Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Quilting

Monday I returned to my friends house and quilted two community service quilts on her long arm. I still have two more to go.

Finally, the Ducky quilt is done. I finished the binding today and got the label on. I had it all spread out to take a picture and couldn't find the camera. It seems my daughter has wondered off with it. I told her to bring it back tomorrow.

Hopefully, I can get the binding on the community service quilts tomorrow. I'm having to use my little Gem to do them. My Bernina seems to be having a problem. It clunks loudly when I try to sew on it and the bobbin thread is messing up. I took the bobbin out and cleaned it and changed the needle, but that didn't help. I'm definitely taking it with me to the sewing machine repair class.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Ducky Quilt Quilted!

I'm so happy that the Ducky quilt is quilted. A friend of mine asked if I wanted to learn how to use her computerized long arm machine. So I went to her house yesterday and learned how on Dora's quilt. It took quite a while to do it, but not anywhere as long as it would have take me to do it at home. I used a ducky quilt design, she didn't have skulls and cross bones. I think I will go back Monday and practice some more with some community service quilts if I can get the tops made this weekend. I enjoyed using the long arm. Once I learn how good, she will rent me time on the long arm. That will really be great. I already have a quilt I want to quilt that is a rather late wedding present. They were married last summer and I haven't gotten around to quilting the quilt.

Before I start the community service tops, I need to finish the binding for the duck quilt and get it machine stitched down. Dora's birthday is Wednesday and I want to have it finished by then.

The sewing machine class has been confirmed so off to Oak Ridge, TN we go on the 2nd of March for 3 days. We'll come back Wednesday evening. I'm really looking forward to taking the class.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Candle Block Finished



The candle is done. I finished it this afternoon. I hope the girls got everything worked out with the face block. They were having issues with that.


Now I can get back to Dora's Pirate Ducky quilt. I've just got a little over a week before her birthday. She may be getting an IOU.


Here is another needle turn applique block that I finished a few weeks ago. I had forgotten about it. I finished it and left it in the case with my applique supplies. Found it when I got out my supplies for the candle block.

It is from the Hearts and Flowers block of the month that I started a few years ago. Finishing the blocks is my project for the applique bee I belong to. I also used this block as the center for my roosting round robin. Another project that needs finishing. I still have the last border to but on. At least I now have fabric for it.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Big Sister Quilt Finished

Finally on Friday at my Needle Turners Bee meeting I finished the binding and attached the label on the Big Sister quilt.









This is the back of the quilt. It is flannel and has horses and is pretty.
















Quilt label


I hope I got the quilt folded back up to Dora's satisfaction. She took great pains to fold it just so, so yesterday and then this afternoon I remembered I hadn't taken pictures. I tried to get it folded back the way she had it , so hopefully she won't notice if it isn't perfect.


I started working on the applique candle block for the Viction Assistance quilt this morning. It is do Tuesday. I hee hawed around trying to decide what type applique to do, finally decided on needle turn. Some of the pieces are pretty small to satin stitch on the machine or to back and try to turn. That would have been my choice and machine applique. I remembered switch my block to the other bottom corner, but couldn't remember if I had updated my diagram or not. So that kind of brought me to a halt. A few e-mails later and I now know I'm in the lower right hand corner. So I can get back to work on that. Hope fully I can do some of the applique while we are watching movies tonight.



I did finsh the strip sets for the border on the Ducky quilt and the strip sets for the 80 9-patch blocks for the mystery quilt. I haven't forgotten about that. All the little parts are now ready to be made into 9-patch blocks as soon as I start piecing again.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Mending Done and Label On

The I Spy quilt is finished, yeah!



The embroidery at the top doesn't show up well in the picture. I just hope my mending won't be too noticeable.


This is a picture of the patch I sewed over the star point to hide the bad seam.











The picture is a little fuzzy. Guess I was too close, but this is a picture of the seam that pulled apart. More likely, I didn't have the fabric lined up right and missed sewing it . Very upsetting to discover a miss-sewn seam after the quilt has been quilted. It would have been much easier to fix if I'd seen it earlier.



This is the label I made for the quilt. The backing is flannel. I got it when Fabric 101 had their going out of business sale. I use a greeting card program, "Print Perfect Greeting Cards" that I bought at Staples for around $10. It works really well. I can get four labels per page, which suits me, as I don't like big labels. It recognises more file extensions than my other more expensive programs do, making it easier to import clip art. I bought a collection of 300,000 clip art images and none of my other programs recognised the file extension. The greeting card program also has a clip art gallery. In fact that is what I used for this label. The soon to be baby's dad is a big UGA football fan. That also explains the UGA fabric in the quilt.

Wish I could say the Big Sister quilt was done, but it is getting closer. I still have to hand stitch down the binding and attach the label. I'll work on that today.

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Gotta Mend

While I was attaching the "Little Brother" patch to the I Spy quilt, I noticed a seam that has pulled apart. Definitely not what I was wanting to find! It is right at the top too. One of the novelty prints has pulled away from a star point. I've thought about it some and have decided to applique another star point over the original and extend it to cover the bad seam. Then I will top stitch around the new star point and try to make it look like the quilting. Then I will hope the extra quilting won't be too noticeable on the back. I feel like I will never get these quilts done. I still want to top stitch around the embroidery patch to make sure it is attached good and not fall off after a few washings. I'll use red to match the patch on top and the quilting thread in the bobbin to blend in with the back. Here I thought I was nearly done with just that to do and attaching the label, now this mending to be done where hopefully it won't be noticeable. The Big Sister quilt needs the binding sewn down by hand, something I'm not too speedy about, and the embroidery patch sewn on twice, plus the label.

I still have to get the outer borders on Dora's Pirate Duckie quilt and get it quilted & bound by the 27th. I do not enjoy quilting queen sized quilts. If I can get these other two quilts finished, I will then really have to crack down and work hard on Dora's quilt. I'll have to be in the mood whether I am or not.

Guess I'd better get back to quilting.

Friday, February 8, 2008

Road Trip

We had a nice time yesterday. I was wore out when I finally got home. I stopped and got pizza from Fox's and when I left there, I got caught in traffic. I was so tired and just wanted to go home, and had to sit through the light turning green at least 4 times before I could finally make my right hand turn. I did get the rest of the binding sewn on the I Spy quilt before falling asleep around 7:30p.m.

Here is what I bought yesterday. Tiny Stitches had some really good deals that I took advantage of.


The fabrics on the bolt were $1.50 a yd, but had to buy the entire bolt. The first two, I should be able to use in a quilt that I'm planning to make for a 16 year old boy. The toile, well I just like toiles and plan to use it in a quilt some day, besides Jan wanted some of it. She has the same pattern as I do. The burgundy and the floral were 1/2 price, so got two yards of the burgundy and 3-1/3 yards (what was left on the bolt) of the floral. I just thought the floral was pretty and the burgundy co-ordinated with it. The gold, I need a small piece for a candle stick, but got a yard of it. It wasn't on sale, but was on my shopping list to buy, along with quilting thread. Our next stop was Handcocks. Well we had to drive right by it anyway, so might as well stop and see how they had rearranged the store. We were impressed. I bought bobbins for my Bernina and a pair of socks. We had a nice lunch at Steak N Shake. It's been a long time since I've eaten there and I enjoyed it. Our next stop was JoAnn's, where I finally found some thread. Got enough to quilt three of the tops I have waiting for quilting. Also got FQs for Sandra's birthday in April. Our next stop was the Goodwill store in Acworth. I didn't find anything there, but Jan and Sandra did. Think I had a very successful shopping trip, even if I did spend my grocery money. Maybe we won't starve to death.

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Thread Writing

Well, I did it. It took me all morning to get up the nerve, but I made the "Little Brother", "Big Sister" patches for the two quilts. Guess they turned out all right for a first attempt. I'm in no mood to do it again to see if I can do better.


Hope the white lines will wash off the blue. They came out of the red. I forgot to wash the red before I embroidered on it and had to wash it afterwards. The blue I washed first.

Today is the Paradise Piecers Bee meeting. There are only three of us today, so we planned a road trip to Tiny Stitches. Sandra has never been there. If we have time, we may go to Little Quilts too, and then do lunch. I need a FQ of a brassy gold to do the candle stick for the Victim's Assistance quilt that the EVQG is making. I volunteered to make a block with a candle.

The reason there is only three of us at bee today is because three of our members are at the EVQG retreat in Covington and another is in New Orleans enjoying the Marti Gras.

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

I Voted!

While I was out running my errands, I remembered the primary elections were today. I went all by myself and voted. I'm so proud.

The bank had a sign posted that gave me a chuckle. "There will be a 10 day hold on all rapid refund checks" That kind of defeats the purpose of paying extra to get a quick refund, now doesn't it.

Do I Have Ghosts or am I Old and Senile?

This is not a good morning. I think I'm here alone, except for the cat and dogs. I hear foot steps in the kitchen when I'm in the sun room. A beard trimmer that I thought was being charged when I saw it earlier, is gone. My coat that was hanging on the coat rack in the kitchen earlier, was laying on a kitchen chair when I passed through there a few minutes ago. I'm marking it up to income tax preparation overload. Sunday I filed tax returns for myself, husband , eldest son, and daughter. In the wee hours of this morning I filed my other son's taxes. I figured it was better to go ahead and get it out of the way so I didn't have to listen to them nagging me about it.



Well, the big sister quilt is now quilted. I still have to attach the binding, but I do have it ready. Dora told me Sunday that "Little Brother" and "Big Sister" are to be on the quilts. Claims she told me that before. I probably blocked it out, as it meant more work. I'll do good to get them completed as it is, before "little brother" arrives into this world. I think I'll try some free motion embroidery on co-ordinating fabric and add that to the top borders of the quilt. If that doesn't work out, I'll have to get with someone with an embroidery machine and see what they can do.

Of course that means I'll have to take my Bernina off the frame, which is just as well as I have a candle applique block to do for the victim assistance quilt our guild is making for an organization in Bartow County. I still have to finish the borders on Dora's Duckie Pirate quilt and get it quilted and the binding on before Feb. 27.



I finally got the label on the half log cabin quilt, and a picture of the finished quilt.



After much thought and frustration, I really hate naming quilts, I decided to name it "Moon Beams".

Well, I need to go to the bank and also buy a lottery ticket. Mega Millions is worth around 107 million. Think that is worth taking a chance on.

Friday, February 1, 2008

Taking a Break

I'm taking a break from working on the Ducky top. I've got to figure the outer borders. They are pieced. Need to see if I have any left over strip sets from the 9-patch blocks and figure out how many more I will need to make.

I quilted a little of the Big Sister quilt yesterday afternoon, when I got home from my bee and running errands. So far so good.


I'm getting excited about the sewing machine repair class. I mailed out my registration form and deposit today. Hope the class isn't full. He fills the classes in the order he receives the deposits.


Part 2 of the quiltsville mystery is complete!




Now on to part 3. Only 80 little 9-patches to make this time.