Lots of Little Things

That's what this week is going to be.

I'm having a retreat night with a friend on Friday night. She's coming just after I get home from my quilting bee, we'll make a quick and easy dinner and then we'll sew until we drop. Hopefully we'll make it until morning, which is the plan.

I'm doing some careful plannning and prepping this week so Friday will be as productive and as much fun as possible.

First off, the food. We love sauteed cabbage, mushrooms and shrimp, that will be our dinner. I'll chop the vegetables in the morning and all we'll have to do is toss it all in a skillet. Thursday I'm making eggrolls and crab rangoon, those will go into the deep fryer while dinner is sauteeing and they will also make good nibbles later in the night for staving off the sleepies. I saw a recipe on the Food Network for Procuitto wrapped carrots which will also make another good nibbly thing. Combined with nuts and some cheese, the food is covered and it's all easy and delicious.

With a bunch of projects in the works, usually a couple come to the forefront. I don't want to let any of them fall into the cracks, though, so I made a list this week of the next step on each so I can progress on them all. I hope to have all of these little things done this week as I'm saving the big steps on a couple of projects for our Friday night sewing fest. These little things include cutting background for the anniversary toppers and for the "leaf" blocks (a design made with leaf shaped elements), choosing fabric for the toppers and sketching out a design, marking the small border on my current hand quilting project, cutting sashing pieces for the leaf blocks, choosing border fabric for the (now finished) ring blocks, choosing fabric for the celtic border on the leaf block quilt, marking the ring blocks and marking, basting and making binding for the baby quilt I just finished. Whew!

My major project for Friday night is putting together the ring block top. If I finish that (I should barring complications along the way), I might do some hand quilting and also have a bunch of bowtie blocks cut and ready to sew. More than likely I will just machine sew as hand quilting is so relaxing for me I'm afraid it might put me to sleep. Pictured are the ring blocks with their alternating block. I'm very excited about quilting this one, though with toppers and the album quilt to be done by August, this one will likely sit on the back burner for most of the summer.

While going through a cabinet in my kitchen I found all the cups that go with my set of china. We bought the china at a garage sale, I think it's seconds, actually, as there are some flaws in the designs on some pieces if you look for them. I never use these cups, even when we have company, I'm a mug kind of girl and drink my coffee in a tall latte cup. I LOVE pincushions so decided to make pincushions out of the china cups. I picked 3 different fabrics and went to town. I had enough saucers for almost all of them, the saucer will be good for holding a spool of thread, small scissors, thimble and other small notions.

One of these will go to my friend Friday night, a little souvenir from our "retreat night." They were great fun to make and it makes me want to scour antique shops for mismatched china cups to make some more!

While typing out my long list of "little things" I've been trying to figure out which ones I want to do today. The ring blocks are almost all marked, so I'll certainly finish that today. I have part of one piece of sashing left to quilt before I need to mark the small border on my hoop quilt, I'll finish that quilting and mark it so I have it to work on while watching TV tonight.

I also plan to cut the background for the toppers and leaf blocks and would like to mark and baste the baby quilt. I can't show that one yet as it's a test project for my friend Tyanne and she requests that I not show my test work until the pattern is published. I'm more than happy to oblige. Visit her website to see her patterns and learn more about her.

If I finish the planned things for today, I'll just pick something else from my list. I have today and tomorrow to get the bulk of it done as Thursday and Friday are both busy for a good part of the day.

Ruthie LOVED the pincushion cups when she saw them. My sewing table is visible coming down the stairs and she stopped, her eyes got huge, she pointed and giggled and quickly made her way to the table where she climbed on the chair and gently patted each cushion that she could reach.

I look forward to the days when she can quilt with me. She is interested in all the little supplies and doodads that go with quilting and will sometimes play in the fabric. She definitely loves quilts and lays claim on all the small ones I make. I lay them out on the floor to get a good look and she happily lays on each one, then picks it up and walks away. I just might have to see if I can find some sewing cards for her and soon she'll be able to glue fabric scraps to paper. She's definitely a quilter in the making!

So that's it for today, I've got to run if I expect to get any of my list done today. Except for possibly having music practice tonight (I sing 1-2 times per month on the worship team) my day is wide open, I'm hoping to make the most of it!

Happy Quilting!

Sue and Ruthie