Rainy Days and Mondays

. . . don't always get me down,I like rainy days and I like Mondays so I am ready to start a great new week.

I have not posted my design wall lately but let me assure you it has not changed much. I did take a picture last week and this is how it looked. All the blocks are complete and laid out in an orderly manner.

I also took one this morning and this is the current look. The pickle blocks are now arranged and ready to sew which I will do today at my lunch bunch quilting group.
I worked on half square triangles for a long time. I got the flu in the middle of making them and I would sew for a while and then go lay down for a while. I was able to complete all of the pinwheels and the blocks with this method. Getting the swine flu may not top every ones list of fun things to do but I didn't feel too bad and I stayed home a lot and sewed.

In the past 3 weeks I also completed a doll quilt, worked on the quilting of Double Delight, finished a store sample for a quilt class, made 2 Boolicious skirts and I have been working on making my scrap pile more manageable - it has been a scary mess, now it is not quite so scary. I use Bonnie Hunters scrap users system so I have been cutting everything into usable strips. I have several scrap projects under construction at this time, I work on them when the mood strikes, someday they will be done but I don't stress about it.

Happy Monday everyone and I hope the rain keeps coming, it really feels like fall around here.

One Dark Night

Last night after my husband went to bed I let the dog out for one last time. I was checking my computer and she started barking and jumping at the fence. I do not like checking out scary things but my husband had to get up early so I did not want to disturb him. I went out to investigate. Missy kept jumping at the fence and frantically barking, she would not stop no matter what I did and I did not want to get too close because I did not know what the problem was.

I stepped as close as I dared and realized that there was a big possum on the top of the fence. It wasn't moving just balanced there. I thought there must be something wrong with it since it didn't just jump down the other side but then I realized it was doing what it does best - playing possum.

Now I had to figure out how to get the dog to stop barking and come in the house. I thought of spraying a hose at both of them but I couldn't get one easily. I got the broom to try and push the dog towards the house but I did not want to get too close to the fence so that didn't work. I finally thought of the camera. Our dog hates the camera and she will leave the room whenever we get one out so I left the door open a little bit and took a picture and she put her tail between her legs and ran into the house - problem solved!

A goal completed

Last week I decided I wanted to get the 24 curved blocks done by the weekend and on Saturday night I finished the last one.Then I counted them and there were 23 -what! I know I had 24 arcs and I didn't have any unfinished arcs, did I count wrong? Now you have to know I always count more than once I am a bit obsessive that way. I looked on the floor below the design wall, no block, then I started to be annoyed because I had been on a roll with the blocks and to just do one would take a long time so I looked around some more and I found it tucked in a pile I had removed from the ironing board to make space a few days ago. So there are 24 blocks each now needing 5 little pinwheels (that's 120 by the way)- probably won't happen this week.

Warning - Curves Ahead

I have been sewing curved patchwork seams a lot this week. My Christmas Pickle quilt is coming along nicely. Each block has 5 curved seam and I had never done one until the class I took 2 weeks ago.

All of the teachers I have ever seen on TV and in books and magazines rave about how easy the curves are and that they can do them with 3 pins or 1 pin or no pins. In class we were taught the 3 pin method and I did that for my first few curves but then I decided to try more pins and you know what? I like pinning - there I admitted it in public - I am using lots of pins.

At first I thought there was something wrong with me but then I realized that I was much faster with the pins than without and I decided that if I was okay with pins then there was nothing wrong with me. I am a pinner - I like my pins so I will continue to use them and it is okay if you use them too.

My blocks are coming out well, so far 4 are completely done but many others are very close to the finish line. I am trying to finish the blocks this week before I have to move on to some other time sensitive projects.

It's Another Design Wall Monday

Since I have been off the grid for a month or so I decided I had better get back to quilting and blogging. I went to Southern California for 3 weeks to spend time with my daughter and her 2 little girls, I had a wonderful visit and it was very hard to get back into life at home. Of course having visitors arrive the very next week put me further behind on my quilting.
I was able to take a guild sponsored workshop with Linda Milligan and Nancy Smith. They were teaching paper and curved piecing in the Christmas Pickle quilt so that is what I am working on and have on my design wall today.


I don't usually make a pattern in the same color as the original but this one is a fun and I have lots of greens. I am really practicing my curves. I have completed all 24 paper pieced arcs and I am in the process of adding the five curved pieces that are in each block. Then I only have 120 pinwheel units to go!

Design Wall Monday

This Design Wall Monday thing is great for forcing me to get something done so I can put up something new. I have actually been working on this a bit at a time. When I went on retreat a few weeks ago one of the other ladies was putting together a half log cabin scrap quilt. She was pretty tired of making the blocks and I was collecting scraps so she gave me the leftovers. When I got home I decided to put them together and I will be giving the top back to her so that she can donate it with the one she made.

Liberty for All

We live in such a great country. I just got home from our annual Fourth of July breakfast and flag raising at church. This is always one of my favorite activities but this year they added a tribute to those in our congregation who had or are serving in the military and that made it extra special.


The Boy Scouts did the flag ceremony and when the flag is flying with the church steeple in the background it really makes me realize just how lucky we are to live here and enjoy the freedoms that we have.

Now I will start sewing and watch 1776 - another reminder of what our forefathers did for us. I hope everyone has a great day and takes a moment to think about our blessings.