Still shoveling

Here is was is on top of the garbage can this morning - 6". Not much compared to the east coast. I shoveled three times at work yesterday and did the driveway again when I got home after work. I also cleared the snow away from the fire hydrant and shoveled two neighbor's steps. I finally walked in the house at a quarter to six, got something to eat, washed a load of clothes, watched Southland and the end of the Biggest Loser then went to bed.

I think the major snow is over for awhile in my area, so maybe I will get to sit down and do some sewing tonight.

Shovelmania

My driveway this morning 6:30 a.m.

Believe I am not complaining - the amount of snow we have received over the last 12 hours is nothing compared to some parts of the country and I am grateful. I shoveled about 1 1/2" off the sidewalks and some of the parking lot at work about 4 pm before people started to leave yesterday. I shoveled my driveway and a neighbor's steps and driveway last evening. This morning I had another 1 1/2" so I did my driveway before I left for work. I was so tired last night and my head hurt so no sewing occured. My head hurt on and off all night so I finally decided to take a couple of Excedrin and I feel much better now. I have been slammed at work which is sucking up a lot of my energy too. We are suppose to get more snow today, but I am not sure how much. I did watch the weather last night and they said between 1 - 3 inches, but you know how that could change! Let's hope it is only that much.

No sewing but ...

I did some odds and ends last evening. One of those was sealing up the fireplace opening. I have not had the fireplace inspected since I bought this house and with the way the former owners did not believe in taking care of anything I can imagine the fireplace was never cleaned. At least the warm air won't be sucked out the chimney now.


I cut these hook and loop strips. For what you might ask?

The strips are to make these cord holders. I think I have posted about these before. My brother uses them for all the electrical cords and mic cords for his son's band.


See how they contain a cord? Cool hun? The drummer's father takes care of the sound equipment at his church and wanted some of these for their cords. I didn't want to forget about this, so I will have them made for the next time I see my brother and he can pass them along. Besides I found the rolls of hook and loop tape when I removed all the stuff I had stored in the fireplace and that reminded me about this task.


We are suppose to get pounded with snow this afternoon, but I am taking the wait and see attitude. A weatherperson is the only job where you can be wrong all the time and still have a job!

Addition to the stash

Saturday I picked up my new glasses and stopped at the Material Girls quilt shop since they were having another inventory reduction/moving sale. I found this four pieces for 40% off the lowest price on the bolt. They are Northcott prints and I paid $3.29 a yard. I bought what was left on the bolt. I thought they would work geat as borders and backs. One of the ladies at the store told me they were Holloween prints. I finally looked really close and there is a witch on a broom, but it is so mixed in with all the other printing you wouldn't even notice. I ended up with 39 yards! Oops! I know I will use it all - just think how much it would have cost if I would have paid full price.


I pin based four baby quilts on Saturday. Here one I started quilting. It is about 1/3 done. I was just plain tired Saturday and did not get as much done as my mind wanted.


I spent some time yesterday straighting up some of my stash. I keep most of my commerical prints, dutch wax prints, batiks, solids, and backing in this area. See Ricky Junior up on top watching over everything? He is looking fly in his REM t-shirt and leather pants.

First finish of 2011

I finished this quilt last evening and I love it. I forgot to measure it, but it is about 66' X 84".



There was about 1 1/2" of snow on the ground this morning. I was up at 5 a.m. to shovel. The snow was fluffy so it was easy shoveling.

I have been trying to figure out what I should accomplish this weekend. I need to go to the optical clinic an hour away and pick up my new glasses. I may hook up with a friend and have a late breakfast or early lunch while I am in Dover. I think I need to get cracka lackin' on those baby quilts this weekend - you never know when you might need one.

Working on that UFO

I worked on this UFO last night and made some nice progress. I am so close to having it done. I only have two blocks with their centers to quilt and five more centers to quilt. I quilted five centers last evening. Some of the fabric for the centers came from Vicki of Field Trips in Fiber http://vickiwelsh.typepad.com. She had made a music themed quilt for her nephew several years ago and I was the lucky recipient of the leftover pieces. I have volunteered to make a music themed quilt as a donation to a silent auction for the local public radio station, so you will be seeing more music quilts in the future.


Here is the back which quilting can be seen easier. The blocks are quilted with 1/4" lines and the rectangles in the blocks are 1/8" lines - all free motion. I am using Sulky on the front in different colors and Essentials white on the back. Yes, the binding is already done, but I am still quilting. I had a habit of not following the rules and executing the steps out of sequence that most books say on how to make a quilt.

Looking back and looking forward

Sometimes when I don't think I have accomplished anything I like to look back at a milestone and compare where I am today. My stash of quilting thread was my milestone for the year. I reported back in May with an estimate of how much I thought I had. As of Dec. 31, 2010 I figure I used approximately 19,000 yards of quilting thread since May. Here are the May and December pictures. I know I used 5,000 yards just on the Millennium quilt.
May 5, 2010

Dec. 31, 2010


May 5, 2010

Dec. 31, 2010

Looking foward I updated my dry erase board with projects going forward. One of those projects was to make a quilt for a young couple - I work with the man. He was a great help to me re-laminating my kitchen countertops and installing the sink and faucet. He also hauled away some scrap metals and a beer keg that I found on the property. He did this for no pay. For payback I helped them move, but I really didn't have to work very hard - they had a lot of help. When we were putting together the bedroom, they did not have a bedspread. I found the gray and black fabric below for a fantastic price and thought I would like to try it using the first picture below as the inspiration. I don't remember the name of the book I took the picture from. I was halfway thru the quilt top when I thought I should have done some fabric painting first to put some more color in the piece, but we will see what it looks like after it is quilted. I plan on using a different color than black or gray for the quilting.




I did spend some time yesterday (it was a holiday for us from work) quilting another UFO. I am almost done and will post pictures as soon as it is finished. My pile of UFO is slowing coming down, but then I do have about 8 baby quilt tops that need sandwiched and moved on to the quilting process. There is always something to do!