Stash & Quilting Report

September 27, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

Incoming Yardage to date: 75 yds.
Outgoing Yardage to date: 56.25 yds.
Total Stash Busted to date: -18.75 yds.

Ok, so my time in the positive was short lived. But I love my new batiks! (see previous post for the full disclosure with photos you will drool over) So, I’m not feeling too bad about it. Ok, not bad at all. I don’t think I will, either, as long as there is movement going through my stash. Some in, some out…just not all in, in, in.

During my lunch hours, or while I’m cooking something for dinner, and I’m waiting, I’ve been sitting down at the sewing machine and working on the pieced borders for my Boston Commons.

I also got labels made for my friend’s comfort quilt. I haven’t finished trimming the jump threads, so just ignore them. It took me right at an hour to get the first one all programmed into the machine. The stitchout was 74 minutes, and that did not include the time it took me to change thread colors. I thought I was never going to get done with it. I started on it after work one evening, so I was already tired, but it was worth it. I also made a small label to go beside it, just stating that I made the quilt. Couldn’t fit it on the other label. A more experienced embroiderer might have been able to, but this was the best I could do. I don’t have any embroidery software yet, so I have to sit at the machine and program each letter in one by one, and it will only let me put so many characters on a line. So the machine stops after each line of stitching, and even if I’m not changing colors, I have to be close by to restart the machine. I hate to invest a bunch of money in embroidery software that I’m not sure I will use that much. There is a lot about the embroidery that still confuses me. I may address some of that in a future post. Maybe some of you embroidery gurus can clear up a question or two for me.

I started working on Joanna’s quilt a couple of days ago, but until today, I didn’t have anything to show for my efforts, except SID (stitch in the ditch). I’m sure she is anxious to see how it’s coming, so if you can stand a dose of cuteness, I’ll show you a peek!

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week, y’all!

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

Stash & Progress Report

September 20, 2009September 20, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

First, I will get my complaining and whining out of the way. I had great intentions to get so much accomplished this weekend. Then wham! Wake up Saturday morning, early, with a headache. Get up, take Imitrex, back to bed, next time I wake up it is after 9! And I still feel cruddy. Head is better, but I feel cruddy, sluggish, achy all over. So needless to say, my Saturday wasn’t what I hoped it to be. I did manage to get the cute piggie quilt finished and ready to be delivered this week. Today, I felt better, but my shoulder & rib pain has really been ramped up the last few days, as well as my allergies. Some of you know the latest on my issues with my shoulder blade & ribs, but for those that don’t, I am now seeing a physical therapist, at the urging of my chiropractor. I had my evaluation with her Wednesday, and she agrees that it is not normal, the way my shoulder blade is moving. No one can really figure out WHY I am having the issues I am having, which is frustrating.

I go back next Wednesday, and she is going to show me how to tape my shoulder blade, to try to stabilize it, and will have some exercises for me then, also. She has had one other patient in her eleven years that had similar symptoms. She said my shoulder blade is the only one she has felt doing what mine is doing. Apparently, it is moving around way more than it should, and going where it shouldn’t. And, my chiro has to keep putting my stupid ribs back in place. My entire right side rib cage is lower than the left, and there are three that keep “popping out of place”. He can get them back, and within days, they are out again. My shoulder blade sounds like it is grinding against bone. It sounds, and feels, terrible. Pain ranges from moderate to excruciating, and is near constant. I also think it causes some of my migraines. The PT said she hopes that we can get some improvement, but that it will probably never be all the way better. But some better is better than none better. Sorry to bore you with all that, but you never know when someone else might be having the same problems, and either you help them with sharing your information, or they might help you with some advice or answers you haven’t found yet.

So now, back to stash reporting. After today, my stash amount busted is now back in the positive for the year. A whopping 4.25 yards! I busted another 4 yds. this week, backing the comfort quilt for our friend with breast cancer. I got the quilting finished on it today.

I love the pink thread over the cream strips.

I also managed to get zippers attached to my leaders on my longarm. I hope I like using them. I did NOT enjoy the process of attaching them! But they are on, and I am looking forward to giving them a try.

I’m looking forward to getting started on my next customer quilt, but I still have some finalizing of the quilting plan to finish. Joanna, I hope to be sending you some more ideas over the next day or two, if all goes as planned. I will try very hard to be able to get started on it this coming weekend.

Speaking of weekend, I am sad that it is almost over already, especially since I wasted most of Saturday, just trying to feel better. Oh well. Have a blessed & wonderful week y’all!

longarm quilting · love of my life · quilting · sewing · stash busting

I love my STASH!

September 13, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter15 Comments

Friday afternoon my Mom called to tell me a dear friend of ours has been diagnosed with breast cancer. And, being the quilter that I am, I ran straight to my stash. Oh yes, she must have a quilt! I had a stack of 5″ pink charm squares, and this is what I did with them. Started on this yesterday morning, by early afternoon today, it was a completed flimsy. I can’t wait to watch it be transformed by the quilting. I’m hoping to squeeze it in, for a quick panto, between the customer quilt that is on the machine, and the next one in line, so I can get it bound, labeled and off to our friend. I am going to estimate that I busted 4 yds in the top. No new fabric in this week.

Speaking of customer quilts…the next one in line is soooooo cute! It is appliqued “Chubby Chicks” in cute colors. I will enjoy working on it. I will be blogging it, so it’s owner can check in on it. I just hope I do it justice! Right now I am quilting appliqued pigs. I really started second guessing my quilting choices a little over halfway through, and had a mini meltdown. I took it off the machine to turn and repin it, so I could quilt the last two borders more easily, and took a some pics before I put it back on. I think it helped to be able to step back and see the whole quilt at once.

I’m sure I will worry about it a bit, until I get to hand it back to it’s owner and get her reaction. I’m such a worry wart about that. And it’s usually the quilts that I think will be the easiest. Somewhere in the process, my confidence takes a hike, and in comes self-doubt and second guessing, and “oh my God, I’m a failure” thoughts. Hopefully, she will love it and all my worry will have been for nothing. Time will tell.

And these are my pretty new flowers that my hubby brought home Friday, to plant in my flower bed. Purple asters…I love them!

Tomorrow, I’m off to Amarillo for the yearly “female” doctor visit. Yucko! Hope your Monday is better than that.

freehand quilting · longarm quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts

Sewing, sewing sewing!

September 5, 2009September 5, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter10 Comments

It may go into remission occasionally, but that Quilting Fever always comes back! Gracie’s Star is now a flimsy! I have to pick out my backing fabric and an allover quilting pattern for it. I’m going to use Quilter’s Dream deluxe cotton batting. It will be cozy!

And I quilted this cute pumpkin table topper for my friend, Betty. If you are reading, I hope you like it, Betty Lou! I will bring it to you Tuesday, unless you want to swing by and get it sooner.

Trying to decide which project I want to work on next, while I’m on such a good roll!

longarm quilting · quilting · stash busting · stencil quilting

How about a little video? With stash report at the end.

August 24, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter23 Comments

I know I have really been neglecting my little blog, as of late. I have been skipping out on the weekly stash reporting, as well. I was going to have quilting content this weekend, and then I came down with a migraine , that just would not stop, on Friday. I felt badly all through the weekend, and am still suffering some after effects. I did manage to make y’all a short little video of me quilting one of the feathers, from the Georgian feather stencil I am using on my 9P & stripe quilt, which is a big stash project. I love to watch other people’s quilting videos and see how their quilting might differ from mine, or what similarities we have, or just learn from a different approach. So, I hope you enjoy my little video. And remember, it’s just the way I happen to be quilting this particular stencil. It is certainly not the only way. And cut me a little slack, as I really wasn’t feeling very well when I was filming it.

Quilting Georgian Feather Stencil:

Since the last time I did do a stash report, I have not had any new fabric in, and no new fabric out. I did, however, manage to finish that row of feathers, and that completed all the quilting on my kingsize 9P & stripe! Yay! I do still have to bury some thread tails. I got tired of that before it was done, and went back to back-tacking…lol. I will get some pics of it all finished up on here before too much longer, and will answer all the questions of what stencils, how I marked, what rulers, etc. After I’m feeling better.

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

Sunday Reporting!

July 19, 2009July 20, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter14 Comments

Hi y’all! I’m back from our trip. Golf was not kind to my son last week. But he kept an amazing attitude the whole time. I am so proud of that kid. He never lost his cool, and put every hole behind him and tried his best on the next one.

I also wanted to say I am loving using Google Reader to keep up with my blog reading. I caught up with so many posts yesterday, and it was so easy. I got my whole blogroll moved over to it, and will be adding some new ones to it, as it makes it soooo much easier to keep up with all y’all.

I looked for a cool quilt shop to visit while in Abilene, but wasn’t able to find one. So, as far as my stash report, it remains unchanged. None in, none out. However, this weekend I have gotten to get back to quilting on my 9P & stripe, and it is a stash project. A big one. I have another set of borders finished, two to go. And, I’m afraid the final two will be problematic, because I did not follow the rules. I did not have enough fabric to leave myself enough extra backing on the edges. Since it’s my own quilt, I’m going to try to forge ahead, but I may end up having to try to add some strips, which will not be easy at this point. Someone slap me. I know better, really. Yesterday, I quilted the swags and beadboard, and today I did the Georgian feather strip. I love feathers. I love quilting feathers. A few progress pics for you, even though they aren’t much different than what I’ve posted from this one before. But, I’ve been seriously lacking blog content lately, and I guess same old, same old is better than none at all.

longarm quilting · quilting · stash busting

Sunday Report, 5-31-09

May 31, 2009May 31, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

I haven’t posted a stash report for the last couple of week, because I’m still working on the same quilt. Still quilting on my 9P & stripe quilt, but just remember, it is a stash project! 🙂 You can see the progress on it in every post since mid-May. I now have approximately 31.25 hours into the quilting. I did get the outer top border done, and I have all the setting triangles and blocks quilted now, except for the very last row.

Top border:

I was afraid of doing the beadboard down to the swags, because of the backtracking there, but I did fine on that.

What I didn’t do quite right, and didn’t notice til after I had all the beadboard done, was a couple of the swags…apparently I didn’t have them lined up just right, and a couple are a little lower than they should be. I am not taking it all out to fix it. I can live with it, and have learned to pay closer attention to that detail in the future. 🙂

This is the stencil I chose for the setting triangles. It’s from Barbara Chainey.

I have this much left to quilt, to get to the bottom, then I will turn it the other way and quilt the side borders.

It doesn’t look like much, but based on how long it took me to quilt the top borders and the other setting triangles, I’m guessing about 7 more hours to turning. I love that Georgian feather in the stripe border, but that first one took about three hours to stitch. I love the way it looks, though, so I think it’s worth the time.

So, even thought my stash numbers aren’t changing, I’m so glad to be getting the quilting done on this very large stash quilt. If I get nothing else finished this year, I’ll still feel great about getting this one done!

I spent a very anxious morning waiting by the phone. My Mom called and she was taking my Daddy out to the ER. They came to see me yesterday for a visit, and we had a nice day, but Daddy wasn’t feeling well. He was having stomach issues, which worsened overnight. They gave him an IV at the ER, as he was dehydrated, and ran some blood work, which looks ok, and sent him on home. He will be seeing his regular doctor tomorrow, so I’m glad he is following up with this.

I have a busy, somewhat stressful week ahead, so I may not get much quilting done this week. I hope you have a good week!

feather quilting · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stencil quilting

Wednesday WIP, 5-27-09

May 27, 2009May 27, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter14 Comments

More 9P & stripe…26.5 hours into it…y’all are going to get tired of seeing this one.

I’m not sure I am making all the right design choices…but, this is a learning project for me. A project to expand my skills and challenge myself, so I’m ok with that. For example, I’m not sure the large size setting triangle feather is working that well, but even so, I’ll probably just go forward with it. I’m having fun!

That scroll-y design is a Karen McTavish stencil. The setting blocks are stencils, as well, but I forgot to see who from. I’ll get that later, for anyone interested. I’m at work now, but remembered that I forgot to mention that.

feather quilting · freehand quilting · longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stencil quilting

Quilting Feathers, Feathers, & More Feathers

May 25, 2009May 25, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter17 Comments

First, I cannot let Memorial Day go by without stating my thanks and appreciation for all the brave men and women that have served, or do serve in the armed forces, to afford the rest of us the wonderful freedom that we enjoy. So many sacrifices they have made, many the ultimate sacrifice. And thank you to their families. Though saying thank you doesn’t seem enough.

With the crosshatching behind me, I got to start quilting feathers today. I love feathers. Love quilting them, love the way they look. I did not want to crosshatch the striped border, even though that would have matched the stripes in the interior. Instead, I chose this pretty stencil by Barbara Chainey. I’m liking it.

First, is the chalking.

Then the stitching begins.

Three hours later, one border done. (it didn’t feel like it took that long)

Much more fun that crosshatching. So, I guess I have about 9 hours left to finish the other three of these borders. This one is going to be on the machine for awhile yet. I have a plan for that little inner border that matches the setting triangles. I have a plan for the setting triangles. I have not yet decided on the very outside border…maybe swags. Maybe not. Maybe more feathers.

I took time out this morning to relocate this litte guy from the back patio, to the front flower bed, so he would be safe from Tuffy and Libby. I took the top off of Tuffy’s feeder to catch him with. The lizard was not happy about it…if he only knew, it really was for his own good. Tuffy would have caught him and eaten him, eventually. Libby would have just killed him. I like lizards.

Now he lives here. Plenty of cover and should find lots of bugs to eat.

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

Sunday Reporting…What Was I Thinking??

May 17, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter20 Comments

When I said to myself, “crosshatching would probably look good on both the 9P blocks and the stripe blocks, why didn’t myself say back to me, “Well yea, it will look good, but it’s going to take you at least half the rest of your life! Are you nuts?” And that is assuming that I still have quite awhile left to live.

Are you thinking that’s not so bad? Well, between loading this puppy on the machine, the SID stabilizing, and the crosshatching, this is as far as I have gotten on it. And this took me 7 hours. I’m kind of slow. And I intend to use stencils and feathers in all that other space you see. And this is how much is left.

It’s 110″ square. Yep, gonna take me awhile. This will be the Wednesday WIP project for quite awhile. OMGosh! What was I thinking?!

On the upside, though…this one is MINE!! And all the fabric in it is from my stash. However, it doesn’t change my numbers this week, as I’ve already accounted for it, in previous reports.

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