Birthday Boy's Hero

Last week was my grandson's fourth birthday.  

In December, his aunt (my youngest daughter) decided she wanted to learn decorative cake baking... 

We all think she did a wonderful job!

Last year it was Scooby Doo... 
this year Sponge Bob... 
I wonder who his hero will be next year!

I'm a Winner!

I opened up my email this morning to find this:

Congratulations, HelenMarie! You're a winner of a copy of 100 Blocks! Would you please send me your address so I can get it in the mail to you? Thank you!

- Elizabeth
Elizabeth Dackson
dontcallmebetsy.com

 

Thank you Elizabeth! I can't wait for my copy to arrive!

Be sure to go over to Quiltmaker.com and join the blog hop, visit and comment on the partipating blogs for your chance to win a variety of prizes!

 You may get lucky... like me!

Totals 2013 - April

Another busy month has gone by and progress has been made on several UFO projects.  I completed two more of my quilts this month... Baltimore Album and Civil  War Snowball, and the Hope Academy Banner is done and currently hanging in the church.

I made progress on my Orca Bay (needing to cut fabric for 42 more hourglass blocks) and Florabunda quilts (all parts are cut and complete... now to stitch them all together!  I cut fabric for the remaining SIS blocks for my Easy Street pieced border and I was thrilled to locate another 3 yards of the purple fabric for my final border.

And, silly me... I started another new project! My monthly wednesday sewing group decided to make a Spring wall hanging together.  I've almost completed the background and will begin preparing the applique flowers this weekend.

 WORK COMPLETED IN APRIL

.....08.....customer tops quilted (YTD 23)
.....02.....customer quilts bound (YTD  08)
.....00.....flimsy completed waiting for quilting ( 4 )
.....03.....quilted flimsy (YTD 9 )
......15..hand-work hours (62 YTD )

MY PROJECTS COMPLETED THIS YEAR:
Lucky Charms wall hanging (1/21/13)
Basket Sampler Welcome wall hanging (2/15/13)
Knitted afghan  (3/20/13)
Scrap Mania quilt (3/19/13)
Orange/Blue Jelly Roll quilt (3/18/13)
Hope Academy Banner (3/27/13)
New Baby quilt (3/22/13)
Baltimore Album (4/5/13)
Civil War Snowball (4/5/13)

        Bonnie Projects
.....00.....cheddar bowties blocks hand-pieced YTD  0 ...  81 of 162 in 2012)
.....00.....cheddar bowtie rows stitched (YTD  0 .... 9 of 18 in 2012)
.....49.....Orca Bay Step 1 hourglass blocks made (YTD 49  plus 21 in 2012) total  70 of 112 )
....done.....Orca Bay Step 2  3.5in string blocks made (completed in 2012 )
....done.....Orca Bay Step 3 2in HSTs (YTD 55 plus120 in 2012)  total 175
.....done....Orca Bay Step 4 5.5in string blocks (YTD 08 plus 24 of 32 in 2012) total 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)
.....01.....Floribunda Blocks (13 YTD).... with parts completed to assemble 7 more blocks
..............Talkin Turkey..... 2 blocks complete plus parts
..............Midnight Flight....1 block complete plus parts
..............Winston Ways... 2 blocks complete plus parts
..............Easy Street Steps 1-8 Completed in 2012
.....00.....Easy Street  inner border cut and attached
.....32.... Easy Street  2nd border: square in square blocks  (108 of 116 YTD
............. Easy Street final purple border

Going home

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted.  But life has been hectic, so that does make sense.

Let's see, what I've been doing...

First, a trip to Maryland to visit  family and the place my husband grew up. We didn't get up north for Christmas because of the flu.  Unfortunately, his parents were dealing with various health issues and spending too much time in the ER... we weren't able to vist with them for very long, but did spend the day with his siblings and enjoyed a nice dinner together.

From there we went "home" to Winchester VA.  Hubby spent several days at the plant sorting through files and product samples, deciding what was to be disposed of and what should be kept for product historical reference.  The plant is now officially closed, but he needs to go back again and finish the job .  

While he did that, we went and visited the old homestead.  The new owners have made quite a few changes over the last 10 years... most notably... building a detached  "3 car garage" on top of what was our vegetable garden!  Yes, it was a garage/storage space accessed via the driveway around the back of the house, but it's main purpose was the street level living quarters for his mother.  They added access to her appartment with a porch on the front side.  So basically they built a second house 20 feet from the main house!  I can't believe the HOA allowed it!  I should have grabbed my camera and taken pictures, but I was so shocked I didn't think of it!  Gone were all of the beautiful flower gardens we had worked so hard to cultivate.  The pond is now overrun with cattails and needs a lot of work.

I spent the remaining time at the local Discovery Museum.  White House applesauce is grown and packaged locally and they sponsored the museum which included an area mimmicking a factory.  The grandson had a blast using the various pulley systems to move the apples from the tree through the factory.

  

And no trip north would be complete with out a drive over to Federick for some steamed Maryland Crabs!  Banging crab claws with the little wooden hammer was his favorite part!... he even ate some!

Another Aquisition and UFO Progress

I was recently volunteering at the local Habitat ReStore, helping my daughter earn sweat equity hours.  On a shelf, in the back, I spied this serger on a top shelf.  I have never used one, but I understand they are great for finishing the edges of a quilt before binding.  So, I asked about it.  It had not been plugged in or tested, but if I wanted it, I could take it home, as is, for $10.  I turned the flywheel (is that what it's called?) a few times and it appeared to be stitching the newspaper (rolling eyes here) so it came home with me.  With all the tops I plan on completing this year, I think that she will be a nice addition to my machine collection.

In January, I had several projects that were near completion... just needing borders or a bit more hand stitching.  There were several others that were just waiting their turn on the quilter.   Pat Sloan is blogging monthly tips and ideas on how to move projects along, so I have jumped on the bandwagon too.

First, I made a list ... a long list... of all the projects I have on hand in various stages of completion. 

Then I decided to make some progress... starting with actually quilting some of the tops I had already completed.  When not taking care of family and activities, I spend most of my time quilting for customers or making donations or gifts... not quilting something for me.  So, my UFO busting plan is to get my tops out of topville this year!

In January, I completed Lucky Charms... a free pattern by Pat Sloan.  It is now hanging in my living room.    



 



In February, I completed my Welcome Basket Sampler... my modified version of another design Pat Sloan. I started this in a class with Pat back in 2010.  It hung as a flimsy on my wall last fall.  Now it is ready for hanging this fall.  This wall hanging won a blue ribbon at the district women's club competition and is currently on its way to Nashville for state level competition! 

In March, I completed a jelly roll quilt, my ScrapMania Thangles quilt, and a baby quilt for my soon to be born grandson (oops need to get a picture of that one!) My proudest completion this year is the wall banner for my son's class.  I blogged about it earlier; I started working with the "kids" individually in September, helping them choose a shape, fuse it and blanket stitch it to the background.  I was able to complete the final construction in time to hang for Easter celebrations at the church.

Now it's April and next up is my Baltimore Album quilt.  I purchased this quilt kit from my LQS several years ago and then just got busy and never got it made.  Last year I assembled the quilt and this year it will be completed.  It is the first one that my husband actually said he liked... without any prompting from me!  Definitely a keeper!  It is currently on the quilter and I hope to have it ready to bind this weeken. 

2013 Totals - March

Oh my goodness!  Where did the month go?!?!

I finished my handwork projects for March and won first place awards for the knitting and wall hanging!  They move on to the women's club state competition April 6.

I also completed and delivered my son's classroom banner.  Everyone was thrilled to see this project come together!  We will do a formal presentation to the pastor mid-April and it will hang in the church for a couple weeks for all the parishioners to see before it finds a permanent place in the classroom!

 
 WORK COMPLETED IN MARCH
.....05.....customer tops quilted (YTD 23)
.....02.....customer quilts bound (YTD  06)
.....00.....flimsy completed waiting for quilting ( 4 )
.....03.....quilted flimsy (YTD 5 )
.....27......hand-work hours (47 YTD )

MY PROJECTS COMPLETED THIS YEAR:
Lucky Charms wall hanging (1/21/13)
Basket Sampler Welcome wall hanging (2/15/13)
Knitted afghan  (3/20/13)
Scrap Mania quilt (3/19/13)
Orange/Blue Jelly Roll quilt (3/18/13)
Hope Academy Banner (3/27/13)
New Baby quilt (3/22/13)

        Bonnie Projects
.....00.....cheddar bowties blocks hand-pieced YTD  0 ...  81 of 162 in 2012)
.....00.....cheddar bowtie rows stitched (YTD  0 .... 9 of 18 in 2012)
.....00.....Orca Bay Step 1 hourglass blocks made (YTD 0 .. 21of 112 in 2012)
....done.....Orca Bay Step 2  3.5in string blocks made (completed in 2012 )
....done.....Orca Bay Step 3 2in HSTs (YTD 50    ....120 of 175 in 2012)
.....done....Orca Bay Step 4 5.5in string blocks (YTD 08....24 of 32 in 2012)
.....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
..............Easy Street Steps 1-8 Completed in 2012
.....00.....Easy Street  inner border cut and attached
.....00.... Easy Street  2nd border: square in square blocks  (72 of 116 YTD
............. Easy Street final purple border

Hope Academy Banner

It's finally complete!

I put the last stitches in and delivered the banner to class this morning!  Everyone is thrilled with the results!  and we have been asked to make a "formal" presentation to the church pastor during services after Easter.  It will be hung somewhere in the church as a reminder to parishioners of how much good their donations are doing!

 

New Legs

When I bought my new Nolting Funquilter back in 2010, in order cut expenses, I  purchased a perfectly good used table to mount it on. 

These old legs were leveled and height adjusted using that bolt and sliding up and down the slot.  There are no grooves to lock into to match all 4 legs to the same height.  Yes, we did  measure and draw our own lines to help.  The nut/bolt has to be loosened, slid up or down, and then tightened with no weight.  The problem is when the weight is put back on the leg even when tightened, can slip down a bit, especially over time...and not necessarily evenly slipping on all four legs!  Recognizing this, Nolting has made a few design changes and since Mike and/or his son Steve were going to be in the area (as in TN not GA or OH) this weekend they ordered the new style leveling legs for me.

The package arrived and Steve made the 2 hour drive from Marysville to do the install for me.

The problem.... the wrong legs were ordered/sent.  I need to have wheels on my legs so that I can move the frame to and from the wall depending on which side of the machine I am working on.  Unfortunately, my working space isn't big enough to center the machine in the room to be able walk around it, which is the more common set-up. 

So after some discussion and thought I made a mad dash to Lowes before they closed and purchased "moving men".  Those slider things that you put under furniture to make it easier to move heavy items around the room. 

So my new legs are now installed.  The machine is much more level (no rolling front to back or left to right when I let go!  I am much happier!  

The legs adjust height by just turning the legs left or right on those screw-grooved pegs.   I may still have to order the wheeled legs to give me just a bit more height, but I'll decide after working on her a bit. If I am working "half-cocked" or slightly bent forward it puts strain on my lower back and, well, ouch!   I'll be loading a practice quilt today and giving the new legs a try.  

Monsoon Monday!

After all that beautiful weather this weekend, Monday brought lots of rain!

The ditch across the front lawn from the water line repair was settling down and filling with water.

I sent Matthew out to rake the dirt into the ditch and hopefully level things off a bit more.

 

Saturday in the park...

It was a warm and gorgeous Saturday and we had the grandson again while Mom worked.  So after a vegetable finding trip to the farmers market and a quick lunch, it was off to the park.....

                                      feeding the ducks and geese in the lake

 

climbing up the monkey bars and down the slides!

 

Rummage Sale

Minimal sewing was accomplished last week. 

Instead, I was busy with our annual church rummage sale. Monday through Friday, we accept donations.  Several parishioners and members of the Daughters of Isabella worked together sorting, folding, arranging, and pricing all week long.  The doors close at noon on Friday.

Then the fun begins at 4pm when we open the doors to crowds waiting to get in and find a good deal!

There were plenty of deals to be had...

computer monitors, keyboards, printers 
golf clubs, balls, catchers mitt and protective gear
Christmas ornaments and decorations of all kinds
Kitchen gadgets, glassware, dishes, pots & pans
and lots and lots of clothing!  Tables full!

This year, we even had a mink coat!

This was another very successful event, raising some $2700 to fund various charitable activities of the parish.

Habitat Update

I am amazed at how quickly the visiting college students, with help from some local contractors, are assembling the house.

Two weeks ago, local contractors started with pouring the concrete base for the foundation and laying all but the last 3 rows of brick.

Last week, inspite of the snowy and rainy weather, the foundation was finished and 20 college students from Iowa were able to assemble the flooring

  

This week, 12 students from Indiana have raised the walls and the roof!



The front and side windows installed too!

 Today, the contractors put most of the shingles on the roof 

Next week, students from Pennsylvania are scheduled to finish installing the windows and doors and install the siding!  Electrical, plumbing and insulation contractors are scheduled too.  I am totally amazed at how quickly this is coming together!

Water troubles

Last Thursday, the city came around and read the meters (gas, electric, water) as usual.   Some time on Friday a supervisor came by and re-read the meters.  I came home late afternoon to find a "lovely" red tag on my doorknob informing me of high water usage... more than double our normal use!  UGH!

There was no water running in the house... and yet the meter was spinning away!  I turned the shutoff valve in the basement... and still the meter was spinning! That meant there was a leak somewhere between the meter and my house. Since there were no puddles in the yard, best guess is that the leak was under the concrete slab the house was built on.  I opened the phonebook and was able to get two repair quotes before dark(one extremely high and the other comparably quite low) and the advice to call the 811 number and have all utility lines marked so work could start ASAP.  I waited for a third quote by a plumber highly recommended by one of the girls in my church group.

Scott learned his trade working with his dad, and took over his dad's business when he retired.  He is licensed and insured and a pleasure to work with!

First, the outside work.  Start with some hand digging near the house to avoid the gas line.    



Then pull out the trencher to dig across the yard and down 18in (below the frost line) to bury the new water line.

new line running under gas line into house

 

Outside work complete. 

Next, inside he capped off and removed the old incoming pipes and filter from under the bench in the center of the house in my quilting room

and hooked into the lines near the front of the house and installed a more easily accessable filter in my sewing room closet.

I'll just get a small tension rod and make a curtain to hide this rather than installing a wall with access door in the side of my closet.

Mission accomplished!  and the meter is no longer spinning like a top!

March

You know that old saying.... in like a lion out like a lamb
Well, we are having our lion...the dreaded four-letter word fell here in TN last night...SNOW!
You know the stuff... where all you have to do is hint at the "S" word and everyone in town runs to Walmart for TP, milk and bread! Even when we lived in VA, just mentioning the "S" word or seeing one flake could start a panic run.  Schools would be delayed or even closed the night before the first flake fell!  Coming from New York, I never understood it... still don't.  I know, we don't have massive amounts of removal/salting equipment here.  The school buses have all those hills and hollers to drive.  But we don't have massive amounts of snow here either.. and for the most part... the roads are usually melted clear before lunchtime.

We had maybe an inch last night... and it's sticking only on the grass!  The roads might be a little slick until it warms up in a couple hours... you just have to drive carefully.  Schools are closed here for Spring Break so no panic here, but all across middle TN they are closed due to inclement weather.  

I haven't gotten any quilting done this week.   Our church rummage sale is Friday so we have been busy taking donations, sorting and pricing.  The rainy weather yesterday gave us time to catch up with all the donations.  The snow today will probably mean a slow day too.  The nicer weather on Thursday and Friday should, hopefully, pack our tables full. (I'll get some pictures today tp [post later)

Construction on my daughter's home began Friday with digging and pouring the foundation.  Monday and Tuesday had the contractor laying the bricks.  Today, the college kids arrive and the plan is to lay the flooring.
 

I think this foundation is complete.  Flooring is next.

supplies for the flooring

 I will stop by later today to document the progress.

***UPDATE***
I was incorrect... the foundation needs about three more rows of blocks added.  Hopefully that will get done tomorrow.  The footers also have to be constructed.  The college kids are heading into Nashville tomorrow to see the sights (they are from PA, IA and IN) They will be back and ready to work hard on Friday!

I think this group is from IA

making saw horses to be used at various build sites

roof trusses for backyard shed

Not sure what these are for.  Someone suggested they might be shelving for the Habitat building