End of Week Report

Happy to say that I did finish the baby quilt.  Done, quilted, bound, labeled, and photographed.

I just did some simple stitch-in-the-ditch quilting along the sashing and outlined some of the shapes in the blocks.  I also added the wavy-stitch quilting down the middle of the sashing and borders.  Easy peasy and I'm happy that this top will have a new home. 

Don't you love Edgar Poe on the cat perch supervising S.'s quilt holding.  

I have the next gift quilt pin-basted and need to work on that this next week.  Hooray for more finishes in 2013. 

Mid-Week Report

Yes, it is that time of year again when Atlanta decides to be an overachiever in the pollen department.  (Atlanta overachieves in two areas:  traffic and pollen).  For people who are allergic to everything blooming (like me), we are stuck inside trying to avoid the vast waves of yellow pollen drifting over the landscape.  In case you are wondering what this looks like see this post from 2 years ago.

Today's pollen count is 4151 (extremely high is 120).  I will not be going outside today except to go to work...

Time for random cat photo:

"When all else fails, hide in your favorite box"--Remy

This week I am working on quilting two projects for gifts.  Here is the first: a baby shower gift for a co-worker at Starbucks.  I remembered that I had a top from the 2010 jelly roll BOM quilt along.  I think this will make a cute quilt for a little boy.  I hope to get this quilted and bound by the end of the week so I better hop to it.  I'll post a photo of the second later this week.  Hope you are enjoying spring weather without the allergies where you are!

A Big Finish!

 Ta Da!!  It's done.  Pieced, quilted, and bound by me. 

The pattern is the 2010 BOM Jelly Roll Sampler by the fabulous UK shop and authors of one of my favorite quilting books, The Quilt Room .  The fabric is Cherish Nature by Moda. 

 I'm getting ready to hand deliver this to a very special person in honor of a very special birthday.

(Yes, I know it's late but I couldn't be there on her birthday, so we'll just have to celebrate her birthday again!)

This is about as elaborate as I get with my labels.  Usually it's just my name and a year and the cat stamp.

Here's a view of the quilt outside.  The weather was beautiful today.

I loved making this quilt for my niece Mackenzie.  I found the jelly roll shortly after she was born and the colors and nature theme are perfect for her room. 

Be on the look out later this year for the pattern in a new book called Jelly Roll Sampler Quilts by Pam and Nicky Lintott.

Two Projects, Two Sneak Peeks

Yes, I've been neglecting my blog.  I spent most of my time trying to decide what to buy at Fat Quarter Shop with my gift certificate busy busy busy.  This past weekend was filled with yard work--picking up sticks from the recent storms, pruning overgrown shrubs, and mowing the lawn with the repaired push mower. Spring is exhausting! I also worked on two project--one with a deadline and one that I couldn't resist. 

Sneak peek #1: The Quilt Room jelly roll sampler BOM from 2010. I'm quilting this one myself and am almost finished. Good thing because it's due to be gifted next week.   














Sneak peek #2:  Pips!! Oh those irresistible Sherbet Pips fabrics. I'm making a quick and chunky-block quilt to showcase these great fabrics that I didn't want to cut into little pieces.

Cold Rainy Friday = Time for a Latte

After a long week; a very dreary, cold, gray, rainy day; and a Friday full of meetings, it was time to hit Starbucks for a cup full o' pick-me-up!


 Yes that is FOUR shots of espresso in that grande cup.



Told you I needed a pick me up....  

I came home and was ready to sew sew sew!!!!!!

I whipped out that last three blocks from the 2010 Jelly Roll Sampler by the Quilt Room. 

Zoooooooom! 

And started working on sewing the rows together.  I hope to get this top finished tomorrow and get the backing and binding pieced.

In other news:  After only looking through two bins, I also found my  February UFO challenge project.  As nicely packaged today as it was when I bought it...



.... in 2004!!!!!

I hope to either get working on this or finish up January's project this weekend.

I may need another latte...

"Block" Friday and Small Business Saturday

The only "black Friday" shopping I did was at Sweet Home Quilt Co.  Melisa opened the store at 7AM and had some great deals (and yes I was there at 7).  I *may* have bought some thread, a ruler, a book, and some various fabric goodies. My co-conspirator Kristie and I will never tell. It was a bunch of fun getting to the store nearly before the sun and shopping and chatting with Kristie.

That was about the extent of the excitement to my day yesterday.  I did finish catching up on my jelly roll BOM--it was BLOCK Friday after all.

Only 3 more blocks to go.

I bought Mackenzie's presents online and had them shipped to Michigan.  No waiting in line or traffic there.  Hope the economy is not relying on me lol!

Today is the first "Small Business Saturday" (started as a Facebook campaign I think) so make sure you visit your favorite small business in person or on-line (preferably your favorite quilt store) and shop local.  As Martha would say "It's a good thing!"

Edited to add: Oh I forgot to give my Thanksgiving report.  Wednesday I made 2 pecan pies with homemade crust.  I was in the kitchen from about 7AM til noon and made roast turkey, homemade rolls, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy and gingerbread cookies. I made green bean casserole for S. (I don't like the traditional dump-out-of-cans green bean casserole so I improvised and made steamed fresh green beans, a sauce with organic mushroom soup and fresh onions.)  I had eleventy hundred dirty dishes and used all my dish towels (all this for just S. and I!). S. helped by opening the can of organic cranberries lol! The cats had bites of turkey and they napped all afternoon. S. and I took a huge plate of food and a whole pie and the cookies up to Starbucks for my former co-workers.  They loved it!! And by 4PM were ready for some breaks and food. The best thing about the day was sharing dinner with friends and I didn't have to clean house.  A fun, laid-back day.

One Day Done; Two More to Go

I am so excited about having a short work week this week.  I am really enjoying not being crazy working two jobs and dealing with Thanksgiving madness. I actually get to enjoy the holiday!  I have all the grocery shopping done and even though it's just me and S. (and the 4 cats who meow for whatever we are eating), I am cooking the turkey, dressing (in the South it is cornbread dressing never stuffing), mashed potatoes, yada yada all that, the whole nine yards, and pecan pie. I'm sure we will be eating leftovers for eons....

Oh I forgot to post my goodies from Saturday's trip to Little Quilts.  We had a great trip to Marietta with lunch at Williamson Bros.and walk around the square antiquing and a stop by the quilt shop.

Oh look there's Stella again....

A few new Jo Morton fat quarters and a free yard of fabric (earned by collecting receipts). I did look at every-single-last-thing in the store (just ask S. who was beyond patient).  


Yesterday, I watched four (count them--four hours) of the new AMC show "The Walking Dead" (Zombies!  In Atlanta!  Love it! and a friend of mine was a zombie in the first episode) and cut eleventy hundred 2" strips from stash for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt. 


Here's Step one finished.  I changed the colors to purple and green instead of pink (not a fan!) and green.

I also started getting caught up on the U.K. jelly roll BOM (I'm a few months behind).  So that is the latest here. Two more days of work and then four days off. Yea! 

Sewing Frenzy

This week was pretty rough so I sewed A LOT as a stress-buster.
I finished a Schnibble. This is Rooibois made from the Moda line called Eva. Purple and lime green--what can be better than that??!!??

I sewed BOM blocks too.

Here's the last 2 blocks from Moose on the Porch
block 11 and block 12 now I just need to find some sashing and put it together.
I love this block 6 from the Quilt Room jelly roll sampler. This free BOM is halfway through and I am loving this quilt.

I also made myself a new pillowcase. I adore owls and when I saw this owly fabric at Intown Quilters I knew I *needed* some but didn't know what to do with it. Then I thought of making a pillowcase. Doesn't match anything in my bedroom but c'est la vie. It's owls!
Wonder what else I'll finish this weekend?

An Adventure for Morph and A Quilty Weekend for Me

I thought I'd start off this weekend wrap-up post with a funny story from Friday. I had to take Morph to the vet to get some blood work checked. My cats all hate going to the vet. They hate being tricked into getting in the cat carrier and they hate riding in the car and protest all the way. By the time we get there, me and whichever cat is going along is pretty frazzled. Morph meows at the top of his lungs all the way there. On a scale of 1 to 10, Morph's going-to-the-vet meow is 11.

As I drive to the vet, I try to calm him down by talking softly, singing a shhhh it's OK song, listening to BBC podcasts and anything else I can think of. On Friday, there were lots of Gwinnett Co. police out, so as I was trying to calm Morph down and stay calm myself, I also wanted to make sure I wasn't speeding (aka trying to get to the vet quicker). About a mile from the vet's office, the blue lights came on behind me.

Oh good grief! This is not what I need right now with Morph meowing at volume 11 and me frazzled and British historian David Cannadine lecturing on my iPod. I pulled into a parking lot and told Morph "we just got pulled over by the cops, please be quiet so I don't have to explain why you are meowing so loud, please, pretty please." Morph said "Meow?"

The cop wanted to let me know that I had a tail light out and went back to his car with my license. Morph said "Meow?" I said "Hang on the cop is coming back." I got my license back and promised to get my tail light fixed and was let on our merry way. Morph continued meowing at volume 11 the last mile, into the vet's office, in the exam room, and in the back throughout his blood draw. I had the vet check Morph's teeth because and sure enough Morph needs to go back and get his teeth cleaned and perhaps one pulled. I better get that tail light fixed before we venture out again....
Morph needed a nap after his big day.
On to quilting--

It was Thimbles weekend and I had fun sewing with the gang on Saturday. I worked on another Schnibble and some more little nine-patches for Scrappy Nines. I sewed some more after I got home and then all day today. Here's a hodge-podge of things. Two more blocks done for the Moose on the Porch jelly roll quilt sampler.
Blocks 9 and 10.
Here is the latest block from the Quilt Room jelly roll BOM sampler
Block 5. I am really loving this quilt! And am anxiously awaiting a new book from those fab Lintott ladies. I hope Bad Melisa has my name on one :)

Speaking of Bad Melisa's, here is the Schnibble I worked on last weekend at Sweet Home. It's "Cindy Lou Who" made in the new Moda line "Park Avenue." Charm packs and pattern bought at Sweet Home.

I'm trying to decide whether to add an outer border or not. I'll let it age a week or so and decide then.

Sewing, Football, and Vuvuzelas

Edgar Poe is not enjoying the vuvuzelas during the World Cup. I am not enjoying the score so far. England 1 / US nil.

I must admit to liking cow bells during the winter Olympics a lot more than the off-key kazoo sound. Besides vuvuzela sounds rather anatomical. I'm just saying.

Block 8 of the jelly roll sampler was lots of fun. Now I'm working on the last two borders of the designer mystery quilt.

Hang on....
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLLLLLL GO USA! OK back to sewing.

Saturday Sewing Marathon & a Flying Pterodactyl

Saturday, I woke up early and started in catching up on some sewing. First on the agenda was catching up on the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along from Moose on the Porch.
Here are blocks 6 and 7.
Block 8 came out today so I need to get working on that one too.

Then I made block 4 from the Quilt Room's Classic Sampler. I love this BOM. The blocks are great and I use the Easy Angle ruler to make the half-square triangles. Easy peasy.

I really was feeling the need to get something finished with all these BOMs floating all over the place. I started working on the 2009 Designer Mystery Quilt finishing kit during the May Silver Thimbles meeting and it is definitely time to get this one finished. I made block 12 then started working on the center medallion.
Look at the size of that flying geese unit! 6" x 12" finished!! That's not a flying geese--that's a flying pterodactyl!!!
Anyone up for busting some major stash and making a flying pterodactyl quilt with me???? Haha!

So the cats and I worked really hard all day. Well, the cats mostly slept or sat on fabric. And here is the quilt except for the two outer borders.
A little inner border and the brown flower outer border and it will be a quilt top! S., who is holding it up in this photo, said "It's square! What can you do with a square quilt?" I said "I don't know it's just the trend now." He thinks quilts need to be rectangular. If I make a flying pterodactyl quilt, it better be rectangular.

Back with Just Blocks

Not much sewing done this past weekend. I think I was just enjoying not having to be rushing through everything I needed to get done for the weekend on Saturday and then really enjoying waking up at 5AM on Sunday and realizing I could roll over and go back to bed. And that's exactly what I did, slept in and lazed about in bed reading the NY Times, drinking a pot of coffee, and hanging out with S. and the cats. I miss my coworkers and customers at Starbucks but WOW I am digging the free time.

Here is the latest block from the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along (block 5)

And here is block 3 from the Quilt Room's Classic Jelly Roll Sampler.


I'm also busy catching up on blogs and emails. More soon!

Just Blocks

Blocks 3 and 4 from Moose on the Porch jelly roll BOM.

March (BOM) Madness

I don't follow NCAA basketball at all but I participated in my own version of March Madness by working on about four BOM projects this weekend. Maybe I'll make up some brackets and try to guess which one will actually be done and quilted first....or maybe not.

Here is the finishing kit for the Fat Quarter Shop designer mystery BOM all cut and ready to be put together. Everything in little bags and labeled. Only two more blocks left in this one.
Here is the second block for the Moose on the Porch jelly roll sampler.
And thirdly, here is the first block for the Quilt Room jelly roll sampler
I bet my aunt (Hi!) can guess who this one is for (colors are green, blue and brown with little bugs :) I hope the timing is right and it will be a first b-day present next year.

For the fourth BOM (Little Quilts SSS), I got everything together and decided to wait and cut the finishing kit out tomorrow.

Hope I can keep these all straight....

Nearing the end of March

Another busy week. I've enjoyed catching up on the blogs of all my Atlanta quilting friends. Last weekend was the Atlanta quilt shop hop and Silver Thimbles weekend. I missed both but that was OK because S. and I went to our favorite lodge in North Carolina (Snowbird Mountain Lodge!)

Never fear, I did sneak a little quilty stop on the way in Franklin, NC. If you are ever in the area, be sure you stop at Deb's Cats N Quilts. The ladies there were really nice and friendly. They have a great selection of fabrics and lots of older Moda lines in case you are searching for something you may find it there.

How cool are their bags??!!!?? I bet Stella would like a mini version. Here's what is inside the bag Judy Martin's new book Stellar Stars (I love star quilts don't you? These are stunning.) And a new Moda jelly roll (told you I needed a new one for one of those free BOMS hee hee) in yummy blues, greens, and browns (the "Cherish Nature" line).

It was a lovely, warm spring day and perfect for driving up to the mountains. (The Smokey Mountains always look like this--smokey and hazy--I really love the colors in this photo) We had a great time and went hiking on Saturday.
Since it was so warm and spring-y, we didn't plan on seeing this when we reached the beginning of the trail. Ummmm snow??!!?? Lots of snow in the higher elevations.
Should have brought snow shoes and maybe Jack and Shiloh with the dog sled. Being intrepid infrequent weekend hikers, we carried on and hiked away. We even had a picnic lunch on the top of a mountain since the sun had melted all the snow at the very top. A wonderful weekend all around.

I came back and was home for a day before I had to go on a two-day trip to south GA for my day job then back to the office and Starbucks and now it's Friday again. Whew!

I'm looking forward to some sewing time this weekend.

Yet another block of the month (or two)

Block of the month programs are so much fun! I found two new free on-line ones. Both featuring the irresistible Moda jelly rolls. It just so happens that I have one (or two or maybe three) jelly rolls hanging out in need of patterns. The first BOM is from Moose on the Porch Quilts the Jelly Roll Sampler Quilt Along.
Here is block one and block two is printed and ready to be sewn this weekend. I am using an older American Jane line and various background pieces. I think I may have used too many different patterns in this one and maybe I'll tone down the next. Or maybe not.

The second BOM is from those fabulous authors of my favorite jelly roll quilt book (called Jelly Roll Quilts) and owners of The Quilt Room in England. It's called Classic Jelly Roll Sampler. If I ever get to England, I am going there and telling them thanks for adding 50-11 more UFOs to my life. Love ya! I haven't decided on a jelly roll for this BOM and I may have to buy one special. Just maybe. Possibly. Probably shouldn't but....

Hope y'all join me in these free fun projects! I know Karin will now that I've put the jelly roll bug in her inbox (hee hee).