Busy, busy, good

I have found that my weekends are indeed too busy.  Generally I like a day to do what I need at home, things that don’t get done during the week when I finally get home from work.  The first weekend in May I was at a professional conference all weekend, so minor details such as laundry and the grocery store did not happen.   This past weekend looked pretty booked too…fun stuff, but booked.  The kick-off on Friday night was the second of three free motion quilting classes that I had signed up for.  Here are some pics of what I could do on a long arm…

Not great but not too horrible.  If only I could transfer that skill to  my home machine… if only I could take a chunk of time now and try

A while back I signed up for a serger class at the Original Sewing and Quilting Expo.  It had to be Saturday morning…at 8:30…in Baltimore which is about an hour away.  I figured that at least the traffic would be light – which it was until I got close to the stadiums and the convention center.  There was a Color Run that morning and everyone in their bright white t-shirts were parking and going to the stadium.  In a Color Run you get literally have color thrown at you at stages of the run.  At the end you look a bit like you went through a tie-dye machine!  Later in the day it was fun to see the families all full of color and walking around as if nothing at all was unusual.  Any hoo, I learned a  lot from the serger class and hope at some point to get one.  To complete my day I went home, listened to The Likeness on a play-away and worked on my Simply Solids block for May….

Sunday was Mother’s Day in the US.  In the morning I went for a 3 mile run, making up for missing the Beginning Women Runners group run that I missed Saturday morning.  Then I worked at packing up the goodies for the Friendship Bag Swap.  I like to get things done on time…and stress a bit about them if it gets close to a due date and I am not done.  Fortunately, it was done and mailed yesterday…on time…at least 6 hours to spare!

The afternoon was spent with my daughter – we did a few errands in town and then walked around the pond that is behind my house.  We only saw one turtle – maybe it was a bit cool for them.  I love the irises in bloom….

then we sat in the sun on the little island and enjoyed the trees…thinking about how old those trees might be.  There have been so many wild storms recently that some of the older, taller trees have come down, so we need to enjoy them while they are here – and doesn’t it seem like a study in greens?  How many shades of green can you see?

To cap this busy weekend was a delicious 3 generation dinner, made by my daughter, including a chocolate dessert.  I guess we need to enjoy the busy, full weekends while we can.  They are busy, busy, but good!

Finis!

Oh, but where will it go?  Last night I went home from work and finished up my little bag for the Friendship Bag Swap.  Here is the little cutie…

It poured on my way home today, but then the sun came out and I got this good pic.  I also got a good pic of some of the irises in the front yard, before the deer get to them  

These are irises that originally came from my parents yard and have been transplanted as we move around.  Now where was I?  Oh, so last night I was looking online at who had sent and received in the swap, and it seems that the person that I am supposed to be sending to just received a bag from someone else!  I am confused…what do I do now?  Stay tuned….

Update – all is good….my bag can  go to who it was intended for woo hoo!  Now for the goodie selection!

A little bit of progress

on my bag for the Friendship Bag Swap.  Friday night when I finally got home from a conference, even before I had dinner…I cut and sewed and started this baby.Yes, I know, it does not look like much.  And the photo was taken with fluorescent light.  It really does look better in person.  Most of this weekend I was at a big conference about the brain and executive functioning.  Well, maybe I can use my ragged executive functioning skills to work toward the goal to finish up this baby tonight.  Stay tuned!

Check, check, double check!

Who knew that April would absolutely just fly by?  Yesterday was a sewing day for DC Modern Quilt Guild. We met at the Arlington Central Library instead of the Westover Library as it had a much larger meeting room.  Isn’t it wonderful that we have so many quilters that we need a larger room?  Any who, sad to say…I had not sewn since the last meeting on March 17.  That is a long time for me, but there have been so many other have-to-do types of things.  I was determined to start off with some of the sewing that I needed to do…

First up was the Stargazer block for Creative Sun for April for the Simply Solids Bee. June is my month, so I need to get started thinking about whatblock I want to have my bee buddies make.

Next up were the QAWII packages that I received recently.  First up was to work on Mammafairy’s block.  I had already looked at the set of blocks and brought the starter block with me and some good fabric.  I decided to make the  Quatrefoil block, one of my favorites and was able to get it partly done while working at the library.  Then, I got home and looked at again and thought “What was I thinking?”  Not enough contrast…the green does not go…see for yourself…just plain ugly!So I started a new one…I did finally finish the original block and will send it along as an extra block…who knows – she might need one for the back of the quilt…but I like the new one so much better.Then, since I was on a roll, I tackled the last block…one that was to be grid-like.  I did not want to replicate the other designs too closely, but settled on a modification of a design from the Modern Blocks book.  Here is what I came up with…What a productive day!  I even was able to run and put away several loads of laundry while working at home.  I always feel better when I am on time with things.  My local post office even has the easy do-it-yourself postal center so I can get all of these posted today even though it is Sunday.  Now, some outside time and some grading..woo hoo!

Cherry Blossoms :)

It was a crazy weather week here.  It had been cool, so the cherry blossoms were delayed.  On Monday I went for a bike ride on the VA side of the river, and looking back at DC you could see some patches of pink, but not the sea of blossoms that you generally expect.  Then, all of a sudden, it was hot and they all seemed to pop!  I did not get back to downtown and the Tidal Basin, but I did fit in a “camera walk” of a nearby neighborhood street.  This is how it looks as you approach this section…

And then bit by bit some close-ups…you can tell by the bit of green that these blossoms won’t last long!

But check out the blooms themselves!

Even the ground is pretty with all of the fallen petals – sometimes it looks like it is snowing!

April Goals..

One would think that my main April goal would be about quilting…but, oh there is so much more!

A.  I am in the middle of report writing and then next week will have parent conferences…Usually I write the reports while on spring break – yes, I know…. some vacation – but this year I was away.  Let’s try to fit a 40 hour job on top of a 50 hour week…not fun

B.  I have this inventory hanging over my head.  It has to do with some family stuff going on.  Again, I just need a chunk of time with no distractions.  And when might that be?

C.  The fun stuff…my April goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes… Over the past several years I have made several sashiko kits.  They are fun and easy-going.  Do you remember these?

Well here is the  fabric that I have selected to go with them.

My intention is to make a vertical wall quilt.  As I look at them now, I wonder if there is an orientation that would work both horizontally and vertically.  Hmmm…any comments or suggestions?

Just in the nick of time!

Today is the last day of the month, and it was a long month…but just minutes ago I finished my quilt that was my goal for March for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  The quilt was started years ago…I wrote about it here…and then reported my progress here.  I was away for a week and came back to finish it up.  It is rainy/dreary outside today so I tested the strength of the design wall as a place to take a pic.

I had a hard time figuring out how to quilt it past a grid, but did some outlining of the bright areas.

I usually like to make binding that is different from the back, but it just seemed to work for the front to use the same fabric…and hey, it is a wall quilt anyway

Onward to April!