Category Archives: Quilting

Hello to the middle of December

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Terri | 2 comments

They say time flies when you’re having fun, and right now, except for one tiny glitch, I can say that’s true.

I have been very productive with needle and thread, both at the sewing machine and in hand.

Yesterday was one of my twice-monthly sew-togethers with my local group and I worked mainly on my Bonnie Hunter Step 3 4-patches.

Here’s my progress photos to date.

Part 1: 221/221
Part 2: 100/100
Part 3: 10/168

Today should see the finish of my purple 4-patches.

When I’m caught up on my Parts, I am cutting/preparing for the Midnight Flight class I’m taking next month. There is a class info sheet that tells us how much to bring to class (instead of enough for a whole quilt) so I’ve been pulling fabrics and cutting. I am taking more than I need so I can hopefully swap some with other attendees. I have my constant red cut, and changed the orange to a yellow. I’m also not including any purple and using blues only. I think I may be buying a couple of 1/4 cuts before then as I’d like a little more royal to go with my navy.

As to my stitching, I know I said in my last post that I was going to do a separate post about my Year of WIPs Challenge status, but I think instead of spending more time on this computer writing a post, I’ll just do a photo update in my dedicated tab up top. I am still loving the 10 hour rotation with the focus being on Houses of Hawk Run Hollow. I am now spending less time stitching than before, but I knew that was going to happen so chose the number of WIPs accordingly. So far I think I made great choices. The bit success right now is that I finished And They Sinned. Woohoo!

She’s a big girl! That countertop is 5 feet long 😀 If you click on the picture, it’ll turn right side up, but it was hard to get it to focus because of the size.

The glitch I first mentioned is my HarleyQuinn had to have surgery this past Monday to remove a large hematoma from a back leg. She has 3 layers of stitches (because her skin is so thin) and the layer I can see I counted 7. While she was under the doctor went ahead and removed 7 other places and all but one of those just required 1 stitch (the other one required 2). So now we’re nursing her. Pain pills, anti inflamatory/pain pill, liquid antibiotics every 12 hours. No overactiveness, which means carrying her up and down the stairs. In other words spoiling her more than usual, which is a lot already.

This picture is of her staring at me the night before because she’s starving (she’s always starving, just ask her).

and here she is all snuggled up between dad’s legs after we brought her home. She was drunker than Cooter Brown, and we worry she’ll flop herself off the sofa.

Today she’s back to her sassy self, and is more work to keep her from dancing and prancing. She’ll have to have 24/7 babysitting until the stitches are removed. We do have a care-collar for her, but if we keep her with us she shouldn’t have to wear it. Fortunately Mister is out of school, and neither of us have any plans to be anywhere together that can’t be cancelled or rescheduled for a later date.

2 Comments

Posted in And They Sinned, Bonnie Hunter, En Provence Mystery Quilt, Finishes, Gratitude, Midnight Flight, Mystery Quilts, Puppies, Samplers - Original, Samplers - Repro, Year of WIPs Challenge

The sewing machine is back out!

Posted on December 5, 2016 by Terri | 2 comments

I never unpacked my sewing machine, or the project I was working on, this past April after my winter visitor friends left. I never realized how important the social aspect of sewing was to me, until this year. Before my machine was always set up and I’d sporadically sit in front of it. This past year. Nope. Never unpacked it.

When the girls started showing back up we set the date for our first twice-monthly get together at the golf course and while I was sad that I hadn’t sewed since they’d been gone, I was happy that all I had to do was load it all in car. 😀

Remember this?

I ended up not sewing but pulling the papers off, and ironing open, a whole lot of tiny HSTs. I’m going to love this tablerunner!

I didn’t make the 2nd get together. My BFF was in town all week for Thanksgiving break (she works out of state) and had invited me over for that day. It ended up she was sick and I didn’t get to go see her, and I just didn’t feel like leaving the house after that. I ended up stitching instead.

So now, here we are 2 weeks after Thanksgiving. Black Friday was not a shopping day for me because……Bonnie Hunter has started releasing Parts for this year’s mystery quilt. En Provence. I spent my day at a kickoff party.

Quilt Label from our hostess Andee!

Here’s a few photos of the fabric I pulled and the ladies with last year’s mystery finishes, Allietare.

My favorite neutral

Part 1 and 2 so far

I haven’t finished part one, but I’m making great progress and I’m very happy with how things are turning out so far, although yesterday my seam ripper and I were best friends. I’m stitching the 4-patches between each Triangle in Square and my numbers so far are:

Part 1: 70/221
Part 2: 40/100

I did mention in my last blog post that I needed to decide on my quilting goals, and I want to do something similar as I’m doing for cross stitch, but I think that’s too much so for now I’m going to attempt a finish 2, start 1 and see how we go.

I forgot to mention it in an earlier post that while I was in Louisiana I found out my one and only niece is having a baby girl in April, so I get to make my very first baby quilt. I’ve decided on the pattern, and pulled what I think is enough focus fabric from this.

I have some background but need to measure it, buy more if needed, then start cutting. This is what I need to be focusing on, plus I have a Bonnie Hunter class in early January (Midnight Flight). I think I would really like to have Baby Quilt, En Provence, Celtic Solstice, and the tablerunner as definite finishes (including quilting/binding) for 2017, and everything else will be icing.

I do have some Year of WIPs Challenge updates (including finishes) but that’ll be a separate post.

2 Comments

Posted in Bonnie Hunter, Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt, En Provence Mystery Quilt, Mystery Quilts, Quilting

WIP Challenge 2016-2017

Posted on September 17, 2016 by Terri | 2 comments

I did something that has caused me to dig through this:

My BFF mentioned a few days ago that she was going to participate in a WIP Challenge, where you finished 12 or so WIPs. I didn’t fully understand how it would work since it was starting October 1, plus I have some huge WIPs and know I can’t stitch 12 of them in a year (on top of the sewing I want to get done) so I sort of filed it away in the back of my mind.

I was watching her latest flosstube and she brought it up again so I went hunting for more information and became intrigued. I think it’s completely doable! The gist is you stitch 10-15 WIPs by the end of December 2017. The boss lady of the challenge states that as long as they have 1 stitch in them come October 1, 2016, they’re WIPs.

I wanted to divide my 10 items by older WIPs and newer WIPs, so my list looks like this right now:

Scarlet Letter – Gratitude
Mirabilia – Fairy Moon
Examplar Dames – And They Sinned
Carriage House Samplings – Houses of Hawk Run Hollow
Goode Huswife – Book of Spells
Blue Ribbon Designs – Expressions of Gratitude
Plum Street – Hurt Not the Earth
Scarlett House – Coverlet Candle Mat
LHN – Needleworker
Mill Hill – Log Cabin

Houses of Hawk Run Hollow and And They Sinned are my two largest WIPs. I had already decided to go back to rotating through 4-5 projects at a time, and now I’m trying to decide if I want to go back to stitching in 10 hour increments on a design and then switching out or stitch for a week on something and switch out on Monday. Either way I intend to focus on Houses or ATS. So my weekly rotation may look like this:

Oct 1-2 Book of Spells
Oct 3-9 HOHRH
Oct 10-16 Needleworker
Oct 17-23 Expressions of Gratitude
Oct 24-30 Book of Spells
Oct 31-Nov 6 HOHRH
Nov 7-13 Coverlet Candle Mat
Nov 14-20 Gratitude
Nov 21-27 Fair Moon
Nov 28-Dec 4 And They Sinned
Dec 5-11 HOHRH
and so on until HOHRH is finished, then move ATS into that spot

Now that I have it written out this may be the better way to go. If I decide to do the time version it’ll be something like

10 hours HOHRH
10 hours Book of Spells
10 hours Needleworker
10 hours Expressions of Gratitude
10 hours HOHRH
10 hours Coverlet Mandle Mat
etc…..

We’ve been paired off with another member of the group and required to send monthly post cards as a way to encourage and get to know each other. I’m also excited about this as I’ve been sort of considering writing to someone once a month as a way to communicate.

Now I just need to figure in some quilting/sewing time and pull a couple of large WIPs and small WIPs and do my own quilting/sewing challenge during that time too.

And, I need to get this all down in my journal by September 30.

2 Comments

Posted in An Expression of Gratitude, And They Sinned, Blue Ribbon Designs, Carriage House Samplings, Coverlet Candle Mat, Fairy Moon, Gratitude, HOHRH, Hurt Not the Earth, Little House Needleworks, Mill Hill, Mirabilia, Plum Street Samplings, Quilting, Samplers - Original, Scarlet Letter, Stash, Stash Busting, Stitching, The Book of Spells, The Goode Huswife, The Scarlett House, WIP Busting, Year of WIPs Challenge

Wherein I share my largest WIP of all

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Terri | 6 comments

the Dungeon!

PICTURE INTENSIVE!

This is part of my Lady Lounge/Dungeon. I’ve put my hands on almost everything you’re about to see except the two scary bins in my cross stitch area. Those will be my next sort, maybe. I really want to get my sewing table and cutting table completely cleared off first, but I seem to be using both of them for sorting through everything before I pile it in the guest room. My method probably only makes sense to me, but I am making progress my way, and that’s all that matters. 😉

If you’re standing inside and facing the door this is immediately to the right:

Quilt Fabric for all the things. FQ up to 2 yards. More than 2 yards and it goes on bolts (I get empties from my LQS). The bottom shelf holds pre-cuts.

Quilt yardage and bolts of 30ct Murano xs fabric

Quilt yardage (I need to get some more empty bolts) and bolts of 30ct Murano xs fabric

Cross stitch fabric and storage for some fibers

DMC and in the plastic bag is a bolt of 30ct Platinum Murano.

In front of my quilt fabric cabinet is this container of gathered books and magazines that need to be shelved. And another WIP! I didn’t realize what that was until I took the photo. Sigh.

When you turn right, there’s my sewing table, and the window that looks out the front of my house so I can be nosy while I sew. It is great light for the room since it faces south. They are cracked for the photo, but I keep the shutters closed if I’m not in there.

The top. Left to right: Featherweight and new travel case and in front of that is a box of “strings” for paper piecing. Pink containers have hex paper-piecing in them, and the blue basket has miniature Temecula Quilt Co quilt kits. Next is needles, pins, paper piecing stuff, threads that need sorting and storing. Letters that need painting and put on my wall. Phoenix Comicon stuff that needs sorting, tossing, or displayed on my cork board, and behind that is solid yardage that needs to be put in the cabinet.

Underneath the sewing table:

My sewing machine caddy, cutting mat, ironing “board,” that travels. To the left is a 3-drawer plastic bin that hold strips and stuff (that needs to be gone through) and behind is a basket full of quilt kits. I honestly can’t remember what’s in the brown box.

Close up of my strip bin. The blue containers contain squares and bricks.

Close up of all those quilt kits.

Instead of continuing around the room, let’s face the door again and turn to your left. (I’m avoiding that corner as long as I can.)

Cutting table top:

This is where I normally measure 10x then cut once and still freak out until I’ve measured what I cut. As you can see it’s another sorting spot. The pile on the right is what I’m working on right now. It has bolts (not on the bolt) of more Murano! The drawers to right are a couple of rolling bins I bought in Japan and I love them so much.

and underneath! The threads are my overdyeds on individual airline cable rings. Normally hanging on the doorknob of my cross stitch fabric cabinet. AccuQuilt Cutter and dies to the left of the shelves. The fabric bins on the top shelf and on the floor to the left hold scraps. One is specifically civil war reproduction fabric that I’m pulling from for my Farmer’s Wife Quilt. The other is everything else. The one on the floor holds a mix that I am going to go through, iron and use my cutting machine to make 2 1/2″ squares for a leaders/enders quilt. I’ll also be pulling strips from the drawer I showed earlier. The labeled plastic containers are MOST of my quilt/sewing WIPs.

Sigh. And now that corner. This is my cross stitch corner. Remember that picture of the boxes and boxes of stuff I have pulled out to sell. This is what’s left.

Top shelf on the left holds my coveted SANQ hardback books. Wooden box magazine holders are in alphabetical order by designer. Most are just labled A, B, C, etc., but some of them are designer specific (Goode Huswife, Shepherd’s Bush off the top of my head). Second row also contains my hard cover French alphabet/symbol books. The left wooden basket holds small kits that I really need to dig through and do for some quick gratification (anyone else remember the Elegant Stitch Essie’s?). The right one holds Blackbird Designs, many of which are kitted Loose Feathers. The metal bins contain, in alphabetical order, charts that are printed/sold in 1/2-sized and smaller ziplocks – a whole lot of Little House Needleworks in there. Under the baskets are hardback quilt and cross stitch books, and the bottom 2 shelves are magazines. Mostly SANQ and JCS. The middle unit also contains boxes, containers, etc., for finishing. The glassed in cabinet contains books and I have purchased glass shelves and lighting to turn it into a display cabinet for some of my small pieces.

And then there’s this:

I know if I start digging through here I will soon have 50 WIPs. These two containers hold mostly kitted things I’ve received over the past couple of years in the monthly clubs I joined (I quit one of them after last year). The damask container also holds things from a weekend sewing retreat I went on 3+ years ago. These 2 containers really scare me. LOL

Still with me?

Oh look. I left to get something to drink and my editor came by:

I have my laptop set up on the dining room table for now. It normally sits on my grandmother's treadle machine that's on the wall that you haven't seen. That wall is for another day.

I love the look on her face. She’s a little startled that I walked in and she’s getting ready to jump off the chair she knows she’s not supposed to be on. I have my laptop set up on the dining room table for now. It normally sits on my grandmother’s treadle cabinet that’s on the wall that you haven’t seen. That wall is for another day.

And here’s where it’s all going for now while I sort it out in my Dungeon.

Ouch. Fuzzy picture. Sorry! This is my guest bed. If you come to visit me I promise you won’t have to sleep with all of this. In fact, please come see me. It will get me to put it away faster! That fabric needs to go in the few empty spots left in my cabinet. I’ve been trying hard to color sort it as I piled it so I can just pick it up and shove it on the shelves. The pile you see at the foot of the bed is kitted items I pulled out the other day that I no longer have interest in. Several of them were self-kitted which means I need to gut them and put the fabric and fibers in my cabinets and add the charts to the boxes of stuff to sell. The pile between the fabric and the pink zipper bag are quilt kits I’ve been working on. (Don’t you love that batik on top! I got it during a visit with Kathy when she was in Yuma last winter.) The blue basket contains finishing items. I brought it in here to keep from traipsing back and forth. Most of the stuff in here is actually quilting stuff, but behind the pink bag are a few stitchy items that got tossed onto the cutting table and they just need to be logged into my spreadsheet and sorted into its proper box.

So that’s it. My Dungeon. I really do love my room. It took me forever to decide on a color. As you can see I love IKEA. I’ve blogged about it before but the color matches a cart I bought at IKEA. I saw the cart and immediately knew that was the color my walls needed to be.

The only piece of furniture in there that’s not IKEA is my grandmother’s treadle. It works, too. I need to clean it up a bit, and probably find a spare belt for it, but I could sew on it if the zombies showed up. And I have enough fabric and thread to keep up warm with quilts, and maybe even sew us a couple of shirts 😉

And since it’s still WIP Wednesday after this super long post, here’s my latest Houses of Hawk Run Hollow progress photo.

It was dreary when I took the photo (we’ve had some late monsoon weather the last few days). I like to stitch across and work my way up. As you can tell, there’s a whole lot of blue in this block.

One more thing. These are the two designs I pulled from my kitted bucket the other day. I had intended to start one of them yesterday but completely forgot we had a baseball game last night, so that didn’t happen. Maybe in a minute? I have all my adulting done for the day 😀

The Goode Huswife – Book of Spells

Blue Ribbon Designs – An Expression of Gratitude

silks, wonderful silks!

If you’re still here, or actually here at all, thank you for visiting. If you have comments, be gentle. If you have questions, bring them on!

6 Comments

Posted in An Expression of Gratitude, Blue Ribbon Designs, Carriage House Samplings, Farmer's Wife, HOHRH, Puppies, Stash, Stitching, The Book of Spells, The Goode Huswife, WIP Wednesday

Dear Diary

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Terri | 8 comments

I’m sorry to have been neglecting you. It’s all this boy’s fault. I have had an amazing summer hanging out by the pool with a cold beer, going to the movies, out to swanky restaurants, socializing with all the new friends I’ve made, but now he’s gone back to school and I have time to catch up with you and get all my summer secrets down.

Back to my regularly scheduled schedule! Yay!

Over the past several weeks I have been spending a shit-ton of time in my Lady Lounge, Woman Cave, Sewing Room, whatever the heck everyone’s calling it these days. Lately I have felt like calling it Dungeon.

Since I moved here almost five years ago, during the summer I normally sew until the air conditioner kicks on then I head downstairs to spend the rest of my day sitting on my rear end stitching and reading. This summer, nope! We really have had time out of the house, but the time in has been spent on daily chores, stitching, and reading. I can’t remember the last time I unpacked my sewing machine.

Because….

I have not been able to settle in since I painted and reorganized!!! I feel like I have stuff spread out all over the place. I have tons of shelves and boxes and buckets, so I have plenty of storage space, but I evidently haven’t been using it wisely because I feel like things are lost, forgotten, and hard to put my hands on.

I had all these plans to start selling excess cross stitch over the summer – that I sorted out when I pulled everything for painting – that I know I’ll never get around to stitching because I’ve either lost interest in the item, it’s no longer something I like, the designer pissed me off, etc. I am my own LNS. Here’s proof positive of how much I don’t need. Boxes, boxes, and piles of stuff to be sold. Trust me when I tell you that is just a drop in the bucket. 😀

This past weekend I had dinner out with my partner in crime, Annette, and we talked about stash diving because there was something we knew we had but couldn’t find it. I have started bullet journaling and wanted to add in my WIPs and get back to some type of rotation, and I was sharing with her that I was procrastinating listing them because I couldn’t decide whether to just start writing them down, or to go through each one and sort them by either how old they are, or how close they were to being finished.

When we started talking about retiring I knew I would have no where near the funds I would want to kit up certain things with all the lovely silks there are out there so I gradually began doing that. I have 2 large fold-back-top Rubbermaid containers that contained some of my WIPs and some of my kitted items (either by myself, or purchased that way).

I finally bit the bullet and started digging through them today. Here’s what I found in the WIP department

Peacock Tapestry – Teresa Wentzler
Letting Go (Lusk) – HAED
Ann Holewll Sampler – The Examplarery
Quaker RR
Dimples Bugs RR
French Alphabet Sampler (I forgot I put it in there!)
Castle Sampler – Teresa Wentzler
The Fortunate Traveler – Teresa Wentzler
Earthdancer – Butternut Road
Tapestry Cat – Teresa Wentzler
Sleeping Beauty – Mirabilia
Patchwork Pieces – Nutmeg Needle
Asian Garden – Odds n Ins
Lady of the Flag – Mirabilia
Tsunami Sampler – Stickideen von der Wiehenburg
Christmas Elegance – Mirabilia
Peace – The Silver Lining
Christmas Wreath – Teresa Wentzler
Topiary – Teresa Wentzler
Garden Trellis Box – Linda Driskell from Just Cross Stitch magazine.

In one box! I know there are more because I have a beautiful chest downstairs that my friend Kathy gave me and I’ve started storing some WIPs in there. In fact, now that I think about it, all of the above 20 may also fit in there! Oh, and then there’s the ottoman I prop my feet on while stitching…you can store stuff in there and I know I have at least one WIP in there, ’cause I was just looking at it the other day. Geesh. Oh wait! Don’t forget my stitching bag that probably has 2-3 in there, too.

And here’s what was in the kitted box:

Autumn Queen – Mirabilia
Random Thoughts – Drawn Thread
An Expression of Gratitude – Blue Ribbon Designs (which I pulled out)*
Victorian Pearls – Sew to be Seen
Victorian Pearls 2 – Sew to be Seen
A Christmas Sampler – Midsummer Nights
The Book of Spells – The Goode Huswife (which I pulled out)*
The Spot Sampler – Margaret Bendig
Shakespeare’s Garden – LaBroderie
Queens Rule – Enchanting Lair
Castle Ridge – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
Damask Rose Scissor Keep – Textile Heritage (gift)
Above the Clouds – Teresa Wentzler (bought overdyed fabric to exchange)
Mermaid of the Pearls – Mirabilia (special overdyed fabric)
Toccata Three – Drawn Thread
Cattleya Orchids – Terrance Nolan
A Token of Friendship – Merry Cox (an OOP which I could probably sell to pay off my house)
This is the Day – La-D-Da
My Son – Indigo Rose (should have pulled this one and may go back and do it)*
The Dreamer – Mirabilia
Quaker Diamonds – Rosewood Manor
Toccata Two – Drawn Thread
Toccata One – Drawn Thread
Quaker Samplings – With My Needle
My First Sewing Box and Scissor Fob – Stitching Parlor (which uses a Whitman’s Chocolate Tin I’ve tried to throw away a hundred times)
Souvenir Sampler – Drawn Thread
Village of Hawk Run Hollow – Carriage House Samplings
The Song They Sang – Carriage House Samplings (I even bought the frame for this one!!!)
A Parrot, A Leopard, A Lion – Scarlet Letter
Norwich Marianne Wren
James Wilson
Voice of the Shepherd – Told in a Garden
Teeny Hardanger – Sweetheart Tree
Brilliant Plumage – Teresa Wentzler

So, I evidently have a thing for Teresa Wentzler.

*I will be very unhappy in Heaven if I die and don’t at least start The Book of Spells and An Expression of Gratitude. Guess they’re getting added to my WIPs list next month.

Now, lest LNSs around the world freak out, all of the above does not mean I won’t be buying more as evidenced by the deliveries my mailman has made since my last post. I give you Exhibit C:

A new small portable stitching lamp, and needle organizer (can you say Teresa Wentzler?).

28ct Brash Jubilee for Ann Pegg 1877. Yep, I found some. I emailed the dyer asking advice for a replacement and she told me she had 2 FQs left. Miss Annette snapped up the other one. Partner. In. Crime. I tell ya.

Pattern, fibers, stretcher bars, and canvas for this lovely. I have had my eye on it for a bit and found out it was discontinued so I snapped it up.

I also purchased these cones of DMC from Joanns.com for Death by Cross Stitch by Long Dog Samplers. I’m leaning toward the copper on the right. I need to check my fabric stash and do a floss toss. I’m very tempted by the beautiful turquoise in the back but I’m afraid it’ll burn my eyeballs out stitching on a sampler this large. I do have a backup plan for it though 😀 If I don’t have a good piece of fabric in my stash for the copper I may use the red and order some 40ct white. Not to be worried about now though as I cannot start it until next month at the earliest because I am going out of town next week.

I am stalking my postman for Brooke’s Books Wizard of Oz.

So see, shopping when I shouldn’t be, or don’t need to be.

And I have quilt stuff coming in too.

But! This post has gotten so long and my phone is currently charging so I can’t show you what the top of my guest bed looks like. It’s covered with fabric, patterns, etc., from the quilt side of my room AND fabric, fibers, and fabric from the cross-stitch side of my room while I go through the buckets and baskets mentioned above trying to reorganize and sort into a better working order for me. I’m slowing myself down because I have to look at it, and touch it, and remember when I bought it, before sorting it into a pile to place it better in my room. I’m dreading getting to two particular stitching containers because I have lots of already kitted small things that need to be added to that list up there and put into that Rubbermaid container (which is full!). I know I won’t get it put away any time soon as I still have some excavating to do, so I’ll share a photo next time I post.

I forgot to show you some stitching!

Since my last post I have finished my Sugar Skull by Mill Hill

And my version of Be Thankful by Country Cottage Needleworks

and block 7 of Houses of Hawk Run Hollow by Carriage House Samplings (currently working on block 8)

Now I’m off to write my WIPs in my Journal and do some stitching. Maybe tomorrow I’ll dig the rest out of their hidey holes.

8 Comments

Posted in Ann Holewll, Carriage House Samplings, HOHRH, Mill Hill, Mirabilia, Quilting, Scarlet Letter, Sewing, Stash, Stash Busting, Stitching, Teresa Wentzler, WIP Busting

Slowly but surely the year comes to an end

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

I feel the need to be domestic, and yet there’s barely anything for me to do! I cleaned the house really well before we left for CA since I knew we’d be tired when we got home. There were no decorations so that didn’t need to be dealt with. All that has left me to do is laundry and the daily clean-up in the kitchen.

All that spare time means I’ve been catching up on my blog reading and that might have gotten me into some trouble 😉

It’s been fun seeing what everyone is planning for 2015. I mentioned to Mister this morning that I can’t believe it’s already been 15 years since the world was freaking out about Y2K.

My own plans to date have included my going back to 101 things in 1001 days and I’ve set up my page. I don’t know what version I finally published because I caught myself waking up at night thinking “oh wait! I want to do this too!”. But it is what it is and I’ve left myself some breathing room as far as my quilting and stitching goes. It’s probably cheating but I can’t imagine trying to create needle and thread goals for 2 3/4 years.

Speaking of those goals, I’m going back to participating in WIPocalypse. I wish I still had my old lists so I can laugh at myself. My lists were so long that I scared myself from getting much done. I wasn’t quilting at the time either. Since the guidelines have changed and quilting is included, I’ve decided to try it again, but this time around I’m starting small and building. It contains 5 stitching things and 5 quilting things. I’ll be posting the list next week.

For now I’ll leave you with the list of movies I watched all day while stitching and doing laundry: A Christmas Carol, Meet me in St. Louis, Elf, A Lion in Winter, and Trading Places. Quite an eclectic Christmas season selection 😉

2 Comments

Posted in Domestic, Movies, Quilting, Stitching, WIPocalypse

One more week!

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Terri | 6 comments

How busy have you been? Are you planning out your 2015 year?

I’ve been busy, but not crazy busy, except in spurts.

This past weekend was the Phoenix COMICON Fan Fest. It has been touted as a success and that makes me happy. Two and a half weeks from now I have my first meeting for COMICON 2015, so I’m trying to not even think about anything related to it until then, but it’s a near impossible task I’ve set myself.

Next week we’ll be in California with Son and Girlfriend. I am really excited about that. Since we moved here we have flown Son and Girlfriend in to spend Christmas with us. That, and a pair of tickets to Disneyland, has been their Christmas gift from us. Last year we asked them if they would mind if we came to California and all 4 of us went to Disneyland on Christmas. You would have thought they were both 10 with their reaction 😀 We’ll be crossing an item from my bucket list by staying at the Disneyland Hotel while we’re there. We’ve decided to go to Disneyland on Christmas Eve and California Adventure on Christmas Day, since we’ll have to leave Anaheim late Christmas Day to drive to Oceanside. We haven’t completely decided when we’ll return to Arizona, but no later than Sunday.

I am working on a Christmas item right now. I gave up on getting my room painted until after Christmas. Between Mister’s studying for finals, my COMICON obligations, and some sewing I needed to get done, I quit stressing about it, cleared a spot and set my machine back up. Here’s where I shoved everything that was stacked on my table, so I could sew. That white “wall” is my design wall and behind that’s my shelved in closet.

And here’s what the guest bed looks like (there are 2 tall piles on the floor I didn’t bother taking photos of). Most of that will go on the shelves behind the design wall in the photo above.

Here’s what I finished by yesterday.

Hoping to finish the piecing today and the quilting and binding tomorrow.

Very little stitching on my Lizzie*Kate mystery and no updated photo of it.

That second question up there? I have been planning out my 2015. I try to adopt a positive thought for myself every year. Last year it was “happy thoughts” and no matter what was going on I tried to always remind myself to think happy thoughts. I had a really good year with that.

This year I tried to continue that and added on to be less judgmental by reminding myself that I may find myself in that person’s situation one day, or that I didn’t know the story behind what was making someone behave the way they were, either toward me or toward others.

This coming year my plans are to “quit saying, start doing.” I’ve been listing my WIPs and projects I want to start and trying to formulate a plan that will get me doing more. I love my calendar on my phone for reminding me of appointments and not letting me double book something, but I’m going back to using a paper organizer for my projects. More about that in a second. I’m also going to use Wunderlist. I have it downloaded on my computer, phone, and tablet. It’s the first thing that pops up on my computer when I start it up and it shows me what I have to work on, as a reminder to not get sidetracked. I’m tracking my WIPs and projects I want to do on it since I can add things from the different electronics and it’ll sync between the 3.

After following a discussion Melissa was having on Facebook, and others sharing what I’ve been thinking and the types of planners they use, I’ve decided on a Planner Pad. I love that it has the possibility to be used as something other than an appointment book (which my phone covers). Also, I will be using my timer more to keep from letting the computer suck me in. I have found myself spending less time on it the last few months anyway and it has made a difference in what I’ve accomplished.

I have 4 trips planned for 2015. Vegas (Jan), Prescott (Apr), Tennessee (Jun), Prescott (Oct). I am stepping up my volunteer activities as well. In addition to continuing my sewing for AZ Blankets 4 Kids, I’ve taken a larger responsibility with COMICON, and I am the new Membership Director for the Arizona Quilters Guild. I am looking forward to having a very heart-fulfilling year.

So my goals for 2015 aren’t to get this done, or that finished, etc., but to just be more organized which should lead to productivity. I guess I’m sort of going to run my retired life like I ran my working life 😉

I’m linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday.

6 Comments

Posted in COMICON, Goals, Life, LinkUP, Quilting, Stitching, WIP Wednesday

Bizeeee!

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Terri | 2 comments

😀

I swear, for someone who’s “retired” my calendar sure is full these days. I’m not complaining, but feeling very lucky and in some cases very appreciated 😉 There are stitch-togethers one night a week at my LNS; twice a month sew-togethers with a local group; guild meetings twice a month; a sew-in at my LQS; manicure and pedicure appointments, dental appointment, COMICON meetings – the event is next weekend!; and Christmas and our trip to California is just around the corner. Plus there are 2 other sew-togethers each month that I haven’t been able to attend yet, because of my busy schedule. Oh, and let’s not forget the mystery quilt!

While all of this is bringing me joy (okay, except for that dental appointment – which actually contained good news on the surgery front) it is sapping my mental capacity and I’m forgetting to blog again. I haven’t felt like there has been that much to share.

So, I’m pulling out my phone to see what pictures I’ve taken this past week.

Our oranges are starting to turn. Yum! Winter harvest.

I bought a new cooking tool. I’ve wanted one for quite a while and it ended up on sale at my local grocery store, on 10% Senior Discount Day! Yay! Haven’t used it yet, but I see a pot of stew brewing in my future.

I finished another stitching project

which meant I got to start a new one

As to the mystery quilt, I managed to get 28/100 of the first part made. I’m cool with that. Last year I got behind and gave up. This year I’m following Bonnie’s instruction to stop where I am and start on the next part when it come out. After I hit “publish” I’ll be working on part 2.

Before I forget, again, I know I haven’t shown any weight stuff on here lately. With the busy-ness I have had I have been hopping on the scale Tuesday morning, writing it down, and hitting the road running, so to speak. I actually haven’t been running. Or even walking. I’m just now back to my knee not hurting after my graceful tumble down the mountain a month ago. I’ve been throwing a month-long pity party and eating sugar. I’ve paid for it the next day waking up with a headache, and my weight has bounced up and down. I’ve reminded myself that this is a lifelong way, forgiven myself, and this past week, it was back down to what it was the week I fell. I’ve got my alarm set to get out and start walking again tomorrow.

Unless I get a chance to share my Part 2 Grand Illusion progress, I probably won’t blog again until after next Sunday.

2 Comments

Posted in Bonnie Hunter, COMICON, Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, Health, Kitchen Tools, Lizzie*Kate, Sam Sarah, Stitching

So, this happened

Posted on November 30, 2014 by Terri | 4 comments

I’ve been participating in a “photo a day” event for the past couple of months. I’ve surprised myself in that I’ve posted every single day. Next month looks hard (we’re given a word or phrase to interpret in a photo). But, the whole reason of sharing that is my subject line. That was yesterday’s subject and I immediately thought it would be a great subject for today’s blog, because this happened!

This year’s Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt clues have started and I attended a kickoff party yesterday. Many old friends were there from the guild and AZ Blankets and I made some new friends.

I feel really blessed by the amount of quilters I’ve met and the groups I’m part of.

Last year there was a much smaller group for Celtic Solstice. Here are a few of the ladies with theirs.

Mine is still at step 3 🙁

There was a whole lot of talking, cutting, pressing, sewing, and eating.

Our cake

My first block, with a label for each of us made by one of the ladies.

A block from (almost) each of us

and the 15 I managed to finish

I have all 100 each black and yellow pieces cut, and a total of 233 pairs of HSTs cut. I got many of those HSTs sewn together yesterday, as well. I have a light schedule this week and I’m hoping to get the rest done by Friday, when the next clue comes out. I still need to cut 77 pairs of HSTs.

A huge shout out and thank you to Angela of The Modern Diary for organizing us. I tease her that she may be Bonnie Hunter’s number one fan, but I’m hers. She’s so proficient!

I’m still stitching on my SamSarah Laniappe but no updated photo. The Lizzy*Kate mystery is patiently waiting and I’ve added a couple of small new items to my to-do pile.

Looking forward to some football and stitching. I’ll be linking up to Bonnie’s link party.

4 Comments

Posted in Bonnie Hunter, Celtic Solstice Mystery Quilt, Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, Sam Sarah

Happy Thanksgiving

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Terri | 1 comment

We will be spending the afternoon with friends this year. This is the first time I have not cooked for my family, or gone to another family member’s home for Thanksgiving. I am baking apple pie and a casserole for my contribution.

My room is still torn apart. My cutting table currently looks like this

Piled high! I’m in a bit of a panic over it since tomorrow begins Bonnie Hunter’s 2014 mystery quilt. I’m attending a sew together on Saturday but I’d like to at least cut my fabric tomorrow when the first clue comes out.

Since there has only been sewing away from home I have spent a lot of time stitching. I finished Sam Sarah’s mystery piece and have picked out the backing fabric.