Lilacs in Waiting

Before and After

Tom and I went snow shoeing just before sunset on Sunday.

The threat of another storm was brewing.

By Monday 18 inches of snow would blanket us a little longer in winter.

I am officially sick & tired of Winter now. Please go away!

Last year I may have lasted a little longer before giving up on February. But not by much. Winter has been much more severe this year. No open ground where the snow pack melts completely and winter hits the reset button.

We lost power twice yesterday, for several hours of roughing it without electricity or water. My right arm aches from all the shoveling & roof raking.

For those who need convincing: Freshness Dates on a box of cereal are merely suggestions. The Cracklin Oats are fine. Really.

I made chicken & dumpling soup for supper.
And Whoopie Pies in the afternoon to celebrate power restored to the kitchen.

Perfect Whoopie Pie Recipe
Cream together 1/2 cup Crisco & 1 cup sugar.
Add 2 eggs, stir until creamy.
Add 2 cups flour
Add 1 teaspoon each of: baking powder, baking soda, vanilla and salt.
Mix well. Add 1 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of cocoa.

(Still a little fuzzy when the perfect time to add the cocoa is - but near the end!) Stir for a really long time until creamy cake batter consistency.
Drop by spoonfuls on lightly greased cookie sheets and cooked 8 minutes at 400 degrees. Exactly. (less but not more!)

Allow to cool!

Filling:
2 cups Confection sugar
3/4 cup Crisco
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla and * "a little milk"
* What the hell kind of measurement is that?!
Beat until creamy with mixer.

("a little milk" seems to be about 1/8th cup or less)
Sandwich 2 cakes with filling and squish together slightly.

I don't know if this is the same recipe readily available on the internet but when I couldn't find "my" recipe, I tried one from the internet. It sucked. So I'm writing "mine" down now so I'll know where it is next time the battered recipe card goes missing.

The mouse takes the cheese

Or gets stuck with pins & needles

Look what I made today!

Valentine Mouse Pincushion.
Instructions are here.

Changes made: Added an extra layer of "cheese" colored felt under the heart shape and practiced my blanket stitch for an extra sturdy base.
Added a braided tail; 2 beady blue eyes.
I stuffed him with dryer lint.

The only good mouse is a felt mouse!

"I can stop any time I want"

"So are you addicted to THESE now?"

(comment by a smartass Stephani)

Okay. They're addictive!
I've made 4 now.
If there's a Whirl Into Spring drawing, I'm ready with my prize.

Because shadow or no shadow given off by pesky rodents in Pennsylvania - I'm ready to bring on Spring. Now.

I've been working on my quilted Puzzle Pieces for a swap set up by Pat Winter Gatherings. Also addictive. I don't know if they'll fit together with other submitted puzzle pieces without purposely tweaking the nearby connecting tabs a bit. Hopefully I'm not alone in needing to revise the pattern of alternating pieces to make them fit.

One alternative I can see would be to ask some entries to leave their edges unfinished. I've been practicing my blanket stitch. I think I may be going the wrong way. All the tutorials seem to work the stitch right to left but after trying the first one and feeling like I was doing it backwards, I wondered why not go the other way. So I did. Seems the same to me.

It's still NOT my favorite stitch! If front is supposed to look as good as back, I've got a lot of practicing to do yet.

(If any Puzzle Swap participants stop by and want to do a one-to-one puzzle swap email me!)

It's a Beautiful Day!

My heart is happy :)

Tom and I went snow shoeing Tuesday morning. And this time I brought the camera.

There was a song in my head and a need to just look up into the sky.
I said thanks more than once.











Happy Inauguration Day!

I also whispered something about "men" and "idiots".
In the same sentence and several times.

My idea of perfect Snowshoeing is to go forth and blaze a wonderful trail until you're half tired, turn around and enjoy the fruits of your labor: A nice groomed trail for homing. Since you're half tired, getting home is just the right distance and goes quicker than you think.

An idiot man declares at 20 minutes past half tired:
I know where we are!

It'll be quicker to go off into the deep woods, with no clear trail.
I can see the road!

Never mind that we're getting off the "interstate" of snowshoeing trails and taking the over grown "tote road". You'll need 4 wheel drive to get back to the main road after he finally acknowledges maybe we should turn around.

Gee, never done that before ;)

I almost forgot...

Star Bright borders are done!

Saturday morning family members were called to a gathering in the living room for a mandatory round of applause over another finished quilt top. They complied quite nicely.


It was supposed to have another 5 or 6 inch border of the lighter fabric, but all the bias of the pieced stars made for wavy borders. One side was a real headache. Enough that I've pledge to myself only border-less quilts from now on! We'll see :)
I thought I had a quilt bat all ready to go and was going to pin the layers and get started with some quilting since we were having a blizzard. Except it was crib sized when I pulled it down. Too small.
Now I must go to the fabric store at my earliest convenience?
Oh, darn.

{Thought bubble: More red fabric? Or maybe some muslin so I can try a hand stitched Scrappy Cathedral Window...}
No one can see that, can they?

Took a little detour

Found myself in Russia gazing at beautiful stitch work.

I don't remember what word I put in Google the other day. But, This is what I found! Plus her tutorial for the Hex shaped needle books.
I have an addiction for making needle books.
So I made one for myself today ;)

The pictures of the tutorial are so universal I hardly needed to use Babel Fish to translate. (You can enter a web address and it translates everything for pages & pages. Mostly understandable, even!)

I made mine quite a bit smaller, once I realized how much larger 17.5 cm is than I thought. Next time I need to decide on a template size and stick to it. That way back & front might come out more or less the same size - first try. I used a CD as the template for the cover circles and instead of hemming the edge I sewed 2 circles together, trimmed extremely close and snipped a slit in the middle of one of the circles and turned.
Slit is completely covered by insert.
(Way easier!)

This one does have a bit of a design flaw as my stork scissors stick out of the pocket too far. Plus I cannibalized a 6 inch crazy quilt block with the hummingbird already stitched. I wanted to get started right away - instant gratification. It started out as several fabrics with embroidered seams, but the more I cut it down to a smaller size, the more was lost. You can just catch a glimpse of the other fabrics. One of the seams had a pink embroidered chain that stood way out of place without the rest of the block seam work. I snipped off the pink, but the needle marks still show.

But most importantly: I finished a project AND have one less orphan block in the treasure box!

(If) I bought fabric

I'm not blogging about it.

If I had a discussion with the cutting table lady at the fabric store she might have laughed as we discussed a need for some red to supplement my fabric inventory.

If there had been a 50% sale on everything, this would have been a really good day to supplement just a little more.
You know. If.

Progress has been made on several quilting fronts.
(She attempts to divert attention)
4 weeks of the Calendar Challenge have been completed.
(this is only the 3rd week!)
I may add some applique to the red & blue week panels to mark the return of my desire to applique.

Star Bright borders have been worked on once again. 2 days in a row. No pictures yet because I never think of it when it's all spread out on the living floor. You'll have to trust me. I'm working on it!

And why did I forget how much I love to applique?
It's been a lot of years since I did any bigger than a postcard.
A Tisket a Tasket, 12 Months of Baskets

I decided to put the Bunny Hill Designs free block of the month design for January in the blue block setting I already had made. Needed to make the basket smaller so it would fit.

Congratulations to Briarose, winner of the socks AND Needled Mom, winner of the Knitting Needle Roll-up from my Whirl Into Winter contribution.
I even won something from Patchscrap!

Now let's get winter whirling out of here.
It's too freaking cold!

Quilting Old and New

She's at it again

Great News:
I used up some more of my fabric inventory!

Formerly known as stash fabric. "Stash" has a negative tone and what I'm really doing is Quilting Green. Right? If you have plenty of material on hand you don't waste gas running to town. Until you know.

When you need some more...

Did you note how I'm ignoring the fact that I've started some new things and Star Bright has gone 4 days without much forward momentum?

BUT.
Digging through all my inventory, I found some more of the 2nd border fabric. So I can add a very narrow strip to the either side of the seminole border under construction (I was afraid would be too wavy) and still have enough to do the binding.
What luck!

Wondering: Should I practice saying this with a straight a face or a grin?

I've also been digging through my Unfinished Treasures for the - ahem - aging English Paper Piecing project(s) I knew were in there somewhere. I happened across some cheap Hex Therapy - and after some debate with myself, got out the ironing board and took a few wrinkles out my Grandmother's Flower Garden. I'm going to work on it again.
(Note bold font promise and shiny new button in the sidebar!)

I suppose you might further note the second English Paper Piecing project also pulled out of hiding and ironed nearly wrinkle free. Because if you quit working on one hand-pieced project, you should start another.
In a different shape.

(Would have been better though if every family member in the household did not appear in the kitchen to find mom standing on a chair taking pictures of very old unfinished quilting things. Explanations sound so much more guilty said out loud.)

With that said... I signed up for a couple of quilt block exchanges a couple of weeks ago. shhh!

One is a birthday exchange; 7 people signed up. Each get a block from the others on their birthday. I missed one that happened before I signed up. She said I could surprise her or wait until it rolls around again.
I thought I would try applique and make my contribution extra special since my own 5.0 is just around the bend. Except I really like the Heart Applique. Tom actually commented on it: "you should keep it".
I'm undecided and now the clock is ticking louder...
But I enjoyed doing applique for the 1st time in years! And I really like this setting.

The other swap is a centralized Chain of Friends block, in groups of 8. I have 9 finished. Commitment completed!!!

Until a different set of 8 blocks show back up in my mailbox and their life clock starts counting its way towards another UFO on my list?
Maybe not! I sent an email to our local county Project Linus director and they accept orphan blocks. And there's a Blanket day coming up so the big pile of unwanted treasures may find a good cause.
Or become someone else's problem.

201 posts! So she took a hammer to it?

Pardon our mess...

Finally said screw it and upgraded from Classic Template to New & Improved Blogger Template. I may have some tweaking to do still!

Star Bright!

Now we're getting somewhere!

Star Bright by Janis Nelson, Quiltmaker magazine #83 Jan/Feb '02.
(Started the day after Christmas ;)

The New Year's Day attempt at Planet Patchwork's One Day Mystery Quilt set my resolve back a bit ...already?
Started something big, before finishing a project underway. And then changed my mind.
I hate the Big Fan pattern, but now there are quilt pieces sewn together as evidence that give me away. Especially once it becomes a blog entry. I started something new.

Delete button, maybe?
No... it will just be something else. Soon.
Promise!

But I went on a guilt ridden, star paper-piecing, fake 9-patch sewing frenzy. The main body of my Scrappy Quilt is DONE!
There's even an extra row up the side so Stars would be in all 4 corners. Now pattern calls for 4 Borders - one of which is Seminole styled piecing.

The "I will quilt it right away!" pledge must be taken. Right hand in air, left hand on sewing machine: "I will!"

Have I mentioned I don't know right from left most of the time?

I need a Plan B

Happy New Year!

(or How a UFO is born)

Planet Patchwork had a GLOBAL all day quilt-a-thon on New Years' Day. I had this in mind when I picked up the 3 fabrics at 50-60% off while Christmas shopping.
(Don't say it.)

Starting at 11 am ET they would release a piece of the pattern every hour.
Door prizes.
Live Chat.
(Good for getting questions answered. Sort of. But a little hard to chat, mark, cut, sew and iron seams open all at the same time.)
I had the house to myself, so why not?

Turns out I didn't have the right Fabric A. (light color)
So I tried tea dying 6 of the fan pieces.
Better? Maybe. Or Not.
I'm not loving the Fans.

So now I need to look around for another quilt project that uses 8.5" & 2.5" Half Square Triangles somehow.
I'll call it my Slippery Slope Project.

Or I'm going to be making a lot of needle holders...

I did start out the day working some more on the stash busting scrap quilt. Squint really hard so all all those colors on the same quilt top don't freak you out!

AND.

While our furnace was on the fritz (24 hours) and I needed to keep the back up wood stove cranking so I wouldn't freeze to death, I was distracted by this little bag.
Recycled denim, of course.

Pattern free as a challenge, although may only be available for limited time. Hurry over!

Whirl Into Winter (part 2)

It's not easy being yellow.







The WINNER IS:
Briarose said

Dear Birdies in the feeder
I am your fearless leader
Who forgot to put seeds out last night
OH you guys are a sight
Sorry dog gave you such a fright
But did you have to mess up the deck?
I should give you heck!

ok that was sooo lame, but those socks are soooo amazing and my feet are cold....I can imagine them on my feet sitting in front of a fire...

ps...I love your blog name...




In the Summer of 2006 I joined the group internet knit-a-long called Amazing Lace.
I had just learned to knit socks in December of 2005 - with help from my mom. The basic plain knit sock recipe she uses. She's left handed so I had to teach myself to knit from a booklet. I learned the basics when I was a teenager, but had no real interest for very long.

By the time I joined Amazing Lace I was ready to try something harder. A fancier pattern from the internet. This was the pattern I went crazy with! At the end of Summer I met the challenge to knit something a little lacy.
(A garden of socks for the photo contest.)

Trouble is I bought all that yarn on sale and nobody in the family has wanted the yellow socks for themselves or a friend in need of gift giving. So I am giving them away.

For a chance to win the yellow socks write a little letter of poetry. As described in my previous introduction to the Whirl Into Winter Giveaway:

"Face a window and write a poem in the form of a tiny letter addressed to anything you see outside."

For inspiration, read actual student entries from an Outdoor Lit class here.
My attempt:

Dear Mr. Maple,
Dignified and gracious
standing guard at driveway's edge.
Does it tickle your bark when those 2 bushy tailed gray squirrels
chase each other round and round?

No Poetry Police here... All actual attempts will qualify :)
International entries accepted for both contests on this blog.

Some of our favorite people are overseas right now!

Whirl Into Winter with 60+ Quilt Bloggers!

THE WINNER IS:
Needled Mom said...

What a fabulous needle case! It has to be a ton better than any poetry I can come up with. (I loved math and science in school.)

Chance to Win quilty Stuff!

And hurry Spring along!
(Okay. I made that up...)

I've joined the Quilters Blog Giveaway, starting January 1st. I've been sewing up a storm and it's almost like I'm a quilter again.


I'm giving away a quilted knitting needle roll-up.
If you want a chance to win - leave a comment.


NEEDLES NOT INCLUDED.

I tried out a quilt pattern for a block called Chain of Friends.
There's a pdf file with complete instructions.
The quilt block should have ended up 9.5 inches square.
It didn't.
Big surprise!!
(Designer not responsible for my wonky quarter inch seams -
I'll have to try again!)

I could have shoved the misfit block into my treasure box and let it age. (Like that would fix it.)
Instead I made a knitting needle holder
...this morning!
FINISHED things are glorious. Why do I forget that?
Maybe finishing things will be a trend in 2009.

For a chance to win more stuff:
60 or more other (real!) quilters are giving some pretty nifty things away as well. Visit the Whirl Into Winter website that started it all for a complete list of Giveaways. Each one will have different rules so read the fine print.

All drawings are to be held January 15th.
Make sure you include an email address so I can contact you!

I'm also giving away some hand knit yellow socks - Size 5-6 ish.
Different rules!

EDITED 1/2/09: Comments have gone off track a bit!

If you want to win the socks leave your poetry comment in the blog post above titled "It's not easy being yellow". SEE LINK:
For a chance at the NEEDLE HOLDER leave comment with this blog entry. (For a chance at the socks leave 2nd comment here.)

You'll have to try writing a little poetry for the socks entry:

"Face the window and write a poem in the form of a tiny letter addressed to anything you see outside."

For inspiration, read actual student entries from an Outdoor Lit class here.

(EDITED 1/2/09: They're really good - you should click the link and see how they did it in class! Include a letter form greeting like "Dear..." or Salutations!)

My attempt:

Dear Mr. Maple,
Dignified and gracious
standing guard at driveway's edge.
Does it tickle your bark when those 2 bushy tailed gray squirrels
chase each other round and round?

No Poetry Police (but...)
All actual attempts at poetry will qualify for the socks :)
(even the ones who didn't read directions - a second chance if you read all the way to here and do it right ;)

International entries accepted for both contests on this blog.
Some of our favorite people are overseas right now!

Below will be updated links to Blogs asking for a mention about their giveaway - for an extra chance at winning
(how can I resist? ;)

Keepsake Moments (very elegant prize! ;)

Scrappy Quilt and Resolve

A few loose ends to tie up

I don't usually make resolutions.
I might just give it a try this year.

Bold font Blog promises have a way of keeping me honest!

Cat Quilt - binding complete
Y2K Quilt - Top finished

Tom wondered where the pile of change he laid on the table went. I showed him where the Y2K machine quilter funds were growing. Fair warning to all members of our household: a coin snatcher is in your midst!

Never Ending Socks - finished
Pair cast on next day - 2nd sock heel underway.

(taking longer than hoped; but not cursed anytime I catch a glimpse of them as of yet.)

Scrappy Stash Busting Quilt - A work in progress.

My resolve was 6 blocks a day. I'm plus 4 now that memory of how to paper-piece has returned.

My reward resolution for 2009 is to grow a shelf of beautiful African Violets under lights once more. One shelf of beautiful blooming African Violets.

Light Therapy.

I'm going to plug 1 light back in and try growing plants on a shelf again.

I further resolve to retain control of my AV habit and NOT save every leaf to start another plant.
Ending up with too many plants.
More than I can handle.
Again.

ONE.
Now to see what becomes of my stash busting, UFO finishing, WIP resolve in 2009. The year I turn - dare I type it? 5.0

Improved versions always get a higher number!

Use it or lose it

Will need to pick up the quilting pace a bit.

I seem to have forgotten every thing I ever knew about Paper-Piecing.

Decided on this scrappy quilt from Quiltmaker magazine next.
(Jan/Feb 02 #83)

It'll use many different fabrics from the stash bin. I've convinced myself that's as good as working on another UFO.

Not off to a great start making the star block as 2 of the pieced seams had to be undone because I had the background fabric where the star was supposed to be or it didn't cover the space intended.

There are only 6 seams for the three sections. 2 blocks managed this morning, although much cutting has been done. To keep it scrappy and not have all the same colors bunched together, some of the sections have to stand in line.

I'm using my new iron.
A Christmas present from Mom.
There was an oath taken.
NOT to iron sticky stuff (fusible web).
No Fabric Postcards, journal covers or ATC's are to come near the bottom of this iron.

I did hand sew another side of the cat quilt binding down.
One edge left.

I made a matching bag for the Circle Jeans Quilt I gave Angie. My sister-in-law genuinely seemed to love both of the gifts I gave her. Showed a satisfying amount of love for the quilt I made her and petted the box holding the casserole dish with hot/cold covers & carrier.
A couple of times actually!

And Ben does love his ice cream on a stick.

Christmas Sunrise

Merry Christmas!!
Sunrise properly applauded this morning just for Steph. Have fun in Austria now that your travel nightmare is over.

Y2K obsession over

The 10 day wonder

It's finished!
At 7:57 a.m. December 23, 2008 the last seam was pressed.
I think the proper term might be Um. Ta-dah?

As explained in an August 2006 entry:
"Um. Ta-dah? deserves to be the new "Finished" standard for completed projects. Especially if outcome was uncertain right up until the end, previous skill level is admittedly lacking and you "like nothing more than a challenge (which may render me a bit unstable) to keep me off the streets."
To quote a crazy chick with a goddamn hammer!!"

The Dog Loving Knitter has changed her blog name and the link to her entry that made me laugh out loud doesn't work anymore.
But, thankfully only a few of the blocks failed to fit together nicely and were threatened with a hammer...
To make them fit.

My very big quilt (top) has been completed in a timely fashion.
1999-2008. No?
2009 by the time it's quilted. Technically.

In exchange for one of my Fabric Postcards, the last Y2k Squishie arrived Monday afternoon from a quilter in North Carolina. I made 2 blocks with blank center squares - one for me and one for the quilting date.

I had one package from a quilter with the wrong sized squares sent. I added a border of matching light fabric, but didn't use it in the end.

And the Ugly Duckling block that kept getting thrown back to the bottom of the pile to "use later" never did make it in. I started to unpick the center square so I could use it with prettier fabrics but after about 15 seconds said screw it and used a blank. The machine quilter can sign there!
I'm thinking the spare change dish is going to be a machine quilting fund because this thing is huge.

I don't know what to do with myself without 25 squares to obsess over and fit together in each new block.
So I bought a few yards of fabric ...to go with what I have.
What???!!!

(It was 50%-60% off?)

Now I can obsess over what to start next!

Or I could choose the next UFO to work on.
Nah!

Blogger says I've used my quota of pictures
Steph? Know anything about that?

And that yellow pair of socks pictured in the link above still sits unloved. I knit them in 2006 and still they sit in my Finished Bucket for Socks.

Like a misfit toy.
Nobody in the family seems to want them. Even as a gift for best friends who move away, office pals or boyfriend Moms. (Sara keeps picking pink ones for Will's Mom. 3 years of Pink socks for her? The woman is going to think all I knit with is pink!)

Perhaps I'll give them away.
If you've noticed the little Snowflake wearing a scarf in the sidebar (and like entering blog giveaways) there's going to be a bunch to celebrate the New Year.
Sign-ups start after Christmas.

And it's still snowing

Roadblocks & Snowbanks

I've worked on the Y2K quilt a little every day.
At least one block a day; most days four or more.
It's now in 3 big sections with 72 blocks sewn in.
8x9 feet (BIG)
One row to go!!
Will need to work from my scrap basket & stash as most of the 3" squares left are damned ugly.
Or too medium shaded.
Stopping to cut and decide color placement is the slowest part.

Sunday morning was my "Worked on the Y2k quilt for a week" anniversary.
Everything was going smoothly until I sewed 2 strips of 3 blocks together upside down.

Log Cabin pattern: Wrong.
Noticed just as I was about to press the seams to the dark that names on one row were upside down?
And since my sewing machine has been bouncing over seams a little crooked, I went across the row twice. Some of the 3 inch square intersections needed to be tacked with a dozen stitches to make the seams match better. So there were 3 rows of stitching in some places.

Stitch setting: 2.0 (Small)
45 minutes of unpicking put it back on track.
I worked until lunch to get it in 3 sections.

I flicked on the outside light at about 2 a.m.
Yes, it's still snowing. I thought we were getting about 6 inches until dad informed us at Sunday lunch it might be a foot or two.
He plows for us and was worried about the forecast.
I jokingly said "Don't worry; I'll be able to shovel..."
There were witnesses and I'll be hearing these words used against me I'm sure.

Y2K (a quilt story continues)

Piece by Piece

My latest obsession started about 3 am Sunday morning.*

I decided to pull out the package of Y2K blocks & Squishies and lay them out all over the kitchen floor and see what kind of plan I had.
I must have had a plan?

I'll admit to having a mild panic attack at the though of what lay ahead.
Literally my knees were shaky and my heart was racing in an "I can't do this" kind of way. In a way I don't ever remember before.

Come to think of it maybe I was coming down with something. I spent ALL day Monday sick in bed, nauseous and achy,1st hot and then cold. I requested a shovel to the back the head at one point. Er...thankfully he didn't take me up on that. BUT I did get a good hour of work done on the quilt before admitting defeat. And who the hell dirtied all those dishes? I made sure all the dishes were done before allowing myself to start my Millenium Project on Sunday. And all I cooked was toast for 24 hours. Every freaking dish in the house was dirty by Tuesday?

The thought of shoving it back in the Treasure Box and pretending it didn't exist for another ten years flashed briefly across my mind.
Instead I took a coffee break and joined a Ravelry Knitters Who (used to) Quilt group. My first post:

(SOS! :)
My name is Laurie and I have some UFOs…is that the way members of support groups start their pleas for help? lol

A few days ago I pulled my Treasure Box out, aka underbed storage container full of UFO’s, determined to do something about it. Closest to finished first seemed like a good plan so a quilt that just needed binding is underway - halfway around hand stitching binding down on back- waiting for sunny window later to finish.

So I thought my Y2K would be next. Now I’m having a panic attack! I seem to have 45 blocks sewn together, with 11 swaps still wrapped in the envelopes they came in; 4 signature squares floating around loose.
Sewn together Log cabin style light to dark diagonally… Clearly I had a plan. Once!!

Okay. Rather than stuff it back in the box for another 10 years, it’s waiting on the floor for me to calm down. Remember to breathe normally. Sign up for a support group. Perhaps I’ll blog!

LOL - husband just got up and noticed my cause of distress laid out on the floor. Shaking his head and going back to bed!

It was not a bad plan at all. I had sewn (at least) 45 blocks together, with squares reading dark to light on the diagonal in the style of the Log Cabin pattern. Only with little squares instead of strips.

I remember starting out trying to keep everyone's 24 pieces of fabric together with their signature square.

(A.) you don't always get a very good read of dark to light.
(B.) you get some ugly-arsed blocks.

There's one 12" block I may have to unsew just to get the signature square out. It's NOT going in.

I had swapped (25) 3 inch squares with at least a hundred quilters. As seems to be true of all internet swapping no matter the theme, there are always people who break their promise. Best Intentioned Swappers I can take to a point. They meant well, but stuff happened.
PLEASE: STOP SIGNING UP FOR STUFF UNTIL YOU GET CAUGHT UP!

There always seem to be a few who think they're signing up for free stuff from any idiot who will send it to them. (And I guess if you're silly enough to send strangers you meet on the internet stuff, you should probably count yourself lucky you ever get anything back.) But still we trust. Probably part of the reason this project lost its charm. If the objective was 2000 pieces, it would take 80 trustworthy swappers. I never did count how close I came until Wednesday.

I was (at least) 2 short. Too short...ha ha! corny joke just for Steph ;0)

I must have had more than 45 blocks sewn together to start with; as it is now I have nearly 72 squares. Clearly my math or basic counting skills need some work as I still have 5 or 6 signature squares left. Plus my own needs to go in! I used the fabrics I had cut into 3" squares for the cat quilt and i can't remember how I signed it. I remember using a rubber stamp print though!
A recount will take place today.

*Actually the obsession to finish something started 3 days before when I came across 2 old emails printed out and saved from 2001-2003 during an Internet Round Robin ...gone bad. A group of 6 or 7 of us each made a 12 inch crazy pieced block and we agreed to swap them to each person in turn, who would work on our block and then pass it to the next.

The last person to get my block was Gayla Cox. She sent me glowing details of the work she was doing in reply to several of my emails, trying to encourage her along and get my block back. For years I had faith I would get it back. She wrote how wonderful my block looked. All about the ladybugs and caterpillars she was embroidering. My name! She said she embroidered my name.

And then she kept it.

The girls said a blog post titled "You Better Be Dead" was unacceptable. Steph googled her. She might be. Rest in Peace...but I'm still a little bitter.
My name was on it.

To this day THAT is the only Internet Swap that rankles. That I obsess over still. I had blind faith until the end. (Well, sometimes still I think what it would be like if I found it in the mailbox. FYI: I still live at the same address.) But there was never closure. Even the hostess handled it poorly in my opinion as her only response was "oh, that's too bad."
No more Internet Round Robins for me.

Quilting like it's 1999!

Y2K. UFO. SOS!
(lol ;)

This segment starts with a personal guilt factor as usual.
UFOs.

UnFinished Objects.
Quilt projects in various stages of waiting.

A cat quilt has been hanging out waiting for it's binding.
For like a year. I won the blocks in Chapter block of the month drawing.
Okay... that was actually several years ago.
I machine quilted it. I prefer hand quilting, but I thought it would be quicker by machine. Less likely to end up in the Treasure Box of Unfinished things.

But, that's all it needed?
Not sure what the hell I was waiting for.
Except the fabric I wanted to use for the binding was gone and so I had to make a new decision.

Decision made! It's binding is all on and I just need to go half way around sewing the back of it down by hand. Waiting for a warm sunny window.
This week for sure!

Next up I decided would be my Y2K quilt.
By "quilt' I mean a pile of 45 blocks and 15 envelopes still barely opened.
Peeked at when they arrived.
In 1999.

Swapping charm envelopes - Squishies- was all the rage back in 1999.
While the computer geeks worried the world was going to come to an end because no one thought ahead about rolling over the internal clocks of our electronics - quilters celebrated the event with 25 three inch squares of assorted fabrics, one of which would be a plain muslin with our signature and location signed. Often a stamped image!

This is where I seem to have left off.