September Git 'Er Done challenge .... done

It took till the last day of the month for me to finish the challenges this month. but i guess that doesn't matter .... as long as they get done. i had my doubts for a bit there.

September's list was:

1.  Make the mini quilt for my sister for her present....done

2.  Finish last 3 blocks on the Robert Callaham quilt, Album of Memories... done. there are:

a.  Beth's Bountiful Bouquet .... i especially like that container

b.  Shattered Star

c.  Sweetheart Wreath .... why do people who have applique patterns love to have hundreds of little circles to cut out? if i made patterns .... there would be NO little circles. just sayin'

Now i just need to get them together with sashings and borders.  hopefully before the end of the year.

3..  Make some kind of top out of the 6 folk art type blocks that i found in my studio ....  done.  this is the sucker that took till the last hour to finish.  it was those large 8" paper pieced flying geese in that border.  it looks rather wonky hanging and i'm hoping it is just because i don't have a lot of clips holding it up. although that salmon colored fabric was something weird. found it in my stash. when i was finished with this....i threw the rest of it in the trash. it is now in the to-be-quilted cabinet.

4.  Quilt my sister's Baltimore album quilt ....  done.

Now for October's list. i have spent hardly any time in the studio in months. i have decided to make it easier on myself and change my list to non-quilting things. things that need to get done. if i put them on the list then i can't procrastinate any longer. so october's git 'er done list includes:

1.  trim the apple trees. i didn't do this last year and they desperately need it.

2.  dye my t-shirts that have been sitting in the closet waiting for me for like 2 years.

3.  pressure can my cushaw squash. i used my pressure canner for the very first time last week to can pumpkin and found out it was easy so i am anxious to get my cushaw canned. I have about 20 huge cushaw....average 20#. i don't expect to can them all. i am going to try and store some of them over the winter and see if i can get them to survive. but i will can about half of them.

4.  eBay....get my studio cleaned out of extra quilts, thread, fabrics, notions, etc. and get them on eBay to sell. i've been talking about doing this for months. another good thing to be on the list.

So, the year is getting closer to being over and so far i have completed my lists every month. let's hope october is no different.  keep your fingers crossed for me ..... and i'll cross mine for you.

Later

Mary's Petite

This quilt belongs to my friend, Mary. she has been waiting patiently for me to be done with it .... and, finally, it happened. 

Cute little square in a square blocks and triangles ..... SID around all of it. and i figured out a way to go across and back and only go over a very little bit on the side of each block. i sure didn't want to do a lot of starts and stops. 

Mary wanted feathers in the stripes. so she got fancy feathers with an echo.

This back looks yummy to me. you can really see the quilting.

I had a little bit of trouble with some puckering. had to take out a bit and re-do. 

I hope she likes it. hope to deliver to her tomorrow.

Now, back to that yard work ..... that never seems to end.

Fractured sept 27

Almost forgot about this project this week. noticed the book sitting on the table on Wednesday and said ... oh, oh....better get on that. got 9 blocks cut out and finished them up last night. then forgot to post them here.  arrggh!  getting too forgetful in my old age. 

But here is what i have so far.  top half almost done.

Coming along nicely. i might need to dig out some more light colors. pickins' are getting slim.

But still a cool quilt.  thanks, Vicki, for suggesting it.

Later

Album of Memories ... last 3 blocks

The last 3 blocks are finished.

Beth's Bountiful Bouqet

Shattered Star

Sweetheart Wreath

Now it is time for sashings and borders. the final border and the corners are pieced ...... lots and lots of pieces. so, it's gonna be a little while before this is finished.

But the plan is....this year.

Playing catch up

I was out of town all this week so when Friday rolled around i didn't have any blocks made for the Fractured Quilt ALong with Vicki Welsh over at www.vickiwelsh.typepad.com    I didn't get home till yesterday afternoon .... so first thing on the agenda today was to catch up with a few Fractured blocks.

I got 6 made. so, i am almost half way done. gonna try and get those last blocks done this week and sew that half all together. 

It is getting easier to figure out how the blocks go now. i don't know what that means. hahahaha    i won't think on it too much.

Better get busy catching up on other projects. can't be gone a whole week .... or take the sewing machine with me. but i did work on a hand project while i was gone .... the Glory Garden. i am almost done with the last applique strip. it's a slow process.

Little table almost done

My little homemade table is almost finished.  

I was worried about having to move it around when we started putting up drywall on the walls so i got all the bits and pieces glued down. that was a job.

I also found some larger pieces to cover the holes that i cut for the legs of the table.

And i spray painted the legs. the legs look like little hoofs on goats or something. LOL

I had a $25 card from Ace, so i went over and got some grout to finish this baby up.  well, 1 quart does not cover a table this size. dang it!!  and that was the only can that they had in that color so i have to find more to finish it up. grouting is not my favorite job.

It took freakin' forever to wipe it off the little tiles. plus they were different shapes and heights, so that compounded the problem. that large blue piece is covering a hole that i cut for the legs. there are 2 blue and 2 pink.

Look what i found in the tile box... see the little mask? hahahaha  it was a button. i just cut the back part off.

And i found an elephant, too. there is a rhino on there somewhere but couldn't find it again to take his picture.

Just like in the studio .... there are UFOs.  i can finish this when i get more linen colored grout. and now that it is almost finished and i am looking at it. if you place a glass of something to drink on this table .... you better look where you place it. the tiles are different heights ..... there might be some mopping going on for a while till i get used to it. LOL

Barn wood wall progress at the Duck

I spent several days at the Duck and worked on the barn wood in the dining room for a couple days.  i sanded a bunch of boards and got them all up.

This is the west wall....all finished.

This is the rest of that wall ... on the other side of the doorway.

And continuing around the corner to the south wall. this is where i ran out of sanded boards. i really didn't want to sand more .... it is such a messy job. so i went on to other things for the moment.

I had a can of paint .... called Foxfire ... and i really wanted to see how it would look ... so i just had to paint a wall. after all ... that wall was finished. hahaha  when they are all done i will use barnwood to make trim around the doorways and a wide molding at the top and bottom.

Here's a closer look.  i love all the dark spaces where the boards have holes and don't meet. and i like how the paint soaked into the wood and looks darker. it looks like an old barn that had been painted years ago and the paint is fading in places. it looks better in person, i think. the lamp makes it look brighter than it really is.

And this is how many boards i have left to work with. i've used about half of them. i think i will have enough to finish .... hope so.

Those drawers and doors on the back wall came from the kitchen cabinets. i'm still hoping to re-use them but they need some work.

Now when i go back it is time to sand more boards. i really was on a roll and it was going quickly when i ran out of sanded boards. i need to sand more of them next time. i did 14 rows .... 20 boards. probably go back in a couple weeks and do more.

At least one room will have walls. LOL

My sister's present

Now that i have given my sister her present .... i can show you.

I found this little hanger at a yard sale or thrift sale somewhere .... don't even remember where now.

and i made the little quilt to hang on it.

She has lots of red, white and blue things hanging in her hall so i thought she might like it.

It was a paper pieced block that turned into this little quilt.

Apples, apples ...... cushaw

I have picked all the apples off the trees.  correction...I picked them as high as i could reach.....then a guy down the road picked the ones on top. his reward...he got to keep all that he picked.  win - win.

I have made a couple batches of applesauce. i believe 13 pints....

An apple pie. quite delicious...except i put a tad too much lemon in there and it is a bit too tart. but it hasn't stopped us from eating it ... it is half gone.

And 9 pints of spicy apple slices. i'm thinking these could be put into a pie ... or, just open a jar and eat them.

I have 167 apples left to process. yes, i counted them. i'm weird that way.

I also picked the second cushaw. a lightweight .... only weighed in at 20 lbs.  i had a pic of it but somehow deleted it from the camera card. my fingers were traveling too fast on the computer keys and hit the wrong one. the neck of it is now in the oven. i thought i would try baking this one instead of boiling. might go quicker. the hard part is cutting that thing into quarters....you almost need a chainsaw. LOL

I think i am getting everything under control around here so i can go out of town for a week.

Laundry done .... check
Apple and cushaw canning under control .... check
Garden cleaned up and mowed .... check
Tomato cages all hung up .... check
Fence panels all hung up .... check
Things all packed and in the truck ... check
Studio grass mowed .... ch .... oh, gotta go do that.

Later

Fractured sept 13

Well, i was a slacker on this project this week. i only pieced 7 blocks. but since i did more than 10 last week....i am ok with that. and i will be gone all this next week.....so nothing will be done next week.  bummer.  the week after that will be major catch up.

I decided i needed to proceed like Vicki was....from a corner. getting these blocks oriented correctly is a pain in the you know where. when i am finished i will either become a drinker or require mental help. when it is time to move them around to move the colors around a bit .... oh...i just don't want to think about it. LOL

But, Vicki, i love the pattern.

Baltimore Album quilt

I quilted a Baltimore Album top for my sister. it has been here .... waiting .... and waiting .... for so long that she forgot about it. that is so sad. i wanted to do something custom on it but couldn't make up my mind. so in order for it not to sit here 6 MORE months .... i put a panto on it and called it good. 

I embroidered the blocks for her and she put the top together.

I love those different colored squares down the sashings.

Sort of a primary color theme. love that sashing fabric. i had some of that, too, but think i used all of mine.

Cool vase

Back was a muslin

Panto was Plush Plumes by Judy Allen. this panto was very wide .... 16" i think. by the time i had rolled 4 or 5 times i was squeezing to get it in. the last roll i had to get a bit creative. LOL

Glide thread on the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin.

I'm going to the Duck on Saturday, so will see my sis then. she has another quilt or two for me to do. i need to do better on the next one.

Back to laundry.

First cushaw squash of the season --- eaten

Yum .... yesterday i made a couple of cushaw squash pies. they are sooooo good.  kind of like pumpkin pie .... only better. one recipe makes 2 pies. they never last long ......3 or 4 days, tops. hahahaha

I took 1/2 pie down to my neighbor to bribe him to come and pick the rest of my apple trees. i picked 4 five gallon buckets of green apples this morning and 2 1/2 five gallon buckets of the red apples. the green apples are larger because i picked most of the flowers off when they were blooming. i wish i had picked the blooms off the red apples, too. i'm going to be processing a LOT of small red apples. next year i will do better.

I'm going to try and make some cushaw squash bread this afternoon. tomorrow is quilt class and we are supposed to bring a treat. they all like the cushaw bread. that is my plan.

I was working in the garden this morning for a couple hours cleaning things up and it started raining so i had to stop that for a while. at least it is not really hot. this year i have decided to store the tomato cages differently. i got some S hooks and am hanging them from the top of the fence around the garden. when i store them on the ground they get all tangled up in grass that grows through them and they take up a lot of space. this way they are out of the way but accessible when i need them. genius idea i think. LOL

Gotta go quilt on the top that is on the frame .... want to get it done by Friday.

Later

Fractured Quilt Along sept 6

I am piecing a quilt with Vicki Welsh .... an online quilt along. LOL   

Check it out at  www.vickiwelsh.typepad.com   

When i bought the book .... i discovered about 5 more quilts that i want to make. thanks a lot, Vicki. LOL

Here is where i am at the end of the first week.

I got 14 blocks done. first i did the As and Bs .... and then 6 Cs. now i have to make some Ds to fill in the holes. 

It took me a bit to wrap my head around this. some pieces have to be cut right side up and some wrong side up to match the pattern. i had a couple false starts. it takes a clear head ...... no drinking and sewing here.....or midnight tired sewing.  

Gotta go make more for next week's report.

Thanks Vicki for the heads up on this great pattern and the great book, too.

First cushaw squash of the season

Normally i would not have picked cushaw yet, but this guy was on a vine that was dying off anyway...so his time was close. but the real reason i picked it was i noticed it had a split in it. whoa....i had never had one do that before. i had to do some research and found out it was from too much water. oh, oh.....better cut back on watering.

Here he is .... split and all...poor little (big) guy. the split is about an inch deep ... but it sort of heals itself over. i don't have any kind of bugs on these ... remarkable. last year i was knocking those beetles off them right and left. but the rind is so thick and hard that they can't hurt them anyway. it takes quite a bit of muscle to cut them up for cooking. 

Here is his good side. i like to never got that cut off the vine. i had my hand clippers with me but the stem was almost 2 inches thick.  he is 23 inches tall and 37 inches around his fat belly. those are quarts of tomatoes there beside him. they look like jelly jars. hahahaha

And, he weighed 28 pounds.  i don't think this is the largest one out there, though.  

I am using my largest pot and am on the second load of cut up pieces to cook .... and that is only the neck. i have to go to town tomorrow and get more containers to cook up the bottom and get him into the freezer. there will be cushaw pies tomorrow. yummy good.

I am going to try and winter them in the barn this year. but in jim's recording studio LOL   it is insulated for sound and i will put a heater in there. if i can keep it at 50 degrees they will be good. i don't have enough freezer space to cook up all that i have .... there are at least 20 more in the garden. 

They might be sitting on the couch in the living room this winter. hahahahahaha

Back to Square One, Clue 9

Got my ducks in a row ..... and my 24 log cabin blocks pieced ...

And the plain border put on the top .....

Clue 9 is now complete. 

This is coming along nicely. i don't know if those log cabins that i made are for the next border or not but i will find out next month when clue 10 rolls around.

Until then ..... off to another project.

August Git 'Er Done Challenge completed

It took the whole month this time to complete my August challenge items. and i have to admit .... although i worked on #3 .... i gave up on it. it is not gonna happen. here is how the list went.

#1.  Quilt my friend, Brenda's quilt. .... done

#2.  Piece 3 more Album of Memories quilt blocks .... done

Country Sunshine .... a lot of set in seams ... not my favorite. but i steamed and starched it into submission.

Floral Essence .... a fun one

Feather Dash ... an easy one

#3  paper piece veggie blocks for quilt.  here's where it all went wrong.  i have been working on this for years ... it comes out.....i do a block or 2 ..... i get aggravated with it....it goes back into the box. this month i made a couple of blocks and then got as far as the green beans and gave it up. i am not aggravating myself with this any more.  i have a blog entry that is offering the book, all the blocks, and the veggie fabrics to whoever would like to tackle it.  i am through. i finished 6 or 8 blocks .... someone else can make the rest. if no one is interested .... it will go in the thrift store box. 

The green beans from Hell

I liked the bell peppers.  i have also done asparagus, onions, tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, and a few more.

#4  Finish fusing the alphabet square blocks.....done.  i have the front top together (except for the final border). and the blocks for the back top are done but not yet assembled. i just finished appliquing down the fused pictures. i still need to find some pics to fill in some of the blocks ..... but for this month's project .... it is finished.

This will be the front of the quilt.

And this is the back.

This fabric that i used for filler blocks will also be the final border. this was a lot of fun to do.

Now .... on to September's list.

1.  Quilt my sister's Baltimore Album top. it's laying on the frame....waiting to be loaded and started.

2.  Piece 3 more blocks for the Album of Memories quilt

3.  Piece a quilt top with 6 folk art type blocks that i have. no clue yet what to do.  here are 4 of them.

4.  Make a present for my sister. i can't show you here .... because she reads my blog.  but i bought something for her ..... and i need to add something to it. i will see her on the 14th .... so i hope to have it finished by then. that means i need to get started. hahahahaha   hope you like it sis.

I hope my September list is do-able. i'll be gone for a week. and tomato canning is still kicking my butt ..... but i'll give it my best shot.

Hope you got all your projects finished.

Later