Design Wall Monday 1-30-12

My goodness what happened to January?

I am still in Texas - will be for several more weeks - but I've been sewing over at my sisters house this past weekend in between trips to local antique shops to poke around.

For my travels to Texas I brought along some long over due unfinished projects to work on - things that had been sitting unfinished for way too long.

This project was started many years ago (maybe 9?? years) after I participated in a year long 5" Fabric Swap at Southampton Quilts - my favorite quilt shop up in Massachusetts.  After the swap finished - I had begun this Morning Star Quilt out of the Nickel Quilts book.  I had most of the individual components made but had not put anything together to assemble a block... much less 24 blocks.  It took me a day of counting and organizing to figure out just where I was in the process... not sure why I never make notes to myself?

I am working on getting the blocks assembled - here are 4 blocks stuck up on the design wall right now.  I have the others ready to sew the final seam and then I’ll start putting rows together.  I’d really like to put a great big dent in this before I head back over to my folks house tomorrow morning as I don’t think I’ll get to do any sewing while I’m over there.  But I’ll be back here at my sisters the next week so there is still lots of time.

Be sure to check out other Design Wall Monday Reports at Judy L’s Patchwork Times Blog.

In Case You Get Confused..

You know you are in a Texas Walmart store when this is the display as you enter the store...

Multiple Choice…

Here is a little quiz about what I’ve been up to…

1. I love Mexican Food
2. I also love smoked ribs
3. I am snuggling my 6 mo. old grandson
4. I am visiting family in Texas
5. A cowboy bought my lunch last week
6. All of the above

If you choose number 6 – you would be correct!

Last week I drove down to Texas.  My daughter (living in Hawaii) was coming into town for a conference and asked if I would come down and watch the baby for her… Well - DUH?!!!  I have family here in TX so it was a win-win for me and made it easier to sell the idea to The Engineer.  “Hey Honey – I’m gonna drive to TX to snuggle our grandson while his Momma is at a conference – and then I’m gonna stay and visit my family… is that OK?”  OK… Bye Bye!

My daughter and grandson have come and gone again – all too quickly but it was a delightful visit.  At 6 months he is just shy of a sumo wrestler…

Now that my ‘official duties’ have ended I’ll be spending several weeks hanging out with my folks, visiting (and sewing) with my sister, catching up with a couple friends in the area, and going to the retreat that Judy L from Patchwork Times is sponsoring later in February before heading back to PA via Kansas where I’ll stop and visit some more family.

During this time it is my intent to eat as much good Mexican Food as I can find… and BBQ too.  Because hey when you are in TX it’s the thing to do.

Oh and I needed to show you the ribs my BIL smoked over the weekend… Finger Licking Good!

Design Wall Monday 1-9-12

Yet another edition of Design Wall Monday hosted by Judy L of Patchwork Times.  Be sure to check out what other quilters are working on.

I am finishing up this 4 Patch Stacked Posie Quilt – I am using only 16 of the 36 posie blocks… so I can make another quilt with the leftovers – just need an new design plan.  I have found that it’s easy to get a bigger quilt by setting the posie block within a block.  These blocks end up being about 18 inches.  Three rows are stitched but not joined together yet… I’m working on finishing up the sashing on the bottom row and then will join them together.  With a 9 inch black (yes I have enough!!) border this will finish off at 100” square.

No longer on the design wall is this Bouillabaisse Quilt.  I wanted to get it done and out of the way so I spent some time this week pulling and pondering options and decided on this green leaf print.  It is a mid value – not too light or dark and the color is sorta neutral too.  I didn’t get a picture of the whole quilt because the Posie quilt above is on the wall.  This will serve as a shop sample for a class later in the spring.

By the end of the week I’ll be able to mark these both off as complete… well complete tops at least!

Design Wall Monday 1-2-2012

Design Wall Mondays hosted by Judy L from Patchwork Times is an opportunity to show off what we are working on and share with other quilters.  Not sure how often I’ll post - but here is my design wall today.
Those of you who know me – know that there isn’t a border I can’t screw up… and to be consistent – because consistency counts – I don’t have enough black to add the 6 inch border.  That’s what I get for using the black I had on hand and not verifying that it was enough or more than enough to accommodate a change.  You really can’t mix blacks… it just doesn’t work.  This black is a little bit grey and another black I have is black-black.  I have enough to put a 2” border on… and maybe I’ll call it done at that point.  That would make it 64” x 84”… plenty big enough.
I did pull some other black and white prints to see if they would work as a border but I’m not convinced any of them work like I’d like them too.

Oh well… I am consistent!
The pattern is Bouillabaisse by Pie In The Sky Quilts.

New Year Resolution…

Yes I’ve made one.

It’s one I’ve been Pondering over the past couple months.

You see I’ve done a bit of traveling over the past couple months and you know what has really stood out to me?  People really can’t drive and talk on the phone.  I know many think it’s no problem if you are using a hands free device.  But the fact is that it does effect your driving – even if you are using a bluetooth or speaker phone.  Each and every vehicle that I’ve passed that has a long line of vehicles stacked up behind it has a driver talking… they haven’t a clue what is going on around them.  There are many other clues – far too many to point out here – but the fact is people talk while they drive.

If you sat down in the dentist chair would you let the dentist come in and work on your teeth while yakking on his/her bluetooth?  How about the Radiologist reading your mammograms – can’t they do that and tell their friend about the party they attended last weekend?  Maybe the surgeon removing an appendix or a tumor… why can’t they make their travel arrangements for their next vacation?  If all of that is unacceptable – why do we think we can get into a large fast moving vehicle and then not give the operation of it our full attention?

So it’s official – no more chatting while I’m driving.  Nor will I talk with others who are driving… I’d rather you get where you are going and talk to you then. 

Let’s all pay attention to what we are doing while driving… someone’s life may very well depend on it.

Happy New Year!