RRCB progress and critters (of course!)

I have been so very busy. And I know all of you out there can relate to even feeling whipped just because your head is full!

But I have a lot accomplished:

Christmas shopping is 3/4 done

Spent yesterday with Daughter#1 as moral support and driver in case she needed to "freak out".

Decided to make lots more patches for the Scrappily Irish Chain quilt. Pictures are here in the blog further down the page.

I keep fiddling with my bread recipies TRYING to get a good looking loaf. Luckily James will eat almost anything and the birds get all the crumbs.

And I have clue#1 all sewn (not cut) for RRCB the newest mystery being designed for us by Bonnie Hunter of http://www.quiltville.com/.



Here are my pinks and greens. Oh my I love this combination! I am also getting an "itch" to do a second quilt in this mystery in a different color combination. I have done this with most of Bonnie's mysteries. It is amazing how different a quilt can look just by changing the colors used.

 There is a food chain in the world we live in. I totally understand and I can appreciate this hawk's beauty and strength. It is a Coopers Hawk. And I have seen them floating in the air over the homes here. I am sure that they LOVE the birdfeeders giving them an easy prey option. But this one missed two times the day I took this picture. I can see his frustration. And they are so awkward on the ground. They even make a common chicken look as if they were dancing. They would never make it on Dancing with the Stars..........

 I had to buy a new printer. My faithful HP printer decided it was done being a useful tool. And the timing sucked. I had just replaced the ink cartridges....$$$$$$ down the drain. I wonder if having MaggieMae sleeping on it had anything to do with it expiring?????

 My strips are all cut for the neutral swap on Yahoo. And can you see how I have a large "logroll" of uncut fabric there in the background? The fabrics are all pressed and rolled to store. All I have to do to cut more strips is unroll the log, select a few and then smooth them out and cut away. I have really been happy storing my uncut fabrics this way. Little FQ's are pretty but all those folds then need to be ironed out...a pain. And I can still see all the fabrics at a glance. This works for me!

 700 more little 2-patches. I have all the connector squares done and will use these as the Leaders & Enders while I piece the RRCB. This quilt will be king sized when I get done!

 Here are some of the pinks I used. I pulled all these from one container. I pulled more this morning.

Hopefully I will be able to work these 1/2 square triangles into this quilt we are working on. Check out the date! I double sew corner triangles all the time and have many containers just like this in different color combinations. Only thing I did not do was count them! HA! Almost a year ago from the date. I believe these are from a Pink Smokey Mountain Star quilt.

Pink Smokey Mountain Stars done!

This is my second Smokey Mountain Star quilt. The first one went to a grand daughter. I loved it so much I had to make myself one. My pink fabrics were seriously depleted after the first one. What a good reason to buy more pinks! Anyway....I hand quilted this one. I love it!

I am using Bonnie Hunter's/Tonya's Freehand Baptist Fans! Love the process. I am not marking them at all. For the first arc I kinda scratch the surface with the needle then just "go for it"!!!

I am using a deep rust YLI quilting thread. Lots of contrast. My stitches really show up!

I hope my stitches improve with more practice. Bonnie dares us to step beyond our own boundries. I jumped!

Maggie's fur is growing back in so fast. She loves total body rubs and brushing now that she no longer has those tangles.

I do have another appointment for her this month. But I do not think she needs shaved again...maybe just a bath and painted nails!

I babysat this poor pooch. My brother-in-law had to leave for the day and I would not let him keep this pooch in his car. It is 90+ out there...one dead dog...so I said I would watch him.

He cried and cried...whimpered..scratched at the door..barked and then decided to help me quilt.I tied a big bow on him. Took him for three walks...did not want any pee on my carpet. He did not pee outside. And I worked on him as Caesar Milan recommends. He minded me.

And I taught him how to sing. Hubby really laughed at that! Said I was teaching him a bad habit. I thought it was the least I could do for this poor Texas dog. He really missed his master. A very loyal dog! He stayed with us for three days. And my five cats did very well considering they have never interacted with a dog before. Well...Baby was in the closet the whole time. I brought her food and treats. She must have sneaked out to use the litterbox. At least I hope she did.

I bought a new purse at a quilt shop. It is called a Miranda Bag. I really like it but there are no zippered pockets inside. I found the pattern online and will make myself one with the inside how I want it!

Smokey Mountain Stars is now bordered and step#2 in CC mystery

I know...the quilt is sideways. But what is a girl to do when she made her design wall she was making smaller quilts????? It did it's duty for years. Now I want to make it the entire wall.
Poor hubby!
Anyway, the borders are on. I shopped my stash again this morning. The final border is a pale pink with darker pink polkadots. I do not even remember what I made from this but it was cut on the lengthwise and was perfect for a border. I prefer lengthwise fabric cuts for borders as there is much less stretch than a widthwise cut. And I did not have to piece it. Guess it was made to be!
And I thought of Bonnie as I was deciding on fabric. "Use it up girl" I heard her whisper in my ear. Yes m'am I say!

And here is my step#2 on the Carolina Christmas Mystery quilt being run by Our Bonnie!

Pink Smokey Mountain Stars saved!!!!!!

I was lucky enough to have a block of time Thanksgiving morning to assemble my quilt. I am VERY pleased with the results considering my last attempt.

I have done more reverse sewing on this quilt than I have ever done on a quilt. I am thinking of calling this one Pink Lemonade.

And here is Clue#1 in Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery.

WHOOOOOOOHOOOOOO!

Wasted my precious pinks and my time!

My bird question was answered by several responders. It is an American Goldfinch in Winter colors. Either a young one or a female. Thanks to all who helped me. The bird is gone now. I hope it found it's flock.
My goal was to make ME a pink Smokey Mountain Star. The first one I made went to a grand daughter in Indianapolis. Well, I wasted three days of piecing and wasted some fabric from my precious pink collection. There is not enough contrast for the pink stars to shine. My pinks are too pale and my neutrals are too dark. I have all the pieces made to assemble and after doing two rows I realized my error. When I made Tarraha's quilt I only used two very light backgrounds. I remembered too late or I was in too much of a hurry grabbing pre-cut fabrics from my Stash User's System.

Now what do I do with the pieces I have? GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Any suggestions? Maybe make snowball blocks from them...whatever...anyway I now have a bagillion (400) of waste half square triangles. I added them to the bagillion (400)I had from the first quilt. SO I guess all is not lost.

Saturday was a productive sewing day. Nice and sunny and a pleasant distraction from my family troubles. Too bad I wasted my time and fabric!

I do have all 50 fabrics cut for my postagestampquilt swap on Yahoo. They simply need to be sorted in 25 piles. A task that I have to lock the cats from the room! They are very unhappy with ANY closed doors. But I do not need any kitties helping me sort my neat piles. Thank you.

Pink Smokey Mountain Stars quilted!

This quilt has been made for my lost Granddaughter Tarrah. She was given up for adoption in 1989. And found in October 2008. I cannot begin to tell you all how pleased I am.

So, I had to make her a very special quilt. She loves pinks, polka-dots,butterflies and cats. I got them all in this quilt. And I backed it with "Minkee" in a pink/brown print.

On the machine for quilting. What you cannot see is MaggieMay lying at the end just out of the way.

I love all the pinks here. Now I want to make myself one in browns. I thought the assembly was tricky but it came out great! I numbered each set of five rows and also gave them letters. Kept me straight.

Just beginning assembly. I kept it very organized. The corner triangles were from a different set of fabrics so there were no repeats.