LOTS of Sewing!

Yesterday was one of those rare days where I actually got more done than I expected! I started on my dresdens.

I made two of them.

And then I moved on to Bliss. Here she is, layered with backing and batting, ready to be pin basted. Yes, my dining room table has been overtaken yet again. I'll be pinning a bit here and there - the goal is to be finished pinning by Monday so I can start the machine quilting. That shouldn't be a problem!

Then in the afternoon and evening I began stitching the next Farmer's Daughter block - good progress here, too.

I doubt I do as much today. Though I do hope to make the last needed parts for the last En Provence block and get it put together. Then I can move on to the sashing.  It's fun to see so much progress on so many projects. 

And now I think I'll sit and rest and enjoy a cup of tea. Want to join me? Have a great day!

Batting is Here...

The only thing I have to show for machine quilting progress yesterday is a bag of batting - I bought the batting. Unfortunately, that's all I did on it. But during the rest of the week I hope to start basting Bliss so it will be ready to go under the machine on Monday. Progress is progress, right?

I did finish this Farmer's Daughter block last night.

And since I went on and on about pressing it and twirling seams yesterday, I going to show you the back, too! I'm so enamored with how flat it is! I think this is block number 12.

Last night I cut out the pieces for the next block - this one has blues and browns.

Last week I went out to lunch at a local restaurant and ordered my favorite salad - Blueberry Feta Salad. Of course, my luck, they didn't get their blueberries or feta cheese in that day. I've been thinking about that salad every single day since. UPDATE: I forgot about the almonds! Add whole almonds, also!!!


So I decided there was no reason why I could make on at home. It's simply mixed greens, thinly sliced red onion, blueberries, feta cheese, and poppyseed dressing. I found some 'lite' poppyseed dressing at the grocery store. And I added a bit of chicken on top, too. YUM! Hubby said it's the best salad he's ever eaten. This was dinner a couple of nights ago.

Today is dresden day! Let's see how many I can make! Let's go SEW!

One More to Go! And Pressing Matters...

Yesterday I put together another En Provence block - only one more to go! Yippee! You may remember that because I'm making a smaller quilt with bigger pieces, I estimated how many parts and pieces to make. I need to make a few more parts before I finish the last block. Not a problem!

And then I made another set of nine patches - good progress.

One of my FAVORITE things about making nine patches is...twirling the intersections on the backside when pressing! It keeps the intersections flat - don't you hate bulky intersections???

Well, that brings me to my Farmer's Daughter blocks. It has taken me several blocks to FINALLY learn how to press these to eliminate bulky intersections. Do you see all those Y-seams?

I finally learned that I can twirl those, too! This makes my life so much better! Haha! The only bad thing about this is that now I need to go back and re-press all the blocks I've already made.

So today's message is: TWIRL THOSE INTERSECTIONS!!!

We had another round of storms in the afternoon. Another tornado warning! EEK! There was damage within our county - a house destroyed in our town of Opelika, But no damage in our neighborhood, thank goodness. But Georgia was hit so hard...prayers for them.

It's machine quilting day. I have the top (Bliss) ready. I have the backing ready. But I have no batting. I should have thought about this before today. So I'll most likely run out to buy batting. Then on with the show!

Have a blessed Monday.

It was a Farmer's Daughter Day

We had two rounds of severe weather yesterday - the first came through mid-morning with a tornado warning to boot. No damage around here, though there was damage in the next town over (Smiths Station).

Then the sun came out for the afternoon. Round 2 came through overnight. I was tired and slept through the entire thing. We had a nice storm (according to Hubby), but nothing dangerous. Weather people had been warning us all day that it was a PDS event - Possible Dangerous Situation. But we dodged a bullet.

I had a lovely day of hand stitching - my thumb is much better! I started another Farmer's Daughter block and managed to get this far - all the sections are sewn together. Yay me!

I forgot to mention this yesterday. We have a niche in our back hallway - up to now it's just been a rectangular sheet rocked opening. Friday a carpenter showed up and popped this into the opening. I love it! I now have shelves, Craftsman style trim and a little more class. Without shelves, there was not much I could put in here. Now I can add cookbooks, maybe a plant, and a few fun things. Much better. Someone else will be coming soon to paint it (the bead board in the back will also be painted) and then I'll get busy filling it.

I hope you have a lovely day.

Hexies and Bread!

Yesterday was extremely busy for me! I started out with a trip to the grocery store - a VERY early trip! 

Then the bread making began - SIX loaves rising! I worked in hexie stitching in between. I finished another little threesome - see it above.

Bread was baked - yum!!! Most of this is now in the freezer and I won't need to make bread again until March. 

And while we're on the subject of food - I bought these oranges at the store yesterday - PINK oranges! I've never seen pink oranges before. They are very good and so beautiful, don't you think?

I was looking forward to an evening of hand stitching... but while I was cooking dinner I burned my thumb. OUCH! See the blister? And that's my sewing thumb. And so hand stitching did not happen last night. But at least dinner was delicious! I made THIS - Honey Mustard Chicken Potato Casserole. It was really good and simple to make.

Wow - there's a lot of food in this post! Am I making you hungry?

I haven't decided what I'm sewing today. I'm a bit tired after yesterday. Hubby came home from Birmingham last night so I'm thinking there will be a lot of TV and relaxing today - so that means hand stitching if my thumb holds up.

We have weather warnings today - a line of bad weather coming through. It's a good day to hunker down!

Have a great day!

TGIF!

So yesterday I made two sets of nine patches.

And then I made another set.

And then I made another set.

I know some of these are odd color combinations. I purposely tried to put some odd pairings together to give this quilt some uniqueness. Some spots of interest. We'll see if it works! I want someone to say, "Wow, I would have never thought to put those fabrics beside each other - but they look good!"

I'm really glad I pulled this quilt out to work on. I'm almost done with the nine patches and will then be ready to put this top together. It's going to be a cool quilt, I think.

I did swim yesterday, but not long. At least I did a bit. Progress is progress even if it's slow, right?

Today MUST be bread making day! I've been putting it off all week. I really don't mind making it and it is worth the effort. So today it will happen. And hexies will happen!

Have a fun Friday!

Lots of Sewing! Yay!

Yesterday! I sewed for hours! Yay me! I stitched together the 3rd En Provence block.

And then I stitched together the 4th block! Only 2 more blocks to go!

And then I decided to move on to dresdens. I made one...

And then I made another!

My pictures are a bit dark today - it's very cloudy and foggy this morning. Storms are coming in tonight.

I had plans to work on the next Farmer's Daughter block last night, but I was tired and simply vegetated in front of the television. But it was a good day of sewing!

Did you notice I made two of each block? I love sets of two. When I come home from a trip to the grocery store, I find I have bought MANY items in twos. Two boxes of popcorn. Two cartons of eggs. Two frozen pizzas. Two packages of frozen broccoli. I think I have a bit of OCD. Why buy one? I might need another! Ha! I always have a spare!

Today I'll be working on my UFO - and that means nine patches! But first, I'm dragging myself to the pool. I've been a slug this week - need to swim TODAY!

Let's go jump in a pool!!! Have a fun day!