Month: June 2008

inchies · quilting · stash busting

Sunday Stash Report, 6-29-08

Wild Rose Quilter5 Comments

This report will be short & sweet, as I am still just so tired from the trip.  I have been about as worthless as teets on a boar hog today.  I have, however, managed to finish 13 of my required 29 inchies for the inchie swap on Machine Quilters Resource, organized by Carla.  Inchies are tiny one inch quilts. 

  • Incoming yardage this week = 0
  • Outgoing yardage this week = 4.25 yds

YTD totals:

  •  Incoming Yardage to date: 66
  • Outgoing Yardage to date:  55.5
  • Total Stash Busted to date: -10.5

I’m doing really good lately at not buying any new fabric.  Wonder how long that will last….

daily life · family

Where have I been all week?

Wild Rose Quilter9 Comments

At the Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf tournament in Wichita Falls.  DS didn’t play as well as we hoped, or as well as he is capable of, but that’s golf for ya.  Still, we had fun and enjoyed some good family time.  We stayed at the Candlewood Inn & Suites, a pet friendly facility.  I give the one in Wichita Falls two thumbs up, and would definitely stay there again.  I’m going to take a moment to brag on my son, and to rant a bit.  As frustrated as I’m sure he had to feel at times, he carries himself with dignity and grace on a golf course.  Of course, he knows if he were to act the way some of the kids are allowed to act by their parents, that we would pull him right off and take him home.  What is up with parents standing by while their 16 yr. old is throwing his golf club, even dropping the “f-bomb” or other curse words?  I cannot stand tantrum throwing on a golf course. 

DS did win the long drive contest for his age group, and got a little trophy for that.  We got home yesterday, and I’m so glad to have the weekend before having to go back to work.  Four days on the golf course, in the high 90’s and low 100 degree temperatures, wore me out.

And in case you didn’t know, real men use pink golf tees…lol!

longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting

Saturday, 6-21-08

Wild Rose Quilter5 Comments

I don’t have much to post today, but I wanted to share a new favorite thing I found yesterday.  I went to the local Hallmark to pick up a wedding gift, and saw this by the register.

It’s Bee Bar Lotion.  At first glance, I thought it was soap.  But it’s a little lotion bar.  Just perfect to run the ends of your fingers over when they feel dry from hand stitching.  Or any other time.  Smells good, too. 

I was going to give Corky (my longarm) her spa treatment today, but I decided to give my sewing hook a close look, since I’d experienced that thread breakage on the last quilt.  I thought I might have it timed a bit too closely to the hook.  While cleaning it thoroughly, I noticed that the tip of the hook felt quite rough.  Hmmm…could this be a thread shredding burr?  I gently polished it smooth, and then I went to tweak my timing.  Not an activity I usually have trouble with, but today, I was all thumbs.  I lost a set screw, finally found that.  I had a terrible time trying to get the timing set today.  And things got a lot worse before they got better.  First, I had lots of skipping, so I knew the hook was too far from the needle.  So I scootched it in some.  Then, I kept getting worse breaks, even having sanded out the burr.  I think, I hope, I finally got it back to good.  I have good tension, anyway! Longarming…it can be such a love/hate relationship.  Mostly love!  But it does have it’s moments of misery.  How does the hook get a burr? Anyone know?  I fiddled with it til I got it stitching good again, and the thread (Rainbows) didn’t break after quite a lot of stitching, even at a fast speed.  I won’t get to even touch my longarm again, til next weekend at the earliest.  So I’ll have my fingers crossed til I can give her a good test.  I sure thought I had her screwed up good, there for awhile.  I didn’t even get around to giving her the spa treatment. Have a great week everyone!  I prolly won’t be around much for a few days!

 

quilting

Dodged a Bullet and a Bittersweet Parting

Wild Rose Quilter5 Comments

We really dodged a bullet with the weather last night.  We had a tornado warning, and at one point we were hearing that a tornado was headed straight for our town.  So this involved us going ahead and getting in our storm cellar, as we have a 70 lb. labrador that doesn’t do stairs, let alone stairs going into a dark hole in the ground.  She has to be carried down.  My mother is the only reason we even knew we might be in danger, as she saw it on the Amarillo news and called us.  I had just settled in the bathtub for a nice soak.  Anyway, long story short, we did not have a tornado, but there was some hail and high wind damage.  I heard on the radio that there were straightline winds at 78 mph in town.  And we may have a repeat performance tonight. 

I sold my 2000 Ram Air Trans Am a couple of days ago.  That is the bittersweet parting.  I loved that car, but I haven’t driven in about 2 yrs.  So really, it was time to let it go, and quit paying the full coverage insurance, etc.  I will miss her, though.  We had put a Borla exhaust on it, too.  She has that nice, deep rumble.  They don’t make them anymore, and mine only had 24, 442 miles on it, and has been well cared for, so I was able to sell her for a good price, and it’s nice to have that $$ in the bank.  I sold it to a man that has wanted to buy it practically from the time I first got it.  He’ll love her and treat her well. 

I will probably not get a Sunday report in this week, or much blogging next week, as I will be busy, busy with DS and his golfing. 

Have a great rest of the week!

daily life · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · stash busting

Sunday Report, June 15th, 2008

Wild Rose Quilter19 Comments

Stash reporting is a bit boring again.  I didn’t buy any new fabric.  I did finish my cousin’s pillow shams, which used up another 3 yds of stash.  I’m still in the negative for YTD, with 66 yds coming in, 51.25 going out, leaving me with -14.75 yds used.  Bit by bit, I’m getting closer to a positive number!

These are my first pillow shams.

I finished the quilting on the charity quilt for the local guild.  This is the 2nd of two that I donated my quilting services for.  These quilts will go to a rehab facility for wounded soldiers.  While I was quilting, I said prayers for the soldiers that will be using this.  The blocks and border were string piecing on a fabric foundation.  I’m not sure exactly what fabric was used, but it appears to have a very tight weave, and I had thread breaks on every row.  Usually two, sometimes three, always at the corner end of the very top row.  I loosened the quilt sandwich, tried a larger needle, turned the eye of the needle a bit to the right, tried it with the stitch regulator on and off, etc.  Nothing helped.  Still shredded and broke every row.  That was frustrating, but I reminded myself it was nothing compared to what the soldiers are going through.  The only thing I can attribute it to was that foundation fabric and the thickness of the seams.  Anyway, it’s done, and I hope the guild is happy with it, and doesn’t mind that I had to do a bit of overstitching where the thread broke.  You really have to look to find them, anyway.  I decided overstitching a bit was the best way to deal with them, as I wanted to make sure the stops & starts would be secure, since this quilt will be used. 

This is the back.

You can see one of the thread break spots above the “L” in this next pic.

This is the back of the quilt top.

I got a new haircut Friday. 

Yesterday, DH had to shut the water off in the alley, so he could work on a leak on one of our toilets.  He called for me to come see this in the hole where the shut off is located…

Black widow…it gave me heebie geebies.

Caterpillar sighting!  Something has been eating lots of my little caterpillars, and I’m suspecting wasps. This guy, however, looks like he will make it to the finish line.  I hope my friend Anita sees this!  Her favorite thing on my blog are the caterpillar pics.  For you, Anita! Enjoy!

 Still no loss, no gain to report on the weight. 

 Oh YES! I had to come back and add how happy I am that Dale, Jr. won the race today! WOOHOO!

longarm quilting · nature · quilting · quilts · toads

Itsy Bitsy Swallows and the Not Itsy Bitsy Toad

Wild Rose Quilter7 Comments

The baby swallows have hatched and are growing like weeds.  Hope nobody falls from the nest.  There are five babies in this little nest.

The big toad has been gorging himself on june bugs.  I love to watch him gobble them up.  Quite entertaining watching him (or her?) and the smaller toad chasing the bugs in the evening.  Look how fat he’s gotten!

Look at this gorgeous quilt top! It was made by members of the local guild, and is going to a rehab facility for wounded soldiers. I am donating my quilting services for it.  I am going to quilt it with Baptist Fans.  I think those will look fab on this, don’t you?

family · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Sunday Reporting

Wild Rose Quilter9 Comments

No new stash usage to report.  No new stash bought.  I was hoping to have the pillow shams finished today, but I didn’t manage to get that accomplished.  I do have the tops quilted and cut out.  Just didn’t have enough steam today to do the backs.

I’ve been playing with the block layouts for my dad’s log cabin quilt.  I am emailing him pics, as I lay them out.  So far, we both like the barn raising layout better than anything else I’ve tried, including the windmill layout I had planned on using.  It just wasn’t doing it for me.  The “windmills” kind of got lost.  I am proud to report that as I was piecing the blocks, I went ahead and cut the scraps into 2.5 inch strips or squares, for a future leaders/enders project in blues & creams. 

I’m trying to keep up with the scraps as I go from now on. I am still trying to get the sack full I already had cut into strips & squares.  I did get more bricks and squares cut from that sack this week, to use in the Oklahoma Backroads quilt.

In non-quilting related news, my son won 1st place in his age division in the Jim Hitch Memorial golf tournament, in Guymon, Ok.  He played in it Friday and Saturday.  I thought the wind was going to blow us completely away yesterday.  My face was just gritty feeling from the dirt.  Yuk.  This is his 2nd year in a row to win first in his group.  If he plays all four years of his high school term, and has the lowest cumulative score of all the boys his age that played all four years, he will win the four year trophy, also.  It’s a very nice tournament and we really enjoy it. 

 

daily life · quilting

So What is Up With This?

Wild Rose Quilter7 Comments

This morning, when I visited my blog homepage, I was logged out, so I click on the “log in” link in my sidebar.  My Norton internet security pops up with a big red X telling me that this page is blocked for my protection.  If I know the page is safe, I can click on the link “to visit the page anyway”.  So I do, so that I can fill in my log-in info.  Boom, it pops up again.  It will not let me log into my blog from the “log-in” page, no way, no how, no sir.  I can view my blog, but I can’t get logged on as the owner.  So I click on the WordPress.com homepage link, and use the sign in box on it, and voila! I’m in.  What’s the deal?? Anyone have a clue? Norton said something about phishing protection.  Have the evil forces taken over the wordpress log-in page? Or has my Norton gone overprotective psycho all of a sudden?  Sheesh…I hate complications like this.  I’m just glad I’m on for now.

In other news, my son played in one of his summer golf tournaments yesterday, and finally seems to have his mojo back.  He won 1st place with a score of one under par.  Yippee!  Today & tomorrow he plays in another…hoping he does well in it, also.

I have managed this week to squeeze in a bit of quilting in one form or another, every day.  Even if it was just cutting up more scraps into 2.5 inch strips or squares or bricks for my leaders/enders projects.  My disposition has been so much better since I’ve been able to lay my hands on pretty fabric on a regular basis this last couple of weeks.  It really is good medicine for my soul. 

Gotta head off to work.  Hope I’ll be able to stay logged in.  Have a happy Friday!

longarm quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · sewing · stash busting

Sunday Report (actual quilt content!)

Wild Rose Quilter9 Comments

Yes! I have a good stash report this week.

I busted 2/3 yd making the binding for this quilt that has been waiting to be bound for almost two years.  I love this quilt and it will feel so good to finish it!

I pulled 6 yds out to make two king pillow shams for my cousin, to go with the quilt she commissioned last year.  I wanted to quilt them, and I’ve never done shams before, so I might have used a little for than necessary to cut the sham tops from, but better a little extra leftover than short.  I used 3 yds on top, and 3 yds of a plain cream fabric for the lining.  Then, when I get this quilted and ready to finish, I will use more of the top fabric for the backings. 

I used another yard on my light version 9P & stripe, adding the first inner border.  I should have pressed it before taking the pic, but oh well.

I busted the most on these log cabin blocks.  The quilt will be a queen…8 &2/3 yds. so far!  I think I want to use the “windmill” layout, but I will have to play with them some more before I make up my mind completely.

And I’m starting to see some significant progress in my leaders/enders project from Bonnie Hunter’s site.  I have 60 of my 100 four patches done, for the Oklahoma Backroads quilt I am making as a surprise for my Mom.

Total stash busted this week is 16 yards, if I did the math right.  I need to avoid those “thirds”.  So for the year, I’m still in the hole -17.75 yds.  But I’m getting closer to a positive number! I haven’t even been tempted to buy any new stash!

My body stash busting…not so good still.  Especially not since I made that Pineapple Crack Delight that Freda posted.  Thanks a lot, Freda!  🙂  Sunday weigh-in was 145.  Really, really got get that going back in the right direction!

Have a great week!