Bird Watching and Quilting

July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 Wild Rose Quilter4 Comments

It looks like the little bird will be ready to try out his wings soon.

It has done well in my makeshift, substitute nest. Mama is continuing to watch over from above.

I finally finished the quilting on Baby C’s quilt. Baby C will be 2 in September. 🙄 Anyone want to start a pool on whether I get the binding finished before he is 3? I had better because grandbaby boy #3 is due to arrive in October!

I finished all the freehand quilting in the blocks this weekend. When I had my A1 upgraded 2 years ago, I also added the computerized Quilt Butler system. It’s a little embarrassing to confess that I have not taken time to play around with it and learn how to use it. The past couple of evenings I watched some instructional videos on the YouTube site and felt ready to give it a shot. So after work tonight, I started small, just putting a simple design in the diamond shapes. It went very smoothly and I was tickled to death with how they turned out. I finished all the diamonds in no time at all. I’m excited to learn more and use it more. It can’t do as much as some of the more elaborate systems, but it’s more than I had and will add some more options to my quilting. Another tool in the sewing box.

quilting

A Quilty Post!!

January 3, 2015January 3, 2015 Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

Yay! Quilting news to blog. I finished the quilting on Caleb’s quilt last week. Today, I made the binding and sewed it to the front of the quilt using my longarm. Got it off the machine and all trimmed and ready for the hand stitching of the binding. I’ve been so anxious to see it off the machine. I did not use a pattern. I just decided what size I wanted the rows and pieces to be and started cutting fabric and sewing. I have to say…I love it!!

Picture overload…it’s huge, so the best I could do tonight was throw it over the sofa. Please ignore the batting fuzz and strings all over it. 😀

food · quilting

Do you like it hot?

December 30, 2014 Wild Rose Quilter1 Comment

We love our salsa hot! It is freezing, literally freezing, outside. Last time I checked it was 7 degrees outside with a windchill of -13. Brrrrr. We had snow flurries on and off all day. A perfect day to cook up some homemade salsa, rice and a big pot of albondigas (meatball soup).

I boiled the jalapeños and tomatoes, and I had a handful of tomatillos leftover from a previous batch, so I went ahead and roasted them and threw them in the blender, as well. Added some garlic, cilantro and salt.

I leave the pepper seeds in for extra heat. A bowl of albondigas….

with a generous spoonful of rice stirred in….

along with a spoonful or two of the salsa and a squeeze of lime, eaten with warm corn tortillas….is good stuff! Just right for a day like this. Actually, there aren’t many days I wouldn’t eat this. It’s becoming a favorite of mine. I also had cooked a pot of pinto beans in the slow cooker overnight and I made a pan of frijoles refritos to have on the side. Mmmmm! I’m ready for leftovers!

I spent most of the day in the kitchen, but at the end of the day I managed to squeeze in a bit of quilting. I cut the binding strips for Caleb’s quilt. It’s going to look awesome in this navy and white striped fabric, but cutting it made me a little dizzy!

Then I did some hand stitching on the binding of another quilt. Now, I think I’ll lay me down to sleep. Goodnight!

grief · longarm quilting · quilting · quilts

Quilting to Report! :)

September 15, 2012September 15, 2012 Wild Rose Quilter11 Comments

For many months after Greg passed, I just couldn’t get back into my quilting. He was so involved in that part of my life. Very interested and so supportive. I just couldn’t get my mojo back. But, finally, the fire is burning within me again. I am working on my projects and it’s bringing me joy. I am trying to turn all my WIP’s into completed items. Or, at least make a good dent in them before I start on new ones. I know that I will not be able to refrain from starting a new thing, here or there, before I finish ALL my WIPs. In the past week, I have quite a little bit of new progress to report.

I finished my “chicken quilt”. Just a simple turning twenty made with mostly chicken themed fabrics, quilted with Willow Leaf studio’s Fancy This panto. I had everything but the binding finished close to two years ago, now. Now, it’s finally draped over the back of my sofa, ready to snuggle up in during the chilly Fall/Winter months. I actually took a little nap under it yesterday.

I pulled out a little pre-cut table runner kit I have had for probably three years now. I bought it from Chery’s Quilt Corner, in Guymon. It was designed by Judy Rice. I am so happy to see it on my table in time for pumpkin season this year! I quilted it on my longarm. For the pumpkin vines that were supposed to be done by machine or hand embroidery, I just threaded my longarm with some green thread and did them as part of the quilting.

That little table runner just makes me smile. I love pumpkins!

Last night I loaded the Oklahoma Backroads (pattern from Bonnie Hunter’s Quiltville) quilt that I started making for my Mom, back before she was diagnosed with lymphoma. So, I know this has been a WIP for over two years. I pulled it off the longarm just a little bit ago. It’s a scrap quilt, with pretty much bits and pieces of any and ever quilt I had previously made in it. I could have done a better job with the fabric values, which would have made the stars and “roads” stand out better, but she will love it for snuggling up in. It’s so busy that I decided to do a freehand “paisley-ish” allover meander on it, just to give it a nice texture. Also, being that I really avoided my longarm for over a year, and the year before that it was barely used, these little projects are a good way to sharpen up my skills again. I’m a little rusty and these are good confidence builders. I am pleased to report that my longarm just took right off, and is working perfectly, even after all that sitting, waiting for me to come back to her. That was a big relief.

Now to get the binding and a label on it, and it’s soon to be a finish, as well. 🙂 I’m ready for it to go live with Mom!

Greg was in one of my dreams last night. At first, I wanted so badly to dream about him, because it would feel, in a way, as if he was still here, as if I had seen and talked to him. And the funny thing is, those dreams didn’t come right away. Now, when they do, I have really mixed emotions about it. Waking up after one is certainly more painful. Because, it does feel as if he was just here, as if I just talked with him, saw him, and possibly even touched him. And then, I wake up.

I alluded to a “special someone” in a previous recent post. Yes, I am seeing someone. But no, that takes nothing away from the loss of what I had. And, he lives six hours away. Long, but sweet, story. Someday maybe I will share it here. 🙂

In the meantime, I will be trying to figure out the best way to reply to your comments. While I was away, it seems WordPress changed the comment notification emails. It used to be that I could reply directly, and privately to the commenter by replying through the notification email that WordPress sent. That is no longer the case. I can click on the email address of the commenter, and send a whole new email, which is probably what I will begin doing. If I reply through the WordPress email, it posts directly here on the blog, but I don’t know if the commenter gets notification that there has been a repy. Do any of you know? I do read all your comments and have been very lax about responding during these past many months. I intend to start doing better about that again! Thanks for stopping by, and thank you for all the cyber love you have sent my way. 🙂

pretty fabric · quilt top · quilting · quilts · stash busting

I just kept sewing yesterday!

September 6, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter14 Comments

By the time yesterday was done, I had worked a bit on FIVE different quilts. Well six, if you count the prep work on a customer top I’m fixing to start quilting. But I made a little bit of progress on five of my own WIP’s. Yay!

I made great headway on my Boston Commons. I have one more row like these, then adding white fabric around and between, a pieced border, and then I am going to add an additional plain border all around so I have some more space to quilt feathers in. The original pattern, which is by Darlene Zimmerman, ends with a narrow border of the the squares and white triangles.

While I was sewing Gracie’s Star together, and while I was piecing on the above quilt, I worked on my leaders/enders quilt, Oklahoma Backroads, and I had my embroidery machine running, cranking out some blocks for a red & white Christmas quilt.

And then, when I went to bed, I took my 9P & stripe quilt with me, and worked on knotting and burying some of the thread tails I left on it. I should have done it while I was going along on it…now it feel like I will never get them all done. 😦 I’m glad I decided to go back to a backtack before I finished. And I still have to bind it!

I did get my backing and binding picked out for Gracie’s Star. Now I just have to decide on which quilting pattern I want to use. I think it’s a bit dark & busy to spend a lot of time on custom, but a pretty allover will finish it off nicely.

The first part of this year I just kept starting new projects. Maybe this last part will be about finishing! I would like to finish these projects I have started with my stash fabrics!

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.

quilting

Another Time Sucker

July 11, 2009July 11, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter8 Comments

I ordered a new quilting toy to play with. I finally joined the EQ6-ers. Oh. My. Gosh. What a time sucker…I could sit and play with this software for hours…literally…hours. And I don’t have hours to spare! LOL

I did start sewing my sawtooth stars together…and the winner was……….drumroll, please…….sew them together as is! You knew it, didn’t you? I only have one row together…after I get row two together and sewn to row one, I will know for sure if this is my final answer. I may take them back apart and start over, with sashing. We’ll see. Thank you to everyone who took time to participate in my poll!

This is another week of golfing for my son, so I will be very scarce. It will continue this way until after school starts in August. I hope y’all are having a great summer!

I’ll leave you with some pretty zinnia photos from my yard.

pretty fabric · quilt top · quilting · quilts · sewing · stash busting

Stash Quilt Reporting

July 5, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter14 Comments

I don’t think my reports are about stash busting any more, but what I’ve done with my stash. I added 5 yards of Kona white cotton back to the stash, since I’m using what I had in my Boston Commons. That is a staple I like to keep on hand. I finished by sawtooth star blocks, finally. And, I think I might like them all together, after all. If you’ve been following my progress on them, you may remember this previous post, where I posted the ones I had finished together, and then divided into different color groupings and settings. Well, here is the whole lot of them, finished and laid out how I would sew them together, if I decide to follow the original pattern.

I think I do like it. My husband likes it. How about a poll?

To see how they looked divided into orange and no orange groups, click the link to the previous post, mentioned above. I’m curious to see which one wins. Doesn’t mean I’ll follow it, but I might!

quilt top · quilting · quilts · stash busting

Thankful Tuesday and Early Wednesday WIP

June 2, 2009June 2, 2009 Wild Rose Quilter13 Comments

I know it’s usually thankful Thursday, but I’m going early this week on some things. My Dad is doing much better. Everything seems to be resolving and doesn’t look like anything too serious is going on with him. Yay! My husband had some tests a week ago Friday, one involving what the doctor suspected was another cancerous mole. But it wasn’t! Yay! And while he was having that biopsied, he also had the blood test that screens for prostate cancer, and that came back normal, also. Yay!

And I’m thankful for all my blogging friends that sent prayers and kind thoughts. And thank you all for the encouragement you’ve given about my 9P & stripe! So many sweet comments. I appreciate them all!

I’ve been doing a bit of piecing on my star blocks again, but I don’t think they are going to end up in the pattern that was intended. I love the blocks, I love the fabrics, I’m just not loving them together. So, I think this project is going to go a different direction, which will require a bit of extra thinking on my part…lol. I think that it’s the orange fabrics not going with the reds…maybe. At least not when they are butted next to each other, like the pattern.

When I pull out the orange ones, I like it better.

And the oranges aren’t bad on their own.

But I’m still not really feeling it. Maybe it’s a value thing…I’m not really sure why I don’t like it, it just doesn’t seem to be working. But I know these block have the potential to be an awesome quilt, or maybe more than one quilt.

So, I looked closely at the fabrics, and notice that several share a similar green accent color, that happens to be very close the color of this bolt I bought to use for backing fabric. And I wondered, what if I set them on point, and used this green for setting blocks and triangles?

Or, sashing and setting triangles, with the blocks on point, which I think is my favorite.

Even like this, I don’t think the polka dots and oranges go with the rest, and will figure out a way to put them together, on their own. What do you think? Am I on a better track with this?

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!

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