Still Learning

 My old laptop died about two hours before the new one was delivered. No bad words were said as I set it up. I'm still trying to figure out all the little quirks of the new laptop...like Windows 11 and hitting the space bar correctly! The keyboard is a little bit smaller than my old one and I keep hitting below the space bar instead on it. UGH. I finally got connected to my printer today, so no more excuses, I have to do my taxes this week.  Double UGH.

I didn't spend a lot of time sewing last week. I finished the last three Daphne blocks and got the sashing cut out.

I have three more days to finish this top to meet my March UFO challenge. I should be able to do it.

I've also been trimming and squaring up hourglass and flying geese blocks.

All 64 hourglass blocks are done, and I made a lot of progress on the 268 flying geese. Have I mentioned before how much I love my Bloc-Loc rulers? LOVE love love them!

I have a favorite thrift store in Medford. I try to go at least once a month and most of the time it doesn't disappoint.

In a baggy there were 96 3.5 inch nine patch blocks plus lots of extra strips to make more of the light nine patches...for $2! Love the fall colors. I have an idea of how I'm going to use them but if you have any suggestions let me know.

Okay, if you hear any swear words this week don't worry, it's just me doing my taxes.

Loud and Noisy

 My laptop sounds like a freight train...run through the middle of the house...I don't think it's supposed to sound like that. It takes at least 3+ minutes to open any application...some, like my beloved Excel, won't open at all. I think my laptop is over 10 years old (originally Windows 7)...she's been hardworking and fun but I think it might be time to for her to retire. Shhhhh....don't tell her but I'm going to buy a new laptop tomorrow. There may be bad words said later this week as I try to set the new one up.

Did you sew on National Quilting Day? I did. I've actually done pretty good this past week and sewed a bit every day (more like every night, I'm a late night sewer).

I tacked down Angela's quilt and donated it to Quilts for Kids.

So cute.

I made two pillowcases and also donated them.

 

 

I love the sheep with the stripes!!

Got my March Aunt Daisy units done.

 

I still have to trim them to size.

And got two of my March UFO blocks made.

 I think I have four blocks left. I'm going to try to make one a day. Then maybe next weekend I'll put the quilt top together.  We'll see.

Okay. My laptop is getting louder and louder, I better hit Publish before it blows up. YIKES!

I'm Tired

 I spent all of last week in Palo Alto California and drove home today. It's about an 8 hour drive. The weather was good and traffic was light but it is a long drive.

My friend Angela has a garage sale / estate sale / free item knack that is almost magical. She's the one who rescued a Singer Featherweight from a dumpster last year.  A few weeks ago she went to an estate sale for a women who taught adult ed sewing (mostly garment sewing) and who was a quilter. The day after the sale ended everything was free. Angela couldn't stand that all the left over fabric and other sewing related items were headed for the landfill so she took it all...

This is a very small part of the fabric she picked up. She also got a huge bag of upholstery batting, a large roll of Hobbes quilting batting, lots of different types of inter facings and stabilizers, quilting books, and garment fabric. It was fun to sort through it all. A lot is going to be donated, but we both kept a lot.

Angela is a beginning quilter so a lot of the week was spent teaching her. This is what her dining room looked like for most of the week.

She made the heart and did the in-the-ditch quilting, I did the stipple quilting, and she learned how to add binding.

She also learned how to add borders.

And quilting with a walking foot.

One item in with all the scraps was all the pieces and parts for a rooster pin cushion.

I made it. So easy.

Speaking of pin cushions...my secret sewing last week was this folded star pin cushion.

I saw a tutorial from Shabby Fabrics a few weeks ago and loved this pin cushion. The fabrics are all from my stash. I knew when I put all the brights together that it had to go to Stephanie. I also got to have lunch with her while I was in California and gave it to her then. 

I've only been home a few hours but I miss my friends already!

Short and Sweet

 Lots of flying geese, lots of cutting, and some secret sewing, so not much to show this week.

Still need to square the last batch (flock) of geese and sew them into twos. Got all the hour glass units cut and the diagonal line marked.

This is Bella pretending to be a lap cat. She does pretty good until she sees a bird in the backyard.

Hopefully I'll have something a little bit more interesting to show next week.