AAMQG Retreat

I am so far behind in my blogging.  

Life has so gotten in the way of this blog.  

Sorry to all of you.  

I have been sewing just no time to talk about it here.  

I seem to be doing a lot of Instagraming. 

 You can find me there at mamaspark59.

The AAMQG had a retreat a few weekends ago that I went to. 

 I left on a Thursday and met up with my friend, Windy, from Grand Rapids.  

It was so great that she got to join our retreat!! 

 We met on Instagram and became friends in real life too.  

I packed WAY more than I thought I would finish, but I was hopeful!  

My daughter's car is still in the shop and she has my car so

 I am religated to driving the Mustang convertible.  

Awe, poor me!  

Except that the top needs to be repaired so I am not allowed to put the top down!  

EVERYONE judges me as I am driving on a beautiful day with the top up and everyone wants to race me leaving stop lights, LOL.

Here is what my trunk looked like.

First up on my long list of projects to finish was my Birdie Stitches quilt top. 

 I had to add the little squares around 3 of the blocks, cut the sashing and the borders.  

Then I got to assemble it. 

 I managed to get this finished on Thursday before I went to bed.  

Now I have to make a back and make some binding and send it to the quilter!

 Next up, on Friday was to sew my Christmas Sampler BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop. 

 I had a LOT of work to do on that top for sure.  

The sashing is pieced and so is the border.  

I worked all day on Friday and all night.  

Not finished but a good way to the goal for sure.  

Saturday I got up and started on it again. 

 This time I was successful in getting the entire top completed!

Now I was on a roll!!  

What to do next?  

As you know I agreed to help my friend make napkins for her daughter's wedding reception, 

so I dug in and started making blocks.

Windy brought some Flatter by Soak and it was fabulous to use for the pressing.  

I got about 35 different blocks done which was a great start to the 50 or so I committed to making.

It was late then so I packed up and went to bed.  

I helped clean up on Sunday and headed home around lunch time. 

 We were leaving on Monday afternoon for North Carolina to watch my daughter defend her thesis, so there was lots to get ready for the road trip!  

I will leave that for another day though.

~XOP~

12 Days Designer BOM

I know, two posts in one day, but I have a lot to say (which should not surprise anyone that knows me! LOL).  I did manage to work on my block 12 for the 12 Days of Christmas Designer BOM and got my block and LTW's block all finished.  You know what that means right?  Time for me to break out the finishing kit(s) and get some cutting done too (UGH).  I love all the blocks for this quilt and can't wait to see it all put together though so maybe that will spur me on.

Aren't these ornaments too cute? I was able to get 2 from the package again using one additional strip of the white that I had bought JIC. I need to pull the finishing kit out, maybe this weekend and see what I have to do to get er' done!

I don't know about you but this has been the second wettest spring in the Detroit area (over 14 inches so far, and the biggest was 16 inches). I think it has been the most rainy days though so there's that. Why am I talking about this? I have sooo much neglected yard work to do since I couldn't get outside to work until the rain let up. This puts a serious strain on my sewing time, see where I'm going with this??

My DH has decided he wants to do Square Foot Gardening. Great, I say, but you know what that means for me right? He built the garden "walls" and EVERYTHING else is up to me. OMG really? I was happy to put in a regular ole garden but no, not mister *I* want to have a garden. So I sat down and read the book, ok, ok, I skimmed the book and read the important parts (I have other things to do you know, laundry doesn't do itself!)

It needs certain things for the soil. Vermiculite for instance. HUH? Where do I find that? Home Depot said in the fireplace section but the other HD had no idea what I was talking about so... Still looking. And how many of you know that Peat Moss is NOT a renewable resource? I didn't until I read the book. Anyway, it looks like an interesting concept, but why do these things *he* wants to do end up falling to me to finish? Does this happen to any of you guys?? What do you do about it? I love him to pieces but his "hobbies" are going to be the death of me!

I will keep you posted about the SFG and how it goes, maybe I will even take some pictures so you will know what I am talking about. Would you like that? I'm pretty sure misery loves company so c'mon, share with me. Pretty please? ~XOP~

I am Up To No Good

I guess I have been watching too much Harry Potter lately!  I am really not up to no good.  In fact I have been trying to be good.  You?  Anyway, I found a great new to me BOM called Crazy Cats.  Looks like Helena did a great job with these cats.  Check out her website and blog.  I love meeting new people from Sweden (that's where my ancestors hail from, mostly).

I have managed to do a few quilty things since returning from market too.  I got block 11 finished in the Designer Mystery BOM.  It was designed by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill and is adorable!  I did get 2 cut and sewn.

One for me and one for LTW

I also finished block 4 in my Birdie Stitches block. I added the blossoms on the tree and I am really happy with the way it came out. Have you ever tried to press the embroidery? It is kind of tricky. I had a left over piece of batting hanging around and thought, hmm, I wonder if I could put the block face down on the batting and press from the back? Maybe that would get the wrinkles out and keep the embroidery standing nicely. It was kind of funny, but look how the batting looked when I took the block away.

A perfect mirror image! I used Quilter's Dream cotton batting to do this and my steam iron. Anyway, just a little side note that. I bet you want to see the block right?

I was very happy with how it came out!

I am getting veteran quilts ready to drop off at the VA hospital this week for one of the groups I quilt with, the Plymouth Piecemakers. I drive by the hospital every day when I go home from work so I will drop off 15 quilts to them on Thursday. I squared up the Project Special Delivery quilt last night and will hand that off to PTM for the binding tomorrow. It has to be in the mail on June 8th. It was quilted with circles. I will get some pics once I get it back, wash and dry it. I love it when it gets all crinkly don't you? Jessie's quilt will be delivered this weekend at her party. Next up is finishing the JRQAL quilt and then I will have to make some choices about what to work on next. I'm pretty sure it will end up being my yard!! All my quilting has left my yard in DIRE need of some work. I am going to make DH and DS help me to get it back in shape. My plans for the upcoming weekend are to do LOTS of yard work.

Speaking of DH his birthday was yesterday. Poor dear, he had his braces (yes I said braces) adjusted and did not want the dinner I had planned for him. DD2 came home to celebrate with us so I made dinner for the 4 of us and we had cake (which DH ate) and then we walked up to the new ice cream shop for ice cream (I abstained). It was not a very eventful birthday but maybe at our age that's ok! Have a wonderful day!

Hot AND Humid

So what do you do when it is hot AND humid outside? Stay in and sew, am I right? I went to the gym yesterday and found it was just so icky outside. I thought I wanted to weed, but no, alas those weeds may be defeating me due to hot and humidity, but I will get out there eventually!

DD1 got up EARLY and went to the bird swap (again) and got LTW a new goat, named Oreo. She dropped her off at the farm and brought these treasures for me when she arrived home.


Doesn't look YUMMY??? I am going to have some of that lettuce for lunch very soon.

Funny I happened to post yesterday about 12 Days of Christmas. I went out to the store for some milk and called Cori as I was leaving. You knew I could not resist the FQ bundle now didn't you? It just so happens that a 12 Days kit found it's way home with me too. I have no idea how that happened = ) OMG it makes me purr just showing you all this 12 Days goodness. Now if you want your very own kit or some cut goods hop on over to Cori's place and order it up. (You know you want to)

I ended up at the store for the milk and when I got home there was a package on my sewing table from...yep, THE FAT QUARTER SHOP!!! I signed up for the Mystery BOM made out of...wait for it...wait for it...12 Days of Christmas fabric!!!!! You may need to join me in this fun.
The packet on the left is for the first block and on the right is the finishing kit.

So I cut out the block last night and sewed it up today. I LOVE it and the really great news? I think I may have enough of the fabric left over from the block to make a second block for (now you need to keep it quiet) LTW. I know things are tight with the farm and having 2 mortgages so I am going to try to share so she can have some 12 Days lovin' too. Here is the block.

Yesterday

Nicole and I walked to the Ann Arbor farmer's market yesterday and I bought this beautiful bouquet of flowers for only $4!!


Here is a view from the top. It is about 8 inches in diameter. They are just beautiful and they smell great too. I also got 2 beautiful heads of leaf lettuce one green and one red for $1.50 each! I think we need to go every Wednesday!

Last night was quilting at CHV. I brought several things to work on and this was one of them. I needed to hand turn the binding on my "Cats in the Cabin" wall hanging. I got about 3/4ths done and had to stop as my left arm was killing me! So Pauline kindly finished the rest for me. Thanks, Pauline!! I found the cat pattern online but designed the rest fo the quilt around that. I like how it turned out.

I participated in the Designer Mystery BOM at the Fat Quarter Shop this past year. Here is my finished top. It was a great experience and if you are interested they are doing another one this time with stars. Hope over and visit them. The star one is done with Glace by three Sisters (Moda). It looks really nice and is only $9.99 per month including shipping. I did buy the finishing kit which included all the material for the sashing and borders.


Now, I really want to do a Spooktacular swap. If you are interested please contact me at mamaspark@gmail.com I have 5 people and I need 7 more to make this work. You can see the link to the details in the post from yesterday. You would not have to have your blocks to me until september 1st either. C'mon, what are you waiting for??

My "shopping" trip

So you all know that LTW and I went to a fabric warehouse place and we got some really cool stuff. They were having an open house and had some special things that we were able to take advantage of (ok, I know, their stuff is great all the time but this time was better!!) They had sample cards like the one below for sale. I think I bought 16 of these. I am only showing this one. Some were Prints Charming some were Christmas and some were for DD2's "Save the Planet" quilt I plan on making *someday*.


In addition I bought the following 3 bolts. That's right, Annemiek I said BOLTS plural!! One is of the 6 color Lone Star Quiltsmart interfacing (Rumor has it thses may be difficult to find soon and there are 3 of my friends that love them so thought it would be a good idea to have some for them too) and the other 2 were for fun. I can so see making a Stacked Posie or One Block Wonder type quilt out of them. LTW is taking half of the middle one to do the same, so you see half is already gone!

I bought these 2 FQ packs for gifts. The top one is for my friend Ellen (who NEVER reads this, tee hee) and not sure about the other one yet.


I love Bunnies, Ergo I love Bunny Hill Designs! I finally sprang for the Baltimore Bunnies patterns. I also got the newest one Rabbits Prefer Embroidery. Now I need to look for the Chelsea Manor fabric for that one! Heaven knows when that will get started but those bunnies just hopped right in the basket! They're like that you know.

I also got this realy cool book. See the birds on the cover? They are so neat and done with strips.


I did buy some thread and a design wall (LTW paid for half for my upcoming birthday!) I think that was most of the fun. I did go to my friend Cori's house and picked up a few things but will save that for another post. (You should go and visit her too!!!) Can't wait to put the design wall up and work with it. I am almost finished putting the Designer Mystery BOM together and then I have to clean up and put away all sewing and quilting until after the grad party = ( So this weekend is my last chance to sew)

Monday Monday

I'm going to get the business "stuff" over first.  Stash report is no fabric in and no additional fabric out. Thanks, Ruth-Ann, I totally forgot about the fabulous green tree fabric you gave me, so sorry.  Now I will amend it to 1 yard in and no fabric out.

Added this week: 1yd

Added YTD: 11.75

Used this week:  0

Used YTD:  33.25

 Weight loss not such a great week, but whatever.  I'm back on track.  I gained 1.6 pounds so now my weight loss total is only 3.8 pounds.  

I thought you might like to see the baby star quilt.  I finished the binding this weekend so now it is completely finished.  I can't label it until the baby is born in July.  Didn't LTW do a great job with the quilting?  As usual.

I love the shooting stars!
Here is what I used for the back.  My niece loves cats and this is flannel.  So soft.
I did manage to get this block 7 of the Designer Mystery BOM done this weekend also.
The biggest accomplishment was that I managed to get all my house blocks sewn around this weekend too.  It took quite a bit of time to do that for 24 houses and I will get some photos this week for you.  I have a stripe for the inner border and I am thinking of using the BIG pink polka dot for the outside border.  LTW tells me that she has the Paisley Party quilt finished for me to bind so I will work on that this week too.  I am planning on laying the house quilt out on Tues or Wed where I have room and finishing that top this week.  I may even get to Kelsey's "S" quilt this week.  Those are the 2 I am going to concentrate on this week.  How is your week shaping up??

Seeing Double?

I came home from work yesterday and this was what was greeting me!  (Of course you can't see the other 3 and the dog but they are all there too!)  Hallie is sitting on my cutting mat and Autumn is on the piano.  Aren't they so cute?
I really wanted to watch Grisom's last show on CSI so I was kind of a slug.  I began the TV-a-thon at 8pm and finished around 10pm.  I did manage to get my block 6 finished for the Designer Mystery BOM though.  I really liked this block.  It is so beautiful when it is done and it was not too difficult to do.  I am trying to decide whether I want to participate in The Fat Quarter Shop's 2009 Designer Mystery BOM.  Are any of you doing it?  It is all stars?

It is -8 degrees F and with wind chill it is -27 degrees F so it is VERY, VERY cold today!  Although not as cold as this!  This was taken in 1911 and it is a very frozen Niagara Falls!

Hopefully it won't get that cold here! LOL

This and That

Well, this is going to be one of those posts.  

Schmitty swam in the semi finals last night and placed 9th by 1/100th of a second!!  That sure is rotten luck, huh?  I am so proud of her and all that she has accomplished though and she still has the 800 free relay to swim in and I am sure that will medal.  Wasn't it an amazing night for US swimming last night??  We certainly do Rule the Pool!!

I have been working on some of these "jar" blocks for a quilt to use for our Christmas craft show to sell and have the money for the CL's to use for quilting and whatever else we decide we need to have to make our charity quilts.  I am doing Halloween jars.  Here are just a few.  I am making 16.  I will"put them on shelves" and maybe put a cauldron or a broom in the corner, we'll see.  I love Halloween!!  What do you think?  NO I haven't stopped working on FS or the Anniversary quilt, but these are fast and fun to make.  (Can you say ADD?? LOL)

The third installment in the Designer Mystery BOM arrived yesterday so I need to get to that too.
As if there is not enough for me to do this week here is the rest of the line up for the week:

Quilting with the CL's tonight

25th anniversary on Wed (no quilting with the CHV ladies tonight)

Senior pictures with DS at 4pm

Dinner with the in-laws and DH's sister and BIL on Thursday

Friday- WHEW

Sat quit-till-you-wilt at the church

Sunday Lacrosse picnic

Now, I REALLY need your help with this.  As you can plainly see, my 25th wedding anniversary is tomorrow and I have NO idea what to get DH.  I really wanted to go on a trip to Ireland but that is not in the cards (you know that pesky 2 kids in college at the same time thing!)  So any ideas?  I know the Nascar race is close to home on Sun and he would love to go to that, but I was thinking of something together or some kind of gift, HELP!!

Serendipity

On Tuesday I decided I needed to finish this second installment of my designer mystery BOM series.  It turned out quite nicely, hmm?? 

Now, I bought this FQ pack when I went to Paducah last spring.  It is the Fresh Squeezed line.  Aren't the colors yummy??  But I just didn't know what I wanted to make with them.  I have been looking for the *perfect* pattern. 
So I stopped at JAF on my way home to look for a copy of Australian Patchwork magazine that I have been trying to find.  I saw a Fons and Porter magazine that I did not have and began to thumb through it.  Don't like it, don't need it, Not my thing, maybe, but probably not necessary

...wait a minute, could it be??...it is!!  The perfect pattern for the Fresh Squeezed fat quarter pack!  And here it is!
I had quilting with the CL's last night and had to decide what to bring with me.  I decided to take the FQ's and this patten and see if I could get it cut out.  Well, I got all the strips cut and now I just need to sub-cut and I will be ready to sew.  I was supposed to have a meeting tonight but it canceled so maybe I can do the sub cutting in the daylight when I get home!  YEA!!

I have a wedding reception to go to and have to get a dress.  I am trying to figure out how to show you the photo of the one I ordered.  If I can get it I will post it.

Found it!

A Very Exciting Day

I had a very exciting experience recently.  I read Mary Ann's blog and she is a collector of vintage paper things.  I was visiting my dad's house recently and he had many vintage magazines and patterns that he was going to discard.  So...I thought I would just send them to Mary.  Little did I realize that there were 53 pounds of very vintage goodness to send to her!  I sent it and waited.  On the day I got a belated birthday gift from her I called her and the BIG package arrived with her.  Please go read about what she had to say here.

So on to the story of the evening.  I had an eye doctor appt after work and got new contacts.  I like some things about them but the close up vision is still more blurry than I like so may have to try another pair.  I drove home with DS (who is now working in the lab with me for the summer) and did some cleaning and then got dinner ready.  There was a surprise in the mail for me.  This installment of the Designer Sampler BOM from the Fat Quarter Shop.  I did the first one and loved it and here is what the second one looks like.

I love the fabric and I hope I will get a chance to work on it tonight.  I really want to try to stay on top of it so I can have a beautiful quilt all finished this time.  (My track record with BPM's is not very good, nuff said!)

In addition, I had seen this cute little pattern but it was out of stock when I ordered it.  They sent it with the BOM thus saving me some postage.  Isn't it cute?  I just fell in love with it!
I thought it might be a good group project for the CL's to work on.  Those that like to applique can do so and those that don't can make the pieced blocks.  I will probably make it bigger and may not use all the same green, and maybe not even green.  Our church stash is sorely lacking in green.  But, we will see.  I may make a few small ones for the craft show, I don't know but I just love these chubby gals!  (Kindred spirits, maybe?)

And just so you know, I am officially getting old.  You know you're old when...

You are eating dinner, the phone rings, it's the CL's asking where you are (and it's only 5 to 7) for quilting that begins at 7...except for when it doesn't because you forgot there are summer hours and it begins at 6!!  DUH!!!

I wanted to get done last night was the sleeve hand sewn on to the Texas quilt.  I took the quilt and the sleeve to the church with me and was hell bent on getting it done before I went home.  So I was working hard and 8 o'clock came and the CL's told me that Mike (the custodian at the church) would kick me out like he did to them last time.  Well, Mike came in and I asked him if I could stay until I was done, maybe another 20 minutes or so and he said it was fine just lock up.  I guess being in charge has it's perks right?  Long story short, the sleeve is on the quilt and Charlotte helped me get the last little bit of fur off the quilt too.  There's a little Charlotte and Pam spit all over that quilt!  I'm just sayin' that if you wet your fingers and brush the fur away it comes right off, better than a lint brush.  

I need to drop off the quilts tomorrow morning and then there is a reception in the evening.  I am getting my hair cut and highlighted tonight and am going to a new person so I am a little nervous about that but excited.  I have been seeing the same person for my hair for over 20 years and I met a woman that does hair and works with a dear friend of mine and I am going to give her a try.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Quilty Progress

Who says writing a blog isn't inspirational?  I did NOT feel like making this block last night but I remembered that I told you all that I was going to make this block  so I *had* to do it, right?  When I got home from work DH asked me if I wanted to walk to the Chinese restaurant for dinner.  Of course, are you kidding me?  So we went to dinner and when I got home I felt like a slug but...I just *knew* you were holding your breath waiting to see this block...so here it is!  I love the fabric but did not like making this block.  Too many little seams to match.

Here is the little table runner made from left over fabric from 2 big quilts and then another small quilt.  I got it back from Liz yesterday all quilted up and now I just need to put the binding on it.
I love this little quilt.  I did the star in a class in Paducah and then added the fish border.  I asked Liz to quilt something from the sea on it as I wanted to call it "Star of the Sea".  So she just went to town.  
There is a crab with some seaweed.
A little fishy,
An octopus,
And this little sea horse!
But my favorite is in the middle, a huge Sand Dollar!  I think Liz did a fantastic job on this one!!
Then I decided I needed to make cushions for my patio furniture.  I have these 4 wicker chairs and one love seat.  I want to just cover pillows and use those in the furniture instead of making actual cushions (hate using piping and zippers).  This is the fabric I found that I want to use.  This one is aqua but it comes in gold, orange and lime so my dilemma is whether I need to use all the colors, just aqua or aqua and lime (a lot of my house is done in aqua and lime).  Any suggestions?