Whoooooooooosh!!

It was a busy day... first off, I finally got to take this quilt outside for it's photo op... #3 chicken quilt... aka "What the cluck" by Sindy Rodenmayer of https://www.fatcatpatterns.com

Then it was on to constructing the Summer quilt along top that I completed the blocks for yesterday.
Right off the bat, there's a boo-boo...

I started sewing the pinwheel and beachball row to the wrong piece... it was supposed to be sewn to the white sashing strip.  Luckily, I caught my goof in the second block and was able to quickly correct it.  Here it is up on my design wall.... up above it, you can see the back of the puppy/kitty quilt that I had to pin up so that I had room for the Summer quilt.

which is on the LA frame now... it's basically completed, but I think I want to put something in the sashing strips... still thinking on it.

After I finished as much as I did, I went on to make binding for both this quilt and the puppy/kitty quilt and pieced backing fabric for the puppy/kitty quilt while I contemplated what, if anything I wanted to put in the sashing strips.  I have an idea, but I'm going to sleep on it tonight and see if I still want to do it tomorrow.

Then, I worked on a BOM that's been neglected for several months.  It's an applique' that I was not using fusible web with; I was drawing out the pieces onto freezer paper then ironing them onto the fabric pieces, cutting them out and then using glue to fuse them to the background before I stitched them down.  Well, I just want to get this thing DONE, so now I'm tracing onto fusible web in hopes that it will go a little quicker... I have blocks 1-4 and 6 done already... with blocks 5 and 7-9 to go.  #5 is what I traced tonight and I hope to get it all fused down tomorrow... might even get some stitching done, too... we'll see.

Ok  bedtime...

take care...

ttyl

It's a TA-DAAAA moment

Second day in a row that I've been like a busy lil bee... first off, I had to go to Walmart for a little bit of groceries and to search for buttons for my puppy/kitty quilt... I didn't find black fusible crystals.. did find a pkg that had teeny tiny black and white mixture of crystals - not what I was looking for.  Did find cream/tan buttons for the toes, though... probably bigger than what I really needed but there wasn't anything smaller unless you went micro and I already have those here and they're too small.  Oh, and I found my pkg of black crystals that were 'hiding' in my sewing room - not fusible and pretty darned tiny :(.

After that quick trip, I started in on the final block for the Summer Quilt Along...  I love it!!

   I still have two sashing strips to cut out, but otherwise it's all ready to put together....

Then it was back to the puppy/kitten quilt...  last night I had these done but didn't share the pics for some reason --?? --

I like the way they turned out, although they are far from perfect... you'd have to get pretty close to see where things went wrong.  These were made with 1/4" wide bias tape strips that didn't quite want to curve exactly how I was trying to get them to.  It was something I hadn't tried before ... Kind of a pain, but I survived and so did the quilt borders...  Once that was done, I had to applique' puppy and kitty feet ( minus toes) onto the opposite end of each border piece.

Today, I stitched the toes on and used some small black beads that I had here for the eyes.

It was while I was sewing the eyes on that I noticed this....

another piece that almost got past me without being appliqued - thank goodness I caught it.  Yes, I did look it over to check for missing applique' earlier, but I missed this one when doing so.  I guess it's a good thing that I recognize that this happens to me almost every time I applique' and am learning to check and recheck - it doesn't mean that they'll all be found before I start quilting, but I'm getting a little better  :)

Ok, so here's the completed quilt top.....

You really need to see it in person,.. the background is a soft yellow - not pale or white in any way shape or form.  I'm not sure how I'm going to quilt it yet... label is made but need to find something for the backing.

Speaking of backing... I received my order for 10 yards of baseball print fabric today.  Going to use it when I start making hubby's t shirt quilts for the kids/grandkids.

Ok  that's it for today....

take care

ttyl  :)

Busy busy busy

I've been working all day on the puppy and kitty quilt top and I can say that it's almost done.

 This is the main part of the body... the borders are done but not attached yet as I need to sew buttons on for 'toes' and I also have to either find my black heat set 'crystals' or decide to hand sew buttons or beads on for eyes.

Before starting back to work on the p.a.k. quilt top this morning, I needed to finish sewing the binding onto this quilt - and then hand sewing down the two sides of the label that didn't get caught in the binding.

this is the front...

and this is the back... I think it turned out pretty cool

Tomorrow, I'm going to have to clean off my sewing table and re-organize it.  I KNOW that's where I saw the black crystals last, but darned if I can find them there now :(.   I did find the missing jar of salt from the Great Salt Lake in Utah, though.  One of my former step-daughters has a daughter who collects salt from different places and times; I think one of her 'bottles' has salt from the late 1800's - I can't remember for sure, but I think that's what I was told.  Now, she'll have some from the GSL that was collected in the early 1980s.

Ok  bedtime.... actually an hour past.  Buddy might not be speaking to me now lol.

take care....

ttyl

I'm giving myself a WHOOP WHOOP

Not because I've finished anything, but because I've made a lot of progress in the past two days... I hope to have this one done tomorrow - Thursday at the latest.

I only have the Cinderella princess left to quilt and then I have to go back and finish the flowers in the pink border and then do feathers in the outer purple border.

AND AND.... yesterday, I did these - yes, all THREE...in one day...

and this afternoon, I did this one... #9 of 9... which means the sashing will be next... not looking forward to that, mainly because it's going to require more standing than I think I can do right now.  

I'm going to have to do it in 'sections'...  cut a little, sew a little, repeat -  and keep an eye out for the black fusible crystals ( for their eyes) at the same time - and I can call it multi-tasking  lol

I need to put a little black circle beneath the tail or something...  I think it's hard to tell that it's his right rear leg in front of the basket and the left rear ( tan color) is on the edge of the basket.

Ok, almost time for AGT (Americas Got Talent)... I think I missed it last week - don't want to do that again.

take care

ttyl

Another little nutshell

I worked on the Summer Sew Along again today... this was week 4, I think.  My friend, Katie, finished hers first and said that she didn't have any problems, but if anyone was going to have a problem, it would be me.  lol   I told her not to be putting a curse on me. 

I only had one small problem and that was because I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have been ( Midsomer Murders final show was on Netflix).

It's not a great pic... as I was cropping, etc to put it on here, I noticed that I cut off almost all of the right side and a bit of the left side of the row....  they're there, trust me... it happened because I was sitting down holding the phone up over my head in front of me because I didn't feel like standing ( yes, another one of  'those' days ).  There will be a photo of the entire quilt top after I finish the last block/row next week - or the week after.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on going back to work on the puppy and kitten quilt.. I think I only have four more blocks to applique' and then I can put the top together.  I want to TRY and work some more on the Princess quilt that's residing on Mo'e at the moment; I didn't expect it to take me this long to do it.  Well, sometimes plans have to change and you have to 'go with the flow'.

Ok, it's after 10... I'm sure Buddy is close by waiting for me to tell him "Let's go to bed".

take care...

ttyl

Smaller nutshell

I went to Walmart and bought up several fat quarters, most of which I can use for the Quilt along Summer Challenge ... I couldn't find magenta but found fuschia which will have to be close enough.
Hopefully, the pdf will be ready to print out tomorrow and, hopefully, I'll feel like cutting and sewing tomorrow...

I sure didn't today.  :(


take care

ttyl

In a nutshell

I haven't done a whole lot of quilting the past few days.  Most of what I did on Wednesday, I ended up spending a couple of hours ripping the stitches back out because the tension was 'wonky' in a couple of places -- and because I'm using black bobbin thread on a solid lavenderish backing fabric, every little start and finish will show.  It just seemed better to rip out most of the stitches and start again, which I did. 

This is a shot of the backing... you can see a little of the top color thanks to the overhead light, but mostly what you are seeing is the stitching I did.

Here's the top,..

You can't see them very well, if at all, in this pic, but I'm doing linen colored thread to make flowers in the pink border.  And I THINK I'm going to use a medium blue to stitch feathers in the purple border ( I don't have a purple Glide).  The only other stitching will be black over the black lines.  Not perfect, but it's for a three year old who probably won't care.  :)  I've completed the princess on the left and have most of the one on the lower right done... my knee has really been giving me fits the last couple days and it's been hard to walk let alone stand at the LA.  I'll just keep plugging away as I can.  

I think I showed the kit I picked/purchased for last weekend's sew along with Angela Walters.. well, since most of the supplies were still 50% off during the weekend, I went ahead and ordered fabric for the backing and binding,  I LOVE IT.  It's probably not what someone would expect me to pick - I like bright colors, but usually only solids.  This one's bright, but not a solid.

It's even brighter in person.  ..  and, no, I haven't even started on the top.

  I was pretty disappointed in this so called weekend sew a long.... every couple of hours there would be a live question and answer period where people could post questions and Angela would answer and then there might be a five or ten minute bit on how to sew a Y seam or  - I can't even remember what the other two things were.  It seemed to be mostly repeats of what was shown earlier and videos about Angela's new 'reality show'.  I like Angela, don't get me wrong, and I'm not really sure what I expected from this weekend sew along, but it certainly left me feeling let down.  I already knew how to do Y seams... did MANY MANY of them in this quilt.

Maybe if I had joined in with the group on facebook, it would have felt more like a quilt along, but I wanted to be able to listen while I cut/stitched/whatever and I don't think I could have done it if I had to keep stopping what I was doing to read the comments.  Ok, I'm getting off my 'soapbox'.  

While going through my email box trying to clear out some 'old' stuff, I happened to find a coupon from Craftsy ( why couldn't I have found it BEFORE I ordered the backing !?!?!) which was only good until the end of this month.  Back I went to Craftsy's site to see if there was something I'd like and could use the coupon on... hey 25% is nothing to sneeze at! lol.  Luck would have it, I found a layer cake that will be perfect.

Of course, now I'll have to come up with a backing for it - I already know how I want to use it... the double cut layer cake pattern from Missouri Star Quilt Company.  I've made it once before and have a Christmas themed layer cake (and backing) that I want to do the same with.  It's so easy and I don't have to concentrate - just stay mildly focused.  IF I can get this Troll one done by Sept., I'll send it to the great granddaughter who's birthday is in early Oct,  She'll be six and I think she'll love it.  

Ok, it's nine o'clock... I'm going to bed.  I think I heard that Hallmark has a new mystery movie being released tonight - going to go try and watch it.

take care....

ttyl

table runner

I finished quilting the table runner and since there was a piece of batting that was sort of square in size left on one end ( I pieced batting), I decided to do the remaining block while I was at it.  I'm not crazy about a couple of sections, but over all I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

 table runner from underneath.... light shining from above is what makes it look so thin, I think.

                                                                            ta da!!!

                                                                    sort of a close up....

and this is the lone block... a little harder to do but I managed - not perfect but ok.

I'm not sure when I'll get to the binding... would be nice to have it done by Thurs. night guild meeting - maybe.  I just remembered that I wanted to get a couple of star ornaments done this week for the guild's Christmas tree....  we'll see on that, too.

Now to go find something for dinner that won't require me to do a lot of standing ( I've met my limit today)

take care....

ttyl

p.s.  (Wed. a.m.) I did the binding last night and finished both the table runner and the lone block.  

Quick Note

I finished the sunflower blocks

 and then I did these two blocks....

Now I'm off to watch what's left of Who Do You Think You Are....

take care

ttyl

Catchin' Up! Ferrero Rocher time again

Remember this 'boo boo'?  Before.....

After.....

The quilt is DONE... binding, label and all.  No picture yet as I want to take it outside but don't have whatever it takes to take it down the front steps, lay it on the lawn, climb back up the steps, take the pic then walk back down the steps to pick it up and take it back into the house.  Maybe later today :).

After I finished the quilt, I decided I'd better get to working on the Summer Quilt a long with Julie Cefalu... the one my friend, Katie, and I have both been working on.  I THOUGHT that she had already started hers on Saturday from the way she was talking about trying to do the sunflowers a different way.  

Leaves done... not TOO bad, although I had a bit of a problem trying to figure out the orientation of one of the blocks and then I think I made three going one way and had to cut new pieces for one leaf so that I could get it to go the correct way.

Then came the sunflowers.... bleah!...  I THOUGHT I would do English paper piecing - something I hadn't done in awhile.  Well, I have, I think, two sizes... a one inch and another size that I don't know right off.  Anyway, neither seemed to look like they would fit 'right' when I laid them out on the background block.  In the pic above, the background blocks are larger than needed because I knew that there would be some sort of appliquing involved and that can cause background fabrics to 'shrink' some and they needed to 6 1/2" unfinished after stitching the sunflower on.

yada yada yada... so the e.p.p. didn't look like it was going to work for me but I didn't want to trace all those little pieces she provided for another version of the sunflower.  I found my dresden blade ruler and decided I'd try it at 2"... it worked!  Of course, I didn't know how many I'd need for each flower so it took some time to figure that all out... and, silly me, went and stitched wedges together without stitching each wedge along the top so that I could turn it and make a point......... so spent quite a bit of time ripping stitches out and redoing....

Oh yeah, and then I sewed the two pieces together without checking them first and this is what I got....

All better now.

The second one is done to the point that it's ready to be sewn down... it's pinned, but it was dinner time and then phone calls started coming in, and I just lost interest in working on it after that.... I'll finish it today.

After the phone calls and dinner, I loaded a 'charity' project onto Mo'e... and started working on it... yeah, I know, I should have gone back and finished that freakin' sunflower, but I didn't.

One of the guild members brought me some star blocks and fabric that she had used for the background of the star blocks and said that she decided she didn't want to finish them and would I want them?... well, sure... I'm usually up for a challenge.  I took three and bought some fabric to border them, set them on point using some of the fabric that she gave me and made a table runner.  I like it and think it just might sell at the church's bazaar this fall.  I've got two of the stars quilted...

This is the second one ( the one in the middle), which looks better than the first one.  There's a bump in the center that I ended up having to raise my foot up a teensy bit for - otherwise I was getting stuck on that bump.  I'm not sure yet how I'll quilt the background, of course, I'm thinking feathers, but that still leaves a lot of options.

There's a fourth star that  I'm thinking I'll make it into a potholder or hotpad to go with the table runner; I was hoping that I'd be able to lay it on the backing & batting along with the table runner and quilt it at the same time, but nope, there wasn't enough room.   I'll focus on it AFTER I finish the sunflower block and the table runner.

All that being said....  guess I'd better get at it...

take care....

ttyl

It's been a long haul

but I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have one more color to use on the "What the Cluck" quilt and then I have to go back and use blue again for a 'block' that somehow I missed.  Once I do that... It's done and ready to take off the frame.

This has taken awhile because in the process I decided that I wanted to try more detailed quilting than I usually do.

Normally, I don't like to stitch over appliques... this time, that's exactly what I did.  In most parts, I'm very pleased... in other parts, not so pleased because the black thread that I used in the bobbin has decided to show it's head between stitches.  I'm really REALLY hoping that once it's washed and dried, they will sink back to their own side of the batting/quilt.  If not, I'm not sure what to do.  I've continually checked my bobbin tension and it's spot on... and since it doesn't do it all the time... I don't know what is causing it.  Crossing fingers that washing & drying will take care of the problem.

I can't remember if I shared this OOPS or not... and I don't feel like going back to check lol.  It used to be that no matter how careful I was, somehow on every quilt that I appliqued there would be one little section that I somehow missed.  I KNOW that I have the tendency to do this so I'm trying to be extra diligent about checking to make sure I've got everything stitched down.  The first two chicken quilts were fine.... and then along came "What the Cluck".. which is not what I said when I found this..

and, of course, it needs a color that I don't have in Glide... the orange I have is much darker.  I tried stitching it down with white, but this was one of the places that the black bobbin thread really showed it's ugly head and I had to rip the stitching out.

I'm blogging early today because otherwise it probably wouldn't get done ( like the previous 2 or 3 days).  Going out to dinner with hubby & some of our family for Father's Day ( which means #1 son probably has to work tomorrow :( ).

Hopefully, I'll be able to take this quilt off the frame tomorrow... then, I'll load it for one of the charity projects I have here... it may be the simple table runner, I don't know yet.

take care

ttyl

ps.s.  It's DONE... well, the longarm quilting part is... now to trim & bind ( and to fix that piece that didn't get applique'd down); the label is already made... but not the binding - guess I'd better do that next :).  Now where did I put that black chicken wire print?

Two days later

and I'm still plugging away at my "What the Cluck" quilt; my last chicken themed quilt - I won't say forever because I know what happens when you say NEVER; but it's the last chicken themed quilt top that I have at the moment.

I have one more row of blocks to complete with black thread and then come the borders... not sure yet if I'll stay with black or if the blue thread I have will look better... we'll find out in the next day or so.   I have advanced the quilt further than it shows in this pic, but you'll see that in the next ones.

Ok... this is what I found out today while working on the quilt....

1. I don't have that much batting left ( and it was a twin size - I expected more to be left)

and 2.  I have even less backing than batting...

but there's enough of both and that's all I need.  Once I finish the 'blocking' with the black thread, I'll be switching to celery green, orange, blue and red threads... and, since I don't have a yellow in Glide thread, I'll probably use the off white that I have instead.  Still not sure what I'm going to quilt in all those colored rectangles - started to call them sashing, but that's what the black fabric is and I did wishbones in those.

I'm not sure if I'm going to get a lot of quilting done tomorrow;  I really need to do some more cleaning in my sewing room to prepare for the live quilt along with Angela Walters on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Going out to dinner with our local family on Sat. night... not sure how that's going to work with the quilt along- oh well, I'm sure it'll work out.

Ok, I'm going to go play with Mo'e for a few minutes before Buddy and I head to bed.

take care...

ttyl

Are you sure it isn't Friday?

 Things seemed perfectly normal this morning... for awhile.  I was able to call the power company and schedule someone to come out to relight our hot water heater, check my emails and check out my blog from last night along with messages on facebook.  Then, while I'm messaging back & forth with my quilting friend, Katie, she stops replying... hmmm..... then something on my computer didn't look right.  Checked my modem and the broadband light was winking at me with a red light.... NOT GOOD.   I call AT &T and talk to "Adam" (who sounded like he was in/from India or one of 'those' countries)... puts me on hold while he 'checks' ( yeah right) and when he comes back, I can't understand a word he's saying because of all the background noise on his end.  After putting me on hold again... he comes back and says that an outside tech is scheduled to come check out my lines outside the house tomorrow and that an inside tech will be coming on Wed to check the equipment inside - if I'll be home between 10 and 2 I think he said.  Ok sure.....  then, I find out from Katie - who lives just a mile down the road that her internet is out too,  So now I know it's not MY equipment and I tried to cancel the inside tech, but, of course, their computer doesn't understand what I'm saying in my text....  anyway, it came back on, then went back off, then came back on and has stayed on so far.

Ok as for the pics here....  we have a three cushion couch in the family room... I have the end closest to the tv ( and the floor lamp).  Buddy is more than welcome to lay at the other end any time he so desires... there's even a pillow there for him.  That's the first pic....  the second pic is MY end of the couch.

If I want to sit there, I have to warn him... move or I'll sit on you.... here comes my big butt.... and usually he just barely gets out of the way and moves down to 'his' end.  Such a silly dog.

Today, I decided that instead of sewing, I would get some cleaning done in my sewing room - then MAYBE I could find something when I wanted it.  disclaimer:There will be no photos of either before or after.  Notice that I said SOME cleaning... I'm not aiming for spotless, just a little less disorganized than usual.  I did get quite a bit done, but to anyone else, it probably doesn't look any different.

It did help... while I was putting some fabrics back into the walk in closet, I spotted a plastic baggie with several packs of rick rack in it - I had been looking for jumbo rick rack yesterday.  So, I grabbed the baggie and YES!  there was some of just what I had been wanting yesterday.  Well, that called for a last minute alteration to the quilt block I thought I had finished last night.... and, of course, that lead to a bit of a problem.  I hadn't cleaned my sewing machine extended table off completely...  hope this video works..

I think this is even cuter with the rick rack.... and will be even more so once they get their eyes lol.

That's about it for today.... I'll probably go back in and try to do some more sorting... then again, maybe not since tonight it's Who Do You Think You Are on TLC, I think.

Take care... enjoy your evening

TTYL

Summer fun quilt along and fluffy kittens

 Yahoo!  The second week's assignment went so much easier for me than the first week did.  Ok, I'll admit that some ( well, most) of the seams don't meet where they should, but they're close and if they bug me, I'll go back and try harder to correct them.  https://www.thecraftyquilter.com  Well, shoot... I don't know if that link will work or not.  :(  I really need to learn this blogging 'stuff' better.

 Here's weeks 1 and 2....

and here's what else I worked on this weekend... the second and third blocks for the nine block quilt that I'm sure I've mentioned before ( like back when I did the first block).

Ok, and that's it for today/tonight/this weekend.

take care...

ttyl