Ivy and the pizza

Do I really need to say more?  Last night I made a large pizza for dinner.  I had a couple pieces then decided to take my shower.  Instead of being smart, I was dumb and left the rest of the pizza on the kitchen counter.  You know where this is going, right?  When I got out of the shower and went back in the kitchen there were only two pieces left on the pan!  I looked at Ivy and she looked up at me with those big brown eyes... and then burped!  Yeah, I guess her belly was pretty full!

Maybe it's the new medicine she is on that is making her want to eat more, but I have to remember to put things away.  She is now taking estrogen.  Sounds funny to say that about my dog.  I'm real glad the doc put her on it because since she has been taking it she hasn't had any issues.  Hope it stays that way. 

At any rate, she is just reminding me that she earned the label "Ivy - the mouth with the dog attached".

I had even put extra pepperoni and cheese on that pizza.  sigh.

Tonight I'm just making sloppy jo's for dinner.  Uncle Ray said he will come by around 5, so that will be nice.  Just having sandwiches and chips.

Clover

This is the small patch of grass behind work.  I used to love picking those white clover flowers when I was a kid!  I know they are just weeds, but to me and my friends they were pretty.  We would make chains of them and pretend they were crowns, necklaces, and bracelets.  Ah, the good old days...  haha.

Last night I did some sewing on the Packers quilt.  I finished all of the blocks that have green around them and started on the ones that have yellow/orange around them.  There's a lot of pressing to be done, but the blocks are going together fairly quickly.  I am thinking of doing a little more than just setting them together as they are.  Might set them in the same way as Bonnie Hunter's Dancing Nine Patch.  That offsets them a bit and gives them a little whimsical look.

The back is going to have the panel with the football field on it, as well as other football themed materials. 

Corn

The corn in our area is coming up nicely!  The top picture is from a week ago and the bottom is just last night in the same field.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate this summer and the farmers will get a good yield.

Going to take Nick some lunch this afternoon.  He's not feeling very good and took a sick day off from work.  Think I'll get him some soup.  That should make him feel better.  He's crabby when he's sick.  But who isn't, really?

Cheese Heads Beware

Here's a sneak peak at some of the squares for the Green Bay Packer themed quilt I'm making for a customer.  I could only find a few Packer's materials in cotton, so I added one of little footballs to make it more interesting.  Half of the squares will have a green border and the other half will be orange.  It is hard to match those team colors, but I did the best I could.  I intend to alternate green and orange bordered squares for the top.  I'm also thinking I might put a strip of another material between them that has larger footballs on it.  Going to wait until I have all the squares made and then decide.

Finally came into the current century and got on 'Skype' for the first time last night.  Mary got me all set up and we tested it out.  I see some sewing sessions in the near future...  :)

Paducah Swap Quilts

The blocks that Mary and I swapped while in Paducah have all been put into quilt tops.  Here's what Mary's look like:

She chose to use different colored cornerstones and white sashing.  I think it looks very pretty!  Can't wait until it's all quilted to see it.

Here's what mine looked like:

I used all purple squares for the cornerstones and white for the sashing.  I think both of our tops turned out very nicely.  Looking forward to doing this again next year! 

I started making blocks for the Green Bay Packer quilt.  It's moving right along, so hope to make good progress on it. 

Had a very nice Memorial Day weekend.  Went to a graduation party on Saturday for my nephew.  Sunday and Monday just did some stuff around the house.  Had a couple plumbing issues to deal with, but they mostly got taken care of.  Ev still has to fix a leaky pipe.

Took Ivy for quite a few walks.  She really enjoys that.  She especially enjoys walking wherever there are a lot of rabbits running around.  She would have made a good rabbit hound.

When we were at the graduation party, which was at the old lake, there were two very tame ducks walking around.  I had taken Ivy to the party for a short time and she just walked up to the ducks and sniffed them, then didn't pay them any more attention at all!  That surprised me!

Baggy sewing

This morning before work I went upstairs and dug out some fabric to make six bean bags.  Three have to be in one material and three in another.  It's for an outdoor game and they get pretty beat up, so I had to find material that was pretty sturdy.  Even so, I doubled the material, just to be on the safe side.

I have three of the six bags sewn.  Have to fill and finish them and then sew up the other three.  It won't take long.  Then we are taking the game to my nephew's graduation party tomorrow at 1.

Tonight Ev is taking me to the movies.  I think we are going to see 'Blended' even though I'm not much of an Adam Sandler or Drew Barrymore fan. It will be a no brainer funny movie and I think Ev will enjoy it.

At lunch time I went out to Johanna's and so did Ev.  The three of us had lunch then took a walk to the creek on their property.  Was a nice little hike in the woods and it got me a few more steps on my pedometer.  I was pleasantly surprised that last night I finished with 12,000 steps!  How cool is that?  That was the product of four walks during the course of the day.  Really need to keep that up.

This is not a quilt picture

I bought a pedometer yesterday, in the hopes that it will inspire me to walk more.   

So far, I have taken a couple more walks than I normally would have.  This morning it was such a beautiful morning when I woke up, and it was earlier than I had to be up, so I put on my walking shoes and Ivy and I set off for a short early morning walk.  It was nice and cool, and the sun was shining.  Met a couple other walkers along the way, even.

Since this is already a non-quilty post, I want to add to it.  This is a rant, so if you don't want to read my opinion, please just move on.  I know not everyone shares my views.

In an effort to make my life better, I try to eliminate any negatives that I can control because I know there are plenty that I can't control and will have no choice but to deal with them.  Yesterday, a simple lunch with co-workers turned into one of those negatives.  I'm sharing this here because I need to get it out of my head and move on...  The one gal has been a very negative presence for many years, and I try to avoid contact, but circumstances have thrown us closer together lately and having lunch once in a while with a third person that comes into the office twice a month has been happening.  So far, I'm sure you are thinking this sounds rather mundane.  And really, it is, but it's the mind set and behavior that bothered me.

The gal who comes in twice a month was telling stories and got on a tear about a co-worker of hers in her main office who threw out some food she had in the refrigerator at work for lunch (it was leftover steak and seafood from a dinner out the night before).  When she confronted this person, they apologized and bought her an uncooked steak and potato from the grocery store.  Now, I know that isn't the same, but it's more than I would have done, let me tell you.  Anyway, this gal that comes in here was complaining about her and how she dislikes her so much, yada yada yada.  I thought this was a real petty attitude to take and was generally disgusted by it.

The co-worker that I have to be around all the time is generally not a nice person either.  One incident, among many, that stands out in my mind was when we had a worker from another agency in our office who was elderly and had to use the bathroom a lot.  One time this lady had to go and my co-worker was in the bathroom and stayed in there for over 20 minutes.  When she came out she told me she heard the other lady pacing back and forth in front of the door so she stayed in there an extra long time!  Another incident that occurred was when she took the woman's space heater for her area because hers broke and she felt she should have one rather than the other gal (who sat right in front of the outside doors, not in an enclosed office like the other one had).

So, dear readers, if you are still with me, I have decided NOT to spend my lunch time with these people anymore.  And lest you think this is a group of young women, it's not.  They are all middle aged and should know better.

I'm done. 

Pictures

 Here's the church raffle quilt as it came off the frame.  All in all, I'm pleased with it.

The lower corner in the picture above was a difficult spot.  The top wasn't totally square and I had to do some easing while I quilted.  I was discouraged about it yesterday but today when I looked at it again it didn't seem all that bad.

The embroidery squares were stitched by Linda's mother, who has passed (I'm pretty sure she has - Linda got very choked up when she saw them all quilted).  Linda sewed them together and put the green, blue, and white borders on.  She also provided the backing and sent some batting for me to use.  I didn't use it because I am familiar with the cotton and know how it acts.

Linda is going to put the binding on it now.  She has a few weeks before it has to be done.  They will start selling raffle tickets at the Homecoming in June and will draw for it at the Chicken Dinner in August.

Quick Sunday Post

Just got home from taking Ivy for a walk.  Note to self - this time of night there are a lot of rabbits around.  Ivy likes rabbits.  Too much.  Sigh.  The score is Ivy 2, Rabbits 0 for the year so far.

Ev walked with us.  That was a nice treat.  Tomorrow we are getting a dumpster and he is going to start cleaning out the garage.  Hopefully there will be a little room left in it and I can get some of the junk out of the basement, too.

I finished the quilting on the church raffle quilt.  Towards the end, the bottom corner was really off square and I had to ease it around to make sure it came out right.  Not real pleased with it, but it's done and that's as good as it gets.  Will probably take it off the frame tomorrow and then get it to the lady who made the top.  She is going to put the binding on it.

Just a note

... to say I'm a very lucky person to have the family and friends I have!  :)

Embroidery blocks

Did some quilting last night on the quilt for the church raffle.  There are 8 embroidery blocks on this quilt.  I am following the dotted lines for the actual quilting on these blocks.  To say the least, it is tedious.  I'm okay with the majority of it, but inside the block is a grid pattern that goes around a center motif of embroidery.  There's a lot of stop and go in that section and it's rather a pain.  Last night I was able to finish one row of these blocks.  There are 4 rows. 

Went to the doctor in the afternoon for the results of my blood work.  It was pretty much as I expected.  I must lose weight or I am going to have serious health issues.  Doc wants more tests in November, so I better get moving here.

Also took Ivy to the vet.  She got all her shots and a check up.  All is well with the pup.  While at the vet, a couple other dogs came in.  Ivy was really good around them.  She even loved on a few of the people that wanted lovin'!

We have a rainy and cool day here.  I'm not really complaining because it will be hot and humid soon enough. 

Going to have lunch with Johanna and Ev.  Then tonight Nick is coming by after lessons.  I'm going to put a pizza in the oven from Aldi for him.

Tonight Bonnie Hunter is having Quilt Cam.  Poor Nick will have to suffer through it if he is at the house while it's on!  hee hee hee. 

Oh, and the little wild duck Ben and Johanna found didn't survive.  Poor little dude.  After looking at it closer, I think it was a Mallard duckling, not a Wood Duck.  They live close to a large lake and several farm ponds, so it's not uncommon to see ducks in the area, just not that close to the house.

Just ducky

Last night after work I went over to Johanna and Ben's place for about an hour.  We were sitting on the patio when this little duck runs right over to us!

Isn't he the cutest thing?  I am pretty sure he is a Wood Duck baby.  We didn't see any other ducklings or a mama duck.  (What are mama duck's called?  Hens?)

I had the opportunity to play with the new litter of kittens they have.  Cutest little things ever!  And those kittens are growing fast.  They don't like to be far from mama cat though.  It cracks me up because a couple of them sleep and nurse at the same time!  Best of both worlds I guess.

My next stop was to see Nick for a bit.  We ended up going out to eat, so by the time I got home it was almost 8.  Didn't do much of anything after that.  Made Ev a bit of supper, but then I was done for the night.

Had some heavy rain through the night and still expecting more.  The farmers should like that.

So, no sewing to report.  Wednesday is going to be my day to sew.  I leave work early for a doctor appointment and then in the evening the cleaning ladies come, so I should have a little extra time to work on the church quilt.

I finally started it!

I finally started quilting the church quilt.  This quilt was a collaborative effort.  One lady's mother embroidered the blocks, then she put them together and put a border around them.  Now I am quilting it.  There are actually three borders on it and they had me roadblocked.  I couldn't figure out how to quilt them.  I was all ready to go, just could not make that first stitch, when Johanna dropped by Saturday morning.  She came downstairs and I bounced some ideas off of her.  With her suggestions and encouragement, the dam was broken and I was able to start quilting.  And once I did, I gained a lot of confidence, because it really didn't look that bad!  I am my own worse critic, you know...

Here's a peak at just a corner that I have done.  There's still a long way to go before it's done, but at least I know what I'm doing on it now!

I have quilted all the border areas now and have to begin on the embroidery squares.  They have blue lines to follow, so that gives me some guidance at least.

Yesterday I had a real nice Mother's Day.  The kids came over and we grilled out.  After they left, I was sitting on the front porch just admiring the moon.  I thought it just looked so pretty and it was so peaceful.

Friday morning

Here's what I did before work this morning:

I sewed the white strips together for the final border on the Paducah Swap quilt.  It may be all the sewing I get done today, but at least it was something!

Last night I went into the bedroom to go to bed and here's what I found:

Yes, Ivy was laying on top of my pillows, after having moved the quilt out of her way, and was looking out the window!  When I went in she just looked at me like "What?  You want me to move?"  Oh well...that's my puppy!

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Lunch with the hubby

Went to lunch with my hubby today.  We haven't done that in a few weeks and it was nice. 

I couldn't get the propane tank off of the grill and was pretty sure it was empty or very close to it.  I asked him to bring it with him when he came up here for lunch and we would get it filled.  Worked out real well.  I prefer to get my tank filled rather than do those swaps.  You just don't know what people have put in them or done to them.  I really would like to have a spare tank and have it filled, just in case I run out of propane in the middle of a meal. 

Didn't do any sewing last night.  Went home and was going back and forth on what I wanted for dinner since Ev had said he was eating a big meal at work and I didn't need to cook for him.  Well, I wanted a BLT (again, my very favorite sandwich in the world) but didn't have the ingredients.  I ended up taking a quick ride over to Staunton to get a few groceries.  I got the fixin's for my beloved sandwich and also a small package of bratwurst.  Cooked them up for Ev to take for his lunch at work today.  Got to keep the hubby fed, you know...  hee hee hee.

Nick stopped by last night.  He was out on the motorcycle for a ride since it was such a nice night.  I was glad he came by because while I was at the grocery store UPS dropped off our replacement receiver for the t.v. and I was able to con him into hooking it up for me!  He's a good kid.  Now Ev doesn't have to worry that the receiver will quit recording in the middle of the hockey playoff game tomorrow (like it did last week!).

I'm going to force myself to go upstairs tonight and at least get those strips sewn together for that final border.  It's so close, I just have to do it and get it done!  Then this week I definitely have to quilt the church quilt.

I like it

Last night I put the first border on the Paducah scrappy quilt.  It's a light purple print that I used in Johanna's jewel box quilt years ago.  I can't even remember how many yards of it I must have bought because I really have a lot of it left!

Now another border of white will go all the way around it and the top will be done.  Yup.  I like it a lot!  I was a bit concerned about going from a dark cornerstone fabric to the light border, but it transitions well and gives it some depth.  The white strips are all cut, they just need to be sewn together.  I'm hoping to do that tonight.

Ivy has a new thing.  Seems like whenever I get on the phone, she barks at me!  Maybe she thinks I'm talking to her, but it's getting a little bit aggravating (even though it is cute!)

I mean, really, who could resist this face?

Hubby's birthday

Today is Ev's birthday.  We aren't really doing anything today because we are both working.  This weekend we plan to go to a nice restaurant with the kids, maybe Saturday. 

I went to the quilt club meeting last night.  It was nice.  I took the top from the Paducah swap for show and tell.  There were a lot of nice things people were showing.  Many of them were made from thrift store finds, which I think is pretty cool.  I like to rescue hand work like that.  It seems a shame for someone to put so much time into a project for it to be discarded into the junk pile.

No sewing last night, but hopefully tonight.  Want to make burgers on the grill for supper right when I get home.  That shouldn't take too long.

Mary and I are already talking about next year's block swap.  We are thinking of making all different kinds of houses and buildings.  I think that will be really neat.

Decisions, decisions

I have the Paducah Swap top all sewn up except for the borders.  Here are a couple of options I am considering:

As much as I like the purple floral print fabric, it just doesn't seem to go with this quilt.  The dark purple under it doesn't have the same pattern as the cornerstones, but it is close.

The second picture shows a lighter purple for the first border which I really like.  I think that is what I'm going to go with, then a white outer border.

Not sure if I will be working on that tonight or not.  May go to quilt club with Sandy this evening.  I was up in the sewing room before work this morning pressing the center of this top and auditioning fabric.  That was thanks to Ivy getting me up earlier than usual.  I was ready to go and had some time on my hands.  The problem with that is that I want to stay home then, instead of going to work!

And just for your viewing pleasure, here's the porcupine fabric that called my name in Hancock's of Paducah.

I just know, somewhere, sometime, I am going to want to make something that has porcupines in it!  hee hee.  Johanna saw it and already wants a rice bag out of it to go with her other rice bag that has penguins on it!

Hope everyone is having a good Monday.



One of three

I picked up one fabric for a friend's quilt.  It's Green Bay Packer fabric (which goes against my Chicago Bear's soul, by the way).  Then I found two other patterns for that team online and ordered it today. 

I did a little sewing after work today, but not too much. Had a lot of running around to do.  Picked up a gyro sandwich for Ev for dinner.  That's my 27 year anniversary gift to him.  I think that is the traditional Hallmark gift....  haha.

Mary's progress

Mary has been working on getting her top from our Paducah swap made.  She is using scraps for her cornerstones and it really looks nice!

She has the top halfway put together.  I'm sure you will recognize some of my blocks.  Isn't it amazing how all those different colors play nicely with each other? 

My favorite block is still the house block.  We are considering doing another swap next year and making them house blocks.  Mary is considering using teal as a border, which I think will look very nice.

A sashing we will go....

Here's what the sashing and cornerstones look like for the Paducah scrap quilt.  I finished all the sashing strips then started attaching them to the rows of blocks.  Four rows have sashing strips attached and just two are left. 

Johanna stopped over for a bit.  She picked up some of her scrubs for work, then wanted me to take in the sides of one of the tops. 

Happy May!

Can you believe it's already May?  Wow, this year is just flying by. 

Went upstairs last night and sewed the last of the squares into rows for the Paducah Quilt and then cut sashing and cornerstones for in between the rows.  Started sewing them also.  Tonight I should be able to spend a couple hours upstairs, so hope to get a lot more done.

Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary.  27 years.  Pretty cool.