I Am Done Sewing the Top

Last night I finished sewing my Boxed In quilt top. I started it at the Quiltmaker Block Party in Portland, OR on Saturday, March 23, 2013. The designer of the quilt Julie Herman of Jaybird Quilts taught the class. The pattern is from her book Skip The Borders.

Five months is pretty good time considering I had knee surgery 4/29, can only sew for short periods and still have to keep my knee up, I work full time, and I was finishing up the reorganization of all my scrapbook supplies during the same time period.

The pattern was designed to be a lap quilt but I can never seem to sew anything small - the lap quilt had 9 dark blocks, 4 light blocks, 8 half blocks and 4 corner blocks. My queen size quilt has 30 dark blocks, 20 light blocks, 18 half blocks and 4 corner blocks.

I still have to cut all four sides even and then trim all the threads and press 2 seams open along with pressing the whole top again. I have the material for the backing and just have to sew it together and piece together some batting so it will be ready to go to my quilter Sue Lohse. I haven't talked to her since February 2012 so I hope she is still quilting. I just can't do any quilting - even a table runner hurts by left arm - and the nerve spasms in my left hand make it impossible. Lesson Learned - Do Not Trip on a Sidewalk.

93% British Isles 7% Finnish/Volga-Ural

That is where my brother's DNA tells us that our ancestors were from. OK. Who is Finnish/Volga-Ural? I am hoping that the DNA 4th to 6th cousin matches will help me find J Alexander Beaubier!

Finally!

I sat down in my sewing area for the first time Friday evening and was sewing the Boxed In blocks into strips - while I watched Supernatural. It had been the worst day possible at work and I just wanted to accomplish something. I stayed up way too late.

I plan on eventually putting up a design wall beside my sewing area.

At about 1 a.m. Stan Lee had had it and knocked down all the strips that I had been piling on the cabinet to the floor. He was tired of waiting for his treats. I gave him treats and then put the strips back - but they weren't as neat this time.

I just finished sewing the last block together and now I am heading for bed. Tomorrow I can lay them out on my bed to see if I have enough. Then I can start sewing the strips together. I am hoping that I have enough because I really don't want to have to piece more together - I want to get the top done!

I Signed Up for Another Year

Marc did a fantastic job on cleaning the house for our walk through inspection today by our property management company. They extended our lease for another year through September 2014. The rent stayed the same - which is great and we were told we had the best looking lawn in the whole neighborhood - not easy considering the builder just threw grass seed out in a field and didn't level anything or fill in any holes. I knew that the owner of the house also owned the house that we share a driveway with but he also owns a house off a 118th on the other side near the entrance. I wonder what it would be like to buy three brand new houses in a housing development as an investment?

Tomorrow night it is back to quilting! I am going to start sewing rows of blocks together on my Boxed In quilt.

Back Ups

I spent today backing up photos, patterns etc. I always keep my hard drive backed up but due to surgeries, moving and so on I hadn't done any since last September 12th. I also print out contact sheets for all my photos and file them by year. It comes in very handy when scrapbooking. I use them to print out the pictures I need and then for reference while scrapbooking.

A Bouquet of Flowers

A couple of weeks ago while sorting through the last of the things in the scrapbooking room I found some fabric roses that I learned how to make years ago when I worked at the City of Longview. They make a great gift for a quilter since they consist of a fat quarter that the quilter can add to their stash.

You take a fat quarter and fold it so it is about 5 inches wide and then you start at one end folding it around and around making petals as you go. You fasten it with a fancy corsage pin (JoAnn's.) It doesn't take long to get the hang of it. I was originally taught to make stems out of cardboard which you then covered with green florist tape. You lay them out in a long box and then give a quilter the bouquet of fat quarters. Dresses them up quite a bit! These were my samples so I decided to make them more permanent and bought stems at JoAnn's and put three stems at a time together covering them with florist tape. I also purchased leaves which I then attached with a second layer of florist tape on the stem after first attaching the rose on top. I have bad kitties who like to eat real flowers, leaves, and stems so this is a perfect answer. I think if I give someone fat quarters again I will do it with stems and leaves because I really like how they turned out.

Done with Die Cuts ~ AND DONE with room!

Last night I finished up inventorying the last of the scrapbook supplies. Everything is now organized and put away.

 The Embossing Folders

Die Cuts

I started this project with a purchase of the ScrapRack and pages at the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Bellevue on November 12, 2011. I attended with my Cousin Cheryl and my sister Lisa. Cheryl and I were killing time in the vendor area while Lisa shopped elsewhere and we stopped to look at the ScrapRack and to talk to Tiffany. Cheryl was telling me to go ahead and buy it and I am so glad I listened to her! By the end of January I had over half of the rainbow done. Almost 21 months to finish is a long time for me but I had a few bumps in the road - in February 2012 I started getting my condo ready to sell and I had to box up ALL of my scrapbooking supplies. In June I had joint replacement done for my right thumb and then I moved in mid October 2012. I starting unpacking basic household items and then had my right knee replaced on November 5, 2012. I did my best to get most of the scrapbooking stuff put away by the time I had my left knee replaced on April 29, 2013. I have spent the last few months doing what I can a little bit at a time since I can only stand for short periods and I have to keep my feet up when sitting. (This is mainly due to being stupid in PT and hopping on my new knee by accident on June 4th - messed them both up.) 

I now can get some page kits ready to scrap - I have all the supplies for that already and my pictures and memorabilia are sorted. I just need to figure out which pictures I am using and pull things together! It is going to be time for the Cousins to get together again to scrap - as soon as I can drive more than 10 miles at a time.

Punches are Done!

102 Punches are located in various containers and divided amongst 4 Ikea containers.  They are sorted by brand and numbered.

Two of the containers are in the desk bookcase and two are to the left of the desk. Each container has color coded labels hanging from them so I can find the punches from my inventory list below.

Now I just have die cuts left and I don't have as many of those.