Borders are on....

The borders are now on my One Hour quilt and I'm pleased with how it turned out. It will make a wonderful Christmas gift for someone!

My husband is still away and checked my blog last night. This morning he told me I should update it because I hadn't done so since Saturday. So, here are two posts in one day...

We're in the midst of severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches, guess I should sign off the computer!

Sunflower Top

I finished the borders on my sunflower quilt this morning and wanted to share. Next on the list is the borders on Judy's One Hour quilt and then I'll probably take a short break from piecing to do some quilting!

Another Adventure

Yesterday we took off on another adventure...we headed out to Long Beach Island, the Jersey shore! Now, the shore is another place that I didn't really like. When I was younger, we would get in the car, drive to the shore, find a place to park, walk to the overcrowded beach or boardwalk, fight for a spot, watch for the beach tag checkers and then head home, all sandy and sunburned. Not my idea of a good time!

Well, yesterday we went to visit the teacher I worked with last year...and had a wonderful time! What a difference it makes when you're on a quiet, uncrowded beach with no boardwalk and a place to wash up and eat before you make that drive home. Sitting on the beach and listening to the ocean (instead of people yelling at their kids!) made me the most relaxed I've been in ages. Although, I did manage to get rather sunburned. The kids had a wonderful time and it was great to catch up with my friends.

Today I'm back to working on my churn dash quilt, which I've discovered isn't a churn dash quilt at all, but a shoo fly quilt! :o) Did a search on Blockbase and found my error. I'm putting the setting triangles on the ends of the rows and hope to have it together tonight and bordered by tomorrow. Once that's all done, I'll post a picture. For now I'll just enjoy the view of the ocean...on my computer!

Taking a Break...

Today I've taken a break from the sewing machine, but it wasn't until AFTER I finished all the churn dashes for my new quilt. This evening I plan to cut the alternate squares and get going on piecing the rows. This morning I took my daughters and one of my older daughter's friends into Philadelphia. This was a huge accomplishment for me. I'm not comfortable in the city, although over the past few months, as we've gone there more often, I'm getting better. Except for a few times between high school and college (I worked at a hotel in Philly as a temp then, and went in under great duress!), I've NEVER gone into the city by myself. Now, I know that Philly is not nearly as imposing as New York City (you should have seen the wreck I was when I had to go there myself! Hail a cab??? I had to have a native do it for me!), but to me a city is a city. They're all intimidating.

So, today we headed to the Speedline Station and got on the train to go to 8th and Market Streets. We came out of the train station and walked over to the stop for the Philly Phlash, which is a trolley which takes you to various points around the city. We took that to the Rodin Museum (second picture). After going through the museum (which is small, but so interesting!) I went out front to take a picture of "The Thinker", his famous statue. Of course, the trolley was getting ready to leave, so I didn't get the picture, just got on the trolley.

We took the trolley to Christ Church, which is the oldest Episcopal Church in the country and was the seat of the Episcopal religion in the colonies and as the country grew.

It was our national cathedral until they built THE National Cathedral in Washington DC. After hearing a little of the history, we wandered through the church and grounds. The we walked up Market Street to the Bourse building for lunch. From there we walked past Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and made it back to the train station to head home. I was so proud of myself for overcoming my fears (which my family just laughs at!) and going into the city with the girls...it was such fun.

I had such a good time that my youngest and I are thinking about taking the train to the city, then the trolley to the Art Museum where we can pick up a trolley to the Philadelphia Zoo. We both want to see the new big cat exhibit...maybe next week!

Next Project

I spent about an hour yesterday looking through magazines, trying to find a quilt that I liked enough to use these fabrics with. What did I find? That I really liked Judy's churn dash center and wanted to make a churn dash quilt! So, the cutting began and now I'm working much more in my comfort zone, all those pastels were just not me! That's why I'm trying to use them up!

I will have churn dash blocks in the 5 colors you see in the picture. I have the burgundy ones finished (and they're much darker than they look in the picture!) They will be set on point with the gold fabric you see under them, then the sunflowers will be the border.

But for right now, I think I'll take a break from my machine. I've been sewing for several hours each day since Monday, I probably should go straighten the house, fold my laundry...or at least make a cup of tea and go read for awhile!

Almost there

But I'm not going to get any further on this quilt for a few days. One of the problems with not having a stash that includes yardage, is that when it's time for borders, there isn't enough of anything! So, I got the whole top together up to the white border. I've decided that this will be a gift and needs blue borders...of course I don't have enough blue to make a border! So, I've ordered 2 yards of each of these fabrics from one of Judy's favorite places...Big Horn Quilts. Hopefully they'll arrive sometime this week and I can get this finished and quilted before November. So, what to work on next???

Making Progress

Today I got all the blocks made and the sashing done on the first two rows. The second two are sashed between the blocks and need to be sashed and cornerstoned. (Cornerstoned? Can that be done? Will it hurt?)

Somehow I managed to have an empty house tonight...both girls are sleeping at friends' houses. It's awfully quiet and peaceful here! :o)

I think I'll get up early and do more sewing!

Thursday evening

I didn't get as many blocks finished as I had hoped today, but got a few in between the orthodontist, exterminator, chiropractor and sneaker shopping. So, this is what I have done and I have lots of strip sets ready to be cut for the borders of the rest of the blocks. I've just hit a point where I keep making little mistakes...and since the next step is rotary cutting, a "little mistake" could mean a trip to the emergency room! :o)

It's definitely time to curl up in bed with a good book...my computer sits on a bookshelf and as I was writing this, one of the shelves fell out and all the books and DVDs fell on my feet. Something is telling me to say good night!

Hour Quilt Progress

I've discovered the problem with this quilt is that I can't stop working after an hour! My churn dashes are all done and I've cut 2" strips to use in making the frames around them. I may start sewing strips together and get one block done before I head to bed.

Thanks for all your well wishes on the root canal. The endodontist is a master...he did the job quickly and except for a little achiness, it really doesn't hurt. At least, not yet! The hardest part really was writing the check to pay for it. :o)

Judy, thanks so much for sharing this pattern with us. I hope everyone is having as much fun as I am!

Cathedral Windows

I thought I'd share the baby Cathedral Windows quilt I'm working on. This is as far as I've gotten, but I have lots more squares cut so I can continue working on this as time permits.

I've made some progress on Judy's quilt. My HST's are made and pressed and I'm working on trimming them. I have to start pulling fabrics for the little squares around the block...hope to work on that tomorrow morning.

I helped my son move into his house at college today. The previous tenants left it absolutely filthy and the landlord didn't have it cleaned. Another mom spent yesterday and today cleaning the upstairs and her daughter cleaned the living room today. My son's room is actually the dining room of this old house, so it's a good size and we were able to get it somewhat clean and set up so he was happy. Now they need to put a door on it so he can have some privacy!

Tomorrow I'll be doing a little cleaning (very little!), sewing and having another root canal. Do I know how to have fun???

One down...

Yesterday, once I did some reorganizing in my sewing room, I put together the blocks for this quilt, added the borders and quilted most of it. This morning I finished it up and I just finished trimming it and making the binding. I'll get the binding on tonight and hopefully within the next few days it will be finished...it is the ONLY quilt that I plan to make for Christmas, although since it will be done early, I may just make another!

My DH flew off to Alaska and Seattle for 3 weeks yesterday, so I have every intention of spending a lot of time in my sewing room in the next few weeks. As soon as the binding is on this one, I plan to pull fabrics for Judy's quilt. I'm thinking florals for the centers and soft tone on tones for the squares surrounding the center. It would make a lovely Christmas gift for my daughter's Godmother.

I also quilted a large, flannel quilt for a customer and tomorrow will do a smaller one, as well as take my son his bed and some other things...he moves into the house he will be renting for the remainder of his college days (we hope he won't have to move again!). Should be a busy day...I'm already thinking I'll be 2 days behind on Judy's quilt! A UFO before it even begins....

I'm back!

Just briefly though! I had a wonderful visit with my friend, Mary. She played right along with the group for Canoe Carnival (that's our float in the picture...the float was called "Shock the Monkey" and the banana in the center pulled a lever and gave the monkey on the Empire State building a shock every time the words "shock the monkey" came up in the Peter Gabriel song). Once Carnival was over we did some traveling around the area. We went to Lancaster, PA for some quilt shopping, did an evening tour of historic Philadelphia and even took a ride to Liberty State Park where we caught the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately, she got caught in the whole airport debacle yesterday. We dropped her off at 2:45 yesterday for a 4:55 flight. She was through security by 3:15, but at 10 last night she was still sitting on the tarmac, waiting to take off! She finally landed at about 1:15 our time, 12:15 Houston time.

I enjoyed her visit so much and she taught me how to make a Cathedral Windows quilt! That will be a long time in the making!

I've missed all of you, it was great to finally catch up with what everyone was doing. Ten days without reading blogs left me with a lot to read!

Vacation

I've tried to post a few times this week, but blogger is not cooperating. Just wanted to let you know I'm taking an "at home" vacation until August 10th. A dear friend flew in yesterday from Houston and will be here until then. We'll be busy at the lake with Canoe Carnival, day trips and the like and will probably not be at the computer much. We're off to my favorite quilt shop this morning!

Enjoy your week, see you on the 10th!