Forgot the Back and World Record Quilt Label

I almost forgot my Guinness world record contender for largest quilt label. It even looks pretty good now that it's quilted, in person anyway. I love the sunflower fabric, it feels really nice and I like sunflowers. I don't know that my back enhances the front, which was in the previous post, but I like it and no one will know except me, and I guess you, so what the hey as my father would have said. I like my Orange Crush, front and back.

Quilts Back From Longarmer

Yesterday, I got my Orange Crush and my Baby Crazy Big Block back from the longarmer, and I am pleased with them. The baby quilt is already washed, I hope she likes crinkly and doesn't just think it is wrinkly, as it is very crinkly. I love that effect, but I know that all don't. Now I am hoping to finish my Turning Twelve by Tuesday as that is when I have a dentist appointment and am hoping to give them to them that day. They are for the dentist's new baby born July 13 and their 4 year old so he doesn't feel left out.

At some points I didn't know if I was going to like my OC, and had considered making 2 quilts out of it, or setting it straight, and I love all the quilts that were done those ways, but I am glad that I stuck with Bonnie's original plan as now I have a nice big quilt for my bedroom queen sized bed, and I and DH love the way it turned out. Today I hope to get it washed and dried and on my bed and also do a little spiffing up of the actual room so it will do it justice. Sorry about the crooked picture, but the room is small and I was wedged in between furniture.

Orange Crush Back, Stashmystery, Turning Twenty

I finally got my backing done for the OC, and will send it off next week to the LA. I hardly ever do labels, this is just the second. The OC is kind of a playful quilt, even though it is labor intensive, so my label is also playful, as you can see, it may be a candidate for the Guinness Book of World Records, for the biggest label ever.

I also finished step 3 of the StashMystery, a new record for me, as the next clue isn't due until Tuesday. The blocks are getting smaller and smaller, I finished that last night.
Two of my grandson's came over today and worked some more (they did some a couple days ago) trimming our trees, and spraying weeds. They sure did in an hour or so what would have taken DH and I several, that's if he was even up to helping. Oh to be young again, I guess the next best thing is grandkids who are.
When they left DH and I went to JoAnn's, and I got my YoYo tool for Donna's in the Attic Challenge. I'm looking forward to doing some yoyo's. I did some kind of primitive ones in the past, but I didn't have a tool, and didn't really know what I was doing. Donna's are beautiful, she is so talented. I am very excited to have won some of her work.
I didn't get my Turning Twenty pattern in time for her quilt show, but I have it now and am going to do the little version for our pregnant dentist's new baby due this month. If I practice, I may even try to quilt it myself, the fabrics are below. Today I got 9 fat quarters, and so with the fabric that I already had, I have enough for the Turning Twenty. The two yellows in the left corner won't go in this one, as she is having a girl and they have trains and fire hydrants, and the alphabet fabric above it is for the backing. I hope it turns out half as pretty as Donna's are. My niece is pregnant and hoping for a boy, so I figure I could leave out the pinks, add the yellows and add a couple more baby boy fabrics, and I'll be in business.
I won't be doing any quilting or sewing for a few days, as my new desk and my brother are coming tomorrow. It was supposed to be both of my brothers, but due to domestic problems with a seperated wife, it will only be one. I'm disappointed, but I understand, as he has to protect his property. Sad huh.

Orange Crush Borders and Flowers

Finally, I finished the thinking stage and got on with the doing stage. I have the borders done on my OC, and am ready to make the binding, sew the back, and piece batting if necessary, and send it off to the longarmer. It is quite large, about 103 inches by 88 inches, so should fit a queen sized bed quite well. I'm now almost ready to get started on the StashMystery quilt.

The flowers my DH (he said DH stands for deadhead) brought home yesterday from the grocery store. I love fresh flowers they really brighten up the house, and I like the colors of these. Sometimes DH stands for darn husband, but now it is standing for dear husband.

A day or two ago DH came in and told me he had read my blog. He was very complimentary, which was very nice to hear. I have shared my blog with my kids and my husband now, and my kids seemed kind of semi-shocked with the blog and the fact that I have a Blackberry, I think they think I'm rather old for such things, but not in a bad way. I know I'm no spring chicken (chook), but I don't think that I am ready to give up gadgets and technology yet. I have always liked gadgets of all kinds, cooking, technology, etc., and I hope that my brain will allow me to enjoy them still for many years to come. I've been semi-coveting an Ipod, but haven't figured out any reason why I would need one. Of course, a few years ago I felt the same about computers, and now I'm an addict, I am thinking maybe I need an intervention. Have a nice day, and enjoy your technology.

Anniversary, Ikea, and Mail

Yesterday was my DH and my anniversary, but he wasn't feeling too well, so we decided to celebrate today instead. First we went and had lunch at Bahama Breeze, which was delicious as always and then we went to Ikea, as they were having their first sale ever since they opened in Orlando. The sale was a disappointment, but I did make a few purchases. The sale things that I got were the potholders 2 for .99 cents, and the fabric. Has anyone used the cotton fabric from Ikea. I hope that it is good, as I got 10 yards. it is 59 inches wide, and was on sale for 1.99 and I thought that it would make a nice backing on girly quilts. The little clock was 2.99, and I needed one in front of my sewing machine, so far so good it has run for about 3 hours, and the wooden box is for my paper storage by my printer.

When I got back home I had finally gotten my package from Connecting Thread. I have heard good things about their thread so I'm going to give it a try, and I got the yellow gingham for a baby quilt.

I haven't given up on my Orange Crush. I haven't exactly been keeping my shoulder to the wheel, but I have gotten my borders cut out, and my little extra blocks almost finished sewing together to use in the border. I'm almost ready to sew the borders on.

Orange Crush Top Without Borders

My OC is now a complete top without borders. I am thinking on the borders, which could take a day or two. I am first of all thinking if I want a small white border, or black, and if I want to incorporate my leftover little blocks in some way. For now, I'm just enjoying the finish of a step completed. For many, this is just a blip on their quilting experiences, but for me it was a challenge. Maybe, it will give me the desire to try some more, more difficult patterns.

By the way. I checked the bird nest, and the babies are gone. I'm sorry that I couldn't get some better pictures, but I'm glad that they were able to fly away.

Candace

Orange Crush

I am now the proud owner of half an OC, the one on the floor is the half that is done, and the one on the bed is ready to start sewing together. It is amazing the difference the lighting can make, they sure don't look like the same fabrics. It was a slow process for me, as my confidence level didn't allow me to stack things up and sew, so I did a seam, and then laid it back on the bed and positioned the next block, and so on and so on. It got a little confusing a couple of times even doing it that way, but when I finish, hopefully I will have conquered my fear of 'on point'. I measured it across the bottom (couldn't measure lengthwise yet), and it measured 64 inches, and I want it to hang down my queen sized bed on each side, so I am thinking I will need about 12 inches of borders on each side. I may try to incorporate my leftover little blocks, but mainly, it will be a black border, a blue border, and a lighter orange floral border. The blue and orange are here, if you click on the picture, it should get larger and you can see the fabrics.

Orange Crush and Sand Cranes Again

I have come to the conclusion that other than laziness, what is holding me up on my OC is fear. I have never done a quilt on point, and part of me wants to finish out the OC as given, but I've been trying to chicken out. Last night, I put some blocks on the bed straight set, and asked my husband if he thought he would like the orange in our room. He gave it the seal of approval, so I decided to go for broke, and do it Bonnie's way. I'm going to suck it up and do the on point. Bonnie says she lays it out and then does half at a time, so as I only have a small space, and no design wall, I am going to try to lay out half and sew it and then lay out the other half and sew it. I hope I'm not getting into more than I can chew. I'm not doing the border she recommended, although, I may use the leftover blocks in some adaptation of it.

Also, a lone sand crane made it back to our yard yesterday, and since my last pictures were so bad, I took some more. This time I made sure that my camera was on the correct setting. They are about 36 inches high (my estimate), and that is the road in front of our house behind him. I am going to try to get a picture of the baby birds today if I can get my husband to get out the ladder. I saw that they are actually still there a day or two ago. Hopefully, I won't be too late.

Orange Crush Step 5, New Fabric, DGD's B'day

I can finally say that I am caught up on the Orange Crush. I am savoring the moment. Now, I can finally join all those who are waiting for step 6. Yeah, me! Here they all are, and they are bright, when I had them up cropping them, it almost hurt my eyes. The fabric with it came today in the mail from Thousands of Bolts. I only ordered it Friday, they shipped it the same day, and it arrived today, can't get any quicker than that. I really like that store, the service and especially the prices. The fabric is for my border, you can't tell from the picture, but the orange floral's background just about matches the little patterns in the orange OC fabric perfectly. My backing is dark brown with sunflowers.
Today is one of my granddaughters birthdays, she turned 17. My daughter took the day off, and she and Tabitha, and two of her brothers went to Sea World. Tabitha loves penguins, and so today, she and my daughter and the boys got to pet three, a king, a rock hopper, and another one they couldn't remember the name for. It was a very exciting day for her. They took pictures, but just with their cell phones, if any came out decently, I will add them later.
Yeah me, and yeah Tabitha.

Orange Crush Step 4 - Etc.

Step 4 of my Orange Crush is finally finished, and I am so excited to finally be sort of caught up, and to be cutting into my orange and blue fabric. The blocks are kind of subdued, but I don't think that the quilt will be when the other two fabrics are added. I think it will be saying, "look at me".

Also, I just wanted to confess that the missing parts to my featherweight were in the box, but at the bottom of about 2 feet of styrofoam peanuts in a baggie. I think that they were probably taped to the outside of the case and came loose. I haven't tried it with thread yet to see if it works and sews. I see from the featherweight group that I just joined that some sellers don't differentiate between the two in their ads. I guess to them works means that the motor turns on and it goes up and down, but it may not actually sew. I guess that I will find out which mine is. It does work, and I hope it sews.

Also, if you have visited my blog, you may have noticed that with the help of

Helz from Blue Shadow Pony (I love her blog and it's name) I went to:

http://www.pyzam.com/bloggertemplates and got a new template for my blog. I like the looks better, but now I need to scour around and try to find my little buttons or widgets, or whatever you call them, for the sides. It may be a day or two though, as I hope to at least do some cutting today on my OC.

Memorial Day

I have a good start to the day, but no plans. I'm not sure what my kids are up to, but my DH and I are having a quiet day. I have got Ham and Split-pea soup cooking in the crockpot, and I plan on continuing my step 4 of the OC. Yesterday, I finished 10 blocks, and have 10 more stacked up ready to assembly line sew as soon as I finish a little housework. Hope you all have a nice holiday for the ones of you who celebrate Memorial Day.
Here's the recipe for the soup, it is excellent, and an easy hearty meal.
HAM AND SPLIT PEA SOUP
1 16-ounce pkg. Publix (or any brand)Green Split Peas, sorted and rinsed - 2 cups diced cooked ham - 3 carrots - 1/2 cup diced onions - 3 ribs celery - 2 cloves minced garlic - 1 bay leave - 12 sprigs parsley - 1 tbsp. seasoned salt - 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper - 6 cups water ( I added 3 diced potatoes after the carrots)Prepare ingredients by dicing carrots etc and layer ingredients in slow cooker in order listed. Do not stir to mix. Pour water gently over layers. Cover and cook on High 4-5 hours or Low 8-10 hours until peas are soft. Remove bay leaf; mash peas to thicken, if desired (I don't), or stir to blend soup. Top with croutons if desired. Makes 10 cups.
Sorry, there is a reflection of my kitchen and dining room lights in the lid.

Orange Crush Step 4 and Moment of Insanity

After all the work, I finally have a block. I am including steps 1 and 2 of the CC in that work. Only 100 more triangle sets to sew together, and 29 more blocks to piece, and I will be done with step 4 of the OC. I can see I need to mix things up a bit more, but I was so excited to put a block together that I guess I didn't really look that hard. As careful as I tried to be, I had to do a little ripping. I had my red where the black should be, and my black where the red should be. Luckily, I only had to undo 3 little seams. As usual, my angle is bad. I don't have a design wall, but I'm thinking that I will make myself a small flannel board so I can at least put up a block or two.

Now for the moment of insanity. I don't need a machine. I have my 18 year old Bernina, and my Janome Jem, and even a little blue Sears machine that I bought for an uninterested granddaughter. So why when I saw conversations about featherweights did I look on Ebay, just out of curiousity? I don't know, but when I did, I got the impulse to put in a bid, and then another bid and another. Finally, I reached my absolute limit, and was waiting in anticipation, half hoping to win, and half hoping to lose. As you have probably surmised, the win half won. I had always liked them, even before I knew what they were. I used to sew with my friend in Massachusetts about 35 years ago, and she had a cute little black machine. I'm not positive, but I would bet that it was a featherweight, and as you can see, it stuck in my mind. Then when I started quilting and learned what they were, I wished that I had one, mostly because they are so cute. According to the information, it is in good condition and works. I am hoping to study up, and get it in really good condition, but I also am wanting just to display it in my sewing room. Again, it's so cute.

Orange Crush - Step 3

A more subdued - Yeah me. Step 3 is done, and it was a snap after steps 1 and 2. The fabric they are laying on is my yardage for step 4. Thanks to Bonnie's needing another week, I think that I will finally catch up. I may even have time to work on step 3 of my CC. I think that on my scrappies many of my lights are too dark, and many of my darks are too light, so I am hoping that the pattern will show up correctly. I am anxious to see how mine and everybody elses OC's turn out. I am just trusting Bonnie, and all the beautiful quilts on her site. I tried to copy her colors, but I can see from the picture that my black shows up more as a gray, so I guess I'll have to wait and see. I'm hoping the blue and the orange (yeah, Gators) (that was for my brother) give it pizazz.

Orange Crush Step 2 - Finally

Finally, my step 2's are finished. I did 50 last night, and 73 this morning. It is amazing how much faster it goes when you actually work on it, instead of thinking about working on it. I am tempted to skip step 3, and go on to step 4, but I am fighting the temptation, as it goes against my sense of order. It is silly, but that's how I am. Hopefully, I can skip all (or at least most) of the whining and thinking, and go right to the actual cutting and sewing.

Today has been a fairly nice day. The weather has been beautiful, and after I finished step 2, my DH and I met my daughter and my grandson, and her boyfriend and looked at some model homes. It is tempting, but then it seems to make more sense to stay where we are. My daughter would love to buy a new home, as her house is old and not exactly what she would like to live in as it has a lot of old memories from her marriage, which had a lot of unhappy times. There doesn't seem to be a perfect house, not in our price range anyway, and our house has most of what we want.

After that, we met DD and her boyfriend at an Italian restaurant, as we were all starving, and I had my usual baked ziti. Now we are home, and my husband is watching his Red Sox. After that, we are going to go for a walk. We missed 2 days, and I don't want to get back out of the habit of going. I'd like to take some pictures of beautiful flowers to share on my blog, and living in Florida you would think that they would be all over the place. Unfortunately, it has been so dry that you don't see too many yards with flowers. I'm thinking of cheating, and going to a nursery or some such place, and taking flower pictures.

Small Things Amuse Small Minds

I finally got all my triangles cut for OC step 2, and made a little test block. It is little, and not perfect, but almost. Now I have to admire it a little, and then I can get sewing.

Orange Crush Step 1

Yeah me! I have to have my little triumphs when I can, so even though I am still 2 steps behind, Yeah me!

I have them (the step 1 blocks) 25 to a ziploc bag, and they aren't as scrappy as I would like, but they are done. This step made me aware that I am kind of light on lights, so I may need to get a few more for the next 2 steps. I did buy a bundle of fat quarters to use for the scrappies, but now I decided to possibly save them to make another of the Crazy Big Blocks. I am trying to have a woman's and a man's quilt in reserve for things that come up, and maybe a baby quilt, too. The Crazy Big Block that I just made, and sent off to the quilter today was supposed to be my reserve ladies quilt, but it has somewhere to go. Now on to step 2, and the scary triangles. I am the queen of squares and rectangles, so this will be good for me. "When you're green you're growing, and when you're ripe you're rotting." or so my favorite saying goes. It helps me get through things that are outside my comfort zone.

My other favorite saying is Shakespeare I believe. "Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." I think that is beautiful, although some days I feel like changing it to trust none.

Orange Crush

I have plans to start my Orange Crush and have gotten the fabrics. I am grateful that Bonnie is taking 2 weeks before the next clue, as I am still lagging behind as usual. The sunflower material is for the back, just because I like sunflower material, and the fat quarters I will use for the lights and darks for my 4 patches, along with whatever else I dig out of my "stash". I use the term loosely, as mine is not very impressive, but we will see what I can come up with. The only fabrics I haven't gotten yet are whatever will be used on my borders. I plan to make 2 lap sized quilts rather than 1 queen sized at this point. Who knows, I could change my mind.