Stash Report

No change to the stash!!!  VBG

It has been another one of those weeks when a lot has not been happening in the sewing arena but it has been a fun week. Haven't enhanced or deducted from the stash.

On Tuesday, bowling started and then after bowling I went to machine embroidery club. After club, my friend, Maureen, and I went over to another friend, Mary,  for coffee and to see her sewing area. I just knew that she would have a very organized area and she does!!  Mary has very little stash and everything else is organized in nice pretty boxes. Her ironing station has a dresser for storage under it. Every thing is nice neat. Too bad a little of that wouldn't rub off on me.  LOL

Mary asked me to quilt a charity quilt and I do have it loaded on the frame and have made several passes but haven't finished quilting it. I am only quilting an all-over design on it.

On Wednesday, I went for my back treatment and physical theraply. Since it is 100 miles round trip for my treatments, it seems like it spoils the whole day. At least I am down to only one trip per week, and my back is getting better.

Friday, my hubby and I decided to do a day road trip to northern Minnesota. Due to road construction, we had to take a back route and I thought it was very nice but hubby always likes the freeway. LOL  Seems like sometimes he just gets to driving and forgets to take the time to smell the roses.

My Hummingbirds are feeding like crazy. I imagine one of these days they will be gone until next year. Think I need to put up another feeder next year.  They are so much fun to watch.

Hop over to Patchwork Times and check out how others are progressing. http://www.patchworktimes.com/2012/09/09/stash-report-week-36-2012/

 Beth

Quiet in the Sewing Room

Well, not much to report in the sewing room. This last week I did cut and prepare fabric kits for 14 pillowcases for the women's shelter. There is going to be a sewing day at the public library on Monday and I plan to sew the pillowcases. WooHoo ---- That will let me be able to report some stash reduction.

This weekend was bowling tournament. Can I say that it was not pretty????!!!!!  We had to bowl at 8:00 am on Saturday and that was altogether too early for me. I am NOT a morning person!!!!! LOL When we bowled doubles it sure was nothing to brag about.  Not one of our team did all that well.  I did manage to bowl half way decent for the singles event.

On Sunday, we bowled our team event and again it was nothing to brag about but we always have fun.

Bowling team left to right:  Me, Mickey, Wendy, Tammy 

Can't say the green shirts were the most attractive color we have ever worn, but we always buy a tournament shirt to wear for some of the events. Course, there had been a little bit of party time on Saturday evening.

Beth



Valentine Flowers

Today was my bowling day. Had two games that were at least my average and one game that --- bleep, bleep!!!!  After bowling, my teammates and I go to lunch. We are a very noisy group, have the same waitress each week (she adds to the noise), and have gained a reputation in the small town where we bowl. People almost want to evacuate the restaurant. LOL

Today a special surprise arrived at the restaurant --- FOR ME!!!   Flowers from the Hubby. What a wonderful surprise. Of course, there was a great deal of teasing and we won't go into some of the comments!!!  Hubby knew I was feeling a little down and upset over some stuff with our son, and so he thought he would cheer me up. Well, he certainly did.  Since we live 20 miles from town, he had them delivered to the restaurant because he knew they would not deliver to our house.  Aren't they beautiful???  Guess I will keep him for another 44 years!!  Tee Hee!!!

Beth

Quiet Week in the Sewing Room

Had one of those weeks where I was busy all week but not a lot accomplished in the sewing room. On Tuesday I went bowling (bowled much better then the last two weeks) and after bowling I attended Machine Embroidery Club. Since we will be having a retreat February 20 - 24 for machine embroidery, I wanted to make sure to attend so I could see the projects we will be working on. On Thursday, I attended Featherweight Club (must have a Featherweight machine to attend) and sewed on a binding. On Friday, my Hubby wanted me to go bumming with him. Guess I can't sew all the time and neglect the poor boy!!!   LOL

I did do some sewing on the 38 cancer bags that I have in progress. Have to admit after I do a certain amount on them, I get bored and want to sew on something else. The cancer bags are made out of a variety of fabrics, but decorator weight is the nicest for these bags.

 I took a break from sewing the Cancer Bags and started working on Orca Bay quilt again.  Almost done with all of Part 4, which is red string piecing. I have been cutting up one of the physcian directories that the insurance company sends out each year. The pages are wonderful for the foundation piecing. Tears off very easy. Great way to recycle!!

After the string piecing is done, the block gets squared up.

 I then tear the paper off the back, spritz lightly with water and press flat. After pressing the front and back so it lies good and flat, the square is cut across the strips on the diagonal.

Now I lay my ruler (it is just like the companion angle ruler) on one piece, lining up the 3 1/2" line with the cut diagonal edge and trim off the excess fabric.

For Part 7, I added the pieces from Part 5 (black wing pieces) to the pieces from Part 4. I skipped Part 6 at this time (do have the pieces cut).

Are you confused yet??  Can you tell I tend to work in the order I want to work??  Oh, well!! Makes life interesting. I will get back to Part 6, but I wanted to check that the above units are going to be the correct size. I can understand why Bonnie sets out the steps to the mystery the way she does. She is only trying to keep us from guessing what it was going to look like.  I am so wanting to get this top done.  It also means another UFO quilt top done (some call these flimsies). Love the name "flimsies". 

Beth

UFO Challenge & Snow

Well, we are finally having some snow, but did it need to be just when I was looking forward to friends coming to my home for open sewing on Monday?  Since the freezing rain came before the snow on Sunday night into Monday morning, it was just too treacherous for the ladies to come. We plan to get together next Monday. Hopefully the weather won't interfere again.

It is pretty out!! I love the fresh snow. Since we live in the country with no close neighbors, it stays so pristine looking.

Tuesday morning I bowled. Talk about not being able to hit the broad side of the barn!! It was not a pretty sight!!  LOL  We go for lunch after bowling.  Good thing I go for the socializing and the lunch because the bowling - STUNK!!!

Last night I finished the quilt top for the UFO Challenge. This quilt is for my youngest daughter, Brenda. I hope to get it on the quilting frame this week. It will just barely fit. My table only has 10 foot poles.  Here is my husband (he is standing on a chair) trying to hold the quilt up ---     Poor guy, I hid him behind the quilt.  He sure was patient about it.

Here is another picture with only 1/4 of the quilt showing. It is just too big to spread out. I think the last four borders look like it was planned from the beginning and not just slapped on to make the quilt bigger (although that is what was done -- ).

Participating in the UFO Challenge looks like it will be a good thing for me. It is so easy to procrastinate and not finish up projects.  Brenda will be happy to get this quilt. It will have a cozy flannel backing. There are fabrics left over for some accessories such as pillow shams.

Beth