Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Birthday Eve

Birthday Eve!  And it is appropriately cold and freezing for a January birthday.  Today he brought me a card and a bunch of bright colored flowers.  Yesterday he brought me an ugly bracelet.  The many cannot pick out jewelry.  Although he did OK with the silver bracelet I directed him to look for the day before.  And Sunday he gave me a coat hanger thingy with circles on which to hang scarves and belts. Tomorrow is the culmination of the Birthday Week Festivities.  So sad to see it end!

So this is Tuesday, the holiday yesterday really messed me up.  I need to get my driver's license renewed and all the state offices were shut down.  And today they THINK it MIGHT snow again, so the city and state are shut down as well.  I wonder if they will give me two extra days to get my renewal?  Probably not.

I also needed a CAAWS document notarized and there was not an attorney in the city working.  I ended up at the accountant's office and he had one of their lawyers notarize my document for free, so I made money on the deal anyway.  I used to be a notary years ago, it probably would be a good idea to re-certify, although I have no desire to take the classes again, or the test.

I was early to the meeting so I walked around his building twice for a total of just over a mile. 



So what's a girl to do?  SEW!  And I did.

I was able to get the last two sections of  birds together and the whole thing somewhat squared.

I  declared it finished just about the time I decided it needed to have four white border strips added for when I quilted it.  I can trim down to whatever size I want, but I  will have the extra fabric as much as I want showing. 

Of course there were a number of plaes where the abutting fabrics were not square.  In other words MOST of the places required figuring out how to sew the darned things. And it was not always easy to get the fabric to sit flat.

In fact, I am somewhat of a genius in getting it flat at all.  Lynne must be a super genius ......  or maybe she is a better quilter in the block stage, making sure they are of equal or compatible sizes when she makes them.

But I got it worked out.

Took me a whole day.

Better Idea:  Next time I will just send the birds to Lynne to put together.

 
 It has been so very cold in Southern Louisiana.  Here is my fish pond with icicles!  LOL.......lordy, lordy!

Dd you see me and my brother in the last post?  Do we look alike?  He looks like my dad and I look like my Aunt Edie, dad's sister.

I will have to ask cousin Karen for a picture of the three of them.  They are the children of my father's brother, who we never thought looked like the other two.  As he got older he did, though.

But boy did Uncle Angelo's kids look like the Graci side!   The Graci Men in two generations have one face between them!


I am finished quilting the Zig Zag quilt and I added the binding.  It still needs to be hand sewn down.  I am very optimistic that this OMG finish will be a success!


So I need to look to the future projects.  I have so many of them.  And they all shifted places in the last few weeks since I found Kathy Doughty and Material Obsession's books Mixing Quilt Elements and Adding Layers.  I have two quilts I want to work on first.


What do you think of these colors together?  The background is a golden, although it is not solid.  I thought it was solid but when I got it down it had a swirl pattern.  I can use it on the back side but and you will see a faint pattern up close.  It won't really matter either side.

Do I need to mix it up more?  Do I needa different fabric in place on one?  This is the scary part for me. 

The rust color palate will be fan blades radiating out from the center (which will be a melon shaped center).  The two blacks will be cornerstones.

These will be large.  So there will be 4 of them on the quilt which will be 88 x 88.  Like I said, large.

You know, I wanted to make some sofa pillows.  I might as well make those first.  they should be quick (she says as it takes 10 days to make two pillows.....) LOL. You know that is going to happen.

I also have the pieces that Judy gave me at the last Fiber meeting.  I really want to play with that one!   Not Judy's thing, but definitely MY thing.

And I have another one with trees and dancing ladies and wild things hanging in the trees.   Also from Kathy Doughty/Material Obsession.

Of course, there are about 257 UFOs I can pick from as well............but that wouldn't be any fun, would it?

7 comments:

  1. Yummy stuff! The birds look great. Curious about the quilting plan.

    I texted you asking what your UFO count is for 2018. I started with 50!

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  2. Love the birthday celebrations.
    Don't be a notary again, I bet you let it lapse because people took advantage in one way or another. A friend from work was a notary and her fees were paid by the company. That meant people thought they could bring in a signed document and she would notarize it, or that she would notarize something backdated, or would cite a mode of identification that they didn't bring. I sat with her more than once as she feared for her job because she was threatened that she had to break the law because they wanted her to do whatever they wanted. She finally just didn't renew and told them someone else would have to get credentialed as soon as someone else did she renewed at her own expense and didn't tell most people.
    Love all the quilts, but really love the birds. Having read Lynn's blog, I think she is very careful in construction. I aspire to have flat quilts, but I have to admit that it is still an aspiration not a fact in my life.
    Happy birthday eve!

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  4. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh you make me laugh! Yes, apparently I am super good at getting things to lie flat. My big secret is squaring each bird block when I am done making it - so each corner is 90 degrees and the edges are straight. Actually, after I sew any seam, I make sure the edge is straight. Yes, my long arm quilter loves me because all my quilts lie flat as a pancake. I do work at it. It makes putting it all together at the end a lot easier, but it is definitely a fussy job. However, I do not love you enough to put your flimsy together for you! Nice try!

    I think those fabrics on the gold look good. My suggestion? Add a tiny bit of something turquoise to wake the whole thing up and sing together. Don't add a lot of it - just a sliver here and there. I promise you will like it.

    Love the solids.

    hugs and take care. Snow here too, but it doesn't freak us out. Stay safe.
    your pal, Sneaky Spice herself,
    Lynne

    (Millie is the cat)

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  5. I was going to suggest adding the turquoise too. Also don't be afraid of using very large prints since your blocks are big.

    I have a question - with this cold wave is everyone in the deep south have problems with busted water pipes? I know that the water pipes are not buried deep like they are in the north (4 feet down is standard here).

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  6. Oh, I forgot to tell you it is 8 degrees in NE Ohio this morning. The kids are in school and life goes on!

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  7. Darn! Lynne beat me to the idea of adding a flash of turquoise in your arcs. And yes, she is a super genius at fitting things together!! I love your birds and how you added the HSTs - really really wonderful. So fun to listen in on your birthday week antics - we're about to begin February's birthday month celebration for our DIL (her actual birthday is on Valentine's Day). Her parents are coming in one weekend, we will take Little Man for another weekend so the she and elder son can have a weekend getaway at home, and then there will be presents spread throughout the month and dinner gatherings, and more.

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