Do You Pinterest?

I do enjoy Pinterest. But, I can spend a lot of time looking and I have so many pins! Every year, since 2015, I have created a board to pin things that I find interesting or want to try. I also create a board for things I have made each year. There are a lot more to try than actually made.

I have so many interests - knitting, and more recently crochet, crafting in general, sewing, embroidery, quilting...

I have given away some yarn and a partially knitted sweater recently. 

I still have yarn for a couple of projects not started. And, I will continue to knit dish clothes and small ornaments.

I have been learning to crochet.

I have made more of these and given most away to my friends with Featherweights.

I'm still working on this afghan. My son and his GF have a beagle and I would love to make one of these for them.

Isn't it cute?

I used to enjoy counted cross-stitch. Life got busy when my son was young (so many doctor appointments) and I finally gave all my projects and patterns away several years ago. In the past year or so I have slowly been picking it up again, working on small projects. 

Recently, I saw Hands on Design A Year of Celebrations and ordered it from Stitch & Frog. People are being very creative with their finishing of this cute little calendar squares.

I ordered some linen in two different colors in the count called for in the pattern - 32 count, stitched over two.

That is tiny! I am hoping this isn't going to be more frustrating than fun.

I did make myself finish the small project I was working on and will probably try to start this later today.

I also made a pincushion to put on the big ironing board. I used scraps from Charming Beauty. 
Seems that where ever I am my pins, scissors, etc. are somewhere else. I will probably end up getting more of everything so I have some at every spot I work at. 

So, so many things I want to try/do/make. I just need more time. Or to retire!

Finished Top

No school today or tomorrow due to dangerously low temperatures and wind chills. At 6:30 this morning the temperature was -18 with a feels like temp of -54. Now at 12:30 it is -16 with a feels like temp of -43. The sun has been deceptively shining all morning. 

Since we had no school Monday I was able to get the final borders on Charming Beauty.

It's a large quilt, 93 x 103, so I was unable to get a full picture of it. 

Here is a picture of one corner. The fabric is just beautiful. It is Garden of Enchantment by Maywood Studios. Only some of the fabrics in the line are still available. How do I know that? See if you can figure that out! 

This is a kit my husband bought several years ago. He loves roses. I had gotten it out a few years ago and began cutting the pieces. Tip: read ALL instructions well before cutting. This kit had to go in time-out while I waited for new fabric. After that arrived I got all the pieces cut and put it away for a while. I did all the piecing and applique at retreat last week so it went together fairly quickly. It would have been even quicker if I had chosen to machine applique, but I didn't have thread the matched well enough for that so I did it by hand. I like handwork so I didn't mind.

After adding the last border I laid it out on our king size bed and asked Husband to have a look. He likes it. Yay!

Today I have been just putzing around, doing a whole lot of not much. We did have one pipe - cold water to the kitchen sink - freeze, but it just thawed as I was writing this post. Husband has gone to check on the animals and is expecting the water in the barn to be frozen. He will be happy the pipe in the house has thawed.

As much as I am unhappy with the rabbits in the summer when they are eating my plants, I do feel for them in the winter. We have at least one bunny who has taken up residence around my front garden bed. We have a chair that turned bottom up during a recent windy day. When I discovered Bunny was spending time there I left it that way.

Bunny also spends some time under the ramp.

Bunny had been snuggled up in a big tuft of grass at the end of the bridge, but it is now completely covered by the snow.

Quilt Retreat and Weather

The first quilt retreat of the year was this past Thursday - Sunday. I had doctor appointments scheduled on Thursday and Friday so I didn't get to spend the entire time at retreat, but I was still productive. I made, start to finish, a Mondo Bag. One of the ladies had made one for herself and one for her sister this fall and the both have just raved about how great the bag is. One of the other ladies made four at the October retreat for her daughters and DILs. She made another at this retreat for herself. A third quilter made herself a bag at this retreat also. So I had to make on for myself. I got the gridded fusible interfacing at my favorite quilt shop. I ordered the fusible batting on-line. You don't have to use the fusible. It's purpose is just to hold the lining and batting together. Here is a tutorial, although I found I didn't need it. The pattern directions were easy to follow. The bag can be made with 4 inch squares or 2 1/2 inch squares. I was gifted a lovely jellyroll that I used. I had 5 strips left over.

It holds a lot! I haven't unpacked it from retreat yet.

I finished my block for the quilt exchange at the retreat. I THOUGHT I took a picture of my block, but can't find it on my phone. This is a picture of the other blocks completed so far. Pretty color palette. She calls it her Neapolitan quilt, after the ice cream.

I also worked on this Charming Beauty kit.

Husband ordered it a few years ago. He loves roses.

I had all the pieces cut before retreat and got it pieced as far as the triangle border. The very center of the medallion, the green and most of the pink in the medallion are hand appliqued so that took a fair amount of time. I do enjoy handwork, though.

The last two borders will be this lovely stripe and the pink butterfly print. 

We do not have school today because of the weather so maybe I can get those borders sewn on.

Speaking of the weather, it has not been great here the last few days. We got snow Friday and Saturday, making the trip home both nights rather stressful. I drove about 30 miles an hour both nights. The major roads weren't too bad, but I was the only one on the rural road to my house. No tracks to follow, blowing snow with ice underneath made the trip slow. And, I felt a little guilty messing up that pristine snow. It was so pretty. Yesterday was better, but we got snow during the night. Now it is blowing and snowing. The temperature is rising and freezing rain is predicted before the temperature plummets again. Icy roads and poor visibility caused the school closure. I am pretty sure we will be closed on some other days this week if we get the dangerous temperatures predicted. I don't mind staying home in this dangerous weather, but I do not look forward to making those days up in June.

This + That =

Substitute teachers in the building (ALL three kindergarten teachers and principal gone to a conference) + a long weekend full of snowy, windy weather + full moon = unruly children. And, then the weather got worse. We started getting freezing rain about mid-morning. Other districts around us were announcing early dismissals. The decision was made that our district would release 2 hours early. We were in session long enough for it to count as a full day so no emergency day to make up at the end of the year. I think the whole building let out a sigh of relief.

On the quilting front, I finished this top yesterday.

The top, backing and binding are all bundled together and added to the pile of quilts waiting to be quilted.

I received a stylus and attachment for the Ultimate.  

I still want to work on free-hand quilting, but I can start using design boards - as soon as I get the tension fine tuned a little more.

Three at a Time, continued

I realized I didn't finish my Three at a Time post earlier.

I am working on three projects - all at the same time. It happened accidentally, sort of.

I am trying to finish up some projects and at the same time use up parts/pieces that I have stashed.

So, while working on piecing In A Pickle

I am also piecing Jack In The Box, a Bonnie Hunter Addicted to Scraps block as a Leader/Ender project. I had decided to make this when I decided to do the Color Challenge by SoScrappy - in 2014. Each month a new color is given to pull from our scraps. 

I had decided to make eight blocks of each color. All the blue blocks are finished and I am working on the pink ones.

I had cut half the colors given and organized it well. Since I tend to put projects away for a long time I've learned that I need to keep projects organized and I need to make notes as I go so I remember what I have done and still needs to be done when I pick it up again. I found this Project Sheet here. 

Since there are bonus triangles generated from the Jack in the Box block AND since my quilt friends gift me with their bonus triangles (and other small scraps) I decided I need to get them used up. 

This pattern is Garden Mosiac by Denyse Schmidt. I am trimming by HSTs to 1 3/4 inch. I need lots of them. I have this organized by my machine, too.

All the little HSTs are going into that box on the floor. It doesn't look like much so far, but I have a pile of them ready to be trimmed. 

And, there are more, so many more, in a drawer, waiting.

So, I sew a seam on In A Pickle, sew a seam on Jack in the Box, cut the bonus triangle and piece it. Then another seam on In A Pickle, Jack in the Box ... and sew on.

On a final note, do you wear leggings? Most of the people I work with do. I don't, at least not to work. I have a pair that I have been wearing as sleepwear. I like that the are slick so they don't stick to the sheets. I feel like I have nothing on. And, they seem to show every bump/lump on my legs. I don't want to subject the public to that.

I don't know how people get past that feeling. Maybe it's just me. But, even with a tunic or long top I don't think I could ever wear them in public. 

Full Moon

I did not stay up to watch the lunar eclipse last night, but I couldn't miss the moon this morning. We are usually up before sunrise and it looked like a light was left on - outside.

This was taken about 6:00 am. The green spots are the Star Shower Laser Lights. 

Here is a little close up of the moon.

This picture was taken about an hour later. The sun was just starting to come up. 

I am thankful to not be in school today. I don't care what people say, the moon does affect young children.

Three at a time

The wind has died down, snow is cleared from our drive and the plow has been down our road. 

I have been having a slight feeling of panic urgency I don't know what. I just know I feel the need to take care of some of my languishing projects. I don't do a lot of sewing or quilting during the school year. I am just not in the mood when I come home from school. I do work on some projects on the weekend. I work pretty hard during long weekends, longer breaks (like winter and spring breaks) and quarterly quilt retreats. I work like a demon during the summer. I get a project started during one of those times, but run out of time to finish so the project gets put away and may not see the light of day for a long time. I need to do something about that. I have been going through things to see what I am still inspired to work on and what no longer holds my interest.

As I've been organizing I have been deciding what I no longer have an interest in. I will be taking some things to retreat this weekend to pass on.

This is the big ironing board that came with the longarm. 

I had to rearrange this room - again - to find room for it. 

I'm glad I did. So far it has made a great work table!

The next pictures are of orphan blocks that I have.

These are left from a baby quilt for a co-worker. I like them enough I will keep them. They may become a cover for a chair cushion.

These are fair entries and all purples so they could go together into a quilt. I would have to make more.

These are leftovers from several quilts - all batiks. I cannot get rid of batiks!

This is from a Pat Sloan BOW/M (can'r remember). I didn't care for the other blocks and stopped working on this project after the third one. I like this one though. I think an entire quilt of Churn Dashes in Civil War prints would be nice.

These are leftovers from Old Crow, and one of the purple blocks shown above. Going away.

These are HST left from various projects and blocks made for blue month when I decided to do a montly color challenge in 2014. You can find more info here.

This is the orphan jar that lives on the big ironing board. It is filled with the blocks I decided to keep.

The following I pieces and parts that I have decided to pass on at quilt retreat. They have been hanging around for a long time and it is obvious that I will not use them.

Weather

Earlier this week I took some pictures of the frozen frost that was on everything. I intended to post them that evening, but our internet was out. Well, not completely out, but very slow and at times non-existent. Again. I really don't understand in this great time of technology and the fact that I live less than an hour from a major university and less than 2 hours from a major city that we don't have better internet service. Anyway, it had been slow for a few weeks. Husband called at the end of last week and was told that the issue was at our house and someone would be out on Monday to fix it. It was something outside and we didn't need to be home to let them in the house. Okay. Then we got a lot of snow over the weekend and fog on Monday so we were notified that the 'fix-it' guy couldn't do whatever needed to be done and we were rescheduled for Wednesday. Late that afternoon we noticed a truck sitting at the end of the drive to the barn. A few minutes later it left and stopped at the intersection a 1/2 mile down the road. It sat there for several minutes and then was gone. Our internet was back up. I don't know what the guy did, but our tower is right behind the house, not out by the barn. We did not notice anyone walking around the property so it appeared that whatever he did he did from his truck. Not sure why the fog would have been a factor if that is the case. Anyway, we now have a good connection.

Here are pictures I would have posted.

These first two are looking out my front door.

The next two are my front porch railing and a tree outside the cafeteria window at school.

These next three are the playground at school. I know the students would have loved to play in this, but when most are not wearing snow boots and some wearing only hoodie sweatshirts as coats going outside was not an option. I dislike inside recess.

 

This final pic is at my house this morning. We got a little snow during the night, but the winds have picked up and is blowing that snow all over. Visibility is low and there are drifts forming.

Husband was out cleaning out our driveway as I was typing this post. He wants to make things as easy as possible for our mail carrier. I am sure she will run into enough snow today so a clean driveway is the least we can do for her. I hope it stays clear long enough for her to get through.