Category: longarm quilting

daily life · longarm quilting · quilting

A Week of Ups & Downs

Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

First the ups…I posted about my Mother’s Day gift certificate from my son.  My DH also gave me a card with a bit of cash tucked inside, and told me to have fun spending it.  Oh, and the card whistles when you open it.  My purchase arrived yesterday.  I am starting to mull over quilting ideas for my Storm at Sea top, and my selection of Rainbows thread is seriously lacking…almost nonexisant.  It now has a bit more variety. 🙂

Sunday evening, my youngest stepdaughter called to wish me happy Mother’s Day.  That was a very nice and most welcome surprise.

Monday, a card arrived from my oldest stepdaughter and her family.  This card sings Tina Turner’s “You’re Simply the Best”.  That brought a smile to my heart.  And today, DS surprised me with some flowers, which I would have thought had something to do with him getting in trouble over his grades this week, (one of the downs of the week)  except he had it planned before that happened, and my husband could vouch for that.

Another up, was that I finished the commissioned quilt I’ve been working on, and my customers were very happy.  No pics, it’s a graduation surprise for the recipient.

Another downer is that I have to make another trip for that criminal trial, and it’s next week.  It’s bad timing, as I already had a full load on my plate next week, but I’m also ready to get it over with.  So, added to the other stuff I had going on next week, means that I will be on the road, traveling somewhere, everyday next week, except for Tuesday.  I’m ready for it to be next Saturday already.  Then it will be in my rearview mirror. 

I saw my massage therapist today.  She usually doesn’t work on Saturday, but she had to rearrange her schedule this week.  She is wonderful, and I really feel better after a session. 

The NASCAR Allstar race is now on, and already two cautions.  Guess I’ll close this up and go watch!

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

Happy Mother’s Day & Sunday Reporting

Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms reading.  Hope your day is wonderful.  I enjoyed celebrating with my Mom & family yesterday.  DS (with some help from my Mom) gave me a gift certificate to Sand’s Fabrics in Pampa, one of my favorite shops.  Everyone there is so nice.  I did not buy any fabric with my certificate, but another Eleanor book I have been wanting.  And, I bought myself one of the Fons & Porter marking pencils.  I tested it on a scrap last night and I think I am really gonna like this marking pencil.

I quilted up four more yards of fleece fabric this week, so that moves out of my stash! Yippee!  I have several more yards of fleece in my fabric closet and it takes up a lot of space.

I share some flowers from my front yard with you for Mother’s Day!

longarm quilting · machine quilting · nature · quilting

On a Fleece Roll

Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

My customer picked up her state flower quilt yesterday and loved it.  She hugged me three times, she was so happy.  Which of course, made me so happy, too! 

I finished up another fleece today, except for the “fringing”.  Still need to do that part.  This one is a thank you gift for a local business man that did a very nice thing for my son & the rest of the high school golf team.  It’s one of those times where “thank you” just doesn’t seem quite enough, but what do you do for a man who has everything?  So, I thought he might like a snuggly fleece blanket made by me…a gift from the heart.  I laid it out on the grass in the backyard, in the sunshine, trying to capture the true color of it, but, the pictures do not show the true color…it’s a deep chocolate brown. 

Ready for more birds? I worked hard yesterday to get these to share with you.  My swallows are back to nest above my front door again.  It gets a little messy, but I don’t have it in me to run them off.  Besides, they eat lots of pesky skeeters.  Enjoy the show!

And while I was sitting below in my lawn chair looking up, I spied this under the edge of the shingles.  I had to share it for Jan 🙂  Praying mantis egg.

I have a stressful week ahead due to my day job.  Think lots of good thoughts for me.  It involves having to testify in a court hearing, in a county over five hours from here.  I keep praying I won’t have to go, but I don’t see that happening…so you prolly won’t hear much more from me til later this week. 

 

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

Sunday Wrap Up

Wild Rose Quilter10 Comments

I did not buy any new fabric. 🙂  I used four yard of fleece fabric to make a wedding gift for a special young woman that is getting married this month.  I hope she likes it.  I still have to trim and fringe the edges.  I noticed that in her selections, she had some purple glasses, and there was some green on her dishes.  So I used a deep purple fleece with a seafoam green.  Not exactly the same green, but it was the closest I could get with my fleece.  The color does not show true at all in this photo.

The purple side:

So (I suppose I can include fleece fabric yardage used in my totals), that moves 4 more yards of fabric from my stash, bringing my year to date totals to:

  • In: 66 yds.
  • Out: 28.25 yds.
  • YTD: 37.75 yds.

Now, before you think I’ve been soooo good…I bought about $200.00 worth of thread, and $60.00 worth of stencils. 

I’ve been enjoying Vicki W.’s birdwatch updates on her blog, so I’m going to share a little birdwatching of my own with you today.  Earlier this week I caught a glimpse of this pheasant rooster in the field behind my house.  About the time I’d go to take a good pic, he’d duck back down in the grass. 

This morning, as DH & I were standing in the front of our garage, watching the swallows that are rebuiling on our front entryway, and the cute little finches at our birdfeeder, we were surprised by this treat.  DH ran into get my camera for me, and I was only able to get this one pic before he left.  I do believe it’s a Baltimore Oriole.  Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.  When the sun was hitting him and we could get a good look, before we had the camera of course, his underside was a  bright orange.  I believe it’s more common to see the Scott’s Oriole here.  This little guy was gorgeous.

 

I realized this morning that I’ve been lax on the Sunday weigh-in, so I bit the bullet and got back on the scale.  I did workout twice this week, but I’ve been not so good til then, and have gained 2 lbs. back.  I started at 154, and now I’m 145, so I’m at a total loss of 9 lbs.  Got to get back on track with that!

 

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

A Friday Finish (almost)

Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

I finished the quilting on the vintage top I’ve been working on…or so I thought.  I am not frogging the crosshatching, except for the state of Maine.  When I was reviewing the pics, I noticed the crosshatching on it was way off.  Then, I noticed that I failed to finish one of the flowers! It’s located by the state of Georgia…so I’ll be pinning it back on to finish that up and restitch the crosshatching on Maine.  Glad I noticed those before I called my customer to come pick it up! 

A bit of the back:

This is a little goodie I bought myself today.  I saw it and just couldn’t resist.  Maybe one of these days, I will do what it says!  Be sure to click on these pics to make them bigger and get a good look at it.

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

Met My Monday Goals

Wild Rose Quilter16 Comments

Quilting goals that is.  I’m lucky to get any quilting done on Mondays, but I’m trying hard to made good progess on the current customer jobs I have.  During my lunch break from my day job, I managed to get the binding sewn to the front of the commissioned quilt I’m making.  Now the handstitching can begin while I’m watching TV tonight.  Right after work, I finished up a row on the customer top I’m quilting.  It’s the 60 yr. old top I have previously posted.  If, and that’s a big if, I can finish up a row a day, between my lunch break and right after work, I can have this one done by the weekend.  Unless, I decide it needs some frogging once I get it off the machine.  This weekend, I crosshatched the 48 painted flower blocks.  I wasn’t thinking about the fact that the blocks don’t all match up perfectly, and they range in size from 8.5 to 9 inches on the sides.  Soooo,  I’m not sure crosshatching was the right choice, and it’s not perfect, but I’m hoping once it’s off the machine, it will look ok.  If you hear screaming, it’s probably me thinking about frogging 48 blocks of crosshatching.  What a nightmare that would be.  Here’s some peeks at what I have so far.

The customer had drawn flowers in the yellow blocks with pencil, and intended to hand quilt this.  I’m using a fabric eraser to lighten the marks as much as I can, then I’m trying to quilt over them as closely as I can, adding some embellishments of my own.

Here’s a shot of the back:

 

Can you see what I’m worried about in the last pic?  Maybe I won’t have to frog ALL of it…maybe I can just make a few rows a bit better.  Live and learn…

daily life · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts

Saturday Sunshine

Wild Rose Quilter5 Comments

The sun is shining this morning, the frogging is behind me and quilting has once again commenced.  And ya know, sometimes things do happen for a reason.  I decided not to use the variegated Lava on this quilt at all, and use black Signature cotton, and I’m liking it better anyway.  It is a better choice for this particular quilt. My husband is sweeping the floor right now.   One less thing yuck thing I have to do today.  I’m not the greatest housekeeper in the world to start with, and let my life get really busy, like it’s been lately, and the housework gets farther behind.  When I have to prioritize, it usually gets moved down farther on the list.  I can only do so much with the spare time I have…it used to really bother me.  I felt I was failing…not having everything in top shape all the time, but I’ve come to accept that I can’t do it ALL, ALL the time, so do the things that make me happiest or that matter the most, at that particular moment.  The rest will still be there when I can get to it.  And eventually, I’ll get to it. In the meantime, people will have to understand.

I went to the 20th birthday celebration of the local quilt guild last night.  It was a nice evening.  I need to join again.  I belonged for one year, almost 10 yrs ago, but life was busy then, too.  My son was much younger and involved in evening activities such as boy scouts, and Activity Center sports, that all conflicted with me making the meetings.  So, I’ll give it some thought…maybe I can fit that “spoon” back in now.  There was a delightful guest speaker, Jean Dean, from Midland, TX.  I enjoyed her.  One thing she did was give a book review on The Persian Pickle Club, by Sandra Dallas.  I want to read the book…I think I’d like it. 

Tomorrow I leave for Midland, TX, myself.  That’s where my son will be playing golf in the regional tournament.  So, I better finish up with my coffee and get back to busy!

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

Thursday Thumping

Wild Rose Quilter6 Comments

Kay does Thursday Thumpers. I have one today.  Frogging.  Yup, I’m frogging a whole row of stitching…a 91″ row of a panto by Dave Hudson that has cowboy boots & hats.  I had thread troubles.  Looked great on top, but apparently my machine does not like Lava thread in the bobbin, as it looked like it puked little blobs of it out intermittently on the back of the quilt.  Damn!  I hate frogging…hate, hate, hate it.  It’s on the commissioned quilt I’m making.  It will be ok, I just really hate frogging, THUMP, THUMP!

Now then, enough of that unpleasantness.  Congratulations are in order for my friend Ronda!! She won Best of Show at MQX! And Best Machine Quilting/Stand Up! Way to go, Ronda…I am so happy for you.  Her quilt is called Essence, and it is amazing. 

And here is a little treat for you, before I go back to frogging.  This is the quilt I have up in line next.  It’s the 60 yr. old top that my customer brought me this week.  I was hoping I would get to quilt it for her.  The only thing I’m worried about are the pencil marks.  She said to just ignore them and quilt it however I want, and if she can’t get them out she will just live with them.  I did order a fabric eraser, to see if I can at least lighten them some.  Anyway, here are some pics.

daily life · family · longarm quilting · love of my life · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts

Ick! Wind! And other things…

Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

Oh JOY! The wind is supposed to be really bad today, gusting up to 50 mph.   Y’all know I hate that, if you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time.  It  is supposed to be that way tomorrow, too.  That prolly ‘splains why my head hurt all day yesterday and my sinuses feel swollen and stuffy today.  My head seems to be very sensitive to weather changes.

Onto other things…Happy birthday to my DH today! Love ya babe!

Remember the printed panel quilt I quilted with the Cutie Patootie panto? And when my customer came to pick it up she brought a top with her that is 60 yrs. old? I posted about it here, https://allenquilts.wordpress.com/2008/03/18/tuesday-tidbits-2/.  Well, she called last night, and she does want me to quilt it.  She said she decided not to remove the pencil marks, so I will try to quilt over them as best I can, and she said if they don’t come out, she will live with them.  I’m excited about working on it for her…it’s really pretty, and I hope I do it justice.  I didn’t get to finish the one I have on the machine yesterday, as my head was really throbbing by the time I got off work.  And tonight, there will be birthday festivities for DH.  I will be sad to take this one back to it’s owner.  I LOVE this quilt.  It is sooooo pretty.  It’s a  Fons and Porter Stars & Stripes Sampler.  My customer did a beautiful job on it, and I really love the fabrics she used.  In fact, I like hers so much, I ordered the booklet from Fons & Porter last night, so maybe, someday, when I have time (LOL), I can make my own.  Since I was ordering, I also ordered Marianne Fons’ Fine Feathers book, as I have read so many great reviews of it. 

Time to get up from here and get ready for work! Have a great day!

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

Sunday Report

Wild Rose Quilter2 Comments

I have actual progress to report this week for stash busting! I did not buy any more fabric.  I finally completed the Wild Onion jacket.  It is now listed in my Quilting Projects 2008 page, under 2008 Finishes.  So that officially moved 8.5 yds from my stash.  I also finished the center portion of the lighter 9P & Stripe quilt, and am almost finished with the center of the other one.  Sooooo, to help my stash busting totals not look quite so bad, I went ahead and gave myself credit for using that yardage.  🙂  I’m still in the negative, though.  I’m currently -41.75 yards in the hole.

Other quilting accomplishments this week:  I finished piecing the top of the commissioned log cabin quilt I’m making.  It is the next quilt in line to go on the machine.  I finished quilting Betty’s Garden Twist, and am almost done with another customer top.  It’s an 80X100 Stars & Loops panto.  So woohoo! Go me!  I got a lot done this week…except working out.  But hey…I only have so many “spoons” to go around!  But, I do need to find time to get those exercise sessions back in…I think they help me feel better, in addition to helping those pesky pounds come off.  I forgot to weigh-in this morning, but I did weigh midweek, and I was holding steady at 143.  So no progress, but no falling backwards. 

I have a really hectic week at work this next week.  Wish I was at MQX!  To those that are…Have fun!  Buy some fabric for me…hehehehe!