I’m liking it.
Swirly Curly Freehand Quilting Fun
Author: Wild Rose Quilter
I’m a simple woman…at least that what my DH (Dear Husband) used to say about me…I was a wife, I am now a widow, mother, step-mother & step-grandmother, quilter, and have a full time job in criminal justice. I lost my DH on May 22nd, 2011. I live in a small town in Texas. I love piecing quilts, I love quilting quilts. I have a serious addiction to fabric. I’ve been quilting since 1998, and purchased my first longarm, a Gammill Premier, in 2004. I upgraded to an A-1 Elite, named Corky, in March, 2007. I am in the process of rebuilding my life after losing my spouse. All photos and content in this blog are my own, and I request that you not download, copy or otherwise use anything here without my permission. I hope you enjoy visiting my blog and would love to hear your comments. Thanks for stopping by!
How about a Thursday Thumbs Up?
I love Kay’s Thursday Thumpers. And in fact I have one for today. Thump Countrywide Mortgage…or rather the criminal that was working there that stole thousands of customers personal information and sold it to a third party. The FBI discovered this in August, and Countrywide sent out letters to thousands of mortgage customers this week informing them that their personal information may have been among those sold. We got one of those letters….THUMP THUMP THUMP.
But, on a positive note, I’d like to start another Thursday tradition. Thursday Thumbs Up. My intention is not to take the place of the Thursday Thumpers. Sometimes ya just need to give something, or somebody a good thumpin’. But sometimes, if you have had a positive experience, or found a new product or place that you really like or love, give it a Thursday Thumbs Up. Today, I am giving my Thursday Thumbs Up to Ore Ida Steam & Mash taters (all flavors), and Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers (especially the super sweet corn in butter sauce). Yummy and so convenient for those pressed for quality kitchen time, but would still like to be able to plop a tasty meal in front of their families, at the end of long work day. Way to go, Ore Ida & Green Giant.
Also, thumbs up to those that made me smile with their comments to my previous post. I enjoyed reading those, and am glad you got a giggle, too.
Tomorrow is TGIF! Big thumbs up for that.
DH went on a fishing trip, and all I got was…
Ok, so DH just got home from a fishing tournament trip. I got a present.
Yep, that’s a Mossy Oak camouflage night gown. I love it, but….how’s it ‘spose to be $exy if he can’t see me…??? LOL 😉
Stash Tracking, 9-14-08
No new fabric came into the stash this week. I used 2.25 yds. adding the striped border to the darker 9P & Stripe. YTD totals are:
- Incoming Yardage to date: 84
- Outgoing Yardage to date: 105 & 5/12yds
- Total Stash Busted to date: 21 & 5/12 yds
I’m liking this one.
I also made the binding for the memorial quilt, and got it attached to the front of the quilt, ready for the hand stitching.
I enjoyed the first race of the NASCAR chase for the cup today. A little more so than most this year. Maybe because Kyle Busch was not up front today…lol. And it had a surprise ending today.
I can’t believe it’s already going to be Monday tomorrow. Where did this weekend go so fast?? At least I got some good fabric and thread therapy. I hope you got a chance to do something you love.
Busy Saturday
I was quite productive today, despite the fact that I couldn’t sleep last night. It’s been awhile since I had such a sleepless night, and if it’s gonna happen, a Friday night is the best time. So I can’t really complain about that. I got up about 8:15 and made coffee. Then I put some clothes on and set my timer for 15 minutes, and started straightening up in my room. Then 15 minutes in the kitchen, and then the living room. Then a vacuum and mopping session on the floors.
Then I did yoga. I got to thinking that yoga might be good for my neck, shoulders and back. I order movies from Netflix, and wondered if they have yoga dvd’s. Well, they do. I ordered one called Yoga Wisdom for Neck Pain & Tight Shoulders. I really like this one, and do think it is helping. My massage therapist seems to be making some good progress on the tightness around and under the shoulder blade. I’m crossing my fingers.
After a bite of lunch, I loaded the memorial quilt top. I quilted it a panto named Joust, by Willow Leaf Studios. I love the way this turned out. I think the family will be pleased. Next step is to make the binding. I am going to make it from the boy’s shirts, also.
I received this beautiful charm pack in the mail this week, from OzJane. She did a blog giveaway, and ended up sending out charm packs to everyone. How very generous. She couldn’t have picked a more perfect pack for me!
One of my best friends, who recently moved away, was back in town two or three weekends ago. Look what she brought me. She found it in an estate sale for $1.00! Still in the box, with the tag.
The owner of the Wizard of Oz quilt has been out of town, and didn’t get to pick it up til this week. She loved it, and so did her husband. She also gave me a king size Turning Twenty Again top to quilt for her. And my instructions are to just have fun and do my thing all over it. Woohoo! A freehand allover from the front. I’m looking forward to getting to it. It will be my first with wool batting. I have some on order from Quilter’s Dream, and she has a FatBack ordered from Christian Lane Quilters, for the backing.
I joined the local guild Tuesday night. I went to their first meeting of the new year. I’m looking forward to it. I hope I can manage to find time for the projects.
I hope tomorrow will prove to be another productive day. If it isn’t, I won’t have much of a stash report…lol.
Ike
I have been watching hurricane news ever since I got home from work. I hope all my blogging friends and readers in Ike’s path are safe and sound.
Sunday Stash Report, 9-7-08
One yard in this week, 7 & 11/12 yds. out. YTD : 84 in, 103 & 1/6 out, 19 1/6 yds total busted.
I’ve had a busy week, but not so much quilting. I did solve my border dilemma. I purchased one yard of a gold fabric to use as an accent border or flange. I searched my stash first, and did not have any that would match. I was just a few inches shy of having enough of the green leftover to use it. Wouldn’t ya know it?
I used a yard adding the first border to the darker 9P & stripe quilt.
I almost bought more than I needed, when buying the gold. That’s just the sort of event to push me back off the wagon. However, I found some resolve, and only bought just what I needed. I calculated that my self control saved me at least $100.25. I am going to start tracking this, and putting what I don’t spend in a savings. A little incentive, besided having to be accountable here, is that I can put that money in the “fix up the kitchen” fund. I am really wanting to do some remodeling in my kitchen. I need some new appliances, but I don’t want to change them til I can freshen up the cabinets, and change the countertop. If I quit spending all my money on fabric, this project can take place sooner. I can’t believe I’m showing y’all this, buy here is my kitchen.
I don’t want to change the floor or paint job. I did the paint, and DH laid the floor, and I really like those two things.
I want a silestone counter in Kona Beige. And I’m thinking that we might just paint the cabinets (or rather have them painted) in a dark brown.
Hopefully, sometime in the not so distant future, I will get to post “after pics”.
I also got new hair again…this is the “autumn” color. I always just let my stylist do what he wants. We did darker highlights, and even some almost black “low lights”. This is much closer to my natural color.
Enjoy the rest of the your weekend!
Borders, borders, borders…
I spent most of my Labor Day laboring away on borders. First, I finished the commissioned memorial quilt top, by adding the borders to it. Then, I decided it was time to work on a “me” project. So, I got out my E. Burns 9P & Stripes tops. I got the darker one trimmed and ready for the first border, and measured and washed the fabric for that. Then I got busy on the lighter one. I had already added the first inner border to it, and the next step was the pieced border. Whew! That was a job, but I enjoyed working on it today. This top is getting big, so not a great pic of it, and ignore the lumps of laundry under it. I’ve also labored on laundry today, in between sewing sessions.
I have a bit of a design dilemma. I don’t have enough of the light fabric left to do the final border. So, I was planning on using the red. However, this will make the border 9P red squares on the edge, not show up as clearly. I would use the green, but there won’t be enough of it left, either. I guess I’ll just go with the red. What do you think?
Now then, for Jan & Connie:
Sand Tarts
- 1 lb. softened butter
- 4 T. powdered sugar
- 2 C. all purpose flour
- 2 t. vanilla
- 2 C. finely chopped pecans
Cream the butter, add in the powdered sugar, flour, vanilla, and nuts, in that order. Shape the cookies however you want. (My Mom always makes them kind of crescent shaped, so I do, too). Bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes. You want them just starting to brown. Roll the warm cookies in powdered sugar.
Enjoy!
Sunday Stash Report, 8-31-08
This week I did not buy any fabric. And I even went to a fabric store yesterday! The only thing I bought was a pattern for a quilt with chickens on it. I love going to that store, though (Sands Fabrics in Pampa). There are always some beautiful quilts hanging there to see…some pretty longarm eye candy, too.
I have used one yard from my stash for the memorial quilt. I now have the top together, except for the outside border.
I used 1.5 yds this week making those little jewelry/notions bags I blogged about in the previous post. I made these two today.
So zero yards added this week, and 2.5 yards busted. Year to date:
- Incoming 83 yards
- Outgoing 95.25 yards
- Total busted 11.25 yards
I’m still going in the right direction! I’m determined to end this year with a positive total. My fabric is falling off the shelves in my closet.
I finished the repair work on my storm at sea binding, and am back to stitching. That will be a 2008 finish before long. I just piddled around, back and forth, between projects today. My seasonal allergies are in full bloom today. I couldn’t get far from a kleenex today. I broke down and started back on the prescription nasal spray today. I also made these sand tarts today:
Did you get to do something you love today? I hope so! I’m looking forward to another day off from my day job tomorrow. Enjoy your labor day!
A Small Thursday Thump :-)
I have one small thump today. I’ve been stitching away in the evenings, stitching down the binding on my storm at sea quilt. I rounded the third corner last night, so pleased with how good it’s looking, only to notice a funny looking spot in the binding fabric. Upon closer inspection, I discover it’s a small slit in the fabric. Great! Next, I start looking to determine how much I am going to have to detach, so that I can replace that piece of binding, when all the way down that edge, and around the last corner, I see a snag in the binding fabric. Of course, both of these flaws are on the outside of the binding. Couldn’t have landed on the part that’s going to be closed up into the quilt, nope, right on the outside layer. So instead of stitching, I’m now unstitching. I don’t like unstitching. I like the doing part of quilting, not the undoing. Oh well, like I said, small thump. Minor setback. Just an aggravation.
I have had a few write and ask me about my test results. I meant to post about that Sunday, and forgot. I have nothing really new to report. I never heard back from my doctor, so I went to the hospital and got copies of my reports and read them myself. The MRI on my c-spine, mentions some “concentrical disc bulging” and some “mild facet degenerative changes and hypertrophy”. I think the one on my brain was fine, except they said in the report they injected me with contrast dye, which they didn’t. Called the hospital about that, to make sure it was really my brain…lol. I think that’s probably just a med. transcriptioner mistake…you know, just automatic verbage that they didn’t delete. The only thing that I could pick out on the blood work was the high red blood count, that the doctor mentioned when he did call me, but the followup report test didn’t seem to show anything unusual. The lupus test and hormone results were on the same report. That report had me listed as a 42 year old male. Soooo….not sure what I think of that. I haven’t called the lab…I was pretty disgusted at that point, and fed up with the whole ordeal.
In the meantime, I have been having my husband, or son, whichever is handy, apply some pressure to the muscles around my shoulder blade, to keep working on those pressure points between massage appts. And, I’ve been putting an ice pack on it every night while I’m sitting in bed stitching and watching t.v. I don’t know if that is making a difference or not, but I have felt much better this last week. Much less pain in that area. It’s been great to have some relief! And maybe it’s because some of you have said prayers for me. Thank you for that! I believe in the power of prayer. I’ve been saying them for me, too. I felt even better after my massage therapist, and chiropractor got through with me on Tuesday. I’m starting to think that maybe a lot of it is repetative muscle injury. Maybe from being on computers too much all day, and those muscles back there are getting screwed up, and pulling everything else out of place. I’m not giving up on getting better. That is why I haven’t been blogging as much, though…I’m trying to lessen my time at the keyboard and mouse.
I finished the quilting on the Chinese coins baby quilt. I worked on it during lunch Monday, and after I got home. I’ll post pics of it when I get it all finished. It came out really cute, though.
I have gotten two more rows of the first memory quilt finished. And I found this great tutorial , on Debby Maddy’s blog, while blog surfing. Thank you for sharing it, Debby. I had fun giving it a try, and I think this is a great gift project. I am sure I will be digging through my fabric stash to make a few more of these.
So how is your week going? Have you taken time to do something you love?
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 