Nope . . .

I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth! Soooo miserable as there has been NO SEWING for what seems like ages! We're half packed, half in storage, and half in bags and boxes at my mothers - in the process of final stages of purchasing a home. #1, yes I know that equals 1 & 1/2, and #2, that's exactly what I feel like at the moment - completely overwhelmed! If I wanted to relax, or think, or have fun - I would normally sew. Well . . . can't do that right now. Boooo! The only thing to bring me comfort is my new favorite addiction - The Great British Sewing Bee!  Love, love, love this show!  I sew both quilts and clothes, and I have enjoyed this little distraction.  I've had to follow it via youtube since it's not on our American channels yet - so be thanks to Jack Walsh and Ladie Scuddleshore for posting the videos and keep us up-to-date! :)  If you haven't seen them - episodes 1 & 2 are available.  This is episode 3.

 Hope to be moved and settled within the next 3-4 weeks. Then we can get back to our regular programming. Lord give me strength!

I haven't been online in quite a while. . . but today when I went to play catch up with the blogs I follow, I saw that google reader will be done soon - so I'm trying to move everything over to bloglovin.  ??? I guess we'll see if it works.  I don't see any real way of setting it up.  In my google reader I was able to have divisions between the types of blogs I followed - some were quilting, sewing & fashion, organization, etc.  Hopefully it will be customizable in some way.Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Dare to Dresden! {D2D}

I'm on the blog hop today, for the Dare to Dresden Challenge on Sew We Quilt hosted by Christine of Quilt Monster in my Closet.  I have not made a dresden plate before, so this was my first attempt at it.  After playing around a bit I printed out a template for a 9" block from EQ during my "cut week", and I pulled out some white/black, black, and orange from my stash.

I took the blade pattern and just cut them straight rather than pointed at the top.  Folded the blades in half and, using my 1/4" foot, stitched them straight across the tops.  After that I clipped the corners/points and turned right side out, making sure to get the blade points out, nice and neat.  Press!

When I'm sewing curves or angles I like to use starch  - any help I can get to keep things from slanting or getting wobbly :)

These go under the presser foot - two by two!  Pressing seams open as I go - than eventually all together.

As, I said earlier - haven't made any of these before so . . . I'm sure there's a better - proper way of doing this.  After I finished with the center, I did a tiny zigzag to stitch fan and back together.

I made 16 blocks,

placing them in four-by-four layout.  I wanted the Orange petal for a little punch on each block.  Almost makes me think of a caterpillar.

I did struggle a little, and I have to admit I did quite a bit of tugging and pulling to get things square.  Hopefully my next dresden won't be a struggle.  I still have to quilt this, and I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do . . . black thread? in the ditch? a design?  I have no idea!  But looking at it - I really do love the black/white and orange. :)

Here are the other participants for today's hop.  Stop by and check out their dresdens & show some love!

That Other Blog

Clothes and Crafts

It Seems to be Sew

Merry Gay in Stitches

Water Penny

Granny Good Stuff

More Stars in Comanche

Sew Me Something Good

The Day Before This Day

Farm Road Ramblings

Living Blue Quilter

I Piece 2 Mary

Kwilty Pleasures

Espritpatch

Nutz4Redwork

Brrrrr . . .

It's 17 degrees outside - windchill makes it feel like 4! Yikes!  I went out this morning with everything wrapped up but my eyeballs - and then I thought, dear Lord! My eyes are FREEZING! LOL!  What's a girl to do?  Start the laundry and sit down and sew!

My log cabin blocks are coming along nicely . . .

So now it's time to start my sashing, which will be white/white strips and red/red strips with blue points and blue intersection blocks that will look like this . . .

this will yield a star pattern making the layout look like this . . .

I hope to be done the sashing this week, so maybe actually start quilting this one by end of the month :)

I'm also playing with my dresden blocks that I'm doing for the Dare 2 Dresden Challenge over on Sew We Quilt.  I've never tried them before so this will be a first.  I've chosen a 9" block, and prepared my templates.

My blog will be on the hop on January 30th - so be sure to stop back and see what I've worked out ;)

It's definitely crock pot weather - so I've got to get my chili cooking.  Is it cold where you are?  How you keepin' warm?

Sidelined!

. . .  by a toothache!  UGH!  I have nothing to report for this week!!! other than I have been in, and still am in, extreme pain.  The story:  well, actually about 3 weeks ago I went to the dentist to have some work done - but everything came to an abrupt stop!  After getting me checked in, the dental assistant took my blood pressure 2x - it was 187 over some other ridiculous # - can't even remember now because everyone, including the dentist, was carrying on like I was passing over the threshold of death at that moment.  Yes, I admit it - I've never paid attention to my health.  Other than the birth of my children, I do not go to the doctor, I have not been sick or had problems - so this lead me to believe nothing was wrong.  Anyhow, this made the dentist decide to not work on me until my doctor signed off that I was medically stable - went to see the doctor - he would not.  Made me get the blood work all checked - cholesterol, blood pressure - everything is not anywhere near what it should be.  I have to also say, in all my years of going to the dentist I have never before had them check my blood pressure before working on me.  For everything, there is a purpose.  Ok, I get it, my diet, my exercise, my pressure pills, a re-check in February then I get the "sign-off".  Still, I'm not obese, I feel fine, I'm not taking this too seriously, I'm eating - not tracking, you know - it's okay.  First quilt guild meeting a little over a week ago - our guest speaker is a cardiologist.  What??? Okay . . . all the statistics she gave, all the numbers she ran, all the possible scenarios she gave, all say the same thing.  I'm in the ground.  Shortly.  I'm listening now, I'm listening!  Okay, okay.  Now we get to the beginning of this week - bam!  The tooth I wanted looked had has really taken a bad turn - still no sign-off from the doctor until I've been on this medication for a month, and still no work from the dentist until the doctor signs off.  Finally after much pleading (and crying), I got pain meds, which made me sick, and then finally antibiotics.  Four days of the antibiotics and the pain is starting to ease up.  I have not eaten yet though - BUT today for the first time when I checked, my blood pressure is perfect!  How, Oh Lord, will you get me to February, and across the finish line on this one?  I'm counting the days.

I do at least have this picture from the baby shower on Thursday.  I was very happy that mother-to-be liked the baby quilt! :)

LOG-ing Away :)

I started piecing my log cabin blocks together.  I prefer sewing the blocks onto long strips and then cutting/squareing up, rather than cutting out each of those pieces and then trying to sew them all together - like a puzzle.

They're coming along nicely.  After dinner, I was able to squeeze a little sewing time in before bed - so here they are so far.  They are actually closer to the red in the above picture, rather than the below picture.  My lighting is terrible. I've tucked them safely away, hoping I can finish them on Monday, and possibly start the sashing.

Happy sewing!

First Quilts of the Year!

Here are the baby HST quilt tops pieced, basted, and ready to quilt!  For the first quarter of this year I'm definitely in a "no purchase" zone - so I have to use what's in my stash.  I had this green flannel that was exactly just the right size to back both.

I did a simple free motion loopty-loop with a star.  Very quick to fill in the quilts.  On with the binding and then the printed labels  :)

. . . trying to show the loopy - star thingie that I did - hard to see the stitches. . .

I was glad to have one finished in time to take with me last night to our first guild meeting of the New Year.
Will finish the binding on Baby Quilt #2 this afternoon!

That's it for envelope #1 folks!  Outta here!