From Fish to Scrap Bags

After having a long weekend and not much sleep I can say I've been really groggy for these last few days.  But that doesn't mean I've let grass grow under my feet.  Monday we drove over the the park to take a walk with Hubby and BIL, however we saw that they had just stocked fish in the river. So we drove home real quick and grabbed fishing gear and headed back.  Hubby is the only one that has a licence so Frank and I just sat in the sunshine and watched.  I did assist with tools and opening the cooler - and Frank helped him clean.  Limit is 10 but Honey stopped at 8.  We kept 3 for Frank to BBQ that night and then gave 5 to our neighbor Bev who loves trout.  Most of them where 14-16" only one was about 10".

Tuesday I went to the quilt shop for Sit N Sew and did a variety of things.  First off  I sandwiched a small panel I had to use for my project for tonight's "Hand Quilting" Workshop.  

Picture Below!

Then I picked out some fabric that I'll need for the April Class for Stitch N Rippits.  We will be doing this quilt.  

Then after that I traced and cut out wool pieces to go on the kit background that I started at the retreat.  I haven't fused them to the background yet but here they are. 

That pretty much wrapped up my time there.  Then I came home - we went out to dinner and I did a little organizing before was time to go to my hand quilting class.  Here's how much I got done. 

Yesterday - I needed to make a whole bunch of phone calls for the guild and do some paperwork for us and so the guys went golfing and I did my stuff.  

Then when I got done, I made another golf towel - 

Then I made a scrap bag pincushion.  This is a present for someone.  Hmm wonder who - I don't think she reads my blog so I'll post a picture but not say who it's for.  

It has the little pocket with the strap that holds the scissors.  :) 

That wrapped up yesterday.  Today I have a workshop to make a cut and fold wreath.  I'll let you know now that goes. 

Have a Blessed Day!

Lynn 

A busy week into another busy week

Thursday's  CRQ business meeting went well.  There were a lot of technical business matters to take care of and that always is a little challenging to appease all the members but it's done and that is great.  Also there was an item that I needed to address and I am please to say it was well received and passed by the members.  We will no longer be having lunch after the business meeting provided by the members.  We will have a more hardy continental breakfast before the meeting at social time, and fore go the lunch, with the exception of potluck luncheon for our last meeting of the year as we have now and the December Christmas potluck.  Everyone agreed that was a good idea.  Whew.   Here's a picture of our last regular lunch.

When I came home - I cleaned up a few things around the house before the guys got home, and of course work on packing my stuff for the retreat. Then when they got home we went to a local Mexican restaurant we have wanted to share with my Brother in Law Frank.  

Friday - Yay - Funny how you can be so full of energy when you know you've got 3 days of sewing going on :)   I got up showered, and got to the retreat at 9am.   So what did I end up taking for my Projects you ask.   I took my Bears to finish the second bear,  material to make a calendar holder,  material make the sewing mat for my friend Ronni, the paper pieced block we made at the workshop  - I needed to finish sewing it together.  Then for good measures I threw in kit that I hadn't started.  :)  

Here is my sewing area at the retreat - 

So first off I made the sewing mat.  It's all done except the hand stitching of the binding.  That went really quick thanks to my new walking foot.  Yay!  

I needed some contrasting fabric for the calendar holder and my honey needed to come down so I could check into the hotel so I asked him to bring some fabric.  So next I did the calendar holder.  That too went together quick and Vickie gave me some gray for the pocket and the binding  and she has a cute Lamb I can applique on the top.  

For lunch we had a catered sandwich bar.  Breads, fruit, pasta salad, cheese and meats.  Sorry forgot the picture.  

Then I put the paper pieced square together.  

Then I started putting the background of the kit I brought together. Then that wrapped up the day.   It originally was needle turn applique - but I am going to use wool.  

Also this was supposed to be put together so that is had the light for points as a star but I've put it together to be more of an "X".  Such a rebel.  :)  Here's a picture of the pattern.   I have the wool cut out I just need to fuse.  I'll lay it out first and see if I really do like it this way if not I'll take apart and change back to the way it is in the pattern.  :)

Saturday Morning I started on a couple of my Snowman Collector blocks.  I worked on that until breakfast time.   I got the pieces fused on before breakfast and then left the top stitching until after I work on the bears.  

 Pictured below.  :)

Here was some pictures from breakfast, didn't get my actual plate of food.  A couple of gals love peel and eat shrimp for breakfast - not my style, but hey eat what you want.  Here are some of my friends. 

Then after breakfast.... The Bears.  This is where I started  - 

This is after putting the "body" parts on. 

Here are the two bears all put together.  

The next step will be to position them and put trees around them on the background.   Well that went together pretty easily - so next I worked  more and the snowmen block(s).   I was able to top

Here is the Lunch we had that was included in the retreat 

Lunch was baked Chicken, Pot Roast, Potatoes, Broccoli, Salad, Rolls, and Chocolate Cake. 

And we were not all that hungry for dinner after that lunch so I only had soup and salad for dinner.   Okay and One count it One bread stick.  :)

Here are the snowmen after the top stitching.   I still need to put their faces on. 

I finished the top stitching on the last block of snowmen just in time to pack up and get ready to go home.  And of course I was dog tired.  But in a good way.  

It's been busy since the retreat too - Hence why it's Wednesday night and I'm just finishing up this post. But I'll write more later, and let you know what I've been up to since the retreat and what I'm doing to get ready for my trip.  

Have a Blessed Day! 

Lynn 

Whole lot of Cooking Going On

Sunday we relaxed a little - we'd been working around the house quite a bit.  So I spent a good part of the day finishing the fusing of the 2nd bear on the appropriate color of fabric.  Then I worked on cutting all those pieces out.  It takes much longer than you think.

Then as I cut out each color - they needed to be sorted by body part.  Head, nose, mouth, body, leg.....  

.  Monday - I wanted to get back in there and finish it up I had a few things to do before we headed out to Vegas to pick up my Brother in law so not go.

Yesterday  - my Hubby and BIL  headed out for Yuma to meet up with their other brother and a cousin so I was free to sew and cook.  I finished cutting the bear out and started putting the head together.

After I got that much done (I'd been working on it for 5 1/2 hours)  I decided I better get some of my cooking done.  I made Meatloaf and Augratin Potatoes.  I took part of it out and froze it and ten combined the rest for a meal for the guys while I am gone this weekend at the retreat.  

I put some pinto beans in the crock pot, and made some chili sauce.  (Salsa) 

 Then I made some mashed potatoes to go with a Turkey Breast that I was planning to back today.  Once I got that done, I went to the post office and mailed a card and stopped by the store to pick up a few things.  By the time I got home and got everything put away - I was pretty much done for the day.    I kicked back with my puppies on my lap and watched some TV and did some hand stitching. 

Here are the fruits of today's cooking.  I cooked a turkey breast and made gravy to go with the potatoes.   Should have taken a picture before I carved it.  :)

And I also made two Chicken Pot Pies for tomorrow's Business Meeting.  

While I was doing all this cooking in between I was still working on the bear had and was able to do the mouth and nose to finish out the head. 

By the time all of this was done it was time to get ready for my hair cut and pedicure.  Unfortunately when I got there and started getting my hair cut I found out the lady that was going to do my pedi was ill and I had to reschedule for next Friday.  I guess I'll have to touch up my toes to carry my thru.  :) 

 I stopped and looked around the "J" store, on my way home.  We need to have a White Elephant gift for Saturday at the retreat.  I picked up a few things then come home and looked thru  my stuff to see what all I could put in the exchange.  Here's what I came up with.  

A Table runner (that's on the bottom) , some chocolate, a candle, some charm strips, a cell phone pouch, and s pack with seam ripper, seam gauge, and scissors. 

I then played around making some scissor fobs.  I had a lot of fun with this.  I can see more of it in my future. 

By this time I was getting pretty hungry so I picked up my sewing room, got some projects packed for the retreat and made some rice to go with some of the turkey and gravy.  

I think it's time for me to kick back on the couch with my puppies and watch some TV.  

Tomorrow is our CRQ Business meeting and sometime in the afternoon my Honey and BIL will be home.  Then Friday I'l be heading out for my retreat.  

Hope you have a Blessed Day and Weekend.

Lynn 

Organized and Ready to Sew

Well Henrietta is having so much fun since I've let her out to play this month.  And I'm so glad she's been able to play because she's about the only one making some progress.  :)
Let's recap a little since it's been a few days.  When I left off, Sally the Seahorse made a big splash by getting finished and ready to proudly hang. She is temporarily hung by push pins until she gets a quilt hanger.  She is in our guest bathroom.

But after Sally got done, the painting and sewing took a wrong turn and couldn't be found.  ha ha.
Monday - I had to do some banking for the SNR guild, then hubby and I went house looking.  We won't be buying for a couple years but we've always loved looking for fun.
Tuesday - I worked at the shop - until about 1 pm then hung around had lunch with them and then when I came home I was so sleepy that I napped before the SNR Business Meeting.  The meeting went well.   I revealed the new Scavenger Hunt Items for the upcoming month.   Mittens, Black Bird and Golf Tee's.  I have a couple of Ideas - we'll see.

Wednesday - I got up with energy to spare - I started cleaning and sorting - and de-cluttering, sending emails that needed to go, making phone calls - guess it was my day to get it done.  Then in the early afternoon, my sweet hubby went golfing and I headed into the sewing room. I intended to sew - but Uh Oh.  It wasn't as messy as I've seen it some times but it was a little cluttered.  That and I was looking for a couple things.  Sooooo I spent close to 5 hours re-organizing and putting away fabric, kits, UFO's, quilts to be quilted - oh my - oh my.  But in the process I did manage to hang a few of my little quilts around the house.  No since in hiding them in a bin somewhere.  :)

This one is in my Kitchen

This one is in the guest bedroom.

And my Turtles are in the living room.  

 By the time I finally finished and thought about doing some sewing I was only able to get a couple more of the comfort/security blankets done for the SNR charity project before my honey called and said he was on his way home.  I did take a couple of breaks while cleaning and put on a pot of spaghetti sauce to simmer and some boiling water - so I popped in the noodles and he had a nice home cooked meal when he got home - and I have a much more organized sewing room.  It's not totally how I want it yet, and in some ways still looks cluttered - but without having more shelves  or cabinets, the bins have to stay and I do what I can.  All in all it  looks much better.  :)
Here's a peek at the two comfort blankets I made.

The blue is on one side and the print on the other.  I made 2 the same - and this brings my total to 10.

Thursday - I had a Dept head meeting for the CRQ guild.  I dropped off our doggies on the way to the meeting for their monthly bath.  The meeting lasted way longer than I anticipated 2 1/2 hours.  But it covered some good stuff. The president was wanting to know what we could do to make areas run smoother and what will be needed for the up coming year and nominations for offices.  

Then I picked up the doggies on my way home - aren't they pretty? 

After that - Hubby and I went to lunch, ran some errands and bought groceries.  And of course we picked up some chicken at the store and that made for a quick easy meal for dinner.  

Friday - was Cottage day.  I took some hand stitching so I didn't have bring my machine.  Sometimes it's easier not to pack up and all.  So I worked some more on Henrietta and I was able to finish Block 4. 

There will be other embellishments such as buttons but will add after it is quilted.  

Then when I got home - I was able to prep block 6 for Henrietta (5 was already done) 

Then with that done - I prepped my block for this month's scavenger block. Black Bird - Mittens - Golf Tee. 

The mittens and the black bird are wool.  (of course).

Then I made a golf towel - it was supposed to be for my Brother in law - but my hubby liked it and since it was his Birthday I relented and gave it to him.  

That was it for sewing  - I did more in an afternoon than I did all week.  :)  So because it was my honey's Birthday I thought it might be nice to have dinner ready for him - so I had stopped at the store and picked up additional items I needed and got it all prepped and made except heating up the meatballs when he got home.  It's kind of like a meatball gyro.  It has Italian seasoning in the meatballs, then you put it in pita bread with cabbage, tomato, onion and cucumber sauce.  It was so good that we ate the sandwiches and didn't even eat the tomato cucumber salad I made to go with it.  

Picture doesn't do it justice - but was really good. 

Today - was a nice day and a productive day.  We had a wind/sand storm the other night and the house, patio, garage, carport.... were all coated in a layer of dust.  So Hubby tackled the outside and I tackled the inside.  I was planning on doing my house cleaning today anyway - but with the storm and company coming on Monday I did a little extra deep cleaning.  I'll do some hand stitching tonight while I watch TV - but other than that no sewing today either.  Tomorrow however is a new day.  LOL  I plan on getting rid of some mature blondes (color my hair) and then it will be sewing the rest of the afternoon.  Not sure what I'll work on at this point but it will be nice to play. 

Oh and by the way - I managed to play in there yesterday after coming home from the cottage and put away everything as I got done with it so that it is still clean in there.  Good Girl huh?  

Have a Blessed Evening and Day tomorrow - 

Lynn 

Henrietta and Sally

Well after I posted on Wednesday that my UFO for the month was Henrietta Whiskers, I did indeed spend the rest of the day prepping more blocks to do.  My starting status is in the middle of block 3.
It needed the sign and the scarf and to stitch around the wagon.

First I Prepped block 4 and 5.  Those are the first 2 on the second row from the left.  I have the background fabric and all the applique pieces ready to go whether they are cotton or wool.  

Then I got the sign embroidered and sewn on.

Thursday I didn't do any sewing at all.  We had a ton of errands to run and by the time we got home it was late and I was tired.  

Friday was the Memorial for my friend and the shop owner's Mom who went to Heaven a couple of weeks ago.  I went to the Memorial and then my Husband and I helped with parking and refreshments at the gathering afterwards.  It was a nice service and gathering - and a nice day.  I was tired but did manage to do a little stitching to finish block 3.  

It will have buttons on the wheels of the cart and on the scarf.   I haven't decided if I want a button eye or not.  

Yesterday I went to a friends house and a bunch of us did some painting on fabric using the techniques we learned last year when we did the Dragonfly Wall Hanging.  You can see it Here. 

I took 3 different pictures to work on - wasn't sure what I wanted to do. 

I settled on the Seahorse - I thought I could do it in Turquoise and make a wall hanging for the guest bathroom to match the quilt on our guest bed and the Black and White decor of the guest bathroom.  (I did however start on the duck blocks because I had extra time but I'll show that later. )

Here's what I painted. 

Then when I got home I was auditioning fabric to go around it.  

And after 2 phone calls and several texts between my Sister and I -  me helping her with a sewing project she was doing and her making a couple of suggestions on the Seahorse - This is what I came up with. 

I really really like it.   Now to quilt it and get it bound so I can hang it.  

And I've decided it's name shall be Sally - Sally the Seahorse.

Well I'm going to head into the sewing room.  I kinda wanted to make a different scavenger block - so not sure if I'll work on that or if I'll quilt Sally.  

Have a Blessed Day - 

Lynn