Rail fence and road trip

I took a road trip yesterday to go get my glasses fixed, stop at the credit union and go to the bulk food store. The weather was challenging to say the least. I hurt all over today from holding on the wheel with both hands fighting a 20 mph wind with 39 mph gusts. A goal was to avoid semi trucks and thankfully there weren't too many on the road. I did see one swerve off to the right - he was in the slow lane- so I waited until he got her straightened up and sped by him. I needed some spices and nuts at the bulk food store in Sugarcreek. It was snowing lightly.

Just around the corner is a fabric store that carries lots of different things so I stopped there mostly for white quilting thread. I checked out the mark down shelves and found a few pieces that were $7.50 a yard.

I thought this bird fabric would make cute project bags and thread beds.

I then headed to Zinks in Berlin, Ohio to see what flannel they had. I was looking to get a bolt of white or off white for backing. As I drove west to Berlin, the snow got heavier and the road conditions got trickier. It was a quick stop and didn't find anything I wanted. The snow was coming down hard and I just wanted to head home. The parking lot was covered.

After I got out of the traffic jam in Berlin - yes, a traffic jam in near blizzard conditions mostly because of two poorly timed traffic lights - I finally got to my turn off 200 yards from Zinks. That took about 10 minutes! I wasn't going to drive 20 miles back to the interstate so I headed northeast on a state route. It is good road, just a bit hilly and curvy. The craziest thing was to see the people on bicycles! I don't know how they could stay on a bike in that wind! The roads were dicey thru Winesburg and Wilmont,

but better thru Brewster. It was snowing hard in Navarre, but that is where I turned on a more heavily traveled state route.

As I got north of Massillon, no snow!

It was smooth sailing with just light snow once I got closer to hone. My driveway when I got home. I have driven thru a lot worse winter weather, but I did just want to get home.

After getting something to eat I worked on sewing together three rows on the rail fence flannel top. I was pretty tired.

My hair appointment got moved up from 7:30 pm to 5:10 so I headed out the door again into the cold. With the wind chill it was 1 degree. When I got home I made a to do list, cooked some dinner, watched a little of the Falcon Rams game and went to bed. Let's see if I can put a dent in this list over the next few days.

Flannel rail fence and 4 patch progress

The flannel rail fence is ready to sew together! The blocks will measure 6" after sewing them together so this will measure approximately 60" x 72".

I spent all day Sunday wrangling the flannel. I had to take the 4 patches off the design wall; there is not enough room for both quilt tops. Here is my stack of 6 1/2" 4-patch blocks, strips for making more 4 patch blocks, and a stack of nineteen 5 1/2" four patch blocks that I made out of the scraps. I could add an alternating solid block to those smaller 4-patches and get a nice sized baby quilt. The larger piece is big enough for backing one of the flannel quilts.

Here are the remaining scraps. Not too much left!  So all the blue flannel has been cut except for the backing piece.  Once I sew together the strips for the 6" 4-patch blocks, I am sure there will be scraps that I can make more of the smaller 4-patch blocks.  

Flannel progress

I struggled yesterday because I was still tired from Friday's festivities. I would rest a while then work on the flannel bits. I got blocks sewn and hung on the design wall. Here is the rail fence so far and the four patch. Sorry for the blurry pictures. This new phone and I are not getting along,

I did get this snap kit. I want to up my game by using snaps for closing the thread beds instead of velcro.

I am feeling great today so I will be getting some stuff done!

A busy two days

I spent Christmas day getting ready for family on the 26th and playing with scraps. Remember these leftovers from the blue flannel quilts?

I had both longer and shorter 2 1/2" wide strips. I took the longer ones and cut them down to about 7", pieced them together, and made a nice pile of blocks. I still need to press and trim them. I also added in some strips of red and light blue to add some pizzaz.

Then there was a pile of wider pieces that I turned into 4 patch blocks.

When I trimmed the four patch blocks I ended up with some pieces that will make smaller four patch blocks. Scraps generating more scraps! LOL!

I still have the pile of short pieces that I will probably make into the smaller 4 patch blocks.

I had a whole row of zig zag I had cut off the zig zag quilt. The zig zag quilt was too long.

I took this row apart and now I have some more pieces to make the large four patch blocks and then a pile of triangles that I have to figure out what to do with. A long with the yardage I still have, I should be able to get two to three more quilts out of this.

I found some time to work with my plants that needed some TLC. I had a philodendron that need to be cut back. I have lots of new starts in water.

Put my succulent starts in a new pot. They were just in a plastic dish you put under a pot.

And finally stuck these pieces of snake plant in a pot. I don't know if they will grow since they have been laying around for probably two months.

I got the table set with the new placemats for the day after Christmas dinner.

I made two pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, chocolate cover Nutter Butter cookies, chocolate covered Golden Oreos, and Buckeyes. We had a fun day and I was exhausted! We had ravioli, garlic bread, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower for dinner.

Merry Christmas, postcard, placemats, and zippers

I received one on Vicki's fancy postcards yesterday. It is beautiful!

I decided I needed to make some placemats for Xmas dinner on Friday. I found this leftover cutlery fabric and just started cutting. I layered some iron on fleece and a layer of batting with the iron on part facing the batting. It took me about 20 minutes to quilt each placemat. I had just enough fabric for the binding. I needed five placemats and yes, I did put minion fabric on the other side.

Here is one placemat where I had to piece together three pieces of fabric to get a big enough piece for that fifth placemats. It is not even noticeable! Finished the placemats measure about 17 1/2 x12 1/4

Here is the fabric I had left!

I received my box of zippers from Wawak. I ordered these Monday afternoon! I needed a black zipper for this boxy pouch.

Well, I couldn't order just one zipper and I needed to resupply and I needed to order enough to get the discount and free shipping - right? I ordered two types of zippers. The red one is a bag zipper and has a bigger pull.  I use those for project bags and thread beds.  The other zippers are for those curved top pouches.

I like to sort them by type and color.

Then bag them up. Now I have something to work with!

So today I will be busy baking pies and cookies for Christmas with my family tomorrow. I have some straightening up to do and a bit of cleaning too. I am glad to have the extra day to get what I want done. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!

Presents wrapped, cookies, and a table runner

In my effort to try and get ready for family to come on Friday for Christmas, I got all the goofy stuff I have collected for the What-a-palooza. Each person draws a number and in order take turns picking a package. You never know what you might get! The rule is you are supposed to open it and say "What?" since what you might get is odd. No crying is allowed although that did happen once. This was something I started years ago to keep the kids entertained a bit.

My neighbor stopped over and brought me a plate of cookies!

I had made several smaller wall hangings around 2010. They just sat in the closet. I decided I needed to use one as a table runner; I was channeling Wanda! This one needed washed and it came out ok. The blue did bleed a bit and dulled the orange. It measures 30" x 15". I hand dyed the fabric, improv pieced, has a facing binding, match stitch quilted, and splattered painted.