It's a Sewing Day!

I was  happy to be sewing again today after 3 days without stepping into the studio. I was working on string blocks for the Heartstring Project.  My chicken pin cushion approved of all the blocks done and started.  I have 12 done, 3 partly done. I guess I will keep going until I run out of the 2" red center strip.  It is from one of my favorite scrap quilts. 

I also unpacked another box.  I am really down to only 1 more box but I think it is scrapbooking stuff not fabric.  

I found a rubbermaid bin of plaids and stripes -- mostly homespun.  But what a surprise when I opened an old plastic pencil box. This is full of half square triangles that have been cut off of blocks like snow balls.  And, evidently I was really efficient because most are already sewn!  Some are even trimmed.  Amazing.  I know I've run into other containers of triangles some sewn, most not. I view this as a great find!  The ones in the top are from a Pineapple Blossom quilt directions are at Quiltville.com. 

I've already made one little quilt from these blocks.  I hand quilted it, bound it and it is ready to go to Faithful Circle Quilter's Fall Silent Auction. (Columbia, Maryland.) Ok, not quite, it doesn't have a label. Every year that quilt group raises money to help with holiday baskets provided by the First Presbyterian Church of Columbia. If you live in central Maryland it is a great group.  We meet at the church so this is one way we help "pay them back" for letting us use their facilities.  Here's the finished little quilt.  I am keeping my membership there in hopes I can get down there every once and a while.  

Tomorrow I'll be going to the Wednesday quilters.  I plan on trimming the heartstrings blocks, taking out the rest of the quilting stitches in a small quilt. And, I'll probably need to think of something else -- hum, maybe I'll make a label for that mini quilt!  I could also trim half square triangles!  Happy Quilting all! 

Bonnie

Weekend Travels

Quilt info at the bottom!

What a weekend.  We watched our guys in the Jerseyman Triatholon. Kevin, on the left, did a half marathon. 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles on the bike, and 13.1 mile run. Brian, sil on right, did the sprint: 1/4 mile swim, 16 miles on the bike and a 3.1 mile run. Wow.  They did really well.  This was taken just after Kevin finished, Brian had already had his shower and eaten. (Think of the calories these races burn!) 

It wasn't quite as great for the audience.  It was delayed due to thunder (I never heard any) and drizzled or rained the whole day. The dogs were drenched.  Cassie has a backpack to carry her own supplies. 

 She had a mullet wig on for about 30 seconds.   Kona just hung around being wet, as did all the people. Luckily it wasn't cold just wet.  Aimee gave Kevin his own 1/2 triathlon award.   After Kevin chowed down on a burger we all went our own ways.  

The drive back to Pennsylvania was awful! It poured buckets the whole way or so it seemed. There was a lot of standing water and it was slow going.  We didn't stop just kept going until the garage beckoned! 

The good thing about traveling is visiting new quilt stores.  Jenny and I went to Kindred Quilts on Main Street in Clinton.  It was a bit hard to find because there are 2 main streets but we finally found it just as we were going to give up. I bought a piece of background fabric on sale. Jenny bought more bright colors.  (Remember that baby quilt a while back?)  They have several fun sounding classes.  How does Stash Pot Pie sound to you?  Or Fun and Done? First Edition lets you in at the beginning of a new pattern.  All of these appeal to me. Hum, how far away am I from this store?  I may have to make a return trip for one of these classes.   

Next door was a great shop that sold nautical art, sail boat model ships and flags.  We got a new one for winter that says Let It Snow.  Hopefully, we aren't dooming ourselves!  

Happy quilting -- I'm hoping to get a little actual quilting done. Bonnie 

On the Road

I'm signing in from Clinton, NJ where my son and son in law are going to be participating in triathlons.  Brian, sil, is doing a sprint.  Tomorrow I'll have a better idea of how much is involved but he says he'll finish in 2 hours +/-.  Kevin is doing a half.  It should be 4 hours +/-.  We'll see how they are doing after the event. 

Patrick and I came down from Greentown, PA by way of Reading to pick up Jen.  Her car was totaled in the accident last week and she had use of a rental car for a week.  But she had to get it back from Maryland to PA.  It worked out really well since we were all coming to NJ on Sat.  We hit a yarn store and a quilt shop.  Just know that I bought in both locations.  Smile.  I'll share more info tomorrow.  Now, I'm for bed because we have to leave at 6:30 am tomorrow.  (Are they out of their minds? Me awake, dressed and ready to go at 6:30 in the MORNING?)  

Hope everyone is getting some great quilting done.  I'm looking forward to finishing some of the Heartstring blocks either tomorrow or Monday.  Happy quilting, or in my case, thinking of quilting.  Bonnie

Quiet Rainy Day

The rain started at bedtime and kept up well into the morning.  Not a great day outside but good for indoor pursuits.  I finished meander quilting a string quilt.  I have probably discovered why it is a good idea to use muslin foundation rather than paper that is torn out.  The quilt has bias edges and seemed to grow as I worked.   Now I am trying to decide whether to turn over the backing for the binding or to cut and sew binding on.  Won't have to decide about that until Sunday afternoon.  I'll post a picture after it is done.  

I also cut foundations for some more string blocks.  These are headed to Heartstrings.  They really don't take very long unless you use little strings.  Today I was working with 2, 2.5 and 3" strings.  So they were going fast until I had to run a couple of errands. 

Tomorrow it is off to NJ to watch Kevin and Brian compete in a triathlon.  Too bad the weather isn't going to be fabulous.  Happy quilting! Bonnie

Ripit, ripit!

If you hear growling and cursing from northeast Pennsylvania, it is me as I take out 2 days worth of quilting.  Yes, I could have left it but I really didn't like how it looked.  I had put in too much quilting for a little wall hanging.  It was wavy and bunchy.  I like the top too much to hate the quilting.  So today I took out what I had sewn in this morning.  Maybe tomorrow I'll rip out the rest.  Tedious but not hard. 

So, when I was fed up with ripping I decided I would start quilting a string quilt I have decided to give to Project Linus.  Hopefully I can get it finished and find someone to take it to an upcoming blanket day.  It is red, black and white.  Hopefully it will appeal to a teenager.  I figure quilts for teenage boys are probably needed.  

Christy made it to the vet without too much trouble.  But, she has lyme's disease.  So 30 days of antibiotics for her. So little pills for her morning and night.  We hide the pill in peanut butter and she's so busy gobbling it that she doesn't realize she's had her pill.  Vet says she should be peppier once she's gotten a few days of her medicine. That will be great cause I didn't think she could get any less active.   

Tomorrow I should be able to finish the quilting on the string quilt.  Maybe I'll get a block or two done.... we'll see. 

Happy quilting! Bonnie

Road Trip

Today the Wednesday quilters took a road trip instead of quilting.  Several ladies were turning in quilts to be shown in a quilt show. The Country Quilters biannual show, "Harvest of Quilts IX," will be from 10 to 4 on Sat., Sept. 27 and 28th at Pine Bush High School, 118 Route 302 in Pine Bush, NY.  We were at Quilter's Attic.  Notice all those green bags?  We were all trying to help the economy improve! 

We tried to stop at a local restaurant but they had closed for the week for vacation.  Oh well.  On to a chain restaurant and an enjoyable lunch.  

Here are the trippers in front of Quilter's Attic.  I'm the tall one on the end. Hum, didn't realize I'm taller than everyone.    

Our last stop was Jelly Toast Inc./The Fabric Center, 57 Front St. in Port Jervis, NY.  (Sorry couldn't find a web address.)  No pictures because the camera battery had died. And, we helped the economy in Port Jervis also! 

Tomorrow I'll be back to quilting on the piece I showed yesterday.  And, the dog is going to a new vet to make sure all her shots are up to date.  Christy is a 13 and 1/2 year old black and white springer spaniel.  Her days are spent asleep on her cushy bed.  She gets up if we make her go outside which she really doesn't like. (Heck it is cold and dark at 5:30am when she is invited out!) She will be at a new kennel over the weekend as we go to watch our son and sil participate in a triathlon.  She's just too old to go with especially since there are three young dogs going too.  Being new in the area is hard on both humans and animals.   Hopefully she'll realize we'll pick her up Monday.  She also needs to be groomed but how many new things can I spring on her at once? (She looks pretty pitiful here ... maybe it is the angle!)  

Happy Quilting All!  Bonnie

Header Photo

It worked! I now have one of my quilts as the header photo.  Can anyone help me put a logo under the stuff in the right hand column?  I wonder what else I will learn as I create my Blog?

Quilting and banking

Lots done today starting with laundry. Not my favorite but it needs to be done every once and awhile.  My goal is to do the various parts once every 10 days or so.  Doesn't always work. 

Spent some time marking a quilt to be machine quilted on my Babylock.  Was interrupted by laundry.  When I came back I decided I did NOT want to finish marking with a silver pencil.  Why didn't I start with the thin tracing paper like I often do?  Didn't exactly start over but I did overlap some.  Then I got the outside section done. Oh-oh! I may have created a monster by not starting in the center.  What was I thinking? Once I stopped for lunch around 2 pm I never made it back.  That's when the banking came into play.

I was paying some bills and decided maybe I should balance the check book.  Hum, that's something that hasn't happened since April.  And, I was missing the statement for that month. A couple hours later, I'm down to just two more to do.  That is definitely for another day! Tonight I hope to do more quilting on the little quilt above.  When done, I'll post a picture of the whole thing! What a tease! 

And, now for the picture of the studio.  This isn't from the same angle as the previous one.  But it does show the boxes vanishing a bit.  Later this week I'll post the fabric storage shelves.  They look wonderful.  

Time to make dinner. 

Happy Quilting!  Bonnie 

Plans go awry

I started slowly today.  Last night I successfully unpacked two (2) more boxes in the studio.  I think that only leaves 3 and I know one of those goes to a storage closet for the time being. Progress is definitely being made! But I stayed up too late and was very slow getting moving this morning. This photo is at the beginning. Watch for further studio shots later this week. 

The plan for today was to finish the book Murder at the Opera by Margaret Truman.  It is due today - 9/22.  But the library isn't open today.  So go figure!  I started in on the book getting immersed in the story.  Phone jangling popped me out of Washington, DC and the events of putting on an opera.  Unfortunately it was Jenny sounding very upset.  Her car had just been rear ended and wasn't drivable.  She wasn't sure what to do. She is fine for the most part but will be sore and bruised by tomorrow.  And, then she has the mess of dealing with getting home, canceling her appointment, getting the car fixed.  

After the flurry of calls passing information and keeping all informed, I went back to the book and finished it.  Now the question is do I drive it over to the closed library that is a good 15+ minutes away or do I take it over tomorrow morning?  Maybe tonight or in the morning.

Now, it is time to try some quilting.  I'm going to look at my to do list and pick something off of that rather than just play on what strikes my fancy.  

This is a disappearing 9 patch.  When Jen and I make quilts together she generally picks the fabrics.  (Of course, truth be told, these were all in my stash of fabrics so I must like the bright stuff too!) 

It's a Start

Good Morning.  I am easing into blogging.  Yesterday I started the account, today, I write.  I will be enhancing this blog over the next few days and then will start admitting to it on my signature lines in the groups I am in.  

Today is a quilt day for me.  At least once I get going.  My daughter is visiting and we will be working together on quilting a baby quilt.  She'll do the quilting and I'll prep the binding.  (I know I got the easier job!) 

Now, on with the day. 

Happy Quilting!  Bonnie