Will one sock work??

I'm not a great knitter at all. I have many unfinished projects and sweaters that don't fit!! Oh and lots of yarn.

I did decide to tackle knitting a pair of socks after I found a wonderful sock yarn. My local yarn store gave me a pattern for supposedly the easiest socks to knit. HARDLY!!

Thanks to my friend Bonnie in Wisconsin I was able actually finish ONE!! It is almost a knee sock, true enough!!  Now, can I make the second one!!?? Ever happen to anybody?? Vbg

I'm packing up as we leave for Oregon in the morning! First week will be with all the kids! Then it's retreat time with my fabulous Sewing Sisters! Can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

Gardening project

I'm not a great gardener by any means. In fact, if I had to choose between gardening for an hour or sewing, we all know how that would turn out.

In an effort to make my yard look more presentable I have been working with a gardener/consultant. She comes and helps me fix a particular area.

My latest idea was to put in a little terraced area on a slope. I like how it turned out! H

Here is a new picture of Emma! Getting so big! We are going to have all the kids with us in Oregon next week!!

Ready for more quilts from Chicago?

Ok this is the last installment of pictures. Hope I don't duplicate any!! Enjoy!! The first one is just  like one that DarLynn made. I loved that pattern...so simple but striking.

Chicago quilts, part III

Still have more quilts to share!!

Sewing style?

While in Wisconsin, I was talking with my friend Debbie about our styles of sewing.  Who knew there were other ways to do it, besides how I did it?? VBG

This was my MO:
I'd start something; get bored with it; force myself to sew on it; put it away in the ufo pile; let it gather dust; pull it out and force myself to persevere and finish the darn thing.  Painful.

Then there was Debbie, who was sitting at her machine making a list of her projects presently being worked on.  She works on one project for a little bit; then she puts it away (before she's sick of it) and picks up a different project;  she works on that for a bit and then puts it away for project #3.  She counted that she had 12 going at one time. That's not what I call UFOs.  She's working on them all at the same time, in increments.  BRILLIANT!!

So, I'm curious as to what YOUR sewing style is.  I think it'll be helpful to learn about other methods being used.

Love to you all,
Randy
ps: there are still more Chicago quilts to show!

Chicago quilt show, part II

I hope you liked the cows! Here are some more quilts I thought were amazing!

Chicago quilt show pictures Part I

We really enjoyed all the quilts and vendors at the show. I'm going to post a few pictures each day. 

These were part of a special challenge to incorporate "cow" into the quilts' theme. I think they're hysterical!! 

Stormy morning

One of the great things about the Midwest is the summer storms!! It's perfect sewing weather!! It is dark outside at 10:30 am!! loving my trip!! The gang is almost all here!!

Only in Wisconsin

We are having a great time!!

Another small project

I whipped up another small top today. I'm thinking it would make a great pillow!!

A finished project

I wanted to work on something simple when I finished my new sewing room so I pulled out these extra half square triangles and brought them with me to Wisconsin. 

Debbie's garden is just beautiful! Do you remember the pictures I took in February? Lots of snow!! 

Chicago quilt show?

I will be going to the Chicago quilt show on Saturday. I'm wondering if anyone in blogland will be there so I could get a chance to meet you IRL!!

Please send me a comment if you'll be there.

I'll be posting updates on my retreating. WOOHOO.

Love to you all,
Randy

Is there such a thing as "too many machines"??

What a GREAT exercise! Thanks to everyone who wrote in. It was great fun seeing the kinds of machines that everyone has;  it was actually great to see that there are many of us out there who have multiple (to say the least) machines.

The truth as far as my count is concerned??  I only have 9!! Believe me, if you read some of the responses, you'll see that my total is small in comparison.

Anyway, who wins?
Can you believe we have a TIE???

The winning number is 17!!  Personally I have room for only two up at a time. I don't know how you could have more than that set up; I really wish I could.

So, the winners are QUILTFOOL and JO.

Would you please send me your addresses so I can send you out a couple of fqs!  I mean, it's the least I can do. 

In the meantime, I'm heading off for Wisconsin early tomorrow for some serious retreat time with my dear friends there.  We are going to the quilt show in Chicago on Saturday.  So I will probably be posting from Debbie's or Pat's showing their fabulous creations, as always.

Love to you all,
Randy

Brothers

Our chocolate lab is over 15 yrs old whereas Max is just 4.  They get along great although Jake can't do very much. Tonight Max was resting his head on Jake... Adorable, don't ya think??

You can never have enough sewing machines!

Okay girls. Truth time...

How many sewing machines do you own? Which is your favorite? Why?

Quilter with the most machines wins a prize!! Enter by Monday.

Love to you all

Randy

Progress

My new sewing room is looking great. I love all the space, the great light and the large cutting table. I'm even getting some work done! Binding a quilt that's been sitting for months!! 

Haircuts

My hair is finally looking better! (At least I think so!). I have been going to the stylist my daughter has been using in SF. So when she said that Ryan needed a haircut, I was delighted!! We got haircuts yesterday and I got to spend the night with the darlings. Mind you my hair never looks like this usually!! It's curly and messy usually. But aren't Emma and Ryan precious??!!

Medallion done

Lori and I had fun creating this little sew-a-long this spring.  We hope you enjoyed it and were able to follow along.

Two more followers??

Not that it matters, really, but I seem to be stuck in the 590s... I need TWO more followers to get to 600....

I'm not sure that it will change my life if I have 600 followers, but it sure would look good on my resumé... Just kidding.

anybody??

Love to you all,
Randy

Another GIVEAWAY

I'm still cleaning my new sewing area.  Last night I decided to pull out a very old UFO.  I spread out all the parts, strips and pieces and realized I didn't like it at all, which is probably why I stopped after only completing a portion of it.

My solution: rather than force myself to finish something I didn't like, I decided to just rip it apart!  Took no time and felt GREAT to be rid of something I wouldn't ever work on.

But, I'm left with a wonderful pattern book from Linda Ballard.
It's called Simple Traditions. It's actually a variation of an Irish Chain. I used fabrics that were horrible. Anyway, anybody want to have this pattern booklet?

Please send me a comment along with your email address and I'll pick someone by Wednesday.

Love to you all,
Randy

Nana Day

Today was Nana day. We have the darlings only until Saturday. :-(

I took them to the park this morning!! What a fabulous time we had together. Life doesn't get much better!!

And the winners are:

Janet O won the Sharp Pointies book;

Missy Aprons won the Baby Quilts book;

Marei won the Carol Doak book.

Thanks to everyone for sending in your comments.

I'll have many more as I've trying very hard to downsize.  Still haven't opened the bag from Market yet...Like Lori, I know I will have things I brought home that I won't need.

Stay tuned!

Love to you all,
Randy

So much for updates....

Well, I learned something new yesterday!!! I guess that's a good thing.

I've got an iPhone which has been in need of an update on the operating system for some time.  For whatever reason, I decided yesterday was the day to do it. Great so far, right?

Well, I probably should've planned for a bit more time.  I couldn't do it on my phone and had to do it through itunes on my computer. So far, so good.

Plugged it in, updated it just fine. But then my computer wanted to back up my phone, since I hadn't done that in I don't know how long.  Still good so far.

Except that I had a lunch date with an old friend and needed to leave before it was done backing up.  So, DUMB ME, I unplugged my phone in order to leave, BEFORE it was finished.  Not so smart, apparently.

Phone wouldn't turn on during my lunch.  Came home and replugged it in only to find that EVERYTHING had been erased!  I mean everything.  The computer asked if I wanted to RESTORE to original settings.  That means, with NOTHING on it. NO PICTURES (all I really care about on my phone anyway).  @#$@#$

Called Apple and was happily advised that because I have icloud and had bought extra storage space (I did something right, finally), everything on my phone was actually backed up on the cloud. WOOHOO. The cloud? Who knew??

It has taken even until this morning to restore everything onto my phone.

Lesson learned, thank you very much.
No need to do the updates, actually.

Back to cleaning up the sewing room space, still.

Love to you all,
Randy

Cleaning and GIVING AWAY!

I've got everything moved into my new sewing room (well, except for the closet in the old sewing room which is still stuffed!!) and I really need to get rid, I mean, give away some of my books.

So, anybody interested in the following books?

Please send me a comment.  I'd rather send to the US only, if possible...Be sure to include your email address, too.  I'll draw a winner on WEDNESDAY.  I've got to get them mailed before Thursday, when I go pick up the darlings again!

Foundation Piecing with a new Attitude by Ellen Rosintoski

Baby Quilts from Grandma by Carolann Palmer

Sharp Pointies and Other Paper Pieced Quilts by Brenda Henning

Easy Paper Pieced Keepsake Quilts by Carol Doak


There's more where these came from.  Stay tuned. I've got to downsize.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We are going to sleep well tonight since the darlings left this afternoon. House is kind of quiet!! :-)

Love to you all,

Randy

Hot days call for Popsicles

It was very warm yesterday so we enjoyed Popsicles out on the deck.