Happy New Years Eve Day!

The BB quilts are DONE!! -- washed, dried and folded and setting on my ironing board waiting for me to find gift bags to place each one in.

 The last one was the hardest one of all.... had all kinds of problems "challenges"... the most important one is that every once in awhile, the silver/gray top thread would peek through to the dark gray with black polka dot backing... and then in one area where I really went freestyle, there's A LOT of gray thread showing ( I covered up most of it with the label that I had to GASP hand sew all four sides down on).  As soon as I went back to straight stitching, the silver stayed on top where it was supposed to be.  I used black thread in the bobbin - I'm guessing now that I should have used the silver in the bobbin, too, but I really didn't want to.

I hope to get photos to share with you when we give the quilts to the guys this next Saturday.


Ok, now on to the next project... this is a Trolls themed quilt top that I made earlier this year...

and this is a scrap of the backing fabric that is already loaded onto Mo'e along with lemon yellow threads top and bottom.  I kind of wish I had purple but I don't and that's ok.  

I'm NOT doing custom quilting on this one - that would be silly of me... I'll probably just meander.... and hope that there's enough backing fabric left to make the binding.... otherwise, I'm going to have to find something else.  The top was made with a layer cake so there's nothing left of that.

 I plan on sending this to one of our great granddaughters who lives in Texas.  I think she just turned six ( too many grands and greats to keep track of ages anymore)  - it will be her first quilt from me ( she and her older sister joined our family when their mom married one of our grandsons).

Guess that's it for today.... think I'll take a quick nap before I finish loading Mo'e.

Happy New Year!

take care...

ttyl

Finish up Friday...

Wouldn't that be nice?  Let's say I'm ALMOST finished with the last of the BB quilts.  One more row to finish and then I have to go back and fix some areas where the top thread is knotted on the back ( not by my choice).  The tension can't seem to make up it's mind... it's fine for awhile but then it starts acting up again. 

The other day I received two patterns from Java House Quilts... one is one that I ordered ( a frog pattern called You Must Be Croaking) and the second one was one I didn't order - Shell We Dance.  The second one was a mistake... I had ordered Shell Shelters (try saying that one fast three times lol).  I immediately sent off a message, but it was through their website and I didn't hear back, nor did I have anything to show that my message had gone through.  I expected they would send an email of some sort.  After not hearing anything, I sent another one yesterday.  Guess what showed up in my mailbox today - with an apology.... yep! 

I spent a couple of hours this morning cleaning off the table next to my desk, my desk and then going through trash bags ( including ones that my hubby brought back in from our dumpster) because I couldn't find the Shell We Dance pattern or the envelope it came in.  I thought for sure that Java House would want me to send it back.  Well, I didn't find it until after the mail came and there was no note asking for it in with the correct pattern.  So I thought, whew! because I didn't know how to explain that it disappeared - mailing envelope and all ( minus the frog pattern).  As I sat here at my desk, I got to peeking into one of the vertical cubbies where I stash stuff... and I pulled a couple of things out  - like those annoying Medicare and You books that they insist on mailing to BOTH of us ( same last name at same address, - oh send them each one anyway).... well, guess what I found.... YEP!  the pattern still in the envelope.

I also received a partial shipment from Quilt in a Day earlier this week.  It was supposed to be an entire shipment, but somehow the packer completely missed the top item(s).  I sent a message that day (It must have been Monday) and on Wed. I received a message that the remainder of my purchase would be shipped out the next day - it should be here Monday. 

It's been a long day here.... I'm ready to go crawl into bed and do some reading.

take care....

ttyl

Merry Christmas Eve!

I'm posting this morning because despite it being Christmas Eve, hubby has an appointment for a CT scan this morning and while he's doing that, I'm hoping to go to Urgent Care to have a 'wound' looked at ( doctor couldn't fit me in when I called and suggested UC).

The third and final BB quilt is on the frame.  I finished the interior of the quilt top the night before last and then yesterday, I put the borders on and then loaded it onto Mo'e.

Getting it finished was no small accomplishment, trust me.  I don't know why but I seemed to have more troubles with this one.  Hubby said it was because I was rushing myself to get it done, but that's not true.  I know I have several days between now and Jan. 1st to get it done - and it won't take that long - I HOPE!

I had math problems with this one... and I had a problem with this block that I didn't even notice until the rows were all sewn together and waiting for borders.  Luckily, it was a pretty quick fix.

here's the top finished and waiting for borders. 

 I guess I didn't take another photo after they were added.... which was another of my math problems.  I measured right down the middle of the quilt while it was hanging up so that I could cut the side borders to the needed size.  Well, somehow those numbers didn't quite work out right.  Less than 24 hours later I can't tell you what the mistake was - at least on the side borders, but I know there was one.... Then I goofed again when I went to do the top and bottom borders - I forgot to measure with the side borders attached!  So, of course, they weren't long enough and I had to sew the piece I had trimmed off back on to each top and bottom border.  ARGHHH.  Luckily, the seams blend into the fabric so well that it's hard to see most of them.

Then, as I was sewing the backing pieces together, the pieces didn't match up exactly ( happens to me all the time) and I clipped and tore the 'extra', but it was like I was tearing in a spiral, it kept going and going...  I've never had that happen before.  I didn't have a lot of that fabric to begin with so I had to be careful not to waste it.  Once I loaded it onto Mo'e (selvage 'edges' pinned on) and got the batting added, I laid out the quilt top with the top first - usually, I like to load with the top and bottom on the sides (does that make sense to you?  it's the best way I can explain it but it doesn't sound very helpful) so that I work from the bottom of the quilt top across to the top of it and then back.

I did a little quilting on it last night.... and picked out some of the stitching.  I tested on a scrap on the side before stitching on the quilt itself and it looked ( and felt) fine... but then when I got to stitching on the actual quilt, the top thread was laying on the top so I had to loosen the tension.  Tried stitching again and it looks better on top, but I can feel the stitches on the bottom, so maybe I loosened it too much - I only did one full turn of the dial.  I'm hoping to get a chance to work on it after the CT and UC visits and I'll turn it back 1/2 a turn tighter and see how that works. 

 I'm using gray/silver Glide on the top and black magnaGlide in the bobbin.  I thought about using the same color top and bottom but the backing is a dark gray with black dots and you can see that the top is mostly light grays so, to me, it wasn't going to work.  I just need to get that darned tension worked out.  

Ok, we've got three hours before he has to be at the hospital, so I think I'm going to close this blog with a 

Merry Christmas!

and go see what I can accomplish with the quilt this morning.

take care...

ttyl..

My math sucks....

Probably not the best way to title a blog post, but it's the truth.  I miscalculated TWICE today.  The first time wasn't so bad; I thought I had 10 blocks left to do in the final BB quilt - nope, it was 11.  Then, I went to make a flying geese block and had to add borders to the sides so that it would measure 9.5" x 9.5".  I over cut the borders so that I could trim down after sewing them on ( saved me from struggling with that particular math problem)... then I folded the block in half and laid it on the cutting mat with the fold along the zero line and proceeded to trim it to 4 1/4".... THEN realized that 4 1/4 plus 4 1/4 DOES NOT equal 9 1/2"... arghhhh.   I took off one border and stitched on a new wider one which got the block to the required size.  It looks uneven, but it will be fine since the background of the block is the same fabric as what I'm using for sashing and  border - it will give the geese more of an illusion of floating/flying.

When I started out today, I remembered to go look for my hand weights after being reminded that they work great for holding the far end of your long ruler down while you're trying to cut fabric.  It took a couple of minutes of digging, but I found them.  While on the way to my sewing room, I was looking them over for something saying what they each weigh.... nada.  So, I pulled out the bathroom scales ( the ones with the BIG numbers) and put a weight on it - nothing.  hmmm  so I stood on it them, still nothing.  Ok, needs a new battery.... I have to go find one then have to figure out how to get the case open ( teeny tiny phillips head screw and my teeny tiny screwdrivers are all flatheads)... got that worked out, put in new battery... stepped on the scales - yep, they work now.  Stepped off and put the hand weight back on - still nada.  I give up - I really don't NEED to know how much they weigh.  Back to the sewing room.

I must not have taken a photo of one of the finished blocks, because I know that I needed 11 and that now I only need 3 - unless my math is off AGAIN....

Ooo!  and I got a pkg from Norway in the mail today... well, actually an envelope... with a pattern I had ordered earlier this month... two weeks ago today to be exact.  I really didn't expect it to be here this soon.

I LOVE IT!!!  can't wait to do it... but wait I must - at least until I get the final BB quilt done.  I think I'm going to have to find some pale gray for the background.....oh yeah - the instructions are NOT in English, but I think I can figure it out.  The gnomes/tomtemys and the tree are all applique ( patterns for them included), I just need to convert the metric measurements into inches - and hope that my math doesn't screw me up again.

Well, guess that's it for tonight... need to go shut down everything in my sewing room and go change the sheets on my bed IF I can get Buddy off it long enough lol.

take care....


ttyl

Six days later..........

I haven't accomplished much since the last blog.. at the sew in last weekend, I made ONE block and it was a tiny one.  No pic, sorry.

I don't remember what happened Sun-Tue.  Yesterday, we paid bills and got groceries - there's a day shot.  I was so worn out, there was no way I was going to get any sewing done.

But... today I did... only two blocks,

but that means I only have eight more and I'll be ready to sew the top of the third(and final) BB quilt top.  Maybe I'll be able to get it loaded onto Mo'e on Sunday and might get some quilting done before Christmas Eve, but the finishing will have to wait until at least the 27th.  Our wedding anniversary is on the 26th and we're going out for dinner - SEZ ME!  lol

Both blocks were appliqued and neither one was all that simple to do.  It was worth it, though - they are not perfect, but darned close enough.  The rest of the blocks should be a lot easier; there might be some more applique' but it will be the verse blocks onto background squares and that's a lot easier.

I'm getting a little worried about what I'm going to use for sashing and outer borders.  I have enough yardage of one gray print but I don't think I want to use that.  I think I have some yardage of the white mini polka dots ( like behind the Jesus Saves letters and the violin above) and that might work.  I really need to get around and decide what I want to do.

In the meantime, I'm going to call it a night and go read for awhile.

take care....
ttyl

Frustrating Friday

The guild's sew-in at the library was today and I was all excited about going - just not sure what I was going to work on.  When I got up this morning and saw that it was raining, although lightly, I decided I didn't want to drag my machine and everything else out in it.  That's when I decided that I could take my last Vintage Tin block that needs to be embroidered ( by hand) .. no dragging of heavy machine and no need for all the 'tools'... just the block and some embroidery thread, a needle (or two) and thread snips or scissors.

Here's where the trouble starts..... I have kept all the fabrics and patterns in one plastic tote... refused to bring a block to work on at a reg. guild meeting because I have this horrible habit of losing things, especially important to me things ( like special recipe cards).  You catching on?  I went to get what I needed out of the tote... IT WAS NOT THERE.  No fabric piece with drawing on it, no pattern that was traced onto the fabric and no pen that the tracing was done with ( brown pigma pen).

I started searching this house from stem to stern - this quilting addiction has spread to FOUR rooms in our home and I had to search ALL of them... without any luck.  Then I remembered that I had traced the block at the sew in something like two or three months ago.  So now, I'm trying to remember what all I had with me that weekend and I was thinking that was the weekend that I had taken a tub of charity quilt fabrics so that Joyce and MaryJean could find a backing or two to use when they tied quilts together for us.  Then I started searching that stuff... some of it still sits on the end table in the living room... nope, not there.

The weather cleared up a little and I asked hubby to load my machine into the back seat of our car and I grabbed the other stuff along with a small plastic tote with a UFO project from exactly two years ago.  Off I went to the library but it was almost noon so I just sat and chatted with the three gals who were there.  One of them is also working on Vintage Tin and said that I could borrow her copy of the block pattern - next year.  I would take her up on it if necessary.

After we got back from lunch, I opened the little tote and spread the blocks out... looks like 12 out of 25.. nope, there's 16... oh wait, that one is a little smaller than it should be; I may have to remake that one... and oh look the block with flying geese flying four different directions... one of the geese split itself in half and both are going the wrong direction.  I took the three 'offending' seams out, but since my machine wasn't set up ( I didn't even take it into the building until after lunch - yes, it was that kind of day) I just pinned the two errant pieces together correctly so that I can redo them tomorrow.

Anyway, after wasting an afternoon, I came home about five and started thinking and moving things around in my fabric storage room in hopes of finding the MIAs... no such luck.  I even went so far as to move some things that are on the chair by my long arm... found another top waiting to be quilted but not what I was looking for.

Came out here to sit down at my desk and looked at the open boxes that are stored beneath the card table next to my desk.  They usually hold pattern books but occasionally other things get put in there.  Still no MIAs.  BUT then I noticed the tote bag leaning against one box and wondered why it was there.  I look inside and see plastic ( like what new sheets come in).. hmmm  what's that?  then I see some fabric that's cute but I didn't know where it came from - and right then, it didn't matter to me since it wasn't the MIAs.  Then I pulled out a paper - WAIT!!  what's this???  THE MISSING PATTERN!!!  I dug down further into the bag and found THE MISSING FABRIC PIECE and then I found the missing pigma pen along with three frixion pens that I had been using to draw diagonal lines onto the panels that are in the plastic bag.  The cute fabric was something that was culled out of a HUGE pile of fabrics that one of our members brought in for members to pick and choose and take home.

I feel so much better now.  Yes, I have more of the fabric and could have cut another piece and, yes, I could have borrowed the pattern from the other gal ( or even contacted the company and beg for a copy of just that block) but that wasn't the point.  Most of you know that as soon as you go and make/buy  a replacement, the original suddenly reappears.  Well, I don't need two of this block and I'm not in an all fired hurry to complete this quilt and knew that if I just waited a bit  ( and maybe said a prayer or two), it would show up.

Now, the question is.... am I going to take it to the sew in tomorrow and start embroidering it?  Oh H*ll no!  lol   I'm not taking any chances...  I've already put the pattern back into the tote... the fabric needs to be pressed before I baste muslin to it's back so it's on the ironing board... Once the basting is done I can start the hand stitching here at home.

And now I'm exhausted...calling it a night

take care....ttyl

Wow! It's Wednesday already

Apparently, I didn't get enough done to 'talk' about on Monday.  I got a few blocks done.

 This is what it looked like tonight    Some of the blocks were done after this first pic was taken... I only worked on three or four today.  Nineteen done and eleven to go.

 This one is thread painted and took me close to two hours to complete... It didn't seem like it at the time... well, I did do some practice pieces first, so that may account for maybe half of the time.

 I did the truck block the other day... just took black crayon and colored in the shadows under the truck today.

Now, I'll show you the lesson I learned today....if you look really close at this photo, you should be able to see the faint outline of some letters.  You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it.  

Anyway, it's white polka dots on a light gray background.  I used a red 'frixion' type pen.  I had tried outline stitching a couple of the letters on my domestic, but didn't like how they looked so I ripped those stitches out... which left the fabric square a little wrinkled.  So I spritzed it with Mary Ellen's starch substitute ( can't think of the name right off - I'm tired) and then started pressing with the iron... I THOUGHT the letters disappeared because the red was gone, but when I laid the fabric square on the extended bed of my sewing machine, I could see the faint lettering.  I pressed it again a couple more times and I think the lettering faded a bit more, but it's still there.  Now I'm not sure if I'm going to go ahead and use this piece of fabric anyway and just let the quilt owner find it or just put it away for another day/project.

Tomorrow, our son in law who lives in Texas will be here in our area and we're going to meet him for lunch.  I wish he could get here earlier in the day, but his plane isn't scheduled to land in Detroit until just before 11 am and then he has to obtain a rental car and drive here... so it will be close to one o'clock by the time we meet up with him at a restaurant here in town.  My guild's Christmas party is at 6 - I have a feeling I'm not going to be very hungry -- and we're having soup & salads.  I love (most) soup!  I'll just have to find something light for lunch.

Well, guess that's it for tonight...

take care...

ttyl

Friday Update

On Saturday because I was just too tired to post last night and I hadn't finished anything to post about.  BUT, first thing this morning, I was trimming, sewing binding and label on to this ... the 2nd BB quilt.  It's done.

Hubby was being so nice about doing some extra chores around the house ( without me asking).  He said it was because he knew that my back and leg had been hurting something awful.   I had to break down and show him the first two quilts and show him the labels... his jaw dropped.  When I told him who they were for, his jaw dropped even further.  He asked.."You going to give them to them when we see them the next time?"  I said "Yes, we have tickets to see them on Jan 5th"... needless to say, he's excited.

I've already started on the third, and final, quilt but haven't taken any pics yet.  I was kind of shocked when I opened up the panel with the Bible verses on it.  I had assumed ( I know, wrong thing to do) that it would be the same as the first two... but it isn't.  The verses are all on 9.5" x 3.5" 'blocks'.  If you click on the pic and enlarge it, you should be able to see that several of the blocks are 3.5" squares and then several are the rectangles.  This panel doesn't have any squares so I'm having to do some different planning.

I was going to tell you about two of the first blocks I did on this new quilt but I think I'll wait and show you pics at the same time so you'll understand what I'm talking about.  Sometimes I have trouble conveying just what it is I'm trying to say... so pics help.

Well, guess that's it for tonight.  I've got about an hour to go 'play' with blocks some more before I call it a night and go watch some tv..

____________________________    ______________________________________

pssst  I forgot to tell what was wrong with Mo'e that he was giving me so much trouble.  I called Jason at Gall on Thurs. morning after I'd tried just about everything.  He had me check the encoder on the back of the machine ( the one I forgot was even there).  Sure enough, it had somehow come unplugged.  I plugged it back in and sure enough, Mo'e was back to behaving himself and I was able to finish quilting the blue quilt about supper time Friday.

Woe is me Wednesday

I was doing so good on quilting the second BB quilt... thought for sure I'd be able to take it to guild meeting tomorrow night along with the first one.... then I ran out of bobbin thread ( on the bobbin that is), popped in a new bobbin that just didn't fit right... I played around with it and played around with it... tightened the bobbin case screw, loosened it, took yards of thread off from the bobbin thinking it might just be overfilled... nope, that wasn't it.  I got out a new bobbin and tested it, almost perfect right out of the gate.

Then I went to test it and Mo'e started acting up... would take big stitches if I wanted to move from right to left or left to right and he was hesitating.  Seemed to be ok going just back and forth, but I need to be able to do more than that... I'm doing ribbon candy in the sashings and borders for one thing.

Just out of curiosity I took it out of  regulated' and just let it fly... no problems whatsoever.. did loops over and over and over again without even breaking a sweat.  Turned it back to regulated and he acted up again.  I cleaned the rails (I had found a thread wrapped around a wheel which was causing some problems earlier), but I didn't see anything that would be causing this behavior.... and if that's what it was, why would it only do it when in regulated mode??

So, with only a little less than two rows to go, I shut Mo'e off for the night ...  hubby has dr appt right in the middle of the day so I'll try again the morning.  If he's still misbehavin', I'll stop in to Gall's after the dr appt. if I don't call him before we leave for dr at noon.

 I THOUGHT I had blue bobbins to match the blue I'm using on top... nope, so went with gray/silver... and it's looking nicer than I thought it would.
This pic below is from the underside of the quilt... I was checking tension.  There's a thread in the pic (goes at an angle) that wasn't supposed to be there... it was loose and I just pulled it off after I saw it.

I'm not sure which row this is... it kind of looks like it might be the second one... I took the pic just to see if the texture was showing.  The ribbon candy isn't perfect but it's close enough and I'm hoping that washing the quilt will help hide most of the imperfections.

Ok, time to call it a night here...

take care...
ttyl.......

Maaahhvalous Monday

Well, it was good day ... no quilting accomplished but I did get the needed battings for the remaining two BB quilts.  Yes, the first one is FINISHED - completely... both binding and label on.  I was going to show you the not very pic of it, but it didn't come through to my pic files.  It really helps if you remember that it's a new month.    I don't want to ask hubby to hold it up for me because he still doesn't know what I'm up to.  He knows I'm working madly on some project and has seen glimpses of it while it's on Mo'e but he still has no idea lol.

I'm not sure whats up with this pic... there shouldn't be any blurriness or 'faded' looks on this block.

This blue is the backing for quilt #2

 

 Here is the pic of the finished quilt....

The batting I bought today was from Walmart, but it's Warm n Natural twin size for something like $15.97 give or take some pennies.  Trying to find twin size batting was starting to become a struggle... I WAS going to wait and try & buy some from JoAnn's when they go on sale for 50% off, but I think I checked their website and, for some reason that I forget now, I decided that wouldn't work. Connecting threads had it but it could take up to almost two weeks to get here;  I didn't want to go buy more batting from the LQS either.

I haven't used Warm n Natural for YEARS... at least a decade.  I've NEVER tried it on a long arm (or mid arm) but have heard of plenty of others who have and like the results.

The backing for the second BB quilt is half pinned on the frame... I'm going to go finish pinning before going to bed to watch tv for awhile.

take care...

ttyl