The Best Laid Plans

Well, I've been home a week and a half and have accomplished little to nothing.

My second day back at work I developed a horrible toothache.  Got in to see the dentist immediately.  He sent me to the endodontist immediately.  I'm going to need a root canal - that couldn't be done until the 20th.  The 20th.  That was like almost three weeks away.  The good news is that the crown won't have to be removed; they can go through it.  The bad news is it's another blasted root canal.  I told the dentists that I was sure every tooth in my mouth had been root canaled at least twice!

But both doctors assured me that the antibiotics and Prednisone would make it feel much better very quickly.  It didn't.  Not until today.  A week later.

So I haven't felt like doing diddly since I've been home.  The box with the clamshell project that I shipped back here to CA is sitting unopened.  I finally got clothes in the laundry yesterday as I was down to the last decent pair of underwear.  And you know what all moms probably say about decent underwear!

And the Saints lost!

But I digress ...

I think things will go better from here on out.  I plan on making headway on something in the sewing room next weekend.  I think I'll make clamshells 50 at a time, and then put them aside for a few days and do it again.  I did get the bed measured that this quilt will go on and made the header that the first row of clams will be attached to.  I did that on my last day in Louisiana.  It's just a matter now of making the rest of the clams and attaching the rows.  I will have to machine applique them, and I'm not looking forward to shoving around that much quilt top through the machine.  This quilt will be beautiful but it's going to be a slow process.  I want it done this year, so I'll keep plugging away at it. 

Another thing I want to get back to is my Short List.  That totally went by the wayside in 2013 because of the health issues.  The two quilts left on the list will be easy enough to finish up. One needs a final border and backing pieced.  The other needs to have the backing re-pieced because I made it too small.  Then I'll make a new Short List.  I already know one that will go on that list, or maybe two.  Five is the max on the short list!

Since a couple of folks emailed me to see if  I had fallen off the face of the earth, I thought I'd best post something. 

Here are some Christmas quilts that I shipped back to Louisiana.  The one in front was made not very long after I started quilting.  It was a "hard" quilt for me at that time.  The pattern was a free Moda pattern (which I wish I could find), and the fabric was Robyn Pandolph's Folk Art Christmas I and II - in the good old days when she was with Moda.  It will probably always be one of my favorites!

So I'm all caught up now on news - which wasn't very much.  But I managed to make a long post out of no news!
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EDIT:  I found Moda's Folk Art Christmas Stars pattern!  It was Item #PS11, and was made using the I  and II collections.  I don't have the great color copy, but just a photocopied cutting sheet.  All of my newbie notes all over it crack me up!  I really wish Moda would re-release some of those old free patterns using the new lines.  I found several that I had printed off and they are great!  They were all in an overflowing binder on the bottom shelf of a bookcase.  I was so diligent back then about keeping it all organized!  I even found the info on the first two beginner classes I took in September of 2001!

I really examined this quilt over Christmas.  Considering I was a brand-spanking new quilter, I did a wonderful job on it.  All of the points were there and it was square and flat!  LOL.  I will definitely make this one again!

The New Year

I'm back home and trying to get unpacked and organized.  I left a huge mess.  I pulled out every box I could find to ship stuff, and left the extras piled in the kitchen.  The garbage folks won't like me this week!

I didn't take a lot of pictures when I was home because it was so blasted cold outside!  I think my blood has thinned living in SoCal.  It's supposed to get really cold in Louisiana this coming week, so I guess I left at just the right time!  The flight home was uneventful and passed swiftly.  Not so with the flight going over.  We were grounded for three hours in Dallas because of weather, and then had an exceptionally nasty flight on the little American Eagle to Louisiana.  My legs were rubbery when I got off the plane.  I'm usually not bothered by turbulence but was this time!

I drove my brother's Jeep around while I was there.  The farmers were harvesting their sugarcane, and those trucks were dumping huge amounts of mud on the roads.  We had just enough rain to make everything real slick, so I was driving very carefully.  Of course, his Jeep got very dirty.  I should have washed the mud off before I brought it back to him, but it was too blasted cold for me to fool around with water hoses.  And I forgot to put gas in it, too.  Sorry!  I promise it won't happen again!

I did take one trip while I was there back to the town where I grew up.  High school classmates were meeting up at a seafood restaurant for dinner and I decided to join them.  It was wonderful visiting with folks I haven't seen in more years than I care to remember.  I also visited with my mother's first cousin while I was there.  I spent a lot of time with her family in the summertime when Mom was working, and have such fond memories of those times.  She is the best cook!  It was a 2.5 hour drive each way, and I felt a little beat up driving the Jeep, but I'm really happy I went.

The old quilt I finished for my sister-in-law made her cry.  The top was really challenging as it was all hand pieced, but I managed to get it flat and square and then grid quilted it in one direction.  My friend, Sally, made a gorgeous quilt label for it which she shipped to me in Louisiana.  I thought I had packed all the quilting supplies I would need but forgot hand sewing needles.  I ran to WalMart there on Christmas Eve, and I found one of those variety packs.  Let me tell you, those were some dull needles, but I managed it to get it sewn on in time.  I had queried Gail about who made the quilt and when because I knew I wanted to label it.  She didn't know I had finished the quilt, and asked me why I wanted to know.  I told her I always wonder about the quilter who made these old tops.  Well, she sure was surprised to see the label with her grandmother's name on it!  I was so happy that I could finish it for her.  I love you, Gail!

It's confusing reading the label because Gail's grandmother had the same last name as our family name.  No relation, though!  That's a real common name down there, kind of like Smith or Jones!

Penny was SO happy to see me when I picked her up yesterday.  Two weeks must seem like a lifetime to animals.  She's adjusted very quickly to being home, but is keeping me in her line of sight.  If I disappear around a corner, she comes running to find me.  It was a long two weeks for me, too, without her!

I'm going to try to swing another trip in the summer.  I'm already homesick!

New Year's Eve 2013

I don't know about everyone else, I'm real ready for 2013 to be over!

I've enjoyed my stay in the South so much.  Too bad I have to get back to the real world and leave all this beauty behind.

An example:  Sunday morning a fog had settled down over the bayou.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  A couple of fish splashing and a few birds chirping - no traffic sounds, people sounds, sirens.  I could get used to this real quickly!



Needing to head to the market to get fixings for New Year's Day.  I guess I need to coordinate that with my sister-in-law.  I'm looking forward to the traditional fare tomorrow of black-eyed peas and cabbage.  For health and wealth.  Could use both of those in 2014!

I won't post again until I get home but just wanted to remind everyone of what Mom always said ....

.... Whatever you do on New Year's Day, you do for the rest of the year!

Don't forget to take some stitches!

Happy New Year!!

Joyeux Noel!

I'm through with Christmas quilting, but I still have lots to do before I leave town.  I'm hacking away at the list a little each day.

Tonight's task was getting Penny a new bed to take to the kennel when she's boarded and a bag of dog food that I can leave there with them.  It's almost like getting a child ready to stay with grandma for two weeks!  At least I don't have to pack bottles!

I'm pretty stoked about getting way.  I know I was just home in June, but it's been a long six months.  I look forward to just relaxing and sewing.  A sewing machine was shipped there, so I plan on working on clamshells every night.

I probably won't post again this year unless I can figure out how to post pictures from my laptop.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!  We've all been very good this year, so I'm sure Santa will be dropping down everyone's chimney!  He came early to the Quilting Condo!!

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee!

Clams and Things

I worked a little each night this week on clamshells.  I have over 200 in the works.  The picture shows various stages of progress from pinning to trimming, then turning/pressing, and two sewn together to see what they will look like.  It's going to be a long process, but I'm really enjoying the mindless sewing.

There's a foot for the Bernina that I might explore getting.  It has a non-stick sole, which I think might make it move more smoothly over this fabric and serving on a curve.  If anyone has used this type of foot, I'd love to hear your experience.  Those darn feet are expensive!!

I went to Upland Sew yesterday in the downtown area.  It was cold and pouring rain.  When I turned to get to the downtown area, all of the streets were blocked off for the Christmas parade!  I'll tell you, the rain didn't deter anyone from going to the parade.  I luckily found a spot to park just a block away and, amazingly, had an umbrella in the car.  It sure was fun walking to the store and seeing the parade, catching candy, and singing along with the Christmas carolers.  Darn if it didn't put me in the Christmas mood!

There's one more project to work on before my Christmas holiday begins.  I'm having my cup of coffee, and then I'm going to jump right in feet first and see what I can get accomplished today. 

It was 32 at 3:30 this morning. Now it's 40 with an expected high of 53.  I hope all of Penny's walks today are as short as the one at 3:30!  She doesn't like being cold.  She's such a weenie!!  (And so is her Mommy!)

Well, I Did It

I committed to a new project.  I took it out, gathered up everything I'd need to do it, and dove it this morning.

I said I wasn't going to tell until I figured out if I could do it.  I can, and I will now tell.

Clamshells - a Moda kit from Collection for a Cause by Howard Marcus.

The first antique quilt I fell in love with was a clamshell.  I didn't figure I'd ever be able to make it.  Just cutting with all those clamshells with a template intimidated me to no end, not to mention the handwork involved.

Years and years later, I gasped when I saw the kit at the Fat Quarter Shop.  The clamshells were laser cut, and almost everything I'd need was in that box!  So I ordered it. I sat and looked at it for a couple of weeks, and this morning I decided to dive in and see if it was doable.

The one thing I needed to order to go with the kit was the Pellon lightweight stabilizer.  I couldn't find it around here.  I asked Kimberly at the Fat Quarter Shop if she could order it for me and she got a bolt of it to me last week.  She is just the most amazing person!  I know sometimes she must think, "What now?!!" when I send her a request, but she always finds what I need.

 

 

There's a plastic template that comes in the kit that I used to mark the back of the fabric.  You can see some clams marked on the right side of the picture above.  Then I put a 2.5 x 4 strip of stabilizer on the right side of the clamshell, stitched on the line, and turned it.  That's how easy it is.  You can see the stabilizer sewn on at the bottom of the picture.  I thought I'd sew two of them together to see how that went.  It took me a couple of tries to find "the spot," but that part will be easy, too. 

 

Once I got set up and going, I did about 25 clamshells in about an hour.  Some of those are in the top left of the photo.  I'm just going to concentrate on making the clams now and not worry about assembling them just yet.  I need to enlarge the quilt a bit but I won't know how much until I can measure the bed that it will end up on.  I'll do that over Christmas.  I'm also thinking about leaving the borders off.  The antique quilt I fell in love with didn't have borders and it was gorgeous.  That decision doesn't need to be made now.

 

I am so excited about making this quilt, although I think it's more sewing than quilting at this point.  That's okay.   Having it all laser cut took away 90% of the work. 

 

So that's it!  That's my next big project.  I'm pretty sure this one will be done before I get to The Home!



 

Thanksgiving Saturday Project

"Coming Home" pattern from the book Simplify by Camille Roskelley.  A charm pack and a half yard of Apron Strings fabric by Moda.  Kona Snow background, three-quarters of a yard.  C'est tout!

This quilt top was quick and fun to make.  I need to dig through the vast amount of books here more often to look for projects!  It's been a long time since I've made a top start to finish in one day.  I need to do this more often.  It's just what the doctor ordered!