Spending The Day With Mom At My House

This morning I decided to relax and wait to see how long it took mom to come over. She called and said she'd be here around 11 am. I was okay with that. I just played some games for awhile.

When mom and Daisy came over, I was just getting ready. I had turned the fireplace on downstairs to warm things up. It was nice down there. We went down to get started. Mom started cutting out more pieces for the quilt top that we started work on last time we were together. She ended up cutting out another quilt top as well. So, there are 2 quilt tops that are ready to be stitched.

While mom was working on that, I was working on the variation 9 patch. I was putting all the pieces together. I'm happy to say, I finished another quilt top! We used the extra left overs from the backing of the last quilt.

So, as it turned out, I was short! I made it 60" x 68". I needed to finish another row or two to make it longer. I'll try and give this to a shorter person. lol

We started working on the panel quilt as well. So, I'm going to work on that again this week.

Patrick brought us a Pizza and then we went bowling. I bowled better tonight, but it wasn't good enough to win! We only won 1 game. The other team out bowled us! And they had a higher handicap. I bowled a 161, 180, 226. That gave me a 567 which put my average up to 180. So, I'm happy about that. My Sunday night bowling average is 169, so that tells you how bad I've been bowling lately.

All in all, today was a good day. I got a ton done when it comes to QOV projects. I just want to be sure we can do this! That keeps me Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!=

A Productive Day....At Last!

This morning I enjoyed the fact that I wasn't going anywhere. So, I relaxed for a little bit before going downstairs to work on my QOV quilt top.

I cleaned up some of the mess. I wanted to get the QOV fabrics all together, and not all over the place.

The bucket or "container" couldn't hold all the fabrics. So, I guess when moms here tomorrow we will cut some of the fabrics into quilt top kits. That way I can sew them as I can. I'm surprised at myself for even doing what I've done when it comes to sewing.

I got all the 9-patch variation pieces in this box. These are the left overs, and trust me, there are more. I'm still sewing them, hoping to get rid of all the 3" squares I have. I may give it a rest. I think I have enough right now of 1/3 of another top. If I keep going, I may end up with another top. All this because of Donna and her scraps. Which is okay, because I'm getting quilt tops done.

This is what the quilt top will look like before the borders. You can get an idea of how I'm pieces the pieces together. I went row by row and sewed 2 blocks at a time together. That gave me 3 "sets" of 2 in each row. Once all those were done, I then took the top set of 2 and sewed them to the set of 2 below them. That gave me a 4 patch block. Once all those are done, then I will sew them (going down) together Then I can sew the 3 strips (once I sew the 4 patches) together. I found that would be easier than sewing each row together. It gets too bulky and hard to work with. This way it's like a 9 patch but bigger. Plus there is another row under that, but hopefully you get the idea. I try to find the easiest way to sew that let me feel like I actually want to sew. Not that I do, but at times it does.

I didn't get to work on this quilt top. Mom and I cut out all the pieces yesterday - only of red and white, but we didn't get the blue. So, I didn't work on cutting the blue pieces out. We will do that tomorrow when she comes over.

Lat night I was able to get a few more stitches in on my Modern Folk Embroidery SAL piece. I fixed the mistakes that I had in it, and I'm happy to say it's back on track. I'm not, but it is. I took a photo but can't seem to find it right now. I'll post one tomorrow. Hopefully I can get more done tomorrow, but at this rate I'll be working on the quilt tops instead.

Things are looking up, and I'm Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Spent The Day With Mom!

This morning while I was relaxing, mom called. She wasn't doing so good today and wanted to know if I would come over.

I got my shoes on and headed over. Stopped and picked up a couple Chai Tea. That made mom's day. She was thrilled to have some tea.

We took her car over to LeDuc's to have it checked out, then went to dropped the coffee (yep, got coffee instead of tea - wasn't thrilled!). After dropping that off, when to Starbucks to get my replacement. While I was in there, mom saw a sign "40% off everything in the store today." That was at Payless Shoes. So, we went over there for her. She picked up a pair of shoes, boots, and a backpack. When we were done, we went to "Once Upon A Time" for lunch. We split a sandwich and then headed back to her place.

We worked on cutting out another QOV quilt. We got the red and white part done. I brought home the rest of it, and will try to cut out the rest of it tomorrow. Then mom and I can work on putting it together. I had to leave, so we didn't get the blue part cut because of that.

Stopped at Safeway on the way home. When I got home......Sophie had my floss for my Seasons SAL (the red and blue one), in pieces in the kitchen.......I freaked out!! Good news is there was only a small part in the kitchen and the other bigger piece of the floss was on the floor by my chair. It was in knots, so I had to rewind the floss. I then went downstairs and got my container for yarn. I put the floss in that for now. UGH

This is the quilt I finished 2 days ago. It's all ready to go. I need to put the label on the back. Then it's ready to be presented to one of the two on the 7th. It was all from the scraps that I had from Donna.

This is a better picture. Had Patrick hold up the quilt. It's another one to add to my booklet on what I've done for QOV. I need to get my book updated.

I took the quilt out of the bag and that was good enough for Sophie. She decided she has a place to sleep now.....go figure!

Now, I'm just relaxing for now. I'm not sure what I'll be in the mood to do. Rose and I changed the date of when we would get together again.

I'll be thinking of being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!!

A Sewing Day!

This morning Sophie let me know it was time to get up. I enjoyed an hour to myself before Patrick woke.

Then he went outside and I went downstairs. I had to get more done on the variation 9-patch for the Quilts of Valor.

I got my new iron, and was able to use it. My last iron leaked water all over the place. So, I bought another iron. I got to try it out yesterday. Then I actually used it today. It worked great. I was happy with it. It does have a cling to it when I used it though. Maybe because it was new.

These are easy to sew. The trouble is, they are all 3" squares, which means there is more to sew. AND I DON'T LIKE TO SEW! But I'm getting them done. I was able to get a lot done. I did have to make some more triangles of blue and white. I also needed more reds, because the reds I had where the same. That works for a while, then it gets harder to mix and match them. So, I cut a few more to add to what I had.

I was able to get more done on this. I've got the width that I want. Now I need to work on the length. I have plenty of blues, and I will fill those in tomorrow. I'm really trying to get this done. Then I will do the four patch piece that I was trying to figure out. That's that panel piece.

Then it was time for bowling. I didn't do very good. I bowled a 168, 167, 148. NOT my day. We lost 3 games, so I'm not the only one that wasn't bowling very good. My average took a noise dive again. And life goes on...

In the mean time, I'm looking forward to tomorrow and being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Another Good Day With Good Friends!

Today I was up with Patrick. The phone was going off with texts so I decided to get up.

I was out the door and on my way to  moms. First stopped at the post office to ship one of my eBay packages. Arrived at moms and she needed me to walk her dog again. We took a short quick walk. Then I loaded up my van with the stuff for the quilt show to sell. Mom wanted to go to the bank first, so we went there.

We went to the Christian School where the quilters were getting together and quilting. A couple of them were finishing up one of their quilt tops. Others were quilting on their quilts. There are a lot of hand quilters there. Mom and I were teaching a gal how to hand quilt left handed. I showed her what I did and mom taught her a little more. I showed her how to hold the needle. Then I went back to working on the binding of my QOV quilt.

I was getting a lot done today. I have about 3/4 of one side left to do. It's almost done. Can't wait to have this done. I seriously need to get more tops done, but I really, really need to get back to my cross stitching.

At about 12:30 pm I left and went to see Dian. We worked on one of her dolls for sale. I called Ruth about the Santa dolls she was selling. She said she wanted them, so I paid Dian for them and then canceled the post. We worked on her quilting patterns to see why they were not working on her computer. They were not allowed to be shared. She wasn't doing good today. It was 3 years yesterday that her son dead. He was younger than me and my younger brother. She's having a hard time with this death and I don't blame her.

Came home around 3 pm. Had to stop at Safeway for milk.

I've been working on the binding of the quilt now.

I even went a changed my Facebook photo to Sophie.

She's a beauty!

While I was enjoying my time with the quilters, one of the quilters made a good comment.-

Women know how to meet with friends, join other friends, and have a good time. It's really true. We get together, chat about everything. We don't have a problem meeting with other friends doing something different. It's like me. I have a Friday quilt group - all have different attitudes and projects. I then go to my Thursday group and they have a completely different way of looking at things then the Friday group. Plus they are younger than Friday's group. I then go to my embroidery on Monday's and that's another group. All in all, we can communicate and have a good time. It made me wonder why our government can't do the same. Weird. We all work together, compromise and enjoy our time together. The QOV group is a group that works to get quilts to our veterans and will work hard to get them a quilt. All this has been fun and at times exciting!

Which leaves us all Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching.

A Good Day With Friends!

This morning I was out the door early. I was due at our quilt group meeting. Got there early and it was only 5 of us. I didn't get to see Sue and Susy because they both had other things to do. I worked on the binding of my QOV quilt. I got part of a side done while chatting with the others. Then I left around 12:30 pm to meet up with mom at the Christian School.

Mom's group is having their Retreat today, tomorrow and Saturday. They meet during the day and go home at night. I worked on the other side of the binding.

 I took the quilt in this bag. I also picked up some more red fabric. I needed that for the next quilt top.

We left at about 3 pm and I came home. I called two people to see if we could have them come for the QOV presentation. Then I sent an email to the museum. We needed some vets to do the flag ceremony. Once we get all that together, then we will do good.

I worked on a couple more things to put on eBay. I found out if I cut the fabric and sell them as panels they will probably sell better. So, I posted 2 of the panels. I have another panel that I'm waiting for a gal to buy, so put it on as a Buy Now. Just hope she get it and no one else does. Either way, I'll work on it.

Okay, today was a good day for working on the binding. Not a good day for cleaning up around the house. I'll work on it. I'm still Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

I'm Getting Closer To Finishing!

I enjoyed my day today. I actually worked on a few things.

I went downstairs and got the mitered corners put on the binding for the QOV quilt. I was surprised how easy that worked out since I haven't done it very often and it's been a long time. I had Sophie down there with me, but we weren't down there for very long.

I'm going to take the quilt with me to stitch down the binding tomorrow. Then it will be done and waiting for the label.

After I did that, I pulled out the black and white quilt and quilted on it.

I finished the corner, and now I'm headed across the quilt to the other side. It's coming along great. I just need to work on it more.

Since I have quilting tomorrow and mom wants me to attend the retreat her group has, I'll be attending both. I hope to see Jeannie Austin there as well. I really hope to get the binding done and then I can get back to my cross stitching and quilting......if I can get another quilt top done as well.

We went bowling tonight and I bowled a 185, 174, 176 which kept my average as is. We were rolling off with the first place team. We only won 1 game, but they out bowled us. Denise showed up, after having surgery on Friday!! She bowled awesome. Fred wasn't there, he was hunting. If he had been there we might of had a chance. He would rather go hunting for 3 weeks then come and bowl for us. Oh, well. lol

Today was good. I was Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!!=

Running Around

This morning I was up and ready to go. I had my massage therapy for my neck this morning. They are right next to the doughnut shop, so I ad to stop and get a doughnut for breakfast. Then I went to my appointment. I was early. Not unusual for me.

After that I headed to Napavine to see Faye. I passed her place and turned around to find her husband out in the drive waving me in. LOL I took the labels that I had, and we agreed that the smaller one was the one to get. I stayed and chatted with her and her husband for awhile. She gave me a copy of a quilt pattern that is really quick and easy. So, I'm going to do one of those after I get this one done.

Came home and worked on the quilt blocks I started.

Of course I had to have some help. She was pretty good this afternoon, Then Patrick got home and she was a terror. After supper I ended up cutting myself with my rotary blade because I was trying to stop her from eating pins. At least I know the blade is sharp. 

This is what I've got done so far. I'm going to fix two blocks that have that "grey" look from a distance. They will be put to white. 

I decided I better get moving and get the binding on the quilt. So, I stitched the binding on, but still need to do the mitered corners I'm going to do that tomorrow, because I wasn't in the mood to working with it just yet. Once I do that, then I can have a finished project. This is one of the quilts for QOV that will be given away. 

So, I'm happy to say, I was having a pretty good day. That leaves me Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching.

OH, Dang, It's Monday

I was up and out the door by 8 am this morning. Couldn't eat or drink anything....so, that makes for a bad start.....

I arrived at the hospital and went through the check in. That was interesting, because I don't remember going through all that for an ultra sound. It was time to check my thyroid and liver again. No clue, and really don't care today. They had a hard time finding both. But they did get some pictures for the doctor.

Then I went straight to moms. She hadn't been out to walk Daisy, so guess what I had to do. Daisy and I went for about a 30 min walk. I took my pills before we went walking and I was more than ready to eat something! I got some toast for my breakfast...but guess what?! It was lunch time. So, mom and I had a half sandwich. That made me happy. Then we went through her file cabinet and shredded a lot of stuff that they kept over the years. We did that for about 3 hours. We also waited on the IRS to find out about moms refund. They had a hold on it.....heck if I know why. So, the guy we talked to sent a message to the group who has it on hold, to send out a message or send the refund.  We can hope. All because dad passed away, they have been keeping her refund. Go figure, it's her money too! While we waited, mom kept the shredder going.

When I was ready to go home, but mom had other ideas. So, we went to one place and then went to the recycling center to drop off her glass. I said my good-bye there and headed home. Had to get a potato at Safeway, so picked that and a couple more things up. Next was gas. I stopped and couldn't believe gas prices are now $3.43 when it was $3.16 not that long ago.

By the time I got home, it was 3:15 pm. I sat with Sophie for awhile. I also started working on my QOV papers. I'm trying to get a presentation going. I have someone who will receive the quilt, now I just need to get them to come at the meeting. But first I need to get with Chip at the museum and make sure the day and time work for him.

Then Patrick got home. That meant cooking, cleaning and cooking again. I decided to get the sourdough going. I'm going to make sourdough bread again tomorrow. So, now it's ready to go.

I missed my Brazilian embroidery group because of my ultra sound. They didn't bother to ask me if it would work out for me, they just told me when it would be. Tomorrow I start back with massage therapy on my neck.

So, today was one of those days. The ones where I feel nervous, bored, calm, frustrated, sad, happy, and quiet. Just one of those days where I can't figure out what I'm feeling. Too much going on and I'm not enjoying being so busy. I want to get back to the quilt tops. Today wasn't the day for me to do that.

Life gets in the way. I've thought of dad a lot today, and I had a few tears. But Life is life. Plus dad always said we can't life forever. He also told me to relax and enjoy life. So, I'm trying to do that, but I get to nervous at times. Maybe it's because I want to be Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Got A Few Things Done Today

This morning I was up before both Patrick and Sophie. She slept with Patrick. When he got up, she didn't move, just her ears being radars.

Patrick helped me do the grant for QOV. Now that's in and we wait till December to see if we get any help.

After that, I went downstairs and worked on the blocks I was doing. I really need to get another quilt done. I now have 12 blocks. Most of them are blue with white, but the red is getting there. I had to cut out some more red because I was low on red. There is more than enough blue squares. I have about 4 blocks almost finished, just need to add the third row.

The blues have all kinds of patriotic prints. The reds not so much.

But they do work. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them in the way of a design. But I'm going to try and figure that out. I found that blue block (in the photo) was the only one that I added red blocks to. I didn't realize I did that till I ironed. it. I'll leave it for now. I may use it somewhere else.

While I was downstairs, Sophie was being a butt. She was climbing and checking everything! Yesterday I had to kick her out of the room, but today I went back upstairs and she decided to stay.

I found her in my chair when I cam up. So, it wasn't that easy to find a place to sit. At least she wasn't being a hellion like she was yesterday.

Then it was off to bowling. I didn't do so good. We took 2 games, and I think we might have still won the quarter. If we did, then I'm happy about that. I don't want to have to worry about it the rest of the year. We will be trying to take the quarter on Wednesday night as well. Not sure how that will work without our partners, but we will try.

I bowled a 156, 158, 170. Not my best but I thought I was doing pretty good, but the scores sure didn't tell it.

My fitbit band broke today. So, I'm having to keep it in my pocket to get the steps I need to complete the challenge for the month. It's going to be interesting to see if I make it to the end of the month with having to remember to have the fitbit in my pocket. UGH.

Okay, time to call it a day. Tomorrow I'll be getting an ultra sound and visiting mom. Should be interesting what comes up.

I'm loving being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!\

Spent The Day In Class.....

Today was the day for the Serger class that I signed up for in March, and couldn't attend. Then they offered it again, and I signed up for it.

At first I wasn't ready to go, but I decided I wanted to learn my machine and needed to attendl.

I now have a pile of samples of what we did. It was fun and I learned a lot. The trouble was in the beginning when I had to change my one thread. I needed to have a contrasting color. So, as I was changing it, found that it had a few threads that were not threaded....ugh. So, once I got that going, we started to get to work. Then as we were learning tension, my needle on the left didn't want to work right. The tension was loose. We tried everything thing, including changing needles. No such luck. So, I ended up having to get down to one needle instead of two. The rest of the day went really well. Then another gal had the problem I did, and her was doing great in the beginning. Now I just need to take it in for service. Mom showed up around lunch time.

We finished early, which was nice. Then I came home and went downstairs to work on my QOV quilt top again.

I started cutting down my triangles to 3". Then I got working on my rows to do my blocks.

So, I started to do the squares and the triangles together.

My pile is big. This is the variation 9 patch. I finished 5 blocks. I have several rows ready to put into blocks. I had to make a few more triangles with red. I have a lot of the blue colors but not many reds. So, I worked on that before calling it quits. I'll sit here and tear the paper off the triangles before I go to bed tonight. That way I can iron them and cut them down to 3" squares and get back to working on the red blocks. I found that I like working on this. Don't understand why, because it does get boring if I let it.

So between class and spending 4 hours downstairs, I think that makes me Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Had A Good Day Today

This morning I woke and realized Patrick took the day off. I had planned to go get breakfast and tea, but since he was home, that didn't happen.

I was woken by Sophie! She was getting our "basket" that Patrick put in the bathroom sink, since the plug wasn't working. Sophie pulled the basket out of the sink and was playing with it in our room! So, we kept hearing her running and tossing the basket into the door, wall, and anywhere that made a lot of noise. So, I got up.

Sharon called and said she would be by to deliver my QOV quilt! I was so happy. Bill and Sharon came and dropped off the quilt. We talked about the quilt and I love it! He did an awesome job! I couldn't believe he got it done so quick. I told him I was working on a couple more and would hopefully get another one off to him soon. Now I need to do the binding.

Played games for a little while, then got ready to go to Dian's. I'm helping her every Friday afternoon. She wants to list all her antique dolls and things on eBay. So, we listed a couple more dolls today. I had a good visit with her. She gave me a featherweight sewing machine for all the work I'm doing. She collected a lot of them. I love the one I took.

This is the one she gave m. I'm really happy with it. It's from 1938-1944 era.

Came home and we went out to eat. We were going to go to KFC but their lobby wasn't open, so we went to Country Cousins in Centralia. Then on the way back we went to Safeway. Our last stop was at the burger place. We got a ice cream cone. Patrick asked for strawberry but they didn't have strawberry tonight because someone messed up. So, he had to get chocolate. He was disappointed they didn't have the strawberry. He didn't have a very good night with everything going wrong.

Last night I worked on this piece, then this morning I realized I made a mistake. You can see it at the end of the bottom left. I'll take that part out and get back on track. At least I was able to get a few more stitches. I'll try and fix that this weekend but so far that doesn't seem like I will be able to do that.

Tomorrow is an all day class with my serger. Wish me luck. I'll at least be Happy Stitching/Happy Quiltin

A Day Away From Home

Today I was up and moving. I went to "The Gathering Place" where mom's quilt group was supposed to meet. When I got there, there was only mom and one other lady They talked and no quilting was being done. It was funny because the gal is a friend of my sister-in-law's Aunt that lived in Vancouver. The one that sold me her quilt machine - yeah, that I haven't touched. So, we got to find out what Lisa was up to.

I left there. Then headed up to Olympia. I was hoping to get a call saying the quilts were done, but that didn't happen. No worries. I went to my mammogram appointment. It was funny, I was a half hour early and gave the gal my copies of the last mammograms that I had down here. She misunderstood, because she didn't clock me in. I sat there for about 10 mins before she asked me if I wanted the CD back. I said no. Then she asked if I was waiting for something and I said, yes, I have an appointment. She then asked me back up there to log me in. I laughed about it. I was called in early and it only took about 10 mins.

After that, I was off to visit with Phil for lunch. We had a good lunch at Subway. I got the Veggie sandwich, that I really love! Sometimes I would rather have that then have meat in my sandwich. That's all Phil's fault, because I found they are just as tasty!!

Headed back home to stop at moms. She wanted me to help her again. So, I helped with the bed, then I helped with her game by calling the company, and then I helped with placing another order. Once all that was done, I was on my way home.

I wanted to play games when I got home. Guess it's because my "fix" wasn't happening this morning. I ended up playing when I got home.

And even after all that, I took a walk because I didn't get all my steps in.

It was so pretty watching the sun set.

This is "next door" viewing. I love the colors, and it made me think of quilts.

It went fast. So, I took pictures were I found an open area. You can't see it, but there are houses in the darker area on the bottom. It's pretty cool that they don't show in this photo.

Then I got my exercises in. Once that was done, I played again. I'm going to try and get some stitching done. For some reason I'm not in the mood to do much. I've been very emotional lately.

That's when I need to get back to being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Decisions Decisions, One Of Those Days

Have you had one of those days? You know, the ones where you think of what you want to do, then you decide there is something else that needs done as well...before you know it, there are 3 or 4 things that you need to figure out and you give up to start another one instead....Well, that was my day.

I decided to go downstairs and get moving on more QOV quilt tops. We need have a few quilts ready for presentations before the list of request start coming in. So, I cleaned up the box I have will all the fabrics. I took out the smaller pieces to cut up. But then I couldn't decide what to do about that either. I found a couple cheater clothes in there and I thought I could figure out what to do with it.

This is what I thought I would work on. Then I realized the top cloth is smaller than I was hoping. So, I'm going to give this to someone else to work on. I have no idea how I would put that together.

I cut this panel and trying to decide if I want to sew it up the way it is, or add some fabric between them. I will have to figure out a border as well. I will have to figure this one out as well. Not sure what I will do - so I would love to hear from someone with a good idea.

So, I ended up pulling out some of the squares I was working on before. Then I went to work on a variation 9 patch. I started working on the triangles. Then it was time to call it quits for the day.

We went bowling tonight. So, I'm happy to say I did better tonight then I have been doing. I gained 2 pins on my average. I'm happy. We took 2 games. We were in the lead and I think we still are. We will be bowling the other team that is up there with us. I bowled a 186, 190, 203. That's a 579 series. All's good.

I'm enjoying being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

It Was A Nice, Quiet Day

A quiet day around here is hard to get. I enjoy them when I get them. I have one more day that will be the same, and then it's back to being busy. That's what life is all about I guess.

I enjoyed staying in bed a little longer. Even Sophie wanted to enjoy more sleep this morning.

Once I got up, I was trying to decide what I really wanted to do today. That wasn't much.....So, I played a couple games and then I walked over to Cherri's. I stayed and had tea. We chatted for a good 2 hours. We were getting caught up with each other, because we haven't seen each other for a good week and then some.

I came home and turned the netflix on. I enjoyed a cop show that was English. It was a little dark, but I'm hoping it lightens up some.

While I was doing that, I worked on my cross stitching. Really didn't get much done, because I was taking out as much as I was putting in.

I've decided it's time to get back to my "life style change." I need to quit eating sugar and carbs at night. I really love my bread, but need to stop eating it during the late afternoon and evening. I'm going to try and get back down on my weight. I can't afford to gain any more weight.

Tomorrow is another day. I'm hoping I can get back to a full day of being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

Today Was One of Those Fast Day

When I mean fast, I mean the day flew by. I started out early and ended up slowing down just after supper time. I couldn't believe my day!!

It all started out with getting up at 7 am to be at the doctors by 8 am. Trouble was, I thought I was due at the appointment at 8:45 am instead of 8 am. Then my phone went off, and I checked the calendar to see that I got the 2 appointments wrong!! I looked at the one for next week. UGH. I wanted to get my packages packed up and take them to the post office, but that didn't happen. I ran out the door! I got to the doctors office 5 mins late and was ticked I couldn't call, because they don't answer phone calls till 8:30 am. I got lucky, my doctor was late too. I will need to get more message therapy on my neck, because I have arthritis in my neck. Then I also have to get a biopsy on the spot on my right arm. UGH. I have other issues, but we are working on them. I got the arthritis from dad, I'm betting, he also had it in his neck.

Then it was time to go to the post office and get one of my packages off in the mail. I had them double check the fee and they said eBay gives a discount on packages. So, that's a good thing, I think.

Got home and sat down, but not for long. I had to get moving on supper. I wanted to make a chicken noodle soup. So, I got that the chicken and water going (with spices). I then got to my eBay account to see what sold. Then I put them in packages and put them out in the mailbox. I was lucky they fit. All four filled the box up. Next was getting laundry going. Then I got some bread going to go with it.

Faye showed up to pick up the quilt for Bill to quilt. She's dropping both mine and hers off tomorrow. If he gets them done by Thursday then I'll go and pick them up, if not, she'll get them next week. We went over what we have for our group. We were talking about having a presentation at our next meeting date. I gave her a couple labels to go on her quilts. Then we talked about who we have to award. There were a couple people I needed to check on. So, I called one, and found out they already received their quilt. Then I sent another email asking if they received their quilt and if they could keep our meeting date open if we have a quilt. Haven't heard from that person. I have 3 that need to be awarded and we need to get the oldest first.

Once all that was done, it was time to get the chicken soup fixed. I cut the chicken and got the noodles going. Then I put the bread in the oven. I also worked on a dessert for later. It's a chocolate one. It was okay, with oatmeal. It reminded me of the date bars. I like the date bars a little better.

Patrick came home and gave me the package that came for me. It was a sample of our label!! I was so excited.

I'm thinking it's a little big. So, I ordered another sample to see if the smaller size will work better. I love the way it came out. Phil did an awesome job with this for us. If the other one comes back better than I'm going to order a yard of the samples for everyone.

I then decided to sit down and get some work done. I pulled out the cross stitch to try and get it caught up!

It's looking good. I'm getting done with September and starting on Oct. I do have a few stitches into Oct's part. I just need to finish up the bottom and then I'll have Sept's part done. I'm really excited to getting this done.

Before I knew it, it was 9:30 pm! The day was gone before I could do anything I wanted to do. I'm okay with that, because today was a good day. Have you ever had a busy day where the time went so fast? Get a lot done? At least I got back to being Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!

A Full Day Of Bowling

I was up and running today. Patrick took me to the "check point" where Theresa picked up three of us. Then we stopped and picked up one more bowler at Spiffy's. We were on our way. Not sure I'm crazy about Theresa's driving, but I did okay. She gets just a little too close to trucks before she passes.

We arrived at St. Helen's OR about 20 mins before it was time to bowl. Our Secretary was a little late, which made it okay. Then we started bowling - but the lanes were having issues. So we would stop every once in awhile and wait. I bowled a 155, 187, 161. At least my average went up. I was the top bowler on our team, as I had the lowest average. Afterward we were ready to go but Ginny went to the bathroom.....we waited 20 mins. I finally went to see if she was there, and she was standing there talking to another bowler. We were then on the road. Theresa stopped at Burger King in Longview. We were able to get something to eat at 3:30 pm. Once we were done, we went out to the car to find Ginny didn't close the van door. It was wide open. Again, Ginny was missing, and the next thing we knew she was chatting with some guy that was hitting on her. That was another 5 min wait on her. Back on the road and Ginny asked Theresa if she could drop her off at her house. We ended up doing a detour to Mary's Corner to drop her off. That added another 15 mins to Patrick's waiting on me. We finally got back to the pick up point. Patrick was in a hurry to get home because he had boiling water on the stove. He was freaking out that the water and stove were going to burn down the house. Got home and there was 1" left in the pot. So, filled it up and made noodles for Patrick. (This is 4:45 pm now). We were able to get a couple things done, and he got to eat supper. Then we were out the door.

We arrived at Fairway in Centralia. There we bowled another 3 games. We won all 4, with Bailey bowling a 601. I bowled a 182, 202, 163. So I was happy with that. My day was better then it has been. I actually gained pins on both travel league and Sunday night league. So, I'm happy!

That was the just of my day......didn't get one thing done when it came to stitching or quilting - but I did get some quilting in last night after I did the post.

Tomorrow is another day, and I'm going to be Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!!

Another 2 Days In One

Yesterday, Patrick decided to take the day off. That didn't bother me, because I was busy all day.

I went to the store to get packing envelopes. Then I went to mom's and took our Cutco knives to get sharpened. I guess 2 of my knives have to be sent off to the company. Mom had 4 knives that needed to go to the company. I left while he was sharpening them. I probably should have stayed, she bought another knife that she had missing.

I headed over to Judy's and got the batting and backing that I need for the QOV quilt. We chatted. I took some cross stitch stuff to her, and she is going to check with her group to see what they use. I have a lot of stuff I want to give her to see if she can get a donation for them. Not worried either way. My stuff didn't sell on eBay, so will get rid of them another way. At least I got $15 back out of the $50 so far.

Then it was off to Dian's place. I am working for her to get some of her collections on eBay. So, I was showing her how to sell stuff on eBay. I spent the afternoon with her and got her set to get moving on more stuff next week. I'll go back next week. She's offering to give me a sewing machine (old one), and I feel bad about taking it. I'm really not doing much for it.

We went out to eat and then we picked mom up. We went to the Evergreen Theater for the play "Guys and Dolls." It was awesome!! We had a great time. Didn't get home till about 11:00 pm. I still needed to get 200 steps in, so I walked it before coming in the house.

Today started out pretty good. We got up and enjoyed some time before going out the door. We went to the movie "Little Foot." That was a really, really good movie. I really enjoyed it!

We came home and I went downstairs to work on the case for the QOV quilt. I got that done. Then came up and got some cinnamon buns going. I'll finish them up tonight.

I'm hoping to work on the Black and White quilt for Katt tonight. Time will tell. Seems my time keeps getting away from me lately.

At least I'm still Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!!

A Good Day With Friends

Today I was up and out the door again. It's another one of those quilt days.

I went to get mom and I a Chai Tea. Then I went to moms. She knew I was going to be there in a few minutes. That didn't help. Got there about 10:15 am and she wasn't even ready to go. I waited on her to get ready, and finally asked her if she was ready to go. We left about 11:15 am. I couldn't believe she wasn't ready even after I called there twice on my way.

When we finally made it to the quilt shop, it was a shock. There was only one other person there. She wasn't staying long, but she was there. Then Susy showed up. I was surprised at how many of us were there - 4. No one showed up. I don't know if they forgot or what. So, we enjoyed each other. I was getting ready to rip out the blue part of the QOV quilt, to get the size I needed.

The blue strip had to be ripped out. While I was getting ready to do that, mom wanted me to go back to her house and bring back the box that we worked on for QOV. She wanted Susy to have it, so I went back to her house and brought it back. I told her there wasn't any blocks done, but there was a ton of 5" squares that she could make something with. I told her it was up to her, if she didn't want to do it, she could give mom the box back. It's one of my good boxes, so I do want it back.

By the time I got back, I could get started on ripping out the border. Mom did two sides while I did the other two sides. I got it done, and brought it home to get the square corners cut. Once that was done, I stitched around the whole quilt again. It's now ready. I'll pick up the back and batting tomorrow, and Faye will take it up to Bill to be quilted on Tuesday. Then I'm due up there on Thursday, and if it's done, I can pick it up. She's going up there quiet a bit lately. So, between her and I we will have our quilt tops done up there.

I brought home my Black and White quilt for Katt. I'm going to work on them tonight. I am backing up my WFT program (genealogy). So, I'm watching that take forever!

I got a notice that the swatch will be mailed in about 7-8 days. If it looks good, we can order a couple yards of it.

I didn't get any stitching done, other than the QOV quilt.

Tomorrow night we are going to "Guys and Dolls" play at the Evergreen Playhouse in Centralia. It's a musical and should be good. I haven't been disappointed yet at the theater.

Today was Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

A Quiet Day

Today I enjoyed not having to get up early today. I was up even though I didn't have to rush.

I got up and played a few games. Then I got my laundry going, cleaned up a mess in the kitchen - which I made. lol

Then I took the afternoon to work on my stitching.

I was able to get a lot done. Not near what I wanted but it's getting there. I'm hoping to start on this months tomorrow or Friday.

I called Judy for the QOV quilt batting and backing. She called me back to see if I could cut down the quilt. I told her I could take out the blue strip of the border. Which means I need to rip out the strips, and restitch around the whole quilt again. I'll do the blue for the binding. I think.

I finished my cream puffs that I made today. Added chocolate to the tops of them. Had fun making them.

It was time to go bowling...UGH....I just couldn't get it together. I was bowling good, but the score didn't show that. I bowled a 162, 171 and a 159. UGH. I hope I do better on Sunday - both times! Patrick did pretty good. We won 3 games, even though Fred didn't bowl the last game because of his shoulder. Now we don't know what will happen. He is going to have to go in and get it checked. Then Denise is having surgery in a week. Not sure if she will be bowling afterwards.

I'm working on staying Happy Stitching/Happy Quilting!!

Finished a Top for QOV

Yesterday I didn't get a lot done, so I didn't post. I will show you what I was working on though.

We had our meeting yesterday, and I started "A Rose For My Mother" embroidery. I am enjoying the satin stitches. I hope I can do this one justice.

Today I enjoyed not having to hurry up and leave for a meeting or whatever. I'm liking this kind of day.

I was up and enjoying my games. Then I went downstairs to finish up the quilt top I was doing for QOV. Took a break for lunch and back downstairs. I was able to get it finished. I called Judy to let her know the size I have and that I need to get backing and batting for Bill.

Not the best picture, but as I realized I didn't have a photo of this, I took it from the couch. I'll have a way better picture later.

I then started to work on the next top that is close.

I have more to make, but this is close to the end. I don't need a lot more blocks. I cut them down to 10" because they were not squared. I need to get a few more done and then I'm good. I think I cut the ones I am doing now wrong. I'll figure it out tomorrow.

Then I had to get on the conference meeting on line. It was what QOV is planning to do. On Nov. 20-27th we will be doing a fund raiser for our group. Each group is to do the fundraiser and the one with the most donations will win another $500 toward their groups expenses. So, about Nov 19th I'll be posting a fundraiser page on Facebook to try and get donations to our group. I will chat with the Museum to see if they can help us out too. I was on the conference for an hour.

Tonight I am going to try and get some stitching done. I need to get back to finishing my SAL. Then I can get back to my other stitching and try to finish that as well.

Today was a good day! I'm happy to say, I'm Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching.

And Another Sunday Bites the Dust......

Today was a good day for us. It started out quiet, and then ended up going full steam ahead.

I enjoyed some time to myself this morning. Then I had to get Phil's ciabatta bread. I had it sitting and raising while I went downstairs to work on the quilt top.

I sewed the red, white, and blue strips. I had Patrick look at what I was thinking about doing, and then what I could do. He thought the "what I could do" would be better. So, I'm going to cut squares of blue to go in the corners of the quilt. The strips will go around the quilt in borders. It looks pretty good. I hope to have this done soon. It needs to go off to the quilter. I need to square it off first so I can put the borders on.

Patrick tried to do some butternut squash, but he was so busy with cooking that he didn't realize he left them in the oven too long, and they burned. He eat some of it, I eat what I could but burnt food has me gag, so I couldn't eat much of it. He told me there was more in the fridge and I could cook them tomorrow. So, chances are I'm going to try and get them done tomorrow.

After supper, we dropped off Phil's stuff (bread), and then went bowling. We lost 3 games. It really wasn't because of me though. I did pretty bad to start and then I started picking it up. I bowled a 156, 176, 204. That last game we lost by 10 pins. So, it wasn't my fault. lol - even though I would have thought it would have been because of me the way I was bowling. Patrick didn't do as good either. I ended up beating in over all - he kicked my butt the first game.

I'll have a photo of the QOV quilt top when I get it sewn together. Hoping to do that tomorrow.

Each day comes and goes. We keep moving in a circle, Monday thru Sunday. And we start all over again......

Keeping up with being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!

Hello Saturday....Another Busy Day.....

This morning Sophie decided to wake us up. She didn't like it that we were sleeping past 7:00 am. So, I was up by 7:30 am because she wouldn't quit meowing.....lucky me!

When Patrick got up, we headed to the casino. We had a better day today then last week. We were there a couple hours. Then we headed over to moms to help her with her heater unit. I brought some of her mini pans back with me to make the chocolate doughnut holes that you bake. I'm wanting to try those.

We left moms to Safeway. We did a quick shopping trip. Came home and unloaded. Patrick got the stew going, while I went downstairs for the rest of the afternoon.

I finally got the pieces all sewn together. The funny part was that I didn't have the blue, red, blue piece on the top left corner. So, it looked funny without it. I ended up taking out the whole row - not once but twice - because when I added the blue, red, blue on the top of the block, I then added the triangles on - which made it upside down. That was the second time I ended up taking it out. Now it's done, and done right. My next step is to add a border.

So, I'm going to use these colors as a border strip. I have one block that is extra, and I'm going to put it in the upper left corner with the strips coming from it. I'm thinking I will have to applique part of the block on to the top. I'm going to figure out how to put that block on. May end up doing applique all the way with it. Haven't decided yet.

I'm hoping to work on it tomorrow. I need to get this one done so I can get back to the other one. I was thinking this wouldn't take much to get done, but it's taking a lot longer than I was hoping. Not my favorite kind of piecing.

At least at this rate we will have a quilt to present next month. I'm hoping we get more done to present as well.

Life is fun when we are Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching.!

Today Was A Quilting Day

This was another day of getting up and going. I was up long enough to get a couple things done, like kneading sourdough bread, and running out the door. 

I had to stop at Safeway to get mom some lettuce. She called last night and asked that I bring a ball of lettuce. Then I got on the freeway and was at her house just before anyone came. She wanted me to help with her plant before everyone came. I didn't have time to get my quilt and place it at the chair where I get more quilting done. As I was getting her plant re-potted. Anne and Judy came in. So, Anne took the chair I wanted to quilt in. I had to get help from Anne to get the plant done, because mom was off doing what mom does. 

We had a good group. It was small but good. Judy left early because she had plans for lunch. I was able to get a lot done on the quilt. It was just uncomfortable on the couch. It was a little hard to get my arm under the hoop. 

I reached the third corner on the quilt. It will leave me with 1/3 to go. That's cool. I'm happy to see I've gotten that far. Not sure if Katt will get this before Christmas, but I can just keep trying. 

After lunch, I headed out the door. Mom had some things she wanted me to do. First I had to go to the quilt shop and getting blue fabric for the quilt top I'm working on. Once I got that done, I ended up with going to Copy Depot to send the fax mom needed to get out. Next stop was the post office, and the last one was Safeway for milk.  Came home with supper and milk instead. By the time I got home, I didn't have time to work on the quilt top. I'm hoping to do that tomorrow. I can hope......

I baked the sourdough bread I had raising while I was gone. 

They turned out great. I added caraway seed in them, and it tasted a little like rye bread. I really liked the flavors. Patrick liked it as well. So, we had that for supper, and Scott came and got one of the bread "balls." 

Sophie was all over the place from the time I got home to about half an hour after Patrick got home. One would think I had a horse in the family. 

The good news, is that I have actually made the 5,000 steps every day this month so far. I'm hoping to keep it going. I want to be in there for a prize, but chances are there are others who are doing better. I'm listed with the City of Chehalis, because Patrick works for them. 

I'm so happy to be back to  being Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!!

Spent The Day Sewing - Yeah, I Know, Right?!

This morning started out early. I worked on playing games for about an hour, then went downstairs.

It felt weird having the whole day without having to go anywhere. Lately that's been rare, and I miss the days when I could stay home for days in a row.

Just as I was going downstairs, I got a text that my heater was delivered. Went outside and brought it in.

Of course Sophie had to inspect it.

I wish I had the video going! She was fun to watch. She jumped into the box and the box tipped over, so she shot out of the box. What fun!

I cleared off my counter, some. Then I started sewing the blocks mom and I worked on. Ended up taking that all out, because mom didn't square them up. My first job was squaring the blocks up. Then I worked on the sashing. Cut the strips I needed and cut the size I needed.

I wanted to see what the photo would show. I added the sashing and to blue squares. I had to take each row as I went. Then I messed up by sewing the third row to the second row and having a tail. I should have done each row with the triangle first. It was interesting how my brain worked today.

I realized I had to take out the second block in the right corner. I had one too many blocks. I decided to use the fabric that was in the pinwheel block. I accidentally sewed the right bottom on wrong. Then I had to take that out. Because I sewed the two blocks for that corner, I had to take all that out. But before I did, I cut the triangle to fit......well, that was a big mistake. Now I have to do another triangle. I have two triangles to do. I may have to put a border around the whole thing to get the size I need. I'm hoping to get this done by the weekend. I need to get this to Bill to be quilted. Then we'll have a quilt done for the presentation for next month.

Now, the big question - what was I doing?! I don't sew! I don't like watching the needle go up and down, up and down, on the sewing machine. Yet, I sewed......Guess I'm really into having quilts for veterans. I feel good doing this for veterans. So, why don't I like making quilts for myself or the family......guess that's why I applique. Really can't figure it out!

Guess that keeps me Happy Quilting/Happy Stitching!