longarm quilting · machine quilting · quilting · quilts · sewing

Wednesday WIP and Just Us Quilters Blog – Help!


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?

quilting · sewing · stash busting

Thank you, Vicki!


I’ve been wanting to try out Vicki’s pillowcase tutorial for awhile now, and I finally got around to it.  Awesome.

I needed them to be kingsized, so I just adjusted the size of the body.  My aunt wanted some pillowcases to go with the quilt my Mom & I gave her a couple of years ago.  I still had some of the fabrics left in my stash that were in her quilt.  I started on these during my lunch break today, and finished them up after work.  Easy-peasy.  Vicki has lots of cool stuff on her blog.  If you’ve not visited her before, fix yourself a cup of tea or other beverage of your choice, and plan on staying awhile. 🙂

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

Starting My First Mystery Quilt


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!  🙂

machine quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · sewing

Plugging Away on the Pumpkins


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…

longarm quilting · quilt top · quilting · quilts · sewing

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!

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

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?

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

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. 

Silver medal, Tokyo Olympics, 1964
Silver medal, Tokyo Olympics, 1964
Gold medal winner, Mexico City, 1968
Gold medal winner, Mexico City, 1968

 

This post has been quite a hodge podge of topics!  Hope you are enjoying your Sunday as much as I am mine.

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

Storm At Sea Quilting Ta-Done!


I love it! I used Quilters Dream Poly for the batting, Rainbows Rain Forest on the top, and So Fine Marigold on the back.  All the pics are “clickable” so you can see them better, if you’d like.

I wish I could get a pic of the true color of the back…it’s almost the color of canned pumpkin.  Much more vibrant and pretty than the pics show.  Quilting this was fun!

EDIT: Thanks for the photo tip, Vicki! It worked perfectly!

BTW, it’s a nice, cool 68 degrees outside here, right now! How awesome is that for July?!

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

Sunday Report (actual quilt content!)


Yes! I have a good stash report this week.

I busted 2/3 yd making the binding for this quilt that has been waiting to be bound for almost two years.  I love this quilt and it will feel so good to finish it!

I pulled 6 yds out to make two king pillow shams for my cousin, to go with the quilt she commissioned last year.  I wanted to quilt them, and I’ve never done shams before, so I might have used a little for than necessary to cut the sham tops from, but better a little extra leftover than short.  I used 3 yds on top, and 3 yds of a plain cream fabric for the lining.  Then, when I get this quilted and ready to finish, I will use more of the top fabric for the backings. 

I used another yard on my light version 9P & stripe, adding the first inner border.  I should have pressed it before taking the pic, but oh well.

I busted the most on these log cabin blocks.  The quilt will be a queen…8 &2/3 yds. so far!  I think I want to use the “windmill” layout, but I will have to play with them some more before I make up my mind completely.

And I’m starting to see some significant progress in my leaders/enders project from Bonnie Hunter’s site.  I have 60 of my 100 four patches done, for the Oklahoma Backroads quilt I am making as a surprise for my Mom.

Total stash busted this week is 16 yards, if I did the math right.  I need to avoid those “thirds”.  So for the year, I’m still in the hole -17.75 yds.  But I’m getting closer to a positive number! I haven’t even been tempted to buy any new stash!

My body stash busting…not so good still.  Especially not since I made that Pineapple Crack Delight that Freda posted.  Thanks a lot, Freda!  🙂  Sunday weigh-in was 145.  Really, really got get that going back in the right direction!

Have a great week!

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

Happy Mother’s Day & Sunday Reporting


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!