Thursday, November 19, 2015

Two more Repro Madness blocks...multiplied by three...


More blocks are finished!  These were prepped for hand applique before the move so I would have a little something to do until the quilt cave emerged from the boxes. 

"Repro Madness" is a little project I am doing with two friends where we swap blocks, so I make three of everything.  All blocks will finish 6 inches square.



These are the first thing I have really appliqued since the finger surgery, other than trying to sew quilt labels and sleeves on quilts being sent out to shows.  Let me tell you, things feel awkward and a little clumsy!

How about them apples!  I drew this block last spring, dreaming about fall and Michigan apples growing fat and heavy.  I packed a lot of pieces into this 6-inch block.



And I HAD to do a sewing machine!  I actually finished these three blocks a month ago, but only found the box with the embroidery floss last weekend...maddening!


That is it for blocks prepped before the move...time to prep some more, as soon as I unpack the right boxes!  I have a few more drawn that I am excited to pick out fabrics for...I am really trying to stick to reproduction fabrics for this ever-expanding project.

Baby steps...

In stitches (again!),
Teresa  :o)




Monday, November 9, 2015

Airing out the stash...


This week I finally moved some of the boxes containing "the quilt cave" from the RV garage to the house, YIPPEE!  They sat down in the walk-out basement all week until I could get to them tonight. Two of my sisters came for the weekend to help me with some of Dad and Mom's stuff, so I spent the rest of last week getting a couple of bedrooms ready for them.


The stained glass shop is not ready to move into yet, but I thought if I set up my folding tables I could unpack the boxes and let the contents "breathe."  (and make sure no scorpions wiggled their way into the boxes while temporarily stored in the RV garage...*yuck*). I am embarrassed at how good it felt just to handle and touch part of my stash again...can you get arrested for that?!?


I had six more of my "Repro Madness" 6-inch applique squares prepped for hand stitching when I moved, which I have stitched up, so now I need to locate something else to work on until I am moved into the new space.  I located some DMC floss I needed to finish three of them, and as soon as I find a ruler to square them up, I will post them.  I have actually done some stitching!!


I still have not located the proper power cord for my light box...when I completed the finishing pattern for the "Baltimore Rhapsody - Symphony," I was using a similar cord Steve found, but it would not fully illuminate the unit without its proper cord.  I guess I need to stop actively looking for it...then it will just appear!


Quilt batts made great padding and kept me from making some boxes too heavy, LOL!  I found about half of my project and scrap boxes.  I just love these art bins from Joann's that I slowly acquired on the cheap with my coupons (and there is a Joann's down here "in the sticks" and I have already started receiving coupons at the new address...how did they know I had moved?!?).


Of course, the project box I WANTED to bring upstairs to work out of while watching TV in the evening was not in THIS pile...sigh.

To maximize time spent unpacking, I have been preparing food with lots of leftovers so that I don't have to cook every day.  Since there are just two of us and I love salads, I have started preparing a bunch of little salads at one time.  We just each grab a container, dump it in a bowl, dress it, and eat it!!  These plastic Ball freezer containers are OK, but when I find my wide mouth Mason jars with one-piece lids I will use those.  They are more dishwasher friendly.

For this batch, I put the lettuces and greens on the bottom, followed by some purple or green onions, tomato, cucumber, broccoli slaw, and some cheese on top (we were out of crumbled cheese so I cut up Mozzarella cheese sticks...ha ha ha...).  Sometimes I add avocado or nuts at the last minute...YUM!


Today I am off to meet my daughter in Tuscaloosa for lunch after her morning classes and I will facilitate her getting an Alabama drivers license and voter registration.  I have an audio book in my bag (and there's a quilt shop in town!).  It will be nice to see her for a few hours.  I really miss that little squirt...

Almost in stitches (again),
Teresa  :o)