Seond top done

I had the second top done Thursday, I just didn't have time to post it.

All three of my pieces I submitted for the project I can't talk about were rejected. Now I don't have to spend the next week and a half trying to get them done and I can work on getting ready for my lecture next Wednesday for the Medina quilt group. I am going to try and get one of the two tops just made done for that lecture and then I will just take the other top.

I think I will be spending a lot of hours in the studio this weekend since we have a constant stream of rain coming down.

Have a great weekend!

Progress on the quilt tops and yard work

I got the borders on one of the quilt tops.

I have the borders laid out for the second top and I plan on finishing this one tonight.

Despite wind guts up to 39 mpg, I decided with the temp being 74 degrees I needed to go and do some yardwork. I gave my ornamental grass a haircut

Then I cleaned up the dead coneflowers.

It took 4 trips with the wheelbarrow and an hour and 15 minutes to haul all the material to the back compost pile. The daffodils are growing fast!

More border ready to sew and is spring finally here?

I cut more border for the two quilts I pieced this past weekend. I will work on getting them sewn together at lunch time today and maybe get them on the pieced blocks tonight.

Last night I went for a walk since it was finally in the low 50's and not raining or snowing. I am making a real effort this month to spend more time working on myself. I feel like a ball of mush! I will be working at the quilt shop in Charm, Ohio May 2 and 3 for their anniversary sale and I need to get some stamina built up or I just won't have the energy to enjoy two days of cutting fabric and hanging out with the Amish ladies that I have not seen since October. I have noticed that my stamina is pitiful! Besides this summer The Michael Weber Show is booking shows so I need to have lots more energy to help out. I may not get as much quilting done for awhile, but in the long run I know I will feel better. I did notice that I had a couple of crocus in the front yard the deer missed eating. I brought these bulbs from my house in Dover. It is nice to see them again!

My canna is growing nicely! Here is what it looks like now. The green leaf is over a foot tall now!

Snow and Sewing

Saturday I went to a lunch for a family member. I rode with my brother, his wife Robin, and son since the restaurant was about an hour away. Robin needed a baby quilt for a friend that was expecting. I only had two boy quilts in my stash so I put a label on the recently made blue and tan multi layered quilt and gave that to her.

It rained hard the entire way back. On our way back we stopped at a high end grocery that carried the smoke gouda that I had eaten at the Art & Ale event at the art museum a couple of weeks ago. Robin and Michael got some bagels and then we headed back to their house. My brother walked me out to my car and the rain was turning into sleet. I stopped at the grocery store where I usually shop and picked up a few things. When I walked out to the car the parking lot was slick with slush. It continued to sleet then turn to snow. By Sunday morning this is what it looked like.

We got about 2 inches. I am sick of this weather! Today since I went back to work it is suppose to be 58 today. Again another case where the weather is crappy on the weekends and nice during the week when I am at work. I spent all day in the studio and worked on a couple of boy quilts for my stash. I was playing around with the multi layer cutting technique. I need to cut and sew more border for one quilt and then get the border sewn on, but I felt like I got a lot done.

A bit more fabric

I decided to participate in the American Made Brand Farm to Fabric Challenge. You can read more about it over at http://www.oliveandollie.com. I did a search and found Hancock's of Paducah had 47 of the 50 colors. My order came Wednesday, but there are a few pieces on backorder. I sure hope it doesn't take too long to get my order filled. Here is at least what I bought so far.

I have some grays, a dark yellow, and a piece of cream yet to come. I did wash what I had and it washed up very nice. It is not as heavy as Kona. It is more like Moda Bella. It pressed up nicely after washing and the pieces I received stayed true to grain - meaning after the fabric was washed the raw edges lined up nicely and not all askew so you end up cutting off 2 or 3 inches of fabric to get a straight starting edge. Since most of my work is improv piecing this is not an issue for me, but for many of you this is important.

I will have a busy weekend finishing up quilting the pieces I can't talk about and maybe get the next project underway. I have to spend some time figuring out deadlines for several projects and get my fabric organized so I don't miss any of my dates.

Have a great weekend!

Movies, straightening up, and more snow

I had borrowed a copy of Despicable Me 2 from the library. It was due back so I needed to watch it last night. Very cute movie. I would like to see them make more of these movies. They are entertaining even for adults. Loved those bad minions with their crazy purple hair!

At lunch yesterday I got a lot of the mess cleaned up in the studio from the three pieces I can't talk about and then I finished after work by ironing fabric that had been washed and dried that was piled up on the table, folding clothes piled on the table, and taking the clean sheets and putting them on the bed. I then had room to lay out the third piece so I could pin baste it. I got my three pieces posted yesterday to the site and now it is a wait until April 1 to find out if any have been accepted.

I had planted an canna rhizome in a pot several months ago. The pot is located in the living room and it gets plenty of sunshine. It took awhile, but it is now growing! The green leaf is a foot tall - I know you can't tell from the photo how tall it is. It will be fun to see this grow.

We got 1 1/2" to 2" of snow last night. The sun is shining so maybe it will all melt by noon. It is very cold again this morning - 15 degrees. I am so ready for it to be in the 50's.

More fabric? It is not all my fault!

I received a package from my brother yesterday and it contained four pieces of fabric he bought when he was in Melbourne touring with Bruce. Aren't they wonderful? There is a meter of each which translates into about 4 1/2 yards. The store was Clegs Dress Fabrics. This is his way of thanking me for the baby quilts and taking care of his house. This is the second time he has done this and I am now starting to amass a collection of these fabrics. They will be going into the fabric storage room and have their own space on the shelves.

All of this fabric was manufactured by Nutex Co. in New Zealand. It has a lovely hand to it.

Now the fabric I can't blame on my brother is this Halloween fabric that came from Nuts & Bolts Fabric in Edgemont, S.D. Earleene, the owner, sent me all she had of this spider web fabric which came to 8 1/4 yards all in one piece and three FQs. I got a really good deal because it was on sale. I will report at the end of the month the damaged I have done to the stash this month. I still have some more fabric coming from Hancock's in Paducah for a special project.

Last night I got the third piece pieced of the quilts for the project I can't talk about. I was so relieved to get it done. I worked like a crazy person and had no time to be neat about my surroundings. I will go to the house at lunchtime and clean up the mess. I am very happy with the way this third piece came out.

The weather is still very cold here. It was 17 degrees! The weather this week looks like it is going to be all over the place, but it doesn't look like we are going to get hit with the next system coming. Right now the east coast looks like they could be in for another hit of nasty weather.