4 1/2 hrs and counting ... then we're off

Still on the terror-list as a spam blog - ah well .. I should be unlocked by the time I get back from up north - I hope .. please blogger staff .. unlock me .. these verifications are murder

A s a good number of you already know, I'm leaving for up north in about 4½ hours from when I started this post. It's been a CRAZY day getting all the final things together and I've already almost forgotten my suit! Esh! Getting all the laundry done, stripping the beds, a quick wash over in the bathroom .. (already gave it a good cleaning on Monday), showed Dad where to find all the stuff for the cats if needed, re showed him how to work the satellite box .. (he'll mess it up and not being able to watch it LMAO - he always does!) Dropping off some paperwork downtown - (EEEEKKKKK I have library books .. let me renew them right now before I forget - gotta love being able to do this online .... ), grabbed our golf clubs, packed up a cooler of food to bring with us, cooked supper, Reg has the car mostly packed - still waiting for my stuff as I get to hold the toiletries hostage and of course there is my hand work stuff - and of course Kyle's busy bag (ipod, books)

I opted to bring a whole clothe quit to handquilt .. I have small hoop that I can use in the car if I want and my knitting to make dishcloths .. Also with just having one or two projects I wouldn't have to fuss and stress out about did I have enough fabric choices, threads, patterns. Doing the grandmother's flower garden hexagons is great for a few hours as a take along .. but not for a whole week. One of the things I did today was baste it up really quick .. I set it up on the table and of course the afternoon sun hits my kitchen table .. (western exposure) Pixel decides to he's going to take his nap right on my quilt!! the brat! LOL which was fine as i was all set up to do the first section .. but you sooo knew he would be having to move .. heh ..

But for the time being he was content to just lay in the sun and snoopervise my work .. you'd think he was an expert on quilting or something .. I tell him that shedding on the fabric and laying all over every project known to man in this house does NOT make him a quilting expert .. he just cocked his ear and gave me a look like .. "so you say" .. brat LOL. Needless to say he just sat there and continued to purr and soak of the sun as it is God given right - pfft! I did thread basting and it went very quickly .. and of course no killed back ..

I did manage to get a few packages out today; one to Joanne in NZ who's been sooo patient with my ineptitude regarding the customs form and some fabric for Judi too ... what will be really cool is that I'll have the flannel for my 1800 quilt when I get back (**remind dad to go to PO) and my red swap blocks should be here anytime!! **kittyhappydance** Heh I bet I forget a million things .. but my coffeemaker (Gran drinks instant - BLECH) and my quilting will NOT be forgotten ;)

The plan of action is leave at 6am EST and hopefully be back on Sat the 23rd to give reg a day to relax and do groceries then back to work on Monday - heh then one more week and Kyle is back to school **kittyhappydance** naw .. he's not driving me nuts at all .. ilovemyson ilovemyson ilovemyson ;)

Take care everyone and see you in about a week!! I'll have no computer or internet access up there, but I can still be reached by direct email to me or by comments on my blog .. I'll be going no mail on my lists shortly (self defense on THAT trust me!!) - I'm gonna miss you guys - any email I get I'll answer soonest :D

Underground RR revisited, berries

You know what i just noticed .. I flipped a row on that last underground RR section .. (groan) .. that I have to take out .. no choice in the matter .. I was just looking at it and my fabrics last nite when I noticed it .. I'm like .. are you kidding me .. for crying out loud!!!! bah!!! On a good note .. all I have to do is frog stitch just that section, flip it over and re-sew it .. so it's not like it's the whole section and lucky (yeah right) for me, it was at the edges .. holybiblebatman! twittwittwit - I am TRYING to be positive about this .. yeah right .. **grumbling .. **

I'm working on the centerpiece now .. I pulled out my green (pathetic amount that I have) and started to measure them for the Ohio Star points .. the two dark colours that I wanted to use were only 11½, and I needed 11¾ - course it's short .. soooo I'm using a light green and medium green .. I'll use the darker green in the smaller Ohio star blocks .. will be using purple foregrounds for the sisters star blocks for the middle .. I have the Ohio Star points done and am going to start cutting the sisters blocks just after I post this or find something else to stall with :D

On a GOOD note, I did get my kitty quilt basted and it did take less time that I actually thought to finish it .. cat hork not withstanding .. I was invaded by my dad .. (yup AGAIN - well it didn't turn into a visit, more like a drive by and he did bring milk :D) while I was basting it and he was looking at it and oh that's pretty .. I'm like ... pretty?? (@@) .. thanx .. (dry sarcastic tone) .. he goes .. why's it all wet .. I'm like wet??? where .. and I look .. my darling little Shadow(Pixel leaves bigger offerings) decided to leave a soggy splotch on the quilt .. I'm like .. the truth comes out on how she really feels about it .. good thing it wasn't food or a hairball .. quick dabbing with paper towels and then a damp cloth cleaned it right up .. I think I would have rather had her chase my thimble around the house .. **sigh**

It's a mulberry tree :D .. Thanx to all the ladies that sent me emails telling me what tree this is .. Thank you everyone!!

What are these berries???
I noticed the other day that there were squirrels and birds having a feast in my tree in the back yard .. and then I look closer and see .. berries ..does anyone have any idea what these are .. I thought this was the same tree that my dad had, but his doesn't produce fruit .. then again, he scalps his every year and it just doesn't .. I tasted it, not overly sweet nor tart .. just mild .. can you leave a comment in my blog (as that's emailed to me) or email me directly if you have my email address - thanx .. I really do appreciate it .. I know they aren't poisonous as the birds and squirrels don't fall out the tree and the dogs even eating them .. crazy dog!

Now as for the dog .. I'm going to tie her tail to her whiskers she starts digging again in the backyard .. she started to go to town yesterday just under this tree, and then again this AM ..

You know .. my animals are going to look really funny with them all running around with their whiskers and tails tied together .. and yes even Pix ..

Quilts n Grass n Bagels!!

Yesterday was a busy day for me .. I had gotten no sleep overnite ..I hate when that happens .. and was waiting on a few phone calls that I didn't want to miss, so I decided to stay up as I was afraid I would not hear the phone .. course they called .. in the afternoon :S

I had a whack of things to do yesterday .. cutting the backyard, making bagels, doing the laundry and I needed a break from all the browns in the repro quilt, so I decided to baste my kitty quilt.

The backyard looks GREAT .. maybe one more cutting and Kyle can do that one .. he's gonna love that lol .. I just want to be sure that the latest seed I laid catches and it looks like it's doing just that .. just have to combat all the weeds back there .. they are all on one side of the yard heheh .. I'll pull them slowly and surely .. by labour day they should all be gone - heheheheh

I did that early in the AM so that I could do the bagels, laundry and basting at the same time .. breadmakers are wonderful things :D .. it does all the mixing and all i have to do is shape them, proof them, boil them (secrets in the boiling time .. the longer they boil, the larger and lighter they get), and then bake them .. voila!!! bagels .. I'm doing better at them too .. this is likely my 4^th batch and I've finally got the knack of them .. reg actually said he thought they were store bought :D. I like the recipe I found, it uses both whole wheat and white flour - anything with whole wheat is good in this house. I had tested a few and this one won.

I'm still using Sharon Schambers method and like everything - practice practice practice .. i'm about ²/₃ done and it shouldn't take me more than 2 hours to finish it .. baring interruptions. I could have finished yesterday, but I wanted to spend time with Reg and I was WHACKED!

Normally I don't leave stuff like that out .. i use the kitchen table for this and it's right under a HUGE window - and any window in a house with cats is THEIR territory .. it wasn't so much them sitting on it ... - they do that all the time .. I was more worried about the needle and my thimble - My darling Shadow loves to bat things around .. (remember my seam ripper - that was her work) Pix is more likely to go after fabric and batting strips. But it's all there .. first thing I checked when I got up this AM.

I'm still trying to decide what sections to do next for my repro quilt .. i've not heard back from the people i had emailed about the calico fabric or the simplex star block. I might just do the middle Ohio with the sisters blocks, or work on the Double X sections .. I am thinking I might want a quick section to finish and that would likely be the Ohio / Sisters - I'm also rather stuck on colours .. what to use .. The Double X uses more yardage and would like to have them as close as possible .. so I might have to do them next to ensure that .. I'm not worried about the background fabric .. I have enough of that .. but the foreground .. I would like to do greens and purples in the middle (Reg and I's favourite colours) and they do compliment each other nicely - hen maybe reds and blues for the Double X .. (will only combine those if I don't have enough of one colour) .. heh .. will have to check my math I guess .. :)

Extremes / Seascape Quilt / Kitty borders

Please click on the images to view larger pics in new window

Today was a day of extremes for me. The right side of the bed did NOT exist for me today. Might have been due to the fact that Kyle managed to wake me up after 2 hours sleep - and he wasn't watching the dog when he let her out this am. She managed to get the gate open and escaped (didn't go far, but not the point - she was after cats down the block) she's about to go into heat and he wasn't quiet about opening the doors, slamming them, yelling for the dog .. woke Reg and I both up .. Okay .. so Reg wakes up to a pin dropping on carpeting .. i DON'T!

I knew I needed to center myself, I was frustrated beyond all belief by not being able to find a rotary cutting pattern for a mouse (!) (and i started last nite). Even getting my DSL back today didn't make me feel better for long. I was ready to cheap out on my kitty quilt and just do fish. BUT .. I stepped away from it and worked on my Seascapes (Sea LIfe???) quilt that Joy gave me. I could't start it until after supper tho as my table can't come away from the wall to accomodate the boards I use. I did Sharon Schamber's basting method again and this time it worked VERy well for me. I took shorter stitches, longer thread, had the quilt on my cutting mat and really really really paid attention to the tension i was putting on my stitches .. I believe that might have also been a larger part of the problem for me the last time I tried this method.

After basting this quilttop, I felt soooo much better - Like I had actually accomplished something .. and while I was basting my mind was working away on my kitty border issue. They resolved themselves in the back of my mind. I printed out my quilting motifs, grabbed the sullivan's and started to plot. I realized that i couldn't try the appliquilt on this quilt after I had laid all the templates out as it would make it to busy i think. I have the whole quilt covered with a sea scene and I just think that that would be overkill. If you look, you can see the seaweed and fish in the bottom left corner, 2 bigger fish swimming around, shells in the corners and waves and shells for the borders. I really don't think that I want to add anything else to this .. that does disappoint me tho as I would have liked to tried that method, but there'll be other opportunities - if not, I'll create them :D

Now for the borders on my kitty quilt; I was at the point where I was just going to do all fish and be done with it. I did NOT want to do paper piecing, nor particularly applique at this point. I am so bloody close, that I want the top DONE NOW. well I almost short changed myself, but something kept me from doing so .. I have come up with what I think is going to be the perfect finish to this quilt .. All i'm going to say right now is it involves fish, meeces (appliqued) and kitties. Oh and it will involve math LOLOLOL But i'm feeling better about everything right now - borders are under control, Seascape is just about done .. I think that I'm going to see about using up the scraps that Joy sent me along with some other fabrics I have here and doing a scrappy binding.. I think that just might be the perfect finish to it

Border Dilemma / sea critters

Now the fun part .. i have decided that i want my border to be 3" wide for the fish and mice .. not going to do the other things (milk jug, yarn) as i really do NOT want to do more paper piecing. So, I have a rotary cut pattern and I can speed piece for the fish .. just need to find one for the mice .. the fish are 3x3 which is VERY good - spot on!! heh .. here's where the torture comes in .. do I want to do these with kitty fabric or other fabric .. i know i wanted JUST the kitties to be made with kittie fabric and the highlight of the quilt - The more I think of it, the more I am not inclined to use my kitty fabric for the border critters. They aren't kitties!! okay .. i'm off the rack .. sort of .. what colours :S .. heh .. just kidding, i'll likely go traditional colours for them .. but we'll just have to see what speaks to me - I guess I've resolved this now .. I love my blog .. LOL

I've also got another project brewing :D. The quilttop that Joy made for me has spoken to me. That's going to be a sea floor scene :D .. I have some really cute sea motifs that I am going to quilt on it; seaweed with a fish poking out, shells, and a larger fish, as well as appliquéing (appliquilt maybe?? see i told you i was inspired!) with various sea critters on it .. I have to decide on exactly what critters I want before I do the motif. I'm thinking of an octopus, a crab and a seahorse. I can' put them on with embroidery floss over the quilting motifs. I can't wait to get started on this, but I have to baste the quilt first. I'll be doing that tomorrow - this should do up SUPER quick! I can't wait to get going on this one

Crawless, pinless basting method ...

First of all my apologies for the bad pictures .. my camera hasnt been focusing consistently for the past week and I'm unsure as to why .. thinking it's the cheapy rechargeables that I put in there ..

Today I tried Sharon Schambers hand basting method with moldings .. it worked very well, but I had some rookie challenges and mistakes with it .. first and foremost the curved needle is essential. What allowed Sharon in the video to keep her sandwich flat was the curved needle. I had a curved needle from my mum's stuff, but it was for canvas and sails and by the time I discovered this, I had already gotten the quilt and backing wrapped on the boards and didn't want to stop ;) Besides what on earth was I going to do with 7' of wrapped top and backing!?!?!? But I will have one for kyle's quilt. I started with a shorter needle and that made the across stitches narrow and the needle hard to grab .. i poked myself more than I care to think about .. my fingers are still sore. Then I went hunting and found a longer needle - that made it MUCH easier to do. I wanted to watch the video again, to refamiliarize myself with it, but stupid dial up GRRRRR .. it kept getting hung on this one spot .. didn't help that I was trying to drag the progress bar ahead to see if it was at that spot.. so it was my fault ..

Because I didn't have a curved needle, I had a problem with my backing shifting - also I recyced an old blanket instead of using batting so it didn't stick like it normally would. Money is really tight for us right now, so recycling is the only way to go .. it's what they did in the old days to get that last bit of life from their blankets and whatnot .. so I'm good with it :D This is about halfway through, I can see where the shifting has caused me some problems, but since I am aware of them all I have to do when quilting is give the back a wee tug and it'll be fine .. I do that as I go along anyways ever since I sewed the backing to the backing and had to take out over half my quilting stitches .. was that a hard lesson learned! Also, twit for brains here didn't iron the backing .. heh .. i'll never learn LOL To excited I guess .. i've really been looking forward to doing this and didn't take a quick breath to think before I started.


Sharon also suggested using short thread lengths with this stitch only to keep arm comfort and not to strain yourself .. for me, I would just get into the groove and I would have to stop .. so I started using much longer thread and had a really long tail .. her quilter's knot also challenged me .. but when I stopped switching it to my right hand after it was wrapped I did fine. This went VERY fast and I had this top basted in about 2 - 3 hours with breaks. Normally I would still be crawling around on the floor .. I could still see this being done with pins if you wanted, but you'll have to find your own comfort zone .. I'll try this for a few more quilts and see if I don't get better at it .. I kept catching my fingers in the threads as I was smoothing the quilt top working the shifting backing back to where it was .. Now when I use blankets again, I might use one of those HUGE binder clips to keep the back stationary while basting and move them when I do the next section. I will do this method again - my back is fine and I can go ahead and prolly do another quilt - go ahead and try that while crawling around on the floor .. I don't think so LOL I also had some problems with the top of the quilt wanting to slide off the table .. towards the end, so this area when much slower .. now, if i had put my cutting mat under the sammich instead of just the table, I bet that it wouldn't have shifted so much on me .. man i'm such a twit! I've only got two cutting mats!! Next quilt .. Next quilt .. bet it won't shift at all then!!

This is a MUCh easier way to do basting .. curved needle essential!! try it, you'll LOVE it!! Keep an open mind and give yourself a few times to work this method before tossing it off if it doesn't go as planned .. hopefully you can learn from my mistakes or rather challenges ;)

Okay now hopefully 3 kitty blocks, and 2 swap blocks .. have fun!!

Quiltish Day

After suffering from a funk yesterday and a lack of desire to quilt (actually cut, I had nothing cut out), I started late in the day .. I wanted to make blocks for the scrappy swap .. I noticed that with me cutting right on the line, my blocks were coming in around 12 ¹/4" and that just wasn't good enough for a swap . home use - sure .. but not a swap .. these ladies are expecting my best and accurate work and they deserve to get it. what's a few more orphan blocks .. it's not like I'll never not have them LOL. What I did was have my lines just on the fabric side of the marks and cut from there .. that took care of the problem . it was like ¹/16th", but it was enough over several seams to make a difference .. what made me think of this was during a discussion on scant seams, that came up as a method for dealing HST - so I thought - why not .. i can't send the blocks like this .. tried it and worked .. I was having my marks right at the edge of the fabric .. and they were coming up short ..

I did do 4 blocks today .. 2 will be sent and 2 will stay here .. I grabbed some patterns off mccallsquilting.com for these blocks and they turned out perfectly .. I'm tickled pink (heh) and red with how well they look! I can't post images as we've all agreed to be surprised by what shows up in the mail .. makes it more exciting that way.

I went out and got the wood trim to try Sharon's Schamber's hand basting technique. I'm pretty tired today and I'm not sure I have the energy to do this right now, but there is always tomorrow. I'm looking forward to trying this and can't wait to start .. will have to be done at my kitchen table as it is wide enough to accommodate these 8' lengths of wood trim :O

Update on my kitty quilt

I had to add another piece of flannel to my design wall as with 2 projects going, i was constantly take blocks off and on .. as I put it up there I realized that my kitty quilt might be bigger than planned. I didn't take into a account the printing size difference on a mac with pc designed templates and pp patterns. bah .. I used to be able to do that conversion in my head without thinking about it - now i have to constantly remind myself to remember it and I forget (@@). This quilt isn't designed on the traditional format so I do have a lot of flexibility - I didn't jam all the blocks next to each other as I wanted an illusion of floating kitties and would fill the spaces with yard, mice, spools, milk jugs, and blank spaces. I was just picking and choosing whatever block appealed to me .. my top row is shy 2 blocks, both out of the Cat's Meow pattern book so I'll do those next, then do all the patterns from the internet. That should give me a better idea how much room I am going to have to play with. Also what might work in my favour is the fact that there is a set of 3 blocks (12x12) that I'm not going to use now; that will likely balance the space I'm losing - paws crossed

cats n scraps

Today I managed to get 2 more kitty blocks done .. well almost done .. I won’t be able to totally finish these blocks until they get into the quilt itself .. the heads and tails overlap on neighbouring blocks .. kinda cute me thinks! These blocks have the kitties appliqued on the background fabric .. I cheated and did machine applique using a blind stitch. One of the kitties has bright novelty fabric and the other just has novelty and country fabric in it .. Out of the 6 blocks that i did, these were the least frustrating out of all of them .. matter of fact I really didn’t have that much of a problem with these at all.

After I finished these kitties, I worked on blocks for the red, pink and white scrappy swap that I’m in .. I really like the blocks! I was working on this one; All Hallows Variation and it turned out really nice .. a few issues with corners as there are half square triangles, but nothing major .. just a few adjustments in what I was doing .. but when I got the one done as the pattern calls for, then I did the next one scrappy and cutting the square first, I decided to measure them .. ended up with 12“ unfinished .. this swap calls for 12 1/2 .. I’m wondering if I’m that off .. I remeasured my seam the other day and I’m a scant 1/4” so I’m not sure what’s going on .. I’ve asked my list if they are having the same problem. I do have Around the Block by Judy Hopkins, so I know I can find a block in there ..

what i’m planning on doing is 8 blocks to swap .. I have no idea what blocks I’ll get back as you can use any block you want to .. so I was going to send out 8 different blocks .. maybe 4 and have the buddies here . not sure what i’m going to do .. but in any case, I’ll have the twin-ish for what is sent in ;)

During a discussion on our list the topic of crawling around on your hands and knees to baste a quilt came up; someone sent me a link on how to baste, with no tape, without crawling around on the floor, and no dead back .. you use trim or mouldings .. check it out .. hand basting

I did manage to get our component cabinet put together today .. only had to back up twice i think .. looks great not having all the stuff stacked .. altho poor shadow can’t sit on the satellite box now LOL .. poor kitty