Back home and trying to find my mojo

Well, isn't life just like that sometimes: As I tried to copy and paste the post into a new post, I completely deleted it. I can't find it anywhere. So I will have to redo completely. (originally from Sept. 2014)

As we settled into our home environment after our travels to Africa   (the story of our African Adventure)and then DisneyWorld with DGS#2, it was a difficult time for my mojo. It appears that it wanted to stay on vacation and I couldn't really initiate anything that I wanted to. Not sure if it was because I have so many looming projects, or just that being back in the home environment and still in the traveling mode, that it is hiding from me. Or yes, maybe it is because as soon as we returned from DisneyWorld, we immediately started planning another travel experience.

You see, after we returned home we bought a new for us home.

 You can see it here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/i3xj0r96lc5e20a/AABaP98xP_Mpi9-voZJ_FQcba?dl=0 And so of course we had to plan a new trip to try it out. The Mississippi Blues Trail and the King Biscuit Blues Festival for the month of October.

 The trail travels all the way from Memphis (or even Chicago) to Vicksburg and then on into Biloxi, MS, along the Mississippi. Which is not to say that you are on the river road along the river. 

 This is my t-shirt.

  With all of this traveling I delighted my mojo in that I never hardly had Miss Betsy humming at all.

All in all however, I did manage to accomplish a few things as indicated in my previous update.
~ I finished DGS#1's quilt and presented it as a Christmas gift.
~ My Christmas blocks have been completed and are now back from the finishers. Love them.
~ the front of the double-sided Halloween has been completed.
~ My Canadian Santas are currently with the finisher.
~ I finished my Spanish Travels quilt.
~ My Santa Stamp cross stitch project to the point of needing to put it into some form of finishing.

 So how should I finish it? A pillow, a wall hanger, framed....

As well, I started or worked on:
~ DGS#2's quilt

 an oddly coloured rendition of the color way for his quilt

 The first row was finished before the new year rang in.

~ my Granny Square Coat
~ a halloween/thanksgiving table cloth (quilted for the picnic table)
~ a halloween pumpkin wall hanger (a wannabe Eleanor Burns)

~ an country Santa cross stitch with which to learn how to stuff and finish on my own
~ a blinking lights Christmas Tree wall hanger
~ Danny's Request[ed] quilt which I am going to try my hand at a Jelly Roll Race quilt, modified to my way.

 the backing - try and manipulate 60" wide by 108" of fleece backing and batting in a RV

 the started cutting of the jelly roll strips after sewing all 80 of them together, end to end

~ my first row by row as well as cutting out 3 more

 my chosen fabrics and the resulting row 

 soon to be a table runner.

Not the most impressive of the rows that is for sure.
~ set of 4 microwave bowls
~ a sampler bed quilt, OUR Quilt

 the front page of the pattern

 my fabrics

~ a wall hanger called World Traveler for our friends that we will be visiting this summer
 the starting of the design on my makeshift design wall
~ winter scene with a lady in red cross stitch


No new starts in Needlework but then I have enough UFOs to last a lifetime doubled. Seems like the more I mull over it all, the more I can come up with. Guess I was busier than I thought.

As to the Row by Row Experience for 2014, I found myself organizing a lot of the shared rows after the shop hop ended. This took a lot of time in the evenings when I couldn't really see that well to accomplish other projects. I found a lot that I would like to make and some fabulous eye-candy. A lot of the rows can be easily figured out and made without a pattern which is helpful.

Which brings me up to the Christmas season and a new travel adventure with the grands over New Years.

DisneyWorld 2014

Our next journey takes us on a car trip to DisneyWorld which leaves one a bit of time for needlework while DH drives. So what to take? That was the decision to make as we prepared. I decided on the Witch canvas that I had ordered many months ago that finally came. All the other projects/UFOs are large canvases and I didn't want to deal with them in the passenger seat of the car. I am sure there will be no time once we get to DisneyWorld for sitting quietly and stitching. :)   There is a back and a front and I took only the front - big mistake as I left some of the fibers with the back. Ahhhhh the learning curve never changes. This will be finished as a stand-up witch with a plastic tube down the center where I can put a tree branch and hang ornaments on. At least that is the plan. I know how I want it but will I be able to get it across to the finisher? As I travel it is slowly coming to completion. I will leave the broom until last as I really don't understand how that is supposed to be done. Might have to go in to the LNS and have them show me.

During the time leading up to our trip east, I was able to complete a few things:

~ the Canadian Santas - finished in totality, including the little charm maple leaf. They are now gone to the finishers but won't be finished until Feb 2015 due to the heavy volume of Christmas currently being experienced.

Feb 28, 2015 Addendum:

I have got to phone and find out if these have been finished. I am really excited to see what they look like and how ropy poly they actually became. Not phone but sent an email. 

~  Merry of the Christmas blocks finally was completed.   When I gathered up the blocks I could not find the "T". I know that I did it and that it has to be somewhere. Ended up looking through various venues in the storage unit and yup, there it sat in all it's lonesome glory. Grabbed that sucker right quickly.

Then they too went off to the finisher. "Don't expect them until the new year." I was told.

These wonderful blocks were returned to me in fabulous form. I love them - much more than when I did them. Now to decide what to do with them, keep or gift? 

~  Joined an informal exchange group for the Row by Row Experience.

Wow, imagine the possibilities that an exchange group can give. Of course, it only makes sense that you share in equal parts with each of the members and only the rows that you actually want. I am sure there will be many that I am not particularly interested in. All exchanges will be accomplished after the end of the Shop Hop. Mapped out my plan of attack on the close proximity shops to DisneyWorld - only 4 possible ones, but that is 4 more than I would have had. DH is so supportive of me that he even had me mapping out what it would mean in extra miles to hit a few more. Definitely not worth it as the DGS#2 has to be back for school and it would add a couple of days on to the trip at least. Oh well, maybe they will come in the exchange. One can only hope.

~  As for in the quilting department, I went as far as deciding on which UFO to attack next. I have to have a quarterly finish done by the end of September and the way that I am going now, that might just be a hardship on my part. Life just keeps getting in the way. Am going to work on Spanish Travels next, but first I have to get back from Florida. 

August, 2014 Finished this quilt. I quilted it on my Miss Betsy, Janome 6600 in straight double lines to represent the crisscrossing of our travels in Spain by rail. We went from the dark Atlantic to the blue Mediterranean and points in between.  

 The backing is the blanket that we had bought for the train rides so the size of this quilt was limited by the size of the backing blanket.

~DGS#1's quilt has been gotten to the flimsy stage and it to went of to the long armer's.

This was promised for November as it is a Christmas gift.

What a time I had getting this quilt back before it was too late for Christmas. The quilter came through however, and I picked it up physically rather than mailing it and had it bound and wrapped in time for Christmas.  Thank goodness it was long enough for him, and yes, he does want a pillow case to go with it. He loved it and cuddles into it as soon as he could. Phew! Even though it was somewhat of a hassle, she did a nice job of quilting it

and I will use her again, but only when there is no deadline attached to the return of the quilt.

As I go through my photos for completing these blogs, I will also update the status of all my other projects. In the meantime, happy Sewing, Quilting, and all other forms of activities that gives you immense pleasure.

Procrastination...

Instead of biting the bullet and getting started on the FMQ of the UFO Monkeys Jumping on the Bed and the February rug-mug, I procrastinated once again and made and noted the blocked for Zach's quilt.

  It is quite vivid and the fun will be when trying to decide on a shushing and a border. Hopefully I will get some input from the ladies of Stashbusters and Lib-Quilters. Now to make 24 more of them keeping the thought in the back of my mind as to sashing and borders.

I may bust some stash with this quilt but I have already made up for it as I bought some more fabric yesterday for the dash cover for the RV. I was looking for teal and a teal with a flash of color in it for the centre piece. Well, I think I found it - not quite the magenta pink that I wanted but the red is just as good.

 I still need to find a white to go with it. I am hoping that I have one here with me and that I didn't put all of them into the storage unit the last go around of cleaning.

Already February ...

It is amazing how fast time flies. My mother used to tell me that the older I got the faster time would fly by and I sure am a believer now. Almost the end of January, and what have I accomplished?

Starting with our return to the USA, the first "get re-acquainted with" Miss Betsy was the first UFO finish of the year. I needed to do this to get my mojo back in place after it's long hiatus. Winter's Coming did just that.

But then my declining mojo was interrupted again as we took a flying trip to Canada to visit my folks. What could I take that was easy and quick? The cowl that Brooke indirectly asked me to make for her. It knit up quickly and by the 3rd day of visiting (taking into account that I had hours and hours of flight time) I had the required 54+" done.

Once home I quickly got it sewn up and mailed.

When I finished with the knitting the next thing out of the bag was the third in the Golden Cracker Christmas series.

This looked like a fairly easy one to do until I looked closer at it. A lot of beads to be attached which is not a good thing for air travel. Too much to worry about in too little of arm/maneuvering room to fiddle with beads. So I got that to the bead stage before leaving. I have since added some of the beads and continued on while parked here in the RV in the Coooold weather of Texas.

As a result of this, I ended up buying a second set of knitting needles in Edmonton for the trip back to Texas. Started a second cowl, this one for me, which will be a "in the car" project only. By the time I got home, I had 1bout 12" done on it. Rocking and rolling.

With the weather here in Texas taking a turn for the worse, I then started to organize my stashes here in the RV. There is way too much and I need to learn to concentrate on only a couple of projects in each medium at a time. Listed out a ziplock bag of stash so that I know where it is when I need it and it will go into the storage unit next trip.

For now I started on the One Toe Out of the Box  January challenge - Snow: A rug mug. I decided that for each month I would make a mug rug and give the series to my DDIL in Texas for her desk at work (she eats at her desk all the time). This will be her Christmas present for 2014. Fabric cut to 8"x11", quilted and bound with a monthly theme.

 Didn't realize before that the one side is a little wonky. Should have looked at that a little more closely. Guess I will be going back and fixing that!

Next up, getting started on piecing Brooke's quilt. I cut out the fabric to make the first of the blocks to see how I like them one evening while trying to stay out of the elements. This is where I am currently at: Ziplock bags labeled with each unit.

 From here I will construct the blocks, section by section. I am sure that there is a better way that I can organize them but for the life of me, I can't come up with one. I will have to go to the store to see what I can find to organize them in a manner that makes it easy to use and to store on a daily basis. 

Having had a discussion on leaders and enders, I am going to see what I can put together to try that out. For now, however, I will use Zach's quilt blocks in between each snowball square in Brooke's to simplify the sewing - no struggling with each corner square, one on top of the other. Zach's blocky is taken from the Wonky Log Cabin block found at Just Jude's blog made with blocks like this ... 

 only out of blue and lime greens.

As for UFO completions, I am working on getting my "Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" (girl) quilted. As a UFO, this is how it looks, being taken out of the from Panamá box.

 This is really cute fabric and I bought enough to make another but in a Friendship pattern as well as the same fabric in blues for boys. The Friendship is a UFO not even listed: It is still in the Panamá Box while the boys one is still in the wanna make pile. The last time I went to the storage unit I was able to find the fabric that I bought for the binding so now it is simply a matter of getting it completed. Working diligently on it: 

I foresee a break in my mojo coming fairly soon. A trip to Panama is in the works and later, a trip to Iraq, but in the meantime, onward with the sewing/quilting/needlework.