2011 UFO Challenge

After serious consideration and a little time to list my UFO's I decided that I am going to participate in the 2011 UFO Challenge at Patchwork Times.
So here is my list of 12 (I'm know that there is more)that I want to complete this year.

1. Double Pinwheel Quilt(2003)- finish assembling, quilt and bind (Completed 5/2/11)
2. Snow Business Quilt (Planet Patchwork Mystery Quilt 2007) - quilt and bind
3. Christmas Lights Quilt (2009) - quilt and bind  (Completed 12/10/11)
4. Sailboat Quilt (2010) - assemble, quilt and bind (Completed 4/27/11)
5. Sister's Choice Quilt - finish blocks, assemble, quilt and bind
6. Oklahoma Backroads Quilt - finish blocks, assemble, quilt and bind (Completed 1/31/11)
7. Rosebud Quilt (2006) - quilt and bind  (Completed 8/21/11)
8. Cherry Irish Chain - finish blocks, assemble, quilt and bind
9. Cathdral Stars - finsh assembling, borders, quilt and bind.
10. Have a Nice Trip Quilt (Planet Patchwork Mystery Quilt 2010) - quilt and bind (Completed 4/29/11)
11. Random Ohio Stars (2008) - add borders, quilt and bind  (Completed 10/30/11)
12. Thimbleberries BOM - not sure which one I have 3 in progress.

It would be awesome to finish all of the quilts, then I could move on to the next 12.

Happy New Year,
Mary

2 at a Time

After I finished the last pair of socks (actually my 1st completed pair) I decided to try 2 at a time on circular needles. A little bit of a learning curve and allot of bad thoughts and questioning my decision to start this but now that I am well on my way with them I am liking this technique. The pattern I am following is from the book "Knitting Circles Around Socks by Antje Gillingham."

I always need to be doing something, so while I am on the computer I knit. I keep my knitting on my keyboard pullout, since I have a laptop seemed like the perfect place it put it - nice and handy.

Now time to get ready for work.

Mary

Snow and Sew

This was the view out my sewing room window Sunday morning. According to the news we did have enough snow to classify it as a White Christmas - first one since 1963 in this area. It was certainly beautiful to see the big fluffy flakes coming down, but now in my personal and humble opinion that can be it for the rest of the winter season.


Now that I have finished my Carolina Christmas Quilt it is time to start on the next quilt for our bed. I am now officially participating in Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt, the clues started back on November 19th - so I'm a few weeks behind, at least it's not a race. For the quilt I chose Civil War era fabrics; the colors I am going with are browns, greens, pinks and neutrals - the same colors in the mystery.


With the snowy weekend we had and our plans changed I was able to get a few 'clues' completed. Son far I have clue 1, 2, 4 and half of 6 finished; 3 and 5 have quite a few pieces to them so they will take a while longer.


For some odd reason when I sit down at the sewing machine I always have to figure out how I can get my foot in to operate the pedal. JD and Sophie are usually under the desk but today Kasey decided to join them. They never go under there until I sit down to sew, not sure if they think I can't sew without them there.

Oh well, it's Monday and back to work.
Mary

Happy Holidays!

My wish to all is a very Wonderful Holiday Season.

Mary

Carolina Christmas - Done!

My Carolina Christmas quilt is done and on the bed just in time for Christmas. I finished the last of the binding this morning and can hardly wait to sleep under it tonight. This is the second quilt I have made for our bed, the first was 13 years ago and that was the quilt that started my addiction and love of quilting.

Hoping for Merry Christmas dreams tonight.

Mary

Knitting Socks

I finally finished knitting my first pair of socks. Aren't they pretty, can hardly wait to put them on. The yarn has aloe in it which should feel wonderful. I started knitting socks more than a year ago but have never finished a pair until now. I just picked up a book to knit 2 socks at one time, Knitting Circles Around Socks by Antje Gillingham, so that should solve my missing sock issue. I am anxious to start on those but as usual I have several things going on at the same time, but that won't stop me.

Today's plan is to quilt some, Christmas shop some and knit more socks.

Mary

Jo's Visit to the South Continues

Saturday we continued on with Jo's tour of the South with a ride up to Caesar's Head continuing on to see Pretty Place down through Bevard then up to Highlands down to Franklin and ending up for an early dinner at the Dillard House. After over stuffing ourselves at the Dillard House onward to home where we comfortably ended the evening watching one good movie and the 2nd movie the verdict is still out on.

Today was kind of a laid back day with laying around this morning - all of us tried from the past couple of days of travel. Thursday night I introduced Jo to Shrimp and Grits, this morning she had Biscuits and Gravy for the first time - hard to believe for people in the South to understand no one ever having them before but it's not a meal in the North. Jo and I ventured into Greenville for a little shopping then the sad trip to the airport where we had to say goodbye for now.

What an fabulous weekend - not ready for it to end.

Mary

Christmas at Biltmore

Awesome day Friday with my hubby and a very good friend, Joann. We went to the Biltmore Estates in Asheville and had a great time. The highlight of the day was Candlelight tour of the home - simply beautiful. The house and grounds are magnificent thoughout the year but the holiday decorations are fabulous to see.

What an wonderful day!
Mary

Happy Thanksgiving

Now it's well into the afternoon - dinner is past the and THANKFUL all are at rest. Quite an eventful day - kind of THANKFUL it was just Jody and I.

I started the day in the kitchen first making biscuits and gravy for breakfast. I have the biscuit recipe in my head, a real easy recipe but apparently hard to remember today. The amount of flour was right but not enough milk and too much oil equals hockey pucks - THANKFUL that they were still edible. Next was Pecan Pie - THANKFUL for no issues there. Then came the sail bird, after 2 hours in the oven it was time to put foil over it to keep it from drying out. I opened the oven door and pulled the rack out a little turned to grab the foil and by the time I turned around the bird went sailing to the floor (THANKFUL the turkey stayed on it's back). THANKFUL that for once I did not have a dog under foot, gated the kitchen and Jody cleaned up the floor while I washed the bird. An hour and half later the bird was done and then put the dressing in the oven - THANKFUL for no tragedy there. Dressing finished baking, turned off the oven and then the oven started beeping and then some crazy code across the panel, Jody killed the power to it and turned the power back on and the panel started making a clicking noise and flashing - power off again, tried it a couple more times same result. THANKFUL for a home warranty - Jody went on line to schedule service.
If you think you have nothing to be THANKFUL for just relive your day and no matter how small the thanks are they are still there.

Mary

My New Toy

My Kindle. Last May my sister sent me a listing of all the audio books my Mom listened to, a total of 334 with only a very few duplicates. Rather an extensive list, so I decided a would start reading from her list. As I looked through the list I found five maybe six that I read, needless to say I have a long way to go. Now I'm not a fast reader and with everything else I got going on I figure 1 book per month, so keeping at that pace it should take me approximately a little better than 27 years to get through the list.

Happy Reading!
Mary

Horse Pasture Road

Interesting ride yesterday, rode up to Horse Pasture Road which is problem 25 miles from home. Jody went squirrel hunting up there yesterday and wanted to show me the area. I had actually been there more than 12 years ago - way to long to remember much about it thou. Unfortunately it started raining while were on the road (forecast was 0% chance of rain) so ended up having our picnic lunch in the truck. Bumpy but an enjoyable ride with some awesome views.


Then I finished the day with laundry and some quilting - guess which one is my favorite.

Mary

A Quilty Couple of Days

Spent the past 2 days quilting along with other errands to do. One appointment was to go get an estimate and visit my favorite body shop again. On Saturday I had a man use my rear bumper to stop his truck - at least the damage was minor and hopefully its just painting the bumper. Then the rest of the running around was nails, haircut and the beloved grocery shopping.

The first quilt is one of Bonnie Hunter's pattern called Jared Takes a Wife - I assembled the top better than a year ago, hung it on a hanger but never could decide on how to quilt it. I decided on the panto called Dusty Miller and used a color of thread called Mustard. After I finish the binding the quilt will make its way to Door County and be up for sale.


The second picture is of a block of the next quilt I finished quilting last night. This quilt will also make its way to Door County next week for sale. This quilt is just a little larger version that I made my Mom last winter. The block is called Sawtooth Star and the quilt went together rather quickly. I start the quilt a week ago, other than the binding its a week and a half quilt - quick and easy.

Today is my Mom's birthday - sadly she is no longer here but I will always carry her in my heart. Mom - today is especially for you - I love you.

Mary

Welcome September

The morning temps are wonderful - 65 degrees but the heat will not leave the daytime - in the 90's again! I am so ready for Fall.

The picture is of the center of the current quilt I am working on, I have the border to add before it will be ready for the frame. The pattern is one I found online and is called Whirly Wheels - a nice cheery colorful quilt.

Time to call it a night.

Mary

Been Along Time.....Again!

Started playing around with the design of my blog - not sure yet if this is it but this is it for now.

This is my latest scrap quilt called Smokey Mountain Stars (pattern by Bonnie Hunter)- all the fabric for the body of the quilt was found in my sewing room (imagine that). I did stress (as usual) on colors for the borders but went out of my comfort zone and selected teal and plum. I used a panto in the center called 'In the Moment' and 2 different swirl designs in the borders.

Can't believe only one day left for August and September will be here. The days are starting to get noticeably shorter and the evenings cooler - one can really tell that Fall is not too far off.

That's all for now more later.

Mary

It's JD's Birthday!!!!

JD is 1 year

old today........

Happy

Birthday!

Snow Puppies

I think the puppies have eaten their weight in snow.

Ended up with about 3 inches - it had almost quit snowing by midnight. Today is to be in the 40's - so the melting mess begins. Snow predicted for Monday - the Weatherman couldn't possibly be right two times in a row (we'll see!).

Mary

It's Snowing!!!!

No that mound off on the left is not a drift but the pool cover.
What a trip home - snow covered, slippery - took 30 minutes to go 8 miles!
And to think I was jealous of the people farther north of all the snow, now I remember it - I think I have adjusted to the South.

Ok, now that it has snowed I'm ready for spring - bring it on!

Mary

Carolina Christmas onto Step 6

I have finally finished step 5 which was assembling the blocks - 52 of one and 48 of the other. Step 6 is putting the top together followed by the borders. But once again all that will have to wait I have a few customer quilts to finish first.

I did the layout in EQ6 off of the original layout, I wanted it to be a little bit bigger to use as a coverlet for our bed so inserted the gold border to get the measurements up to 96"x96." At least this is a Christmas quilt so I have 10 more months to finish to have it on the bed by December 1st.

Quiet day here - Kasey was having surgery to repair a prolapse of the 3rd eyelid or what they call 'cherry eye.' JD was getting groomed, so I just had Joker and Sophie here to keep me company - sort of, they napped. It's Joker's anniversary today - 3 years ago he came to live with us and has been wonderful to have him here.

Well - off to load another quilt.

Mary

It's Friday

Which doesn't make much difference to me since I have to work tomorrow.

Just a quiet morning at home today with the puppies. I decided to do some stitch outs of the pantographs I had picked up over the past few months and also needed to empty some partially filled bobbins. This one is called 'In the Moment' by Anne Bright. I like the way it looks - might have to make a quick scrappy quilt to use it on -humm!

Well time to get ready for work.

Mary

Just a Quiet Day

Just a quiet day of quilting today and since it started raining it was the best option. I'm still a little sore from my accident but that is to be expected for sure.

I made this quilt top a few years back and never quilted it, so today was its day. I used one of my new edge to edge patterns by Anne Bright, it is called Luna. I liked the way it actually resembled the patterns in the fabric, a good compliment. It quilted up rather quickly and I really like the way it turned out. Next thing is to the getting the binding done.

I even (finally) added more pictures to my Webshots albums - can't remember the last time I did that. I signed up on Facebook but haven't done my profile or added any pictures yet. I finished a customers quilt this morning. And worked on piecing a wall hanging.

All in all a pretty productive day.

Mary

The Day After.....

Wow - how things can change in a split second. I definitely had an angel on my shoulder. Other than a bruised knee and some soreness all is fine. My Mustang is at the body shop waiting on the long list of parts (4 pages) to come in and hopefully be back on the road in a month - ready for 'Cruising Weather.'

Mary

Carolina Christmas Step #3

I finally finished step 3 of my Carolina Christmas quilt - thank goodness its only January I still have time to finish it before Christmas. Only 576 pieces to make these little gems. Still keeping it as a mystery quilt - have not peeked yet - just enjoying the process.

And here is the beginning of step 4 - not as many pieces only 416. This step may take me a couple of weeks also since I have some customer quilts to do.

I better get busy.....

Mary