Turning 65

So it has been awhile since I last posted.  A lot has been happening, and posting for some reason was not a priority.  So I chose today, my 65th birthday to get back in the swing of things and start posting again.  I guess I want those who follow me to know that I am NOT sitting around all day watching TV since my retirement in early December 2018.  True confession that I have been watching some TLC shows On Demand these days, but limit myself to one or two shows a day.

For those of you who are approaching retirement age and starting on Medicare......my pain is with you!  I am going back and forth with Medicare and my endocrinologist to try and figure out what brand of diabetes supplies are covered for FREE.  Doctor said to reach out to Medicare, and Medicare tells me the doctor need to call the Medicare Provider Line to find out.  The prescription is now at CVS with costs on all the items.  UGH!  What to do next?

My physical was scheduled the first week of May when Medicare went in to affect.  No proble7m at all here, however don't be surprised when you first go to your family doctor once on Medicare, they do all kinds of things!  An eye exam, EKG, and a memory test that I thought I was going to fail!  My EKG showed "irregularity" compared to one I had done 13 years ago.  With heart disease and heart attacks that were cause of death for both my parents, my doctor wanted a stress test done.

For three hours I was given an injection, waited, got a picture taken of the heart, waited, walked the treadmill faster than I even thought possible, got an injection, waited, and had a final picture taken before I could leave.  Relieved that the results came back normal.

Finally my doctor prescribed and xray and PT for a very sore shoulder I finally complained about.  Results came back that I have tendonitis and will be going to PT three times a week for 4-6 weeks!  WHEW!  Glad I am retired and can get there early in the morning to follow a very tough regime of exercises and manipulation.

So with several medical issues, the pain of the shoulder situation, I haven't been doing any sewing on my quilt.  With the 12th D & D Event June 1st, plans to return to quilting will now wait until the event is over.  I have been working on samples for a new card class and the last of the sampler class for the summer frame.

Quiet celebration for my birthday which is fine with me.  My fantastic husband surprised me a few weeks ago, telling me he wanted to take me to the Phillies game for my birthday.  We finally found seats for the June 23rd game.  Thanks boy!  I am so excited to count the days down until we go!

So even though crafting is at a minimum right now, I leave you with this cartoon!

Time Flies By......

Another week and weekend is behind us and I am still trying to get back in to the groove.  I no sooner got back from the Stampin' Up! On Stage Event in Atlantic City that we had our entire house painted. They started Tuesday morning and were here almost every day until 5 PM, finishing around noon on Friday.  Once they left, it was clean up and organization time for me!  I am still finding paint dust and paint "chitlins" here and there, but it was well worth the expense and time to have this done professionally.

We had a nice relaxing Easter weekend, enjoy a delicious dinner with my sister and her family,  Quiet, but so nice to catch up!  It was back to work yesterday for The Boy, and I am still trying to get back in to the crafting groove as I want to finish my king size quilt top!  BUT......Thursday afternoon I leave for a weekend retreat to scrap the rest of the week.  Looking forward to finishing up some projects and enjoying some good friends!  When I return, the plan is to spend next week working on finishing the quilt top so it can be sent to a long armer to quilt.

Had to share this today😃

Happy Crafting!

Weekend Wrap Up

Since I was missing in action for the last few days, a wrap up is in store!
Thursday night my sister arrived from Chesapeake, VA for a visit and to attend the Stampin' Up! On Stage Convention.  She could have attended her local on in Charlotte, but came up to Pennsylvania to attend my local one in of all places...…..drum roll please!

 On Friday morning, the other "D" in D & D Papercrafts, Deb drove all of us over to Harrah's Resort Casino where the event was held.  If course after lunch, we had to get our picture taken in front of the convention rooms.

 Saturday morning was an early wake up call so we could check out of the hotel room and take our luggage to the car.  This crowd greeted us as we entered the convention area.

When you get 700 ladies in one area, especially Stampin' Up! Demonstrators, this is what it looks like trying to figure out what line to get in to in order to register.  It was nice to chat with other demonstrators to see how far they have come to the event.  Quite a few came to Atlantic City even though they had events closer to their homes.  Wonder why????  Hint:  the casinos were busy!

It was a day introducing the new catalog with a wide array of demonstrators presenting the new products in the catalog.  It was exciting to see some of them and of course I am sharing my favorite! The Come Sail Away Suite!

Anxious to order this suite later today, since until tomorrow as an attendee at this event, we can preorder certain items.  Be on the look out for an upcoming class as well as a mini book and summer sampler made featuring these items.  In the suite is the stamp set, dies, designer paper, Memories and More cards, bakers twine and trinkets!  I am SO excited!

For most people, the highlight of the day is the HUGE amount of FREE product we received!

Check it out!

Here is what I received, a value of $150, not including the bag or catalog, more than what the registration for the event cost!  It was a super fun day, spent with my sister and friend, and the new friends I made through out the day!  Looking forward to attending another one soon!  So glad for my sister who encouraged me to go, and even came up here to attend with me for my first time.

First Pass

So an hour later, here is the first pass of sorting my 13" blocks for my king size quilt top.  It was a good day to work on it since it is laundry day and as the sheets are in the dryer I took the time to try and arrange the assorted squares.  It sure is challenging to make sure that the bright purples are spread our among the other more muted blue tones in this quilt.  As an afterthought I am thinking one of my next quilts will have all the blocks made with the same fabrics.  Sure would be easier now as the sheets are dried and I want to re-make the bed.🌝

I am so disappointed that this photo does not do jsutice to the colors in this quilt.  Even the photo on my phone shows how vibrant and bright some of the purples and even blues are among the gray background.  Oh well, once it is complete I hope to get a better photo to share.

Off to take another look at the top to make sure all the blocks are where I want them before I number then in preparation for adding the sashing, cornerstones and borders!  And I thought I was almost done!

Happy Crafting!

It's A Quilting catch Up Day!

All weekend long I had plans to catch up on my 52 blocks in 52 weeks quilt.  Mainly because it was suppose to rain today.  Well, right now the sun is out with temperatures expected to rise to almost 80 degrees!

It isn't even 8 AM yet and most of the laundry is completed and put away, so out comes the fabric, sewing machine is plugged in and as soon as I hit "publish" on this post I will start sewing.  I have three blocks cut out and a fourth to prepare and make before this weeks comes out tomorrow.  Making the commitment TODAY to finally lay out the quilt blocks that are completed for my king size quilt so I can start adding the sashing and borders in anticipation of sending it to the long arm company for machine quilting.

On another note, there is only ONE seat available for the June 1st D & D Papercraft Event.  So exciting that we have a great list of individuals that keep registering and helping us to sell out of our events!  Thanks to each and every one of you!

Happy Crafting!

Chores, Chores & More Chores

Been a non-crafting week for me for the most part.
Once all of the tools, food and miscellaneous items that I unpacked and were put away, I was exhausted!  I also wasn't in the mood to sew at all for some reason.  Probably because we decided on a painter and will be having the entire inside of our house painted in a few weeks.  They move all of the furniture, but I want to make sure my morning where I have all of my crafts is neat and ready to be moved.  Maybe this afternoon I will pull out the quilt blocks I need to catch up on for the 52 blocks in 52 week quilt.  Should be easy enough to pick up and put away when need be.

The weekend will be busy with a doctors appointment tomorrow AM, a family visit and hopefully watching some baseball games.  In between I need to prepare for Stampin Up's On Stage the end of next week in Atlantic City and the arrival of my sister from Chesapeake, VA.  So today is finishing the cleaning and getting ready!  I love having company!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Happy Crafting!

Craft Withdrawal

Last week ended crazy busy since the 11th D & D Papercraft Event was scheduled for Saturday March 30th.  A friend and I host this 12 hour event for all types of crafters at the clubhouse in my 55+ development.  Friday ended up being a tiring day as I spent over two hours setting up the space, hauling all of the food and my tools over to the room and grocery shopping.  Oh yea, I also had to prep the food for lunch (Beef Barbecue Sandwiches) and dinner (Crockpot Chicken Marsala)

All in all it was a fun day for 24 people as they spent the day crafting away!  They did a great job as well eating all of the food I prepared, so left overs were a minimum.  Over half of them signed up for our next event June 1st, so that was good news for us!

The rest of the weekend was spent putting away all of the supplies and tools from the event!  Oh, and I found a few minutes to put the last dozen or so pieces in to the puzzle I was working on!

Sunday after the boy and I went to the gym to work out, I picked up another new puzzle to work on.😁

Happy Crafting!

Hump Day Sunshine

It looks to be another gorgeous spring day, chilly to start, but as the sun rises, I anticipate a walk in my future today!  One of the things I promised myself I would do in retirement was to exercise more.  I always used the "I don't have time" or "I am too tired" after working to fit in any kind of exercise.  I know I could have found the time, but the "excuses" out weighed me actually finding the time.  Now I have NO MORE excuses!  I just need to DO IT and make it a habit, just like fitting in all my crafting!

Today I plan to catch up on the three quilt blocks I am behind in the 52 quilt blocks in 52 weeks challenge.  First to cut out all of the pieces and hope to have them completely sewed together by lunch time.  One is fairly simple, but two of them have quite a few small pieces seeing that the finished block is only 6 inches!

I have been spending some of my time working on another 1000 piece puzzle.  This one seems to be on the easier side.  It is a LONG and NARROW puzzle, all of billboards for movies.  Pieces are very small, but seem to make decent progress every time I sit down to work on it.

Here is a photo of it as I started it.  The puzzle is so wide that the photo on the front of the box is NOT the entire puzzle!  It was confusing at first as I was trying to put the border together until I realize that another paper was included in the box, which folded out to show all of the billboards.

Happy Crtafting!

Day of Errands

Today is a day of appointments and running errands.  Even though I am retired and have few commitments during the day, I still try to combine errands and appointments as much as I can.  It is nice to know doing this helps with the cost of gas, but allows me full days to work on my crafts.  I am one of those people that likes to craft in bigger chunks of time, rather than pick it up for thirty minutes here and there.

Friday I completed the last of the 13" quilt blocks for my king size quilt.  All 36 are pressed and ready to be squared.  Plan to work in squaring them tomorrow and laying them out on our bed to figure out a design.  There only a few squares that are the same, so I need to make sure they are not near each other before I add the sashing and cornerstones.

It is a busy week with one getting the final preparations completed, food prepped and packing of all of the supplies for the 11th D & D Papercraft Event that will be held in our community clubhouse for 24 women this Saturday.  Hope to get some quilting done, most likely getting caught up on the blocks I am behind on my 52 blocks in 52 weeks project.

Friday I also finished the puzzle I was working on and yesterday I picked up another one to work on.  I already have about half of the border pieces completed.  Not sure about this one quite yet...…….
1000 pieces as usually but they are REALLY small pieces.

Here is another cute cartoon for your enjoyment today as I finish up my post and head out to start my errands.

Happy Crafting!

Counting Down from NINE!

Nine quilt blocks to put together for the king size quilt I am working on.  Decided to catch up on the 52 blocks in 52 weeks quilt until I have the blocks done for the king size quilt.  Mostly because I have them all over our kitchen prepped to put together.  Barring anything out of the ordinary, I should have these nine blocks completed by early next week.

Eight days until the next D & D Papercraft Event, so I will have to take some time to finish the last minute details to make this event our 11th successful day with great friends and catching up after the LONG winter!  Looking forward to seeing everyone again and check out all the projects everyone is working on.

Couldn't pass up on this cartoon I saw yesterday on Facebook!

Happy Crafting!

Puzzle Mania

During our weekend trip to the clubhouse to exercise, I picked up another puzzle to work on!

This one still has 1000 pieces, but the dimensions are huge and the individual pieces are larger.  In a few days I already have several large sections completed.  Puzzles are a nice and welcomed break from crafting and I hope to continue doing them even in the summers.  When I was growing up, they were a "winter" project the whole family would work on.  I remember though, my dad was the one that spent the most time working on them.

I mention my dad in todays post since this weekend my sister gave me two huge boxes of family photos to go through and have my other two siblings go through and pick out what they want to save.  There were so many pictures of friends and family that I decided to pick out a few to create some scrapbook pages for my personal scrapbooks.  It was a lot of reminiscing as I spent a few hours looking at each and every picture, some of them over 100 years old!

Now to pick out some paper and embellishments to create some very special scrapbook pages!

Quilting is NOT forgotten.  Once the chores are done for the day I hope to finish a few blocks before the end of the day.  Stay tuned.....

Happy Crafting!

Fifteen to Go

It is amazing how busy one can be even through they are retired!
After three months of "retired living" I seem to be busier than ever!  Very rarely do I find myself sitting down with nothing to do.  Never thinking "I'm Bored!"

This week was no exception!  Monday was the road trip to Wooden Bridge Dry Goods Store for the rest of the fabric for my king size quilt.  I finished 4 blocks on Wednesday and 2 blocks yesterday.  I had hoped to do more yesterday, but I ended up cutting the rest of my fabrics in to the 5" squares I needed to make sure I had enough to finish the quilt.  Fifteen blocks to go out of the 36 blocks I need for the quilt.  Each blocks uses 2 fabrics in addition to the background fabric, so I spent the time to also match them up.  Now I am ready to sew the rest of them, and hope to have all the blocks done before the end of the month.

Here are three of the most recent blocks made with the new fabrics I purchased on Monday.  As always the colors are not showing up as vibrant as they are in person, but I love the choices selected.

Hope you all have a great weekend!
Happy Crafting😃

Tuesday Agenda

It has been over three days since the sewing machine has been plugged in and running.  I needed more deep purple fabrics for my king size quilt.  A road trip was scheduled with my sister-in-law yesterday in hopes of finding and purchasing the rest of the fabrics that I needed to finish this quilt.  I still think it will take me at least the rest of the month to finish, but I wanted to be ready to have the backing fabric so when the blocks are done and sewed together I can find someone to long arm quilt it for me.

I find these cartoons as I call them on one of the Facebook groups I belong to.  It made me think of my dad......when I was young (Maybe around 10?) and started to sew after being taught by his mother, my "grammy", my dad use to tease me that he hope I never drove a car as fast as my sewing machine use to run!

The road trip was a success!  I was able to find backing fabric and three more fabrics in the purple/pink family that will coordinate with the blues and other purple fabrics I have been using  My sister-in-law barely pulled out of the driveway to head home and I had the fabrics in my washer, preparing them to cut blocks.  I finished cutting them just as the hubby came home from work, so later today I will start sewing more of them together.  Here are the three fabrics I selected.

The colors are so much brighter in person, and the far right one is shades of a deep pink/purple.

So I am off to finish answering some emails, work on some lists for a scrapbook event I am co-hosting the end of the month, exercise class, grocery shopping and then I can finally quilt until dinner time!

Happy Crafting!

Road Trip!

Headed out to Wooden Bridge Dry Goods to shop for the "ingredients" to finish up the blocks, borders, binding and backing form my king size quilt.  Stay tune for a follow up tomorrow!

Happy Crafting!

Quilting Maniac

I have been on a roll lately when it comes to quilting!  All I want to do is piece more and more squared in order to complete the king size quilt I am working on.  There is no hurry to get it done, I just am enjoying the process of looking at each block as I sew them together.  I wonder what they will look like when I add the sashing, cornerstones and borders.

Yesterday I spent most of the day working on the blocks until I realized I wanted MORE choices of color combinations of fabrics.  I spent almost an hour working on the size of the quilt I want, and determined I need 36 blocks.  I have 15 done so far, so not quite half way there.  I have my spreadsheets completed and can now figure out what I need for backing and the second border.

ROAD TRIP here we come!  I was in contact with my sister-in-law yesterday and we will be heading to Kutztown on Monday to find some extra fabric and might also purchase the rest of the material to finish the second binding and backing for the quilt.  Nervous that I make the right choice in colors as this quilt is so different than what I planned.

When I finished what I could on my big blocks, I pulled out the fabrics for my challenge of 52 blocks in 52 weeks quilt.  I neglected to complete week 7 before week 8 came out on Tuesday, so I whipped together both blocks in less than an hour yesterday.  Here they are!

So what will I do today?

Time to pull out the scrapbooking!  I have several pages to complete from my Scrappin by the Sea weekend where I need titles or a few embellishments.  

Happy Crafting!

Trip to Fabric Store

Despite the tundra like conditions, yesterday I took a quick trip to my local quilting store.  I was on the search for some batik fabrics to coordinate with the king size quilt I am working on.  The fabrics I thought were "purple" turned out to be more "pink" and with the gray looked washed out.  I wasn't sure how I would make out, since it is a smaller store and of course has a lot less choices than the other store where I bought the original fat quarter bundle.  Maybe that is good for me, since I do not have a good eye as to what I want, so fewer choices are better?

With the help of an informative sales person, I was able to find three fabric samples that I believe will work!  Nothing off the bolt, but the sales person pulled out fabric scraps, fat quarters and half yard pieces they had in shades of blue, gray and purple.  I would have liked more yardage, but I believe these will work to add some purple highlights to the quilt.  When I got home, the fabric was washed, dried and before dinner I had put one quilt block together and I liked it!  Now to continue on today with block # 16.  I still have not decided how many blocks I will need.  Guess I need to add that to my "to do" list so I don't make more than I really need.

Here is a really lousy pictures of the three fabrics I purchased.

Happy Crafting!

Is Winter Over?

Not sure people who read this blog will appreciate my title😃
I really am trying to be optimistic that we have seen the last of any snow that accumulates and requires the snow blower OR shovel to come out of our drive.  It is good exercise for us, but I am so ready for spring!  How about you?

Been a busy several days with three winter precipitation events in the last week.  Sunday nights storm, dumped over 6" in our area, and normally there wouldn't have been too much of an issue.  Of course Monday had a scheduled doctors appointment in Chalfont, so we were up bright and early to clean the driveway.  Roads were already plowed and the gorgeous sunrise made up for all that snow.

On the quilting front I am on HOLD right now.  I really am not liking the fabric I purchased to add a twinge of purple to my gray and blue fat quarters bundle I purchased.  Once the blocks are together they look more pink than purple.  I plan to head tot he local quilt store later this week to see if I can find some deep darker purple that is not a shade of pink.  I need to find another few fabrics since I will not have enough of the gray/blue fat quarters.  Wish me luck!  Picking fabrics is NOT one of my strong suits.

So until I purchase the fabrics, I will be working on the block for the 52 blocks in 52 weeks.  That will take all of an hour, so a new puzzle was started over the weekend.  This 1000 piece puzzle looked easy when I started the border, but I find at one sitting I can only find a half dozen pieces!  They say that working on puzzles can keep your mind sharp.  I was hoping that would be true for me, but then why did I pick up another book to read, only to find out it was one of the books I already read this year.  DUH!

I leave you with this photo for today!

Happy Crafting!

It's a Quilting Day!

Been home from my Scrappin' By The Sea weekend for over three days now and I have not sewn ONE stitch!  I promised myself when I returned home to finish designing the samples for the "Happiness Blooms" Workshop for the next sold out D & D Papercraft Event.  I finally completed the last of the 12 cards late yesterday afternoon, so today is a quilting day!

Not sure what I am going to work on first, since Tuesday's are the days I receive a new quilt block pattern for the 52 blocks in 52 weeks challenge, but I REALLY want to work on my king size quilt blocks.  If I am REALLY ambitious today (and neglect the cleaning I need to do😃 I might be able to do both!  Stay tuned...…..

I leave you with this cute cartoon I saw on Facebook yesterday!

Happy Crafting!

So Much to Do, So Little Time!

The first scrapbooking weekend for the year is over. BOO HOO!
It is amazing how quickly the time flies when you are with friends working on all kinds of crafts.  Not only did I make cards, work on scrapbook pages, but I also read about half of a novel and hand quilted on my table runner.  VERY productive weekend!  The weather was not on my side for a walk to the beach, but it was perfect for being inside, warm and dry, working on crafts.

Now I have quite a bit to do over the next few weeks to prepare for the first D & D Papercraft Event of the year on March 30th.  I rotate meals, so they are already set with grocery lists ready, but have a few more cards to make for the workshop I will be teaching at the event.  After that it is prepping the name tags and goody bags which I tend to finish the week before just in case there are any last minute changes.

In between all of these tasks, I have been trying to find time to finish my 4th puzzle and this morning I finished the novel I started this weekend.  So much I want to do and it seems the days fly by as I try to work on everything I want to do!

I LOVE retirement and have not been bored ONE minute the last three months.  Will I get to the walk exercise class today?  Only time will tell if I can break myself away from what I will be working on in the next hour.

Happy Crafting!

Snow Day Sewing Quilt

Another storm is through the area and now today we are expecting temps in the mid 40's.  So the
2-1/2" we got yesterday which turned to rain early evening will mostly be gone.  We went out around 4 PM to snow blow the driveway and shovel the walkways.  Good exercise and it wasn't too bad of a job.  Overnight the rain added a sheen of ice on top of the snow, but the roads were in decent shape as The Boy headed to work.

It was a productive day on the sewing front.  The Boy was working from home in the office, so I set up the sewing machine in our morning room.  I had a great view of the snow and street in front of our house so I could keep tabs on the weather.  I was surprised how much time it takes to accurately cut out the squares I needed for the quilt squares, and decided in the future to try and find charm packs if I ever make this quilt again.  I ended up cutting enough 2-1/2" and 5" squares for a block at a time, which kept me from getting bored.  I am sure it took me longer to make a block over all, but it kept me excited as I cut then sewed to actually see how the squares were coming out.

I purchases an Artisan Batiks"Fat Quarter Bundle" of coordinating fabrics in the blue/gray color families.  The coordinating fabric for the background and cornerstone blocks was purchased by the yard in a gray printed tone and I also added to 1/2 yard pieces of purple printed fabric to add some highlights.  In total I have 17 different fabrics for the blocks, not including the background and cornerstone fabric.

My goal is to use one light and one darker fabric for each block with the coordinating background fabric to have each block different.  Here are two of the three 13-1/2" blocks I completed yesterday.

Hopefully in the future photos I take the colors will show up more vivid like they look in real life.  

It was time to stop for the day after I finished the third block, which I didn't take a picture of because I used the dark blue fabric AGAIN by accident!  UGH!  I think I might have to use the fabrics more than one time anyway since I need to add more blocks to the quilt pattern to make it king size.

No sewing today!  Heading out later this afternoon for the girls weekend "Scrappin' by the Sea".  I serious thought about packing the fabric to work on cutting out more squares, but decided to make it a TRUE scrapbooking weekend, and besides, I am totally spoiled by having a large island in my kitchen to spread out while cutting fabric and ironing.  Will be back at it first thing Monday morning! 

Happy Crafting!

Week Six of 52 Blocks in 52 Weeks

Finally caught up with the 52 Blocks in 52 Weeks Quilting Challenge.   The challenge started January 15th, but I didn't see it on a Facebook Group page that I have been following until two weeks ago.  After purchasing three different fabrics last week, I planned to "catch up" before Quilt Block # 6 was revealed yesterday.

Here are the first six blocks that are completed now, catching me up to the challenge.

In order to make the blocks "pop" on my quilt I plan to add sashing and corner squares, however at this time I am not sure what colors I am going to use.  I am thinking a small black print for the corners, but have no idea for the sashing.  If you have any thoughts, please let me know.

Today looks like a snow day, so "The Boy" is working from home.  After finishing my coffee I plan to start cutting out the pieces for our King Sized Quilt.  Since most of my scrapbook items are packed for my weekend at "Scrappin' by the Sea", my work table is bare.  Plan to move my sewing machine to the morning room and sew today!  The morning room has a great view of the street and I can watch the snow fall all day long!

Happy Crafting!

Week of Quilting

Short post this morning so I can finish catching up on emails and then start quilting!
Last week I ended up completing 50 cards and have 13 in progress to finish this coming weekend.
It is Scrappin by the Sea weekend!  YIPPEE!

A very generous friend opens up her cottage down at the New Jersey shore for four of us to scrapbook and craft 24/7 from Thursday evening until Sunday.  So far so good for nice weather this weekend, which means NO SNOW in the forecast.  We need to get through another mixed storm Wednesday where they are calling for snow, ice and rain into Thursday.  UGH!

Since I made so many cards last weekend, I decided this weekend to devote all my crafting time to quilting.  I have finished two blocks of the five I need to catch up on before # 6 is posted tomorrow!  Once I have the first six done I will share them with you.  The fabrics are not my traditional colors, but this quilt is not going to be for me.  Not sure who will be the lucky recipient.😃

Stay tuned...…..Planning to be caught up by Wednesday so I can post no later than Thursday before I leave for the weekend!

Here is a picture of the final placemats that I made, hand quilted and bound one little straggler to finish when I put the cream thread back on the sewing machine, since I was not happy with the mitered corner.  Think they turned out nicely since this is my first sewing project in over 20 years!

Happy Crafting!

52 Blocks in 52 Weeks

So yesterday I caved...…...
A few weeks ago I saw a challenge on the "Stitch It with Cricut" Facebook group.  I don't own the "Maker" which is the Cricut machine that can cut fabric and have NO plans to upgrade to it.  U enjoy using my rotary cutter and mat to cut the shapes for my quilts.  Kind of therapy for me!  Anyway, I thought long and hard these past few weeks about wanting to try to follow this challenge in 2019.  Still plan to start my king sized quilt next week, but feel I can do one block a week as well in this challenge.  How hard can it be?

So yesterday morning, off I go to Joann's!  I know, I know...….not the best quality of fabric at Joann's, but I wanted to start it YESTERDAY and didn't know when I would get a chance to go back out to Kutztown for the best prices for top quality material.  Plus I want to see what quality the fabric is at Joann's for possible future projects.

The basic directions for the 52 squares is using three different fabrics, noted on the directions as light, medium and dark.  Each finished block is 6" with the finished size with no borders and sashing at 36" x 54".  Not sure if I will add more blocks to make it larger, as right now I have no plans in mind on who will be the recipient of this quilt.

The challenge began on January 15th, so this week we are on Block # 5.  Yup!  Already behind, however once I came home with my three fabrics yesterday, I washed all of them, pressed them and cut out all the pieces for the five blocks!  Plans are to catch up on these five blocks before Tuesday when the next block is introduced.

Here are the fabrics I chose:  The peach print if my light fabric, the larger printed multiple colors is my medium and the turquoise small print is my dark.  If you are not in the "Stitch It with Cricut" Facebook group, you can also find the challenge here:
https://canadianquilter.com/52-blocks-in-52-weeks/

So here is the sneak peek of my fabrics😃

Happy Crafting!

Snow Day Card Making

Both Monday and Tuesday we had some form of snow/icy weather.  PERFECT day to craft and I ended up not only working on some quilting on my place mates, but making some cards.  A lot of my cards are for my personal use, however my friend also sells them in their optometrist office as well as consigning them in a local gift shop.  The gift shop owner asked for more recently for the spring holidays and all occasion cards.

Pinterest and several Stampin Up Facebook Groups help me with designs and ideas.  I usually like to make multiple ones at the same time in order to have a decent stock for myself and to sell.  Sometimes I make them identical and other times I just make them different using sayings and titles.

Here are some of the cards I made this week so far.  I counted them this morning and so far have made an assortment of 35 total cards with these 5 ideas!

Happy Crafting!

Scrap Scoop

Looks like a snow day today for all of the schools in our area.  "The Boy" is working from home today so sewing will be limited to his breaks and lunch, since I have my machine set up in our home office.

Yesterday I was able to cut, press and sew binding to the wrong side of three placemats.  I watched a UTUBE video several times to make sure I got the mitered corners done correctly.  I still need to finish the connecting of the end of the binding, but did not have any invisible marking pen or chalk to mark where to cut the binding.  Will pick that up tomorrow and will have all six placemats done before the weekend!  YIPPEE!  That means that next week I can start cutting out the pieces for my next big project, our king sized quilt top.

While trimming the place mats and cutting the binding, my thoughts went to thinking about leftover scraps of fabric.  I belong to several scrapbook and quilting Facebook groups and there is always discussion of what size scrap to save.   I decided I needed to be on the conservative size when saving fabric scraps since I STILL have four photo boxes filled with paper scrapbooks that I haven't even opened since I moved them to our new home almost two years ago!

It is hard thought NOT to save really small fabric scraps when you see pictures of beautiful scrappy quilts made out of the smallest pieces of material.  BUT......I am really not sure I want to ever to a quilt using 1" squares, like an example I came across the other day.

How big of a scrap to you save when sewing a project?

Happy Crafting!

Weekend Recap

Friday was a day of appointments from early in the morning until dinner time, so there was NO crafting done all day long.  The break was nice, but I realized how much I missed doing something craft related, even if only for a short time.

Saturday I spent some time finishing the third 1000 piece puzzle I was working on, since I will need my dining room table next weekend for the Winter Sampler Workshop I am having.  After that I worked on finishing up some scrapbook pages that I had started before finally getting back to my unfinished placemats.

I finally prepped the placemats for binding, but cutting off the excess backing and batting.  Of course I was dragging my feet a little to start cutting the binding and ended up organizing all the scrap pieces from the project and the shelves where I store all my new sewing projects!  UGH!

Today I WILL at least cut the binding for the placemats, piece sections together and iron in half, with plans to sew the binding on at least TWO placemats starting tomorrow.  Goal is to have all of them done by the end of the week.

Yesterday I worked on scrapbook pages all afternoon, and guess what?  I cut the same finger AGAIN with the paper trimmer, so the band aid is making it impossible to hand quilt the table runner!  Guess I need to put the trimmer aside for awhile so I can start hand quilting.  😬  Now sure that is going to happen!  Too hard NOT to scrapbook or make cards during the week!

Happy Crafting!

Retirement Take Two

Today is exactly two months since my last day of work on December 7th, 2018.  Boy, did that time  fly by!

I don't really count the first month when it comes to making observations of what I accomplished since I spent time Christmas shopping, putting up a tree and just relaxing.  I did have a list of things I wanted to do once I retired started and I spent some time over the holidays adding to the list.

Retirement was the best decision for me.  I feel like planning for this time in my life the past few years made the transition very easy.  I don't miss work at all!  The people, sometimes yes, this is one of the hardest things, not having daily emails or conversations with them.  I expected this, since I had been through a few job transitions over the years and realize most people don't keep in touch with as much contact and when you work closely with each other.  I am fortunate to live in a 55+ community now and can chose to get involved with more people than ever in non-work related environments.

Several relatives that previously retired were great sources of information.  The one that sticks the most is that "everyday is like a Saturday".  This is so true, however with the husband still working, I keep on top of the days of the week by his work schedule.  Once her retires later this summer, I have a feeling that will become more of our mantra moving forward.

One thing that I notice is that I no longer feel "RUSHED" to do anything!  Sure, I still make myself have some deadlines and I have a schedule for most days, however, if I change my mind on when to do something, change what I want to do, or just sit and relax (ok AKA Nap!) for 30 minutes, I feel no stress!

So in closing I share a text I received from my sister the Monday after I retired, which is SO true!😃

 Happy Crafting!

Puzzle Palooza

On to puzzle three for 2019!
I am sure once the weather is nicer that the puzzle putting together will decline if not even stop.  I hope to complete all of the 1000 piece puzzles that are in our clubhouse library this year.  I roughly counted them on Sunday when I picked out this third one to start and think there are around a dozen. People are always donating them, so I am sure the count will increase so I am setting a goal for 2019 of completing a dozen.

I was in a hurry to get to the clubhouse gym when I picked this one out, thinking it was the Wizard of Oz when I picked it out since the Tin Man was in the middle.  Well it is a bunch of tin containers😃.
It took me a few hours to sort out the edge pieces and I am making good headway with this one, despite all of the different wording which can be challenging.

Here is the puzzle box and a picture taken last night of my progress so far.

Happy Crafting!

Happy Watercolor Card Kit

Happy Watercolor Stamp set is another lightly used stamp set that is for sale with products to make two each of three designs of cards.  All you need if you are the lucky one to purchase this kit is adhesives and a few stamp pads.  If you are interested, please email me at abolse@yahoo.com.  First person to respond will be able to purchase the stamp set and kit for $25.00.  Shipping is included!  Paypal will be accepted for the purchase and once confirmed, will be mailed within 24 hours.

Here are the pictures of the stamp set and cards.

I will be taking a break the next few months on preparing these kits to work on scrapbook page kits for our March 30th D & D Papercraft Event.  

Happy Crafting!

Weekend Stuff

Saturday was still cold, but the sun was out and the car was warm, so we headed out on a Road Trip!
The destination was Lancaster, PA.  The drive was gorgeous through the farm lands, with the snow still frozen to the trees and the sun glistening on all the fields.  The Amish were out and about in their buggy's and all I could think of was how cold their horses were and if they had heaters in the buggies.

We stopped at the Flower & Craft Warehouse and I came out empty handed!  Disappointed in their huge craft room, as they had a poor selection of binder scrapbook albums and prices were so much higher than I remember from previous trips.  Next we went to Farmhouse Memories, a cute scrapbook and quilt fabric store in Paradise.  I was so bummed when we pulled in and the "CLOSED" sign was out.  They opened at 9 AM and it was almost 10 AM when we got there.  "The Boy" said it looked their were lights on, so I ended up trying the door and it was open!  The owner just forgot to change the sign.  I love this store, she has the neatest samples I have ever seen, and you can't help yourself to pick up a few new projects!  Here is the one I picked up, along with a half dozen more fat quarters to make fabric baskets.

Not sure when I will get to this project, but it is easy and I figured I could make it and hang it in the office where I currently do all of my quilt piecing and other sewing.

We drove past Strasburg Railroad which looked like a ghost town.  Not sure if they were closed due to the weather, but no trains were moving and no cars anywhere in the parking lots.  It continued to be a gorgeous drive with little traffic anywhere.

After a delicious lunch at Bird-in-Hand Family Restaurant, we headed home.  It was such a nice relaxing time, and a break from The Boy having to work.  A stop at Joann's was a win, as I found quilted fabric for the vest I am going to make.  Pictures forthcoming as I start that sewing project.

Too many projects on the burner right now, but it is fun to find new ones that I want to make!  Ordered another wall hanging to quilt and applique for over our bed that will coordinate with the king size quilt I am working on.  

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Happy Crafting!

GO RAMS!

Friday Follies

Counting the hours until this frigid weather moves out at least for the next week.  I must admit it has been easy to stay inside and keep crafting away!  I had NO desire to go outside the past few days to run errands.  I did realize how cold it was when I went out to get the mail, put out the trash & recycle bins and to clean our walkway off for the third time!  The wind kept blowing the snow over on to it and I was expecting a Fed X delivery!

On the sewing front yesterday I ended up machine quilting two of the place mats.  The last two will be completed today and next week I will cut and start sewing the binding on them.  I am also anxious to pull out the pattern for the king size quilt and start cutting the fabric.  I hope this weekend to find fabric for my quilted vest so I can work on that as well.

The other day when straightening up my morning room and cleaning off my workspace I found several scrapbook pages that needed to be completed.  I finished two more yesterday and already did the journaling this morning for a third one.  There is one more to do and I plan to finish that as well today.  Not sure which of my many projects I will start next!  My niece's Costa Rico trip could be an option!

So my long distance good friend MF asked me the other day how my puzzle was coming along....I
It was sorely neglected last week because "it was too hard"!  Yea, I was stumped a few times and just found other things to keep me busy and happy.  Well her question sparked me to push through that point where it seemed to take 30 minutes to find a  piece that fit!  Yesterday when "The Boy" came home from work he commented about how much I got done.  Spent about an hour on it while watching some TV in the afternoon.  Here is where I am at now.  I am sure everything I head pass the table I will try to put in a piece or two or more!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Scrap Bag

Finally got around to unpacking and checking out closely all of the scraps that were in the $4.95 Scrap Bag that I purchased at Lady Fingers last Saturday.  Why today?  Well I got notice that the wall hanging pattern I posted yesterday shipped!

My first thought was to try and see how many of the fabrics in the scrap bag might work for this project, thinking the pieces were really small.  I was very surprised to see there was nothing smaller than a 2-1/2 strip and over 3/4's of the pieces were closer to 8" wide and 22" long.  Once the pattern arrives, I am going to check out the size of the pieces and use as many from  the scrap bag BEFORE I purchase any fabrics other than the background.  Right now I am leaning towards using a bleached muslin for the background.

Here is the picture of the scrap bag all laid out so you can get some kind of idea of the variety of the prints and colors of the fabrics I received.  I was very happy with what I received and will make this purchase again.

Time got away from me yesterday morning so I never machine quilted one of my place mats.  Already did one today and will catch up with another one as soon as I hit "Publish".  Seems that 1000 piece lighthouse puzzle was calling my name!

Happy Crafting!

Sewing Update & More!

With the snow behind us and FRIGID weather for the next few days, it is the perfect excuse to stay inside and work on some sewing and crafts.  My list is long and I can't wait to see what I can accomplish today!

I promised an update on my "baby" fabric basket that I made with the scraps of material from the fat quarters I bought to make the 11" fabric basket.  The largest square scrap I could make was 6".  It was so cute as I sewed it, however turning the fabric right side out was a tad bit challenging!  Next time I will make the opening for turning a little larger and hop that will make it easier.  I still have some small scraps left that I will save for a future project!😃  Here is a finished picture of both baskets side by side.  Not sure what I will put in the smaller basket, but I have seen people use them for all kinds of gifts and figure I will fins something to use it for soon!

Been trying to machine quilt one place mat a day since I got the backing and binding fabric over the weekend.  They are NOT perfect, but I love how they are turning out and pleased that I was able to make smooth sandwiches when I basted together.  I need to commit here to working on the table runner which I am hand quilting. Now sure why I am nervous to start it!  OK, so I will plan to work on it later this afternoon.

I did a wide variety of things yesterday after machine quilting the place mat.  After lunch I finished a scrapbook page that I started at a crop last year.  It just needed a title, so I pulled out my baby Cricuit to cut the title and date.  Voila!  Another page done!  At crops I do as much as I can on a page, but don't drag my Cricuit with me and just complete the titles or whatever when I get home.  I think there are three more pages on my work desk right now, so hope to finish at least one more this afternoon.

Due to the weather and road conditions, "The Boy" came home at lunch and worked the rest of the day from home.  Good decision as the snow got heavier and the road conditions got worse.  I ended up starting AND finishing the three card samples and putting together of the kits for my Monday Card Kit!  Just need to write the directions and print them today.

Today I close with a picture of another project I will be working on.  The pattern is ordered and on its way!  

Happy Crafting!

Card Kit for the Week - Summer Silhouettes

A day late with posting the card kit for the week.  Ran out of yellow ink for my printer so I was unable to print out the directions for making the cards.  Should have the ink in a day or so, should be able to ship out at that time.

This set was an all time favorite before it was retired, since it has a nice variety of stamps.  I used every stamp in the set when I created the samples for this kit.  Perfect for a snowy day when we think and count the days until Spring.  😃

Here are the pictures of the stamp set and samples that are included to make in the kit.  As a reminder, in addition to the stamp set you will get materials to make 2 cards each of 3 designs by just adding your favorite adhesive and a few stamp pads.  Cost is $25 with shipping included!  This is a great deal as when I went to the post office yesterday to mail just a stamp set the cost went from $3.75 to $4.57.  Email me at abolse@yahoo.com. If you are interested in purchasing and I will send the first person who responds an invoice via Paypal.

Happy Crafting!

Road Trip Review

Whew!
What a whirlwind of a weekend.  Happy as a clam today as I start a new week with some new projects.  BUT first......a recap of the road trip to several local quilt stores.

My sister and sister-in-law met at my house before 9 AM, ready to head out to The Wooden Bridge Drygoods in Kutztown, PA.  The store was about 30 minutes away, driving through beautiful farmland and historic homes on mostly windy roads.  We even were startled to see an Amish Horse and Buggy in our travels!

Here are my travel mates/co-pilots in from of the store.

This store was AMAZING!  Not only did they have good prices, but great quality and organized so well.  It was easy to find what you were looking for.....IF you knew what you were looking for! The staff was very cheerful and helpful!   I had so much fun finding fabrics for a king size quilt I want to make for us.  Here are the set of fat quarters, and a few add on fabrics (the purples) that I purchased for this project.

I was also able to find the backing and binding fabrics to finish my table runner and place mats.  I think all of us had a fun and successful shopping experience at the Wooden Bridge Store.  We loaded our purchases in to the car, set the GPS on my I-Phone and headed to the second store, Ladyfingers in Oley, PA, about 30 minutes away.

This store is in an old historic hotel.  So quaint and filled with more modern fabrics that Wooden Bridge who is run by the Mennonites.  We were able to go upstairs to look at their classroom, where a class was in progress.  I also got a look at the longarm set up they have where individuals can take classes and rent the machine to quilt their projects.   None of us had big purchases in this store, as I think we had found most of what we were looking for at the first store.  I did purchase a few fat quarters to match fabrics I had at home for some more fabric baskets and scored a bag of "scraps" for $4.95.  When I opened the bag last night I was so happily shocked at how large some of the pieces were and look forward to sewing them together for a scrappy project!

We had lunch at a pizza place in Oley before heading home.  All in all I think it was a very productive day and I can't wait to go back once I complete some of the projects I have in progress!  I have only been retired for about 7 weeks and I am already getting a "stash" of fabrics.

Saturday afternoon I spent washing and drying all of the fabrics I purchased.  Sunday I cut the batting and backing for the table runner and placemats.  Once the "sandwiches" were pinned together I basted them all so they are ready to start quilting today.  Promised my sister-in-law, who hand quilts most of her projects, that I would hand quilt the table runner, but plan to machine quilt the placemats.

Here are the pictures I took to show work in progress of the pinning and basting I did yesterday.

Today I plan to get some sewing done!  I am anxious to start my king size quilt, but need to finish this project first.  Watch out for progress update later this week!

Happy Crafting!

Yea for the Weekend!

Busy day ahead with errands as well as plans to finish the last sample for an upcoming card class.  Be on the look out for dates and details!

Tomorrow is the road trip to two quilt stores in my area with my sister and sister-in-law.  So looking forward to shopping with these two, as I feel like a "newbie" compared to them.  Over thirty years I took a quilt class with a good friend where we made a different block every few weeks.  My friend, who is also my hairdresser and I were talking about it during my appointment this week.  Neither of us ever quilted our tops since we no longer have those bed sizes in our home.  She still has hers, but I think mine got given away when I was purging for our move.

Directions to the stores are printed out for my co-pilot in case my I-Phone Maps program doesn't cooperate!  I figured out the yardage I need for the backing of my table runner and place mats, but want to review it one more time before we leave.  Not sure what else I will be looking for on this trip.  I do want to start a king size quilt for our bed and have picked a pattern, however I am not sure I am quite ready to start a big project like this right now.

Check back in a few days for a complete recap and pictures of our "road trip "experience!

Happy Crafting!

Can't publish a post without a picture🙂

Winter Sampler Workshop

Brrrrrrr!
It isn't quite as cold outside as it was Sunday in to Monday, but it is WINTER!

I jump around with my crafting like a jumping bean these days and LOVE IT.  It is so much fun to sew one day, scrapbook the next and make a few cards another day.  In fact it is so much fun that I actually try and do two different crafts a day to keep me productive and excited.

It has been a few days since I started working on this Winter Sampler Workshop.  Samplers are so much fun to make, but take quite awhile to design since with so many pieces involved, since you are actually doing NINE different layouts.  It is just the fact that instead on 12" x 12" they are 3" x 3".

Here is the completed Winter Sampler:

The picture doesn't do it justice, using cool colors for the sampler, including Stampin' Up Smokey Slate, Mint Macaron and Powder Pink.  There is very little stamping involved in this design, however there is a ton of framelits, thinklits and punches used to create this sampler.

Seats are limited for this workshop held at my home, so email me now to save a seat!  

***Will be keeping my fingers crossed the winter weather will cooperate🙂.

Saturday February 16, 2019

9 AM- 11 AM

Cost is $25 with the frame included or $20 without the frame.  I only have a limited number of frames available and they will be on a first come first serve basis.  It is a standard frame that Michael's carries and you can purchase with a coupon.  I can no longer purchase at the same cost to keep the class cost at $25.  

Happy Crafting!