Momma Said There'll Be Days Like This

Can you sing along with me? Momma said there'll be days like this, there'll be days like this my Momma said..... The day started out well. I was going to be able to spend some time sewing in my "Summer Palace", also known as a Gazebo. I was going to work on my Gallantly Streaming quilt that I mentioned in my last post. I found out that my friends who were working on the same quilt are much farther ahead of me. In fact, one of them actually has her top finished. Well, I couldn't let that happen so this was the project I picked to work on. I just love to sew out in my gazebo. When I look up I see the beautiful flowers. When I sew in my usual place, down in the basement, I only see walls.
I thought all was going well until I realized that I was missing some of the units that I had previously sewn. Three of one type and one each of two other units. Who knows where the missing units went. I guess that is what happens when a project sits around for a while and is moved from one place to another.

At least the units weren't very complicated and I had my extra fabric strips handy. I cut up some 2 1/5" squares and pieced away. Problem solved. I moved on and sewed the red piece that you see on to the sides of the units.
I ironed all of the units and got the next piece to sew on to it ready. Then I realized that the red strips were supposed to be sewn on the other side, next to the little blue squares. I looked through my pile of 44 units. I may have four that are sewn correctly. Can you say rip it? Ugh!

I thought I would show you the little lariat that I made to go on my rotary cutter. It even has a little rotary cutter charm on the end. Cute! I will never again get confused as to which rotary cutter is mine when I quilt with friends.
This past Sunday I took a few hours to play with this Sleeping Beauty block.
I wanted to see if the pattern was correct before I cut into my fabric so I pulled out the scrap bin and got to work. After I had paper pieced the arcs I saw that the smaller one hadn't been drafted correctly. One end of the arc was smaller then the other. I decided to go ahead and piece it together to see if there were any more baubles in the pattern. As you can see this block is anything but square. It may be pretty, but not square. I bought this quilt pattern because I fell in love with a sample at a quilt store. I guess I will be either finding another New York Beauty block pattern or redraft this one to make it work. I am sooo glad I didn't cut up a lot of fabric for this quilt before trying out the block.

I guess I had better get back to ripping out all of those quilt blocks. At least I can do it out in my Summer Palace!

Blocks (Or Pieces Of Blocks) and Mail

Today I got together with a couple of my quiting friends. We worked on a quilt called Gallantly Streaming. The pattern is put out by Cozy Quilt Designs. It is from their Cozy Strip Club Pattern series. The quilt is made from 2 1/2" fabric strips. I forgot to get my camera out before my friends left so I don't have photos of their blocks. They are much farther along then I am. As you can see I have one block out of 12 made and the little unit sections to make the rest of the blocks. The next time I get together with my friends maybe I will remember to take photos. I hope so!


Look what arrived in the mail today! Let me tell you, I just love it! Debi over at Quilting With Debi

was celebrating her 300th post and this is how she celebrated - with this generous giveaway. I was so thrilled when she sent me an email telling me I had won. While I was looking through the book "Tea In The Garden" I found myself thinking ohhhhh I like that quilt quite a few times. I love this book! The little Schnibbles pattern "Plan C" is just adorable. There are two charm packs, Hemming House and Tranquility. The panel that you see coordinates with the Tranquility line. I am going to have some fun with these fabrics! Now to decide what to make...I am thinking of using the Hemming House charm pack to make Plan C. Hmmmmm what can I do with the panel and charms that go with it? I will think of something! Thank you soooo much Debi!

Galena Part 2

I had every intention of posting the second half of our recent trip to Galena, IL before tonight, but as you can see it didn't happen. So, here it is now! The first store I visited was a neat quilt shop called Phat 1/4's This is what I bought here:

Reproduction fabrics (of course) and a neat apron pattern. Phat 1/4's is also a Bernina dealer. I drooled over the 820 model. It is the one with the extended arm and many neat features. That machine is on my "Oh Wouldn't That Be Nice To Have" list. The owner was so nice to chat with I ended up forgetting something there, but I will tell you more about that in a minute.

Hubby told me, "Hey, there is a yarn shop next door." Hmmmmm Sounds good to me! We went next door to Fiber Wild! Talk about a dangerous place for me to be! As some of you might know, this past Winter I picked up my knitting needles again. I have had so much fun knitting socks. Fiber Wild! had such beautiful sock yarn, plus any other type of yarn you could imagine. The customer service there was beyond my expectations. Amy and Sean are the owners. While Amy was patiently answering all of my questions Sean was talking to Hubby about what there was to do in the area and basic guy stuff. I found a sock pattern that Amy had designed and I found the perfect yarn. It is the pink/purple/green/yellow yarn that you see in the photo. When I was looking over the pattern I saw something that I didn't understand. Yarn over. I have just been doing the purl knit thing. Amy showed me a few different things about knitting that I didn't know and said that if I had problems with anything to stop in the next day and she would help me. Great. When I tried to pull out my credit card to pay for my purchases I realized I didn't have it. Yikes! The last place I used it was at Phat 14's next door. I had been so busy chatting there I walked off without my card. Sean assured me that was nothing to worry about, my card was safe. I just needed to pick it up in the morning. Hubby pulled out his credit card and away we went. That night I started knitting the new socks. Yes, I had some issues with the yarn over thing. The next morning the first stop we made was to the quilt store, and yes, my card was waiting safe and sound for me. When we went into the yarn shop we were greeted with ahhhhhh your back! Amy sat down with me and helped me with my yarn over issues and made sure I knew what I was doing. I asked her for assistance with finding a light weight but warm yarn for a shawl. I always freeze on Sunday mornings in church when the A/C is on and I want to be able to put something cute around my shoulders. I found the perfect yarn and pattern to fulfill my request along with a beautiful blue yarn that just called my name and wanted to go home with me. Yes, I had a great time at the shop!

The next stop was at a neat bead shop called Galena Beads. I have always wanted to learn how to make my own jewelry, but to be honest, I need another hobby like I need a hole in my head! I was looking at the many ready to wear jewelry pieces that were available for sale there and found a beautiful green necklace and ear ring set. The only problem was that I only had one top to wear that would work with that color. I then saw a sign that said I could take learn how to make my own necklace right then. I mentioned it to Hubby. He said to go for it. As I was picking out the beads to use Hubby told me he would go and visit some of the shops and come back in a little while. To make a long story short, when Hubby got back I had just decided what beads to use. He sat down beside me as I was guided along the process of making my first necklace. That was so much fun I decided I needed to make earrings to match. Fun! I also bought beads to make a bracelet to match when I got home. This is what I made:
As we were walking into different antique stores the owners recognized my dear Hubby and say, ahhhh your back! I didn't think too much of this until about the third time when the shop owner asked to see the jewelry that I made. (Hubby had told him his wife was making a necklace and he had time to kill) I happily showed him. I then commented to Hubby about the many shops he had been in while I was at the bead store. "Well," Hubby said, "I was gone for an hour and thought you would have had the necklace made by the time I got back." I couldn't believe that it had taken me an hour just to pick the beads out! There were so many to choose from and I kept changing my mind. I thanked Hubby for being so patient and understanding. At the antique store, Gustafson & Grey to be exact I did find this:
They are silver button covers that for some reason just needed to go home with me. We had a wonderful time in Galena!

Happy 4th of July!

Hello! I guess today isn't the 4th of July, but it is the best I could do. Yesterday morning I couldn't get on the Blogger site. It just wouldn't work. Then in the afternoon and evening I didn't have DSL service. Since I was able to get online now I decided that I had better take advantage of it! So, Happy 4th of July to all of my fellow Americans.

My town has their 4th of July parade on the 3rd. They call it a twilight parade. It starts at 6:30 p.m. If you want a prime spot to watch the parade you had to stake out you spot at least an hour before it starts, if not earlier. My friend Char loves to take photos. She told me that she always wanted to take a photo of the parade from the overpass that crosses the parade's path. Was I game to drive while she took the photos? Sure, I would love to. I guess I should mention that the parade route is also linked up with the big festival at the park so the roads are more congested then usual. We took off on our adventure. We had to figure out how to time the traffic so we could slow down at the top. I found out that if I drove really slow at the bottom of the overpass the people behind me would go around me in the other lane. After they went around me I would speed up to get to the top of the overpass. That gave me time to slow down to almost a stop so Char could snap the photos. It worked! We did a few passes and ended up with some great photos.
This is one of the best photos of the evening. A giant flag is carried down the parade route. Char was so happy as this is her favorite part of the parade each year.

Happy Independence Day!