Quilting Update

I was able to do some sewing this week. I finally finished joining the last two pinwheel borders for the Washington Medallion Quilt. This is a good feeling. I'm not sure when I'll find the time to do the floating borders. Floating borders are a pain. It has been a good learning experience.




I also made two Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks. These were on the easy side. I had planned to make four but I was watching a movie and it slowed down my production. I was watching Mrs. Brown. Interesting but a little confusing.


Today I received a fun photo in my email today. I made this little quilt to cover a window in our daughter's window by her front door. She sent me a picture of it finally hanging up. Read this post to see what I had designed for her in EQ6.


I did do some stitching on Will's Christmas stocking. Slow progress but steady!!

Sunday Quilting Upate a Little Late

Here are my accomplishments for this week. Two Farmer's Wife Sampler Blocks.



And 14 pairs of pin wheels, I need 20 pairs, I'm further alone then I thought. Maybe I'll go make those pairs now!! Maybe not I want to play with Google Earth. If I counted right, which I'm sure I did, I still need to make 2 more pin wheels. Somehow there weren't enough. Oh well, no biggie.


Another pinwheel border joined, two more to go!!

Sunday Quilting Upate

I'm surprised I have as much sewing done as I do. It seems I have become addicted to working on my Genealogy. Me and my computer are very god friends now. I did take time to sew today, my brain was getting overloaded.


One of my friends just told me I had not done my update last Sunday. I found it in my draft list, so here it is better late than never. I had to check what I had accomplished last week, because I haven't accomplished much this week.

Sunday Quilting Upate

I have been scanning my Farmer's Wife Sampler Blocks, so I decided to import them into Picasa and I made a collage of the blocks I completed this week. To bad I didn't make it to 8 blocks and it could have been even. It sure looks a lot neater then my blocks pinned to the design wall. Of course they look small. You can double click on the picture to enlarge the picture to see the blocks better. I now have a total of 26 blocks made.



I also was able to sew on my Washington Medallion borders, I finished the left side and started on the right side. The last kit came about a week ago or so. That will be the pin wheel border. At least that one isn't on point. It looks like there are two floating borders between the pin wheels and these blocks on point. I don't want to see another floating border for a long time after this project is finished.

I also stitched about 7 stitches into Will's Christmas stocking but I'll refrain from showing you a picture until I have something more to show.

I missed two days of work this week with my chest cold, I'm better but not perfect. So I better run off to bed to get my rest.

Man Cave update, this is an all in one. Richard has covered the all of the roof with tar felt and a layer of stuff that goes on the top and has gravel in it. So the roof is done. I didn't climb the ladder to get a picture, I'm just not that dedicated of a reporter.

Have a great week.

Quilting Update

This is the left side border for the Washington Medallion quilt.


This is going to be short, I need to be off to bed. I did some sewing this week but I also went to the Arizona Family Expo so I didn't have two evenings for sewing. Today I also worked on my Family Tree and did some double checking. I also started a second blog for my Genealogy. Check it out here, I named it me and my ancestors.


Here are the Farmer's Wife Blocks I finished this week.

Night all!!

Sunday Quilting Upate

Where do I start??
Thursday night I spent the evening filling out the entry forms for the AQG (Arizona Quilter's Guild) Quilt Show which will be in March. I entered two of my quilts for this judged show. I'm entry my Dear Jane Boo Swap Quilt which is now titled BOO It Is Halloween and my Dear Jane Christmas Quilt. I'm a little frustrated with the application because of some of their definitions. I couldn't say it was a first time entry because I had been in a small show before and to use that you had to never had a quilt in any show. This is the first time I have entered a quilt in this state wide show. The second was because I have been compensated for my quilting I am a professional quilter. Well I still think my frame quilting as very amateurish. I don't consider myself one of those very skilled and talented professional long arm quilters. I have a long way to go to get to that level. I hope no one looks at my less than perfect quilting and say Yuck she is a professional. I might have to make a suggestion to have a third category, something between amateur and professional. I also had to take new photos and measure the quilts, width, length and perimeter. I mailed the entries Friday morning. I would have sent it electronically but that wasn't possible. Here is hoping the judges will be somewhat positive. I have never been in a judged show before and I'm a little nervous. My friends and I will enjoy seeing my quilts there. Of course I have also over heard some people's comments on seeing a quilt. Matter of fact I can remember saying one very rude comment myself and after opening mouth and inserting foot, I prayed the quilter wasn't around me. It was a truly ugly quilt and it had Judges Choice ribbon. Obviously I have different tastes than those judges. Oh Well it will be what it will be and I still like my quilts no matter what anyone says.

I guess that was a bit of a rant.


I did make progress on my borders for the Washington Medallion. These are the top and bottom borders and I have my baskets going the right way!!
Next on to the side borders. Between these borders and the center I have 3 floating borders to do. All that measuring and math, yuck.


I also made some progress on my Farmer's Wife Sampler and made six blocks all today. OK 5 of them were easy ones. I'm on the Yahoo list for this and 3 more blocks and I will be caught up with the Block of the Week list. I'm sure liking my fabrics I'm using for this.

Well I really need to go to bed, Mondays sure come to fast.

Sunday Quilting Upate

I stopped sewing early for me tonight. I'm tired and if I'm going to be healthier I need to go to bed when I'm tired. Normally I'm doing this blog post after 10 PM, night it's only after 9. A much more reasonable time since I do need to get up and go to work in the morning.
Here are the updates!!
First Washington Medallion:
These are the two blocks I had holes in them last week. All done!! Thanks Jane for the extra fabric.



Here are the blocks I made this weekend. I was going to do those last 6 seams, but decided not to. No sense pushing the edge of the envelope. These are the last of the 6" pieced blocks for the borders of the Washington Medallion. I'm so glad. This week I'm going to start adding the side triangles, these blocks will all be on point.

Farmer's Wife Sampler:


I started working on these for a break from the other blocks. Also six inches but not so many small 1/2 square triangles. Plus I'm really liking the Pink and Chocolate. These are two different lines but I'm sure they will all look great when they are all mixed together.





And last is the practice piecing I'm doing for the Mystery Quilt 2010, those non traditional Baptist Fans are pretty bad. I did OK on the wiggly cross hatch. I'm so glad I decided to do a practice piece.
Well off to bed for me.

Take Care and have fun stitching!!

Sunday Quilting Upate a Little Late

I really had a busy 3 day weekend, between being on call and taking all the Christmas decorations down. It is always fun decorate for Christmas and it is always nice to get back to normal.

My sewing was interrupted a lot on New Year's Day by being on call but that is part of my job and it allows me to live in doors and eat both of which I really like.

I did manage to get 2.5 borders of the 3 on my Mystery Quilt. I was going to put it on the frame but the more I thought about my experience with last years mystery quilt. I decided to do a practice piece first.

I'm really glad I did. I'll be making nice Non- Traditional Baptist Fans by the time I finish the practice piece. I didn't get very far on my practice piece, just the markings and two little fans. The thread broke once, sure sign to me it is time to take a break. I haven't gotten back to it again.



I also worked on part 9 of my Block of the Month Washington Medallion. As you can see I'm missing a few pieces of fabric. Some were along the line I cut something wrong. Luckily for me one of my friends who is also doing this quilt but is not using this fabric is going to give me some so I won't have holes in my quilt block. One of the blocks as you can see is just as I left it last night at my machine. There is even a pin in that one seam that is waiting for more pins and to be sewn.

This evening Richard & I went to Empty Nesters for Family Home Evening, that for folks with no kids at home. There was a pot luck dinner and we gave the lesson. We do have young adults at home but they work most evenings so they aren't here. Now it is time to call it a day.

Night all and Happy Stitching!!

Sunday Quilting Upate

Hello Again,
I have heard back from Colleen and she is very excited about winning the Christmas Wall Hanging. I'm happy that I can make someone else happy.

It has been a fun day for me. I made a new quilting friend today. My friend Linda who lives in Miami FL, the same friend I visited for 11 days in May. Sent me an email about an acquaintance who was moving from Miami to Mesa AZ. I emailed the acquaintance and she replied and would contact me when she was settled. We spoke last Saturday and today we meet for lunch. We had a really nice visit. She gave me a quilting magazine, one I have never looked at called Art Quilting Studio. It looks like some good bed time reading.



After an hour and a half lunch with Maryann, I called my friend Linda and we visited by phone for an hour and a half. Linda and I have always had long visits on the phone. While Linda & I visited I finished the binding on A Blue Horse for You. It is Krystal's Christmas gift. She hasn't seen it yet and she doesn't check out my blog. So it's safe to post a picture of it here. I hope she likes it, she does love horses so that should help. She did tell some of my friends one day I do lovely work. So we'll see.

I did some quilting on my Give Away quilt, so I made some progress on that. My frame machine is out of the machine hospital but I didn't feel like putting the DJ Christmas quilt back on the frame. I only have the side borders to finish.


I also sewed and cut and began pressing a large bunch of half square triangles for part 9 of my Washington Medallion Quilt. Yes I'm keeping all those little pieces in a tin until they are made into blocks and would you believe that was my mind less sewing.

I also finished decorating the house for Christmas. So it was another busy week for me. Unfortunately since I worked on Saturday this coming work week will feel like a long one.

Well until we meet again take care and have fun no matter what you do.

Sunday Quilting Upate

First I have a funny story for you. I made my Christmas valences and curtains in 2006 because we had a floor in the house and the floors were not done until the week before Christmas, so to help dress up the house I made valance and curtains. Yesterday while ironing the one for the living room I noticed something. I'm sure the picture will help you see what I finally noticed on the 4th Christmas I have used them. The other three sets are fine. Luckily this one hangs over the Christmas tree and no one will notice. Heck it took me four years to notice and I made them. I guess I focused on making sure all three panel went the same direction, that I didn't notice which end I put the top rod pocket.


I don't know about you but sometimes I get a little ADD, Attention Deficit Disorder. Or is it RQS Restless Quilt Syndrome. It's not like I don't have enough things to work on that I need to work on now. Like Krystal's Horse for Christmas, the Give Away wall hanging, my DJ Christmas Quilt. But last night I had the urge to do some mindless work. I did the prep work for two parts of my Washington Medallion Quilt. I just did the sewing on the triangle on a roll paper. I didn't feel like cutting them or making the blocks but just sewing on the lines. So I did both parts. At least now I don't feel so far behind.


My Dear Jane Christmas Quilt has four side borders to quilt. I finished quilting from top to bottom and had turned the quilt to do the side borders. I finished the side triangles and started one of the borders and my machine started to make a lot of noise. That was Friday night. I thought well it's time to quit for today and I'll clean it, re-thread it, oil it and try again in the morning. No improvement in the noise. So I took the quilt off the frame, the one pole off and the machine off and took it to the machine hospital. I hope to have it back by the end of the week. I was so ready to be done with the quilting on that thing. Here it is just before I turned it.

I also made 3 nine inch blocks as a surprise for a friend, its a group surprise. I can't say anymore. I don't want to spill the beans.


Here is the picture you are waiting for, the center of the Anniversary Give-away quilt. It isn't finished yet, but close. I just need to cut some triangles and join those top two rows together. I'm liking how it looks I hope you do also. Be sure to see the post from Nov 26th to see how this could be yours.

Night for now, take care.

Quilting Update

Here are some of my blocks from part 8 of the Washington Medallion quilt I'm working on. There are really 12 pinwheels, so this is only a part of the whole group.




Well this DJ Boo Swap Quilt has many first in it. The first free form quilt, no traditional settings. The first one I basted on my frame and I also did some quilting on it while it was on the frame. The first one I floated both the batting and the top, it worked well. For you non quilters it basically means I let the top and backing hang except for the top edges. I do need to do some squaring up but I'll wait until it is completely quilted. My sides aren't straight and neither is the bottom, but I'll worry about that later. That is part of the reason why I added extra fabric on the sides. Hey it's my first quilt with out measurements, just guess work. I don't do perfect!


This is a close up of the diagonal strip, I quilted very tight in the purple triangles and it really makes those 4.5" blocks pop! Too bad you can't see it well in this picture. I wish I knew how to take better close up of my quilts.



These are the center blocks, I just quilted the green in them while it was on the frame and basted the rest of that area. These show up good but the other blocks I took close ups didn't turn out at all.



This morning when we had the back door open to enjoy the early morning cool air this is what we saw. The goat belongs to Klint & Krystal who came back home to live with us. They brought some extra pets. The cat is mine. The were together for a few minutes until the goat hit her head on the security door.

Sunday Quilting Upate

Here are the pictures to show what I have accomplished this week. I'm too tired now Sunday 9:45 PM) to add the comments about each project. I'll do that tomorrow.
Well, it's now tomorrow (Monday, 6:45 PM).
I feel better after a good night's sleep and surviving Monday at work. Actually I think eating dinner did the most good.

I went ahead and finished part 7 of the Washington Medallion block of the month. There are actually 12 pin wheels, not just 3. I could have waited to finish but I was on a role and it is one of those things I'm afraid to get behind one, or I'll never finish it.


I added the pieced borders to Krystal's Horse. I'm really pleased with this. I think it is screaming for a purple border but she likes blue, I do also but I have come to love purple. I don't have enough of the dark purple border to do borders and binding, so it's on to plan B. I have a pretty bluish multicolor piece I wanted to use for the border but it blends to much with the pieced borders. After work today I stopped by a shop close to me, but I didn't find anything I wanted. One of the gals said here is a pretty purple. See I told you it needs purple.
I may go with plan C, a small purple like I have and use the multi as a larger border and binding. I'll like to check it our tonight once I go to the sewing room. Maybe a dark blue like the horse for a resting border than the multi color. It's almost time to play with fabric.


I made some progress on my Dear Jane Halloween Swap Quilt. The bottom right corner is joined up to the orange strip. The center is joined down to the black fabric with circles, that part will be next. I have been trying to think of ways to quilt it. The only thing I can think of so far is spider webs up in the left top corner where the spider web fabric is. I don't think I'm good enough to do that on my short arm frame. It also would be a good one to stitch in the ditch. Maybe I should baste it on my frame and quilt it under my table top machine. Oh well I don't have to decide today!
So that's all folks, I'm off to the sewing room!!

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.