Blocks, Soup and Burp Cloths - not in that order

Finished four more burp cloths so I am done with that for a little while.  I then moved on to the Blogger's BOM that is going through Jackie at Canton Village Quilt Works.  I have drawn out the four patterns onto gridded cards, written down all the cutting information and which number the block is and who designed it. 

I have even color coded some of them with the area and then the directions in the same color so I can keep it straight in my head. 

After reading many of the quilter's blogs, I, too, have decided to make two of each.  I also made that decision after I made the first one with a white Kona background and I thought it looked too blah.  I made the second one with the green print and liked it a lot.  Once I put them on the wall together I decided to make one with a green print background and one with a white. (or at least they had to have those fabrics in them.  Below are my version of the four current patterns available (that I know of).  I love the Kaffe fabrics that the designers were using and thought about making mine totally out of those fabrics, but I like the mix of some Kaffe, some modern and some traditional fabrics.  This one will be a fun one to watch grow in the coming year.

 Today I went out to lunch at a new place in Midland called the Harvest Cafe.  A co-worker recommended it to me last week so I decided to try it out.  OH MY GOODNESS!!  I have fallen in love with the Baja Chicken Enchilada Soup.  I could take a bath in that it was soooo delicious.  Now I am going to have to experiment and come up with my version of that soup.  Unbelievable.  I can't wait to go back and get some more.  Unfortunately it will be at least a week or more before I can return.  If you are in the area, go try out their soup!  I highly, highly recommend it.  (If it would have been okay, I would have totally licked the bowl).  Those of you that know me know that I am not this blown away with soup - even though I have a few favorites, {Jason's Deli - Broccoli Cheese; Campbell's - Split Pea and Ham; Homemade - Tortellini Soup}(Okay, maybe I do like a few soups) Anyway, . . .

Wow - something major must have happened out on JBS and 42nd or somewhere near there.  There have been sirens blaring and honking through that intersection for the last 3 or 4 minutes. 

Anyway - back to the soups and the Harvest Cafe.  Stop in there and have a cup or a bowl.  I would love to go along with you, if you can wait until the new year.  Enjoy - 

whew!  I went to spell check this thing and thought that I had totally erased the entire posting.  Thank goodness for auto save! 

Retreat Quilt 2012 - first view



Here is my quilt top so far.  I finished my 9 blocks and just couldn't go any further.  I tried, I really did, but my mind just said STOP!!!  Yes, it was almost that loudly.  Once I put these blocks together, I felt better and have been able to work on other things while auditioning fabrics for borders.  Sometimes it's good to listen to your brain when it tells you something.  Or at least it is for me.  I did nothing for a couple of days because I really thought I needed to make 20 blocks for a lap quilt, but this quilt had something else entirely in mind for itself.  The fabric that is on the right side trying out for the role of outside border has since been replaced by another fabric that works much better.  Once I have that fabric on, I will take another picture of the finished top.  This is the quilt I will be teaching at our retreat in February. 

I have made a couple of blocks for the Blogger's BOM.  After the first block, I have decided to change the background fabric and need to re-make that first block along with the other two blocks.  These are 8 inch blocks so I may be making two of each pattern.  I may need to make more or come up with a way to put them on point.  I guess I will wait until the end of the monthly blocks to see how they set them before I make that decision.  I have 8 more months for that. 

I have also made 4 burp cloths and have another 4 cut out and ready to sew together.  It seems like almost everyone I know is having a baby!!  (or at least 6 people I know.  Actually I know of 7 at this time that are preggers and one that delivered early - before Christmas.)  I used to have a stash of baby blankets, etc. on hand to give as gifts, but I guess I sold most of those a couple years ago at the Bazaar and now I don't have anything!!  It has been on my brain to make some more blankets, but, you know, it was stalled by that quilt at the top of this posting!!  Now that I have it all cleared up, I am up and running on the other things I need to get done.  Now, off to do some sewing - until next time.  

Merry Christmas

The snow is starting to melt and every once in a while I hear a loud boom!  It is sliding off the roof in large chunks and hitting the roof over the back porch.  I jump almost everytime!  At first I thought someone was out dumping trash or throwing snowballs, but all is fairly peaceful outside (except for the cars going down the alley looking at the lake and park behind my house).   I have put in all the new numbers from my sister and nephews new Christmas phones from Santa, read several blogs, my e-mail and facebook comments.  Played a little bit of Garden of Time and now I really need to get moving and on with the day.  Hope everyone is enjoying a very merry Christmas!

I'm not Dreaming it's a White Christmas

Here's the view out my home office window!  It's been snowing since last night and is still coming down in large flakes even as I type this.  Most of you don't know how rare this is for us.  I can't remember the last time we had snow for Christmas.  It usually doesn't snow here in the desert until January, if at all.  We have had two really good snowfalls already this year.  The year of the drought.  It's great to not only see the snow, but look at the lake!  It's full once again.  Remember this picture from this summer? Okay, I can't seem to find the picture I took this summer.  It was probably that one that I deleted just a little bit ago of my screen, looking out the window.  I thought I had another one besides that one.  Okay, let me describe it for you.  Looking at the current picture, everywhere you see water, was brown, dried up lake bed.  I mean, everywhere.  There was no water at this end of the lake.  You could walk across the lake bed and I saw several people do just that!  Where you see white snow, picture it as dry, brown grass.  No rain, equals dry grass.  The bushes along the fence are purple sage, but with no rain, all you have a gray leaves - no purple flowers.  It was a bleak picture outside my window for many months.  The good thing about being so busy this summer was that I didn't have time to get depressed looking out my window. 

Now, is the time for me to get busy sewing.  I have three classes I am teaching in the early spring and one lecture I have to prepare for.  Thank goodness, one quilt top is totally finished, but it still needs to be quilted, if there is time.  I now have 9 blocks done for my retreat quilt and am debating whether to stop there or continue on to 20 blocks.  I have a few blocks done for my lecture quilts and need to add to those and put them into tops at the very least.  Finally, I need to finish my Inspiration quilt top and decide if I have time to get it quilted before April.  I have bits and pieces done, but nothing finished.  I can't blame the computer for distracting me since I haven't had it for several months.  I just need to focus and get going.  I need to set a plan, work on one thing at a time and not let other new projects distract me.  HaHa!!  I am always distracted by the new and fun project which is why I have such a nice collection of quilt tops.  I have quilted several quilts lately, but those are the small tops, some of which have been sitting around for more than a year.  (10+ years for the color wash quilt)  edit: oops!  didn't realize I hadn't posted pics on this one.  Made the center many, many years ago.  Then several years ago, I added the border.  I was planning on making a pillow out of it, but then I decided how to quilt it and put a hanger on it so now, it's a small wall hanging.  See it hanging off my yardstick? I came up with that system so I could photograph some of my small quilts. 

Okay, I know, get off this computer and go get busy.  But, first lunch!  Now to decide what to have?  This may take awhile.

I'M BACK!!!!

My computer is back!  I don't know if you remember or not, it's been forever, but I killed my computer.  I took it to our tech person and she was able to save and store all  my info, but didn't have the time to work on my computer and suggested I have the students in our computer tech class work on it.  I agreed and finally, finally I have it back.  They had to wipe the hard drive and re-install.  Then re-install when that crashed again.  It took them forever to get it done, but it is finally back and I am on-line once again. 

I have soooo much to show you and don't even know where to start.  I need to download a bunch of pictures I have been taking because while I don't have computer to play games on every night, I have been sewing!  So, lots of goodies to look forward to in the next couple of weeks.  That's all for now, just a tease for tonight.