I kinda failed.

I got this quilt done first, just a simple grid.

I love when I can just stitch straight lines from corner to corner with no marking. Easy peasy!

The second quilt took more time. Again, no marking, I just stitched curvy lines across, hoping it would seem like wind. I also put some circles in there, like swirls of snow, ha ha.

Then........... I got to the last one. I think I would have gotten it done today, but... the bobbin ran out, and when I wound a new one, the tension was bad. So I wound another one, same problem. So I took the machine apart and dusted out the lint, still off. Then I looked at my list of things to get done, and said phooey! It's more important to get the Christmas quilts done, one of them is getting wrapped up. That ol 'Storm at Sea' quilt can wait a little longer. Meanwhile, I need to go change the cat litter and take the garbage out and wash my hair and do some laundry. Hope you all had a productive weekend, or at least a fun one!!

Sunday morning update.

It's 10:40 am on Sunday and I have two of the three quilts quilted. I also have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to quilt the last one. I think I'm gonna make it!! Right now I'm simmering my oatmeal and making lists. List of eh-vah-ree-thang I need to get done today, grocery list, and list of thangs to get done this week. Wonder if I should put 'bind three quilts' on the list? I don't think I'll commit to that just yet but maybe. Yesterday nothing got done. Mr. Mathis and I went to the Towson U football game and then killed some time in Barnes & Noble before meeting Olivia, her boyfriend Jeff, roomate Jordan, and Jordan's brother Alex, and mother Bonnie for dinner at Red Robin. Had a great time and man you gotta love those RR burgers!! And doesn't that explain why I'm cookin oatmeal right now, hoping to counteract the red meat, bleh. Ok, it's time to eat the oatmeal and get back to work. Enjoy the pictures of the band, Olivia is the one running with the big flag in the back!! One is a Johnny Unitas flag (they are in Unitas stadium) and the other is a Preakness flag. This band is the ONLY university band going to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year! It's a very big deal and they are going to have a great weekend in NY. Make sure you watch the parade, they will be AFTER the Winter Wonderland float and BEFORE the Smurf balloon. They estimate they will be at the NBC cameras for their performance at about 11:43 am EST. Woot woot!! I'll post again later, hopefully with finished quilt pictures. Have a good day!

My goal for the week.

Oh boy do I have a a goal for myself. I want to have all 3 of these quilts quilted by the end of this coming weekend. I got them all sandwiched and pinned on Sunday and decided to 'git er done'! It's now Tuesday morning and I have to leave for work in 1 hour and 15 minutes. I haven't showered, dressed, eaten, or packed my dinner. BUT, I'll have you know that yesterday morning, I got one of these quilts done before I went to work at 3pm. No binding, but that wasn't part of the deal that I made with myself (it wasn't!! I'm serious! I wouldn't lie!!)

I made these two Christmas quilts on retreat last month. I saw the trees pattern in a quilt magazine that came the day before retreat. It was my mother's Quiltmaker magazine and since she was out of town, I swiped it and took it with me. Is that a felony? I gave it back, a little worn but it had all of the pages. I had to make templates for the trees and boy did I whine about it. Just ask my retreat friends. I hate templates, and all I had to make them was paper which was part of the problem. But I like this quilt so much, I want to make another one, maybe in yellow or green. I'm going to make plastic templates first. Hmm, guess I have to borrow that magazine back. This other quilt is a pattern called Couch Potato and boy do I LOVE it. It goes together so quick and easy but it looks a little complex. And it's a great way to showcase a fabric. I'm so glad I saved this great winter scenes fabric for just the right project!!

This last quilt is from a Kim Jallette workshop I took about 2 YEAR's ago. I always wanted to make a Storm at Sea and I had fun using my Kaffe Fassett fabric with it. Oooooh, don't you love the illusion of curves?! So sneaky! I got the inside of the quilt done quickly and then it languished for months and months while I pondered the borders. I agonize over borders some times. I'll have to get a book about borders. I know there's one out there. Anyway, I put the borders on at a retreat over a year ago I think, and then this poor quilt top ended up in the UFO pile. Poor little puddin, but you're about to be set free!! So wish me luck with my GOAL. I now have 50 minutes before I have to leave for work. Rats! But I'm pretty sure I know how I'm going to quilt the second one. I confess that I came up with my idea while I was in a kidney transplant last night. There was nothing for me to do for a while but watch, so I leaned on the cautery machine and daydreamed about quilt patterns. Wonder if I'll have a chance to daydream tonight? I'll keep you posted on my progress.

A Project Linus Quilting Marathon

I had a great day yesterday. I went to a quilting marathon to make quilts for Project Linus. My friend, Pat, organized it. One year ago her daughter and grandson died in a devastating car accident. Her family founded an organization in their memory to raise funds for charities. On this very sad anniversary, dozens of people got together in a local church and sewed up more than 60 quilts for the local Project Linus chapter. Non-sewers were happy to iron and pin and fix food etc. Children played and ate leftover Halloween candy. And dozens of beautiful children's quilts were made. It was a great way to spend a lovely fall day!

Sending Love, Cheer, and Prayers

I like to read a lot of blogs. Some are crafty, some are quilty, and some are inspirational. One blog that I read is Confessions of a CF Husband. It is written by Nathan about his life with Tricia who has cystic fibrosis. They have a beautiful daughter who was born prematurely just before Tricia had a double lung transplant. They live each day with faith, courage, and joy. Through Nathan's blog, I found Eva Markvoort's blog, 65 Red Roses. Eva also has cystic fibrosis and is now waiting for her second lung transplant. She is beautiful, brave, and talented. Eva struggles every day to stay calm and breathe, and while she does, she loves getting mail. Eva has created a wall of love where she displays her cards and mail. So I made her a card. I can't draw so I used fabric, and an easy fusible applique fish. I hope she likes it. Check out her blog and if you feel like it, send her some love for her wall.

Happy Halloween!!!

BOO

Midnight surprises!!

Look what I got!! I came home from work the other night at midnight and found a big envelope waiting for me. A surprise Halloween package from my friend Kathy over at "Lime Green is a Neutral Color". (Try not to notice my old and stained ironing board cover.) I got a Candy corn pincushion, a chocolate, an adorable little Halloween pin, and do you see that little wrapped candy like a taffy? It's FABRIC rolled up and packaged like candy!! Sooooo cute! What an awesome way to end the day! I love you Kathy, Thank you!!

Uh oh!

I know that it's only October but if you like to make some (or all) of your holiday gifts, it's time to Get Busy!! I went on quilt retreat a few weeks ago and decided to try an idea I had, fabric bags that my friends could use as lunch bags. There are tutorials all over crafty blogland for various bags. I pulled ideas from several of them and went for it. I think this is cute. As I was holding it up to show my retreat friends, I saw the FLAW!! Uh oh! Can you see it? Doggone selvage! Yes it's Kaufman fabric.

Wellllll, looks like it's time to consider some embelishing or something. Maybe a ribbon around it with a friend's name on it, or a bow. Anyway, this stumble slowed me down a little but I'm gonna get back on this horse. And I think I will make little covers for freezer packs to put in the bottom of the lunch bags, and maybe velcro or button closures. What do you think? Any ideas to 'salvage the selvage mishap'?

Oatmeal, anyone?

If you haven't tried steel cut oatmeal and you're interested in eating healthy, give it a try! I am. I got through my nightshift on Saturday, we stayed busy which made it go fast. Now I'm sitting here remembering the 'hangover' you get after working all night. It happens two days later. I am sitting here slumped over a cup of coffee and trying to recusitate myself with some healthy oatmeal. I had a checkup over the summer and, boo hoo, my cholesterol should be lower. Soooo, I relegated cheese to Very Special Occasion status, cut out lunchmeat, and have begun making vats of oatmeal. I'm using the Quaker steel cut oats and I add cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins, and fresh cut apples. Very tasty! Of course you can add anything you want to it. Give it a go!

Rainy days are for PJ's

Gray and rainy days make me feel like this. This is my little Rosie in her basket in my sewing room. Now don't go judging me because of the clutter!!

This is how it looks when I'm working (playing) in my space. And I have been working (playing) even though it's almost 6pm and I'm still in my pajamas. BUT, before you go shaking your head and clucking about how lazy that Lisa is, let me just tell you that at 10pm I will be leaving the house (showered and dressed of course) and going to work. All night long! Waaaah! So to make up for missing my pajamas tonite (oh brother! it's getting deep in here, I wear scrubs at work, they are practically PJ's), I thought I'd wear them all day. I may take some handwork just in case it's quiet at work but gosh I'm afraid that will jinx it. Did you know that nurses are superstitious? We are. We never say out loud how quiet it is. And several places that I've worked, it is forbidden to erase that last patient off the board. It all works too. You won't convince us otherwise. Wish me luck tonight. G'nite!

How DID she do that?

OK! Go find a paperback book, size doesn't matter (we're talking about books people!) but the more pages, the fuller the finished jack-o-lantern. Open the book, fan the pages, and pull the covers together. It's a good thing to bend and fold and loosen up Mr. Spine (I like giving the book a little bit of an identity). Now that you have shown Mr. Book and Mr. Spine who is boss, the folding begins. Start with the covers and fold the outside edges all the way in to Mr. Spine and crease them in half. I like to fold the covers with the outside in so that the lighter side will show on the crease.

It doesn't hurt to use a little tape to hold the covers in their folded position. Now just keep folding all of the pages the same way, outside edge in to Mr. Spine.
As you go along, you will see that the book will stand on it's own.

When all of the pages are folded, you may need to bend and fan the pages a little to even it out. Then it's time to decorate. I used fabric backed with some interfacing to stiffen it. A little glue gun action and you're ready to say 'BOO!'. You could also use heavy paper or cardstock, etc. Whatever floats your boat.

You can also try different ways of folding the pages for slightly different shapes. Try folding the top outer corner in to the spine (oops, I mean Mr. Spine).

And I have an idea that if I fold the top outer corner in, then the bottom outer corner in, I might end up with a Christmas ornament shape. Hmmm, I'm glad I have so many paperbacks around the house. I am getting visions of glitter, ribbons, beads, hangers, sequins, and all sorts of 'whatnot'. Have some fun and see what happens.

TGIF everybody!!!

ps - no books were harmed in the making of this post. If you get bored some rainy day, make some tea, get comfy, unfold some pages, and start reading!

It's October!!!

How cute are these dudes?! Too bad I have to go to work now (u know, the whole nursing thing) you'll have to wait until tomorrow to learn how to make them. Let me give you a hint: it's so easy that you can probably figure it out from the picture. Have a great day!

This pink Heather Ross fabric started it! I wanted to show it off in a star block. then I got a little scrappy....... and made more scrappy stars.......... and thought I'd throw in some applique flower blocks. But................................................

I just couldn't resist this caterpillar!

The applique blocks are from a book by Kim Schaefer called Flower Festival. I can't wait to use it again, it has a great spider block and also a bumble bee! Too cute!

I love the look of bright and scrappy fabrics on a white background. Definitely not the last time I'll be playing with such cheerful fabrics. My quilty friends insisted I enter this quilt in the state fair. I said 'no' then reluctantly 'ok', and it won THIRD PLACE plus a Finishing Touch award!! Go figure.

Oh boy! I did it!

I made a blog, woo hoo! I decided it was time that I did more than just read other people's blogs, and I've signed up for a great quilt-along at Don't Look Now. When I signed up, I needed to do the 'mr linky' thing and it seemed to be easier if I had a blog. I have been a pediatric nurse for 30 years and have been quilting for 10 years. (psst! I'd rather quilt every day in my pajamas then go to my paying job.) I live just north of Baltimore, Maryland with my husband and best friend, and have 2 great kids who are in college. As soon as I figure all of this computer stuff out, I'll post some pictures and links to some of my favorite blogs. Have a great day!