A Bargain is Struck

As you may know (or maybe not) I am not just a knitter. I was a Quilter first. Or more specifically, I am a Topper. I like to make the quilt tops, but I'm not into hand quilting and haven't really gotten into machine quilting yet. So, since I can't always afford to pay to get my quilt tops quilted, I have a box of tops lounging in my sewing room. I finish a top and in the box it goes. I need to add, that I do get tired of people judging me for not finishing my tops. If they want to pay for me to get them quilted, I'm more than happy to take their money, but if not they need to just shut up about it. They will get done when they get done. I know another 'Topper' who says that her tops take up less space in her tiny house. Some one else once said that they were making future yard sale finds, which I thought was hysterical. I will now climb off my soap box and continue with my original story line.

Last month, I finished my Temple Guardians quilt top and I really would like to get it quilted, so that I can hang it in a couple of quilt shows this year. I mean I spent almost 3 years appliqueing the blocks, I am ready for this thing to be done and on my bed! I spoke with one of my local Machine Quilters at a retreat in January. I mentioned wanting to get it quilted, but money being a bit tight, I wasn't sure when it would actually get quilted. She said that she liked the fabrics that I pick out for my quilts and that maybe I should mine my box of tops and we do a trade. At first, I wasn't too sure about this because I really liked the quilt tops that I've made, but the more I thought about, I kind of liked the idea. They are just lounging there anyway right.

I called her yesterday to set up a date to bring the quilt in to get it quilted. Turns out she only had yesterday available. She will be leaving this weekend for another quilt show or training class. She teaches machine quilting classes around the country. She's even taught in England. I digress. Anyway, I raced home last night to get ready. Luckily I had batting and backing for another quilt set aside that I could use. (Color me boring, but I just like to use plain white on the backs of my quilts.)

While I was rushing around, I came across my Mexican Tiles quilt top that I finished last year. I had originally made it with my friends daughter in mind, but since she already had a quilt, I decided to keep it and use it for my 'retreat' quilt. I don't have any twin beds at home, hence I don't usually make that size. It's bright, cheerful and it makes me smile when I look at it. I had more backing, but not another batting. I thought "what the hell" let's throw that one in too and see how much it is to quilt that one.

So, I pulled out my box of tops and started riffling through it. Let me tell you, it wasn't looking too promising. Each one I pulled out, I would say, "oh no, can't part with that one." Finally, I found some that I wasn't too attached to. While they were pretty, I really couldn't seem myself getting them quilted anytime soon. I guess I should be totally honest and admit there was one that I really didn't like. Sorry no picture as it was finished prior to my blog. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty quilt, but it did not turn out how I pictured it. I used a pattern called Strait of Georgia from the book More Fat Quarter Quilts by M'liss Rae Hawley. I loved the one in the book and modeled mine after it. I picked a smashing purple oriental print for the border and then all the blocks were made from the 'supporting' colors. I used different creams/light tans for the background fabric. I think that was my mistake. It turned out too 'brown.' Brown and BLAH!! As you may have guessed from viewing other quilt tops on my blog, I like bright vibrant colors.

Since I wanted to take a variety of tops to my friend, I added that one to the pile. I ended up trading that one, a small wall hanging made from a Moda Charm pack (in really bright colors!), a pastel Yellow Brick Road baby Quilt, and a Island Star Baby Quilt to her. And the best part, I get BOTH of my quilts quilted. You know, I'm happy with the trade that I made.

I just can't wait to get them back!!! Do you think it's too soon to ask her if she's done yet?? :o)

Playing Catch-Up

It seems I'm always playing catch up lately. Something will happen for which I will think, "This would make a great blog entry." But do I follow through on it, NO. So here I am again giving you a really long entry to read in order to catch up what has been happening lately.

Quilt Retreat - I went to quilt retreat about a month ago. I had a really good time. I got done everything that I had planned, plus a few extra things.

1) I finished the borders on my Temple Guardians quilt. It turned out wonderfully. I can't wait to get it quilted. I'm hoping to get that done soon. I have to call Deloa and set up a appointment to bring it in. I would like to get it done in time for our Quilt Guild quilt show in August, but that depends on her schedule; so we will see. I have another quilt show in September that I can shoot for just in case. If not, there's always next year.

2) For my Oceans quilt, where I mentioned here, I got my rows put together. I'm not sure if I mentioned in previous entries, but I would like to quilt this using the "quilt as you go" technique. I will quilt each row individually, then sew the rows together, add an outside white border and quilt that. I'm hoping it goes alright. If not, I might end up with 5 table runners instead of a full sized quilt. Who knows, but my friend Helen has done several quilts using this method and they seem to work for her, so I thought why not give it a try. I'll keep you posted on how it's going.

3) Last year, during my spring quilt retreat, several of us made a trip to Lolly's Fabric Store in Shipshewanna. I fell in love with an oriental jelly roll in teals, brown, greens, and creams. I loved it so much that I had to buy the jelly roll, coordinating fabric for borders and the book that the quilt store's sample was made from. I started that project. Sorry, no pictures as all I was doing was sewing all my strips together. However, yesterday, I got all my blocks cut out of the strips. I just have to press them and then they are ready to lay out.

Vacation - The day after I got back from retreat, I re-packed and headed to Kentucky with my Mom, my Cousin Tracy and her daughter Erica. We went down to visit Aunt Corinne and Aunt Hattie (Marie). We were supposed to leave on Tuesday morning, but after getting 3 calls from Aunt Corinne asking when we were leaving, Tracy decided there was no reason we shouldn't leave on Monday night. That was fine by me, I was packed and ready to go. It was a LONG drive. It took us 8.5 hours to drive it. We would have made more stops to relax, but it was dark and rest areas are down right spooky in the dark. Tracy was very proud of the fact that she drove 'through' Chicago. She did very well other than the death grip she had on the steering wheel. We arrived around 2 am and boy was I tired. Tracy did most of the driving, but I was still recovering from lack of sleep from retreat. I never sleep well on their small twin beds.

Our plans were pretty loose for our visit. Other than visiting the AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, we just planned to hang out. The first day, we made a trip into Murray to do some shopping. We went to an antique/re-sell shop called Trends and Treasures, I think. It was very nice. I got a new book (Vanished by Karen Robards), a set of measuring spoons and 2 silicon spatulas. Then we went to a consignment store. I hit the mother lode here. I found a pair of dark lime green Capri's, and 3 shirts. It turned out that I had a shirt in my suitcase, that went with the Capri's so well you would have thought I bought them together.

On Wednesday, we went to the quilt show. Well, Mom, the aunts and I went. Tracy and Erica stayed back to visit with Uncle Johnny. Tracy's not really into quilting. My Aunts and Mom all sew, but they don't "Quilt" like I do. I love to quilt, they not so much. I appear to be the only one who inherited a love/passion for quilting from Grandma Bonnie (their Mother).

The AQS quilt show was held in the Expo center, but they also had this huge inflatable dome next door with a lot of vendors in it. Because of where we parked, we entered the dome area first. It was funny, because Mom, and the Aunts thought that WAS the quilt show. Once they were done visiting all of the booths, they were ready to leave. I had to laugh at their expressions when I explained that while yes, there were quilts hanging up to be admired, this area was vendor booths only, not the quilt show. They ended up leaving me there to go get something to eat while I visited the rest of the show and vendors. I wasn't that hungry and besides, I hadn't come ALL the way to Paducah just to visit the vendors. I wanted to see the quilts too. I did take pictures, but it seems they frown on people displaying them on their blogs/on-line. I guess copy right infringement and all that. Anyway, you can go the AQS Website to see the winners.

I didn't buy a lot, but I really like what I bought. I got some teal/brown fabric to go with my project from retreat, a Bali-pop with 2 yards of coordinating green batik, a 3 yard piece of blue/tan batik, and 3 coordinating fat quarters (mauve, orange and green). I also got 2 lumbar supports; 1 for me and 1 for Mom. If she doesn't like it I plan on using it in my sewing room.

I realized after I came home, that I didn't get any pictures of all of us together. Actually the only pictures I took were of the flowers, Aunt Hattie's Pond and the quilt show.

So here are some beautiful Azalea's blooming at Aunt Corinne's.

And this is the Tulip tree that is blooming in Aunt Hattie's back yard. Someday when my Tulip tree grows up, it will bloom just like this one.

The Dogwood Festival was happening in Paducah also, but this picture is the only part of it that I saw.

We came home on Friday and the car was SO packed, that we decided to take our time and to make extra stops so we stretch our legs. It took us 11.5 hours back, because of this and detours for construction. Just so you know the reason that the car was so packed was not because I bought up a lot of stuff at the quilt show, it was because the Aunts decided to clean out their closets and give it to us. Most of it went to Erica, but the rest of us did not come home with some stuff too. Tracy had to do 15 loads of laundry when she got home to get all of Erica's stuff washed. OMG 15 loads of laundry!!!

Fiber Frolic - This last weekend a bunch of my knitting friends got together at Vicki's house for a fun-filled day of fiber, food and friendship. We got to ooh and aah over Vicki's new 3 Season room. I loved it and would so like to have one off the back of my house. The breeze coming in the windows was just awesome. I'd spend most of my time out there if I had one. To eat, we had Sloppy Toms (made with turkey, hence the name), Spinach salad, taco dip, veggies, hummus, deviled eggs, orange cupcakes, blueberry muffins, cookies. Everything was so good. Oh and Elizabeth brought some awesome strawberries. They were so good I had to drag Deb to Sam's Club on the way home because I don't have a membership card and pick up some of my own.

Of course it was until almost everyone had left that I realized that although I brought my camera, I forgot to take photos. No one else did either though so there! But I did take a picture of the progress I made on the sleeves for my Hoodie. I'm trying to do the 2 sleeves at one time thing. I wasn't sure if I would like it or not, since I didn't like doing the 2 socks at one time on circular needles. But so far it's going pretty well. I can't wait to get them done. I still have 12 rows to do on the body of the sweater, but I had put that aside since it was so boring. I measured it as is, and it measures 22". My row guage must be off a little, because it's only supposed to be 22 1/4" after the 12 rows that I have left to do. I just finished a pattern repeat though, so I'm thinking I will stop there and add the sleeves on when I get them done.

I know I'm forgetting things, but what the hey, someday I made need to play catch-up again.

See ya!

I Was So Productive

I really can't believe how much I got done at retreat. I had 1 item on my list that HAD to get done, but the rest was in the 'want to get as much done as possible' list.

The one that I HAD to get done was Dawson's Colts quilt. Yes, Teresa if you are reading this it is done. So I need to know when you guys are come up next and if it is not anytime soon, I will mail it. Anyway, here it is.
Then I worked on my Temple Guardians Quilt. This is the Siamese Cat appliques that I have been working on for the last 2 years.
It has one more border that needs to be put on. The design on the fabric runs salvage to salvage , so I will have to do some fussy cutting as the the length is over 60" and the S to S dimensions are only about 42. Just in case you are curious, here is the fabric I will be using:

It is called Luminosity by Paula Nadelstern and printed by Benartex. I just fell in love with it when I bought it several years ago. I didn't know what I would do with it when I bought it, but I new I would find the perfect project for it and I think it will be great at the final border on my Temple Guardians quilt.

Then I worked on my Lillibet's Garden BOM. I didn't realize until I started working on it this weekend, but it was started in 2006. It was the retreat project that year and Kathy J. and I were the only two who attempted it. I had the blocks and sashing already done, but I had to finish the applique flowers in the center and then assemble all the blocks. This was one of the "want to get as much done as possible" projects, but I actually got it all done. It was close, but I finished it up around 11 am yesterday. We had to start packing up around noon, so we could be out by 1:30.
I was talking to my Mom one day and she said she would like to look for a new quilt for their bed. I told her I had a quilt top that I was working on that I would give her. It wasn't quite done, as I still had some applique to do, but if she wanted it, she could have it. Well 2 days later, she called to let me know that she had already bought the batting for it. So I thought it would be prudent to take it to retreat with me and get to work finishing it. She hasn't seen this, but I think she will be happy with it.

Here are a couple of other projects of note:
1. Marie's Dear Jane blocks. She was laughing, because she only got 7 of them done, but damn, I think they take 2-3 times as much time to make as regular sized quilt block. They are 6 1/2" squares. Click here to see what the finished quilt is supposed to look like.
2. Helen's Soduko Baby Quilt - There will be 6 puzzles on this quilt. The Baby's Mom is a Math major. I love the colors, but I want to make one with fussy cut pictures like 9 cats, 9 dogs, 9 oreos, etc. I think that would be a great I Spy project.


3. Deanna's Christmas Ball - This ornament is just beautiful. I have ideas for this. Deanna was my 'table mate' at this retreat and it was really fun talking to her.
4. Steve's Tribute to Oz quilt. I honestly don't know what he is going to call this quilt, but I thought that title sounded great for my blog. Anyway, last retreat we did a project called 'Mexican Tiles' (Here's mine). Steve decided to use Wizard of Oz fabric. I love the way he created Tornado's from the blue & black sky fabric. He got more of this done, before we left, but I didn't get an updated photo of it. I think it is just fabulous and I so can't wait to see the finished item.

5. Sharon's quilt for her granddaughter. I love the clean lines. It's great.

Of course there were plenty more great projects going, but I can't post them all. And I got too little sleep, because I was working so hard. I had wanted to take a walk, but the weather was too cold and wet for me. Luckily I wasn't driving, because I took a small nap in the van on the way back and then took a 2 hour nap when I got home last night. I'm still tired though. That's what staying up until 2 am every night and getting up for 8 am breakfast will do to you. Gonna go to bed early tonight though. Right after I watch Heros!

OMG!

Oh my god, it's been over a month since I last posted. Things have been happening, just forgot to blog about it.

Here's a small recap sans pictures as I haven't any.

I went to Stitches Midwest in Schaumberg, IL at the beginning of September. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is a HUGE Knitting/crochet/fiber convention. Lots and Lots of vendors and demos. They have classes too, but I didn't take any. This was my first trip to Stitches. I had only gone to the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan, MI before. Which seems like small potatoes compared to Stitches MW. Wow, there were 8 rows of vendors! I forgot my camera, but was told that's OK, since they don't allow photos to be taken at the show anyway. One less thing to cart around. I went with a plan. I thought that would be smart, since I didn't want to overspend by buying everything that I saw that I LOVED. Well.... my plan wasn't defined enough apparently. I thought I would get 1 or 2 skeins of sock yarn and then the yarn to knit a sweater. I had 2 different sweater patterns with me that I wanted to make. I wasn't sure what to expect from Stitches, so I thought whichever one I found the yarn for first would be the one I would start knitting the next week. As I said earlier Well...... I did find my 2 skeins of sock yarn. One in a yummy fall orange color, which is not normally my color but was just fabulous. And the other is variegated fall colors. Then I found the yarn for my Mirage Sweater (here's a link to someone's version), but Miss Babs didn't have enough of the yarn in the color I wanted (Kiwi), so I order it. Well, that I think might have been when I made my mistake. Oh, not buying the yarn, I'm anxious to receive it. But the thought that I wouldn't have anything really good to show for my trip. You know!?! Well, except for the 2 skeins of sock yarn. Whoopie! More sock yarn. Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to start my sweater any time soon, like I planned. I didn't realize it at the time that these thoughts were bouncing around in my head when I stumbled across the "WEBS" booth. I found this awesome blue yarn by Sheep Shop Yarn that would be perfect for my Susie Hoodie Sweater Jacket. So I splurged and got it. I started the sweater that week too.

I've got about 6-8 inches of the bottom done. I had to rip it out and start over once. I was supposed to start the bottom edging with a size smaller needles then what I used to knit the rest of the jacket. My cables were not showing very well either, and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I commented to a couple of people about it and they said give it time, cables kind of have to develop a little in order for you to see them well. I was getting very frustrated and agonizing over what I was doing wrong. I tried drawing out what the row would look like and still couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong, because it matched what I had on the needle. That's when I realized that I was having a major "blond moment". Because the even numbers for the cables was printed on the left side of the chart, I was reading them from left to right instead of right to left. DUH!! (FYI, You are always suppose to read the charts from right to left) I've decided not to rip them out though, as that would mean I'd have to start over again. The messed up part lines up with the garter stitch edging, so it just looks like part of the bottom edging. Once I started doing the cables correctly they really popped out. I'm about 4 rows from the 1st waist decrease. I'm not planning on actually decreasing though, just knitting that row normally. The waist needs to be a little bigger for me as I don't have much of a waist.

Then, last week I went on a quilting Shop Hop with my friend Patsy and 2 of her friends Judy and Joyce. For the shop hop, you bought a 'passport' at the first shop and then got it stamped at all of the quilting shops that were participating in the S-H. You turned the passport in to the last shop and your name is entered into a drawing for a really great prize. I found a nice pattern from Benartex for $1 and then at the next store I found the fabric to go with the pattern. I'm planning to work on it this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend. Tomorrow is the start of the River Bend Quilt Guild's Fall Retreat. I can't wait to get there. Although packing up all my sewing to stuff to get there will be a pain. But it's always worth it. I'm planning to work on Dawson's quilt (MUST GET DONE!), My Mom's quilt (which is another must get done) and then the new quilt for myself. I'm taking a few other small things in case I get bored with the new quilt. Like my Temple Guardians Quilt. I finished the last applique cat a couple weeks ago and can now start putting it together. I didn't realize it, but it took me 2 years to applique 9 cat blocks. Well, I wasn't working on them the whole time. I worked a little, then set them aside, then picked them back up; repeat. I'm not really into applique, but I really like these blocks. But I can't start on it until I get Dawson's quilt done! Which just needs to be quilted and the binding put on. I should be able to get that done on Thursday night.

Oh, and lest I forget, I got the news this week that I am back to full time. I have been working only 30 hours per week since January, because business has been slow. Either things are picking up a bit or it's the 'end of year must spend budgeted money before we lose it' rush. Either way, I'm good with it.

Nothing Much

Nothing much has been happening with me this week. How about you?

I did have another stupid car scare this week. I'm really beginning to dread the feeling of panic followed by anger that I get every time I hear or feel something off about my car. I had stopped at the stop light when all of a sudden my car starts shuddering like it wants to stall. {Instert Feeling of Panic} Then the emission light on the dash board starts to blink. It has come on before and I had to have a sensor changed, however it has never BLINKED. Now what the hell does that mean!?! {Still Panicing} Well, I'm only 2 blocks away from Automotive Plus, the place I always take my car. And since the car hasn't actually died I figure I should be OK to drive there. {Anger starting to take hold} I pulled into their parking lot, got out my manual and looked up the emission light. It basically says "Oh yeah, if this light is blinking, your engine is misfiring. Take it to a mechanic immediately, but don't accelerate fast as this might damage the cadilitic converter." {Anger Increasing} Just great! I just had it in for a tune up and spark plug/spark plug wire change. What the hell else is upstream from that that would cause misfiring; UGH! I went into the office and they were able to get my car right in. Turns out there was a piece of carbon stuck in the spark plug gap that wouldn't let it spark. The guys were so great and best of all, they didn't charge me. {Instant Relief WhooHoo!} I was only 1/2 hour late to work.

That night, I went to Quilt Bee. I finished the body of my last Temple Guardian Cat. I only have to applique 2 (yes, I said TWO) eyes and ALL the applique for that quilt is done. I would have worked on it last night, but it was Knit Night and I decided to work on my socks instead. I had a great time, even if it was a small group. With all the car trouble and my vacation time, I hadn't met up with that particular group in a couple of months.

I'd like to finish them tonight, but I really need to do LAUNDRY. You wouldn't believe the pile of laundry that needs to be done. Doing the laundry isn't so bad, but I wish it weren't in the basement. It's such a pain bringing everything upstairs. Note to self: Dream house will NOT have the laundry room in the basement!

Tomorrow, I'm going to the Taj Indian restaurant for lunch with my neighbor Althea. I've heard good things about it, but had never made it there.

This weekend is the Higland Festival and Scottish Games at the St. Joe Fair Grounds. I may go there on Saturday after work. I work until 12:30. I've always wanted to go, but I always miss it because I either didn't know it was taking place (which is most often) or I had something else already planned by the time I learned of it. If I go, I'll take pictures. If it's raining, I probably won't go though. I'm hoping the rain either clears up before I get out of work or holds off until evening.

An eventful Weekend

I don't know about anyone else, but I had a pretty good weekend.

On Saturday, I went to a picnic at Lu's house. It was for our Tuesday Night Quilt group. I had a real good time visiting with everyone and there was lots of yummy food. It started to rain just after we ate, but Lu has a nice big porch that we sat around chatting on. There was a duck race too! It took her a while, but Lu built this awesome pond in her back yard. It has a small upper pond that spills over a waterfall into a larger pond that contains fish. There is also a little river that gets fed from the waterfall and winds it's way around the pond and empties into it on the opposite side from the waterfall. Lu put 5 rubber ducks on the river and we all cheered to see which one got to the pond first. It was hilarious. Yes, I took pictures and yes they are still in my camera. I'll have to post them another time. Duck #4 cheats by the way. My Duck (#5) was in the lead until #4 rammed into him and knocked him over so that #4 could cross into the pond in first place. Wasn't the first heat #4 won either. I might have thought the race was rigged if Lu's number had been #4, but as it is I guess we'll never know. :o)

On Sunday I finished 2 more siamese cat blocks from my Temple Guardian BOM quilt. I have 8 done and ONLY 1 more to go. YEAH!!!! I glue-sticked the last one up today while at lunch. I want to get it appliqued this week. Then I can start assembling the quilt top. I'm so excited, I just can't wait!

Oh, I almost forgot. On Friday morning I got a call from the SB Medical Foundation. I donate blood with them and my name was drawn for their annual golf "hole-in-one" contest. You get a chance to hit the ball 150 yards for a hole-in-one. If you make it, you win $50,000. Yeah like that's gonna happen! I did have the option to elect to have someone else hit the ball for me. Since the only golfing I've ever done is either putt putt or Wii mini-golf, I asked Gary at work to do it for me. He told me he hadn't golfed in a long time and don't get my hopes up. Jeez, I didn't have a shot in the dark to begin with. He'll hardly do worse than I would have myself. I had asked my cousin Kevin to do it on the 4th of July if I got selected, but he said "They make it impossible for you to win, so No." The SBMF said there would be other drawings also. And that everyone would win something. So hey it's for a good cause and it should be fun. I found out that my friend Robin got selected also. So it will be fun to visit while we wait around. Registration is tonight between 5 & 5:30. I'll let you know how it goes.

Monday Weigh In & Stuff

Jeez, I can't believe I haven't done any blogging since St. Patricks day! I thought for sure I had, because lots of things have been going on. I guess "thinking" about blogging a topic doesn't actually count. My knitting friends pointed this out last week. Yep, I said last week and I still didn't get a blog entry in until today.

Ok, first things first then I'll update you on what's been happening. Today is Monday weigh-in and the good news is that I lost 3 lbs this week. Woohoo! That brings my total to 5.6lbs. I'm totally amazed by this since I wasn't able to get to exercise class last week. I threw my back out somehow and was NOT feeling well at all. I couldn't move my neck and I had such a headache. It just made concentrating so hard. I went to the Chiropracter everyday last week and now I'm feeling better. Although last night when I got home from work, it was hurting again and the headache was back. But not as badly as before.

On the knitting front, several exciting things have occured.
1) I took a trip to Indianapolis over the weekend of March 20-22 to visit Teresa. Actually 4 of us went down to attend her baby shower. When I mentioned to a knitting friend that I was going to Indy for the weekend she exclaimed "Are you going for the big sale?" To which I promptly replied "What big sale?" Well Mass Ave Knits was having their annual classroom sale. All the yarn was $1 per skein (yes I said ONE DOLLAR) or you could fill a Mass Ave Backpack for $25. Well, since I WAS going to be in the area anyway, I did a mapquest search to see where they were in relationship to my friends house. Imagine my surpise when it said it was only a 17 minute drive. ROAD TRIP!! So we got up early Saturday morning, which was not too easy for me as I think I had food poisoning the day before. Yacked twice on the trip to Teresa's house. Of course it didn't start until I got to Carmel, IN so I couldn't really turn around and go home at that point. Besides, I had a passenger that was so looking forward to visiting Teresa. Leslie had never been to Teresa's new house and was excited about the weekend away. Sorry, back to the yarn. After standing in line outside the shop for awhile in the cold, we were usherred in to the classroom. At first I was a little disapointed, because all I saw was novelty yarn. You know stuff like fun fur, that bobbley yarn and ribbon yarn. But after circulating around a bit, I did find some cotton blend yarns. And you know, if you collapse the cardboard inserts on certain skeins, you can fit 41 skeins of yarn into your backpack; 20 Sonrisa by Katia all in one color (cotton/poly/nylon with a cardboard insert), 13 Cotton Twist by Berroco in various colors (cotton/rayon) and 8 Nostalgia by Berroco in 2 colors (cotton/acrylic). What a haul! I looked up the yarn on-line to see what they had been selling for and wow! The Katia had retailed for $7/skein and I got 20. That was worth the trip right there. I got $265 worth of yarn, for $25! Teresa's Mom and SIL got some yarn also. We were the only knitters/crocheters in the group.

2. I finished my Tomato Sweater!!! Mine is in Bubble Gum Pink. I was planning on wearing it this week, but with the temps dropping back down into the 30's and the snow flying around, I think not as it is short sleaved. Brrr!

3. I finished knitting the Celtic Vest. However, when I tried it on, it's a little tight around the middle, so I'm going to pick-out the cast-off edge on both sides and extend it a bit.

4. I finished another Temple Guardian applique' block. I now have 5 done, 4 to go. Yeah I've passed the half way point. The head of #6 is done. I'm planning on getting the last 4 blocks done this summer, so I can get it pieced by this fall. If I knuckled under, I could get all 4 done before summer, but that would mean no knitting, and I'm just not prepared to do that right now. I never realized how addictive knitting could be!

Yeah I know, where are the pictures?? I havent' gotten around to taking any yet. But I will soon.

Quilting Projects

So, since I was forced to take time off from knitting to baby the tennis elbow, I have been doing some extra sewing.

1. I finished another of my Siamese Cat applique blocks from my Temple Guardians BOM quilt. I have 4 done now. 5 more to finish although I am about 80% done on #5.

2. I mentioned a couple of entries ago, that my Quilt Guild is doing a Challenge for our March Meeting. It is called the Paint Chip Challenge. What you do is take your initials and find 3 paint chip colors that start with the first letter of your initial. Then use those colors plus a background color if you want to make a quilted project. It can be any size or shape. My colors are: Stoney Fields (Taupe), Alpaca (Cream) and Magma (Black).

The snafu I ran into when piecing (mentioned in previous post) was that I didn't have enough fabrics to finish the ribbon pieced border. I was one repeat short on each side. So instead I added a blank section in the middle of each long side. Since it was kind of plain, I designed an embroidered motif based on the border fabric. Here is a close up of that:


3. Many moons ago ;o) I purchased some Fancy Cat Fabric by Loralie Harris. I had no plans for it, but I love cats and couldn't resist it.

Well while at a LQS in Kalamazoo, I saw that they had embroidery patterns for the cats to be done all in black. I thought it was beautiful and decided I must make a quilt using those embroidered cats. To my dismay and sadness, they were only available for use in Embroidery Machines! I was soo disappointed, however after much thinking, I decided that if I put the fabric on the copy machine and enlarged the cats, I could make my own embroidery patterns. So that is what I did. I think there are 15 different cats. I have the first two done.

I wasn't sure I would like embroidering, but so far it's been pretty relaxing.

Pink Tomato Sweater

I finished the ribbing on the bottom of my sweater last night. I didn't bind off, because this is my first top down sweater and I wasn't sure what the best way to bind off ribbing was. I thought about calling one of my Elisabeth S. but by the time I did, it was after 10pm. I thought it was bind off "in pattern," but although I looked through a couple of my books, I didn't find anything. So I decided to wait until I could ask Kathi at work. She told me that is exactly what I'm supposed to do. So at lunch today I will be binding off the bottom edge on my sweater. I'm deliberating on whether to start the neck ribbing next or pick up one of the sleeves and knit that. If I had 2 sets of Size 10 knitting needles I could do both. Hmmm Think a trip to Hobby Lobby is now in the works. If I have them both going, then when I'm tired of ribbing (because let's face it, its BORING) then I could switch to the sleeve for a break.

I've been doing so much knitting on the Tomato Sweater and the Celtic Vest the last couple of weeks, because I want to get them DONE. Any way, I notice my elbow is starting to act up again. This time it's the left one. So I'm planning to take tonight off knitting and do some applique on my Temple Guardians blocks. I have 2 done for sure and half of the 4th one done. There are 9 blocks altogether.

I know I should take longer off and I will as I am going to a quilting "day camp" this weekend. Barb D. is opening up her office on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Yeah quilting marathon. Now I just have to figure out what to sew on; UFO or new project??????

Another UFO Done!

I'm talking quilting here. I just have been in a sewing mood lately when I get home after work. Although I have been knitting on my Cross hatch lace sock when I get together with my knitting friends.

I finished my 2007 Thangles Buck-a-block quilt last night. I first mentioned it in Oct 2007. It was a block of the month program where you paid $1 per block. It is approximately a twin size quilt; 83 x 70 I think.


I also finished the first Block from my Temple Guardians Block of the Month quilt. Ok, it is only 99% done, since I have to finish appliquéing the eye, but I haven't quite found the right shade of blue for the eyes. My Charlie had blue eyes, so that's the color I want for my quilt. I am looking for a blue batik I think, so the colors will have a little bit of depth and variety.


And yes, I am hand appliquéing the blocks for this quilt. It has been slow going, because I was doing so much knitting over the winter. I think I started on this block in January and it is really not a large block. I finally figured out I was more apt to work on them it I only carried 1 block with me at a time instead of carrying all of them.

Quilt Retreat is Finally Here!!!!

Yeah, I am so siked. Quilt retreat starts tonight. I got everything packed and loaded in the car last night. I decided to take mostly UFO projects to work on. I have been knitting so much this last summer/fall that I have barely done any sewing at all. And there are things that have been hiding in the sewing room way too long. Here is a breakdown of what I'm taking:

1. Landon's Toddler Blanket - All it needs is the binding.
2. Pillow Shams for the new couch and chair (which are now 2 years old)
2. Buck-a-block Block of the Months (5 months behind)
3. Tea cup wallhanging. (have 6 flower petals to hand sew and 4 flower centers - that's ALL)

I did bring 1 new project to start working on. That is my Temple Guardians Block of the Month pattern that I got as a gift from my friend Patsy. The BOM is from StoryQuilts.com and each BOM comes with a chapter of a story about a small Siamese Cat that wants to become a temple guardian. I'll read each chapter as I work on each block. I love siamese cats. My very best friend of 16 years was Charlie. Of course Charlie never really new she was a cat or at least she wasn't going to admit to it. She loved bananas and anything with mint in it. Especially York peppermint patties. No matter how quietly I tried to open the package (so I wouldn't have to share of course), she would hear and come running; even if she was upstairs. And Bengay cream was like cocaine to her. If I put Bengay on my ankle, I had to not only wrap it with an ace bandage, but put a blanket over it too. She would then proceed to sit on me (so I couldn't get away) and try to lick a hole through the blanket to try to get a fix. If I did try to get away, she would follow me around the house and try to lick me every time I stopped. Anyway, I got the last of the fabric picked out yesterday with the help of my friend Kathy. It is all washed and ready for me to start working on it. And Patsy did the freezer paper templates for me while she has been recovering from her hip replacement surgery. Thanks Patsy!

Only I can't start on it, no matter how much I want too, until I have finished Landon's Toddler quilt.

I am on the Saturday night meal crew and it is my responsibility to provide the salad. Unless someone changed something, we will be having spaghetti, salad, garlic bread and a dessert. Yeah, we NEVER go hungry at retreat. Although there have been a couple of close calls, like the burnt meatball soup, Corrine has no sense of smell and didn't realize it was scorched. But we all ate a bowl, just so we wouldn't hurt her feelings and we have never let her forget that one. :o)

I'm taking Dad's (I almost said mine) digital camera, so I'll post photos on Monday.