Day 4 of my quest to quilt - An oldie but a goodie!

I was out most of today letterboxing with the Hubs in the Sourland Mountain Preserve. If you could imagine heaven on earth, it's this place. We found the 3 boxes there and headed home after 6 hours of hiking for approximately 5-6 miles. Needless to say, we were a tad tired. But while the Hubs was getting our BBQ dinner going, I explored my craft closet for a particular project which has been living there for quite a while now. Actually, the top was made during a class given at the Quilter's Barn. They haven't been open for several years now so this will give you an idea of this project's "vintage". I found it!

It is a Christmas wall hanging made with 4 blocks (sampler style) and borders. So why is this project a UFO? Well, I wanted to hand quilt it. I'm not comfortable with hand quilting. But, the borders are done and one block is 50% done. Since it is a Christmas project, I would think about it every year and put it back thinking to myself "I need to get this done for next year". Never happens - until now! Maybe it will help me feel more comfortable with hand quilting. I'm working on a small hand pieced double wedding ring table runner that I hope to hand quilt as well. Practice makes perfect, right? The wall hanging quilting won't be perfect, but it will be done! Pictures will be posted soon.

Day 3 of my quest to quilt - Big and small, I'll finish them all!

I did a lot of fonding of fabric today!  With the heat we had today, handling "snowflake" fabric cooled me off a bit, believe it or not.  I have three small bins of Christmas and winter themed fabrics.  One is specifically for the lasagna laptop quilt I started a few holiday seasons ago.  I had forgotten how much I had completed on this project.  In addition, the bin revealed that I had also cut the remaining strips needed to complete the top.  Some of these strips have even been sewn into strip sets.  This will definitely go on my "first to do" list.

The second bin contains PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) or kits which contain all the fabrics and patterns needed to complete them.  Most of them are small wall hangings; one is an Advent Calendar panel.  I'll take these on one at a time.  At least I think I made good choices when I selected these - I still like them! 

The last bin contains a variety of holiday fabrics.  Most are fat quarters or half yard cuts.  These would make wonderful place mats!

The bin also contained a stack of 5 inch squares in red, green and white patterns.  I had made a ton of these into coasters several years back.  They made wonderful gifts - but I never made a set for myself.  I will make good use of these squares! 
The picture below shows the cut 5" squares next to a sample coaster which they will become. 

Now I can actually do some sewing!  Stay tuned!

Day 2 of my quest to quilt - Ready.......

Today was a good day. Had the house to myself while the Hubs went fishing. Spent a lot of time getting my supplies organized; changed blades in my rotary cutter; put a new needle in my sewing machine and pulled Christmas colored thread and bobbins. At this point I am planning to work on table runners but I also have a lasagna lap quilt that I definitely want to finish this month. I foresee lots of fabric fondling in the next few days!

Day 1 of my quest to quilt - Fishing and Fabric

I took the day off today to spend the day with my wonderful husband on our boat.  Just the two of us.  It was the start of our July 4th holiday....and day 1 of my quest to quilt using the Christmas in July project as a catalyst. 

We had a wonderful day fishing.  We went from our marina to Barnegat Bay, past the Barnegat Lighthouse and out to the ocean.  The water was like glass and although we were in 20 foot water, we could see the bottom.  A perfect day.  And we caught lots of fish! 

It got better. 

After docking the boat back at the marina, later than we had anticipated due to the good fishing, my husband took me to Quilting Possibilities, a wonderful quilt shop in Forked River not far from our marina.  "Take your time", he said.  Did I mention he is my wonderful husband? 

So, my quest to quilt began with shopping for Christmas fabric and I was not disappointed!  The 12 FQ seen in this photo were sold in a packet at 35% off.  The other 3 groupings are for table runners, perhaps gifts.  They were not on sale but they really caught my eye. 

Tomorrow, the hubs is fishing again with other family members so I have the day to myself.  Well, Kirby dog will be with me too.  I hope to get all my Christmas fabrics sorted and all my WIPS arranged so I can decide what to do first.  It's going to be a fun month! 

What a surprise!

Well, I was on a business trip with a coworker for most of last week in New Hampshire.  While looking for a particular restaurant, I needed to make a U-turn and pulled into a parking lot of a small strip mall.  On the signage for the strip mall I saw the sign below.   I thought I was going to give my passenger whip lash!  Of course, the shop was closed at that time, but I made mental note to come back.  The following day, we went back since they were open until 7 pm.  This turned out to be a very nice shop on two floors.  The bottom floor contained a very large class area along with a foyer just filled with beautiful quilts and sufficient items to tempt you up the staircase to the shop.  Which is exactly what we did.  I didn't do too much damage due to suitcase capacity but did pick up some Christmas fabric for a table runner I want to make.  It may just be my first "Christmas in July" project!  I'm getting pretty excited about the coming month! 

Hidden Agenda

Well, the Hubs was boating with his two kids yesterday so I had the whole day - and house - to myself.  Well, the Kirby dog was there too.  I could do whatever I wanted!  Kirby chose to sleep.  I made good use of the time cleaning up my sewing room and getting things organized for my "Christmas in July" project which I am doing as part of a fun project suggested by my quilting friend, Cathy in her blog, "Quilting on Main Street".  I thought this would be a good step in my quest to quilt. 

But there was another reason for all of the cleaning, clearing and organizing - I was looking for the battery charger for my camera.  I thought I had taken it to Cape Hatteras in May when we went there for vacation and would have been certain to pack it for the return trip.  I take a ton of "stuff" in lots of bags, boxes and containers of all kinds so it takes me a while to get it all put away.  I thought it may have been put with my electronic items somewhere in the sewing room which also doubles as a computer room.  But the battery charger is nowhere to be found!  Since I have a project to do which deals with pictures on my camera (some are quilt related), I was compelled to buy a new battery charger and spare battery.  I figured that would surely force the lost one to reappear shortly after I tore open the packaging.  But, alas, I have now charged two batteries and the lost charger with battery is still lost!  An expensive lesson to be sure!  But the sewing room is ready to quilt!