Just Three September

Ok, two posts in a month is pretty lame and i will try to post more since i have been working more on sewing.

First let me say I went to my first ever Quilt Guild meeting. It was the Tri County Quilt Guild (NW Harris, Montgomery and Waller Counties) I decided to go to this one because it is just down the road and well, their meeting was in 1 hour (lol i was looking yesterday after work for guilds in houston!)

I took my flower garden quilt to work on the binding which i didn't do because when i got there they ushered me thru signing in and what everything was and it was a "oh you brought show and tell" i said no, i brought it to finish binding... they said you HAVE to show it in show and tell!! (not like legally but as in please, we would love it if you did) so i did.... i was really nervous about this since i had to talk in a mic and i have no idea what i said when i said it... i STILL hate public speaking even with all the radio we did. People said nice things about it. It was bigger than most quilts in show and tell! lol I do make BIG quilts. 

I also won a door prize (no pics but it was a pin cushion and some fabric)!

I have wanted to join a guild for a while now for a few reasons. First like minded people, Second to learn new things and expand my horizons and finally... the charity work. I do like making my charity quilt each year and in a guild that is one of the things they do. 

I took a pillowcase kit and a quilt kit to finish (back, front and binding, they just need someone to finish it) for their charity quilts and pillow cases. 

I finished the pillowcase last night:

The quilt will have to be over a weekend

So... August Goal Check In... hmmm

1. finish the three quilts i brought to finish. Travis' star I haven't touched. My flower garden I finished all but about 3 ft of binding (it was the one i took to the guild meeting to finish!) and my granny squares... nope... no progress.

2. finish squaring up the blocks for soar! YES YES YES i am finally finished on this one and if its just a throw and not a bed quilt so be it, im not making any HST's for it anymore! lol.

3. Organize the sewing space. I did buy one bookcase and i get to buy the other two after we open zippys but there have been some delays on that.... I think it looks pretty good for how much stuff i have!

Now i did get sidetracked. It was almost as if i needed to start something to motivate again so I started You Are My Sunshine and the Striped Baby (both flimsys now)

September Goals:

1. Lets try it again but make it a bit simpler. Finish My Flower Garden and Travis' Star. All i have is a little binding on each and ive been working on them in bed before i go to sleep. I should be able to knock that one out!

2. Finish Landon's Paw Paw Kisses (I am actually almost done quilting this one) the baby quilt  and the charity quilt kit (These are both flimsys that have backs and are ready)... should be easy peasy. I can finish binding them in bed if i just do a little each night!

3. Ok, the harder one. I have You are My Sunshine (needs a back), Trevors Paw Paw Kisses (needs a border) and Granny Squares (needs a border and a back) I would seriously like to have all three of these ready for quilting by the end of the month (id like to have one of them quilted but im not pushing my luck... although i do have time this month we are still waiting for permits... so maybe!!)

LOL...how bout if i say this. I also have Dallas' Soar that if it distracts me im not going to stop it. I would love to finish it too!

one more.... i have a quilt in my head dying to get out. It is inspired by the folks who make western music, by mine and ralph's relationship, and a song by Wylie and the Wild West called True Love Travels a Gravel Road and the phrase in it "cotton dress world." I do love that phrase because i think i mentally live in a "cotton dress world" alot... that place where life is simple and innocent. (the more complicated harris county gets in this process of opening a restaurant the more i escape there!) The phrase just brings to me an image of this calico cotton dress i used to wear.  I am trying to figure out how to use a bunch of my small floral calico prints (me in my cotton dress) and some plaid (for my cowboy) Ive pulled my fabrics and they are lovely and it really took a bite out of my big chunk drawers so yeah... getting rid of stash!! I know it will be called Prairie Waltz because its dancing in my head but i cant seem to make the two elements dance together!! BUT... if i work it out i wont stop it either.. im going to run with it.

Sorry about the pic quality. they are from my phone, i cant find the charger to the camera I think we left it in east texas??? But i need to find it to take better pics.

I am linking up with Traceyjay's Just Three where you pick three goals for the month! Go check out the other pretty works!!

Work in progress Wednesday

I had to start something to get motivated. This could be very dangerous in that it makes that WIP pile grow but this time i was feeling sooo stuck on what i had to work on and so frustated with some houston setbacks i decided to just start something fresh.

I did get half way thru it (fabric cut and most of the snowballs made when i felt the urge to piece the back and quilt the flower garden quilt.

Gonna try on my phone to link to Lee's WIP wednesday

bookcases for my stash

I let Ralph pick out the bookcase since its going to be showing off my fabric in our dining room.

My husband has good taste... usually his taste is much pricier than i feel comfortable spending on myself....

lol... i was perfectly happy with the billy shelves but he picked this:

with the promise that we would get one of these to go on each side (after we get zippys open)

(yes i cheated and used ikeas photos)


but here it is... built and starting to collect my fabric...

I really do love it and he really did spoil me with this one!

I picked this up at a yard sale for 30 bucks last weekend!! I love it and this is one heavy peice of furniture. I bet it weighs more than the bookcase from ikea! It is now my dresser in our bedroom! I also got a desk that is in the living room now for 7!

I would be really happy with how our apartment is coming together if i had a couch, but... we haven't found one we both agree on that we want to spend the money on. '

Now... that pic of me.. since 2 weeks before the wedding, i have put on 25 lbs. We stopped working 14 hr days, we are on our butts all day mostly and we are eating out like there is no tomorrow!

Today we hired a personal trainer for the two of us and we start tomorrow at 7 am! We don't want to be heavy like this and i dont know if i COULD pull a 14 hour shift with this extra weight!

Just Three

Tracyjay Quilts has started Just Three, a linky thing where you can pick just three goals for the month, blog about them and check in next month to see how you did. Well since im too busy for much sewing and have not been checking in with WIP Wednesday... let me get a restaurant open and I might go back to that too... i do think i can pick three goals for 1 month!

So... this month my 3 goals are (I promise to get better at picking just three, this month it was really tough so i kinda lumped some together to make one goal!)

1. finish the three quilts i brought to finish. Bottom: (Travis' star)I just need to hand sew the binding and i have been watching enough tv this should be done! Middle: (Flower Garden) I need to quilt it and bind it and i can send it off to who its intended for!! Top: (Granny Squares) borders, quilt and bind but this is Ralph's favorite so far (and i love that he says "so far" knowing that im going to make more that he loves) and he has asked several times when im going to finish it so we can use it.

#1 is pretty intense... so the other two goals are kinda minor.

2. finish squaring up the blocks for Soar. I hate this part of the process and i just have a small pile left to do. Don't tell me that im going to have to make more blocks after this and do more!! (I think I am... when will it ever end??)

Everytime i slow down and want to stop working on this i lay out some of the squares and fall in love again... Hopefully finishing this one will make next months goals!

3. organize the sewing stuff. I have decided that the wall in our dining room is going to be the fabric and sewing storage space. I want to buy bookcases with doors on them. (for now im just getting the bookcases and as i figure out what doors i want i will get them!

I want this from Ikea (and omg... im so excited i live in Houston now and can go to Ikea!!)

cant you just see my stash in the cd part of this bookcase with books and decorative things in the bigger spots???  I may put doors on the bottom half of it so i can hide my not so pretty storage stuff!  I think this will work. Then i want some kind of coffee table with storage. I am going to have to use that for my vintage sheet collection. We have enough room in our walk in closet to hang my plaid shirt collection!! so yeah, the sewing room will be scattered around the apartment but when im creating my sewing is scattered around the apartment!

The next two months will be interesting as i try to stuff our 2500 sq ft house into our 1200 sq ft. apartment. We have decided we will be in Houston for a couple years and we are going to rent out the place up there (most likely for very little rent to one of his kids) so I have to move everything down here!


Here is Tracyjay's linky thing... be sure to go check out other folks progress and goals! I actually missed the party this time... but i will be sure to catch it next month!

Our Houston Home

I have missed sewing. With the wedding and the traveling back and forth to houston these last couple months i haven't touched my sewing machine. Dont get me wrong, i have enjoyed the trips and the eating out (we went on a culinary tour of the world in houston... and i gained 15 lbs) I have enjoyed the time, the wedding was wonderful and happy and perfect in every way... ive enjoyed myself... but... i have missed sewing.

So here is the update on life. We have rented an apartment and a restaurant space and we are opening another Zippy's Pizza in Houston!! woo hoo! we are so excited. We plan to open August 15th. We will go back and forth between San Augustine and Houston, so we still have the ranch up there... we just also live in houston now. Ralph's daughter Caty is running the store in San Augustine... its doing fine and shes doing a good job... all is well there. We will be running this store and over the next year hope to open 2 additional stores! (if you are familiar with Houston the new restaurant is on Jones Rd. just north of 1960 and we would love for you to come see us!!)

today Ralph and I along with a friend tore down drywall. We are doing some cosmetic stuff and cleaning the place REALLY well before we open and put our equipment in there. we will put the drywall back up on monday. (we have to go north for the next two days)

But... sewing... i dont have the best pictures... but here are a couple of the new apartment. First, our bedroom is a loft style, it has a balcony that looks over the livingroom. How perfect is this to hang a quilt from!! Here is the unfinished granny squares hanging over...

second picture i have to share... we haven't brought much furniture down yet, so the apartment is kinda empty... but i did bring a table and chair home from the restaurant so that i could set my sewing machine up and have a place to sit at the computer. Here it is in the dining room...

ok, also note the BIG MIRRORED wall. This mirror is going to cause me to lose weight because i can't get to the kitchen without seeing myself in it. I am amazed every time i walk by it because i dont FEEL that overweight (although i do know i am!) So, between the puppy walks in the morning, the pool which i enjoy working out in and the exercise room in the apartment complex... hopefully i will be talking about the weight im losing soon.

I'm married!!!

There were many times we said we should have eloped and went on vacation with the money!!! but in the end it was a beautiful wedding and the reception was a blast.

I am giddy still... and very proud to be Mrs. Ralph Hampton.

Time to head to the border!

No... were not going to Mexico...i just have a ton of borders to put on so i can finish some quilts. I don't know what it is about borders, my second least favorite thing to do (after squaring up hst blocks) is borders.

But... Drum roll please..... Happily Ever After is in one piece and ready for borders. Granny squares has a name, its Happily Ever After since I'm going to give it to Ralph as a wedding gift. I am planning a little tan border then some blue that he likes for the outer border.

I did finish the borders of ___'s Flower Garden. (Since she reads my blog i cant put her name here because its a gift and i don't want to ruin the surprise.) I am going to pin it and quilt it this weekend and hopefully have it in the mail soon (and yes i have more than one person who reads my blog that is due for a gift that i would mail, so i didn't ruin the surprise!) I like how the borders turned out. Ralph actually gets the credit for the border selection. I was going to just do the blue but he told me before i even got it on that it would need a brighter border after that and he was exactly right.

Landon and Trevor's Paw Paw Kisses... oh boy... have we seen these before. I have had them finished other than borders since before Christmas and i swear i will not work on, hmm start another quilt till i get these borders on! lol... i really do need to finish them.

What else is still in the works...

Travis' Star... I did a little of the hand binding but not alot. Its the first of the month so that means were busier than usual. The 2nd and 3rd week... that's when I'm looking for projects to do while at work!

Stephanie's Stars... totally put on hold due to my granny square fever.

Dallas' soar.... I'm still working on squaring up blocks. I am seeing progress on the pile.. in fact i think the squared pile is bigger than the pile i have to do yet!

Orange Crush.... I started this a while ago for myself and decided it needs to be one that i work on again soon. We went to the beach last weekend and i decided i need a good beach blanket and Orange Crush is gonna be it.

Ok... so there are about 6 or 7 others that I'm working on... but i think if i go on i will overwhelm myself... so we will stop here. Hopefully i will have more progress next week.

One thing getting in the way of the quilting progress is we have been spending the weekends doing research. We need to open another store and we are looking for a location for it... or we may do something totally unexpected and crazy... but either way, although we are making money with the one store, we both would like to make more! (and were workaholics)

Last weekend we went to Crystal Beach or Boliver Peninsula and looked around. It was hit by a hurricane in 09 and we were hoping it had rebuilt more than it has. I also wish it had more of a "town square" than it does. I don't think that is what were looking for so next weekend were going on another fact finding mission somewhere else... not sure where... We will have our minds made up by the time of the wedding... that's all we have decided so far. (still... its taking alot of my quilting time... Sundays were my days to sew and i don't get to do that when were hitting the road!)

Just have to throw this in here too... i decided to get adventurous with a dessert at the store. This is my Mexican Mocha Cake:

I haven't perfected the recipe yet... but when i do I will share. Its baked like a cheesecake... but it has no cheese and no flour in it. (but it does have a touch cayenne to make it interesting!)
I'm linking up to Freshly Pieced WIP Wednesday. Be sure to go check out other lovely works!