Heading into the Weekend

It is Friday morning and I was able to accomplish my 2 Orange crush blocks per day this week. I now have 5 to go and should easily get them done over the long weekend. We have some baseball games going on but other then that I plan on staying home and enjoying the nice weather that is coming in. Our summer kitchen (outdoor family room) needs a good cleaning up from my daughter having friends over and I still need to rake some leaves up that gathered around our little sitting area out back. Last week we planted 7 new trees in our yard and they still need mulch put around them. I guess I just have a bunch of outdoor work that needs done. We have had such a cold May that I haven’t even considered doing much outdoors yet.
Back when I was scanning pictures out of my magazines I found this awesome rose quilt. I have always been fascinated by roses on quilts. I really like this one because it is actually a rose. Whig Rose, Democrat Rose, etc. are all large shapes but really don’t depict a rose. I am working on a smaller rose quilt now and have drafted out a larger 4 block quilt to do in the future. As always I have a stack of ideas and no time to follow through.
Have a great weekend everyone!

A Great night at Guild

I was able to get away from work and sporting events to attend guild last night. It is amazing to me all the awesome work that is being done out there in the quilt world. We only had a small group last night, probably under 30 ladies but it was show and tell night and it was really inspiring. Linda brought her “Oh I love it so much” Shining star quilt top. I really do love it. Another lady brought a quilt done in polka dots but it was a masculine quilt all done in the darker tones. It was really neat. Something I would have never thought of doing. There was also a really fun black and white quilt done with hot pink sashing and a gorgeous whole cloth machine quilted. It was just a really inspiring night that made me want to go home and sew. By the time I picked my daughter up from Grandma’s and got home I was tired and went to bed. I have been getting up each morning and doing my 2 Orange Crush blocks! I now have 21 done. I have made this Orange Crush quilt and my last quilt my 25th anniversary one totally out of my brights basket. It has really taken a bite out of that stash. I am enjoying this reduction of stash as it really gives me more room to play. I am definitely going to have to make a couple scrap quilts from my plaids as I have 2 heaping baskets full. Maybe the next mystery quilt will have to be cut from them.
I wanted to show my Mr. Thread Man. Dawn gifted him to me at our retreat we attended in January. He sits on my shelf above my cutting table. Every time I see him I smile. Thanks Dawn.

My Weekend

Another weekend has just flown by. Time seems to be going so fast for me anymore. This past weekend I spent all day Saturday at the baseball field. Our high school team hosted a tournament so I spent my day working it. Sunday was our high schools fine arts celebration. My son had some artwork displayed and my daughter sang in the choir. That took up the whole afternoon. In what time I did have available to myself I was able to get 15 of my Orange Crush blocks sewn together. That put me at the half way mark for this clue. I challenged myself to get 2 done a day this week leaving me only 5 to do over next weekend. I already got my 2 done this morning before leaving for work. Tonight is senior night for the baseball team. Since I am a junior parent I am on the committee to put this on. We are serving a full meal after the game so I knew I wouldn’t have time to complete the blocks tonight.
And lookey at what arrived in the mail for me this weekend from my most wonderful friend Dawn. She made me a needle keeper and bought me this oh so cute bra fabric. Thank you very much friend!!!

Orange Crush and movies

I haven’t been getting a lot done but I was able to accomplish a couple orange crush blocks. I like how they are turning out. I work in the Agricultural field and this is one of my two busiest times of the year. I have been putting in long hours on top of running to track meets and baseball games. It can all get a little overwhelming at times.
We have been getting a lot of rain lately. It has just been chilly and dreary out. I have yet to get my summer annuals planted and my husband purchased 7 nice sized trees the other day and we haven’t been able to get them in the ground yet. I am looking forward to some warmer weather that’s for sure.
I am still plugging along on watching all the seasons of Northern Exposure. It has been slow going as of late. Last night I had a few hours at home so I spent my evening with Frank Sinatra and Debbie Reynolds in the movie The Tender Trap. I love old movies and had not seen this one in awhile. I also was able to catch Doris Day and Rock Hudson in Love Come Back which seems to be on every other week. Doris Day has always been one of my favorites.

A Great Mothers Day

I had a great mothers day weekend. Saturday we traveled out of town for a baseball doubleheader. We won and since we haven’t had many wins this year it made for a good day. Sunday morning we went to church then stopped at one our favorite Mexican grocery stores for carryout as they have a grill in the back. We took our food home and added salad and fresh made margarita’s for an excellent lunch. My daughter is in cooking class this semester in school so she made monkey bread for dessert. My middle boy bought me a card (which is amazing) and my oldest called so it made for a good day. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and napping. This morning I got up early and cut my strips for Clue #4 of orange crush so I can get started on it. We have ballgames the next two evenings so it will have to be early morning sewing for the time being.
When I last wrote I was headed for an evening out with friends to celebrate my birthday. Look at all the goodies I received. I just love them all! My friend Sossity made me a bag from a cutter quilt. It is so awesome, she always does neat things like that. Linda gave me a gift card to Border’s I can’t wait to go browse. I know I have said it before but quilting friends are the best. If you haven’t joined a local group, please do as my quilting friends have made the most wonderful impact on my life.

Orange Crush Clue # 3 Done

I have Clue #3 of Orange Crush all done. It was an easy and quick one to do. Yesterday I was able to tear myself away from work long enough to take an all day quilting class that our guild was offering. Let me just say that it was so bad of a class that it was actually fun. We received almost zero instruction, no hand out and no actual project. I can only remember twice in this 6 hour class that the instructor actually got up from sitting and actually walked around or looked at what someone was trying to do. When asked about one of the quilt samples and measurements for it so we could start one like it we were told that it was made over 3 years ago and they couldn’t remember what the measurements were. We spent our time in the back of the room taking pictures of said instructor with the clock behind him and giggling. At 2:30 he actually closed his eyes for awhile and took a power nap. At this time one of my friends said “the Enthusiasm for this class is contagious”. All in all we actually had a fun day.
Tonight I am celebrating my May 5th birthday with my “quilt friends” and husbands. One of my dearest quilt friends and I share a birthday so we get to choose where dinner will be. We picked one of our local establishments called Bruno’s. I can’t wait as it is always so much fun to spend time with all of them.

I was able to get all of clue #2 of Orange Crush finished up this weekend. I am loving my blocks so far! I used to work in such dark colors but lately I am the queen of brights. I don’t know what has happened to me. They just make me happy.
Prom went off without a hitch. They looked so cute together. My middle one is a crazy kind of kid. He just loves to have fun. He told us he participated in the dance off and got runner up. He can be so silly. I spent all day yesterday shopping for chairs. I am in charge of getting the senior baseball players gifts. One of the talented mothers is taking the canvas chairs that come in a bag and painting them with a baseball on back and the boys name and #. Each one will be in the colors of that boy’s University that he will be attending. I cannot come up with 4 black ones for Purdue. Go figure. We went to 15 different places and I struck out. I am not sure where we are going to go with this project at this point.
I had a couple of questions about my doll quilts. One was how do I display them. Well, I don’t. But I have seen really cute ideas. Like the wall of little quilts or rolled up little quilts tied with raffia lying in a bowl on the table. Mine usually just get tossed on top of the finished pile in my sewing room. I was also asked how I quilt them, with a hoop or not. This whole doll quilt mania started when I read how Tonya quilts without a hoop. I have always loved to hand quilt but couldn’t find the time to actually get a large project finished. I decided to give Tonya’s idea a try and I loved it. It works perfectly for me with the little quilts and I can quilt so much quicker without messing with the hoop. She has a tutorial on her sight so please check it out. In fact check out all her tutorials as they have changed the way I approach quilting.