Exuberant Color

2012-01-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

As long as I was already in the routine of quilting cobblestones, I stuck with it and got this one quilted yesterday. I will put a binding on this one but I'm thinking maybe just facings on the ones I showed yesterday. I think I will get the edge finishes and hanging sleeves on them right away and they can qualify as January finishes.

2012-01-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

I finished the quilting on the large piece yesterday. You may have seen this on my sidebar as my current favorite. I had a small repair I needed to do on one block and I laid it aside for months. The repair took 15 minutes; the roadblock in my brain couldn't see that. This piece is about 34" x 36" and the small ones which I made 2 days ago are around 20" x 24". This large one is Crooked Cobblestones 1. Number 2 is finished and was shown here. I started quilting on number 3 which is the largest last night. It is shown here when I was spray basting it. The fourth large one is a cross which had some construction problems. I fixed that last night too so it is ready to baste and quilt. You can see from this post that I let it hang on a hanger for almost 3 years before I fixed it. I guess the promise of a show of my quilts is finally getting me in gear.

3 small pieces..........

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

My goal yesterday was to make 3 small cobblestone quilt tops. The widest is 22.5" and the narrowest 19". They are all about 24" tall. I should have moved them down the design wall so the top would have had better lighting. Next time... Now I can use 3 more small pieces of batting.

I feel so refreshed after working with these blocks, almost like I have been to a retreat for 2 days.

A few more blocks.......

2012-01-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

I saw all of those sorted scraps laying there and couldn't help myself. I made 27 more crooked cobblestones. I haven't pressed or trimmed them yet. Now I have hidden the bin with the pieces in it so I can't make any more. They are so relaxing, soothing, stress relieving, well, you get the picture, but I have other things I need to be doing.

Crooked Cobblestones day......

2012-01-25T11:02:00.001-06:00

The Internet was back on this morning but I had errands to run before I could post. I posted the last one from my smart phone. It takes pretty good photos. I made 39 new crooked cobblestone blocks yesterday and got them trimmed last night.

A couple of my readers insist that I must be very organized to get so much done. I am organized to a point but have a lot of clutter and "where on earth is that ....." in my life. I will explain my organization for the cobblestone blocks. I keep all of the small pieces appropriate for them in one container, stacked flat so they don't get wrinkled. I throw things in that container for months and then one day I sit down to make more blocks. I organize the pieces by size to lay by my machine as I'm assembling the blocks.

When I'm done making blocks I usually organize all of the scraps that are left, again by size, and then bag them in the bin so only the new pieces thrown in will have to be sorted later.

All of the pieces that are appropriate for centers of new blocks are bagged separately. Each of these piles is about 2.5" tall so that's a lot more cobblestones!

I keep yardage on shelves usually divided loosely by color, quarter yards or less go onto a separate shelf unit so if I need a small piece quickly I can search through that so I'm a little bit organized. I don't stuff fabric all wrinkled into a bag or container and then have to spend hours ironing it. I try to stack the small pieces flat and ready to use at a minute's notice. This is how I get quickly into a new project.

You can see photos of my stash if you go to my Label list on the sidebar and click on Stash. You will have to go back into older posts to see all of it.

Phone connection but no internet

2012-01-24T23:34:00.001-06:00

At 11 p.m. there was no internet but I could hear my phone receiving emails. Something to do with solar flares? I will post in the morning.

Two down, many to go..........

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

I got two of the QOV quilts quilted, one with meandering and stars, and one with loop-de-loop. I will bind both of them with the blue stripe that is on the back of both and on the border of one of them.

After all of that quilting I needed to reward myself with some playtime. I got out the box with the leftover crooked cobblestones and put them on the design wall to see how many I need to make to fill in. I want to make some smaller pieces like the larger ones that will be in my show.

Batting and borders.....

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

Some of the tops have been turned in from the QOV kits I cut in Oct. I said I would cut the borders and sew them on. Both of these will have the blue stripe on the back because it is 60" wide so it doesn't need to be pieced. One has the blue stripe as the border and the other has the stars and stripes.

This one has the stars and stripes for the border and the backing. I still have enough of the print to border a couple more. I also cut batting for 4 of the 14 quilts that I need to finish for my show in June. It looks like it is time to finish something now.

A mug and a rug.......

2012-01-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

I worked all day at the sewing machine store yesterday. I thought we wouldn't be busy with 7" of snow on the ground, but we were very busy. Everyone must have had cabin fever and needed to run all of their errands. In the evening I finished one more mug rug. All of the pieces of patchwork were done previously and were stacked in a drawer.

This is the cute mug my grandson's girlfriend gave me for Christmas. Isn't that cute with a little zebra in the bottom? You can't use it with a drink that needs to be stirred though. I will be using it for decoration so it won't matter.

After I finished the mug rug I opened a king size batt to let it relax before I cut it into the 4 quilt shapes I need today.

Snow day.......

2012-01-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

This was taken about 2 p.m. yesterday when there was about 4" on the ground. The snow started around 10 a.m. and stopped around 8:30 at night. I measured 7" in my yard but I shoveled over 4" twice off the sidewalk.

The cacti bloom is fully opened now. I just love this color. There is one more bud that I thought was going to dry up but it looks a little larger today. Maybe I'll get one more bloom.....

I had 2 guys at my house early yesterday morning putting the expanding foam in 2 cracks in my basement walls. I have been meaning to fix them for a long time and decided this was a good time. One crack was there when we moved in 39 years ago and had been repaired at least once but the rain still leaked in if we had a downpour all day or 2 days of heavy rain. Now I have a 10 year guarantee of no leaks. After they left I ran a bunch of errands before the snow got too heavy. I chose some backings for a few quilts tops and then made these 2 little mug rugs. I couldn't decide if I should quilt the same way as the strip piecing or across it so I did one of each.

Warm/cool zig zag.....

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

I needed this top finished for a sample in my color class yesterday to show warm/cool as one type of contrast, the other being light/dark. It is 60" x 72" right now so I have to decide if it needs a border or if it is a lap quilt just the way it is.

I only took photos of one part of my color class. I had 9 students so there was plenty to do. I had them divide the 100 squares into colors with oddball fabrics like zebra stripes laying on the sidelines. I had them fill out an evaluation sheet so I could see where I can make improvements when I teach this the next time. I passed out the evalutation sheets at the beginning so they already knew what the questions were. My pet peeve is getting an evaluation sheet thrust at me at the end of a class when I'm tired and packing to go home. I would rather know what things the teacher wants to be evaluated on before the class begins. Then it is easy to fill it out with speed at the end of the class.

Several people have left me questions in the comments and I have NO WAY to respond to you. I do not reply in my own comment section normally. I have an email link on my right sidebar and if you have a google account, please enable your email address in your profile if you want a reply. I answer ALL emails.

Cactus blooming again...........

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

The last buds usually dry up and fall off so I was really thrilled to get one more bloom. This particular plant had its first blooms in November so I was really surprised it had such a long blooming period.

I got the kits all done for today's class and sewed the warm/cool zig zag top yesterday. We're in for the coldest day so far this winter and then Friday, more snow, maybe the big storm this time.

Cutting, and more cutting.......

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

I used the equilateral triangle die on my Studio cutter to make wedges for color wheels for my class.

I have 64 of the 100 pieces cut for the kits for Thursday's class. I spent about 2 hours working on the handout sheet also. I will need to cut for a few more hours to get done. I am cutting a 2.5" strip which yields 16 squares. First the fabric has to be spritzed with water and pressed to get the fold marks out so it is a slow process. Luckily I like cutting strips with a rotary cutter.

Lots of 2.5" squares.....

2012-01-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

The weather cooperated this year and my art quilters were here yesterday. Last year we cancelled many times because of the weather. After they left, and after my nap, I started working on some kits for a class I'm giving on Thursday. It is an informal explanation of how to use color. I can never remember the terms for all of the combinations because the way it was explained to me in a one room schoolhouse when I was little was the rainbow, the order of the colors in the rainbow, which directly relates to the color wheel. We also used our little 7 color paintboxes and learned to mix colors to make other colors. I guess they don't do that in school any more.

I am giving each of my students 100 squares of fabric that they will use for several exercises. I only have 20 cut so far so there is a lot more cutting to do today. I'll also get my trays of squares out that I use for my colorwash wallhangings that I design one square at a time. I'm sure there are a lot that I can use in these kits.

Lots of things.....

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

I spent the day yesterday finishing the clean up of the basement, shoveling the last snow/ice residue off the driveway and sewing the squares for the last 4 rows of the new zig zag quilt. I stacked and numbered the rows and put them aside until after my art quilters leave today. Oh, yes, and I baked 2 batches of cookies too.

Color.......

2012-01-15T05:00:00.000-06:00

I came home from the final day of Quilter's Heart sale with some thread, 70% off. I don't usually buy Gutermann thread and they have some really nice weird colors that I don't have in my collection. It seems I'm always needing a color a little lighter or darker than what I have on hand so I hope now I have what I need in every situation.

Since I grew up in the era of Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, I have always had a soft spot for cowboy print fabrics. There were 2 yards left on the bolt so it came home with me too.

I really enjoyed all of the comments yesterday and it looks like we have a lot of quilters ready to use their stash. Of course it will create more scraps but I no longer will feel guilty if I don't use them. From now I on I will be sorting them in 3 size groups in the bins that I emptied when I put my fabric out on the shelf units in my basement. Several people already spoke up to purchase my scraps too. This doesn't mean I won't make any scrap quilts, they will just be selected scraps and the rest will go.

Unwind time.....

2012-01-14T05:00:00.000-06:00

We had a really busy day at the quilt shop yesterday. When I got home I didn't feel like getting into a big project so I made a list of all the quilts I need to finish for my quilt show in June and then figured the sizes of batting that I needed to cut and determined which brand I am going to use on each. I haven't used Warm and Natural for a long time but I remembered that I liked it in wallhangings. It has a polypropylene sheet that the cotton is punched through so it is firmer and hangs straighter than the Hobbs 80/20 that I like in lap and bed quilts. When I had all of that figured out I went through my drawer of presewn patchwork and found a few that were good sizes for mug rugs. One more day working at the quilt shop today.

I have been thinking about the current obsessive trend that we have to use up all of our scraps. I think I'm leaning toward cutting into my yardage so I can use the good, favorite stuff in my lifetime. I remember the question we used to ask "Are you leaving all of the good stuff for your husband's next wife when you are gone?" and that helps me to remember I purchased the great fabric because I wanted to use it. I think in 2012 I will concentrate on cutting into yardage and maybe bag up the scraps and sell them.

We finally got some snow......

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

We normally have had 14" of snow by this time in the winter. We have only had bare covering twice before this storm this year. I shoveled 4" off the sidewalk and porch at 5 p.m. and there was another 2" on the porch when I took this photo. It was still snowing at 11 p.m. but the 10 o'clock weather radar showed it would end soon.

I always leave the sedum flower heads so I have a snow mushroom patch.

I left one hydrangea bloom in the front flower bed too.
Sorry for the lack of color today. I have been cleaning up the basement in anticipation of my art quilters coming on Monday. Since I'm working at the $3 a yard sale at Quilter's Heart today and tomorrow, I decided I had better start sorting out the clutter and clean off the tables yesterday.

Photo browse fixed

2012-01-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

The browse button was back when I went to load photos this time. I wonder where it was the night before? This is the quilt that I need to have off the wall by next Monday. I got a few more triangles sewn into squares since I took the photo. Even if I don't get the rows sewn, I can have stacks of rows ready to sew later. Well we just had 2 days over 50 degrees and snow predicted for today. They are saying less snow now than they did in the beginning but it sounds like it will be in excess of 3" anyway. I have enough supplies to stay home so I hope to watch it from inside.

Friday and Saturday this week the Quilter's Heart quilt shop will be open for one final sale, $3 a yard for fabric and 70% off most other things (no batting) so I will be working both days.

My quilt show in NC in June will be at my daughter's mosaic gallery. She is one of 5 owners of the gallery and the only one that has a working studio at the gallery. There is a first Friday crawl every month and that is always the opening of the new show of the month. She and I chose 38 of my quilts as possibilities to hang. The show may hang for most of the month but I will only be there the first week.

A few triangles.......

2012-01-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

Since Blogger won't let me add any new photos I retrieved this one from Picasa albums. I gave this quilt to the college girl yesterday and she loved it. She and I share a love of zebras and she gave me a zebra mug. Yesterday was a busy day taking Dad for a blood test and he was grumpy, having my low gas light come on while headed there so we made a detour to the gas station after the blood test. Then some helpers came over and moved some bookcases to my basement which I filled afterwards. Last night I sewed some of the triangle squares on the newest zig zag quilt that is on the design wall. I need it all sewn and off the design wall by next Monday.

Miscellaneous

2012-01-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

Nothing new, just the same photo but I wanted to tell you I chose the name 'Square Dance' from all of the suggestions by my readers. I did laundry, ran errands and lots of other miscellany yesterday. One of the things I did was count how many quilts need to be finished for my show in June. 14 of the ones my daughter and I chose are only tops so I have a lot of quilting to do. A few need hanging sleeves too since they weren't originally intended to be wall hangings. I will make them strong enough for hanging but easy to remove if they sell.

You have all been waiting.......

2012-01-09T05:00:00.000-06:00

to see what I look like. Here I am with my grandson Zach who was visiting over the weekend with my daughter. We had a great time and they left this morning. Zach is a filmaker who made the video of my daughter's mosaic gallery opening in Charlotte, NC which I posted previously. In case you missed the video here is a link. Upcoming news: my quilt show in June in Charlotte, NC. More details later. If you would like to meet me I'll be attending the show for the first week with a posibility of teaching a class.

Finished...........

2012-01-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

I finished the binding yesterday morning before we went out for lunch. My company loves to eat out at all of the local restaurants when they come back to visit, and since I don't like to cook this works out great. I thought about naming this one Happy Rings but I'm not sure. I know its official pattern name is Target Log Cabin but I wanted to give it another name and I'm not good at making up the names.

My granddaughter's wedding was last night and I lasted until 11 p.m at the reception with the extremely loud music. You can't tell me they need it that loud for dancing. But I'm just an old fogey.......

A little repair........

2012-01-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday morning about 3 hours before company was supposed to arrive I noticed a puddle on the bathroom floor. The 59 year chrome drain pipe had rotted through and was flakes of metal. Luckily my plumber was available and got here at 10:30 and by 11a.m. I had a new plastic drain pipe. I can order a new chrome one if I want later, but I needed it fixed right now! Since then all has gone smooth, company is here, a family gathering last night. I learned how to inflate an air mattress........

And I thought I was holding the camera straight....

2012-01-06T05:00:00.000-06:00

I'll try again tomorrow for a nice straight photo. I put the binding on this one yesterday all by machine. I used a brushed Moda huge block plaid with stripes running through it. It picked up all of the colors in the quilt and it was another piece I was trying to use up. I have one more side of hand finished binding to do on the other quilt and then I'll have 2 finishes in the first week of 2012. It would be nice if I could keep up that pace, but I kind of doubt it will happen. Company arrives midday today.

Binding..........

2012-01-05T05:00:00.000-06:00

I mostly did cleaning yesterday but I sat down several times and did a little hand stitching on this binding. Even though the binding looks like blue, it is the new purple coloration of this classic Kaffe print. I figured out the way to get purple to show properly and that is putting something gray in the shot for the camera to read. I remembered that after I had taken this and loaded it in my computer. Next time......

2 gold rings..........

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

The rings arrived in the mail yesterday from one of my readers and I finished the pillow. I looked up ring bearer pillows on the internet to see how to put the ribbons on and only found 2 with ruffles. All of the rest were just square and a lot had wide ribbon or contrasting fabric wrapped around them. Maybe I should have looked them up before I started on this. I made this one from the bride's mother's dress so I wanted to use the ruffle from the skirt. I hope they are happy with it.

I haven't had as many birds this year as previous years and I think this might be why. I saw something big swoop across the back yard and then it landed in the tree. The hawk had his back to me for quite awhile.

I was in the other room for about 15 minutes and when I came back into the kitchen he had turned around and faced me. He was watching the Junkos cleaning up the seed that the squirrels spill. I don't know how long he was there altogether but he didn't seem to be in a hurry for a meal, or he was waiting for some bigger birds.

I spent most of the day yesterday cleaning out the guest room closet and moving summer clothes to a storage spot. When the guy came to put the pump on my heating system and I had to move everything in front of the little trapdoors, a lot of the stuff went in that closet. Today I need to vacuum the house since I'll have company staying with me for 3 days later this week.

Flannel quilt.......

2012-01-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

I sewed the borders onto the flannel quilt and pieced the back and that is as far as I thought I was going to go on this flannel quilt yesterday. Then I remembered the last piece on my old roll of batting was just the right size for this so I decided to load it on the longarm.

While I was looking at it I decided it was only going to be 5 passes over the quilt so why not go ahead and quilt it.

I had a long enough piece of the red print for the back but just a little short on the one I had used for side borders so I pieced on some of the other border fabric.

I did fairly large meandering so it quilted up fast.

On January 1st I took all of the triangles I cut over a month ago and designed this zigzag top. The triangles are 6" finished so this will be about 60" x 72". It is the project I'll work on between other things but I only have 2 weeks to get it sewn and off the wall before my friends will need the wall space.

2011 in review.....

2012-01-02T05:00:00.000-06:00

I'll start with the total successes, the finished quilts. 17 in all, 3 done totally on domestic machine, 2 partially done on domestic and all the rest done on the longarm. The are not to scale as Picasa3 scrambles them into different spots until you are happy with it and some of the large ones are small photos.

This group is the quilts started in 2011 but not finished. Some are completed tops, some are waiting for borders. I sold 3 of them as tops so there are 19 that I need to finish. Add that to all of the ones from previous years that aren't finished and I'm still close to 50. After I made the collage I went to the basement and quilted one of them, bottom row, second from the left.

I will choose the binding today and sew it on. I hope this year I can get the bindings done soon after the quilting and not end up with a pile like I had last year.

H is for happy...........

2012-01-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year!

Happy I got the binding finished in 2011.

I named this one "H- I give it 5 Stars".

My binding choice worked out so well.

I can guarantee you that I want to start something new today.........

Resolutions - no...........just a loosely constructed list of want-to-dos.

Binding choices........

2011-12-31T05:00:00.000-06:00

I found 3 fabrics that I like as binding for the H quilt.

I think all 3 of them work but I think I'll go with the third choice so it blends into the quilt instead of making a statement of its own. It's hard to believe this is the last day of 2011. I need to do a collage of finishes but it may have to wait til Monday because I need to get this binding done today and it will probably take me until midnite to do it.

I needed a change....

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000-06:00

My poor embroidery machine has been neglected for a couple months so I embroidered a couple squares for a quilt. Dad wasn't doing well when I visited him and that makes for a down day. He didn't recognize me and was having some kind of problem with his legs. He was really out of it the whole time I was there. It is ups and downs all the time, a really good day and then a horrible day. I hope I'm not just seeing a preview of what I'll be like in my old age.

On the quilting scene, I got another 2 rows of H's ditch quilted so I can put the binding on now and I will call it a finish for 2011 even though I'll probably have a few more H's left to quilt around.

What a day.......

2011-12-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

I started out the day putting away Christmas decorations, then going 3 places trying to find fake rings to put on a ring bearer's pillow and not finding them. (A reader is going to get some for me and mail them to me. Yay!!!) I came home at lunch time and walked into the living room and saw these dark stripes on the carpet. It was the vacuuming marks but why were they so dark? I touched it and it was wet. My first thought was that I had over watered a plant but there weren't any plants near this. Then I went over to the little door to the hot water pipes and one of the bleeders was leaking. This is almost 4 weeks after I got the new pump installed and he told me to check the bleeders for a couple days and then put the covers back on.

The 2 little pointy things are the bleeders, one for each direction of the line at this point. The one on the right was leaking. I called the plumbing and heating guy and luckily he was in my town working and was able to get here in about a half hour. He ended up having to put a plug on it because he couldn't get the style bleeder he needed at the hardware store. The good news is there is no more leak; the bad news is that all of the water was rusty and I have permanent stains in my carpet. I have been wanting to tear out the carpeting and put in bamboo floors. Maybe this is a sign that it is time.

I had an electrician coming at 3 to hang new lights in the basement and replace a ballast in my main floor studio. While I waited for him I was looking through all of my button boxes for something to use for the rings on the ring bearer pillow and I came across this token. I looked it up on the internet and it is an early 1900s slot machine token. My grandpa must have given it to me when I was a kid. Nice find but still no rings.

While the electrician was here I made the ring bearer's pillow out of my DIL's wedding dress for my granddaughter's wedding in January.

The lights on the left are the new lights, 2 four foot fixtures with the new skinny bulbs in them. I'm so glad I covered my quilting machine! I have needed more light here for 3 years and finally I had it done.

A little ditch quilting......

2011-12-28T05:00:00.001-06:00

The only sewing I did yesterday was to ditch quilt a few more H's. I felt like I was getting a migraine so I was working a little slow all day. The weather is changing today so it may still develop but I hope it doesn't.

I made a trip to the house where the Quilts of Valor donated fabrics are and chose selections for Take 5 quilt kits. I choose the fabrics and another lady does the cutting with her Studio die cutter. These are the kits that people take home to work on so we like to have a bunch ready all the time.

Flannel quilt decisions.....

2011-12-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

I chose the narrow border, the wide border and sewed the piano key yardage which I sliced into 5" strips. I was using up all of the leftovers so I couldn't make it any wider. I have a few strips leftover which I'll sew into a smaller section to sew in at a couple random spots in the wide border. The narrow border will go all around the triangle section and also at the outside edge of the piano key border. I had only intended on putting the wide border on the 2 sides but I may change my mind and put it all the way around. I like to design as I go. If I knew exactly what it was going to look like I wouldn't have any incentive to make it. The triangle section is 54" x 60" so my decision on the border will based on the size I decide it should end up plus the visual appeal. Part of the backing will be the same print as the wide border but with a red background.

Kringla recipes.....

2011-12-26T11:18:00.002-06:00

Several people asked for my recipes so I took a photo of the 2 together for you. On the second one it says put under broiler until light brown but in the new gas ovens the broiler isn't separate any more and the heat is at the top so they brown in the oven.

Still blooming.....

2011-12-26T09:50:00.002-06:00

I still had one Christmas cactus blooming even though they started blooming in October. I guess this is a good reason to have more than one plant; continuous blooming for 3 months. There are a few more buds but the last ones on each plant usually dry up.

The other Kringlas........

2011-12-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

This may look like the same photo I posted a couple days ago, but this is the well behaved recipe where they actually look like they are supposed to. This dough is so much easier to work with. This one has egg in it and the other doesn't so I don't know if that is the magic ingredient. I like both as far as taste goes so I guess in the future my decision will be whether I want to make the easy one or the difficult one.

Today I'm having lunch with a friend at a fairly new restaurant in town that I haven't been to yet. It is our November birthdays and Christmas combined lunch. Then I need to work on the latest flannel quilt and finish quilting the H quilt.

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-25T05:00:00.000-06:00

Baking again.......

2011-12-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

My husband was Norwegian so I had to learn to bake some of his favorites. This is Kringla. Mine aren't pretty or dainty, just big fat wonderful tasty things. I was in the family almost 50 years before I found out there are 2 family recipes and they are totally different. I always wondered why mine didn't taste like my sister-in-law's. Then I found out I had my mother-in-law's recipe and she had an aunt's recipe. I still haven't tried the other recipe even though I have it. Some day....

I baked 2/3 of the recipe last night and will bake the rest this morning.

I finished my flannel pillowcases and got most of the center of the triangles flannel quilt sewn. Yesterday was my day to visit Dad and he was in good spirits. He always asks me what my brother is doing and asks my brother what I am doing so we know he still knows who we are.

A few more gifts......

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

I gave flannel pillowcases to all of the family 2 years ago. I figure they might be showing some wear by now and maybe they would like a new one. There is a duplicate of the light blue and of the green check that I haven't pressed yet. There are 2 more to be sewn and then I'll have more than enough. I used my tutorial that you can find here. I am trying to use up that flannel that doesn't seem to have a group it fits into.

Center panel.....

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

I finished pressing the seams on the triangle squares and designed the center panel for this flannel quilt. I thought about doing a zig zag but I really like this simple layout. Today I will piece the piano key border fabric and decide what fabric will be the first border. I made 2 batches of Chex mix and delivered some Christmas gifts yesterday, 2 of them mug rugs chosen by the recipient. I still have a little more baking to do. The house is clean and the party isn't at my house so I'm all set there. Counting down, just a few more days.....

Planning ahead........

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

This is my next selection for a stack and slash quilt. I will use the floral print more often than the rest of the fabrics. I may wait until after Christmas to start this one.

Yesterday my blogger friend was travelling through this area again so we went to lunch. She was also looking for a fabric with a certain color group for a quilt she is making so I let her look through my fabric stacks and she found a couple possibilities. She also had the fun of looking through my mug rugs for the one she would take home. After she left I had fun rearranging the fabrics on one shelf. I love grouping and restacking the fabric, very therapeutic.

Sewing, pressing......

2011-12-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

First I'll show the formal portrait of denim/flannel/corduroy number 2. I sewed the binding on last night and then washed and dried it. I should add to the discussion yesterday about the 6" shrinkage. That is both the amount that it pulls in from the quilting and then the shrinkage from washing. This one came out 58" x 73" so about the same amount of shrinkage. This type of quilting allows for a lot of puffing up which means it is pulling in from the sides and therefore becomes smaller. If I took it out of the dryer partially dried, laid it flat and smoothed it out to dry it would be larger.

All of the flannel triangles are sewn into squares but less than half have been pressed.

I mailed this journal cover to its new owner yesterday. It is made from the leftovers of the striped diamond quilt shown in progress here.

I showed the stash of flannel plaid strips in Sept. 2010. I just ran across them again and decided to use the 1.5" ones (top container) and make as many squares as I could. They are 8" so this would make a nice center for a baby quilt.

Mug rug collage and portraits.......

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

I think I am done making mug rugs for a few days so I decided to make a collage so I can see all of them at one time. It is nice that there isn't just one size for them so I could use a lot of different size patchwork pieces. A few people mentioned giving a mug with the mug rug and then the recipient can see the intended use. A couple people mentioned that they can be used as candle mats too.

Batting scrap uses: dusting cloths, mug rugs, doll quilts, preemie quilts...........I might actually use up all of the batting scraps that I create.

I took the formal portraits of my last 2 finishes. This flannel quilt ended up 60" x 69".

The denim/corduroy/flannel quilt has been washed and ended up 58" x 74". It shrunk 6" in both directions even though all of the top fabrics had been prewashed.

Finishing, cutting.......

2011-12-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

I finished the 2 mug rugs that were just waiting for backings.

Staged view and formal portrait.

This is one of the larger ones, 10 and 1/4" x 8 and 3/4".

I think it will be nice to have a stack of these for guests to choose one to take home.

I should have used black thread on the mug rug too. I never thought of it as a matched set until they were done. Isn't hindsight wonderful?

I have been making the mug rugs with patchwork that is playtime fun and leftovers from other piecing. Here are 2 drawers still full of pieces to play with.

We woke up to this yesterday morning but it is almost all gone already. It is supposed to be in the 40s for 2 days so it will all be gone.

The first snow that sticks on the bushes makes me run for the camera.

I use my Studio die cutter several days a week. Last night I cut 6" finished triangles from flannel left over from another quilt.

This is the variety. I have several pieces that go with these that I can use for borders. I will do a piano keys border too. This will be another fast quilt.

Back to the big projects.......

2011-12-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

I baked my third batch of spritz cookies, the green ones, and then decided to do some quilting. I had loaded this quilt the night before so I had it done by 1 p.m.

I just like large meandering on flannel quilts. All of the fabrics in this quilt are top quality and feel like suede. I'm not sure if I'll wash this one since it has the softer batting in it.

It has the orange print on the back and for binding. I make single binding when I use flannel. Double binding would be too heavy with this weight of flannel.

Late in the afternoon I decided to load this quilt and get it done too.

It has the same curvy crosshatch quilting that the first denim/corduroy/flannel one has. I didn't have any problem quilting this one since I did the zig zag stitch over the seams that are pressed open first. I used variegated black/white thread for both of these quilts and medium beige for the bobbins of both.

contest.....

2011-12-16T10:02:00.001-06:00

I entered this quilt in Quilting Gallery's Christmas quilt contest. If you would like to vote for me go here. Or if you like another one better, there are 67 entered, then vote for it. I finished this quilt in 2009 so this is its 3rd Christmas draped over a chair in my living room.

A finish, more mug rugs.....

2011-12-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

I did the last 3 rows of quilting, cut and sewed on the binding and then washed and dried this blue jeans, corduroy and flannel quilt.

I use Hobbs 80/20 batting and this roll was a little bit firm so it needed to be washed to soften it. I buy the batting on the 30 yard roll and there is just one piece 80" x 96" left on it. I bought a new roll and it is much softer.

There was a larger piece of patchwork made from all of the lighter colors so it was enough for 2 mug rugs. These are 10 and 1/2" x 8 and 1/2".

This was a good place to use one of the larger Kaffe prints. I decided to use it for the binding too, mostly because I didn't feel like looking for another coordinating print.

One of my readers suggested slicing off the edge finish that I didn't like on this mug rug and then applying binding. Why didn't I think of that? Now it is presentable. I should have taken a photo of it with it's matching journal cover. This one is 9 and 1/2" x 6 and 3/4".

And then there were 12.......I think I can stop now. No, wait, I have 2 more cut waiting for backing choices............

Mug rugs.......

2011-12-15T05:00:00.000-06:00

I looked up several tutorials to come up with an average size for a mug rug but it looks like anything goes. This one was made from these leftovers. This one is 8" x 5 and 3/4"

I don't drink coffee and rarely drink any hot drink so I might use mine for my chili mug.

By the end of the day I had made 10 mug rugs. One was a disaster so I learned what not to do. It's on the bottom of the pile in the last photo on this post.

I had enough of the braid patchwork from many, many years ago to make 3 mug rugs. They are 9 and 1/8" x 6 and 3/4". The fused hearts are cut with my Studio cutter with a Go die and adaptor.

I guess this can be considered 2 pairs of mug rugs. They aren't exactly the same piecing but have matching binding.

I wanted to try this diagonal striped Kaffe print as a binding but it seems a little busy.

Here are all 10 of them. The bottom one is the disaster. I tried the method of folding the backing around to the front for a binding but it is wobbly looking. I thought I had taken a photo of it but I guess I didn't. I used the same purple, black, and white patchwork as I used on the journal cover the day before.

Two posts today, first one my winnings......

2011-12-15T04:30:00.000-06:00

I was the winner on one of the days of Frieda Anderson's giveaways. You still have time to get in on this over at http://friestyle.blogspot.com/

I think there is one more day. This is what it looked like when I took it out of the mailing envelope.

Here it is after I untied that yummy 'ribbon' and slipped it out of the plastic bag.

After I untied the second 'ribbon' I got to this!!!!

The 'ribbons' are pretty exciting too though aren't they? More scrap pieces to use in my projects.....

Thanks Frieda!!

Small projects...........

2011-12-14T05:00:00.000-06:00

I needed some instant gratification projects after all of the big quilts I have been working on. I finished 3 journal covers.

I stitched a few horizontal lines with gold metallic thread on this one. Next I'm going to make some mug rugs. Everybody is making them but if you don't know what they are, do a search and you will find all kinds of tutorials and photos. I found that there isn't any standard size for them. I should be able to use more of my batting scraps for them, the scraps too small for the Swifter.

Cross rows..........

2011-12-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

It was a busy day yesterday, getting 5 pillowcases partially sewn for the church group, doing laundry and grocery shopping in the morning. After lunch was the sewing group with the going away party during it, and errands all the way home. When I got home I filled the bird feeders and did another load of laundry. I was too tired to stick with my quilting very long but I got 6 cross rows on this quilt. This is the one I had so much trouble with here. The really heavy denim seams wanted to poke up when I was quilting so I knew I couldn't do the cross rows very easily on the long arm. I'm doing them on my straight stitch Babylock machine. I'll just do a few rows every day until it is done.

Party preparations......

2011-12-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

Today is sewing circle at church and one of the ladies is moving away. I made some treats for our little going away party. I usually use Nestle's chocolate chips in the fudge but the last time they wouldn't melt completely so this time I used Ghiradelli brand and they melted like they are supposed to. You will have to take my word for it but it is melt in your mouth perfect.

Zig Zag done.......

2011-12-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

I decided I needed to finish this top yesterday. If you have ever worked with corduroy you know it makes little fuzzy goobers all over the place. Then add denim which likes to ravel and flannel that has a lot of lint, and you have one dirty work area. This reminds me why I don't work with these fabrics all the time and why I like my quilting cottons so much.

The zig zag is holding the seams nice and flat so I am expecting it to be easier to quilt than the one I did last month. Now I have switch gears and get some little projects done.

More recycled jeans.........

2011-12-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

This is the layout for the next recycled jeans and flannel and corduroy scraps quilt. There are scraps from 3 flannel shirts that I made about 15 years ago. The corduroy scraps are from clothes for my granddaughters. This quilt is all about recycling instead of dumping in a landfill. I know people who throw away big chunks of fabric. I can't do it. I love the flannel and denim together. I was a farm girl with 2 brothers. That is what we wore as children. Actually it's still my favorite wardrobe around the house in the winter.

Since I had trouble with the last quilt like this, I decided to take time to open the seams and zig zag over them with gray thread before I sew the cross seams. I will also open and zig zag over the cross seams. This should make it easier to quilt.

It seems that almost everyone thought the quilt yesterday should have 3 borders. That is probably what I will do but I'll hang it all on a design wall so I can double check and make sure I like my choices of fabric.

Border options....

2011-12-09T05:00:00.000-06:00

I started out with 2 borders options, pink narrow, blue wide.

Then I tried 3 because I didn't like the pink inner border next to that pink corner.

Or I could just back it with blue and bind it in pink and call it finished. Or bind it in a darker blue.

I sat at the car dealer's for 2 hours yesterday and then the tech guy comes in and says they have to tear the dash apart to put in a replacement part for the switch for the blower. He says another 2 hours. I was sure that with an 8:30 appointment I would be free by 11. I kept repeating 'another 2 hours' and he kept saying yes. Amazingly in 45 min. my van was ready. He put 2 guys on the job and they got it done quicker. I guess if I was running the place that is what I would do all the time to keep people from waiting so long. I left there and went to a party at the quilt shop, then met a friend halfway between our houses to deliver her serger that had been repaired, shopped at Target and came home. No sewing........

Trying layouts

2011-12-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

Last night I finally got around to making the rest of the blocks for the stack and slash pattern. My first layout was with every block in exactly the same position with all of the seams from block to block matching.

For the next layout I flipped every other block 1/2 turn. I wasn't happy with the distribution of the pink so I swapped a few more squares in different places for layout 3.

The top is all sewn together now and staystitched around the perimeter so ends of seams won't pop before I get around to quilting it. It ended up 54" x 68" so it's a large lap quilt.

I woke up yesterday with a burning migraine. After breakfast I took 3 Advil and about a half hour later, Dad's caregiver called and said Dad needed to go to the Dr. and that I should meet them there. We waited in the exam room almost an hour because they were working us in between other appointments. He was prescribed an antibiotic. After a trip to the pharmacy and then to the assisted living place to drop off the prescription I returned home, almost noon by then. Today my van has to go to the dealer's to fix the heater (only blows out at face level, not at feet) and an oil change and to turn off the low tire light that comes on the first cold day that my car sits outside (every year). It is something to do with the air pressure in the tires. I hope tomorrow is a more productive day.

Fat quarters.............

2011-12-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

I wanted to make another stack and slash quilt so I pulled out a stack of batik fat quarters. I rarely buy them. I was quilting for over 20 years when they were invented and I prefer full width fabrics to work with. What I have found out is that not all fat quarters are equal. Some are scissor cut very sloppily down the fold line and barely measure 21" wide. Others are torn, some are cut very neatly with a rotary cutter. I had to alter my cutting measurements slightly to get the pieces I needed from the fat quarters. I have 17 blocks sewn and now will go to my full width yardage shelves for the rest of the fabrics that I need.

Recycling military uniforms for gifts......

2011-12-06T05:00:00.000-06:00

The daughter of one of my art quilters is retiring from military service and she asked her mom to make 3 pillows out of her old uniforms. Louise came over and we loaded the wording into my embroidery machine memory and I sewed out 3 of them for her.

She decided that the front of the shirts would make great pillow backs. That way she could just unbutton them and insert the pillow form. I think it is a wonderful use of the uniforms.

This is the bali-pop quilt top she completed at my house yesterday.

I am hoping for a couple relaxing days now. It has been a busy time period again. I need to get the blower on the heater in my van fixed soon too, more appointments, more waiting.

Blocks sewn together....waiting for border choices...

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-06:00

I finished the baking, cleaning and then sewed the blocks together into a top. I will add 2 borders. Our school colors are orange and black so I have seen this combination for 52 years living in this town. This is a soft orange and quite pretty. The diagonal layout is automatic if you place the 3 center squares in the same sequence (small-medium-large) and repeat it. Then the next row the small is moved one spot to the right (offset by one block) and it will automatically create a diagonal layout. My secondary pattern is the black and white alternating so I had to have 7 black and 7 white for each size center square. Did I ever mention I love math?

More orange, black, and white............

2011-12-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

We were pretty busy for the last day of business at the quilt shop so the time went fast. I worked on some more blocks when I got home. I decided on a diagonal layout of the sizes of center squares. I need to cut some more light strips to go with the largest squares for 3 more blocks. I also need dark strips for one medium size center block. When I cut all of it Friday I was just cutting random sizes from all of the fabrics. I figured I might need to special cut the last ones. After I piece them I need to rearrange it a little so there aren't so many alike in the same area. I think I will put a 2" orange border on first and then one of the black or white fabrics.

Today I will finish straightening the basement and bake the second batch of cookies for the art quilters who are coming tomorrow.

A new project......

2011-12-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

I cut enough pieces for 42 blocks while the heating repair was happening so I sewed a few last night. I don't know if I'll leave it random or place each size of center square on a diagonal pattern. I have 4", 5" and 6" centers and the blocks are 10" finished. I'll be working today at Quilter's Heart, her last day of business.

Here is the gigantic old pump that worked for 58 years with a 12.5" ruler next to it.

That little aqua thing is the new pump. I can actually get back in that space now without dodging a pump. I told you my boiler was huge.......I wasn't kidding! The new one which I will probably get in April will be about a fourth of that size.

Too tired........

2011-12-02T05:00:00.000-06:00

I worked 2 hours at the quilt shop yesterday morning and then went to embroidery club. She had a lot of neat ideas for gifts to make. I was too tired to sew when I got home so I just went down to the basement pulled the fabric for my next quilt. These are all flannel fabrics. I have made 2 black and white flannel quilts in previous years so all of the pieces in the bottom of the photo are leftovers. The pieces at the top are big enough for backing and borders. I just got the orange flannel on equilter's Thanksgiving week sale. I think the orange print looks great with the black and whites. This will be a really simple pieced quilt, either rail fence or bordered squares most likely.

I baked peanut butter cookies last night in preparation for my art quilters on Monday. The peanut butter cookies stay fresh for up to a week but I only like chocolate chip cookies the day they are baked and the following day. After that they taste stale to me so I'll wait and bake that batch Sunday evening.

Today is the big day that I will be invaded by plumbing and heating guys. I hope it goes well.

And one more.......

2011-12-01T05:00:00.000-06:00

I took a few breaks from moving things to hand sew the binding on this one. That makes 5 totally finished in 17 days, 1 more quilted but binding not done, and one partially quilted. I need to get a better photo of this one. The light source is on the right edge of this one and I need to have it evenly lit for it's final photo.

This is the back. The large print is one of my favorites and I have it on the back of another quilt too.

I have orange cactus blossoms now. If I'm lucky all 9 buds will bloom.

This is the plant you can see in the background of the orange flower. The plants have bloomed in groups, first the deep pink ones, then the white ones and now I have 3 plants with red blossoms.

There is one plant left to bloom. Maybe it will wait for Christmas.

The repair of my pump on the hot water heating system will take place on Friday. I have been able to keep the old pump working by oiling it when it complains. I have always kiddingly said that I have a boiler big enough to heat a grade school and that's why my gas bills are so high. Now I found out that I really do have one more than twice the size I need. I will replace the boiler after heating season is over so maybe next year I'll have more efficient heating. The farmers who built this house in 1953 put the best of everything into it but it was overkill to put in a boiler that large.

Binding done and the fun (NOT) begins........

2011-11-30T05:00:00.000-06:00

The photo didn't turn out very good so I'll try again today. This is a quilt I have been working on for over 3 years for the sewing machine store. It is finally finished and ready to take for show and tell to their embroidery club tomorrow. I finished hand sewing the binding last night.

The fun, or not so much fun really starts today. I have a hot water heat system in my house, original in this 1953 house and it has never needed repair until recently. The last couple years the pump has made some pretty loud thumps as it froze up but I was always able to get it going again by oiling it. The problem is that the oil is leaking out to the floor and it finally is so bad I needed to do something about it. Since there is no shut off valve they have to bleed the entire line, opening little doors on the baseboard heat IN EVERY ROOM. OMG do I have a lot of stuff to move so they can get to them.........................

Another top finished, more blocks made.....

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

I finally got brave enough to sew the top and bottom borders. I had to take in about 6 seams to make the border fit. I don't think it is obvious that some of the 9 patches are narrower. I really like how it turned out and am glad I put the border on. I need to choose a backing right away and get the seam sewn in it and then it is more likely to get finished.

I made 2 more blocks and decided this one will be square. I see I didn't get the top right block positioned right, but it was late at night and I didn't want to go back down to the basement to take another photo. I will look for setting triangle fabric today and audition a few.

Binding again.......

2011-11-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

I needed to clean off a table in the basement yesterday so while it was clean I cut another binding. I really like this one with my backing fabrics as well as the top fabrics. I got it sewn on after I took the photo. Then I went up to my main floor studio and worked on the binding on the ABC quilt. I have a little more than 2 1/2 sides done now. My goal is to have it done by Thursday when we have embroidery club. The members of the club have seen the top minus the bottom row of blocks before so now they will get to see it finished.

This afternoon is church sewing circle so I will take the 6 pillowcases I worked on yesterday for their last seams to be sewn.

More ditch quilting.......

2011-11-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

I worked several hours at the quilt shop yesterday and then did some more ditch quilting around the H's while I watched a Hallmark channel movie last night. The goal right now is to get all of the edge ones quilted so I can go ahead and put the binding on.

I also did some more hand stitching on the binding of the ABC quilt, one and a half sides done now. I'm itching to start something new after all of this finishing........

Easy jobs..........

2011-11-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

We were quite busy at the quilt shop yesterday but there is still a lot of fabric left. I did some ditch quilting around the 'H's before I went to work and some more when I got home. I needed something easy to do without a lot of thinking after a busy day.

I gave some batting pieces to a friend yesterday for the preemie quilts that she makes and I cut the pieces too small for those quilts into dusting cloths. After quilting so many quilts in the last 2 weeks I had a lot of strips of batting from trimming the edges. And I dusted the kitchen and bathroom floors!

While I listened to the 10 o'clock news and Nightline I started the hand sewing of the binding on the ABC quilt.

Another binding done...........

2011-11-25T05:00:00.000-06:00

I am determined to keep up with the bindings on the quilts just quilted. A lot of times I just stack them and think I'll get back and I rarely choose it as my project of the day. This time I want all of the bindings done in the same month as the quilting.

This one was done completely by machine. I sewed the binding on the front, flipped it to the back and then stitched on the right side of the quilt right next to the binding to catch the flap on the back. It isn't easy to keep the stitching right at the edge of the flap but it is good enough for this fast and easy quilt.

Anyone in this area, remember the Quilter's Heart (in Sandwich, IL) sale will be 50% off starting this morning at 10 a.m. until closing on Dec. 3. The store is open today and tomorrow and then Thurs., Fri., and Sat. next week.

Happy Thanksgiving USA friends........

2011-11-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

I had to take advantage of an uninterrupted day yesterday to get one more quilt quilted. I have been working on this one off and on for about 3 years for the sewing machine store in town and finally finished the top a couple months ago. I cut the binding and got it sewn on last night. I still need to hand sew it down.

My brother and I will go to Dad's residence to eat Thanksgiving dinner with him today. Half of my family is out of state and the other half was going somewhere else today so I didn't have to cook the turkey for the first time in about 13 years.

Tomorrow and Saturday I will be working at Quilter's Heart where the sale has jumped to 50% off for the remaining 5 days of business.

Side borders, binding, quilting......

2011-11-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

This may look like yesterday's photo but the side borders are sewn on now. I added 1/3 of a block on each strip and then had to take in 2 seams a tiny bit for it all to fit. I have pieced the two 2/3 blocks for the top and bottom but haven't sewn them onto the strip yet.

I searched through my green stash to find a binding for this quilt. I needed more than 1/2 yard so that eliminated a lot of fabric. This is my final choice and I will cut it today. I need to get 3 bindings on quilts so I will have an impressive list of finishes for November.

I finished the ditch quilting on this quilt. There was a suggestion in the book of 2 patterns of continuous lines that completely outlined each cross when it was done. I need to look for binding for this one today.

Getting closer........

2011-11-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

I sewed the border blocks into strips to see how much I need to add to them to make them fit. I haven't pressed them yet but it looks like 1/3 of a block will finish the 2 side borders and 2/3 block on the top and bottom. I moved it over to a double design wall and it looks like I put it upside down to the way it was on the single wall. I guess a throw size doesn't really have a top or bottom so it doesn't make any difference.

I cut more pillowcases for the church project (every 2 weeks I need a batch) and quilted 2/3 of one of the crosses quilts. Today is going to be a busy day so I don't know how much I'll get sewn. Hopefully I'll finish the quilting while I watch 3 hours of TV tonight.

Extras.......

2011-11-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

I spent the afternoon yesterday trying to figure out how I could change the configuration of tables in my basement. The way it was set up it was hard to take photos of large quilts and I had to move a cabinet every time I wanted to baste a quilt. I made some changes and think it will work out well. I don't like the brand of daylight bulbs that I have near the new location as well as the older bulbs on the other side of the basement. There is definitely a difference from brand to brand. I didn't feel like tackling anything that took a lot of concentrations last night so I decided to sew all of the leftover 9 patches that I had cut about a week ago. There are 33 in this pile and there will be more as I sew some more combinations this week.

Some bindings......

2011-11-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

I decided this quilt was too small for a baby quilt at a little under 34" square so I hand finished the binding and put a hanging sleeve on the back.

I machine finished this binding. The quilt is about 32" x 40". Now I need to wash the baby quilts and have them ready for gifts. There aren't any new babies in the family; I just like to have a stack ready to choose from.

#6 quilted......

2011-11-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

I'm choosing all of the easy quilts to finish first. By the time I finish them I will have had enough practice to do some more detailed quilting. This quilt was made with 3" strips of fabric and measures approximately 76 x 102" after quilting.

I used a floral on the back too, one that I got on sale. I think the binding will be green since the spacer squares and backing are both green. This is quilt #6 this week. I know I won't keep up this pace but it has been fun.

The red Christmas cactus is in full bloom now. It has a lot of buds so I hope it blooms for quite awhile.

One block.......

2011-11-18T05:00:00.000-06:00

One more block for the border. I cut it from scraps so there was only enough for one block. I like the combination though and I have more of both fabrics so I will probably make blocks like this.

The little birds love the forsythia bush that is right up next to the house. They are there especially on windy days.

The birds pick at something on the branches but it isn't the flower buds that have been set for next spring. I think this one has something in his beak.

I worked at the quilt shop yesterday and computer club at night. I got one binding sewn on last night. Saturday is Dad's birthday, 98, so there is going to be a little party at his residence. Never a dull moment.

A practice piece..........

2011-11-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

Over the last few days I have been piecing the first of the denim/corduroy/homespun quilts. I wanted to see how easy it was to quilt before I make the rest of the quilts. This one is the most multicolor and I used a homespun tiny plaid on the back to keep it light weight. The squares are 8" finished.

I intended to do the wavy lines in both directions, a crosshatch type design, but after going one way I could see the stretchiness of the denim was going to cause puckers if I did that. I also decided that I will pull out the really heavy and stiff denim squares from the other kits and replace them with softer denim. I pressed all of the seams open but the stiff ones rolled back when it was layered and were hard to quilt over. Most of the denim I have cut is soft and/or thin so I won't have to replace too many pieces in the kits. I haven't figured out what to bind it with yet.

I also got the binding on one of the quilts that I quilted on Monday. I think I made this top around 1992-95 time period. There are 2 logs on one side to every one on the other side in the blocks to create the rounded effect. While I have dark blue thread on the machine I'll do the binding on the seaside theme quilt today.

I have another color cactus blooming. This one is a more true red than the others. All of my plants have buds now so I should have blooms all the way through the month.

On a roll.......

2011-11-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

I pieced a back for this quilt. I wonder if Kaffe matches the pattern on the large prints when he makes a back out of them. I didn't match it on mine; half roses along the seam.

I hand basted this quilt while I watched Unforgettable. I have decided to ditch quilt it. There is a continuous path to follow so it should go fast.

I loaded this quilt earlier and decided to go ahead and quilt it while the 10 o'clock news was on. I just did large meandering with Superior So Fine thread on top and in the bobbin. I didn't want the thread to show much and that thread always behaves and is a pleasure to use. I intend to take the quilt to my regular machine and ditch quilt around each H and the stars now.

I found large meandering harder to do than medium or small. It was harder to keep it a similar size all the way through the quilt. Also I wanted to move the machine too fast and got some longer stitches. It came out pretty well though and I'm just glad it is finally getting finished. It is MY quilt so I won't have to worry whether anyone likes the quilting.

We have had a few frosts so I brought a couple of my porch pots into the garage. This daisy plant has a bunch of buds ready to open.

The snapdragons are blooming too. The little plant on the left is pretty straggly but I had to bring that color inside where I could enjoy it.

Today is the birthday lunch with my sisters-in-law. One of them has the same birthday as I do.

A good day of quilting.......

2011-11-15T05:00:00.000-06:00

They say the way you start a new year will set a trend for the way you will spend that year. I started a new year yesterday. It was my birthday so I spent the first day of the next (new) year of my life quilting, as in finishing some projects. I will show each of them after the binding is on. I have shown them before so they aren't new tops. This one was about 48" square and I started with it. I haven't decided what binding to use on this one yet.

This one was next and I think it is about 34" square. I cut the binding from the leftover backing strips and I'll finish the binding by machine. I'm considering all three of these quilts to be baby quilts.

I haven't quilted for awhile so I thought 3 styles of quilting would loosen me up and remind me what I'm doing. The spirals on this one got pretty funky by the time I finished it. I also cut the binding for this one from the leftover backing fabric. I think this one was about 32" x 40" so it is a small baby quilt. I thought I would have time to load one more quilt on the frame but I either hadn't sewn the backing seam or didn't have batting cut for the next few choices. I did get the backing for one of the crosses quilts sewn. Now I have to decide if I'm going to meander on it or do ditch quilting that outlines the crosses.

The first batch........

2011-11-14T05:00:00.000-06:00

I sewed a batch of 9 patches yesterday but they are too light. I need to make a lot more in darker combinations like the 2 near the bottom. I will do more cutting and pairing today and hopefully some sewing too. It was almost 70 degrees yesterday. That is unusual for us in November. By Wednesday it's supposed to be down to 41 so it's a short lived warm spell.

An unusual antique.....

2011-11-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

A friend purchased this antique quilt and she showed me this unusual treatment of the pieces nearest the edge of the quilt. I have never seen this on a double wedding ring before and we wondered if any of my readers have ever seen it.

I cut strips for the 9 patches and started sewing them last night but haven't pressed any of them yet. I am making more than I need for the border so I'll have seeds for another quilt.

Rows sewn, math begins.....

2011-11-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

Since I didn't use any of the measurements of the quilt in the book, I'm on my own to figure out the size and number of 9 patches. In the book they used the same size square as is in the 4 patches for the 9 patches. I haven't trimmed the edges yet but I measured from the spot I will trim and it looks like I need 11 full and a 2/3 block for each side. The top and bottom doesn't come out an even measurement so I will have to either made some seams a little deeper or trim off a partial block to make it fit with approximately 8 1/2 blocks across.

11/11/11......

2011-11-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

Those white streaks are snow flurries. It was coming down fast and furious with huge flakes for a short time. It didn't stick but now we can't deny that winter is coming. Luckily it is going to warm up again for a couple days.

I'm still working on this quilt, 4 more rows sewn last night. The last 4 rows to sew are short ones so they will go fast and I can get the whole thing sewn together and trimmed. Then I need to figure out what size to make the 9 patch blocks so they will fit.

My neighbors put their pumpkin out for the squirrels to enjoy.

I worked at Quilter's Heart yesterday morning and will be there again this morning. She has decided Dec. 3 is the last day for the shop and after that the rest will be sold on ebay at regular price. If you live nearby you might want to get in on the 40% off while you can. There are still bolts full enough for backings and at a great price.

Catching up........

2011-11-10T05:00:00.000-06:00

Several weeks ago I started these 19 pillowcases for our church project (domestic abuse center gifts) but I still had the labels to sew in and the last seam to sew on all of them. I finally finished them yesterday. Most of the fabric was donated by 3 of my friends (thanks!). I added the solid color poly/cotton fabric from my 1980s collection. I have a couple other projects I need to work on and get it all delivered next Sunday.

I have a hard time making snowball blocks accurate but these 3 quilts in Kaffe books keep calling my name.

On this one the corners are many different colors of his shot cottons. This quilt is using mostly his early prints from over 10 years ago. I just happen to have most of them but I rarely make a quilt just like his.

On this one all of the corners are the same fabric. I like the floral fabrics in the blocks but don't care for the prints used in the center panel and its borders. I'm not sure if I would add that in there anyway but it intrigues me enough that I'll probably look through my fabrics and see what I would like in the center, just in case.........

This and that day........

2011-11-09T05:00:00.000-06:00

I had a hard time sticking with anything yesterday. It was a rainy gloomy day and I couldn't get motivated. I did sew the rest of the duplicate 16 patch blocks and put them up on the design wall. Every time I make a diagonal layout quilt I say I'm not going to do another one, but right on the heels of the Diagonal Madness quilt I have this one up as a diagonal layout again. I need to make 9 more blocks to make it into a rectangular quilt. I thought about leaving it square and using it as a tablecloth in my red kitchen. The only problem with that is that I already have 2 tablecloths and don't need a third one.

2011-11-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

I sewed 2 of the long rows last night and the bottom right corner. My 2 friends and I had fun yesterday catching up on 58 years of our lives as well as '3 heads are better than 1 or 2' when figuring out a lot of the details of our years together in 5th -7th grade. We went to the old grade school, now used for many other purposes, all education related. The new school has been built less than a quarter of a mile away. The people working in the building were all so nice to us and let us explore the classrooms and the community room. They even seemed to enjoy three elderly women reminiscing their childhoods. We went by the apt. building our Ohio friend had lived in and past the farmhouse my other friend lived in. My old house has been torn down. It was a wonderful day!

A sewing day...

2011-11-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

The after effects of the headache were gone by noon so I decided I should sew. I got all of the setting triangles cut and 8 rows sewn on this one. It is pretty boring sewing a diagonal layout but easy to keep track of which row you are on when sewing 2 rows at a time. I have decided to add the 9 patch border. I will have to figure out what size to cut the squares after I get this all sewn and trim the oversized section of setting triangles. I would rather cut the setting triangles too big and trim afterwards than have them barely fitting.

I switched over to sewing the blocks together into a top on this one when I got tired of diagonal rows.

Today a grade school friend from Ohio is going to meet my other childhood friend and I for lunch. We have set up the date a couple times and it didn't work out but this time it's going to happen. I haven't seen her since 7th grade so it's pretty exciting.

Saturday things..

2011-11-06T05:00:00.000-06:00

I got up with a headache yesterday but it didn't get really bad until around noon. I worked 2 hours at the quilt shop in the morning and visited Dad later in the afternoon. Otherwise I didn't do anything except look through a stack of fabric, nap and play Spider Solitaire.

This is the newest bloom on the fourth cacti plant. There are 2 more plants with buds, one orange and one that is some shade of pink.

16 more blocks, frosty morning.......

2011-11-05T05:00:00.000-05:00

The greens go from almost a lime to mossy green in various values and the photo doesn't capture that. I love the corals in the warm color prints. I sewed the last 16 blocks and put all of the blocks on the design wall while watching 2 hours of TV last night. This would have been easier if I had 24 fabrics instead of 12 because it is hard to not have 2 alike coming together. I think this is the final layout.....

I took this photo from the bedroom window, my maple tree in the back yard.

I had to get a photo of the burning bush. It is past its prime and the leaves are starting to dry out. You can see my maple tree in the background as well as the bare redbud tree and my neighbors' garage.

Yesterday morning was still frosty at 9 a.m.

Goldmound spirea in autumn colors.

The hosta has turned yellow, the columbine is still green and the sedum has red flowers. So much beauty in nature.

I will be working at Quilter's Heart again this morning. There is a lot of fabric still left and a great time to buy quilt backing at 40% off.

Something new.........

2011-11-04T05:00:00.000-05:00

My friends and I had a great time yesterday talking and eating and talking some more. I hadn't seen a couple of them for over a year. They left around 3:30 so by 6 p.m. I was ready to do something on my clean cutting tables. I have had these 12 fabrics chosen for a project for about 4 months, all pressed and ready to cut into.

This is the original pattern I had for this project but Lynne has a tutorial on her blog with different measurements that I like better. I made a small quilt with the original directions a few years ago.

It took about 45 minutes to cut all of the pieces for 24 blocks and 2 hours to sew them to this stage of the project (while watching 2 shows on Comcast's ON DEMAND).

I decided to stack 4 blocks dark/light/dark/light and slice them all at once. I also worked at the corner of a table so I could stand on one side for this first cut and.......

on another side for the second cut. Since the cut was 6.5" and that is the width of my ruler, this is a no brainer.

After cutting.

Then I shuffled the pieces like we do in so many of the stack and slash quilts. This gives me 4 blocks with the same 8 fabrics but the position changes for each color.

After I had 2 sets of them cut and sewn I put the resulting 8 blocks on the wall. There will be a lot more variety as I get the next 4 stacks slashed and sewn. I would be bored to tears working with just 12 fabrics if this wasn't a fast quilt. As it is it will probably be done tomorrow.

As for my friends' opinion on the quilt yesterday, they liked the 9 patch border too so I may add it to that quilt.

My final layout.......

2011-11-03T05:00:00.000-05:00

I changed out the light lavender 4 patch squares that were in the far left row and cut some more plain squares for a better match to fill into the rows that have 9 squares in them. Now I have to decide on setting triangles. I mentioned before that this was inspired by the Diagonal Madness quilt in one of the Kaffe books.

His is deeper toned and then has the added border of 9 patches. As much as I like the border, I'm not sure I'll put it on mine. I just wanted a fast, instant gratification quilt made of spare parts that were already sewn. I'll think about it and see what my company today says about it. My former co-workers from the quilt shop in Batavia are coming over. I left the job up there 11 years ago and we try to get together at least once a year.

You said it was OK to play......

2011-11-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

I started by cutting some triangles from the warm/cool fabrics, and the fabrics that had a 5" strip leftover got cut into 4.5" squares for the 4 patch quilt.

I had a busy day yesterday running errands, lunching with cousins, visiting Dad and more errands. I figured I needed a reward of playtime (and you all said it was OK!) in the evening while I watched NCIS. I have some tweaking to do but it was bedtime when I got this much up on the wall.

I have this many 4 patches left over but I think I'm going to stop at the size it is which I estimate to be about 51" x 69". I think I might fill in the edge with triangles of all one fabric like I did on the diamond quilt. I will only need to cut a few triangles to know if I like it, and if I don't I'll have multicolor out there.

Pressing out creases and cutting.....

2011-11-01T05:00:00.000-05:00

I pressed the creases out of the warm/cool color piles I showed a couple days ago. Now I need to determine the size strip I need to cut for the 6" finished triangle die that cuts 4 at a time. I cut some more flannel 8.5" squares for my denim/flannel/corduroy quilt project. I still need to cut some more to finish the 4th kit. They will be simple quilts, all squares, for guys in the family that haven't gotten a quilt yet.

I spent several hours earlier in the day in my main level studio. I have all of the furniture moved to the winter configuration and now I'm sorting the piles on the cutting table. This group of 4 patches that were left over from my Argyle quilt keep calling me to play with them. I have 146 of them and will add 146 squares of Kaffe prints to them. There is a quilt in one of the Kaffe books called Diagonal Madness that I will use for the inspiration.

A few more stitches......

2011-10-31T05:00:00.000-05:00

I stuck with it for 3 hours and finished the hand stitching on the binding but still have to sew the bottom edge of the hanging sleeve. Now I'm glad I only had one choice that worked for the binding because I'm really happy with it.

Gene asked if that was an oil painting next to the bookcase unit that I just moved. Yes, this is my art gallery wall. Back in the 1970s there was a really active art league in this town and I bought several paintings from the artists. The art has hung in various rooms and now I just enjoy them all in one spot. The one on the far left is a quilt pattern made of painted wood pieces, very popular in the 1980s.

I moved my blue and turquoise stash onto the bookcase last night instead of boxes on the bottom shelf.

Time to finish something.....

2011-10-30T05:00:00.000-05:00

When I finish quilting a piece with a polyester thread I like to let it relax a few days before I trim it and put on the binding. This one ended up waiting a few weeks while I decided what to use for binding. I have very little of any of the fabrics in the top left over and I couldn't find any other piece that looked right. I finally decided to try the same fabric as the inner border which I had barely enough of. I had to cut the strips in half and insert a small piece of another green that matches quite well to make the color sequence follow the inner border. I like it. I have one side hand finished so maybe I can finish the other 3 sides and the hanging sleeve today.

It is almost impossible to get a true color photo of the cacti. They are near an east window and too much daylight washes out the colors and not enough makes a dark photo. I'll try it with a flash next time. If I move them to a better location for a photo I take a chance of the buds and flowers falling off. The 2 tone flowers are quite pretty.

Where there's a will, there's a way........

2011-10-29T05:00:00.000-05:00

The area in my basement where I have a ceiling (drywall) is the eating area when my group is here. It is also the area the pool table and another cutting table are located. It is about 15' x 30' and is the only part of the basement where dirt doesn't sift down through the floor boards onto everything. I moved the first wire rack over there last week, one was already in that area, and there was just one more piece of wall space for another shelf unit. This piece is from my quilt shop in the early 1980s. I forgot how heavy it was until I started to move it 45' from another corner of the basement.

I remembered my little wheely thing so I tipped the shelf unit over on its side and put this under the center of it. It didn't work. The shelf unit just kept sliding off of it instead of pushing it. I had to put one foot on the edge of it and push it along. It only took a few minutes to get it over to the new location.

Then I started the load bearing exercise that is supposed to support our bone health. I made 10 trips up and down the basement stairs carrying these fabrics down from the main floor studio. Fabric is heavy! I do most of my cutting in the basement since I have 3 tables with 6' cutting mats on them. You can see by the clock I finished at 11 p.m.

We were pretty busy at the Quilter's Heart going out of business sale yesterday but there is still a lot of good stuff left at 40% off. Batting is not included in the sale since Sandy will continue quilting for people in the same location.

Top finished, binding chosen......

2011-10-28T05:00:00.000-05:00

I know this photo doesn't look much different than the last time but it is all sewn now. I was happy that the end borders fit just fine without a problem. I have the binding tucked under the right side edge.

I need 17.5" of this narrow stripe fabric for the binding and I have 18" so I will be cutting it very carefully. I think I might put a Kaffe stripe on the back because it is so soft and would make the quilt feel very lightweight.

I'm working at the quilt shop again this morning so I won't sew until afternoon. I'm also trying to rearrange my main floor studio to the winter configuration. I don't want to sit by the window in the winter. If we get the winter they are predicting I think I will be in the studio a lot. I will not drive on snow and ice unless absolutely necessary. When I was younger I drove anywhere anytime. I'm older and wiser now.

Errand day, more playing with fabric......

2011-10-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

I want to make another zig zag quilt like the one in my header except this time I want to alternate rows of warm and cool for contrast. I don't think I am going to add any orange or yellow, but if I get bored with this selection I probably will have to try it. I will still pull at least another 10 of each temperature to add to the pile before I start cutting.

A third Christmas Cactus is in full bloom now. The flowers are 2 tone, bright deep pink and white. When I bought the plants they all had buds but some of them dried up and I never got to see what color they were. They don't like to be moved once they get buds and a lot of the time they will just fall off and not bloom. I noticed 2 more of my plants have buds too.

This is what an autumn shade garden looks like before a heavy frost. all of the hostas start turning yellow.

This shot is looking through my 2 bare Redbud trees to the maple which is just starting to turn color. Just beyond the maple on the left are 2 Junipers which planted themselves. This view is from the dining area window in my kitchen.

I ran errands yesterday morning and then sewed the 16 patch ends onto the quilt top but I didn't press it yet so no photos until tomorrow.

I'm helping at Quilter's Heart this morning for her 40% off going out of business sale.