Wanna Swap?

This is the BOM for one of my quilt guilds.  Ok..I confess..it's not really the BOM...The real one is a school house and then they give you a different design each month for the center.  I didn't really want to do a school house and one of my guild friends (Hi Bev!) said she was thinking about using this instead of the school house as it has the same 6 inch center.  She ultimately decided to do the school house and I totally stole her idea.  The photo isn't the best..it was taken this evening and the lighting isn't the best in the sewing room..

Funny that the first insert was a churn dash..

I started using  up my Sherbet Pips and after I fell in love with this first block I realized I only have 1/2 a layer cake.. the inserts are only 6 inch square finished so a charm pack would be perfect..  I am looking for one or two charm packs of the Sherbet Pips.  I have two charm packs of her newest line Little Apples that I would be willing to trade..  Or I have some solids..or I have some Pat Sloan which are primitive in color way or I have some fq's of 30's. 

Anyone?  Anyone?

For a whole different conversation... I had chili planned for dinner tonight and then read this post from Melissa and decided "what the heck?"  I will use her chili recipe..  Oh my...it was GOOD!  So if you are like me and need a good chili recipe that freezes well...try it.. you won't be disappointed.  I will say that I won't be adding the tablespoon of jalapeno or the 1 cup of water to the next batch.  It was a bit spicy for us and Rich likes his a bit less juicy...  otherwise he said he really liked it better than my regular chili recipe which I have been using for 39 years with no complaints... lol

Nancy

Cooking with Abbie..

Yesterday, along with the tennis shoes, I talked grandma into buying this..

Mix them up.. they just use a tiny bit of water..

These are cutie pie pans.. that come in that box.

This is all that is left in the bowl..

Cause I did this..

They were good and we are taking some to Grandpa Dean today..  He likes brownies.. 

Thank you for all the good things you said yesterday.  I got grandma to read them to me. I have so many friends!!

Bye.
Abbie

Guest Post...

Hi, my name is Abbie, I am 3 years old and I am staying at my grandma and grandpa's this weekend.  My Mommy got my Daddy tickets to the OU vs Tulsa game in NORMAN, OK in the 24th row and two nights in a hotel..  Mommy said Daddy's head exploded because he was so excited.  They said I couldn't go to Boomer Sooner.. maybe some day I will be old enough..

Last night my Mommy drove me to my grandmas car.  We moved my car seat to grandmas car in the parking lot.  On the way I told mommy that grandma was going to buy me some new tennis shoes.  Mommy didn't think so, but I know grandma will.  You just wait and see.  I want to wear tennis shoes to school every day but mommy says mine are too small and we need to get new ones. 

Grandma and I went to the post office to mail a book.  I don't know why she took the book to the post office.  I take my books back to the libary..  I think Grandma got confused.

Then we went to Walmart,  Grandma had a list so she didn't forget anything.  She kept reading it out loud and now everyone in Walmart knows what we need.  I told her I would read it to her, but she said that ice cream wasn't on the list.   I told grandma that I needed new tennis shoes for school.  Grandma said "ok".    I told grandma that mommy doesn't let me wear shoes with characters or lights on them.  Grandma found these and they have ballet girls on them..  I don't think ballet girls are a character so grandma bought them..  I got new socks too..

Well, grandma says I need a nap cause she is tired.

Bye,
Abbie

Why all the hype?

I am still here...working on my StLMQG Habitat Challenge.  I have the top completely pieced now and pressed all my backing...and then...I saw them...all the extra blocks I made for this quilt and decided for one reason or another they weren't working...  So, what the heck...let's just use them on the back... 

There is the house block that was my first thought...you know HABITAT - HOUSE...{i hear crickets!}
and then I thought about a rail fence...so there is one of those up there, and then the rest is all the leftover fabric that would never be used in anything else so I pieced it all together and this is the result...  and it's now pressed...

and

UGH!  Who invented the idea of a pieced back?  I hated making that back.   I don't think it adds anything to the quilt as a whole...it was very time consuming..and frankly who is going to look at the back?  I don't see me doing this again.  But I do see pieced backs all the time so what is all the hype about?  Do you know?

Nancy



 

out of the loop...

I feel so out of the loop...  Please know that I have been reading all your blogs... I just haven't been commenting... 

I have been furiously working on my Habitat Challenge due in October for the Modern Quilt Guild.
I'm on my third version right now...

My first thought was habitat...hm,,,houses...and I love houses...  so I made one house block...and it did nothing for me.  Nothing..nada...zip...zilch...

Back to the drawing board...or rather the graph paper.. and colored pencils... I have EQ 5 but have no idea how to use it...

So my second idea was ....was...gee...I have no idea what my second idea was...I do know it was only on paper...OH YEA!!  I thought about a rail fence...using the Habitat fabric and my background...
Nope...can't do that..not enough fabric to make the quilt big enough...

So here is my third attempt...

OH MY GOD!!  You actually thought I was going to show you the quilt???  HA HA HA... You know me... I don't show the finished quilt until the reveal..  I will however tell you it is brilliant (cue singing Angels!)...  just brilliant...I say... and now of course I have jinxed it and it will be a flop... lol

I have all those pieces hanging on my design wall...it looks GOOD, I tell you...  And now it is 6:30am and I am being told to pack the cooler to head out to that other house... to paint...

I hope someone calls the realtor and wants to tour the house...and then wants to buy the house...but please be careful in the sewing room...You see, I have all those little pieces hanging on the design wall and I don't want them moved.  It took me a LONG time to get it right..


see ya next week...
Nancy

I'm still here...

I've been busy...   Doing a bit of this and that... mostly that.. and I need to continue that this weekend...at least the weather will be much nicer.  Highs in the 80's with lower humidity...We shall see...

Today I will be at my monthly meeting of the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild.  We finally have a permanent home and today is the first meeting there.  Can't wait to see what the room looks like and how it works.

I have this to turn in. 

We used this tutorial and made our blocks 12 1/2 inch unfinished.  I volunteered to take these blocks home and finish the quilt.  I found that bright pink and white stripe in my stash.  Love it..and hope some little one will love it too.  Half of all the quilts we finish will go to Project Linus local chapter and the other half will go to Joplin..

And I have been working on this...  This is a free pattern by We Love French Knots...

Not the best of photos... I think I will frame it to hang in the new sewing room.  If you do this...only use one strand of floss for the words..  I started using two strands and it's just too thick.. the words are little.. I am thinking of snipping the thread and redoing the one block..we'll see..  If you are new to embroidery this would be a great pattern to start with.. Each block is a different stitch and there are videos showing how to do all the stitches...  I learned to do bullion roses...you can kind of see them here on the end of the scissor fob...

and now it's time to get some breakfast down and get out of here...

Nancy

my pins ARE sharp....

I have been really busy this past couple of days...

Finished the binding on this quilt while riding to Kansas City Saturday...

Abbie and I made cookies yesterday morning and she "tested" them at 8:30am...   Doesn't everyone have dessert after breakfast?

we took some of the cookies with us to see G.G.... 

For lunch with GG we had ice cream for an appetizer, then a grilled cheese sandwich

And chocolate pudding for dessert... Let's see, so far we have had 3 sweets and no veggies...lol

Abbie found my camera...

Today we took off to the post office and then to Walmart where I found these..  They feel really nice...8 fq's for $9.97 and 2 - 1 yard cuts for $10.97.  I have an idea but it will be weeks before I get the chance to work on it..

And I will leave you with Abbie's random thoughts on driving spoken on the trip to GG's yesterday...

If you honk, that man up there will move...
Are we there yet?
Can you make the car go wiggly?  Like daddy does?
Are we there yet?
Green means GO, Red means STOP, Yellow means....um...yellow means...I don't know what yellow means...
Are we there yet?
Can I move my car seat to the front?  Mommy let's me..
Are we there yet?
Do you even know where you are going?
Are we there yet?

And for you wondering...I got my Pinterest to work.  Seems if you sign up and go to the HELP section there is a "GOODIES" section...  You grab the little widget that looks like a circle with a line at the bottom (I'm guessing it is someones idea of a pin) and it will show up on your task bar..

When you see a photo of something you want to pin just click on the pin, it will capture it on one of your billboards..  If you are capturing a photo off of a blog  or anywhere else you must click on the photo to make it come up on a page of it's own.  Then you can pin it..   So far that's all I can do..

Nancy