Quack, Quack...

We've seen a pair of ducks around here over the past week...

The female startled out of the front garden when The Engineer went out to get the mail. She has made a nest in the vines - about 2 o'clock from the dandelion flower. There are maybe 8 or more eggs in there.

I will try and get a better picture another day. It's cold and windy today so I didn't want to make her stay away from them for too long.

Oh My…

Do you suppose if I sit right here being annoyed with myself the problem over there on the table will fix itself?

No - I didn’t think so either…

Those of you who know me… or if you’ve read this record of my misadventures in quilting long enough you know that I have a mantra that goes… “I haven’t met a border I can’t screw up!”

And you know that I am nothing if not consistent.

I have no idea why I have more than one piece of black yardage…  Yesterday I picked up this piece and tore the 3 yards lengthwise into 4 long strips to use as borders for the 4 Patch Stacked Posie I’m working on.  Last night before quitting for the day I pressed them all so that I could put the borders on today – there was enough length to miter the corners – Yea!

Today after putting 2 opposite borders on I realized that the black was not right!???  That was when I found the yardage I needed over there with the other fabrics… you know - over there where ALL the fabrics for this project are sitting!!

AAAaaaaauuuugggggghhhh!!

So I now have 4 nice strips of black fabric approx. 10 1/2” by 108”… but I’ll have to find a use for them another time.

Hmmm?  I wonder if this is the black fabric I thought I had for the Bouillabaisse project?  NO… I don’t want to think about that… I do know that I need to quit moving fabric around this sewing room – oh and maybe get better lights… and maybe check and recheck when I’m using black…

I think tearing these new border strips out of the correct black fabric will be good for my psyche… such that it is…

Design Wall Monday 3-26-12

I spent the weekend working on a small banner for a church event for my granddaughter.

 

I wish this picture was better… the background fabric is from a piece of hand dyed fabric I received many years ago from an online friend Leora – I lost contact with her many years ago but the fabric is the perfect blend of purple and pinks for this project – so Thanks Leora wherever you are!

I decided to fuse white fabric to the batiks to keep them bright – fusing them directly to the black would have darkened them – so those stained glass pieces are like cardboard and make the cross rather stiff – I won’t be stitching through those!  Since this - as you see it - is only 11” x 13” it’s not going to need much more than to have some stitching to outline the cross.  There will also be black borders to bring it to 13” x 18”.  I’ll need to get my granddaughters name on the border in some fashion too.

To find out what other quilters are up to please check out Judy Laquidara’s blog Patchwork Times.  This weeks Design Wall Monday post is here!

Shopping at the Quilt Show…

Did I happen to mention that I spent too much money at the AQS Lancaster Quilt Show last week… Well I did… spend too much that is!

I got a Martelli Mat set – I’ve been a Martelli Cutter Lover for a long time and the set came with their heavy duty double sided mat (it is lined on the other side as well with a purple background), a non-skid ruler (not shown) a cutter and a 5 pack of blades.  I am loving this mat!!

I have got no less than 6 small plastic bins with leftovers from projects… I hope to use this AccuQuilt Go Cutter to put a dent in all those odd pieces of fabric.

I renewed my AQS membership and the goody bag contained a small pair of embroidery scissors, then I picked up a pair of curved and straight Havel Scissors (buy one get one free!), I bought an ironing board cover that will fit the big ironing surface I made and an iron shoe – suppose to be that nothing sticks to them and they make ironing better, I found a cool little curved ruler from a designer from Easthampton, MA, I found 3 interesting patterns to try out, I picked up a bunch of fabric for a project, I found a nifty device called a strip stick and a device that’s suppose to make sewing long strips easier (we shall see), and I picked up a book from an Amish writer.

I’ll let you know what I think about some of these things as I try them out…

What I’ve Been Up To…

It’s hard to believe it’s been two months!?

Whilst on vacation I…

• visited with my family in Texas
• shopped and sewed with my sister
• visited with an old quilty friend who had moved to Dallas
• vacuumed 120 gallons of water out of the basement at my parents, removed wet carpet, padding and tile
• went to a Quilting Retreat hosted by the most gracious Judy Laquidara from Patchwork Times
• worked on a couple old UFO’s at the retreat
• work on a couple new projects at the retreat
• found my quilt MoJo at the retreat
• went on an unofficial quilt shop hop with my sister
• visited an amazing shop called Batiks Galore
• watched the Longhorn Cattle Drive at the Ft. Worth Stock Yards twice in one day
• ate Mexican food when ever I could
• ate Chicken Fried Steak when ever I could
• ate sausage biscuits and gravy when ever I could
• probably gained 10 pounds
• visited my Aunt and Cousins in Kansas on my way home
• brought my Aunt home with me for a 10 day visit - dodging tornados on our way across Indiana
• visited my brother in VA while our Aunt was here
• played cards and dominos every chance I got
• attended the AQS Lancaster Quilt Show last week
• visited with many Quilty friends during the show
• spent too much money at the show because now I have my MoJo back
• caught up on (over 3 days) all of AMC’s The Walking Dead shows that have aired since it began again in mid-Feb.
• decided that 3 days of zombie apocalypse is too much because I dreamed about zombies

But I am officially done with vacation and all the fun stuff has come to an end… today I go back to the gym… then I’ll probably need a nap!

Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program…

My vacation is over… there will be no more goofing off, loafing, fooling around, veggin’, hangin out, visiting, and over eating!

I think I’ve been gone too long – I can’t even heat up my Oat Bran!