Frog stitch

That's what I did tonight. I was just going to attach another row or two to the rug when I realized it was beginning to buckle too much. Nothing to do but rip it out, thus, the frog stitch. Rippit, rippit. lol first time I heard that I thought it was so funny. The rug now measures about 26" across the middle and lays much flatter. I'm checking myself after every row now. This project has grabbed me and won't let go! I have several other quilts I NEED to work on but this rug is so therapeutic. Unless I have to rip stitches. Lol

Weekend activities

I need a quick gift for a birthday this Friday. I found this pretty little potholder pattern and knew it was the perfect item to make for a sweet friend. (Ever notice that if you omit the "r" in "friend" it leaves you with "fiend"?) But, I digress...

This weekend found me working on this rug. It is so addicting! As long as my machine continues to cooperate, I'm having a great time making this.

What else?

Kk's birthday quilt is quilted and in the process of being bound. Back fabric is courtesy of Juju. Thanks!

What do you do with scraps of tshirt fabric? Make a rug! I am so enjoying this process between the bigger projects. Jim asked how big it's going to be. "Until I run out of scraps!"

An old UFO. These blocks are from a QOR swap I did many years ago. I quilted each block before I connected them all together. What a great way to practice free motion quilting!

Little of this and a little of that

The alphabet top is done. Now to get it quilted before KK's birthday, the 11th. I'm off tomorrow, Wednesday, so I'm trying to keep the day open for quilting. Taxes keep calling but they will have to wait until the weekend. This is much more important!   

I've been working on this pair of socks for a while now. I was not crazy about the yarn after I bought it but it has grown on me during the process.

 I am now working on knitting a sock within a sock. So far so good.

Little quilts

This is one of my favorite baby quilts to make. The free motion quilting was fun to do. 

These little blocks will be a birthday present for my favorite red headed preschooler. I colored the letters with her favorite color. I still have to find fabric to frame the squares. Looking at them in this picture has me thinking that I might play around with the way I arrange them. Maybe I'll give them all a little tilt? Might give the quilt more interest and motion. 

It's after 12:00 a.m. so I ought to shut it down and go to bed. I took a two hour nap when I got home from work. Until next time..

Shades of the past

I'm not sure how old this quilt top might be but we think it might be close to 100 years old. It's been patiently waiting in a box in a client's closet all these years. The backing fabric she brought me to use is a solid turquoise, the color of some of the tumblers.  This will be interesting. I like to use a print for my backs because they tend to hide a multitude of quilting sins, of which I have many. Lol. She also brought me a box full of hand pieced blocks. I haven't looked at them closely but I know I will work those in my QAYG (quilt as you go) technique. I am hoping that this quilt is going to be easier to handle under the sewing machine needle than the tshirst quilt was.  I had to enlist Jim's help in holding the weight of that quilt as I was nearing the end. It just got so heavy! I used muscles I forgot I had! LOL 

By the way, I am really enjoying the blogging experience once again! Please drop me a note if you've stopped by. I'd love to hear from my "old" friends! Good to hear from you, Linda and Deb!

Binding. And more binding..

I read somewhere that winding your binding around a thread spool would keep your yards of binding under control as you attached it to your quilt. It works! Just unroll the amount you want to work with. No muss, no fuss. 

Here you see said binding attached. I tacked down one side last night and just could not go on. I hope to get the rest of it done tonight. Hear that, Cissy? Tonight! Cannot wait for you to see it! Plus, I need to get started on a quilt for another client, make a few more makeup bags and finish up my swap projects to get in the mail. Not to mention that I need to put on a whole 'nother hat - that of tax prep. Yuck. 

Hope those of you having a holiday today are having an extra day of relaxation and rejuvenation. I'm watching my grands. Time to fix lunch. 

Sunday after Valentine's Day

I never know what day it is when I first open my eyes. I had an idea yesterday that I should fix seven note cards, each with a day of the week, and prop the appropriate card in front of my alarm clock each night. Just a thought. 

Friday, at work, I kept saying, "people call today Valentine's Day. My husband calls it Friday!" (I read that somewhere and thought it sounded like Jim 😊) No sooner had I said that for the twelfth time, and in walked a fella carrying a beautiful 6-roses arrangement. From Jim. 

I called to thank him and he said,"I just thought I'd blow your mind!" Lol. And, he did. Thank you, honey!  I had to tell him, though, that his son had beat him to it. I found the smaller  (but still beautiful) looking arrangement, on my desk. His card said something like, "Listen here, Jack! I mean, Mom!" Lol it was a Duck Dynasty inspired card and he proceeded to thank me for all I do and that he loves me. He's a sweet boy and I love helping them all I can. Thank you, Robert!

So, it is Sunday again. I hope to quilt on the tshirt quilt all day. I can't wait to put it into its owner's hands!

I have finished the mug rugs for my swap partner, Satu in Finland. I will post pictures here once I know she had received them. 

Saturday night, we went to Rib Crib. We had not had a chance to celebrate April's birthday (January 10) so we took time out for some family time. This is not a picture you see often. I LOVE it!

Here you have three generations. Robert, Kelton and Papaw Jim. 

A day's work

I am mostly happy with what I've done. Still need small borders on the very top. Why I didn't put them on before I sewed them together... Since the quilt "feels" too wide to me, I'm going to border the top and bottom with a 4" border, I think and 2" on either side just to bring it all together. That will give me room to do some feather quilting, maybe. 

I finished KK's fingerless Valentine mittens and one of Kelton's. There's another one made, but it's getting "unknitted" because I was not happy with it. 

Time to sit and watch some of the Olympics. I was just in the kitchen putting a dessert in the oven. Did you know butter will explode while melting in the microwave? Yup. And, I broke an egg while taking it out of the fridge. I started thinking that maybe I shouldn't be making dessert since it doesn't look like I'll be fixing dinner! Lol After my kitchen mishaps, I think I'll leave the quilt for another day.

Moving right along..

Sewing these tshirts together is proving to be quite a challenge. All the ones I've worked before have been cut out to the same dimensions but these have way bigger logos and some smaller. So, I have some work cut out for me to determine the size of the connecting strips. It's a challenge and one I hope to tackle this weekend. In the meantime..

Knitted fingerless gloves for KK. I'm halfway finished with the second one in hopes that she can wear them on Valentines Day. As she found out yesterday, though, they're not to be worn while playing in the snow! Lol

One final piece included in this week's project lineup is a mug rug. I'm in a swap that requires two mug rugs made in honor of the Sochi Olympics. As much as I'd like to be sewing, though, I need to get ready for work. I bid you adios until Sunday, maybe. 

New friends, new ideas

Is it possible I have learned something new, again?! Of course! This time, thanks to my new quilting friend, Rebecca, my blogging may resume with some new-found skills. We will see how I do. For now, let me try posting my latest little creation. I've also included a pictorial tutorial on how I join my binding ends and you can't tell where the binding starts or stops. 

Here is how I join the ends of my binding.

Step one  - leave at least 5-6" of binding tail on either side.

Step 2 - lay right tail over left making sure you can see the end of the bottom tail. At this point, you want to make sure that the binding is laying flat along the edge of the quilt and I even pull lightly to give it the slightest (very slight) bit of tension.

I lay my 2.5" ruler on top of the binding lining it up with the edge of the bottom lining. This is the crucial point. You will mark to cut the top (right) binding strip with the measurement of the width of your binding. If your binding is 2.25" then you would measure 2.25" from the edge of the bottom strip.

Open the ends. 

Place the ends at a 90 degree angle, lining up the ends. Pin. Fold binding back as it should go and see how it fits. If you're satisfied...

Sew from corner to corner. 

Check once more to be sure it it lays nice and flat along the quilt edge.

Cut off the triangle. Finger press seam open, fold and finish sewing on the binding.