Paper Pieced Pineapple Piecing Peace !

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers....or something like that...tee-hee!

I finally finished piecing my Pineapple! It is not without it's problems, but I am my own worst critic. Prince Charming tells me that all the time.

You know, right, that I am rotten at math? Sometimes worse than other times. Seems I messed up my block counting. But you know that because I had to make MORE blocks right? Guess what I found when I was cleaning up my sewing space after putting the rows together....GUESS ! Ah, ha, ha, ha ,ha!!! 13 blocks. 13 completed blocks with the paper already off them! I felt SO stupid. I purposely shortened the quilt because I just didn't want to make more of them. One row would have been 13 blocks. Definately my lucky number, huh?

Anyway - I am sewing the binding strips together tonight or tomorrow night - depends on how late I have to work tomorrow...Quilting will be next month some time.

I hired my friend Leslie to make an embroidered label for me. She designed one with pineaplles on it. I am excited. I am SO terrible at making sure labels get on my quilts. But seriously? I spent WAY TOO MUCH time on this baby not to put one on it.





My box of scraps is still pretty full. I won't throw them out, but making another one of these is NOT in my near future. I don't think making just ONE more would totally deplete that scrap box.

QB1 made one too. I started mine before I left Alabama - that was over 2 & a half years ago, so I am pretty sure this quilt is 3 years or better int he making. QB1 has more vision than me. She did hers in under a year. But I don't think she'll make another one too soon either!

Sam

PS: What's up next to be finished? Well, my Ocean Waves of course!

First Time Making These!

I have had this recipe for a while. And I KNOW you can cheat & melt caramels & there USED to be these caramel "wrap" things you could buy to wrap around apples. But, I wanted to make them from scratch. Took me 2 hours start to finish, and you stir the WHOLE time. Will I do this again? Yep, I will. They turned out great, look great, taste great, and I am pleased.

I drizzled them with white chocolate. I wanted to drizzle them with milk chocolate too, but I just got too tired. 2 hours is long enough to be standing in the kitchen. I had to eat my dinner standing too!

the "caramel" color didn't actually begin until nearly the last 10 minutes.





I kept the apples in the fridge - but I still got those little bubbles. That is the ONLY part of them that I don't like.

the baby isn't getting one of these. #1 -he don't have enough teeth. #2 That's pure sugar. PURE. (4 cups white granulated sugar & 2 cups of Karo syrup)

Sam

Not A Christmas Gift

QB1 brought me a few gifts today. One is a basket - monogrammed just for me! It folds flat. Isn't that cool? I carry so much around with me, a basket is WONERFUL idea......And what color is it people??? MY FAVORITE color. RED, red, red. I love red. See? QB1 listens to me.

Also she brought me a folding travel Rowenta Iron. She has one just like it & uses it during guild meetings. I have been gushing over how neat hers is....so she got me one.

The other box is something she picked up for me that I will be gifting. Not as a Christmas gift, just gifting. It's a butter keeper. Do you have one? They are the NEATEST thing. You can load them with a whole stick of butter in it.(real butter here people, not the yellow fake junk) Put the cup part into the bowl part upside down IN WATER and the water seals it & prevents the butter from going rancid. My DD#1 bought one for me that I keep on the lazy susan on the kitchen table.

Yes, i know, those butter keepers are an old idea. You caint get one on @ WalMart - so it's a new idea, right?

Today I finished quilting the last "customer" quilt of the year. I can't go into what it was because MAYBE the intended person reads my blog. Fat chance of that, but it might even be accidently read over someone's shoulder. Let's just say I called it the Fonzie Quilt. After Christmas, I'll tell you what I mean about "Fonzie". (remember Happy Days? I am likely dating myself here...)

Thank you QB1 for the presents. I love them & will definately use them. Darn it, I forgot to send home those little cheese cakes with her too.........I promise you, it's gray hair I have, not blonde...

Sam

Pineapple Update

My regular daytime job, the system that I work in is being upgraded, so I got to take Friday off. Decided I was goint o be SELFISH & sew all day.

I went & picked up the roll up door that Prince Charming & i will install on the shed (probably tomorrow) and then.............I went to QB1's house to sew all day.

QB1 was having new vinyl double hung windows installed (very nice too!) and the guys installing them, replaced the sewing room window FIRST, so that we could sew. Wasn't that sweet of them?

We worked on our Pineapple quilt. Assembling it. It was a fun day. It's been a long time since we sewed that long together.

Let me tell you - my daytime job is not as a brain surgeon - so some things can be complicating for me. On-Point settings is one of those complications. I can not just blindly sew rows together & get the side setting triangles in the right direction. I have to assemble each row individually. Otherwise, I mess up which way the triangles are sewn on.

Since I loathe Frog-Stitching, I just do it the slow way. Thank goodness that QB1 has a similar issue and we got to work together!

What you see here is one row short of being half way done. I am absolutely excited about it. We have a queen sized bed & I am pretty sure this would be a good king size. When it's done, it will be an adiitional 14 inches wider. So it's going to be BIG. I love a big quilt.

At one row short of half way - there are 49 blocks right NOW. I'll have to make MORE to finish it (knew that was coming didn't you?) I only have 23 completed blocks left.........




I am thinking that this baby is going to spend some time hanging on a wall before I use it any.

Have not decided which pantograph I'll use, or what color thread I'll use....(speaking of thread, I have a few spools that I need to send to Joan) Maybe I'll order a NEW pantograph JUST for this quilt. That sounds like a plan.

After this one, I want to complete my Ocean Waves Quilt.

Anyone looking at these 2 quilts, would think me a glutton for punishment. I'm not, a glutton I mean....but I sure love quilts with a bazillion little peices! Edited to add: I have 19 blocks less than half done & if I did the math correctly - I will have to make an additional 20 to make this quilt as large as I want it. Let's see....excluding the side setting triangles & borders - that is roughly 111 blocks @ 37 peices per block = 4107 peices of fabric. That's pretty close to a bazillion, ya'think????



Sam


( I was asked if I quilt for others. Yes, I long arm quilt for other people. Though I do not make quilts for other people!)

Stretched Stars

Finished this quilt sometime last year. I think I posted a photo of it being held up by QB1 & I during show&tell @ a guld meeting.

Well! Since it was finished (&quilted by ME, no less) DD#2 took it to Alabama @ her house. Well DD#2 now lives with us & last weekend my quilt was returned to MY house. Soon as I spotted it, I washed it & spread it on our bed.

So nice & comfy.

I think the pantograph is "Lush Leaves".






Psst! Had to make the bed to take these photos. I really love a photo op, makes me look like the Domestic Diva that my sister thinks I am.........

Sam

Hair

I have a LOT of hair. And it's really LONG. I cut 10 inches off the length a few months ago - but it's still pretty long - long enough that the biggest hair clip that I can buy at Wal-Mart will NOT hold it all up. Not for very long anyway.

I treated myself to a few items of hair jewelry this week. Why hair "jewelery" ? Well because what I paid for one hair clip was more than a few yards of fabric. Non-discounted, not on sale....fabric.

This little gem (below) I got off Etsy (dot com) I twist my hair in a faux french roll & secure it. This jobbie holds it all. Without slipping! Who-Hoo!



Every once in a while - it's nice to buy something nice for me.

Sam