Month: July 2008

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

Midweek Snippets

Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

I’ve mentioned that I’m taking an online art quilting class.  One of the class projects involves dying my own fabric with fabric paint.  I can now see why so many people do this.  It’s fun!  These four little pieces are all I have done, and they are for a still life assignment.  Mine will involve tomatoes and jalapenos, therefore, the red/orange/yellow/green scheme.  The one really wild one was just for fun and I threw in some of every color I had.

This next pic is just for fun, and for Gayle.  I found a neat moth on my patio wall. 

This pic gives an idea of it’s size.  Anyone know what kind it is? BTW, my fingernails aren’t “dirty”, that is fabric paint under them…I used gloves, but had taken them off, and forgot and handled my fabrics while they were still very wet.  That stuff is messy!

I did see my doctor on Monday, and he is putting me through a bunch of tests.  We have the first round of results and are waiting on some more to come back, a couple he is doing more followup on.  I had three vials of blood drawn Monday, and a series of xrays.  The bloodwork looks good so far, except my red blood count is actually elevated, and he is investigating that further, so another vial drawn yesterday.  He said he also ran test for B-12, hormone levels, and lupus, and those results aren’t back yet.  He said the xrays show that I have a rib on the upper right side that appears to have been cracked or broken at some time, and we are going to look further into that.  He has ordered a bone mass density, which I will have tomorrow morning.  Saturday morning, I am having an MRI of my head and, I believe, the upper back.  I raised my right shoulder up and down in his office, and it made lots of noise for him, and he could put his hand on my back and feel it “popping” also.  So I was very glad that I could actually “show” him what I was talking about. 

Did y’all hear a loud crash earlier this week…sometime Tuesday afternoon?  That would have been me falling off the “not buying fabric wagon”….LOL!  Y’all knew it was gonna happen, didn’t you?  There will be more about that in my Sunday report.  🙂  But, there will also be some stash usage to report…I have made some quilting progress this week, in spite of my pain. 

Hope your week is going great!

gardening · photos · quilting

Sunflower at Night

Wild Rose Quilter10 Comments

First, I need to give y’all a quick update on the baby girl, Riley, that was fighting e. coli.  She made it!  I don’t know any other details, teenagers are not the best relayers of info, but she is home.  Apparently, she’s been home for a bit, but he forgot to tell me.

I ran out and took these pics of the sunflower, Sunday evening.  Glad I did, as a storm blew in last night, and blew it over.  The stalk is pretty damaged, but I propped it back up and staked it.  I don’t know if it will make it or not.  I hope so, as it has more blooms yet to open.  I will look at it at lunch today, and make a decision as to whether I should just cut it and put it in a vase and hope the rest still open.  Here’s a ridiculous amount of pictures of it…I couldn’t choose a favorite to share, so enjoy!  As I’ve mentioned, I’m taking an online art quilting class…hmmm….

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

Stash Report, 7-27-08

Wild Rose Quilter18 Comments

I stayed strong and did not buy any fabric.  I did buy assorted other items, including Isacord embroidery thread, some applique supplies, and some patterns, but no fabric.

I busted 3 yards this week.  One on the inner border of my dad’s log cabin, and I gave away 2 more.  The recipient doesn’t know they are getting them yet.  🙂 

  • 66 yards in ytd
  • 71 yards out ytd
  • 5 yards total stash busted (small, but going in the right direction!)

I have not had a great week, physically.  Not feeling well, ribs & shoulder hurting a lot, hands & fingers hurting, as well as hips & knees.  Also, had a headache and extreme tiredness,  along with all this.  I have an appt. with my doc tomorrow, and I hope I can keep my resolve and make him really listen to me, because something isn’t right.  It may just be some kind of arthritis, but it’s time to try harder to figure it out.  Anyway, I still managed to keep up with my lessons for the onling art quilting class I’m taking.  And over the last two days, I sewed the inner portion of my dad’s log cabin together.  I did manage to make a little more progress on the custom job that’s loaded on the machine, but with my back issues, I didn’t do much on it. 

I’ve been anxiously waiting for this to happen! And finally this morning…

Giant Sunflower
Giant Sunflower

This next shot is just to show you how tall it is.

I can’t wait to photograph it in the dark!

Earlier this week, Theresa awarded me the Arte y Pico award.  Thank you for thinking me worthy, Theresa.

This lovely statue is called the “Arte y Pico” award which was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents no matter whether it be in the form of writing, artwork, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogger community. When a blogger receives this award it is considered a “special honor” and, once presented to you, it is to be passed on to at least 5 other bloggers who meet the criteria.

I know this little award has been making the rounds lately, so I am going to try to pick five that I don’t think I’ve seen awarded yet, whose blogs I enjoy.  Gayle, Terri, Jan, Sally, and Jacquie, consider yourselves awarded!

 

family · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts

They Really Do Grow Up Sooooo Fast

Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

Until I was a mom, I didn’t realize how fast it really flies.  Happy 17th!

I also didn’t know how much I would miss that sweaty, smelly little boy that used to run around this house.  The one that played Bomberman, Jurassic Park, Monopoly and other games with me.  That dyed Easter Eggs with me, colored coloring books with me, bugged me to the point of insanity to open his Christmas presents early.  The one that sent me searching for Power Rangers, Megazords, and Transformers.  Oh, let’s not forget the Pokemon cards.  I can still see his face light up brighter than the brightest Christmas tree when I would show up to get him at the end of the work/school day, or to eat lunch with him at school.  The one that insisted on this routine, every night:  (me) Good night (him) Good night (me) Sleep tight (him) Sleep tight (me) Sweet dreams (him) Sweet dreams (me) Don’t let the bed bugs bite (him) I won’t, you either (me) I won’t, I love you (him) I love you, too.  Yes, I miss that boy.  He left so quickly…But what a wonderful young man has taken his place.

DH & I did a bit of yard work Sunday evening.  I found this.

This is what yard work does to me.  Nice hair, huh?  LOL  And yes, my glasses are crooked…I really need some new ones. 

And I have gotten to play with my new embroidery machine a little.  I made this label for my friend, to put on her snowman quilt.  She loves it and I got a hug!

I’ve had a customer quilt on the machine ever since I got done with my Storm At Sea.  It’s not a big quilt, but it’s custom, and it’s going slow.  It’s been one of my biggest longarm challenges so far.  I’m anxious to see the final result.

quilting · quilts · stash busting

Sunday Stash Reporting, 7-20-08

Wild Rose Quilter15 Comments

I have been in two different fabric shops in the last week, and the only fabric I picked up was a bit of bleached muslin, for an online art quilting class I’m taking at MQR, which I am not counting in my totals, as it was a class requirement, and will be used up right away.  TWO shops, no purchasing, lots of beautiful fabrics….I’m getting the shakes….I’m jonesing bad…I feel like going on a binge…I need a sponsor…

  • 0 yard in this week
  • 5 yards out (I gave it away in my reward challenge)
  • total busted YTD is 2 yards (woohoo! a positive number, small though it may be)

I made a day trip to Pampa yesterday to hang out with the folks, and to do a bit of shopping.  I bought new crayons for the aforementioned art class.  I didn’t need them.  And I certainly didn’t need 120, but I did want the crayon sharpener, that is included in the box of 120 crayons.  I also bought some embroidery thread.  In the pic, you can see my very first tries with my new machine.  I still have a lot of reading to do, in the instruction manual, and look forward to taking the class that the shop offers.

I also came home with some canning jars, that my Mom was wanting out of her way.  Don’t know what I’m going to do with them, I just love canning jars and wanted them.

Some commemorate the bicenntenial.  I was in the 4th grade that year. 

I like these square shaped ones, too.

My husband asked, “What are YOU going to do with them?”  My response was “I don’t know…I just like them…maybe I’ll can something sometime.”  That comment evoked laughter from husband.  Ok, so maybe I’ll just use them to make pretty displays, and store things like buttons and golf tees, like I already am doing with some I had.  I just like them…

love of my life · quilting

OMGosh! It IS Christmas in July!

Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

Wendy has been posting all these Christmas in July posts, over on her blog, the last few days.  Today, my  wonderful, fantastic, sweetest man ever, darling husband comes home, from a work related trip to Amarillo, with this!

No special occasion…just knew that awhile back, quite awhile back, I had toyed with idea of getting an embroidery machine.  He said he hopes I like it, but I can take it back if I don’t.  I was like, whatever! I’m sure I love it!  What a man!  Gotta run! I have an instruction manual to read!

longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · sewing

Storm At Sea Quilting Ta-Done!

Wild Rose Quilter44 Comments

I love it! I used Quilters Dream Poly for the batting, Rainbows Rain Forest on the top, and So Fine Marigold on the back.  All the pics are “clickable” so you can see them better, if you’d like.

I wish I could get a pic of the true color of the back…it’s almost the color of canned pumpkin.  Much more vibrant and pretty than the pics show.  Quilting this was fun!

EDIT: Thanks for the photo tip, Vicki! It worked perfectly!

BTW, it’s a nice, cool 68 degrees outside here, right now! How awesome is that for July?!

longarm quilting · quilting · quilts

Time’s Up! And the winner is…

Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

Look! I found another use for the craft foam!  Instead of writing down all the names on paper slips, I made reusable drawing squares of the craft foam, and numbered them.  Now, whenever I have a drawing on my blog, I can use these again.  It also adds to the anticipation of the drawing for me, too, as I don’t even know who the winner is, til I come back to the comments and see who’s “number” was drawn. 

And who is commenter #9?  Teresa L! You are the lucky winner!  Please email me your snail mail addy so I can send out your prize.  Congratulations!  I want to thank all of you that participated in the “party”.  I wish I could send you all something.  As a consolation prize, I took some pics of my pretty little mini zinnias for you.  A cyber bouquet, if you will.

I got a bit of an update on the baby girl, Riley, that is battling e. coli and salmonella.  She is still in the hospital in Dallas, but yesterday she went to the bathroom twice, and this was a good thing.  I gather it’s still very serious, but this was an improvement in her condition.  I’ll keep pressing my two teenager news “relayers” for better info. 

Again, thank you all so much for your sweet comments.  I appreciate them all and you gave me lots of smiles the last few days.  It was also very nice to “meet” some of you for the first time.  Have a great weekend!

longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts

Quilting Away on the Storm at Sea

Wild Rose Quilter25 Comments

I had to show you some more peeks!  I’m not quilting it as well as I had hoped I would, yet it’s better than I expected.  I don’t always hit my marks right on, but I’m just having so much fun quilting this one, and I’m liking the way it looks.  If you do like Eleanor says, and just hang it up and go by at 30 or 40 miles an hour, it looks pretty good!  🙂  Somewhere after the first few “bobbles” where my stitches didn’t land exactly where I was aiming, I remembered why I made this one in the first place.  Because I saw it in a Fons & Porter magazine and fell in love with it, and thought “I want one of those”.  So I said to myself, quit obsessing over every little mistake, and enjoy what you are doing.  Suit yourself and worry about no one else.  Wow! What a little epiphany!  I still think I might put it in the quilt show I have in mind.  We’ll see.  Oh yea, here I am rambling again, and you just wanna see pics, don’t ya!?

I really struggled over what to put in the large diamonds.  I finally came up with this design, after doodling like a gagillion other ideas, used a paper template of the diamond to fold up like when you cut snowflakes, so I could make a symmetrical template.  Then I used the paper template to trace the pattern out on craft foam.  I’ve been using a Fons & Porter chalk pencil, or a Marvy marker to trace the design.  This shape has been a little challenging for me to quilt “perfectly”, but I’m finding the more of them I do, I’m getting the hang of it a little better.

I also tried out this chalk spray, to mark the stencil designs.  I like it, it works pretty well, but it is a bit messy, kind of expensive, and puts off some pretty strong fumes.

I really like the way the back is looking.  I couldn’t get a really good pic of it, though.

If you haven’t commented on my Blog Birthday Post yet, don’t forget to scroll down to it, and get yourself entered in my reward challenge give-away! There will be one lucky winner come Saturday morning.  I can’t tell you how the nice comments that have already been left have warmed my heart!

XXOO’s

fabric · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts

Blog Birthday Party!

Wild Rose Quilter43 Comments

It’s my 1 year WordPress blog birthday party, and you are invited!  Thank goodness I checked in on one of my favorite bloggers, Kay, yesterday, and saw that she was having her one year blogiversary.  It reminded me that mine was coming up soon, so I hopped back on over to mine to see, and soon it was indeed! It’s today!  I have enjoyed sharing with you this past year.  I am always amazed that so many of you keep coming back to visit me.  I’m not the most interesting blogger, not the wittiest, nor most creative.  I’m not sure why you keep coming back, but thank you! Thank you for taking the time to visit and share with me.  What will we do to celebrate?  How about a reward challenge?  If you are a “survivor” of reading Randi’s ramblings this past year, I think you deserve a chance at a reward.  What is the challenge?  It’s simple.  Just comment on this blog birthday party post, by the time I stumble out of bed this coming Saturday morning, and settle in front of the computer with my cup of coffee.  (that is usually somewhere between 7:30 and 9:00 am central time-sorry I can’t be more specific 🙂 it depends on how tired I am)  So, Survivors, wanna know what you are playing for?  How about  one yard cuts off of the five cheeriest, most partying looking bolts of fabric I have in my stash?

Worth playing for?  If so, get those comments coming! You have til I become conscious on Saturday morning to be included in the drawing!  I will post the winner shortly thereafter.  Good luck!