New Blog Address, come and visit me!

http://bethcrafts.blogspot.com/

Moving Day!

One of my New Year's resolutions was to switch over to the new Blogger once and for all. I thought I had a very long time ago, but I hadn't, since every time I wanted to add something to my blog I had to do it all manually by tinkering with the HTML code in the template. It was very temperamental and little by little my blog has been getting messier and messier. So, today I finally did it, I switched most of my stuff over to a new template. I am not done moving stuff or adding stuff, but you can visit me over at my new address. I will keep my old blog up just so I have it all there in case anyone wants to look at past stuff or if I need the template! Hope to see you over there soon!

A New Toy for ME!

I have always wanted to learn how to machine quilt myself, I have thought many times about signing up for classes, but they are always on weekdays, and besides that, my Brother machine that I use for piecing is really a struggle even to quilt a lapsize quilt in it. So, after asking around to Kim, Kim, and Sandy to name a few, I took the plunge and purchased a Juki TL-98Q from here on the recommendation of one of the Kims. It just arrived on my doorstep tonight. This thing weighs a TON! I am really scared, I think she might sit in my sewing room for a while before I try her out. I have another 4-day weekend this weekend, so I think I'll be testing her then. How exciting! Even if I only meander stitch my quilts, I'll be happy as a clam. Well, I'm going to muster up my strength and lug this baby to my sewing room now.

I worked diligently on my Ode to the 1930's BOM and managed to get caught up to Month 6. It really helps that I have been swapping out the applique blocks with the same size blocks I've been finding at the Quilter's Cache website. I love that website, I highly recommend it! The quilt shop I'm getting this BOM from is already up to Month 12 since I started late, so in my next shipment I am getting like 5 months of packages, I told them to just send them all to me at once and get it over with, then I will be current with them and have two more months coming, yikes! But this baby is staying on the design wall until I can start piecing it all together. Here's a current picture of what I accomplished in my 4-day weekend. I have another 4-day weekend coming up this week for New Year's so guess what I'm going to be doing? I'm not keen about the blocks in here that have black and red, they just don't seem to fit with the rest of the quilt. I will leave them there until I get more of the blocks done, then decide what to do. I DO know that that black pinwheel smack dab in the middle is GOING!Well, I'm posting from work, so I better get back to it!

I really can't believe how fast this four-day weekend is flying by! And I had such big plans of doing so much quilting, and I really haven't accomplished much. Luckily I have another 4-day weekend next week for New Year's! Yay!

I decided to pull out one of my many BOMs and get caught up on it, so I chose the Ode to the 1930's that I'm getting from Cottage Quilts. I have my packages up through Month 7, so I had this big idea that I was going to get caught up through Month 7. Each package by the way has 4 blocks in it. That's a lot of blocks! I figured, heck, 4-day weekend, no problem! And I am swapping out the applique blocks for pieced blocks, that's making it go faster. Big plans!

Today I got an email from the shop, they were having a problem with my card. I'm not surprised, I have had to close my debit card three times because some crooks kept getting my number somehow and using it to buy plane tickets and whatnot, so they were getting a bit confused at the shop. Anyway, when I talked to the shop gal, I asked how far along this BOM is, she said the shop is up to Month 12 out of 14 months. Good grief. So, I told her, just go ahead and send me the next 5 months so I'm current as well. Well, as of tonight, I have finished 3 months of blocks. Here's a picture to show for all the work I feel like I've done. Even without the applique, I think it's going to be a pretty quilt.



Well, I just went to QuiltersCache and printed out more blocks to swap the applique blocks that are in the next package, but I think I just hit the wall. I think I'll pick this up again tomorrow.

Well, did everyone survive the holiday? Whew! Am I glad it's over. My mom is going to kill me, I totally forgot to call her yesterday AND today, but I talked to her on Wednesday, so it should be ok. Note to self, call mom tomorrow!

So for the day after the holiday, I decided to hit up a couple of quilt shops. I decided the traffic might be bad, so I just went to local shops. I went to the Fabric Patch and just got a few 30's fat quarters and a couple of notions, then I went up to Ginger's and picked up a few fat quarters and signed up for a really cool block of the month Ginger is offering and had a nice chat with the infamous Jane of LA Quilter's blog. Jane said she reads my blog all the time. Hi Jane! I'm testing you! Oh, and speaking of Vicky, I am this month's lucky winner of the Simply Sophisticated drawing she puts on every month due to the generosity of Kimberly at Fat Quarter Shop. I won this month's $25 gift certificate. Now I just need to decide what I want to use it on! How fun! Thank you for hosting the drawing every month Vicky!

I puppy sat again tonight, my daughter just came and got her baby after work so now my poor cats can come out from hiding. Hey, for all you parents out there who know how hard it can be to get your kids to visit when they move out, it works for me!

Well, no quilting occurred today, the doggy didn't want me doing that, so maybe tomorrow.

Whatever the holiday is that you celebrate this season, may it be happy!

Well, I had a very productive weekend in the quilting department, and I'm not done yet! I got month three of the Simply Sophisticated BOM from Fat Quarter Shop and promptly got on it last night. I finished up all the blocks today. I enter the drawing every month that Vicky puts on on behalf of the Fat Quarter Shop for a $25 gift card. I haven't won yet, but it still has a long ways to go, I could yet! I have to post a picture here on my blog to prove I did the blocks, so here they are. I'm really getting tired of 9 patches though, last month's had the same ones only in different colors! I *hate* doing 9 patches!

You can see a wee bit of another of the gazillion projects I'm working on, it's Sweet Land of Liberty by Cheri Saffiote Payne. Her stuff is labor intensive but worth it. I might work on that some next. I used to have a blog-along for it, but I decided to take it down, there were some disagreements going on and some quilt shop bashing that I didn't like going on on there, so it went poof. That's ok, I'm still working on it as an "along" with Colleen and Kim.

Then I decided to make my mom a little table topper quilt for her Christmas gift. Times are tough for everyone right now, so hubby and I decided no gifts for anyone this year. Well, I told him we could buy our own gifts, and he can give his daughter something if he wants, and I will take care of a gift for my daughter. So, I actually ordered my gift the other day and got the first installment. I am getting the ABC Sampler, another Cheri Saffiote Payne quilt as a BOM from The Buggy Barn, that's actually where I got my Sweet Land Of Liberty BOM. They are fast, I just signed up like on Wednesday last week and already got the first block! I know, stop laughing, anyone who knows me knows I am a sucker when it comes to BOMs. I now have 5 of the danged things again! Anyway, here's a picture of mom's quilt, nothing fancy, made from a charm pack of Oak Leaves and Reel, and I had some fat quarters of it that I used for the border and binding. The red is just some random red I had in my stash. I think it's some cheapy stuff from Joann's, but mom won't mind. Here's a picture. I just have to sew the binding down on the back.

Ok, here's the reason I have been spending so much time in the sewing room today. My daughter got a little rescue doggy the other day, she is the sweetest little thing, her name is Bella, the vet says shes a chihuahua/beagle mix of all things. I am babysitting today because she has work and her roommate was going to set off a bug bomb before she went to work. The poor little thing is crawling with fleas, I hope the flea stuff worked a little before she came over here. She's doomed to the sewing room in her crate for now, the roommate is picking her up after she gets off work, my kid went to a concert when she got off work tonight. She informed me this is the closest I'm getting to a grandchild. That's ok, I don't think I'm grandmother material anyway. I better go check on the baby now, it's probably potty time again. And I have some more quilting to do.Tootles!