Studio Time Found

But first I must share the fabric I bought at the quilt show in Atlanta last weekend.  These are half yard pieces of batik that may be used for owl blocks.







And my coolest purchase was this basket.  The maker put that stick in the handle and I immediately saw that it would make a great binding basket.  The lady that makes them is not a quilter and really liked my idea.  Since I already had the binding ready for the quilt on the frame I was very excited to see that my idea will work. 












Then I got busy and finished the blocks for the backing of my Funky Chicken top.

















 Next, while shopping for something else, I found this fabric, on sale, that I believe will be perfect for the rest of the backing.  I am hoping I will be able to get this put together next week, I just have to plan it out.








Then I returned to the HQ to see if I could get this quilt finished.  



















When I last left the frame it was breaking thread both from the cone and from the bobbin.  I spent quite a while playing with both tensions until I finally got them to work together.












So I was back to quilting and now only have 1 1/2 rows to go.  I find that if I quilt only one row and then go on to other things I get several things done, just not as fast.  And, I don’t get bored.








So I put together this month’s owl.  Right now he is on wax paper but later this week he will be on the background fabric.  I still need to start stitching these owls down before I get too far behind on them.










I also drew and cut the fusible for the latest teapot BOM.  Right now I am auditioning fabrics so I have nothing more to show here.











The last thing I worked on so far this week is this pillow for DH.  He picked out this fabric and said he wanted a pillow so a pillow he is getting.  He doesn’t read my blog so it is easy to talk about it here. 

I did finish one other project but can’t show it yet.  I had a great idea for Mother’s Day this year that involved printing.  Well, my printer decided to not print red and it has taken me all this time to get it to do what I wanted.  Yesterday I finally got it to work and today I completed my project.  Mother does read my blog so I can’t say what I was making but it will be in the mail tomorrow and should be with her on her birthday, Monday.

Well, that has been my week so far.  I’ll probably nap for the rest of the week. 

Mostly on the Road

Starting on Thursday we were mostly on the road.  We drove to Atlanta Thursday afternoon and spent a great evening with our oldest son, his wife and his youngest son.  We had dinner at the Cracker Barrel and were there almost 2 hours, talking and laughing, until the sirens went off.  Seems that the storm, which we were not paying any attention to, was spawning tornados.  Fortunately for us none came where we were but there were others in the Atlanta area that were not so fortunate.

Then Friday morning we got up and went to the quilt show put on by the Cobb County Quilt Guild.  It was in the Civic Center and the quilt show was laid out on the lower floor.  Oh, my, what a wonderful display of quilting.  I didn’t take too many pictures because I plan to buy the DVD, but we did spend a lot of time looking.  And the guild had a lot of their members there to help with information and lifting up the quilts so we could see the backs and the quilting even better. 



This was one of my favorites: it was done from a photo.










And both DH and I liked this one because it reminded us of our great grandson when he was playing T-Ball this Spring.

In the area above the show itself (see top photo again) that runs around the whole room, were the vendors.  Well, DH sat down while I worked my way around all of them.  I had a great time and spent a little bit of money.  I will be getting pictures of my finds for Wednesday’s post.

By early afternoon we were tired and hungry so we left.  We were initially going to try to find an antique mall but after following one highway until it “dead ended” with no re-routing us to stay on the highway, we decided to get back on the interstate and head for home.  Of course we did find an antique mall (read $$) just inside Alabama so we had a good time traveling as well as the quilt show.
Saturday DH picked up our eye ailing puppy (she was boarded with the vet) and then we hit the road again.  One of the major stores in Pensacola was having a suit sale and since DH hasn’t had a new suit in over 20 years we decided it was about time.


While there we tried out a new, to us, place called Cheddars.  Well, this is their spinach ‘n cheese dip and it is wonderful.  The red stuff is salsa which DH loves and he said it is the best he has had.




Then came Shepherd's Pie.  He had never had it before and said it was great.











I had a grilled salmon steak, broccoli casserole, and an apple salad, all of which was delicious.
We did not try to have any dessert: way too full.




Then it was suit shopping.  I don’t pick out his clothes nor do I voice much of an opinion.  I feel he needs to like what he is wearing as well as feel comfortable.  He, on the other hand, feels I should be more involved.  Funny man.




We also picked up supplies for me to make new cushions for our porch swing.









And this is the fabric I bought for the cushions.  I do have to say that I have never made cushions before but that is on my project list for June/July.














But first things first.  Sunday I finally got into the studio and did some sewing.    On the Design Wall are the 5 barn blocks for the Funky Chicken top.  Only one is complete: the other four have most of the parts done.  I didn’t get through because I started to make sewing mistakes so I decided it was time to stop before I really screwed it up. 



I spent about 20 min. in the pool to de-stress and then DH and I went to DD’s house for a seafood dinner prepared by our DSIL.  He is a great cook so we love being invited over.

Today is laundry day but I hope to get the barn blocks finished so I can figure out what fabric will go with them to make a great back for my chickens.  Then I hope to figure out my thread breaking problem on the HQ and get the current quilt on the frame done.  Oh, and did I say I am also moving furniture on the deck?  Going to the quilt show has really inspired me in so many directions.  Whew, I’m tired already.

Everything Except Quilting/Sewing

Well, except for these little blocks.  These are the sides for the next 4 barns.




And here are all of the pieces for those barns. 







I didn’t get to start sewing them: it seems that there was very little “studio time” this week.  Every time I thought I had time to play in there I would get a call from DH saying he was coming home early and inviting me to go to lunch, go for a swim, and/or to do some shopping.  It’s a good thing we enjoy each other’s company.

We will be doing some visiting for the next two days so I’ll be doing some barn raising on Saturday.  Hope the rest of your week will be as much fun as we plan to have.

Barns and Blocks

There is something new on my design wall.  As I have said before, I am planning a stripe of barns for the backing of the Funky Chickens quilt.




So this is block 1.  It is 6” and I am using leftovers from a quilt called Going Dotty.








This is block 2.











And today this will be block 3.  With any luck I will have two more made before the end of the day and will be able to begin cutting the barn fabric.










I got this one block done so I could see how they went together.  It didn’t take me long to remember the reason I haven’t made houses or barns before.  Lots of little fiddly parts.  But now that I have one done I will do the last 4.  I think I will cut all the fabric and chain piece them.  But I still have not decided what fabric I am going to put on either side of the barn strip.








I did “have” to go on a fabric hunting trip.  I only had one barn roof fabric and I wanted a different roof on each barn.  It took visiting 3 different stores to find these but I am very happy with them.







And, of course, while shopping for roof fabric, I happened upon these two fabrics.   The first is a newspaper fabric featuring cats.  DH saw it and decided he needed a pillow made from this fabric.  I told him I would “right on it.”


I got the brown fabric for two projects.  Of course it will find itself on an owl at some time but first it will be 3 gingerbread men for a BOM I hope to start this week.





I don’t know if you can see this but we have had better than 4 1/2” of rain this past week and I can say that everything is really green around here.  The rain has also kept the temps below normal, perfect times for sitting on the deck and reading.  It is a wonder that I got any sewing done at all.





Today we have an appointment with the vet.  Seems one of our dogs has an ulcer on her eye.  We have been doctoring it all weekend and today we will find out if our efforts have paid off.  If not she will have to have surgery.  However, if she is better we have more fun plans.  We have been planning a trip to Atlanta to visit the Cobb County Quilt Show.  Wish us luck, either way.

Have a great week!  Gari

Slow Week

I think I have given up on being productive.

I did get the fish #6 from the FatCatPatterns.com BOM.  It really is fun to pull them all out and then look for different and yet coordinating fabrics. 





And don’t you just love that mouth?  I think I remember seeing that pout on at least one of my children when they were young. 

This fish won’t be appliqued down until at least August so in the box he goes for an at least 2 month sleep.



I also drew all the pieces for the next owl BOM but decided to wait to choose the fabric until next week.


Here is what I will be working on this weekend.  It doesn’t look like much, does it?  But this stack is of 5 paper pieced blocks all printed with the fabrics lying on top of each.  All I have to do is cut the paper pieces apart and sew the fabric on to them.  I still need to hunt up the roof fabric for the barns which I have decided means a fabric hunting trip.

After getting everything ready to work in the studio this morning, DH decided we should head for Pensacola to check off some errands that require a visit to the “big city.” 

Our first stop was Navarre Beach, where we used to live and had planned to stay when we retired.  See those waves.  We only get them when there is a tropical storm or hurricane in the Gulf.




You can’t see them here but out in those waves are surfers.  There are a lot of them around here but they rarely get a chance to surf in big waves.  The important thing to realize is that Andrea was over 250 miles away and yet she was really churning up our beach.




And I can now say that Summer has truly started.  Here I am under our Mimosa tree which has started to bloom. 








All of the flowers are way up high right now but soon they will be all over the tree.  I really do love this tree and look forward to it leafing out every year. 

Now I am off to get a little rest so I can be ready for a full day of stitching tomorrow. 

It’s June Already!

This is the only thing on my Design Wall this morning.  He is Block 4 of the FatCatPatterns BOM.  He is much larger than the previous owls so was much easier to put together.  However since he was last month’s block, I still have one more owl to do this month to be caught up.










This is a picture of my next project.  I have decided to use these barns for part of the backing for my Funky Chickens.  The current plan is to make five (they are 14” finished”) and will be the center of the back.  I will make the 6” blocks for the barn sides and then the barns themselves.  My barns, I think, will be gray (weathered) and the quilt blocks will be bright, like the chickens.  At least that is the plan right now.









What I mostly have been doing is the quilting on this. 

















I continue to be impressed with this panto.














And how great these flowers look with the flowers in the fabric.











The little bit of actual sewing I got done this weekend was to get the binding ready for this quilt.  I really like to have it waiting when a quilt comes off the frame so I can get it finished right away. 






Today I have laundry, pool cleaning, and computer work (this post, draw barn blocks in EQ, EQ drawing lesson #2, and grocery list prep) to do plus grocery shopping before I can find my way back to the studio.  Wish me luck in getting it all done so I can play. 

I’ll be linking up with Patchwork Times and What A Hoot.