Back From The L/A

I finished putting this quilt together oh.........2 years maybe? ago? Probably that long. I sent it to Three Sisters Fabric in New Paris IN to be quilted. First off - they were great to work with. They did what they said they'd do when they'd do it for the price they quoted. Second - this quilt looks exactly like I wanted it to. I had wanted to quilt it myself - but I just never achieved the skill required nor gave the time to the practice to get as good as I wanted to be. (Was that why I sold my machine? No.)Third - I am HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY and totally over the moon over how this turned out. These pictures don't really do it justice - you have to SEE it to appreciate it. I love it!

Ihave one more they did too - my spools quilt - it came out equally beautiful - it's an E2E and since the piecing is SO BUSY it was perfect. I am very VERY satisfied with what Allison & Tammy did for me - here's a funny ya'll. I have been home sick, in the bed, with the flu. The quilts were delivered on Monday & in my excitement, I called & left a message on thier phone - um......word to the wise........don't call ANYONE when you're loopy with the flu - you're going to be un-intelligible! At least for me? I was! Allsion, bless her - emailled me & let meknow she THOUGHT I was happy with the quilts. Happy? No OVERJOYED. But I won't make phone calls when I'm 3 sheets to the flu anymore either. Ha Ha I can be such a nut job. Sam

Newly Bound #2

#2 Newly Bound! this is that Barn Loft Quilt Pattern - this quilt is HUGE - incredibly long. Definately a KING size quilt. Or a good size Queen with a pillow tuck! I put this one on the bed to stay. At least for alittle while

Newly Bound #1

this is ONe of TWo quilts that I got back from the L/A - please - don't give me any grief - I got this back before THANKSGIVING! Putting the binding on is one of my most dreaded part of quilt making. this quilt has a story - pretty sure I wrote it out before - but here goes again. I made the BLOCKS for this quilt oh...6 or 7 years ago? Got disgusted with them becasue I didn't make them come out all the right size - I gifted them to a quilt guild buddy this year - Diane Miller - becasue she makes a lot (I mean A LOT) of charity quilts, figured she'd turn it into a charity quilt, well she made the quilt up & GAVE IT BACK TO ME! I love it - I don't remember what batting I had in it but it's a WARM one for sure!

Piddle Crafting

The weather this past weekend has been stupid crazy. I spent Saturday with my DD#2 & Grandson#1 - but they had to leave earlier than expected on Sunday morning because the weather was getting nasty. And.......I did not want her driving on ice after dark. Anyway........I was a little bored & made this!

Partial Construction

Last week, while slcing potatoes for a "work" dinner, I cut my thumb open & while it's a very small cut, it bleeds with any type of pressure on it. I had intended on spending my weekend sewing the bindings onto 2 quilts. I got them machine sewn on one side, but I couldn't sew for very long without aggravating that stinking cut! So, I tried paper peicing some more blocks for my Everlasting Wreath. Yet again, i got my thumb bleeding every time that I would apply pressure on it. Like ANYWHERE on my thumb would get it bleeding. If you SAW this little cut you'd think I was bluffing, that there's no way it can bleed so much???? Trust me, it bleeds. A. Lot. So...what to do, what to do..??? I figured I'd try putting some blocks together on the Wreath Quilt. I can count, on one hand, how many times that I have made anything with set-in seams & knew it was going to be challenging. And truthfully? If I had not been sewing on LINES, I may not have been so eager to try it. I have a bunch of blocks done, but not near enough! Add to that, I thought I could stop at 188? Turns out I'm probably going to increase the number of blocks by like 80 becasue the little portion that you see in these pictures is not quite half way accross the top of the bed. ( from side to side)

The pattern does not give instructions to do what I am doing, but if you'll notice, I am making the "wreaths" complete. Or rather, not making partial "wreaths". So I have to make partial blocks - not including the half blocks that i'll make for the top & bottom (once I GET that far!) I have not decided if I will make some sort of wedge block for the sides. Maybe when I get that far I'll have made a decision by then. Thanks for looking! Have a great day! It's supposed to start sleeting here this afternoon....Yay! (not!) Sam

Never Ending Wreath

Oh yah, it's the EVER-lasting Wreath..........I keep forgetting. I have not worked on my quilt blocks in over a month. My last "count" on my log is 09/03/2013. As of today, of 188 blocks, I have 27 more blocks to complete that are 50/50 (half light & half dark) I need 47 all dark blocks, I need 10 half blocks ~ not sure whether or not these have lights in them or not...and 30 "wedges". So? I still have a WAYS to go! the last 10 blocks that I completed only took me 2 days, and I was sick one of them & took a four hour nap. All in all it's coming along beautifully - if it were not for the fact that I like BIG quilts & also that I want the "wreaths" to be complete & not just run off on the edges....I could probably be more than half done by now, but ??? That's just not ME right??? And, the most dreaded part of quiltmaking for me is putting the BINDING on & guess what??? I have 3 that need bindings right now. Yuck. I machine sewed one on 100%. And it's already in the mail to my brother in CA. The other 2 are MINE. I have them serged, but I need to machine sew the binding to the back & then hand sew them down on to the front. It's late & no natural light, so no pictures tonight y'all. Sam PS - the picture is to show you how serious I am at getting my blocks done! I set up this ole drying rack with all my strips on it. They are WAY easier to see & pick this way!

Pumpkin Hairbows

Made these to co-ordinate with some pumpkin shirts that I made for my niece & her neighbor. I don't have a model for these!

sam

These Instead of Those

I decided that the previous Pumpkin Sac's were overly ambitious, so I changed the game plan & did what I did last year only in a different color!

Sam

Pumpkin Sacs (not bags!)

This is a design that I bought from SMARTNEEDLE dot com. It's a very cute design. I had orginally intended to make these for my grandson's daycare class (can't bring food...) but I am changng my mind. I have to make something lots more simple. These Pumpkin Sac jobbies have 22000 stitches & take roughly 40 minutes each. Way more time & effort than I want to expend on a pack of 4 year olds. I make several more for a select few of the children in my life ESPECAILLY my grandson - but I'm not cranking out 16 of these jobbies!

Sam

Little Red Bag

The little girl down the road on the street we live on was having a birthday party & while we didn't have a formal invitation, I didn't want Eian to go empty handed. So I whipped up this little bag. It turned out REALLY cute!

ON another note....leaving tomorrow morning , on the road to Austin TX. Truck is all packed. I'll holler when I'm back! M

Long Time No Post!

Goodness! I feel like I have been neglecting my blog. Well you know...when life gets you busy, bogs get pushed to the back burner. I HAVE been incredibly busy! All family oriented too. Y'all know I have 2 beautiful daughters right? Well, it seems both are flying the figuative coop nearly simultaneously. My youngest graduated GRAD school in May & secured a job in a county north of us. She moved the weekend of the 14th. It took 2 trips and thankfully less than half went UP-stairs. I felt like the Beverly Hillbillies! Prince Charming, aptly named I might add...., was a Prince & we did it in our F250 pickup truck & a 14' long trailer. Oh, yah & lots of straps. I'm one of those people that overdoes the straps. In my (pea brain) little mind, the more straps the better. No sense in letting something fall off! the Princess had it all packed up, so no complaints there! My oldest daughter has secured a position in TX, and her first day will be 10/14. So .... I am going to take a week's vacation & she & I will be renting a U-Haul, a car dolly & probably a furniture dolly...and we will be taking a ROAD TRIP to move her to Austin, TX the week before her first day. Did I tell you she's got 3 dogs? The grand-dogs. Yah, 3. Chihuahuas. (I made a similar trip to this one from HOUSTON in 2008 but there were only TWO then!) I am not complaining as it will be a great huge block of time for us to be spending together. And...other than some large boxes, bookshelves & maybe a chest...there is not the furniture to move. We'll have to rent a regular dolly because I will be flying back. So? That's my life lately in a nutshell. I have done precious little sewing. I have not even plugged back up my sewing machine from where I went to my quilt guild meeting on the 9th of this month! Sad isn't it? I have poked around & cut out a FEW blocks for my grandson's I Spy Quilt. I had originally wanted to have it done for him for Christmas & while it's still floating around inthe bback of my mind for Christmas, I dont want to push it. Just in case you need a reminder of just how gorgeous my daughters are??? Here's a reminder!

That's the Super Star on the left & the Princess on the right. One day I'll explain WHY we call them that. It's not like you think though, I'll guarantee it! TTYL! Sam

Two Chairs Today. Projects for in the FUTURE

I went to Books A Million today & spent a good 2 hours just browsing. Ended up getting 2 magazines and 3 books. All cooking. Well one was Sausage Making for Dummies (yah really....) and one was for Preserving food. The last one has some interesting recipes! Anyway.....I was on the side of Nashville that I work on & there is a junk shop/consignment/thrift shop I have checked out twice so far. Today being the 3rd. I have YET to leave there empty handed. Nice people. Not sure if the young men there are their sons or not, but they are incredibly polite and will load whatever I buy. I think I made points by listening the young man talk about his dog, petting hte dog & just interacting with him & his dog. Well I how can I not? I'm a DOG person. Though it was way too hot to bring my K9 companion out with me today. Anyway...........I was not hunting anything in particular. Just "looking". Well , like I said. I have not ever left this place empty handed. And I didn't today. I have a LONG TERM project in mind. To lighten up my living room. Our "formal" living room . It's not really FORMAL but it's mostly unused and I'd like a little change. Lighter. Don't really know where I'm going with it, but I know when I am done there will be LESS brown. Prince Charming built an oak entertainment unit that I LOVE & that's staying. I have a buffet that I use as a sofa table behind the couch & THAT is staying. I have black (yah really black...) washable velvet curtains/drapes. They are GOING. I have it in my head that I want drapes on drape cranes. You know what I mean by drape cranes? Swivel Curtain rods...is another name...The curtain rods are like on a rod that only comes halfway to the center of the window & the rod is on a hinge ? and can be opened closed by the rod, not by moving the fabric. And blue & white. Maybe blue & white...I actually want to STAY with the wall color. Only instead of flat, I want eggshell. At anyrate...back to my shopping excursion. I bought 2 chairs today. (no we are NOT going to discuss how many I have waiting to reupholster, so don't even ask) the chairs are in pretty good condition. Except for the fabric. Actually the fabric is in GOOD condition, but there's NO WAY I can live with the color. Just not happening. So here they are. I put them in my storage unit until the urge hits me or I find the perfect fabric. Whichever comes first. But I will not drag them into the house to live with the color that they are. Well IF my favorite color was ORANGE then maybe. But ornage is not my favorite color. Red is. But they won't be red either.

I can't figure it out. If I attach TWOpictues, blogger only attaches ONE. This is getting annoying. If I do THREE it does 2. Ack! Making me mad. Tlak to y'all later! Sam

Embroidered Appliqued Burp Cloths

I did these tonight for one of my feinds that I work with. He & his wife are expecting baby #1 in October. It was a free pattern from You Can Make This dot com

The only one that is not appliqued is my least favorite. I didn't get it centered correctly. Well that's not entoirely true. I did center the embroidery design on the diaper, but I didn't get it in the center of the cloth. but they are super cute & they will WORK perfectly. After all it's for a baby to puke on! And........I have like a dozen more I WANT to make. Soon. My nephew & his wife just had baby #2 so they are next on my list! Sam

Everlasting Wreath Progress - Well MORE Progress!

I am 39 blocks into my neverending Everlasting Wreath Quilt! Yay! It's looking guud!

I honestly have no clue (again) how many blocks I'll need, but I'm going to make 100 & go from there. The pattern does not suggest it, but .............since I always think out of the box like to mix things up, I am going to make partial light blocks to create the beginning & end of the "wreath" design. This over achievement idea design element is not part of the pattern & is an addition to the all dark blocks, but I really think it will add some calmness to the whole design. And also be the challenge I know I'm up to I always seek! Aren't y'all excited that I found the STRIKE THROUGH button??? Yah I thought so. Going to sleep now! Sam

Flying Geese Came Home

Many years ago, I don't even remember HOW many years. Maybe 7 or 8, I started a bunch of blocks for a quilt. The blocks were my 2nd set. The first set was a 2 tone quilt that I made for my daughter Sarah. And I wanted one for myself. So I stared another quilt........... Well.........I got a little sidetracked & the blocks were not all the same size & then I got disgusted & put them away. Figuring that I would try to tame the beast some other time. You know, put them away & then try to work on them another time with a fresh sense of finishing??/ Yah, well that never came. I carried the blocks from Alabama to Tennessee in 2008 where the blocks have sat , and sat & sat. I had them in my scrap bin & dragged them out exactly twice. The first time I took them out while cutting up scraps & thought "Self you really need to try & finish that quilt!" The 2nd time I took them out, I gave them away along with a lot of fabric from my stash. I gave the blocks & the fabric (and by FABRIC I mean I purged about 2 huge garbage bags of fabric, one piece still had a tag on it from 1993! To say it had AGED in my stash was well...? vulgar almost...) Anyway, I gave them to my freind Diane (Miller) that makes a boatload of charity quilts. Lot's of them. Many of them. More than I could make in 2 lifetimes, I think! Well....Diane took those blocks .....AND...squared them all up, sewed them together & added borders and GAVE IT BACK TO ME!!! Can you believe that? Do you know how often a QUILTER gets gifted a QUILT ? Almost never, that's how often. I am SO proud! I never, ever thought these blocks could look as nice as Diane has made them. Without further ado, here are the pictures of the quilt (top) that Diane returend to me. These pictures were taken tonight at the conclusion of my quilt guild meeting.

I will send it off to get quilted & then once I have the binding on it? I'll post more pictures of this beautiful quilt in natural light. It's beautiful! Sam

Ta-Da ! The TOP Is Done!

I took a very long & well deserved NAP today! And I also finished the top of the quilt. I took photos outside so that I'd have natural light. Oddly enough, the side setting triangles look GRAY against our very green grass.....go figure!

Sam

Long Day

Yesterday was a long long day! It rained all day so I sewed. I was determined to finish my quilt. Well the first half went together fairly easily, but this 2nd half was a booger! Know why? Yah, cuz I screwed up in the first few rows. Not only did I have to make TWO additional blocks to complete the layout, I messed up... Not bad, just noticible to me! Turns out that since I was setting the rows on-point, I was concentrating on the LEFT side of the layout. Well, as we all know, it's all in the details. Well, ONCE I figured out what I had done, it took twice as long to get the remaing rows sewn on. Add to that , I was running short, as in literally sqeaking by on the material for the sashing. I thought to myslef..."Self IF you have any left over sashing strips you can fix those 2 rows! Otherwise, leave them, no-one but YOU will know what is missing there!" Well.......in order to get enough sashing strips to COMPLETE the remaining rows, I had to dig in my trash can to get the left over peices from cutting the sashing strips. I had to peice together 6 strips. 3 peices of 1.5 in strips, no longer than maybe 2.5 inches. I am VERY glad that I don't empty my trashcan in my sewing room until a project is finished!!!! Peiced them together to finish the quilt. Figured if I had to make THOSE for the remaining rows, I needed to fix the other 2 rows. I'm glad I DID, but it took me til 12:30 AM to do it! Today I only lack getting the corner triangles on. Hopefully I can get that done without any hitches. We shall see! Sam

Test Test TEST

Test Test Test - I don't tknow what the issue is but I am unable to type in the body of a post without changing th setting to HTML...what's up with that????

More Progress

Progress - On Point!

Today is a simply GORGEOUS day outside. Very low humidity & what do I spend my day doing? Well of course! Sewing!

Here is ONE block. I think I have 80 done.

Here is the first corner, minus the corner setting triangle. I put those on last so I don't lose the other ones in the process.

I am glad that I decided to set them on point, did that because if I straight set them, I think I'll need more blocks....but now that they're set on point? I think I'll have too many! We shall see.

The fabric that I am using is from my stash. I think I had more than 4 yards of it. I do not know how long I have had it aging it in my stash either. I picked it becasue I knew I'd need great big squares to cut the setting triangles out of (18.5 inches) and I didn't want it to be directional or BROWN since I am using a solid chocolate brown for the sashing. Don't be fooled, I had lots & lots to choose from in my stash, this stuff just looked like it would blend well enough NOT to compete with all the prints in the blocks and allow the blocks to look like they are flaoting. It works & I like it. And that's all that matters!

At this moment, I am going to put one more row on & then I am going to go bake a Banana Pound Cake. I have some over ripe bananas & want to USE them instead of tossing them. I am also going to bake a Blueberry Strusel Braid too, but I'll have to run to the sotre for some breadsticks dough for those!

Talk to Y'all Later!

Sam

Table Re-Finishing

This will (I hope) eventually end up for my daughter. It has about 6 layers of paint! Maybe I am exagerating, but not by much. I did not get a before bpicture. I regret that. I should plan these things out better!

The orange gel stuff is that Citri-Strip stuff. It's the least toxic & has the least amount of fumes - that I have found so far. but I have removed the layers of white paint & I am now working on more layers. Green & yellow, I think! That's BEFORE I get to whatever color stain the wood had originally.

What Have I Been Working On ??????

You might ask that! I have been busy with my real job. And I travelled all last week. I am a homebody. For real. I was in Arkansas to meet & give some training to some of the other sites there. Anyway...

Below is a picture from Quilters Newsletter Magazine. The pattern is supposed to be free off thier website, but everytime *I* click on the pdf hickie do, it gives me an error message. I got the magaine pages with the instructions from Diane (Miller - of my quilt guild).

I have the last round of logs to complete on about 42 (roughly half) blocks & I can start setting them. I think I have 80 blocks. I am probably going to set them on point, as I think it would take 99 to straight set them, and I really (REALLY!!!) don't want to make more blocks. So we'll see how far I get this week.

I failed to read the instructions correctly & my bolcks are one more round larger than the instructions tell you to do. But since I'd already cut up 80 fat quarters, I wasn't going to waste the strips. I cut strips for the Barn Loft as well as my Everlasting Wreath Quilt. (Pretty sure I have more than enough strips cut now!) Since I am fairly certain that I am setting the blocks on-point, I need to shop my stash for something to use for the setting triangles.

Apeaking of stash. On Saturday I attended the TVQA meeting that was held in Winchester. Those girls did a GREAT job of hosting the meeting. The speaker at the meeting was Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts. She is the pattern designer for "on Eagles Wings" and the "Everlasting Wreath". Little bitty woman too! She is from Poland & just recently an American citizen. So cute! She inflected a lot of humor into her dialogue and it was very nice! I have never been to one of these meetings. And I nearly wasn't able to attend this one. #1 I wasn't registered #2 They ran out of space. BUT !!! #3 I had a freind that was registered & could not attend. So I got to go! I am very glad that I did. After lunch we went to Decherd Needleworks. FQ's $1 each. I stocked up - that's where the "speaking of stash" comes in......I enhanced my stash!  I had wanted to purchase one or two of the new patterns by Edyta Sitar, but her tables were 5 people deep. I'll order them on line instead. (I'm not a crowd person)

So? In a nutshell, you now know what I have been working on! I promise to post pictures soon. After I get the Barn Loft Quilt sent off to the longarm quilter, I'll start on the grandson's I-Spy Quilt for Christmas & then revert back to my Everlasting Wreath Quilt.

Talk to you later!

Sam

PS - for Donna ~ I love making quilts way more than I like quilting them. I sold the longarm in May. I think i MIGHT have quilted a dozen quilts INCLUDING mine in 18 months.

NQR - New Machines - Both Industrial

Diane's Ever Lasting Wreath

this is a cell phone picture, so the quality OF THE PHOTO is not really good.

I saw Diane last night & failed to bring my camera to take a shot of her Everlasting Wreath Quilt - so she sent me a pic with her cell phone.

I regret to say that you are NOT seeing all the beautiful batiks in this quilt! And her rings are made up of a smokey green. She calls hers : "Smoke Rings" !

Sam