tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92014367019398107832024-02-19T21:32:37.791-05:00Upstate NY CreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.comBlogger245125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-19745638757520022982017-02-16T13:11:00.002-05:002017-02-16T13:11:26.928-05:00No ExcusesI really have no excuse as to why I haven't been blogging. I could say that things have been tremendously busy (which is partly true), but it has felt like blogging was more of a chore for a while than something I enjoyed doing. Sometimes I think that as things get crazy at work, it makes me want to post more as I do it at lunch and its a good break from thinking about work.<br />
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In that vein....here's what's been happening the past few months.<br />
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1. I've been working on Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt, En Provence. I completed the first clue right on schedule...and promptly got behind. The second clue used the Tri-rec's tools, which work well, but I'm not a big fan of making the blocks. If I'm really careful, then things work out well, but its hard to be really careful when you have something like 150 of these suckers to make.<br />
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My test piece came our perfect!<br />
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So it was on to mass-producing them as much as I could. The other pieces on the ruler on the table are from a second quilt that I was making in between En Provence such that I didn't go COMPLETELY mad from making the same blocks over and over and over and over.<br />
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Ooohhh... the first stack of 20 all complete!<br />
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Then it was on to the next clue which used purples (yay) and were four patches again. Much simpler to make and you don't have to be as careful, which is nice when making this many of them.<br />
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I did have a "cutting frenzy" Sunday one weekend and cut out everything for the remaining clues that I had gotten behind on. All of them are prepped and ready to be sewn, which makes things a bit easier sometimes when you only have 10 minutes here or there to sew.<br />
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2. Heat Wave -- this is a pattern by Judy Laquidara. I love the pattern and purchased the fabric a LONG time ago. I've got the center section done as well as the strip borders added to the quilt. I do have one more pieced border to add. I think in the end, this one will be a fun quilt.<br />
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Here are the start of the blocks for the pieced border. The pattern is a snail's trail block (or monkey wrench). The blocks will look great when they are done, but they are a bit tedious to sew. Start with four patches, add a triangle, press, add 2nd triangle, press, add 3rd triangle, press, add 4th triangle, press...then do it all over again for the next round of four triangles. All in all, I think there are 4 rounds of triangles on this one.<br />
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3. Since its winter and I like spending time by the fireplace I've been working on my cross-stitch a lot as well. The first picture is from the tail end of December (note the box with the wrapping paper remnants in it).<br />
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This next one was at the end of January and I had a full additional page completed on this row as well as finished up the first page on the row. The end picture will be awesome, but its definitely a labor of love. There are a total of 42 pages on this one, and I'm on page 9. I have quite a ways to go!<br />
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4. FINISHES!!! I actually finished two quilts...finally! A co-worker had a new baby last summer and I decided that I was going to make a quilt for the new baby. I didn't know him very well when his first son was born, but I didn't want the older child to feel left out, so I opted to make two quilts. Both quilts use the exact same fabrics, but use completely different patterns. I wanted the quilts to be different (since no two children are the same) but I also wanted to tie the two brothers together, so I opted to do that with the fabrics.<br />
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Both quilts turned out well. I like the string-pieced one a bit more though.<br />
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So that's the run down of the big things that have been happening. I have a mini-vacation coming up next weekend where I am flying down to Orlando, Florida with one sister such that we can both visit our other sister for the weekend. It'll be a fun girls' weekend. :) <br />
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One of the things we plan on doing is kayaking with manatees. I did it last year when I went to visit my sister in Florida, and we used a 2-person kayak. However, I found a place this year that has 3-person kayaks. The best part... that particular location is called the Three Sisters! It was destined for us to do it. LOL<br />
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I hope everyone is staying safe and warm this winter!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-10494382474060091522016-12-01T12:56:00.002-05:002016-12-01T12:56:26.193-05:00Quiltville Mystery - En ProvenceIts been quite some time since I last posted. I had a loss in my quilting mojo for a while and didn't enter my sewing room for more than a month. The year has gone by quickly and its December already.<br />
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The day after Thanksgiving, Bonnie Hunter over at <a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/">Quiltville </a>started up her yearly myster quilt, <a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/p/en-provence-mystery.html">En Provence</a>. I didn't participate last year, but decided this year I wanted to. Its helped me want to get back into the sewing room.<br />
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Clue #1 was posted Friday, November 25th. Its a fairly simple clue with 221 four-patches of neutrals. Here's my first two pairs to make sure the ended up at the correct size:<br />
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As I was pulling strips from my bin of pre-cut strips from other projects and then sewing them into pairs, I ran out of thread on my prior thread cone. It was a pretty hefty cone at 2500 yards of thread, but nothing like the Big Bertha of cones that I have next up. Its a whopping 25,000 yards of thread. I'm curious to see how long this thread cone lasts me. Its from <a href="http://www.superiorthreads.com/">Superior Threads</a> and I was able to get it on sale earlier this year.<br />
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I didn't have enough time to completely finish all of the four-patches. I honestly don't know how some of the ladies keep up with the clues... other than that they may be retired and not have to spend 40-60 hours a week working for corporate America.<br />
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I was able to finish (and press) 100 of the little buggers.<br />
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And another twenty sewn and ready for pressing. Only 101 left to go!<br />
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Hop on over to <a href="http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2016/11/en-provence-mystery-monday-link-up-part.html">Quiltville's Mystery Link-up (for part 1)</a> to see how the other quilters are faring so far.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-9536119664951357172016-09-06T13:01:00.002-04:002016-09-06T13:01:56.973-04:00Busy SummerSomehow this summer has gone flying by! I don't know how it got to be September already!<br />
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I've been working on multiple projects... both inside and outside... that have been consuming a lot of time. My running has also picked up during the summer and I'm running 45 minutes two days a week with a longer (~1.5 hr) run on the weekends. I've gotten more fit, which I'm happy about. I haven't quite broken the 30 minute barrier on a 5k, but I chalk up the last one to running when it was 77 degrees and 95% humidity. Yuck!<br />
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Here's a few of the various projects that are on-going....<br />
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1. This is a quilt called Heat Wave by Judy Laquidara. Its been stalled a bit due to working on other projects, but its in good shape. I have to make a large pieced border yet in a snail's tail pattern, but I've made those blocks before and know how to get them to come out right.<br />
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2. The reason #1 is stalled.... a friend at work had a second child earlier this summer, so I've been working on a pair of quilts (one for child #1 and one for the new child). Sadly, I'm WAY behind on this and I'm still not done with either quilt. The baby was born in June, but the way I see it (or rationalize it) is that they won't need the blankets until it gets cold anyway. :)<br />
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#3. In late May/early June, we went on a vacation to Myrtle Beach. It was absolutely gorgeous and we had perfect weather. The first photo is from the first morning there. We had a tropical storm that was heading out from the prior day (hence the clouds), but the rest of the week was perfect.<br />
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#4. I've gotten my groove back with needlepoint. This is where it was earlier in the summer and the second photo is from the past few days. I'm finally on to page 4... of 20+ pages. A ways to go yet....<br />
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#5. With the great weather we've had this summer, there's been a lot of work being done outside. First and foremost is the stone wall that my husband has been building. He picks out the rocks... I help him cement them all into place. This is only one half of the wall. There will be an arbor on the left of the picture before the second half of the wall starts up again.<br />
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All in all, its been a good summer. It went by quickly, but hopefully we will still have several weeks of good weather before the true cold starts to set in.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-3840247471746785112016-07-30T12:51:00.000-04:002016-07-30T12:51:00.247-04:00Yard and Family StuffSo one of the things that happened earlier this year was that we purchased a used truck. We've realized over the few years that we've owned our 16 acres that we needed a large vehicle just to tow stuff and be able to do general things that you have to do with a lot of property. Move cut up trees... move large tractor implements... accumulate rocks for our rock wall we're building.... get wood chips...<br />
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Pretty much everyone with a larger piece of property at some point realizes they need a truck. This is our red beast:<br />
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We were happy to get a used truck as it will simply be used for hauling junk all over creation. We didn't want to worry about putting the first scratch into it... and we aren't since it had a lot of scratches when we bought it!<br />
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One of the first things we did was finish clearing out brush and junk bushes from an area that we use to go from the driveway to the back portion of our property. We wanted to stop driving the tractor across the grass, so we cleared a path and then used wood chips from the town to keep the weeds down and prevent the area from turning into a mud path.<br />
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With the trees greening up, the area looked really nice (and still does). It provides a good transition between the yard and the woods.<br />
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Last but not least, in early June, some of my siblings and I participated in a 5k race in our hometown. The race is dedicated to a student (he was a senior when I was a freshman in high school) who was killed in a car accident. He was a very dedicated runner on our cross country team and had always wanted to go to school for physical education (he had a running scholarship to St. Lawrence University) and to be able to come back to the town and improve things there. <br />
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When we were in high school, we didn't have a track to run on. The only track we had was an old cinder track that you'd be more likely to break your ankle than to set any records. So we practiced by running laps around the parking lot. We had a total of four hurdles to practice over for races where you needed to clear 10 of them, and yet, we had one of the best track teams in the state. The race has been held for 21 years now, and the town has one of the best track and field facilities in the entire state thanks to the participants of the race and the donations that have come in as a result of the race.<br />
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Anyway... I digress a bit...<br />
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Last year, I participated in the race by walking with my younger sister (the one on the far left in the photo below). After we did it, my other sister (the one on the far right) said she wanted to do it this year. We also roped one of our brothers into doing it with us as well this year. The three "dry" looking people walked the race and carried umbrellas since it was pouring the entire time. I ran the race and got completely drenched. We had a great time though, which was the whole point of it. I also ran a personal best of 33:55, which was 3 minutes faster than a 5k I had run a month prior.<br />
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We ended up with a fun weekend of the siblings getting together. The rain didn't damper our spirits at all. I hope we can all get together to do it again next year!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-33173296681128654292016-07-26T12:58:00.001-04:002016-07-26T12:58:41.964-04:00Quilting MojoAck! Its been months again since I last posted. How does that happen?<br />
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It seems that I've lost my quilting mojo as of late. The past few months I've had little desire to go and quilt (which is highly unusual). I sometimes wonder whether its lack of enthusiasm in the projects I'm working or just plain not wanting to spend more time inside than outside.<br />
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I tend to have the later problem when its summer time. My office at work is buried in a large manufacturing building, so I don't see daylight unless I have specific meetings near the front of the building. As such, by the time I get home (or on weekends), the last thing I want to do is be inside.<br />
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The up-side to that is that I've been doing a lot of running outdoors. Earlier this year, I participated in a 5k at work (which didn't go as well as I wanted), a 3.5 mile corporate challenge, and then another 5k in my hometown. Between the 1st and 2nd 5k, a month of training passed and I was able to decrease my time by 3 minutes, which is pretty significant considering the races are 3.1 miles. I was able to drop my time by 1 minute per mile.<br />
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I've still been training, but haven't selected my next race. I keep telling myself... sign up for the next race when the weather is cooler on a Saturday... but the weather hasn't cooled off yet! :) I will sign up for one soon and hopefully I'll finish around the 30 minute mark for the race.<br />
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I have gotten some quilting done, but no photos to show for it. Its been slow going with two kids quilts that I was supposed to have done in June. Oops.... I'm a bit late with them. They are surprise gifts, so at least the recipient doesn't know its coming.. or how late it is. LOL.<br />
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I will try to post some more on here... it has felt like each week goes by really quickly and I just never seem to get around to quilting (or posting). Its been a crazy year so far and will probably continue to be.<br />
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I hope everyone is keeping up with their quilting (or other crafts)!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-54926062420555018172016-04-26T08:43:00.001-04:002016-04-26T08:43:36.333-04:00Heat Wave Continued and Water UpdateIts been quite a while since I last posted... life definitely seems to get in the way these days!<br />
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The past few months have been hectic to say the least with a lot of things going on both at home and at work. The company I work for (a very large one) acquired a competitor last year and we've been struggling for the past 4 months to try to integrate the two businesses. For years we built up walls to prevent knowledge transfer, and now we're trying to figure out how to take down all those walls.<br />
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The water issue is semi-resolved. From a standpoint of clean water, it is resolved. The well system that we had put in is doing the job and we've had the water tested a few times to make sure it is doing what it is supposed to be doing. We have clean, drinkable water that we don't really have to worry about. However, we don't know the long-term effects on the well and whether we will have water in a dry-spell or not. We are trying to remain hopeful that the aquifer is good and we won't have any water issues.<br />
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On the non-resolved side, we are still fighting with the well driller's insurance company. I swear these people are the dumbest folks I've run into in a very long time. They tried to get us to sign a form to release water tests results from a consulting company that we never worked with. Come to find out, the well driller had used that consulting company...not us. We couldn't sign a release form for a company that we never even contacted (but the insurance company couldn't figure that out on their own without us explicitly telling them...TWICE). Then when they did send us the form to sign for our own water testing, it was riddled with mistakes. We had to mark it up to them and send it back (unsigned) so they can fix it before we will sign it. I have a feeling this is going to be a very drawn out event and maybe...eventually... we will get something out of them.<br />
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On the quilty front, I made progress on the Heat Wave quilt and started (ahem) two other quilts. Oops! :)<br />
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Here's where I left off the last time, with my paper-piecing blocks. I was able to get all of them done in fairly short order once I got the rhythm of it.<br />
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Then it was on to assembling all the pieces into the blocks that make up the center of the quilt.<br />
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Overall, three different blocks with the green corner squares in different places depending upon the final placement in the quilt.<br />
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Here is one set of blocks completely sewn.<br />
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I do have them now all sewn into the center section of the quilt, but I'll save that for another day as well as pictures of the two new quilts that I'm making.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-19284285794513561572016-02-23T12:55:00.001-05:002016-02-23T12:55:13.310-05:00Ready for SpringWhile this winter has been fairly mild as far as winters go, I was a bit sad to not receive a lot of snow this year. Most of the first part of winter, we were above freezing temperatures and received rain for every storm that came through. There have only been a handful of times that we had actual snow come down and stay for more than a day or two. I think total, we're only at about 10 inches of snow so far this year (normally we are around 40 inches of snow).<br />
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That being said... we did have a weekend where the temperatures were absolutely brutal. I LOVED my fireplace that weekend and had it roaring all weekend. Our overnight lows for two days was -20F and the high was barely above 0F. There was a nasty wind, too, so our windchill values were down around -40F.<br />
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The only thing that came close to being as good as that fire that weekend was this:<br />
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My oldest brother's girlfriend found out that I was into tea and that I loved an old tea pot that my parents had. She found one and sent it to me as a post-Christmas gift. I love it!<br />
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It is one of those old ceramic pots that have a metal tea-cozy that is the exact size of the pot. The cozy is lined with wool to help keep the teapot warm. And since it has slots for the handle and spout, you don't have to take the cozy off in order to pour the tea! Bonus!!<br />
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I'm ready for spring though at this point. Its the end of February and I'm ready for it to start getting nice so I can enjoy being outside again!<br />
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How about all of you? Ready for spring or wishing for some "real" winter?<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-20194433305716471112016-02-17T12:34:00.000-05:002016-02-17T12:34:08.968-05:00Heat Wave - Paper PiecingThe Heat Wave quilt that I started a few weeks back is in full swing for creating blocks. One of the larger block assemblies uses paper pieced corners. I did one block with paper piecing many years ago and haven't done it in a while. While you end up with accurate seams, it does take a while to get the blocks made.<br />
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I didn't take pictures for the first seam that I sewed on these blocks, but thought I'd give a little tutorial on what I found worked for me while making these simple blocks.<br />
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This is the paper side of the block that I needed to make. The solid, angled lines are the stitching lines (one is already stitched) and I drew 1/4 lines to help with my fabric placement.<br />
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After sewing the first seam with fabric in place, flip your block over so you have the fabric facing up.<br />
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Fold the paper back along the stitched line and line up your ruler leaving a quarter inch between the sewn line and the edge of the ruler.<br />
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Cut along this line to remove the excess fabric that isn't needed.<br />
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Flip everything over again and press your sewn fabric open so it all lays flat.<br />
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This is where I made my own little trick for getting the fabric placed correctly for the next sewing line. On the paper side, place pins at the intersection points of your drawn line and the outer edge of the block. I use the pin placement to guide where I want my fabric to be.<br />
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When I flip it over, I can see the pins sticking up and I place the edge of my next piece of fabric right next to those pins. This makes sure that I have at least a quarter inch of fabric for my seam. I then carefully full out the pins without shifting placement of the loosen fabric. This gets placed under the pressure foot of my machine and I start sewing.<br />
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Line up your needle with the edge of the block and approximately in line with your sewing line. Some people start right at the edge of the final block, but I found starting in the seam allowance made pressing easier for me afterwards.<br />
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Sew down the solid line with your needle JUST to the right of the sewing line (towards to the seam allowance). Sewing just off the line will allow space for your fabric to fold over the sewn line when you press it.<br />
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Similar to the initial steps, fold back the paper, trim your seam allowance and then press your block open.<br />
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The cream/green block above is the final result of my paper piecing. I had 48 of these blocks to make, which took a while, but they look great in the end.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-54030708217267398232016-02-15T12:22:00.003-05:002016-02-15T12:22:54.413-05:00Organizing and ColdThis year has been cold, but sadly, non-snowy for upstate NY. If its going to be cold, it might as well snow and be done with it! I think we've had a total of maybe...and that's a BIG maybe... ten inches of snow this year. Its downright pathetic.<br />
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However, we have had cold, which makes it perfect sewing weather as there's no way I'm going outside when its well below freezing! With all that cold weather, I did do a bit of organizing in the sewing room. I realized that my various strips (ranging from 1.5" to 3.5" wide) were just all over the place and not organized in any fashion. Its very difficult to get yourself to use your own pre-cut strips if you have a mis-mash of colors.<br />
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So I spent a little time one weekend to organize my strips by color and make an attempt to be able to use them better in the future. My 2" wide strips were able to fit into a smaller shoe-box sized bin.<br />
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But my 2.5" strips are still piled up in the big bin. Since this picture was taken, I did sort them by color as well, so they're all "prepped" and ready to be used in some pattern in the future.<br />
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I also was able to make some decent progress on the next quilt (Heat Wave), but that will be for another post.<br />
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This past weekend was just all about trying to stay warm. Saturday night/Sunday morning we bottomed out at about -25F....and that was without the windchill. I don't know the exact windchill values we had, but the forecast was for values around -35 to -40F.<br />
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You can bet I spent my weekend by the fire as much as I could!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-72068201134958813712016-01-25T12:28:00.000-05:002016-01-25T12:28:11.261-05:00Water...The Next GoldYou never realize how important something really is until you don't have access to it. I think most people take it for granted that they have clean drinking water at their disposal anytime you need or want it. Growing up, I had public water all the time and never really thought twice about not having water, or I should say clean water. My parents' summer home had questionable water when I was very little, but we always brought drinking water over from the main house and used the tap water there only for washing and showering. The water there eventually got upgraded to water from the county (versus the small village) and its been clean ever since.<br />
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Over the past few weeks of dealing with our water issues, I've become more aware of how precious water can be. I also look at what is happening in Flint, Michigan, and it makes me grateful that I do have my own water supply that I can control (to some extent). I don't have to wait for some town to figure out that the water is bad and to eventually fix it. I can do the testing myself and fix it.<br />
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Which is where this post is going....<br />
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We got news just over a week ago that our water was not suitable for drinking. The water appeared clean, but I think that's where people sometimes get tripped up. After the well drilling company next door messed up our well, we drank the water for two days before I said I wasn't comfortable doing it and we switched over to drinking bottled water until we could get test results back. We knew ahead of time that our well had sulfur, iron and a bit of methane. Our original water "system" had a chlorination system (sulfur, iron and chlorine bond and can be filtered out in something like a Brita filter) to take care of the sulfur and iron. <br />
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With the changes caused by the hydrofracking, we have a significant increase in the amount of methane in our water. The hydrofracking also introduced coliform (bacteria) into the water. Thankfully, the chlorination system is killing the bacteria; however, with the huge amount of methane we have now, there are two major problems. First, we have a tremendous amount of water hammering now (i.e. gas buildup that causes pipes to rattle). Long-term water hammering actually damages pipes and appliances and can cause major water issues as the pipes can break from the change in pressure.<br />
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The second issue...due to the insane amount of methane (and the fact that we chlorinate the water for sulfur and iron), we now have a chemical in our water called chloromethane (chlorine and methane bonding). Chloromethane is toxic for humans. It causes nervous system problems and if ingested by someone who is pregnant, will cause severe birth defects in the fetus. I'm very glad that I made the cautious decision not to drink the water until the tests came back, as this is BAD STUFF!<br />
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We had three companies come to the house last week to quote water systems to fix our new issues. We ended up picking one of them and they are installing a system this week. Thankfully it is all fixable.....for a price. Due to the cost of it, we also sent a letter to the well drilling company explaining everything (including all of our water test results) and that we expect them to cover our expenses for the new water treatment system since it is a direct result of their poor decision to hydrofrack. We are not sure whether we will get anywhere with them, but we have to try.<br />
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So at this point, its at least another 4 weeks of using bottled water until we can get a new set of water tests back. While the new system is designed to take care of these problems, we want to make sure that it does before we start drinking the water again. It will be nice to be able to drink water straight from the tap again.<br />
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On the crafty side though (and because I want to include a picture), I've started a new cross-stitch pattern. I've temporarily given up on the last one and put it aside as it was just REALLY slow going. This one will be faster to sew (a bit smaller) and I'm more excited about this one. Here is the next project:<br />
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I'm really liking the reds, golds and oranges in this one, which is a nice change after doing just blues and greens.<br />
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Hope everyone is doing OK after the storm that came up the coast this past weekend. We didn't get a single snowflake, but I know other areas got hit really hard.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-3557275431375528152016-01-11T17:01:00.001-05:002016-01-11T17:01:19.195-05:00Water SagaAnother post without pictures... but a post nonetheless. :c)<br />
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For anyone who is new, just prior to Christmas, we had some problems with our well water. All the gory details, and a few pictures, are posted <a href="http://upstatenycreations.blogspot.com/2015/12/water-woes.html?_sm_au_=iMVHZ3fRLQVHfnnP">here</a>.<br />
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The well driller did put in a filter to catch the sediment and we're waiting for our water tests to come back at this phase to make sure we still have clean water to drink. However, the water straight out of the well (non-filtered) is still cloudy. It is definitely better, but not crystal clear like it used to be.<br />
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This is where it has gotten a little annoying. The well driller calls us once every week or two and says "I've sold that filter and I'm going to need it back". Our response all along, and they agreed when they put it in, was that it will stay until we have clear water. Thankfully, our neighbor (who is ultimately paying this guy) is on our side and has also called the well driller to tell him no, he can't take the filter yet.<br />
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The good thing... the filter is inside the house. They can't come and get it without us letting them in to take it. :D<br />
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The bad side... we're getting tired of the phone calls. AND.... we found out the neighbor's well is only producing 2.5 gallons per minute. Code in our area is a minimum of 3 gallons per minute. So we don't think he's done messing with his well yet since he needs to get at least another 1/2 gallon out of it in order to put a house there.<br />
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We are truly hoping that there hasn't been any major damage to the quality of our well, but we really won't know until we have clean water and we go through a hot and dry summer. Then we will know if our well is truly stable again.<br />
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I do have some crafting/quilting stuff to post again. I've been doing a lot of clean-up of boxes of scraps. Eventually I will use all my extra fabric for some scrap quilts!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-28021501582702093452016-01-04T09:04:00.000-05:002016-01-04T09:04:37.543-05:00Happy New Year!At the start of a new year, I typically do not feel different or invigorated to try something new. No New Year's resolutions for this girl! I usually try to make it a point not to do something "special" for the new year as I want the things that I choose to do to be things that I want to do regardless of what time of year it is.<br />
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That being said....<br />
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This year I do want to be better with blogging. I got out of the habit of regularly posting last year, and I'd like to try and change that this year. I may not have pictures to show on every post, but I'm going to try to share a little more of what goes on here in my little world.<br />
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The last two weeks of the year were busy to say the least, but I'm glad I was fortunate enough to have two full weeks off from work. I used the time to visit with family, spend time with my spouse, and in general just unwind for a hectic work schedule.<br />
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I was able to get a few quilting/crafty things done over the break, but most of my time was spent visiting with family and just generally enjoying life. I'll be sure to share some more of our winter-break adventures this week. :c)<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-50931205908765974232015-12-15T12:51:00.003-05:002015-12-15T12:51:28.951-05:00Water WoesI've been quiet lately with a lot of things going on both at work and home. However, I felt the need to share this one...<br />
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Our neighbor has been trying to put a well in for a few weeks. They are down to about 400ft and still no water. Our well is only 250ft deep and we have great water. It really comes down to WHO you use for digging a well.<br />
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Anyway - the well-driller next door decided the next route was to do hydro fracking. This is a standard method that's been done for years for water wells, but apparently there are no real "rules" around how close you can be to an existing well without impacting it. On Friday, they started hydro fracking and the only reason we knew was because my husband was home that day.<br />
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We thought everything was fine until we woke up Saturday morning to discover that our clean, clear water was now murky grey. The hydro fracking opened up a fissure into our well and disturbed everything.<br />
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Thankfully, we still have water in the well, but we were pumping it out continuously over the weekend to try and clear out the muck. The picture below pretty much tells the story.<br />
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Thursday night we had nice clear water and Saturday morning you couldn't see through the glass. The picture of the glasses was taken this morning (3 days after the water was put into the Saturday morning glass) and the sediment in the water STILL hasn't settled.<br />
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We ran the well all day Saturday and Sunday, which is why the Sunday night glass is somewhat see-through. On Monday, the well driller came and put in a temporary filter such that we can use our water again.<br />
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We honestly don't know if our well looked as murky when it was first dug or not. Our builder ran if for a week straight just continuously dumping the water out of the well to flush out all the junk. We weren't trying to live there at that point, so it wasn't a big deal. Now that we live in our house, it is a big deal when you don't have potable water.<br />
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Thankfully, both the well-driller and our neighbor are being very good about this and making sure that our water gets fixed. We spent the weekend using bottled water and doing laundry at a laundromat versus in the house. An inconvenience, but was OK for a weekend. I'm definitely happy to have decent water back. We still have to test every few days to see if the unfiltered water is coming in clean yet, but we have the filter (free of charge) in place until the water is clear.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-47962761780190299602015-12-08T12:46:00.000-05:002015-12-08T12:46:11.251-05:00A Bit of Quilting...Its been a while....<br />
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again....<br />
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Time has been getting the better of me again and its been almost two months since I last posted. I seriously don't know where the time has gone. It seems like I was just home visiting with my older sister, but that was at Halloween which is 6 weeks ago now.<br />
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To show how things have been going....<br />
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This was what happened one morning...before I had my coffee or tea. I was trying to take the slow-cooker out of the pantry and the cat treats when all over the place. It was a fairly easy pickup since most of the treats landed on the lid, but it just goes to show that coffee needs to come first before anything else. :c)<br />
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I have done quilting and even finished a quilt! I know... crazy that I actually finished something this year. <br />
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It didn't take long to quilt this one once it was loaded onto the frame.<br />
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Even as I was quilting it, I could see the texture starting to show. I really like this panto and its great for a kids' quilt. Its called Celebrate.<br />
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Of course, right when I got to the last line of quilting.... the bobbin thread ran out. And it wasn't even the start of the last line, but with only about 20 inches left. Grrr!<br />
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<br />Here it is all finished though. <br />
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The angled view on the frame gives a nice view of the quilting and texture pre-washing.<br />
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On this particular quilt, I didn't know the baby's name, so I only put my standard generic label onto the binding. Instead of doing a label on the back of the quilt, I embroider it right into the binding. Its less obtrusive I think and it would be pretty hard for someone to remove it.<br />
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After washing, the quilt has that beautiful crinkled look to it. I love this batting (<a href="http://www.quiltersdreambatting.com/">Quilter's Dream</a> Cotton in their Supreme Loft).<br />
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I also really liked the backing on this one. The polka dots were really cute for a baby quilt.<br />
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And one last shot of the texture along the length of the quilt with the fading sun of a winter afternoon.<br />
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Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for Christmas! It will be here before any of us know it!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-35457497341928033432015-10-19T13:06:00.002-04:002015-10-19T13:06:28.955-04:00Heat Wave!I wish we had a heat wave right now. As it stands, we've had to use our fireplace the past few nights to take the chill off the air in the house. Sunday we definitely needed it though as the overnight low was down to 24F and the daytime temp only reached about 45F.<br />
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We even had it... S N O W!!!! I was not happy to see these little babies on the porch and the little white things flying in the air.<br />
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So what's a girl to do???<br />
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Stay inside and quilt! I purchased Judy Laquidara's book Nine Patch Extravaganza several years ago and even bought the fabric to make her quilt called Heat Wave. I decided to finally pull it out and get to work!<br />
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I have similar colors to Judy's original quilt and started cutting up all the pieces I needed.<br />
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My "OCD" factor is coming up high on this one while I was cutting things out. LOL<br />
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And all the pieces cut for the center portion of the quilt and the non-pieced borders. All neatly lined up and ready to go. Sometimes when I stack this stuff up, it makes me not want to do anything more so I can keep it in the nice and neat little piles. Thankfully, that feeling doesn't last too long!<br />
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I have about 20 of the 80 flying geese blocks made so far for this quilt. There are a lot of bonus HSTs as part of making those flying geese, so i'll have to figure out something to do with the tan and gold-ish HSTs.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-28441927330162575972015-10-02T12:33:00.002-04:002015-10-02T12:33:43.146-04:00Baby Quilt ProgressI know its been a while again since my last post. Life has been busy around here.<br />
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I've been focusing a lot on work and my health lately. On the health front, its no major issues...just trying to be more health conscious. I picked up running over the summer and still try to get in two or three runs every week. With cold weather and dark evenings on the horizon, I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to keep up my running routine. I can easily run 3 miles outside in 30 minutes without much effort, but once I get on a treadmill.... good bye. I feel like I'm dying after the first mile or so.<br />
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I don't know whether its boredom with being on a treadmill or if I just find it hard to run on a treadmill. I know I will still look forward to my weekend running that I can do outside for as long as I can! The good thing is that with running and paying attention to myself over the past year or so, I've gone from a size 8 or 10 down to a size 4 (sometimes a 6 if the style is really trim cut). I'm now holding steady around 126 or 127 pounds, which is something I haven't been at for about 8 years, so I'm really pleased with that.<br />
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Anyway - on to the stuff you really want to see... the quilting! :c)<br />
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A friend of ours is having a baby (boy) this fall, so I went about making a cute quilt for them a few weeks ago. Here are the fabrics/squares all laid out in my OCD fashion. LOL!<br />
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It was quick work to sew all the pieces together, especially since it just had to be random for the most part. I did line up the larger squares as well as the 3-piece strip sets on my design wall to make sure there wasn't too much of one color family in any area of the quilt.<br />
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All the strips came together quickly and I think I got most of the top done in just a few hours.<br />
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When it came to sewing the longer strips, I sewed the strips first and then laid them out on the wall and moved things around as needed to try and minimize having the same colors next to each other. The image below is missing some of the white sashing pieces, but it was only up there so I could see how the colored squares went together.<br />
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And here is the middle of the top... only one large border to add...<br />
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Ta-da!<br />
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One happy quilt top all put together.<br />
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I prepped the backing yesterday and hope to get it on the frame and quilted this weekend. The backing material is a really cute polka dot that has similar colors as the front of the quilt. I have a deep blue that I'm using for binding. I wanted to use the green and the blue to give it a slightly more masculine feel since the baby is a boy.<br />
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I hope everyone is enjoying their fall. I did see on one <a href="http://andsew4th.blogspot.ch/2015/09/great-scott.html">blog</a> that Alaska is already receiving snow! September is a little early for snow...even for those of us who enjoy the snow!<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-70676356818358574542015-08-24T12:35:00.000-04:002015-08-24T12:35:09.421-04:00AQS Quilt Show - Syracuse 2015I had the opportunity to go to the AQS Quilt Show in Syracuse, NY this summer. The show was held in July and it was my first "real" quilt show. I've gone to fairs and local guild shows, but never something as large as this (and this isn't even large compared to the Houston or Paducah shows). I ended up going to the show with my Mom and we had a great time and took a lot of photos of the great quilts there.<br />
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"Hurricane" by Janneke de Vries-Bodzinga from the Netherlands.<br />
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"Petals" by Marcia Baraldi from Brazil.<br />
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"Red and Black Illusion" by Kaiko Ike (I think that's the right name, my picture is a little blurry to read the text on the card now.)<br />
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"For Ewe" by Janet Henshaw<br />
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"Weighed in the Balance" by Marilyn Smith<br />
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I don't have a close-up of the name of this quilt or the quilter. :c( It was a beautiful quilt though.<br />
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"One Cake, Two Cake, Red Cake, Blue Cake" by Linda Neal. This quilt had a wonderful whimsical feel to it. It was really creative and I loved the different types of quilting on it.<br />
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"Byrne's Spiral" by Beth Nuler. There were a fair number of quilts with grey as the background instead of pure white or cream. It was an interesting change to see that type of background.<br />
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"Georgia On My Mind" by Diane Evans. Since I'm a music fan, I loved the music symbols surrounding the center section of this quilt.<br />
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This next one was the Best of Show. "Stars on Mars" (I can't read the name of the quilter off the picture). <br />
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Again, this used a dark background and the quilting detail was fantastic. I'm not surprised one bit that it won Best of Show.<br />
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I loved the use of colored thread in the next picture on the border area.<br />
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There was also a red and white exhibit (non-judged. The quilt below was "Uneven Nine Patch" by Linda Lasco and quilted by Judi Madsen from <a href="http://www.greenfairyquiltsblog.com/">Green Fairy Quilts</a>. Judi does fantastic work and this is no exception.<br />
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Overall, I really enjoyed the show and it gave me quite a bit to think about in terms of my own quilting and where I want to go with it. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-60448538739977090612015-07-13T12:39:00.000-04:002015-07-13T12:39:02.647-04:00VacationLast week, my husband and I both took the entire week off from work. We didn't really have any plans to go anywhere, but we both needed to just not be at work. Sometimes it isn't about going somewhere on vacation, but just being able to relax.<br />
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I always feel like when I travel on vacation that I need a secondary vacation to make up for the energy spent traveling somewhere. It was really nice to just be home and relax. We did make the most of our time and got a fair amount done around the house/yard.<br />
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When we purchased our piano a few months ago, we decided to convert our formal dining room into the room with the piano. This ended up meaning that we had to change the table in our eat-in kitchen area to be one with leaves in it so we could seat everyone for large families dinners. I don't have a picture of the new table yet, but it was delivered last week while we were home.<br />
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In addition to the new table, we then had to find some comfy chairs to put in the room with the piano. We both hate furniture shopping. Most of the time you don't find anything you like and you end up frustrated and feeling hassled by the sales folks at the stores. This time, we did find some chairs!<br />
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This chair was at the 3rd furniture store we went to (over 2 weekends), but we fell in love with it. Its comfortable to sit in and looks very nice. One of the best parts.. its actually a recliner! It looks like any normal chair (even from the back), but that square section on the front...that's the foot rest. They will be perfect in the room with the piano and will let one of us sit and relax while the other plays.<br />
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Besides a bunch of yard work being done last week, we also spent some time at my in-laws where they live on a lake. We went up twice and enjoyed swimming and kayaking.<br />
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Finally since I haven't shown many garden pictures this year.... The catchfly is flowering and is a very pretty orange-red color.<br />
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My orange coneflowers are also finally blooming. They seem to be happy this year, which is good considering we thought we were going to have to replace them since they just didn't do it last year.<br />
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I hope you all are enjoying your summer and those of you in the south aren't wilting from the heat too much yet. I did get a small amount of quilting done on vacation, but not enough to even consider taking pictures. Hopefully I'll get my mojo back soon and will start making progress on a few things.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-28970115375905876872015-07-09T08:00:00.000-04:002015-07-09T08:00:01.046-04:00Client Quilt In early June, I was contacted to do the quilting for a local quilter. She had originally planned on doing the quilting herself, but could no longer do it. I was happy to do the quilting for her and we made the arrangements to send the quilt my way.<br />
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The quilt was a beautiful pieced quilt with embroidered blocks. Each block was embroidered with a different type of flower as well as the name of the flower. The client wanted something simple and left it up to me to decide whether to quilt over the embroidered flowers or around them. After receiving the quilt, I definitely knew that I did not want to quilt over the flowers. The were very pretty and I wanted my quilting to showcase her embroidery versus potentially covering it up at all. The client was concerned with some puckering around the designs, but I was able to handle that with the quilting I chose.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19147398809" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/380/19147398809_9b5fd2c5ae_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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I ended up using a variegated thread for the top portion of the quilt. The color variation is very subtle, but has a pale pink, blue and green in it. You can see it in person in the quilt on the white areas and it pulls the colors from the flowers a little bit here and there.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19333531275" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="480" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/356/19333531275_234dfe8523_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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The top thread was called Morning Sky by <a href="http://www.superiorthreads.com/">Superior Threads</a> (their King Tut line). The bottom thread was a pale blue (Baby Blue) from Superior's Bottom Line thread line. I've always had good luck with Superior Threads and haven't had issues with breakage. Both of my sewing machines seem to love the thread.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19147392169" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/333/19147392169_5b549d6044_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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I did a medium-sized loop design throughout the quilt. I wanted to have the freedom to move about the embroidered spaces and still create texture throughout the quilt. The client wanted to tie the sashings and blocks together, so the quilting extended throughout the entire quilt and around the flowers and embroidered names.<br />
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I used <a href="http://quiltersdreambatting.com/">Quilter's Dream</a> 100% cotton batting for this quilt. Only one layer was used since I use their thickest loft...Supreme. It almost gives the thickness of wool, but is great for someone who doesn't want the potential allergic issue with wool.<br />
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The next two photos show the completed quilt and really highlights the texture created with the loops and thicker batting.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/18711025844" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/431/18711025844_244360183a_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19327480372" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/427/19327480372_9c75c49445_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19333547685" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/522/19333547685_84646ed5d2_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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The client also asked me to trim up the quilt and add the binding around the edge of the quilt. I machine stitched the binding to the front of the quilt after squaring it up and left the hand sewing to her (at her request).<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/18712948633" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/386/18712948633_0520f94b76_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19307464866" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3846/19307464866_2fc29226c4_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19147417549" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/373/19147417549_ce1d8fe1ea_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19145958818" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/313/19145958818_e94600eea8_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/19147425799" title="Client quilt June 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Client quilt June 2015" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/399/19147425799_63a0bf162a_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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Overall, the quilt turned out really nicely and the client was ecstatic at the end result. I always try my hardest to make each quilt something that I would be proud of to call my own. The best part is that the client was very happy about the result of the quilting and it exceeded her expectations.<br />
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Here's a small bit from her email to me:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 16px;">I just opened the box and I have only one thing that I can say about your work... you took a first time attempt at making a quilt by me and turned it into a MAGNIFICENT piece of art. I am nearly speechless. I knew it would be nice but I didn’t expect it to be this beautiful. You are an artist and I hope you realize that. What you did for my quilt was not an ordinary run of the mill quilting job... you knew how to highlight the embroidery and how to blend the rest of the quilt into one solid piece of art. I am going to be so proud to give this to my daughter. Thank you so much for putting the effort into it that you did. It shows that you care about what you do. </span><br />
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It makes me extraordinarily happy when a client really enjoys the end result! :c)<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-72068389551775691552015-07-08T10:36:00.001-04:002015-07-08T10:36:40.202-04:00Busy! Busy! Busy!The past month has yet again absolutely flown by. Its amazing how each year time seems to go by even faster than the last. I'm not quite sure how that happens, but somehow we're into July already and I barely feel like summer started.<br />
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I've been keeping busy lately with a lot of things. Work (as usual) keeps me busy during the week from about 7:30am until about 6pm. However, over the past two months, I've taken up running three times a week. Last fall, I kind of got kicked in the butt to do something about my weight (about 20-25 lbs over what I should have been). I purchased a Fitbit Flex and have loved having it. It seems silly, but it keeps me accountable for actually getting up and moving more.<br />
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The first few months, I paid attention to how much I was walking and changed my eating habits slightly (no more bagels for breakfast). By November, I had lost the 20 lbs I wanted to lose. I've continued with the exercise and become more fit. I'm still trying to get the last 5 lbs or so (I would really like to be down to 125 lbs again), but I'll get there eventually.<br />
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I walked a 5k with my sister a few weeks ago and plan on running (or at least partially running) one in the next two weeks. I'm definitely more fit than I was and am glad that I've lost the weight and can now run more easily.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/18193104161" title="Garden 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Garden 2015" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7744/18193104161_6de3664c39_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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My garden has also taken off in the past month. My lupines were beautiful while they were blooming. I now have orange coneflowers up as well as some lavender. My phlox should be blooming shortly.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17571317463" title="Garden 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Garden 2015" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7773/17571317463_3fdb7abb5d_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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My clematis are also going like crazy. I have purple, pink and white flowers all over the place. I definitely need to get an updated picture of it.<br />
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Last but not least, I also had a client contact me for quilting her quilt last month. I finished it up and sent it back to her and will share some pictures here, but that is for another post since I have some nice photos to show. She did a great job with her embroidery and I made sure that my quilting didn't detract from the embroidered blocks at all.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-25136275462310614362015-06-01T21:08:00.000-04:002015-06-01T21:08:07.863-04:00Garden UpdateThe garden this year has been doing surprisingly well, despite not having a lot of rain this spring. All of my plants survived our cold and snowy winter and are coming along very well. In fact, I think they are doing better this year than in the past simply due to having to "hibernate" longer.<br />
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The columbine is doing very well this year. They are always my first ones to flower and its so nice to see that first pop of color after a long dreary winter.<br />
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This year I also decided to do some annuals in my planters on the porch. I skipped it last year and missed out on the color. This year I have a good mix of white, purple, pink and yellow to brighten things up.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/16976385703" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5349/16976385703_d0b005dfc8_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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For my birthday this spring, I received two garden "ornaments". The first is this birdbath that is shaped like a flower. The extra color in the garden is nice and the small birds seem to like it. I've even seen a hummingbird at it.<br />
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The other ornament was this glass ball with a metal moon around it. It gives a little bit of sparkle to the garden with the metallic shine. The glass ball also glows slightly in the evening as it starts to get dark. Its a nice addition to the garden.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17640432042" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8713/17640432042_05f93c6148_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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Another view of my columbine as well as silver mound. The silver mound are very happy. They started out as two plants, which I split last fall and I now have four sections of very healthy and happy plants. I have to give them haircuts once in a while to keep them from getting out of control, but I like their compact shape and the bit of simple green they add to the garden.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17612461009" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7738/17612461009_7fcf94e7f1_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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The picture below is from about 2 weeks ago. I had purchase some new small ground cover plants to go in front of the clematis. The clematis is only just starting to take off in the photo. Now it has blooms all over it and the green is at least halfway up the trellis.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17612502699" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7688/17612502699_2d6b227300_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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I hope everyone is enjoying their spring and early summer. Before we know it, it will be hot and humid and we'll be asking for it to be fall! ;c)<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-80357406042859303132015-05-27T12:45:00.001-04:002015-05-27T12:45:27.007-04:00UpdatesIt has been pretty crazy busy around here lately. I realized the other day that is has been a while since my last post...again. At the beginning of May, I had a business trip to visit my team located in Mexico.<br />
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The city, Queretaro, is a very pretty city and is quite old. It is a large city, too with over 1 million people in it.<br />
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I didn't take a lot of pictures while there, but did take a few. The photo below is of the hillside above the city. We were driving back to work from lunch and passed by some areas that were yet to be developed. They had some rain the week before, so things were greener than normal as the area is typically very desert-like.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17410371439" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5441/17410371439_b96d40d972_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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This is one of the areas in downtown Queretaro. The city has lots of little plazas where people can congregate and just relax.<br />
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I thought this fountain was cute with the dogs on it. I have no idea what it was for...but it looked cute.<br />
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One of the nights we went out to dinner was a local steak restaurant. They brought over this huge platter of pieces of meat that we could pick out. Since we were still full from lunch, we just ordered three of the steaks (the two bottom on the right, and the one on the left) and shared them.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/16974223624" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8877/16974223624_02b119c4c6_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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Steaks all cooked.... yum!<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17410343799" title="Untitled by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8685/17410343799_c32c10fff5_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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And you can't go to Mexico without a few souvenirs. :c) I picked up some Don Julio (very good tequila) and mezcal, which is similar to tequila but distilled differently. It has a smoky taste to it and is a lot stronger than the tequila. I personally prefer the Don Julio... could drink that stuff all day. The mezcal.... I have to be in the right mood for it.<br />
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I also picked up a traditional doll that is specific only to Queretaro. I got this for my 6 (almost 7) year old niece. Its a cute doll and was pretty easy to find...even in the non-tourist areas.<br />
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On a more local note, summer has arrived in upstate NY. When I got back from my trip, it was just as warm in NY as it was in Mexico. We haven't had a lot of rain though, so at this point, most people's yards are brown and crunchy. I've only been watering the delicate garden plants (i.e. new this year). The rest can fend for themselves.<br />
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I'll share some updated pictures of the garden soon.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-75434534197064641302015-04-20T12:41:00.002-04:002015-04-20T12:41:58.150-04:00Spring!It is finally here!! :c)<br />
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We had our first truly nice weekend weather-wise this past weekend. We had one day last week, but both Saturday and Sunday were nice here. Much of the nice weather has been spent raking the yard to remove the dead grass....definitely not one of my favorite spring-time chores. I'm sore from all the raking. Half of the yard was done two weekends ago and the rest of it was done this past weekend.<br />
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However, my plants are starting to grow and its really nice to see some green! One of the "weaker" lupine plants below. For some reason it is struggling a little in its current home, so I may decide to move it later this summer if it continues to struggle.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/16584011783" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7676/16584011783_d489d4f55e_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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I have some silver mound that I split last fall and now have four plants. They are all a bit smaller, but will definitely grow a bit this year. You can keep trimming them all year to keep them nice and tidy, so they provide a nice accent to the garden.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17018057979" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7592/17018057979_09717b0e42_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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My clematis are starting to show signs of life as well.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17202552282" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8769/17202552282_968af59f1b_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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You do have to look closely to see some of the green...but its there.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17016664010" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8698/17016664010_3ce1890ab7_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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I think these two plants are called columbine. They were a bit over-crowded last year, so I did some re-arranging in the fall to try to give them some more space this year. Hopefully it will help and make them happier.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17178271646" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5462/17178271646_e3626a6f3a_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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These ones are campanula. They produce very pretty purple flowers...and lots of them. These were also moved last year as they were crowded in with the columbine. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/16581768044" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8744/16581768044_bb183794e8_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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These next two are my happiest lupines. They have more stalks than I can count right now, so they are definitely in a happy place. I can't wait to see how many flowers I get out of these guys this year.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17178270836" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7627/17178270836_9bdbbb5938_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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So this next picture is a bit odd. You all know that I do quilting (or at least attempt to do it when I can find the time to get into my sewing room). Aside from taking care of the garden, I also help split the wood we use to heat the house in the winter. I started splitting wood last fall when I was going through a stressful time at work and I've found that I absolutely love it. It is a great workout and is amazing at stress relief. Beating on a big hunk of wood is very satisfying! :c)<br />
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Since my husband also splits the wood, there were times last fall that we would both want to split, but we only had one axe. So one of us would have to find something else to do, or just stand there and pick up the wood pieces. I decided to fix that this year and put a new axe on my birthday list. Its the same length as the old one, but is a tad bit lighter and had great reviews on Amazon.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17016452128" title="Spring 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring 2015" height="640" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8788/17016452128_34ccff5fdc_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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I didn't get a chance to test it out this weekend since we spent all of Sunday raking (Saturday was spent doing some family stuff). I'm hoping to be able to test it out this coming weekend and see how it splits. The reviews on Amazon said that it was really easy to split wood with the axe and has plenty of power to it such that you can actually get through the larger logs.<br />
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I do expect to get some quilting in this week as the next three days have nothing but rain in the forecast. Hopefully I'll have something to share later this week.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-59694797594232443482015-04-08T12:49:00.000-04:002015-04-08T12:49:15.614-04:00Spring has Sprung...sort ofSpring has been a bit delayed this year in the northeast, so I've been enjoying seeing a lot of pictures from fellow quilters who are a bit further south and have their spring in full-swing. I was sewing the other weekend (gasp - I know...it's been a while) and was able to capture this picture out my sewing room window:<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17032619502" title="Spring April 2015 -1 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Spring April 2015 -1" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7599/17032619502_30da06ecf1_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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Just a small amount of snow left and at this point there isn't any snow in the backyard. We do still have some piles in certain areas that are shady and had a thick snow-cover, but most of it is gone. We had two days last week where we were near 60 degrees, and two days later we had a bit more snow. Crazy!<br />
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I have been doing a mix of quilting on the Mariner's Compass quilt and also sewing some blocks for a BOM that I picked up last year. I need the break from quilting, so its nice to do some piecing and applique between my quilting sessions. I do it all on the same machine, so I typically wait until I finish up a bobbin for quilting and then I'll switch to piecing/appliquing something for a day or two, then load a new bobbin for quilting and do some more on the Compass quilt.<br />
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Here's the BOM that I've been slowing working on. This is the 2nd block that I've completed out of 6.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17007413436" title="Summer sampler March 2015 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Summer sampler March 2015" height="640" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8698/17007413436_1c5a2bc23a_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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And here's the progress on the 2nd corner of the Mariner's Compass quilt. Not much started yet, but its started and I'll continuing filling in around the quilt.<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17034050035" title="Mariners compass - April 2015 - 1 by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Mariners compass - April 2015 - 1" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7619/17034050035_8bb000a260_z.jpg" width="480" /></a>
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As I mentioned in my last post, we did have a big purchase earlier this winter. Every year or so for the past 3 years we have toyed with the idea of buying a grand piano (or baby grand). We both play and have been "limping" along on a digital piano. The digital was very nice and has lasted us over 10 years of playing. It was very handy for when we did a lot of moving around the first few years out of college. Now that we're settled into our dream home, we wanted to get an actual piano.<br />
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Just before Christmas we had started looking around and didn't initially find anything that we liked (or liked and wanted to spend the money on). We eventually found a local used piano dealer and fell in love with a piano he had. It took us several weeks of trying out pianos and making sure it was definitely the one we wanted. Then it took another 4-6 weeks for him to prep the piano and for the weather to clear up enough for it to be delivered.<br />
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And here she is!!!!<br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17015098176" title="Grand piano by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Grand piano" height="640" src="https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7676/17015098176_6b79b6be78_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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It is a beautiful piano... with how it sounds, how it plays and how it looks. It is a Steinway piano (we weren't initially looking for a Steinway in particular, but this piano had the touch and sound we wanted). The difference in this piano from other Steinway pianos is that it is a German made Steinway piano. <br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/upstatenycreations/17015098336" title="Grand piano by Upstate NY Creations, on Flickr"><img alt="Grand piano" height="640" src="https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8794/17015098336_00113c4808_z.jpg" width="640" /></a>
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The piano was made in Hamburg, Germany in 1937. It has been certified by Steinway in NYC that it is in fact a 1937 piano from Hamburg and that everything in it is original to the factory there. No one knows how it came to be in the US, but it did... and we are glad that it did. <br />
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We love having it in the house and we play about 2 hours every night and more so on the weekends. It truly is a special piano and we're so happy to have it. The one and only downside is that I tend to play it more and it is taking away some of my quilting time. :c) <br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9201436701939810783.post-81758915356850498212015-03-25T10:51:00.001-04:002015-03-25T10:51:21.619-04:00Crazy....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)<br />
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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. <br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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Happy Crafting!<br />
~Sarah at upstateNYCreationsSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07402600753591681496noreply@blogger.com1