No, No, No!!

 

I can't believe I did this. Linda gave me a good suggestion as to how to quilt this thing and but I didn't wait for her response. No, instead, I forged ahead 'cause I just knew the "feathers" would look fine. Well, no they don't! I didn't like the way the feathers were looking so I filled in with some random stitches and now my turkeys look like they're dancing! LOL Not to mention the wavy effect going on along the edges! Oh well, I'm ashamed to even show this to ya'll, but DH says, "It looks fine!" What does he know? I will make another one and do the cross-hatching that Linda suggested. Quilt and learn, right? I told Linda I would post this only to remind me of what NOT to do.

Back to the cutting table... 

Tablerunners

 
 

The first runner is made with some of the orphan blocks I talked about in an earlier post. The turkey runner is one I've wanted to make for a long time. I'd seen one done at a local show but I never had gotten the instructions. I think it was a freebie pattern on the Hancock site several years ago. A friend took pity on me and loaned me her copy. I'm not sure what I want to do for the quilting on this one. Those "quilt as you go" projects sure are a lot easier for me to do these days. Anyone have any suggestions?

My Advent quilt is coming along slowly. I've made two more little quilt tops. I want to put the other eight together and then finish them all at once. Adding the borders, batting and backing goes really fast when you do them all together. If I could get them done by Friday, I'd take them with me to finish the binding. Jim, Dad and I are headed to Ruidoso on Friday afternoon.

Time to fix dinner and get ready to go to the gym. Have lost two pounds in the last two weeks. If I could do that all the time, I'd be happy.

Things are a little slow at work. Only 3 months 'til Christmas though, so the perm cycle will begin again soon. In the meantime, I'm taking advantage of being able to come home early to sew. 

Too scrappy?

 
  

This bag, front and back, I made today from some of my orphan blocks. I'd hoped it wouldn't be too scrappy looking and after seeing the pictures, it really doesn't look too bad. The body of the bag, front and back is made with orphan log cabin blocks and star blocks. The pockets are made from new pink ribbon fabric. The only problem I had was with my sewing machine. I forgot that it gets temperamental when trying to sew over a lot of thickness. The sides of the bag, especially. I wish there was another way to get them sewn together without having so much bulk. I really like this pattern and would make more, but I broke two needles this time! (dirty words :-(

I better get in the shower and get ready to go workout. Isn't it shameful? Jim and I decided to just be lazy today. He didn't even go to the golf course. It was raining this morning and a little cool, so I guess that's why he chose to stay home. Long as he lets me do what I want to do in the sewing room! lol

another UFO bites the dust!

 

This little quilt was started a while back. The back has an eye-spy panel. It is a gift for one of my clients' great grandson.

Well, I think it's time for a new sewing machine. (sigh...) I broke the little thing that pulls down my self-threader today. Probably something that can be replaced easily. When I told Jim it was time for a new machine, he said, "How long have you had this one!? You haven't had it very long!" He doesn't remember I've had it about 6 years now and use it every day! I really put it through it's paces. It's also an embroidery machine and I would like to use that part of it more often but I'm never off the sewing part long enough to set up the embroidery module. That's why I'd really like a new machine, just for quilting. I think I'll check them out at the quilt show in November. Deborah, don't let me forget, please!

Back to working on the quilted orphan blocks. 

Orphan blocks

 


Well, I had this entry all done and when I hit the button to publish it, I lost it all. So, suffice it to say that these blocks are orphan blocks left from a block of the month set that I never finished. I got these four quilted tonight and will probably do four more and put them together in two tablerunners. I'm going to use the reversible quilt method. I'll take them with me to display when I do my presentation at a local fabric shop next month. I get so excited when I get to show someone how to do this!

Jim is off the rest of the weekend so I guess I'll sleep in the spare bedroom tonight. I sleep much better with no noise in the room.

Linda, I have 10 more little quilts to finish for the Advent quilt. I put the bindings on 6 of them today. I had an hour with nothing to do at the shop and sewing the bindings on was much more fun than folding towels. lol

I'm tired. Off to bed. Let's hope it works when I click on the publish button! 

Routine week

Not much happening these days, except a little quilting, a little working and a whole lot of exercising. This week I've been working on my Advent quilt. I put bindings on 6 more little quilts. So, I only have 10 more to go! I think I'll finish the actual quilt tonight - the quilt that the little quilts will go on. It needs borders.

What a windy day today! I suppose the wind is bringing in the Fall weather. It's much cooler. I detest doing hair on days like this. The ladies can't get to their cars fast enough. Jim, the mailman, (and my husband) probably has not had a good day today. Chasing the mail on windy days is not his idea of a good time. Don't blame him. Only one more winter to live through before he retires next October. I think he read this morning that we will probably have more snow than usual this winter. Just what he wanted to read... If I remember correctly, the first winter he worked as a postman was a tough one. He trudged through nearly waist-deep snow at some points. That was when he walked the entire route, about 12 miles a day. Can you believe that?! He stayed in good shape then. Low blood pressure, low cholesterol, low weight - not that he has ever had a problem with that.

When I got home this afternoon, I had to fool with my router again. With the wind blowing, things get messed up, I guess. So, after re-setting and re-booting, I finally got everything up and running again. Have to be sure things are working properly so when Jim gets home he can check on his virtual golf game! lol Not to mention his poker game! Once I'm off to the gym, that's what keeps him company. Heck, who am I kidding? That computer keeps him company even when I'm home! Not complaining, though. I'm glad he's finally become a wanna-be computer geek. Well, maybe not a geek, but a computer-literate person. I'm very proud of the way he's learned to navigate the WWW.

Speaking of the gym, I'd better go change. It's cardio night tonight especially since we've had 2 nights, back to back, of weights. I'm a little sore in the shoulders. I'd rather be quilting, but, first things first!

Pink Ribbon Quilt

 

Thank you, Deborah! Couldn't stop until I got this one finished. I wanted to make the corner bows with the same fabric as the "ribbon" running through the border, but ran out of the pink polka dots. So, I found some nice ribbon in exactly the same color as the dark pink. I think it will work.

Monday is my day off and I had nothing I absolutely had to do. Kinda nice just to do what I wanted to do. That's why I was able to finish this little quilt today. I've had a nagging little sinus headache so it was good that I didn't have to go or do anything in particular.

Judy and I met my friend, Pat and her DH for dinner. We debated as to whether or not to go since it would mean we'd miss our workout. I don't get to see Pat that often, so we opted for dinner. We'll just hit it harder tomorrow night. We both can't believe that we are now having a hard time NOT going to the gym! LOL I guess that's a good sign.

Time for more headache medicine. I feel as though I may be coming down with what Jim has had. The clothes dryer has summoned me, too. 

Leota's birthday quilt

 

Finally! Binding finished and the quilt is in Leota's hands. This is Leota on the left and me on the right, holding the quilt at the shop. Judy took the picture. I forgot to take a close-up of the quilting.

A slow day at work. We were able to get out of there around noon. Judy and I stopped at Quizno's for a salad and then I ran to Hancock's for some more pink fabric. Waiting now on Jim to get home so we can go eat, again, lol (more salad). I'm thinkin' I'll take a quick nap... 

Today's gift

Do I have good friends, or what!? Deborah, my traveling quilt buddy, stopped by the shop today and handed me a book, "Pink Ribbon Quilts" and a pack of 8 gorgeous fat quarters from the Pink Quilt line (I think that's what it's called). So, I just couldn't wait to make at least one block from the pattern that was enclosed with the FQs. Thank you, Deborah! Just in time for October's breast cancer awareness. One more UFO in progress! lol

  


I also gave my good friend, Leota, her quilt today. No picture yet. We were so busy at work and we never had a moment to take a picture of her with it. Plus, I would like to get the binding sewn on completely and I didn't have much time to work on it today. One good thing about my job - I can take 5 minutes between customers or while I'm waiting for a perm or color to process - and do some handwork.

Another good workout tonight. Maybe, just maybe, if I continue working out like I'm doing, I'll get back into that size 12...a 16 would be nice at this point.

Here's wishing all of you good, generous friends to brighten your days like my friends do for me!!

Turquoise quilt with camo back

Alrighty then! Thanks to Linda J. again for helping get my pictures in order! Here's the baby quilt I made yesterday.

Two more done

I seem to be having trouble uploading images. I'll try again later. In the meantime...
This turquoise quilt (This is the picture I'm having trouble uploading) is the quickest baby quilt I've ever made, I think. A client told me that her daughter-in-law wanted a baby quilt with camouflage fabric. I know, this isn't it, but you should see the back! lol The backing is made with camouflage flannel. I just couldn't bring myself to make a baby quilt without some color. It's a little boy and his daddy is an avid outdoorsman, hence the request for the camo fabric.

I don't have a picture to post, yet, of the second quilt I finished last night. I finally finished quilting the mystery quilt top put together at the Amarillo retreat last month. It's a birthday present for my friend, Leota, who's birthday was on August 26. I'll get a picture of her with the quilt today. I just hadn't had a chance to get it done since my extension table was not in. The quilt had been lying on the living room floor for about 3 days, waiting... In the meantime, I had worked on the smaller projects I told you about in the last few posts. Everything happens for a reason, I believe, therefore the fact that I didn't have the extension table enabled me to get those smaller things done. Otherwise, I would have finished the bigger quilt first and then been too tired to do the little ones! lol

I have several more lap-size tops I want to get quilted. So, they will be my next projects unless someone comes up to me and says, "I need!"

I spent about 2 enjoyable hours yesterday afternoon working with a lovely lady who wanted to learn how to put together her block of the month blocks. I showed her how to quilt the blocks first, then how to sew them together, a la reversible quilt method. I hope I was able to explain it well enough to her. She was very receptive to all I told her, so I think she'll do well. I told her I'd be available if she needed more instruction. Tough job, but someone's gotta do it! lol

Jim is off today, so I'd better get ready to sneak outta here while he's still sleeping. It's hard to get dressed without making a lot of noise. I don't know what we're going to do when he retires and I still have to get up for work. I told him it was going to be his turn to get up and get the coffee and wake me up! We'll see...

Fish bowls

A little twist in my day today after talking to my co-worker, Leota. She called early this morning to let me know that someone is interested in buying her fish bowl wallhanging. I made it for her as a birthday gift several years ago. She refused to sell it and told the lady that I could probably make her one. So, I started on it as soon as I hung up the phone. Apparently, the lady sells aquariums.

These are the paper-pieced bowls you can find on The Quilter's Cache site. I was going for the "windows" effect but I think I may have used too light a fabric on the bottom of the window. It actually looks ok in person, but I can hardly see the dimension in the picture. I found the neatest fish fabric at Ben Franklin's to use as the border. I already had lots of the fish fabric I used in the bowls leftover from a bedsize quilt I made for my granddaughter. I'd like to start quilting it tonight, but I think I'll wait until tomorrow.

Another good workout tonight. My weight stayed the same this week and that's ok. We're increasing our weights and I've added some speed and incline on the treadmill. One day at a time....

Advent quilt updated

I decided to work on a few of the miniature quilts for the Advent quilt. I quilted six more. When I say 'quilted' I mean applying the 1/8" border so I can apply the binding. The border doesn't start out that small, but once I trim things down, that's how small it ends up. I decided to go with a red border after I finished the candles. I'm using a black binding that I finish by hand. I had thought I'd just make the border big enough to turn under on the back, but it didn't look right to me. The 5-pointed star is not quilted in this picture. My sewing room is a total disaster since I've pulled out containers full of scraps to pull from as I do these. But, I'm not going to worry about that right now. I need to have all that fabric at my fingertips so I can just "do it!" lol

Judy and I got our cardio done early so when I got home I was able to watch the 9/11 special. That's when I hand-stitched the bindings on the quilts. Through my tears, of course.

I hope I'm not coming down with a cold. My throat is scratchy and I've been sneezing a little. Jim is sick with a cold and that's very unusual for him. No kisses for him!

Another week gone by..

It's Saturday night. I found myself working on various small projects this week since I'd been waiting on my extension table (which I need to do any large quilting project). Good news for me! It arrived yesterday. I had spoken to the maker of the table and she was worried because she'd gotten notice of delivery. Unfortunately, it had been delivered back to her because it had been smashed! So, she made a new one and sent it right out. Can't believe how much I missed it. Anyway, while working on smaller projects, I did a little more of the Peek-a-boo pattern in the Fons and Porter magazine just to see if I could do it. I have lots of the pink fabric so I may just continue to add circles. Think I need to go get more yellow, though.

The blocks are made for a birthday block swap for the online quilt group, Quilters on Review. I used more of the focus FQ (supplied by the owner) for the first block than I had intended. Therefore, I only had small pieces left over and so I had to decide on a pattern that used smaller amounts of the main fabric. This pattern is called "Trip around the world". Found it in my EQ files. The star block is called "Plenty of Stars" from the book "Amazingly Simple Star Quilts". Easy, yes, but uses a lot of fabric! I can usually make two blocks from one FQ and still have some left over for a smaller block.

Had another good workout at the gym tonight. Don't think I'm going to lose as much, if any, weight this week like I did last week. That's ok. I'm happy with the workouts and still feel like I'm accomplishing something even if it doesn't show up on the scales.

Chenille and diets

After breathing in and brushing off green chenille fibers, I have completed the quilt. Well, it still needs quilting, but I'm going to have to do that later. I have two rows of quilting done, but I didn't make sure the flannel backing was stretched taut enough. So, I'm going to have to remove at least one row of stitching so I can do it right. Sheesh, why do I do this to myself? I get in too big a hurry and then it's two steps backward to get it done right.

I haven't worked on the Advent quilt this week. I'm ready to make a few more of the paper-pieced quiltlets. And, I still want to pull fabrics to do the Peek-a-boo pattern.

I have been journaling my food the past week. Not on this forum, but on a piece of paper since our "trainer" wanted to see what we eat in a week's time. "We" being my sis and me. Anyhoo, wouldn't you know it!? I lost 4 lbs. I knew I would lose some since that's the only way I've lost significantly in the past. When I'm writing it down, I just don't stick it in my mouth. So, I'll try it again for another week. I think the guy at the gym is ready to increase our routines based on our diet.

Wow, 10 p.m. already. Time flies when you work out from 7 to 9. By the time I get home I don't have much energy left to sew.

Update on my extension table...Not here yet! I called and the lady said she got a confirmation delivery for yesterday! Well, it's not here and Fed Ex said they didn't deliver anything to this part of town yesterday. I'm waiting for the gal to call me back with the tracking number so I can do my own sleuthing. Never had this much trouble.

Needle mishap

I hope you can see this. As I was moving along the seam, the sewing machine needle made the most awful noise and I realized it had broken. It had actually pierced the head of the pin I was using to hold the chenille project I was sewing. I never sew over pins but this one got lost in the fuzzy stuff! I tell you, I've never had such an adventure with fabric! lol The tip of the needle is embedded in the plastic head.

I've nearly got the main section of the chenille project put together. I was hoping to get it all sewn in order to clean up a little before the cleaning lady gets here tomorrow. I hate for them to vacuum the carpet in here until I get a chance to manually pick up as much thread as possible. I may tell them to ignore this room until next time.

Back to the chenille..

Robert and new projects...

Somebody stop me, please! Yikes, I've got to quit looking at magazines. Fons and Porter's new "Love of Quilting" has two projects I just have to do. lol There's a chenille throw that looks just way too easy and Hancock's is having a sale today. The "Peek-a-boo" pattern is also too easy not to do. I made up this little sample yesterday afternoon. Sorry the resolution is not very good, but you get the idea. It's another quilt-as-you-go technique. I think a throw size quilt will work up fast with this.

We had a nice weekend with my youngest son home from college. He spent a lot of time in my sewing room while he was here and I caught him playing with my scissors! He was actually working on my laptop. He networked it with the computer in the den and now I can print from here to there. It's so cool! Nice to have 'puter nerds in the family... He just left to go back to school. I'll miss him until he comes home for Thanksgiving.

I'm off to see if I can find some chenille. If I do, I'll post a picture tomorrow of blocks I might get done tonight. See? I really must have some version of the quilter's ADHD! I'm still working on the Advent quilt. Oh, no extension table, yet! I'm calling tomorrow morning, but I'm betting it gets here tomorrow. Seems like when I finally decide to pick up the phone or send an e-mail, things finally arrive.

....It's Sunday afternoon and I've made two rows of the chenille with 4-patch blocks. Working with the chenille may be more than I want to do. The stuff sheds so much, even after it's been washed and dried. Of course it would, since when you cut it, those shaggy threads will be loose. I had to take the piece outside to shake off the worst of it. My sewing room floor is covered in little green fur balls. It's really going to be cute, though. And, with a flannel back, very comfy. I may just have to keep this one for myself.

Off to change to workout.

Rainy Saturday

Oh, what I wouldn't give to have stayed in bed this morning! Cool and rainy and cloudy and I have to go to work :-( But, I got up and finished putting the corners on the background blocks that will house the little quilts I'm making. I had some novelty fabric that someone gave me a long time ago and the squares are just the right size. The pattern calls for a muslin type fabric for this, but I decided that when the quilts are removed to count down the days 'til Christmas, I wanted to see something behind them. Now to think what I want to do to store the quilts once they're removed. I'm thinking another little quilt to act as a "quilt rack". Still thinking...

I'm going to be late for work...