mystery quilt take 2 (and 3)

Here are a few more ideas for borders for my mystery quilt. What ever I do for my inner border i'll use for the binding I think. Do you like one of these better? or one of the ones I posted yesterday?

Mystery quilt

This is the mystery quilt I was working on yesterday after we opened gifts. Its a little brighter than I was expecting-garish is the word my mom used. Anyway I need some advice on borders. The easter eggs will be the outside border, do you like the blue(bottom)or the Purple(right side) or do you have another suggestion?

end of the year tally

I've started my counting for the end of the year, these are final numbers to the best of my knowledge. I have 23 baby or bigger tops that will carry over to 2009 as UFO's. I have 35(i think) runners or other small projects that will carry over as ufo's also. I have 18 other projects that are not to the top stage that also count. That makes my total ufo starting point for 2009 - 70 projects. If I can keep up my 60+ finishes a year it could be possible to finish them all, but i'm not counting on it.

Thats the bad news, now the good news for stashbusting: I used a net total of 394 yards of fabric this year! I finished 77 quilty projects and 150 other projects. Many of those other projects were multiples-like the 65 stockings I sent to Iraq, and the 21 pillowcases i made for Christmas gifts. But done is done!

I'll have pictures of the last 2 sets of stockings i finished this week as soon as I can get on the main computer. And I'll be asking a border question on the Mystery quilt I started today.

Merry Christmas!

Mystery quilts

I'm participating in 2 upcoming mystery quilt projects online. The first set of fabrics is for the New Year's Eve project. The second set is for a Christmas day project. I wont actually get to sew much on Christmas day, so that will most likely be a "boxing day" mystery. Any reccommendations on colors or do you like what i've got?

Happy Birthday Sami!

She's 10! How did that happen already? It can't possibly be 10 years ago already that she arrived in our lives, can it?

stocking swap

I got my stocking opened this morning. I recieved some wonderful goodies from Ele in Iowa. She made a beautiful little bear that i'm gonna have to fight dd over and I love the potted birdys. I also got a bell for the front door that's already hung up, 6 pieces of fabric(lights!), candles, quilting needles, and some m&m's.

Isn't this the neatest stocking? I love the bright colors and the lace on top is really intricate. Its made of flannels-i've rarely seen flannels that bright.

troop stockings

Since Randy is in the Air Force, I end up doing a lot of military related crafting. Our spouses group collected old desert uniforms and helped me cut them up to make stockings for the troops "downrange" (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc) All we used was the backs of the shirts for simplicity's sake. I was not about to take the time and effort to pull all those seams apart. We cut out about 110 stockings-there are 20 in each of those bags. That means i have 60 finished and ready to mail. The other 50 or so are sewn front to back but no cuffs or hanging loops yet. I don't know if I'm even going to try to finish them. We only have about 45 people downrange right now so I'm not worried about having enough to go around. They measure about 7 inches long when finished. I still have 3 more shirts i could cut up, but i think they are going to get put away for next year. I'm kind of burnt out on this project and i still have a bunch more sewing to do before Christmas.

Snow day tops

These tops were all started a couple weeks ago during the big storm. I was looking for a project that used up a collection that i bought while in Germany and now I'm down to just scraps and 2 big pieces for bindings. The cookie fabric is new-bought just for the table runner. I also made 3 aprons out of the same print. One for each kid and one for me. I have not gotten pics of us wearing them yet.

These almost turned out Haloweenish didn't they? Orange, Purple, Black and the lime green too-that just says Halloween even though the prints are not even close to Halloween!

Christmas Trees

While we were back at mom's for Thanksgiving we decided to go get thier Christmas tree. This tree farm has a deal with dad-they get to borrow his tractor for 4 weekends and he gets a free Christmas tree. When I was younger all of us 5 kids worked there for those 4 weekends, as did at least 4 or 5 of my cousins. My littlest brother and 2 cousins still work there. This is the farm's 20th year. It was a cold rainy/snowy day but the kids had lots of fun. Dad griped just like always, and mom was too late to help pick because she was at the hospital with Grandma. Pretty much how it works most every year. My kids wanted to help put the tree up but there was not enough time before we had to head back home.

Stocking set #3

I got my camera re-charged and here is the pic i promised of set #3. I think these are my favorites! They just look so rich/elegant. I've got set #4 cut out and fabs picked for set #5. I'm not sure I'm going to get that far but I'm having fun with these and its a good way to use up some of my holiday stash.

We are headed out to my mom's for the holiday weekend so I'll be off line for most of the weekend. Any one know how to transport a 38 in TV across the state with out the driver of the car realizing it? Walmart has them for under $400 on black Friday and Randy desperately wants one. Actually he'd like a 50+in TV but lets not get carried away! I wonder if i can talk my brother into a short visit between now and Christmas? He lives about 5 hours away-between here and mom's. He's coming home for Thanksgiving too. I could load it into his car for the trip to his house, then just have to talk him into bringing it out later. Definite possibility-good thing Randy does not read this blog!

Stocking set #2

This is set #2. Set #3 is done but the camera battery is charging so i'll have to wait till later to post them. Since i only got one reply to my question about how many finishes-she got to make the decision. I'm adding 8 more finishes to the ticker up top. I made my yearly goal!!

stocking set #1

Set #1 is done. These are for my middle brother and his family. Now i have a question. Does this count as 4 finishes or only one because they are a set?

not quite done

This stocking is for my little brother. I have an identical one for his wife and 2 green ones just like it at the same stage of almost done. He's only got one son right now, but the pattern is for 4 at a time so I decided he can use the other green one for his dog for now and eventually i'm pretty sure they will have at least one more baby. The pattern is from the book "6 halves make a whole." I've got fabrics picked out for my other brothers and their families too but this one is closest to done. One brother gets some fancy glittery ornament fabric and the other gets John Deere fabrics. They are up pretty soon in the list. As in as soon as I can find a purple to match the ornament fabric and a yellow to go with the John Deere. I am truly hoping to get them done before Thanksgiving so I can give the stocking to the brothers when I see them so they get used this year.

stripes again

I've been playing with some more of my stripe fabrics. I've lost count of how many runners and centerpiece tops i've pieced, but i've only done 2 of the star style. They are much more work and I dont really want to do many more of them. I Have fabrics to do 8-10 more of the star style, and probably about that many of the hexagons. I've about run out of steam to piece them so i dont know if i'll actually do them now or let them age a while longer in my stash.

before and after

This picture was taken on tuesday nov 4. This is the building where Randy works some of the time.
This picture was taken friday nov 7, the day after the blizzard. All of the doors to the building were buried and the guys had to stay put until they could get dug out later on friday.

The Day After

This is what it looks like the morning after the night before! Some of the these drifts are 6-10 feet tall. And we have discovered that there is a layer of ice under it all!

the weather outside is frightful.....

I was supposed to go to work this morning. Someone had other plans! The wind is blowing about 50 mph and its still snowing. I have no idea how much snow has actually fallen because all I can see is drifts. The second pic was taken out the front window at about 9 am. The first picture is out the garage door. Thats where we always get the worst drift. The car you can almost see belongs to the family in the other half of the duplex.

This is the basement. We have a gap where the house sits on the foundation apparently! we dug out the snow and stuffed the insulation back up in there but the landlord is getting a call about this as soon as the storm is over.

This is my front door. The INSIDE of my front door! The wind is blowing so hard its seeping in through the seal on the screen door.

This is the back yard. At 10 am today. There is another house that we should be able to see over top of this one.

Good day to go sew right?

messy stash?

Does this stash look organized to you? I dont think it does in the picture, but in person I can find what I need pretty quickly. This picture was taken about a week ago after I pulled my new project out of there. I guess I should say projects as in plural. I pulled out those stripes that i've already started working with and some veggie prints for a lap/twin.

I have used a NET of 308 yards this year to date. My goal is 365 so i'm really getting close. The thing about this stash is it now all fits on the shelves! Well, all but the flannel and garment fabrics. It did not last year when i started keeping track. My long term goal is to have the bottom row of cubbys holding my ufo's, pigs, and wips and the next row up holding my scrapbooking/yarn/beads/all the other craft stuff. Or vice versa. Yarn ect on the bottom? whatever. Either way I have 12 cubbies to empty. Thats a lot of fabric to use up but I think if i can keep up with the 365 again next year i'll be getting close.

Halloween Night

Its time to trick or treat! I cannot believe how much candy these kids came home with. More than we handed out thats for sure. We had 3 friends come with because they live in an area with fewer people. It was nice enough that Sami wore short sleeves while trick or treating. Thats amazingly warm for around here this time of year. Snow and rain are much more common than confortable temps.

This Is a friends dog, Gracie. I know her costume is kind of a cliche but it was really cute and she's a sweetie. The family pic was taken monday so we could show off all of our costumes. Tank's helmet does not stay on very well, but he's cute even with out it.

pumpkins

We got our pumpkins done for Hallowe'en! Only a couple of them actually count as "jack o lanterns" The rest were just fun. This one is mine(actually 2 little ones stacked on top of each other)

Side one of hubby's, his has 2 flat sides so he got to put the batface and......

The ghost on it! I love this side, almost better than mine!

This is J's he wanted to make daddy put the puppy toenails on the pawprints but daddy said no way cause it takes too long.

And this was Sami's. She even did most of the carvign herself. Pretty good for a 9 year old. It really does have lower legs/feet but they were very hard to take pics of.