Hugs & Kisses Update

Somehow I ended up with 4 extra blocks. I don't know how I did that......I thought I had the math figured out perfect.

Well, it's no surprise. My math is bad!

Sam

Hugs And Kisses

Well, that's what the blocks look like to me right now......That may change. This is only 1/3 of the 46 that I have done. All the backgrounds are various different Thimbleberries cream prints.

The body of the quilt will be these "X" blocks, then there will be an appliqued border & then an outer border of bowtie blocks.

Hugs And Kisses, X-Box, X Marks the Spot, X's & O's, I can't decide how I'll name it!!

Sam

Electronic Woes

Well, the DSL has been down all week.

I couldn't get on the internet or check email or anything.

I have 46 blocks finished from the previous post!

Maybe I'll get around to posting photos this weekend. We'll see!

Sam

Project Idea

Last night I sewed a little on the Double Pinwheels Quilt. I now have enough strip sets sewn together to finish enough blocks to make a queen sized quilt. Problem is........I get sidetracked.

The Connecting Threads brochure came in the other day. Normally, I just throw them out, but Bourbon won't eat his food unless I sit in the kitchen while he eats. So I like to leave something on the kitchen table to read while it takes him all of 10 minutes to eat his food....Well, Connecting Threads has some really nice stuff. None of which I NEED. WANT, sure, NEED? Not so much.

They are having a 40% off sale on their books. And I saw a pattern in one of the books that I would like to do. I mean, come on, I NEED another quilt book like I need a tongue piercing. But I do not want to buy a new book. I have enough. So what is a girl to do?

Figure it out without a book.

I don't know the name of the quilt IN the book, but the BOOK is called "Stash Magiic" by Jaynette Huff. I found it on Amazon.com And they SHOW pictures of each quilt in the book. How great for me! The quilt that I like is the Bow Tie quilt. It has them set in crosses (or X's)with alternating blocks of applique. and then Bow Ties in the outer border. While I just LOVE the inner appliqued border , I do not like the alternating applique blocks in the body. I want to make all the blocks int he body of X's, then the appliqued border, then the outer border of Bow Ties. So, I sat down to figure the math.

Keep in mind, i am not mathmatically inclined. So it all has to be in easily divisible numbers. I can get the block in 8 & 12 inches. But I am not smart enough, nor do I want to deal in fractions, to get it to be 9 or 10 inches. 8 inches is a good easy size.

I made 2 test blocks. I like the block on the left, best. The little triangles are 1.75 instead of 1.5 and they give the bowtie image a little more heft. I am going with those!

This si only going to be a scrap project, so it likely will not get finished for a WHILE. How long is a while? I dont' ask myself that question. YOU might ask it of me, but I don't ask it of myself. 2 years, or better. After all, it DOES have an appliqued border. That's going to take some time. Lot's of time!!

I love sidetracks........they can be so exciting.

Sam

Birthday Quilt

I finished the binding on the Pink & Brown Quilt & gave it to DD#1 last Friday.

Monday (the 11th) is guild - so before I go to guild I will run to DD#1's house & pick up HER quilt so that I can sew the label on it & then I can get a photo of it & post on here for all y'all to see.

She really loves it & said that it's very warm. I used a high loft poly batting - but the quilting was very dense - I thought I may have quilted out all the warmth. Eveidently not!

I have been lazy, lazy, lazy........I dragged out an old project I had been working on. I know it's OLD because I have pictures on this blog of where I did 2 test blocks - it's the Double Pinwheel - ala Eleanor Burns. I started THOSe blocks while I still lived in Alabama.

Tonight is our sit-&-sew. QB1 is supposed to come over. I will TRY (try now) to get some photos done & up on this blog. I'm telling you, I am being SO lazy. I don't know if we WILL be able to have the S&S because the wather may not permit it. We're all gearing up for SNOW. BOO! I hate the foul weather. I want to sew. And I want to see QB1 - I think we NEED some girl time. We had a little S&S last Saturday. & another QB came that I hadn't seen in over a month. We really DO have so much fun, sitting around & sewing.



Sam

Binding

Oh my goodness! I think it's been too long since I have put a binding on a quilt. Even with a thimble my fingers are SORE !!! The worst part? I am only 1/4 done on DD#1's birthday quilt...........

I sure need to shape up!

Sam

For Non-Quilting Items

Well, I don't know how long I'll keep it up, but I decided that I would create a blog for my sewing that is NOT quilting related. I really DO a lot of sewing & crafts that are NOT quilting.

So if you're bored enough to see what other things, not quilting related, that I might be keeping myself busy with, you can check me out here:

www.samsewsandcrafts.blogspot.com

I warn you though, staying on a computer takes away from my sewing time. So I'll have to see how much time keeping up with 2 blogs will take.........

Ha!

Gotta sew first , right?

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Sam

Snow! Not for me........:(

Darn.

We didn't get ANY.

Just a little teeny tiny dusting of it.

There wasn't even any on the bushes outside of my house.

I was SO disappointed. And this Monday would have been a GREAT day to stay home & sew too!

Some truck pulled down the lines at work & our email & internet was down until almost noon. I could have done a LOT of sewing - if I had a reason to stay home!

Snow WOULD have been a good reason.

I am west of Nashville (I work in Nashville) and when it DOES snow - everything around here just shuts down. We don't get foul weather often enough to warrant having the road equipment to keep the roads clean/clear. So ? Everything just stops. Period.

With all the running around I have done in the last month, I sure would have enjoyed another day o sitting around on my butt & just sewing.

Oh well, maybe we'll have SNOW another time.

Sam

Birthday Quilt - Quilted - Not Bound

Here is the finished product. I quilted it today & serged the edges.

Ha !! I made the bed at 9:16 PM just to take these photos...Only a quilter would understand that I think.

This quilt measures 98 X 98 inches square. A little large for a queen size bed, I think. Oh well. DD#1 said she wanted a really warm winter quilt. This one is big enough for her to snuggle up in. I used a high loft poly batting - but I think I quilted it too densley to hold a whole lot of heat. Here's hoping it's size makes up for it's heat retention!!

Prince Charming chose the "Bubbles" pantograph & I chose the palest pink thread that I had - it came out really nice. DD#1 was very proud of it, and said the quilting looked like bubbles even before I told her that they were!

Those are the pillow cases that QB1 & I made on Thursday night. The contrast edge on them is the same as the inner border ont he quilt.

All I loack is the binding - oh and a label. I'm bad at attaching labels!

Sam

This One is Due SUNDAY

December 20th, 1982. WOW. That was a long time ago.

Not so much, really......

That was the day that I gave birth to DD#1. 27 years ago.

Do you know how old I was on that date? Ha ! I was SO young. I was SO dumb. I was all of 18 years old on December 20th, 1982. Turned 19 the following month.

I have come a long way since then. Better yet. DD#1 has come a long way. As scared as I was all that time ago, we didn't do so shabby!

I am so proud of her!

I have been making this quilt to give to her for her birthday on Monday. I finished putting the borders on it......oh....about 10 minutes ago. It's just too late for me to try & doing any quilting on it. I will load it tomorrow morning & quilt it to give to her on Monday. I have 2 different pink threads to use. I am SO uncertain which one to use.........and the pantograph? Ha! I can't begin to guess which one I'll use. Tomorrow is a new day & I will be ready to decide THEN. Maybe Prince Charming will make the choices!

I am absolutely certain that I will not have time to bind it. So I will serge it & give it to her & then get it back to put the binding on it. I also have the pillowcases for her too. I hope to get a photo of her with her *new* quilt on Monday. (Hopefully before next Friday)

I can't wait to get "back in the saddle" to sew! I have missed my routine. QB1 & I need to get cracking on our Pineapple Patch Quilts!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah! - Love, Momma

(I hope she doesn't read my blog until after Monday....)

Sam

P/S - I snapped these photos after 10 PM in our less then well lit bonus room. It's all Pink & Brown. Once I get a picture of it in natural light - you'll be able to see the colors better!!

I'm Baaaccckkk!

I went to AL to spend the week with DD#2 & DGS#1. I went to spend the week so that I could help out with the baby SIL#1 works for a car plant & they are off thru 01/11 - he's a good guy , but I don't feel like I helped out too much with all of them there. I sort of felt like a thrid wheel. Both were great hosts. and the guest room is a wlak through memory lane, as it's all DD#2's old bedroom furniture.......Makes me nostalgic. All that aside, i am very glad that I was there. DD#2 is MY baby & I felt about one inch tall when I had to leave & she teared up & told me she didn't think she could "do it" . Just broke my heart. Makes me cry thinking about it. I guess I was a sort of security blanket for her.

I have some new photos of the baby - I'll load those another time.

Got into Franklin & stopped at JoAnn's Fabrics. Picked up some strapping and a yard of novelty fabric for QB1. I also bought 3 patterns for myself. One skirt, one jeans type pattern & one scoop neck pattern. I bought 2 different types of denim & one khaki.

I have found it increasingly difficult to find clothing that I like a modest style that I am comfortable in, so I decided I would start making my own clothing. Nothing new here, folks, as it's something I have done in the past, but got away from. I like to wear my skirts long & shirts long. Everytime I try to BUY clothing, seems like you have to be a 14 year old flat chested size 2 in order to find anything......I'm tired of trying. I am NOT a size 2 (add about 10 or 12 to that number !, I'm not flat chested & I am SO far away from 14 it's comical!!)At least I'll be able to make t-shirts that don't rise above my waist or choke me to death.

ANYWAYS....

QB1 came over this evening so that we could chat & I cold apply some snaps to a few coloring totes that she has completed. Goodness, that snap-press is a joy to work with. (in all seriousness - I couldn't use snap pliers, my hands couldn't take the pressure needed to make them work right...) We also made a few pillowcases. I made 2 for DD#1 because QB1 needed to see how it was done. the instructions are really hard to understand and since the directions are in black & white - seeing it actually DONE is much easier to understand. We made 2 because I confused MYSELF reading the instructions. I was glad to see QB1 - It's just nicce to be home....

What's that saying? Most quoted by Dorothy? "There's No Place Like Home, There's No Place Like Home"? Yeh, that's it!

Sam

2 Weeks Early - Welcome DGS#1

He wasn't waitng until 12/20

Arrived Wednesday 12/09 @ 05:16 AM

8 pounds 5 ounces 20 inches long

Everyone doing very well. He's too big to wear "newborn" size clothes!

Sam

Midas Touch

So? What, exactly, is the opposite of having the midas touch? You ever have one of those days? When everything you TRY to do turns to .... well ..... energy not expended well??? (cleaned that up a lot people!)

This whole weekend was a blur of activity & I don't feel like I accomplished anything. Nothing.

I loaded a customer quilt on Saturday morning. It was supposed to be a 3 hour job. Was it? Not so much. Took me more like 7 hours. I had more problems than I have time to relate to you. Thank goodness that QB1 has a quilt on the rails that is going to be a joy to work on after the weekend that I had!

I made steaks & cheese fries on Saturday night & "the kids" came & joined us for the meal. Sunday I made a pork roast in the crock pot. YUM YUM, it was SO good. I did laundry too & that was it.

Prince Charming started another project for us. This time it's a bench with cubbies for 4 baskets under it & then a shelf on top for 3 more baskets. All in Oak. Then it will have a beadboard back & coat hooks. This will be an all in one unit because it is for our basement to create a sort of "mud room" area to contain/corral all the junk that seems to accumulate where we come in & sit.

It's also the area that is the designated smoking spot for "inside".

It's too cold, right now, for Prince Charming to smoke outside on the deck...so it's down into the basement for the smoking. I DO NOT smoke. Never have. And he hasn't smoked in the house since May of 2008. For that I am proud!

Anyway - it's been a week since I posted.........I feel like I have done NOTHING but I am bone tired from doing it!

Sam

Prince Charming Entertainment Unit

Prince Charming made this !

We have a stack of rough cut kiln dried oak. Prince Charming used SOME of that pile to build this entertainment unit. He custom designed it to fit our television that we have in our downstairs (formal) living room.

Originally, we were going to move this TV & the *new* entertainment unit upstairs into the bonus room. But guess what? The unit was too big, when completed, to get up the stairs. Well actually, it is too big to make the turn from either the living room OR the front door to get up the stairs. Even if we COULD get it up there!

It took 4 of us to bring it up the BACK stairs & through the deck & back door, then through the kitchen & THEN into the living room. FOUR of us. And a dolly.....

Isn't this just beautiful? It is taller than I am & probably taller than Prince Charming. That is a 55" flat screen TV (not plasma)

I love it.

Sam

Quilting Today - Edited to Add Photos!

So ?

Today I spent quilting. I quilted one for Kyra - cute, cute, cute. Used a dark blue thread. I didn't get any pictures because i mailed it off today so she cold have it quickly.

I used a YLI thread. I prefer Permacore. But i did not have navy blue in the Permacore. I do not especially LIKE the YLI thread. I could never get it to work right when I had a Gammill & I don't like it on the Nolting.

It's probably a mind thing. I don't know. I can get the tension just right and the thread still breaks, the speed just right, and the second I'm not sewing on fabric the thread breaks, then I sew & sew & sew & have zero problems... but I just can't seem to LIKE the YLI. Oh well.

Since I was going to use the same pantograph on the Trip Around the World donation quilt, that I used on Kyra's Auburn Quilt, I went ahead & loaded it. But I loaded it sideways. So that the top & bottom were on the sides. I like to do that when it does not matter which direction the quilting pattern is going...I do this ALL THE TIME !!! Anyway, instead of using the varigated thread like I had intended...I used an aqua blue or turquise (sp?) thread instead. Matched the border fabric PERFECT.

I used muslin for the backing, but OH BOY!! I made a huge mistake! #1 Mistake: I did not measure the backing before I loaded it. I just took it for granted it was wide enough. I knew it was long enough because it was 90 inches & the quilt was only like 82 inches so loading it sideways was no problem - the selveages weret eh sides since I loaded it sideways...#2 mistake; Assuming I made the correct calculation for how many yards I needed for the width. Since I made mistake #1 & #2..#3 was certainly inevitible....I came up short. Good thing this was MY quilt & not a customer quilt. All mistakes aside, since I loaded it sideways, I was able to use it to my advantage.

I only lacked about ONE inch. Yep ONE INCH of having enough width, so when I got to the edge bottom (which is really the side of the quilt) I locked the machine & sewed a long seam. And that's where I ended the quilt, once I finished, I rolled the whole quilt up onthe bottom roller & sewed a seam at the top of the quilt (which is really the other side of the quilt) the same amount oas the other one. So basically the side borders of the quilt are one inch narrower than the top & the bottom borders. Problem solved. Took me longer to frog-stitch the quilting off the bottom leader then it did to load the whold quilt! Oh well, it was agood save.

I'll see if I can get photos of it tomorrow.

Right now? I hear my pillows calling...

11/25/2009 - edited to add the photos. Ass you can see in photo #1 - it's a wee bit smaller. #2 Shows the bottom (or top) border up against the side border. Barely noticible whenit lies flat, but you can see that the side borders are narrower! #3 Shows the thread color & the pantograph pattern.

Pantograph was purchased from Miki & Diane Designs.

sam

Trip Around The World (Short Trip!)

I bought this fabric months & months ago. Froma shop in Camden, TN. It's all Moda and super bright! When I bought the fabric, I bought it with the intention of making a donation quilt. The fabric has sat & sat.

Around the time that my Chelsea got sick, I started making this "Trip Around The World". Pattern courtesy of Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville.com It's an easy pattern. I finsihed the weekend after I had her put to sleep. I miss that dog, y'all. Terribly. . . .

I made a matching pillow case. I will use just plain old muslin for the backing and I am going to quilt it with a variegated thread with a nice/easy pantograph called "Basket Case". One I have it bound, I'll take it to the guild & let it get put in the pool for the charity quilts.

This will be my 3rd "charity" quilt (when this one is done) that I have donated in a little less than 2 months. About time I got around to it....even if I say so myself. I didn't get pictures of the other 2 that I donated. One was a Trip too made of blue plaid homespuns & the other one was just 6" squares on point bordered in green & black.

The photos show it on our queen size bed. So once it's quilted and has been washed, it will be a very large couch-potato quilt, or a sort of large twin size...or fit the top of a full size....which ever & how ever it will be used will not be my decision, I just hope it makes someone happy or brings someone comfort.

Pretty sad, dont' you think? When the only time my bed has been made ALL week is when I want to take pictures of a quilt???

Ha Ha - now you know more secrets about me!!

Sam

Crib Set

I do not see myself as a "cheap" person - meaning I don't like to skimp on a lot of things...however......I just could not bring myself to spend bucks deluxe on a crib set when the baby will only be here once every other month.

The crib & mattress & matching changing table - I bought at a yard sale (earlier this summer) for $80. I also got a stroller & matching car seat int hat $80 too! Cool deal, I thought!

Well, it's 4 weeks before the baby is here. I needed a crib set for MY house & something gender neutral. I have been looking at Target & other big box stores. But shopping at Toys R Us & Babies R Us for an inexpensive cribset seemed cost prohibitive.

So, back to my old faithful. Got this set off ebay for $58. Crib sheet, dust ruffle, bumpers, comforter and the mobile. Included shipping. The pictures seem to wash out the colors, but it's sage green. The set is called "Sienna Sage". It IS a used set, but I thought it was nice & it's even nicer in person. And it's gender neutral enough to please me.

One day, if I get off my butt & run out of things to do , I'll make a crib set. but not before the baby is actually here.....And since this one looks "quilty" enough it was a good fit.

Sam

Baby Shower Pictures

I didn't get enough pictures.

The shower was held at DD#2's mother-in-laws home. MIL was a very gracious host to allow all the people/mess/food/etc to invade her home. and patient too! thanks MIL!!

Pictures are off DD#2 - she's the pregnant one. 6 more weeks to go!

The diaper cake, and the cupcakes. DD#2 is going with a jungle/safari theme for the baby's room. DD#1 & i just sort of ran with it...and made these cupcakes.

I wish I'd have gotten a pic of the baby's room. Prince Charming & I bought the crib, matress, (toddler & full size conversion kit for the crib)the crib set, mobile & lamp, changing table pad, changing table baskets, high chair...I cna't remember what else...The "crib set" included: bumper pad, dust ruffle, sheet, comforter, valance & diaper stacker. i need to purchase an additional valance because the window is a double and only one is not wide enough. We set up the crib at night & it was just not good lighting to take pictures. Another time!

Sam

Baby Shower Pictures

I didn't get enough pictures.

Baby Shower Pictures - Getting Ready

This is ME making the diaper cake (that is much easier than you think!) & DD#1 getting ready for the shower.........it was Saturday. DD#1 made some really nice signs for the roads...It was held in southern Alabama. North of where the LSU & Alabama game was being held. We got many comments on the choice of DAYS that we picked for the shower....Liek there won't be another ball game? Gimme a break!

DD#1 made the ears & trunks for the elephant cupcakes. We made too much melted BLUE chocolate. Let me tell you - locating all the extras for the cupcakes was like an old fashioned treasure hunt. No kidding.

Sam