Welcome to where Cuteness Rules

With Facebook being the social media outlet that it is, it’s not surprising that we have found ourselves in this situation. A local pet rescue/shelter group posted a picture of four adorable puppies requesting foster homes. Yup, you see where this is going, right? Puppies – really how much work could they be?

Late Friday afternoon I received a call asking if we were still interested in fostering some puppies. Well, of course. Just let me throw my sandals on, get the kids in the car and put some gas in the van. An hour later we were looking at these adorable faces.

~ Introducing Cuteness ~

We keep saying, we are NOT going to adopt these puppies. And thankfully I believe that we will all be able to allow the puppies to go to their fur-ever home!

February: 2012 UFO Challenge

The UFO chosen for February by Judy at Patchwork Times was #1 – my delectable mountains quilt that was started in 1998, thus making it my oldest UFO.

The only progress made on this quilt was lining up a local quilter to quilt it on her longarm machine. Otherwise, not a stitch was sewn or ripped on this quilt.

So early on in the month I decided that I would work on another UFO from the list, one that wouldn’t need to go to an outside quilter. I thought completing my African Plains, #6 on the list and not terribly old – it was started sometime in 2001, so this definitely could be finished during February. Except for purchasing black fabric for the back and deciding on what color thread to use for the quilting, that was all the progress made on my “stand-in UFO” for February.

But, my hands weren’t idle. I was working on something, but it wasn’t from my UFO list (sigh). I was able to make some serious progress on this little whole cloth wallhanging I picked up in Syracuse, NY in 2008. Here it is for the January Friday Night Sew In

And here it looks today – definitely made progress on something for the month of February.

Now for the March UFO – it’s #8, which actually makes me happy. I decided when I was creating my 2012 UFO list that #8 would simply have to be an ABC kind of UFO. These are mainly completed. They just need to be squared up, decide on a backing fabric and binding and hop to it. Let’s hope that for March I won’t have another UFO failure, or rather lack of significant progress.

 

Happy Quilting ~

Valentine’s Day ~ do you celebrate?

For me Valentine’s Day has always been one of those “let’s just get through this day” kind of days.

And just like Christmas, it just seems to sneak up on me. One year I was able to make a set of placemats from some heart fabric, although I’m not sure they were finished in time for Valentine’s Day. They weren’t the best or the prettiest, but they still serve their purpose when we use them.

Have you seen the tutorial for the Scrappy Nine Patch over at Diary of a Quilter? Looks very easy and even doable with only a few days left before that big Valentine’s Day.

Source: Diary of a Quilter

Or if you’re looking for something for the kids to work on, how about checking out Mama’s Learning Corner Valentine’s Day printables.

However you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day, remember to have chocolate!

I'm a Winner

I was very surprised when Becky from PracTips contacted me to let me know I was the January challenge winner for the posting an idea of how to creatively use an object. Can't wait to see what the February object will be for the challenge. Go check out Becky's blog at PracTips to see her tips and ideas on saving. If you have children, you might enjoy her entry on using  chore charts.

February UFO Challenge

Well Judy over at Patchwork Times was very quick in posting the challenge for the month of February. It's UFO #1 - my Delectable Mountains quilt from 1999 - the OLDEST one I have still as a UFO. This is also a quilt that I've already determined will have to be sent out for quilting. I'm going to be checking with a local quilter in hopes that she'll have time to work on it this month. Otherwise I may have to pick another UFO from the list. So if you are playing along in getting some UFO's completed this year, show us what you are working on. 

Update: Pantry Challenge

So here's a little update to the pantry challenge.

My goals were:

1: Clean out my freezers ~ DONE - more like I organized them, which I consider a "win-win"

2: Make more meals for the freezer ~ still working on it. February will be "freezer surprise" month.

3: To have my boys start helping in meal preparation ~ DONE - the youngest loves omelets and has become quite the little omelet maker lately. The oldest is also helping more in the kitchen, especially with baking bread and cookies.

4: Really figure out the amount of our grocery budget ~ still working on it.  While I have most of our receipts for the month, I haven't organized them nor have any idea how much was spent on the various categories. So that will be a project to tackle in February.

I also fell off the menu planning wagon. So while February will be a number of "freezer surprise" meals, I do need to jump back on that menu planning wagon as we won't be having "freezer surprise" meals every day. I am sure I'd have a revolt or mutiny from the "men" - LOL

Finished: Churndash Table Runner

One of the first older projects I finished this month, was a blue (snowflake actually) churndash little table topper/runner. It's been around a while and really it didn't take much to finish it. I made some progress on it during January's Friday Night Sew In and was able to finish it up a few days ago. Ya for me another finish.

May your bobbin always be filled.

Finished: 2012 UFO Challenge #5

With a day to spare, I finished UFO #5 from the 2012 UFO Challenge. This quilt is a bunch of firsts and not all of them am I proud of, but I'll share with you anyway. 

• This is the first UFO I've completed in a very long time - ya me
• This was my first stack and whack quilt - ya me
• This is the first quilt where I've used black fabric - such a stretch from my normal floral and 1930's reproduction fabric comfort zone
• This is also the first quilt where I wasn't able to fully finish quilting it before I sewed the binding down. Not so ya me. I had done the simple straight line quilting and really felt that there needed to be some free motion down on the border. I tried on a sample piece and my machine seemed to be performing okay, so I started doing the free motion quilting on the quilt. I was about half-way through when it became way to much to have stop/start due to thread/machine issues. Because I wanted to be able to have to UFO quilt completed by midnight January 31st, I decided to just sew down the binding and move on. It's finished, but I'll always know that for me it's not truly "finished" - maybe one day my machine will cooperate and I'll be able to finish it up the way I want. 

So here is the front and the back of the completed quilt.

 

Looking forward to seeing what UFO I am to begin working on as of tomorrow. And I can't believe tomorrow is already February 1st. Just where did January fly off to, again!

May your bobbin always be filled.

The Thwarting of the Thread

Well, I really did have good intentions for the Friday Night Sew In. Granted I started a little late, but earlier in the day I did work on the whole-cloth wallhanging. By the time we were done at the medical appointment, I had reached a decision point, so that is currently on hold for the moment. 

 
My goal for Friday night was to sew the remaining two borders on to UFO#5, find batting and backing and begin to sandwich it together for quilting. Obviously, the easy part of sewing on the borders was completed - okay they are completed, but unfortunately they are "wavy" and that is just the way they are going to stay. I decided that given the brightness of the fabric, that the back should be black and I wasn't wanting to have a pieced back of many different fabrics for this quilt. Seriously, I only have one piece of black fabric and it's not big enough. Ugh, the first of being thwarted by thread - of the threads of fabric.

After much convincing by my husband, I went back to the quilt room to find something so this FNSI wouldn't be a complete waste. I decided to quilt this little table runner I made up a very long time ago. For the second time, I was thwarted by the thread when I started to do stitch in the ditch quilting! The thread kept breaking every six inches - big ugh! So I switched to a machine embroidery thread and it worked okay - at least I was able to finish the quilting. But during the quilting of this little table runner, came the third thwarting of the thread. In one piece of the blue snowflake fabric some of the threads are a little frayed, maybe the size of a nickle or a quarter. Another ugh! 

So the moral of this story is when you participate in FNSI, be prepared to be Thwarted by the Thread or threads.

Quilt Pizza

In honor of Friday Night Sew In, I know some of us will be ordering or making pizza for the family before we head off to be crafty. Well, here's a new twist on the traditional pizza, as only a quilter could do. Go have a look and see if you want to make your family a quilt pizza.

Friday Night Sew In

Have you heard about Friday Night Sew In yet (FNSI)? It's this Friday - as in TOMORROW. And it's not just for quilters or people that like to use a sewing machine. It's for anyone that wants to have dedicated time to work on a craft. So head on over to Crafty Vegan Mom and sign up.

I'll be starting my FNSI a little early tomorrow as I'll be at a medical appointment with DH in the morning. While there, I'll be working on this whole cloth quilted wallhanging.  If I remember correctly, I purchased this kit in Syracuse, NY in November 2008. Um, not much progress has been made since then.

The other quilt I intend to work on during the FNSI is this UFO #5 in Judy's 2012 UFO Challenge. Sign-ups are now closed, but if you wanted to gather up your list of UFO's and work on them throughout the year, think of all that you'd accomplish! My goal is to sew the last two borders on the quilt tip; find some batting and a backing so that I can begin to sandwich it. If possible, I'd like to start on the quilting on Sunday. I would really like to accomplish getting my first UFO of the 2012 Challenge done before the clock strikes midnight on the 31st. It would be sad to be a "failure" on the first month. LOL

Be sure to sign up at Crafty Vegas Mom as she is hosting the FNSI this month.

May your thread never tangle.

Got Scraps? I do!

And here is how you can use up those scraps. Join everyone over at Pleasant Home for her 2012 Sew Scraps Along which means you'll have a scrap busting month. There are going to be tutorials and even some giveaways. 

There's a tutorial for making a picnic quilt that could be done just in time for those early picnics in the spring and well into the summer.

 

Pantry Challenge

Just discovered a new-to-me blog and of course it was because of a "link, from a link, and so on".  The new blog is Good (cheap) Eats and I think this pantry challenge is just the thing I need to get myself and my home organized and running a tad smoother.

Everyone has different reasons for participating in the pantry challenge. Here are mine: 

1: Clean out my freezers ~

I have an upright freezer that is full, but of what I don't know. Plus something thawed a bit and I have a layer of ice on the bottom. So need to get a better idea of what is in there, get it used up so that I can defrost the freezer.

2: Make more meals for the freezer ~

Once the upright freezer is better organized and emptied a bit, I want to make up some freezer meals so that our weeks will have a little less stress, especially for those days when we have many appointments.

3: To have my boys start helping in meal preparation ~

My boys are 11 and 10 and it's the 11 year old that is more interested in helping in the kitchen. Unfortunately I only observed my mom cooking while growing up and didn't learn to cook until I was on my own. I don't want that for my boys and I don't want them reverting to fast food - junk food as their meals. So they need to start now helping out in the kitchen.

4: Really figure out the amount of our grocery budget ~

Yes, you understood that correctly. In the days before kids, we had a set amount that we'd aim for spending on food - which at that time included dog food, paper items, and our food. Since kids... I participate in a few co-ops and therefore do buy some items in bulk, which is more money up front, but it does last longer. Because I've been doing this bulk purchasing for a number of years I've gotten use to having items on hand and I tend to stress a bit when items are running low. For example my gallon of honey is almost out. Yes I could buy it at the grocery store, but I'd spend more money doing that and I wouldn't he happy with the product.

For my family, our grocery budget has the following categories:

Food for humans 

Food for dogs

Non-food items (paper products)

I want to start using cash only for all categories of our grocery budget, but I'm not there yet. Hopefully within the next month or two we will be using cash. Until then, I separate our items at the check-out line. I know the cashier probably thinks I'm crazy, but having all food (human) on one ticket and all paper products on another just works for me.

Hope on over to these other bloggers to see how they are coming along in their Pantry Challenge:

• Tammy's Recipes
• Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• The Finer Things in Life
• Getting Freedom from Debt

Go visit Good Cheap Eats and see what others are doing for their Pantry Challenge.

Happy organizing!

Menu Plan: January 1 - 7

Not sure how often I will participate in this Menu Plan Monday, but it's a new year, so let's try anything. In the past I've made weekly, bi-weekly and even monthly menus and it's worked. I just need to get back into that habit. Our menus usually begin on Sunday and go through Saturday. For the last few months I've been using the menu plans from Cooking Traditional Foods and this menu has some meals from the most recent mailer. The * indicates a recipe from Cooking Traditional Foods.

Sunday: Buffet at mother-in-laws

Monday: Quesadilla

Tuesday: Stuffed zuchinni*, spaghetti

Wednesday: Crock Pot: Roast beef, baked potatoes, garlic carrots

Thursday: Crock Pot: Mexican Beef*, salad

Friday: Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday: Lentil Chili*, salad, cornbread 

I'm linking this up with others at Organizing Junkie. Go check out all the other menus. 

Design Wall: January 2, 2011

Judy, over at Patchwork Times hosts a Design Wall every Monday. Since I've rediscovered my sewing machine and I can report that I'm actually sewing, I thought I would participate in the Design Wall.

Yesterday I sewed the orange border and the top and bottom of the final border, which is the main fabric. Today I worked on prepping the borders for the sides. Of course after measuring wrong and cutting the border short, then having to rip out a bit, I thought I should just walk away from the sewing machine.  This is also UFO #5 in Judy's 2012 UFO Challenge.  My goal is to sew the rest of the borders tomorrow night, have it sandwiched and pinned by Friday night so that on the weekend I can focus on quilting. I hope to be sewing the binding on while at our appointments on Monday.

May you always have a quilt ready for cold nights!

The first and last of 2011

Because I've only recently been able to reclaim my quilt room, I dare say this is the only project that I started and finished in 2011.  It is 36 napkins for my mother-in-law and sister-in-law. These napkins were suppose to be part of their gifts, but we all know how that goes!

I am really excited about participating in Judy's 2012 UFO Challenge. I'm so excited that I wish she'd post the project number right after midnight, but I guess it's okay as I am sure I won't be up to see it. LOL Instead of me deciding which project to work on first and not really being inspired, now it's random - almost like opening a gift. 

Happy New Year!

Keep on Quilting!

2012 UFO Challenge

Now that I've found my sewing machine again, I'm doing it this year - going to complete at least some of these UFO's. So I've signed up with Judy over at Patchwork Times.  Here is my list of what I'd like to complete in 2012 from the oldest to the newest as best I can remember.

#1: Delectable Mountains

This is my oldest quilt top as it was started in 1998.


To finish: re-do "wavy borders", baste and then send to a local quilter, then bind.

#2: Double Wedding Ring

This is the closest to becoming a completed quilt. I started it from a class in 1999.

To finish: quilt and bind.

#3: A Quilt without a name - yet
This is my third oldest quilt top as it was started in 1999. As you can tell this is just a collection of random blocks put together in the hopes that something would look good.

To finish: add some embroidery to the muslin, then baste, quilt and bind.

#4: Row Robin Row

This is my fourth oldest quilt top as it was started in 1999 (before kids). When I was part of a local quilt guild, I joined in a row robin. I wished I would have used a better green fabric, but I'm stuck with it now.

To finish: add a border, baste, quilt, bind.

#5: Stack-n-Whack those Fish

This is my fifth oldest quilt top as it was started in 2000 (before kids).

To finish: add a border, baste, quilt, bind.

 #6: African Plains

I started this sometime in 2001 after we adopted our youngest. I had thought it would be a good baby quilt, but I used too heavy of a head-n-bond.

To finish: baste, quilt, bind
 

 #7: A Baby Quilt

I started this from a Yahoo group where a teacher was testing her lesson plans. Due to life, I only made it as far as a baby sized quilt (2007).

To finish: add a border or two, baste, quilt, bind

#8A: Grandma's Flowers - Embroidery

I started this floral embroidery while in Florida for a funeral in 2008.

To finish: square it up, add a border (?) baste, quilt, bind

#8B: Happy Spring - Embroidery

I don't remember when I started this, but it's very suitable for Easter.

To finish: square it up, add a border (?) baste, quilt, bind


 

#8C: Floral Pillows - Embroidery

I have plans to turn this floral blocks into small pillows either for our bed or to give to some special ladies.

To finish: square it up, add a border (?) baste, quilt, bind

#9: Let's Fly a Kite

When I was part of a local quilt guild, we had a BOM (1999). You were able to put your name in the drawing - once for each block you made. I was shocked when my name was called as the winner.

To finish: determine a setting then sew into a quilt top, add a border or two, baste, quilt, bind
 

#10: Stars of Friendship

One year the ladies of Wrap Them In Love decided to make friendship stars for each other (2004).


To finish: determine a setting then sew into a quilt top, add a border or two, baste, quilt, bind

#11: A 1969 Quilter

I purchased these at a local antique store. They are a mix of fabrics and have been pieced onto newspaper. The two dates from the newspaper are February 16 and 22, 1969. There are 15 blocks and range in size from 10 - 12 inches.


To finish: determine a setting then sew into a quilt top, add a border or two, baste, quilt, bind

#12: Leaders and Enders Oh My

These are the rest of the strips from quilt #7. When I wanted to mindlessly sew, I sewed these squares together and they have since multipled.


To finish: determine what block to make with them, then sew into a quilt top, add a border or two, baste, quilt, bind

The Churndash Quilt

Bonnie over at Quiltville is having a little show and tell of our first quilts. I know I've enjoyed looking everyone's quilts, so hop on over after reading about my first quilt and enjoy.

My first love of quilts began (and I didn't realize it at the time) when I saw a quilt on my grandparents bed at the farm.  In looking back I think that quilt may have been of a postage stamp variety with a lot of green fabric. It's possible the fabric may have been from the 1930's, but that is only a guess. Unfortunately I don't have that quilt as it was probably part of the auction of the farm in the early 1990's.

While my family no longer owns the farm, my father does live across the road. I always enjoy taking pictures of the old farm when I'm in New York.

Even before I was married I was buying quilt magazines and trying my best to figure out how in the world they made those tiny pieces in the blocks. I was fascinated but circumstances didn't allow me to purchase the necessary equipment to begin my quilt journey. I married in June 1997 and my dear husband gave me exactly what I wanted for our first Christmas - a sewing machine. It was a cheap Brother machine from Wal*Mart, but my first quilt and many others were pieced and quilted on that machine.

In early January 1998 I went to a "fabric" store and spoke to Sara who told me about a quilt store in town (now since closed) that she was a teacher at and her beginning quilt class was to begin in a few weeks. The next weekend I dragged my dear husband to the quilt store and was hit with sticker shock at how much fabric and tools cost, but I signed up for the class and as they say the rest is history.

The class was a "sampler" class where you learn different 12" blocks along with sashing, etc. I decided to not do all of the blocks, but rather picked out my favorites. As you can see by the picture, my favorite quilt block is the churndash.  The first block we made in class was the churndash and I've yet to tire of making that block all these years later.  The quilting was done on that Brother machine and it's simply stitch in the ditch and not even a good job of it - oh well, it's quilted and that's what matters, so let's not discuss the puckering on the sashing or the wavy boards - thanks! :) This picture was taken February 2009.

Friday Night Sew In

I've seen this on a few quilting related blogs I've been following - a Friday Night Sew In. Doesn't that just sound lovely.  If you are interested in the details or want to sign up for tonight's sew in, click here for all the details.
 


Tonight I think I'll work on sewing the binding on my friend's little quilt she made for her daughter's dolls. I'll work on hand sewing the binding later this weekend or next week.  And the other item I hope to get work on is deciding if my Red White and Blue for Ediso quilt needs more blocks or is ready to be sandwiched. This quilt is destined for Wrap Them In Love as a donation.

It will definitely feel good to accomplish something in my quilt room tonight.

Happy Sewing!!

Gibson, The Basset Hound

Here's a quick layout I did about Gibson, our basset hound. While he can be a cranky old man, he is really a joy. He'll be 10 years old on July 11th. We are so happy to have rescued him from our local animal shelter.  Enjoy.