Guess Who is...

Sleeping soundly under his new quilt?  You are so right, Mr. B.!

Last night at 8:56 PM I put the last stitch in the binding and handed the quilt over to the new owner. 

 

I didn't get a picture last night, just too busy.

 

Tonight poor Mr. B. didn't feel well this evening, so he laid down in his recliner and put the quilt on himself.  Now he is happy sawing logs and has been for awhile.

 

Yup there he is, and that is how he likes to sleep in

his recliner with the quilt over his head.

 

The colors are off, that pink color is really red.

 

Meanwhile back in the sewing room I have began another project.  I hope to have this done by the 4th of July.  I think I will make it.

 

 

I started it on May4th, here it is just laid out on my design wall. 

 

 

 

Here it is with some rows sewn together.  This little quilt was designed by the owner of the LQS, A Quilter's Oasis were I teach.  It has been a fun little project so far.

 

I was at a scrapbooking convention all day and I am exhausted,

I am calling it a day, so night all!

 

 

The Binding on Mr. B.'s Quilt

The binding is on Mr. B.'s quilt and I am 3/4's done with sewing it down by hand!  It won't be too much longer and this will be done!!

 

 

 

Here is the binding, you can also see the front and the back. 

Yes, my hubby loves Red, White and Blue, this is his second quilt I made for him in these colors.

 

At the AQS show that was here in Phoenix in February I picked up some of these binder clips that a lot of my friends were raving about.  I have to admit they are a lot better than the ones shaped like hair clips. Part of me thinks they shouldn't make a difference.  They lay flatter and so the binding is flatter.  I don't seem to re-align the binding like I did with the other clips.  My favorite part is they work well on the corners. I used to pin them and of course the pin would stick me.  Not any more.   These hold the corners just fine.  Do you need to run out and buy them, no, but if you are treating yourself to a little something go for it.  I only use 5 at a time.

 

Yes, I have added more buttons on the vine to my Baby Steps. 

It is kind of on the back burner until the binding is done.

 

That's about it for now.

 

Happy Stitching, Scraping or just living!

 

 

 

The Tying is Done!!

Yes at a 11:33 AM I placed the last ties stitch in Mr. B's quilt!

See the last tie in the right lower corner.

 

It was so much easier working from the front of the frame that I did two rows yesterday and one today. It is a very good feeling to have it done to this point!!

 

I trimmed down the extra batting to make working

from the front easier.

 

 

 I didn't leave a lot of extra backing, just enough.

 

Just before I removed it from the frame.

 

It is heavy, hubby wants it puffy so it has high loft batting in it. 

A week ago he said to me, 

"I thought you were going to tack it with your machine not hand tie it."  Now he tells me that would have been OK. 

 

Now to go make 360 inches of bias binding, and sew it on.

 I have stripped material for the binding. 

 

Here are some pictures I took a some spring time blooms.  Summer blooms for you Northern folks.

 

Saguaro Cactus

 

See the bee on the right side?

 

  The whole cactus in my neighbor's yard.

 

Another close up.

 

Now for some Calla Lilies in my front porch.

 

 

Close up.

 

I don't do a lot of photography but these turned out very well!!

 

Have fun doing quilting, scrapping and living!

 

I Have Been a Busy Little Beaver

So what have I been so busy doing? 

 I added borders to the 30's Baby Steps.  As you can see I went with the purple for the border and it will be the binding also.

 I also when on a search for buttons.  I wrote the company I purchased the original set of buttons from for the other Baby Steps and I have never heard back from them.  This did not make me happy.  I found some I really loved from England pastel shades and lots of shapes but it would have cost me $24 for the buttons and shipping, I said no way Jose.

 

 

So these are the buttons and I am getting the from Shelly's Buttons and More.  Not all the shapes I wanted but the colors I want. So I am OK with that.  Maybe I should have asked my second cousin in England to order them and see if it would have been any cheaper?

 

 

I have made some progress on the original Baby Steps.  See the buttons on the top.

 

 

I have even made progress on Mr. B's quilt!  I only have three rows to go and now I think I can tie from the front and I won't have to lean over the back of the frame.  Getting happier about this!

 

And finally I actually have a finish!  Number two for the year!  My Flag Twister Wreath is done.  Here it is hanging on one of my quilt hangers.   Currently it is at the shop as a class sample.  I am teaching this tomorrow, May 2nd.  Fun class and I have four students.

 

Plus I have been playing in EQ7, doing some class preparation for my monthly club meeting.  We are working in the book Quilt Designs and the group wanted to learn about the Hexagon Quilt.  Here is how mine turned out.

 

I don't use a lot of colors when I am designing for class or learning new stuff, that takes away from what I am focusing on.  Playing with colors can take hours. So 90% of my EQ stuff is in blue and yellow. 

 

Well time to fly, I am going out today for lunch with a friend. 

 

Happy Stitching, Scrapping, and Living! 

A Little Bit of Quilting

I was able to do a couple of more rows of tying Mr. B.'s quilt.  I had plans to get to it again the next day but I suddenly became busy filling out adoption papers and running around getting them some of them signed by health providers and notarized.  What a lot of work and that is only one set, I have another set to do.

 

So here is a picture of the progress on Mr. B's quilt.

 

 

Do you notice both borders are visible and I can even see my fabric I use to pin the quilt to the frame.  Yup I am that close.  I think about 5 more rows to tie!!

 

I need to finish this next project first since it needs to be at the shop for our meet and greet the teachers and it is a class sample.  The meet and greet is next Saturday the 26th.

 

It is basted and I have actually quilted a couple rows in the center, not shown here.

 

Well I have to go play Easter Bunny, the girls asked me to set my camera to video the bunny.  I am not sure how I am going to do that and not give it away. I guess I need some paper ears!  

 

Here is a link to a wonderful Easter video with the

true meaning of Easter. Enjoy!

 

She lives...

 

What it may appear as if I fell off the face of the earth but I really haven't.  I have been dealing with a cough on and off since December 23rd and it is about to drive me nuts.  I get well for a week and hardly cough at all and then it starts up again, and I am coughing my head off.  Yesterday I hardly coughed at all but today I am coughing like crazy.  Not good.  I feel fine, I just get tired from coughing.  The doctor thinks it has something to do with allergies and I might have to get tested for allergies.  I'll talk to the doctor about that next week.  So that is one reason why I haven't posted a lot. 

 

The other is I haven't been doing a lot, you know those girls keep me busy.  I have done some scrapbooking pages both for me an my ancestors and the girls but I can't show them here. 

 

I have also done several adding of sleeves to small quilts.  Now doesn't that sound exciting?!  Well it is in a way.  A couple of years ago a co-worker gave me these nice little quilt racks.  I asked my husband to fix them so the rod which was fixed could come on and off to change out quilts.  He did fix them for me and hung them.  They have been up since before Christmas.  So two Christmas quilts have new sleeves, a Valentine quilt has a new sleeve as well as two spring to summer wall hangings. 

 

Here is a picture with the two current quilt hanging up.

 

I think they look lovely on my wall.  The lovely picture in the middle is the LDS Mesa Temple a limited copy done by a friend Thomas Manning.  He does good work.

 
 

I also have added a sleeve to three of my mini monthly quilts so they can hang nicely on their little hanger.  This one is for March and I have done January & February. 

How exciting can this get??

 

 

Above is Mr. B's quilt in December, I am showing you how much is rolled up on the take up bar.  Like I have said before, I have not enjoyed tying this quilt on the frame, wrong frame for the job, but I am using what I have. But look I have made progress!!

 

Look how much fatter the roll is!! 

I keep telling myself, if I would do 15 minutes a day it will get done.  Somehow I never find those 15 minutes a day.

 

 

Today I worked on tying the quilt and when I was taking my pictures looked at what I found peeking out on the bottom roller. 

It is the bottom first borders!!!  So I only have

1 and a 1/2 rows of blocks left to tie!!

 

I have more to share but it time to pick up girls from school, so I will stop here for now and get back to you!

 

Have fun sewing, quilting, scrapbooking and just living!

 

 

Catch-Up Post

This post is a major Catch up with what has going on around here.  Yes, I have been busy and in-between busy I have worked on a few things.  So here you go! 

 

Two years ago I craved a Funkin, here you can see how it looked.   Well this year when I unpacked it there was a little accident and the middle part broke off.  There was too much detail.  So anyway we decided it looked like a monster's mouth and we decided it needed a tongue and some eyes.  How do you like the new look?  I just used paper for the tongue and eyes. 

 

We purchased some new inside decoration and one is on loan to us. All at half price, my 2nd favorite price.

 

This is my other new decoration!  Isn't it great!

 

The outside is also all decked out!

 

 

I have done some tying of Mr. B's quilt but I most admit I am not loving this.  I need to get it done for Christmas or before because he needs it and has been very patiently waiting for this.  I was going to give it to him last Christmas.  But life happened.

 

It is also uncomfortable to stand at my frame and do this.  I am working from the back to tie it and it a reach and I can only do about one row at a time.  I must make time for this.  The sacrifices we make for our love ones.

I felt like doing some piecing. 
I really wanted to make the Twister Jack-O-Lantern but I couldn't find the pattern at any of my favorite places.   Here is a link to the pattern. So I decided to make this little snowman that I was going to make last year and didn't.  This is made from a charm pack.  I found the squares hard to cut in half with the little pointy edges.  Better done than perfect.  It still needs some embellishments before it is sandwiched and quilted.       

I also took two quilting classes.  This is my piece from the walking foot class.  Yes I have taken classes before and I have done most of my own quilting, except on three quilts.  One of my goals for my retirement was to become a better quilter and so I took a couple of classes, this one was the walking foot class, the second one was the free motion class.  I learned a lot from both of them. 

The best part is I learned some new ideas for quilting so maybe I will get out of my same old same rut.  I didn't take a picture of the free motion sample yet so I'll save it for another post.  I took the classes from Sandy Davis at A Quilter's Oasis.


And last but not least I am still making more Yo-Yos for my Yo-Yo quilt.  From this post in
August you can see I have a
few more yo-yos, but not a lot.             

 

If you click on this link, it will take you to my Genealogy Blog and you can see the Family History Scrapbooking pages I have made. I am loving how they have turned out.  

 

Have fun whatever you are doing!!

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!