The Start of a 3 day weekend

This will be a lovely weekend.  It is cold (boo), my car isn't fixed yet (no money for new battery), BUT it is already productive.  I have finished TWO, yes you read that right--TWO blocks for my block of the month stitching.  One is redwork and the other was the Cake one.  Here they are.

Now I need to figure out what to work on next.  I am thinking that I might work on the Apple Blossom Quilt from Connie Sue's Sketchbook.  I believe there are 100 blocks in that but I doubt I will do them all.  There is a butterfly one out and Christmas bells.  The blocks are 6 inches.

Of course I could also start on the bug one from Angie's Bits n Pieces.

Then there is The Quilt Pattern Magazine one.  The tulip block is the first one and I need to make 4 of them.  

After I work on things I'll post pictures.  Speaking of pictures, my friend Sue sent me a 2018 Calendar AND a quilt pattern.  Aren't they great?  That makes two 2018 calendars that I received this year from friends.  Sue's and my cousin in Alaska had also sent me one.  I love calendar's.  This means I can put the calendars at home (I already have my work calendars) and perhaps use them for crafting!  

Yes I could start looking for fabric for that quilt pattern.

I could also start to look for fabric for the Queens Garden center block.

So many possibilities and so little time!  I guess I had better stop typing and get started on going through all my fabric.  That will be fun...until I have to put it all back.  LOL. 

Have a great and safe weekend everybody!

It's cold outside!!

My car hasn't started yet.  Part of that is due to cold and partly because I don't have the money to get it looked into.  That's ok.  I'm dealing with the situation.  What does one do when that happens?  You try to keep your mind busy and that means crafting.

I don't have a lot to show you but I have been a bit productive.  I have finished all my test patterns that I signed up for (YAY) and you'll get to see them eventually.  Then I organized my BOMs for next year.  So my goal of only keeping to 2 isn't working out so well.  That will have to be changed.  For right now, I will be happy if I get two of the BOM blocks done each month. 

Here is the picture of my redwork block for January.    It is from needleknowledge.com and all the blocks are there. 

I also, just this morning, picked out the material and traced my fusible for the 2018 Tea Party BOM.  It's a cake on top of a stand.  Sounds simple to do right?  Not so.  I wasn't happy with my first 10 choices.  Here is my final, I think, material that I will use for this block.

The stand will be a light gray (going for a silver stand idea here) and the blue will be the cake.  I am think that the pattern on the blue will give the idea that the cake is decorated.  Then the white on white dotted fabric on the top for the icing.  When I get home I will iron my fabric and put the fusible on.

I did try a Kitchen Hack the other day.  It was how to make poached eggs in your microwave.  Since it is only me, and I love poached eggs, I wanted to try it.  It turned out pretty good.  I will make them again.

To make them, you take a large cup, add 1/2 cup water, put your egg in (do not break egg open or anything), put a cover on it (they used a saucer) and cook in microwave for 1 minute.

The other kitchen hack that I read was sheet pan eggs. For those people who entertain and need to cook a lot of eggs fast, this might be it.  You spray a sheet pan with cooking spray, gently break open your eggs (they did 12 at a time), and cook in oven for approximately 5 minutes.  Then you carefully cut between the eggs with a spatula and serve.  I didn't save that hint since it is only me and if I want to cook 12 eggs at a time I'll cook them in muffin tins even though they wouldn't be sunny side up. 

Break time is over but before I stop for the day, I want to leave you with two thoughts.  The first one is a quote from Thomas Fuller.  "Health is not valued till Sickness comes." - Thomas Fuller (1654-1734).  Comp., Gnomologia:  Adages and Proverbs, 2478, 1732.   That is so true, especially up here in frigid Illinois. 

Frigid Illinois (and I know there are a lot colder states and countries right now so I am not complaining too much) brings me to my other thought.

Enjoy your day!

Welcome 2018!

The first post for 2018!  That's exciting (for me at least)!

I managed to finish correcting my mistake on the illusion quilt top.  The top is finished at least.  It might be a bit before I get it quilted.

I haven't made up my mind yet on how to quilt it nor what to use for the backing material.  I am thinking of straight quilting lines (not stitch in the ditch though).  Any opinions on how you think it will look if I do narrow lines on the white L and dark gray L portions of it?  I thought that might make the colorful rectangles stand out more.  Maybe outline the colorful rectangles with just one row of stitching.  For all you quilters out there, what do you think?

Usually a new start to the year means a new start to many things.  A lot of people make resolutions.  I'm not sure on that because I never keep them.  I do have some goals that I would like to see accomplished in 2018.  They are:

Do more crafting (like duh!)
Be there for my friends when they need me (that's another duh!)
Lose more weight
Be more positive
Post in this blog on a more regular basis
Cut back on the Block of the Month programs so that I might actually finish some of them
Pay it forward when I can

There are three of those goals that I have already started to work on.  Obviously "be there for my friends when they need me" is an ongoing thing.  The second goal that I'm putting more thought into is to be more positive.  I like to think I'm pretty positive anyway but sometimes you have to make a conscious effort to be positive.  It's easy to be positive when nothing goes wrong but harder when faced with negativity of any kind.  I have a book called Quotationary that I love.  I will be using that for finding positive quotes or perhaps just quotes that make me think.  Today's quote is from St. Augustine.

"When large numbers of people share their joy in common, the happiness of each is greater because each adds fuel to the other's flame." - St. Augustine (354-430)

Negativity also  is like that.  It can be fueled by others so let's all try to make 2018 a more positive year!

The other thing that is a work in process is how many Block of the Month programs I start...but never finish.

This year the list already consists of:

A Year in the Garden by Jenny of Elefantz Designs

Gnome for the Holidays by Fat Cat Patterns

Simple but Elegant BOM by The Quilt Pattern Magazine

Bug OFF! - Angie Padilla's 2018 Free BOM

Redwork BOM - not from this year but from another year so I already have all 12 blocks for that and just need to start to work on them.

I had a couple more that I was interested in (like the Civil War Antebellum BOM) but will not actively work on them.  I still might collect them for whenever I have time.  Perhaps I should just start a UFO BOM.  I could put BOM patterns directly into that knowing that I'll never have time for them all but I still like them.  LOL!

It's time for me to finish this post for now.  I have to work on another block for a test pattern that is due by the end of the month and then start to work on those 2018 BOMs.  Some of them are already out now.

Welcome to 2018 everybody!  I hope you have a safe and great year.  Thank you for taking the time to read what I post and I look forward to writing more in 2018.

Happy New Year!

It's finally here.  The end of 2017.  I thought I'd post a picture of me at the end of 2017 so here it is.

Hehehe.  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  That really IS a picture of me.  Underneath two afghan/blankets, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and undies you'd find me.  That is also pretty indicative of what usually happens to me.  That is thread from unstitching....

Yep, that's right.  I sewed the blocks and rows together and took the picture and THEN realized that the green block on the top row was sewn wrong.  So tonight I unstitched it and will try to put it back together again tomorrow.   I would try it tonight but figured I'd just mess it up again.

Speaking of messing it up, I messed up my weight loss.  I did gain but overall I am down in weight.  I will post tomorrow exactly how much gained or lost.  Those types of things are best done in the light of day and a new year to boot.  I'm sure there will be lots of people going on diets or whatever they want to call them.  It will be the New Years Resolution for many.  I don't like the word Resolution though.  Every time I label something a "New Years Resolution" I fail to keep it.  So this year I will change the title to New Years Hopefuls.  I am hopeful, for instance, that I will eat better and lose some more weight.  I don't care how much.  Just as long as I end the year small than the start of the year.  If I take more time with my food presentations I'm sure I'd eat less because they would be too pretty to eat.  LOL.

This is an example of something that is too pretty to eat!

My other hopeful is to finish some half finished projects.  In order to do that, I will have to cut down on how many BOM or BOWs I sign up for.  I know that I want to do that Fat Cat Pattern one with the gnomes.  I think there might be two more that I plan on doing.  One is a redwork one from a past year.  I found all the blocks so I'll just do them this year.  Another one MIGHT be the Stars over Baltimore one.  I'm going to try to stop there.  I have UFOs that need to be finished so I will try to get some of them done plus my cross stitch projects need to be worked on too. 

So let me say that everybody will have a safe and joyous New Years all year long. 

Happy 2018 everybody!

New Years Eve - Eve

Only a couple more days left for 2017.  I want to finish one more quilt top before 2017 leaves us or, more like before I have to return to work.    That would be the Illusion Quilt from MSQC.  I had one layout but decided it needed to be larger for my wall space at work.  I finally decided on 5 rows across and 4 rows down.  Great thinking!  Yeah, right.

As with a lot of great ideas, when put into effect they don't always work out as planned.  Now instead of having the 12 block layout,  which fit in oh so nicely with the 4 color scheme I had envisioned, I had 8 more blocks to fit in.  Not only 8 more blocks, but that also meant now I would have a repeat of each color.  I suppose that I could have introduced a new color and actually had 4 rectangles of two different colors already but somehow I didn't do that.  That would have been to easy.  So what did I do?

I printed up one of my layouts in color and cut up the blocks and then the thinking started.  It was good that I didn't start to think before the coffee.  After two cups of coffee, my little stack of paper blocks

turned into

I think that is my final layout for the wall hanging.  What do you think?  It would be very easy to keep elaborating on this and making it far larger than I have space for.  I could see using the theory of a bargello quilt but doing these instead.  Have half of the quilt layout mirror the other half, etc.  Oh dear, there I go again thinking.  I get into more trouble that way.

Have you seen the preview of the 2018 BOM from Fat Cat Patterns?  I will be doing this.  I love their patterns and it will be free if I catch it in the month it is offered.  Even if I have to buy the month pattern or the whole pattern , their prices are very reasonable.

Watch their website for updates and the pattern    http://www.fatcatpatterns.com/

I believe my friend Connie is going to be joining me on this journey to do this one.  I think she put it best.  It is a "clean" pattern.  It's not cluttered and therefore it will be fun to do.  Anybody else thinking of doing it?

That's it for now.  I finished another block for The Quilt Pattern Magazine which you'll eventually see.  Can't show it now but it is cute!   For now it's time to say good bye and get back to the weekend stuff and, of course, crafting.

Until next time....Pull up a chair and relax.  Have a cup of something with me.  :)

The year is winding down

Can you believe that 2017 is almost done with?  I can't.  I should though  since the cold weather is here and, of course, my car isn't working.  I swear that the car knows when I am getting short paychecks from work and/or the holiday season zaps my money.  So what is a girl to do?  When the girl is a crafter, she decides to stay home (even though she couldn't go anywhere if she wanted to) and craft.  Notice I said craft and NOT clean. 

I have been pretty productive.  I finished up the cat wall hanging for my friend Janine.

I can't get to the post office to mail it but I did send her a picture of it and she said she loved it.

That wasn't the only thing that I finished.  I did finish up the test pattern for The Quilt Pattern Magazine but can't show it to you yet.  I also signed up for testing another pattern.  What can I say, I love that magazine and I love testing their patterns.  They stretch my quilting abilities but that's ok.  It's how we learn, right?

I did start another wall hanging yesterday.  Here is the picture of the tentative layout.  It's the Illusion quilt pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I totally LOVE their videos.  They help me grow also.

I am thinking that I will add another row or two to make it 4 across and probably five down.  We'll see.  I have enough left over that I might extend it out to 6 across and 5 down.  I'll have to see how it looks after adding another row down.  It will be the same colors that I've used here.  If I have any left over, I might do something with them to make a table runner.  This would hang up above my table in the office so a matching table runner would be nice.  It would brighten up the office.  This might be another pattern that I keep for a "go to" pattern. 

It's time to get back to sewing (or perhaps take a nap).  I hope everybody had a great holiday and will be looking forward to seeing 2018 arrive.

Merry Christmas - early for me

Christmas is almost here, for me, and it is snowing.  The snow is really coming down now, but this was taken through my window around 8 a.m.

I'm glad that I am staying home today.  Got my caffeine, got my cross stitch, got my PJs and slippers.  It's a good day to stay inside.

Yep, me and Rudolph are going to do some crafting and eat some stuff that isn't good for you but tasty anyway.

These were given to me from my sister in law.  The peppermint candy bark might make it's way into coffee or hot chocolate later.  I'm taking it easy today though.  I slept in a little bit (I could get used to that) so my breakfast turned into brunch. 

Some polenta topped with diced tomatoes, some wilted spinach topped with a little feta cheese, and an egg.  My goal in 2018 is to try intuitive eating.  That basically is sensible eating.  Appreciate what you eat, don't feel guilty about what you eat, but only eat when you are hungry.  Slow down eating so that you can taste your food and enjoy it.  Not to get confused with my old way of tasting my food and oh my!  did I enjoy it!!!!  But now I will try to be more aware of  it.  I did gain back some of my weight that I had lost but I am still 30 official pounds.  I say official pounds because for awhile my scale went bonkers.  Yes, it's official.  I broke my scale.  I saw a picture of myself when I graduated with my BS degree in 2010 and oh boy....did my face look fat!  I should keep that one handy so that I don't get that heavy again.  That was 50 pounds ago. 

Anyway, I finished another test pattern but I can't show you yet.  I can show you, however, the six blocks that I sent to a quilting friend in Canada.  These will be part of a group of blocks that one of my Facebook groups is doing.  A member's husband has cancer and we are sending blocks for her to put together for him to have a quilt.  These are some of my Pat Sloan's Solstice Challenge blocks that I already had done but never put together.  What better than to send them to the woman.  They are in the colors they wanted and in the right size.  I still have half of them for me to put together for a wall hanging.

I also finished one of my pot holders but ran out of Insulbrite.  Will have to get some more of that and finish up that Christmas present.  Yes, it will be for this Christmas but just not delivered on time.  LOL.  That is typical for me.  I also have my cat wall hanging to finish but I have to find it first.

I hope that everybody will have a great and safe holiday!

Tooting Horns and opening presents

It's time to toot my test pattern horn again.  In the next issue of The Quilt Pattern Magazine, there will be a pattern that I tested for them.  It's called Cascading Hearts.  I have permission now to share the pictures from one of the test patterns I did for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.

http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com.

There is a story behind that. I've always loved hearts and so did my grandmother. I saw her stitching some hearts on to something one day and asked her why she sewed them on like that. This was her answer.

"Everybody needed a heart but they don't need a broken heart. That is why we stitch around it. So it keeps the heart safe and it won't break. Then we had to make sure that the little birds would take our hearts to people who needed them when their heart was broken."

The little birds are the black thread in the middle of each heart. That is why when I tested this pattern I tied it with the little birds instead of doing another type of quilting on it. So all my cascading hearts are flying to people who have broken hearts and these can, perhaps, replace or help heal them.

I have always loved that story. While Grandmother or mother is no longer physically with me, I think of them each time I do crafts.

Of course doing crafts at this time of year calls for caffeine and so I opened up a new Christmas present to myself. All my Mr. Coffee type coffee makers had quit so I bought a new coffee maker. This time I bought a Hamilton Beach Flexibrew one. It's one of the individual cup brewers that can brew a K-cup type or I can use my own grounds, etc.

I't also a coincidence that my good friend Connie gave me a new coffee cup for Christmas. I LOVE cups and this one will hold a special place (yes I've already used it).

I wish I had a cup like that for every one of you who have watched my progress via my blog and in person. You have kept me going on those days when I didn't want to. Thank you one and all.

Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not. Well I am but I'm not. I want to make a couple of quick pot holders yet but that's about it. I have some projects all lined up on what I want to learn to do next year too. I won't call them resolutions because then I'll NEVER do them. I am getting excited for Christmas because I will be by myself and I can do whatever I want.

No doubt I will be talking to friends via the telephone while they drive or after they get home. No doubt I will go to McDonald's to get some caffeine. My friend Janine and I went last year and we were given Santa hats which have the McDonald's arch on them. I will probably wear that. it's good clean fun and a good way to start the day.

I won't be going to my sister in laws for the holiday even though I was invited, but I did get there today. Of course I took pictures and then I filled up on some of her cookies. Enjoy the pictures while I wake up from taking a nap after the sugar rush. LOL. It was worth it.

These are only the cookies that she didn't put nuts in.  She made 6 more types of cookies besides these.  I also ate some divinity before I took the picture.  LOL.

I started out the day, however, with a yummy brunch. It was zucchini, onions, and tomatoes with some spices, surrounded by some wilted spinach and topped with a couple of eggs and JUST a smidgen of cheese.

Now here are the pictures from Bobbie's place.

One of her 45 Snowmen

That's it for now. Everybody have a great day/evening.

A Surprise Box!

I had fun mail today.  I received a Christmas card from somebody in England.  I'm in a couple of Christmas card swaps that is being done on Swap-Bot and the first one came today.  I forgot to take a picture of it but I will take a picture when I have some more cards from the swap.  I also received some other Christmas cards and, gasp, sent out the first batch of my own Christmas cards.  While I was at the Post Office, I snapped a couple of picture of the lights in the area.  The first one is Rosita's Restaurant and I liked how they decorated their outside patio.

This next one is how the light poles by the Post Office were decorated.  DeKalb has some trees that line the streets down town and they had the small lights on them.  It really does make it look so festive.

But wait, as the announcer would say, there's more!  I received a box full of goodies.  Look at everything that was in it!  Somewhere buried under the fabric is a magazine called create and decorate.  It looks very interesting.  I haven't seen that before so it will be fun to look through it.

That painted rock says "love" on it too.  isn't it so cute?!

 

Since it is the weekend, I've also done some cooking and worked on presents/not presents for work.  First of all my cooking.  I made a slow cooker potato, hamburger (although I used ground turkey), cheesy layered dish today.  Didn't take a picture of it since I dished it up for lunch before thinking on it and then the cheesy in it made it sort of slide and not stand up well.  It was good though.  I also made 5 minute sunshine sauce from Pinch of Yum.

It is hard to describe but has olive oil, various spices, a touch of sugar and either white vinegar or lemon juice.  I used lemon juice.  It is very smooth and, dare I say it?, almost velvety.  I added more sugar since it was a bit salty.  Don't know why I thought sugar would counter the salt but it did help a bit.  I would cut back on the salt next time.  It can be used on almost anything.  I actually used it on my eggs.  I'm looking for different ways to have fried eggs.  This was good.  I'll have it on something else during the week.  Perhaps a salad or over potatoes or just meat.  Not sure what I have around.

I then started to work on some presents/not presents for the office.  I have two co-workers who I gave mug rugs to last year.  Not a technical Christmas present but just a little something.  This year Dana and Debbie are going to get this.

I have another version that I will give to my student helper Noah.

Noah's bowl is microwavable safe (but not the lid) and the decals on it were put on with Elmer's Washable School Glue so they can be taken off and washed clean.  I used the same glue on Dana's and Debbie's jar so it can too can be washed and reused.

Employee Wellness, years ago, gave us all M&Ms when we had a lot of stress in the office saying that it would us de-stress us because everybody loves to eat M&Ms and if you look at the M is can look like a smile (we won't go that it can also look like a frown).  We all need to have a stress relieve and who doesn't like to eat M&Ms?  Even if they don't like it, there are enough people at work that will help eat them if they leave it out and then they can reuse the container for whatever they wish.

That's about it for me tonight.  I'm going to sign off of the computer and go and sit in a comfy chair and do some crocheting.  Tomorrow is working on the test pattern since it has to be turned in soon.  But that is tomorrow and not tonight.  

I wish everybody a great day.

December 1, 2017

Welcome to December!  Can you believe it?  Christmas is almost here (I'll wash my mouth out later with soap for saying that) and so is the new year.  I have finally decorated my office with what little decorations I put up and thought to share them with you.

My perpetual Calendar

This one always makes me smile.  The snowflakes are little rhinestones.  It's put up on my file cabinet.

I didn't make the tree but it's the right size for putting it on the typing stand/table.  The outside little ornaments light up too!

My latest creation which is now hanging on the door to my office.  It's called Anybody Home (found in The Quilt Pattern Magazine December issue) and I thought it appropriate considering where it is hanging.

Just a variety of mini wall hangings.  The "how good do I have to be" will be going to the office of an ex graduate assistant so she has something to hang up.

I like this one because I can keep it up even after Christmas.  

That's it for this post.  Just wanted to show that I do decorate around the office but don't at home.  Oh, did you notice George?  That's him sitting on the corner of my desk looking at the BIG snowflake.  He guards by desk for me.

Have a great day everybody and remember to smile and give somebody a hug.  They might need it but they might not tell anybody they do.