Starting another mystery

This mystery starts tomorrow but I won't be able to sew on it until after work. Did just finish up the pre-sewing of the mystery. Doing the lap/twin size that calls for 288 2½" HST's! Ouch. But they are finally all cut, sewn, ironed and squared up ... whew. Here are the fabrics I got at Joann's for the mystery. The lady was just putting out Valentine fabric and I fell in love with the doggie material! So went a searching for others that might go with this focal material ... lol lol lol Found some dog bones, some paw prints, some dalmation like dotted, and a gorgeous, to die for black!

Here's a picture of all those tiny HST's. If I wanted to turn this into a full/queen size then it would require 300 more of these!!! Think I will stick with the lap/twin. 288 is enough for me, can't imagine doing 588 of them!!! Oh, the pic got a portion of the 8½" X 24" Omnigrid, non slip ruler I got for Christmas. Am going to enjoy this ruler! Green in color. Will have to get used to that since all the other rulers I have are either a yellowish or clearish color.

Side note on Bonnie's mystery: Was working on it, my litte Blossom came down sick and with vet, surgery, hospital stay ($2,500 in all) I kind of lost interest. She is doing well now. Know she is 10 years old and that was a lot of money (at least for poor old working fool like me) but want her around for as long as the Good Lord lets me. Did do some on the mystery, though. Quite a bit actually, but I peeked ahead, shame on me! Bonnie does some fantastic patterns, but, this one didn't really suit me. Either that or the colors I picked just didn't work out well. Soooooooo ... will just wait until she posts another mystery ... ha

Later on update ... lol Just finished cutting out the rest of the clues for the mystery tomorrow. Hoping this will turn out pretty neat. The designer is Ann Smith. She has some nice patterns from what I've seen. Her last one I saved. Never got around to it yet. Still kind of picking out fabrics for it. Have the focus fabric but not all the other to go with it.

Okay, off I go. Work tomorrow so have to get up early. Will certainly start sewing when I get home!

Starting Bonnie's mystery

Here's the fabric I picked out for Bonnie's new mystery, Carolina Christmas. Started the day after Thanksgiving. Clue 2 is up and I still haven't finished with clue 1 ... lol Drat work, gets in my way of having sewing fun at home. Oh, Thanksgiving day hub complained about the tons of unwashed material on top of dryer. Said for me not to buy any more until I could find a place for what I have or to use some of it up. After a serious "silence" time and after smoothing my ruffled feathers I guess you can say I agree with him. There is way too much here in this tiny trailer. My goal for 2010 is to use up what I have. Okay, some purchases along the way, going to buy white with small print and cream with small print. This way sooner or later I will have some to put in one of Bonnie's mysteries. Gives the quilt some depth and it looks P U R T Y ... hahaha Oh, and still have to buy some batiks here and there and still keep buying for my pinks collection that I've been working on for some years. One day going to do a pink and brown quilt! UMMM ... since I have to buy this and that, does this mean I will have less of a stash? (EG) :) :) :)

Will post pic of clue 1 when and if I get it all done.

Oh! And next month will be doing an Ann Smith mystery. This is what got me in trouble. Saw a pretty damn cute Valentine doggie and cat fabric at Joann's and had to get it, plus had to look around for some fabrics that went with it that will go in the mystery. AND then saw some bird fabric that I grabbed and growled over. Oh and then at the check out line a magazine caught my eyeballs. Geeeeeezzzzzz Louise, keep me out of Joann's!!! Especially when I don't have a blasted coupon with me.

The Mini from He** is done ...

Finished this Carol Doak mini late last night. FINALLY. Anything and everything that could go wrong ... DID. It was Sept. 4th when she posted the challenge. Liked the looks of it so went to Joann's and got some of the fabrics I didn't have in stash. I have cussed at and pushed this mini aside quite a few times, let me tell you! At least it is done. Think I will "birth" it, that is when I find out how to birth one. Don't care for my choice of colors or fabrics, so don't want to spend too much time in getting it completely done.

Day 2 continued ... :)

Can't believe it ... already finished with section E and F!!! This day is good, getting on in the evening, but this day is good ... haha Pups food has been cooked and I even have a load of washing in the washer.

Not sure of my fern colors. Seems pale and hardly noticeable against that darn sky fabric. Oh, well, onward and upward. I sure ain't a gonna do over again.

Back to sewing I goooooooooo



9:19pm ... it's all done! WOW ... amazed myself. Now to see what kind of border I can come up with for it. Really enjoyed doing this mystery. Perhaps not my fabric choices.

Shopping for some batiks next week!!! lmao!!!

Paper Piecing

Working on Paper Panache mystery #52. If you are doing it and haven't gotten to the point where you know what it is, don't look at my picture ... hahaha Downloaded the pattern late last night, colored it in to find out what it was going to be and when I saw that it was a flamingo decided to work on it. Like those long legged birdies. And pink seems to be my "new" color right now for some odd reason. Getting old and tastes change, I suppose. But I still love my browns! And just bought 4 yards of some at Wal-mart yesterday. If and when I finish this bird am hoping to start on one of Cindy Carter's patterns called Scrappy Fall Leaves. Check out her site. She is very talented and comes up with some great free patterns!!!

Off I get. Need to work some more on pinkie bird ... lol lol lol

Day 2 ... just finished doing sections C and D and adding it to sections A and B that I did last night. Progress! lol Funny looking flamingo but at least I'm working on it. Think I'm going to start buying batiks. See an awful lot of people using them and they sure can make for a great quilt. Now just watch me buy the wrong kinds when I do. This old gal has weird tastes when it comes to fabric that attracks her ... haha But I really do think batiks are the way to go. Will start out like I did years ago when I got into quilting, fat quarter here and there and work my way up to ½ yard and then into yards of it.

Back to sewing. See how much more of this I can get done.

What I got in the mail today!!!

Oh, heck, long day at work today. Was tired as all get out. Didn't have to walk home, though, boss man gave me a ride! I checked the mailbox and then went inside to greedily open two packages my sister sent me (all thoughts of being tired went out of head and body quickly!). Both packages contained some counted cross stitch pictures I had done YEARS ago. And in one of the package sis had sent me a birthday card with some $$$money$$$ wrapped up in a "bee-U-tee-full" antique hankie. I immediately called her, wanted to speak with her and thank her for what she did before I bawled like a baby. Which I promptly did after we finished talking ... haha

Anyhow, these pictures all need to be washed. Filthy! Each were in a frame, but she took them out so that it wouldn't cost a small fortune to send me. Some of the glass had been broken in a few and some of the frames scratched. I can frame them again, no biggie. Am mulling around the idea of adding a patchwork border on each and sandwiching them. Soft framing ... lol That way if they get dirty again they can go in washer. And if need to move from here to wherever they won't weigh a ton, be breakable and cost oddles of dollars to send. All of these were done back in my still young eyes days. The girl with her arm resting on her knee was done in 1987. The girl in blue dress holding hat was done in 1988. LONG time ago!

Now will get back to my silly tears and put my thinking hat on ... lmdao!!!!!!!!!!

Last night ... whaaaaaaa

Was working on a Carol Doak holiday mini last night. Just having one grand old time. Itty bitty pieces so far. 16 of the 4½" blocks that is required. Started ironing what I had added on to all the blocks. 3rd block from the last my iron spit ... NO ... let me rephrase that ... the damn iron vomited all over the block!!!!!!! I went into a temper tanrum!!! It ain't the first time over ... ummm ... 6 years? ... that this confounded, stupid, idiotic, blasted contraption has done this to me. LAST STRAW!!! I cussed, I fussed, I wept and cussed some more. NEVER again will I buy a Proctor Silex iron. Why have I put up with it all these years? Because I'm a confounded, stupid, idiotic, blasted human. And cheap one too ... haha Just look at what it did to the poor little defensless block, the muslin sheet and the ironing board cover!



Here is the GREMLIN. Named after those cute little critters ... that is until you gave them WATER.

Went shopping today after playing bingo. Got this new Shark iron at Wally world. Am hoping it will not have to be named Gremlin2. Time will tell ... haha

Have turned it on so far, not used it, just waiting to see if it shuts off or I have to unplug it after every use. Keeping fingers crossed that it will turn out to be a fairly good iron!!!

I am still around :)

I haven't posted since ... FOREVER. Was doing pretty well then my sis got sick and sent to hospital towards the end of February and almost lost her. Put a damper on being creative. Couldn't let her outdo me. I came down sick in May, fought it for nearly 2 weeks then went to see a doctor. That turkey called an ambulance and sent my fat unhappy butt to hospital for a few days. Was away from work for 3 weeks. Had pneumonia which was bad on me since they found out I also have mild emphysema. Hospital, tests, scans, doctor visits. I'll be poor for awhile since insurance doesn't cover everything. Bah hum bug. Oh, have to mention, the lung specialist that came to see me got my heart to pumping ... haha Haven't had that happen since Dr. Kildare (remember him? lol lol lol)

Anyhow ... had some good in my life. Belong to a yahoo quilt group (one of many ... haha). This lady posted a picture of her son and guess what!? He is a customer that comes in store where I work! Small world. Patty came to Washington to be with her sons new wife for a few weeks while he had to go away on business. We have gotten together and have had a blast!!! She leaves tomorrow to go back home. I am going to miss her horribly. She has been quilting since 1977 and is a wealth of quilting information! Did get hubby to take a picture of us together ... lol Patty is a total blast to get together with.

new purse :)

After work today my friend and I went to Michael's craft store. I had to use restroom. Theirs were out of order :( So went next door to Gottschalks. Awww ... felt much better ... lol Did some browsing around. Hi di ho ... found a purse! Haven't bought one in 3 years or maybe longer? Debated. Was originally $55 marked down to $40.98 and then 60% off that ... YAHOO! My friend was at register making a purchase and I debated some more. Finally decided to go for it. It is now ... MINE ... hahaha

Will definitely carry it to work tomorrow. Took some time to print out the right sized photo of the pups, but now they are inside the little photo holder of the purse. Next picture I take of them they will have to get closer together ... lol lol lol

Got the top done!!!

I ain't ever done a top in 2 days from start to finish!!! New year, new sewing machine and wow look at me go ... hahaha It is a simple pattern but even simple is complicated to me at times. Now to see how long it takes me to quilt and bind it and possible embellish it a little ... lol lol lol That is a horse of a different color. This banner top is roughly 28" x 42". Take a look see at it ... lol

Already thinking of doing one done up in pink? Purple? Oh, and yes, even my not so favorite color Blue that I seem to have plenty of for not liking the blasted color. Day dreaming. Pinch me and I might wake up and decide just to stick with the one I've done and forget about doing any more this year ... lmao!

Besides, other holidays are coming up, too, and as slow as I am I better think of doing something for them instead of doing anymore Valentine stuff.

Working on something

Knew I had been to the blog before but took forever to find it again last night. Yeah, should put stuff I may want to go back to later in history, shoot me, I didn't, but now the blog is in there ... lol It's a heart banner from
Freda's Hive. Perfect for next month and giving me a break from Doubtful Delight at the moment. Went to Aunt Mary's quilt shop today and got some black and white fabric, little of this, little of that and some border fabric that I'm hoping to use. This part worked up pretty quickly for a slow sewer like me ... haha Had to cut up the pieces and stuff so not counting that into it, it went quick. Now to make another heart block. Had thought about putting rick-rack around the heart. May buy some tomorrow and check to see how it looks.

Oh, and talk about sewing, I am definitely in love with the Pfaff I recently got!!! The Bernina still hasn't been packed up to take to get it fixed. Haven't found the time to do it or to get to the sewing place. Maybe next month? lol lol lol No biggie. Having loads of fun with the Pfaff. Got to name her. She's a keeper for sure! At least until I can get the other Pfaff ... hahaha Maybe I won't though. Time will tell. Haven't tried quilting on this one so will see how she does when the time comes.

Back to sewing. Got a little time before bed so will see how much I can get done.

A quarter? of mystery done ...

Been working on and off on Bonnie's mystery. So far have gotten a corner of it pieced ... lol Don't have much time lately to do it. Besides, those blasted 9 patches are making me procrastinate. Ain't my favorite thing to do. Picture of the corner done. Was taken on the 21st and still like this. Did sew together some of the star blocks last night ... and NO ... didn't do any of the 9 patches.

The little shelf on the side of the cutting table where I have put some of my fabric on fell! Well, one side of it did! It came loose from the wall. Guess that's what I get for trying to put more on it ... lmao! I've got to STOP buying material until I can get some of what I do have sewn and out of this house. UMM, wishful thinking on my part. Too many pretty fabrics out there ... whaaaaa

Several things ...

I WON the drawing at Paper Panache for Mystery #49! Can't believe it. I seldom win
anything ... and that includes bingo lately ... lol Last night when I saw that I nearly had a slight heart attack, let me tell you! Awhile back I posted the blocks I had made. Well I don't think I posted the finished product ... here it is: It's a sewflake block ... ha The blocks of the other ladies who entered are beautiful ones. Think I recognize a name or two from some of the groups I belong to. They always do such splendid work.

After I found out I won I went outside to smoke. Was cold out so wanted my stocking hat. Couldn't find it. I was beyond myself. It's an extremely old ratty-tatty faded hat, but one that means the world to me. Before bingo this morning went to work place and there it was. I had left it at work. Yahooo ... have my hat back again. Happy day.

And yesterday my friend Eddie and I after she picked me up from work we went to Joann's. Was in search of a 3 ½" square ruler. They didn't have it ... again! Did get 3 yards of some of the prettiest large floral fabric I have seen in a long time. Now what to do with it? Couldn't pass it up, it called out to me ... haha Has my colors in it. Love it, love it, love it. Now for a pattern that isn't too "busy" so the border fabric will show. Any suggestions out there? Would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and came to an abrupt halt on Bonnie's mystery, Double Delight, when I found out I had messed up. BUT ... think I may go ahead with the pattern. May call mine Doubtful Delight or Single Delight since my centers aren't like they should be ... hahahaha

I was bummed at the time. I did make all those little tiny blocks. So, just well not waste my time, thread or fabric used in this quilt so far. It ain't too bad. Just not what Bonnie gave us. Next time she gives us a mystery, going to read the pattern up, down, sideways and even inbetween the lines so I will have a finished project that matches the pattern ... haha

Thursday blahs ...

Last night was viewing photos in a quilt group I belong to. Lo and behold there was a Double Delight posted amongst those photos. Whaaaaaaaaaa It was a beautiful quilt top! Since I had already seen the mystery, I went and checked out Bonnie's group. Whaaaaaaaaaa ... beautiful quilts again. Then I went to Bonnie's site. Whaaaaaaaaaaaa ... hers is fantastic. My golds aren't all the same color as in ALL the other quilts! I was ready to throw in the towel, let me tell you! Was physically sick for a moment. Even wrote to the entire group about my mistake. Then I played a little free online bingo and went to bed ... lol lol lol

Tomorrow will be another day, they say. Well today is that tomorrow. Still not too thrilled with the blocks so far, putting on thinking hat. Size -X small ... little brain here. Will see what I come up with in the next few days or so. Bonnie designed one heck of a beautiful quilt. Leave it to me not to read instructions fully and to be gong ho with throwing out fabric on the table and greedily grabbing the rotary cutter.

Step 3 started but long ways of being finished ...

Step 3 of mystery: Make 130 9-patches ... ouch! Got 20 of them done today ... hahaha Slow going for me, not good at these blocks. Am pressing seams open so perhaps that slows me down a tad, too. Not sure how many more I will get done before bedtime. But I will "git er done" eventually. 130 of these are a LOT. Let me see, this is Jan., come back in late Feb. and they may be completed ... lol lol lol Bonnie used pink in her quilt (I haven't peeked at the quilt!) according to the fabric requirements. I have some pinks but oodles of red that I would like to use up. Then I could go out and buy more newer reds ... lmao!

Oh, someone asked about the peg board. Said it looked flush to the wall. It isn't. There are ½" spacers (they look like a drinking straw was cut up into pieces) in the back on each screw that helps bring it out from the wall thus allowing you to put in the hooks. It did the trick. Love that peg board!!!

Past time to feed the "pups" so off I get from here to feed them and then maybe do some more 9 patches. Don't think I will get many done tomorrow. Christmas tree and stuff comes down. I leave it up until the 13th for my brother Charles who passed away on this day six years ago. He sure did love Christmas. And I used to be nearly a fanatic about having the tree down before the new year rolled in. Habits can change due to life. Miss you Charles. Love you forever.

Got a peg board in sewing room!

Today Jimbo put up a peg board for me in the sewing room. Already full ... lol Think I need some more positioned around this room. WOW ... can't believe how much stuff I have. At least this part of it is off the cutting table! Now I won't have to spend time looking for this or that ruler. Am tickled with it. And a lot of thanks goes to the ladies at CyberQuilters! I had asked about the board and many of them replied. Thank you ladies from the bottom of my heart. Here's a picture of it. Was off a broken sheet of peg board and it is a little dirty in spots. Paint will take care of that. Will do it when weather is nicer outside. Like a couple of more months ... lol lol lol

Still working on Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. Finished up step 2 the other night. Went to Joann's today and got some more reds for it. And also looked for a 3½" square ruler. NOPE, they were all out! Grrrrrrrrrrr But did pick up some Fons&Porter directional arrow pins. They should come in handy enough.

Step 1 of the mystery. Had to do 120 square in square blocks. It was a struggle at first. Am used to paper piecing this kind of block. But I am wanting to learn more on how to do machine piecing so labored away at these blocks. Was to use the Easy Angle ruler to cut the triangles. Well, I couldn't find the blasted ruler so gave up looking and cut them the regular way. Made life twice as hard for me as I was later to find out. Not only did I have to make a crease ½ way to lay the first 2 side triangles had to make it again with the last 2 triangles. Now I can find that ruler and any other I have thanks to that peg board ... hahaha

Step 2 of the mystery. Same as step one (another 120 blocks) but with gold/cheddar center and all the triangles are done in same color. By this time I had finally found the elusive Easy Angle. Wow ... blocks went so much faster!!! Squaring up in 1 and 2 I had to do my way with the Omnigrid ruler. Bonnie said to sqaure them up with the Easy Square, Jr. I tried but never got the hang of it. I sure do use the Jr. though to square up ½ square triangle blocks! Wouldn't know what to do without it when making those blocks.

Happy Belated New Year!!!

Time has gotten out of hand. Way behind in posting. Whew, glad the holidays are over!!! Christmas was okay. Had to work, though. So got up EARLY to open gifts before heading off to the job. Got 5 quilt books (which I ordered or bought way before Christmas ... lol ... but didn't look inside). 3 Judy Martin books - 1. Cookies 'n' Quilts, 2. The Creative Pattern Book and 3. Scraps.

Then the other 2 are Woven Quilts by Anna Faustino and A New Twist on Strips 'n Curves by Louisa L. Smith.

Also got a new digital camera which I took the pictures of the books and you can see I still need to learn how to use this new camera ... haha Had the old one for so long and this new one is more complicated. At my age complicated isn't fair.

Oh! And the last day of December a Sew and Vac place was having a gigantic sale on some sewing machines. Guess what I got!?!?! A PAFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not all that fancy of one, but one that should last for some time. It's a Quilt Expression 2046. Been doing some sewing on it. Working on a Bonnie Hunter's New Year mystery quilt called Double Delight. So ........ will be doing LOTS of blocks with the machine ... haha

And I also got some thread and needles while at the sewing place.