Busy Weekend

The weather was absolutely beautiful here this weekend and this inspired me to get a lot of different things done and off of my list!!! But before I attempt to impress you with my many accomplishments, let me share another one of Paula's new fabric collections. I think her brain has been working overtime because despite all of the packing and unpacking, she has been designing too!!!  This fabric arrived at my door on Friday and I am anxiously awaiting the cutting instructions for the new quilt Paula has already designed.  I've seen a digital image, but now I want to get into the fabric.  This new collection by Paula with Marcus Fabrics is R & B Tavern and should be at your quilt stores sometime soon.  I'm never quite sure of the store arrival dates.  I just know we have fabric and I get to "play" with it!!!

  

One of my accomplishments this weekend (and it took time out of 3 days!!) was to pull up all of the ferns that have been growing around 2 of our big trees.  They've been growing and growing and taking over this area and I've been whining and whining for the past year or so that I want them gone.  Well, it seems I was the only one of that opinion, so I just pulled them out myself.  You also need to understand that I don't do yard work at all.  I offer opinions on how it should look, but pull a weed, trim a bush - not my job!!!!  It took 3 days because there were a lot of ferns and I filled the garbage can, my brother-in-law's truck bed and then refilled the garbage can!!! That's a lot of ferns - but it's done!!!!!!

Friday I finished the last of the hexies and diamonds that I cut out and decided to get some more ready.  I'm going to need some hand work on the cruise and these are just perfect!!  As I started to pull fabrics, I realized that my scraps were spread all over the place.  I had some in amongst my stash, some in bins set aside for the hexies and diamonds and some in bins for other projects and this seemed a little crazy.  I spent more time looking for pieces and realizing that they weren't big enough and then finding some in other places - colossal waste of my time.  I remembered an Instagram post with a storage cart and scrap organization and off I went to Joann's. I sorted and organized Saturday and Sunday and also managed to prep 19 sets of hexies and 13 sets of diamonds!!!  I love the organization that the carts provide and even better, they roll!!!  I have to store them in front of a bookcase, so the rolling is perfect!!  I can even roll them right over to my sewing table!!  Both carts are sorted (and labeled) by color - 1 cart is all darks and the other is all lights.

That's the new R&B Tavern fabric sitting on top of the left cart just waiting to be cut!!

I finally got to sit and do some actual sewing on Sunday night.  Tada!! 3 rows of Meredith's quilt - DONE!!!

All in all, a very successful weekend!!  I know I have a lot of RCQ sewing coming up, so I'm trying to be sure other things are done and out of the way so I can concentrate on that.  This weekend was a good start.  I hope all of you enjoyed a great weekend too.

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen

Finishing, Endorsing and Upcoming

Lots to share today, so let's start with Upcoming:
  Check out Paula's new Companions collection with Marcus Fabrics.  I just cut a piece of each one to send to Paula so she can design a new quilt (or two!!) with the collection.  The rest is here at my house and I've been drooling over all of them.  I love them all and can't wait to see what we're going to do with them.

  It's cruising time!!  Paula and I leave Sunday, March 16th for a 7 day cruise on the Navigator of the Seas with Stitchin' Heaven.  Paula will be teaching with Jerry Stube (Quilters Quarters) and Denice Lipscomb (Common Threads Quilting) and I go along as Paula's teaching assistant.  Basically I'll do whatever it takes to go on another cruise!!!

  June 1st you can join us on Olde Green Cupboard's 7 night Eastern Caribbean "Getting Ready for Christmas" cruise on RC's Freedom of the Seas. Paula will be teaching Glory Bound on this cruise.  Check out the Olde Green Cupboard's website for more information (www.oldegreencupboard.com). There's still room for more quilters, so think about joining us for some fun, friends and fabric!!
                                

Now how about some applause for some Finishing:
   Yes, I finished some things and it is such a good feeling.  Lynn and Cathy (Longarm Quilting) finished Julianne's quilt and sent it with Gloria to our retreat last week.  I've put the binding on it and finally made dust ruffles for both girls.  This move to a big girl bed really involves a lot of work - quilt, dust ruffle and pillowcases!! Oh yeah, made 2 new pillowcases for each girl also!!  I really just love doing this for them.  Their fabrics are just so pretty and sweet.

Quilt and dust ruffle (just peeking out)

Lynn and Cathy's beautiful quilting

And now an infomercial moment or an Endorsement:
   I'm pretty sure I shared the "problem" I had with Julianne's quilt - I believe it was my inability to read a pattern correctly, a pattern I have already made about 7 times, but I digress!!!.  I came back from the January retreat and had to "unsew" half of the rows - ugh!!  Gloria shared a new seam ripper with me, not for the ripping part, but for the rubber cap that helps remove all of those little threads you have left on the fabric after you "unsew".  I also found myself in need of this wonderful little tool when I sewed one of the sides of Julianne's dust ruffle on backwards!!!  After you have "unsewn", just rub the cap across the threads and it removes them - viola!!! Let me introduce you - Seam Fix!!!  Love it!!!

  

Well I'm off to finish the blocks for Meredtih's quilt and then it's family birthday celebration night.  My nephew is celebrating #12 tomorrow and today's rain has cancelled out practices, games, etc. so a quick party was planned AND it looks like everyone will be able to attend. Caitlin is feeling better after her bout with a bug, so we will celebrate her birthday too!!  Family - one of the many reasons I love living in St. Pete!!!

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen

Oscar Night Sewing

I've had TV marathon sewing and Olympic sewing, so why not have Oscar Night Sewing.  I decided that I was going to watch the entire Academy Awards program last night and I am so glad I did!  I managed to complete 10-12 of the blocks for the queen-size Bordeaux quilt that I am making for Mere (Brett, too).  If the show could have continued for just 1 more hour, I probably could have finished the last 4 blocks!!! Oh well, there's still the NCIS LA marathon today!!!  Here's a picture of the 26 blocks that I have managed to finish!!

Now can we talk a little about the Oscars themselves!!  I loved the show and that's probably why I was able to stay up until midnight and still sew!  There were no surprises in the winners, but the ones that won truly deserved it.  That's not to say that the ones that didn't win were any less deserving.  This was a good year for some Oscar-worthy movies and actors!! Ellen DeGeneres was fantastic.  I loved the "selfie" and the pizza.  The acceptance speeches were good with some exceptional ones thrown in - Jared Leto, Lupita Nyong'o , Matthew McConaughey, and Cate Blanchett to name a few.

And then there were the "oh my goodness" moments - John Travolta messing up Idina Menzel's name ( I actually thought he was introducing Adele and I didn't know her last name!!), Kim Novak's frozen face as she announced "Frozen" as the winner in its category, and Goldie Hawn trying to look as young as her daughter!!! Ok, I'll be good now!!

Today I am going to try to get the USPS website to cooperate with me so I can ship the next month's patterns for Hampton Ridge and I'm going to go get my hair cut and colored (my day of beauty!).  It's also our youngest daughter's birthday!  Happy 27th birthday Caitlin!!!  Unfortunately she seems to have contracted some flu/virus and will not be celebrating today.  We'll make up for it later this week!!  Then there's those 4 Bordeaux blocks to finish and a couple of dust ruffles to make and of course, the NCIS LA Marathon!!!

Until next time, happy quilting,
Mary Ellen