Organizational fun!

Where does the time go?  It was a week and a half ago that I posted last, and well ... that is how summer goes!  I hope you all are enjoying this time of year ... summer should really be more about your family, and spending time outside enjoying the air and sunshine and good friends.  Not about the things that need to be done ... we'll get to those later!

I am teaching a mystery quilt class on August 9 at the Country Loft.  Of course it is a mystery so I can't show you the quilt, but I can show you this little sneak peak ...

Trust me!  It is so stinking cute!  It was a lot of fun to make as well, and I can't wait for the class to share the fun with everyone!  I love these night classes ... they are on Friday nights and we provide dinner.  It is a blast!

I have been on an organization kick ... don't know why, but I'll take it when it decides to visit!  ha, ha ... think it is probably because I am not longarming, and I have lots more physical time.  The other part of that is that I was so bogged down emotionally, that I wasn't having much fun at anything.  That has all changed.  The first thing to organize was the hall closet; been bugging me for years.  You know what I mean ... coats everywhere, things that don't have a home tossed as far back as possible.  The only things in there now are board games on the top shelf, coats, and the vacuum cleaners ... oh, and the lone beach bag.  So nice and tidy!

Then I moved into the cottage where my studio is ... doesn't that sound fancy?  Must remember to use that term ... quilting studio!  We have a granny flat that my mother in law used to live in and after she passed away, eventually I moved all my sewing stuff out there (well, most of it!  :-)  ), along with the longarm.  A year ago a couple of great friends helped me move everything from the upstairs of our home, to the cottage.  All my fabric was grouped by color, and some by collection.  It worked at the time, but I am always looking for a better way, and I love to reorganize.  This is the before ...

And this is the after ...

Isn't it beautiful?  I just love walking in and seeing the nice, neat and orderly stacks.  Most are arranged by color, and there are a few collections.  Charm squares and some other precuts are in a basket on one of the bookshelves.  A few random fat quarters live in another basket.  I can see the fabric so much better this way, and it is easier to take a piece that I want out, and the stack still remains orderly.

I have a few pieces of Halloween/fall fabric ... Actually .... "Hello, my name is Colleen, and I am addicted to Halloween fabric" .... Thanks to my good friend Kim, who keeps giving me the fall fabric she doesn't want anymore, here is my collection ...

That's sorted by color ... But when you look at it all together, it doesn't look so bad ...

Sheesh ... Gotta run .. I work today and I have to work to pay for my addiction!

!

What a weekend

Well ... my beautiful daughter's birthday was on Friday and it was a great start to my weekend!  

She turned 19 (that's my baby ... yikes!); we celebrated with dinner at PF Changs (one of my most favorite places!  Have you tried their Flaming Red Wontons????  Delicious!) and then yummy gluten free, sugar free brownies.  Umm ... they are not as bad as they sound, but not as good as a real brownie ... after all it was her birthday and her choice!

Saturday seemed promising ... got some things done around the house, and then off to run a couple errands with hubby.  He was dropping me at the quilt store so I could do some measuring and figuring for a quilt I had made.  No sooner did he leave then I got a call from my mailman, Eddie.  Remember Eddie?  I've told you about him before ... he is awesome ... whenever I get a package I get a text from Eddie so I know it's at my gate.  I had a feeling this conversation was NOT going to be about a package:

Eddie:  Hi Colleen ... did you guys get another dog?
Me:  Yep ... long story, but yes we have a beagle we are "fostering."
Eddie:  Well he is out ...
Me:  Where is he?
Eddie:  In the middle of the street ... oh, and your little dog is outside the gate too.
Me:  Ok ... great ... thanks Eddie!

No sooner did I hang up with him then my son, who is living in Michigan remember, texts me to tell me the neighbor called him and left a message that the dog is out.  For some reason his cell phone was the only number she could find.  Then my son tells me to deal with it ... what????!!!  I know he didn't mean it to come out that way, and you can't see someone's face when you are texting, but I did not take too kindly to that text, so I shot him a little reply.  Then talked to hubby who went home to put the culprits into the house.  Our nice neighbors were standing in our driveway with the dogs, making sure they didn't run away.  They have three boys and those boys are very sweet ... they love our dogs and sometimes I wonder why ... since all Charlie does is bark at them whenever he sees them going off into the park!  We think Todd is climbing up on a pile of firewood and jumping the fence.  So hubby moved some of the wood and we'll see if that does the trick.  Did I mention that Todd somehow removed his collar last week and buried it in the yard?  I can't find it and it has his identification tags on there.  Off I went to Petco yesterday in the midst of my errands to get him another tag so if someone finds him they know who he belongs to.  Would it be terrible to say that I considered NOT replacing his dog tag?!

Decided we would try and take all three dogs to a local park and hit the trails with them.  Todd hasn't been in the car since we brought him home from the airport.  We aren't two minutes down the road and he is drooling everywhere.  The trip is about 15 minutes ... we have towels on the seat and hubby has to keep wiping his drool ... gross ... on the window, the side of the door, disgusting!  Get there take them for a walk ... walk is successful!  On the way home more drooling, and I keep thinking he's going to toss his cookies .... 5 minutes from home, yep he does!  After we get home I spend about 1/2 hour washing down the inside of the car and outside windows where there was drool, and then clean the carpet that got the tossed cookies.  Don't think Todd will be going on a ride anytime soon!

Did you make it this far?  I know that part was not about quilting, but the majority of my life these days is ... not about quilting!  I did get to finish putting my flying geese and half square triangles together; picked my background fabric for my turkeys and pumpkins, and have everything stacked and ready to go for class next Saturday.  

It is a three part class, and next week is part two.  

These are all backgrounds for the turkey and pumpkin applique blocks.  the only thing I have to do is pick fabric for the turkeys and pumpkins.  I am NEVER ready ahead of time, so am wondering if lightening is going to strike, or something!  ha, ha

And here is what makes everything worth it ...

Flying Geese

How do you feel about flying geese?  They have never particularly bothered me ... I love the look of them, and when they're called for, I make them and move on.  Until my latest project ... remember I said I was working on Catherine Hughes' French Turkey pattern ... I did my half triangles several weeks ago ...

Love them ... well I had just started on the flying geese, but had only done a few.  Have been working on the rest of them this week ... I now AM NOT a fan of those darn geese!  See how many I had to make ... I can't remember what the count is, nor did I feel like counting them so I could tell you.  Let's just say I'm sure it was close to 1,000!  Ha ha ... she uses a method that is supposed to be a "speedier" method ... well, I don't know about that.  You know that everyone has their preferences for a certain method to making a block.  For instance, when I make my half square trianges, I prefer to make them about 1/8 to 1/4" larger when I sew them, and then trim them down.  I feel like when I make them the "no trim" method, they never come out nicely, and then I am frustrated trying to make them fit.  That's how I feel about these geese.  They are supposed to be 2" x 3 1/2" unfinished.  Most of them are 2", but that other measurement is just a smidge off on all of them.  Grrrrr ....  

I love the fabrics and i think the geese are really cute!  So my lesson?  I tried something new and decided I don't like it.  I will go back to my old method of a rectangle and two squares, drawing the line corner to corner on the squares, and then trimming the excess away and pressing the squares out towards the edges.  It might take a little longer, but I get a much nicer finish, and ultimately, that's the most important thing!

Have a great weekend!

Sewing time

It has been a long time since I've been in my sewing studio.  The longarm is quiet as I am taking a vacation from it for a short while.  I have time now to do some sewing and taking care of the house, my hubby and daughter that are both off for the summer, gardening, etc.  I am really enjoying slowing my life down a little, and thinking this may be a yearly vacation I give myself.

I've been sewing for three days now, but I can't exactly tell you what I'm making.  I can tell you that the first thing I needed to do was recover my ironing board ...

It was horrible!  I pulled off the old fabric, grabbed some batting, layered it over the old original silver cover, then threw a piece of fabric long enough to cover, and trimmed the edges of the fabric.

Pinned it in different places to the original cover to hold it down.

Doesn't look very pretty on the bottom, but the top looks great!

Sorry about the direction of this picture. 

While sewing I had some company ...

 Todd really likes to be around people.  I think because our dogs are a bonded pair, Todd needs a friend, and I guess I'm it!

Ok ... Here is what I can show you that I've been doing in my workshop ...

A little of this ...

Some of that ... And I'll also be needing

That's it for now ... I'll share more details as soon as I can!  Have a great week!!

Blog reading

Hi ... I have had a couple of questions about Bloglovin', so I will try to explain it as best I understand ... Ha ha!  Apparently in March, Google announced that they would be retiring their google reader program (don't think that that's the right word), July 1.  I never heard anything about it but started seeing all these posts last week on people''s blogs about moving to BL.  I looked it up on the Internet  the other day, and made the switch.  I only have set up the program on my iPhone, so I can't speak to on your home computer.  BL is an app I downloaded to my iPhone; it pulls all the blogs you have previously marked that you read, and transfers them to this great app.  When you open the app, all your blogs scroll up for you to read the new posts.  It is really nice!  The thing I like most about it is you can navigate between blogs that you read more quickly than you used to.  

I don't like change ... I really don't, and I am not tech savvy AT ALL, but this was a fast change for me.  Have a wonderful and patriotic 4th of July!!!

Switching to Bloglovin'

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4312779/?claim=s3fvrefedpu">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Going to see if this works ... google reader is retiring, so I am moving to bloglovin'. ... Let's see if this works.

Randomness

I am starting this post with no idea whatsoever of where it may take me!  It is Saturday morning and I have nothing I have to do today. Things has been a little overwhelming in my little world lately, so I have decided to take a "vacation' from longarming for a short while.  It is a nice break and I am finding the time to spend on small details of life that have been overlooked a little ... Gardening, friends, family, etc.

I have managed to do some sewing and it feels good to just have a relaxing project going on.  The Country Loft is starting a block of the week called "Life is Beautiful."  It starts in July and the designer loaned us her sample ... Isn't that incredible!  I made a small store sample so we could understand the technique she used, and be able to answer questions and help customers.  The original version is much larger.

Back ...

This quilt has some interesting methods used and it also employs the quilt as you go method.  Love that!  I was making the sample on our machine at work that does not have a walking foot so don't look too closely at the back where it doesn't join correctly!  Those layers are really too much to just construct without a walking foot, but it was still fun!

 We have a new addition to our household, temporarily ... His name is Todd ...

He is a 3 year old beagle, and belongs to our son's fiancé.  It is a long story, but we are "fostering" Todd for a short while. Trying to get our two dogs adjusted to him has been a slow process.

Does it look like they are all a little unsure of each other, yes they are!  Been almost two weeks and we have made some definite progress, but Sophie and Charlie look like they are still wondering when our houseguest is leaving!  Have you ever heard a beagle bark ... Bar-oo roo roo ..!!

Catching up!

Hi!!  We had a wonderful trip to Michigan and my granddaughter is so darn cute!  She is 3 1/2 months old now and just found her voice.  Makes the cutest noises!  My daughter is in love with her and can't believe how wonderful she is!  She has an easygoing personality and is a good baby; her parents are lucky.

Isn't she adorable?  You just want to squeeze those thighs!  I only got one pic of her and me, and she wouldn't look at the camera.

Here is a picture of aunt and niece ... They both adored the other.

I have done no quilting, but did shop at a cute quilt store in Brighton, MI.  It's called Monarch Quilts.  It had more on the bright side of fabrics: very friendly staff, and I found some cute fabrics for baby Kylee.

Hopefully I'll get something done this week!  I've just been playing catch up and trying to get back in the swing of things!

Ready, set ...

Oh it has been a week and a half to end all week and a halfs!  All I can say is that last Tues., I was already wishing it was the weekend!  My daughter and I are going to Michigan to visit and so she can finally meet her niece!  I had appointments before I left, and quilts that had to be done.  First I had to get my machine purring .. Needed a minor adjustment that I did not want to make!  My wonderful tech support talked me through it and told me I could do it.  It took me about 45 min, but I did get it timed and working well.

I finished four quilts last week.  The first was a quilt that had so much color and design that I thought a pantograph would work well.  I used So Fine in the top and bobbin.  

The second quilt was a beautiful quilt my customer had made as a gift.  She wanted a patriotic theme, so I used a pantograph that has stars and stripes in it.  It is a great look and would also look good on a child's quilt.  I used Glide in the top and bobbin.  The background on the quilt was white ad I did not want to use a blue or red thread ... Too dark on a light background.  I chose a color called Sand, which was actually a little light gold/yellow and complimented the colors in the quilt.  I took a picture of the back too because it was so cute!

Next was a charity quilt.  I used a gold Omni thread and I did an all over stipple. I liked how simple the design was.  I do enjoy the basic stipple.  To me it is such a classic, simple pattern.

The fourth quilt was a Christmas jelly roll quilt.  I thought about it for a while, and in the end decided just to do a simple all over swirl.  I went around and around on color ... Red, green, caramel, black ... In the end I decided on a dark gold Omni.  Sometimes I just will leave four or five cones of thread with a piece pulled out laying on the quilt.  I will walk by it several times to see which one grabs me.  Sometimes my first choice is not always what I go with!

I end with a sweet picture of my granddaughter.  We will be there soon and I will make up for lost time!