It Was A Wonderful Day

We spent our Thanks-giving Day at the home of our friends, the parents of Nick's best friend Tino.  They're originally from a big state known for hospitality, and they know how to do it right.  Tino's dad prepared smoked goose, along with smoked turkey breast, and ham.  I'd never had goose before and found it quite good; it is chewier than other poultry.

Sides, some brought by guests, included mashed potatoes and gravy, a dish of roasted beets and sweet potatoes, broccoli-cheese casserole, mac & cheese, cornbread dressing, and a corn casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, green salad, two different types of deviled eggs, cranberry sauce.  There had been appetizers of veggie plates, chips and their daughter had made two different types of baked brie in a puff pastry - oh my, was that ever tasty and new to me :)   Then for dessert, there was chocolate pie, pecan pie, whipped cream, individual cheesecakes,  lemon-cake cookies.  They only missed pumpkin pie, but wow, oh, wow, who needed it with the spread that was put before us. No one could go hungry.

And I'm sad to say, I didn't have my camera with me to take a pic of  all the yumminess.

Most of the guests who were there, we knew from previous get-togethers and activities through the years.  There was one new couple. Outside was also one new puppy belonging to some guests, which was just too cute.  

We watched football, their team lost.  Nick's other friend, Jay and his family were there also.  They left earlier than we did, so we did a little switch-a-roo.  We all live reasonably close together, so they drove Marty home so that he could prepare to go up to the mountains for photo-shooting Fri & Sat, and I took Jay home later, so that he could have more time to spend with Nick and Tino, the three of them engaging in a game of Monopoly in Tino's room.

We had eaten around 1:00 and because of our complete gluttony the amount of food we availed ourselves to, dinner was not needed, but I did nibble on a few potato chips when I got home.  I brought home the leftover green salad I had taken, except for a portion the daughter took, and a portion I left for the hosts, so in Marty's absence, I won't be cooking any huge amounts and will have some nice guilt-free greens to munch on tomorrow.

The day is now over, it's nearly bed time and I'm tired.  

It was a blessed day, and I'm very thankful that I can call these wonderful people my friends too, not just Nick's best friend's parents. 

I hope your day was great too.

Happy Thanks-Giving

Happy Thanks-Giving

 

When I was young, my grandparents had a small painting/print of the above image in their dining room.  I now have it, it seems so much smaller now though than it did then.  I've always admired the image, even when I didn't believe in the One to Whom I am now so very thankful to for all that He has given.  

May your day be blessed with love, friendships, family, great food, safety, and above all, a personal relationship with the Saviour, Jesus Christ, Creator of all things.

 

Mixed Bag

My 'fortune' from the other night:

If only!

Nick had a project in school where he had to draw:

It reminds me of Nicolas Cage, though that isn't who it's supposed to be.

Raven wanted the trimmings out of the trimmings bag. The problem was that she was trying to ingest them:

Nom, nom, nom.  NO! NO! NO!

A week or so ago, I put the leftovers of the Cheeseburger Soup (a la Eleanor Burns) into the freezer.  I save containers for such things.  The ingredient combination sure smelled up the freezer, had to put the two containers into a plastic zippered bag...much better.

Whewwwwie, seal it up.

Reminds me of an old-fashioned windshield wiper:

Swish, swish

Time for The Voice.  I may not like all kinds of music, but I still enjoy this show.   I haven't picked a hands-down favorite this year, it's really a toss-up for me.  When I was a child, I wanted to grow up and be a Country-Western singer.  Those were the days of Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis, Patsy Cline, Ferlin Huskey, Faron Young and so many other old-time greats.  CW was all we heard at home, and of course we watched Hee Haw and The Porter Wagoner Show.  Today, I can barely carry a tune and my voice cracks and breaks.  Well, back to the show.  Have a blessed evening.

Wide Awake

Today is Saturday.  Saturdays are for sleeping in.  Nope, not me, not this Saturday.  And for no reason other than I just was wide awake at 6:30, surprisingly so as well, since it was well after 11:30 by the time I went to bed last night.

Well, that's all I have for now.  Except that, for my Webs of Threads blog, I found the gadget for you to become a follower which I now have added to the left side-bar, so if you'd like to follow just my quilty stuff, you can head over there and perhaps by the end of the day, I'll have a relevant post showing.

Have a great day my friends.

Finding Friday

Whew! Where'd the last couple of days go?  Into history for sure.

This morning was again taken up in a meeting with our financial guy.  It can be aggravating for me as Marty's insecurities kick in and we use up half the allotted time re-hashing the same stuff we've gone over in practically every meeting we've had to date, which pushes out going over what we were scheduled to go over.  Big sigh!  This is how Marty processes things.  Drives...me...batty.  I sit by quietly.

Marty clearly needs a place to go to so that he can get his mind off all of the job-hunt stuff and decisions for the future so I pushed for him to go ahead a spend the little bit of money and GO.  He received word today that he did not get the position he interviewed for last week with Yellow Pages.

So with the forecasted snow for the areas where he enjoys going to do landscape photography, he and his friend left just moments ago for an overnight and all day tomorrow outing.  I'm hoping it's a really refreshing time for him.  And I won't say just how much I'll enjoy these next 24 hours of having my own space....oh, I guess I just did, snicker :)

I used the dust mop on the Sanctuary floors for the first time in several days, and wow, what a lot of dust and cat hair!  

I didn't realize until this morning that Nick doesn't have school at all next week, and here I was thinking he had to go Mon. through Wed.  Silly me.  Nick has been invited to a four or five hour activity tomorrow, so I'll have the better part of the afternoon entirely to myself.

We had some rain yesterday and our temps have turned quite chilly.  At 7:30 p.m. we were already down to 49, but that's still no where as cold as where my daughter lives.  Her area is expecting temps in the upper teens and 20s over the next few days, brrrrr. 

There's not much to speak of today I guess.  I haven't done any quilt-work today, so there'll be no post at Webs of Threads.  And I only did the pressing on the star-point units last night so that's not a lot to write about.  

Tomorrow's another day; we'll see what the Lord has in store for it. 

These Trying Times

I added a link at the upper right corner for Webs of Thread to make it easier to get there from here.  I'll probably add a quilty post over there later this evening. 

It's hard to believe it's been almost 3 1/2 months since Marty lost his job.  The reality of how that is changing, and has changed our lives hits every day.  For me, often in fighting off depressive moods.  His severance pay was only for 16 weeks and that's about up, and the added cost of COBRA insurance eats up just about every dime of unemployment.  

Today's depressive trigger was facing that it is time to begin the process of Nick's transition from his very small private school, where he's been since his first day of kindergarten, to his placement at our district's public high school, which is bigger than the entire town I grew up in.  It's a daunting thought that my sheltered son will be thrown into a lion's den.  My view, not his as he has wanted this since before school started.  But I'm the one who knows what's best for my son, not the 15-year old who hasn't been through all the ugly experiences of life.  And yet, I must let him go, and pray that my loving Father will watch over him.  As one of the ladies in the school office told me today, "God is there too."  And truly He is, and as his parents, Marty and I still have at-home responsibilities for his guidance and maturity in the things of the Lord. 

For now, it's advising one school, gathering info at the other, and in the few weeks between the Thanksgiving break and Christmas (or sadly as the new school calls it: Winter Break) we will make sure he gets registered and he gets placed in the necessary classes; that books get returned and new ones issued.  As the public school doesn't offer AP Biology until his sophomore year, I had to find out if he'd be able to continue with the Sophomores (he's a Freshman) or if he'd lose 1/2 a year of that study.  He can join them! Yay! 

It was also a day to head to Costco again.  There were times that was a bit discouraging as there were some things that I might have placed in my cart if Marty were working, but I didn't.  All the wonderful holiday foodstuffs are overflowing the shelves at the stores.  I did splurge on a tub of red vines.  I've been craving something sweet and we haven't had many sweets here other than the Brownie Bites, but I try to leave those for Nick's sack lunches that he takes to school.  One of the best deals at Costco is their rotisseried chicken.  We can get several meals from one $4.99 chicken, AND it's already cooked and seasoned!  They also had bottles of Johnny's garlic seasoning which I haven't seen since I bought some a few years ago and was nearly out of, so I bought another one.  It's yummy sprinkled on buttered bread for garlic toast, or occasionally on pasta or vegetables.

I'll be back later with my Webs of Thread post. See you then.

Monday Design Wall etc.

I have added, and am linking to, my Design Wall Monday post over at my new blog Webs of Threads where I now place all things involving thread, whatever the form.

Since I set this blog up a couple years ago, it appears Blogger has changed a few things, and I can't figure out how to add that link/button/whatcha-ma-call-it thang called Followers/Join This Site/Members at WoT.  I posted about that over there too, so hopefully, some one can give me some insight.

It is currently very dry again here in the dry land.  My hands look like alligator skin - I have the great blessing of having naturally dry skin, but dislike having to use an abundance of creams.  It seems to be worsening as I age, so I'll have to succumb to those moisterizers.  I just need to find unscented ones or ones whose scent is at least acceptable to my odor fragrance processing center.  It's so dry, even my eyes feel like sandpaper!  I suppose that's one of the reasons I don't like this time of year in this part of the country.  If I were in the wet land, I'd likely enjoy it more, at least I'd like to think so.

I do like this product.   In the past when I purchased it the tube looked different, so I don't know if they reformulated it, or if it's just a different package, or if there's more than one variety.  The previous formula didn't feel quite as slippery as this one after I rub it in, and was unscented.  This one feels slippery on my palms longer and I usually use a tissue to wipe my palms, and it also has a light scent, along the lines of maybe lilac or honeysuckle - at least it's a natural-smelling scent.  Some fragrances remind me of nothing I've ever smelled naturally and I don't like those at all.  

The ash tree turning yellow.  Fall arrives late here.  These leaves don't usually completely drop until almost Christmas.

On Saturday, I enjoyed my visit with my friend Panda.  She is a true blessing in my life as a friend and for some conversational reasons I won't go into here, and we had a great time of talking and sharing.  There were some tears, but there were also laughs and smiles.  She's going to be kept busy with some family things as the holidays approach, which hopefully, will ease the pain of these "firsts" without her husband, so we likely won't have an opportunity to get together again until after the first of the year.  Losing a beloved spouse is never easy, no matter how many days or years pass.  

Hi Mom!

 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Hah! Do you have that David Bowie song stuck in your head now?  Right there with It's A Small World, um, yeah, moving right along. Please, no throwing tomatoes, or open rotary cutters!

I'm not sure why, but I got it into my head today to really change things up a little.  

Internally, I think I've been bothered with not knowing the direction I wanted to take my blog and by default, it's become a mish-mash of everything, which isn't necessarily bad.  Some of my favorite blog-reads are like that.  Yet, I've been thinking about keeping all things quilty, or stitchery-related, separate from my life blog in general.  I also wasn't sure I really liked the name of my blog all that much in that it really has no correlation to quilting. 

So with those thoughts swimming around in my head, I decided to come up with a new blog name, and give it its own blog home.  Today, I created Webs of Threads, another blog, linked to this one, which will going forward, have all of my quilt-related stuff on it.  I've already set it up with my previous tabs for my GALLERY, along with updating the comments on the photos under that tab, my UFO PARADE, in which I still need to update with current additional projects, and the list of the "SOMEDAY" quilts I'd like to make.  There may be more tabs in the future.  I considered transfer all past truly quilt-related posts to the new blog, but I'm not techy enough to figure out if that's possible, so I may just put a link to any references if I post new stuff that pertains to something over here.

You may have noticed I also updated my photograph.  I didn't like the old one, never did, but then I don't really like many photographs of myself, and these days, all photographs make me look old, really, I'm not that old, am I?  Shhush, don't answer that.  I recall an old saying about if the barn door needs paintin', paint it, but it's been so many years since I stopped wearing make-up that I don't even know if I'd remember how to apply it...and I'd have to buy new stuff at that.  So it is what it is!

And I'm not sure, but if you're a follower of my blog, you'll probably have to follow me anew.  I will have to likewise add those I was following onto my new list of favorite blog sites, not seeing any way to just copy them over and have the links work.

Wing Blocks or Star-Point Blocks

I've been calling them wing blocks because they look like wings or flaps hanging off the 9-P blocks on the design wall, but only because I haven't pinned up the corner squares to complete the whole block.  I guess they should be called Star-Point Blocks, though you wouldn't know they were star points until you put all four sides next to the 9-Patches.

Using reds/brick tones for the star points, and neutrals for the background of the star-point blocks.

Chain piecing adding the squares for the star points.

I really dislike drawing diagonal lines, so I use tape and then just line up the bottom corner along the edge as I sew.  The blue tape is several layers thick, and is used to give me a consistent 1/4" seam.

After the first diagonal stitching is made, I'm adding a second line of stitching  for those bonus triangle squares, a la Bonnie Hunter :)

Ooooh, do you see the problem?

Yep, I sewed the second line of stitching to the wrong side of the first diagonal line of stitching!

Pile of trimmed off triangle squares ready to be trimmed and pressed.  They will be 2" square when trimmed to finish as 1.5" blocks for a something someday quilt.

I have 21 of 77 sets done.  I didn't get to any sewing yet today, but the evening isn't over, so there's still hope.  

After picking Nick up from school, I just needed a nap so I took one, and woke to Marty being frustrated by COBRA messing up on our prescription coverage even though the payment was sent.  We, yep, it involved me and using speaker phone, and after 20 minutes of phone tree hell we were told the number we called couldn't help us, we had to go back to whomever was administering the COBRA plan.  He'd already talked with them and was told they'd have to 'research' it...well, it's Friday, so we won't hear anything over the weekend and in the mean time, Marty goes without his prescription... unless he was willing to pay $119.00 for it...not!

Recipe Inundation

Recipe keeper.  Recipe clipper.  Recipe filer. Cookbook collector.  TV food channel watcher.  Internet Foodie.  Do these terms fit you?  They fit me.  

I've gathered recipes since my childhood.  I have made many and rid myself of many.  I have favorite cookbooks, and books I've rarely opened.
 

My all-time favorite set of cookbooks

Repetition becomes boring; I like variety and experimentation, and trying new recipes on Nick and Marty can be fun, and enlightening. 

Many times I've picked through the recipes and created weekly menus.  I've inventoried my pantry to make it easier to determine what I have and what I need to buy.

Front left = pile to sort through, back right = to keep for a "better kitchen", right front = menus, back left = possibilities

One year I went through a cookbook that was a year of weekly menus along with shopping lists.  The exercise was good, the menus and recipes not so much - though some were good and became keepers, I found most didn't fit our eating habits or style and sometimes the meals were far too skimpy, or just not to our liking.  There were times I intentionally had to modify the plan.

I've been culling through those stacks of recipes again. Attempting to put together some new weekly menus of my own.  Attempting to incorporate some breakfast, and lunch plans as well since Marty is presently at home.  Thinking about doubling up some of those meals for freezer meals or freezing leftovers in individual servings for at home lunches.  It can be overwhelmingly time consuming.  

Considerations in my planning are that my kitchen is not efficient nor entirely functional due to the kitchen remodel that didn't happen (no real oven, minimal counter space), and Nick's pickiness and peanut allergy though the latter is less of a concern.

The ones that just don't cut it end up in the paper recycle bag.

The last couple of years have seen far too much reliance on quick meals and convenience foods, so I'd like to get away from that, plus, I'm just getting tired of some of those same old things again.  I need to plan my shopping better and use up some of the things that have hung around in the pantry for awhile.

That's my project for today, and likely the next few days.  I did a little bit of quilting piece-work yesterday or the day before, and will fit some more in today or tomorrow too. 

Paper Please

 This is a video that a friend posted on social media, and it was just too good to not share.  If I knew how to imbed it here I would, but I don't, so you'll just have to click on the link.  It's short, but oh so good. 

http://www.flixxy.com/the-paperless-future-emma.htm

Design Wall Monday, 11 November 2013

On my design wall today are elements for my November NewFO.  I have all the 9-Patch units done and have only begun working on the side elements that create the star points; the one you see is the only set of four that's done.  I was side-tracked over the weekend!

How was I side-tracked?  By genealogy.  You see, ArkivDigital, a Swedish genealogy site was offering complete viewing of their records ... FREE for the weekend !!!  And I like free, especially at this time in our life.  And who wouldn't like being able to search for document images in Sweden?  I was able to find, and save to file and print, about a half-inch tall stack of documents, mostly church records for births and what amounts to a form of census called "Household Records".  All of which gave me birth dates I didn't have and even names of siblings of my direct ancestors.  Some of these were from the very early 1800's.  All that to say, I didn't make much quilting progress.

Another small sampling of the 77, 9-Patch blocks, one with the star point units pinned next to it.

I love scrappy!  So much fun mixed in! 

Close up.  These are the only 4 "wing" sets I've done, who knows which 9-P they'll become attached to later.

Wait a minute, do you plan on doing my pressing?

Look at the fun ice-cream treats in there, yum.

Here, kitty, kitty, join me for tea in my garden?

Linking up with Patchwork Times and then I'll see what you've all been up to :)

Marty's at his all morning long interview, with four or five different individuals in rotation at that company, so I'm praying God's will and that if he gets this position, great, we can celebrate, but if not, that Marty won't be discouraged and will recognize he just needs to keep trying, God will provide in His timing and His location.

Stash Report Sunday - Week 45, 2013

I guess it's been a few weeks since I've submitted a stash report again, so much for accountability, but then, when you've brought nothing in, and you haven't put anything 'countable' out, it's almost not worth the effort.  And yes, I think I will definitely change my in/out counting method beginning 1/4/2014 (that's the first Sunday).  At that time, I will set three separate points for counting fabric out of the stash: 1. fabric out when constructed to the point of being a flimsy, 2. fabric out for the backing when it has been pinned - even if the quilt isn't yet quilted, and 3. fabric out for the binding when it is done!  I'm looking forward to 2014 where I can count some of these NewFO projects as I get them to the fllimsy stage.  Heck, I may even count some of them that are at the flimsy stage just because they've never been counted before :)

Here are the same old boring numbers.  I'm thankful I suppose that my IN numbers are as high as they might have been.  Surely I'd be adding a whole lot of neutrals to my stash since I'm using a lot of them in my recent projects. 

Used This Week: 0 yards 
Used Year to Date: 10.25 yards  
Added This Week: 0 yards  
Added Year to Date: 46.375 yards  
Net Used for 2013: -36.125 yards

The last quarter of 2013 is becoming known as use it up or do without.

Linking up at Patchwork Times.

Marty has a face-to-face interview tomorrow, please keep his job hunt as a matter of prayer.

Three-Day Weekend

I think I'm really thankful it's a three-day weekend, with Monday being Veteran's Day...and no school, which equates to "I don't have to do the back and forth school drive.".   With today's traffic, thankful is an excellent word!  At least half of the drivers on the road were out to frustrate me.  It was a conspiracy, I know it was, lol!!

We spent several hours at the financial adviser's again.  That can be frustrating as it seems like some of the same stuff is said over and over again ad nauseum, and a lot of it is Marty's fault. And I'll leave that at that! We signed a lot of papers today.  It reminded me of all the papers you have to sign when you sign for a new mortgage!  There were a few things I didn't have with me today, so will have to gather them and drop off on Monday, and we should be set, at least in the sense of our some day retirement.  Marty still needs a job though, we are not retired and won't be for several years yet.

Yesterday I spent over eight hours sewing 77 blocks for my next project, setting aside Gathered Over Time (G.O.T.) temporarily.  Again, I was sewing 9-patches.  These are larger and use 2.5" squares.  I could have used 2.5" strips, but since I was again pulling from my scrap bins, it was easier to make sure I had the right set quantities by cutting into squares.  I'm posting several pictures of some of the blocks.  Though the 9-Ps are done, they are not the entire block, but rather are the centers of each block, so there will be more revealed in the future.

I really, really loved how the fabrics came together for these blocks.  When I was matching up the sets of five pieces and the coordinating four pieces, I did some planning, instead of going willy-nilly.  I'd put my five or four piece sets together and lay them out separately in rows and then grab a set of fives and coordinate them with something from the fives.  Sometimes they blend well, other times they contrast, and some are just really fun combos with the coordination from the patterns in the fabric.  Here are some picture examples.

Contrasting fabric styles, but the blues are perfectly aligned.

Viny plants along a green pebbled path?

Hmmm, beyond description.  The five-patches remind me of wall-paper from a house I lived in 1980.

Coordination sunflowers and flying objects with contrasting blues.

The solid yellow sets off the vibrant reds and purples and coordinates with yellow-toned ribbon

Blue shades, very calming and simple.

Hmmm, maybe not huge on contrast, but the pinks coordinate, along with flowers, and aligning the "border" in this way draws more interest than had they all gone the same direction.

Loved the houndstooth pattern and it looks great with the greys and black.

Recognize those flying objects? This time they coordinated with colored patchwork squares.

This quilt will be as interesting as an "I Spy" though that is not what it is.  

Off to start the next step.....after these parting shots:

Flame on G.O.T.

Raven is not about to be outdone by Flame, taking her turn on G.O.T.

Auditioning Dilemna

Do you have trouble deciding on fabric options?  I know I do.  I'm analytical, and indecisive.  Here is a sampling of some fabrics for background and setting triangles for the Gathered Over Time quilt.  Rather than pin them onto my design wall, I laid them out on my cutting table, which may not be the best place because the light doesn't really hit it the best, and I can't step back far enough to see it at the right angle.  

Well, I'll post some pictures, and if you have any thoughts, please share.  I began by considering the white-on-white as the background and a creamy tone-on-tone for the setting triangles.  But then I tried it in reverse, with a buttery cream as the background and a W-O-W as the triangles, hmmmm.  I may still have to get this onto the wall before I can make a choice.  I hope the pictures will show the options well enough.

white background, cream 'check' on right edge

Close-up of the above

white background, floral cream on left edge

Close-up of the above

butter-cream background, white tonal on top and right

Close-up of above

After looking at the photos, I'm thinking I like the butter-cream choice as the background, it seems to warm it up and make it look almost antique-y, and with the white on the outer edge, as opposed to the opposite, it pulls the eye back to the center.  I won't choose a binding until the top is done, but it could be a dark blue, or red, or green, or brown, or, well, who knows.

Update on Job Hunt, etc.

Marty's feeling a whole lot better since his surgery.   Hard to believe that was already a week ago yesterday!

Today he went out and got a haircut.  We discussed my cutting his hair with the hair cutting kit that he bought, but since I haven't done that before we decided to wait a bit.  He doesn't have a lot of hair, and is not shaving off the very top of his dome.  And the reason we decided to wait on my doing it?

He has a face-to-face interview tomorrow.  It wouldn't look too cool if he had gouges in his scalp or uneven sides or something.  I don't think Nick will let me practice on him either, not with all those curls that he'd just as soon have hanging to his shoulders.  Ah, but for school dress and hair codes, he would.

Marty also has an upcoming telephone interview, but I don't know when that's scheduled, it might not actually be scheduled yet.

Another thing Marty did today...registered at the local community college.  I'm just not gung ho on that path for him at this stage, but he said it didn't cost anything to register, so I kept quiet.  Not sure but I think he thinks he can work on a nursing/medical/sonogram/x-ray field of study....me, I'm not sure that's a good fit for him for so many reasons, but it's his decision.

And while I was at my computer briefly earlier today, Flame decided she needed to come pay attention to me for a change, so to keep kitty-computer-time fair, here's a shot of her peering over the top of my laptop.  

Sweet Flame :)

Ninety-Nine Nine-Patches

Yes, indeed, 99 were required, and yes, indeed, I miscounted.  I was nine short so had to pull out the scrap bins again and find enough for nine more sets to make those last 9-patches.  They are now done, and what I need to do next is select the background white or other neutral.  Here are the 90 stacked all neatly and tidy:

The pattern called for light shirtings, but I don't have such things, and I want to reserve as much variety of my white/cream scraps as I can for Bonnie Hunter's 2013 Mystery Quilt and depending on the size I go for on that, I will need anywhere from 2 to 4.25 yards. 

I calculated I need approximately 1.3 yards of neutral background for Gathered Over Time.  That sounds low, but let's do the math:  80 5" squares (25 sq. in. each) = 2000 sq. inches, which, based on 1512 sq. inches in a yard of fabric (36 x 42) divided into 2000 = 1.327 yds.  Of course, that also needs to take into consideration that I'm cutting from scraps and may not be able to cut the scraps into 5" sq. pieces, so I need to allow for more yardage.  Additionally, I need about a half-yard of white/cream neutral for the setting triangles and corners.  I was thinking I'd keep the background more in the white range, and the setting triangles more towards cream causing them to create a faux border.

I could go ahead and cut the 5" squares (80 of them), but before I could begin sewing, I would have to lay the 9-Ps out on the design wall for placement, and then I'd either have to sew all the blocks into rows, or be very careful making notes and/or stacks as to which block goes where, and I know how I am about that! By the time I'd get back to it, I'd have forgotten what my notes meant!  So now, I'm trying to decide if I want to at least cut the squares, or just stop at this point and begin sewing on the November NewFO, especially since the first instructions for the mystery quilt will come out on 11/29.

I had a foot-warmer last night while I was sitting here playing on the computer after finishing all the sewing I felt up to doing.  

Raven is very good at warming feet, and this new sewing cabinet has a little ledge at the back of the leg well where I can prop my feet and Raven thought it was a good idea to snuggle up :)

Design Wall Monday, 4 November 2013

I'm still working on Gathered Over Time.  I have finished 45 of the 99 9-patch units. 

Backside of one of the 9-patches

When I press my 9-Ps, I begin on the back so that I can open the seams and spin them.  This gives me a much flatter block, and makes for less bulk.

Spinning the seams to ease bulk.

Travel iron

For my birthday during the summer, my aunt gifted me with one of those portable ironing/cutting pads that folds so you can take it along to quilt classes.  It is a joy to have it next to my sewing station. I've had this little travel iron since Marty and I married in 1996 but rarely used it.  Well it occurred to me that it would make the perfect iron for the pressing board.  It also steams! And I'm a steamer.  That little water chamber holds maybe two tablespoons of water, and I sure do have to refill it frequently.  It's tip is perfectly pointy for getting at those seams. The iron was a wedding gift to us and as you can see, it is branded for JCPenney.  It doesn't have auto shut off so I really have to pay attention to make sure I shut it off when I leave the room.  The kitties are in here frequently and I'm afraid they'll burn their little noses or knock it over.

Shows the size in relation to my hand - and I have small hands.

The most recent batch of 25 of the little 9-P blocks.  There will be a few that will pop for fun.

30 + 25 = 55....and 99 are needed

Blogger rotated the photo again...these are the remaining 43 (1 is on the sewing machine) in the holding tub.  Hmmm, that only looks like 34 units...did I miscount?  Maybe the kitties ran off with some.

Raven!

Raven was having quite the time of disturbing my work this morning.  She took a liking to that pencil.  She managed to bat it under the printer, I retrieved it, and then she batted it to the floor and quite smugly took off and left it there losing interest at that point.

Linking up at Patchwork Times, see you there.