Some progress is being made. I am starting to assemble the rows to make it easier to pick up off the design floor if someone wants to look at the house.

As I mentioned earlier, I started this quilt some years ago. My skill has improved more than I had imagined. Still I will not redo the blocks that could be better. After all this quilt is supposed to be a warm quilt, not a perfect quilt. I am not sure how I will finish the quilt. I had envisioned a couple of borders but now I find that I might not have enough of the background material. I will have to finish the second green quilt before that decision is made. What was I thinking.

The realtor we are using now gives us feedback. I like that much better. There are 13 villages on Cape Cod. They each have their own personality. Why in the world you would show a house in Orleans to someone that wanted to live in Chatham or Dennis is beyond me. Chatham is a "Lovely drinking village with a fishing problem (or so the bumper stickers say). Dennis has more traffic and is more of a tourist trap. Orleans has more retired individuals. We have a large grocery store and several pharmacies but you do have to go at least 15 miles for the hospital. Orleans is quieter. Perhaps that is why we like it best. Our house was built in 1954. No it is not a new house. So Saturday we got all ready to show the house and they were only there for 15 minutes. Why? Well, they were interested in something newer. The age of the house in on the sheet of information. Why bother to show a house built in 1954 to someone looking for new construction. I am annoyed that our time was wasted on someone not even at all interested.

I haven't had much time to sew lately. I have taken this up twice so we could show the house and it is no longer on my design floor but should I ever finish another block I can put it down again. I am thinking about adding the sashing so it would be easier to put down each time. As you can see I only have four block left to make. I have three other task that need to be completed before I get back to this one. Maybe one day soon.


Now this is actually on my design wall. The design wall is only 4 feet by 4 feet so it will not hold an entire quilt. This works well for small blocks.

This is block six of twelve of Country Cousins. I did enlarge the pattern and my blocks are 24 inches............ And I plan to hand quilt this one too.


The weekend was spent getting the house ready to show and doing errands while it was being shown. The bread is made, the dog food is made and the house is clean. I am still appliqueing the border on the GFG and quilting the Nine Patch.

On Monday Wade Hamilton went for his day of beauty. I needed him to look his best for the Pickle meeting on Tuesday. We opted for his summer trim. Of course he is still wearing his coat since all of his hair is gone but that won't last long. He sure does look like a different dog.


Sunday I went to Vickie's to get help in adding the borders to my GFG. On her design wall is her current project. All of the circles on the quilt have embroidery. She is amazing.

This is a closeup of the quilt.


Vickie is working on a hexagon quilt also. Sort of an 'add as you go' quilt.




Scrappy quilts are my favorite. If I ever finish the hexagon quilts I have started I might even do one of these. It is fun to look at her quilt and see some of my fabrics in there.

We got my quilt all spread out and cut the strips for the borders.


Then we pinned the borders in place. Now every night I am appliqueing them to the quilt. I have one side done and the second side almost done. Still many nights of stitching ahead.

Well, another dark picture. I will have to get a picture outside when it is finished. I am making progress. This morning I prepped a few more hearts and leaves and got them ready to stitch. I might even get this block finished before Monday.

I did not realize how dark this picture was till just now. Oh well, it will have to do. I have the tulips done and this morning I added a few more pieces to stitch down tonight. And tomorrow night. And maybe even the night after that. We shall see.............

This is my Monday Design Floor. Just look at the progress on my one of two Green Quilts. Just a little bit done at the odd moments I am able to sew and one day it will be done.



As to the sitting downstairs and watching TV stitching, I stitched part one of three parts of the Tulip in place and this morning I added part two of three. I can get them stitched in place tonight and then continue with my stitchery from Kaaren at the Painted Quilt. I worked on the stitchery also. It is coming along nicely. I am just not sure yet how I plan to finish it. Perhaps it will tell me when I am finished.


The realtor called to cancel the showing on Sunday. You would think that meant more time to sew but alas that was not the case.

Judy at Patchwork Times has gotten me started making my own bread. It is wonderful. I made two loaves this weekend and now have enough in the freezer for a week and a half. I made three batches of dog food for the darlings.

Judy also posted a hand cream recipe. Yes, I tried it. It is grand. The only hand cream for me from now on.

I even made a cheese spread for us to enjoy in the evenings. I have meals cooked ahead in the refrigerator and it is a good thing too. My hours have increased at work and I will be getting home later each day. On the whole it was a wonderful weekend spent at home with the light of my life.............oh and the dogs too of course.

Last night before starting my Free Embroidery from The Painted Quilt I picked up this piece to finish the last bits of applique. When I began this project several years ago the first four blocks were finished in record time. Then I made an error on this one. I tried to cut out a few steps and got it all wrong and had to do it again and again and once again............ Now it is done and I picked up my March embroidery and got a bit of a start on that.

I had planned to come upstairs this morning and sew all day but the realtor called and wants to show the house tomorrow morning at 10:00. What an obscene time to have to leave home but this could be our buyer so we will be obliging.

Instead of piecing I began the next block for this quilt. Thought I would take the time to do it the right way. I had the pattern enlarged so now I am required to tape the bits together to get the basic design. I properly traced it to lightweight interfacing and stitched that to the top of the fabric. That piece will stay there until the block is completed to make sure I get the correct placement. I try to get around this step and make a muddle of it so it is much quicker to make the tracing and move on.


All traced and ready ....................


Fabrics are chosen...........


Bias tape made and pinned in place to stitch the first bit. I will try to get this stitched tonight. Heaven only knows when I will get up here to add the next part so I want to get this done and be ready for the tulips.

I have taken the papers out of part of the GFG. Now I need to wait until Vickie and I can get together and cut and place the borders. My plans are to applique the quilt to a flowered border so that I won't have to use half hexagons or put on a small bias binding. Vickie has a large surface that is tall enough to make it easy to work on. She also works 50 hours a week and takes care of a home and family. She has so little time for her own creative projects and it is so good of her to help me with this.

While I am waiting for a break in her schedule I have looked around for something quick to stitch at night. Happily today is the first Friday of the month and Kaaren at The Painted Quilt posts a free embroidery on the first Friday of the month.

This morning we woke up to snow. Not much, but more than I wanted to deal with in order to get to breakfast with the girls at 8:00 AM. Instead I went back to sleep and did not wake up until 8:00. Then I realized that today was The Day so I went upstairs to print off this month's offering. I have it traced and all ready to start stitching tonight.

Together at last. I have the last flower sewn on and I have begun to take out the paper.



The next shots are of different sections of the quilt top. You can double click the picture and it will enlage.










Now to get the border cut and ready so that I can applique the quilt to it... Then layer and baste, quilt and bind. This quilt will be on my lap for some time to come .

I am astonished that I have gotten it together. Hanne is right. If you just keep working on something it will be finished.

Today I have a few ALMOST DONE items to show. This should be a biscornu pincushion. Peg is going to loan me a long needle so that I can get the button on the bottom and top sewn all the way through. So that is put aside till after Friday morning.



This is the first Buckshot pincushion. The pattern calls for a button on top and I think I need something to put on the bottom. Not really sure here. I tried a button but I wasn't happy with the way it looked. I really need to find my glue gun and just glue the button on top and a piece of felt on the bottom. No hurry here, I do have a few more to turn and stuff.



And this morning I got the last eight setting blocks one step closer to being complete. At this rate I might even have something for my design floor on Monday.

Most of the weekend was spent being Susan Goodwife. Baking, Cooking, Cleaning and the Usual Household Chores.......................

I did manage to carve out a couple of hours for sewing. I like Thangles. I especially like their Buck A Block. Emily's Quilt Cupboard in Franklin MA is kind enough to allow me to join in by mail since no shop in my area participates in this program.






This year I selected the Thirties fabric. The first block came last Wednesday and I was pleased to get the first one together this weekend.





Of course if one is good then two is better so I looked about for some fabric to use to make another quilt. This is what I found and here is the first block for that quilt.




Peg recommended these new pins by Clover so I purchased a package of them. They are the cat's meow in sewing squares together and getting the blocks lined up correctly. The quilt blocks went together better than ever before.


And of course I have a new pincushion finished just to hold my new pins.






I even got four of the needed 12 setting blocks done for the first green quilt.



Not bad for a weekend.

At least something is getting done. I have these all turned and ready to stuff. Knowing how much I like stuffing things this could take awhile.



But I did finish my hexagon pincushion. I am delighted with how it came out and the papers are ready to be reused.

Sometimes I need a little diversion. Earlier I posted getting these pincushions cut out. Now when I pause from the GFG I turn a few of them. The pattern for the Buckshot Pincushions can be found on the Marcus Brothers website.



Daisy Quilts has a tutorial for a hexagon pincushion that looked interesting. I found the template for printing the hexagons for this project at moxieideas.com.


I did find time to begin assembling the setting blocks for the first Green Star Quilt. How nice to be getting things done again.

In April of 2008 Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts had a Star Block Quilt Along. The pattern is still on her site but she is not blogging anymore so if you want the pattern you might want to print it out. Her last post was New Years Day and she does say that she plans to keep the site up indefinitely but you never know. But I digress.................

I began that block a week and was keeping up rather well. In fact I did two of them. One orange





and one green. In May she posted the instructions for the setting blocks. I made the setting blocks for both quilts. The green fabric all came from Peg. She cleaned out her green bin and gave me the excess. After the setting blocks were made I discovered that there were some blue greens and some yellow greens. My setting blocks were a blue green and did not really look all that great with the yellow greens.


So why not make two green quilts. So I started the second green quilt.


Then life interfered and my studio actually moved from the basement to the second floor. Other projects caught my eye............. The house was painted inside and out, new carpet installed, new tile in the kitchen and bathroom and a new floor in the entry. I spent the next 18 months with strangers walking through my house. Not much sewing was done. We took the house off the market in December. We wanted the winter to recover from being so neat. I began to sew a bit more.

After getting the studio cleaned up this past weekend I decided to work on a few UFO's. One reason to stay with a project till it is finished is because you tend to forget exactly what you were doing. I have 9 of 13 blocks done for the first green quilt and this morning I cut the fabric and began making the setting blocks. I might actually have something to post Monday when Judy asks what is on your design wall.

So far it has been a busy morning. Assembled a quilt block, made two batches of dog food, baked one pan of cookies and assembled the ingredients for more. Washed dishes from last night and also the ones I used this morning.

I still made it to work on time....... I just want you to check out Karen's blog, Sew Many Ways. She has a great idea for a light box that is perfect for those occasions when you are traveling and need one.

Well, break time is over so I must get that nose back on the grindstone.

Wow it has been over a week since I sat at my computer to type a few words. I usually put the pictures on my computer at home and then come to work a few minutes early to add the words.

For the previous three Mondays I have had phone problems to take care of as soon as I got in which put my behind for the week.

I had not ever realized that it had been a week till I was talking to my sister yesterday.

Saturday a week ago I spent in the kitchen. One of my successes was Black Bean and Beef soup. I topped it with shredded cheese and a dollop of sour cream with a cilantro leaf on top. I even made Oatmeal bread to serve with it. That recipe is a definite keeper. The rest of the weekend was spent with laundry and errands. No time to do much sewing and I never made it upstairs to sew.




This weekend I finally made it upstairs to get the last of the borders on Freeze Frame. When I looked at the pattern I realized that I had been putting off the final borders since September. I don't know what happened but I never got any sewing done after then. Things got carried upstairs and dropped on the floor of the sewing room. It had become somewhat of a mess. It is hard to work in that kind of atmosphere.




I found this fabric downstairs and it is perfect for the backing.




Here it is in its own Ziploc bag ready to be quilted.



The backing and binding are with it. I hope to learn to machine quilt after THE MOVE. So much of my life is on hold till then. For now I will just keep making tops and then when the new studio is set up I will have space for a larger table to machine quilt on. Right now the little desk I am using is just not large enough for a quilt. Just little table toppers and such.



I spent the rest of my time clearing out, putting away and getting things ready to stitch. This block had to be redone and is usually the case these things get put down and never picked up again. I got the last four pieces pinned and all ready to be stitch. I put it back in the basket for later.

because right now I am spending most of my time on my GFG. Here it is with 10 rows of 14 attached. I can see the end of this stage of assembly.

Several weeks ago I stopped at my LQS for a small piece of lace. No I have not finished the project I purchased the lace for. In fact I am rather at a stopping point with this one. Just can't make up my mind exactly what to do next. Well, enough of that.

I had just looked at the Saratoga Lights pattern on Judy Laquidara's site. I really want to make that quilt and there were a couple of fabrics I thought would look good. I did not buy them that day. I went home to double check the yardage first.

Yesterday I stopped at the LQS once more, this time for thread. HMMM.... there were several fabrics that would look good in that quilt. That quilt does not take long to make.

I came away empty handed but feeling much better. After all, I have TWO major projects going on right now. I have quilt tops stacked up waiting to become quilts. I have fabric purchased and all kitted with the pattern just waiting for me to finish them. I have fabric kits for quilts that were purchased on sale. I have at least a dozen scrap quilts ready to be made and a large bag of scraps to make them with. In other words, my plate is full.

I still want to make Saratoga Lights but WHEN I get some of my other quilts ready to sleep under I will just let the fabric shop keep the fabric and when the time is right I know there will be more fabric available.

Meanwhile, I finished row nine on the GFG and I have it on the quilt. Tonight I can start basting the background for row ten.

This weekend I actually got upstairs to sew for a few hours. I picked up right where I left off in WHAT WAS THAT..............SEPTEMBER? My how time flies.

According to the directions I had two hours or four borders left to add to this quilt. I got one added this weekend. Perhaps I can get this quilt finished before February comes and I can get it sent of to be quilted.