BlogHop

Starts HERE today...

Come back Wednesday when it's my turn...\

Nancy

sorry...

Sorry for not blogging for a whole month...  Where does the time go?  We have started working on the house again...  We moved here last October and of course you don't do a lot outside that time of year.  Now we are catching up for the last twentyumpteen years of no one doing anything in the yard... 

So far we have (and I use the term WE very loosely here)
Dumped and spread 11 truckloads of top soil the front yard..
Planted grass and covered it in straw and watered it every night until this week when the rains came flooding down in our area..
Built two planter boxes using stone, then filled them with top soil and planted grapes and Hosta..
Cut the grass three times...
Pulled out multiple pieces of wood t
at was stuck haphazadardly all over the back yard...We have no idea why it was put there or why it was painted blue. 
Pulled down a post with a non-working bug zapper hanging from it..
Started the huge job of closing in underneath the deck...
Planted tomatoes...Ok...ok...that one doesn't count as I bought two tomato plants already in the container with the cage attached and just had to set it on the deck...

I have also been keeping up with my Bee blocks..

These were Tess's blocks for April..

Today I got Carolyn's block done...

 And started working on a new quilt..  I have 12 or 13 FQ's and after working most of the afternoon I have these blocks finished.  I am using a new ruler I bought at the AQS Show in Paducah this year.  You make a pinwheel block,  cut it with this special ruler and then add a triangle to four sides to make the square block...  It's a lot of cutting, pressing, sewing, pressing, trimming, cutting, sewing, pressing, cutting, sewing, pressing and a final cut...  I am kind of enjoying it..  I am calling it Winding Ways although I have no idea if that is the name of the block..

They finish at 6 inches so it's going to take me a while to get a large enough quilt for the guest room..  

I bought the ruler from the designer who has a website here...  I have the smaller size ruler which makes blocks from two inches to six inch finished.  The larger one makes blocks up to a twelve inch... 

So, yea...I went to Paducah this year...This was my 12th year and for the first time I stayed for longer than one day...Four of us left Tuesday morning and came back Thursday..  We had a great time and I didn't buy all that much..  I did buy a quilt kit, which I have NEVER done before..I turned the corner and there was the quilt hanging in the booth and I picked it up and bought it... It came with all the fabric and pattern and it will be the next project.  I also bought a 12 1/2 inch square up ruler..and a ruler by Bloc Loc that is truly unique..  There is a groove carved out of wrong side so the seams of your block sit into the grooves and allows you to trim the block without movement..  I bought the flying geese ruler...  and I think that is really all I bought... oh no...i forgot...I bought some Kona at Hancocks of Paducah...and some great decorator weight fabric to do this...

BEFORE

AFTER

 I love the new look...it's very cheery..however, there does seem to be a slight problem...

Sometimes your fabric disappears.. 

So, I will shut up now and let you go to the next blog...  but not before I tell you some exciting news...

Next week I am part of a BlogHop...  There are three of us that will be will giving away a quilt pattern from a new designer...  Check back here Monday for details...

Nancy

Let's Play Tag.....

 I've been "tagged" by Cindy over at Hyacinth Quilt Designs...  If you don't already read her blog, grab yourself a cup of tea (coke, coffee or whatever) and head on over.  Cindy in a prolific quilter and designer...We both belong to the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild and she teaches machine quilting at a local quilt shop.  She has written books, lectured and taught classes...and she gets the most done of anyone in blogworld...Every time I open her page she has made another quilt...and quilted it...and it's bound... sheesh...I can't even begin to keep up with her...

I am to answer the following questions and then tag forward...

1. If you're not quilting, what are you most likely doing?

 reading... I am on book two of the Hunger Game series.. book three is sitting on the nightstand and I take full advantage of my local library...

2. Do you buy fabric with a specific project in mind or "just because"?

 I used to buy whatever fabric caught my eye and then it sat on the shelves...my tastes are all over the board and nothing I bought went together...so now I mostly buy for a certain project..

 

3. How many quilting projects do you have going at once?

Right now I am working on a guild BOM, I belong to RedBird Bee through the StLMQG so I make one or two blocks a month for whoever is "it", I have a quilt needing a border, and more quilts than I care to count that need quilting..

4. How many completed quilts do you own?

 Um...I don't own very many...maybe 5 or 6...I usually make quilts for an occasion and give them away...

 

5. How do you use your quilts, or are they stored away somewhere? 

My quilts are all either stacked up on the cedar chest in the living room or on a bed..

6. What is you favorite food?

Chinese...I could eat it everyday for every meal.. Unfortunately we don't have the best selection near us and the hubby is not a huge fan..

 

7. What is your current favorite color combination?

Gosh...Yellow, gray, white and black..   and then  Aqua, gray, orange and white... because those are the color combos for two bedrooms I am working on..

 

8. Where do you get your ideas and/or inspiration?

Pinterest...blogs..my two guilds....magazines...photos...everywhere!!

 

 So now I am to tag someone else...

 

Pat from A Little of This and a Little of Pat 

 

and here are my questions..

 

1.  Do you buy quilt patterns or just wing it...

 

2.  If you won a million dollars, what would you buy?

3.  What is your favorite quilting notion?

4.  What quilting notion are you thinking of buying next?

5.  How many sewing/embroidery/quilting machines do you own?

 

Thanks Cindy...that was fun...and I hope not too boring...  

 

Today I am dying eggs, making brownies and getting the house straight for 15 family members coming tomorrow for Easter.. 

 

 

Happy Easter Everyone!!

 

Nancy

 

 

4 weeks, 3 people, 2 hours and $50...

My day job used to be in customer service..  I worked in a local hospital taking phone calls from the public and making appointments for everything from a mammogram to a blood draw to an xray to surgery...  it required a lot of customer service...  The goal was to make the customer happy, whether that customer was the public, the hospital department or the physician...It was hard work and I loved it.

We live out here in the middle of freakin nowhere...our only option for internet service is satellite... or dial up...  The satellite is ok most of the time...it's not the fastest and there are limits on downloading and uploading...   Four weeks ago, we realized that our satellite company was offering four new packages with faster speeds and higher downloads (or uploads or whatever loads)...  I called to get us set up...

No problems...I get the package I want at the speed I want at the price I want... Too good to be true, right?  Yea...
Their computer gets an error..
I'm told to call back in 72 hours.. to reorder
I call back..
Their computer is updating..
I'm told to call back in 72 hours...to reorder..
I call back..
I get the package I want at the speed I want at the price I want...
Their computer gets an error..
I'm told to call back in 72 hours...
I call back...
Computer error on their part...
Can I call back "MOUNTAIN TIME"...  um...why can't I call back in MY TIME???  No response...
I call back in two hours as mountain time is two hours different than central time. (that's really all I can figure out to do as silly as it sounds)
Computer is still in error mode...
Please call back in 72 hours...
This continued until last Wednesday when I was told that the package I wanted was no longer available...as of the day before...  EXCUSE ME!!  After 1 hour I was told that she would "manually add the order" and we would receive a call within 72 hours to schedule the installation day...

Will it surprise you to find out there was no call?  I didn't think so..

Today I finally talked to a supervisor...I didn't get the package I wanted...I didn't get the price I wanted...but I did get an installation date and $50 for "my troubles"... That's not nearly enough...but it's over...

So I went back to the sewing room...

I have been on quite the kick lately...something started me making these cute little skirts for the grandkids...   While at retreat at the beginning of March we visited the local quilt shop.  One of the ladies was holding a couple of jelly rolls and I asked her what she was planning to do with them..(as if we need a plan!LOL)  She started telling me how she makes her girls the cutest skirts and explained the whole thing to me... I fell in love and immediately grabbed two jelly rolls...

This is the first one I made.  I sewed enough strips together to measure one and a half times her waist measurement.  It wasn't quite full enough...but Abbie wears it..

This one is close to 3 times her waist measurement...  and much fuller..

and I got tired of sewing all those strips together and made these for Abbie...

And these are for Ava... 

I don't have photos of all the skirts...  I made a total of four for Ava and four for Abbie and somehow I ended up making one for Abbie's mothers boss's daughter..(did you get that?)

So then I got brave and bought a pattern for shorts!

 Epic fail!  They are way too long...the crouch is way too long.and bunches all up..very unflattering even on a 6 year old....and when I had Ava try them on she said "Grandma, this was supposed to be a skirt!".. well, that's the last pair of shorts I make...Apparently the girls would rather have skirts...and they are so much easier to make and fit...

So let's change things around and make something different...

A friend will tell you that this is a lot of pins for me to use!!

What's wrong with this picture?  Look carefully at the ruffle at the top of the photo... Yep..I sewed it on wrong side out. And of course I finished the edge and trimmed it so I spent another 1/2 hour unpicking the whole dang thing... Will revisit this one next week...

The next two days I will be granddaughter watching...our four year old has shingles of all things...she is miserable and isn't sleeping and it hurts and she can't go back to school for two weeks...  wish me luck tomorrow..and Friday...  I think I'll take the iPad and let her download the cupcake game...lol

And I finished my two blocks for our RedBird Bee...

These are for you, Tess.  They look wonky, but it's just the photographer...

Thanks for hanging in with me until the end... 

Nancy

zipit...

So have you been awake all night wondering what zipit is?  What did you guess?

Is it -

A.what your mom used to yell at you when you talked too much
B. our new dogs name
C. a new to me etsy shop



If you guessed C...you are right..(well A is also correct, but doesn't fit with this post).  A fellow member of the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild gave me heads up when we were talking about our next swap...(which is in one week and I'm still changing my mind!)  zipit is a fabulous etsy shop that is filled with zippers...every color imaginable... every size imaginable..and more...

Fast delivery...

Beautiful bright colors...

REASONABLE.... I don't want to say cheap because that makes you think these are inferior...they are not...they are a super bargain...

These were in my hot little hands just 3 days after ordering...

Not only did she send me my zippers, but she added a zipper pull and a Fortune Telling Fish!!  Inside that little package is a red cellophane fish...you lay it on the palm of your hand and it curls up...and depending on which end curls your fortune is told... so fun!!

Oh, you don't have to buy all those colors either...you can get any size in any color in any amount...just convo her and she will set up a special listing just for you...  That's great customer service....

So if you are need of zippers, check out zipit.. you won't be disappointed...

Nancy

This is not a paid advertisement.  I bought all my zippers.  I just think it's the best deal in zippers with good customer service..

thanks and gone..

Nancy

VOTE!! (please?)

I entered a pillow into a contest...  I loved this pillow and it was really hard for me to give it away..I WILL make one for myself...

Go look at all the fabulous entries and if you feel it...vote for Donna's Christmas Pillow...

voting is over....thanks for all the support...I didn't win, but I got closer than I did last time!


I am packing up today for a 3 day sewing retreat next week.  I think I have 6 or 7 projects ready to go...

Wonder how many I will get to... at least two of the projects are due next Saturday so they will be first done...

Nancy