Spring Break Day Seven

Ah, slept in again until 6:30! What ever will I do when I have to return to work on Monday?

Spent the morning in my studio, cutting batting and basting quilts. I also finished stitching the baby bibs and turned them right side out.

Additionally, I stitched the 3 small ribbon blankets that will be in my Etsy Store!

I picked up lunch for mom and I and spent the afternoon with Mom, playing Scrabble and celebrating Lauren's departure. Lauren is a student who is receiving her degree and did a practicum at Southern Oaks. She is finished now and will be getting married next weekend. So the folks threw her a small party! We had cake and punch and sang songs. It was fun.

After leaving Southern Oaks, I traveled to Jackson to pick up markers for a project we are doing in school after TCAPs. I had some recycling credit at Office Depot, so I went there to buy my new markers.

Upon arrival home, I got to work on the garden. Yesterday it was tilled and composted and organized into nice rows. Today I put in markers to remember where plants are to reside in the future and I put some of the seedlings in. Each yellow marker is made from cut up foam trays.

You cannot see the seedlings well, but I have corn, cucumbers, beans, and zucchini planted. The potatoes are in as well (but they are completely underground!!)

That was enough gardening fun for me, so I watered them, and watered the seedlings still in the greenhouse and called it a day.

Tomorrow I will get the soaker hoses in place and plant marigold seeds.

Now for a nice cool shower!

Spring Break Day Six

Day Six---I know it was yesterday, but I was in such pain yesterday evening, that I just went to bed with the heating pad!

It started out well, sleeping in until 7:00!!!

Then I spent the day in the studio, working on the Green String quilt. I finished the top and the borders...it needed a little TLC to flatten out, working with those diamonds and bias edges is not an area that I excel in. So, I had to re-do some seams! But it looks good now! (Photos will show up in the Day Seven blog later today!)

I had some left over batting pieces, so I pinned several baby bibs that are destined for my Etsy Store. The store is empty right now, so I am working on some new additions.

I also COUNTED MY STASH! I am embarrassed to say that it is right back to where it was when I initially counted my stash! ACK! I did not count any of the backings or fabrics that are designated for the following quilts (as they are in the basting/quilting stage of completion):

Green String quilt
I Spy quilt
Pumpkin Floral string quilt
Patriotic Stack & Whack quilt
Prairie Schooler quilt
Bright Girl quilt

In the afternoon, Vince tilled the garden, and I went and worked with the soil...I worked in compost and pulled out roots and weeds. I straightened the rows and that is when I gave in. My lower back was tighter than it has ever been and I could not straighten up well. I figured it was a good time to revisit my garden plan.

I have been researching various ways to improve my garden for this year, and will be planting certain plants to protect others....keeping certain critters out of the corn! I also have a border of lovely marigolds to help with pests and critters. Since part of my garden does not get full sun I have to consider which plants will tolerate partial sun. Also, since my garden still slopes a bit, I have to consider which plants will tolerate more water!

I think I have a plan now!! But by the time I had finished that and we ate a late dinner, I was finished! I heated up the heating pad and went to bed with a good book.

Fortunately this morning, I awoke feeling good!

Spring Break Day Five

This morning was spent with my dear friends Caroline and Deb. We traveled to Millington, to the Naval Support facility there. As military folk, I can get on base to shop at the commissary, which usually has good prices on groceries.

More importantly, we look at it as a day out. We love each other's company and the ride gives us time to catch up with each other. The ride is filled with laughter!

The only slightly upsetting aspect was that I found out that my military ID card had expired! Now Vince and I need to find time to travel to Millington during a weekday so that I can obtain a new card. I guess that will be a June activity!

I was also able to stop in Oakland to drop my quilts off to Christine Ballard.
She will creatively and beautifully quilt my Pieces of the Past and Snow Crazy quilts. I do not have a delivery date, but I know I will get them back sometime this summer so that I can finish those two this year! I hope that by the time she has these two quilted, I will have at least 2 other tops to give her for quilting!

When we arrived back home after our adventure, I was amazed that I had the entire afternoon ahead of me! I spent part of it digging the compost out of the bin to spread on the new garden area. Vince will (hopefully) till the garden tomorrow so that I can get the seedlings in the ground soon!

I spent a little time working on the Green String quilt--I have the rows pinned together into a top and will stitch them together in the morning. Then I can get the borders on it and declare the top finished.

After dinner, I barely beat Vince at Scrabble (689 to 680). Our games are not always that close..so it was nice to have a challenging game tonight! We play Super Scrabble, which has a larger game board and twice the tiles. It is a lot more fun and a lot more challenging to play!

Spring Break Day Four

The Gleaners” by Jean-François Millet

To glean is to gather grain left behind by reapers or to gather bit by bit.

This morning I awoke with the dawn to begin yet another day of my spring break! I started with my studio, working on the Green String quilt. I laid the pieces out and stitched them into rows, then became distracted.

I pulled out the white fabric that I plan to use in the Mustang quilt and then paged through all of my DMC flosses to find a red that I liked. Then I washed both the fabric and the thread, to determine if the red would bleed onto the white. (Many hours later I checked the fabric and the thread, and there was no red on the white!) Then I sat and used my marker to outline the line drawings of the Mustang. I also determined the size of the white blocks that I will need to use.
The quilt design is similar to the Snow Crazy quilt. I am embroidering pictures of my Mustang onto white squares. The crazy quilt blocks will be different red fabrics.

After an hour and a half of quilt fun, it was time to leave for the Gleaner's House. I loaded up my vehicle with two boxes of paper and an 8' x 10' area rug that I was giving to a freecycler.

I headed downtown to Gleaners, first stopping at the bank to cash a check I have had since February! I also stopped at the City Drug store to make a copy of a photo of my father (the one where he is standing by the Chickaloon Bridge in Alaska) and pick up a package of razor blades (to remove the expired military stickers from my windshield).

At Gleaner's we sorted, cleaned and priced the goodies that local folks donate to the thrift store. It is always a real experience! I love that we get to shop there as well! I brought home a 24" tall Elmo doll for the puppies!

Lunch with friends was at Jack's, a local fast food eatery that is actually better than McDonald's or Burger King!

The rest of my afternoon was spent giving a rug to a freecycler (Yay! One more item out of my house!), getting my hair color touched up and visiting my Mom. I also made some time to piece together the rows on the Green String quilt, that was a bit of a challenge. Matching seams on diamond shaped pieces takes some time. They are finally all pinned and some are sewn together. The rest is a task for another Spring Break day!

Spring Break Day Two

Since Vince is working days this week, I am up by the time he leaves the house (5:30 or so). Today was no different!

So, since I was up earlier than I planned, I figured I could spend time in the studio! I worked further on the Green String Quilt and put borders on the I Spy quilt (yes, I know it is not the same quilt I was working on yesterday!). Here is what I accomplished on the Green String Quilt...I cut and sewed the background diamonds. I made a few mistakes along the way before I got them the way I wanted...so I did not work much on this quilt today.

The I Spy quilt is for a friend who is having a baby in June. It is all ready to go and I have the backing fabric in the washer as I type this!
Then I went to church and Sunday school. I had lunch with my dear friend Caroline at our favorite local Mexican restaurant. We are going to have a yard sale together with some other folks in June! YAY!! I love yard sales...Now I get to clean out the house and price items and then get rid of them!

I spent some time at Gleaner's House Thrift Store before visiting Mom. At Gleaner's I scored a great 2" 3 ring binder, and some letter and number tiles. The tiles sort of look like oversized Scrabble tiles. I believe I can create a station activity with those! I also picked up a broken keyboard (for that as yet unknown craft idea!).

My visit with Mom was interesting...she had previously asked me to bring her a Catholic bible as the one she had was not a Catholic one. So, I brought her my parent's bible and she spent our visit paging through the bible, making comments about snippets of sentences she read. At least she was reading the bible!

I stopped by my classroom on the way home to pick up a box of used paper (for Inez's grandson's baseball fundraiser), the box of chip bags I need to send to Terracycle, and my large dry erase eraser.

I also gassed up the truck and washed it!

Upon arrival home, I sorted through the stuff in my truck and loaded up the 3.5 boxes of fabric I am bringing to Diana tomorrow. I also collected all of the newspapers around the house and from the recycling bin to bring to Lisa tomorrow (for the birds!) Then I collected up the loose 2-liter plastic soda bottles that had escaped the plastic bag they were in! I boxed the bottles as they will be used at the end of the school year for the 6th grade end of year water fight. (At least if it is still scheduled to occur!)

When I came back inside, I emailed Chris about dropping off two quilts on Wednesday, and then proceeded to my studio so that I could iron the backings and make sure I had batting. I have a piece for the Snow Crazy Quilt but need to buy batting for the Pieces of the Past quilt. One out of two is not bad! My last post on these two quilts was back in June of last year!

Here are the finished tops for Snow Crazy, this is almost a full sized quilt.
And here is Pieces of the Past, this one is a king sized quilt.




Now I am finished for the day. It is dinner on my own (Vince had a late flight), and then off to bed to rest up for my Clarksville trip tomorrow!

Spring Break Day One

One my first day of Spring Break I woke up at the same time I usually do. So much for sleeping in!

So, I decided I should make the best of it and stay busy.

I started with the laundry! Then cleaned up the kitchen, scrubbing the counters and clearing off all the clutter that accumulates there. I did manage to finish all of the laundry, get it folded and put away! (normally the laundry sits in the basket for a week--folded of course--but not put away!)

Then I wandered into my studio where I am working on two quilts simultaneously. I have one that I am making for a friend that needs to be finished before the end of school. I finished all of the string pieced diamonds using only scraps of fabric that I had in my stash. The "Green Scrap" box is now EMPTY! I just need to find a background fabric that compliments all that green! Here are my diamonds:


This is a diagram of the pattern I am working from for this quilt:


The other quilt is a neat quilt using nine-patch blocks. The blocks are each 3" square. A few years ago, when I still belonged to the Jackson Guild, I joined a block exchange and then realized I would NEVER have the time to complete the required blocks each month, so I resigned. Of course I had a bunch of nine-patch blocks already sewn so I did need to find a quilt to use them in! Fortunately, I found one I loved and saved the pattern with the blocks. Well, it is one of the quilts on my list to complete this summer so I started making some additional blocks now. I finished another 45 blocks yesterday and cut a few more. I need a total of 148 nine patch blocks. I need to search the stash for a background fabric for that one as well. Here are some of the nine patch blocks with the picture of the Skyward Nines pattern I am working from. Since so many of my blocks have blue in them, I am thinking of either a gold or gray background.

I also responded to a freecycle request for fabric! Last year someone gifted me a ton of cotton fabric scraps that I washed and sorted and then stored. I used a little of it but most of it is still sitting in boxes in my studio, getting in the way. I looked at this ad as a sign that I should part with some of this fabric so that it can be used! I now have 3.5 boxes of fabric on the couch waiting for me to deliver it on Monday. (I guess that counts as a stash reduction!)

Of course my dogs and I wandered down to the pond to feed the fish and turtles. We also walked through our 'orchard' and noted that all of our trees have leaves and some have flowers! It looks like we did a good job with the initial planting! YAY for fruit!

That was my day one!