I am alive and trying to be social

I have been gone sooooooo long. Nearly 3 years. How does time fly by so fast?

I have not sewn anything by machine for almost 3 months. I have been making rugs from sheets and my vast stash of quilting cottons. I have emptied 15 fabric bolts. And wound more fabric on nearly half of that 15.
I am using a cork bulletin board to do my rug start. I have attached a measuring tape to the sides but seem to always make the starter 21" long. (that is the measurement of the bulletin board) HA!

Hubby made me several needles from Butler gum brushes. I have been color coordinating them to the color rug I am working on. Since August I have made 10 rugs.

The one below I have next to my bed. This one is all sheets.

Love the colors...

This will be short for now as I need to reacquaint myself with all the tools here on blog spot.

XOXOOXOOX Subee

Internet issues

Here is our Maggie Mae sleeping away. She has been there all day despite all the confusion, vacuum cleaner and Hubby and I trying to get our new TV boxes and internet modem up and running. This sleeping spot was created by me this morning. You would think that it has been there forever.

Comcast forced us to get newer TV boxes despite the fact that our old ones were working well. The darn remote controls did not work. I had to have two at all times. One would turn the TV on and mute and the other would allow channel changes and volume control (sometimes).

The new ones arrived a few days ago and Hubby did his box install first. Then we lost internet for a few hours. But it came back on. He was having a good time showing me all the new features on the remote. Fast forward to this morning and he decided to set my TV box up. Not an easy task with all my junk in front of the TV cabinet. I was able to vacuum in places that had not seen one for years. HA!

BUT!!! The internet would not work at all on his computer. I go days without turning my 'puter on so I did not worry. Thought he would get it working. The poor guy was on the phone with Comcast for three hours. First they said there was an outage. But another phone call and they said there was no outage. Plugging and unplugging. Getting his laptop out and seeing if it was out equipment.  Finally the lady said we needed a more modern modem. Hubby went and bought one. Set it up and spent another hour or so on the phone with Comcast. Finally we had to make an appointment for their help. NEXT FRIDAY! A week with no internet. Now I was getting freaked out. Hubby took the laptop and found a hotspot and did his internet thing away from home. He came home and again we tried with my computer. No go. So I shut mine off. He went to his and tried to load internet and it WORKED!!! I turned mine back on and it WORKS! Guess we needed to hold our mouths right.
PHEW!!!!
XOXOXXO
Subee

July swap is all done!

July swap is all done!

I confess that I am OCD. I am proudly OCD.
Most of my factory working life I spent in shipping departments. I love counting. I love number combinations. And as a lead person I trained new people. I sure could tell who was not able to do the job. I do not know why I am saying this. I guess I wanted to share my love of counting.

Every package was opened and counted. I had 9 swappers + myself.
Easy peasy...some sent 2 sets some sent 3. I played 4 times...
except I came up 20 packages short. So I pulled 20 from my own pile and fixed the one basket that was short.
Now I am putting the swap into their respective envelopes then remembered that one swapper only swapped 5 sets! HA! I was right all along.
So funny!!!
Something like this would have major freaked me out. I have noticed that since I have been on thyroid meds that I am coping so much better with the blows that life throws at me. I get a blood test this month and then will see the Endocrinologist to see how I am doing.

Here is my Bess helping with the hexie sewing. She claims my left hip as her territory all the time. And she is so sweet that she asks first before jumping up.

Bella claims my feet/legs. Sometimes she is between my legs and other times she is also on my left side.

Here are the 200+ fabrics I ran through the Accucut. And the basket is full of my strips. This was taken a few weeks ago. But I had not posted about it.

I have 171 pink hexies with cheddar centers done. I may make them into diamonds. The two extra hexies are under each flower. I am using 3/4" hexie papers. I was punching all my hexies from junk mail and those postcards in magazines. I took a chance and bought a ream of 67# cardstock vellum. Perfect weight for hexies. Not as stiff as regular and purchased hexie papers. I bought pale gray so I can tell the difference without too much worry.
XOXOXOXO
Subee
Postage stamp swap hostess!

Proud to have the last name of Mohr.

This was an article that was in this morning's newspaper. Hubby's brother is the one the article is about.

http://www.journalgazette.net/sports/City-native-bowls-out-of-passion--and-for-paycheck-14571736

April is a new awakening of mind and spirit

I am trying so very hard. And it seems to be working. Positive vibes are, at times, hard to hold on to. But the good times seems to be more and more.

Part of this positive feeling is from spending 3 days with my quilt guild at a retreat in Shipshewana Indiana. Food and fabric and relaxation. Two very special friends are so very important to me now. I am glad I opened my heart and let them in.

I am also trying to feel happy about the impending warmer weather. I am a Winter/Fall type of person. I hate bugs and sweating.

What do you think of this yarn bowl? Isn't she precious? This was created by:
Something Lucky 13. The art of Lucky Stradley. I found her on Facebook but had to order through her Etsy shop. And all the art is named and numbered. My yarn bowl is named Callia. She was born on January 14, 2016.

I had the choice of where the yarn exits the bowl. I decided on the nose and not the teeth. The yarn moves smoothly against the ceramic surface.

Here is a photo of my sweet Bess...we love torties. She is covered in our own home grown catnip. Yep! She is happy.

This is my shaded 9 patch. It has been a Leader and Ender's project this winter.

MaggieMae and Bella snoozing together. It will not last long. Maggie will leave in a huff. All poor Bella wants to do is cuddle. She gives Maggie a great deal of respect. I am sure that soon they will be sleep pardners.

Tumbler quilts...I now have 4 made. As I was looking for another item I ran across my container with precut-tumbers in 4" and 2" sizes. All ready in foursies ready for row piecing.  Loved those templates...

XOXOXOXO Subee

Bella's growth and quilts.

Our Bella is a jumper. She is still working on the landings and tracking the object she is jumping for. Hubby gets this dangly toy inches from the ceiling and she manages to touch it and lower it as she falls back.

 We are so glad she is recovered from her spay surgery. She came home the afternoon of the surgery a bit groggy but otherwise fine. Thirsty and hungry we were relieved when she used the litterbox and then took a long nap.

A few days later we noticed a large lump on her belly near the incision that was completely healed. It was the weekend and she did not seem to be in any pain. We decided to wait for a weekday.

I called the vet on Monday and they asked us to send a photo of the lump. And here it is. They called us back and asked us to come first thing on Tuesday morning. Hubby had to be somewhere so I took Bella and he met me in their parking lot. As we were walking in his phone rang and they were looking for us. It was only 8:15! Hubby says we are in the parking lot and they rushed us back to a room. Vet examined her and said he needed to knock her out and work on it. It could be a hernia or just fluid but he needed her to be out to work on it. And that she was under warranty and there would be no charge.

So we left her there and drove home. The vet called hubby on the drive home and said it was all fluid but she would be out until later in the day. And as of today there is no sign of that old lump coming back. They even called a week later asking about her condition. I sure do love this vet. They are pricey but oh so worth it.

Bella loves my sewing machine. No, she loves me and the sewing machine is just in the way. She plays and tumbles with Lucky. But needs to be in the same room with me.

I still see no signs that she is a Balinese. Her fur is short and her tail is striped. I see no reason they would want to have kept her as a breeding female except for her loving personality. I mean she is a real easy going kitty. Very loving, nothing scares her except for the vacuum cleaner.

My daughter #2 gave me this fur lap cover and Bella has claimed it as hers. She sure looks beautiful when she is on it.

A shaded 9-patch that was my Leader & Ender as I worked on a few Tumbler quilt tops. Yes I said a few Tumbler tops. The date on my container was 2008 and it was full of tumblers sewn into 3's and also 30 rows sewn. (18 patches)
I had 2 templates made back then for a 4" tumbler and a 2" tumbler. This is one of the three 4" tops.

There are certain perks that come with being OCD. Containers stacked to the ceiling of projects and all are labeled. I have not sewn the 2" ones together as I can see them as marching around in a border of the three Tumbler quilts that I am working on.

So sorry I have been lax about posting. I can only blame Facebook!!!!

XOXOXOXO Subee

My Baby Bella.

My Baby Bella is so precious. She has the best personality. I can only credit the cattery and the careful breeding for her attitude. She loves people. Hardly anything scares her. It is easy to see her puzzle things through. She also has a very long attention span. And her least favorite word is "no"! At least now she knows we are talking to her when we say it.
HA!

This is Bella on September 19th 2015.
She went to the vet for a checkup and to get her up to date on her shots.
She weighed 2.65 #'s.

I was worried about the transition to baby kitten dry food. I bought 4 cases of her Royal Canin Baby Cat Instinct mousse. Her eating schedule has changed a bit. I am allowing her to dictate how much she eats. So, she is still eating 2 -3 cans a day. BUT is eating more at each sitting with a longer time between. And my worry about transitioning to dry food was not a worry at all. I witnessed her eating the big kittie's dry food! I swear she doubles her size every couple days.

And she has found the people's bed and joins us at night. She is an under the covers kitty. A natural. Look at that belly!

I moved some containers around and have been discovering wonderful components to blocks. I think this section is called Birds In The Air. Anyway I have a bunch of neutral 2" HST cut with the EZ Angle ruler.

Gotta go...made chili for hubby. Nearly the last of our tomatoes from the garden.
XOXOXO
Subee

I have a new cat.

I have a new kitten. I got her last Friday evening. She is a short hair Chocolate Point Balinese. I bought her from the Obsession/Serenade cattery in Macy Indiana. I have named her Isabella (Bella). She is the love of my heart right now.

She is only 7 weeks old but is the boss of me already. She meows if she cannot see me. I say "here I am" and she runs with her tail straight up and then meows while standing on her front legs for me to pick her up. She took a two hour nap wrapped on my neck this morning.
She is not spoiled or anything.

Sleeping in the big cat bed. I need to make fresh cat beds. But I am spending all my time with her. I clipped on her front paws' nails tonight. She then started to struggle so I let her go. We need to acclimate her to nail clipping as I do not want to declaw her at all.

I made hamburger buns!

I am preparing for winter. I have 40#'s of bread flour in the freezer. Also 5 #'s of yeast are there waiting.
I seem to have bread making down pat. I have occasional accidents but mostly I can be sure that the bread will come out.
I am not doing so well with the hamburger buns. But today's effort came out perfect. I used regular flour, not bread flour. I did not use the pricey bun pan that I bought from King Arthur Flour. I did use their bread bucket to measure how much it had risen. Here is the link to the recipe I used:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/PrintRecipe?RID=31&radio=1

Don't they look marvelous?

I made a 100 or so of the Disappearing 4-patch block.

And I made a 72X84 Scrappy Trip Around the World. Thanks to Bonnie Hunter for this great pattern.

And I cut the leftovers into useable scraps as I went. Great stash!

Lucky says hi.

Also started a Tumalo Trail by Bonnie. All the blocks are made. I need to rip out two as they are upside down.
XOXOXO Subee

Quilt called Mesmerize.

I bought the pattern called Mesmerize (designed by Natalia Bonner) a few weeks ago. I loved the movement in the design.
And I wanted to do it with all those great fabrics I bought from Marshall Dry Goods as a fabric bundle of 17 colors of one design called Petal Flow.

I went into my cutting room (that I do not use anymore) tore 1 yard cuts from each color and three yards of my favorite Eco Muslin. I brought them all out to the ironing board that I set up in the corner of the room. I pressed them all and then ran them all through the Accuquilt using the 2 1/2" strip die.
In about an hour I had enough strips cut for two quilts! From tearing to pressing to cutting. That normally would have taken me most of the day.

I was able to begin sewing without hurting wrists or feet.
And I have been sewing with 1 1/2" squares for the last couple months. These 2 1/2" strips are gigantic.  And the 12 1/2" blocks are humongous too.
My little cutting room is not big enough to place the Accuquilt in it. I have a table that I could set it on...but there is no room for the dies to go from one end to the other. Sigh.

I love the colored bobbins for the Janome machines. First they came out with the pink ones. Cherry blossom is the name. Then the blue ones came out...do not remember the name of that collection. I prefer these bobbins as they are a teeny tiny bit heavier. They seem to work better in my Janome 6600P. Only issue is that sometimes it is hard to see how much thread is left on the bobbin. I go by ear then. I can hear the bobbin begin to be low.

I bought these Fiskars Hexie punches a while back. I then started to save junk mail and heavier cards that come in a magazine. Just one short evening and I had a container full of these hexie papers. I still need to punch a hole in the center but I am loving the fact that besides the cost of the punch, the papers are free!

XOXOXOXO Subee

One quilt made from too many blocks

I worked and worked and worked on those Idaho Square Dance blocks. And as I worked I had to succumb to occasional bouts of OCD. So when that hit, I made all pink squares, blue squares and green...well you get the idea.
Last night I made this quilt in my dreams.
I dug out some pink reproduction fabrics I had purchased this past Spring at our retreat. I love the carts at Yoders in Shipshewana.  They are flat beds!!! You can pile bolts on them. I cannot resist buying more than I can afford to make the drive and trip worthwhile in my quilty mind.
Anyway, I knew I had made some pink blocks...but to find them took quite a bit of time.
And now that I see that one really dark block it bothers the #$%% out of me.

I had to find them because I had put all my precious little squares away before I used them all up.
They are no longer in the big container. They are is the same size container as the neutral squares are. So sad...so sad...selection is minimal.
And I had moved all completed blocks made for the last two months far away and buried deep because I did not want to be tempted to make more! There were more blocks than the Idaho Square Dance blocks in that container. And I was not sure which container I had secreted them in!

And as I worked on those ISD blocks I pulled out more pink squares and saved them. I am so glad I did.  Because even though I made 218 blocks I still needed to make 11 more pink blocks to finish this quilt.

I love pink.
And I love this Accuquilt Studio 2!

Lots of 1 1/2" neutral strips that I then cut into a bagillion squares by laying the cut strips sideways on the die!!

And here is the token photo of my sweet Lucky. She poses.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Made too many blocks...again

I never even checked the suggested layout for the Idaho Square blocks that was on the Quiltmaker site below:

http://www.quiltmaker.com/articles/Idaho-Square-Dance?bc=c

The article says I only needed 30 blocks.
Guess how many I made...218!!!
Oh my what to do...sell them?
XOXOXO Overachiever Subee

Bonnie's Idaho Square Dance blocks

Oh Bonnie. You have snared me again. I have 51 of these beauties made. I exhausted all the 3 piece units that I had made a few weeks ago. Those were Leader and Enders as I worked on Libby's Log Cabin from a Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine pattern..

Actually I think I am working on 4 quilts at the same time. They all use variations of 1 1/2" squares sewn into units.
I am working on a version that combines Bonnie Hunter's and Edtya Sitar's pattern. I am not giving measurements as I do not want to break any copyright issues. There should be lots of info on this sew-a-long on Bonnie's Yahoo group and on the Face Book group.
Some units are just anything I pull from the box. Other units are color coordinated. That way helps me overcome some OCD issues like being too matchy matchy. Another group is all children fabrics I find as sorting through the squares. I think I have 101 of those made so far.

Some units are just going to be 4-patches. Some will be 16 patches and others will be 25 patches...cannot see the end of my deep box of  1 1/2" squares.