My Vacation Report

I am at the end of my vacation, and I have accomplished quite a bit…which is why I haven’t posted in 9 days!

1. Two twin sized flannel log cabin quilts have been quilted for a customer and delivered back to her.  She was delighted!
2. U of M Grizzlies quilt
   I am almost done with the U of M Grizzlies quilt that my mom commissioned, I just have to finish the borders, which will be done after I post this message!  Then onto the quilt frame for completion!
3. Bronco Quilt #1 – Snowballs and 9 Patches
   This is a custom order Bronco quilt that is to be a Christmas present.  I have half of the blocks made, and need to cut the other half.
4. Bronco Quilt #2 – Known as Towne Square
   This is a quilt that I started to cut out this summer…or was it last winter?…and never got very far, but I’m dying to see it made!
5. I created my first Bronco quilt listing on Etsy.com for a Bronco quilt that does not currently have an owner.  It sure takes a lot of time to get all that set up!
6. I scanned some family photos for DH and got them posted online.  Next time I’ll show him how to do it!

So, that is what I accomplished.

But, of course, I am scheming to also:

1. Make myself a cute bag that was posted as a free tote bag pattern from AllPeopleQuilt.com
2. I need to start cutting the blocks for the home game Bronco Football T-shirt quilts I’m planning to make and sell.  I even came up with a great idea on how to make them even more special, which I’m keeping secret right now…can’t wait to show you how it turns out, though!
3. I’m also thinking I should make some placemats as a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law…but then again, I’ll probably just buy them to go with the cookbook I plan to get her.
4. Of course, my hubby has been watching football and now that it’s turned cold, the lap quilt I promised him last February has come to the forefront.  Better get that one done.
5. And I’ve been dying to start the new Bonnie Hunter mystery, Roll Roll Cotton Boll.  I sorted through about 2/3 of my donated scrap fabrics and started pulling out appropriate colors.  I thought I had a photo of how that sorting project is coming along, but can’t find it right now, so will have to post it later.  I still have quite a bit left to go through…and then I had an idea for another quilt using some of those pre-cut strips.

On a less frenzied note, I have almost all of my Christmas shopping done, too.  Aaah…

I think I accomplished quite a lot in these 9 days!

Holiday Plans!

My holiday starts tonight!

I was given tickets to the BSU vs. Fresno State football game...of course, it's predicted rain and snow mix tonight!  But they are a good team and it will be a fun game.  My DH and I had season tickets for the past 5 years, until this year.  The prices kept going up and it just didn't make sense to keep spending that money right now.  Hopefully we'll be able to buy tickets again.

My mom is supposed to drive from Montana and arrive for the holiday on Tuesday, but with the predicted snowfall and bad weather, she probably won't make it.  So, while that will be disappointing, I’d rather have her safe and sound.  I will console myself by sewing and quilting all next week, as I have the week off, too!

I still plan to finish the quilt Mom commissioned for her U of M friend by Tuesday, so after running errands on Saturday I will get that one moving further along.  Unfortunately, when the fleece back that I ordered arrived on Monday, I found that it referenced only the sport of basketball.  Since this is a football quilt, that simply won’t do, so I am returning it and will have to find another suitable back.

After that, I have two other customer quilt tops to quilt, then start serious work on the orders for two Bronco quilts to be done before Christmas.

I also need to find time to post a couple of quilts for sale on Etsy, finish one of my Bronco flimsies, and 3 baby quilts that need borders and quilting.  Then I have 3 more quilts in the queue for American Hero Quilts, too, if I get a spare minute!

I’m ordering parts for a new computer this weekend, too, so I’ll need to put that together and get it setup.  I’m very excited about that prospect, though, as this is what I’ve been waiting on before installing my new Pre-Design Studio II software.

Last night’s guild meeting was fabulous!  If you haven’t seen quilts by Karen Schoepflin Hagen from Genesee, ID, you are really missing something!  She was fabulous, and what a depth and breadth of work!  Inspiring and intimidating all at the same time.  WOW!

I volunteered to do a demo and/or a make-and-take class at the upcoming BBQ quilt show in June.  So, now I need to come up with an easy sort of thing to make that doesn’t require a sewing machine.  Any suggestions, send them my way!

That’s all for now…

Fun Playing in the Fabric Scraps!

My customer picked up her quilt tonight and I think it turned out really well.  Her 8 year old grandson is going to really like this Christmas present!   I am definitely getting better at the consistency in my overall meander.   I think it helps that it took less time to actually quilt it than it has in the past, reducing the impact that fatigue plays.  Now I’d like to focus on more variety in the overall size of the quilting design and I will get that chance!

I had a surprise request today from someone I work with to quilt two quilts for Christmas.  I have already figured out my schedule so I can quilt them in between making the two Bronco quilts I promised for another customer for Christmas.

We finally decided on the patterns and I am excited to get moving on them!  The first one is one I designed in EQ7 and I think it will be really fun when it’s finished.

I haven’t had a chance to work the second one up in EQ7 to show it in Bronco colors, but I think it is going to look great, along with being really fun to make!!  This pattern is called Town Square by SweetWater, and I contacted them when I purchased the pattern to secure permission to make and sell quilts using their pattern.  I have been waiting to get to do this one for awhile, so I’m really excited that she chose this one!

Mom’s quilt is coming along, too.  Last night I decided to start putting up the pieces of the blocks on the design board before making any more, and this is what it looks like so far: 

Mom will be here Tuesday night and my goal is to have it finished by then.  I will need to do some finagling, though, as the back arrived yesterday…just in time, yay!….only to discover (look in the lower right hand corner) that their is a sport displayed in the design…and it ain’t football!

Oh, dear!  So, I will have to see if I can return the fleece and go with something else.  There was no mention of this in the description, so this is very disappointing.  I really hope I can return it.  Exchanging it is probably out of the question, as I need it right away.

I’ve also been sorting my big box of donated scraps into colors, and making quite good progress!  I bought one of those plastic 5 drawer organizers and it is pretty full, with lots more to add.  My inspiration has been Bonnie Hunter’s mystery for this year, Roll Roll Cotton Boll.  This quilt will eventually go into her 4th book so it won’t be posted on the site for a long.

Now, considering I have additional quilting and the two Bronco quilts to finish, I will have to delay the start of this mystery.  But it sure has been fun playing in the fabric scraps!

Starting out November Right

I seem to have misplaced the cord for my camera.  Of course, it has to be a special cord, it can’t be a generic USB cable.  That is one pet peeve of mine, having to have a bunch of different cords for everything!  I love my camera, but still!!

I have all sorts of gizmos and gadgets that I’ve kept around because “I might need them”, but they seem to be, shall we say, vintage?…and so, they are useless to me!

Oh, but finally, after over a week, a light bulb went on!  I finally remembered that I could plug my color inkjet printer into the computer itself and use the built in card reader!  You see, it’s set up using the network, and, well, I always seem to do things the hard way!…..DUH!  And I call myself a computer technician…sigh.

But enough of that.  This is what I wanted to show you…the BOM that I couldn’t resist buying at the guild meeting last week and that I finished tonight:

I know it doesn’t look like much now, but when it’s all tiled together, it’ll look like a ribbon, and the way I envision it is as in intertwining circle.  At least, that’s why I bought it.  And I hope I win all of the blocks back, so I can show you what I see!!

I’m definitely going to have to go through my scrap bag and boxes with my Bonnie Hunter 2010 Mystery instructions.  Yes, she’s hosting another one this year and I’d like to participate.  I am still dying to do the Double Delight, which I pulled all the fabrics for, and did start cutting a BUNCH of little triangles, but never got around to actually sewing.

Not that I deserve to…I won a ruler holder tray from the donated goodies basket last time.  I need another ruler holder, too!  Thank you to Nancy from www.MummQuilters.com

The blocks aren’t done yet, but here’s a photo of the quilt blocks in progress that I worked on last weekend.  It’s a comfort quilt for one of our group members whose throat cancer has returned.  She will be undergoing a new treatment and we are hoping for the best for her. She’s a great lady.  We’ll be getting together this Sunday to put the blocks together.

You can also see parts of the Grizzly quilt I’m putting together for my mom.  I got interrupted with yet another project when I had company two weekends ago and I was hostess to the 9 year old son of a friend of mine.  He designed a quilt top 0n my design board, and I am going to sew it together for him.  I can’t wait to see it finished, it’s really great!  Until I get it sewn together, though, I don’t have any place to put up the Grizzly quilt pieces!  So, I’d better get to it!

I’ve been tripping over a bag on the floor for awhile, which is part of what prompted me to start clearing out my workspace.  Here’s what was in the bag:

It’s a Pass The Bag project that I participated in last year but didn’t have time to put the blocks together.  Now, I have an idea of what I want to do to finish it.  I’ll keep you posted!

I’m doing pretty well in my class and I’ll be quilting on my customer’s quilt on Saturday.  Life is good!