Ok, the Just Us Quilters blog is back up, but for the life of me, I cannot get the image link back in my sidebar. I’ve searched the WordPress tutorials, asked Niki, and read the instructions another member left in the comments over there, but I can’t get anything to work with my WordPress widgets. Can anyone tell me how to get the little picture with the link back over there in my sidebar? Pretty please!
Ok, Suzanne has started a Wednesday WIP forum on MQR. So, my WIP’s for the week included:
Completion of the memorial quilt for the Martinez family. They loved it!
I longarm quilted three OSU lap quilts, and one OSU baby quilt for a customer.
I made my Auntie’s pillow cases.
I’ve also been finishing up the handstitching on my Storm At Sea. I have the binding and sleeve done, and have only the label to finish. So, what have you been up to this week?
I went to the guild meeting last night and we rec’d the fabric instructions for this year’s mystery quilt. I have never done a mystery quilt before. I really want to participate in as many of the guild projects as I can, so I’m going to try to do this, and see if I can keep up. Besides, it’s a great way to bust some stash. This is one of those times that I am thankful for my stash. I was able to go to my quilt room, in my jammies, and “shop” for the required fabrics for the quilt. These are my choices.
The first one, the pale green, will be the background. The floral print will be the main fabric, with the remaining two being the accent fabrics. I like them together like this…whether or not they will be successful for the pattern, I suppose only time will tell. They are going to send out the cutting instructions in our next newsletter. I’m anxious to see what they are. I will post progress reports, so you can see the mystery unfold, along with me. I love being able to use my stash like this, and this is precisely why I have one. Instant gratification when I want to start a project. No waiting til I can make a trip to the nearest fabric shop, which is about an hour away. And no waiting for an internet order to show up. I had everything I needed, right under my roof, and even options for different color schemes. Yes, having a stash is good thing! 🙂
My stash numbers didn’t change any this week, either. However, Thousand of Bolts was having one of their end of bolt sales, which is usually a big weakness of mine. I allowed myself to “shop” and put the fabric I would normally buy, into my cart. But instead of checking all the way out, I only went as far as getting the total cost, with shipping charges. Then I emptied my cart. I saved $101.47, which will be put into my little “stash savings” I’ve started. I’m curious to see how quickly it adds up. Sure takes some control to get it into the cart, and put it back, though. 🙂 Especially with my husband saying, “why didn’t you go ahead and get it?” He’ such an enabler! 😉
I did get the machine stitching done on the applique for the fall wallhanging. Now I have to see if I can do the “hand embroidery” parts with my Bernina, and do the pieced blocks.
Yesterday morning, I looked out the back window, and there were all these little water drops, from the sprinkler, on what is left of some of my parsley. The sunlight was hitting it just right to make it look like it was covered in little crystals. I tried to capture it for you with my camera, but this was the best I could do. I wish I could have caught all the brilliant colors I could see with my eyes: red, blue, green, purple, orange, yellow. It was so pretty. You will have to click on the pictures, to open them up larger, to see what I’m talking about.
Something else I meant to mention in my blog over the last few days, in case you are so inclined, is that apparently there are many displaced horses and cattle, from Hurricane Ike. They are in desparate need of food, water, and other supplies for these animals. There was an article about it in our local newspaper. If, like me, you want to make a donation to this cause, you can do so at this site. Click on the “No Fences” link to donate.
I’ve just been piddling along on this project this week.
When I started it, I was using the freezer paper method for the the turned edge applique. I am not very experienced with applique, and find it much more challenging than piecing. I found out early on that needle turn is not the method for me. I’m not crazy about fusibles. I am now using Sharon Schamber’s methods, and slowly but surely, I think I’m getting a little better, and I’m enjoying the process more. I bought Sharon’s book, Piece by Piece Machine Applique, and have a premium membership to her network, where I can watch her training videos. I am very much a visual learner, so I find the videos quite helpful. Maybe I have finally found the method that works best for me.
Now, if only I could quit getting my pieces backwards…
The arrival of Fall has put me back in the mood to pull this project back out. I started on it last year, made the crow and sunflower blocks, except for the embroidery, and then stalled out. I managed to get this far on the first pumpkin block after work last night. Applique is challenging for me. Hopefully, I’ll get better with practice, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll have this finished in time to decorate my home with it when Fall arrives next year.
My stash numbers remain unchanged from last week. None in, none out. However, I’ve been working on projects. I’m almost done stitching the binding sleeve on my Storm At Sea. I have started the handstitching of the binding on the memorial quilt. I completed the quilting on my Daddy’s log cabin. I used Quilter’s Dream cotton batting in the deluxe weight, Superior Rainbows Waikiki in the blue with Pastel Blue So Fine in the bobbin, Superior So Fine Cashew in the tans, with So Fine Toast in the bobbin.
I quilted whimsical hearts in the corners, since it’s for my Daddy. 🙂
back of quilt
gorgeous variegated Waikiki
gorgeous Waikiki thread
I was very pleased with the effect of this curl quilting and will be using this lots more.
My original plan was to quilt a ferny design in the tan, and literally changed my mind at the last minute. I think this design was more appropriate for this one.
Now, on to salsa! My cherry tomato plants have been giving me more little tomatoes that I could eat, one at time, before they would start spoiling. I’ve even been giving some away. Why didn’t I think of using them for salsa before!? Here is a quick & easy way to use up those cherry tomatoes in a hurry. I used the the little food chopper thingy that came with my blender.
Throw in some ‘maters.
Throw in some cilantro, onion chunks, and jalapeno peppers. I grew the peppers, too and they are hot. I do not seed my peppers, either, ’cause I like my salsa hot. I just cut it into two or three chunks, so it chops up better.
I put the lid on and hit the “pulse” button on my blender, quickly, two or three times, til I have this consistency.
I empty into a bowl and add some of this Creole Seasoning.
I’m pretty generous with it.
Squeeze in some lime juice.
Stir it all up. Have a bite! Be sure to have something close at hand, to put out the fire!
Yummm….think I’ll go have a bowl while I flip back and forth between watching the NASCAR race and the Ryder Cup.
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.
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.
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.
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 