Saturday, February 23, 2013

FUN! FUN! FUN!

I have had a really fun week...well except for the dryer dying last week and waiting until Tuesday for the repair man...that part was OK, no laundry was done...but  the repair man was coming Tuesday, so my plan was to get all the laundry done.  Well, he was in my laundry room forever, that's never a good sign, and I wasn't hearing the dryer starting.  Finally he came out and said, "The news isn't good"...oh boy...well long story short, the computer board is shot and they don't have one...has to be ordered...he'll be back on Tuesday.  WHAT!  So what started out kind of fun, I now had about 4 loads of laundry and if I had to wait until Tuesday again, I probably would run out of underwear...not to mention I'd have to chain myself to the laundry room for 2 days to get it all done.  So my wonderful neighbor said not to even give it a thought, she was going to be gone all day and I should just bring my laundry over and put it in her dryer...so that's what I did...washed at my house...carried it across the street
and dried it at her house.  Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors!

Do you read BOM Quilter?  Yvette is an amazing quilter...she does beautiful work and is very prolific...Last Monday she had the BEST post...I was very inspired.  She put her 3 rows of the Fat Quarter Shop BOM together...well, I had 2 rows together, but hadn't done any of the flying geese blocks for the 3rd row...I got myself busy and got it all together...

I want to be ready for the new BOM to start in June (I think it is) and I've made a pact with myself that I will not start the new one until this one is done (top pieced and on it's way to my machine quilter).  Thanks for the inspiration Yvette!

Then she had 12 rows of Kathie Holland's Charming Addition quilt from the December 2012 American Patchwork & Quilting, and I flipped...I kept going back to look at it.  I fell in love with that quilt when the magazine arrived.  I tore out the pattern and put it in a sheet protector...I was going to do it.  Then I'd look at it again and just couldn't figure out how to tackle it.  I don't have a design wall...I have a design floor and we all know with my helper Howie there wouldn't be a chance of the pieces staying where they are supposed to be...so I forgot about it for a while.  Then there it was...I was in love all over again.  I e-mailed Yvette and she gave me a great strategy to get going on this wonderful quilt...I'm doing 3 rows at a time...got the first 3 together today
and I'm loving it...I'm cutting 5- 2 1/2" squares of lots of fabrics and then laying it out...I'll be repeating some of the fabrics but I'm OK with that...I had fun.  My plan is to do a unit like this each week and I'll have a quilt in a few months...it's a process.

Hoping for some sewing time tomorrow...I'd really like to get my Temecula Quilt Along Quilt done...got the 5th and last row done today (my helper decided to take a break just as I clicked the camera)...

...and have it all laid out...so with some luck, I'll have a picture to share tomorrow.

So as I said the other day, I get by with a little help from my friends...it couldn't be more true than it was this week...tons of inspiration from Yvette that motivated me to get busy...and my sweet neighbor letting me use her dryer for several loads of clothes...Thank you friends...Life is GOOD!

21 comments:

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

My dryer quit 2 weeks ago. It ran, but, the drum didn't turn. I didn't figure this out until I had another load of laundry to go in it, but, the first load wasn't dry. Thank goodness hubby figured it out and fixed it several hours later. Thanks for reminding me that I was supposed to do laundry today. Guess it will wait till tomorrow now.

Sandie @ crazy'boutquilts said...

Thank goodness for friends and neighbors! It sounds like you are keeping busy, but having a good time too! Have a happy weekend!

Karen said...

I read Yvette's post a couple days ago. Wonderful inspiration. She certainly got a lot done on her quilting projects.

I liked Kathie's quilt pattern too but you do need to keep track of things as you go.

Gretchen said...

Wonderful busy fun sewing time (except for the dryer). You are on a roll with your project :)

carol l said...

Nice to have good neighbors. I too liked Kathies quilt, Homestead Hearth is offering it as aBOM. I still passed on it, maybe someother day (year). Love reading about other quilters.
Carol L
NE

Jocelyn said...

There is nothing like having a good neighbor. Except maybe a good friend :-)

Donna~~ said...

A friend of my once told me to stop worrying about running out of underwear, and buy an extra 2 weeks worth to keep in the back of the drawer. That way you rarely run out and always have some nice new ones to wear to the hospital (or better occasions). Takes the stress out of laundry! :)

Diane said...

I have a bunch of 2 1/2 inch squares just lying around with nothing to do. I see some inspiration here on your blog. I'll have to put them to work.

You've gotten some fun things done!

Janet O. said...

That is so good to have nice neighbors--especially in times of trouble.
Yes, I saw Yvette's post. I bought the magazine with Kathie's pattern, too, and planned to make it, but there are too many other projects in line ahead of it. I've considered doing a mini version. Glad you figured out how to do it.
Finished the 5th row of Temecula's SAL last night. STILL can't decide on a sashing fabric. You'll have yours done before me. : )

Yvette said...

Look at you go!!!! Your quilts look wonderful!!!
I adore your helper too.

Another word of advice. Buy more underwear!!! LOL!!!

Kate said...

The BOM looks good! I won't start assembling mine tilli have all the blocks...still waiting for #9 to arrive!

QuiltSue said...

I have a friend who's doing the additions quilt, and she too is doing it in sections. She did try laying it all out on the floor, but her husband I think got fed up with having to climb over furniture to get from one side of the room to the other.

antique quilter said...

oh wow what a week! glad your neighbor let you use her dryer!
Have fun with the plus quilt it really is fun to make! once you make a few rows it gets to be second nature and you can roll up the top to just show the 2 rows above so you don't have to have it all laid out!
Kathie

Darlene said...

I'm not climbing up on the chair again that was too scary. LOL

I am happy dancing around my living room - woohoo!!!!

A very productive week, indeed.

Melanie said...

There is no life without the washer and dryer.....Glad it's repaired.

Cindy said...

Yvette is a sweetheart, Isn't she? I've admired her work and how MUCH she gets done for quite some time now.

Have to say - I'm so glad you didn't have to turn your underwear inside out to get a clean side. LOL

Amy, a redeemed sheep said...

What a great neighbor!!!

I have a design floor, too, and helpers that aren't very helpful. Gotta love our fur friends....

Cheryl said...

What a wonderful neighbor!! Love all your quiltiness going on..and you have the best helper ever!

Patti said...

Oh, I so sympathize with you. Nice neighbor! I was planning much laundry yesterday in between periods of sewing. I went to the garage to take the first load from the washer and put it in the dryer. When I opened the door I thought "These haven't spun out much water!" That's when I noticed the flashing "lr". I checked the book, which says this means "motor not running properly, call the service department. So no clean laundry, and a phone call tomorrow morning that will probably cost us a lot of money.

I hope your dryer is feeling better by now.

Anonymous said...

So sorry about the dryer blues... hopefully you will be up and running soon! I read Yvette's post too... man that girl can quilt! Very inspiring. And I love that pattern from Kathie too, but also don't have a design wall. I was debating on taking over my table in the kitchen while I worked on it, but I like the 3 row idea better!

StitchinByTheLake said...

Too bad about the dryer but what a wonderful neighbor! I have a neighbor like that too. :) blessings, marlene