Crafters Monday November 28 through December 4

Ruth its admirable that you are trying so hard to keep to your crocheting goals, and I hope that you can get everything done in December that you want to. The Chiaverini books that went political were her last two, or should I say the last two I read (they were part of the quilting guild series). And DD told me that the flu test took 3 days to get results from, she knew that when she took DGS for the test. No matter what, this flu was horrible.

CJ- love both the quilts!!! The church fabric has such lovely jewel tones, its so bright. And of course I love the start quilt…..so pretty.

Off to work for a while. See ya later.
G

Hello Everyone - Hope you are all doing well today. It's cold and sunny here today.

Ruth - I'm sure you finished a lot of projects in November and I hope you can get all of the ones you want done in December. I liked that fabric with the trees on it too. I still have some more to make another quilt with someday.

Ginny - Hope your workday went well.

Phyl and Sue - Hope you are well.

I was able to get a little bit of quilting done last evening and this morning and then I had to go out to take care of a few things. I pieced together some blocks from those scraps and I did decide to throw out about half of them since I didn't like them and had no desire to work with them.

I also let myself put away a bag full of half square triangles and I'll get back to that another time. I was able to make 36 four patch squares and I figured I could lay them out in a 6 across by 6 down figuration for a small quilt top. I'm also using other half square triangles just to make some blocks. I hope to get these things done in a few days so I can get back to that other scrappy quilt.

I've set some quitling goals for December and hope to meet them. I've had Hand Quilting on my monthly list since September and still haven't done any since before then I'd love to get back to that again.

Hope you all get to do some crafting today. Take care

I did go out today and did a little shopping on the way to the eye doctor.When I saw the doctor and had my pressure checked in that left eye it was down so the eye drops are working but the right eye is a little above what he would like so he told me to start putting drops in both eyes.

CJ, I'm glad that you mentioned setting goals awhile back because it's such a good idea and now since I've been doing that I do get a little more done.Usually I don't complete all my goals just as you didn't get to the hand quilting yet. But sometimes things come up such as a new project that we like better so we have to revise our goal list.

Ginny, I can't wait to see the cat ornament. I'm glad you were able to find the books you want to read at your library.

It was quite warm here today...at least 50 but the wind was horrible with gusts up to 50 and on the highway that goes around our huge town of only 50000 ppl, certain vehicles were banned because the wind gusts were over 65mph.It sounds like both of you are likely to have storms soon. Stay safe!

CJ, how has your furnace been working this year so far?

Oh Ruth, I am just fine.
Bet your house smells amazing with that potato cheese soup, and its awesome that your Dh appreciates your cooking so much. Did you get much snow?

CJ- hope your day went well and that you made some decisions regarding your fabric pieces and how to use them.

So, I did complete the ornament, and overall I am pleased with it. As it was my first attempt at this, I learned a lot and can easily see why this is so relaxing. Now on to working on Janes pin cushion, which is a bit more involved but should be no more difficult. I like the portability of it. I will post a picture, its supposed to look rustic, and does.

Good Evening

Ruth - I'm glad to hear the pressure was down in one eye and hope the drops help the pressure in the other eye. Those winds sound strong, hope you are safe. Do you have someone to clear snow for you? Your cooking sounds good.

Thanks for asking about my furnace, it's working about the same as it did last year. On cold days, it can take all day to warm up the downstairs since it only runs for a minute or so and then cuts off for about 8 minutes. It's a balance trying to figure out how much to run it to warm up the downstairs so I can turn it down at night and then it won't come on again until early morning - so that it's bearable to sleep. The nights when it gets too hot upstairs I just run a fan in my bedroom and that helps. It's tiring dealing with it, but I'm fortunate to have heat.

Ginny - Your ornament is so cute, and I do think it has that rustic look. I'm glad you are enjoying making these.

This morning I finished making things with those extra scraps I found. I was able to make 2 star blocks, a larger block that is based on the Walkabout pattern (and I wish now I'd put white squares in the 4 corners instead of pink), and a checkerboard quilt (measures 18x18) with leftovers from a Block of the Month quilt I made many years ago. This BOM quilt used muslin and reproduction fabrics, and was done at a quilt shop. 

It just cost $1.00 a month as long as you came in and picked up your pattern and fabric. I'm sure the goal was to get quilters to spend money when they came in each month. Sometimes I did, sometimes I didn't.  I can tell I made this quilt awhile ago, since I would have done the sashing and borders differently if I was working on it now.  

I hope to work on the scrappy strip set quilt this weekend and hopefully get it done. I'd like to be free to make a Christmas quilt or table runner. Take care

Ruth, its good news indeed that your eyes are responding well to the drops. I guess its no surprise that the doctor wants to treat the other eye, and its good that your vision is being protected well by those drops. Does the doctor want to schedule a follow up visit soon? Sometimes in my area they restrict certain vehicles because of excessive winds (Hudson river crossings and the coastal highways). Sounds like you had a wild weather day for sure. I hope that with the high winds that you are able to keep power. Who are the bowl cozies for ?

CJ, you posted a lot of pretty pictures, but my favorite? LOVE the scrappy quilt in the middle. Think what makes it work so well is that the white fabric is between each square, so that any pattern or color conflicts are avoided. That was a neat idea that the quilt shop had, to charge a dollar a month, for a BOM with the hope that the quilter will find more goodies to purchase when they pick up their kit for each month. The “local” quilt shop here sure does a good job of marketing templates and supplies when you are working on a BOM with them. It does sound like you have found a way to work around your heater and how it presently works. I know you have really persevered with this situation- would you consider installing a programmable thermostat downstairs to modulate the heater for you? Yes, I am thankful you do have heat.

The jury is out about the cat ornament. Guess I will show the picture from the directions so you can see what the designer intended. I was completely exhausted last night. Slept 8 hours, which is a rare occurrence for me. Not quite sure what I will do today. As its Saturday, I do usually a fair amount of housework. Next week is a 3 day babysitting week, so I need to get my housework done before then. BBL

Ginny,that's fantastic that you were able to sleep that long! I hope you can have more nights with uninterrupted sleep but not because of being so exhausted. The eye doctor had me come back one month after I started the drops but now I don't have to go back for six months. The bowl cozies are for the men in the family. They are each getting a cozy and a hat and the girls will get a hat and knot bag.Dh has something he will give each one too I think. The great grands will get toys as expected. I think I'll make each of the great grands a hat.The two youngest will get a puppy hat,the oldest girl who is 5 will get a hat with a heart on it and I think for the two older boys who are 6, a dino hat but I'll have to think about that. I don't know if 6 year olds would still like a dino hat. I think maybe your dgs #1 may be around that age...what do you think?

CJ.I hope you're having a good day and doing something you enjoy.