Crazy....

That one word pretty much sums things up for the past few weeks.  This post is a non-picture post unfortunately, so if you're here for pictures... you can bypass this post.  :c)

The first 3 months of every year is crazy for me at work due to it being appraisal time for the 25 individuals who work for me.  It takes a lot of effort and time to initially write up all the appraisals (i.e. performance evaluations) and it takes even longer to have the discussions with 25 people.

Each year I somewhat forget how emotionally taxing it is to get through the reviews.  I try really hard to make sure the reviews are accurate, which doesn't always make people happy.  By the time I get home from work, I'm completely exhausted from the day, which means I haven't been doing a lot of sewing or quilting lately.  I have been doing some and will be able to share some pictures soon.

The other bit of "news" is that we purchased a piano a few weeks ago.  Both  my husband and I play and we've used a digital piano for several years, but finally decided that we wanted a real piano ago.  I will definitely show a picture of it when I get one taken.  :c)  Its a used Steinway piano with a wonderful sound/touch as well as a bit of history and mystery surrounding it.

I hope everyone has been surviving the last bit of winter the country seems to be having.  I'm hopeful that it will finally feel like spring soon here in the northeast.  We've had a long, cold winter and it will be wonderful to have some spring-like temperatures again.

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

More Progress...

Whew!  Another post and it hasn't even been a month yet.  ;c)

A weekend ago, we finally had the sun creep out for a bit during the morning and it made the outdoors look awfully inviting despite the snow.  We have had a lot of grey, cloudy days due to the cold and almost constant snowfall.  Here was the view out my sewing room the other weekend:


That was the day that I was finally able to start sewing on the outside corners of the Mariner's Compass quilt.  Here's a section that was partially done...


And a slightly different angle (and later on in the day) showing the texture created.  Some of the triangles still have some non-straight "lines" in them from the basting stitches.  Once I get this washed, those lines will disappear.


Up-close and personal with pebbles...






I love the overall texture and depth the pebbles are giving to this quilt.  Sometimes I think I should have gone with some more than just pebbles, but too late now!  I'm definitely not ripping out this much pebbling!


I'm still not quite done with this one corner, but very close.  Its probably another 1/2 hour of quilting or so and it should be done.  It takes me a bit longer as I try to break it up into manageable chunks and get myself up and moving in between.  I've found that I can do about 10-15 individual pebbles before I have to re-adjust my hands.  So after I do 3 or 4 re-adjustments, I typically will get up, walk around, etc.   It makes it so it takes longer to get the quilt done, but my body appreciates the break.

 Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations

Another Month Gone!

Once again, I have no idea where the month of February went.  It seems like time is flying by faster and faster and I'm not quite sure where its going.  We've had a lot of cold weather and snow here in the Northeast this winter.  While you would think that would equate to lots of quilting, it really hasn't.  It has been so cold that I've been spending a lot of time near the fireplace, which is far away from the sewing room.

We had almost 8 weeks of temperatures where it did not go above freezing....at all!  Just constant, sub-freezing temperatures all the time, not to mention the wind chill.  Brrrr!  I think we bottomed out at -27F with straight temperature.  We did have one day earlier this week where it was 37 and it felt absolutely wonderful! :c)

I did finally get the center section of the Mariner's Compass quilt fully quilted.  I still have to do the corners and in the white section of the pieced border, but I'm making progress.  Here's almost a full view of the quilt:


A little bit more of a close-up so you can see the pebble quilting.


And getting right down at the quilt level to see the stitching and the texture it creates...



I'm really digging the texture this quilt has so far.  I've started on one of the corners and it is almost quilted and the design really pops out, but those photos are for another day (and hopefully not a month from now).

Happy Crafting!
~Sarah at upstateNYCreations