A new addiction!!

Just what I DON’T need is one more thing to distract me from quilting!! But oh my goodness!!

A friend called me today and said, come to lunch and let’s play with some dyes. Ok, I said…thinking I really have better things to do, but she has been after me for months to come do this.

Originally, we had talked about her dying several yards of fabric for a quilt I had in my head for MQS 2009 when the theme was ‘Fire and Ice’. I drew it out in EQ5, and that was about the end of it. Never got any further.

Well, she had ordered some dye samples and really wanted to try them out. So we did. What fun!! What came out of the dye really didn’t look at all like I expected it to. Now I know what everyone is raving about with hand dying!!

I found a pattern for a wall hanging that I really want to make for DH cousin for Christmas and decided that hand dyed fabric would make it even more special. So took along the pattern (sea gull, think pastel water colors) and this is what we came up with for starters:

Blue, obviously, for water and/or sky (we’ll need lots of blue), the green for some grass tufts, and the coral for some star fish. Can’t wait to go back and do some more colors. She also suggested finding some tone on tone fabrics or light colored fabrics with a small print on them to over dye.

Thank goodness she is out of town next week…I’ll be quilting my head off so I can play when she gets back!!

Rainy days…and football games!!

Seems like it rains all the time lately….4″ last week, another 1/2″ in the night last night. BIG crack of lightning, scared me so bad I must have jumped a foot in my bed!!

Bunch of friends over last night to watch ‘the big game’ on the big screen. Can’t believe Brett can still play at that level at his age. The sportscasters were even talking about playoffs and Super Bowls…kind of premature, don’t you think guys?? We’ll see how he is doing by Christmas..

Not much quilting progress this week, ran errands all day yesterday and attended a meeting, then grocery store and home to put on a big pot of chili…yum!

I do have the second AQS quilt on the frame and have decided what to do in the star blocks, still contemplating the borders. I posted pics on the MQResource board and got several ideas, guess I’ll just pick one and go with it. Don’t think it will make much difference to the gal who pieced it. You should see the backing! Three pieces, one long one and two short ones so there are seams going both directions, PLUS it is a directional fabric and the design is going more than one direction…must not have had anymore at the store to buy or something.

Into the office this morning, then home to quilt. Hopefully I’ll have an update with finished pictures soon….

Stay warm and dry and have a great day!

Scrapyard Junkies!!

Are you a REAL quilter? Do you have a scrap bin? Scrap box? Scrap bag? Are you like me and can’t stand to throw away even rather small pieces of fabric? Do you have intentions of ‘someday’ using all those little pieces in a quilt? If you answered yes to any (or all) of those questions, then this is the place for you to be! I am about to begin a new ’small group’ within my quilt guild, well, hopefully anyway. And you are welcome to join us!!

When I piece a quilt, I cut the pieces for my top, then stuff anything that is left into a rubbermaid container beneath my cutting table. My grandchildren think this is their toy box, but that is not the main purpose. I actually have two or maybe even three large tubs under there, the ones with the flip open lids so I can open them, toss in scraps, then shut them. Well, they come pretty close to shutting anyway…

Our guild meets on the third Thursday of the month, and I have put an article in our guild newsletter to invite anyone who is interested in eliminating their scraps to meet with me after the meeting. I hope to chose a day/time to meet once a month. The first meeting, we’ll all bring patterns that can be made using only our scraps (well, maybe a few yards of background/border fabric can be added). Then we’ll start cutting up our scraps. Once we have our piles and pieces all cut, we’ll start sewing.

I have no idea how long this will take…some will probably go home and cut, some won’t. No matter, it is the process that I am after here, not the finished projects.

I am not even sure what I will do with the quilts I make…may donate them somewhere, may give them as gifts. Who knows?!

The patterns I have chosen so far include three quilts from the latest issue of McCalls America Makes Fast Quilts, Autumn 2009.

Two Scoop Sundae

Scrappity-Do-Dah

And Summer at Mom’s. This one has some applique and I would really like to try to do that. We’ll see…

So, I bought (at the Dollar Store, love that place) four clear plastic shoe box sized containers. Each is marked with the name of the pattern and what size/shape pieces are needed. I am thinking that once they get full, I will transfer the pieces to something larger and keep using these as I go…

As I go through my scraps, I press each piece if needed, cut the largest pieces first, then the smaller ones. Anything left that is larger than, oh say, 2″X2″ go into the fourth box with is marked ‘crumbs’. Bonnie Hunter makes adorable quilts she calls ‘Crumb Quilts’ from these smallest of pieces. I am also (so far) not putting anything into those big bins. As I use a fabric, I go ahead and cut it into my quilt pieces and crumbs and toss the tiny little bits that can’t be used. It will take some discipline, but enough is enough!!

So, if you are up to the challenge, just post a comment to this post. I’ll post updates from my end, and check to see how you are doing!! I can share some patterns after we meet, and I am sure the others will have ideas about cutting/sorting/storing our new quilt pieces. They will no longer be scraps as they now will have a purpose…eventually. If you have ideas or suggestions for the rest of us, please add your two cents!!

Wish me luck….

Last quilt of summer

Finished and delivered this quilt yesterday. Such a bright, sunny quilt! Really makes me think summer. But this morning it is 38 degrees outside…BBRRRRRR!! So I guess fall is officially here. Bummer…

This quilt was pieced by my DD’s MIL and will go on a daybed in an upstairs bedroom where she has her sewing machine. My grand daughter who is nearly 4 sleeps in the bed when she visits. She was with us yesterday when I delievered the quilt and she remembered that the quilt was to go in “Grandma’s quilting room” and claimed it as her own!

Here are pictures: whole quilt, close up, back and close up of the back. I did a swirl in the pinwheel blades, CC in the triangles and flying geese. Piano key borders and a ‘two toed turkey track’ in the narrow green border. I didn’t do that little border at first, but it looked so naked!! So I clamped the quilt back on and did them.

QD blend batting, So Fine white thread throughout.

Today I need to load the second quilt for the Cornerstone booth at AQS. I have a few ideas about how I want to quilt it, but seems lately that as soon as I get a quilt on the frame, it changes it’s personality and my quilting just kind of morphs into something different. Hard to explain….

Also having a jewelry party here tomorrow night, so need to spiff up the house. Time to change seasons and put out the fall decorations…been dragging my feet but I guess it is coming no matter what I do. I really do like fall, just not what comes next…..

Wow, listen! No wind!!

Up here on top of this hill, we really get the wind! Yesterday the patio chairs were blowingall over and the screen on the sliding door was opening and closing itself! Sunshine and calmer today.

Sara is working on a top for a wedding gift for a couple from church. Latte colors, using a pattern we learned at our guild spring retreat last year, Nine Patch Chain. Not your typical nine patch chain like the antique ones, this one looks kind of like a double wedding ring when finished. You piece the nine patches, then turn the on the diagonal and trim to square. I don’t have any pictures yet, but will post them when she is finished. We are going to add a half triangle border. Should be pretty neat.

She also recently got a commission to make a small quilt using baby clothes. This one should be a challenge! Mother wants different sized pieces, squares but not all the same size, and minkee backing. Most of the clothes are knit, so will need to be interfaced. Sara will do the piecing and I will quilt it when it is finished.

Now the kicker, the wedding is the 24th of October, and the baby quilt is for an October 31st birthday. And I still have one more quilt to do for AQS….  When it rains, it pours!!

Just was thinking, some of you may not know who Sara is. She is my daughter. She is married and a stay-at-home-mom to three children, ages 6, 3 (going on 13) and six months. We decided a couple years ago to jointly start a business making t-shirt quilts. She does the piecing and I do the quilting. Works very well…when we can get orders. She is a great piecer so I know I won’t have too many problems quilting the tops she has made. That is nice!

I found my muse!!

I seem to go in spurts of creativity. I think my muse goes on vacation…frequently.

Last night I could barely sleep, visions of upcoming quilts dancing through my head. Totally motivated…now that I am up, not so much…

Have to share a very special surprise I got last weekend. To set this up, DD asked a week or so ago, what we had planned on Sunday (last). Nothing, I said. Well, she said, Monday is son’s girlfriend’s birthday, let’s have a party for her…at your house. Ok, works for me. I plan a hot dog roast at the top of our little hill where we put picnic tables and fire ring that we brought with us from the ranch. Never used them (except for burning trash), so was excited to do so.

Family is all invited and start showing up. Guest of honor is late. DD calls her, they are at the grocery store buying food for supper, no one had called her back to confirm the party so she hadn’t planned on it. They will be out shortly.

My cell rings, DS calling. They will not be out. They have rented movies, bought food, etc etc. I say, oh well, she’ll just have to come get her birthday presents another day….and up the hill we go to eat.

Wonderful time, yummy hot dogs…then DD grabs a gift bag that was sitting on the table  (not sure why I didn’t wonder why we took it out knowing birthday girl wasn’t coming) and she says, this has your name on it.

Inside was a quilt top…

..made from the t-shirts we had designed for my horse camps. She had taken them from my closet, from the pile of  “one of these days I’ll make a quilt out of these”, had iron ons made of the entrance sign at the ranch (she designed the borders to look like the entrance sign, see the wood grain fabric and grass at the bottom?), even found the same font and made the name/date blocks. Everyone knew about this, except me of course.

I was totally shocked! They don’t pull one over on my very often, but this one totally sideswiped me!!

She thought about having someone quilt it, but decided that I might want to do it myself. Actually would have been nice to have someone else do it, but oh well!

It is wonderful to have a daughter that is such an awesome friend!! (And a great piecer too!)

Now to load the next customer quilt, here is a sneak preview:

Pieced by DD MIL, will go on a day bed. Isn’t this just the sweetest quilt? So sunny! Can’t wait to get started..but first need to go plant some plants at DS1 house. Supposed to rain later so want to get them in the ground…

One down, one to go!!

Ok, now don’t faint…but TWO posts in one day!!

Just had to share this as soon as I could!!

Preface: walked into local quilt store last week, mentioned that I was almost caught up on my customer quilts. Store owner  asked if I would do some quilts for her. I said we could talk about it….  She pulls two quilts out, small wallhanging size…and says these are for display in her booth at the AQS show in Des Moines in October. OH MY GOODNESS!! Panic city!! I was not at all sure I was ready for something this big…but I guess they are all big to those who have put their time, energy, talents and money into piecing a top…

So, sure, says I….took them home, hung one on the wall, posted pictures asking for design help on MQResource (if you aren’t a member there, you should be AWESOME site!!). Anyway, after two days of hemming and hawing, I loaded the quilt on the frame and started stitching. I ended up simpliying the design I thought I was going to do. It just is such a pretty and simple little quilt, it just didn’t want a whole bunch of thread on it.

So, ended up doing CC in the pieced blocks using templates from CustomQT; simple X in 9 patch blocks; and 1″ piano keys in the border. The piecing was done by Barb at Cornerstone and she did a fabulous job! I was able to almost always hit her piecing with my quilting, even the piano keys!!

So, without further ado…here are some pics. Full shot of front, close up of one corner, and full shot of the back.

Next up…the second of the quilts. This one I have some good ideas for, but am waiting the delivery of a template that will make crosshatching the sashing a real breeze. Ordered from CustomQT, but will take a few days for it to get here.

Here is a pic of the next one:

But while I wait for the template to come, I have one more customer quilt in house, so will load that next.

Thanks for reading!!

What a loser!!

I totally cannot believe it has been literally six months since I even remembered I have a blog.

I am really going to try to post more frequently. Really I am!!

It has been a wonderful, busy summer. I played more golf this summer than the total of all the years I have been playing I think. DH and I traveled to Keystone CO twice with friends, boating on Lake Michigan with Jen and John, lots of grandkid time. And even added a new one since my previous ramblings.

Joziah Jeffery was born April 25. Here is a pic of him as a newborn with the quilt I made for him. Made from Ami Simms Twisted Sisters pattern. Quick and easy and very versatile.

I have actually done quite a bit of quilting this summer..mostly for customers. Still haven’t started the quilt for my own bed in my not-so-new-anymore bedroom. I was down to only one customer quilt when I walked into the local quilt store and mentioned I was caught up. Owner asked if I would be interested in doing some quilting for her, I said we could talk about it. She pulled out two small quilts, wallhanging size, and said she needs them to hang in her booth at the AQS show in Des Moines in October. OH MY GOODNESS!! Panic attack!! I really am not sure I am good enough to hold up to the scrutiny I know I give those quilts that are hanging! LOL

Spent several days standing and staring, posted pics asking for help on MQResource Forum page and got some good ideas. Loaded one and have started the quilting. I will post the pics when I am finished. Not sure yet what I will do on the second one, but I have time to think about it still…

One of these days I need to update my webshot albums, then I can post a link so you can take a look at all the quilts I haven’t posted here! LOL

Time to get to work. Again, I promise I will try to post more frequently.

Grandma day…

Trying to find something quiet to do while my grand daughter Kambell naps in the other room. So thought I would add a post here. Not sure what I’ll put in, but maybe I’ll come up with something.

Let’s see…finger update…coming along fine. Still wearing pressure bandage to keep swelling down, but only a couple more days and that can come off too. I really didn’t realize how much I used one small finger in almost everything I do! And how wonderful to be able to take a real shower, shave myself and shampoo my hair without a plastic glove!!

Quilting update…finished a monster of a t shirt quilt. Photos below of most of the quilt (so big it was hard to get all of it) then a few of the individual blocks. There were 30 shirts in the quilt and I did each one a bit differently according to the design of the shirt. The customer didn’t want any stitching through the ‘paint’, so I avoided that as best I could.

Quilt on the frame right now is for a customer that contacted me via internet, a referral from a forum. The gal’s grandfather is in hospice and she wanted a photo quilt made for him. Her usual quilter didn’t have the time and/or didn’t want to make it, so she asked if there was someone on the forum that would be interested. Silly me, I said sure! Originally, the gal wanted twin sized about 20-25 photos, and had a budget of $300. So we came up with a design, had her choose fabrics from Thousands of Bolts (great feature..create a customer account and they can place fabrics in a shopping cart)….then she decided her cousin had some photos that she wanted included…so long story short, we ended up with 51 photos….  So back to the drawing board to find  design that would work with both horizontal and vertical photos, twin size, twice as many photos, and still try to stay in her budget. Not easy, but we finally finished the top and I started SID the photos last night. Man, I am sick of SID!! LOL

Well, Kambell is awake and wanting attention…actually just wanting a snack…so guess I best go back to the grandma mode!

I’ve really done it this time….

My new APQS Lenni was delivered today. I am wondering if I just made a really expensive mistake! Oh my goodness, what a difference! Straight lines are a cinch…but curves and rounded shapes are a real challenge. I am thinking it is the difference in the weight of the Voyager at 75 pounds…and the Lenni at only 34 pounds. When the Voyager was moving in a direction and you wanted to go another way, the weight kind of pulled the mcahine in a curvy line. With the Lenni, when you are ready to change directions, it changes…now. My curves all seem to have points in them. My spirals are looking a lot like greek keys!!

I know, I know…I just need more practice time and it will get smoother. I used up several yards of muslin, and have some flannel in the dryer for backing on some charity baby quilts. I think I can meander smoothly enough to get them done. Then will put some monopoly in the machine and see how much tweaking it takes to run it. Two full size t shirt quilts to do for customers. I’m figuring by the time I finish those, I should have a better feel for this machine.

So…recent quilting activity…went to a fun shop hop on President’s Day. Found the perfect fabric to use in a quilt for my bedroom in my new house. Only problem..is has been discontinued. I found enough for the quilt, but also wanted to make window treatments and a one block wonder wall hanging from the fabric. This is the fabric:

https://www.burkfabrics.com/cart/product.php?printable=Y&productid=9651&cat=1885&page=1&js=n

Do you think it will work for a OBW? I sure hope so. The colors are perfect for my room. I have striped pillows with all the colors….the walls are taupe with one dark raspberry accent wall. My husband wanted dark, rich colors, so that is what I went with. Bought new dark chocolate brown flannel sheets even!

While I was at the shop hop, I remembered fabric I had bought at that sale LAST year!! Came home and found it, still in the bag with the magazine that had the pattern. So, made it a mission and finished the piecing. Here is a pic of the quilt

You can’t tell from the photo, but here are actually three different black fabrics. There is also a 12″ black border…they had it at 15″, but I downsized a bit.

Ok, it is now Wednesday, I didn’t get back to finish this last night. I doodled some more with the Lenni, still having issues with curves…  DH came home and we watched 24 we had DVR’d from Monday.

Today, DD came out to work on a photo quilt that we have been commisioned to make by a gal in California. After about 4 hours of emailing back and forth, we decided on a size, price and design for a quilt for her grandfather who is in hospice. She sent the CD…ended up with twice as many photos as orginially planned…and more than 1/2 are vertical…which I neglected to figure in on my design. So…we reworked our design, picked up the photo transfers from the print shop, took them to the shirt shop to have them heat pressed on…ruined one…back to print shop…finally got all finished. Lunch time!! Then had to go the the J.O.B….keeps cutting into my quilting time, rats!

So now I am heading to load some charity quilts on the new machine. Hopefully I can meander smoothly enough. Then will load first of two t shirt quilts that are waiting. By then, I should have a better feel for this machine. If not, then I am in big doo-doo….