Back from Vacation

We are back from our vacation. But I haven’t been able to get back in the sewing groove.  So much on my mind that I am unable to settle down and focus on any projects.
So, I’m just going to look a vacation photos.
Here’s some for you to look at too.














In full disclosure: I never did lie in this hammock, it was at the back of the house and not on our regular pathway.

And this day at the beach was so windy it felt like my legs were being sandblasted. Most of the days we were on the island there were extremely high winds.

But overall it was a relaxing, restful time, where we were able to replenish our solar batteries and walk about in sandals.  Now to replenish my fridge and find my way to the sewing room.

Bon Voyage

This is it. The day is finally here. We are leaving tonight to go to the airport for an early morning flight.
Did I get all of the Four Patch top together? No, but I did get this cut out and sewn.
Aren’t they cute? I have had this fabric for a while and could not decide on a way to use it. Finally I just cut it up and sewed it. Better done than dithering.

Totally off the cuff, improve, making it up as I went. I can see I cut the blocks off a little to close but too late. There is one more border to go on but that will have to wait until we return.

And checking off to-do lists, I also got the Jacob’s Ladder quilt delivered. My friend was over the moon delighted with it.  She sent me a picture this morning of it on her bed.
It was a total surprise to her that she was going to receive it. The joy of her seeing what was in the gift bag is as big a reward as one could ever wish for.
And now off for some of this:


 And this:

New UFO project

Well, since it is a UFO it really isn’t a “New” project. But having finished my previous UFO it was time to pick another one.
This is the first picture I can find of them in my files. Four Patch Revisited from Adventures with Leaders and Enders . January 4th 2016. It was a Four Patch challenge that Bonnie posted about, and I jumped right in.  I put a twist to it in that I decided to make the four patches with plaid shirt for one side and a solid of a colour of the shirt on the other half. Well, not really a solid, but dense enough to pass for one at a distance. That didn't last very long, and I kept the idea of the shirts but got less picky with the companion block.

I did get all the four patches for the centre of the top together and the layout done by November of that year. And rows clipped together it has sat in a plastic bin since. Mostly because I’ve been doing more deadline, gift giving quilts since then. And also because I thought I needed 300 more four patches for the border.

So, while puttering  working hard in the sewing room finishing the bindings,  I pulled out the box of four patches, did a count, rechecked the pattern and jumped in.
I didn’t need 300 and I had over half of what I did need. Plus a whole stack of 1.5 inch strips I’d cut up while taming the shirt pile a few months ago. This looked do-able. And sure enough, in a few hours of sewing time I had them all finished.
Hubby swapped out my bedroom machine so I’m back in action upstairs, webbing the rows together. And downstairs, I’m putting the neutral border squares together with four patches.
All of this will come to a full stop in a few days as we pick up our suitcases and head off on our vacation. But I bet I can get a good portion of it done before we go.  So now to link up with Jo and see what is happening over at the Country Junction

BOM update

Linking up with Jo for the Block of the Month Challenge:
I did get one of my BOM done last month.  Well almost all done. It was supposed to have embroidery in the centre block. However any time I spent working on this was spent looking for my embroidery hoop.
Only to discover when I did find it and put the block together, that I had traced the design on the wrong side of the fabric.
Not sure if I am going to re-trace the numbers. Too much else going on right now to think about it.
I did pull another pattern for this month and selected fabrics for it. So on track with that.
I haven’t started cutting yet.
Instead I’ve been trying to print more shapes for my hand-pieced Double Wedding Ring project.  Looking back through the documents, it seems I first downloaded this from Inklingo in September 2014. It has dragged on so long due to being a hand project that only comes out when we are traveling.
And since it is an Inklingo project, the only way to get new pieces cut is to print them on the fabric with my ink-jet printer. And that is not going well. It is refusing to load the waxpaper-fabric combination. I don't think this is because of the combination as it does this to me with paper also. But it is frustrating as heck.  I need these printed so I can take them when we leave next Saturday for the Caribbean. 
So back to pushing buttons and trying over and over to get this to load.  Or I just make a template and cut them individually. It is doubly frustrating since this is the only reason to have this printer and I kicked up a fuss to buy it because it was supposed to work so well printing Inklingo. Definitely time for a vacation, everything is going haywire on me.
Addendum: I called in my IT guy. Hubby came and spent some time problem solving the issue. He finally got two pages printed for me before going back to vitally important things, something about a foot long ball or a show in half time. I don't know what he's talking about.