More finishes

Hello Friends

Hope you are all getting ready for the holiday season.  I have been working on house projects.  We have 'junk days' here in my little town twice a year.  You can put out almost anything and they will pick it up for free.  I had 3 twin mattress sets, 4 outside damaged chairs, and some other little things.  On the day before the pick up I decided to remove the carpet from my master bedroom and master bathroom.  It was a big job and I was doing it all myself.  The bedroom is  225 sq. ft and the bathroom is small about 8x12.  The carpet in the bedroom was over 30 years old and bright red.  Yuck!  The walls have never been painted and where white.  I am going to change that.  Remember a while back I mentioned I was doing secret sewing.  Well, it's still a secret and will be shared after the holidays.  But the person I am sewing for does construction and we are swapping services.  I am finally going to put in wood flooring.  The materials have been ordered and the room should be almost complete by Thanksgiving.  I am so excited to have my own bedroom.  I am currently sleeping in the spare room and there are lots of boxes to go through in there. I am also going to be painting the room a light gray color.  Hopefully by next weekend.  Here is a before picture of the floor after I removed the carpet:

The carpet was glued down so I am still scraping and hoping to have the room ready for the flooring when it comes in.  It was a big job but it only took me 3 hours to get that and the bathroom floor out and to the side of the road.  Success!

I work for a large medical software company.  I work in Reception and when I started there were only 6 of us.  Our team has grown to 14 which means they have run out of space.  We were in a large open room but it's so hard to hear our customers.  They decided to make us individual offices.  It was all so exciting!  I helped coordinate the move out and move in.  We were sent to different offices in the building for 5 weeks while they created our space.  I am so blessed to work for this company and have such a wonderful work environment.  I thought it would be nice to give my coworkers a little gift to welcome them to their new spaces.  I ordered these plastic baskets from Dollar Tree and filled them with tissues, lip balm, lotion, hand sanitizer, paper and pen and mints.  I also included a pack of cookies and of course a handmade coaster.  I made 24 coasters just to have enough.

Another success!

The day after the move, I traveled to Las Vegas for my friend's 60th birthday.  We had a lot of fun and ate too much food.  It was a nice long weekend.  Here is a picture from when we landed in Vegas.

It was actually pretty cold there.  I froze the first day as it was 40 degrees.  It did get a little better by the time we left.

This week has been successful in the sewing room also.  I made these Advent Calendars.

My long arm quilter has quilt number 11 which is the secret sewing I can't post yet.  I am working on the border for quilt 12.  Looks like I should make my goal of 12 finished quilts this year!

Time to make my goals for next year.  Do you plan out your year or do you just make what you like?  I usually just make what I like, but since the move I have seen how many quilts I have started and never finished.  This feels so good!

Blessings

Amy

Quilt finish #10

Hello Friends

I am happy to share that I have finished quilt #10.  With the help of my long arm friend Heather.  She does amazing work.  If you are in my area and need something quilted, please contact her here.

This quilt was made about 2 years ago and has been sitting in my pile waiting to be quilted.  I bought the backing and binding over a year ago.  This was made in the disappearing 9 patch style using charm packs.

Of course I was so excited to have it done and get it on here, I forgot to measure it.  It's a small lap quilt.  She quilted it with stars and bats.  It feels so good to get this done.  She has quilt #11 for me now.  I can't share that here until after Christmas.

In between sewing/quilting, I find that I need something to keep my hands busy.  I have been crocheting for a bit.  A couple of years ago, I made dish cloths for all of my coworkers for Christmas.  I even sold a few to a friend to give as gifts.

Lately I have been trying other things.  The colors in the yarns lately have me drooling!  I found a pattern for a shawl and just had to make it.  I am almost done.

It's far from perfect, but it will do the job of keeping me warm.  I have also been making finger-less gloves.  And a Mobius shawl.  Those are for my Bestie for her birthday which is today.  I will post them once she gets them.

I am also still working a little on my English paper piecing Grandmother's flower garden.  More pictures of that soon.

Stay tuned for quilts 11 and 12.  I may even get a 13th one in there. :)

Blessings

Amy

FAL Q4

Hello Friends!

Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the holidays.  They are fast approaching and that also means the end of the year.  I love the first week of January.  To me it's full of new beginnings.  I put away my holiday items and gifts.  I deep clean.  And I sew!  I also plan out my sewing for the year.  I do give myself time to work on new and unexpected interests.  This years goal was to finish 12 quilts or 1 a month.  I have so far succeeded.  I am waiting on my long arm quilter to finish quilting #10.  I am working on getting 2 more ready for her.  I have actually only made 3 quilts from start to finish this year.  The rest of my finishes are tops that needed to be quilted.  It feels so good to see the stack of finished quilts.  They are all ready for gifting or display.

So how am I going to finish the year for this challenge?  Here is my list:

• Put borders on my Floral Birch Bark quilt and send to quilter
• Do the embroidery and put together Vintage Christmas Quilt and send to quilter
• Finish 2 of the 3 Advent calendars I am working on
• Finish stuffed cow for baby gift
• Bind quilt #10 and hopefully #11 and #12

Here is a picture of the Vintage Christmas quilt I am trying to finish.  The pattern is from Lori Holt.

The empty spaces are blocks that need embroidery or buttons.

I think that is a long enough list.  I am still doing house upgrades too.  I am also secret sewing and I hope to be able to share that with you by the end of the year.

Time to think about my goals for next year.  I don't have many quilt tops left so they will be a priority.  And then, just maybe, I can start something new.  Lord knows I have the fabric!

I am linking up at Dizzy Quilts

Do you make goals and do you follow through?

Blessings

Amy

2019 FAL-Q3 Finishes

Hello Friends

I just found out that quarter 3 is up for finishes.  I am happy to report I had 3 finishes this quarter.  I wonder how I did on my list. 
Here is my list for Q3:

• continue to finish a quilt a month.  I have enough tops made to finish 12 quilts this year.  I have 6 done.  Hoping to get 3 more done this quarter
• finish the stuffed cow I am making for my bestie's new granddaughter.  She is arriving in September but I would like to get it done now.
• I need to make the setting stones for my Vintage Christmas quilt and get that made into a top.
• I would like to finish my Swoon table runner.  Needs quilting.
• cut out and finish 2 Advent calendars.  I always say I am not buying them any more and then my local quilt store gets some cute ones I can't resist!

Well, I didn't do too bad.  I finished 3 tops, and cut the setting stones and sashing for my Vintage Christmas quilt.  The cow was started then lost and started again.  Did not get the Swoon runner done or the Advent calendars.  They will go on my list for Q4.

Here are pictures of what I did this quarter:

Hex on you quilt finished Sept 2019

Missing U quilt finished Aug 2019

String quilt finished July 2019

Working on the embroidery on the Vintage Christmas quilt.  Sashing and corner stones cut.

I am linking all of my finishes up with DizzyQuilts.  You can find them here.

I will get working on my list for Q4.  Stay tuned!

Blessings

Amy

Quilt finish #9

Hello Friends

Hope everyone is doing well.  I am happy to report that quilt #9 is done!  My friend Amy from Purple Pineapple Studio created this pattern.  It's called Hex on You.  While I was in the quilt shop, Blue Bar Quilts, I saw this very cool fabric line from Alexander Henry-the Ghastlies..  I just loved the fabric and thought it would be great for this pattern.  While I was picking fabric for the hexagons, Amy came into the shop.  She graciously helped me pick the colors.  I used Grunge by Basic Grey.  I just love that line.  So here it is-finish #9:

The backing is also from that line.

Here is a close up of the fun sewing and creating creatures.

My friend Heather from Blue Turtle Quilting, did the quilting.  She does such an amazing job!

She has quilt #10 and I am sure she will have it done in no time.  I can't wait to show you.

I am also crocheting a bit and working on two other quilting projects.  They are secret sewing projects that I can't wait to tell you about!  

Stay tuned!

Blessings

Amy

Quilt finish #8

Hello Friends!

It's cutting it close but here is my finish for August!

This is called The Missing You.  The pattern is from the book Sunday Morning Quilts.  Over 2 years ago my blog friend Izzy said she was going to make it.  I decided to play along and try to finish it too.  I had too much on my plate and did not get around to finishing the top until this past Spring.  My long-armer just finished it last week.

This quilt is made with all scraps.  It was challenging at times as I am very low on scraps now.  I muddled through and finished it.

The back is a wide back white on white and the binding is white with dots of rainbow colors.

I am so happy to have this done!!

Here are the other 7 I finished this year.  Yes, there are only 5 quilts in this picture.  That is because I made 3 of the flannel quilts in the top corner.

I have 2 more at the long-armer and 2 almost ready for her.  Going to try to actually finish 13 this year!!  I can't wait to have them done and be able to start on something new!

Have a great Labor Day weekend if you celebrate!

Blessings

Amy

Graduation and England

Hello Friends

Hope you are all doing well.  I think it's time I caught you up on Sam's college graduation and our trip to England.  Just a warning, this is going to be picture overload. :)

My son graduated with a degree in English and Film Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Sunday, May 19.

For me the water works started at this point.  I am so incredibly proud of this kid!

Here's us with his girlfriend Iolanda.  She graduated with a degree in Psychology.  Very proud of her too!

That's me, mom, Sam, my sister Lisa, brother in law Austin, and Iolanda.

Then it was May 20th and off to jolly Olde England!  The company I work for gives us sabbaticals every 5 years of service.  This was my 2nd part of my 10 year. You can split the 4 weeks into 2-2 week sabbaticals. You just have to spread it out by a year and a half.  I have always just used the time to have off in the summer and spend time with family.  This time I decided a trip out of the country would be a great gift for my son's graduation.

Just Sam, my sister and I.

The dude in the back was my seat partner and was so rude.  I couldn't sleep at all because he kept grabbing my seat and touching my leg.  UGH! Gross! But on the way home, the 3 of us had seats together. :)

The first day in England was actually the 21st.  We didn't get in until after noon and our car was not there.  They waited as long as they could but our plane was late.  I called them and was able to get them to come back for us.  So we didn't get to our hotel until around 2.  We were exhausted.  Went to eat in the diner in the hotel.  Then it was rest and explore our area.  We were right next to the Waterloo station.  We made a 10 pm run to McDonald's. :)

The next day we had to be at EvanEvans for our tour of the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey.  We had a great tour guide named Trudy.  She was wonderful!  We rode on an old double Decker.  It was great!  I think the Tower was my favorite part of the whole trip.

Just to stand and walk where Kings and Queens have was amazing to me.  There were a few times that my sister came over and hugged me and asked if I was ok.  I was just standing in awe of it all.  I took 600 pictures but I could have taken 1200.  I just put my phone down and stood in the moment.  It was what I needed!  And I would suggest to everyone.  It's so great to take pictures, but everything we saw can be found on the internet.  Take the pictures of family in those places and then just be in the moment.

The London Bridge was beautiful!  These moments will never be forgotten.

The next day was Thursday already and we were seeing the Merry Wives of Windsor at the Globe Theater that night.  We took the tube down to Piccadilly and did some shopping.  We found the Harley store:

We also found Liberty of London.  It is a big store with lots of floors.  It was terribly hot in the store so I did not buy anything.  I just wanted to get out of there.  Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for the Globe Theater.  We ate along the Thames at an Italian restaurant.  Then it was time for the show.

It was a little difficult sitting in our seats.  We had cushions but the lady behind me kept pushing her foot into my butt.  At intermission we moved to a different place with no one behind us.  What a great show!  If you ever get here, I would recommend this one.

Then we decided to walk home along the river.  What a beautiful city!

Then it was Friday and the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace.

It was too hot and too crowded.  This is another thing that we can watch online.  So we left and explored the neighborhood.  Found a nice pub for lunch and finally had a Pimm's.

Yummy!  I have to thank my boss Linda.  She gave me a bottle of Pimm's for my birthday.  I need to crack that open and have some!

Saturday we did a walking tour of the city with the Shelock Holmes Movie walking tour.  It was a great tour.  It was really fun to see the movie locations for all of the current Sherlock movies.  Sam is a big fan of Jeremy Brett as Sherlock.  It was good to see some of the places from that too.

Then it was on to the London Eye.  We loved this!  I highly recommend buying tickets ahead of time so you can bypass the lines.  We only had to wait about 20 minutes to get on.  It's 30 minutes but it feels like 10.  The city is so beautiful!

Here is Buckingham Palace from the London Eye.

There is a park next to the Eye.  We stopped to people watch for a bit.

Then on Sunday we took a hop on hop off bus tour.  We had a lot of fun just sitting back and enjoying the scenery.  This is a great way to get around the city and see everything.  And hear some of the history of it too.

 Then it was our last day.  Monday we took another EvanEvans tour.  This was a tour to Windsor Castle, Bath and Stonehenge.

Our first stop was Windsor Castle.  What a beautiful town!

We toured the castle and picked up some souvenirs.

Then it was on to Bath.  What a disappointment that was.  Please don't waste your time looking at bio hazard water.  I really don't understand the draw.  Too many people.  I would have liked to have ventured out into Bath and really checked out the city.  Unfortunately, we only had 1 1/2 hours to tour.  By the time we got through the building it was time to go.

Then it was on to Stonehenge.  I could not wait to see this!  Sadly, we only had another 1 1/2 hours here.  By the time we got on a shuttle to get up there I had time to take this picture and head back down the hill to catch another shuttle.  We grabbed a bite and hit the toilets and back on the bus.  It was a wonderful day, just not enough time at each location.  Here I am at Stonehenge. :)

The next morning it was time to get to the airport for home.  As we were waiting to board, this storm rolled by.

I expected England to be rainy and dreary.  It was just the opposite.  We had one day with sprinkles otherwise it was beautiful.

We lucked out when we got to Chicago.  We were able to catch an earlier bus back to Madison and we were home by midnight. :)

Every day I think of something that had to do with England and our trip.  It was so wonderful!  I can't wait to go back!  Now I have to decide where my next trip will be.  I am thinking Norway and Sweden or a trip on the Danube.

If you had a trip paid for, where would you go?

Blessings

Amy