Two Tops

I have been working on two quilts to send to my uncle out in California. One is a strip set that alternates 6" blocks in strips of brown, green, and yellow, going from light to dark and strips of solids, with a couple of prints that strayed over into the solids. The other is a trip around the world done in 6" charm squares. I tried to radiate the color out from the center. Since these pictures were taken, I have added a 1" border of black to each of them and a 3" border of a light green print. The tops are ready to be quilted. I washed muslin last night to put on the back and purchased the batting this morning. If we get snowed in, I will have everything I need to complete the quilts!

16 Patch Finished

Over the long weekend I was able to finish the 16 patch quilt top made out of shirtings. I did something a little different on the borders. I like it. My dear hubby said he would like it for our bed, but I don't think this one is going to stay home. I'm gearing myself up to free motion machine quilt it. Mentally, I'm ready. Maybe. maybe... Okay, it's scary, but I'm really really thinking about it.

Yesterday I had a meeting about an hour away from home in a town that just happens to have a fabric store. I went in and purchased a set of two rulers with my 40% off coupon for $6. They make an equilateral triangle and a right triangle. I'm excited about making some different shapes. Triangles and I really haven't gotten along in the past. I have tolerated them and they have tolerated me, but they weren't my favorites to work with. These rulers should help me get past that. I do okay with half square triangles.

Still waiting for my digital camera to come. It's backordered, of course. My luck.

Last night we had a dinner of fried ham and au gratin potatoes. Used part of the half a ham I had in the freezer that was leftover from New Years'. Tonight we are having chicken alfredo and tomorrow night we are having clam chowder. It was 3 degrees when I came to work today, so these will be good cold weather dinners.

16 Patch in Progress

Here is a rough idea of what the 16 patch quilt made of shirtings will look like. This particular quilt will have 10 rows down and 8 rows across. Each 16 patch is made up of one red shirting fabric and one light shirting fabric. The alternating squares are muslin. I worked on it last night and was able to sew all the squares of muslin to the 16 patch blocks, then into sections of 2 16 patch blocks and 2 muslin blocks. It should go together pretty quickly now.

I made stuffed pepper soup for supper tonight. It is a really good and hearty soup. Since the weather has been cold and promises to be colder in the next few days, the soup hit the spot.

I Won!

Remember those chunky churn dash blocks I made for the block lotto? I won a set of them from Stashbusters! They were to be mailed out yesterday, so I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival. Still waiting for my digital camera to come from the phone company, too.

I cut some more pieces out for the 16-patch quilt made out of shirtings over the weekend. After my careful calculations, taking into account shrinkage, I washed and dried what I thought was the correct amount of muslin to make the alternating squares for the 16-patch squares. Yeah, right. I still needed enough muslin washed and dried to make 10 more blocks! If muslin didn't shrink so much, I wouldn't bother washing it first, but since I know the shirtings have been washed many times, it would be a disaster not to wash the muslin. So I cut more muslin and washed and dried it. Now I have to press it and cut the squares.

I really have to get back into the swing of things with my sewing. Every day I think I'll go home from work and work on this project, or that project. Then I get home and I just plop in the chair after making dinner. And fall asleep.

Block Lotto

Last night I was able to get upstairs to the sewing room after I fixed dinner (fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, steamed brocolli, and garlic bread...mmm mmm). I made five of the chunky churn dash blocks in muslin and different scraps. They are for the block lotto on Stashbusters and are winging their way to participate in the contest. For each block submitted, my name goes in the hat to win a set of blocks.

I spent over an hour working on those blocks last night and really enjoyed it. I think I'm going to try and get some sewing done every day, if I can. Stashbusters has suggested 15 minutes per day, but I am going to be more ambitious and try for an hour a day. Sure beats vegetating in front of the television.

I called our local phone company last week to see if I could get a better deal on our bundled services (local, long distance, dsl, and sattelite). They had a really good deal that lowered my bill, plus as a bonus I will get a free digital camera! I am pretty excited about this. When I get it, I can take a lot more pictures of my quilts and post them. I have been using Johanna's camera. She will be happy not to have all those quilt pics on her memory card!

January Freeze

Today has been one of the coldest days this winter so far. It was 7 degrees at 7 a.m. when I left for work today. It has been difficult getting back into the swing of things at work, since I was off for the holidays.

I didn't get much quilting done while I was on vacation. I did complete two wall hangings that I had started last winter. I had three wallhangings started, one with a Christmas Tree, one with a reindeer, and one with big ornaments. I completed all but the tree. Hopefully I can get it completed before I put the Christmas decorations away this year.

I was able to get my sewing room cleaned up, after spending a few hours in it. I rearranged my area and consolidated some boxes, so there is less clutter.