The last blocks are done!

I'm finished...with the NI blocks that is! Woohoo! Actually I finished the last one early Sunday morning, but I've just not had the mojo to blog about it. I have a bit of a cold and very low energy right now, most of which I'll reserve for sewing. So here are the last few blocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry about the shadows on some of the blocks, but to get the true color I have to turn the flash off and then there's a shadow. I had thought about laying the blocks out on a snow bank, but we've had no sun for days and days. Just gloomy, snowy and really cold weather.
Oops...just hit a button and published too early....blogger must not want me to complain anymore...lol....just when I was really getting into it too :o)

Have a great day everyone!
Ranette

I can see the light....

at the end of the tunnel that is...Four more NI blocks finished and one of those was a doozy. See if you can guess which one.

 

 

 

 

I only have 7 more blocks to do and none of them look too hard and then I can start laying all of the blocks out and putting on sashing and cutting cornerstones. My daughter Emily said I should remind you all that these blocks are 6" finished. The doozy has 182 pieces in 6 1/2 inches. It took me several hours to make and that's why I kept the fabric simple...so much going on with it.

We didn't get the "ice" that a lot of southern Oklahoma got. We got more of a sleet than ice which is better because there is a bit more traction. I do think that we have around 10" of snow though. Jay shoveled snow on and off all day yesterday. Also we never lost electricity, thank God! It is very cold here today though, 19 degrees right now and not expected to get high than 25F. Brrrrrr!!!!

Okay, I'm headed back down to my NI room....lol Later!
Ranette

Good morning!

I have four more NI blocks to show this morning. That means I only have 11 left to do and one of those is in the middle of construction. No celebrating yet though. At least one of the blocks that I have left to do will take hours....seriously....hours. Oh well, I can see the finish line, almost :o)

 

 

 

 

It looks like my part of the country is in for a huge (8" to 15") snowstorm. I'm fine with that as long as we don't get ice. If it really does snow that much I'll close the store and stay home and sew and cook. I'm pretty sure you know what I'm hoping will happen...lol

Have a great Wednesday everyone....
Ranette

Just stopping in for a minute!

Allie did great with her surgery yesterday....she didn't even have to take a pain pill afterwards. The hardest part was getting her IV in (10 sticks...ouch)and that was a little dramatic, not for Allie though just the nurses and doctor.

Here are my 3 newest NI blocks....

 

 

 

That second block really didn't have much rhythm or reason to it so I just did it and it looks okay. The third block pictured was a bit tricky and I should have hand pieced it, but it will be fine.

I'm in my sewing room today and off the computer. All of the wonderful things on your blogs are so tempting to me and keep me on the computer for far too long...lol I enjoy and get inspiration for everyone though.

Have a great Saturday!
Ranette

If I listen real close....

I can almost hear you all saying "not another boring red & white block...please"....lol Well there is one at the end of this post, but first I want to show you the last quilt that I had quilted in November or December by my longarm quilting friend, Linda.

 

The quilting on this quilt took an ordinary Double Wedding Ring quilt (yes I used the cheater's stuff) to a beautiful quilt to throw on my table in the Spring. Here's a close-up of the quilting.

 

Linda did such a good job. Of course she always does. I'm not going to be able to get any quilts professionally quilted for a little while, which is going to push me out of my comfort zone and I'm going to quilt some of my tops myself. Come h-e-double hockey sticks or high water. I mean it. I always used to quilt my own tops so I know I can do it....hopefully.

It was also a great mail day with my favorite quilting magazine being delivered directly to my door.

 

I haven't looked through it yet, but I'm sure it's chock full of quilty inspiration!

Okay, okay here's the red & white NI block for today....I just couldn't not do one when I'm sooooo close to being done with them.

 

The last few I've done have been very easy, but I checked and I've got a few difficult blocks coming up. I just need to keep the mojo.

Well I'm off to do some laundry and look at the sunshine....WooHoo....later!
Ranette

3 days in a row!!!

What's up with that....lol...I really do plan to post everyday and then life happens and I don't, but so far so good this week. Nothing really new to show you on the quilting side of life, well except two more Nearly Insane blocks.

 

 

Sorry the pictures are so dark, but it's cloudy all the time anymore. I know that it's January, but come on....I'm sick of it and I need some sunshine. I'm also cold....like all the time anymore or hot....no in-between, none at all...lol

Okay, enough complaining now....I'm going to go sew!

Ranette

Good Tuesday morning!

I'm not sure what happened to Monday, but wow it went by fast! I did manage to squeeze in piecing a Nearly Insane block.

 

I'm just going to keep plugging away on these blocks and one day, very soon I hope, I'll be done, with the blocks that is. Still a long way to go on this quilt.

I also made a few more yoyo's. If any of you haven't tried making these....don't! LOL They are so addicting and now Sharon and I have Kara making them as well.

Allie is having surgery to remove the screw in her ankle on Friday...not a big deal according to the doctor and hopefully it will help her pain and mobility some. The doctor said she's healed up great, so that's good news. I want to thank all of you again for your prayers and concern for Allie during her ordeal. It was such a blessing!

Enjoy the day!
Ranette

Peppermint twist....a song or a quilt????

Well it's a quilt, of course! Or a quilt top anyway. Actually I was just a 1 year old baby when the song Peppermint Twist was popular...is it weird that I remember that song and the entire time I was working on this quilt the song played in my head....it is weird isn't it?! LOL Anyway here's my finished quilt top (pattern by Jo Morton).

 

Fun little quilt to make and I really hope to quilt it myself. I may hand quilt it in the plain squares and machine quilt the rest of it, we'll see.

Very good weekend, just too darn short. Since I work in retail I don't get a 3 day weekend like many of you. I've also spent a little time in the evenings working on these little darlings.

 

These yoyo's are so addictive....aren't they Sharon...hehehe. The yoyo's are for Anne Sutton's quilt pattern Yoyoville
My my I think Anne's site has a new look....I'll have to go back and check it out very soon.

I also worked just a little bit on my Antique Quilt and I have plans to get back to some of the other long term projects as well. And just for kicks here's a link to a video of the above mentioned song

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WIvZu4dPQQ Enjoy!!
Ranette

And the winner of the jelly roll and pattern is.....

Cindy from sewcindy.blogspot.com who was commenter number 56 on the random number generator thingy! Congrats Cindy!
Cindy said...
Oh my, what a nice background to your blog, Ranette. The mid section reminds me of parchment paper.

I just love the Grace line of fabrics. I'm currently doing the Fat Quarter Shop's Glace BOM (7 months into it). I love the line so much I bought 2 additional charm packs. How I would love a jelly roll of this beautiful line to add to my Glace fabrics to make a pattern for my DD or DIL.

Sewing hugs and blessings...always.

Come visit my blog anytime at:
http://sewcindy.blogspot.com/
January 12, 2010 6:32 AM

Cindy if you'll send me an email with your snail mail address to ranette@brightok.net I'll get your prize right out to you.

Thanks to everyone that left a comment, I wish I had a jelly roll to send all of you. Actually I probably do, but.....just kidding....lol

The quilt show was fun although not enough quilts were displayed or at least that I could find. I totally forgot to take pictures....darn it, but I did meet up with Penny and Teresa. Isn't blogging fun?! You get inspiration 24/7 by looking at other people's creations and sometimes if you are very blessed, you get to meet in person....wow I love it!

Okay I've got to go now....but TGIF because I'm going to sew some this weekend!

Ranette

Oh my gosh....

Over 100 comments.....Wow! I've had some fun checking out your blogs and most of you have had an email back from me. If you haven't that's because you're set "no reply" on your email address. I'm sure some of you have it that way on purpose, but I'm also pretty sure that most of you don't since blogging is all about meeting people with our same interests. If any of you are interested in changing your settings, here's a great tutorial that Chookyblue has done "how to change from no reply"

I have had a great time visiting some new blogs and to be honest, that's one of the main reasons I do giveaways is to see some new people and quilts. I'm really going to have to start limiting my time on the computer though....lol...a person could spend all day looking at pretty quilts and getting inspired!

Remember a while back I showed a picture of a cute Eiffel Tower pincushion kit that my sweet little sister sent me? Well tada....

 

Isn't it just precious?! I also made the pretty pins, although don't look to close because I did get carried away with the glue gun. Thanks again Pam!

Today is going to be a very fun day! My friend Sharon and I are going to the Oklahoma City Winter Quilt Show....yippee! We are also meeting up with a couple of blogging friends Penny from Penny Quilts and Teresa from MamaTquilts
Very exciting!!!

Thank you for all of the concern for my health....I've decided to swear off doctors....seriously! I am still having pain off and on, but I am feeling better. I am not going to run a bunch of expensive tests though and have them come back with oh it's just the auto-immune thing. I get so tired of that! Okay enough of that...lol

If you haven't entered for the giveaway, there's still time and check back here tomorrow morning for the winner!

Have a wonderful day! Miriam I wish you could join us today and we will be thinking of you!
Ranette

I feel like a little give away!

I've been wanting to have a give away for a little while now and I'm finally getting around to posting it. So if you would like to be the proud owner of a jelly roll of Moda's Glace fabric (gorgeous stuff) and a jelly roll friendly pattern, just leave a comment. You can post about it on your blog if you'd like and if you don't have a blog be sure to leave your email address.

 

A winner will be picked on Friday morning, January 15th. Enjoy the week everyone!

Ranette

Set in seams....no problem!

I've figured out how to do "set in seams" on my sewing machine without too much hassle. I guess after all of those little Le Moyne stars in my AQ, that I did on my machine, it has finally stuck with me. This NI block has several of the above mentioned seams. I keep telling myself just do one block a day and you'll start to see the end very soon. Remember a few posts back and I thought I only had 16 or so blocks left....welllll I miss counted. I ran off papers last weekend and I had 25 blocks left to do. Talk about disappointed! Plus I have to sash them and pp the border. One thing at a time Ranette....one thing at a time!

 

I am feeling better now that I have an appointment with a specialist. That always happens to me. I feel like I'm dying and I break down, make a doctors appointment and then I feel better. Does that mean it's all in my head?! For the people that know me in real life, don't answer that...lol

I'm almost ready for my sewing marathon around here. The house is pretty clean, laundry done, project picked out (yes I decided to follow every one's advice) and food bought. Yeah....I am beyond excited! I wish you could all join me and my friends.

Okay....that's it for now! Happy hump day!

Ranette

Another NI block...but don't look too close!

Yes I know....I lost a point on my star. I didn't see it until I was done and I'm leaving it just like it is.

 

When it's all sewn in the quilt, you will never, ever see that a point is missing, unless I point it out to you, which I have been known to do...lol

Thanks for all of the kind words and good wishes on my previous post. I'm still not feeling great, but I have an appointment with a specialist on Monday and I'll probably feel great by then. I have 4 no work and all sew days scheduled and I'm going to sew like the wind! My dilemma is whether I should work on my current long term projects or start a new, finish in a couple of days quilt. I think I'm leaning towards making something new.

I received this quilty inspiration in the mail a few days ago.

 

I love, love, love this magazine! I always find inspiration in the quilts and photos. I just wish I had more time for making all of the quilts they show. I haven't been loving the American quilting magazines lately....I think it's because it all looks the same to me and it seems to be about selling the newest line of fabrics. Just my opinion.

I'm going to go and put my longjohns on now. It's been cold and the weatherman tells us that it's going to get colder, like single digit temps....yuck!

Ranette

Happy 2010 to everyone!

I know that it's the time to reflect over the past year and to look onward to the coming year, but I've found that I'm just not a very introspective person. I'm much more of a live for the moment kind of gal and I'm pretty happy most of the time, so it must work for me.

Last year wasn't a bad year, but it did bring about a major change in our lives around here. I haven't mentioned it before on my blog, but in October my husband's position was eliminated...at a company he has worked at for over 20 years. If you would have asked either one of us before October if we thought he had job security, we would have told you "of course, that above everything he had security." Well we are firm believer's that all things happen for a reason and I think God had different plans for this season of Jay's life. He has started his own consulting firm and he's happy and much lighter of spirit these days it seems to me. I am so proud of him and of all that he has accomplished!!!

 

Kara and Jay, two of my favorite people!

I have made some great blogging friends in the last year...I LOVE how quilting brings us all together. Miriam is one of those special friends that I have enjoyed getting to know and she always has wonderful, insightful council and she sends great gifts too....Thank you Miriam for being my friend.

 

Here's a closeup of the red scissors...

 

Miriam really gets me doesn't she....scissors and red....what could be better?!!!

Here is another NI block that I worked on all day yesterday....kind of a booger and not my favorite block, but I'm not doing it again.

 

Sorry this post is so rambling, I was nearly felled by a kidney stone a couple of days ago and I think some pain meds might still be in my system...lol My plans are to spend all day sewing....hopefully I'll feel like it :o)

Anyway here's to a great 2010 for us all!!!!

Ranette