Monday Mornings

Monday mornings you can usually find me trying to clear paperwork and clutter off the dining room table, paying bills, and balancing accounts.  


My son usually entertains himself playing with is Wii or sitting in front of the tv watching his favorite shows and coloring.  He loves to color and paint.  For Christmas he received several sets of markers, crayons, paints, coloring books and kits.

A new tradition has started....   The kits involve mixing colors to get different shades of the same color.  So, his sister has been coming over Monday mornings and they paint together.  He really enjoys her company and attention and I love seeing them bond together.

After a couple hours of painting we clean up and head out for lunch... soup and salad at Olive Garden!

Easy Street Update

I am getting closer to a finish...

I ran just 36 bricks short of the light color fabric.  
I searched local LQS, but no more was available.
I posted at missingfabrics.com and although I received one answer, it was the correct print on the fabric, just the wrong colorway.  But I did order several yards with the idea of using it for the final borders.

As it turns out, I somehow made too many 4-patches.  So I spent last night frogging them and the pressing and sewing the light squares into bricks.  I had enough to make the needed parts for the last 5 blocks.

With all the piecing going on in this quilt, I don't think these pieced parts will stand out too much!

Here are the last 5 blocks stacked and laid out and ready to sew.  I plan to work on these in spare minutes during the week.  

I have recently designated Sunday afternoons as my ME-SEWING time, so the plan is to get this top together on Sunday.

After that, I have to decide what to do for the borders.  I have browsed through the Quiltville album of completed tops and I am leaning towards either the checkerboard border (I can't locate the maker or blog for that one) or the hst border by Cathy in TN.
 

 There is a lot more work involved in making all those hsts, but using the Easy Angle Ruler will make it easier.

The New Saturday Routine

My daughter is back to working on Saturdays again (sigh) but that means that we have the grandson for the day.  Two weeks ago he arrived around 7:30am and I offered him pancakes. 

"No I don't like pancakes... I want cereal"

So I gave him a small bowl of cheerios and milk and went about making pancakes because I had promised them to my son.  I made a big platefull, with extras to be warmed and eaten during the week.  Then I conned my grandson into tasting one.

"I LOVE pancakes!"

I don't think he knew what they were when I first offered... and just like his mother, his first reaction to something new is NO!  Mom doesn't have time in the morning to cook "fancy" breakfasts and get him ready for daycare and her for work.  Now he is all excited and I promised him pancakes every Saturday morning he came to visit.

I decided to plan ahead and mix up the incredients Friday night before going to bed..... big mistake!  The recipie called for 2TBS of sugar and  1/2 tsp salt.  Unfortunately I misread the directions.  As I was dumping the second tablespoon of salt into the mix I was thinking... that was an awful lot of salt!  I looked back at the recipie and realized I had mixed up the sugar and salt amounts!  AAACCCKKK! 

So I had my engineer husband do the math and adjust the recipe and then sent him out to Walmart for more flour.  I now have enough pancake mix for 12 batches!

jumbo ziplock bag full of pancake mix!

So the little one arrived Saturday morning, all excited to eat pancakes, and I was ready.  He ate 18! 

So my Saturday mornings will now include pancakes and Mickey Mouse.... what more could you ask for!

2012 FINAL TOTALS

I completed all the must have done for Christmas customer work and planned to get more done as well as quilting one or two for me, but then life got in the way.  My grandson was sent home from daycare and straight to the pediatrician's office we went.  Flu confirmed. UGH! Three days later, I had it!  Double UGH!  So between feeling lousy and making three Christmas dinners and keeping up with family stuff over the holidays I didn't get any additional quilting done.  But, because I could work in short spurts as energy permitted I was able to keep up with Bonnie's Easy Street Mystery... until the last two rapid fire steps that completed the blocks and assembled the top.  I'm still working on making the blocks..just a few more to go.  I hope to have the top assembled soon.

WORK COMPLETED IN DECEMBER
.....06.....customer tops quilted (YTD 91)
.....03.....customer quilts bound (YTD 18)
.....00.....flimsy completed waiting to be quilted  (YTD 12)
.....01.....quilted flimsy (YTD 5)... Improv, Pink Baby, Pink Flannel, Twirl, Amelia, Cardinals
.....00.....Mini Cell phone purses completed for spa night!(YTD 50)
..............hand-work hours (YTD 89) (40 frill scarves, 3 hat/scarf sets)
        Bonnie Projects
.....00.....cheddar bowties blocks hand-pieced (YTD 81 of 162)
.....00.....cheddar bowtie rows stitched (YTD 9 of 18)
.....00.....Orca Bay Step 1 hourglass blocks made (YTD 21of 112)
.....00.....Orca Bay Step 2  3.5in string blocks made (YTD 37 of 36 )
.....00.....Orca Bay Step 3 2in HSTs (YTD 120 of 175)
.....17.....Orca Bay Step 4 5.5in string blocks (YTD 24 of 32)
.....00.....Orca Bay Step 5 cut 350 triangles and stitch to part 3 (0 of 175)
.....00.....Orca Bay Step 6 cut 2.5in squares and assemble Ohio Stars (0)
.....00.....Floribunda Blocks (12 YTD).... with parts completed to assemble more blocks
..............Talkin Turkey..... 2 blocks complete plus parts
..............Midnight Flight....1 block complete plus parts
..............Winston Ways... 2 blocks complete plus parts
....192....Easy Street Step 1 4-patches
....128....Easy Street Step 2 flying geese
.....64............background rectangles
.....64......Easy Street Step 3  64 shaded 4-patches
.....04........... corner triangles
.....64......Easy Street Step 4 double geese
....145............green squares
.....64......Easy Street Step 5 sitting turkeys
...128......Easy Street Step 6 doubl bricks
.....76...........76 quarter square triangles
.....04......Easy Street Step 7  #1 triangles
.....12...............#2 Triangles
.....03......Easy Street Step 8 Block A (3 of 12)
.....01..............Block B (1 of 9)

UFO Listing

It's that time of year again... new resolutions, new goals.  To that end, Pat Sloan is starting her UFO Busting "Program" this week... You can follow along on her blog beginning here... 

http://blog.patsloan.com/2013/01/pat-sloan-12-ufo-busting-tips-know-what-you-have-is-tip1.html

The first step is to know what I have.  With last years UFO listing as a guideline, I am taking inventory of what I have done in 2012 and what still remains hidden in boxes, totes and closets.


COMPLETED IN 2012
Improv Block Quilt (february)
Scotts Squares (december)
Pink Baby Flannel (november)
Pink Baby FQ (november)
3 pj pants for grandson (december)
8 table runners (november)
50 mini purses (August)

WAITING TO BE QUILTED
Orange/Blue Jelly Roll (Sept 2012)
Antique top acquired at Bell Buckle 2012
Christmas Swap Blocks (moved up in march 2012)
Baltimore Album Quilt (moved up in april 2012)
ScrapMania Thangles Quilt (moved up in june 2012)
Civil War Snowball Quilt (made sometime in 2011)
Rosewood Cottage - 1/2 hand quilted (waiting since 2006)
Lucky Charms (waiting since 2010)
Basket Sampler Quilt (waiting since 2011)
Birthday Star (waiting since 2008)...may get rid of this one
Monkey Wrench BOM (waiting since 2007)... trying to sell as a top
Set of 4 placemats (waiting since 2011)

WORK-IN-PROGRESS
2012 Orca Bay - some of steps 1-4 completed (working as a leader/ender)
2012 Cheddar Bowties - 81 blocks complete (1/4 of the quilt)...hand project
2012 Easy Street - working on step 8
2012 Florabunda - 4 more blocks to make


ALMOST DONE
2012 Basic Class Wall Hanging - need to finish hand applique on 4th block then assemble
2012 Pillow Cover - assemble parts
2009 Sunbonnet Sue - needs 3 prairie point borders to be a flimsy
2012 Blue Baby Flannel (gift for grandson)
2012 Becky's Barn Basket Blocks (small wallhanging)


CLASS PROJECTS STARTED
2012 Winston Ways (2 blocks)
2012 Turkey Tracks (2 blocks)
2012 Midnight Flight (1 block)


STARTED AND STOPPED DEAD
2010 Vicksburg BOM - 3 to hand applique..I may just assemble the completed blocks into a flimsy and quit
2011 Happiness Key - background prepared
2011 Dear Jane/Hot Momma Rose - 3 blocks complete
2010 Swartz Creek Quilt - unfinished class project
2009 1950s Santa - applique - working on block 2 of 12
2006 Barn Blocks - 5 more applique blocks, then log cabin blocks to assemble


KITS NOT YET STARTED
Pastel stars
Pink Baby Quilt
5-Star Tablerunner
Parisian 20
Cardinal Wall Hanging
Quilt Diva
Colonial Christmas
Golden Stars tablerunner
CJ's Care Bears
Iris Table Runner
2 American Dolls
Charm Square CW String blocks
Jamestown Landing BOM
Green/Pink BOM
Black White & Red
Orphan Fan Blocks
Heart Blocks
Pumpkin wall hanging
4th July Wall Hanging - paper pieced
Recycle Quilt Teddy Bears
2012 Maria's Stars
2012 Black White Gray Stars
at least 12 QOM kits

Easy Street... question

I have made several Block A and love the look

Block A

I have also made several Block B... 
But, I have been thinking about changing the center of B block to a purple ... giving the block a slightly different look (green is not my favorite color and had I realized how predominent the green would be I would have swapped the blue and green colors.  But since it was a mystery... it is what it is and I can live with it.

Block B

Alternate Block B

And here the all the blocks are laid out ... but i can't decide if I like the purple or green center on the B block better. 

Assembled Corner

Assembled Corner Alternate Block B

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Florabunda

Last fall I participated in the FCE Craft Day and offered a quilt block class using Bonnie's Florabunda block.  I kitted up way too many blocks for the number of participants, and decided to make the extra's up into a quilt for myself.

I've worked on them a little bit here and there, and have finally completed 12 blocks.  I think I have enough kits for four more blocks.  Here they are laid out and ready to stitch together.

I'm not sure what I'll do with these next.    It's not very big.  I don't have enough of the floral to make a border.  Maybe just a narrow yellow border followed by a wider solid red border.

Easy Street Steps 7 & 8 and a partial reveal

I fell behind making the step 7 parts for this mystery when my grandson came for an overnight visit.  We just had to play cars and read and color.... much more important than sewing!

I made the four #1 triangles

but I completed only six of the 12 needed #2 triangles before the Step 8 reveal Monday morning. 

Step 8 has us making 16 block A

           and 9 Block B
(oh, but don't look too closely at this picture because I've oriented  two of those 4-patches incorrectly and spent half my sewing time frogging and re-sewing them correctly but forgot to take a corrected picture... I'll get that done eventually)




And because I am impatient and just can't wait to get all the blocks done to see what this will look like, after making just a few, I laid them out on the floor for a sneak peak at my own reveal!.

The holidays are over now and it's back to work tomorrow, so I will have less sewing time to finish assembling blocks and complete the top, but I will get it done and post pictures as soon as possible.

thank you Bonnie for another fun-filled mystery!

UPDATE:  Mon Jan 7...I don't have time to write up another post at the moment for the link up, but I have now completed all the triangles.  Will be working on Blocks A&B this week as time permits.

Be sure to check out Bonnies page and all the links to other's Easy Street projects!   http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2013/01/mystery-monday-link-up-jan-7th.html