Square One

I discouragingly report that it is back to square one with the house sale.  The contract fell through on New Year's Eve and I was too disappointed to report about it here until now.  I am leaving all the messy details on this whole house-selling business off of my blog in the interest of keeping kvetching at a minimum level but suffice to say--I think I'd rather go through my horribly painful puffy-face wisdom teeth surgery from 2012 all over again than deal with dealing with this.

Moving on.....

Literally.

I am moving on to Santa Fe in about 3 weeks.  The holidays have passed and it is a good time to transfer to a Starbucks in Santa Fe, so it is time to gather up the rest of my belongings and head west to my husband and cats.  I have more potential buyers coming to see the house this week so hopefully my real estate agent can sell the house soon and we can be D.O.N.E. with the house sale.

It is definitely time to be with Mr. SBQ and the cats and get on with this new life of ours. Besides I'm also missing lots of napping in the Santa Fe sunshine time with this little guy

Remy enjoying a sunbeam on the kitchen table, where he is not supposed to be

In between cleaning out the attic and keeping the fancy towels out, I am working on a gift quilt for one of my dearest friends.  I had the top made for a long time and decided to get it quilted and finished for a special coworker. The pattern is "Minnesota Hot Dish" by Atkinson Designs and the fabric is a Sandy Gervais Moda line from a long time ago (I don't remember the name).  Here is an in-progress photo and I hope to get the quilting and binding finished in the next couple of days.

Mr. SBQ, as you can imagine, is over-the-top happy that I have a moving date.  He sends me photos via text to remind me of how beautiful it is in New Mexico.  This is from one of his weekend hikes on a mountain overlooking Los Alamos.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at the wide open blue sky.

Halloween Quilt 2010

Finally (!!!) the top is finished for my 2010 Halloween quilt.  I ADORE this fabric line called "A Halloween Night" by Minick & Simpson for Moda. Is there anything better than purple and lime green and vintage-y Halloween images with black cats???  Not in my universe that's for sure!!!!!

The pattern is called "Lilypads" from the book Time Out Quilts by Atkinson Designs. A great pattern for fabrics you don't want to cut into bitty pieces.  It's a bed-size quilt and I still need to get the backing pieced and it quilted so I guess I'll be using next year for the month of October. 

A favorite block

Does anyone else need to re-buy Halloween candy already?

Another favorite block

Viva French General

A very quick quilt made from a Rural Jardin layer cake (fabric by French General for Moda). The pattern is "Pretty in Pink" in the book called Livin' Large: 11 Quilts Designed for Large-Scale Prints by Heather Mulder Peterson. I decided to leave off the applique and let the fabric speak for itself.
Here is a detail. Love this quilt!!
It makes me want to sing La Marseillaise.

I've Been Remiss...

In posting this great giveaway I won from Mary's Cottage Quilts!

That's what I get for not going through those piles on the table more often.....

Mary has some wonderful patterns and I love her blog. A BIG belated thanks Mary!!!

Scrappy Nines

I had a busy weekend--the usual errands and chores and also 2 dinner invites. I did get some sewing in yesterday. I decided to work on my Scrappy Nines quilt (designed by my good friend Pat of Silver Thimble Quilt co.). I have about 900 million nine-patches to make for this quilt. This is what 900 million nine-patches looks like in pieces. Did I mention that they are little bitty nine-patches? All 900 million of them finish at 3".
Aren't they cute? Now I only have 899,000,000 to go....
Pat is probably telling me to stop exaggerating now. I can hear her all the way across the other side of the county.

I also finished the Fat Quarter Shop Designer Mystery block 11.
Block 12 will be here soon so it's a good thing I got this one done.
This is my first attempt at taking a photo of the block. I had just ironed it and Stella thought it was a nice warm spot to take a nap.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and the mom's out there had a good mother's day. The cats thought their "cat mom" should get up early this morning. Morpheus especially wanted me up and about (or maybe he was just hungry). How can I refuse such a handsome guy?

Silver Thimbles Report, BOMs, and Henry V

I'm watching Henry V. I love me some Shakespeare. I think if I were stranded on a deserted island and could only have one book, I would choose my copy of The Riverside Shakespeare.

Yesterday was our monthly Silver Thimble club meeting. Here is the super fabulous new pattern by Pat and a kit to make the quilt.
As you can see, mine is still sealed in the bag because I need to finish the projects I'm working on now before I dive into this one.

I forgot to bring my camera and take photos but Pat has some great ones on her blog.

My latest project is these wonderful elongated nine-patches made from Moda's "Wildflower Serenade". The pattern is by Heather Mulder Peterson.


I received both of my BOMs in the mail on Saturday and made them today.
Here is the September block from Little Quilts
and
block #4 from the Fat Quarter Shop's 2009 mystery BOM.

I can't believe the weekend is over with already. How did it go by so fast???!!!?? It will be a short week for me as I have another Furlough Friday....

Sundays go by too fast

Why is it that Sundays go by so fast???? I had today off from Starbucks (usually I work every Sunday in the morning) so I slept in, read the entire NY Times, drank a pot of coffee, made an omelet for breakfast, and sewed some more. I also had some house chores to do so it was not as fun as yesterday.

I had set up my Featherweight in the living room so I could catch up on some Tivo'ed stuff. Morpheus likes to hang out and help sew when I do this. Here he is picking out the next block to sew.
Morph is also good at keeping track of directions, apparently he can read upside down even... Or maybe he is critiquing fabric choices....
After squaring up 96 half-square triangles and sewing together half of the split nine-patch blocks, Morph needs a nap
...on the blocks....
Morph and I hope to finish this quilt this week. The pattern is "American Beauty" out of one of my favorite quilt books 40 Fabulous Quick Cut Quilts. The fabrics are all from my stash (mostly Moda) and match Morph's coat and collar quite well, so this will be his quilt.
Stella already has her own quilt but she just had to get in on this photo of some blocks.

PS: *karendianne this post is just for you :)

A Moda Bake Shop project

Take one Figgy Pudding charm pack and two Figgy Pudding fat quarters plus one "Vintage Brick Doll Quilts" recipe from Moda Bake Shop and what do you have

Two cute little quilt tops. These are winter quilts for the cats (I think I can get around to quilting them by then). I'm going to put them near a couple of the cats' favorite places to sleep (sofa back and near the heater vent). I whipped these up this afternoon and they are so cute, I may have to make two for each season. I bet Karin's boys would love these too (and I also bet she has some charm packs laying around needing a project...)

Morph already tested his out to make sure it was OK.
He takes his job very seriously.

A Start and a Finish

It's Sunday early evening already? What happened to the weekend? Yesterday was Silver Thimble Club and it was big fun with lots of laughing as always. For our club, you have the choice of working on the kit or pattern for the month or working on your own projects. I am trying to be good and only get one kit a quarter. This month the quilt is "Glory Bound" by Bonnie Blue Quilts.
I got a good start on this and have everything cut out, the small half-square triangles done and squared up and have big half-square triangles ready for sewing.
I bet Karin is already finished with hers.

Next quarter is some really great projects but I was good and only signed up to do one of Pat's new patterns called "Scrappy Nines".

Now for a finish. ta da! Look Pat! Look at all the bitty blocks and no jelly rolls. I bet Becky would like this quilt with the blue and white, but it's a gift for someone. Sorry Becky. OK time to get dinner going and laundry folded and all that fun Sunday stuff.

A Peaceful (and Pieceful) Saturday

I am so glad this week is over. I was really busy with day job this week (lots of traveling around the state), hence the lack of posts. I didn't have to work at SBux last night so had a great evening at home with the cats and working on projects. I'm also trying to catch up on blogs and emails.

It is overcast and rainy here, which means I can't clean the carpets (too damp) and can bypass working in the yard. So I got up early for a Saturday and finished this project:

I love love love this quilt. Very 1940s. I got the pattern and fabric from Sweet Home Quilt Co. (Melisa takes on-line orders if you want to make one too!)

Stella is settling in for nap time. I, on the other hand, am going to start in on another project. More later....

Might as well add one more new project to 2008...

Well tomorrow I will look back at my 2008 goals and find out where I stand. So before I have to face that, I am going to start one last new quilt project in 2008. Might as well go ahead and chalk up another UFO to end the year. Along with lots of other quilters, I'll be starting Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. I'm going to make this all from stash and I need to dig out fabrics. I'll post my choices tomorrow. Bonnie's quilts are always great so I know this will be a fun way to start out another quilty year.

A Belated Tree Skirt

I got this tree skirt shipped off to my sister-in-law this week. It is only one or maybe two years late....The fabric is Moda's Mistletoe Manor so whenever that fabric came out, that's when I started the project. This great pattern makes two tree skirts at the same time (I made the other one for my mom; she already has hers) so it's a great pattern if you have more than one tree, you have a friend that likes the same fabric that you do, or you need two gifts. Visit my friend Pat at Silver Thimble Quilt Co. for the pattern.

Here's a cute photos of the cats. There is poor Stella on the bottom being used as a pillow for Morpheus and Gomez. Morph has a shiny new red collar as his at-least-a-decade-old one bit the dust. What a great way to spend a rainy day.

Prairie Paisley Peer Pressure

After seeing the great quilts being made with Moda's Prairie Paisley line (on Michelle's blog not one but two projects, on Vicky's blog her nearly completed quilt with some gorgeous applique, and Kristie's Chippewa Nine Patch quilt [she doesn't have a photo on her blog but here is the pattern])

I decided that I *had* to start my project with this fab fabric. I finished the top this afternoon and pieced the back.

Here's a detail

The pattern is "Garden Trellis" from my new favorite quilt book "Jelly Roll Quilts" (if I ever get to England I'm definitely going by their shop and telling them thanks (????) for making me want to make 17 more quilts). Yea! Another quilt top finished. My new goal is to finish the projects stacked up on my sewing table so I can actually find the bottom of it. Wish me luck!

. Here's a photo of Gomez Mega-bux hard at work overseeing the quilt making this afternoon. Stella on the other hand....

well you can see for yourself what she was busy doing.

Another finished quilt

Here's the quilt top I finished yesterday. The pattern is "Vintage Charm" from "Quilts and More" (Summer 2007) magazine. I love this fabric line (Roman Holiday by Moda), especially the "spa" blue color that was so "in" last year along with chocolate brown.
This is one of the UFOs I forgot I had.


Here's Stella inspecting the quilt. She is always the first cat to jump on a quilt, quilt blocks, or a piece of fabric. She rarely holds still so the photo is kind of blurry.

This quilt is what I call a "Melisa Special" (which I'm sure Karin has 2 to 20 of....). A Melisa Special is when a quilter goes to Sweet Home Quilt Co. not intending to buy anything and then sees all the fabulous new Moda fabric there and just *has* to figure out a project for the fabric. Be especially careful of the charm squares, jelly rolls, and layer cakes there, they will get you everytime....Ask me how I know--I have a basket full of them. Better be safe and stock up on charm square patterns...lots and lots of charm square patterns.

I was reading all my favorite blogs today and loved the photos on Michelle's blog . Check it out for a great photo of Mt. Rainier, a weather report from a heat wave in Washington State (I think I'd still rather be there in 90 degree weather than here....), and a really great quilt (made with charm squares).

I have another super-busy week this week but will try to fit in a post every other day or so.

Done in a Day

I received two charm square patterns in the mail and I just had to make them.

Like right now this minute had to make them. I have a basket full of charm packs and these patterns are just too cool.

Here's what I did today after getting home from doing some major damage at Sweet Home. Take one Fig Tree Allspice Tapestry charm pack, add tone-on-tone fabric and border fabric bought at Sweet Home today, plus one helper kitty....

(That's Edgar helping measure for borders just like Pat taught us)

And voila,

(the blue painters tape really makes this quilt doesn't it?)

Love this quilt!!! I think I'll make another one sometime soon.

Forbidden Jelly Roll

Well my Bernina came back from the shop working fine and whatever was wrong with it was covered under warranty so I just had to pay for the cleaning (yea!). I immediately cranked it up and put the pedal to the floor working on a UFO and then....

there it was...

sitting on my sewing table so innocently...

the new Moda jelly roll....

the beautiful cheery ZaZa line....

but I was resolved to work on my UFO (even though it was going badly and I had to unsew and I was getting frustrated)...

there it was so cute and new....

the forbidden New Project...

I felt like Homer Simpson in the Treehouse of Horror IV and his forbidden donut

it was the forbidden jelly roll...

my fingers itched to cut into new fabric.....

must resist...

Whew! now that I got that out of my system, I'm back to working only on UFOs. NO NEW PROJECTS!!!

P.S. This is a great quick quilt from the pattern "Strip Search" by G.E. Designs and none of the points match on purpose! I am naming my quilt "Sleep Deprivation" because it reminds me of all the great ideas I have when I'm really sleep deprived and they never quite connect LOL!

One UFO done

Yea! Finished a quilt top

The pattern is called "Road to Romance" by my friend and quilt designer Pat Wys (see the pattern and the quilt made in 1930s prints here: http://silverthimblequilt.com/ and check out her other designs too). I started this quilt in 2007 and the focus fabric is a special dogwood-patterned batik that was printed for the 2007 Atlanta Shop Hop. This quilt makes me think of Ireland since it's so bright and green. Here's a detail.

Worked on another UFO (from 2006) at our sewing group on Saturday. Great day sewing with Karin and Becky. My decision on which quilt to work on went like this: pick up nearest bag off the floor of the sewing room and take it with you LOL! I think I'm going to pick projects this way and maybe at some point it will work up to: pick any project from on(e of several big plastic bins (as soon as I get the ones off the floor done). How's that for a plan????

Also worked on step 1 of the Orange Crush mystery quilt. Karin is way ahead of me and has her 4-patches done. I have some 2-patches and am really glad we have more time for this step. I am jealous of Becky having Spring break and time for quilting and blogging this week. I expect grand things from her LOL!!!!

On Friday, I took 2 cats to the vet. Morpheus went for his annual shots and geriatric blood tests. He is doing good and lost a little weight (which we all need to do here at chez crazy cat lady....) Also took Morticia, who now has a large lump on the side of her nose near her eye. The vet is very concerned about it and I am taking her in on Wednesday for anesthesia, X-rays, and testing. Probably not good and that is what I am expecting. Will post an update when I know something.

Reviews of books and movies I finished over the weekend in another post. It's time to watch John Adams on HBO (yes I am a history geek!)

Weekend wrap up

Well not much accomplished this weekend. Did get into a wee bit o' trouble with Karin and Becky at a trip to Sweet Home Quilt shop. We all met there on Saturday to see the new fabric and try to resist temptation. Becky talked me and Karin into doing an online mystery quilt from the Quiltville website called "Orange Crush" so I bought a some deep yellow (not an "orange" person) and am going to find the rest of the fabric in my stash. Karin bought a book of charm square patterns and of course when I looked at hers, I decided I needed one too. So I have been sufficiently "peer pressured" by my friends and have some projects to start. The rest of Saturday was rainy and I mostly vegged on the couch. Worked at Starbucks this AM and since it is cold and gray, Edgar decided it was perfect weather for this:

(the quilt is a flannel rag quilt and the best for "couch potatoing") So I am going to join him and maybe read the Sunday NY Times or maybe just nap.