TILDE TOPIC - THREAD revisited

[Frances L.]

LIFE's interference for me is that my darling 16 month old grandson and his momma moved back home into the empty nest . In one swoop I lost my sewing areas ( The dining room table was my sewing room but we went back to having family meals at a real table instead of in front of the TV on fold out tables. ) My sewing machines are put away most of the time cause SHORTY loves to play with the button and dials. I also lost my computer room in that the baby sleeps in there. When he is up and running I am the doting NONNIE ... he keeps me busy and I would not have it any other way.

My goal at the beginning of the year was to finsh my UFOs. QUILTS I had started gotten halfway done then got seduced by other projects. I am still working on those. I have even finished a few of them.

I am posting my current list and what needs to be finished on them so that I can make a commitment to getting them finished:

TODAY's Current Project ... IRISH CHAIN ... TAKE 5 pattern. I love the blocks but the purchased pattern / directions itself was defective and I put it away in frustration. I am now working on it with the help of a friend. I want to finish it for my DD new bedroom.



UFO'S... (or as my GF calls them... Quilts in the DESIGN STAGE. )



Nee Nee's ... toddler size... CARD TRICK quilt just needs a binding.... I really need to finish that this weekend as he needs it.

MY STAIN GLASS in SUNSHINE 80 blocks made need to sash and put together.

GIBLETS AND GRAVY BLOCKS.. (AKA FACHITITA BLOCKS.)..... need to sash and put together... the blocks made by my DD when she was depressed but with classes beginning soon she does not have time to finish the quilts. She just likes making block after block in a random fashion.

FARM PANEL - toddler quilt I quilted myself.. need to finish the border quilting and bind the quilt.

I have SIX more projects from my B.O.M. clubs in progress but I will work on them next year when my B.O.M. are finished. Anyone else finishing their UFOs.

Your current life style so mirrors mine. Grand daughter and daughter moved in in December. Life has been rearranged to say the least. I try to find moments to sew. HAHA. I do have the machine on the dining room table and I am working on some projects with the day care children. I can at least sew a bit a day.

[Frances L.]

Girls, girls, I am living the same life. Rewards are here now. Daughter with two kids moved in 12 or 15 years ago. Cant't remember. I gave her the three bedrooms upstairs and the kitchen with the living room.
There was a small room on the first floor that was my bedroom. I had the dining room for my self that I made into a living room for me. Had the house deleaded and made the purch into a kitchen at that time. Just last year put in a second bathroom.
After all these years Juston is in his 3 year at Bridgewater and Lindsey is going to Univ of Maine this August. I am divorced and could only do this becouse I have a old farmhouse with some room to share. Did not do much quilting but what I did do was in my purch/kitchen.
We have come a long way, but worth it so many ways.The kids are just great .Rina

[Frances L.]

Got three logs sewn onto my Friday quilt. And I got to take a safety pin off. Each block that needs some logs replaced has a safety pin in the center of the block. Each time I get done with a block, I get to take the pin out. There are 36 blocks in the quilt. I still have some to do, but most of the blocks only have one or two fabrics that need to be replaced.
Frances in Austin where it is hot! Got a few sprinkles last night though.

[Frances L.]

I did some machine embroidery today, and fixed a label on a quilt that is all but finished. Need to finish sewing the binding down. Its glued...Sharon Shambur method. Does that count? Sandi in FL

[Frances L.]

I picked the fabrics for the August BOM. I also worked on a Dear Jane block. I am also trying to straightened out a panel for the second quicky quilt that I am making. The panel does not look like it was printed on the straight of grain, which I did not find out till after I pre washed the fabrics for the quilt, I hope I can get it to come out straight.
Margarita in Auburn, CA

[Frances L.]

What a great thread! Certainly pushes you along a little.

We came home from Portugal very late on Thursday to a bit of a night mare. Though we'd put all our animals (2 dogs, 3 cats (chicken was looked after by neighbour)) into kennels, the village cat managed to get into the house through the cat flaps. (He rules the village. When he sits on your lap in the pub, feel grateful and don't wince as his claws dig in. He sleeps in the middle of the road stopping all comers and frightening the unsuspecting.) We had the cat flaps on Lock In only so we could capture our cats to go to the kennels.

Well we figured by the amount of poos that he had been stuck in for the best part of 10 days. The door to the main part of the house was closed, luckily, so that left the bedrooms and bathrooms including upstairs where I sew. Downstairs we have oak floors, upstairs we had carpeted 6 weeks ago. He chose upstairs. And my sewing room.

Now I'm going to be thankful.

My stash is mostly in drawers and out of the way.
He was a very neat pooer and peed on a couple of bags, but it seeped off so I know where to avoid treading.
He didn't have food but he did have water from the toilet bowls, this time away I didn't put bleach down them for some reason like I usually do when we leave.
He was still alive.
We weren't burgled.
The house wasn't burnt down.
We have insurance and a new carpet is a small price to pay.

The smell is lessening and I actually managed to go up there last night to do some beading on a Rose Hughes quilt and it was OK. Not great, I know it's all still there seeped under into the underlay and my teeth grind at the annoyance of it all but I have quite a list to be thankful for.

As for other projects... I have a Storm at Sea on the design wall with about a third of the blocks pieced. The Rose Hughes is not too far from completion. I have a small landscape to finish from a workshop I went too just before we left. An appliquéd cushion panel is in the quilting stage and I have 3 more tapestry ones that need backing. I also have a couple of Temari to finish but I can do them in the car.

I think that's all I have 'live' at the moment. Plenty going on in my head though. The garden is rampant in the wet and warm and my pastels glower at me every time I walk past the easel AND of course, the upheaval of having another carpet laid in my sewing room... :roll: It will be tidy when they have finished though. :wink:

And today is my birthday so I can do as I please, OH is cooking rib roast so I might just go and shop online a little. :wink:

[Frances L.]

Oh my goodness, what a horror to come home to. Glad the cat is ok, sorry the carpet is not. Sandi in FL

[Frances L.]

Happy belated birthday, Amo! What a naughty cat! I''m sure no one in the village missed him during the time he was imprisoned in your home!

Maggie in E. central Illinois

[Karen M.]

I can only imagine the damage a stressed out cat can do to a room or two when it is locked in like that. I think your list of good things helped to sooth the shock of it all. I.m glad it turned out okay. Happy Birthday and I hope you shopped for something good.

[Karen M.]

Cat 1, Carpet 0. That being said, I hope you enjoyed your trip. And rib roast sounds lovely. Happy Birthday, Amo.

Today, I am going to sandwich my convergence and plan to break in my new Super Slider that I got at the show. Wish me luck!

[Frances L.]

Today I took the two quilts that I basted last weekend and did the first in the ditch quilting. They are 6x6, 6.5 inch squares. I stitched in the ditch along each row and column and around the edges. I even buried all my thread ends already.
Friday at bee I we were talking about what we do when we can't sleep. I usually read, but we were talking about sewing. Well, Friday night I couldn't sleep so I went up to my sewing room and started cleaning. I can't find the thread I bought in Houston for embroidering on my Rosary quilt. Well I spent close to two hours cleaning and couldn't find it. I found another thing I needed for the quilt that I probably looked past 3 or 4 times. So yesterday I went to my LQS and bought another spool of the same thread as well as the thread that I used today.
Frances in Austin where July was the hottest July on record

[Frances L.]

Thanks for the birthday wishes. It was a good day and the roast was yummy! What better to have on an English, August summers day, something warm and filling! :roll:

I've finished the beading of the Rose Huges and will be doing the sleeve later today. OH has told me it's going up on the wall. :shock: He also said he can't wait for me to do a full size for our bed. :shock: :shock: Bless him.

The shopping didn't produce much but my fingers are itching about a Grace Pro. As I haven't actually produced anything too big yet I'm wondering if it's too much and perhaps the Little Gracie would be better. I hate not having the right kit though and if I did do a King Size, it wouldn't fit the Little Gracie. Oh the dilemma! I will be looking into this further.

Housework today and a sneak up to sort the sewing room and next set of projects. I have an applique lily in mind and an itch the do some Jennie Rayment tucking!

[Frances L.]

I fully intended on spending yesterday holed up in my sewing room doing the August BOM, and some friendship stars for a comfort quilt for a guild member who is dying of cancer. But I spent way too much time on the computer, then reading the Sunday papers. Then ended up baking a cherry and a blueberry pie (from scratch, of course) to take to friends' home for supper when they invited us for steak and lobster! (They had just returned from vacationing in Maine).

Maggie in E. Central Illinois

[Frances L.]

Oo dinner sounds lovely Maggie, I'll be over sometime. :wink: And aren't computers horrible at time eating!! Couldn't live without one though. :roll:

The carpet has gone!!! Yay!! The Grace Pro arrived!! Yay!! OH is fiddling in the garage and I'll have to wait to put it together! Boo. Mind you I have nothing to quilt on it as yet. Something I'm working on.

The Rose Hughes was completed and is in the profile, I'm re hand quilting a little panel I've been doing as the stitches didn't show and I have had some quilting books arrive (Luuurve Amazon next day delivery) so will be absorbing ideas for the attack on the Grace.

[Frances L.]

time to put the last 3 " border on both memory quilts, and get to quilting... also figure out what to do with empbriodery patches from shirts. thinking of using them as part of the label. I also need to sneek in this pillow material that was her favorite bed pillows. probably also somewhere on the back. They aren't good applique material and don't go with the design she picked out for the front... Wish me luck, Cheryl