I'm basting - at first. I realize my stitches are big, but please, they aren't that big. It's outlining the design to have the frog "pop" more. So, now I'm going to watch the shows I have recorded and try to finish the quilting on the trees (upper part of the quilt). Keep your fingers crossed I don't get side tracked. I tend to do that.

In the mean time "Happy Quilting."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I realize it's 7 days past the New Year, but still had to say it.

Today is getting back into finishing a few things. Amazing how much more I have to do then I thought. Plus on Monday I'm hoping to get back into Genealogy to find a few more people I've been looking for for over 20 years.

Okay, I got the Rose Arbor quilt back from my neighbor, so I could enter it into the quilt show on the 27th. I took out the binding I put in the Friday before Christmas. I really hated the way it came out and I did a really bad job. It puckered like you wouldn't believe. So, yesterday at our TAS group meeting (Myron's Girls), I put the binding on again with mom's sewing machine. Now I am hand stitching the back of the binding. I really don't care to sew it on by machine if I don't have to. I do sew the one side on with the machine, but the rest is by hand. I took pictures so I can post them to see.

I started quilting on the Frog quilt and hope to have it done by the 27th as well. I may have to give up my games for a day or two just to keep from doing what I did with the Rose Arbor quilt. When I get rushed, I don't do as good a job as I should. I couldn't believe how sloppy I did the quilt. Funny how you see things after it's done. You'd think I would have noticed before that. Another one of my "oops." I should have told Ruth she would get it after Christmas, but I didn't and I hope she likes the way it is this time. (Remembering the "Should'a, Would'a, Could'a" staying...) The Frog is for a friend of mine and she knows I started it. My son even liked it when he was here. I started it at his place in the summer, so he knew the colors. He just hadn't seen it completed. I'm thinking the colors of the quilt are his colors, so I'm going to have to think in those colors  when I find a quilt I want to do for him.

Told my daughter what I would like for a design in a quilt. She said she would work on it. She's really good with drawing. Actually both my children are great with drawing. I just can't get it to look like what I'm seeing in my mind and get frustrated with my work. I did miss not having my daughter for Christmas, but I know she was busy and that is how things go.  I'm hoping she will be able to help me in designing a few quilts. I'm looking forward to working with her.

Yesterday we were talking about the free patterns that are Block of the Month(s) (aka BOM) on the internet. I guess there are a few out there that are free. The interesting part is that some of them that post BOM for free, don't charge you to do them, but they get very upset if you don't keep up with each month and they won't give you the month you missed. There is a gal out there that even complains constantly about this or that, and get very upset with quilters that don't pay attention to her instructions. Wow! That surprised me. Quilters are supposed to be fun loving and willing to work with others. If you do free patterns on the web, even if they are BOM or not, and someone missed one, what is the harm in charging them for it or giving it to them? Go figure. Funny thing is, it actually has me wanting to go look for BOM in applique that are really pretty and getting the patterns for them. Who knows, maybe I will do a BOM one of these days.....(wishful thinking).......in the mean time, need to finish a couple of them I already have. lol

I'll try and post the photos by this week. I will probably set up a page that has my family. Don't know when though. Till next time....Lynn