Grammy's Quilting

Playing Hooky

2012-01-23T06:39:00.000-08:00

I am playing hooky today.

A beautiful day at Willow Lake

My big brother and sister-in-law are visiting.

They stayed with us for a few days before checking in at their time share in Sedona. We're going to visit them for a day.

I'm working hard (when I'm working) to finish three quilts before my daughter goes into labor. She isn't due until February 5, but you never know when the little guy will decide to make his appearance.

Back to work soon, I promise.

Note to Self

2012-01-13T11:38:00.000-08:00

A note to myself, I really must remember that when I'm working on a time line to plan my quilting designs more carefully. I like the way that the feathered wreaths look. However, if I'd chosen a design that filled the space completely I wouldn't need to do the tedious backfill.

I've taken classes where the teacher said exactly that. I just didn't remember. Experience will help me remember, right?

Design Wall Monday

2012-01-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

I started working on my Lone Star.

Saturday, I was able to get all of my strips cut in under 30 minutes, thanks to the Accuquilt strip cutter. It was so easy!

The book has a paste up page that is intended to be copied, and you paste your fabrics in place. I pasted on my original fabrics, but decided I wasn't sure I liked the light lavender (the bottom half of the diamond). I had one yard of yellow in my stash, so I tried it (the top half of the diamond). I like the transition with the yellow better than the one with the lavender.

I have sewn the strip sets necessary to make the star. When I pressed them I starched at the same time. I'm hoping that the starch will help control the bias edges.

I cut enough diamonds to lay out one arm of the star. I think I like it, maybe I should have made a seven color star. That would have given me a color in between the red and the yellow. Or, maybe a five color star. That would have taken out the yellow, and put the red next to the green. Or maybe I'll end up thinking that it's fabulous just the way it is. Geez, I sure have a hard time making up my mind. It's a wonder I ever get anything done!

I'm working very hard not to look at anymore lone star books. I want to. I really do, but since I've started cutting and sewing I don't want to be sorry I'm making this quilt. All the eye candy in those books will be to much for me. I have too many unstarted and unfinished projects already. Pretty please, don't make me look!

Hop on over to Judy's blog, Patchwork Times, to see what others are working on today.

Lone Star QAL

2012-01-07T11:20:00.000-08:00

Well, QuiltSue did it. She convinced me to join the Lone Star QAL. I am going to use Eleanor Burns Radiant Star book for my directions. I like the lady's "get it done" style. Eleanor uses 2 1/2" strips, and guess what my Dear Motorcycle Dude got me for Christmas? An Accuquilt Go! He also gifted me with the 2 1/2" strip die for the Accuquilt Go!

I stopped by one of the local quilt shops, Seams Sew Right, and bought these fabrics for my star.

I played around with EQ7 for the color combos. This is one of the possibilities that I've come up with. The colors are a little off. I got tired of playing with the colors. The keyboard strokes have stopped working, for some reason.

Now, I am going to clear off the kitchen island (my cutting area) and cut some strips.

Luck

2012-01-04T18:50:00.000-08:00

I have been so lucky the past two months. I won the honey bun at the last Arizona Longarm Quilters' Guild. I used it to make this quilt for my daughter's family for Christmas.

I won the charm pack from Pat Sloan, and because of my contact with Pat one of our local quilt guilds has scheduled her for a lecture and workshop. Cool!

On Monday, I got a call from The Quilter's Coop in Temecula. It seems that my name was drawn for their monthly drawing to win a $20.00 gift certificate.

Then today I got an email from Jo Krammer. My name was picked to win a $50.00 gift certificate to The Fat Quarter Shop! Unbelievable!

I'm thinking that I might have to buy fabrics to join in with Sue's Lone Star Quilt Along. The link is the button on the side of my blog.

I have won more in the past two months, than I have in the past 20 years. My family is urging me to go out and buy a few lottery tickets.

To all of the donors, thank you for my wins. You have been incredibly generous.

Done!

2012-01-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

I finished the New Year's Day Mystery Quilt. It's just the right size to be a table topper.

The only problem is we don't have a dining table. My longarm is where normal people have a dining table. It is my dream to someday be able to have a dining room table like normal people. Do you think I might be able to be normal?

This quilt was difficult in some ways. I kept wanting to make the quilting more intense, more ... well more. I forced myself to back off, and follow Cindy's plan. It was a good exercise.

I hope that Cindy continues offering the NYD Mysteries. I really enjoy starting the year this way.

Ooops!

2012-01-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and are welcoming in a fabulous new year.

I am continuing my tradition of participating in the Longarm Classroom's New Year's Day Mystery Quilt. I was running a little behind. I finished my top this morning about an hour after Cindy started activating the videos. "No problem," I say to myself. Then I start the top border.

I'm merrily stitching away, when I notice something is wrong. You may have noticed it in the photo above. I have stitched the center blocks upside down. Well, it's a good thing that it is a class quilt, because I am NOT going to rip out the quilting, unload the quilt and fix that border. It is staying upside down!

Oh well, I'm not a perfectionist. I am of the "Done is good" philosophy.

Deadline Met

2011-12-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

I met my deadline, with a little help from my friend and customer, Janice. She gave me permission to finish her quilt in January. Thank you, Janice!

Motorcycle Dude and I are off to California tomorrow to spend Christmas with our kids and grandkids. If I don't have a chance to post before, have a very Merry Christmas!

Deadlines

2011-12-18T19:12:00.000-08:00

Six quilts down, six more to go before the morning of the 22nd. No time for anything but quilting. Thanks goodness the Christmas shopping is done. Sleep is highly overrated.

I Won!

2011-12-12T15:56:00.000-08:00

Pat Sloan has been giving away treats, and I won! She sent me a charm pack by 3 Sisters. How cool is that? I will have to begin researching some patterns that use charm packs.

I never win, and now I've won the honeybun at the longarm guild and this charm pack from Pat. I guess I can't say I never win anymore, can I?

Design Wall

2011-12-12T06:28:00.000-08:00

I've been working with some pre-cuts. At the longarm guild meeting I won a honeybun of Christmas fabrics. I got the crazy notion to make a Christmas quilt, for this year! I visited Moda Bake Shop, because they have great designs using pre-cuts. I typed in honeybun in the search engine, and up popped Counting by Fives. Perfect! Quick, easy, and best of all I would only have to buy backing fabric.

Here is my version. It's a flimsy. The only problem now, is getting it quilted. Hmmm, just a little snag, right?

Mending

2011-12-01T17:29:00.001-08:00

I don't like mending. I never have. When I was young and my mother learned that I liked to sew she gave me anything that needed mending or altering. My mother didn't sew at all. Not even loose buttons. That was always my job. But, that doesn't tell you why I dislike it.

First, I don't really know what I'm doing, unless it's sewing on a button. Second, I'm not very good at it. It never looks like new. You want evidence?

This is my most recent mending attempt. Not pretty, but effective.

Why mend a dog toy? Because, they are expensive! Snowman Wubba was $10.50. I noticed this
morning that his head was held on by just a few threads, and
we bought him just two weeks ago. Out came the buttonhole twist. You know, like in Beatrix Potter's "The Tailor of Gloucester." That was the easiest part. I had to find a needle that had an eye large enough to handle the thread. It felt like a railroad spike after working with a straw needle for Dear Jane.

I stitched all the way around Wubba's head on both sides of the neck band. Hopefully, Ginger (AKA, Bad Dog) won't undo my mending and decapitate Snowman Wubba too quickly.

Progress

2011-11-28T06:27:00.001-08:00

The blocks are assembled and the borders are on the string quilt. I even mitered the corners! Mitered corners are easier each time that I do them. Next task, tackle the applique.

You'll notice though that I haven't begun the applique yet. That's because I'm intimidated by all that applique, and I'm not really sure where to begin. I'm figure the stems for the flowers come first. However, because of the way that the red diagonal is pieced they are not perfect. That means that each stem is a little different. I guess I just need to jump in and start it.

I also wanted to show you the progress on Dear Jane. I may have to redo the block in the lower left. Curved seams are not my strong point, and that one is a little off. The seam allowances are so narrow that some of the rounded pieces will get cut off when I sew the sashing on.

Next my SewCalGal Christmas Quilt Show entry.

This was my first experience designing a quilt using Electric Quilt. I had purchased the fabric, one yard of each, and I didn't want to buy more, or have any leftovers. I played around until I had a design that used up everything. The only thing I had to add was the white for the alternate blocks in the nine patches and the plain blocks. This poor quilt never got a name.

This quilt, however, does have a name. My grandson, Bubba, named it Mimi's Kiki. I purchased the fabrics during one of the shop hops. I bought fat quarters at each of the shops to get a nice mix of fabrics.

Visit Patchwork Times to see more design walls, and head over to SewCalGal to see all the Christmas quilts.

Quilt Show!

2011-11-27T07:56:00.001-08:00

SewCalGal is having an online Quilt Show. I'm thinking of entering a quilt or two. You should too.

Holiday Light Parade

2011-11-26T19:55:00.001-08:00

Tonight, Motorcycle Dude and I thoroughly enjoyed the Holiday Light Parade at Courthouse Square. There is something utterly charming about a small town parade.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T06:26:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Motorcycle Dude and I are on our own this Thanksgiving. It seems a little strange to have the house so quiet, but this is the Thanksgiving that the kids are with their in-laws.

I couldn't see making big pies, so I made little tarts. Isn't it cute?

String Quilt Progress

2011-11-20T17:25:00.001-08:00

I have gotten all of the blocks pieced and trimmed. I started piecing the flowers.

Some of them are strings.

Some of them are crumbs. I have ironed the freezer paper on the back, but haven't turned and starched them. It's a little tricky making sure that I position the points far enough away from seams so that the points can be sharp.

While there are only 28 flowers, I'm going to have an awful lot of leaves, 56, and circles, 84, to applique.

Hop on over to Patchwork Times to check out the other design walls.

AZLAQ President's Challenge Show

2011-11-20T10:17:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, was the Arizona Longarm Quilters' Guild's President's Challenge quilt show. There were only 24 quilts, since the guild is small. I had entered three quilts, Blueberry Twist, Twinkle Stars, and Mashed Potatoes.

I had intended this to be entered into the overall category, but the judges shifted it to the custom category. I did the borders separately, but the interior of the quilt is freehand overall quilting. Nichole Webb calls it Fantasy Freehand. Carla Barrett calls it Artistic Freehand. Darlene Epps calls it Floral Fantasy. I call it quilting for those with a short attention span. I used designs from all three designers, plus some that were inspired by motifs in the fabric.

Mashed Potatoes got a Third Place in the Pieced Custom category. This is one of my favorites. I really like the way that this quilt turned out.

Twinkle Stars was the last quilt that I entered. This one received First Place in the Pieced Custom category, and it got Best of Show! I was shocked, and honored! This is a longarm guild and all members are very talented. I'm still surprised that I was honored with these ribbons.

Tune in tomorrow. I'll have pictures of the progress on the string quilt.

Design Wall

2011-11-14T15:47:00.001-08:00

Here we are so far. I'm continuing to work on the string blocks for the MQS edge-to-edge category. I have more stitched, but not trimmed.

I have been trying to get the tulip design refined. You can sort of see them at the top of the picture. I think that I need to stretch out the leaves a little bit, longer and thinner.

Pop over to Patchwork Times to see all the other great design walls.

I didn't accomplish more as I was winging my way to California.

My dear-daughter-in-law gave my daughter a beautiful, surprise baby sprinkle. My daughter didn't know that I was flying in. DDIL pulled off the surprise.

What is a baby sprinkle?, you ask. Well, a sprinkle is a party for a mommy who doesn't need a full shower. It's purpose is to acknowledge the special baby that is coming, but it's for the mommy who already has the basic baby necessities.

I don't have a good picture of the surprised guest of honor. The result of forgetting the real camera at the house, and having to use my cell phone camera.

We had a wonderful time. I didn't get the baby quilt finished, but was able to get a sweater and hat set knitted up.

Ready for the Longarm

2011-11-07T05:05:00.000-08:00

I've finished the top for the new grandbaby.
It's much cuter now that the applique pieces are on it.
I should be able to get it finished in time for my daughter to open it on Christmas morning. Don't worry about me spoiling her surprise, it's not a surprise. She saw the kit when I bought it, and she knows I've been working on it.
I had to make sure that she liked it.

I made a decision on the string quilt, thanks to all the feedback from friends and readers. I've decided on the applique border, since the Overall category allows for one border to be quilted differently than the main body of the quilt.

I reduced the size to a square quilt. This will reduce the number of applique tulips, and still meet the size requirement. I've also decided that the tulips will be made from string pieced fabric.

I'm getting excited about it now. A little apprehensive as well. Applique is not my forte. After trying a few different techniques, I've pretty much settled on the freezer paper method.
I seem to do a better job when it's prepped ahead of the hand sewing.

Thank you for helping me make a decision. Pop on over to Patchwork Times to see other design walls.

Decisions, Decisions

2011-11-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

I have decided to try to enter quilts into two categories at the Machine Quilter's Showcase. The first category is Overall Design. This category can be any quilt design. The second category is Bread and Butter. This category is restricted to two quilt blocks, Storm at Sea and Snail's Trail. Whew, no difficult decisions there. Storm at Sea is a design I've liked for years. Decision made.

It's the Overall Design category that has me stumped. I have been working on designs for the string quilt blocks that I've been making for a year, or two, or three. String blocks seem appropriate for an overall quilting design.

My friend, Kathleen, had this really great idea for a border for those string blocks. Now, I haven't done it justice in EQ7. Her flowers were much cuter. I just haven't figured out how to use the applique tracing feature of the program. It does sort of give you the idea of the border though.

This is design #2. I'm using the string blocks, but have white on half to create the zigzag and bring the white into the border. This plays on Kathleen's design with the stems creating a zigzag effect.

This is #3. The quilt would be trimmed at the red band to create a zigzag shape.

Which one is your favorite? I could use some help making a decision. Please leave a comment with your choice.

Design Wall

2011-10-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have the borders on Carol's quilt from last Monday. Now, I have to get a few customer quilts finished before I can quilt it.

I started working on a quilt for the new grandbaby. I bought a really cute kit from Fresh Picked Fabrics when we first found out about the new baby. Can I find the pattern now that I'm going to work on it? No. I can find the fabric, but not the pattern.

So, I boot up EQ7 and see what I can come up with. I think my design is way too involved. I'm pretty sure that when Gina Halladay designed the quilt it was much simpler.

I don't care for the way it's turning out. It's too much of a jumble, but I've committed myself to this design. There are some cute cars and buildings to applique on top of the blocks. I'm hoping that they can save this.

Visit Patchwork Times to link up with other design walls. There will be some great inspiration over there.

A Scary Story

2011-10-27T17:03:00.000-07:00

Dear, sweet Bubba has developed a flair for the dramatic. This is probably due to his exposure to his very dramatic sister, Spicy.

He recently made a very scary Halloween book while at day care. His mommy was able to record him reading it to her. I think he does a fabulous job, no grandparent bias here. Well, OK a little bit of bias, but really he is cute. The volume is a little low, because he's reading it in his scary voice.

Design Wall

2011-10-24T07:25:00.000-07:00

It seems like it has been a very long time since I've had anything on my design wall. Well, I guess that's because it has been a very long time since there has been anything on my design wall. Technically, I still don't have anything on my design wall. My design wall is small, so this is on the guest bed.

I put the rows together yesterday. It still needs borders. Which I've cut, but not pieced together.

This is EQ7's rendition of the finished quilt. It is a simple framed nine-patch. The quilt will be a gift for my husband's cousin, Carol.

Pop over to Patchwork Times to see more inspiring design walls.

Distractions

2011-10-16T19:28:00.001-07:00

I got little done today. I was continually distracted by the beauty of the trees as the leaves are turning.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Stitch Size

2011-10-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

Since I'm pretty new to hand applique and hand piecing I'm a little self conscious about my work. I want to make sure that "real" hand piecers don't think my work is sloppy. When I took the class with Anita Shackleford she commented that my stitches were a little large.

So, when I had my second Dear Jane class yesterday I asked the teacher if my stitches were too large. I was rather surprised when she said that my stitches were smaller than they needed to be.

I looked online to see what information I could find. There loads of resources these days online between YouTube, blogs, and instructors' websites. From what I've been watching and reading my stitches are acceptable. Whew, what a relief!

Counting

2011-10-04T09:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, but I count. As I'm doing things I count. I will count stitches as I knit. I will count how many chops it takes when I chop up veggies. I count. Weird, I know.

I'm not the only one, however. Jane Stickle counted pieces when she made her quilt
that is the foundation for the Dear Jane book.

She recorded her count on the corner piece of her quilt.
I've also been counting my pieces for this beautiful quilt. 90 pieces down, 5,512 to go.

Happy Birthday, Little Man!

2011-09-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday was Little Man's third birthday. His party was on Saturday, and I'm finally getting around to blogging about it Monday.

None of my pictures of him seem to be in focus. He is always in motion. Such a sense of humor in this little boy.

He is going to be such a handful when he is in his teen years and his sarcasm is in full bloom . Good thing his daddy also has a similar sense of humor, and I will sympathize with his mother when he reaches that age.

Happy Birthday, dear one!

Cute!

2011-09-20T17:59:00.000-07:00

I've finished my Dear Jane homework for September.
I have to tell you, these blocks are so stinkin' cute! I was wrong about their finished size. They finish at 4.5", not 4".

I wasn't sure when I signed up if I was really going to enjoy hand piecing. I did!

I enjoyed it so much I ordered the Dear Jane software by Electric Quilt. I want to have the patterns for the months when I won't be able to attend the class, because you know over the course of the three years there will be times I will miss a class.

I know that I will miss the February class,
because we have a grandbaby due then. Spicy and Bubba have a baby brother coming!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Handwork

2011-09-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

Curious, suddenly I seem to be quite interested in learning about different handwork techniques. Last month it was a class with David Taylor. This month was a class with Anita Shackleford, and I started taking a Dear Jane class at one of the local shops.

David Taylor does beautiful art quilts that are all hand appliquéd. He was a wonderful teacher, but unfortunately his genius did not seep into my brain. I understand his technique. I just can't come close to duplicating it.

Anita Shackleford taught surface textures, appliqué and ruching. Another delightful class and an excellent teacher.

Different styles of artistic expression, but both done by hand. David only does machine quilting on his works, and Anita does both hand and machine quilting.

The Dear Jane class is taught by Ruth Ann, a lovely lady and great teacher. Yesterday was our first class.

Four to five blocks a month for the next three years. Can you believe it! I signed up for a three year class. A three year class where the entire quilt is done by hand.

I ordered a pack of fabric from The Temecula Quilt Company. It was beautifully wrapped, before I opened it up to fondle the fabrics. I should have taken a picture of it before I opened it up, but I just couldn't wait.

Last night I cut the pieces for all four of this month's blocks. I got two of the blocks pieced.

This is the next one to do.

The last block is still in its baggie.

This is what the finished quilt should look like. Did I mention that the blocks finish at 4" square?

So, when I finish it will I have to learn how to hand quilt it, or can I load it on the longarm?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:E Crooked Creek Trail,Prescott Valley,United States

And a Good Time Was Had By All

2011-09-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Arizona is a very quilty state, and our area is a very quilty area. We are lucky enough to have four quilt shops in our area. Two of them are within about five miles of our house. Well, with all of these quilters we also have lots of longarm quilters. Not all of them quilt for hire, but there is a large group that do. We formed an informal group. Not a guild, no presidents, or programs, or dues. Meetings are once a month.

Today we met at my house, and I introduced the group to the Line Dancing technique and books by Diana Phillips. I am arguably her biggest fan. Her books get a lot of wear, because I'm always looking at them for inspiration.

I loaded the longarm, and quilters brought pieces of muslin to try out the Line Dancing. I also had dry erase markers and plastic sleeves so they could try drawing out the designs.

I brought out all of my books by Diana. I wanted my friends to be able to see what great ideas they contain.

We looked, quilted, talked and laughed. I'd say a good time was had by all.

Coming Up For Air

2011-09-06T07:50:00.000-07:00

Boy, oh boy, do I wish I did a better job of estimating time! I way overbooked myself for July and August. I quilted 8-10 hours a day 7 days a week, except for my brief foray into soap making. I was doing pretty good, at first. Then I hit the two quilts that I estimated would take about 10-15 hours each. Wrong! They each took 30-40 hours.

This is Hyde Park. It was designed by Judy Laquidara for SewBatik. This was one of the ones that threw me a loop.

I also quilted this one, though the picture is from Marti Michell's web site, since I forgot to take a picture of my customer's quilt. This was the second one that threw me a loop.

Then we have Cats. A panel but with custom quilting.

I'm not sure of the name of this quilt. I called it "All Angles," though I know it is a published pattern.

There were also 4 others that I forgot to take pictures of. I'm bad about remembering photos.

Then there was the beautiful 50th anniversary quilt.

This is "Come September."

I had started it. Liked the way it was looking, feathers, metallic threads, detailed background fill, stitch in the ditch around the applique.

Then I advanced the quilt, and saw to my horror, that I had the top turned sideways on the directional backing. This was not OK. My dear Motorcycle Dude came to my rescue. He spent 50 hours ripping out the quilting while I worked on other quilts that had deadlines. In the evenings we would both work at ripping. Each of us tackling one end of the border.

I spent several very late nights making sure that I would have the quilts finished in time for the trip to California to deliver them. I even had to delay my departure by a day to get them all done. They were delivered, and all were pleased with the results.

Soap

2011-09-04T16:39:00.000-07:00

Somewhere in between quilting, hosting and more quilting, I found time to make soap. I've been making soap for 36 years, off and on. I bought my first soap making book when I was a newlywed.

Ann had me rendering beef fat so that I would have real Castillo soap. The meat market thought I was bonkers, but they sold me the fat. The soap was mild, unscented and lovely.

Fast forward about 20 years, and I found this book. Sandy has recipes that use all plant based oils. No messy rendering. Sandy also gives lots of ideas for using essential oils. Easier and they smell wonderful. Could I make just one batch? No. Two? No, I made 6 batches of soap: Comfrey and Aloe, Flower Fern and Oakmoss, Cedarwood and Sage, Lemongrass and Cornmeal, Cassia and Clove, Sweet Basil and Cedarwood.

This is the Comfrey and Aloe, scented with lavender and pettigrain. The Comfrey root turned the soap this deep purple, brown color. It smells heavenly. Just get over the color.

Lest you think that 6 batches is not too bad, each batch makes about 6 pounds of soap. I now have 36 pounds of soap! I tell myself it will make wonderful gifts.

Trading

2011-08-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Pam, came to visit. We made a fabulous trade. I quilted for her. I quilted this quilt, called Amazon. The pattern is in a great book by Maaike Bakker, Strip-Pieced Quilts.

I stitched swirls and dragonflies in the body of the quilt. The dragonflies are from a stencil by Full Line Stencils. I also quilted two wall hangings and three small charity quilts. In return, my dear friend cleaned and redecorated my kitchen.

Since moving in, I had not taken the time to beautify the tops of the kitchen cabinets. It was fun to watch her scrounge around in all my cupboards finding things to use.

I was amazed that she was able to find these things among my cupboards.

Absolutely amazing!

Stash Reduction Sale

2011-07-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

I sorted, bagged and priced. I advertised it, talked about it, and emailed about it. I rose early and set up.

I planned for the heat by providing ice water for shoppers.

However, I couldn't get people to come. In the end only about ten people came to shop. I had planned on selling until 2:00 this afternoon, but I closed up shop early. I saw no shoppers after about 11:00.

Those who came did buy things. Unfortunately, I still have boxes and boxes of fabric, spinning fibers, yarn and magazines. The poor results are due to my poor timing. Two guilds had their own sales the week before my own. Well, that the heat and the projected rain storm. I will probably check out ebay for some of the things. The rest will be donated to...well I'm not exactly sure where. I'll have to work on that bit.

Found Treasures

2011-07-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time organizing the wild mess that I showed you last post. In addition to thinning the stash I've found a couple of things I thought I'd lost.

First, I found this little paper pieced quilt. It's from one of the Fat Quarter books by M'Liss Rae Hawley. Unfortunately, I don't remember which one.

I'd even started to remove some of the foundation paper. I think it needs a border. Who knows I might even finish it.

The second thing I found is a real treasure. This a cross stitch sampler made by my husband's great-grandmother when she was thirteen. It has suffered a bit from not being well taken care of.

It is amazing to me that this was stitched by a young girl one hundred forty-five years ago! I know she lived in California. From the words she stitched I know she spoke Spanish, but I don't know much more about her. It has made me want to join Ancestry.com to research family history.

I took it to the local frame shop this morning. They will mount it on some good rag board and stabilize it to keep it from deteriorating further. Many, many years ago I did custom framing. I framed lots of needlework. It was the specialty of the shop where I worked, so when I was talking to the folks at the frame shop I knew that they knew what they were doing with a piece of antique needlework. That was very comforting.

Tomorrow is my stash reduction sale. I've been passing out little notices at the quilt guild meetings, the spinners and weavers guild, and just about every shop or store that I've been in. I even gave one to the chiropractor this morning.

I'll take some pictures tomorrow and let you know how the sale goes.

What Have I Done?

2011-06-25T16:27:00.001-07:00

When we moved from California to Arizona I knew I had to own up to my stash. I needed to sort and pare it down. To compound the problem, I don't just have a fabric stash. I also have yarn, fiber and scrapbook stashes. On top of having multiple hobbies was the problem of getting settled and the fact that some of my materials were in a storage unit.

Well, this week I asked my dear Motorcycle Dude to bring all of my "stuff" to the house so that I could begin to deal with the problem. It was scary enough when it was all in boxes, but now that it is out for sorting I think it might take over the state!

I've sorted by kind: fabric, fiber, yarn, scrapbooking. Now I'm fine tuning the sort of the fabric by sorting according to color. What I don't know how to do is decide what to keep and what to give up. That is the next hurdle.

There is one member of the house that is enjoying this process.

Fred thinks that we've just brought in all kinds of lovely sleeping places just for her.

(yes, Fred is a girl. How she got her name is another post)

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My Quilts

2011-06-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

I've taken some time in the last month to quilt a couple of my own quilts. I know I was being selfish. I should have been working on customer quilts, but I really wanted to finish "Mashed Potatoes" for the Thumb Butte Quilt Guild's show.

Here is "Mashed Potatoes" before quilting.

Here it is after quilting and washing. It was necessary to wash it before the show. I tried using blue pounce powder to mark the stencils in the solid background squares.

Well, blue pounce powder doesn't just brush off. So, it had to be washed off. It washed out just fine, and now I know it will have to be washed out. In other words, don't use it on customer quilts. I've been told it can be mixed with the white pounce powder and it will eliminate the need to wash. Unfortunately, I've already filled my pounce pad with straight blue.

I did work on four customer quilts between "Mashed Potatoes" and my next quilt. I delivered five quilts while visiting California. I picked up twelve, with another to be shipped. Then I picked up three more last week. For a net gain of ten quilts! Busy? Yes, but I still stubbornly wanted to squeeze in one of my own before jumping in on customer quilts.

I got the borders on the tessellating quilt, and got it loaded yesterday. Yesterday was errand day, so not much quilting got done. I did get it finished today though.

I quilted it with a variation of Nichole Web's Fantasy Freehand. Kind of a everything but the kitchen sink meander. I just quilted whatever motif I felt like quilting or would fit the space. Very fun, very relaxing to quilt.

I don't have a name for this one. I'll have to check with Spicy. I think it's her turn to name a quilt.

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Happy Birthday!

2011-06-12T09:04:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Twinkle Toes celebrated her fifth birthday.

They grow up so fast! Happy Birthday sweet one.

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Lighting

2011-06-05T20:40:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday I made a big decision. I decided to buy a lighting system for my longarm. I get pretty good natural light in the morning, but as the day goes on I need more. I tried inexpensive lighting fixes, clamp on lights of different types, but they never really worked well.

DeLoa Jones' husband, Dave, offered a special deal for the longarm guild members. he would wave the installation fee. I couldn't resist. I called him and arranged for the installation. The Dee-Lights from DeLoa's Studio looked really nice.

Here they are!
Off

On

Poor Dave had quite an ordeal getting to my house and installing them. He isn't from the area, and didn't really know the freeway system here. Coming up from Phoenix, he got on the freeway heading west instead of east. Then when he got straightened out he got stuck behind an accident. His one hour drive turned into a three hour drive. Then during the installation not one, but two drill bits broke as he was drilling mounting holes. To add to the problem one of the broken bits wedged itself in the frame and had to be dislodged before he could proceed. To his credit he didn't throw up his hands and say, "You're on your own!" Dave persevered, and finished the installation.

The lights are great. Thank you, Dave!

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Into the Woods

2011-05-31T12:42:00.000-07:00

It doesn't look like much, does it? I just sent this quilt off this morning. My friend, Pam, is the piecer. She doesn't think much of it either. Her sister selected the central fabric, and didn't want it in a pieced design. Sis just wanted the fabric bordered, and quilted.

From the back you can see the quilting. I had so much fun quilting this oak tree! Well, my quilty version of an oak tree. Don't ask any botonists to critique my interpretation of the mighty oak tree.

I still don't have the photography part of quilting down. I think there is an online course in quilt photography. I must track it down. Right after I get caught up on my quilting.

Judge's Comments

2011-05-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

This afternoon the UPS man brought me my MQS quilt. I nervously opened the judges comments. Pat Harrison and Linda McCuean were the judges.

I should mention that I was able to work in the judging room one afternoon when I was in Kansas. I was so impressed with their work. They were so respectful of everyone's work. I can't say much more, because one of the requirements for working in the room is signing a confidentiality statement. They had judged my category the day before I volunteered, or I wouldn't have been able to stay in the room when they were judging.

Well, I did gather myself and read the comments. They were really pretty good. Mostly satisfactory with pluses, minuses, and plain. I had one "needs improvement" comment, my stops and starts. I've been working on them, but there is still substantial room for improvement.

YLI sponsored a new thing for the comments. The judges recorded comments as they were looking at the quilts, and then they were transferred to a flash drive that was given to all of us entrants. I was able to listen to Linda comment on my quilt as she was looking at it. It was very cool.

Guild Fun Day

2011-05-23T06:59:00.001-07:00

Mountain Top Quilt Guild had a fun day last Tuesday. It was fun! The committee had purchased the color coordinated fabric, and they had precut the 10" squares and border pieces.

In addition to the precutting, the ladies did all our pressing during the day. We just had to wave our pieces in the air and call, " Presser!" someone would come running and soon a neatly pressed piece would be returned to us. Needless to say, things went much faster than they would have at home.

This is what I had finished by the time we ate our yummy potluck lunch. After lunch we used a special ruler by Country Schoolhouse Designs.
Then we sewed it back together and got this.

I need to put some finishing borders on it before I'll consider it finished. It was a wonderful day. It's been quite awhile since I've been able to sit and piece. I hope they have a Fun Day next year.

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MQS

2011-05-22T11:05:00.001-07:00

Well,I thought that I had uploaded posts while I was attending MQS. However, when I checked up on things I found that they never posted. They also didn't get saved.

Here are a couple of pictures of Twinkle Stars from the show. I forgot to take my camera down to the show, so these were taken with my phone. Hence, the poor picture quality.

There were no ribbons, as I predicted. The background quilting is too similar in texture to the quilting in the stars. So, instead of setting the stars off, it competes with the stars.

I wasn't completely embarrassed by my work, but I could see how I just didn't measure up to the ribbon winners.

These are some detail pictures of a couple of the winning quilts.

This one was quilted by Marilyn Badger. Her detail is amazing!

This was the blue ribbon winner in the wall quilts category. "Red Letter Daze" by Janet Stone.

l an epiphany while looking at all the quilts. I realized that I just don't want to quilt at the custom ribbon winner's level. If I enter more big shows I'll enter into the everyday quilt or bread and butter category. All this time I thought that I had to quilt at that level to be "good." I finally realize I can be a good quilter without reaching that level of detail. Took me long enough, huh? Sometimes I'm just a bit dense.

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Mistakes

2011-05-03T10:28:00.001-07:00

I just shipped off "Twinkle Stars" to the Machine Quilter's Showcase. I did have to send it overnight. Pricey, very pricey.

When I took that quilt off the frame after spending 40 hours, or so quilting it, I realized the quilting did nothing to enhance the top. It was stitching for the sake of stitching. What a mistake! Now, I never had any expectation of winning a ribbon at this show, but now I feel that I might also be a bit embarrassed at my quilting. Really, my work as a longarm quilter should always play up the quilt top.

Alas, it is too late to do anything about it. I'll take a picture next week when I'm at the show. You'll see what I mean.

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Still Busy

2011-04-30T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm still working like mad trying to get caught up. I finished quilting three beautiful quilts for Susie. Unfortunately, I only got pictures of two of them.

This one is called Japanese Flower Garden. Didn't her piano key border turn out pretty? Her fabrics don't show up in the picture, but they are gorgeous!

This one doesn't have a name, but it is a nice snowball quilt done using a lot of Kaffe Fasset fabrics. The fabrics are more vibrant in person.

I didn't get a picture of the third one. It was a pattern from Ami Simms.

Right now I'm working on Twinkle Stars. I've entered it in the MQS show, and they have to have it by May 4th. I've finished the most time consuming part of the quilting, but I still have lots to keep me busy tomorrow. It looks like I'll be paying a bundle for overnight shipping.

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Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-04-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Whew! I have been working on some big quilts with some rather elaborate quilting.

This beauty is queen size. The block is called Snow Crystals. I posted a detail picture before. When I took these pictures I didn't have a quilt stand, so I used a closet pole and two ladders as my stand. I have a quilt stand now. Way easier to get pictures now.

I love the way it looks from the back.

I used part of a paisley design from a Dover Publications coloring book. The center of the large paisley was my inspiration for the background vine. There are so many great motifs that could be translated into quilting designs.

This is the next quilt I worked on. It is the opportunity quilt for one of the local guilds. It measures 93"x93". I used a Barbara Chainey stencil for the first white border. I tried to find a source so that I could provide a link, but I wasn't able to find it. I had purchased it from StenSource, but they no longer sell retail.

The stencil only had the side motif. I had to create a corner motif.

After those two I worked on an opportunity quilt for the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue Society.

The quilting doesn't really show up on this one. Each block has a picture of a Rhodie at a world landmark. I used Superior's Mono-Poly to provide detail quilting in each block. This one is going to be making the rounds of dog shows on the East Coast.

I'm quilting like a crazy lady so that I can finish Twinkle Stars by May 1, and get it in the mail to MQS.

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Update

2011-04-02T18:27:00.000-07:00

Well, all I have to show for my trauma with the sewing machine needle is this little black dot on my fingernail.

Not too bad, all things considered I am very thankful that my stupidity happened when I was at my Bernina and not my Nolting.

The needle on the left is the same size as the one that was in my Bernina. The one on the right is the size I have been using in the Nolting. Enough of a difference that I think I'm truly thankful.

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Oww!

2011-03-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to figure out how to use the embroidery module on my new Bernina. I reached in too soon and ran the needle through my thumb from the nail to the palm side. Oww!

Catching Up

2011-03-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Catching up is what I end up doing when I get home from a trip. Laundry, cleaning, bookkeeping, quilting and blogging. Well, the laundry is done, and I'm getting this posted today. Can't say the same about everything else.

While I was in SoCal not only did I get to watch Twinkle Toes
play softball, I got to watch Spicy play baseball.

After her game she celebrated her birthday with a Tutu Tea Party. The girls wore their tutus, feather boas, party hats and dress up shoes.

They were adorable!

Quilting related, I'm currently piecing a quilt for my husband's cousin. He ~~volunteered~~ asked me to make a quilt for her. He asked for a king sized quilt, but I don't have a longarm table large enough. So, I'm just making a queen sized quilt.

I have the fabric for the framed nine-patch blocks cut, and I've begun sewing them together. It is a fairly simple design. I'm hoping it comes together quickly. It should finish at 89"x94".

I currently have this beauty on the longarm. It is taking me a bit longer than I expected. At first I was just going to stitch the stylized feather in the background, but it seemed lost. I added the micro-stipple around it, and I liked it better. I've never done micro-stipple before. It takes a long time, a really long time. On top of the fact that it takes a long time, is that it irritates the tendonitis in my elbow, so it is also painful. However, it is turning out so pretty that I keep working on it.

Road Trip

2011-03-18T10:46:00.001-07:00

I drove out to SoCal yesterday, and I got to see Twinkle Toes play in a softball game.

She got a good hit in and made it to first base!

Tomorrow I get to watch Spicy play. Plus, I get to be at her birthday party.

On Sunday, I'm delivering finished quilts to customers at Ginger's Quilt Shoppe in Upland. It's one of those great shops where they greet you by name when you come in. Love it!

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Happy Birthday, Spicy!

2011-03-16T08:50:00.000-07:00

Happy Sixth Birthday, Spicy!

I love you!

Quilter's Attention Deficit

2011-03-15T08:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's because it's spring, or it's just a pattern of behavior, but I have so, so many projects that I want to make. I'm not sure where to start. Maybe I have attention deficit disorder?

Liberty Fields from Material Obsession

These two that I played with in EQ7.

Plus the three UFOs that I have already started, Buckeye Beauty, String X, and my blue and white Hovering Hawks. Then there are the four knitting projects that I want to work on.

This is a shawl from Ravelry. It's a free pattern, but you do have to join Ravelry to be able to get it.

Then there are the socks knit two at a time on circular needles. It's a technique that I've never tried, but it avoids the second sock syndrome. I also want to make a long sleeved cardigan and a short sleeved, lacy summer cardigan.

Tack on to my list of things I want to make for myself are the eleven quilts that I need to quilt for customers. I think I need to learn to prioritize. What do you think?

Spring Has Sprung

2011-03-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

We went from snow a couple of weeks ago to these blossoms today. I've been watching the buds swell for a couple of days. It seems like they just went wild as the weather has warmed up to the 60s.

The flowering plum in the front yard.

The flowering pear in the backyard.

The unknown shrub, also from the backyard.

I went to the Arizona Quilters Guild Quilt Show this weekend. There are sure some talented quilters in this state.

The show was very well attended, so it was difficult to get good pictures. I only got a few without loads of people in front of the quilts. I had entered a quilt, but didn't get a ribbon. I didn't expect one. My quilt was too basic to warrant a ribbon. I'll get my quilt back in a week or two, and it'll be interesting to read the judge's comments. I didn't always agree with the judges in the awarding of ribbons, so I'm curious to see what kind of comments I get on my quilt.

Snow!

2011-02-27T06:35:00.001-08:00

This was the view from our backyard this morning. I love the snow!

Now my dear Motorcycle Dude tolerates it, but he grew up in Nebraska. He grew up with snow.

I, on the other hand, grew up in sunny Southern California. For me, snow is a special occasion. As in, making snowmen, having snowball fights, enjoying mugs of hot tea by the fire.

For him, snow is work. As in shoveling sidewalks and driveways, cold feet and colder hands.

I acknowledge that snow brings some issues with it, but I still love the snow.

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Quilting Interupted

2011-02-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

I started quilting my top from my class with Bonnie Hunter. I like the way it's looking, but the progress is slow. I estimate it will take me at least a week to finish the quilting.

Then I looked at my quilt work log on Machine Quilting Business Manager. Six quilts are due by March 18th. Six! And, only one of the six is an edge-to-edge design. All the rest are various levels of custom quilting. I sought advise from my Motorcycle Dude. He advised that I not over-extend myself by continuing with my quilt.

So, my quilt is off and the first of the customer quilts is loaded on.

I'm still hoping that I can get my quilt back on and finish it in time to enter into MQS. I should also say that Twinkle Toes (on the left) has named my quilt "Twinkle Stars."

Since my business is named Grammy's Quilting it seemed fitting to have the grands name my quilts.
Works for me. I really struggle to come up with names.

That job has fallen to the girls, so far. The boys are still a little young for the job, but their turn will come.

Baptist Fan

2011-02-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

There are certain quilts that call out for very traditional quilting. This charity quilt was one of those.

I've been wanting to try Baptist Fan quilting with circle templates. I've seen the Baptist Fan done using the design boards. You know those boards that have groves that a stylus follows.
I don't care for the way that the fans looks with the boards. The circles don't match up. See where the arc meets the previous arc?

Well, Off the Edge Quilting Supplies has great directions and a video! I also happen to have their circle templates.

So, away I went, and this is the result.

I only used four circles. I could have used six, you need to use an even number of templates to make the design continuous. I love the way it turned out!

Hoochy Mama!

2011-02-15T15:51:00.000-08:00

Thumb Butte Quilters' Guild had Mary Lou Weidman speak at the meeting yesterday.

This is a small portion of one of her story quilts. Her story quilts were loaded with delightful details. You don't quickly walk away from her quilts. They invite you to enjoy them for a long time.

She has a book out to help quilters think of ideas for their own story quilts.

After the meeting I went to her Hoochy Mama! class. Today was Flower Power. This is a picture of the class's flower garden. Mary Lou was a delightful teacher.

Both classes were great, low stress classes! There was no need to worry about perfect points or matching seams. Sally's and Judith's blue birds were fabulous! I wish I'd gotten pictures of their blue birds and cone flower blocks.

Ready for Quilting

2011-02-08T11:43:00.000-08:00

I got the final border on my Bonnie Hunter class quilt. I think it turned out remarkably like the EQ7 version.

The main difference is that the colors are a little brighter in the real quilt.

It will be a couple of weeks before I can get it on to the longarm. This is my tentative quilting plan for the body of the quilt. I still don't know what I want to do for the borders. I keep hoping my creative muse will show up.

I am hoping that when my muse shows up, she will help me come up with a name for the quilt. Quilt shows always want names for the quilts. Purple Stars is not a very creative name, and that's about all I've come up with. I reached out to my granddaughter, Twinkle Toes, to ask for her help. Spicy helped me name Mashed Potatoes, so it's Twinkle Toes turn.

Design Wall Monday

2011-02-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

I was lucky to take a class from Bonnie Hunter at Road to California. I set my alarm for midnight the day that registration opened, so that I could make sure to get a spot in one of her classes. Other people in the class did the same thing, but they registered for two or three of her classes. I wanted to, but I didn't want to be greedy.

The class was her Jared Takes a Wife pattern. The block's traditional name is Blackford's Beauty. I've gotten the main body of the quilt and the first three plain borders on. Unfortunately, in our new smaller house I don't have a way to take a good picture of my progress.

I used neutral sashing, because I wanted the green chain to be more pronounced. I like quilts with stars and chains

This is what I'm hoping it will look like when it's finished. I have the pieced border blocks stitched, but not sewn together. That is my job for the next day or so.

I'm going to try some fancy quilting. If it turns out nice, I'm going to enter it into the Machine Quilter's Showcase.

Kristi's Quilt

2011-02-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

I recently worked on a feathered start quilt. As a piecer I am intimidated by feathered star quilts. I think that they're gorgeous, but they intimidate me. All those little triangles! All those tips that could get caught up in a seam. But, Kristi's was so much fun to work on!

Since I said that I wanted to share the process of quilting, let me show you where the corner feathers started.

This is a picture from a Dover Publications book on wrought iron designs. I played with the placement of the curls until I settled on the spine design I used on Kristi's quilt. We wanted her piecing to be the star of the show, so the threads all match her fabrics. The quilting designs are more visible from the back of the quilt.

The only part that had me really stumped for a design was the star itself. I put the feathers in, but I'm still on the lookout for other ideas. In case I ever get up the nerve to try one for myself.

I'm Baaack

2011-02-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hi. I got fed up with the problems with the Mobile Me account for the blog. After many hours with different tech support people, I'm done. So I'm back to Blogger. The website is still functional, except for the blog. There is a link on the blog page that should link to Blogger. Tomorrow I will post some pictures of what I've been up to lately. Thanks to those of you that have emailed me with updates on your ability, or inability to post comments on the old site.

Moving

2010-01-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

Grammy's Quilting is moving! I'm working on moving my blog over to a Mobile Me site. This will allow me to have my web site, gallery and blog all together. Pop over and check it out.

Baby Memory Quilt

2010-01-11T06:20:00.000-08:00

This has been a full weekend.

I started with a lovely meeting with my friendship group. We are starting a quilt that we'd like to enter in a local quilt show as a group quilt.

Then I delivered the quilt made with baby clothes. I only posted a little picture on Monday, but here is the finished quilt. I used as many of the clothes as I could. Only one or two items escaped the quilt. The mommy is very happy with the results. I am too. I tried many different designs. Because I really like on point quilts I wanted to try one, but too many of the little designs could not be put on point. Back to the drawing board, or rather back to EQ6. This is the design I finally used. Not as original as I would have liked (this is the perfectionist in me speaking), but I think it turned out nicely.

Twinkle Toes had a dance recital yesterday. She was a gingersnap. There is something wonderfully sweet about a group of 3 and 4 year-olds dancing on stage.

I'm going to Road to California today to take classes with Marilyn Badger. I'm very excited about hands on longarm classes.

What's On My Design Wall?

2010-01-04T06:34:00.001-08:00

I can't show the whole project, because it's a customer's quilt and she hasn't seen it. It is a quilt made from all the clothes from her grandson's first year. So, basically a T-shirt quilt. It has been a challenge due to the size of the clothes and the thick embroidery.

I'm almost done. After I give it to her I'll post a picture of the entire quilt.

Remember to check out Judy's blog over at Patchwork Times to be inspired by all the design walls. (sorry there isn't a link. I don't know how to do that when I'm posting from my phone)

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Done!

2010-01-02T09:55:00.000-08:00

Well, I went out this morning and finished the last part of the Mystery Quilt. As with all classes there were parts I liked and parts I didn't, but I did learn things.

I learned that I like symmetry more than I thought I did. It bothered me that the center sashing was going to be quilting differently in the vertical space than the horizontal space. So, being the queen of my own quilt, I quilted them all the same.

I learned that it can be fun to quilt traditional designs in a non-traditional way. Those funky Baptist Fans were really fun to quilt, and they went fast. The squiggly crosshatching was also very easy, and much less stressful to quilt that regular crosshatching.

Lastly, I learned that when quilting is pretty dense it bothers me that there are empty spaces. When I was stitching the serpentine design on the last outer border, it bothered me that there was empty space between the arcs. I put in some squiggly lines similar to what I did in the bear paw blocks. I bothers me that there are empty spots in other places, but not enough for me to go back and quilt them.

Now I have some new quilting designs in my pocket. Thank you, Cindy.

Part 4 Is Done

2010-01-01T16:04:00.000-08:00

Part 4 is finished. Cindy is about ready to post part 5.

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Part 2 and 3

2010-01-01T14:04:00.001-08:00

I've finished the next two parts of the mystery. More to come.

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Happy New Year

2010-01-01T09:53:00.001-08:00

I'm working on the Not Quite Traditional New Year's Day Mystery Quilt. I've got part 1 stitched.

While I'm waiting for part 2 to be activated, I got some split pea soup cooking in the slow cooker. The dinner menu is: split pea soup, biscuits, and salad. Easy, yummy, no stress dinner, a perfect way to start the new year.

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Somebody's In My Bed!

2009-12-30T15:54:00.001-08:00

Poor Red! Ginger stole his big bed and he had to try to fit into her medium sized bed. He doesn't quite fit, but he prefers it to the floor.

Maybe she'll vacate by evening bedtime.

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What's on my design wall?

2009-12-28T06:41:00.000-08:00

I am getting ready for Longarm University's New Year's Day Mystery Quilt. I got my top pieced yesterday. Cindy is calling this the Not Quite Traditional Mystery Quilt. To play on the theme I went with reproduction fabrics in cheddar, indigo and shirting prints.

I still have to prepare the backing. I think I'm going to splurge and buy wide muslin. I really don't like piecing backing.

There's still time for you other machine quilters to sign up. The class is quite reasonably priced and the quilt is easy to piece. Come on, join us. It's a great way to spend New Year's Day. Much better than sitting in front of the TV watching football bowl games. Plus you get to have a quilt when you're done!

This was last year's New Year's Day mystery quilt.

This was this summer's mystery.

Remember to visit Judy's blog to be inspired by what others have on their walls.

On the family front, I wanted to post this picture of the grandsons in my rocking chair.

This was my chair when I was a little girl. I remember driving with my parents to pick it up from the furniture store. I liked the chair a lot when I was little. My father had to recover it a couple of times for my two younger brothers to use it. I don't even remember the original fabric.

My husband had it reupholstered for me. It was looking a little worse for wear. We all liked it a lot when we were little.

The boys like it a lot too. It doesn't seem to hold the same appeal for the girls.

We celebrated DS birthday today. Twinkle Toes wanted to make sure that Daddy got all his candles blown out so that he would get his birthday wish.

I want him to get his birthday wish too, but someone had to take pictures. I let Twinkle Toes do the helping.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Thank you, to everyone who has visited my blog, and thanks to all who leave me comments. I love reading the comments. With your comments and encouragement I finished my Christmas quilt.

I'm still working on hand stitching the binding, but that is cozy evening work.

I did go with feathered wreaths for the solid blocks. I thought about trying to come up with a different design, but decided to go with a design I knew I could quilt without stress.

Last night I was playing with EQ6. (Who knew I'd have so much fun with this? Not me, that's for sure.) I came up with this for next year's Christmas project. As I've been trying to clean up my sewing area, I found quite a few Christmas fabrics. The greens and reds will be scrappy, but the golds will be consistent, so I get to use up more stash. Hurray!

Have a very Merry Christmas,

and a Happy New Year!

A Cautionary Tale

2009-12-21T06:18:00.000-08:00

This post should be called, "What's on my design wall?" However, this is really a cautionary tale entitled, "Read before you sew."

There is a similar adage in the non-quilting world called "Look before you leap."

Here's my story.

I played with EQ6 and came up with this design.

I thought it was a little bit boring, so I looked at my border book, Pieced Borders, the Complete Resource.

The first design that I liked was #158 Chevrons. On the following page is design #179 Chain of Parallelograms. Well, my teacher brain said, "They're both parallelograms. I'll do the first one."
I looked at the rotary cutting chart and cut all my diamonds and triangles. Then, and only then, did I notice that there was something that didn't seem to fit. The triangles didn't seem right to me. Back to the book I go, and actually read the authors' directions.

There it is on page 73, a lovely, clear explanation of the difference, in the quilt world, between a diamond and a parallelogram. Further down on the page is this, "A few borders such as #158 and 157 require set-in seams."

Y seams! I've cut my fabric and don't have enough to re-cut. I'm sunk! So, I'm still stitching Y seams rather than having this on my frame for quilting.

Also, now that I'm getting the border on I can see that the border is really too visually heavy for the interior of the quilt. I guess no one will be knocking on my door to have me design a quilt for them.

This is my reworked idea for this quilt. I like it a little better than my original design, but I'm still not crazy about it.

Now, the quilt I'm actually making did have some requirements, use the fabric I already had, and no buying new fabric. I can live with the quilt I'm making, and I'll enjoy cuddling up with it on Christmas morning. Maybe not this Christmas with all those Y seams, but some Christmas.

Visit Judy's blog to see what others have on their design walls.

But, wait there's more!

2009-12-16T06:42:00.000-08:00

I decided that the little Christmas quilt needed some perking up. I tried adding different borders. The hourglass border and the chevron border are my two favorites so far. I'm pretty sure I have enough fabric for either border design.

I think that the chevron border might be easier (faster) to stitch.

I'll just stare at them for a bit and mull them over in my mind while I'm finishing the last customer Christmas quilt.

What's on my design wall?

2009-12-14T17:20:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have something on my design wall! During a bit of quiet time last week I fiddled around with EQ6 to see if I could come up with something that used some Christmas fabric that I bought a year or two ago.

The pattern I came up with is not unique. I'm sure I didn't come up with it. I bet that I actually saw this design in a magazine or on someone's blog. My apologies to you if it was your article or blog. My frazzled brain doesn't remember.

What is new for me, is that I worked it out with EQ6. I played with it until it used just what fabric that I had in my stash.

The other day during a short pity party I started cutting and sewing strips. Because of the plain blocks it didn't take me much time to piece it this far.

I'm hoping that tonight I might get some of the rows sewn together.

Visit Judy's blog to see what she and others have on their design walls.

Gingerbread Houses

2009-12-13T17:03:00.001-08:00

Today our family gathered to make gingerbread houses.

The tradition started years ago when my children were in grade school. My husband was stationed overseas on an unaccompanied tour. I was looking for a holiday activity to do with the kids. We made three each year. One for each child and one for the sentries at the gate. We filled the one for the sentries with extra cookies and candy.

We made one for each child this year. However, since two of the children are under two years of age I helped out. I think that the littlest ones would have done a better job.
The roof was sagging. The walls were leaning. Then finally the side wall cracked. The decision was made to make it a car wreck. I haven't been able to make a gingerbread house that held together since the children were little.

It's been a rough week. It was fabulous to be with family.

Bad Dog!

2009-12-08T10:06:00.000-08:00

My husband had surgery yesterday, so I was gone for a long time. The dogs didn't seem to like being left alone. I guess they wanted to show me how pissed off they were.

At 2:00 a.m. when I got home, I found the pillow mess by the front door and the stained quilt was on our bed.

I don't know what they had on the bed there was nothing left of whatever it was. I got it soaking in the wash first thing when I woke up.

Both dogs knew they had been bad. They skulked around avoiding me.

Today while I'm gone they do not have access to the house. I just hope they don't destroy the back yard.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Border Upgrade

2009-12-01T16:33:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the original border for the Road to California top. I wasn't happy with the border. The density of the quilting wasn't the same in the border as in the interior of the quilt. With encouragement from Carla Barrett, I put the quilt back on the frame.

The colors are quite different due to the difference in lighting. The top is daylight. The bottom is artificial light.

This is the border after re-quilting it. Not a huge difference, but enough that I'm happier with it.

At any rate it is out of my hands now. My husband delivered it for me today while I was at work.

I will be anxious until the show in January. I'm nervous about how my work will compare with others. Anyone out there working a quilt for this exhibit too?

Home Stretch

2009-11-29T18:38:00.001-08:00

I got this quilted today. I still have to bind it and sew on the hanging sleeve.

I can be pretty stupid sometimes. I spent so much time worrying about the interior of the quilt I forgot to plan for the outer border. I stitched a simple border. I think it shows that I didn't plan it as well. Oh well, I've go to get it done tomorrow so that my husband can deliver it on Tuesday.

Sunbonnet Sue

2009-11-28T20:45:00.001-08:00

I finally finished the Sunbonnet Sue quilt with the ruffly borders. I'm pleased with the way it turned out. I'll be much more aware of borders when I take in a customer's quilt. Another lesson learned.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm thankful for family

2009-11-26T18:51:00.000-08:00

Spicy had requested a purple scarf. Being a doting grandma, I made one. The yarn was a spur of the moment buy at JoAnn's. I was able to get it done in time to take it to her today.

Spicy was kind enough to model it for me.

It's too bad the child has no personality or style.

On the quilting front, I've been struggling with some overly full borders.
They have been quite the challenge to tame. It has taken me about three times as long to finish the borders as I had allowed. I'll be playing catch up all weekend.

I'm glad that's over!

2009-11-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Whew! I'm sure glad that panic attack about the exhibit quilt is over. With some help from Carla Barrett, the Quilt Whisperer, and time, I feel that the exhibit top is under control. I plan on starting it as soon as I finish two more customer quilts. I'll let you know when I start and post some pictures.

It also helped to have a bit of retail therapy on the Santa's Holiday Hop. My friend, Pauline and I went to all nine shops. I have high hopes of winning the prize basket containing 45 yards of fabric (not really).

I bought fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt as we visited all the shops. The fabric requirements have been posted, but the first clue won't be posted until the day after Thanksgiving. I think I need a few more Christmas green fabrics, but otherwise I'm happy with the fabrics.

How do you decide?

2009-11-20T08:00:00.000-08:00

I've been given an opportunity to participate in an exhibit at a large local quilt show. Everyone that is participating in the exhibit has the same design for their top. The exhibit is to demonstrate how the quilting of a top changes the look of the quilt.

The project was given to me in a rather round about way. The person that first received the top decided she didn't want to participate, so she gave it to me.

I'm a part-timer, a nobody in the quilting world, but I want to knock their socks off with my quilting.

This is the top that I was given.

These are some of the ideas that I'm playing around with. But, I'm not 100% sold on any of them. I just can't decide, and I don't have lots of time to hem-and-haw. This top has to be done and returned to the show people by December 1. I have several customer quilts that I have to finish before I can work on this. I'm on Thanksgiving break right now and will have to finish it before I return to work on November 30th..

I look at it and think, pearls in the spines of the feathers? no pearls? simple feathers? innovative feathers? give it all up and do an edge-to-edge design?
arrgghh!!

I know that part of my problem is that I'm placing so much importance on the project, but I really do want to wow them.

What's on my design wall?

2009-11-16T15:34:00.001-08:00

Nothing new with the flying geese, but I have started a couple of new take along projects.
This is in the November/December issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting.

This is as far as I've gotten. Obviously, it won't be ready for this Christmas. It is fun though to work on something seasonal during the actual season that it is for. I always have a hard time working on Christmas things in July.

I also started a new pair of socks. No big surprise there.
They are from the book Socks a la Carte. It's a flip book. You pick the cuff, leg and foot that you want. You're supposed to put elastic around the pages to hold your choices, but the elastic on my book doesn't reach the pages. Still it's a fun idea.

I've also been working on my Quilt Whisperer homework. Quilt Whisperer is an online class being offered through MQ Resource.
Nothing wonderful yet. I'm hoping I'll get better.

Grandkids are Great!

2009-11-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful, grandchildren filled weekend.

Yesterday, Spicy and Bubba allowed me to take them to the park near where we were visiting a gift boutique. Spicy's BFF came along for the fun.

As I've mentioned before, Bubba loves climbing and slides.

This evening Twinkle Toes and Little Man brought their parents over for dinner. Little Man is sporting his new big boy haircut. Our canine puppy, Ginger, loved having the company of two-legger puppies. She followed them around all night. Of course, she also loved the way a one-year old eats. Ginger was quite attentive by the high chair.
Twinkle Toes drove them over in her sporty pink Jeep. She's such a good big sister!

As they say, "A good time was had by all."

Decisions, Decisions

2009-11-10T06:55:00.000-08:00

So, I was playing around this morning before DH woke up.
I thought, I don't have to put the geese units pinwheel style. I could put them where the same fabrics are on a side.

I think I like them this way. It's less busy. I'll have leftover geese units though. The Eleanor Burns/Quilt in a Day method I get 4 geese each time, and I only need 3.

That could be good. I might be able to come up with a use for them. I'll have to think on this.

I love having a design wall where things can sit up there. I go away for awhile, then come back and see how I like it after being away for a bit.
Well, I've been away. Time to go back.

What's on my design wall?

2009-11-09T09:43:00.001-08:00

I've been plugging away at pressing and trimming up the flying geese units that I made at the Temecula Quilt Show. I've decided that I like this block, but I think the blocks need sashing between them. It seems too busy without the separation.

I also started making these blocks for this quilt. I need to keep some handwork with me for those unexpected down times, and waiting rooms.
Applique Outside the Lines is from the Piece 'o Cake team, Becky Goldsmith and Linda Jenkins.

I also keep knitting with me. I'm almost finished with these socks. I just have a few more rows of the toe to do. The pattern is a free one from Knitting Daily. They are the Broken Cable Socks. I think my teaching buddy Karen is getting these.

Too Cute!

2009-11-01T10:02:00.001-08:00

I delivered this quilt to Anelise today. Isn't it cute? I just meandered around the applique. I don't know what the name of the pattern is, but it is just adorable.

Charming Girls Finish!

2009-10-29T08:39:00.001-07:00

I did it! I finished within the deadline. Hooray for me! Baby Angelina will get her quilt on time. Thanks to the push from Charming Girls Club.

What do you think of the hearts in the corners of the border?
I had lots of fun doodling them before I started quilting them. There is so much backtracking on the spine that they stand out pretty well.

I still have the alphabet baby quilt to finish. I don't think I'll be able to get it done by Saturday, but you never know.

Good Idea Gone Wrong

2009-10-24T18:52:00.000-07:00

A good idea that wasn't so good when put in play.

I thought that tone on tone lavender thread would be so pretty on this quilt. I started quilting, and thought, "Well, I guess it's OK."

I got more into the quilt and thought, "Hmm, it's not my favorite."

When I got even further I thought, "I don't like it." Of course by then I was past the point of no return. I guess I really prefer matching or blending thread. The lavender thread just makes the quilt too busy for me.

Field Trip

2009-10-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, another teacher and I took our classes on a walking field trip. We went to the fire station, library and police station. It was only a 2 mile walk, but it was the standing at each stop that did me in. Boy, was I beat by the end of the day.

What's on my design wall

2009-10-12T15:41:00.001-07:00

I demonstrated making flying geese units at the Temecula Quilt Show. Though it felt like I made about a jillion when I was at the show, I really made about 40. So, now I need to come up with a quilt to use these units.

There is this block that uses two sets, 8 geese per block.

Or there is this one that uses three sets, 12 geese per block and one square in the middle.

I know there are many more that use flying geese units. These just seem easy. I'm kind of into easy these days.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-10T08:20:00.001-07:00

Can I just say, I have a mental block whenever it comes to naming quilts. I just don't come up with those witty, clever names. It is a struggle for me to come up with anything other than the block name.

Amy, Park City Girl, is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival. If you love looking at quilts and reading about them, go visit. There are lots of entries and beautiful quilts. Also, it's fun visiting all of the blogs.

This is my Blogger's Quilt Festival entry. The block is the Arkansas Crossroads block. I named it Leftovers, because it is made with leftover 2 1/2" blocks. The other fabrics are primarily from my stash. I did buy a few purple fabrics to fill out the border fabric selection. I also used Quilter's Dream Green for the batting. This is a batting that is made from recycled 2 liter soda bottles. I thought it was fitting that a quilt made with leftovers should have recycled batting.

This is the quilt that hung in Cafe Daniel for the Temecula Quilt Walk.

The quilting designs I chose are, well, just OK. They aren't outstanding. When I was quilting it I thought it was just for me, but Pauline asked if it would be OK to put it up for the quilt walk. Well, I had to say, "Of course." How can you turn down a request like that?

What quilts were the "parent" quilts, the ones that made all these leftover squares? Well, here are the two primary parents, two Strip Twist quilts. I cut many more strips than I needed for the first quilt, so I made the second. Each time I cut the blocks for these quilts there was a bit of the strip set left. The leftovers became the Leftover quilt.

Thanks for visiting.

Borders On

2009-10-06T21:05:00.000-07:00

I'm making progress on Lucy's quilt. I got the borders on this evening. I won't be able to get it quilted until I finish a few customer quilts. That will give me time to make the binding and piece the back.

Now, on to Rob's quilt.

Sashing and Cornerstones

2009-10-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

I've sewn all the blocks, sashing and cornerstones together for Lucy's quilt. I've pieced all the blocks for the second border, and sewn the strips together that will be the first and third borders.

Oohh, that makes it sound like I've done so much work!

Check out Judy L.'s blog to see more design walls.

Enough fun computer stuff. I'm off to take the trash out.

Temecula Quilt Show

2009-10-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the Temecula Quilt Show. I would have posted about it yesterday, but I was beyond exhausted. Today, I'm sunburned and sore, but not so exhausted. There were 5 or 6 blocks of buildings in Old Town hung with quilts. The day was glorious. The quilts were beautiful. The crowd of quilt watchers was wonderful.

We started the day with a car load of quilts.
Marcy and her hubby cleaned banisters and rails so that we could hang quilts without them getting too dirty. Then, it was up and down stairs and ladders to hang the quilts.

The Californian has a nice article about the show.

Two of my quilts were part of the Quilt Walk that went on for two weeks before the show. I was honored to participate in the Quilt Walk.

My daughter and grandkids came to visit me, and the Farmer's Market. They brought me some beautiful flowers at the market.

It was a great day, but the drive home was long. Next year I'll try to be organized enough that I can spend the night with my daughter. After a long day, 15 minutes of driving is much better than an hour of driving.

Friday Give Away

2009-10-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

Quilting Gallery has a Friday Give Away. This week it is a Learn to Sew kit, very cute.

Charming Girls Goal

2009-10-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

My Charming Girls goal for October is to get this quilt done for Lucy's baby, Angelina. Angelina hasn't made her debut yet. She isn't due to arrive until December, but the shower is at the end of October. I haven't done much except get the blocks done, and doodle ideas for quilting it. I do have all of the fabric cut for the sashing and cornerstones, and some of the border fabric cut.

I also need to finish a quilt for another teacher's baby at work. His will be a panel type quilt using Maisy fabric by Andover.

2009-09-29T05:47:00.001-07:00

Ok, ok. Quilt Sue challenged me to show my stash. Well, I've been looking at the pictures of stashes on Judy L.'s blog, and I think some of them look pretty darn good compared to mine. I've got huge tubs, zip lock bags, and no organization. It's no wonder I've sometimes purchased the exact same fabric several times.

I think I need an intervention.

The worst of it is, I have no idea how to organize this space so that I'll keep it up. I can sort the fabric, but how color? amount? project?

I listened to a Get Organized class from the Professional Quilter Magazine. I'm sorry to say it didn't help me much.

What's on my design wall

2009-09-27T22:23:00.000-07:00

I decided to scrap the Chinese Coins from last week. I don't know what I'll do with the pieces, but something will come up I'm sure. I have a lot of 2.5x5" pieces.

So, I have this in the works to replace the coins.
My inspiration was this quilt from Fat Quarter Small Quilts by Darlene Zimmerman. I decided to modify it a bit. 3 inch blocks made the quilt a little too small for a baby quilt. I increased the block size to six inches and changed the colors to my friends lavender and brown choice. The colors in the photo are way off. The brown is not quite that dark and the lavender/purples are much brighter. I think I need to review the manual on my camera.

This was my first attempt with EQ6. I wasn't prepared for the learning curve. I'm not finding it as user friendly as I thought it would be, but I did get this done.

I have to cut the sashing strips and corner stones. I am happy that I got this much done today. I started with cutting and got the blocks done. That, and finishing a couple of lap quilts on the longarm, not a bad day.

I considered entering photos of my stash for Judy's stash collection, but I'm truly too embarrassed.