i'm in!

bonnie has thrown down the gauntlet for a quilting challenge and i am definitely in!  i would like to get this quilt done before the end of the month; it's over half done at this point.  i'll certainly give it a serious try.  **** just back from a delish breakfast in boothbay harbor.  up early and out the door for a scenic drive and breakfast overlooking the harbor.  we go a few times during the summer just for a brief visit to this picturesque village.  **** i've a paid holiday today and it feels soooo rich!  i'll get my hour of quilting in no problem, and not sure what else either.  yesterday i cut out the remaining little baskets to hand piece, and i've finished 2 more of the red applique squares as well.  **** count down is now 6 weeks and 6 days....maps have been ordered, projects are packed, last minute shopping list is started, and the taste of fall in the air today has me eager to go.  hard to believe this was booked in february and the time is nearly here. 

here it is!

drum roll please!  when bonnie left for her trip to bali, she posted a pattern for these teeny, tiny, scrappy spools as a challenge to see how many her loyal followers could finish while she was gone.  well, here is mine...that's it.....just one.  and mine is way scrappier than hers too, just to be a tad different.  i have a little tote sitting on my sewing table filled with inchies, 1.5" squares, which are used in this pattern.  i probably should have, could have, wanted to get more done but now she has returned with her voluminous batiks, so no doubt we'll try something else.  i do like these little spools and i might make more at some point.  i think they would make an ideal border flipping every other one, so who knows what the future holds for this lonely spool.  **** it is cooool here in maine tonight, but i have to shut my window....a shame, really a shame.   

friday sewing

spent some quality time with the old viking yesterday and made this cute little tote for a gift.  didn't take too long at all, used up minimal fabric and got finished to boot!  the flash has washed out the colors some but you get the idea.  *** shaping up to be a good day, once i get the cobwebs out of my head.  our pot smoker was around last night again.  the little brat won't let me keep my window open at night.  i lived in this real dump in dorchester, mass., after leaving the shelter and the room was so tiny.  it was august and sometimes i kept my door open for cross ventilation.  the moron next door would  scream until i closed it.  i didn't think i'd have that difficulty here but just goes to show you, manicured grounds don't mean anything.  i should have had my own place by now, but i am stuck with landlords and fellow tenants that just plain suck.  it just plain makes me cry.

hand work projects

in between quilting and sewing on the machine, i enjoy doing hand work projects, which keep my hands occupied from snacking while watching TV or videos!  these are 3 that are currently in progress.  i have posted them on my design wall to remind me to keep going on them.  only the blocks are a UFO project, the others are not yet UFOs as i started them this year.  today, though, i'm sewing on the machine after clearing the decks in the sewing area, a perpetual task.  **** as birthday week draws to a close and summer is also beginning to wane, i'm thinking ahead to retreat and getting back to big quilts.  last night, though, i got an eyeful of the "blue moon," so called because it's the second full moon of august and only happens, well, once in a blue moon!  today is a decidedly summer day with temps near 90, so maybe some beach time is on?  we'll see.....

phase 1 finished

so, here are 202 hexagons now sewn into twosies.  though you have seen those itty, bitty 3/4 inch hexies on bonnie's page, you won't see any of them here...and for good reason, too.  my fingers are a bit chunkier than bonnie's!  and besides, this patten is called "honeycomb" from an amish pattern book.  next they will get sewn into foursies and assembled into sections so i can get them on the design wall and hopefully into an eye-pleasing flimsy.  **** still plugging away at some applique projects.  waiting for the weather to modulate a bit so i can get back to quilting my pinwheel.  in the meantime, the beach is calling and i must answer....LOL!

mailbox goodies

these 2 goodies arrived  yesterday.  kim diehl was in maine this year for workshops but honestly, i just couldn't fit the cost into my budget, so i settled for a $15 consolation gift of her 2013 calendar.  not close to being the same as a workshop, i know, but at least i get to enjoy her beautiful quilts every month.  and my last issue of quilt life came too, but my dear mom has renewed for another year as a birthday gift.  i really enjoy this magazine, not so many fabric ads and lots of interesting reading about quilters.  *** a brief preview of fall here today; every so often now we get a day that is dry, sunny and a bit on the cooler side than real summer.  we're starting to see dried leaves on the ground as well, just a reminder that summer doesn't go on forever.  and it's lobster-palooza week here too.  as if anyone didn't know there is a glut of them around.   we've had 3  little festivals of our own so far.....mmm, mmm, good!

all kitted up

ok, finally got this kit all set to go.  just snap on the lid and pack in the tote bag with the other 2 projects i am taking PLUS the hawaiian.  not sure how much will actually get done, but i don't want to run out of things to sew.  the 2 smaller projects will get sewn first, i think, and then devote the remainder of the retreat to the civil war diary.  i only have a few blocks of that done, so don't imagine will finish all 121 blocks on retreat.  like i said, if i could stay a month.....  ****  a rainy day here but the rest of the week looks good for beach trips!  

that time again

another birthday for which i am very grateful.  bring 'em on, the more the merrier!  hope the candles don't blind you!  nothing special on the docket, just the usual monday stuff.  i try to have the same appreciation for each and every day, though admittedly some days it takes more effort.  after another glorious beach day yesterday, so hoping today i can play in the stash!

border crossing

in today's mail, i find these beauties that skipped across the border from NH into maine...from victoria!  how sweet is that!  i do love paisley fabrics and have a bit of a small stash of them for a someday project percolating in the gray matter.  it perked me up enough to get through my 8-hour day at work after working very late last night covering for a coworker with an early AM flight.  i planned ahead, though, and came home to a freshly changed bed and a neat room with new, colorful stuff on the design wall.  will be catching up on sleep tomorrow, not sure how much sewing, if any, will get done.  ****  spent friday on a summer veggie cooking marathon of corn fritters, zucchini pancakes and a huge pot of escarole soup for the freezer for work days ahead.   i come from a long line of family who "put food by" for winter's enjoyment, long before produce from chile was ever dreamed.   when my great-grandmother died, the cellar still had jars of veggies, fruits, pickles and jams and a bin half full of potatoes.  her raspberry jam excelled far above stonewall kitchen and long before it as well.  and guess what, she was our family quiltmaker too! 

first 2 of 20

i know, i know, yet another amish style quilt.  what can i say...i love to make them!  it's the quilting, don't you know; the piecing is just, well, piecing.  this is 1 of 5 i currently have in progress.  it's a boring, plain, old traditional block but i like it nevertheless.  they will be set on point with alternating solid blocks for....that's right, quilting!  it is being hand sewn, a take-along project and will, of course, be hand quilted.  it is a gift, already earmarked, but when it's done i hope i am not tempted to renege on my current plans.  **** our excellent weather just keeps coming and coming.  we were at the beach nearly all day yesterday, unusual for us, as it was simply divine...warm, breezy, sunny...not a bit too hot.  one of those rare, perfect days. nevertheless, there is a bit of fall feel in the air and small trees are starting to turn.  anxious to see what mother nature has in store this year, one of unprecedented warmth and periods of downpours.