Life is good!

Quite a while ago, I participated in a Kate Spain Charm Swap over at Quilts from my Crayon Box .  I just loved the assortment I got back!  So colorful and bright, and so cheery to just have in a stack and pet.  But I decided to actually use them all.  I wanted a pattern that would really show off the variety of fabrics, and this one from Moda Bake Shop seemed to be a great fit.  I enlarged it to use up all the charms.  It's almost a complete charm quilt - I had to add in just a few duplicates to make enough squares.  I absolutely love the final result! The fabrics have such great variety I didn't really have to consciously do any fabric placement - they all looked good together! I used one of my favorites from terrain for the cornerstones and binding.  The quilter did a great job - outlined the stars and added a small flower to the center of each, with a moderately tight stipple throughout the rest.  I...

Recent Completions: Charmed Stars Needs Binding: High Fashion WIPs: Farmer's Wife (LONG term project! - 20 blocks completed) Craftsy QAYG quilt (three of twelve completed) Vintage Modern Scrappy Avalon BOM (11 of 12 blocks completed) Fabulous Flowers At the quilter: Vintage Modern BOM Ruby, Pearl and Opal Toes in the sand Impromptu Top Completed, waiting for quilting: Swoon Mosaic Lucky Pezzy Planning: Secret Garden (layer cake quilt) Madonna and Child Scrappy Chevrons Park Bench BOM Snowbird BOM

Getting close to finishing the last blocks for the FQS BOM!  I've been making two out of each; there is usually plenty of fabric.  I had to get a little creative with this one, but by using a half-square triangle ruler, and figuring out where things would be cut off, I managed to eke out enough fabric.  Still debating on the settings.  I'm just not a big fan of the main fabric the finishing kit uses, nor am I wanting to make 50 flying geese.  Plus I want it finished in time for the church dinner (yet another argument against those geese), so I'm trying to come up with alternatives.  I think I may have one, thanks to a brilliant buy at Goodwill by my dear Aunt Bev (can you say an ENTIRE bolt of Moda for $8?!?)  I really need to get this one done, so I can start in on the next one, and on Park Bench! 

The basement is slowing coming together!  The cabinets are in, I just need to do a LOT of touch-up and finish painting.  The painstaking kind that takes forever, unfortunately.  But they're up, and if my hubby freaks about the fact that I forgot to do anything about surround sound, oh well.  We shall deal.  Besides, I think maybe that's what that HDMI cable is for??  I honestly have no idea.  Regardless, progress is being made.  I need to go to Menard's today and pick up shelves.  Lots and lots of shelves.  So if I take tomorrow off to paint, I can get stuff loaded up on said shelves on Friday morning before I pick Marc up at the airport, and hopefully Thursday night I can call in the big guns and get furniture moved to the basement.  We shall see.  But progress is definitely being made. If I ever get that done, maybe I can finally get some pictures taken.  Because this quilt is completely finished.  As in the bindi...

I was supposed to be in the Lake of the Ozarks today, having a blast with my mom and sisters.  Alas, it was not meant to be.  One of my parent's neighbors passed away over the weekend.  Both he and my mom have lived there their entire lives, so Mom has known him literally since birth, and their families have been friends for several generations.  This couple and my parents are very close, and I've known him since I was born.  It is a huge loss for our neighborhood and especially for our church.  It turns out the funeral isn't going to be until Saturday (as many of the people who will attend are also very involved in organizing the fair this week), but I know Mom would not have felt comfortable leaving while the church is getting ready for a major funeral. In other news, I've asked the carpenter who helped finish up the basement last time to come and work on the shelves.  I want them to look a little better (okay, a lot better) than they do now by the...

It's been a hugely busy weekend.  After being home from work sick on Thursday, I hit the ground running Friday and have been madly working on getting the basement finished.  It's been "finished", in that there is carpet on the floor and paint on the walls, for a while, but it's really been just an empty room with toys on the floor.  So I've been working on clearing out the storage room, hanging pictures, and finding things a home, as opposed to making neat stacks of stuff in corners.  So the dartboard is up, the coin cases are up, the golf stuff is up, the RAGBRAI posters are up, and the new Ikea shelves are put together.  The big project is going to be to put built-in bookshelves/entertainment center along one wall.  We looked at the price for custom cabinets, but at $15K, it was a bit out of reach.  So for much, much, much less than that, we're working on building some.  My BIL and his friends should be working on it this week, and my goal is t...