January Goals!

My January goal on my wedding countdown is to finish all 20 tablerunners for the reception. I am so close I can taste it I just have to stitch in the ditch around about 10 of the bindings to secure them and I'll be done! Okay, I still have to clip some threads, but that can be left for a night when I feel like curling up on the couch with Paul and watching a movie and can clip all the threads while I'm comfy.
My other goal was to have the tops finished on my YBR quilts. The tops are finished they just need borders which I plan to do this weekend. I have the fabric, I just needed to finish the bindings on the tablerunners before I could cut into it for the quilts. I still have 5 yards left for borders, so I'm doing good!
So considering I didn't have any UFO's to start the month, other than the tablerunners, but they don't count since they were WIP's. I think I'm doing pretty good to have a couple things done for FIUM! Hopefully I'll get a lot more done in Feb.
The Feb. goals are:
Make muslins of the bridesmaid and flower girl dresses
make the church banner
flowers (my aunt is doing)
gather pictures for bulletin boards
make coasters for out of town guests
ring bearer pillow
possibly my garter
Paul's vest muslin

Public Presentation

Yesterday I had to give a presentation and I could choose what I wanted to give it on, so I chose 4-H public presentations and the important information to know when giving one. I did my research, read through all the materials, planned what I was going to say, and practiced a lot. It went better than I expected, but not as good as I had hoped it would. I've given tons of presentations in my life, I mean I do have a degree in speech communication. I love speaking in front of people, but yesterday was a challenge. I really haven't given one in a while and I was a little nervous. I think it went well and I was pleased with how it turned out.
I was going to reward myself with an hour of sewing time before Paul got home, but instead I made cheezy meatball subs from a new recipe, noodles and sauce, and greenbeans and cheese. I was really quite impressed with how it turned out and Paul took seconds so I know it was good.
After supper I went down to my sewing studio. I had three tablerunners that needed to have the binding on the front and then I could change feet and sew the binding down on the back. I got the three done, then my mom had pinned two down, so I stitched in the ditch around those. I thought it was pretty late and since I didn't have a watch on, decided to go to bed. It was only 8! I usually stay up until 10:30-11 every night. So I read blogs, chatted with my mom, and then read for a while. I have ten tablerunners that need the last stage of the binding SID down from the front to the back and they will be done. I don't know if I can get them done before tomorrow, but I'll sure try!

Extreme Bulls

This weekend went by too quickly! Friday after work we went to the Extreme Bullriding event at the civic center. It just one of many events at the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo which is one of the largest winter livestock events in the country. It was so good that we got tickets for the finals on Sat. night too. Sat. morning Paul took me out for breakfast and then I got my nails done (my treat to myself) and he got a haircut before we went to the stock show to look at the vendor booths. The booths are mostly selling stuff and it's fun to see what everyone has. There are over 400 booths to look through. In the afternoon my dad and brother Jim came out to the house and we got dad's cell phone working and input numbers so he can use it. Then we got ready and went back to look at the stock show and went to the Extreme Bulls finals which also included the Saddlebronc finals. Saddlebronc is my favorite event because a lot of my friends and people I know are in it. One of the guys I know won so I was excited.
Sun. I got up and went to church with my mom (she is working at the Sewing Center's Stock Show booth all week) and then we had breakfast before she went to work. I came home and took a long nap, did some work on the computer, and then prepared my presentation I have to give tomorrow. The only sewing I got done was half of the bindings on 6 tablerunners for the wedding. I'm slowly making progress! Today at lunch my co-worker Karen and I went to the Quilt Corral Too, where I found some really awesome purple fabrics. I know I just can't get away from the purple! I have to work more on my presentation tonight and then maybe I'll get to sew a bit. Wish me luck on the presentation tomorrow, hopefully I'll have great news to share when it's over.

Eye Doctor and Fall

So all my mom's- my mom, my future MIL, and the two ladies I'm friends with at work who are moms, all kept bugging me to go to the doctor about the infection I had under my eye. So I made the appointment and went on Mon. He gave me ointment to put on and said it would be best to wear my glasses and not get the ointment on my contacts. He also gave me a new prescription for contacts. When they optical place wanted to charge me almost $20 per box more (and I get 4 boxes) than I could get them online, I said I don't think so and took my prescription. That's like highway robbery if you ask me! So I went home Mon. and took my contacts out and put the ointment on. I sewed my YBR and felt fine.
Tues. morning I wear my glasses, which by the way I normally only wear to bed. I don't really look that hideous in them, but I don't care for wearing them. But I want to get this infection cleared up, so I wear them. I'm on the computer all day at work and so with the glare, I was really getting a headache. About 9:45 I went to go to the bathroom and there were a couple people visiting in the hall, so I stopped to see what was going on. All of a sudden when I went to take another step I twisted my ankle and fell backwards on my wrist. I don't know really what happend, but because everyone saw it, it was reported to HR and I had to fill out the Workers Compensation forms, talk to the rep from there, and so on and so forth. By noon though I wasn't feeling real great and pretty much attributed it to my glasses. I ended up going home and sleeping all afternoon. Yesterday I still didn't feel like myself and ended up staying home sick. I slept all day and finally by the evening was doing better. My mom came out to check on me and I put my contacts in and I felt a lot better. We worked on the tablerunners and got those to the binding stage. Only 10 left to bind. This morning I'm feeling a lot better and my contacts are in and I put the ointment on too and my eye is looking a lot better. So maybe this weekend I can get the borders on my YBR quilts.
The Black Hills Stock Show starts tomorrow, so we'll be busy with that for the next week.

YBR

Today I had to go to the eye doctor since I've been having trouble with my eye and a rash below it. It doesn't hurt, but it looks hideous. He gave me some ointment and said it should be cleared up by Friday. I got out of there earlier than I get off work, but it wasn't enough time to drive back to work for, so I came on home. I got the kitchen cleaned up, cleaned the living room and bathroom, and started supper. When Paul got home he fixed ham steaks and we had supper. I finished up the other YBR top and then worked on adding some pictures to my blog and writing on one of my yahoo groups. Seems like the night flew by and I was going to start reading a new book tonight.

Hearts Entwined

This is the Hearts Entwined table topper I made from Nancy Halvorson's book Love Is. I only got this far in class on Friday night, so I need to cut around the hearts and burp it and quilt it and it'll be ready for Valentine's Day This was a very easy and fun pattern to make.

February Calendar

I have always loved Valentine's Day, since it's my birthday and my last name is Harty, pronounced heart-e and our brand has a heart shape and then a T after it, I decorate heavily for the whole month. This is my calendar top for February. I am not quite done, but this is as far as I got in the class last week.

My pickup stole my new quilt frame!

Well I am again saving for a quilt frame! On Thursday my pickup decided not to start, so I took Paul's to work and had my brother look at mine. Wouldn't you know the fuel pump went out. This was a very expensive part ($625), plus labor because my brother was on call and couldn't fix it. But he got it in to a shop he used to work at and they fixed it and gave me a deal, so I was happy! There went my quilt frame money though. Needless to say my gas gage works again and for that I am really happy!
Saturday morning Paul and I had to got to Hot Springs (about 2 hours away) for a Natural Family Planning seminar. It's a requirement to get married in my church, so we went and got it done. They are only held every other month and we didn't want to wait until the last minute. We were home by 2 in the afternoon, so it wasn't too bad. My aunt and I met at the new Quilt Corral and checked it out. I know I am going to be spending to much time and money there! It is really awesome. My aunt Jane and I then went to Ben Franklin and Hobby Lobby in search of flowers for the wedding. It was a very daunting task and I didn't realise it would be. I guess I just wasn't mentally prepared. I think we finally found what we were looking for, but now just have to wait until they go on sale.
Sun. morning I got up to about 2in. of snow on the grown and it was still snowing. It was actually a really pretty snow. I went to church and when I got home Paul had made breakfast burritos and pancakes for breakfast. He got ready and we went to town to register for our wedding. We wanted to get it done while we weren't so busy so we didn't feel rushed. Since it was snowing, most of the stores weren't real busy either. We registered at Someone's in the Kitchen, Target, and Kohl's. All in all we were gone almost 6 hours. It sure is interesting to go register and mentally exhausting. We have to fix a few things online, but the one site wasn't working right and said we wanted 4 of the same comforter. I don't think so! At least we got the majority of it done and we actually had a fun time doing it. I really wanted to sew last night, but I was just too tired to do anything but watch TV.

First YBR top done

I finished the first YBR top last night. It doesn't have the borders on, because I'm not sure what I'm going to use for them. I have some fabric I planned on using, but I really need to finish the tablerunners first because it's the binding fabric for those. I'm not sure how much will be needed, so I really should have those finished before I use it to border the YBR. I'm also considering using a lavendar for a small border first, so I'm going to ask the gals at club tonight what they think would work best for bordering it with. I hope to do the other one this weekend as I have Sew and Sews club tonight and a tabletopper class tomorrow night. I didn't get a picture as there was no one to hold it. Guess I finished too late last night.

Yellow Brick Road Blocks done!

Last night when I got home we cooked hot dogs and warmed up the chili and made Chili dogs. They were so good and added just enough variety, so we didn't have to have just chili again. Paul even baked cookies last night too. I went to the sewing studio with the goal of getting the first set of blocks done. They were going together so well that I worked on and finished the second set. It was 9, so I thought about stopping, but decided to cut out the last blocks. Wouldn't you know once I started I just had to finish the blocks, so at 9:50PM last night I had 80 blocks finished! My goal tonight is to get them layed out and sew at least one of them together. Tomorrow night is Sew and Sews club, so I need to have show and tell. The only things I can think of that I finished are the B/W quilt and Paul's PJ pants. Guess I need to look back and see if I finished anything else. Maybe I can get a YBR finished and ask about what to put on for borders.

Butchering Weekend

Well I am having trouble getting around to writing like I normally do. I feel like it's been weeks since I wrote. The worst part is I read all the blogs and then don't have time to write my own. Friday's after work we normally go out to supper, but we're trying to eat at home more, so Paul fixed tacos. I had a long day so I was looking forward to a relaxing weekend and sewing. My dad called to say they were butchering two hogs on Sun. and needed our help. So Paul and I had to change our relaxing weekend at home plan, to a trip to mom and dad's. We did errands in town Sat. morning and then got ready and went to my parents. We were there in time to eat and go to church. After church mom and I worked on a timeline for getting stuff done for the wedding. We set which month things need to be finished in. Tablerunners and quilt tops are to be done in Jan.
Sun. morning we, including my brother and sister-in-law, butchered the two hogs. We had bought half, Jim &Addie bought half, and my parents got a full one. We got one done before lunch, and the other after lunch. We had supper and then came home. We were both exhausted, but so glad that is done for the year. I don't think we can put another thing in our freezers though! Last night I made myself go down to the sewing studio and sew for an hour. I was so exhausted, but if I didn't work on the YBR's they were never going to get finished. I did the first two steps of sewing and cutting, so at least I have a good start on them.
Then I searched the house high and low and still can't find the booklet I have to make wedding related hardanger pieces. I know I had it this fall and showed my mom, but for the life of me I can't find it now and I really wanted to make the front for the unity candle. I guess I'll have to keep searching, but it's really driving me nuts not being able to find it.

Amaryllis in Bloom

My Amaryllis is blooming!


The tallest part got to almost 29"

I took pictures of it last night in the dark, so hopefully you can see them. It's actually really pretty and was fun to watch it grow.
Last night I went to Sit & Sew. I worked on the design of my landscape banner for the back of the sanctuary of the church. I think it looks pretty good, but I didn't unpack to take pictures. I just used scraps of similar colored fabrics, so I hope it turns out the way I would like it to. I'll have to take pictures of it tomorrow.
Tonight I am going to a calendar class. Well really, it's kind of a BOM only, it's a finished block that you put on the quilted panel and add a paper calendar every month. I think it will really turn out neat. Tonight we do Feb.

Blooming!

I haven't heard much rumbling in blogland about the amaryllis plants, but I just wanted to say mine is over 26" tall and blooming! I thought it would be out today, but it's not quite open. It was fun to watch it, even though it didn't bloom by Christmas.
I haven't done a whole lot quilt related in the past few days. Sat. Paul and I went to the Bridal Showcase. I am shocked at the cost of photography! I think I should go into that career in my next life. It's over 1200 just for the photographer, before pictures, mileage, or more than 2 hours. Seriously there is no way we could have the photographer at the pictures beforehand and the wedding and do it in under 2 hours! It would cost more for the photography, than for the entire wedding!! So after being very dismayed, we decided that we'll have to find a budding photographer, or my brother offered to take some pictures on his new digital camera. I think we may have like 3 friends take pictures and hope for the best.
My brother Ed and Paul fixed my pickup powersteering line and Paul's pickup fan pully or something like that on Sat. afternoon. Sun. we were up at crack of dawn and picked up Ed to go ice fishing. It was about 40 degrees, but the wind was kind of blowing. We didn't have very good luck. We came home and took naps.
Tonight I did a bunch of calling for the wedding and then I cut all the light fat quarters for my two YBR quilts. I got a little sore, so I had to quit. I'll do the others tomorrow night.

2007 Quilting and Sewing in Review

This year flew by just as quickly as the last and I'm sure next year will as well. Luckily since my mom is awesome she got me a quilt journal several years ago to record my first quilt ever, a King Size t-shirt quilt of all my shirts from high school. Needless to say I was very active and had tons of shirts! I made it out of flannel (hey I didn't know any better) and it's really warm. I made it in my freshman/sophomore years in college, on breaks and during the summer. From there I took a couple classes at a quilt retreat and was hooked. Since I didn't have my own machine, I had to use mom or grandmas. I made a commissioned quilt for a lady in town and loved every minute of it, learning a lot about making t-shirt quilts. So I made a lot with the Brother machine I got for College graduation from my grandparents, aunts, and uncles. In Nov. 2004 I upgraded to a Janome 3050 and continued sewing a lot. Last December I filled up that first quilt journal (you know the green kind found in a lot of the sewing/quilting stores). So I asked for a new one for Christmas. I started quilting in 1998 and finished that book in 2006. Mom gave me a new one and I've been busy filling it this year. Guess what? It's full! I completely filled the whole book in 2007. So I'm on a quest to find another quilt journal tonight. I am starting off this year with a new book I hope to fill as well.
2007 quilting/sewing in a review:
- 2 baby quilts
- 18 tablerunners
- 17 wall hangings
- 10 postcards
- 5 full size quilts
- 11 purses
- 4 bags
- 6 blocks
- 7 pieces of clothing- pants, dress, jackets, & vests
- ironing board cover
- 3 pillowcases
- treeskirt

December Quilting Accomplishments!

December was a busy month, but I did get a few things done. I feel great that I got all the Christmas presents made that I wanted to and a few others as well.

~PJ pants for Paul for Christmas
~2 Snowflake tabletoppers for Bob
~Tablerunner to match tree skirt
~Core Values wall hanging for Blake
~Hunky Carpenter wall hanging for Melanie
~2 Candy cane tablerunners for Sandy and Karent
~2 LS picture wall hangings for Ann and Angie
~2 pillowcases for Billy and Kari
~ Santa table topper for Marcie
~ Purple tablerunner for Janelle
~Treeskirt
~ Fleece blanket for Ed
~ Pillowcase for Ed
~ Black and White quilt, quilted and binding on for me!

Hopefully in the new year I'll get a lot accomplished in regards to sewing for the wedding. At least with the blog I stay caught up on my picture taking.

Happy New Year Quilting Buddies!

2008 is going to be my year! Hope everyone had a Happy New Years day. I was up at the butt crack of dawn to go ice fishing with my fiance and his mom. My little bro was going to go, but he was sick, so didn't. It was really windy and cold and with Paul's Vexilar and AquaVue toys, we were able to see there were no fish swimming in the 5 holes we dug. There were 3 others fishing and they weren't catching anything, so we left and came home. We had to stop and get Paul a new pair of Carhardt Coveralls though, because he gained a bit of weight in the last year. We'll both be working on loosing before the wedding. I took a nice long nap when we got home. Then I watched the Rose Bowl Parade to see my SDSU PRIDE of the Dakotas Marching Band in the parade. I was in the PRIDE when I was at State, so I'm a big supporter of the band. I missed out on the 2003 appearance in the Rose Bowl parade because I graduated in December. We played at the Packers game, Fourth of July Bicentennial of DC parade, and numerous other big events while in college. Both my best friends/bridesmaids were in the PRIDE with me.
Since 2008 is going to be my year... I started my quilting on a good note. I prepped all the fabric for my bridesmaids quilts and cleaned my sewing room. With the wedding 5 short months away i have a lot to accomplish.
I am making lots of quilting items for the wedding!
~ 3 Lapsize YBR quilts for my bridesmaids and flowergirl
~ Landscape banner for the back of the sanctuary of the church
~ 2 Bridesmaids dresses and a flowergirl dress
~ 20 Quilted tablerunners for decorations, 2 done, 10 quilted need binding, and 10 need basted, quilted, and bound
~ Jacket to go over my dress if it gets chilly, it is SD after all
~ Mother in law quilt

It's going to be a very busy few months.
Well it's time to get ready to go back to work. Hope you all have a Happy New Year.

Black and White Quilt FINISHED!!!!!

Here's my black and white quilt, completely finished, washed and ready to use. I think I'll take it to work first and let my coworkers see it first though. I am so happy to say it was finished in 2007! I started it in March at a class by Kay Capps Cross, a quilter from Minnesota who was giving a lecture at the Sewing Center. She uses mostly black and white in her design work. Since I spent most of the summer making gifts for my brothers wedding, I didn't get to work on it. I am so happy it is done and I can focus on wedding quilting!

I MADE IT!

I didn't think it was possible, I even put it out of my list of goals for the end of the year, but my goal/wish/dream came true! I finished my black and white quilt tonight!!!!!! I had about half the quilting left and needed to put the binding on. I worked on it a little bit Sun. night, but still had a ton of quilting to do. Since I do it all on my home machine it was taking forever! I had to work today and Paul and I had plans to go to dinner and a movie tonight, so I figured I wouldn't work on it any more until the new year. I started this quilt in March, so I really wanted to have it done this year! Well I got off early, so I worked on it until Paul was home and ready to go out. We went to supper at Outback and had a great time. We were going to go to a movie, but he was tired and it was so cold and windy and we're supposed to get a storm, so I suggested we go home. He thought that was a great idea. So he watched movies and we drank at home and I quilted my b/w quilt. About 10 he ran me a hot bath since my shoulders were so sore from quilting. I so enjoyed it and then I was determined to put the binding on before midnight. I sewed it to the front, flipped it to the back, used steam a seam to put it to the back and stitched in the ditch around it. I finished my stitching at 12:05! Only because I ran out of bobbin thread the last half of the bottom! I am so excited to have it done and now I can finally move on to my wedding quilts. I am so excited to get started on them! May everyone have a great New Year and I'll post pictures after I wash it. I'm off to lala land for some sleep. We're going ice fishing at 6 in the morning. Hey what can I say I quilt all year and he only gets to go fishing a couple weekends a winter. I'd rather go with him, then him be all alone on the lake. I'm taking my Quilt Albums book and I should get the first novel read before we come home. Sure hope it's not to cold or we'll have to stay home.