Orca Bay and other happenings

Step 7 has come out and I almost finished the first half of it when I ran out of thread. Don't know why I didn't think to pack another spool and my sidewinder. I bought more thread today, a type I haven't used before and found it winds the bobbin too loose and then I end up with a tension problem that makes what I am sewing scrunch up. So here I am with no car and no idea when dh will be back.  And can't keep up. Can it get any worse??

Guess I am just going to read till I finish that book. That will be three books read in a week. Over 500 pages each.  Bought myself a Kindle. Think it will come in very handy.

We got some snow last night. It was so pretty waking up to the bright blue sky and white yard. Going back to reality tomorrow is going to be rotten since all we get there is rain and gloomy skies.

OB step 6

While checking email today I learned Bonnie gave us a great early Christmas gift. Step 6. I was able to get all the pieces cut out and two of the blocks assembled.  I will work on them tomorrow and Saturday morning before heading to family. I think I would like this quilt if I had used a black instead of brown. We'll see how I like it when we have the finished product.

Step 5

Well, step 5 for OB is complete. Dh is so sweet. He took dd out so I could finish without interuption.

Now I can work on the last of Christmas preparations. Wish I didn't have to work this week but vacation doesn't start till Friday.

A finish

I am finally done done with roll roll cotton boll. I finished the binding last night. I have been quilting for about 16 years. Wow, I feel old! In all that time I have not been happy with my bindings. After reading Bonnie's tips on binding I discovered I have been doing it wrong all these years. Of course nobody who received one has said anything but I realized how much better and easier it went together when done correctly. Just goes to show your never too old to learn. The picture of the front came out kinda fuzzy. Not sure why. But the back side where you can see the quilt motiff (sp) showed up nicely. The pattern was called Brenda's tulips. That was meant to be since that's my name.

After a Christmas party tomorrow, I am sending little one to grandma's house for the weekend. Hopefully I can really devote that time to step 5. All the presents are wrapped, food for party is done. husband has to sleep during the day so it should be easy to do.

I took gifts to my dil today. My son has to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I remember those days. When they are able to come here we will be visiting other family. So will miss them greatly.

Dh did a nice thing for me the other day. He brought the tv from our bedroom and put it where I can see it from my cutting table and connected it to the dish. Now I can see it no matter what action I am taking on a quilt. While this may seem like a random act of kindness on his part, he is having to make up for ruining my Christmas surprise. I gave him only ONE rule for Christmas. DON'T go in the closet in the guest bedroom.
Well, the dish installer came out a couple days ago and dh opened the closet and voila! There was the gift I had not wrapped. I was going to set it up after having him called away. GRRR. Since there was no need to keep it stored I brought it out and set it up and we are using it every day. Next year I will leave all gifts at work where we have a room to use for just such occasions.

Tomorrow is step 5 for OB can't wait to get home from work and begin this step.

Step 4: Complete

Friday after work I had a quilt retreat here at home. The family went out of town for the weekend and I sewed until about 2:00am Friday and Saturday. By this afternoon I was done with that step.

 I'm not sure how I miss counted but when it comes to the red string blocks I made a whole lot extra. I use the create a sheet of fabric with many strips and then cut them down method. Lots of waste? Yeah, probably but I now have many leftover triangles and three extra sheets of red strips that I can cut to almost any size string blocks.  Now I can finish the binding on a Christmas quilt.That should be a relaxing couple of nights in front of the tv and fire. There have been some really good Christmas shows on tv lately.

Sewing along

I just finished sewing the binding on rrcb for my folks for Christmas. I get a free weekend to work on OB and stictch up the binding in the evenings. With Christmas I'm not sure I'll be able to keep up for a couple of weeks. Here's hoping for good internet service. To avoid the problem I've been hearing about seam allowances and using different machines I am just lugging along the machine that I know where the seam allowance is. Tomorrow morning won't come soon enough unless you are trying to sleep in.

OB Step 3

WooHoo!! Step 3 is done and I was able to catch up and get step 2 done. Now I can go back to the binding on a Christmas gift until Friday.

I was even able to get one of the trees and some of the decorations up today. Amazing. Might even work on getting the rest of the house decorated tomorrow. Then I can also work on another Christmas gift quilt. As I write this I realize just how busy I am. Besides the interfering thing called work I have to continue to feed the family and clean the house.Thank you Bonnie! http://quiltville.blogspot.com/