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!