Monochromatic Challenge: August Edition

Pink!  If you've read my blog for a while, you might remember my agonizing over the Assistant's perpetual selection of pink fabrics at quilt shops.  I don't DO pink.  I have red-brown hair, so pink is not high on the list of colors I choose to wear, and therefore, I was never interested in quilting with it.

For this month, I was apparently in luck, as I had a sizeable pile of pink scraps (oh, yes, she then CUT up all her pink fabrics, so they weren't even in whole chunks!), and a few pieces of pink I had bought for projects for her.

I remade my table runner (anyone getting tired of seeing variations yet?), this time without setting triangles. My binding leaves something to be desire, but I think I would do it again and it would look much better.  I just had to pin in the inset corners frequently.

It's done, I almost like the pink, now on to... green for September?

Check out the other monochromatic challenges (I hope there are more this month!) at Judy's place.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Design Wall Monday

Progress is being made on my "Making Ends Meet" scraps.  Here is the result of cobbling together the leftover bits and strips!  I still need to add two cream borders to the sides (top and bottom in this picture).  The backing is cut and ready to be pieced, then I can think about quilting... I think I will machine quilt it, as my skills are minimal and I would like to improve.  Practice makes perfect, right?

I like that the colors appear to float.  There are spacers between each row, which is something I had never done before.  I like the look.  My trimming of the top, however, could have been more even.  I had to take a little more than I wanted off one side.

Peach sorbet, ready for the freezer.  Can I hear a big "YUM?"

I am half-finished quilting the background of my Scraps to Treasures.  5 weeks left!

Check out the other design walls at Judy's place.  What's on her wall today?

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

UFO #7 progress

My UFO for the month?  Actually, I am quite pleased with the progress made on this UFO.  It is not finished this month, but that was never the intention.  It will be finished by Christmas, to make a joint Christmas present from me and my sister.

The UFO for this month was 19 placemats for my family: my parents, their children and their children's families.  There are already 19 of us, and only 4 of us are married!

My goals for this month were to cut and piece the side of the placemats that will be different, cut the backing, cut the batting, cut binding, and mark the backing for the embroidering of each person's name.  My sister is the mistress in the embroidery department, so I finished my part.  She, however, has an incredibly busy life, so she's going to embroider one name a week.  When I am ready to quilt another project, I will prep a few placemats too and run them through.  Thus, over the course of the next few months, we will finish them all.

She has two done, so when I'm next ready to quilt, these will be in the line-up!

Check out the other UFO's at Judy's place.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Stash Report Week #35

I did purchase fabric this week, but it is for a commissioned quilt, so I've decided not to count it until I see what I'm going to keep in terms of leftovers.


What DID I do this week?


The Assistant had three days of school. We biked one day, but the other two were too hot. We all seem to be doing well with the adjustment, much better than I was expecting.  Until about 7 at night.


I shipped a package to England.  I will NEVER AGAIN take my children to Box Inc.  I just can't afford to ship packages when they tip over AN ENTIRE display of greeting cards.  Oh, the embarrassment.  Maybe we should just forget that happened, okely?


Mending is done for at least a few weeks (or months...)!  I still can't figure out why, when I take such pride in reusing and making do and so forth, I loathe taking the time to mend.  Once I actually start, I love knocking out the repairs.


My "Making Ends Meet" scraps are in rows, Seminole-piecing style (not exactly, but in that theme), ready to sew together.  Oh, wait, they WERE ready to sew together until Bear Cub Q, in true grizzly bear fashion, demolished my sewing cubby... pins everywhere, rows thrown about, thread unspooled, bobbins tangled, seat cushion on the floor.  Grrr, says Mama Bear.  I don't go for demolishing in my sewing room unless I'm doing it.


New windows are ordered for our house (35 windows in all, most of them different sizes).  Bear Cub Q's lead level isn't decreasing, and windows are the only thing left.  Even our soil was cleared from the garden beds, so this is it.  If his lead level doesn't decrease after this, we're leaving this house. 'Nuf said.


Ah, yes, there was peach salsa this week.  21 pints.  Yum, yum, yum.


I also repaired a fence (with a handful of slivers to prove it.  OW!), cleaned the patio, cleaned the driveway (where I ran a stick into my nail bed.  OW!), mowed with our old-fashioned mower, figured out how to run a gas trimmer, and began killing the squash bugs.  Dang nasty bugs.  I feel very accomplished.  Oh, and I split some wood with our hand-powered wood splitter (safer than an ax around the kids).  We are BEHIND in preparing our wood for winter, as we had planned to be moved out by now.  It's time to get splitting!  (The wood is dry already, I just want it split before I need it!)


My Scraps to Treasures quilt is moving along.  I have almost finished one section (of 3 or so) of quilting.  October 7 is going to come too soon!


Crocheting, of course.


My table runner pattern is nearing completion.  A few more edits, then pictures from my sis, and I think I'll be ready to get a few printed!


Check out the other stash reports on Judy's blog.  I hope her AC is still working, poor woman.  115 with no AC is brutal.

Design Wall Monday

Since my monochromatic challenge for the month is done and my UFO waiting for my sister, I have MENDING to do.  Do you put off your mending too?  It's not that it's so difficult... it's the mental stretches required to solve each puzzle independently of normal quilting.  The bucket, however, is overflowing, and we actually NEED a few of the things in the mending basket, so I need to move on it all.

I'm also going to tackle the scraps left from piecing my Making Ends Meet top (pattern by Judy Laquidara).  Originally, I thought about pillow cases or some such, but I don't have enough of the background to do that.  I will do something with them, or separate them and put them in the scrap bags... which also need to be tidied up, but I can only take so many UGH tasks in a week.

There is the ever-present Scraps to Treasures quilt.  Am I going to finish in time?  My fingers aren't too sure, and my brain says the math doesn't compute.  Somebody, help me quilt faster!  I am going to work on my table runner pattern too... final edits before sending it out again, I hope to finish this week!  A few more hats would be good, some flowers, maybe a dish cloth or two!

Today, I'm going to take the 40 pounds of peaches and make some peach salsa.  It may be DH's favorite canned item, and I'm all about him loving the food I prepare!  Mmm... I may need to hunt up some tortilla chips.  I'd better boogie.

I'm going to have a good week too.

Check out the other design walls at Judy's place.  What's on HER design wall this week?  Has she found it under all the boxes?

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Stash Report Week #33

I had finishes this week, but no evidence as I sent the table runners to my sister for photo magic and didn't take any pictures myself!  I finished three runners for 6 yards out.

I also finished some letters that spell the name Jimmy.  Gee, who could that be?  Anyway, those are with my sister too, so no pictures.  I estimate 1/4 yard out.

It's a good thing I finished a few things, as I seemed to have poked some buttons and then gone shopping on Saturday.  7 3/4 yards total...

First, Connecting Threads had a thread sale, and I needed some colors for my Scraps to Treasures quilt, which is progressing nicely, thank-you-very-much.  (I only have 6 weeks left!)  Then, rather than pay shipping, I picked out some fabric.  For example, a nice cream solid on clearance that is one of those go-to neutrals.  (I spent a gift card, so I don't feel guilty, either!)

Then there was this gem, which I would have loved in dark brown, but savor in the blue.  I am going to make myself a craft bag (diaper-bag-esque) for carrying around my crocheting.  It's a pain to have a plastic bag for all my needles and accoutrements.

Finally, on Saturday, Jen Eskridge of ReannaLily Designs was having a book signing at Material Girls Shoppe, I had to go!  She was the one bright spot in my quilt guild fiasco (okay, "fiasco" may be too strong a word.  How about FLOP?).  Did you know she even remembered my name and how old my kids were?  I wish I remembered personal info about others that well.  I love the idea of this book, since my FiL is ex-Air Force.  I'll have to see what uniforms I can dig up.

While there, I found the lovely floral 50% off, so I bought three yards.  The Assistant, who was still recovering from a bicycle accident (she tangled up with her bike, smashed her nose and lip, and has a bum knee, poor girl), picked out the blue snowflake fat quarter.  (I still hadn't spent my allowance for the month, and I had a little gift card left... I love gift cards!)

What else did I do?  I was busy!

I worked on my table runner pattern and was put on the right road by the brilliance of Liz.  God bless her for all her work on MY pattern!  I still have a long way to go (much farther than I thought), but my finished product is going to be immensely better than I anticipated.

Having so many nice quilters lately has made me feel like maybe I'm finally finding a niche for myself.  As my family knows, that's a good but rare feeling for me.  (And Henrietta, Lori, Karol-Ann, and my fellow leftie, you've been a big part of that too!)

I've also crocheted a hat a day in preparation for an eventual craft show.  I've also made a few flowers an dishcloths.  I think I've also developed a new style of hat, but I need to make a few more to confirm that thought.

The Assistant also had her first day of all-day school.  Whew!  I'll be glad when the adjustment period (crying, sleeplessness, etc. [her., not me!]) is over.  She loves school, but it's still hard on everyone to adjust to a new school.

What a great week.

Check out the other stash reports on Judy's blog.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Writing a pattern...

Having the idea for the pattern?  No sweat.

Writing up a rough draft?  Easy peasy.

Pictures?  Aw, I ship that off to my sister with the photo magic skills!

Testing a pattern?  Woo-ee!  I had no idea my proofreading skills had so declined!  Thank you, thank you, thank you, to Liz from Spinning Star.  If my pattern ever sells (if I ever finish it with all the, um, edits she's suggested), it will all be thanks to Liz.  I'm so much a self-taught, book-taught, and internet-taught quilter that I just don't know how other people read patterns.  I am still thinking about dividing up my pattern into two and including more variations, but for now, I am one more step closer (even if it will be longer) to having a quality pattern.

To all you geniuses who produce patterns at the drop of the hat, God bless you!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Progress

just in time, I've finished the table runners. I'll miss them until they are back!

The letters are done. Whew! Two bobbins of thread later...

Totally missed our first school open house because I mixed up my dates. Needless to say, I feel completely embarrassed. Not progress... I did not used to forget and confuse dates like I do now.

I have crocheted more hats and flowers. I have my list of what I should crochet, and now I need to get a few off my list so it gets shorter. My favorite part of list-making is finishing items on the list and checking them off.

I also skinned all my tomatoes and froze them today. The peppers are in the dehydrator, so my counter is almost produce free. AND, yesterday, I cleaned the shelves in my fridge.

Having DH return to work helps spur me on to justify my life at home by accomplishing things that have been waiting to be finished. Gotta love the end of summer. I love being productive.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Design Wall Monday

On the table this week...

-Machine quilt my table runner and trim it.

-Bind my three table runners by Wednesday so my mom can take them to my sister for their photo op.
-Finish my letters for my etsy shop/Bear Cub Q's room.  (Can you guess what his name is?)

-Hand quilt between 36 and 63 squares of my Scraps to Treasures quilt.
-Make some hats and flowers.  My original craft show plans won't work out as I'm starting training the same day... I'll just have to find another one to attend!  After visiting a craft show this weekend, I am reminded just how unprepared I am.  I need a larger supply.

I have my table runner pattern written up and finally edited for the thousandth time.  Would anyone like to test it for me?  If so, leave me a comment and make sure there is a way for me to reach you!

My UFO is "done" for now, as I have cut binding, backing, batting, sewed the tops, marked the names, and can't do more until my sister embroiders names on them.  Her goal is one a week so that they're done by Christmas.  I'll quilt them as fast as she returns them!

Check out the other design walls at Judy's place.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #33

Only one small thing finished, but certainly not for a lack of work on my part!

I cut into my roll of batting for my Scraps to Treasures quilt, 19 placemats (my ufo for August), and three table runners.  Whew!

I survived a less-than-stellar quilt guild meeting.  That may be it for me and this quilt guild.  Only time will tell.  During the meeting, I did manage to finish another snowflake of hexagons!

I had a crazy basting party... my Scraps to Treasures quilt and the three table runners.  I am hand quilting the S2T quilt, and already have two table runners quilted and trimmed.  Once I quilt the third, I'll sew on all the bindings and finish them up.

DH returned to work this week, on top of all the other busy-ness in our life, and that made me decide my days were going to be more productive too.  Plus, the heat has finally broken.  We've had more rain in the last two weeks than we had all summer, and I don't feel like a slug all day long.

Two runners quilted and trimmed.  Table runner pattern sent to a few ladies who said they might be able to test it.  Are you interested in testing the pattern for me?  If so, please leave a comment (and if you are no-reply, an email as well).  I'd like to actually put it on my etsy site, but would like to know my directions are not gobbeldy--gook to the rest of the quilting world.  I am left-handed, after all.

More letters are almost finished for Bear Cub Q, but I need to finished quilting and then put my regular foot back on the machine before I can finish them.

My oldest starts school full-day on Friday.  I am really curious to see how this changes our days and my productivity.

There's been some crocheting too, but I'll wait until I sew buttons on the flowers to take pictures of those.  Right now, I need to finish the table runners so I can send them with my mom for my sister to do her awesome photo magic for the cover of my pattern.

4 pairs... 4... gotta love it

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

All Lefties, it's our Day!

Happy International Left-Handers Day!

My best quilt ever, for anyone visiting from the Left-Handed Quilter's blog, is my Unbaby Quilt.  You can see it by clicking on this link.

Today is also Left-Handers Quilters Anonymous day.

I am one of three left-handed sisters.  My three brothers are all right-handed.  Just to stir the pot a little more, my dad is a rightie and my mom a leftie (but not my mom's two sisters).  AND my mom's mom was a leftie.  What are the odds?  So far, of my three kids, my girls are righties and my son a leftie... he's the only one of his generation that's a leftie so far.  Lucky kid, huh?

I have always LOVED being a leftie.  There's even a store I visited once in Boston that was just leftie stuff.  If I hadn't been a high schooler with next to no money, I could have had a lot of fun in that shop.


My parting thought?


“The right half of the brain controls the left half of the body. This means that only left handed people are in their right mind.”


Enjoy!


from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Strike Two...

Okay, Prairie Quilt Guild, you and I just aren't going to be friends.  I already wrote about our first visit here.

I decided to try the evening meeting, understanding that is was smaller and therefore, perhaps, friendlier to an intensely shy person like myself.  I find the membership desk and the guest sign in, keeping an eye out for Donna to introduce myself (I never did find her... she was busy).

No greeting.  "Are you a guest?"  It was almost accusatory.  "Yes, I am."  "Is this your first visit?"  Again, what did I do wrong?  "No, it's my second."  Then, the condescension came.  "You have to register in September."  If I come!  Who says I want to come back, if this is the welcome I get as a guest?  Then, she tossed a nametag in my direction, told me to sign it, and totally ignored me.  I was so flustered by the disdain in her voice, I stumbled off to find a seat and didn't even get my ticket for a chance at a doorprize.  I don't do rude.  I have a hard enough time compelling myself to get out and meet new people, but having my visit thrown back in my face as an unwelcome visitor is more than I can take.

But you know what?  That's okay.  Maybe if I had had BoB with me, I would have said something about welcoming guests.  But I didn't.  It was just me and my hexies (I finished another snowflake!  Woohoo!).

Good things about this visit?  Great show-and-tell.  Less women - even some men.  I met Jen Eskridge of ReannaLily Designs (not that I knew exactly who she was at the time... I had to come home and look up the Wichita Modern Quilt Guild).  Interesting speaker about getting yourself published.

The rotten part?  I mean, other than the intensely unfriendly greeting?  The timing for these meetings is terrible.  1-3 means I have no babysitter during the school year as my mom has other obligations (not that I could afford a babysitter just to go to a quilt meeting anyhow... I should save babysitting money for a date with my DH or something else worthwhile).  7-9 means the kids have to go to bed without me.  Tonight, apparently, that involved WWIII for DH, and the baby was still frantically awake when I pulled in.  It's not worth it for a less-than-enthusiastic greeting and two hours as an anonymous quilter.  I'd rather spend the money for dues on... fabric.

So long, Prairie Quilt Guild.  I think you're better off without me, and I'm better off doing other things with my time and money.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Cuteness

Start with a few strips of yellow.  Sew them together randomly (although I don't do randomly well).

Marker Felt Wide, 600 point, traced on with a water soluble blue marker. (8" x 4" letters)

A few embroidery stitches in green, a la my machine.

A little trimming.  A little spritzing.

A few buttons, yellow of course.

(Maybe a little more spritzing.  That dang marker won't go away!)

I love you, Anni!

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Design Wall Monday

A little bit of this...

letters for Nuggette

a little bit of that...

19 placemats in the making

Some more pink (shudder... oh, the horrors)

pink table runner

and another table runner... possibly my favorite colors so far...

Some crazy fabric cutting last week.

Some crazy batting cutting Sunday.

Some crazy sewing coming?

I also threw myself a basting party and basted my Scraps to Treasures quilt.  After October 7, when they have all been displayed, I will do a post with pictures from the design to the completed product (assuming I have a completed product... but I don't quit!)

Check out the other design walls at Judy's place.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,

katie z.

Stash Report Week #32

What a blessed week we have had!  Three nights of rain after weeks without it, and three days of under 100 after what feels like 2 1/2 months of over 100.

The Assistant has recovered from a little accident that occurred Sunday afternoon (no stitches or emergency room, but scary all the same).

I actually finished a few things!  First, there was this table runner on Sunday for 2 yards out.  Then, on Wednesday, I helped my loverly older sister cover her bulletin boards with fabric for 6 yards out!  Finally, Saturday night, I put the final stitches in my other table runner.  Woohoo!  10 yards out in one week?  I haven't finished anything since the first week of June, so it's about time!

I used part of a Poseidon fat quarter bundle of Kona solids.  Unfortunately, I was not able to attain quite the run of colors I had envisioned, but I still really like this runner.  I hand quilted cross-hatching except on the setting triangles, where I didn't quilt at all.  It just seemed done at this point.  I think if you click the pictures, you can tell what I mean.

AND I didn't buy anything this week, fabric-wise.  I did buy buttons with a gift card, but they were all on sale or clearance, and I used three to fill orders from my etsy shop.  Yeah!  Two orders ready to send, and another in the works... I am making letters and can't find a script font that is thick enough.

I also had a cutting frenzy, in which I cut all the fabric for my UFO for the month (19 placemats), including backing and binding.  Too bad I had to abscond with some of that binding for the table runner above, as I forgot to cut it when I cut the rest (which I normally do, so I don't have to slow down once I'm done quilting a project!).

I canned pickles (the first and possibly only canning done this summer).  I froze tomatoes.  It's been a busy week!

My pink table runner is cut too, so I can begin sewing it.

My Scraps to Treasures quilt is a top!!!  Maybe this week I will baste it and being hand quilting.

Check out the other stash reports on Judy's blog.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Rain

3+ inches.  I have never, in all my memories, been more grateful for the rain than last night.  Fierce winds, 80 mph +, uprooted trees and tore down power lines, but it RAINED.  God is good.

I canned a batch of pickles today, skinned and froze tomatoes, and made laundry soap.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

Design Wall Monday

Since we are not starting UFOs or colors until later in the week, here's what I'm STILL working on...

Check out the other design walls at Judy's place.

from the room of Zana's Ninis,
katie z.

UFO and Monochromatic Challenge

UFO status: My Favorite Things quilt is completely pin-basted and 1/7 hand quilted.  While I would surely love to have the quilting part significantly farther along, I wasn't sure I would ever reach this point.  That first strip of border seemed to go on forever and ever and ever.  The whole no A/C until July 22 didn’t help with that either!

My monochromatic challenge ended with a finish of only one of my three table runners.  I only finished the one that was actually blue.  The others are still in progress, one in the piecing stage and the other being hand quilted.  The others will be done eventually.

I was slowed down by the realization that my Scraps to Treasures quilt is due October 7, as in completely done, bound, labeled, etc.  Well, I haven’t finished piecing the top yet, so I need to shake a leg.  I did manage to piece a scrappy backing for it (just don’t remind me that when I showed it to DH, he said, “Did you TRY to make it that ugly?” Ouch.).  In August, it must be a primary focus of the month.

Who knows what August will bring, though, with our current run of drama?

from the room of Zana’s Ninis,

katie z.