Time on my hands

So what do you do when the kitchen is clean, you've folded some fabric, you're tired of crocheting... why, have a bedroom remodel! ;) The idea popped into my head late at night. I couldn't fall asleep. So I figured I'd rearrange the bedroom, and I specifically did it on April Fool's Day, and told my husband that he was gonna get a surprise on Tuesday. That made him really nervous! :D

Before: Everything was just kind of pushed around the walls, including the bed. Which made it impossible to make the bed and hard to open the windows. We've done it this way for 2 years.



And a whole pile of mess! Yes, the real and unedited version. Yikes...



And a couple hours of work with a deadline (before my husband got home!), I flipped things around and made the room BED centered.



Now opening the window is so much easier. And it looks like a little cozy corner, not a pile of clutter.


I couldn't believe the amount of trash that came up! Apparently I'm really lazy about throwing away the containers of my contact solution and old medicine. I also threw away some icky clothes and packed up another box of still-good stuff for the thrift store.

I also emptied out 5 boxes of stuff. Some of it was books, some of it was lotion and candles, some of it was music CDs. I know some of boxes were because we were feeling the pressure of moving by the end of our lease and we'd just toss it all in haphazardly...

My husband's reaction? Very surprised and then very pleased. He likes the changes so much more than I expected.

Now gotta keep it clean! :)

Leah

Running on Empty

I had a great time in Phoenix, and we were able to accomplish everything on the list. We even got a new table at Ikea. It meets our needs wonderfully, as it can be closed up to 10x31 inches, or open up to 31x60 and fit 6 people. Now I just need to build it! :P

On the way home, we dropped off my sewing machine at the Bernina Sewing Center. They said it'd be about $25 (yay!) and 2 weeks (boo!), so I'm really hoping to get a phone call next week.

I haven't done anything quilty, my brain is telling me that I should be quilting the Puss in Corner and not moving onto other projects yet. But apparently I can't get away from making a blankie. ;)

Yup, started crocheting a giant granny square blanket. Keeps my hands busy, doesn't make me quite as twitchy that I'm unable to do my favorite hobby. :)

Last week (at 9pm!) the UPS gal delivered 7 Robin Hardy books from Amazon. I've spent quite a few hours cuddled up with the books. I've spent the last decade watching one site and 4 libraries for her new books to be released... it never crossed my mind to do a Google search! Huge d'oh moment for me. :) Turns out that at least 2 publishers quit printing her stuff and she resorted to creating her own publishing company. So I spent some time catching up, and she's releasing 2 more books later this year, so I'll probably place another order for the rest of her books around my birthday. :)

Then this past week I've been dealing with menorrhagia. It has completely sapped all my energy. I feel like I can't recover my energy levels. I even went to the gym on Thursday, did a light cardio work out and I was SO tired that night. My husband had to make dinner. When I went to bed, I didn't even have the energy to yawn. Something landed on my face and was making it itch, but I couldn't even muster enough strength to brush it away. I was unbelievably wiped out. Then on Friday I got up and put my contacts on, some clothes, turned on the computer... contemplated about getting breakfast and opted for a nap instead. Then took another nap that evening and still went to bed when my husband did.

I know I'm not feeling depressed and trying to sleep it off (did that several years ago). But I'm genuinely wiped out because iron levels are excessively low. My mental health is fine, I don't feel like I'm in a brain fog. My emotional feelings are pretty stable, not riding any roller coasters there. But my body? Feels like I climbed Mt. Everest. When I'm tired, I feel helpless as a newborn. It's very frustrating. So I'm working on rebuilding my iron levels (beef, yum!) and just trying to take it easy. I sure hope it doesn't happen again next month!

Let me just say that my husband is a total keeper though. He hasn't uttered a word of complaint about all the sleep I've needed. He took me out for an early dinner yesterday. We went grocery shopping afterwards, I love it when I don't have to push the cart! And then he filled up my car with gas on the way home. He's all mine. :D

Leah

Toodles!

I'm off for a little trip with my husband, top secret location. ;) We'll be back on Tuesday.

Best part? On the way home we're gonna drop my sewing machine off at the Bernina Sewing Center. :)

Leah

Shhh...

... I'm hiding from my sewing machine. :(

I still haven't gotten the tension problem fixed! If the thread is wonky on the bottom, I'll make a 1/10th of an adjustment on my tension dial and then it's wonky on the top! And we're not talking about little pokies, but where the thread completely dominates one side.

The whole mess has given me a headache and I've mentally pictured myself chucking the machine down the stairs. :P

Honestly, I think the timing is off. I think it all began when I was working on the quarter square triangles two months ago. To make sure I got the SCANT 1/4th seam allowance needed, I moved my needle to one notch over to the right. I'm guessing somehow sewing in that position over and over, and maybe even turning my machine off while the needle was still over to the right could have hurt things. I don't know. I don't see burrs or indications that my needle is hitting anything in the bobbin area.

At this point I still have a little more tweaking left with the tension (been fiddling both with the bobbin and top tensions) and for like 3.2 seconds it'll free-motion with good tension... then go out of whack. I just can't hold a consistent tension. I've cleaned and poked and prodded around the bobbin casein area for any flaws or problems. I long ago lost track of how many needles and re-threadings I've done. I've even used different bobbins (in case one was bent/out of shape). I'm really getting stretched thin on ideas and options.

Can anybody point to me how I could fix the timing on my Bernina 150 QE? Or should I be looking to see when I can fit a ride to Tucson for some shop time?

On the bright side... I don't have any deadlines or quilty commitments. I can survive without my machine. :)

Leah

Not having fun

I started to free-motion the Puss in Corner quilt... and about 5 inches later disaster hits the backing. The kind that you don't notice until you've been sewing for a little bit and wonder why the flow feels "off"...

Ugh!! Actually, it wasn't that bad to rip out, just really frustrating to see. I guess that's what I get for plunging in when I haven't free-motioned anything since the beginning of December.

My patience is too short to deal with it tonight, I'll tackle it tomorrow. AFTER I practice on some scraps first. I suspect I have the upper tension off - it was on #4 on the dial, and usually I free-motion around #1 or 2.

I just hate how these kind of things put fear in me - I'm afraid something might be wrong with my sewing machine... but it's usually just user error. But until I know for sure, it makes me a little worried. I don't feel like replacing my sewing machine! :P

Leah

A small confession

Come on, you didn't think I was a perfect girl at the quilt show the other week, did you? ;)

I didn't buy fabric, but I did buy this stamp. See... back in fall 2005, Nines posted about using the By Kate method of making hexes. I put the stamps on my Christmas list, but nobody bought it for me. So more than 2 years later, I found it at the quilt show! Of course I grabbed it up. :)

I'm planning to use the leftover fabric from my first batch of dyed fabrics. I have roughly a fat eighth left of the pieces. Since I moved onto higher quality fabric for dyeing, I'm not excited to use these up in a quilt any time soon. If I badly mess up trying to sew some stamped hexes together, I'm not gonna weep over the loss of fabric.

The only downside is that I haven't gotten the courage to give hand piecing a shot yet! I really struggle with the ending knot. I probably overdo it when I'm sewing down bindings, but I don't comfortably know what will and won't hold together. So making 7 knots is my way of assuring that it won't come undone.

Ok, maybe not seven. ;)

Leah

On the way to being quilted

Got the Puss in Corner quilt pinned for quilting tonight.

I've already selected the thread I'm gonna use. I'm thinking of a meander in the blocks, loops in the inner border, and feathers for the outer border. Phew. I'm not sure if I'm up to full feathers, but when is a better time to learn than now? ;)

The side perk is that the living room got cleaned and vacuumed!

Leah

End of the Day

I'm ready to start winding things down and prepare for tomorrow, like making my husband's lunch and finding him dress clothes for work. At least I got a completed top out of the Quiltathon!

I already cut a backing to size, and doused it in water cuz it was so darn wrinkled. Hoping to iron it tonight too. No way am I gonna be pinning it though, I need to clean the living room first.

Between the entire top and the backing, a grand total of 5 yards of fabric have been used.
.5 yard of the pink/purple flower fabric
1 yard of the purple TOT (tone on tone) fabric
1.5 yards of light blue fabric
2 yards of 60" wide of purple hand dyed backing fabric.

My stash closet? Doesn't look any smaller. :P

Leah

Upside down top

Oops! Accidentally pinned the top upside down to my design wall.

Not that it really matters, it's not a directional quilt. It's currently 3x4 feet. Next up, borders!

Been having a pretty good Sunday. Went to church, got the laundry going at my in-laws, spent some time with my husband doing a few errands and getting lunch. We have a Quiznoes now, yum. :) Pretty blustery outside too.

Leah

Puss in Corner Blocks

I've completed the dozen Puss in Corner blocks I need for the quilt.

So far, no pins needed! I'll take mismatched seams any day. Sometimes I try to figure out why I hate pins so much. I think it's because it slows me down at the machine. You don't want to have the sewing machine needle hit the pins when said machine retailed for $1800 ten years ago!

Now I need a shower... but I'm really tempted to keep on sewing. :P

Leah

Jumping In

It wasn't exactly planned, but looks like I'm jumping in Judy's Quiltathon. Another easy quilt for me. Guess I'm still recovering from all those tiny pieces! ;)

I selected to do Puss in the Corner quilt from a book I got at the library.

My colors are kinda spring-like. I was going to select pink instead of blue, but I couldn't find a pink in my stash that I'd be happy with. And frankly, I can't see or easily access half of my stash because it's so crazily packed into the closet. :/


I did cut it VERY close with my fabric amounts that I did find.

That's all that's left of the three yards I used. I managed to get enough pieces for the quilt top, one small flower border, one large blue border and purple for the binding. Those scraps can go into string quilts, and then it'll be all over for those fabrics. :)


I got the pattern from the book "Quilts from the Quilt Maker's Gift"

I recently saw the author, Joanne Larsen Line, on Simply Quilts. I decided to see if my library carried both the quilt book and the children's storybook. They did! :) But I gotta hurry up and make the quilt, cuz the book is due on March 4th. And I've already renewed it once. :P

I was pondering on something, and was wondering if some of you would share your feelings. When I check out a quilting book from the library, and actually make a pattern from the book... how is it any different from copying a friend's pattern or book? I'm getting the pattern for free, and so are the other 473 people who check out the book. Obviously it isn't illegal, or else libraries wouldn't be allowed to carry quilting books. Or you'd probably have to sign something that says you won't use the pattern from the book... it's all very complicated, isn't it? :P

Leah

My favorites of the quilt show

Last weekend was my quilt guild's annual show. I almost thought I wasn't going, but found some time on Sunday afternoon before the show closed.

Below is a HUGE quilt that was made for the now-retired president of the guild for the past 2 years, Sue Lee.

Everybody was given the white center strips of fabric, and they selected the other colors from their stash.

I picked hand dyes and black for my own block.

I didn't do the lime green frame around the block though, I assume the person who put the top together did, probably to help make all the blocks the same size. :) So I was "in" the quilt show, but didn't know until I saw the quilt!


Scrappy quilts always catch my eye.

If I ever have too many of the same size squares, at least I'll have an idea what to do with them!


A quilt from the antique section, made around 1870.

There's stars in the quilt... but it took me a minute to find it. I'll give you a hint, they have brown centers.


Nothing captures my eye as easily as black and bright quilts do.

Sad news is that I'm down to my last 3.5 yards of Kona black - need to order some more! I've probably have used up about 50 yards of black in the past 2 years.


Another antique quilt, love the green.

I think I'm also ready to start making some 4-patches. Easy, fun, hard to goof up. ;)


Pretty quilt, right?

The size of the hexes are insane though! A dime would cover an entire hex. I kept putting my finger near it, trying to grasp the size it actually is. My thumb could cover 3 hexes at once. I'm still shaking my head, trying to imagine somebody actually sewing that!


Anybody who has snow, cold weather or anything below 50 degrees... please, please, please send it my way! It's too late, the sweating has already begun. It just makes me so sad. Can you get SAD (seasonal affective disorder) in the summer? :P And I just got a new fleece jacket and a fleece pullover from REI! Maybe I'll get to use them in November.

I also put away my couch quilts, it's just too warm to pull them over me now. And soon my husband will put away his quilt... I hear the housing prices are great in Antarctica! ;)

Leah

Back on the wagon

I think I'm back on the stash busting wagon! ;)

Last Sunday (I know, I'm still slow in blogging right now) I was in the mood to do something nice and easy. Especially because I boo-boo'ed on the mystery I'm testing. I just threw it all into a box and plan to deal with it sometime in March.

But I wanted something big (especially after Bonnie's Carolina Crossroads!) and quick. So I made a 4x5 blocks of Strip Twist, except this time I offset the rows so the blue would create a downward diagonal.

Looking at my blog archives, I realized this was not the first time that I've resorted to this pattern to blow some "steam" from frustrating quilts. :)

I was smart enough to cut some extra blue binding pieces, so whenever I want to quilt it, I don't have to fuss with digging in my stash again. Plus, I used up almost all the fabric from both the blue and red. Started at 1pm Sunday afternoon, was done by midnight. And I took my sweet time too - checking on the computer for emails and such, getting dinner, taking breaks.

2 yards of the blue
1.5 yards of the red

I'm still trying to figure out how in the world I had so much red in my stash... I do not like red. I will not be keeping this quilt whenever I finish it. But I do love how I can get away without needing a single pin in the whole top! :)

Leah

Time flies

Kim send me an email that I haven't "blogged in weeks". Well, it's been 12 days... close enough. ;)

Yes, I'm alive, and I'm doing pretty well. I haven't gotten sick with any of those cold or flus that's been going around. (Sorry if you do have it!)


And yes, my sewing machine still works, here's proof. ;)

I'm working on another mystery quilt (as a pattern tester), so that's all you're gonna get from me. But I do have Bonnie's Carolina Crossroads quarter-square-triangles as my current leaders and enders. I just needed a break from all those itty pieces! But this way I'm still making progress, however slow.

Please don't be jealous of the sunshine in my window though... my heart is sad that summer will soon be upon us. And then I will sweat buckets. And worry to death about ruining my hearing aids again. And be annoyed at how many shirts I've sweat-stained the armpits. At least those are a lot cheaper to replace than my $2,000 hearing aids. :P


I've also been squeezing in some more baking time. Gotta do it while it's cool. I hate baking in the summer. See the sweat paragraph. :P

Yesterday I made honey muffins and 75% whole wheat tortillas. (3 cups of WW flour, 1 cup of white bread flour). The muffins are great breakfast food, only 3 tablespoons of honey. Everything else is pretty healthy, oats, whole wheat flour, craisins... and hubby will actually eat them. That's the best part. Recipe here.

Tonight's dinner is gonna be New York strip steaks (on sale, more than 60% off) with potatoes. Since we'll be firing up the grill, I'm gonna have hubby BBQ some hamburgers. Those can go into bean soup tomorrow. And we're also having potatoes... so I might as well make crockpot potato soup with ham later. Or maybe tomorrow... I'm craving it now. :)

Leah

I won a quilt!

I can't believe it, but I actually won a quilt, from Karen Gass. You can see a picture of it here.

That just makes me so excited about quilting... that I'm gonna go turn on my machine. And yes, I'm doing so much better now with my back/hip. I've figured out what triggers the pain, so I avoid them. Unfortunately one of the things that causes spasms is when I shave my legs. I used to shave 3 times a week!

I've got really fuzzy legs right now. :P

Leah