Make-A-List Monday - Taking A Week Off (from lists...)

 

Hi, all!

Well, despite all attempts from Mother Nature to rain on our parade, we managed to make it to the beach, and vacation is under way!  We ain't afraid of no tropical storms!!

I'm happy to report that I managed to finish everything on my list from last week - good thing, since it was all related to getting ready for vacation.  

And it's been a good week for doing some blog maintenance!  I finally found a solution to Blogger taking Feedburner away, which also took away the easy way to send you posts by email.  You can see that I have added a new "follow by email" box to the left side bar, as the posts will now be coming via email.  Follow.it is supposed to be importing my list of previous email subscribers, but it seems to be taking a while, so feel free to sign up there again if you want.  I'd hate for you to miss anything!  You can read more about this whole process by clicking here.

I also got things started for the 12 Days of Christmas in July blog hop, putting out a call for bloggers who want to be a part of the hop.  If you're interested, drop me a line at salliesue57 (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll add you to the list.  You can read more about what's involved by clicking here.

And while I have been doing some of this while here, the weather has been iffy, so I have also been doing some of this...

...working on my vacation quilt!  I've made about 1/3 of the 25-patch blocks I'll need for the whole top so far.  A good start, and I really think I'm going to like it!

And today, during a rainy patch, I went to one of my favorite places - A&E Pharmacy in Pensacola.  Contrary to what you might think, no drugs are are sold here, but a truly fabulous array of fabric and other craft supplies.  I found fabrics I needed for a trio of memory quilts...

... and also the fabrics for this year's 12 Days of Christmas in July quilt-along! I'm excited to get started on that one - probably first thing after we get back from vacation.  I didn't bring the best tools with me for cutting out a quilt, plus I really want to get the blocks for my vacation quilt finished!  So I'll just pet the fabrics for a while yet.

And now that I've shared what I'm doing this week, I really want to know - - - what are YOU working on?

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Some "Me" Sewing!

 

Hi, all!

Another beautiful spring week has gone by, and it's Friday again!!  That means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on - are you ready?  Let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

This week I finished up the last binding on the last graduation quilt, which meant that I got to do some "me" sewing!  

My "Me Sew Happy" quilt, which I started as part of a quilt-along, had been languishing away on the design wall, because I had not had any time to work on the large and small hourglass blocks.  So it was the first thing I tackled!  I pulled some honest to gosh scraps out of my bins....

...which I used to make the four small and four large hourglass blocks required to finish the quilt!

Isn't it pretty?  I love all the bright saturated colors...

...and even more, the fun of finding pretty pieces from past projects!  There's even a piece in this quilt from the very first quilt requested by our pastor for a sick church member.  I was surprised to see that piece in my scrap bin - I would have thought it would be gone long ago - but then I started looking at other pieces and remembering the quilts they came from.  So much fun!

And once I got that top sewn together, I decided I'd better start pulling my next vacation quilt together - we go back to the beach in less than a month!  

So yesterday I broke into the Kate Spain fat quarter stash, pulled a bunch of beautiful teals, blues, and light greens, and cut them into strips.  I've already started sewing together strip sets which will be cross-cut to make 5-square strips for another postage stamp quilt.  This will become a new king-size summer quilt for my own bed (which means I'll be able to take the Christmas quilt off finally!)

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

In recognition of National Talk Like Yoda Day!

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share! We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends.

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Beach Quilt!

 

Hi, all!

Friday is here again, and hopefully we all survived April Fool's Day!  I did see a few Instagram posts of people who were surprised by snow - quite a wicked April Fool's joke from God, I must say.  We woke up to a beautiful day, but twenty degrees colder than we had been the rest of the week - and so windy you could hear the wind whistle through the bathroom vents.  So we didn't have a beach day today, but we did play putt putt and watched four - count 'em, four! - Godzilla movies!  A good day was had by all.

So Friday means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on - I hope you're ready, because I sure am!  Let's go!

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

When I was planning for this vacation, I knew I would bring my sewing machine, even if I only got to sew the three days that we were here before the grandkids showed up.  I also brought twenty five block kits for a quilt I needed to make, in hopes that I would get at least some of them made and have a head-start on that quilt.

Well, I got a GREAT start on that quilt, because by Thursday afternoon I had finished all 25 blocks I brought with me!   You can see them all here...

This probably isn't the final layout - I just wanted to get a quick pic before we ate dinner - but I love the colors in this!  All the print pieces are Kate Spain fabrics, and the solids are Kona Snow and a pretty spring green that I can't remember the name of.  

I think I'll take these home and fiddle with the layout on my "design floor" so for now I'll just do my happy dance that the blocks are done!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!  

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get a Whoop Whoop? It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like...

 

Hi, all!

Friday is here once again (do they seem to be coming along faster as we near the fall?) and that means it's time for us to get our whoop whoop on!  I hope you're ready - I am!  So let's get started!

*&*&*&*&*&*&

It was a near thing, but I did manage to have a "finish" this week...

OK, it's just the top, not truly a finish yet, but I'm pleased to have made this much progress!  I started these blocks last week while I was on vacation, and finished the last two and did the sashing and borders this week.

Look at that sashing fabric. Isn't it perfect?  And check out Rudolph's antlers - a great piece of Christmas text fabric, and wonder of wonders, I think I managed to get all the text right side up!

This will get tucked away for a while, as I need to finish the two commission t-shirt quilts first, but it will be completed in time to be given as a Christmas gift.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

So - - - can I get a whoop whoop?

*&*&*&*&*&*&*

And now it's your turn!

What's got you whooping it up this week?

What's making you do a little happy dance?

Share!  We want to dance right along with you,

And it's always more fun to dance with friends!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight.

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Back In The Real World!

Hi, all!

Well, the beach is just a fond memory now, and it's time to get back to the real world - - - that's been my mantra today, but it's still not working!!  But there's lots to do, and it won't put itself together without my help - so no more procrastinating!  

First let's see how last week's (very short) list went!

1.  Work on the vacation quilt!
I did do this - I managed to get twenty-one blocks made last week.  Not too many, but the weather was pretty and the blocks were slow to sew. They are pretty, though!

I won't be able to work on this for a while - I've got a couple of commission jobs and another special quilt to finish up before the end of August...

2.  Get the BlockRockIt set up after I get home.
I did not have a chance to get up to church to set the quilting machine up today - hopefully tomorrow!

3.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

This was pretty simple, since we had no requests last week that needed to be filled immediately.  One baby quilt was requested, and I'll work on that one this Wednesday night - we've probably got a quilt made up and ready to go!

OK, so not much got done last week - which is the prerogative of vacation days!!  But now it's time to get back to work, and I think this week's list will be a good bit longer!

1.  Piece the wedding quilt top.

2.  Do the hand stitching on the wedding quilt pillow.

3. Work on editing the photos for the commission memory quilt.

4.  Write a book review for the What's on the Bookshelf Wednesday post.

5.  Work on Nathanael's stocking. Just for fun, here's a shot of how much stitching is done so far - something to gauge next week's progress against!

6.  Finish setting up the BlockRockIt!

7.  Work on the plans for a September quilt show.

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

I'm sure there's more that I need to work on, but my brain is still on vacation!  And this week is starting to fill up - two days with the little kiddos, and my niece and sister are coming to visit on Wednesday.  I'll be lucky to get this much done!

So now, the question is - - - what are you working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - The Beach Edition!

Hi, all!

As you probably know (because I've been talking about it for weeks now!) I'm at the beach on vacation.  So I don't have much of a to-do list for this week, but I did want to re-coup about last week's list...

1.  Finish the quilting on the sibling quilt and bind it.

Done!  I'm so happy with the way this one came out - you can read more about it on my Whoop Whoop post from last Friday.

2.  Get the BlockRockIt set up on the frame at church.

Alas, despite all my best intentions, this didn't happen.  I tried - but it turned out we needed to order a new, professional carriage for our frame to allow the BlockRockIt to be set up.  However, I will say that The Grace Company was very very helpful and got it out to us very quickly and for a great price.  This will be high on my to-do list for when I get back home!

3.  Hand out the signature blocks for the retirement quilt to be signed this week.

They went out this past Sunday - hopefully we can start putting this quilt together soon!

4.  Write up an estimate for a commission quilt.

Done!  I'll be ordering the fabrics tomorrow so they can hopefully be there by the time I get home!

5.  Clean the house so the pet-sitter doesn't run out screaming!

Done!  And I have to say, it was nice to have the house nice and clean when we left...

6.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

Once again, this was easy - no requests this week!

OK, so that was a pretty easy list last week.  And this week's list won't be much harder - I'm sewing for fun this week!

1.  Work on the vacation quilt!

2.  Get the BlockRockIt set up after I get home.

3.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

And because this post is really low on pictures, here are a few from this week...

Our lunch companion as we had a great pizza
at The Mellow Mushroom!

The gorgeous view from our balcony!

Sunset - it even turns the sand pink!

My temporary sewing studio - everything i need!

The beginning of my Endless Summer quilt!

And where I'm spending large parts of my days this week...

And now, the only question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - I Can Almost Smell the Beach.....

Hi, all!

I hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend!  Ours was rather rainy, but we still had a great time - got to spend some time with the grandkids, went out on the boat once in between rainy episodes, and went to the movies.  All in all, a fun weekend!  And of course, rain meant that I got to do a good bit of sewing, too....

So let's see how last week's list went...

1.  Make a back for and quilt the second scrappy green quilt top.

Done!  I actually quilted this one today, and while the fancy quilting is done, I still need to do a little bit of ditch-stitching and bind it.  But here's a picture of some of the quilting as a tease - I'll post about this quilt on Friday!

2.  Complete the HSTs for the vacation quilt.

Done!  I don't have a pic of all of them together, but here's enough to give you an idea... I made 624 of these puppies!

3.  Work on the wedding dress quilt project.

Done!  I've got a good start on the pillow, and finally have a handle on what I'm going to do for the quilt.  I had run into a problem with only using the fabric in the dress, adding nothing, but got permission to add a backing fabric, so now it should be a piece of cake!  (After vacation...)

Seed stitching with a 20 weight glossy twisted thread

4.  Work on Nathanael's stocking.

Done!  Well, not done, but at least in progress!  

5.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

Done!  We gave away three quilts this week...

This one to a man who had surgery for lung cancer...

This one to a sick baby...

And this one to a woman with multiple health issues.

And in addition to the things on my list, I did a little fun sewing...

I made these two cute little pin cushions, which measure about 3" square by 1" thick.  I used the same technique for the 16-patch blocks as I did for my husband's quilt, except with 5" squares instead of 10" squares.  It was super simple!  I wonder how small I can go....

And I also busted into my piggy bank, because the Piggy Bank Challenge has come to an end!  For one year, as part of Val's Piggy Bank Challenge, I've been collecting up my spare change in anticipation of a quilt-y treat.....

It was a LOT of change!!! (As CoinStar kept telling me...)

This was the total I came up with, and actually, CoinStar came up with more - $76.79!  I spent part of my loot on this...

While that looks like a strange thing to purchase as part of a quilt-y splurge, it represents 173 hours and 47 minutes of audio books, which I listen to while I'm working!  When I received an email today saying that they were on sale for $4.95 each, I knew that would be a great thing to spend part of my money on.

I'm going to save the rest of my loot in anticipation of this beautiful new fabric by Amanda Jean Nyberg of Crazy Mom Quilts, which should be available on Connecting Threads in the fall sometime.  I can't wait!!

And I've already started stuffing my pig in anticipation of next year's quilt-y splurge!!

OK, so that's the week that was.  This week is a short week, because we're heading to the beach on Friday, but I still have some things I need to get done...

1.  Finish the quilting on the sibling quilt and bind it.

2.  Get the BlockRockIt set up on the frame at church.

3.  Hand out the signature blocks for the retirement quilt to be signed this week.

4.  Write up an estimate for a commission quilt.

5.  Clean the house so the pet-sitter doesn't run out screaming!

6.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that come up.

That should be more than enough to keep me out of trouble (especially since I'm also babysitting two mornings this week for the grandkids) but if it isn't, I can also cut out the pieces for the wedding dress quilt, now that I know what I'm going to do!

Whew!

So now, the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah

Make-A-List Monday - Getting Ready for Vacation!

Hi, all!

Monday!  I'm always excited to see it come because I love to see how I've done on my list from the previous week.  Much better than having to go to work after the weekend....

Hot weather always gives me lots of time to play upstairs in the studio - we have been experiencing some really hot days here!  But that's great for my sewing time.  So let's see how it went....

1.  Put the binding on the checkerboard quilt.

Done!!  I'll be blogging about this quilt on Friday.

2.  Continue working on the retirement quilt.

Done!  I made 50 more blocks this week, and we'll start getting them signed this week.

3.  Continue working on the wedding dress quilt commission job.

Done!  The dress is finally deconstructed, and I'm ready to start designing my projects.

4.  Start cutting out my vacation quilt.

Done!  As of this afternoon, the blocks are all cut out and individually packaged in little zip loc bags with all their parts.  156 of them - whew!!

The fabrics are Kate Spain's Horizon and a Kona Sunset bundle, along with Kona white for the background.  I'm using V and Co.'s Endless Summer pattern, but I've enlarged it to make a king-size quilt for our bed.

5.  Quilt two quilts for the ministry.

I didn't quilt any quilts, because Rita has us well stocked in finished quilts, but I did cut up a huge pile of scraps into usable sizes (10" squares, 5" squares, 4.5"x 2.5" rectangles, and 2.5"x 1.5" rectangles).  I felt so virtuous when I got that done!

6.  Make another patchwork basket.

Done!  I created this pieced basket, and blogged about how I changed the pattern here.

6.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

Done!  It was a quiet week, but we did give away a few...

This quilt is going to a two year old boy in Alaska just diagnosed with cancer.  It's being held by Callie, our youngest quilt ministry member.  She designed and assembled this quilt top on her own!

And this beautiful quilt went to a woman whose breast cancer, which had been in remission, has returned.  She's a young mom and we thought this quilt would bring her joy and comfort!

OK, so last week's list is in the books, and well-completed!  Let's see what's on tap for this week...

1.  Make another 1-hour basket for a baby shower gift.

2.  Make a blankie to go in that basket!

3.  Come up with a final design for the wedding dress quilt.

4.  Cut more scraps - mine or the ministry's.

5.  Make more blocks for the retirement quilt.

6.  Work on Nathanael's Christmas stocking.

7.  Make the HSTs for my vacation quilt.

8.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

So that's my list for the week.  Seems like a skinny week, so maybe other fun things will appear on my horizon!  I get to have a "grandgirls" day on Thursday, while Nathanael is having his first physical therapy session - Lilli in the morning during the littles' speech therapy, then both girls in the afternoon.  That should be a lot of fun!

And Sunday, we had a fabulous Father's Day - my daughter was able to come to church with us and bring all the kids (my poor son-in-law had to work!)  I got this great pic of all of the kids and grandkids with Papa...

...but this is what it's really like to try to take a picture with three kids at the same time!

So now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week?

Hugs!

Sarah