Wonderful Wednesday - Successful Surgery???

Welcome to this week's installment of Wonderful Wednesday!!  This week I'm here to tell you about a surgical procedure that I alluded to in Saturday's ScrapHappy post.

The horror!!  Mom found a hole in a special friend.  Baby can't sleep without Ruffy!  The Joyful Quilter to the rescue:

With the "Lovey" secured to light-weight fusible stabilizer...

I sewed around the edges and "birthed" the cuddle pup:

Notice the Band-Aid for his boo boo - Mom found a hole, which I stitched up prior to "surgery":

A lap around the perimeter...

Followed by another for good measure...

The patient looks like new:

He spent some time in "Recovery" just to make sure his vitals were stable and that there were no complications:

Ruffy was driven by "ambulance" (otherwise known as my car) back to his home and the waiting arms of his boy...

... Who promptly performed the "sniff" test:

While those photos make is SEEM like the surgery was a success, it took the weekend to know for certain, as the verdict was still out.

All was smiles...

... Until the boy touched the new fluffy side.  Definitely a mixed review!!  Only time will tell.  Days passed.  Finally, news arrived.

Mom sent some additional photos and heaved a HUGE sigh of relief because...

Hooray!!!  The surgery was indeed a success!!

Until next time...
Hope for the Best!!!

Scrap Attack Tuesday - January Mission Accomplished

Welcome to the next edition of Scrap Attack Tuesday!!  In this post you will see what I did with my January Job Pulls.  Ready?

Here is a reminder...

This month's job pull:

11. Make more scrappy yarn bowls like these:

FREE pattern found at Christina Cameli's A Few Scraps blog.

CHECK!!

This month's Birthday (Yarn) Bowl:

If I have extra time:

9. Make something with ORANGE scraps:

CHECK!!

I had a few hours on Friday afternoon to play in my studio:

What is it, Joyful???

Why, it's March's Birthday (Yarn) Bowl, just a bit early:

I'm happy to have it finished ahead of time.  The recipient will be SEW excited!!  She had already put in her request after seeing everyone else using their Fabric Yarn Bowls.  :o))

Thank you again, Sarah, for issuing the Scrap Attack Challenge.  If not for you, these two items would still be a pile of scraps!

See other Scrap Attack projects HERE.  Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict will be posting the LINK UP sometime tomorrow.

Until next time...

Attack Those Scraps!!!

Mail Call Monday - Scrap Infusion

Welcome to another edition of Mail Call Monday!!  Lots of fun scrappy goodness has descended upon my mail box.

The Quilters Knitting Group on Ravelry hosted an International Scrap Swap.  My packages have been received from...

Minimiss:

These are particularly special because they came all the way from New Zealand!!  I even got a little Kiwi fabric lesson when the arrived.  LOL!!  Bonus... Can YOU spot the one Australian fabric?

and Katyknitsnyc:

She included a bunch of novelty prints.  Fun!!!  :o))

I also received a package from...

Bowie, who had some project leftovers that I thought would be useful in any number of my own quilts:

It's QUITE surprising just how much can be fit into a Priority Mailer!!  In case you can't make out the writing... that label indicated that there are 156 - 15" x 2" strips.  That's in addition to 156 - 5" squares and 30 - 2" x 1.5" rectangles.  ALL very usable!!

The last package came from Sandy at Sew... This is My Blog, who wrote the following in her January Scrap Attack post:

"... I've started with the smaller pieces, pressing and stacking. The plan is to cut them into 2", 2.5", 3", and 3.5" squares, and 2.5" x 4.5" bricks.  What's left will be cut into strips, and pieces less than 2" are going into the trash.  (Don't tell anyone.)..." 

To which I responded:

Happy slicing and dicing!! I have to tell you though, I wasn't happy to hear that you throw away pieces smaller than 2". I about had a panic attack thinking about those poor 1" to 1.5" pieces!! They must be SEW frightened in that big dark trash can.  :o((

Sandy replied:

That is so funny! I knew there were people out there who use teeny weeny scraps so I thought I'd get caught! lol

Seriously - If you want them, I'll start saving them for you.

This is what I wrote back:

LOL!! We all have our limits, I suppose. As for saving them for me...

I would LOVE that!!! Maybe you should do a monthly drawing for your leftovers. That way I won't have to feel greedy.  :o))

Here's what I got in the mail:

You will be happy to know that I've already rummaged through the gallon sized Ziploc bag and sewn some of these together!!  See???  

Look!!  A ton of "twosies" for an unspecified project:

But WAIT!!  There's more...

I won't mention that I have won a giveaway.  Oops!  I suppose I just did.  LOL  The blogger hasn't announced the winner yet, so I will check back with you once my prize has made its way to my door.

Until next time...
Wait for it. Wait for it!!

Sew Some Love Sunday - Thomas Fire Block Drive

Welcome to another installment of Sew Some Love Sunday!!  This week I am here to report  back about my Quilt Bee's effort with regard to the Thomas Fire Block Drive.  It turns out that we have collected nearly enough blocks to make a quilt to send!

This week's contributions...

Two blocks from Deborah:

Two (?) from Ruth S:

Joanna brought two blocks:

Cheryl K. contributed two blocks:

I want to say that Dee Dee made three blocks:

Jean went a little crazy and has sewn FIVE squares:

Britt is showing off blocks, but I'm not sure who created these:

The blocks were divided into two groups for a design face-off:

There are SEW many ways to set these blocks together:

Ultimately, we ended up with only one arrangement on the floor:

There's still time for YOUR group to participate in the relief efforts!  I feel certain that the Ventura Modern Quilt Guild would welcome additional quilts.  You can find the instructions for the Perkiomen Valley Block (designed by Scott Griffin) at THIS LINK.  Additional information about the Thomas Fire and associated relief efforts can be found HERE.

Until next time...
Sew Some Love!!!

ScrapHappy Saturday - RSC18 - Week 4

Welcome to Week 4 of the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge!!  Week FOUR?!?  How did THAT happen???  Well, the days pass by in a blur and here we are.

SUNDAY - I spent most of the day glued to the couch.  (Not literally, of course!)  Catching up on what's going on in Blogland was the order of the day.  I, however, take some time to sort and sew with some of my BLUE scraps:

Some of you may notice that I'm not in my usual spot and I'm not sewing with my usual machine.  Crazy, right?!  I just didn't feel like taking the time to unpack the Pfaff, since I have plans for an outing early in the week.

Sew, anyway...

I matched up strips and sewed pairs, followed by pairs of pairs:

Why?  I need a BLUE "Fiona" Basket, that's why.  The small fabric basket was overflowing!!  Forgot to get a shot of that, though.  I'm sure you can imagine what it looks like.  :P

MONDAY - Knit Group didn't go as planned.  I started with a sweater that was covering my shoulder and ready for me to start knitting the body:

I left with it ripped back to the shawl portion of my Hoodie Shawl Cardigan.  As it turns out, I had gotten a bit off.  The stitching deviated too far from the pattern and would have been a glaringly obvious mistake.  :o((

TUESDAY - I traveled back in time.  Well, maybe not quite, but I did take a trip to Raleigh to quilt with some old friends!  We all had a productive day.  Here's what I accomplished...

I delivered a Mug Rug that I agreed to make back in October:

Completed another as a Hostess Gift for a dear friend:

I enjoyed this Mug Rug for a little while before presenting it:

And, finally, I completed That 80's Quilt:

WEDNESDAY - No quilting took place today.  I did write a post about quilting.  Sorry!  That's over on my Quilt Bee's blog.

THURSDAY - Weekly Quilt Group met today.  I brought along the completed That 80's Quilt to share with the group:

Today's meeting will be my last one for a while.  My schedule is about to change and SOMETHING has to give!!  Unfortunately, Quilt Group is IT.  :o((

FRIDAY - Sweater Class saw a lifeline being added and the first of the short rows being re-knit.  Ripping and re-knitting doesn't bother me very much.  (Well, as long as Threebagsfulled is the one doing the ripping!)  Some people hate it and I think those people could use an attitude adjustment.  I consider it to be more value for my yarn dollar!!  :o ))

During the afternoon, I was scheduled for a surgical procedure.  No worries.  I was the one performing the surgery on a special lovey!!

I picked up the patient before Knit Group so that I could go straight to Needleb's afterwards.  Unfortunately, I had to swing back by the house because I forgot one key surgical implement... fusible interfacing!!!

Fortunately, that didn't take too long and I was able to head in to surgery right after lunch.  There will be a more detailed account in the coming week's Wonderful Wednesday post, but here's a shot of the patient while in recovery:

With the surgery complete, I went on to other BLUE projects...

One Tiny Nine:

And...

Some random scraps:

Toward a piece of "made" fabric in BLUE for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Another "Fiona" Basket is in my future!  I succeeded in creating two small panels:

SATURDAY - With the end of another week, we have come to another LINK PARTY day over at the So Scrappy blog.  I hope you find time to visit all of the RSC Quilters' links.  I can assure you, there is lot of BLUE loveliness going on.

Linking up with Cynthia for Oh Scrap, too!

Until next time...
Get Scrappy!!!

Wonderful Wednesday - First Finish of 2018

Welcome to another edition of Wonderful Wednesday!!  Today's installment celebrates my first quilt finish of the new year.

That 80's Quilt began life as my client's hand piecing class project.  It sat in the closet of her studio for 30 YEARS!!  Last year, her husband came to the conclusion that she was NEVER going to hand quilt the quilt.  (Even though she had a frame set up for that purpose.)  He thought that enough was enough and that's when he called me!

Not long after, I stopped by their house to meet the quilt and discuss finishing options.  When I left that day, I had inherited a new-to-me UFO.  Having other projects in the works, I gave them an extended deadline.  They were totally fine with that.

Fast forward to three weeks ago...

After all the holiday hubbub, I decided that I needed a break from my (quilted) basket making and loaded the quilt on my longarm quilting machine:

There it sat...

Waiting for me to have the right kind of time for quilting.  Not so early that I wake the sleeping beast DS2 and not so late that I can't put in the time it takes to quilt one or two rows of my Swirls Circlelord Template Board.  Who am I kidding?!  I was waiting for the mood to strike.

Two weeks ago, the urge to quilt came over me.  Two days later, and using every trick I've ever learned about longarming, I had completed the quilting on the 92" x 103" quilt.  Just in time to have something for Show and Tell at my Weekly Quilt Group!!  :o))

Four days ago, the quilted quilt accompanied me to a Sew Day (in hopes that I would be able to find an appropriate binding fabric:

You might notice that the quilt in the photo above looks some smaller than in the previous photo.  You are NOT seeing things!!  My client had planned on hand quilting this quilt, therefore, the standard 4 - 6 inch clearance on all sides required for balancing tension and testing stitch quality on a longarm was not allowed for.  (Yes, I made this point clear BEFORE accepting the quilt!)

Two days ago, as I packed for a visit with old quilting friends, I decided that the task at hand would more easily be performed in the company of friends.  Here is the quilt on the bed of my machine, waiting for me to finish sewing the binding down:

It took more than two HOURS, but the plan was a good one!!  I talked with friend and worked at the same time.  Win, win.

Viola!!

The color is off quite a bit, but you can clearly see that the quilt is done, done, DONE!!  It is done and ready for delivery (which I hope to accomplish this weekend.)

This is my first finish of the year.  It will count toward my Winter 2018 (Ravelry) UFO Club goals.  Hooray!!!  It's my first (quilt) finish since the Summer 2017 (Ravelry) UFO Club.  I am a VERY happy quilter.

Until next time...
Finishing is FUN!!!