And yet another!

Here is the final quilt top of the day for me...

The box for Bev has 7 quilt tops in it now. I think I can probably fit another two or three in there, maybe by week's end... and here is a picture of the top Mom donated.

Another one done!

So I went and pulled out my box of UFO's and found Hope of Hartford blocks I won in the lotto over a year ago. Twenty 10" blocks. I picked out 9 that played well together and pulled out some 2.5" strips of 30's repros and was able to finish this already. I have another 9 blocks on the design wall and need to go hunt for sashings and a border. But I think I'll eat dinner first.

Getting back in the groove..

This week I have been getting back in the quilting groove. I finished the ABC Quilt which will be gifted tomorrow
Here you can get idea how it looks with the quilting of the letters.


And then I pulled out a box of orphan blocks/rejects I had been sent for making Sunshine quilts.
The first 2 were super simple. The Christmas fabrics had been cut into 9" squares, I just did an alternating layout and added borders.
The next one had 2 different blocks made, but not really enough for a quilt top and I had no fabric to make more of the same blocks. So I put together what I had and found a print that picked up the 2 main colors and pulled in the blue as well. Then I added the fun polka dots.

So that makes 1 quilt completed this week and 3 tops for Sunshine. Today I am spending the day relaxing...in the sewing room. 1st on the agenda was a set of hour glass blocks . I had to trim them all to a consistent size and decided to alternate with crumb blocks . I added an inner border andthen did crumb block borders as well. So make that 4 tops for Sunshine....and when I went to show this one to Mom she added one of hers to the box as well.
Next I plan to pull out my UFO bins and see what I can find to complete another top quickly. I want to fill a Priority Mail box and get it off to BevB ASAP...

I almost forgot...I also quilted a quilt for Mom's Care Quilts group. She felt the quilt needed something other than straight line/walking foot quilting. I had said I might bre able to do it, and Wednesday she asked could it be done before Dad leaves next week so he can deliver it. I said I'd be able to get to it Saturday (today) but then decided to get going on iot that evening while everyone was gone. I surprised myself...it turned out pretty good, and since Mom's lights were still on at 11:30 when I finished it I took it over. Was she surprised, and thrilled. Here is the front.
I first did the straight lines with the walking foot, then did free motion around the magnolias. Then I just tried out some free motion designs I had seen in a video. Since it has a solid maroon back and I used natural color thread, the design rally shows up well....just don't look too closely, because it's far from perfect!

Busy Week

The weather cooperated and I was able to get the new siding on the front of the house painted. No small task, as I found it best to brush the paint on rather than roll it. 2 gallons of paint applied with a 3" brush....can you say "sore arms"? But the resultse are worth it.
This is just a glimpse of the color scheme. Excuse the construction mess. Eventually (hopefully next Spring) there will be a raised bed vegetable garden here, surrounded by a fence. We are slowly re-siding the whole house with concrete siding. This is the first side done. The end around this corner should get done this month if we have decent weather.

I got the alphabet quilt top pieced, and have it basted and ready to start quilting just as soon as I pull myself away from the computer. One week until the baby shower it is a gift for....better get busy!

After months....

I'm finally working on a quilt again! I am making a quilt for a friend's baby shower which is on Nov. 15. Having a deadline is motivating. I have had these ABC blocks for quite some time. I set them out in alphabetical order and left spaces between for solid squares which will have their letters quilted on them....This will count as a UFO finish when I get it done! Now I have to rush to get a few errands done before my board meeting tonight at 7:00.

More than a Month!

It's been more than a month since I posted. In that time I have been in the sewing room a lot, but not quilting. I got the girls swimsuits done, and they turned out quite nice. Also I made myself 3 pairs of capris, a "square " shirt, and a t-shirt. And 2 pairs of shorts for RoseE (she still needs more) I still have piles of fabric and patterns and a need to get more clothes made. One day last week I decided I hade to do something "quilty" so I quilted and bound a charity quilt I have had sitting waiting for about 3 years or more.
It turned out nice, and I used fabric I had bought and rejected for bathroom curtains as a back....stash reduction is a good thing. If I just had time to practice more, I think I could get pretty good at quilting on my Viking Sapphire.

Although I haven't done much quilting I have received blocks from the "birthday" block swap, as May was assigned as my month. I requested 12" NYB blocks made of batiks. So far, from 6 of the 11 swappers, I have received 8 blocks. I'm not sure what I'll be doing with these. in retrospect, I should have specified a measurement for the placement of the final arcs so there would have been more consistency between blocks. As it is the final arc on one is actually the edge of the block, and a few is at 1/4 inch and will be the edge when the blocks are sewn together. On one block it is over 2 inches in from the block edge. I think about an inch in from the finished edge of the block would have been best on this size block. As with all the swaps I've done, I've learned for the future....but even with the "problems" they are a lovely bunch of blocks, aren't they?

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Yesterday I realized the end of the month is sneaking up on me and I hadn't yet done Kate's block for the "Birthday" swap. It is the last month of the year long swap, and time to wind it up. Kate requested blocks with a dimensional aspect. So last evening after I finished my t-shirt, I pulled out some fabrics and started ...and I finished. I paper pieced a ring of prairie point type triangles and then set the ring into a square of fabric. The center circle was machine appliqued and then I stitched around the outside of the ring to match. I thought about stitching the points of the triangles down on the seamlines with a bead, and even tried it on a couple, but decided to leave them loose. Kate might want to try stitching them. The look is different depending on where the point is placed when stitched. Anyway, I thought the block will travel across the pond better in a flatter state.
I took a cue from Kates's blog and took a picture of the block from a side angle to better show the dimensionality.
Once I got going on this it went together pretty fast. Less than 4 hours start to finish...including the designing period. It was lots of fun to try something so different. And now I need to get back to sewing clothes again. Maybe some day I'll take some pictures and have a style show here...

This n' That

That's how life as been lately...a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Car problems...computer wasn't working in mine and the front suspension had issues. We finally have the computer fixed, but there is still a noise in the front end, so I guess I'll take the car in again tomorrow..3rd time's the charm right? Hopefully it won't cost anymore, we've alerady sunk over $1000 into it in the past 3 weeks...OUCH! I sewed an inset for organizing my purse. Took all day Saturday, but it turned out nice, and will make it so easy to change purses. I sewed up some Lotto blocks yesterday...I wasn't feeling well and stayed in bed until afternoon and then just relaxed in the sewing room. I'm better today, but haven't accomplished a thing yet. Since the weather finally dried out this week I have done lots of laundry and hung it on the line..makes a big difference on the electric bill.

Sunday is JoeE's birthday, then the next Sunday is Ginger's . The following weekend I am going to Missouri for the Communion and Liberation Spritual exercises. And Kristi Victoer and the boys are coming here to visit for the week. Then June 13 we head to Texas for the big birthday bash for Mom and Dad. Middle of July is the CL vacation. Gabe will be at camp OLOG for July. And I still have lots of sewing projects I want to work on. Next in line are swimsuits for the little girls. I'm starting to look into a new serger...I'd really like a machine that does cover stitch as well as overlock and flatlock we'll see, that's a lot of money. I guess I need to really try to use what I have to it's full potential before deciding to get something better.

What's up?

Since my last post, I went to Virginia Beach to visit Nick, Jackie and Serenity (6 day visit). They just bought a new house and are settling in. Serenity is a cute little sweetie.

We visited the Zoo, the Botanical Gardens (250,000 azalea plants in bloom...beautiful!) and the beach.





The botanical Garden has 5 bald eagles in residence (nesting) mother, father and 3 babies. We were able to see one of the adults sitting in a tree a way from the nest, I assume he/she was standing guard.(in the center of this photo).

Then we looked through a telescope that was available and Nick was able to take this picture for me.


It's too bad vandals had scratched up the lens of the telescope, or the picture could have been even better!

Since I've been home I have been playing catch-up on housework..the family saved all the laundry for me. Unfortunately it has been very rainy, so I haven't been able to hang laundry out to dry very much, though I did get 3 loads out yesterday...rain forecast again today (warm and muggy..yuck!) then cooler tomorrow with more rain and a very cool Mother's day, maybe wet.

I seem to be a bit sick...sore throat, headache, slight fever. Yesterday I just did laundry and worked on sewing projects. I completed my birthday swap 2 block for April (late!) . I think Sophie should like it. Now I need to find her new address and mail it this weekend.

I found this pattern, by Sindy Rodenmeyer on the internet. At first I thought I would do it with back basted needle turn applique, but after starting I realized it would take way too much time to finish it and I have many other projects I need to get on with, so I did fused applique with satin stitch. I am pleased with the results.

Now I am working on Nickels and Nine-Patches for a swap I joined. I started (and finished) cutting my light Nickels yesterday. While in the process I did a bit of cleaning up and organizing in the sewing room. I washed 1 full load of FQ's which I had been given a while aback and ironed and folded them all. I probably have about 3-4 more loads of fabric that I need to wash Iron and fold. I'll be working on that the next few days. I love the damp dry signal on my dryer. If I use that the fabric is easy to iron.

Next up after the Nickels and Nine-Patches are done will be getting my lotto blocks for May done and catching up m PPM2 stars, Sunshine Sampler, and Nesting Round Robin. I won't join anymore swaps for a while (probably nothing before mid-summer) because I really do need to get some clothes made for myself and the girls. Mimi finishes up at school today, and will move home for the summer tomorrow. Maybe I will help Katy get the bedroom rearranged to make room for her today...... Gabe will be working (in the kitchen) at Camp OLOG in July. Katy is job hunting and hoping to hear back from La Baguette soon.

Denny started re-siding the house with concrete type siding while I was in Virginia beach. Once he gets the siding up I will need to paint. since the whole front of the yard needs to be regraded and landscaped i came up with the idea of using the area close to the house for a fenced in garden. Denny likes the idea, so we will need to be getting that started too. I hope to have walkways in, fencing up, and beds ready for spring planting....possibly even in time for a few fall crops....

And as always I want o get some more quilts done!

What a great idea! Rather than just a few pictures someone on Stashbusters made a video of her sewing room and put it on her blog. I thought "I can do that!" So I did and here it is. It is taking a long time to upload, so I guess I'll add some print commentary as well. My Sewing space is unorganized. The problem with getting it organized is that in the process I run across a started project, or a pattern or a piece of fabric that grabs onto me and demands attention. And if there is enough room to work on the project, the organizing stops and the project takes over, which of course causes more mess. I only seem to manage to clear enough room to work and the organizing ends. I know...I need to discipline myself to get it done, but how much self discipline can I have at once. It seems to be taking all I have to stick with my low carb, low sodium eating....which seems to be working! My weight is going down and so is my blood pressure. In the grand scheme of things, if I need to choose I'll choose the better health over th neater sewing room!

Good Friday, April 10, 2009

I've been sewing...no, not quilts. Its that time of the year again...Easter dresses for the girls!














They are done (and we went and found new shoes as well)
and I have made a skirt for me and have a blouse pattern and fabric ready to go...tomorrow. Today is reserved for Stations of the Cross on Campus this afternoon (need to get music together and tune up the guitar, etc...) and evening service at Church.

For a time yesterday evening we thought Annie and her sister might need to come spend the night here. Their parents' house was threatened by the wildfire spreading through MidWest City and Choctaw yesterday afternnon and evenng. But with the change in wind when the cold front came through around 10:00 the dange eased up and evacuation wasn't needed. Now we need rain!