I was having fun until OCD set in.

I was having fun until OCD set in.

I have been using my 1 1/2" squares as Leaders and Enders all this past week.
And loving how many I was making. I pieced a top for my second daughter's birthday and two copies for Project Linus. The Leaders and Enders then became a major sewing exercise that required no brain work. And a few more days of blissful sewing happened.

There are several quilt blocks that use these precious squares. With the Idaho Square Dance as one goal block, I have a small white container now full of the 3- patch units. And an entire larger plastic container full of 4-patches. Then a smaller container with some Square in a Square finished blocks. And another container with 4-patches of only Civil War fabrics.

And yes I have all my neutral squares pretty neatly stored and easy to grab for sewing. When I want a lighter square I can grab a pinch full  of lighter squares. I am very happy with being organised. But then today something happened.

As I was pulling UNSORTED squares from their large storage container (in the back on the left side) my hands started placing them by color. I knew what was happening but was unable to stop.

To ease my urges I simply made two 9-patch blocks. I even turned off my machine and told my hubby I was going to take a nap.

I did not take a nap. I slowly reached for my sorted by color container. Right on top of the container were 54 colored sixteen-patch blocks and 22 neutral colored sixteen-patch blocks.

Cute little blocks aren't they? They measure 4 1/2".

I then proceeded to make 13 more 9-patch blocks with controlled color. My cake container with the patches sorted by color is nearly empty. I wanted no repeats of fabric in each block. This means I need to color sort that large container.
ARRRGGG!!!!!

On a lighter note I have a new tea cup and three cones of 70 weight thread.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Feeling free

After coming home from the WONDERFUL Project Linus retreat I felt as if I had been reborn.

I started going through my fabric drawers pulling out all my Civil War fabrics.
I love them so!!! Then I lost my mojo. But I did put them all into a plastic container. They are no longer scattered through my stash.

The only Mojo I have is making Project Linus quilts. But I did whip out a Hello Kitty (Minkee backing) for GDD Caitlyn's January birthday.

I have quilted two more quilts for PL.

The panels were given to current PL members. I was gifted a panel just before the retreat. The Bunny quilt was finished and donated at the retreat. The Bear quilt was finished here.

I have been wanting this print for eons. I remember when it first came out. I bought 8 yards. I will save it for a special quilt.

I started this quilt at the retreat. It was a Mystery quilt which I love doing. I finished it here. Still need to quilt this one.

Wonderful snowstorm this weekend. It was so bad that Hubby had to drive me to the specialist this morning. A lovely lady doctor. I felt comfortable with her from the moment we met. I have never had a female doctor before.

XOXOXOXO Subee

I love 1 1/2" squares!

I have several of these cake carriers holding my 1 1/2" square collections. And a special shout out to Our Bonnie (http://www.quiltville.com) for this great idea for carrying and storing quilt related items. There are so many kitchen gadgets that work so nice for quilting too!
And also Our Bonnie won four (4) quilting awards!!!! Way to go Bonnie!!!!!

The other containers full of squares are not sorted by color. But the OCD in me just had to have some of them sorted by colors. And of course as you sort there are colors that are light, medium and dark. I ran out of "stack" spaces. HA!

And since I have been swapping with the postage stamp group on Yahoo for maybe 10 years and hostessing for the last three years, I have lots a bagillion of these squares. We swap 1,250 squares 4 times a year. Well...now we only swap three times a year because of postage and fabric costs. Do the math...lots of squares!!

So after doing my normal de-linting of the bobbin area and a fresh needle I dug out the container and made a few 16 patch blocks. They ended up being a sweet 4 1/2".

This is my normal cleaning after an intense three days of sewing three Project Linus quilts. From cutting to quilting and binding, I finished 3 quilts in three days.
So of course my machine wanted some tender loving care.

And before sewing I had to wind some bobbins up. I feel so good having lots of bobbins wound ahead of time. I never know what I am sewing on next. So I cover the color spectrum.

The top bobbin drawer holds the bobbin boxes and all my size 60 threads that work very well for bobbin filling.

And this drawer is the top on to the left of my machine. And yes, it always looks like this. I cannot help it. My house is in shambles but my sewing stuff isn't!!

I made three of these quilts for our local Project Linus. My good friend, Gladys, donated the fabrics and I donated my time.

They were all alike but I did use three different fabrics for the backings. And I feel these are kinda unisex. Peanut fabric with polka dots and I hope they can use these quilts. I did piece all the battings from leftovers. That almost makes them free!

These fabrics are the three backings I used...
XOXOXOXO Subee

Back from retreat and a SPIDER story!

Quilt panels are so easy to use. I love them!

After a short visit to my brother's house last week, I really enjoyed loving on his 4 male cats. One of them looks like the black/white tuxedo cat on this quilt panel. I had two of these panels (45"X36") and today one is all quilted and bound. So this will be going to Alan and his wife Sue as a "just because" gift. That is the one I took the photo of. I salvaged some wool battings and pieced enough for both of these quilts. The Quilters' Dream Wool batting is unreal! I LOVE IT! I even used some precious fabric for the backings on these two quilts. And one will be for me. Well...for the kitties as they love the wool batting too!
I felt like Bonnie Hunter.      Use it up! 

And I did. Used up saved fabrics...pieced wool battings...and used some green fabric for bindings that would have never made it in to a quilt because it was a polished type cotton. The color matched so well you would have thought I planned it that way!

Our guild has been on a Project Linus quilt making spree. We had a three day retreat last week at Bear Creek Farms in Bryant, Indiana. I made 6 quilt tops and quilted them on Monday and Tuesday. Each one has pieced batting. I am so glad I have been a "saver" of batting pieces. They are all done and ready for giving. But some of the ladies were on "overdrive". Two of them actually made 10 different quilts and had them all quilted too after the weekend was over. As I was leaving they were both going to make just one more apiece to have 12 done! All of us were working on charity projects. I did take a personal project but it never even made it out of my truck. They are some great ladies! Our goal is to have 100 done to present to the Project Linus charity this June. We are VERY close to having that many done.

Here are all six of the finished quilts. They are on top of my "tumbler" storage that went with me to the retreat but never made it out of the back of my truck. And next to the container is another container that did make it in to the room but never was opened. It will be a pink/red quilt for Grand Daughter AnnaMarie. I have plenty of time. Her birthday is in August.

Do any of you have a fear of bugs?????? The first night at the cabins at Bear Creek, I was reading in bed and saw some movement between the beds near my slippers on the floor. As I watched there was a Wolf spider the size of a dog (well not quite that big maybe 3" across) crawling across the floor, heading to the bed I was in! They are terrible looking...hairy...dark brown camo colored with wicked red eyes. I managed to not scream too loud and picked up one of my slippers and pounded the #$%& out of it. Squished it all over...juicey...gross but DEAD. Then I was not able to relax. If there was one there were more I was sure. These cabins are very rustic...no phones...long way to walk to find anyone to complain to...seclusion...darn. So every few minutes I got up and stomped my feet around the room to keep the spiders in hiding. I did leave the dead spider body on a kleenex on the floor between the beds. When I returned to my room later the next day, the bed was made and the trash was taken out BUT THE SPIDER WAS STILL THERE ON THE FLOOR AS I LEFT IT! I was a bit angry then. So I spent another night of not sleeping and continued to stomp around the room. All the ladies were laughing at me. I really did not feel too bad with no sleep for two nights. I slept like a baby when I got home though. I am sure I snored through the entire night! And I did not leave a tip for the sweet faced Amish girl who cleaned the rooms. Why did she not pick up that spider and then sweep the room to remove any more of them? Could she have been more frightened than me? NOT!

Sewing on a Nascar weekend

I am following the Nascar race.

 And I have my trusty water bottle at my side.

It says "Put Your Foot Down and QUILT!"

How appropriate!



This is a bonus quilt made from leftovers of the Wind It Up! fabric.

This was from the quilt made for Great Grandson #2.

 More Project Linus quilts made this weekend.

This one has the pink 9-patches in the lead.

 This one has the blue 9-patch in the lead.

These finish at 36" X 45"...perfect size for Project Linus.

 I changed my "anti scale cartridge" in my Reliable Digital Velocity iron. It was very easy to do. But I do not know if I needed to do it. It is behaving oddly. The burst of steam feature that is triggered by movement is not working. I have to push the steam button off and then back on to get the steam happening.
Any ideas what is going on? This iron was great at the beginning. And a few friends have bought these on my personal recommendation. Ouch! If I was wrong.

My blue 2 1/2" strips for the Quiltvilleswap group on yahoo!

Another cat quilt!

Like I need another cat quilt. I made two of these just for good measure.
One to keep and one to donate to the Local Linus group.

This is my baby named Baby. Honest, she started out life very, very small. She now tips the scale at 22#'s and always sleeps on my sewing chair like this. When I am in the chair she kisses me and kinda gives me a backrub.

I replaced my ironing board cover. This one really works great!