OMG let the snipping begin!

It is hard to believe that I actually have the blocks sewn together. I do have to go around the entire edge of the quilt with a 1/2 inch seam and then I will be ready to do the snipping, shaking, washing and drying!

Later . . .

No Quilting

Yesterday was not a quilting day. I spent most of the day working on the computers and trying to find a money program for the Mac. I am beginning to move around the Mac with a lot more ease, but feeling the lack of software - no MS Money, no MS Office. I am struggling with the mail program, but it is coming together and I still hate the mouse and love the keyboard. I at least have the Epson printer attached and can print. I need to have a talk with the Mac Guru (Duane) to see if some of the programs I have I can install on this Mac - it is a whole new world for me. I suppose there is a Mac for Dummies book out there somewhere that might be of assistance. Actually I am in no huge hurry except for the money program - it is the first of the month and I do ALL my banking on the computer and online. I still want to quilt and that may be what I do today.

Later . . .

Update

I spent the entire day yesterday working on getting computers changed and set up. Once that was accomplished, I had to tackle the business of learning how to actually use my new Mac. Change is difficult, but with a bit of a struggle and some help from Duane (Pimp Mac Daddy) I am at least on my way. Interestingly, my new monster of a computer would not actually fit under the hutch for my desk. Max had to cut some blocks of wood to raise it up so I could push the thing back. I still have to work on all the electrical plug ins and where I am going to put the surge protector. I am a bit limited with access, but I think I can get all the computer stuff run down through the hole in the top of the desk - at least I hope so.

Last night Max, Kathy, Paul, Michael and I ventured off to the Alameda County Fair. We had a great time and spent WAY too much money - but we got some really cool stuff. The Weight Watchers girls decided "points be damned" and had funnel cake, chocolate covered frozen cheese cake, garlic and blue cheese fries and I splurged on a dipped in chocolate cone! I might mention that on Tuesday at the WW meeting I got a fridge magnet that says: " I did it! Lost 25 pounds." I have officially lost 26.4 pounds! (Probably gained a couple back last night). Max took her camera, but all the pictures are on her computer - I will try to get some posted tonight.

I have not sewn on my quilt and I think that is where my focus will be today - after I do a couple of things I want to do with the computers. The quilt is progressing nicely and I am looking forward to finishing it.

Later . . .

Went to the "light"

I have been complaining about my PC for ages and "Pimp Mac Daddy aka Duane" has been a spokesman for Apple since he went to the "light"( he decided my Sony was the dark side because everything is black and since the Mac is all white it got to be the light side). Soooooo this huge monster is soon going to be placed on my desk! It is an awesome machine, but with a 24 inch screen it is a bit much; however, I know I will get used to it in no time and wonder how I ever functioned with the tiny 19 inch screen of my Sony. Max's computer is OLD and she is in dire need of a new one, but she does not want a Mac (she is a gamer). My Sony is pretty new and has more everything than hers so she will get the Sony and I will have the Mac.

I actually did manage to do a little sewing on my quilt after Costco and before Best Buy. I will be torn between the two for a bit because I want to get the computers changed and I want to work on the quilt, but I will try to do a little of both - breaks from each will be needed.

And, yes, I am spoiled. It really is good to be me!

Later . . .

Productive Saturday

We had a day of it on Saturday. Paul and Max did some fly tying, Michael went to work, Kathy went to a beading class and I worked on my quilt. I am making good progress considering I had to sew 20 squares across and now I am sewing the 18 rows together. It is turning out well, but I am not looking forward to doing the snipping, but I do want it finished - so what's a girl to do!

We had a nice dinner and visit last night and Max and I just kicked back today and relaxed. We managed to watch "Pirates of the Carribean - Dead Man's Chest". It was good, but not as good as the first one. When we first turned the TV on we thought we were in TV trouble because the picture was really faded and purple. Seems like we have not turned the TV on in such a long time that the tube (or tubes) took a REALLY long time to warm up. Eventually the picture was once again clear and crisp. Hmmmmmmmm does that mean we need to do more TV watching?

Hopefully I will get my rows sewn together tomorrow - well, maybe not tomorrow cause I need to do some shopping - Costco trip.

Later . . .

Project for the day

The project for the day (Max's Friday off) was to get the day bed out of the garage and set up in the "extra" room. The painting was accomplished yesterday so we could get things set up today. The place we wanted to put the bed would not work because the bed was about an inch to long. If we had taken off the balls on the top of the back rails it would have fit, but would have looked pretty dumb. We have things arranged so they can be easily moved to pull the trundle out if we want to use it. We have a couple of book shelves and my craft desk in the room along with that little table beside the bed. Since we really do not have many visitors, the room will be used for reading, relaxing and Max is going to set up some of her fly tying stuff and use the table and have access to a couple of shelves for her materials. I am happy with the way it turned out and the day bed is in great shape. I did not want one of the white ones - so we got lucky and picked this one up for $150.

Later . . .

Sewing squares

The quilt making has begun! I decided to make a bit of a change and have the fabric on the top and the denim on the back - seems like it will work out and I like the idea of being able to see the fabric. I have actually sewn together six strips (of the 18 needed). It is going together rather well, but I can see the real work will be in the snipping of the 1/2 seams - yikes it could take YEARS (just kidding)! I am planning to take the finished quilt to the laundry to wash and dry it. My machine is large capacity, but this is going to end up being a large quilt - not to mention dealing with all the fraying that needs to happen.

I have enjoyed the process and am enjoying sewing the squares together; however, I don't think I am looking forward to clipping the seams. Considering that is really what the quilt is about, I guess the nice part of clipping will be that the more I clip the closer I will be to a finished project (and I LOVE finished projects).

Later . . .

Ready to Sew

OMG what a thing! First off my math skills seemed to be sorely lacking when I first figured how many squares I needed. I calculated I would be left with a 4.5 inch square; whereas, it will actually be 5.5 inch square. One inch does not seem like much, but when figured into the bigger picture - ouch! I had 360 denim squares cut and all I actually needed to do the one big enough for our bed was 396. Sooooooo more cutting of denim. Then I had to cut all the material squares and had to find another piece of material to add to the collection. With all that finished, I am actually ready to start sewing the squares together. I am thinking I will take a breather and do something else tomorrow and start the actual quilt making on Tuesday or Wednesday (certainly not that we need any kind of quilt for this weather).

On a different note, Max took me to some garage sales and the thrift store on Saturday. I found some great deals on material and picked up a couple of very cool baskets. Max found a small acetylene torch in a holder for $1. First thing in the morning I had checked Craig's List for day beds and found a really nice one in Walnut Creek - so later in the afternoon we went and purchased the bed. Wrong time to be without a truck, but with the Xterra we played hillbilly and had the roof rack stacked high. Hopefully we will get the room painted in the next couple of days (Max took the "popcorn" off) and be able to get the bed set up. The bed has the trundle so it will come in handy for the grandkids.

I made banana pudding with bananas and Nilla wafers and had Paul, Kathy, Michael and Paul's parents - Carl and Nancy over for a visit and dessert. It was a nice weekend.

Later . . .

Denim squares completed

I certainly made a dent in my jeans stash. I have 360 (and a few extra) squares cut and ready to go. I now have to do the same with the fabric I am putting on the back. It is washed, but not ironed yet. This is certainly turning into a "thing" and I can't even imagine what it is going to be like sewing all 720 of the things together. I am making the quilt 80x90. It will be enough to cover our king sized bed, but not enough to be a bedspread. Unfortunately our bed sits high and has side rails - so no bed skirt and the bedspread needs to be a minimum of 120 inches to come down to meet the top of the sideboards. The idea of making 622 squares of denim just did not appeal to me - not even a little bit. Perhaps after I see how this project ends up I "might" consider it.

Later . . .

Back to the cutting table

I am back to the cutting table with a stack of denim. I found the quilt I want to make with frayed edge denim. I need 320 squares and I think I am up to around 230. Interestingly, the backing for the quilt is also squares! I have picked out the material, but that means ANOTHER 320 squares. Once again I am determined to proceed from start to finish. Nice part about this pattern is there is not batting or binding and you actually are sewing the backing as you sew the denim. Another nice part about this type of quilt is that it is very forgiving with any mistakes because the frayed edges tend to cover things up.

It has been much easier rotary cutting the denim jeans in my new sewing room because I can move my cutting table around and get a good cut on all four sides of the ruler. I really should not be allowed to play with rotary cutters, but I have only cut myself once and nicked myself once. I do fine with the cutters until I start turning things and seem to get just a little pressure on the handle and the blade comes out just enough to cut if it happens to come in contact with my other hand. It only takes one good cut to remind you to be REALLY careful.

Later . . .

FYI Oncologist Appointment

I had my regular appointment with the oncologist and we made the decision that I am going to stop taking the Arimidex (check out the miserable side affects). I will have some blood work done to check my liver function (connected to all the Advil I take), blood count (for the fatigue and possible anemia) and, since I have lost 23 pounds and am eating healthy, my cholesterol to see if it has gone down (yet another side affect of the medication). I will be off mediation for the cancer for 30 days to see if I see an improvement in my all around joint pain and movement. After the 30 days I am suppose to start taking a different medication, Tamoxifen (the drug of choice before Arimidex came out). According to my doctor Tamoxifen is not suppose to have the miserable side affects like the Arimidex, but the information available on the web does not really support that notion. One major side is it has been associated with causing blood clots/stroke (which in my way of thinking would be WORSE than getting cancer again). Another is uterine cancer, but I do not have my uterus. I will wait and see how I feel in 30 days and then make the decision if I want to take any medication at all. Difficult decision to make, but I want to have a better quality of life than I am having right now. I suppose the worse thing that could happen if I don't take any medication is getting cancer in the other breast or again in the same breast and then I could have them surgically removed. That sounds better to me than having a fricking STROKE! Like I said, difficult decision to make and any input will be graciously accepted.

A bit more embroidery

I had to add something to the other collar to give it balance. I truly love doing embroidery and I guess I am going to have to actually tackle the new software I bought so I can do MORE!

Later . . .

Back to Embroidery

Since I finished the quilt I decided that I would do a little embroidery. I played around with my fabric mover for a while and with practice I will probably be able to do some okay free hand quilting with it. I think I am going to round up some material and tackle another Brick Road quilt - only this time it will be a larger version. I really did learn from my experience and all the mistakes I made. I am looking forward to trying it again to see how it turns out. I have plenty of things to quilt if I head in that directions. I have MANY 4" squares for a scrap quilt and I would like to do the denim one along with incorporating embroidery into the quilts. I certainly have enough to keep me busy for a long time. Since I am having fun taking this adventure, I can see great things in my future!

Later . . .

DONE

And the "Not So Fat Lady" sang!

Finishing touches

The quilt is rapidly coming to completion. I thought I would hate the binding process, but I found it was not that difficult (with the exception of sewings the two joining ends four times before I actually got it right). Since I like handwork, I enjoyed putting the binding on. I plan to make and attach a label today to "officially" be finished with it. I made MANY mistakes on this one, but I am looking forward to making another one and "hopefully" I will do a better job.

Later . . .

Slight Detour

I took a slight detour from my quilt this morning to glue together some couches that were ready to be put together. I gave Jessie (from Ireland) a couple of the couches I had sitting around the house and it was time to replace them. Now there is kleenex EVERYWHERE!

I did move on to the binding for my quilt and have it sewn and pressed. I am very close to being actually finished with my quilt. I will have to make a label to attach - this will be an unforgettable project!
Later . . .

Progress

I actually have been working on the quilt and not on embroidery, but the embroidery is calling me. Whew - I liked doing the top for the quilt - it was fun watching it come together; however, the batting and backing are another story all together. I have gotten them together and did the "stitch in the ditch" thing. I was looking into free hand quilting and it is a bit of a thing. I decided that I would try practicing with my fabric mover and that is even a bigger thing. I think I may just go ahead and sew the binding together and "try" to put that on and call it quits for this quilt. I will say this is a learning experience and I am presently at the BOTTOM of the learning curve. I think I may resort to calling my friend, Lynn (aka the quilt master) for some tutoring. Making a finished project seems to be a major challenge for me. I do not want to try to do anything with my Hearts top or the Celtic Circles until I can figure out some of the more basics of putting the "sandwich" together.

I am determined to at least finish this Brick Road quilt before I bail and go back to doing embroidery. I do want to embroider squares for quilts so I will eventually have to learn how to put them together.

Later . . .

Progress Continues

The progression continues. I cut and sewed together the backing for my quilt and then started the process of layering and pinning. I purchased some clamps to hold the piece on my cutting board and I must say they work really well. I was a little annal on the pinning and ended up running of of pins. I was on strict orders not to leave the house until the FedEx truck showed up (Max's new lens was to be delivered today). So I was able to get some pins later in the day and will get back to work tomorrow.

While I was waiting for the FedEx truck I adapted a "bow tying" board into a thread holder for my embroidery thread. When I am doing an embroidery that requires a lot of thread I needed something to keep it in order. I found the bow tying board at a thrift store for $1 and drilled holes in it and put some cut off golf tees in the holes. It turned out really well and I am pleased with that accomplishment!

Later . . .

Top actually completed

The border has been added! I now must make a trip to JoAnns to get material to back the quilt. I have plenty of Warm & Natural for the batting. Feels really good to have gotten this far, but I know the real challenge will be with the batting, backing and actual quilting. I think the hardest part will probably be the binding - but I am determined!

Later . . .