Month: January 2010

longarm quilting

Racing to the Deadline

Wild Rose Quilter15 Comments

I haven’t been posting much.  I’ve been very busy in my spare time, trying to get this quilt finished in time to enter it into the Circle Lord challenge.  (You can read about that on the special blog they have set up for it, by clicking the link.)  I may not make it, but I’m having fun using my Circle Lord, and becoming more familiar with it.  It was just the push I needed to get it out and start using it.  It’s a wonderful tool.  I’ve been using the basic unit, and the Aztec and mini-Aztec templates, on this quilt.  We had a blizzard this week, which afforded me some extra time at home, since noon Thursday, and I have made some good progress, but I still have a long way to the finish.

Speaking of blizzard, they said we got approximately 10″ of snow, maybe a bit more in places.  Here are some pics I snapped at my house.  This is the view looking out of my front door Thursday evening.

The tops of my lawn chairs sticking up from the drift.

The view from the front of my house, the next morning.

Love this tree in the backyard.

Would you just hurry and fill the bird feeder, please?

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoyed our brief visit!

longarm quilting

Poll Decision

Wild Rose Quilter18 Comments

I went with the feathers.  This quilt is going to take me forever….I’m real happy with some of what I’m doing…not so much with some.  But, once again, I’m trying new things and learning along the way.  And that’s a good thing!

Yes, there is a line of stitching missing in the piano keys…thread malfunction…had to pick it out.

feather quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting

Better this way?

Wild Rose Quilter23 Comments

Or this way?

I’ve only done the one, so not too overwhelming if I have to pick it out.  DH likes it better without.  If the “with its” win, I do see that I need to branch the feather fronds out a bit farther on the last edge…didn’t quite touch out to the point like it should.

One more pic to help you decide:

Now just use the handy little poll below! Thanks!

Edited to add a little clarification: I’m really not sure what the final quilting plan will be for the rest of the quilt…part of that will depend on whether or not I decide to keep the feather in this motif, or not. I basically just want to know if the feather looks good in that individual design to you, or not. Keeping the feather, or getting rid of the feather, will affect my decisions for the rest of the quilt.

longarm quilting · quilting

What is happening to my hair?

Wild Rose Quilter20 Comments

My hair has been straight, all my life.  Til lately, I’ve been noticing a bit more wave to it.  So today, I decided to try to go with it.  I put some curl booster spray on it and scrunched it, while I was drying it.  I usually can’t get it to have this much wave if I use rollers…weird…

See my new header? That is my neighbor’s pine tree.  It is right on the edge of his yard, by ours.  There are actually two of them.  I hope they never cut them down.  They were so beautiful today, with all the frost on them.

Tonight is the end of my little “stay-cation”.  It’s back to work time. I’d love to have one more week to stay home and quilt.  It’s been a nice break, but not the best vacation, as I had a couple of bad headaches, that lasted two days each.  And, I’ve just been really achy.  More so than usual.  Not just in my shoulder, but my spine, my right arm, my feet, my hips, across both shoulders.  Really achy.  My bones are not happy for some reason.  Maybe just the weather.

I did make four more pillowcases yesterday. This time, I did not add the trim, as I realized how much pressing the trim needed after I washed it.  Since these are donation cases for pediatric cancer patients, I would think less ironing would be more desirable.

I have one border to add to the Oklahoma Backroads quilt I am making for Mom.  I also made the backing for my remaining 9P & stripe quilt, and need to finalize a quilting plan in my mind.  I’m trying very hard not to start anything new just yet, and get some thing finished.  I would like a longer finished list in 2010 than I had in 2009.

Hope you have a great week and find time to do something you love!

longarm quilting · quilting

Happy New Year!

Wild Rose Quilter7 Comments

I started 2010 out by spending my morning working on a Pay It Forward project.  Last month, Sammi Brown, surprised me with a most generous gift.  She would not accept any compensation and stated it was her way of paying it forward.  So today, I happily worked on paying it forward in honor of Sammi.  Sammi and I have never met in person. We have become acquainted through the online quilting community. I was so touched by her generosity toward me and have thought and thought about what I could do for her in return.  Maybe knit her a scarf?  Send her gift card? Then it dawned on me that it would probably tickle her pink if I simply passed her good deed on in some way.  I made these pillowcases for pediatric cancer patients being treated in Amarillo.  They will be collected and delivered by my local quilt guild.  Sammi, these are also for you.  Thank you, my friend. 🙂

I used Vicki Welsh’s awesome pillowcase tutorial.  Her instructions are just great and make it so easy and fun to whip some of these out.  I said a few prayers for the recipients while making them, as well.

I ended 2009 with one final finish.  Yesterday evening, I put the last stitches in the label of my Gracie’s Star.  Yay!  Yes, there is a small booboo on the label, but I really don’t care. I love this quilt.

And, I have a couple of “almost finishes” for 2009.  A baby size “Gracie’s Star”, but in Cowboy fabrics for a baby boy.  I have the binding attached, but still need to do the hand-stitching to the back, and the two labels I made for it are ready to be stitched on, and it will be finished.  I must hurry, as the baby is due to arrive this month!  It was commissioned by my friend, Wendy.

And, I got my chicken quilt quilted, and binding attached, ready for the hand-stitching, as well.  It is not the prettiest quilt, but it has all my chicken fabrics in it, and will be cozy and snuggly.  I like it.

Chickens on the front.

Hens & roosters on the back.  And, I still have enough of this fabric left to back one more large quilt, and then some.

I used Jodi Beamish’s Fancy This quilting panto because this part looks like a chick to me.

I also finished this angel ornament, made with my embroidery machine. That was kind of a fun project.  Took quite a bit of time, though. Not to mention thread…lol.

That’s all for now! I hope your 2010 is off to a great start! I must go get the blackeyed peas and cornbread ready for supper.