Have to finish something!

Today I decided to sit at the sewing machine and sew for a bit.

 All this folding, organizing and packing was just wearing me out!

Also I was afraid that if I pack up this leader and ender project from two years ago that it would never be sewn together!  So after several hours I almost have a top!

Did go through some more boxes that leaves me shaking my head...

like this almost quilt top made from leftover/orphan blocks from my Baltimore Album quilt.  I think I took that class in 1993!  I think I'm going for a personal record with this....

Found boxes of 4-patches in reproduction fabric...

two patches in brights

and even the blocks from a Bonnie Hunter Mystery (this is only about 10 years old so not ready to finish yet!)

The things you find...

There is a lot of "stuff" in our house.  That said, we are making great progress in sorting and packing.

I have to keep an eye on my husband as he would toss anything that he doesn't immediately recognize...like a box of block doesn't have value since it isn't a quilt!  Yup...got to keep and eye on him.

Been gathering lace and wool for this quilt for years and it almost went to the charity shop!

Of course I am guilty of trying to finally get rid of a box of record albums that we have hauled around at least 4 moves and never taken out of the box...but I told him I was doing it.  That is why the box is back in our hallway...he is "thinking about it."

But on the bright side I found some scraps of my favorite fabric that I thought was long, long gone....

I so wish they would reprint this Paris fabric!

On the other hand I found 3 yards of this superhero fabric!  What was I thinking?

I am also putting aside a few items for the American Quilt Study Auction at this year's seminar in New Hampshire.  Not sure yet if I will be able to go but I want to support the organization.  I've narrowed down the quilt donation to one of two: the red, white and blue rocky road to kansas in the photo above or the circa 1880 braid quilt below.

I also have a few books that will go up there and maybe some blocks...

first...a nap...

Moving!

I hate to even think about it!  However it is true...we are moving to Florida in September.

For the past few weeks I've been supervising the packing and moving of things not going with us.  The folks at Catholics Charities and Salvation Army know my husband by name now.

(Of course in the middle of all this a friend gave me this quilt top...it is coming with me!)

We did a first cut at culling the bookcases...imagine my surprise when I realized all our bookcases were double stacked!  Zikes!  I thought that only happened in my Quilt Studio...

The clearing part is almost over.  I sold a few pieces of furniture and some other "stuff" to lighten the load.  Have a few boxes packed to go to nieces and nephews.  After that I'm settling back to my sewing room while my husband tackles the garage!

We are having movers come in to do the actual pack-out and move.  I just don't want to move stuff down there that we will either not need or not use.  Sigh...

The most exciting news...Watson is now a therapy dog!  He finally passed obedience school and showed his three "skills": if I fall to the ground and do not move he howls to get attention; he will go find my husband on command (my husband has hearing problems so if I need help it isn't like I can just call him!  I have to send the small white dog) and finally when a beeper or alarm goes off he demands that either I or my husband goes to it.  It took us 3-1/2 years.  I think that may be as far as we can go with him!

Catching up...maybe!

These fabrics don't look like they belong in my stash...

well, they aren't mine.  I'm finishing a quilt for a friend who passed away a couple months ago.  The top is complete.  Luckily she told another friend that she wanted to piece a strip of these blocks up the back...so I'm piecing the back today.

It is fun to work outside my comfort zone and since it is scrappy I'm happy.

My other "not-me" project is my guild's donation quilt.  We are making the Kaffe Fassett Anniversary quilt with the jars and bowls.  It was a kit.  Anytime you have a wide variety of folks stitching on one project putting the blocks together is an adventure.  Generally we cut the applique backing pieces really large so we can trim down.  With a kit there wasn't that option.  Luckily there is only a 1/2 variance on both width and height so we will only need to trim a smidge...an activity best done with only one of two quilters and a very large pot of tea.

Funny story on this project.  A block was turned in as finished.  When I was pressing the blocks I noticed a needle still in the block.  When I pulled the needle I noticed there was thread still attached.  Then I noticed about 2 inches of the pot wasn't stitched down yet!  Yup...group projects...there is always something....

And while I am concentrating on the two projects above I am making some progress on the liberated leader and ender scrap reduction project.

Also sewed up 5 backings for tops that need to be quilted before the show in November...yikes!

Victorian photo shoot

I used my week's allotment of energy to do a photo shoot of a fellow quilter's daughter.

A couple year's ago Amy made this dress as part of her Senior Project.  The dress was part of her discussion on why Home Economics should be brought back to the curriculum.

We took the photos out at the Aiken Visitor Center which is designed to look like an old train station.  It is next to railway track at the edge of downtown.

Amy did a great job modeling.

At some point I'm going to figure out a way to incorporate an antique quilt in one of these sessions!

Top finish!

If you need to make a quick baby quilt I highly recommend this pattern from Missouri Quilts.  Start to finish it took about 6 hours...maybe less since I was doing leaders and ender blocks in between.

I pulled some fabric last night to piece a background and with luck should quilt it up this month.  This is my "donation" for the guild silent auction table in November.

gardenia bushes in bloom and smell great!

The weather is hot and steamy here in Georgia.  Went outside this morning thinking I could drink my coffee in the garden!  Duh...bugs...bugs everywhere!  No wonder I have so many Dragonflies here..it is like an all they can eat buffet!  Needless to say I had to get back in the house quickly and slather After-bite over both feet!

my rescue daylilly from last year came back fine!

Also caring for my sick cat...no, not 17 y.o Goldie but Dobby!  Brought him to the vet yesterday and they think he has asthma...His breathing is noisy and a bit labored at times.  He is grouchy...even more so than usual!  Hard to give TLC to a cat who can take your arm off!

A bit of sewing

I'm spending a good bit of this Memorial Day weekend in the sewing room.

I really wanted to organize a bit but instead I ended up sewing up some blocks to make a baby quilt for the guild's silent auction table.  Our show is in November this year so I stand a good chance of having it done in time!

I rationalized this by saying I was using up some 2-1/2 inch strips instead of just putting them away.  It works for me!  The pattern is from a Missouri Star U-tube video.  It takes four of these stars to make a baby quilt.

I've also dumped out the leader and ender basket to trim up the liberated blocks so they can be used again!  I'm close to having enough to put together in a project.

Last week my husband picked up an antique sampler for me at an estate sale.

It was covered in plastic wrap and stitched to a cardboard backing.

It was fun to unwrap and carefully take out the stitches so I could really see what was stitched on the sampler.

It is about 25 inches by 25 inches so a good size sampler!  The date is 1847.

Next I need to decide how to frame it again.

Travel Nightmare!

Part of the reason I haven't posted was a short trip we took out to Nevada.  It wasn't the vacation that caused a long delay it was the MS episode brought on by an absolute travel nightmare with SPIRIT airlines.

Orange is the MS color...

Lesson learned: if you hear an airline you are booked with is having issues with employee contract negotiations rebook with another airline.  When we heard Spirit was having problems we called only to be told "a judge worked this out today.  Just check the news."  Sure enough there was a comment from the pilot's union saying they would abide by the Judge's order.  The next morning the pilots did not show up for our flight.

Lesson learned: if a customer service agent tells you to take the refund because they cannot book you on another airline (said there was an email from corporate telling them they had to keep the customers on Spirit flights)  take the refund immediately.  In Chicago when our second flight was cancelled the supervisor booked us on American Airlines and told us to cancel the reservations we made on our own credit card while inline.  You know that didn't work out...we ended up paying for both the AA tickets and the Spirit tickets.

Lesson learned:  discount airlines really mean discount.  The callback from a supervisor happened almost 8 hours late at 0150 - that is almost 2 am.  And she threatened to close the case if I didn't talk to her right then!  Needless to say that was over a week ago.  They asked for week to figure things out.  That was a week ago today...who knows.  Maybe they'll call a few minutes before midnight?!

That is only the tip of the story...in the end I ended up being so tired from the flights and the waiting and then the many hours on the phone that I had an MS relapse.  I was only able to stay one night at my guild retreat and am having to cancel a long list of commitments for the next month.

Now enough whining and complaining...back to sewing and writing!

Quilt Retreat...

Can't believe it has been a month since I posted...so much has happened.

Today I'll keep with good stuff though - quilt retreat!

Twice a year we have a 4 day retreat at a local camp.  It isn't fancy but it is clean, the food is good and there is lots of space to work in.  What more can you ask for?  (OK endless cups of coffee and some chocolate...we managed to bring our own!)

There were lots of "ta-da" finishes...

ranging from traditional

to modern

and everything in-between.

I worked on some applique for our next donation quilt.

More later...have lots of projects going.  Having to work slowly though...