I Need a Short Break

 

I have a few finishes and a few new things I want to start, but it will have to wait until this awful headache is gone. 

Weekend Update

I didn't do a lot. I wasn't sleeping well Friday night or Saturday night, so I was tired all weekend. I did sit with my ipad and look at Youtube videos and Facebook lives a lot. In fact, I watched Facebook lives from several different quilt shops and ended up ordering some patterns and kits. I got two different tote bag patterns plus a kit, and a pattern and some kits for the June Tailor project bags. Here's a picture of one of the totes.

The good thing about the kits is that they come will all the needed supplies, so I won't have to figure out where I can get all the needed stabilizers. I don't have a fabric shop nearby. Just a quilt shop and a Hobby Lobby, so I am sometimes limited on what I can get. Once I can see and feel the recommended stabilizers, I can figure out if something more available can be substituted. 

I also looked at Scrap Vortex quilts on Instragram, and I spent some time putting together scrap blocks. I would like to get back to working on those, but there is so little free time, and with my current work project, it won't get any better for another month or two. 

Crazy Patch Quilts

When I went to Creative Quilting, my local quilt shop in Lake Jackson, to get the border fabric for my crazier eight quilt, Millie showed me some crazy patch quilts she had made. I love all of them! She is going to order the scrap crazy 6 templates for me.

 

White Cloud Quilt

 What do you do when you wake up at 4 am and can't go back to sleep? I cut out a quilt top. I haven't gotten the fabric I ordered yet, but I decided to go ahead and do a trial run of this pattern.

It takes seven fat quarters plus the accent color. I pulled out nine fat quarters that all work together. I think they are all, or mostly all, Bonnie and Camille. Just different lines. I wanted to use pink for the accent and cut all the pieces, but once I started sewing, I didn't think the pink was working.

The pink in the Bonnie and Camille designs is more of a corrally pink, and I had a bright pink. I also had red and I had navy. Neither really looked right so I switched to Kona snow. I've already gotten three rows done.

The snow color is not really what I wanted, but it's fine. The best thing is how fast and easy this is. Of course, most of the Villa Rosa patterns are fast and easy. This looks so much different though than the one I posted a few days ago with the black accents. The thing about this pattern is that the fabric does all the work. I am keeping it in mind for a fast baby quilt if I need one. 

Got My Boxes

The UPS driver brought my boxes yesterday. All 12 of them.

They're not quite square--about 6.5" x 7.5". They work fine for charm squares. 

Each one will hold 5 to 6 packages. I won't use all 12 boxes, at least I don't think so. In the picture above, you can see some of my buttons behind the box. I use the cole slaw containers from KFC to organize the different colors of buttons.

I think this explains why I need to lose weight. LOL.

Lost and Found

Last year, around the fourth quarter of the year, I bought a kit from the quilt shop. Here's a picture.

I liked it so much. Alan bought one too and we were going to work on them together during the holidays, but I lost mine. I think when I was cleaning up the house in preparation for Thanksgiving, it got stuck somewhere. Alan offered to give me his kit, but then he couldn't find his either. 

I have looked and looked. Every time I think of a place I could have put it, I go look and it's not there. The thing is, I like it so much I couldn't give up on it. I repurchased the pattern. That was the easy part.

I think I actually bought the replacement pattern during the shop hop in April. I asked the quilt shop if they had any more kits or fabric, and they didn't. Karen said they had sold all of them within a few days of putting them out. 

Today, I finally decided since I can't get that quilt out of my mind, I needed to find some fabric that would work. I knew it was a digital print, so maybe I could search and find something comparable. It was my lucky day because I found the same fabric. I ordered two yards, and now I just have to wait for it to get here. 

Crochet

 I didn't get as much done on the weekend (sewing-wise) as I had hoped. I worked on the granny squares a little. I think I am up to the fourth row. There are seven total rows, so it's getting there. Just not quickly. 

I did a little fabric cutting, and I did some crocheting. I finished one dishcloth and almost finished a second one.

I need just a little more yarn to get that second one done. I like the color; it's really pretty. You can see I added a double crochet border after I had single crocheted around all four edges. I like the bigger border, but that's no doubt why I ran out of yarn. I can pretty easily get two dishcloths from one skein if I just single crochet. I will get another skein this week.

Totally Tulips

I thought I had posted this after I got the borders on, but I was going through the old posts and apparently I forgot. Here it is with the borders.

Crazier Eights

Finally, finally got in the mood to do some sewing and got the center of this one together.

I like it a lot. The 30's prints with that 30's green sashing, the crazy-pieced blocks--this is a style I am always attracted to. Here is a shot of the whole thing.

The wind was blowing a little, but not too bad. The sun was a little bright though. I thought I knew what I was going to use for a border, but I needed to buy a little more than what I had on hand. I went to the quilt store to get some, and that's where the whole plan fell apart. I found something I liked as much if not better than my original choice. Here are both of the bolts.

I have used the red already on a couple of things. It's part of the same line as the layer cakes I used for this quilt, but.....that green was so different. I couldn't decide and I wavered back and forth and back and forth for an uncomfortable amount of time. I finally sent a picture to Alan for another opinion, and went with his recommendation. I think the ladies at the quilt shop were just glad I finally decided on something. 

I won't get to work on it this weekend as I'll be in Victoria. I'll work on my granny squares instead. That one will eventually get done too; just in small increments.

Gift Sewing

I just realized the year is two-thirds over. It's time for me to start thinking about what I want to sew for Christmas gifts. I have always thought handmade gifts are so much more personal than something mass produced. Of course, sometimes our kids ask for certain things, and we will get whatever they ask for (within reason, but they are always reasonable!). I do like to give them something I made as well, but by now, I have run out of ideas. Except for dishcloths. LOL. Everybody gets dishcloths.

I found some adorable free patterns on the Clover and Violet website. Stuff I would like to make for myself. Look at this cute little purse!

Pattern is here. 

Here's a key fob I like also.

Key Fob pattern is here.

I found the hardware on Amazon. You can get 15 of the key fob hardware pieces for less than $20. These would be nice little gifts for people like my hairdresser, or the admin at our office, and it doesn't look like it takes very long to make.

I really like things like these that I can carry around my wrist. That is what attracts me to these two patterns. I never have enough hands. Well, I have two like everyone else, but I usually have a dog lead in one and a cell phone in the other. Or something like that. 

By the way, that website has some really cute baby gifts. I just don't need any of those right now. 

Scrap Management

I laughed at myself for choosing that title....I really don't manage scraps, I just try and keep up. Unfortunately for me, it is a losing battle most of the time. I found so many small pieces that weren't big enough to put on the shelves with my fabric so I started cutting them up.

The main problem is how time consuming it can be. I dumped a bunch of them out and started cutting squares. That's probably the best way to ensure they will get used. I cut squares 5", 3.5", 2.5", 2", and 1.5". Whatever I can fit from a scrap. Bill says I should just throw it all away. He says I will always buy more anyway, and he's not wrong about that. I'm not willing to throw it away though, and I do make quilts from the squares.

I also found the pattern and remaining fabric for the last frivol I needed to finish.

Now I can get it done.

Still Finding Things

I don't know where it all comes from. I think these blocks were from a swap.

It's possible I made the two with the white backgrounds, but I'm more than sure I didn't make the others. There are 10 total. I was thinking of a bed runner. I could just add sashing and hopefully be done with them. I'm not sure about those two white backgrounds though. They don't really work with the other blocks. I might have to make two with multi backgrounds to blend with the others. And, I noticed this block needs to be redone. 

That top right square is turned the wrong way. 

They are 9" squares, so not too big. I think I could even just do a couple of nine-patches with multi colors. 

Still At It

I weighed myself this morning and was relieved that I lost 1.8 lbs in the last week. Last Monday was discouraging to say the least as I hadn't lost any. Anyway, I've been at it since July 19th--four weeks--and I've lost 6 lbs. It seems like a lot of effort for not too much result, but at least it's moving in the right direction. And, I have good days and bad days. Sometimes I just eat out of habit, or more likely boredom. 

My other goal is the daily (every day except Sunday) exercise, and I'm doing great with that. My vertigo has been flaring up the last month, so the yoga is not always happening, but I can always ride my spin bike and I can walk if the weather cooperates. I got a bracket to mount to the handlebars of the spin bike that holds my ipad. It definitely helps with the boredom of riding and going nowhere. 

I am still working on cleaning up the sewing room. I got sidetracked a little bit, but I'm back on course. I keep telling myself how happy I will be when it looks all clean and organized! Which will maybe be for two whole days. LOL. I wanted some more of the little boxes I store my 5" squares in, but I haven't been able to find them. I bought the three I have from Hobby Lobby, but now nobody seems to have them.

I spent more time that I should have looking for some more, and I did finally find some on Amazon. I had to buy 12. I have been paying $1.49 for one at Hobby Lobby, but Amazon had 12 for $30.88. Well, I wanted them so I ordered 12. I don't really need that many......the other option they had was 6 for $29.99. That didn't make sense to me so I order 12. I will pass the extras on to a friend, or who knows, I may use all of them. 

Weekend Update

I didn't get a lot of anything done this weekend. I did a lot of things, but nothing really got finished. Except laundry. Laundry is all done. I did the floors Thursday night so I had that behind me. I worked on my crazier eights quilt, and I did some crocheting. I buy most of my cleaning supplies at the dollar store, and I noticed last time they went that they had yarn. I really liked this red color.

I thought it was 100% cotton, but I'm not so sure I was correct about that. It is hard to work with and feels a little rough. It also had some weird little slubs in it. I feel like it is made from recycled water bottles or something. I doubt that I would buy any more of it. I did finish one dish cloth and threw the leftover yarn away.

I might actually use it as a wash cloth. I think it would have great exfoliating properties. Oh well, live and learn.

Friday night I cooked. I had some large shrimp that I seasoned with Old Bay Seasoning and broiled in the oven. I cooked a pot of spaghetti, and while that was cooking I sauteed a package of mushrooms in butter and minced garlic. After I drained the spaghetti, I added the mushrooms and a small jar of capers. It was so easy and so good, and I think it was fairly low in calories. I will definitely make it again. Sunday night I fixed a recipe I had pinned on pinterest. It is supposed to be about 300 calories per serving.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/245094404711111258/. This is what theirs looked like. 

This is what mine looked like. LOL. 

I couldn't find the whole wheat tortellini so I just bought the regular three-cheese one. It was good, although I thought it was a little oily. I might not have read it right. I need to go back and check to see. The main thing is that it was really filling. I was quite satisfied with this one bowl, although I added some grated parmesan and cracked black pepper before I ate it. 

This and That

I got some more done on the crazy quilt.

I love the old-fashioned look of it. The darker blue colors really show up too much, but that is what was in the layer cake so that is what I used. Once I have all the rows together, I will put the green around the outside block and then decide if I want an outer border.

I worked a little on the stars with the 16-patch centers. I sewed a row together, and then sewed the sashing row to the top instead of the bottom. Wow. That was when I decided it was time to quit sewing and go to bed. I will have to fix it before I can continue. 

Two of the grandkids went back to school this week. One second grader and one high school freshman.

The other two will go back this coming week or the week after. I really can't keep up. 

Thoughts on Blogging

I was looking at my Blogger dashboard, and I have blogged more this year than I did in any other years I have blogged. I started blogging in 2009, and I did great, and then I didn't. I took a very long break from 2016 until this year, and I really don't know why other than I just lost the motivation. I did try keeping a paper journal during that time, and that was a total bust. I started and stopped a bunch of times. Another thing I noticed on the Blogger dashboard, I once had a lot of page views, and now I have about 1/4 of that amount. I'm pretty sure that any regular readers I had have long since given up on me. If it weren't for those page view stats, I wouldn't think anyone was reading my posts. I would like to have some comments, but people don't seem to do that anymore either. 

Either way, I am glad I started blogging when I did. I have gone back through my posts and seen so many projects I would long ago forgotten about it it weren't for the pictures I have here. It was a push to me to be more diligent about recording the pictures and the progress. So much of what I make is donated or gifted, in fact, almost all of it. I don't have the desire to keep a lot of the quilts. I only can use so many, and I already have a bunch of antique ones on my available shelf space. That gives me an idea for a new blog post. I need to take pictures of my antique quilts and post them here. I will plan to do that one day. Maybe closer to the end of the year. 

Anyway, if you would like to follow my blog, you would be welcome to do so. If you ever want to leave a comment, I will do my best to respond to your comment. And, since I like pictures in my posts, here's one of a Jagdterrier. 

Moving Along

I got a few rows together last night and took this picture.

I got another row put on before I went to bed, and got most of row 4 assembled.

I am already thinking of other layer cakes I can cut up to make another one. I probably need to see about getting this one done before I start another. A friend sent me a picture of crazy-style quilt with a braid border, and oh my, it looked good. 

This is the picture she sent me. I used the whole layer cake, so I don't know what I could use for the border, but it sure has gotten me to thinking about the next one. 

I walked this morning and didn't take the dogs. I could tell they were disappointed, but I just didn't want to fool with them this time. I can walk two miles in 35 minutes without them, and it takes more like 45 minutes when they are with me. There's a lot of stopping to sniff or to potty. I did feel guilty about it and will take them tomorrow, but I had a shorter of window of time this morning. That's how I justified it to myself. 

Crazier Eights

 I'm still having fun with this one.

All the blocks are made, and I am putting it together. I was going to just use sashing, but it is so much faster with cornerstones. I found some random 30's prints in my charm square box, so I cut some 2.5" for the cornerstones. I also decided to go with the green jelly roll for the sashing.

It's a nice 30's green color, and it's precut, so it saves me a ton of time.

My weight was no bueno this week. I think I overdid it over the weekend. I will have to find some self-control somewhere to get this all going the way I want it to go. I am still walking two miles a day, though. I just can't use that as an excuse to over-consume. 

Tuesday

I can't come up with a title for this post. There's nothing exciting happening here--I haven't worked much on any of my projects, although I did put together some of the granny square blocks. I think I have three rows done now. I will need to cut some more sashing. 

I think I will like it once it's all together, but I haven't felt any sense of urgency on this one, so I'm still taking it slow.

I did a little estate sale shopping over the weekend. No great finds, but I did buy a couple of embroidered linens.

I was thinking I could make some bags using these. I looked around on Pinterest for inspiration, but nothing looked like what I was wanting to do. Actually, I'm not sure what I want to do. Maybe I can draw something out on paper and see what I can come up with.

 

Daily Activity

 I've been doing great on walking every day. I've managed to do six days a week for the past month, and I've worked up to two miles. The dogs keep me accountable--if they think it's time to walk, they start pacing and whining....and staring at me. I have tried different things when it comes to walking them. I have taken one, then come back to the house and gotten the other one. In effect, changing dogs mid-walk. I have tried putting one on the hands-free leash that goes around my waist, and the other on a regular leash--they don't like it because one is always ahead of the other. What's working for now is a leash for two dogs.

It has a sort of a ring where the three pieces connect, and that seems to help with the tangling problem.

When I leave here and move back to Victoria, there are several things I will miss, but the thing I will miss the most is the walking trail that is only two blocks from my house. 

The city does a great job of maintaining it, and it just so convenient. Today we saw some buzzards on a street post.

Pretty funny. It looks like they are having a conversation.

The weather hasn't been too terrible this past week as far as heat. It's humid, but I can stand that. We are back at home, and both dogs are crashed. 

The Stars Are Done

 I actually finished all the stars with the 16-patch centers.

There are twenty 16-inch blocks. I was all ready to make a trip to the quilt shop to buy something for the sashing, but I resisted the temptation. I am making a concentrated effort to use what's in the stash. Even though I wanted a dark pink, I have a light gray that will work, and I can use a solid black for the cornerstones. I already have the border fabric. I bought it when I bought the layer cake. Incidentally, I found another layer cake from this fabric line. I don't know if I was planning to make something that required two layer cakes or if I forgot I had one and ordered another. Who knows. I'll need to come up with an idea for the remaining one.

Sew Much Fun

I'm loving the crazier eights blocks. I'm staying up too late to make just one more, and now I only have about five more to finish. Then it's on to sashing.

I watched a video about them on Youtube. Yeah, I'm the one who doesn't read the instructions until I've built the project (and maybe not even then). The video showed an improved nine-patch made with two of the templates. Here's the one I did.

Not perfect, but still, I love the concept. It's my all-time favorite quilt pattern. The only one I've ever made, I used cardboard templates, and I hand pieced the blocks. This is a real game changer for me. 

Crazier Eights

I finally got to try my crazier 8's templates, and I am having so much fun with them.

I sorted the layer cake into sets of five; I had to add three 10" squares to get a number divisible by five. The other option would have been to take two squares out of the stack, but I knew I wanted to end up with 42 squares. 

You can see the templates fit on the 10" squares with not a lot of waste, which makes me happy.

Once they were cut, I left the A stack as it was, and then moved the top piece from the B stack and put it on the bottom of the B's. Then on the C stack, I removed the top two pieces and put them on the bottom of the C stack, and so on. So if I started with this

I ended up with this

You sew each layer together with the five different prints in it. It is turning out so cute! I am really enjoying this one. I sewed until 9pm last night which is more than I usually do. I am already thinking about sashing. I have a jelly roll of the 1930's green that I would like to use.