Wanted, brain cell – apply within ..

I’ m using this entry as a draft for my acceptance speech for the “Twit of the Year” award. I swear that some days if I had operative brain cells I could be registered as a dangerous and offensive weapon .. pfft!! Notice how I didn’t say lethal .. I only kill my stuff

By this time I’m sure you’re wondering . what on God’s green earth has she done THIS time .. oh this is a goody for sure!! I even amaze myself this time!!

Remember in my last post where my Ohio Star block was just zipping along sweet as can be and I discovered that it was the wrong size?? yeah well this is even better .. truly it is .. twit for brains here messed herself up royally – it WAS the right size .. I needed 11″ unfinished and 10&#189 FINISHED .. “I would like to thank the members of the academy for .. blah blah blah .. FIDDLESTICKS!!!!!” See I told you it was a doozy even for me – heh not your average bear, eh boo boo .. &^%@#! **sigh** Ah well .. I have these 5 done now, one more already cut out from before and just 2 more to cut now .. bloody hell .. BUT on a good note; that is it for the blocks for this quilt .. i just need to put them into sections and then quilt as you go 😀 😀 😀

I wanted to show you how great this combination looks even tho it is the mostly unlikely sounding combination on it’s own .. It’s really going to blend well together and add some interest to the corner-ish where it’ll be ..

In my defense for my screw-up; things have been a wee bit interesting around here to say the least and I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster since I got back from up North – I guess I was more distracted and worried than I thought – granted I’m not perfect, but since I designed this damn thing, you’d think I would remember what size blocks I made for it; pfft .. ah well .. onward!!

On a good note tho .. I have half of Clue one done for gran’s quilt – I even don’t mind making mistakes at this point, as it gives me another chance to stitch up another seam 🙂 .. Bonnie – thank you for your wonderful light bulb moment 🙂

I’ll be busy stitching this weekend .. Myself and a few other ladies will be helping Carmen get ready for a mystery that she has plotted .. I think we were promoted to stitch detectives 😀 I am looking forward to altho that means I have to cut a mess of fabric up today as well as get those other 2 blocks made ..

Think I can be trusted with a rotary cutter?? I promise not to massacre any more defenseless fabric and I’m sure that there’s not much left of my ego to shred at this point ..

Oh any operative brain cells, please fill out the application and leave it on the counter please .. I’m sure I’ll find it later .. when I’m looking for my mind ..

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I must have been due ….

B ack in January I posted about fabric quality and how getting the thin / low thread count muslin could bite you on the nose in later years .. if not sooner.

This is one of the blocks from my swap quilt from 1997 that I used the cheap muslin for filler blocks for this swap. As you can see it shredded away. So I’m fixing it .. I have Guide to Vintage Quilting by Sandra L Hatch, where she shows you how to fix vintage quilts (I’m not sure I would go THAT far with THIS quilt) and also neat period patterns for the older vintage tops / quilts you may find in your travels. Because this was my first swap quilt and the blocks are signed, I really wanted to try and save / fix it.

I got all sorts of WOW, muslin and batting scraps ready to do this block first .. this is the only one where I have to replace all the white parts – the rest are just QSTs. I decided to quilt these pieces in one shot as they are all going under the other pieces as they are white and I was replacing the batting too.

I did really good with the first QST – cut away the shredded batting, frogged the quilting just ever so carefully and then took out the stitching from when they were pieced. The first part went just about perfect – that should have been my first clue .. It was rather tricky with the quilt stretched out of shape from over the years of these bits n pieces missing – this poor QST had more pins than a porcupine – but as you can see the QST worked just fine ..

So with more confidence I went to the square .. it was the square that did me in .. yes a stupid simple square! For some reason I just could NOT get all the material under the seam for this one .. and this was TWICE this did this to me .. YOu can see the two spots where it wouldn’t tuck under. I had it all pinned in and it looked fine – but get it on the machine and start quilting it down and it goes all wiggly piggly on me .. okay nuff of that .. i’m going to lose my temper and I was getting tired. So I just might put them in all by hand then quilt them down .. I just wanted to keep the batting in place as all this shifting and moving was going on with this quilt .. I can use my Sullivan’s basting spray for this I guess – or a glue stick 🙂

Two days ago I cut the greens out for the Ohio Star blocks for my 1800 quilt and yesterday I did the pink paisley for the background .. While i was sewing this I did the leaders n enders for Grans quilt and actually got 7 nickels stitched on one side .. I used Around the Block by Judy Hopkins for this block as these blocks are rotary cutting and she has 6 different sizes for each block

The Ohio Star went together just nicely .. I squared the QSTs after they were stitched to avoid any issues with it being out of kilter – I find that taking that extra step after doing a section construction helps to fix ooboos that would later have me on the endangered list for baldness and sanity .. well okay – not sanity .. baldness then …

I press the block out and all my points line up (but one little corner – bet you can’t find it!!), then I head over to the cutting table to square it up .. and it’s a perfect .. 11″ ?!?!?!?!?! My heart does the demon drop .. that can’t be .. I didn’t do a scant seam on this block! I did a flat out &#188″ seam – bloody hell .. what the devil is going on .. So I grab the book from my bookshelf and see that it’s for 10&#189″ FINISHED block .. NOT unfinished .. oh jesusmaryjoseph I needed a 10″ finished .. crap crap crap .. and I was soooo proud of myself that this block just zoooomed together quicker n all get out .. yeah it got out all right .. pfft!

Well I’ve figured out that I need to have 4&#189″ squares for the QSTs and then 3&#190″ or 3⁷/8″ for the squares .. not a big deal .. I’ll just cut down what I’ve already cut .. but will do the 3&#190 block first and test it for size ..

Bloody Hell . only me!

**Throws paws up in frustration, shuts the sewing room down and leaves while there still IS a sewing room .. which in this house is called the cat cave ..

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Moving ahead; gran – 1800 quilt

W ell I did have a more quilt-related day than yesterday .. I actually did quilt-related stuff 😉 then again .. I didn’t do anything quilt related yesterday, so there is definitely room for improvement 😉

Before I left for up north, I pulled out fabrics for Gran’s quilt .. I got those cut out and will work on her quilt ‘in-between’ – i read on Bobbie’s blog yesterday about Bonnie Hunters “leaders / enders” and thought it was a capital idea as I do the scrap leader / ender now .. **Hmm .. why does light green always looks yellow!?!?!?

Since I was cutting Gran’s quilt, I figured I would cut out the greens for Ohio Star blocks in my 1800 quilt .. Since there is only 8 of them, it went rather quickly. I’ve laid the pieces out on the background fabric that i will be using .. I know this looks rather funky, but the greens are managing to work itth the blue/green in the paisley – AND, this was the one fabric that worked the best with the mauvey brown background colour that is being used throughout most of this quilt .. so tomorrow, I cut out the background fabric and maybe the muslin for the repairs I want to do on my swap quilt from 1997.

I know it’s been forever and a day since I posted anything about my 1800 quilt so to help you visualize how this will look – voila! the final layout .. and this one has the background changed for these ohio star blocks ..

I am sooo close to getting this all put together .. I got the flannel now and just have to stitch up these last 8 blocks, then cut the border and it’s time to quilt-as-you-go. So this quilt should make up pretty quick once I get it all pieced in sections .. heh .. just in time for the end of summer for our summer quilt (@@) … that’s okay .. I can start on our winter quilt right after this 😉

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Day after … blahs maybe??

Still on the terror-list .. bah

W ith getting the laundry done while up north, there wasn’t a whole mess of vacation ‘clean-up’ to do but put things away (done in fits in bursts thru the day) and go shopping .. Good thing as I am just flat out exhausted .. I’m thinking that this is due to overexposure to the sun 2 days last week .. once was when the boat died on us and the other was driving home (6 hours of sunlight on my arm) Both times I broke out in hives / blisters on my arms, hands (legs for the one on the boat) and while they don’t really hurt or itch, I am aware of them and I was totally whacked out both times .. I even took a nap today and I don’t ever do that!! This isn’t the best picture (I’m right handed and so’s my camera) but you can see the blisters / hives on my arm .. specially that big one ..

Reg thinks that I might be allergic to the sun as his mum gets this when she’s out for too long – Carmen suggested that i have sun poisoning .. oh great .. I’m already susceptible to heat stroke .. I’ve not noticed this before as I usually don’t spend a lot of time in the sun due to heat stroke danger … mostly a few hours in the afternoon – but I’ll get that checked out tomorrow maybe …

I mentioned yesterday that I picked up some doilies while I was in Fenellon Falls at a flea market there .. heh .. you should have seen the one in Bobcaygeon .. it was like walking into a junk closet .. there’s a sign at the door that even said – “this isn’t a museum – this junk’s for sale” LOL Gotta love it .. but at any rate .. I got these for $1 each, but the 3 small ones were $1 in total .. so with tax $4.52 .. not to bad me thinks 😀 I could make these myself, but I would have to get the crochet cotton and then spend the time doing them (!) This is better for me .. quicker AND likely cheaper too! Some of these patterns might be too tight to be really effective for the discharge dyeing, but they all have open areas to use .. if not, I can actually use them for what they were made for .. heh .. fancy that piece of work!

I did get some handwork done while watching TV at nite .. with the fullness of our days, and no puter – I spent most of the day outside doing this and that – so at nite after supper, we would watch the Olympics and I would quilt .. I got quite a bit done considering I might have put 12 hrs in total on this .. one thing my stitches were way to small at first so I had to really concentrate on making them longer .. I like the look of the longer stitches .. You might not be able to see it, but I am using a peachy pink thread for this and the fabric is tea-dyed muslin – I think that it’s going to look quite nice when / (IF) it ever gets finished 😉

While I was gone, 2 packages showed up .. 1 I was waiting for, the other was a total surprise. Cheryl from one of my lists gave up tring to sell some flannel and just wanted us to pay for postage (Thank you again Cheryl!!) .. and with me wanting to use flannel for the 1800 quilt, this was just perfect. (I still have the Ohio Star blocks to do on this one) It is so soft an d pretty, it almost seems a crime to use it as batting ..

IF .. operative word here is “IF” my math is right, I should have just about enough to do our quilt .. I might have to buy &#188 yard of it, but need to get some flannel to do Gran’s quilt – she doesn’t like the heaviness of quilts, so I need to make her’s as light as possible weightwise.

The unexpected one was from Darlene .. This picture doesn’t even come close to doing this FQ justice .. it’s a nice medium deep red with darker swirls on it .. I’m low on reds so this is just perfect timing for me 😀 I just think that is perfectly cute! I LOVE it .. Thank you again Darlene!!

So other than reading list mail and finishing my emails, I didn’t do anything else quilt related .. just too bloody tired today … maybe tomorrow I will have more energy .. I do NOT like feeling this .. blah .. I’d better feel better tomorrow .. I have some running around to do and with being a one car family, I get to use 2 wheels :S

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Travel Notes from Bobcaygeon

Would you believe that I had to request to get reviewed AGAIN bah! I checked my email and my junk mail and nothing from them, but to extend my stay on the terror list – Bloody Hell!

A fter 9 days, we are back .. it was absolutely GREAT and I had a total blast. I love vacations like this where you visit and veg and just piddle around and do whatever .. no schedules, no tearing off to this and that … my parents used to like those types of vacations .. i swear you needed another week off to recover from those (!) ..

Friday
5:30am – alarms start ringing, eyes crack open and the fun begins .. making sure all gets into the car and we leave on time .. as reg and kyle were getting ready, I decided to put my bag into the trunk along with a few other bags .. as i’m stuffing this in, I crank my head right off the trunk .. oh Lordy did THAT smart and it raised a small bump .. then afterwards, I was putting the milk in the freezer (2-&#189 gallon jugs) so we could have it when we got back and I didn’t know that a jam jar had stuck to the one gallon where I couldn’t see it … my darling son saw this and and of course said nothing (not sure he was awake or even ‘thinking’ yet) – well at any rate, I get the milk jug to the height of my eyes, when the jam jar decides it’s NOT going to spend the next week in the freezer and unsticks itself .. that puppy landed right on the bones above my big toe (%^&*$) – I think I woke the bloody block up .. ohmyGod did that HURT!!!! Reg was in the bathroom and figured that we were going to be starting our vacation in ER with me and a broken foot .. I have no idea how i managed not to break it .. matter of fact, you really couldn’t see the bruise all that well – and it really doesn’t hurt anymore .. God does protect the foolish 😀 But I sure felt it for the next 4 days.

We get off at 6:05am and with 2 stops make it to Bobcaygeon around 2 pm .. heh .. Orion had her priorities straight .. she refused to go in the door, so Reg and Kyle took her around back .. all Gran saw of me and the dog was a black streak as she hauled me out the door and down the steps .. Orion made a beeline for the lake and just jumped in off the breakwall first and then off the dock .. so she was ‘grounded’ to the outside until she dried .. this of course was a daily thing .. heh .. she made a beeline for the lake every am and was tied up to dry off – after lunch we would do whatever and she headed for the lake again around 4 or so then was grounded to dry land and was generally dry enough for supper to become a speed bump in the pathway between the table and the kitchen ..

Saturday
Today was the day that the family came to visit and see Reg .. his Uncle David, Melissa (cousin), Misha (Mel DH), Josh (cousin), and Aunt Barb (not married to Uncle David) arrived around 9 am. The day was spent tubing, playing croquet that turned into the ‘Or Not’ game as we kept whiffing or shooting the balls off on a tangent, and whiffle baseball .. sandwiches for lunch and bbq chicken for dinner. Reg opted not to come on the boat so that left David, Melissa, Misha, Aunt Barb, Cricket, Kyle and myself to pile in and terrorize the fish in the lake … The lake was rough that day and David maniacal with his “S” curves and whipping around .. but what a BLAST .. I forgot how much water can hurt when you are hurting at it at over 30 mph 😀

Sunday
Like I was capable of movement after yesterday .. heh .. yeah right .. I spent Sunday recovering from the abuse that I put my body thru the day before .. and you know what??? I would do it again too 😀 Oh wait .. actually we did do something this day .. and it required no effort on my part but to sit and watch a movie .. Lindsay, ON has an honest to goodness real live drive-in theatre!!! When I first saw it two years ago, I thought it was deserted and closed down .. but nope .. it’s open and showing movies 7 days a week 🙂 .. we saw the Mummy – the second feature was Wanted, but we didn’t stick around for that one as we weren’t sure what it was about and were both pretty sure that it wasn’t suitable for Kyle ..

Monday
Spent the day doing more tubing and swimming .. we weren’t out long, not even close to as long as Saturday, but then again, today it was only Reg, Kyle and myself .. since i was sore and Reg’s back was bothering him, and Kyle was being nervous, none of us was tossed around even a smidgeon as much as David did to me on Saturday .. did I get dumped?? Nope not this time .. just a nice fun ride .. the lake wasn’t half as choppy either .. I did dump Reg tho .. he decided to get cheeky and take his hands off .. so of course I obliged with a quick S turn .. but then again, if he didn’t want to get dumped, he wouldn’t have let go – or he would have grabbed as he can react faster than the boat turns 🙂

Tuesday, Wednesday
We ran into carburetor problems on the way to Fenellon Falls on Tuesday and spent the rest of that day (when we finally got back in (!)) and part of Wednesday fussing with it .. of course this entailed trips into town (30 mins) away and poking around to find the right stuff .. we never did get it going again and I wasn’t about to take off the carburetor and fix it .. I really didn’t want that responsibility and Gran didn’t have an issue with it .. she just felt bad, because the boat won’t be fixed until sometime next week as the marina is really backed up on repairs right now .. ah well .. we got 3 days on the boat and there are other things to do ..

Thursday
I could have just kicked myself .. Reg mentioned going into town for lunch – I didn’t bring my camera, but in my defense .. he didn’t mention WHAT town!! We headed off to Fenellon Falls .. brat! that is a really impressive lock there .. that thing is roughly 50ft deep, has a waterfall and a twisting river canyon that is just breath taking to ride down .. the rates for the locks are pretty reasonable too .. I wish we had taken kyle into the locks when the boat was still running .. there’ll be other years, but he would have been impressed to all get out with Fenellon Falls ..

Oh and to make this part quilt related – I bought some doilies for $1 each and will use them for bleaching discharging for patterns 😀

Friday
Reg’s Uncle David came up again and this time brought his other daughter Lindsey as she was unable to come the weekend before .. more swimming and croquet and cards at nite .. this time David didn’t put a plastic spider in my bed .. he did that the last time I was up there .. LOL .. what a card!!

Saturday
After the dog’s last swim in the lake around 11 and then our last swim we ate our hot lunch and headed off home .. we only made one stop this time in Waterloo and made some really awesome time .. it got busy in Toronto, but nothing serious .. we left at 1:50pm (yes I know .. it wasn’t stupid o’clock in the am .. what were we thinking(?!?!) and got home around 7 – so just over 5 hours ..

It was sad to leave, but I am glad to be home .. Pixel hasn’t really left me alone since I got in the door – he needs some serious attention from me .. poor shadow is half wild .. but she was always standoffish .. she’ll come around ..

It was a wonderful week .. a lazy week but still a busy week ..

oh I did manage to get some handquilting done on my wholecloth quilt – I’ve not taken a picture of it and have just about had enough of editing pics for today .. I’ll post that tomorrow or Monday

here is some pics from our week – not all of them mind you – but enough to get the idea 🙂

bobcaygeon 08

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4 1/2 hrs and counting … then we’re off

Still on the terror-list as a spam blog – ah well .. I should be unlocked by the time I get back from up north – I hope .. please blogger staff .. unlock me .. these verifications are murder

A s a good number of you already know, I’m leaving for up north in about 4&#189 hours from when I started this post. It’s been a CRAZY day getting all the final things together and I’ve already almost forgotten my suit! Esh! Getting all the laundry done, stripping the beds, a quick wash over in the bathroom .. (already gave it a good cleaning on Monday), showed Dad where to find all the stuff for the cats if needed, re showed him how to work the satellite box .. (he’ll mess it up and not being able to watch it LMAO – he always does!) Dropping off some paperwork downtown – (EEEEKKKKK I have library books .. let me renew them right now before I forget – gotta love being able to do this online …. ), grabbed our golf clubs, packed up a cooler of food to bring with us, cooked supper, Reg has the car mostly packed – still waiting for my stuff as I get to hold the toiletries hostage and of course there is my hand work stuff – and of course Kyle’s busy bag (ipod, books)

I opted to bring a whole clothe quit to handquilt .. I have small hoop that I can use in the car if I want and my knitting to make dishcloths .. Also with just having one or two projects I wouldn’t have to fuss and stress out about did I have enough fabric choices, threads, patterns. Doing the grandmother’s flower garden hexagons is great for a few hours as a take along .. but not for a whole week. One of the things I did today was baste it up really quick .. I set it up on the table and of course the afternoon sun hits my kitchen table .. (western exposure) Pixel decides to he’s going to take his nap right on my quilt!! the brat! LOL which was fine as i was all set up to do the first section .. but you sooo knew he would be having to move .. heh ..

But for the time being he was content to just lay in the sun and snoopervise my work .. you’d think he was an expert on quilting or something .. I tell him that shedding on the fabric and laying all over every project known to man in this house does NOT make him a quilting expert .. he just cocked his ear and gave me a look like .. “so you say” .. brat LOL. Needless to say he just sat there and continued to purr and soak of the sun as it is God given right – pfft! I did thread basting and it went very quickly .. and of course no killed back ..

I did manage to get a few packages out today; one to Joanne in NZ who’s been sooo patient with my ineptitude regarding the customs form and some fabric for Judi too … what will be really cool is that I’ll have the flannel for my 1800 quilt when I get back (**remind dad to go to PO) and my red swap blocks should be here anytime!! **kittyhappydance** Heh I bet I forget a million things .. but my coffeemaker (Gran drinks instant – BLECH) and my quilting will NOT be forgotten 😉

The plan of action is leave at 6am EST and hopefully be back on Sat the 23rd to give reg a day to relax and do groceries then back to work on Monday – heh then one more week and Kyle is back to school **kittyhappydance** naw .. he’s not driving me nuts at all .. ilovemyson ilovemyson ilovemyson 😉

Take care everyone and see you in about a week!! I’ll have no computer or internet access up there, but I can still be reached by direct email to me or by comments on my blog .. I’ll be going no mail on my lists shortly (self defense on THAT trust me!!) – I’m gonna miss you guys – any email I get I’ll answer soonest 😀

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