Ok, I know several of us signed up on the “Just Us Quilters” list, hosted by Nikki. When I click the link to go visit the site, it says that blog has been removed, as has her other blog, Nikki’s Ventures. Anyone know why or where it went? Or if it’s coming back? Just curious…it was a great list, and I enjoyed browsing the blogs on it. If it’s not coming back, I want to take the link out of my sidebar.
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!
Stash Busting Report, 8-24-08
I busted 4 & 1/3 yds this week. I used four yard fleece on a fleece blanket, that I forgot to photo. I used 1/3 yd. making binding for the storm at sea.
YTD totals:
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Incoming Yardage to date: 83
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Outgoing Yardage to date: 92 & 3/4 yds.
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Total Stash Busted to date: 9 & 3/4 yds.
It’s been a busy week. I made a fleece blanket. I quilted the customer wallhanging, and that took most of my spare time during the week, and yesterday. Small quilt, but time consuming. No pics yet, as it is my customer’s for a guild challenge.
I loaded up the commissioned baby quilt (Chinese coins that I posted recently), and did one pass of a panto on it. It’s looking good! I also attached a hanging sleeve, and did the machine stitching of the binding to the front, on my storm at sea quilt.
Corky, my longarm, got her “spa treatment”. This involves removing the front cover piece and oiling several points in the front, oiling all the regular oiling points, loosening the covers that give me access to the gears, so that I could pack some more grease on them, and just giving her an allover cleaning. I cleaned the table, table tracks, carriage tracks and wheels.
I also attacked the huge mess that was in my closet, and cleaned out a big sack of clothes. Woohoo…that’s like a weight off. How does it get in such a shape?
Seems like such a boring post without pics. Glad you stopped by. Hope you have a great week ahead!
Wonderful Wednesday Mail Surprise!
Teresa! Thank you so much! What a sweet surpise the mail brought today. I’ve wondered what these taste like for a long time! Now I know…yum! I thank you, and my family does, too. 🙂 And yes, they made it just fine, with no melting. You really, really made my day. Hugs to you!!
I also have a cute little swallow pic to share with y’all today. This is the newest little batch of fledglings. This is what they look like when it’s raining outside.
I wish they didn’t make such a big mess, right at my front door, but I don’t have the heart to make them leave. 😦
I must get back to quilting! I picked up a small customer job, but it’s gonna take a fair amount of time. It’s a rush job, to be shown at the next guilt meeting, as part of their challenge. I’ve been praying that everything goes smooth sailing on this one! Sew far, sew good, but I’ve barely gotten started.
Another W.O.B. Bites the Dust
Yesterday, I just felt the need for that satisfaction that comes from finishing something. So, after I finished the quilting on the Oz quilt, I pulled one of my quilts that has been waiting on binding, Greg’s courthouse steps quilt. The sad part, is that this one was Greg’s Christmas present last year. Well, at least he will be using it before Christmas this year. I did the binding completely by machine, so I could get it all done in one day, plus added the label. I much prefer to attach my binding to the front of my quilts, by machine, then do the finishing stitching to the back by hand, because they look so much better. I do a good job on those. This one, I attached to the back, by machine, then flipped it over, and stitched it to the top, also by machine. This is a technique I am still trying to perfect. But in this case, done is good, hubby is happy, and so am I. That gets two of my w.o.b.’s done this month. Woohoo! I used 2/3 of a yard for the binding, and that is my stash busted amount for this week. Total incoming for the week is zero. YTD total busted is 5 & 5/12 yds. (I’m not ashamed to admit I had to use a free online fraction calculator to come up with that amount…lol).
I woke up to a beautiful, rainy day this morning. And it has not stopped.
I’m loving it! I’m piddling around on laundry, worked on the memorial quilt, and just enjoying some down time. I’m having the next best thing to a pajama day. Nice comfy sweats & a big, sloppy t-shirt, with fuzzy house shoes day.
Yesterday, was cool & cloudy. I’m glad I got out to the garden to harvest.
Who else has really enjoyed watching Michael Phelps make history? I am officially now a Phelps Phan. He seems like such a nice guy. Congratulations, Michael!
I conclude my post today, with a couple pics of the first Olympic hero in my life. My Uncle Randy, another really nice guy. I was born in 1966, right between his Olympics, and named after him. I had asthma really bad, and would get so sick at times. He would come over sometimes, and sit up with me at night, when I was a baby, so my parents could get some sleep.
This post has been quite a hodge podge of topics! Hope you are enjoying your Sunday as much as I am mine.
We’re off to see the Wizard!
Finally! This one took me way too long. It was really a challenge for me. It’s for a customer and will be a Christmas gift to one of her granddaughters.
The little girl’s nickname is Butterfly, so I stenciled butterflies in the border and connected them with swirls.
The back shows how much stitching there really is.
I hope she likes it! I have another finish to report, but I’m saving that for tomorrow’s post. See you then!
Simple
Suzanne has a post on her blog today about simple quilting. Sometimes a simple piecing pattern is the right choice. Here is my start on the first of two memory quilts commissioned by a family. The squares are cut from shirts that belonged to to their 14 year old brother, who was tragically lost in an auto accident 7 years ago. The quilts will be a gift to their mother. What an honor to be trusted with such a special project.
This is what I’ve been working on this week, along with trying to finish up a custom quilting job that has been on my machine waaaayyyyy too long.
TGIF!!
A Blog Contest
Carla is having a give-away. The prize is one of her wonderful freeform crochet scarves! Pick me, Carla! Pick me! 🙂
I’ve Been Busy This Week
But not necessarily quilting. My stash report is unchanged from last week. None in, none out. I have almost finished cutting the squares from the plaid shirts for the first of the two memory quilts I’m making. I also finished a long overdue binding. YEA!!
I made this quilt two years ago, and played all over it with fantasy freehand quilting, inspired by Nichole Webb & Jamie Wallen. Many of you have seen this one before, so I will spare you the pics. If you’ve not seen it, and would like to see some closeups of the quilting, there are a ton of pics in this webshots album, http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/550151887DlpMBr. I even got a label made and attached. It is FINISHED!
It was a really busy week at my day job, so by the time I got home most days, I was pretty tired. But otherwise, I’m feeling much better than I had been the three weeks prior. I had my MRI yesterday morning, on my head & cervical spine. I’ve not heard anymore from my doctor yet, which leads me to think that nothing else has shown up in the other lab work, and he has nothing new to tell me and is waiting for all the results to come in.
While I have been feeling better, I decided it was time to work on some long neglected tasks around here. Remember I textured & painted my entryway last year? It was right before I ended up in bed for five days with severe muscle spasms in my back…well, I’ve had the paint for the rest of the living room, but have been afraid of triggering another spasm attack. I started on it last weekend. I am doing only one wall at a time. This is a bit of the entryway…The color isn’t exactly true.
This is the paneling in our living room…yuk.
A bit of wall I haven’t painted yet, by the fireplace.
The wall I painted this weekend, next to the other side of the fireplace. Isn’t this going to look much better?
I’m going to have to get some new switch & outlet covers. It sure brings the fireplace out and makes it more of a focal point in the room. Wonder how long it will take me to get the remaining walls done…I also spent some time on some much needed cleaning and reorganizing. I even pulled a few of my quilting books and will take them to one of my friends at work tomorrow, to see if she would like to have them.
I’m looking for a good steam press…any advice on a good brand would be appreciated! Have a great week!
Sunday Report, 8-3-08
- I used 16.75 yard total this week.
- I bought 17 yards
- YTD total used is 4.75 yards
Yes, I fell off the wagon this week, but busted enough to not lose too much ground. Now, I’m NOT buying any more fabric the rest of the year! No, really, I mean it. I do. What are you laughing at? I’m serious.
Ok, so what did I buy? 32 fat quarters, at 40% off, and then I ordered some more from Thousands of Bolts.
Purty, huh?
What did I bust? I finished my dad’s top, and pulled 9.25 yards for the backing. This is going to be one of those “quilting makes the quilt” tops. It’s just flat right now, but I think I will love it once it’s quilted.
I also finished the top for a commissioned baby quilt, made the backing, and cut the binding. I used a Chinse Coins pattern I picked up from www.quiltintia.com. There’s lots of Chinese Coins patterns out there, and I could’ve figured out how to make it without a pattern, but I’m lazy sometimes, and just don’t want to do all the math and fabric figuring myself. Quiltin’ Tia has several simple little patterns like this, where they have all the yardage figured, etc., and permission on the pattern to use it for personal use or profit. Just don’t share copies of the pattern. I pulled all the fabric for this little quilt from my stash.
More test results back, and my estrogen levels were too low. The MRI got rescheduled, because the hospital forgot to get an authorization number from my insurance. Still waiting on some of the other blood work to come back. I am feeling better today, though.
I’ve started working on one of two commissioned memory quilts, made from the shirts of a 14 year old boy, that was killed in an auto accident 7 years ago. One will be a t-shirt quilt. The one I’m working on right now, is going to be simple squares cut from his plaid button up shirts, joined with a neutral sashing, with a border of the same sashing fabric. The boy’s three surviving siblings are having them made for their mom. I have to kind of turn my brain off a bit while I’m cutting up the shirts.
How many of you remember ‘Mater Man? I used him as the subject of my first attempt at an art quilt. And I used my newly dyed fabrics for him. Try not to laugh too hard.
A stressful moment from the week involved a large toad. I saw him by a drain pipe at the hospital when I went for testing. He was hurt pretty bad, but not dead. It was apparent that he was just suffering a slow death. I will spare you the details, but I did not leave the hospital without him, and his suffering was soon over.
I did have to cut my big sunflower and bring it in, and the blooms have continued to open.
Thanks for dropping by! Have a great week!
Midweek Snippets
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!
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 