Times Square

After Central Park, we went back to the hotel and then headed out for lunch .. after which we walked to Times Square.

Anybody know what this is?  I don't and there wasn't a sign to tell me (at least I didn't see one).

Thanks to Katie, you can read more about it here.

Really tall building ..

and we even saw Elmo...

New York, New York

My husband and I spent a few days in New York.
We walked to Central Park.

We walked to Times Square.  

We walked to the United Nations.  

And we spent the afternoon with my BIL and his wife (and their dog pumpkin).

Here are some pictures from Central Park.

 

for Katie ..

It's a huge park...  we may have walked half the park...  maybe next time

15 minute challenge - June 21

Tuesday - made one spiderman block, one other block
Wednesday - nada
Thursday - zip
Friday - zero
Saturday - nothing
Sunday - more of the same
Monday - made one spiderman block

Okay, here's the white ...

and here's the yellow ..

I'm thinking I like the white best.  I could go with both too.  I'll probably do one yellow and/or white border and then a red.  Then I'll do sashing either in the black/white checked or a something blue/white.

Here's the other block I made this week.  I just love sock monkeys .. I may even have to make another quilt.

I am not expecting this week to be much better .. I'll be in New York from Wednesday through Friday.

To see what others have been up to this week, check out Life in Pieces.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Here's the birthday boy ...

with big brother ...

Blogging

I've been at a loss for words the last week or so.  My quilting "mojo" also seems to have disappeared.  I will jump back into things this week.  promise.

Had a lovely, but quiet, Father's Day/Birthday yesterday.  Basically, ate and lounged around.

The boys and their parents visited us from Thursday until Sunday.  Anything but quiet.  But unfortunately, no pictures.

Worked at RAFT and went to a wedding reception.  Still no pictures.  but lots of fun.

Time for work now.

15 minute challenge - June 14

I took a break this week, since I finished up the prom quilt last week and just made a few blocks this week.

Tuesday - 6/7 - made one block
Wednesday - 6/8 - nothing
Thursday - 6/9 - made a few blocks
Friday - 6/10 - another block
Saturday - 6/11 - cut spiderman squares
Sunday - 6/12 - one wonky spidey block
Monday - 6/13 - 1.5 spidey blocks

I think the yellow next to Spiderman looks best so far.  I'm going to try white and see what I think of that and move from there.  On the bottom one, I'm going to slice the blue down on the sides and make the black-and-white strips wider.  I'm still learning.

To see what every one else has been up to this week check out Kate's Life in Pieces.

Blocks

So this week, I've been trying some new things (new to me -- probably old to everyone else out there) and not really focusing on any one thing in particular.  I tried log cabin blocks, and a few others too.   I don't know that I'll make a quilt out of any of these, at least not right now, but I'm having fun making the blocks.

 This is my favorite ...

However, I realized that I need a project.  I had bought a spiderman sheet at a thrift store to make a quilt for my grandson so I'm going to make it.  Shay suggested I do a wonky block .. so I tried my hand at it.  Here's the first block.  I need to work at my wonky ..

and I don't think the red sets spidey out the way I want, at least not this red fabric (of course the sheet is faded).   Anyway, this is what I will be working on next.  

Cat Tree

Although the house is no longer on the market, we still want to take care of the carpet and the devil cat has been clawing the carpet in our bedroom so we decided to make a cat tree.  So, we went to Home Depot and bought some plywood ..

 one 2x4

 a couple of 4x4s

 Here's the husband measuring and cutting ...

 and #2 son helping :)

posing for a picture ... he actually did help

cutting the carpet ..

half done

and put to use!  

We'll finish up next week, but until then, the cat has something to mess with instead of our carpet!!

Favorite Things Friday

I feel like I'm cheating .. I wrote this post last week so I didn't have to come up with a new one this week.  Hop on over to Quilting in My Pyjamas to see what everyone else's favorites are ..

My favorite this week is playing games -- and in particular, card games.  Some of my favorite card games are:  pitch, pinochle, cribbage, spades, and hearts (and probably tons more but I can't think of any right now).  And then when  it comes to computers, I like hearts and spider solitaire.  Oh, and Texas Hold Em.

When we camp, we play cards at night by lantern light.  Actually, whenever the whole family gets together, we like to play games.

When I was first dating my husband, I can remember going to his parents' house and watching his family play pitch.  I had never played pitch before, but I watched for a while and had the basic idea of how to play.  I had a ton of strategy to learn, but I could play -- of course my #1 son, thinks I still have a lot of strategy to learn (he refuses to be my partner).

And pinochle (double deck only).  Just the best card game ever.  It's hard to find other couples to play cards with .. guess that's why we had to teach our kids how to play.

All of my kids know how to play (both pitch and pinochle ) -- at least I think they do.  I know the four older ones do .. not so sure about the youngest.  Anyway, it's great fun when we're all together.   (We also play board games like Taboo, Cranium, and the old favorite, Trivial Pursuit -- ooh, and I almost forgot Pit).

I've been thinking ..

.. I'm going to be very selective about which giveaways I enter -- I never win anyway.

.. the captchas seem to be getting longer,

.. I need a mani/pedi.  Anybody want to come with me?

.. I have been putting off some tedious tasks.  but I need to do them.  maybe tomorrow night.

.. I don't go to bed early enough.

.. I need to read more.

.. what does serendipitous mean anyway?

15 minute challenge, June 7

So here's my answer Kate's question from last week about why I participate in the 15 minute challenge:

I do the challenge because when I don't push myself to sew, I just sit and watch TV or play stupid computer games and then I get mad at myself for not accomplishing anything.

What I really love about quilting is the finished product -- that's why I do it.  that's not completely true, I actually love the entire process.  I love each block as it comes together.  I love seeing the quilt pattern come together. I love the way the quilting looks .. particularly when I do lots of it.  I enjoy sewing the binding on; particularly the hand sewing on the back.

I do, however, need to work on my technique  I need to be more precise in both my cutting and sewing.  I need to push myself to do the more complicated and time consuming blocks/patterns.

I also need to work on colors .. I have trouble picking them out and getting the right hues and tones.  If I had my way, I'd probably make all my quilts blue and white, or red and white, or black and white, or green and white, or pink and white .. you get the picture..

Here's what I did this past week:

Tuesday - continue quilting prom quilt*
Wednesday - continue quilting prom quilt
Thursday - continue quilting prom quilt
Friday - continue quilting prom quilt
Saturday - continue quilting prom quilt
Sunday - finish quilting prom quilt; finish binding
Monday - take pictures of prom quilt; go through all fabric and organize

To see what everyone else has been up to,  check out Life In Pieces.

This week I have no plans.  I need to figure out what project to do next.  So I'll look through magazines and blogs.  Maybe I'll try making some different blocks to see what they look like.  I don't anticipate this being a particularly crafty week.

*No pictures of the prom quilt here .. you'll need to check yesterday's post.

Finally!!!

Well, I finished the Prom Quilt!  Here are some pics!  As usual my piecing is not perfect.  I need to work on being more precise.  I really like the diamonds on the two ends.

The backing is the minky (thanks for all your advice).  I hope my daughter likes it.  I'm going to wash it and pray that it doesn't get ruined.  I broke many rules in making this and the washing may totally unmake it.  Maybe I won't wash it .. :)