Waste Not Want Not

While I was finishing up the star quilt I used some of the extra space on the size and bottom of the backing & batting to quilt some more practice pieces and fabric that I can use to make zippered bags for our Quilt Show Boutique.  I thought why waste this extra backing and batting just being used to float the quilt.  So below are some of the extra pieces I quilted to use for this purpose.

This block was one I had in a box of orphaned blocks from years of doing block exchanges and block quest at our monthly meetings.  Alot of months I would make one to donate at the meetings and one as my practice block.  Now this block will become a quilted zipper bag for the Boutique.

This block below is one I may make into a small tote/gift bag.

And now...........the Friendship Star Quilt is coming out of the longarm.  At the bottom of the quilt...on the floor...you can see the two sections of extra fabric that I quilted to use in other projects. 

I really like the floating star look of this quilt.  I used scrap fabrics to make the stars and the borders.  The borders are make of 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch bricks which were cut from scrap fabrics in my stash.  I just pulled all of the blues I had from the box of already cut bricks and pieced the borders.  That made it very convenient to piece.  Now to get to work on the binding.  It's 96 degrees outside and muggy so I don't think I will be sitting underneath a quilt sewing down a binding today...maybe later.

Until later,

Happy Quilting Everyone!

Shelia

Anniversary Dinner

Last night Roger and I had dinner with a very dear couple, our friends Sid & Betty.  We were celebrating our 21st Wedding Anniversary and Sid's 72nd Birthday.  June 24th was obviously a very popular day.  It is hard to believe that we have already been married 21 years.  How does time move so fast.  Remember when you were young you would hear older people comment on how fast time passed.......I'm not admitting I'm old or anything close to that.......but time sure is passing fast!  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life.  Thanks Roger for 21 beautiful years and I hope we have 50 more together! 
For our combined celebration we met Sid & Betty at Henry & Jean's Restaurant on Woodruff Road.  The food was wonderful. 

I had the filet with chunk crab meat, grilled shrimp and a champagne butter sauce, it was delightful.  Roger had the grilled ribeye with a smokey burbon sauce which he also said was wonderful.  I tried to get a picture of the entree but the lighting was too dim.  But I was able to get a picture of dessert.........We shared a gooey brownie with caramel and chocolate sauce topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.   Decadent and delicious.

Today we spent with family.  We all met at Aunt Elane's house for our family get together.  My dad is one of six children and all six are were there.  My Great-Aunt Nell was also there, but she wouldn't give her age......left us all guessing.  She is one of eight children and 5 are still living with 4 of them in their 90's.  Now that is making a statement!  So we just have to wonder how old she really is.  Who cares!!  She is still here and going strong.  That's some good genes on dad's side of the family.

Tomorrow I'll be spending some quilting time with mom.  Always enjoy the extra time we get to spend together.

Until later.......Happy Quilting,

Shelia

Bee Hive Chatter

Back Row:  Suzanne, Sue, Debbie, Deb and Me

Front Row: Susan (Hambone girl)

This is my Bee Hive.  These are the wonderful ladies that keep me laughing and howling until midnight.  We always have such a wonderful time when we get together.  I have truly missed seeing them alot this year with all of the extra hours of work.  But soon the extra hours will be done.  YIPPIE!!

We had a great time last night at Bee.  I quilted on my friendship star quilt, Susan worked on a wonderful gift for another friends wedding, Suzanne was working on a donation for the Ovarian Cancer auction, Sue pieced a baby quilt for a friend and Deb completed a cathedral window pillow top.  We drank Firefly Sweet Tea and had a blast.  We were still "cackling" at almost 11:30.  Roger says it is music to his ears when he hears us having so much fun.

Better get back to food prep for our meals this week.  I'm making salsa burgers, pork and noodles, taco soup and chicken wraps.  I do as much of the prep work as possible so that during the busy week it doesn't take as long to prepare the meals.  Our schedule is so hectic that it really saves us alot of time.  Plus I prep as much of our salad making stuff as possible.  It is so much easier to throw a salad together when you get home if all of the items are chopped and in containers. 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend of quilting.

Happy Quilting,

Shelia

Hot! Hot!! Hot!!!

Did I say it was hot!! It was 82 degrees at 5:00 a.m. this morning and muggy.....yuck. Makes me feel like I'm back in Florida. Thank goodness the hospital is air conditioned. So glad I am not working outside today.

This quilt is a wall hanging that I made in 2002. I call it " My Motto", or to put it correctly, my husband says that this is my motto. I guess I have to agree with him. There is no such thing as too much fabric!!

The real reason I wanted you to see this was to show you how I do my labels. I label every quilt with my title, when I started the quilt, when I finished the quilt, if I quilted it or if someone else quilted it, and special things about the quilt. On this label you can see that I used 175 different fabrics from my stash and 45 different colors of thread on the quilt. Amazing when you start adding up all those things.

Also I go back and add to the label when I hang a quilt in a show and if it wins any ribbons. You can see in red at the botton of the label that this quilt hung in the Aunt Het Quilt Show in 2002 and won a 4th place ribbon in the small wall hanging category. Just some trivia information for future generations to see.

Here's hoping that tomorrow is a little cooler.

Happy Quilting.........Shelia

Today I've spent some time working on the quilting for my friendship star quilt. I pieced this quilt several years ago and have had it in my UFO pile to get quilted. I wanted to work on some of my UFO tops after I went to the MQS classes. I sure feel more comfortable with my machine now after taking the classes. And you know what.....I learned that even those exceptional people who make those beautiful quilts have tension problems at times also. I just learned their tricks for fixing them.

I'm doing a freehand pattern and so far I think it is looking good. This is a close up of the quilting I'm doing. I'm outlining the stars and then doing the free hand whirly things in the white areas. I plan to use blue thread in the stars to quilt something.....haven't decided yet what I'm putting there.

But I do want to add some texture to the stars. This is one of my practice pieces for the techniques I learned while in Kansas.

I've also been working on our budget for the upcoming months today. I'm always trying to find more ways to cut costs for us. Today I have again been concentrating on our food/grocery budget.

I put eating out and grocery buying in the same chunk of money. I have been slowly cutting back on this budget this year and we have cut from $800/month down to $300/month. We were eating out a lot more and boy does that add up in your monthly budget. We didn't realize how much we were spending eating out and buying groceries. In July I plan on cutting that down even further. It is amazing how much you can save when you shop smarter, use coupons for things you would buy and don't eat out very much. Since I truly enjoy cooking this makes it even easier to save.

The meal planner site truly helps if you don't have time to plan a menu and a shopping list. This site gives you a meal plan and the shopping list for the major stores, walmart, publix, etc. You can do meals for 2 or family meals. They even have specialty plans for weight watchers points system with the point values given in the meal plan.

Here is the link if you would like to check out the site. It costs only $5.oo per month and you get new meal plans/shopping lists every week. Kind of a no brainer for me. http://e-mealz.com/amember/go.php?r=122426&i=l0

Let me know what you think.

I caught whiskers drinking out of the bird bath. It was 92 degrees here today and very humid. He usually doesn't like being outside when it is this hot, especially with that black fur.Here's a close up in case you couldn't see him.

Keep cool and Happy Quilting,

Shelia

Car Lift Being Installed

The lift is being installed. Needless to say my husband is one HAPPY CAMPER!!

Roger was up at 4:45 this morning so excited that the lift was coming. He has been counting down the days and hours until it arrived.

It should be completed shortly after lunchtime today.

No quilting today, hopefully this weekend I'll have a few hours here and there to complete a star quilt I have in the longarm.

Happy Quilting,

Shelia

More Quilt Pictures From MQS

Some more pictures from MQS. Sure hope you enjoy seeing all of these beautiful quilts as much as I do.

This quilt was huge! It was round and went at least 1 foot above the hanging rods for the show. You can see that I am 5ft 2inches tall and only come part way up the quilt. Beautiful workmanship in this quilt.

This quilt is by Gina Perkes. I took her class "Creative Uses For Grids". This was her class sample. I'm sure that you have seen it on many quilting magazines. It was gorgeous upclose.

This next quilt is one that I sent pictures of to Susan (my bee buddy) because she loves roosters. It was not in the show, it was actually a decoration in one of the vendor's booths. Loved the log cabin border blocks. The rooster was thread painted on black fabric and the background of the rooster has chicken wire quilting.

Isn't he precious!

If he had been for sale I would have had to get him for sure.

Roger is so excited that he only has 2 1/2 more days until his lift is installed. He has been working on a showcase for his antique fishing lures.
The case is 5ft long. He completed it today and hung it on the wall in his garage.

I think it really looks great with all of the lures hanging in the box. (sorry for the glare on the glass, I tried to get the best picture I could.

Next you can see a close up of the drawer pulls he used for handles. I bought these for him many years ago when he was thinking about making a case for the lures. The little bass pulls are so cute.

I think he did a great job on the showcase.

Guess I better get back to work, I have to study to recertify my ACLS tomorrow.

Happy Quilting,

Shelia

We've Ordered The Car Lift

Roger is so excited. Friday we ordered the car lift for his garage. That is the last big item!! Yippie!!

He picked the Rotary lift for the garage and they will be installing it this Friday June 11th. This is a picture from the company website of the lift he is buying. (I don't think the guys come with the lift....he he he) The lift he is getting is one that will lift 10,000 lbs. Which will be great for the Chandler since it weighs so much.

I've been working a massive amount of hours lately due to the other 2 coordinator's being out. I've had only 2 days off in the last 18 days!! Needless to say I am tired. So what do I do on my 2nd day off???? I'm cleaning out closets! Go figure.......but I have to get it done sometime and today is the day.

I still have to finish unpacking and sorting all the things I bought at MQS and putting all my notes into a book so I can find them when I want them. I had such a great time on that trip.

This picture is of me and Roger on the trip. We're at Buffalo Wild Wings. Loved the food.

I found out after I got home that one of my 2nd cousin's lived in Kansas City. I got a voice mail from him when we got home. Bummer, I would have loved to have seen him while we were there.

I better get back to sorting closets if I am going to get done before I have to be at work in the morning.

Happy Quilting,

Shelia