Libby is challenging us to show our ironing boards. I commented on her blog that my ironing board was still packed away. She replied and told me to find an old photo and post it. Instead I pulled out the ironing board on Sunday while I was Playing with Pink. This morning I took photos of my ironing board. Here's the board scrunched into a space.
Here's a close-up of the cover. If you look very, very hard you can see the stitchery pattern that was accidentally transferred onto the cover instead of the fabric. The transfer is slowly coming off, but it's no big deal.
I want to make a big ironing mat for the top of my island. A couple summers ago I purchased ironing board fabric from Iron E-Z, #2019. The fabric is heat resistant. Now I just need to a piece of wood to cover with batting and the fabric and I can put my regular ironing board to rest.

It's snowing here again tonight. I've lost count of how much snow we've received this year, but I know we are way ahead of our normal snowfall amounts. That's OK with me. I love the snow.

I'm have a quilting condo/house warming party the weekend of March 8 and 9. Some friends are coming over and we are going to play in my new studio. Would you like to join us on-line? We should have a lot of fun. Stay tuned for details.

Playtime

Just a quick entry to show you I got to play in my studio today. I tried sewing a couple of Triple Irish Chain blocks but messed up on both of them so I put that project away. Then I pulled out a stack of Ohio Star blocks from a swap I was in last summer. I decided some of the blocks would make great valances for my studio windows. I stitched 2 sets of three blocks. Next time I see our handyman I'm going ask him if he can make two wooden valance bases so I can staple the valances on it.

I was still looking for a project that didn't require a lot of brain power. I pulled out my box of leftover Moda pinks from the FQ collection I bought two years ago. I've made one lap quilt and my DIL has made one baby quilt. There was still plenty of fabric left. I trimmed the blocks and scraps into 5 inch blocks and 2.5 inch strips for binding. I was able to put together this little pink quilt with the 5 inch blocks. I still enough fabric for the backing and then I should be done with the Moda pinks.


Happy stitching! I know I'm happy now that I can stitch again.

My Studio Is Put Together

Hip, hip hooray! My studio is put together and ready to use.

Yesterday afternoon I couldn't wait any longer for my BIL to call and say he was coming over to put together my studio island so I decided to start it myself. DH graciously offered to help me even though Tiger Woods was on TV. It took us about three hours to put it together.

This morning DH helped me put the furniture in place and then I spent three more hours putting everything away and setting up the room. Now I need a nap and then maybe I'll try the room out to see how if works.

Here's the view looking in from the door. The island is huge. There is room for two cutting mats, plus space for my laptop and a tin for my rulers and rotary cutters. The base of the island holds quite a few of my UFOs, my printer and ironing supplies. The drawers hold miscellaneous items such as smaller rulers, note pads, other tools, etc. The closet is this photo is my quilting closet. It's chock full of books, batting, other UFOs and my pine cart for storing charms and fabric.

This is the view looking to the left from the door. This is my old cutting table that will eventually end up in our laundry room as a folding table. I want to find a small, useful desk for this wall. The shelves holds my redwork books and projects, thread boxes, pincushions and binders of patterns. This closet holds my larger pieces of fabric on hangers as well as our winter coats and DH's suits.

This is the view looking from the island across the room. My sewing table is ready to be used and is feeling very lonely since I haven't touched in since the beginning of the month. My Red Sox rocking chair is ready for stitching with a great view out the window. The design wall is empty because I didn't know what project I'm going to work on next. There is a bookcase in front of the design wall that will end up in the media room when it's finished.

The only big task I have left is to fold the 50 or so FQs we used for packing glassware and dishes. I may do that later today or sometime this week. For now I'm just happy to have my room ready to use!

Coming Up For Air

I survived the closing and moving into our new condo. But not without some drama along the way. I certainly have plenty of material for my 365 Challenge Quilt now that I can start it. I could write lots and lots, but I will try to keep it short and sweet.

Thursday - first up was the final inspection. We quickly learned the washer and dryer were not included in the purchase because they belonged to the renters. Our own fault for not asking the question sooner. No big deal. After the closing we went to the local appliance store and purchased a new washer and dryer. Our broker had called ahead and told the saleswoman he was giving us a $100 credit towards our purchase. How cool!

From the store we went to the new place. Our broker offered to come up while we were shopping to let the city in so they could take a final water bill reading. However, no one knew the door lock didn't work. So he was locked out of the place. We didn't know the door was broken so when we showed up we couldn't get in. We waited for him to call us and tell us he had called a locksmith to let us in at his expense.

Friday morning the movers arrived two and a half hours late. They were supposed to be there at 7 am and didn't arrive and start until 9:45. At least they brought an extra man with them and had us moved in four hours. Once we were at the new place the parade of people began: the cable man, the contractor to look at the basement for finishing and our computer man to set up the wireless network.

Saturday brought us the new washer and dryer and the island for my sewing room, plus a visit from DS #2. And, of course, more packing and cleaning at the old place. We even took the time for our first visit to the big box hardware store for some home improvement items. I also got my first official mail in the place: five Australian quilt magazines from Treasured Threads. Thanks, Shannon, for making my day.

Sunday morning I had to work at home so DH and his brother went over to the old place to do some more cleaning and packing. Then that evening DH and I went back over to do the deep cleaning of the kitchen.

Monday morning we met with the landlord to sign off on the old place. While we were there the contractor called to tell us he has his plumber's attention and wanted to bring him up to our place so he could work up the estimate for us. Then in the afternoon our friend who is in the window treatment business stopped by to talk about window treatments for the main floor. And last, but not least, another friend who is a painter and handyman came over last night to talk about paint colors and other odd jobs we need/want done.

What have I learned so far about the new place?

• We get great morning light in the kitchen and in my sewing room. The afternoon light floods the front room.
• I hate my kitchen sink. It's a double basin sink with normal fixtures. Soon it will be a single basin sink with a high faucet.
• I may have a larger kitchen in square footage, but less cupboard space. I really miss my six and a half foot tall pantry closet. I'm still trying to figure out where to put the food.
• We will be painting every room in the house, except for my quilt room.
• The shower and bath water gets very hot! The water in the old place was lucky to reach a lukewarm temp.
• We have four different kinds of light bulbs in the condo.
  
• The nearby grocery store is excellent. We love it.

Here's a couple photos of the state of my quilting studio. The first photo is looking straight into the door. Eventually that table will be out of the studio as it will be replaced with the island. The second photo is looking across the room. You can see I started putting away items in the closet. The big boxes are the unassembled island. I hope to make progress in here this weekend as I have to make my apron for the Sassy Apron Swap.


Tonight DH is out with the guys and I'm enjoying the peace and quiet of the new place. I'm relaxing, catching up on emails and blogs and happy that no one is coming over. I'm so far behind in blog comments it will take me some time to catch up. So if I usually leave comments on your blog don't think I've forgotten about you, I'll be back soon.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. Soon I should be back to my normal quilting entries.

Boxes, boxes, everywhere boxes

We have spent the weekend packing. I now have boxes everywhere in my house. OK, maybe not everywhere. My goal is to be able to say to the movers, "See everything in that room. You can take that." With that in mind we have been filling up our dining room since that is the first room you walk into we figured the movers will appreciate having so much stuff in one place. My quilt studio has also become a repository for boxes. There is a stack of bags and boxes for donating near the front door. The corner of the living room has become the area to put the items we are going to move ourselves.

Fortunately, our new condo is only five minutes away and we have two cars so moving some items ourselves won't be too difficult. We will be moving all of our artwork, my sewing machine, and whatever else we feel like moving.

Right now I am so tired of packing and feeling out of order I could scream. Moving wouldn't be so bad if we had done it in a more compressed time space. I started packing in late December and here I am eight weeks later and still packing. If I had to do it over again I would have taken this entire coming week off and started packing this weekend. I guess that's what happens when condo deals fall through.

I may not be around much until next weekend. We are having an Integrity Selling seminar for work on Tuesday and Wednesday which will take me out of the office two of the three days I will be in the office. We have our final inspection at 8 AM on Thursday morning, followed by the closing at 9 AM. We will be home owners by lunch time. Then we will start moving throughout the afternoon. The movers will be here at 7 AM on Friday morning and should have our place packed, moved and unloaded by 1 -2 PM. Our cable will get turned on between 3 and 5 PM. Then my computer guy will be our first dinner guest at 5 PM while he installs our wireless network.

Saturday my cutting/pressing island will arrive. My DIL is coming over to help me stain the sewing table, my old cutting table and the island. Between coats of paint we will unpack. Sunday will probably be a cleaning day for the old place.

Monday is a holiday for us and the office is closed. We have to meet the landlord in the old place in the morning. We have a close friend who owns a Hunter Douglas window treatment business. He is coming by Monday afternoon to discuss drapes and blinds.

We will be very busy. But, DH's spring travel schedule starts the end of the month and I have jury duty in March so we want to get as much done as possible in the new place.

Have a great week!

I've been tagged! Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works tagged me for 7 things about myself.

The rules of the meme are:
1. When tagged, place the name of the person and URL on your blog
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Write 7 things about yourself
4. Name 7 of your favorite weblogs
5. Send an e-mail letting those bloggers know they have been tagged

Here are 7 things about myself

1. I work with my DH, four BIL's and my FIL in a family business. My FIL started the business 20 years ago and each of his sons started working there after college. I had been working there two years when my future DH started there. We worked together for another three years before we started dating. My FIL was not happy when he learned we were dating. But it didn't take him long to come around.

2. Like Jackie, I love the Red Sox. I also love the New England Patriots. Tiger Woods is cool too. Our social life has been known to center around what sports are on TV. Every Labor Day weekend we go to the Deutsche Bank golf tournament in Norton, MA to watch Tiger play for the weekend. In our new condo we are finishing off the basement to be our sports watching room.

3. I grew up in Minnesota, close to Minneapolis. Since I moved away in 1986 I have lived in Illinois, Florida, New York, Virginia and New Hampshire. I've lived in New Hampshire since 1993. My parents and brothers still live in Minnesota. I was the only child who moved away and didn't move back.

4. I have three sons and one grandson. My oldest child was killed in a car accident on Nov. 1, 1997 at the age of 21. He left behind a young wife and son. My second son has been married for 19 months to a wonderful young woman. They are studying to be teachers. My youngest son wants to attend grad school in the fall. His goal is to become a political lobbyist. He is dating a young woman who is a choreographer for a modern Irish dance company.

5. My Irish grandmother taught me how to sew, crochet, needlepoint and beadwork. Her first husband died before I was born and she lived with us until I was 6 when she married the widower across the street and moved there. Going to grandma's house was always easy growing up.

6. DH and I will be signing the closing documents on our first condo this coming Thursday. We are moving into a 3-story, 2 bedroom, 1 and a half bath condo with nearly 2,000 SF of space. We've been packing for what seems like forever. I haven't had my sewing room in order since the middle of December and I'm starting to get very cranky.

7. My DH is my best friend in the world. We have been married to 5 1/2 years and we love each more every day. He always know just what to say when I'm happy, sad, smiling or cranky. I wouldn't trade him for the world. He's 12 years younger than me, but no one every guesses that if they don't know our ages.

Now, I tag the following bloggers:
1. Mavie at Mavie's Place
2. Linda at Sewnut
3. Becky at Becky's Bits and Piecing
4. Janet at Wildcraft Farm
5. Kim at Kim's Quilting Adventure
6. Susan at Desertsky Quilting
7. Colleen at Musings from my soul . . .

Well, it's time to get back to packing.

Just Do It

I never thought I'd be saying this in my quilting life, but here it goes: I'm going to make a Dear Jane quilt. There, I said it (and it didn't hurt too much).

However, I'm not going to "piece" the quilt. I'm going to make "stitch" it. I will trace the block design onto fabric and then stitch the design. I was inspired from a discussion in my Yahoo Redwork group and by Leanne's Butterfly Garden where there she has designed blocks that are stitched.

My Dear Jane book came in the mail today and I can't wait to climb into bed and start reading it. Yesterday I ordered hand-dyed thread from Susan at Desertsky Quilting. I ordered one skein of every variation. I think the variegated thread will look great in the Dear Jane blocks.

Actually, quite a few of us in my Yahoo group are going to stitch the Dear Jane quilt. It should be a long, long term project for me as I want to continue working on my Butterfly Garden. Anyone else want to join in just for fun? You don't have to make all the blocks. I can't even get to the point of thinking I will stitch all 225 blocks. For me, it's all about having fun.

Happy stitching!

I'm Still Alive

I did not go off the deep end because the Patriots lost the Super Bowl. It was a great game. The Giants won on a double miracle play - the Pats should have sacked Manning and Tyree caught an impossible ball to catch.

I grew up a Minnesota Vikings fan. I've seen my team go to four Super Bowls and lose. So a loss wasn't too tough to take. Of course it would have been great to see the Pats win, but life goes on!

Pitchers and catchers report next week. Spring training is around the corner and, before you know it, Opening Day will be here.

We had a small scare on the new condo over the weekend. I called to get the electric and gas put in our name and learned the tenants had both of them scheduled to turn off yesterday - 10 days before closing. My broker was out of town and I didn't reach him until Monday morning. By the end of the day, the owner had the utilities in his name until closing day.

Sunday the new LQS nearby had a 50% off sale. DH told me I should go shopping even though I told him I really didn't need anything. He insisted, so I went. I found a cute apron pattern for the Sassy Apron swap, fabric for the apron, a three-quarter yard piece of blue TOT fabric and a package of 5 x 7 scraps that will work in my Butterfly Garden quilt.

I haven't spent a lot of time stitching the last few days. I'm still working on the Ann & Andy block for Butterfly Garden. I probably won't get much stitching time the next two weeks. Between all day sales meetings, packing, closing and then moving stitching will have to take a back seat. :(

Keep stitching and keep smiling!

Almost Game Time - A House Meme

Paula has this on her blog and I thought I'd share it. It's almost game time so I'm off to watch it. I'll be back later.

My House Meme

What kind of soap is in your shower: Coast shower gel and NutraOil shower gel for extra dry skin.

Do you have any watermelon in your refrigerator? Nope. I don’t care for watermelon.

What would you change about your living room? In our new condo we are going to finish off the basement into our living room/media room, so I guess we’ll be changing a lot.

Are the dishes in your dishwasher clean or dirty? Dirty right now, but it will get run before the end of the night.

What is on top of your refrigerator? There’s a cabinet above the fridge. In the cabinet are light bulbs, a punch bowl and all the paperwork for the appliances in the kitchen.

What color or design is on your shower curtain? Our shower curtain is Ralph Lauren teddy bears on a blue and white striped background.

How many plants are in your home? None right now. When we move I want to have a windowsill herb garden.

Is you bed made right now? Nope, but it is covered with clean laundry waiting to be folded.

Comet or Soft Scrub? Soft Scrub

Is your closet organized? Yes. I can’t imagine having a closet with an organizer in it. Putting organizers in the closets in our new condo is a top priority.

Can you describe your flashlight? Big, sturdy and blue.

Do you drink out of glass or plastic most of the time at home? Glass for breakfast and plastic for dinner. I can’t explain why, I just do it that way.

Do you have iced tea made in a pitcher right now? Nope. I seldom drink iced tea, even in the middle of summer.

If you have a garage, is it cluttered? We don’t have a garage and won’t have one in the new condo.

Curtains or blinds? We have custom blinds in our living room, sheers in the dining room and bedroom. In our new condo we will have custom window treatments in the dining room, kitchen, living room and master bedroom.

How many pillows do you sleep with? There’s three on my side of the bed, but I generally only use one.

Do you sleep with any lights on at night? No lights, but I can’t fall asleep without the radio on, preferably sports talk radio.

How often do you vacuum? DH vacuums about once a month, not nearly enough for me.

Standard toothbrush or electric? Standard toothbrush, although the dentist keeps telling me to use an electric.

What color is your toothbrush? White and purple.

Do you have a welcome mat on your front porch? We currently use three. One right in front of the door and two next to the door for shoes.

What is in your oven right now? I just finished making chicken wings and will start taquitos in a few minutes (Can you tell it’s Super Bowl Sunday?)

Is there anything under your bed? Yes, DH’s overnight luggage and my exercise step.

Chore you hate doing most? Dusting the wood blinds.

What retro items are in your home? I have a doll quilt my grandma made and a set of silver teaspoons from my mom.


Do you have a separate room that you use as on office? Does my studio count? There is an office corner in it.

How many mirrors are in your home? Three

What color are your walls? In this condo the living room is mocha, the dining room and kitchen are pumpkin, the hallway and entry way are a lighter shade of pumpkin, our bedroom is blueberry yogurt, the bathroom is sky blue and my sewing room is manila folder. I have no clue what we will be doing in our new condo.

What does your house smell like right now? BBQ Chicken Wings

Favorite candle scent? Lavender, a wonderful scent to relax by.

What kind of pickles (if any) are in your refrigerator? Dill pickle spears. DH can’t have a sandwich without one.

What color is your favorite bible? Maroon

Ever been on your roof? Nope.

Do you own a stereo? Yes. We have a small stereo.

How many TVs do you have? Two now, but we will have four in the new condo. The new condo is three floors. We have a 50 inch HDTV for the media room and a 27 inch TV in the bedroom. We will be adding a 19 inch TV in my studio and one for kitchen area in the new condo.

How many house phones? No land lines, only two cell phones. No telemarketing calls that way.

Do you have a housekeeper? No, but I think it would like one since we work 60 – 65 hours a week. Sometimes we are too zapped from work to think about cleaning. Luckily with only two of us there is never a big mess, so we do try to keep up with the daily chores.

What style do you decorate in? Comfortable and eclectic with bold colors and dark wood.

Do you like solid colors or prints in furniture? I prefer tone-on-tone prints. We do have a sleeper loveseat with matching ottoman that has a golf design.

Is there a smoke detector in your house? Yes, one in every room. With new construction you can’t get through the inspection without one in every room. The new condo is the same way.

In case of fire, what are the items in your house which you’d grab if you could only make one quick trip? My DH and my laptop.

A Wonderful Packing Find

DH and I spent the morning packing and cleaning out our bedroom for our move in two weeks. Way in the back of my closet I found an oxford blouse that my grandma stitched Holly Hobby on for me about 30 years ago. The design is about 12 inches tall. The shirt is stained and not wearable, but the stitchery is still in great shape. Isn't she adorable?

Once we move I think I'm going to cut the stitchery away from the blouse and make it into a wallhanging. I can't to put something my grandma made in my studio. I have an oval canvas that's been hanging out in my closet. I think she will fit perfectly on the canvas.

Thanks for all the encouragement on appliqué. I'm not going to give up. I'll keep working on it until I find the method that works best for me.

Well, lunch break is over. Time to do some more packing. A couple more hours today and then we'll stop. Other than the bedroom, I've decluttered the bathroom and cleaned the fridge. Now we are going to work on the dining room.

Appliqué Fears

First, a correction. My DIL made the All About Me quilt. I only did the hand sewing on the binding. DIL did the rest of the quilt.

Now my dilemma. I started prepping two more appliqué blocks, but I can't seem to get motivated to work on them. I'm having second thoughts on how much I like appliqué or how good I can do it. So, I've started considering that maybe I could make some of the appliqué blocks into stitchery blocks. I think I'm chickening out on the appliqué.

Last night I prepped a stitchery block. The border fabric in this block is special. A couple weeks ago I got an email from at Nancy at With Thread in Hand. She asked me for my snail mail address as she had something to send to me. You can imagine my delight when the package arrived and inside was a bag of scraps. Not just any old scraps, but scraps from Leanne herself! Nancy had won the scraps in a drawing Leanne had and she sent them to me! How sweet of Nancy! I'm so excited that I can use some Leanne's scraps in my own Butterfly Garden quilt.

So here's another question. Who would like to give me some appliqué lessons? I'm willing to travel for a weekend to get some lessons. My only constraint is I don't have my passport and traveling to another is probably too far a weekend. But, I'm willing to consider a trip somewhere in the U.S. I can justify a trip to the St. Louis area as DH has a friend who is in need of some male bonding time or just about anywhere else. Talk to me!

Until later!

Retreat Sunday

Yesterday was a great retreat day for me, although it got off to a slow start. I had trouble sleeping Saturday night and woke up at 1:15 am and didn’t get back to sleep before the alarm went off for DH at 2:45 am. I stayed in bed while he finished packing and got ready to leave. I finally went out to the couch to read some emails hoping I would get sleepy.

I looked out the front window and discovered it was snowing. I had no idea it supposed to snow. I checked weather.com and the forecast said we would get 1 – 2 inches of snow throughout the morning. No big deal. I decided to take some NyQuil since I had a little bit of congestion and sinus headache and needed some sleep.

Next thing I knew it was 8:15. I had a little over 4 hours of wonderful sleep. I climbed out from under the warm quilts, started the coffee pot and looked out the front window. It was still snowing and there was at least 2 inches of snow! Hooray, I thought. Falling snow, football replays and all day to spend quilting. I was ecstatic!

So what did I spend the day doing? I finished my PIF packages and prepped everything for mail. Then I worked on my football nickel swap packages so I would be ready to swap them out when all of the swap packages arrived. By then the replay of the Patriots/Redskins final season game was on and I hadn’t prepped any Butterfly Garden blocks so I decided to finish the binding on DIL’s All About Me quilt while watching the game.

After a short nap I prepped two Daisy blocks for appliqué. I’m making the first one with the freezer paper on top. I haven’t gotten far enough to make any comments on this method so stay tuned.

As you can tell I didn’t get any packing done, but my sewing table is a little cleaner. I must have a mental on packing by myself. This coming weekend I’ll make sure DH and I pack some on Saturday. We have a little over two weeks before closing and I don’t want be here packing when the movers are here on the 15th.

Happy Weekend!

Wow! It's been a long week. We've been working 60 - 65 hours in the office the last few weeks and I cling to the thought of the weekend tighter than anything else. (OK, maybe I hold on to DH a little tighter). Anyway the weekend is here and I'm happy.

Today we are celebrating DS' 24th birthday. His birthday is the 31st, but he wants to celebrate today. My son does not like to get his haircut. He hasn't had it cut since his wedding in July 2005. So, for his birthday, he asked for a Makeover Day. Since I already had my cut and color appt. set for today I was able to add him to the schedule with my stylist. Then after lunch DH, DDIL and I are taking him clothes shopping for some new work clothes.

Early, early tomorrow morning, like 3:15 am, DH is getting picked up by the car service and will heading to the airport and then to Los Angeles for the week. I have no intention of answering my phone tomorrow unless it's him calling me. I have a long To Do list that I need to spend the day on:

• I have several packages to prep for the mail including prizes for my Red Sox chair guessers, my PIF packages and a couple of other goodie packages.
• I want to sew at least one grocery tote bag. I have 4 or 5 of them cut out that I was to make for Christmas and didn't get them done.
• I want to prep some more Butterfly Garden blocks and then spend some time working on them.
• I have to clean off my sewing table and straighten up my sewing room (or at least pack more of it)
  
• I really should pack a box or two of items we don't need for the next couple weeks. Our moving day is less than three weeks away and we've barely started packing.

This week should be a little less stressful since my FIL and DH will be in LA and one of our sales staff will be in Atlanta. Monday I have dental appt. so I get to leave the office early. Hooray!

Thanks for all the great answers to my appliqué questions. I'll be trying the suggestions as I work on my blocks.

I'm way behind on commenting on blogs. I've been reading them and marking many for comments. I will probably spend time tomorrow catching up on those as well.

I'm off for one more cuppa and then it will time to head out the door. See you tomorrow!

Another Try At Appliqué And Questions

I've finished three more Butterfly Garden blocks today. The first two had small stitcheries in them. I used the blue colorway of my focus fabric in the four-patches. There are several four-patches in the quilt and I think I am going to make them all with these same fabrics. I just can't make every block different. I guess I'm not that "scrappy" of a quilter.
I did another appliqué block. This is one of the butterflies. Meet Ms. Boxy Puffy. I used fabric glue to hold down the seams. This made it difficult to keep the wings round. Therefore she is has square and triangle points. She is also puffy because I wasn't holding the fabric correctly and the pieces don't all lie flat. This block may not make the cut into the final quilt.
So now I have some questions for appliquérs. First: is there anything wrong with leaving the freezer paper in place behind the pieces. I may have a quilt that crinkles, but this quilt is going to hang on my wall anyway. As for quilting it I will probably only stitch in the ditch so the appliqué and stitcheries don't get covered. If leaving the freezer paper in isn't a good idea, then what is the best way to prep the pieces before stitching them down so you can keep the curves? I admit I didn't iron these pieces down as I thought gluing would work OK, but I was wrong.

Another question is about thread preferences. I have a spool of off-white YLI silk thread. I like how easily it glides through the fabric. But I have the hardest time tying a knot in it. Is there some secret way to make knots in the thread? Is silk thread the best thread for appliqué? Is it OK to use other threads? Is it possible to buy a sample set of silk thread so I don't have a buy a new spool for every color fabric I want to use?

Libby asked me if I was watching the football game. Of course, I am. I am a laptop user and it's never far away from me. In fact, DH took a photo of me writing this post. This is his view of my quilting/stitchery/appliqué nest during sports events. You can see my thread box, a page of directions, my small tool holder, my drink and a bowl of candy hearts on the sofa table. When I'm stitching my laptop sits in the small table on my left side. In my house if you don't stay sitting during an important game DH and DS will run you down. They are pacers so I stay put and play with fabrics and thread.

Well, the Patriots won their game. Woohoo!!!! Phoenix here we come! Now it's time to watch the Packers beat the Giants.

My Splurge For My Sewing Room

Our moving date is getting closer. I'm getting very excited for the long weekend after the move so I can rebuild my sewing room. You may remember this post where I drooled over the baby changing table. I've spent the last couple Saturdays trying to find something similar and didn't have any luck. In last Sunday's paper there was an ad from a chain unfinished furniture store and they had this kitchen island on sale. I fell in love with it. Since I prefer to support local businesses I went to my local unfinished furniture store this morning. I know they carry this line of furniture so I knew I could get the island. They were having a sale today and I was able to get the island and with the money I saved I was able to buy a stool. The sale also included free delivery so when we move in I won't have to worry about going to get it.

The work surface is a generous 60 x 34 inches. Big enough for a large cutting mat and a pressing mat. No more ironing board in the room. I will also be able to get rid of the two small bookcases I currently use as I can use the shelves for books. The drawers will be handy for rulers and small items. The base cupboards will be used to storing batting.

Because this island is going to be my cutting and pressing table I'm going to paint it white so it can take a beating. I think that if I stained it a dark color it would make the room feel too heavy.

I've also learned the Internet router and wireless base station won't have to be in my sewing room as they are now. They will go down in the media room with a booster on the first floor. Yea!

On my way home from the unfinished furniture store I saw that a quilting shop had moved closer to me. Of course, I had to stop. What a great shop. Nana Sue, the owner, welcomed me to the store and gave me a quick tour of the shop. Besides all of the normal quilt store goodies she has baskets and baskets of packaged scraps. I bought a package of batik scraps (see my new header) for my Butterfly Garden quilt. The pieces range in size from 10.5 inches by 9 inches to 10.5 inches by 19 inches. Are they scrumptious?

One of her employees, Steven, gives lessons on a Mega Quilter for $125 and then one can use the machine for quilting your own quilts for an hourly fee. I think I'll be taking the class, but I'm wondering what others think of the Mega Quilter for quilting.

Thanks for all the comments on my Confessions of an Applique Rookie post. I enjoyed doing the applique and will be doing lots more. I'm off to finishing two more Butterfly Garden blocks. These are stitchery blocks. Tomorrow there are two football games and I can't wait to watch the Pats beat the Chargers and the Packers to be beat the Giants.

Confessions of An Appliqué Rookie

1. Never decide to learn to appliqué when you have already packed your appliqué instruction books.
2. Remember that with your 2006 Christmas money you bought appliqué pins.
3. Remember that on your shop hop eight months ago you bought silk thread for appliqué.
4. How do you tie a knot in silk thread?
5. Remember to trace the templates backwards.
   
6. Freezer paper is fun to use. Remember to remove it before you stitch the pieces down, otherwise your block makes crinkly noises.
7. Make sure the appliqué piece is cut with a large enough seam allowance so all of it can be stitched under easily.
   
8. Use 50% off JoAnn coupon to buy mini iron.
9. Test mini iron before leaving store to make sure it works.
10. Try fabric glue on next applique block.
11. Remember to enjoy the whole process and do it again.

Block shown: Big Daisy block from Butterfly Garden, pattern calls for 15 more of these.

First Butterfly Garden Blocks

I did go into my sewing room last night before the New England Patriots game. I cut and pieced my first mini block on the Butterfly Garden quilt. I spent the whole game stitching the block and finished it this morning. I am happy with how it turned out. The pinks and greens look great together.The next block I made was one of the focus fabric blocks. Just a simple block with no applique or embroidery. The photo doesn't show the colors well.
Then I bit the bullet and sewed one of the applique hearts. This is only the second time I've made an applique block. I used the freezer paper method. I'm not entirely thrilled with the results, but it's not too bad for only my second try.
After a short nap I decided to tackle another applique block. I've started piecing one of the big daisy blocks. This one has six petals and the center piece. I'm still basting the petals so there's no photo to share yet.

I know some Norwegian bloggers are making Butterfly Garden. How are you coming along in your quilt?

We are expecting a Nor'easter later tonight and all day tomorrow. We could get up to a foot of snow. DH and I will probably work from home tomorrow as the commute is supposed to terrible. Too bad we couldn't sneak a day off, but I don't mind having to work. At least we won't have to worry about the other drivers on the road.

How to Spend $50

Earlier this week I told my BIL I would help him out and process one of our closed databases and create the quarterly reports for him. His department is way behind the production calendar and these reports are ones that I've been doing for 13 years. Since the work was recently passed to his department it would take someone twice as long as it would take me to do them and they simply didn't have the time. To show his appreciation he gave me a $50 gift cheque. How nice of him.

So what's a girl supposed to do except go fabric shopping with extra money? So, that's what I did today. My first stop this morning was at Staples. Last weekend I ordered an A-4 binder from Unikeep for holding my Butterfly Garden patterns. Unikeep binders are great. Unlike binders that close depending on how much paper is inside, these binders act like small boxes. They sit on a shelf like books and aren't awkward at all. I have a whole collection of them in various sizes that I use to store projects, patterns and my class printouts from Quilt University. Anyway, I went to Staples hoping they could 4-hole punch the patterns so I could keep them in the binder. No luck. They don't have a 4-hole punch. Too bad! I'll try one other print shop in town to see if they can punch the patterns for me.
From Staples I went to the fabric store that is close to my office. This store carries batiks, Laurel Burch and Kaffe Kasset fabrics. I seldom find any fabric I like in there, but they were having a sale so I thought I'd check it out. I wasn't finding any fabric and then I remembered why I really don't like to shop there - they tear their fabric. I hate the sound of fabric tearing, sounds like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. However, I did find a 30 x 108 inch remnant of 300 count off-white cotton sateen for $8.50. This fabric will be great for stitcheries. It is super soft and I can't wait to get started on a new project with it.

From there I went to Marden's Surplus. For those who do not know about Marden's they have an absolutely stunning fabric department. They carry quilt shop quality fabric - Thimbleberries, Moda, and batiks. But, the prices start at $2.99 a yard! Yup, you read that right, $2.99 a yard. Plus they generously cut the fabric. If you ask for a yard, you generally get a yard plus 5 - 6 inches extra. If you buy what's on the bolt you get an extra 10% off. It took me 45 minutes, but I chose the five fabrics below for my Butterfly Garden quilt. I will probably add some of the fabrics in my previous post as I go along in making the quilt. The floral prints are the same design, but since no piece in the quilt is larger than 4 inches finished I don't think it will be a problem. The green piece is an example of the generous cuts they do at Marden's. I asked for a yard, but the piece on the bolt was nearly two yards so she gave the piece to me for the price of one yard - $2.99!

After Marden's I still had $25 left of the gift cheque so I decided to stop at the LQS not far from my house. I didn't find any fabric jumping off the shelves into my arms. However, Eleanor Burns Fussy Cut Trio rulers did find their way into my hands. These will come in handy making this quilt and I'm sure many other quilts someday.

On Thursday I also received my Presencia threads for making this quilt. Aren't the colors yummy? Besides the 5 grams balls I also received a skein of matching floss for each color. I would take the time to wind the floss onto floss cards, but my empty floss cards are currently packed away.
I guess I should stop planning this quilt and start making this quilt, huh? Too bad football play-offs are on now. I doubt I'll find my way back into my sewing room until tomorrow morning.

Why I Don't Crochet Anymore

I started my day digging through what I haven't packed away of my stash and couldn't find any fabric to use for my Butterfly Garden quilt instead of the purples and greens I had chosen (see photo below). I just feel as though these fabrics will make the quilt too dark and the stitching won't show. I came to the realization that I don't have enough light color fabrics and definitely not a floral focus fabric. So that means I'll have to go shopping this week. Too bad!

DH woke up with the flu this morning and spent the day on the couch under two quilts. I know DH is sick when he is using quilts and has only been off the couch to visit the bathroom a few times. I didn't want to disrupt him with the sound of the sewing machine so I spent the afternoon working on my G block from Bobby Socks. I started stitching this block way back in August and haven't touched it in a long time. It felt good to spend a couple hours on it.

Tonight I wanted to do something different so I pulled out a purple ripple afghan I started crocheting about fours years ago. I only lasted 15 minutes before my arms started hurting. Ouch! So I reluctantly put the crocheting away. I guess my crocheting life is over.

Linda asked me why I covet the baby changing table in the new condo. She's wondering if I want the baby to go with the table. Good question, but not the right answer. My baby days are way over and grandbabies are still a few years away. I want the table because it's the perfect height for a cutting/pressing table, plus it is really more of a cabinet as it has several drawers with tons of space for storage. It would make a great quilting studio piece of furniture.

Well, it's getting late and tomorrow is Monday. So I'm off to take a steamy shower and climb under the covers. DH seems to be doing better tonight as he ate dinner and has kept it down. That's the first meal of the day for him. Hooray!

Some Photos of the New Condo

We had our home inspection on Thursday. It went well. There are some minor problems with a little mold and floor damage around the sliders out to the deck. The bedroom doors need are level, but not plumb and can be fixed with sandpaper. Today we learned the Radon level came back a little high and we will ask the seller to pay for a Radon Mitigation System. Our broker is pretty sure we should be able to get them to do that.

Here are some photos of the condo. This is the currently unfinished basement that we will finish and make into our media room. There is a washer and dryer behind me. We will close them off.
This is the open area next to the kitchen. We will be using this area as a sitting area when the basement is finished. We will use the current living room as our dining room. The photo I took of the room didn't turn out or I would show it.
Here is the kitchen. It's not huge, but I like it. This photo was taken in the morning so you can see how much morning light this room gets.
Here is the closet wall in my studio. Each of those closets is 6-feet long. I want to change out the folding doors for sliding doors. Then I will use the doors as design wall space. I will also custom fit the closets with shelves and drawers to hold UFOs, fabrics and supplies. Where you see the baby changing table will be my cutting table. Although I secretly covet the changing table and would love to have it.
This is the window wall in my room. My sewing table will be along this wall. My Red Sox rocking chair will go by one of the windows. I also want one more table/desk in the room for my laptop.

Today I ordered the embroidery floss for my Butterfly Garden quilt. I want to use FincaPresencia floss and no store around here carries it. I spent more time reading the patterns today and I think I may change some of my fabric choices. Some of the fabrics may be too dark so tomorrow I'll poke through my stash again to look for some lighter choices. I add some pinks too.

It's been cold here the last couple days and now is warming up. We were at or near 0 and by Tuesday/Wednesday we could be close to 50! Talk about temperature changes. Wow!

Year End Reckoning

I made it through the year keeping track of my projects, the time I spent quilting and the money I spent on quilting. Here’s my 2007 results:

I started 2007 with 17 quilting projects, I added 36 projects and completed 23 projects for a net list of 30 WIPs for the coming year. I started stitchery this year and currently have 6 WIPs. I also have 5 projects I have the patterns and fabric for, but haven’t started and I just got my Butterfly Garden patterns today so tomorrow I’m going to pull fabrics and floss for it.

Over the course of the year I spent 411.25 hours quilting or stitching, that’s an average of 34.27 hours a month, or 1.13 hours per day.

OK, so I’m a bit of a numbers geek, but hold on there’s more.

I spent $2,318.15 on fabric, supplies and having 3 quilts quilted. That’s an average of $193.18 per month, or $5.64 for every hour I quilted. Not a bad investment in my book.

On to 2008. My goals this year include:

• Spend less money. That shouldn’t be too hard since buying a house will put a dent in my disposable income.
• Improve my appliqué skills. Making Butterfly Garden will help with that.
• Learn how to machine quilt. If I’m ever going to decrease my UFO count I need to learn machine quilting.

Is It Valentine's Day Yet?

I'm only asking if it's Valentine's Day because I made this table runner top today. The pattern is from Happy Zombie. She used it as Christmas pattern. I had two charm packs of Valentine fabric so thought I'd be ahead of the holiday schedule. While I was digging through my stash that isn't packed away I found the black heart fabric and realized how perfect it would be for the stars. I have enough black fabric left for the binding and maybe the backing too.

I wish I would have spent a little more time placing the large squares. I'm not entirely thrilled with the two bold charms next to each other in the third vertical column, but it will stay the way it is. I'm thinking I may stitch a redwork heart or two on the charms for an additional design element.

Oh yeah, the Patriots won their game last night. They are first NFL team to finish the season 16 - 0. They broke quite a few other records during the game last night. In honor of their win I went to E-Quilter and ordered three yards of Patriots cotton fabric. It's the same fabric I used in the first quilt I made for DH. Not sure what I'll make with it this time, although one possibility is a back cushion for my Red Sox rocking chair.

I'm watching football alone today. DS and DIL have a birthday party to attend and DH decided to go and play poker. I'd love to go back in the sewing room, but my arms are telling me to take it easy. It's the first time in weeks I've been in pain. I think it's because I carried heavy grocery bags yesterday. I have several cloth grocery bags and the cashiers tend to overload them. I must remember to tell them not to over fill them. So, I'm off to take a nap and see how I feel later.

With tomorrow being the end of the year I need to review my WIPs and UFOs and finish up my Quilting Projects, Time and Financial workbook. Stay tuned for my first yearly report.