Bunny Hill BOM

I've been fitting in some quilting here and there in between going out to lunch with Steve and running up to Steph's to pick up and finish the preschool quilt blocks.
Here's the first block of the Bunny Hill bom:
(And if you're doing this bom -- check the site again because Anne posted a couple of corrections in the directions).

I finished making all the blocks and squaring them up today for the preschool quilt.  Then I took a break and ran to the quilt store for border fabric.  And then, because I was already out, I drove a bit further and went to my favorite quilt store, which is now renamed:  Yellow Creek Quilt Designs and is going to be in the May issue of Quilt Sampler magazine -- it was formerly Sew Many Antiques in Pearl City, IL.  They've rearranged the store and cleaned up the antique area they had and it really looks nice.  I bought an itty bitty pinwheel template and pattern there.  The pattern and template is actually from Primitive Gatherings -- another favorite place of mine!

I hope to make it to the hand quilting session at Acorn Quilts tomorrow afternoon -- I'll probably bring my Primitive Garden block to hand applique.


Blessings:
I sold Bill's truck yesterday.  Kind of a sad day, but glad to get rid of it too -- it wasn't doing me any good sitting in the garage.
Time to quilt and sew.

Super Sewing Day

I spent most of the day cutting and sewing today -- it was glorious.  I cut the red and neutral strips for the next step of Bonnie's mystery; I cut the red, white and blue strips for the leader/ender quilt I'm going to make in the upstairs sewing room; and I pressed and cut the fabrics for the preschool quilt.  Then I put together the 16 square in a square blocks for the Bunny Hill quilt and stitched the first block together.  I even have Henrietta Whiskers pinned to the block so I can start appliqueing her whenever I get the urge to do some handwork.  And then to top it all off, I went to the main floor sewing room and stitched the last 5 string blocks together and cleaned up the leftover strings that were massed on the table.  It's really been a great day today.  And, the days are getting longer -- if only by 5 or 10 minutes, but it's still a bit light out at 5 and I'll take that as a good sign!

The white on Henrietta's arm is freezer paper -- didn't take it off yet because it won't actually be sewn on until after the scarf.

Blessings:
A really great, productive day in the sewing rooms.
JR laying at my feet no matter where I was today.
Nice fire in the kitchen fireplace this morning.

Getting Back on Track

I live in a two story house and the problem with it is that I have sewing areas on both floors and the basement.  This first shot is on the main floor and this is a picture of chaos.  My fabric is in cabinets and cupboards on this floor.  This is my Bernina  machine and I am doing Bonnie's mystery on this machine.

I cannot work in chaos like this, so had to clean it up before I could do the next 5 string blocks today.  So here's the after picture of the main floor sewing room.                                                

And then there is the second floor bedroom that I turned into a sewing room.  I bought one of those cutting tables from JoAnn's last year (and love it).  JoAnn's has a 50% off coupon sale going on -- if you want one of these tables -- buy it at the store, because the ones they offer online are not the same tables.  Anyway, I have my Brother machine up here and am working on an auction quilt for my grandson's preschool fundraiser up here.  I have to haul the fabric up here and then back down to the first floor when I'm finished cutting.  This area was also chaotic, so I had to finally clean it up because it was getting difficult to cut anything here.

So this is the after picture.  So much better to work on a cleaned off table!

Yesterday I was running up and down the stairs working on a couple of projects and it was not fun.  The goal will be to move both these sewing areas in their entirety to the basement by summertime.  I have my longarm in the basement now and all the paraphernalia that goes with it.

My big decision this week was to not put the house on the market this year, but still go ahead with the auction -- I'm planning on getting rid of some furniture including a whole living room in the basement among other things.  That will free up a whole big area near the longarm for me to turn into a big sewing studio.  I can move my fabric down too, so everything will be in one place.  I'm really excited about it.

In the meantime, I will be working on the mystery on the main floor and on the preschool quilt upstairs and I have two different leaders/enders projects also -- multitasking at its best!  And, I managed to do 5 more strings today, so only have 5 more to do and then I can move on to the next part of the mystery.

Blessings:
Lunch with friends today.
A trip to the quilt shop and I only bought what I needed for the preschool quilt and for gifts.  No splurging on something I don't really need right now!  (Part of my New Years Resolutions!)

Yeah, well....

So much for keeping resolutions!  I woke up New Years Day with the stomach flu.  Lasted about 3 days -- really bad the first 12 hours.  So, I've spent the rest of this week getting caught up.  Did manage to take down Christmas and put out different quilts for the winter into spring season.  And today I finally made time to sew.

Five more string blocks for Bonnie's mystery.  The last part will be posted tomorrow!  I have 10 more of these blocks to make before I move to the next step though.

Then the other day I got a notice from Bunny Hill that Anne's new block of the month is starting.  So naturally, I checked it out and fell in love, so today I cut my fabrics for the quilt and hopefully tomorrow I can work on the first block.  It's really going to be adorable, check it out!

I also pressed my 168 half square triangles from the exchange last year at Acorn Quilts in Rockford and am sewing them together as leaders/enders while I work on Bonnie's mystery.

Attitudes:  I've been struggling with some decisions lately trying to ease the stress in my life.
Gratitudes:  I think God is kindly showing me the way.

Blessings:
Phone calls from Steve.  Phone calls with Steph, Deb and Kris.
Coffee date with friends.
I got the oil changed in the car in record time this morning!
A visit from Squire -- nice to touch base with he and Cindy.
My neighbor brought my mail to the door -- some was in her box and she picked up the rest that was in mine.

Happy New Year

I am not unhappy to see the end of 2010.  I was pretty happy to see the snow melting in the 50° temps we were experiencing on the 31st.  We had about a foot of snow on the ground from the previous month's many snowfalls and I can surely do without it.  This was a shot from my front porch looking south late in the day when the fog was starting to move back in.

Do you make New Year Resolutions?  I do -- and I even write them down for my own referral.  I won't bore you with most of them, but I do have a few quilty ones.  I want to make more time for sewing -- the past 6 months did not see an abundance of sewing.  I want to try to set aside even 15 minutes a day, but even better, a whole day every week just to sew/quilt.
I'm not going to put a number on projects to finish, but I'd like to get a few of my own tops quilted this year -- I have them waiting with backing, so hopefully I can get one loaded every now and then.  Kris and I started Bonnie's latest mystery and we're both still working on step 3 -- I have 15 more of these string blocks to make.

And yes, I know she'll be posting the borders next week and I did print off part 6 and love the quilt, so will definitely be finishing this one -- at my own pace.
I want to sew/quilt more, but I don't want to make a job of it -- more enjoying, less accomplishing.  It's okay if it takes a few months to finish a quilt.  I hope to do more hand work, maybe even some handquilting.

I hope to post more often on my blog this year -- the goal will be at least 3 times a week.
This will be a year of major changes again, hopefully.  The plan is to put the house on the market; the dream is to actually sell it and buy something smaller.  It would be wonderful to be settled in a new place by the end of the summer.  To that end, I have a few resolutions about getting the house and yard ready - more like a timetable.  I'm a great one for making lists and planning ahead, but I'd really like to worry less about the future and live more in the moment -- that will probably be a real goal to accomplish!

Gratitudes:
Steph and the grandkids came down for a few hours Friday.  We're working on a quilt for Will's preschool auction.  Briana wore her new outfit and jacket that I got her for Christmas -- she says she likes them!
Melting snow.
A brand new year - new calendars (quilt ones, of course), a brand new slate.
A phone call from Steve most days.