Needles and Pens

...and it's Friday again. Didn't quite finish my to-do list this week, but I did come close: Finish the lavender and white ragtime quilt. Not done, but started. I wasn't completely happy with the purple I ordered for this one, so I ordered another, which just came today. Still not sure which one is best. But I have made a little progress on the blocks that I am sure of. Started quilting the white flower blocks, and cutting and crossing the others. Once I have all but that bothersome purple done, I'll lay them all out with each option and decide which is best. Finish the green/music ragtime quilt. Done, and listed at Hushabye Street: Musical Frogs Ragtime Baby Quilt Take down remaining sheetrock around bathtub. Done. Who knows how long it'll stay like this? It's my husband's turn to do his thing here, and he tends to work on his own schedule. The tub needs to be leveled and a leaky pipe fixed. Then it'll be sheetrocking and taping again f...

Well, I did it. Over the weekend I got this whole bin of flannel scraps sorted and cut up... ...into many, many pre-cut strips, squares and leftover bits. If I would only learn to do this after each project, I could save myself the killer backache of doing it all at once! At any rate, my to-dos for the week will most definitely involve some flannel. Time to enjoy the result of all that hard work. Here are my goals for the week: Complete one scrappy flannel project Depending on how quickly my order from Fabric.com arrives, begin work on two potential customer quilt orders. Clean the upstairs bathroom, and take down sheetrock on bathtub end wall to expose plumbing (from there, we'll decide if we really want to tackle the rest of that project!) Sounds like plenty of work to me... here goes!

Late with my Monday to-dos and late with my Friday finishes. But I did make some progress this week: The kitchen counter... ... is cleared! (Granted, I just did it today, and only because I said I would here. LoL Proof that the Monday to-do list really works!) The flannel heap... ... is sorted! Less than one yard, one yard, and more than one yard bins. And scraps... Currently in the process of cutting into strips and squares... And I did squeeze in one flannel project for the shop... Another little ragtime baby quilt, mostly from the "less than one yard" bin - yay! (More pictures at Hushabye Street .) As for the bathroom project, well, I said I was just going to figure out the first steps. And that's all I did. The first step is to tear the sheetrock down off that wall and all around the tub, so we can fix the plumbing problem and level the tub (something we failed to do when we installed it, and it has caused some other water issues). ...

I can't believe February is already here! Amazing how the weeks fly by when you give yourself loads of things "to-do!" Again, I almost finished everything on my list for the week . Almost. Plus a thing or two I hadn't planned on, so I guess that's fair. Straighten the basement, get the TV hooked up and get on the treadmill. (My excuse is that I'm waiting for my hubby to hook up the TV. Realistically, I could probably do it myself if I tried. Mostly, I just don't really want to get on the treadmill. LoL) Clean out the front hall closet. (What an amazing improvement. We can all hang our coats up now! Just wish I had taken a "before" picture... it was BAD.) Personalization on pink ragtime quilt. Make another pink ragtime quilt for shop. Shabby Chic Baby Pink Flannel Ragtime Quilt And this was not on my list, but since I was kind of on a roll with the flannel quilts, I also finished one that's a little more boyish. Shabby...

Well, again I didn't quite complete everything on this week's to-do list , but I did accomplish a lot -- and even squeezed in a few things I hadn't planned! My Monday shopping spree netted mostly batting and thread. Much-needed, but not too exciting to share about. However, I did buy a pretty piece of yellow minky for a future quilt back, and I couldn't resist a couple of heart print flannels for Valentine's day. I made those into receiving blanket/burp cloth sets for my new Etsy shop, Hushabye Street ! I'm having so much fun making things for my shop. I don't know why I've put off doing this for so long. It's quite a learning experience, but not nearly as overwhelming as I'd imagined. I just hope that business will take off before long. If you know of anyone expecting a new baby in the family, I'd be so grateful if you'd share my link with them! :o) The quilt I posted about on Monday is also finished! I finally decided I needed ...

In an effort to hold myself accountable this week, I posted two main goals on Monday to have finished by Friday. And... it worked! Okay, so we didn't quite finish everything, but progress was made! My son's bedroom is one layer closer to clean, and the paint is purchased. In the color of his choice. Very, very yellow. Suffice it to say, this is going to be one bright room. (And we've had some pretty bright rooms through the years.) But I'll do almost anything to inspire the removal of the last few layers. As for the quilting I wanted to get finished -- it's finished! Here's a photo I took before it was washed and crinkled, outside on the fresh-fallen snow. I couldn't resist. You can hardly tell that's really snow, but it is. See? I really had fun with the quilting on this one. On the center star, I did straight-line crosshatching through the checkerboard and into the star tips, and then more straight lines around the diamond surrounding the...

Yes, he is finally here! Our baby grandson, Mason Mitchell, was born on Wednesday, September 26, at 10:32 a.m., a beautiful, healthy, nine pound, 4 ounce bundle of joy. Mama and baby are home from the hospital and doing well. We're all so happy the waiting is over. He is so precious! Just like his big brother, Aaron, so proud of his baby brother. And I am SO proud of him. :o) Yes, I am one happy Mom and Grandma. Here's the quilt I made for Mason, which has been all hush-hush until now. I wanted to do something extra special with this quilt, so I had it longarm quilted by Marcia Wachuta from Marcia's Crafty Sewing & Quilting . She did a beautiful job with the swirls and hearts. I love it! I'm going to free-motion quilt like this someday... I couldn't wait to get the binding on so I could get it washed and see it in all it's crinkly goodness. I finished a baby quilt for my niece the same week, so I had to take a shot of the cous...

Still no new grandbaby... The due date has now passed, so we're all getting a little stir crazy around here, and when I need a distraction, I tend to sew -- a lot. I've sewn three baby quilt tops in the past three days: A " Wickedly Easy Quilt " from ByANNIE.com, all in dusty, mauvy pinks mostly from the 1980's. (Hate having to admit it, but that really sounds vintage these days. And one of these prints was from a skirt that I wore in high school, so what does that say about me? Wait. Don't answer that. LoL) I ad libbed a little bit on the border: A Sunday mystery quilt, by Cindy Carter of Quilt Patterns from Seattle . Today Cindy posted the photos that have been sent in from the mystery on her blog. If you'd like to see all of the pretty color combinations (or download the pattern), you'll find them here . And here's mine: And today I finished piecing a UFO that was originally for Judy Laquidara's monochromatic challenge last year...

Another week has passed and I still don't have a new grandbaby to brag about. Darnit! My poor daughter is two days away from her due date and feels like she's about to burst. Hang in there, baby. It can't be long now! Meanwhile, t-shirts are ready for baby's big brother and sister when the big day arrives (iron-on embroidered letters)... we are beyond prepared. LoL Last week I mentioned how I had fallen in love with a certain CQUSA mystery quilt , and made three in a row using the same pattern. Well now I can share the second of the three -- this was the original "mystery quilt." Starting out, I knew only that I wanted to make a baby girl quilt for my niece's baby shower (she's expecting in November), and that if I used half the number of fabrics called for, I'd get closer to baby quilt size. Here are the fabrics I chose, six fat quarters and Kona white for the sashing: After cutting, the first step was to make these little 8-1/2...