Heidi's Quilt

The other project I finished which had nothing to do with my "Get RR Done" group is a quilt for Heidi.  She made it for her daughter who has gone off to college.  

It is a fun double sided T-Shirt quilt. That is right the back is also made of T-Shirts.  I like to follow a patter or go around the designs of the front, but I had to keep reminding myself it isn't going to work that way on the back and to just go for it. 

Here is the front.  I didn't take a picture of the back. 

Look at how nice and puffy it will be even with low-loft batting.

 My favorite block.  This T-shirt is from the first quilt shop I ever taught at.  Quilter's Emporium.  My best friend was the owner and she asked me to teach paper piecing because I was the only person she knew who knew how to paper piece.  Man I have good memories of that place.  I miss it and I miss Rosie.  Rosie is now in the Heavenly Quilt group.  I will be eternally grateful to her for introducing me to quilting, we took our first classes together.  And for inviting me to teach at her shop which expanded to teaching all kinds of classes. I also did the monthly newsletter for the shop.  

Stocking Woes and a Good Finish

I was making excellent progress on Bigger Bit's Stocking. Doesn't it look great!!

Until, I noticed I was off by two lousy stitches. 

Do you see that H at the end, hanging pass the line under it.  

Maybe the picture below will help you see my problem.  

I started my solid line at the edge of the flower below it and not from the base of the pot.  See red lines on the sides.  Because I started the solid line wrong, I started the letters wrong.  

Ask me if I am a happy camper.  

Un-stitching is in my future.  The gold line also has two different colors of gold in it.  GRrrrrrr

I hate making mistakes.  

The good news is....

I finished my friend's quilt and she really likes it!!

Here it is all finished.  Do you see Little Bit's foot hanging out.  Kids and a draped item and they have to get under it.  Notice the lump on the right?  That is Bigger Bit sitting under the quilt. 

Close up of the binding,  

My favorite T-Shirt.  Fun project and I am glad I am using my frame again.  I don't think I could build a business quilting for others it is too stressful.  An occasional friend is fine. 

Happy Stitching!!!

Yeah! The Quilting is Done

Yesterday afternoon I was able to finish the 

quilting on my friend's quilt.  

That is a good feeling.  

Here is the proof!

This is the top of the quilt, the borders are missing. 

The bottom of the quilt.  

Someday I dream of being a great machine quilter!  That was going to be one of my retirement goals, funny how life changes plans.  I am sure I will be able to do more as the girls grow.

My 9 year took this picture of me, it is posed but she was so funny she told me to drop my shoulders and tilt my head.  Do I have a junior photographer in the house. 

I have so few pictures of me doing the things I like, so I asked the girls to take a couple of pictures of me.  

I just noticed I spelled my blog name wrong on my picture.  

Here the machine was actually going and I am quilting.  

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching!!

I Have Been Busy

My scrapbooking friends went to the Scrapbooking Expo this weekend.  I wasn't able to go because Mr. B. was on call for his job as IT Desk Top Engineer for one of the hospital groups where we live.  Luckily I stayed home because he ended up working 8.5 hours on Saturday and someone has to watch over those cute girls. 

So I scrapbooked here at home by myself.  

I did do three pages from my Dad's old album but I won't show you those.  My big project I did was to redo the tabs on My Life binder.  

In my binder I have my life divided into decades, 1948, 1958, etc.  I think I am ready for the second binder.  The tabs I had were cute but too small and they were bent and won't stick on well.  So I made new ones.  You can see them here.  I used the We R Memory Keepers Tab Punch.  Plus a friend gave me a set of letter and number punches that I used for the numbers. 

Here is my first decade. I found these fun sheets of What Happened  In for each year.  I put a picture of me that I thought represented me for that decade.  

Here is the 1968 page.  On the back side I have a time line of what happened each year in that decade.  

Here is a close up of the tab.  

I found this fun pages at CKC Creations. 

I was surprised how long it took me to make these tabs, between finding the right color paper from my scrapes, punching those numbers, gluing those tiny number and making the tab.  I think it was worth it.  I am happy with the results.  

The other thing I did this week was load a second practice quilt on my frame and I am doing some more practicing.  Feeling more comfortable with the process and working out some details I forgot, like raising the front bars with the back bars.  

This one is pink and I purchased enough of the backing to have is pass the end of the quilt and backing making it easier to work with.  I am not sure why I didn't think to do this sooner with other practice quilts but it's is called live and learn.

Trying e's and circles. 

And last but not least is a picture of our cat Sugar in one of her favorite nap places.  This is our coffee table in the front room, with our life binders in them, well mine and the girls.  

Frame Quilting

I am sure you all have forgotten I have a short arm quilting frame.  I hadn't forgotten I had one because I see it every day.  I just haven't touched it in three years.  I stopped using it the January before I retired.  I was just too tired to bother and I felt I'll be retired by next year so I can use it all I want then.  Little did I know that two little girls would come bouncing into my life and turn my world upside down and that I wouldn't find the time or energy to use it again for two more years. 

So on February 6th I loaded a practice quilt.  Just a yard of two fabrics and some batting.  My first past of stitching wasn't two bad and the second one looked better.  Than I had some issues when I tried to work from the back of the quilt.  My machine would freeze up.  I re-threaded it, and cleaned out the bobbin area and started up again and it has been fine since.  I think I had my bobbin in the bobbin case backwards.

Yesterday I finished my practice piece. 

I did a variety of patterns just to get my groove back.  I even did a couple of Pantograhs for the first time.  I find it hard to work from the back of the machine and it is really hard to follow those lines. I know no one follows those lines perfectly but I would like to get some where close.  I even have this one section that I completely missed quilting.  I must have rolled it up too soon.  

I like doing free motion but it was good for me to follow the pantographs to find a more open design.  I am going to buy fabric today to do a second practice quilt.  I have a quilt a friend wants me to quilt for her.  One of her friends made her a T-shirt quilt.  I want to do a good job.  So I am practicing!

Happy Stitching!!

A Long Over Due Update.

Well I am way over due for an update.  I have been busy doing lots of stuff. As you will see in a minute. 

First up is a doll dress I made for the little foster girl.  I wish I cold show you a picture of her and how happy she was with the dress.  She watched me make the dress.  She also picked out the fabric.  She is one happy little girl. I finished it on July 26th.  I found the free pattern on line.

 

 

I forgot when I finished the back for my hubby's quilt, sometime in July.  I loaded it on my frame and it hung like this until today.  You might notice I forgot to trim something.  I think that is why I stop making progress.  I didn't notice until after it was loaded.  Ugh!  Well the debate was do it the easy way or the hard way.  I did it the easy way.  I just unrolled some quilt, placed a mat on the floor and trimmed.  :-)  Keep it Simple works.

 

 

See now the batting and top are also loaded.  That is high loft batting in that quilt, so I will be tying it instead of quilting it.  That is my hubby's request. 

 

We took a trip to California to go to Disneyland and the beach. I like to do hand work while my hubby is driving.  It helps pass the time.  I had two Yo-Yo blocks to finish doing the appliquéing down the Yo-Yos.  I used my automatic needle threader which helped thread those small eyed needles.   

 

After I finished the blocks I started making more Yo-Yo's, as you can see I made it to my red, white and blue fabric.  Would you believe the tin below should be the same color as the picture above.  One taken in natural light and the other in my sewing room, same camera.

 

Here are the last three blocks I finished that brings my total to 37 only 44 more to go! 

 

 

Happy Stitching or whatever you are doing!

 

 

What??

It has been 24 days since my last post????
Where did the time go and what have I been doing?  I know I have been busy with lots of actives.  It seems I have been busy at least 3 or 4 nights a week.  Plus work, plus sewing, plus having fun with my new phone, plus trying to decide what storage stuff I want for my sewing closet, plus reading 3 books, plus a big church food storage activity, plus celebrating a birthday, plus surviving my annual review at work and all that involves, plus going back to the gym and weight watchers.  And last but not least a new laptop to replace both my dead laptop and my dying desk top. 



Sewing room closet



Let me start with the sewing room.  This is my closet, and that is my dresser in the closet.  All the drawers are full of fabric.  It has severed me well but it was only supposed to be temporary.  When my in-laws gave up their home we inherited their bedroom set which had a king size bed.  I had a new bedroom set and I didn't want to give it up but we didn't have room for the dresser, so in my sewing room closet it went.  Well now that all the kids are gone, I want to have a guest room but first I must have a place to put the fabric. 

I have looked at the Elfa system at the Container store, but they have open baskets, and I live in AZ and have an indoor cat, so dust is a problem and so are open baskets.  I found a similar idea at Ikea  that had solid drawers with lids on them but the sales man thought the fabric would get too heavy.  So I am still thinking about what to do.  I am leaning towards the Ikea product.  I know I do not want to lift one container to the get to the one under it. 



Deciding on border design



Here I have been practicing on my Plexiglas for a boarder design.  I did quilt it the way I drew it. 

Here is another picture of my little charm quilt on the frame.  I had a design all worked out for the blocks, but it didn't work.  I don't have enough space to do what I had thought up.  So now I have another design worked up but I need to do a little more practicing on my Plexiglas to make it flow.



Mistake #3



Well this is the quilt that is driving me nuts.  My first mistake was I started it at quilt camp in September.  I didn't read the instructions close enough and I cut too much and sewed up to many pieces.  Second mistake I sewed up too many of the next set up strips, luckily I caught it before I cut more.  Here on my design wall you can my third mistake.  I sewed all these sections together and had to rip them out again. 

Here is the progress I have made once I realized my mistake.  Not much but it is a start and I will have to redesign the quilt to fit my fabric as it is cut.  Goes to prove you need to read instructions, measure twice and cut once. 

I have been doing some hand sewing when I have a few minutes and want to relax and watch TV but want to do something with my hands.                                       

So as you can see I have been busy!

Mystical Horses

Mystical Horses on the Frame

While I was on vacation last week I did start quilting Mystical Horses.  I am about a 1/3 of the way done. 

Close up of quilting

I am doing a rugged landscape type of pattern, well that is what some people call it.  I used it on the Bermuda Triangle Quilt, the raffle quilt my friend Jan & I made for the 2007 Quilt Camp.  There it represented water to me.  I also used it on my Winter 9 Patch Pizzazz Quilt and there I called it snow drift.  So it is very versatile.   Maybe in this quilt I should call the quilting The Horses' Paths.

Happy Stitching!

Quilting Update

One of my friends told me, "Now that you do Genealogy you hardly blog on your quilting blog any more."  Well Rachel I think I'm making up for lost time today. 

Meandering with stars and moons

Yesterday I was watching this video to learn or improve your frame machine quilting.  I decided yesterday was the day I was going to finish that practice piece I have had on the frame since January.  Yep it has been there for 8 months.  I didn't like the quilting pattern the mystery quilt was showing us how to do.  I'm really glad I was doing it on some practice fabric instead of the quilt I made for the mystery quilt.  I'll do something else with that wall hanging.  So I finished the practice piece with some meandering loop-de-loops with stars and crescent moons.   Boy you can get rusty in 8 months.  It was like meet my machine all over again.

Blue Moon

Yesterday I suddenly felt motivated to finish a quilt that has been waiting for just two borders.  This is Blue Moon by Whimsical.    I pieced the borders and sewed them on tonight.  I went and purchased thread yesterday to quilt it with.  I already have the backing but I have to check if I have batting.  If I don't it isn't a big deal I can buy it right around the corner from my house.  You can see why I was practicing meandering with stars and moons, I think they will look on this quilt.  I will go around the applique, not over it.

And yes since August 1st I have made four Farmer's Wife Blocks.  I'm thinking I might make three more and put it away for awhile so I can work on some other projects.  Quilt Camp is coming up in 3 weeks and it would be nice to have a small quilt for silent auction. 

So that is all I have to report from my little corner of the world. 

Happy Stitching!

Making Progress

Just in case you didn't notice it is one month until Christmas!

Now I just wanted to share with you my quilting plan my Christmas Dear Jane. I have been planning on the feathers in the alternate blocks for a long time. I have been drawing them on paper and my white board for a month or so. I'm not a very good at drawing, but they have gotten better. I'm sure my co-workers think I'm crazy with my doodles. I start small and them increase them in size when I use paper. I do bigger on the white board. Today I started quilting on the quilt, the top border is done and I took a picture of it so I remember what I did on the top by the time I get to the bottom I usually forget. Several quilts ago I thought take a picture so you remember. Today I finally remembered to take the picture. I'm going to be turning this quilt to do the side borders. The outside borders is just a free motion loop-de-loop meandering. The green borders are small e's all in a row. Nothing in the red border and I'm just doing the side triangles and the alternate blocks the pieced blocks I'm leaving alone. Or that is the plan today. It's always subject to change. I just kind of create as I go.
That is my clear piece of Plexiglas that I practice with on the quilt while it is on the frame. I use Vis-aVis by Expo wet erase to draw with.

Today will be a busy day, lunch with Kierra & Will, since they both are working tomorrow on Thanksgiving so we are meeting to celebrate today with them. Pies and cranberry sauce to make and a bird to stuff. Our church ward (small local unit)does a turkey pit every year so the bird has to be ready to put in by 8 or so. It cooks all night long until 12 noon tomorrow. It's a fun activity and good tasting bird.
Somewhere in there I have to do some cleaning.

Well back to quilting for a little longer! I'm sure you will see more pictures later.