Owl Month

At least that’s what it seems like around here.  And what fun I have had.


This is what I worked on for the last two days.





I drew all the little pieces and cut them out












Three owls and lots of pieces.  I had them in separate baggies so they wouldn’t get mixed up.









Then out came the layout plan.









And I started putting them together.  With almost every piece I found my smile getting bigger and bigger.








And now I have three owl blocks done.  I know that I have at least one more that I haven’t done and possibly two so I am really behind on this BOM. 

The hardest part of this BOM is picking the fabrics.  In my mind the owls will be mostly brown but I want each owl/block to be different.




I also have gotten this embroidery/applique done.  This picture shows the tiger sewn on the shirt back and half of the background clipped away.  Since the picture was taken it is finished and packed away for the summer.






This is my picture of Summer.  I bought this gardenia plant at Walmart 5 years ago.  The first winter we had freezing weather and I was sure it was dead.  It has come back a little more each year but until now it has only had one or two blooms a year.  Now, all of a sudden, it is blooming like crazy and, wow, does it smell good. 








As of today we are cat/kitten free.  It has been quite a job moving four adult and 5 feral kittens out but they are finally gone.  The only problem we are seeing is that our dogs are bored when out on the deck.  They were used to chasing the cats and/or watching them through the spaces between the deck boards.  Now there is nothing and they just wander around and occasionally bark at a bird.  But on the other hand it is peaceful for us as the deck is a great reading space.  And, if someone has to be happy it needs to be the two of us.

Tomorrow I will finish the pool opening ready for a fun Memorial Day weekend.  We are a little behind because we had some really cool nights earlier this month.  It seemed to take a little more time for the water to warm up enough for me to get into it but now we are ready for rest and relaxation floating in the water.



Today was our great grandson’s last day of pre-K.  It is so hard to believe he is old enough to be going into Kindergarten in just 2 months.  He has been in a wonderful program that has him well prepared for his next few years in school.  We are all so proud of him.

And now we are ready for the rest of the week.  DH is teaching summer school and I have a to do list that should keep me busy.  Yea!

Applique Weekend

This was my weekend to try to catch up on BOM blocks that needed appliqueing. 
 
It is too bad that the gold thread doesn’t show how it shines, it really makes this teapot look fancy.










I am doing the blanket stitching on all the teapots.











This teapot really has dark purple thread even though it looks like black or blue.










I love how the stitching makes it looks so 3-D.












I also started on this teapot but had to stop for dinner and didn’t get back to it. 











But I know it is still waiting for me when I get back in there tomorrow morning.












In addition I did the applique on two fish.  For these I do a small zig-zag with invisible thread (Superior Monopoly).














I am all caught up on this BOM, and a week and a half before the next one came out.











One more BOM thing.  I am now two months behind on the Owl BOM.  I got all caught up with the Tired Owl so the other’s had to wait.  But now that he is done and hanging on the door I can get back to business.

I will be linking up with Patchwork Times  and What a Hoot Quilts.

Have a great week,  Gari

Opps

I seem to have gotten lost on my way to the studio.  I wasn’t in there for 5 days.  Some of my time was spent either on the hammock or the deck swing, reading.  Other parts were spent on the road with DH.  He had to drive 80 miles to buy a Nook HD one day and another 35 miles the next day to get a Mellow Mushroom pizza.  It’s funny but it is really hard to sew anything when you are on the road a lot.

I thought all the driving was over when this happened.



He had taken my car in for an oil change and came home with a new car for himself.  And, of course, we immediately had to take it for a spin, 50 miles for a taco pizza.










However, I finally made it into the studio today.







And this is what I accomplished.


















It was lots of fun doing different quilting on different parts of the owl and background.















And I used 5 different threads.  The funnest part of this little quilt is how much he looks like me, well his eyes do.










See those eyes?  They are my mother’s eyes and I have always called them “tired eyes” because they seem half closed.  I remember when my eyes opened wide but now it is just not happening.  And it is even worse when I am tired.  So now you can see why I was so excited when Denise previewed this owl.



Tomorrow I will work on getting him bound and up on the bedroom door.  Whoopee!!  Another finish for May.

Mid-Week Musings

Yesterday the focus of cleaning was this table.  Well, to be entirely truthful, it was only on this end of the table.  As you can see, the pile is almost as tall as the machine.







But look at it now.  And everything that has been moved has either found a proper home or has been thrown away.












I did finish the scrappy log cabin top so it has been put on the “to be quilted” rack.  Of course I still need to make a backing and binding for it but that is for another day.











I finished the fusing on Fishy #5.  I now have three fused so I will be putting the applique stitching on the “to do“ list.

Oh, and did you notice my new cutting mat?  It is yellow on the other side but I decided that purple brightens up the room.










I drew the pieces for Teapot #10.












And then I got to play with fabric, again.  I now have 4 teapots that need the applique stitching so I guess my machine is going to be humming pretty soon.




But not today.  Although I plan to be back in the studio this morning my primary focus will be to pull out some pantographs to take to chat with some new to longarming friends.  People are always asking for ideas on how to choose easy pantos to learn on.  I have been part of the Urban Elementz club since it started and have lots and lots of examples of easy, relatively easy, and “what were they thinking” pantos to use as examples.  We will also be helping one lady learn to use her Red Snappers.

Back to this morning……if I get my pantos picked out early enough I am hoping to be able to do a little quilting on my owl.  I have some ideas of some of the quilting I would like to do on him so I need to get a move on. 

The cord to my computer died yesterday so I am having to work on battery power.  I am unplugging DH’s computer every once in a while so I can recharge.  This is not fun at all!!!  And, as I look up, I see the wind-up clock has run down, too.  Maybe it is just that this old girl is running down?  Oh, say it isn’t so.     Gari

Progress On All Fronts

How’s this for a bright quilt?  I figure that any little kid would love a bright, colorful quilt like this.  And guess what!  That border fabric is some I “found” in my cleaning.  It has all the same colors as the sashing fabric but MUCH BRIGHTER. 
As for the cleaning, I found that I get distracted pretty easily.  I worked all day Wednesday and got the the cutting table completely cleaned off and everything on it either put in it’s place or thrown away.  The before and after can be seen here.
Thursday I found that I just had to get a new cutting mat so I was out of town all day.
Friday and Saturday I again was in the studio, cleaning. 


This is the top of the cedar chest that sits next to my chair where I do most of my hand work and also take breaks.  It was piled high with magazines, fabric, fabric scraps, and a bunch of other “junk.”  Now it has places for the handwork as well as open spaces for my coffee cup. 




And would you believe there is a couch under there?  Just before I took this picture there wasn’t even that seat showing but DH came in to visit and cleared it for himself. 




Now it is empty with a spot for magazines and even a quilt. 









One of the things I realized was that I felt the need to play with my fabrics.

So I pulled all my batiks from the very messy shelf and refolded it.  Look how easy it is to do when the cutting table is clean.









Look at these very neat piles of folded beauty.






And here they are again in their new home. 

My batiks are now living right next to my sewing machines where I can see them while I sew even when I am not sewing batiks.




But I did do some sewing this week.  I finally got the binding on Henrietta and





And it is finally on the wall.  Funny thing, DH hasn’t even noticed that it is on the wall.  But I know it and love seeing it up there.








Other projects I worked on were:

I drew and prepped the applique fusible for the Fish BOM.  Later this week I will choose the fabric. 









And I am getting ready to correct an embroidery mistake.  This is the back of a denim jacket where the tiger did not sew out correctly.  It was a difficult design that messed up dramatically.




This  is the practice sew out.  I am going to applique it onto the jacket back.






The cleaning is going to continue.  I seem to actually be doing this on an every other day basis so at that rate will have about 1 1/2 weeks to go.   Hopefully after that I will keep up with it…….LOL.

Linking up with Patchwork Times and What a Hoot.

May 1st….Let the Cleaning Begin

By 8:30 this morning I was in the studio to begin the GREAT CLEANING.  I walked in and ………..  froze.  What a big job lay before me.


I had already decided that the first task was to find the cutting table.










But looking at it I wasn’t sure it could be done in only one day.









Every square inch was covered with the debris of projects that have been completed, are still in the works, and/or are being looked at for future works.

One of the things I had decided was that I needed to find places for everything that I was going to keep so it wasn’t just cleaning but also organizing. 









I worked, took short breaks, went out for lunch and worked some more and finally…..




I finished with this.  I knew I would need this space open so that I can use it for sorting and organizing of all the junk stuff I will be going through the rest of the week.  However, I do plan on this table looking like this at the end of each day




I finished around 5 and then spent a little time sewing the binding on Henrietta.  I didn’t get it quite finished because DH called me to dinner and I felt I had earned the pizza we were having. 
Oh, well, tomorrow is another day.

Scraps and Quilting

Moving right along.  Every time I got tired of quilting on Henrietta I would work on these blocks.  Now they are done and I have begun adding the sashing. 
















And, Henrietta is quilted  (earlier individual blocks can be seen here).







When I had all that empty space it was really hard to not quilt feathers.  Funny thing is that once I learned how to quilt them I want to put them on everything. 

I did little freemotion shingles on the roof and curtains on the windows. 



















And this is the last block.  I put a vine of leaves, lots of different leaves, to go with the acorn. 
Today I hope to get the binding on so it can get hung before the end of the month.




Lots of people have been making lists of UFOs, WIPs, etc., but I don’t because I hate to feel pushed by my project friends.  However, what has happened is that they, along with scraps, have taken over my studio and there is no space to work anymore. 

So…..on May 1st I am taking a week long break from sewing/quilting and I am going to devote my time to cleaning. 

Part of my plan is to relocate all non-quilting fabrics to free-up space for quilting stash.  If I get a lot done, I think I will put in some time sorting my scraps. 

I will be linking up with Patchwork Times so everyone can see all the wonderful work quilters around the world are working on.

Have a great week,  Gari