And just like that, not so much!

As productive as the previous day was, Saturday was a relative bust! I got a little done, but not much.

The second set of Blue Onion blocks are done:

Here's a close-up

They are made from sliced stacks. Here's the book, by Karla Alexander. The pattern is Red Onion. I made this once in browns and tans (me!!). It turned out really nice,

 so now I'm experimenting with blues and the wonderful Westminster target fabric. (I don't have the one above anymore: I gifted it.)

I did a little more knitting - can you tell the difference? (HA!)

Just for fun, here are the current "Books on the Nightstand" (yes, I read multiple books at a time).

Fiction: (on the iPad) The Racketeer. John Grisham (he's always a good read)
Non-fiction: The Nine. Jeffrey Toobin (about the Supreme Court)
Philosophy: Ethical Theory. Louis P. Pojman (what can I say? I love this stuff)
Classic: The House of the Seven Gables. Nathaniel Hawthorne

I also listen to audio books as I sew. I've just finished Victims, by Jonathan Kellerman (goodness, he's a productive writer!!) and made a library run for another fresh selection, so nothing on the stereo at the moment.

Two fun blog reads for the day:
Victoria Findlay Wolfe (again) - her favorite moments from the Africa trip
Jane LaFazio - how much fun are these plates and cups?

Hmm. No wonder I have days when I don't get much sewing done!! Well, off to put in the miles: it's right-smart chilly out this morning. The walk will be ... um ... refreshing.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back and visit soon.

Lots Done!

A good, productive day.

The backing and binding for the poppy quilt are done, so now the quilt is in RFQ status (ready for quilting).

(poppy backing)

I worked on more free-form blue blocks (see them in this post). I finished the ones with the too-drastic curve (yikes!) so now am having a much easier time of it.

This project is from some of the (many) bunches of blocks I made over the last month. It's half-together now so should be a top soon.

I also played around with some wonky star blocks. OK - ONE block

(the blocks on the top are from my Parts Department stash - see Freddie Moran and Gwen Marston's technique). This is just a test block, to see how the process went. I used the remains from trimming strip-sets that are used for the Scrapolator blocks (See Dianne Springer's Scrapolator book - I want to make most of the quilts in that book!!). After I wonkied the star points, I then "made" fabric for the center, still using Scrapolator strip-set remains. (see Victoria Findlay-Wolfe's 15 Minutes of Play technique. She has just returned from Africa, so you may want to spend some time reading through her blog. Great stuff!)

I'll do more of these blocks, but learned some lessons in making the test one (like - don't bring the star point out the top - see the red on the center-right.) I also think I'm going to use black-and-white for the backgrounds. Black and white is an easy fix to design challenges so is looked down on by some, but I think it works great so poo on the color snobs.

I also knitted a bit more on the scarf - a little at a time will get the project done!

About 2 months ago I made a huge pot of bolognese sauce from an Ann Burrell recipe. It's wonderful, but of course way too much, so I froze it into one-serving containers. That was dinner last night: I'd forgotten how delicious it was. A nice glass of Pinot Noir was the perfect accompaniment. Yum!

As I said - lots done! Thanks for stopping by.

Back to Sewing

Some people have a sewing room. I have a sewing house with a sleeping nook (and a kitchen).  This means I have to find places for all the stuff so my family can have Christmas brunch in my "studio". This entails a few days of no access to the sewing machine. It's tough, but I made it. Today, though, I got to sew again.

Doesn't look like much, does it? But I do want to start keeping better track of my progress. This will be a top tomorrow - it's fast and furious and is a great pattern for charity quilts or a quick gift or fabric you just can't bear to cut up.

I also did a little knitting today.

This scarf has been on the needle for way too long.

Seriously - it's time for me to make an even bigger dent in my UFOs. Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday Check-In - Week 8

That was the week that was. (Some of you will "get" that!!)


OK so how did the week go? Swell, thanks!  Another quilt done, 2 more pounds gone (catching me up!!), and some more things off the do-list.  No new recipe this week.  In fact, I didn't cook much at all! I let Fresh Market do all the heavy lifting this week.


Here is the quilt, with a close-up:

I didn't start from "zero" on this quilt. I had pieces of it already done.  This came from a quilt-sale-room purchase a couple of years ago at the Honeybee Retreat (thanks, Debbie Puckett!). It finally aged enough to become a quilt :-).  


I still didn't get the sweater parts put together, but many other things gone done during the week. All in all it was a great week, full of successes.  Now if only I could beat KT at Words!!!!  She's definitely been kicking my butt lately!!


All this stuff made it's way into my house this week:

Dots and stripes and yellows play significant roles in my stash! The b&ws will be some of the backgrounds for our Christmas tree block swap.  Heaven forbid I should use only what's in the stash!! I also gorged on books and magazines yesterday. Gosh I do love books!!!!


I'm not making any extra commitments this week - I've still got the sweater lurking....waiting...hoping to become complete.  But let's face it - it's tough to get sweater-motivated when it's 97 degrees out!


Soooooo .... how's your summer going?


Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday Check-In - Week 7

I'm playing with the set-up of the blog. More changes coming shortly, but so far I like it.


Wow! My 13 week challenge is more than half-over!


Status for the week: Quilt? Yep. Recipe? Yep. Pound? Sad trombone sound (dang!!) But I did finish the sweater I mentioned in last week's post.  Now wouldn't you think all of that walking and sweating last week would've helped me lose that pound? Oh well ... I'll catch up!


Here's this week's quilt:

No pics of the sweater yet. I'll get one posted later.  I'm not really happy with the results, but at least it graduated from UFO to FO!!  One more thing off "the list".  


Recipes this week: beer bread, which tasted yummy but something in the recipe is not quite right.  Not enough liquid, I think. I'll try it again, though, tweaking it a bit because it was really good!  I also made grilled chicken and vegies (yellow squash, red pepper, purple onions) with chimichurri sauce.  I'll definitely be making that again!!  Remember last week's fennel trial? Well I grilled a steak on the George (Forman grill), then tossed a handful of the fennel/onion on said grill after I cooked the steak.  Wow, that was yummy!!


So I'm caught up on recipes, still even on quilts, but need to make up the pound!  This week's "extra credit" project is to sew the seams on another sweater (that I started when I was in CA) so I can add the edgings and collar.  We'll see if I get there!


I'm off to see the final Harry Potter movie!!!!  I'm happy about seeing the movie, but so sad to see it end. It's been so fun!


Thanks for stopping by!

13 Weeks - check-in for (really) week 5

It was a good week. The quilt got done, the pound got lost, the scarf got finished .... but nothing new got cooked (ah well - I'll catch up before the end!!) I suppose if something gets kicked aside while doing other things, cooking isn't a bad one to loose. Although I love puttering around in the kitchen, I confess that I'd rather be playing with fibers.

Here are the pics from this week.

The quilt. This is the same pattern as last week's quilt. That top border piece has black polka dots - you just can't see them in the pic. I'm always amazed at how different things look through the camera lens!

The scarves (they don't show well laying flat but you get the general idea). These scarves are from hand-painted yarns with hand-painted silk scarves as the drawstring. They can be worn loosely hanging, or scrunched up in all kinds of interesting ways. Of course this is Florida, so the chance that they'll both get worn in one winter is slim, at best! (But another trip to CA is in the confirmed-and-planning stage!!)

See more on drawstring scarves on Melody Johnson's blog Fibermania.

And the tray I finally finished! This is a fiber collage; I'm going to make some ATCs with the remains. I found a blog for ATC trades where you only have to send one ATC. THAT I can handle! (If you're interested in ATCs, see Lisa Liza Lou's blog here.)

I've mentioned this before, but working within a deadline is really working for me. Even more than that, though, is being accountable here on the blog. I think we push ourselves a little more - have more discipline - if we've told the Universe we're going to do something. Also, succeeding where you said you would is a big brain boost! It makes me want to do even more. Success feeds upon itself, I guess. (I definitely need to start doing some bindings, though! They're piling up!)

Although I will have to live to be 960 to explore all I want to explore, I am enjoying the extra hours that retirement provides. I don't think I'll ever get bored.

Oh by the way, Susan Brubaker Knapp has a great blog post today - full of photography tips. Find her here. (Photography is definitely not my strong suit - but I'm going to learn!!)

This week I think I'll also finish those Bee socks I've been working on ......

All comments welcome! I love getting comments! Thanks for stopping by.

Wednes... er .... Saturday check-in Week 5

Wow, how did those days get away from me? Well, here's the status even though I'm in the midst of week 5 already.

Quilt & pound - check. New recipe and scarf? Sad trombone sound (alas!!) Here's the quilt:

This is from one of the many free patterns you can download for use with pre-cuts. This pattern called for charm squares and layer cakes, but then you trim the 10x10s. I didn't like that, so sketched out the cutting from fat quarters and was able to get 2 quilts - this big one and a small one I'll donate - from the FQs.

Working with simple patterns (I call it "drone quilting" - no need to think) is having a happy side effect; I wake up each morning with zillions of ideas bursting out into my sketchbook. I guess my mind is wandering so much as I'm sewing that the creative part of me is able to be in full-tilt-boogie mode. I'm going to keep doing drone quilts for the remainder of the 13 weeks and hopefully my sketchbook will be spilling over with ideas that I can start putting into fabric.

The recipe was going to be grilled peaches (how easy was that??) so I'll probably get to that this week. I made lots of progress on the scarf but have another few inches to go before I can call it "complete". There was a trip to the yarn shop this week too for sweater inspiration. I almost made it out with no new yarn but on my way to the check-out counter I caved. Oh well - it's very yummy stuff!! I don't know what it's going to be when it grows up, but it'll be wonderful!

So onward with the rest of week 5. Happy Independence Day to all!

Here's the starters for this week's quilt:

Thanks for stopping by.

13 Weeks - Week 3 Check-in

Quilt? Check! Recipe? Check! Pound? Check!

A good week, indeed. Here's week 3's quilt, and a little more detail, as well.

It's a fun, simple pattern that I tweaked just a little bit by adding some wonkified small batik panels. I love those things, have lots of packages of them, and think they make a great addition to a simple quilt. The pattern is simple, but loved by just about everyone that sees it. Fabric choice is the key.

The recipe this week was stuffed peppers. Who'd think I could live this long and have NEVER made stuffed peppers? Well .... can't say that anymore! And they were quite yummo!

Even with the stuffed peppers, another pound came off. I'm actually ahead of "schedule", but am keeping mum about how much in case I need to borrow some of it for a week that a pound didn't come off. :) Just one pound a week ... that's a good target.

I'm adding one more thing to my list this week - this:

This scarf - again, just a simple, simple project - has been sitting in this state for weeks! I'm going to finish it this week! I'm finding that putting commitments on the blog nudges my accountability (to myself) and I'm much more focused on getting things done. We'll see if it works for this as well!!!

Here's a little preview of the Week 4 quilt. What's it going to grow up to be??? Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

Knit one, Purl two

I am currently a knit addict. It started in California and it carries on now that I'm back home! I picked up some yarn for a sweater when I was out there. So far I've finished the back & both front pieces. Now I'm working on the sleeves. It's that wonderful Noro yarn; it's so yummy!

I'm probably an intermediate knitter but have found some great vids on youtube to help me along when I'm confused.

Hmm....seems there is a pattern here. I seem to be making lots of parts but no "wholes". Well! I'll fix that soon!!

Happy knitting!