Sunday, August 30, 2009

Sunday Quilting Upate


Well I have had a busy week. Don't I say that almost every week? I made it to the gym 5 mornings this past week. That is very good for me. It sure is hard to go to bed earlier to compensate for my getting up earlier. Of course tonight I'm ready to go to bed now, but it is only 8:30 PM. Also by the time I clean my teeth and face, I'm all awake again, boy I hate that.

Anyway on to the quilting update. I did some quilting on the T-shirt quilt, but lost some motivation when I hit a spot where the piecing didn't lay flat. So I decided to take a break and haven't gone back to it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

I added a floating border and the flying geese border to my Washington Medallion Quilt. My floating border is very narrow, some where alone the line something is too big, but I really like how it looks with that very narrow border. So since it's my quilt, I'm happy. I decided to get those borders on so I could have the long design wall at the end of the hall. I'm seriously thinking of having my husband put some insulation up for me and covering it with flannel. That way I can stick pins in to help hold up fabric.

I needed the space to play with my Dear Jane Boo Swap quilt. Since this is a design as I go project I needed more space to play. I have things in the basic layout I want, I just have to fill in all the blank spaces. The one blocks off by it self on the left is probably going to the back. All the blocks are suppose to be Halloween colors. It looks like black and red to me and I don't think it looks like Halloween.

I might have to change the background fabric in the upper right hand corner to slim green. The three Orange & Black blocks need to be reworked, they just don't lined up right. I wanted the one in the middle to be on point to the other two. I had to draw that out on paper to see how I needed to set the center block.

So far my favorite feature is the zipper, I added the black strips just to set it off a little from the other areas. Most of it isn't sewed down permanently, so it is all subject to change but so far so good! It's any one's guess how it will look next week. Be sure to check in and see what transpires.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Dress Fabric!


Well I had a successful day and accomplished my goal for the day. I purchased the fabric for the dress I'm going to wear to Kierra's Wedding. I found some I really loved at Joann's for $11.99 a yard and I needed 7 yards. It is only for one day and I felt that was a little expensive, since I'll probably never wear the dress again.
I found this very nice fabric at SAS here in Tempe and for 5.98 a yard I'm just as happy as can be. Here I am modeling the fabric.


Here is the fabric with the pattern. I took the pattern to Kierra's house the other night when we were there for dinner and she definitely likes Pattern D. Which the one I picked out. My friend Marce is going to sew it for me. I could sew it but it isn't really something I enjoy. I'm glad the wedding is in late October because that fabric is heavy and hot for August!


Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sunday Quilting Upate



I DID IT!! I finished the binding on the One Block Wonders for the French doors!!! I just got this wild idea I wanted them done and I wanted to do some hand sewing. So they are done! I'm happy.


My other project that has been hanging over my head is a quilt I'm quilting for a friend. It is a T-shirt quilt. She picked out minkie for the back and I was a little concerned about working with the minkie on the frame. I have quilted two passes on it so far. While I was quilting it, I realized, if I get it done in the next two weeks I can have some extra cash for the quilt get-a-way and the mini shop hop we always make on the trip up to Prescott.


I did make a little progress on my DJ Halloween quilt, I added some logs to a block and work on a lighting bolt strip. I had to rip the long seam out on the bolt and I think something is wrong with it, but I need to study it some more before I decide if I'm backwards. That might not be by next Sunday, I have a strong feeling I want to finish quilting a T-shirt quilt.

Well I need to go to bed. I'm trying to get to bed a littler earlier since I have started going back to the gym.
Take Care!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Sunday Quilting Upate


Well I designed it last Sunday and I finished it today. I did purchase the border fabric and the paint for the numbers, the rest I have in my stash. Always a good thing to do is use your stash! I'm very happy with how it turned out.



While I was working on the September Mini, my husband asked me to make him a little quilt for his cubical at work. I went to my trusty EQ6 program and they had some wonderful computer images for me to use. Now if I can just find 1/2 a yard of fabric with computer thingies on it, I'll be all set. He works as a desk top engineer, he fixes software and hardware issues at work. He also repairs computers for friends and co-workers. He is always happy fixing computers. He is trying to recover some files on some one's computer right now.



The really big project I decided to work on is my Dear Jane Halloween swap from maybe 2003?? It is one of my goals to finish this year. I had a tilted blocks plan but when I was in CO, I found this book Beyond the Block. I found one design in there I really liked, it looked like it would hold about 20 blocks. Here is the picture from the book of the design I like. You can double click on the pictures to enlarge them.



Here is my custom quilt plan I made in EQ6, I did not draw it exactly, but just enough to give me an idea. It isn't a good picture but you might get an idea of what I might do. You will also notice some hand written notes on it, of where I plan to put what blocks. I have 36 Dear Jane Blocks, all 4.5 inches big or is that small. It also has a water stain, one of the cats jumped up on the ironing board and knock over my spray bottle of water.


And here is my progress so far!! It's going to be a busy quilt but I have this collection of fun Halloween fabric that I picked out for this quilt, so I'm going to find a place for all of them.


Saturday, August 15, 2009

The Man Cave Part 2


Yesterday we passed the first building inspection and today the floor and the below the ground support was poured. Here are the pictures.


There is even a little ramp leading up to the future shop. That way he can roll his heavy table saw and all in to his "Man Cave". And the garage will be just a garage. After this is done, I'm going to have to think of all kinds of quilt racks he can make for me!! And maybe some to sell also.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Man Cave


Today with a little help the Man Cave was started today, aka The Estrogen Free Zone. This is Darrell & his helper, prepping the back yard for the cement floor and foundation. Darrell did the cement for our hobby room. We like using people again who do good work, and we are very happy with the base he did in our hobby room.

This is how it looked when we came home from work. We called the city tonight and left a message for them to come do the first inspection tomorrow so the cement can be poured soon. My husband is excited to be starting his new project. It will take a little time to get to the next stage, because we have to wait for little cooler weather to start working outside.

Monday, August 10, 2009

Wahington Medallion


Here is a picture of the Washington Medallion with it's flying geese border and some fabric I'm previewing as the floating border. I like the light blue but the dark blue doesn't look to shabby either. I didn't like the tan that came with the kit. I purchased both of these fabrics while I was in CO. Matter of fact if it wasn't so much work I would take the tan out of there before the checker border. It isn't that bad and contrast is needed and when the whole thing is done it will look marvelous! That is just the way it is with quilts.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Sunday Quilting Upate


Today was a lazy day after a busy Saturday. I designed this little Monthly Mini to go with the other minis I have made. The designer from Patch Abilities made some really cute monthly designs, but she had pumpkins for September and they just don't work for me. I made that design last year and made it for November. This is from her series #1. So I had this bright idea last night just before going to bed and I finished designing it this morning. I have printed all my applique pieces and found the fabric for the applique pieces. I really want a bright border in a school theme or primary colors. Nothing like that in my stash. Or darn I have to go find some fabric.
I spent the rest of the day doing the binding by hand on one of my panels for the French doors. I have one long side done, two short sides and a half of the second long side. I was doing the binding while watching the PBS Sense and Sensibility DVD. Just too engrossing to sew fast.
This week I also joined all four flying geese borders. The are not attached to my Washington Medallion yet but hopefully this week. I just felt like hand sewing today. I'll have to take a picture in the morning. I'm off to bed now, I am beat. I stayed up too late last night (12:15 AM) and I have been up since 5:20 this morning. That's a short night for me and it is my fault. Some nights I just don't know when to quit.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Close up of Grass


OK the handle of the shovel is a little dorky but I like the grass!! In to work it goes tomorrow!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Sunday Quilting Upate


Well my Sand Castle is as done as it is going to get for now. I want to hang it at work tomorrow. Some of the sea grass is only drawn on with a pigma pen instead of embroidered. I'm just plum out of time. I wasn't sure what color to do my sea grass, green or tan, so I used one strand of green & one of tan, I like how it turned out. On second thought I might wait until Tuesday to hang it and finish it tomorrow night. I only have three medium grasses to do and the rest are all short. I'm thinking I want this finished completely.
I do know I have to go to bed now. Tomorrow it is back to work. Here's hoping I don't get anymore calls tonight. I love that feeling when I wake up after being on call and realize the pager didn't go off all night. Here is hoping!!!

Playing in Picasa

I downloaded this program a couple of weeks ago and one of the features I wanted to try was the collage. I made several playing with the different styles like a Pile of Pictures, my least favorite, Mosaic with and without grid spacing my favorite, grid which makes the pictures all the same size is OK if the pictures were all the same size to start with. The strangest is Multiple Exposure which superimposes all the pictures over one another. It is a fun feature.

Here is a picture of my favorite Mosaic with some spacing, these pictures are of recent sewing and my trip to CO.

Here is the Multiple Exposure just because.

The thing I don't like is it organized all my pictures into folders by dates, where I had them all organized as family, friends, home, quilts and etc. One of these days I'm going to see if I can re-organize them but not today. Today I want to finish my Sand Castles.

Saturday, August 1, 2009

The Dress Pattern


I found this dress pattern and I forwarded it to Kierra and asked.
I can make a dress like this for me, to wear to your wedding? I was thinking a dark red.
Her Reply. WOW! That is a really nice pattern! Dark Red is great!
So now to find the right shade of red fabric. Well I should be able to get it done in 91 days, there go my quilting goals for this year. Well a daughter's wedding is more important.

Blogging Fun

OK I think I have this figured out. I'm sure there is an easier way to do this but this is what I have done.
1. I captured a screen shot of my new blog color
2. Edited it in Picasa, added signature, cropped, saved as a .jpg file
3. Blog This from Picasa to my blog.
4. Copied the script and saved it under settings.
5. Posted.

Now if this all works out right it should automatically come to my post with every post. I do think the signature is a little too big but I want to go sew now. I'll play with my blog more later. I mean there are more things in life than a blog.