Help for an internet friend...

I don't know if you read Michele's blog http://www.with-heart-and-hands.com/2012/05/praying-for-miracle.html but she is always doing wonderful things for others and now she has a request, looking for a kidney for her sister-in-law.  There must be a match out there somewhere.  Please help spread the word and help heal Becky.

Roses are red, mug rugs.......

My son and granddaughter brought me a dozen red roses for Mother's Day.  I sent home lots of hostas with them.

The only sewing yesterday was the binding on these 5 mug rugs while I watched the series finale of "Desperate Housewives".  I thought they did a good job with the ending.

This morning's first job is the temporary hanging sleeve for H-I Give it 5 Stars.  I finished quilting Prismatic Garden 13 and trimmed it so I will look for binding today and cut the hanging sleeve for it too.  I'm sending the first shipment to NC today.  Then I can hold my breath for 3 days to see if it got there safely. 

I have church sewing circle today too, and a couple stops at stores on the way home.  I need a larger memory card for my camera.

One of the teachers at Ciel Gallery in Charlotte NC is offering color classes too.  She is offering her class as a package deal with mine so if you would like to continue on with the study of color, here is the info. 

Color Fundamentals, Part II

Tuesdays- June 5, 12, 19 - 6:00 - 9:00 PM - Ages 16 - Adult
$115 or $135 (package deal – Intuitive Color with Wanda S Hanson PLUS Color Fundamentals II class) Both held at Ciel Gallery + Mosaic Studio

In this class you will apply all you know about color to create a unified acrylic painting which adheres to a particular color scheme. Paintings will have a mosaic feel when finish.
Instructor: Tina Alberni. For more information, please email Tina. Tina's website   Ciel Gallery's website: http://cielcharlotte.com/home.html

Happy Mother's Day!

I worked for hours yesterday on packing the shipping boxes. I have 6 ready and one large one left to do.  For my Intuitive Color class I have 6 wedges for the color wheel that each student receives.  I didn't want them to get all wrinkled and bent so I stacked them on a piece of cardboard.

Then I wrapped food wrap around them both ways to hold them in place.  This is the way I shipped most of my colorwash squares kits that I sold on my blog a few years ago.  It is a nice flat package this way.

I am almost finished quilting Prismatic Garden 13.  I have 2 blocks to go and then I can trim it and put on the binding.  I plan to take it easy today for Mother's Day though. 

I'm going to post my Charlotte NC Intuitive Color class info again today since the Saturday class only has 3 more openings.  The Monday and Thursday classes have lots of space.  Here is the link to the Ciel Gallery website for all of the info.  Here is my blog post with photos from a previous class.

Test packing, hanging sleeve, and bar tacks........

I decided to do some test packing of my quilts.  I needed to know how many could be rolled on a tube and still fit in the long boxes that I have.  I am planning to ship the quilts next Thursday.

I spent several hours quilting and decided I needed a break from it.  I have 2 quilts that need temporary hanging sleeves.  They can stay on permanently if someone wants to hang them or removed easily if they want to use it as a couch quilt.

I mowed the grass last night and when I came in I started working on the bartacks in the corners of the mug rugs again.  I found that the open toe foot gives me a better view and it is going faster now.  I have 45 done.  I have 8 waiting for binding and I am going to stitch the diagonal corner as I complete each side individually.  That will save having to go back and bar tack them later.  This means I need to pick busy prints for the bindings so the stitching won't be so obvious.

Quilting the green.....

Today I got all of the green quilted and started on the dark blue.  Here is a post that shows the whole top.  If you want to see more of the series and assembly of blocks, click on Prismatic Garden on my label list on the right sidebar.

To take a break from quilting I started working on some Kaffe fabric mug rugs.  I decided to build the patchwork on top of the batting and backing which will save one step in the process.  I didn't search for binding choices yet.

Quilting and bar tacks...

I went clothing shopping yesterday.  I really didn't have any nice clothes for summer.  I found a few things and will probably shop one more time next week.  I really don't like most styles on the racks so it isn't much fun hitting the dressing room.  When I got home I started quilting the quilt I basted on Tues.  I will be changing thread a lot.  I got most of the red/pink areas quilted and a little of the pale yellow area.

This is what the quilting looks like on the back.  I am quilting this one in the same manner as the other 2 in the series.

I worked on the corners of more of the mug rugs.  After I talked of my dilemma yesterday and listened to the comments, I decided that if I was purchasing this item in a store, I wouldn't be questioning why there was a bar tack by machine in the corners.  I am doing all of the ones that have busier print binding by machine and still doing some of the plainer ones by hand.  I have 30 done out of 55 now.

A bump in the road.......

I basted a quilt yesterday morning while talking to a friend who was using a couple of my design walls. Then last night I put the binding on 2 more mug rugs that I had quilted a couple nights ago.  As I have been making these, I have had a nagging memory of a baby quilt with the corners of the binding sticking out and raveled.  I have been sewing the binding on the front, turning it to the back and topstitching right next to the binding on the top to catch the flap on the back.  I have gotten pretty good at it, but the nagging memory had me wondering about the folded mitered corners that aren't tacked down like they are when I hand sew bindings.  When I did these blue ones I tugged at the binding at the corner and I could see it would pop out with a little pull.  While I watched 3 hours of TV last night I went back and hand tacked the corners on 10 of the finished mug rugs.  That is way too much time for the price I will charge (no final price decided yet) so I tried bartacking by machine on these blue ones because the binding is dark and it won't be as noticeable.  It is a little messier, but like I say, on a dark color it doesn't show up much.  I'll be experimenting for a solution on the next ones I make.