4, 4, 3-2-1

Three things to be happy about:
(1) shoes with wiggle room
(2) opening a new container of coffee
(3) being alert to changes

In my last post I described the kewl new printer I bought, I don't think I mentioned I got it at Costco.  Well, the day after I bought it I got my new Costco sales book and guess what goes on sale January 31 with an additional $75 off!???  You guessed it - the very printer I bought!  I didn't get around to installing it - thank goodness for procrastination - so guess what I'll be doing in a few days...

I didn't get a chance to really get into any sewing yesterday but I did make a couple more of those four inch blocks - remember them?  Here's the completed group.  I like the way this one turned out (sorry about the fuzziness):

I wanted to make the top outer border narrower than the other three, and the left inner border a bit wider. 

And this one was made using a leftover piece from the one above:

hmmm... I should have put the light piece at the wide end of the triangle, but it'll fly.

Two four inch blocks to add to my group, that makes a total of 37!  You can see all my four inch blocks on my flickr page, the link is at the right.

And now for the 3-2-1 part of the post - I saw this recipe for a 3-2-1 cake on someone's blog, I'm sorry I can't give credit but I don't remember who it was.  I googled it and found the recipe, and believe me it's super easy to make! 

If you want just a little bit of sweetness and don't want to buy (or bake) a whole cake, this can do the trick.  You mix together two boxes of cake mix (one of which has to be angel food) and place it in a baggie - I chose lemon for my second flavor.  Be sure to mix them really well.  When you want a quick fix, measure out 3 tablespoons of cake mix, stir in 2 tablespoons of water, microwave it for 1 minute.  They suggest putting it in a mug, but I used a one-cup sized glass bowl that worked perfectly.

I placed a piece of dark chocolate on the batter before I baked it - you really need a little something, maybe a spoon of icing or marshmallow creme to ice it with.

The cake comes out very spongy and it's a quick, tasty treat!  Now I'm stuck with a big ole bagful of cake mix, LOL.

That's it for now, have a great Wednesday... sew forth and sew on til later!

My Festivus list!

Three things to be happy about:
(1) straight teeth
(2) overalls
(3) a foosball match

In a nutshell, the "Festivus" celebration was born on the Jerry Seinfeld show, where George Costanza's father wanted a celebration "for the rest of us."  He'd get a Festivus pole and gather the family around and berate them for their failures during the year.  The poorest performer would have to carry the festivus pole of shame.

Well, I love Christmas and I don't celebrate Festivus, but I thought it would be a fun name for this post.  Throughout the year I started things that for one reason or another I didn't finish; I don't mean UFO's, that's a whole different category!

So, this is my Festivus list, or "things that I dropped like a hot tater."

First up - Inspired by Toefeather, I wanted to make a 4-inch block every day for a year, then I'd have 365 blocks to make into a quilt.  Clever girl!

Seemed easy to do and it really is, but that daily block became a group of weekly blocks, then there were no blocks at all, doh!   After I made 35 blocks I discovered I wasn't sure I liked how they all looked together and I dropped that idea!  I'll make one more then set them in a quilt with sashing in between.

Another one - a slashed 9-patch block using African fabrics. 

Sounded like a good idea and the single blocks looked great... but when I placed several of them together on my design wall - yuck!  Not my idea of an attractive quilt.  If you stared at it too long it'd probably knock you down!

I could take the ones I did and set them with some kind of sashing (w-i-d-e sashing!) I suppose, but I'll not be making any more of these rascals!

Here's a good one - South of Baltimore!  I was using scrap yardage to make the flowers and leaves.

This actually should be considered a UFO because I can finish it by simply making two more blocks and setting them in a gigantic four-patch.  The blocks are 16" square so they'd make a nice wall hanging.  At this point I can't remember why I dropped this one - UFO!

And last but not least - my stash report!  Where did that go? Well, I found it tedious to try and figure out how much fabric I was using every week.  I stopped my wild fabric buying several months ago, I don't even look at the emails from Hancocks of Paducah or Thousands of Bolts or eQuilter (why haven't I dropped off those mailing lists??) and I think I've bought less than two dozen yards this year, so maybe the list did have some effect!  How much fabric did I use this year?  I have no idea but I know I used some, so that's a good thing!  So that's my story and I'm sticking with it!

If you had a quilting Festivus list, what would be on it??  I'd love to hear your hidden secrets!  Have a great Friday - sew forth and sew on til later!

Four-inch Friday

Well, today is Good Friday!  When I was growing up my mom used to always say "Plant on Good Friday."  Of course she was referring to her vegetable garden, but her saying stuck with me... I always like to get new house plants on Good Friday, especially if some of mine are having a hard time!


I have three more four-inch blocks to add to my collection! 

I had this little unfinished penguin and snowman postcard pinned to my design wall ...

Somehow the red, black and white combination reached out to me, and I made this block - #33:

sorta looks like a lopsided pair of pants!

#34

not too crazy about the color combination, but it'll fly!

#35

I was using up the last of the blue scrap!

You can see these and all my other four-inch blocks by clicking on my flickr link at the right!

Enjoy your day, sew forth and sew on...

Four-inch Friday

So, another week has rolled around... I have three more four-inch blocks to show, then I'll only be about 100 behind!

#30:

#31

#32

I've also been sewing together my string blocks!  When I posted about them last time I realized I have enough to start sewing them together, so I've sewn 6 rows already.  I'll have to make a few more blocks, but that's a "no-never mind" because they go together so quickly.

My first thought about border treatment is a blue or green inner border - small print - then a larger outer border, maybe scrappy.

This one should be finished quickly, I'm really not concerned about color balance or whatever. 


I had loc maintenance yesterday and I forgot my own rule about having conversations with my stylist!  This time it was all about ghosts and babies found inside walls when houses are being demolished.  But one good piece of info I got from her... I didn't realize (or forgot!) that the new Walmart being constructed at Georgia and Missouri Avenues is a "go" - they're really deep into digging up the area. 

That's it for now, get out and enjoy the spring air!

Sew forth and sew on

Four-inch Friday

My oh my, it's been well over a month since I've had a Four-inch Friday!  I sat down yesterday and did a few more, so I'm showing #24 through #29:

#24 - This one got started when I picked up a blue scrap from the floor:

#25

#26

#27

#28 - this one reminds me of a raspberry sorbet

#29

You can see these and all the others on my Flickr pages, I moved the link to the right panel.  Enjoy!

Today is our quarterly retiree luncheon, this time it's pot-luck at a retiree's home.  It'll be nice seeing everyone again, especially the new retirees!  Have a great Friday, everybody!

Sew forth and sew on

Four-inch Friday

Block #23

I think I'll do this one again and surround the colors completely; the center will be smaller of course...

I do like it and it'll go into the quilt, but it looks a bit busy.

Four-inch Friday

Time for another 4-inch block, #22. 

I like this combination of pale gold, grey and white...

It was inspired by an online game that I sometimes play on PopCap - Bejewelled Twist! 

This is the screen that comes up just after you load the game, and I thought it'd make an interesting block. 

As you can tell, this project has ceased being a block a day... it's turning into "at least one block a week"!  Since I started posting these in November, at one a day I'd have at least 75 by now.  It's all good  ;o)

Sew forth and sew on

Four-inch Friday

I used leftovers from Block 19 to make this one.  I thought grey (gray?) was a good base for the colors, I might use the same combination with a different background:

Block #21

For this one I went back to my scanner, the camera shot was coming out a bit fuzzy.

Four-inch Friday

Good morning everybody *yawn*

I'm up, yes I am

Since I'm up I thought I'd go ahead and post my regular Friday 4-inch block - where'd the week go??

For block #20 I paper-pieced this little strip into the block, I like that spark the red adds to it.  In fact, I like the strip so much I'll definitely use it in other blocks!

From now on you can click the block and see the entire collection in a photo stream.  To see each block at its best click "options" and uncheck the selection that says "Embiggen small things to fill screen..."

Well, they came an hour earlier this morning, those guys working on the house next door - at around 7:15.  Ask me how I know!  What I do know is they woke me up.

But things are looking up!  I think they're moving into the home stretch because the sounds I'm hearing now are rumbling sounds and a lot less banging. 

Two days ago they put up this sign-holder, which tells me they're about to release the house for sale, wahooo!

Last week I noticed a large pile of bricks in the back yard and wondered what in the world they could have torn out.  The only brick in these houses are at the front and back of the house, and in the basement where the built in garage is separated from the rest of the basement.  Isn't that a large pile??

(see my shadow, LOL)

But they had a plan I guess; they must have torn out the separating wall (I hope it wasn't a load-bearing wall!) and they redid the garage.

I don't know what it looked like before they rebuilt it, I've never been in the basement of that house.  In fact, as long as I've lived next door to the Mitchells I've never been any further than the first floor.  They put another door in at the right (out of camera range) that, in my house, would lead into the 1/2 bath?  But I'm sure it's all good.

Well, have a great Friday everybody; sew forth and sew on

Block a day

Hello everybody, especially my followers - I see we have some new ones, welcome aboard!!  *big wave*  We're always glad to scoot over and make room for another one  :o)

Thanks everybody for your comments and for visiting to see what I'm up to.  I haven't done anything else on Orca Bay since the mystery was revealed, isn't that interesting?  It's almost as if now I can slow my pace, swim a bit slower in the pod!

Today I want to show another four-inch block in my Block-a-Day series - block #19.  This one was inspired by the colors in one of my sister's favorite online pastimes... Scrabble!

Michelle (we call her "Shell") loves playing Scrabble on Pogo!  Almost anytime I call her she might be playing Scrabble; we laugh when she talks about people who get angry at her score and leave the game.  The robot players are more patient and they don't get mad.

Anyway, I liked that combination of red, purple and gold in the Scrabble logo, so I wanted to recreate it in a block...



click the block to see the others



it isn't a perfect match, but it doesn't really have to be  :o)

The camera makes it look lopsided, but it really is square!  I decided against scanning because sometimes the scanned image makes the colors look kinda funny.  I had to choose between lopsided or funny color!

So that's #19 and counting -- wait!  wasn't that the name of a TV show???

Sew forth and sew on

Four-inch Friday

Three things to be happy about:
(1) an unhurried awakening
(2) red mittens
(3) the Three Stooges

Actually I can't stand the Three Stooges, but they probably still make somebody happy!


It's been 4 weeks since I posted my 4-inch blocks, how did that happen!?

So far I've posted 16, so here's #17 - brown with orange and blue accents

that orange looks more like raspberry sorbet, but it really is orange.  My scanner does funny things with the colors!

Now #18 is a favorite:

I really like this red, white and black!  The colors look "true" in this shot, and I like the wavy design I made in this one.  I was inspired by the solid color challenge quilt I did a few months ago, you can see the finished quilt here...

So that's two more, only 340+ left to go!

Sew forth and sew on