Scared myself...

Remember the trouble I had Friday night with this block?  Well, I figured out how to do it correctly - didn't figure out what I did wrong, though.  Basically, what I did was take it apart and flipped the one blue/black triangle and restitched it - and it fit.  I also went down to The Hen House and bought more of the same fabric and re-cut the squares that needed to be cut into 1/2 square triangles - this time I cut at 4 7/8" instead of cutting larger at 5".

Once all this was done, I was able to finish constructing the 4 blocks needed this month.

Last night, I finished my first embroidered block for my Vintage Tin quilt... (thought I took a pic, but guess I forgot).  Today, I traced the pattern for the next block and will work on it tonight while watching tv.

After doing the tracing for Vintage Tin, I decided that today would be the day that I would make the bowl cozies that I had told a relative that I would do for them.  There are two adults and five kids in the family so I made one for each member.  Mom & Dad are both EMT's and he's a volunteer firefighter ( or was) and I remembered seeing some firefighter scrap fabric in my stash the other day ( left from when I made gson Steven a quilt), so I used that to make their cozies... used Minnie Mouse fabric - along with Mickey Mouse fabric) for the youngest girl - the Minnie Mouse fabric was left from the apron and chef's hat I made her for Christmas.
The only son, I thought, might like a sports themed fabric and I had some; then used a cat print for one of the other girls, a horse print with cowboy/cowgirl boots print for another and a Nemo (the clowfish) type print for the last one.  I still need to sew the hems on the edges ( left from turning right side out) but can do that tonight while watching tv, too.  Then I'll try to find a box to pack them so that I can mail them off tomorrow while I'm sending pkgs to great grandkids in Texas and Holt, too.

Pretty much used up all of my batting for the cozies - was hoping there would be enough left to make my hubby a couple of the cozies using some of the Coca-Cola fabrics I have.  I'll just stick the fabric in the tub with the little scraps of batting I have left and when I get some more of the batting, I'll know where the fabric is to make them for him.

Guess that's all for today - actually, the weekend.  Tomorrow, I have to run errands ( get groceries & pay bills) so there probably won't be much done quilting wise.

TTYL

O Wa Ta Goo Siam!!

The other day, I went over to Annette's to see if I could help her figure out why her sewing machine wasn't working.  I tried sewing with it - got a couple of stitches and then it would lock up and make an awful noise.  Checked underneath to see if there was some loose threads jamming it up - nope.  Tried again... still same reaction.  So I told her that I would take it in to Galls when I went in to pick up the part for Mo'e with the plan that I would do it Wednesday - but then the snow came early and heavy.
Finally got in to Gall's this afternoon... as soon as I removed it from it's handy carrying bag, Mike saw the problem... it wasn't threaded properly...the thread hadn't hooked into the take up arm properly and it had slid out.  I hadn't even checked the take up arm - and I know that I knew I should do that!!
Well, as Annette said when I returned her 'broke' machine - at least it didn't cost any money.

As for my own quilting... I've been doing a little of this and a little of that.  Finished two rows (snowman and penquins) for my Christmas row by row.  No pics yet and I've already stowed them into their proper bin.  Bought a new shelving unit to set by Mo'e that will keep my supplies there a little more/better organized - everything's off the couch and the floor.  I sort of started another quilt last night -  it has lots of embroidery and I traced one of the blocks last night & then basted muslin to the back of the block this morning.  I might start the hand embroidery part tonight while watching tv - if there's anything good on; if there isn't, then I'll wait til tomorrow night ( I'm a big fan of Pitbulls and Parolees).

Today, I've been working on Amish with a Twist Block 2 and almost broke my heart.  I'm really trying to be careful about following the directions and measuring twice before cutting the pieces.  I had started on doing the 1/2 square triangles - got the first set done and then read where I'm to repeat it with the other colored blocks.  Well, I had two more colored blocks listed than I had the blue/black blocks to go with them.  I went over the directions again and again and AGAIN.. could not figure out what I had done wrong or missed... checked my blue/black fabric to see if I had enough to cut two more - umm  NOPE.  I'm figuring I'm going to have to go to The Hen House to see if she has anymore of the blue/black.  Sat there in my chair and read the pattern directions ONE MORE TIME when I finally saw my mistake... I had two teal blocks that were supposed to be sewn to the two pumpkin? blocks and then cut into HSTs.  By golly I GOT IT!!  WHEW!!
After getting the HSTs sewn, pressed and trimmed, I decided I was going to take a break and that's when I went to Gall's.

 I deserve a treat after all the stress I caused myself so hubby and I are going out for dinner tonight - no cooking for me  YAY!

Dinnertime!

TTYL

Unproductive

This weekend was our monthly sew in at the library...usually I can count on getting a reasonable amount of sewing done... not this time.

First off, hubby had a CT scan scheduled for Friday morning and when we got back home from that, I realized that I NEEDED a nap because I apparently did not sleep well the night before.  Two hours later, I finally made it to the sew in -- missing lunch with the group.

After arriving, I realized that I did not have everything I needed.  I had packed my machine, cutting mats, the tub with the project I wanted to work on ( I Love My All stars), etc.  but forgot the glue stick and acrylic ruler.  Not wanting to go back home just for those two items, I ended up just sitting and chatting with the others while they worked.

Home once again and I packed the glue stick & acrylic ruler into my purse the first thing... I had every intention of getting off to a good start and just whipping out those paper pieced blocks like nobody's business the next morning.  What's that saying... the best laid plans... can't remember the rest.

Yeah, they didn't happen.... first, it had been a few weeks since I had worked on these blocks, so I had to refresh my memory on which patterns I needed to use for the next row of blocks; got that figured out, and I struggled through the first block without too much trouble.  But that's when the best laid plans went awry.  I kept messing up... sewing fabric upside down, the wrong color fabric in the wrong place--- in other words, LOTS of unsewing was being accomplished, but not a lot of keepable seams.  I did manage to finish two blocks; started on block three but didn't get far because I was tearing the pattern pieces due to frustration at having to rip out yet another seam.  I finally cried "UNCLE", packed up my chit and came home about two hours earlier than I had planned.

I stopped at Walmart on the way home & picked up a pizza for our dinner along with a few other groceries and two new balls for our Buddy (hopefully ones he won't be able to chew up so easily).
After dinner, I went to turn the tv in the family room on, only to find that it wasn't working.. the power outage from high winds the night before had apparently messed it up ( found out three hours later that the one in our bedroom was suffering with the same problem).

I went through the troubleshooting in the booklet the dish company gives out and tried what it said to do if your tv has 'snow' on the screen - it didn't work so I looked up HELP on their website and tried what was there... still didn't work.  I found a phone number to call - got a computer, of course - and after a couple of frustrating minutes trying to do what it suggested, I asked for a REAL PERSON... I actually got one!!  SHOCK!!  AND he was in Florida - not some foreign country!!!... Very nice man, very patient with me.  We tried several things, but met the same results so scheduled a tech to come out.  Unfortunately, the quickest he could get me on the schedule was next Sat.  I told him that was ridiculous and he agreed... he said he left a note on the schedule for the tech to give me a call if he found an opening any sooner.  I asked if I was going to get credit for not having my full service for the next week... he said that I would and that it would be in this billing cycle.  Sure enough, when I was checking my email a little later, there was an email from the dish co. notifying me that we have a $20 credit on our account.  It's not a lot compared to the rates they're charging us ( ridiculous amount), but it helps.  So, now we sit and wait....  took sleep aid pills last night so I could get to sleep since I need 'background sounds' to fall asleep at night and will probably have to take them for the rest of the week, which I hate :(.

Oh well, at least now I'll catch up on my Netflix list of shows/movies I've been wanting to watch.

Today, I'm going to try and get at least a couple more All star blocks done and maybe work a little on my Christmas Row by Row.

TTYL

Thursday's a go!

I decided to go through my stash of blue fabrics last night to see if I could find SOMETHING that would work for binding on the Snowbaby bowtie quilt since I didn't feel like going over to Walmart to buy 1/2 yd of 'something'.  I found just enough... just a small strip left that can go into the 'string' bin.  Binding made and sewn onto the quilt... that's three this week - woo hoo!!

I finally got started on the Christmas Row by Row ( Sindy Rodenmeyer design).. it seemed like every time I wanted to start, something stopped it... missing white fabric, missing pattern, etc etc.  The fabric was 'missing' because I had taken care of it while I was cleaning last week - all the more reason not to clean, right?   Last night, I traced the six snow men and fused three onto their panel.  Decided to blanket stitch with white thread around the snowmen, straight stitch with brown for the stick arms and narrow satin stitching in orange for the noses - and I'm using tiny black buttons for the mouths and eyes.

I've also been going through that bin where I found the fabric kit that I used for the Snowbaby bowtie quilt... going to weed out what I definitely will use and what I probably won't use and should donate to the guild's charity quilt stash.

Went to Dr. this morning for yearly checkup... he said I'm so normal that I'm boring  lol.  He did increase my Vit. D, though... from 1000 to 5000 - he said I'd quickly notice the difference ( as in more energy?) woo hooo!  I'm all for that - as long as my legs co-operate, which they didn't when he wanted me to 'jump' up on the exam table -- I tried, but it just wasn't going to happen.  He said I gave him the 'wife look' and he gets it enough from the Mrs. Randall at home enough to recognize it.  LOL

Ok I'm off to play

TTYL

Hump Day

Finished the John Deere quilting yesterday; got the binding & label on first thing this morning,  This afternoon, using another cut of the John Deere fabric and fabric left from the quilt backing, I made a matching pillowcase.

Here's the quilt on Mo'e before I started the quilting - the only picture I have right now.  

Ok  here's the finished quilt... a little narrow, but I'm sure it will work for a kid :).

that's all 

TTYL

Tuesday noon

Not a lot to report (so far) today.. I started quilting on the baby bow ties later yesterday, but couldn't get the tension right - I stitched two rows ( one straight and one meandering) then reached underneath the quilt to  feel the stitches... and I felt them.  If I can't feel them, it means the tension is correct.  I peeked underneath and saw eyelashes and really loose stitches.  Good news/bad news... good is that they were pretty easy to put out since the tension was so loose... bad news was that I had to pull them all out and then had trouble getting the tension right.  I ended up taking a break for a few hours before trying again.  On the second attempt to set the tension, all it took was a couple of turns and everything was back to normal - well, my normal anyway - lol.

So I got back to the quilting this morning and finished just before noon.  There wasn't enough fabric left to do the binding so I dug into my stash of binding leftovers.  I don't have a lot of blues - or enough of any one other color to do this quilt - did find a turquoise with dragonflies on it, but will use that only if I can't come up with anything else.  I'll check my yardage stash to see if I can find something there - if not, it's off to Walmart because I'm not spending big bucks.

Next up on Mo'e is another piece I found in one of my stash bins - fabric I 'inherited' from my cousin, Phyllis after she passed away.  It's a farm scene with tractor, barn, cows, corn in the field... I'm not cutting up & piecing it - going to keep it as a whole cloth.  I even lucked out and found enough green yardage ( in one piece) for the backing - YES!  Now I just have to make sure I have green thread for the bobbins and I think I do :).  There's a smaller piece of the same print that I can cut into binding strips, too - YAY!

Haven't worked on All stars in DAYS and I'm behind on my self-imposed schedule for making the pieced blocks for Scalloped Potato and I haven't even started my Christmas Row by Row BOM yet... partly because I misplaced the white fabric I need for the snowmen - arghhh.  See what happens when I take care of things? - I lose them.

Ok, off to do something, just not sure what.

TTYL

Monday morning

I was back working at the baby bowtie quilt.  The top is done YAY!! and, after piecing just about everything that was left to add to the backing fabric, it's all loaded onto Mo'e - thread is wound on bobbins and threaded onto the machine; just not much energy left to actually do the quilting.
Here's the top hanging on my 'design wall'

Yes, I know that one pair of rows was attached upside down... it is what it is - I wasn't going to stress myself out making sure that everything was 'perfect'.  I'm sure that whoever receives this probably won't even notice; they'll be too busy enjoying the colors and snuggling under it.

What's next?  I think it's probably time I got back to the All stars blocks... maybe tomorrow.  :)

TTYL

Baby Bow Ties Quilt

After calling Colette to pick her brains yesterday, this is what we came up with for the fabric kit that I found in my stash.

the large sashing strip is my idea... not sure yet whether I'll use it or not.  I have a feeling it's going to be a VERY LARGE baby quilt... these aren't even half of the bow tie blocks.  Luckily, I was able to find the pale blue background fabric ( 2 yards!) in my stash.  

I may end up adding more blocks to make it wider... and I may use one of the 1/2 yard cuts from the kit for the wide sashing.  What I'm thinking is that I'll do two or maybe three rows of the bow ties then a sashing row - and do three or four sets of the bow tie rows... we'll have to see how many blocks I have when I finish making them.  I still have more of the focus fabrics so I can make more of the bow ties if I choose to.  We'll see.  

Anyway, this has turned out to be more than just a quick quilt - certainly not a quilt in a day, which I was kind of hoping for.  It'll be worth it.

Nap time already... getting a headache from not enough sleep and too cold of weather outside.  

 TTYL

Catch up

I've been busy the past few days and just haven't blogged.  First off,  I finished the SD quilt the same night that I posted that the quilting was done but still needed binding and label.  Here he is :)  I took him to our guild meeting this week and everyone seemed to LOVE him.

I'm still cleaning/purging my sewing room... and piecing blocks together to make 25 patch blocks for the upcoming Scalloped Potato quilt; I think I have 12 done so far - which means I have 12 more to do.  

The day before yesterday, needing a break from YIKES! cleaning, I found two pieces of cute fabric and loaded them onto Mo'e along with a scrap of batting from the charity quilt stash and yesterday, I quilted it up.  Nothing fancy, but it'll hold together and it was a design that I'd been wanting to try on fabric ( after practicing and practicing on paper).  Today, I put a faux piping border & label on and call it done.

 front

back

While downloading these pics I found one I took the other day of one of my former scrap tubs - I cleaned it out and it now holds 'strings'  and a pattern for future string quilts.

 Mind you, this is the smaller tub of scraps - the larger one is at least twice that size.   I pawed through this bin a couple of times and pulled out some fabrics that were either bigger than 'scraps' or that I wanted to cut into 2" squares... after a bit of sorting, I finally said to heck with it and put the majority of the 'mess' into a bag and took it to Colette when we had our weekly guild meeting.  I'll get to the bigger bin one of these days.

Right now, I'm going to head back into the 'stash room' and see what I can find to put onto Mo'e for another charity quilt.

TTYL


p.s,
Look what I found in one of the bins in my 'stash room'....

Three appear to be fat quarters, two are maybe 1/2 yard cuts and then there's the big piece ... I'm not sure how big, but it's big enough for a crib quilt - so I'm thinking I can use that for a backing.  Now, the question is, how do I make the top out of the other fabrics?...

Close only counts......

in horseshoes and hand grenades but, today, it also counts in quilting.  I just finished quilting SD!  By this time tomorrow, it will be trimmed and bound with label attached.  I was going to trim it now, but the freezer top ( my work surface in my sewing room) still has some things on it from my cleaning session last night, so it can wait a little bit - maybe even overnight.  I'll post a pic tomorrow after it's completely done.

Yes, I said right... I was cleaning in my sewing room last night.  All those little bins/tubs with bits of this and strips of that are almost all empty and the fabrics that were in them were cut up into 2" squares, 2 1/2" squares, 2 1/2" x 4 1/2"  and 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" rectangles.  Anything smaller (or I just didn't want to mess with) was put in bag for Colette - anything larger than a fat eighth and that I liked, I put in a pile to save for later use. In the process of doing this, I found my entire ironing board - not just the middle  -- the entire top!  and the table next to my sewing table is almost completely cleared, too.  Wheee!!

I found more blue and more whites to use in the All stars quilt so put them in that bin... put the other colors into their correct bins - which need some more purging/organizing, but that can wait for another day.  I'm just tickled (and surprised) that I got so much done.

Oh, and I got another patch block done for the upcoming Scalloped Potato quilt - that's what the 2" squares I was cutting is for.  I've got so many, though, that there will probably be LOTS left over - maybe for doll quilts.

Almost time for dinner, which, of course, I got to get something out of the freezer for.  Guess we'll be having lasagna tonight.

TTYL

I'm not happy

To be more specific, I'm not a happy ebay shopper.  I ordered two yards of Scooby Doo print fabric from one seller - then realized that I needed more so looked for another seller ( because 2 was supposedly all the first seller had left) and, when I found one, I ordered two and a half yards from that one.  This was in Dec. '15.  A few days ago, I serged the edges so that I could wash them without fraying.  Yesterday, I laid them out to be trimmed before joining into one piece.  The supposedly 2 yd piece measured about 58" (before I trimmed off the serging threads) and the second, longer piece measured out at about a yard and three quarters.  There is no way that serging along the edges ( I didn't let the serger take any fabric off) and washing would make the fabric shrink that much!!  Luckily, there was just enough to cut off the longer piece and join to the smaller piece so that they measured the same... and it's just barely 6" wider than the quilt top, so it's doable - but that's not the point.  And I really think it's too late for me to contact the sellers - I'll just be a lot more careful and be sure to measure any fabrics ( if any) that I purchase online from now on.

SD's backing and batting are on the frame - I'm just waiting to get a return call from Cathy S. about whether I should cut the background fabric out from behind the applique' or not.  I don't normally do it, but I don't normally have such a HUGE applique' either.  I know that she's done HUGE pieces before so I want her opinion... I saw her at The Hen House yesterday, but, of course, forgot to ask.

In the meantime, I finished another pieced block for the upcoming Scalloped Potato scrap quilt... 3 done - 21 to go.  I SHOULD get back to the Allstars quilt blocks, but I don't want to drag the tub back into my sewing room right now --- I'm TRYING to clean/organize, not add to the clutter.  I guess I could just go back in and work on that.

TTYL

Early Saturday morning

Thought I'd post early this morning instead of waiting til later in the day.  Thursday was 'one of those days' ... when things just didn't go like I thought they should have.  First, my Ugly Sweater block didn't come out right, then later in the day I decided to work on a kit that I had bought on clearance from Joann's YEARS ago.  The first thing you had to do was make half square triangles - cutting blocks 2 7/8".  Now, I KNOW that when it says 7/8" in the cutting directions you should measure up to the next whole number, but did I remember to do that? - noo, not until after I started cutting :(.  By then it was too late to correct myself because there just wasn't enough fabric in the kit for do-overs.  So, I made do with what I had.  I did have to go searching for some close-to-matching red fabric later on because what I cut just wasn't working.  I finished everything except for the binding that night ( instead of going to guild).

Yesterday morning, I was up bright and early... went to the hospital to have blood drawn for my upcoming visit to the dr. ( annual), stopped and filled up the gas tank on the car... got 1/2 a tank for $12.50 ( think I paid $1.339 a gallon) then went and got my hair cut ( REALLY short) before heading to Walmart for a few groceries.  After taking care of the groceries, I was finally able to eat something ( I had to fast for the bloodwork - yuck) before heading into my sewing room and doing the binding on the previous day's project.  Forgot to include a hanging sleeve or corner triangles before sewing the binding on, so did that last night while watching tv.

Another project to cross off my 'to do someday' list. 

 After doing the binding, but before sewing the sleeve on, I decided it was safe to add the top and bottom borders onto the SD quilt top.. no problem :).  SD is now laying on Mo'e while I piece the backing together and go down to The Hen House to buy some batting ( I have LOTS of batting, but Queen size - no twin).

I also pieced blocks together for our upcoming Scalloped Potato class in April.  Two out of twenty four done - I have time.

I also need to get back to working on the All stars blocks that I put aside while I worked on SD and tried to do some organizing in my room.  I'd love to get them done but it's not something that I can just zip through... the blocks are paper pieced and can take a couple of hours minimum per pair....  and I want to get started on my Christmas Row by Row so that I won't end up waiting so long that I won't have time to finish it before Christmas this year.... and I still have this month's Amish with a twist to do.  LOL, it's only the 6th, I think I have time.

Ok, enough 'talk'... time to head to my room to do 'something' until The Hen House opens.

TTYL

OK I QUIT

I just finished block #2 for the Ugly Sweater quilt after about 3 hours of working on it - only to find out that there's no way it's going to measure 12 1/2" x 12 1/2"  :(.

It's hard to see in this pic, but I have the block on the 12 1/2" mark (on the left)... on the right, you can kind of see where the block doesn't reach the 0 mark.... which means that the block is more like 11 1/2" x a little over 11 3/4".  ARGHHHHH!!!

I THOUGHT the problem might be the background fabric; that it was a little too stretchy ( bought it at Walmart - need I say more) so I sprayed with Best Press and that seemed to help a little bit, but not enough.

I've got better things to do than waste my time struggling with these blocks... hence, I QUIT.

As for the SD quilt, the applique' is done; I just need to add the top and bottom borders and it will be ready to load onto Mo'e.  I thought I'd get them done this morning, but since I spent THREE hours on that Ugly Sweater block, they'll have to wait til tomorrow.  I'm not in the mood to sew anymore today and I'm thinking about going and getting my hair cut this afternoon; thought about stopping down at The Hen House, too, but there's nothing that I HAVE to have.

Guess I'll just sit here and play on my computer for awhile.

TTYL

I need a break

Just taking a break to post today.  I'm plodding along on the SD quilt; it's going better than I had hoped but still takes time to make sure it's right.

Here I was just checking to see how the brown would show up against the '60's type' batik.  I like it :).

Yep, just enough room within the inner borders  :).

Obviously, I'm not getting anything else done - quilting or otherwise.  I'm too busy focusing on this one.  The only real deadline I have for finishing it is that I'd like to be able to hang it in our guild's quilt show which is in March... and I want to mail it off to it's recipient so that it will arrive by the end of May ( his birthday).

Ok back to work

TTYL

Finishes and Starts

Yesterday, just before dinner time, I finished the 'Goodnight Irene' quilt.  It could have been done sooner, but of course, I can't do a quilt without some problems.  I sailed right through the quilting until I got to the last row - the poly thread only broke once until the last row and I had to load a new bobbin - then it was breakage again and again.  I adjusted the bobbin tension just a smidgen to the right and then back to the left... either Mo'e doesn't like fully wound bobbins or my tension is wrong -- or it's something else, I don't know.  Anyway, I kept on and here it is...

LOTS of feathers - if it's white, it's got a feather on it.  I knew the stitching wouldn't show in the colored parts so I just outlined the perimeter of each block staying about 1/4" to the inside... then I stitched around the four center blocks and then did a curve on the four corners of the same center blocks.  One of the individual blocks that go around the edge of the quilt is not like the others... I don't know what I was thinking at the time.

I also had some issues with controlling where Mo'e went... there were times that he just wanted to go in one direction and I had to 'fight' with him to get him to go where I wanted him to.  I kept going to the back of the frame to move the power cords, thinking that might be the problem - that he was getting hung up by them, but I don't think that's it.... it could be that there's a thread or two laying on one or more of the tracks... I looked but couldn't see anything.  I'll have to give him another good cleaning before I load the next quilt.

Last night, I started on my first block for the Ugly Sweater Quilt a long that another blogger is hosting ( her design, too).  I don't think my sweater is ugly, but I wish I had used different colors for the sweater- or at least the inside ( 9 patch).

It went together pretty easy... but obviously I did something wrong because the sleeves ended up longer than the rest of the sweater and the background.  Once I trimmed them off while squaring up the block, I ended up with 12" x 11 3/4" when it should have been 12 x 12.  I'll just have to 'fudge' something later to make the block fit in... or start over and make a new one.

While out running errands yesterday, I stopped at The Hen House and purchased my block two for the Amish with a Twist BOM - and found some turquoise batik to use on the Scooby Doo quilt as an inner border.  The AWAT block will wait a few days... today, I start on the SD quilt!!  No more 'dinkin' around.
  I'll admit I'm nervous about doing it, but only because I don't know how to handle just a HUGE applique'.  I don't want to use a fusible ( like Heat n Bond) so how do I cut the pieces?  Freezer paper patterns is my solution.  But I'm getting ahead of myself - FIRST, I need to assemble the background fabrics... center, inner border and outer border.  Sounds simple, doesn't it... so why am I so nervous about doing it???
Well, enough stalling.... I'm going to eat some breakfast and then get started.  Wish me luck!!

TTYL