Pantographs - Free Ones!

I have several sites that I order from. One is Willow Leaf Studios & the other is Urban Elementz. Sometimes I'll order from Columbia River or Kingsmen. Depends on the product & whether or not I need it NOW or not.

I like Willow Leaf becasue they have them rated: Easy / Intermediate / Advanced. I consider myself an advanced pantograph user, but sometimes you just don't WANT advanced. "Advanced" normally means DENSE. As in densely patterned. Tight. Lot's of stitches or lot's of changes in direction. Sometimes the quilt itself does NOT lend well to a dense quilting pattern. For instance - Flannel Quilts. Anything intricate is totally lost on an all flannel quilt. Or if the quilt has little teeny tiny peices. My Pineapple Quilt is one I would not have liked a dense pattern on.

I like Urban Elementz becasue they have some very un-traditional patterns. Many times you can match a quilt theme to one of thier patterns. You have to keep in mind, though, that you MIGHT not ever use that pantograph again, when it's themed. They have a panto-of-the-month program that I had belonged to, but since I was buying more pantographs than I was quilting for quilts for customers....well, I stopped the membership. However - they have WONDERFUL pantographs. No ratings though. I have found that U/E's pantographs are all dense. You are going to quilt a LOT if you use their pantographs!

I have an equal amount of Pantographs from W/L & U/E. But the purpose of my post today is to tell you - the readers that use a long arm or short arm quilting system - that Urban elementz has some new FREE Pantographs posted on thier wesite. Yes, I know - you have to print & tape....it's free! What do you expect? They have "Leaping Lizards" & "Strawberry Fields" that are just too cute! You never know when you'll need JUST THAT pattern!

Get yours today!

Sam

Dear Jane Block A-1

I have decided to TRY & make a Dear Jane Quilt. ONly, I'm a wimp. I am NOT doing one with blocks that finish 4.5 inches. No way. I am making it with my freind Chernal & QB1. And MY blocks finish @ 7.5. What's that? 200% bigger?

Here is block A-1


This is the mess I made to make ONE block. I used the backing fabric off my pineapple quilt & the border fabric from my pineapple quilt. I decided I'll just use what ever I can put my hands on. Nothing co-ordinated. So I have , wht?, 132 blocks left???? I think it will either make a 2 sided quilt, or more than one quilt. ONly time & effort will tell.


Here is a look at one of my *new* projects. I am making it in Red/White/Blue. Various shades of each. It is a variation of a "Lady-Of-The-Lake" pattern called "Belle Meade" by Bonnie Blue Quilts. I'm branching out a bit & using some papers that I already have instead of using the "triangle papers" the pattern calls for & I'm not silly enough to make ALL THOSE HST's without a method!


I should have got MUCH more done this weekend, but Saturday moring while taking my dogs out, I slipped & fell in the mud/snow & wrenched my back & bruised my thigh. I been moving around a little slow......THAT might be overstating my ability right now. I feel better than I did yesterday - but I can't move fast nor lift anything.

I'll tell ya......I'm sick of snow. It didn't last this time. But it made a muddy mess. Just tired of it. For a state that "doesn't get too much snow", we have had more than I have ever seen in my life. I don't know how people up north can stand it.

Sam

American Beauty - BOM

The local quilt shop in town ran a "block-of-the-month" in 2010 called American Beauty. I bought the blocks every month & the finishing kit in December - but I didn't make ANY of the blocks. Not in 2010.

My friend, Donna, has made one - but I can't find it on her blog.

anyway......all the blocks are made with templates. TEMPLATES! Ugh! Do you know how long it's been since I used templates? ACtually, I can't remember that I ever did - but it's possible. Let's just say, I KNOW I have not made a quilt with templates in OVER 13 years. Yes, 13.

QB1 & I needed a project to "do" on our Thursday night get-to-sew-play-date. And since SHE bought the BOM too - I figured it would be a good choice.

So today, Sunday, QB1 sends me a text & asks if I want to sew? SURE ! (course I was still in the bed when she sent the text...bless her!) So I brought my American Beauty blocks & my pineapple to sew the binding on. I suggested we use the A/B BOM to sew on Thursday's & we got busy.

Below you will see the 2 blocks that I finished today. It took us 5 hours to do 2 blocks. Can you imagine??? 5 hours???? It took longer to cut out the pieces than it did to sew. Black & white instructions are not as helpful as they could be. It would have been MUCH MORE helpful to have them in color. But we did it.

Let me tell you. My blocks ARE every bit as wonky as they appear. I'm hoping they'll lay more flat when they're set in sashing. Maybe? If they don't, well.........I know this long arm quilter that will use some really dense pattern to "quilt-it-out" !! Tee-Hee, it's ME !!!




The BOM had the option of using a dark finishing kit or a light finishing kit. QB1 is doing hers in the light. I am doing both. BOTH ? Well yeah. I'm not doing just ONE you know! Not me! I'm doing 2!!! Don't ask me why.......I thought I could make one for each of my daughters, or one for each of my sisters. But in the end, I just don't know. We'll have to see how the quilts speak to me. Either way (dark or light) they are pretty girlly. Very girlly. Even Prince Charming mentioned so.

I don't think Donna had nice things to say about making hers with templates either.

Oh! I need to tell you about the 2011 BOM! It's called "Baltimore Christmas" by P3 Designs. 100% applique.

I think I bit off more than I can EVER chew. I am totally intimidated.The appique pieces are teeny tiny. And there are miniature buttons & mini rick-rac...I think I need to give up leaving work during lunch & just sit at the conference table & applique. Oh! ALSO....I have agreed to "do" a Dear Jane quilt too. (I need to tell Chernal yes that me & QB1 will participate...) I just love being busy. I do! Keeps me lively.

Sam

More Ocean Waves Sewing & My Math Sucks

My whole family knows that my math sucks. Don't ever ask me to add 2 & 2 together. Idon't come up with 4. I just don't. So with that being said. I have got 2 of the pinwheel borders on my Ocean Waves Quilt. I still lack getting them onto to the "top" & the "bottom". Then there is suppossed to be a 6" outer blue border all the way around. In order to keep it less wide, I am thinking of making it only 4". We'll see.

The "TOP" & the "BOTTOM" are relative, as I think the quilt will only be 6 inches longer than it is wide. But again, my math pretty much sucks. So it will be what it IS when it's done. I just do not want it to be 108 inches wide or wider because all I have for backing is printed 108" wide!! I got ahead of myself & decided to put the pinwheel border on one side with the inner blue border first. Instead of putting the inner blue border on & THEN putting the pinwheel border on....That didn't work out so well, as the pinwheel border is not long enough to go to the edges of the pinwheel borders on the top/bottom. So I had to add pinwheels. I was too lazy to frog stitch it. THEN...I count out how many pinwheels I need for the opposite side...I came up 2 pinwheels short AFTER I was pinning the pinwheels to the body of the quilt. Which means the inner blue border is pieced instead of one continuous piece. I know it's pieced. I just don't LIKE it being pieced. Maybe I just need to take a break, but I'll tell you.........I am so CLOSE to getting it done!

I nned to spend some time frog-stitching on the pineapple down in the long arm room, Maybe THAT will put me int he mood for counting HST's. What do you think??? I don't think so........but I WILL frog-stitch some - just not all. And I WILL finish piecing this Ocean Waves Quilt before my birthday this month.

As you can see. It's pretty large as it is! And that's the grandbaby on there. He's getting so big! Yammers on & on all the time.

Oh - y'all see the blue painters tape on each side of the quilt , towards the bottom of the picture? Well, the grandbaby is all over that quilt becasue he can't SEE the line. The quilt is covering it up.

See? The baby is blue line trained. I put that tape on the floor & he doesn't cross it. Not any more. Took 3 days of convincing him not to cross it, but he doens't cross it. So once it was covered up? He thought it was his okay to play on it. No line right?...Kids are so funny & definately predictable.

Sam

PS: This patter is the free Ocean Waves off of Bonnie Hunter's website: www.quiltville.com . Did you know that nobidy has submitted a finished quilt from this pattern for her to add tot he bottom of her instructions? I SO want mine on there. Great instructions, but I'll tell you it is definately a labor of love. It is a stunningly beautiful quilt (in real life!) The photos just do not do it justice. The blue is gorgeous.

Craigslist Purchase

We have 3 bedrooms & DD#2 & grandson #1 are living with us. When GS#1 gets set up in his own room, we'll no longer have a "spare" room. I have been scouting CraigsList for a daybed & trundle. Will I found one. It has a pop up trundle under that daybed. The mattresses are barely used. And the bedding too.

That quilt is mine, I made it a long while ago. The daybed ensemble that it came with is RED & though RED is my favorite color, it was OVERWHELMING for this space. The lady that sold it to me was SO sweet & I am fortuneate that she workded with me for me to get it. She gave me both matresses as well as the bedding. She also gave me some baby toys & books. It was a really great experience. She said she was moving back to "the city" & was going to be downsizing.

We have this in our upstairs family room.



Oh, by-the-way, it's an exact match to the L.L. Bean iron bed I have in the masterbedroom. I had been drooling over the one that L.L. Bean has in thier catalog, but it's just not in the budget for *new*. I am very fortunate that I got what I did, from who I did!

I love CraigsList!

Sam

Handy Me

I feel handy! Normally I leave the home improvment or home repairs to Prince Charming. But since what I "fixed" is not used by him often enough for it to bother him, I figured I would do it.

The little light under the microwave that shines on the stove top has been out for a while. By "a while" I mean more than 6 months. Maybe longer....Well today I decided HOW HARD CAN IT BE ??? Probably mounting a new microwave would have been easier......

So I dig out a phillips head screw driver & remove the screw that holds the cover. Icky! No matter how clean you are, there ARE dead bugs in there. Yuck. Anyway I thought there would be a screw in bulb. Turns out there are 2 prong type halogen bulbs. They came out pretty easy. Went to Lowe's and after looking through the asortment & matching the prongs & matching the little spring in the bulb, I come home with 2 halogen bulbs. You can't TOUCH those things. So? How's THAT gonna work?

Well, let me tell you! I had to nearly lay on the stove top to stick those jobbies IN. They only go in one way. One went in with no problem. The second was more challenging. It probably took less time than I thought, but I was in a very uncomfortable position. Got them in, re-screwed the light plate in.

And? Viola! LIGHT. Under the microwave! We use it as a night light. (During the summer / warmer months you certainly can NOT cook with that light on - or you get willing protein volunteers - later to be dead bugs!) I'm glad I got it done.

On a good note, I don't know what I did right, but I finally got my longarm machine to stop breaking the thread. I took the presser foot plate off & cleaned that area. It was much more clean than I anticpated. Rethreaded again. Now I have to readjust my tension. AND......I have a whole row of quilting to frog stitch.

A. Whole. Row. It's 95 inches wide. Pretty sure it would never come apart, but I have spent way too much time on this quilt to leave that row in it, so I'll frog. Frog & frog some more. But when I get it done, it will be worth it.

That's what I keep telling myself anyway..............

Sam

Argh! Quilting Frustrations!!

I am So frustrated. You know? Somedays are good & somedays are bad. Today? It's bad. It's been a bad THREE days. I can not figure it out. I loaded my pineapple quilt & I have had problem after problem, after problem.........I'm tired of it.

My top thread keeps breaking.
My tension is good.
It's not tight, it's not loose.
I have changed my bobbin genie.
I have rethreaded the machine.
I have even changed to a NEW cone of thread.
I replaced the needle.
I raised the hopping foot.

Same. Issue. Over & over.

I can quilt about 10 inches, then the thread breaks again! ARGH!!!! I feel like kicking something. I'd probably break my foot if I kick anything in my longarm room.

I am ONE row past half way done & I just want it DONE.

Now I am angry. i don't even want to go down there becasue I KNOW the thread is gonna break.

I am NOT even going to LOOK at that room down there. Not right now.

It was a perfect day to get it done too. I had the time & everything.

I am just gonna go sew on my Ocean Waves Quilt. Period.

I don't know if (or how) it will get better but I'm not fighting it right now.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

See Ya!

Sam

Weather

Folks, I am in middle TN & it's snowed. Again. While it's nice to look at, it would have been better if it showed up on Friday night instead of Monday morning. everything is closed. Schools, stores, businesses.

I am very fortunate that I have the ability to work from home. Limited. But - none-the-less, it's effective.

If I can get any pictures, I'll post them. But I will likely stay warm/dry/inside!!

Happy Monday y'all.



Sam

Paper Pieced Pineapple Piecing Peace !

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers....or something like that...tee-hee!

I finally finished piecing my Pineapple! It is not without it's problems, but I am my own worst critic. Prince Charming tells me that all the time.

You know, right, that I am rotten at math? Sometimes worse than other times. Seems I messed up my block counting. But you know that because I had to make MORE blocks right? Guess what I found when I was cleaning up my sewing space after putting the rows together....GUESS ! Ah, ha, ha, ha ,ha!!! 13 blocks. 13 completed blocks with the paper already off them! I felt SO stupid. I purposely shortened the quilt because I just didn't want to make more of them. One row would have been 13 blocks. Definately my lucky number, huh?

Anyway - I am sewing the binding strips together tonight or tomorrow night - depends on how late I have to work tomorrow...Quilting will be next month some time.

I hired my friend Leslie to make an embroidered label for me. She designed one with pineaplles on it. I am excited. I am SO terrible at making sure labels get on my quilts. But seriously? I spent WAY TOO MUCH time on this baby not to put one on it.





My box of scraps is still pretty full. I won't throw them out, but making another one of these is NOT in my near future. I don't think making just ONE more would totally deplete that scrap box.

QB1 made one too. I started mine before I left Alabama - that was over 2 & a half years ago, so I am pretty sure this quilt is 3 years or better int he making. QB1 has more vision than me. She did hers in under a year. But I don't think she'll make another one too soon either!

Sam

PS: What's up next to be finished? Well, my Ocean Waves of course!

First Time Making These!

I have had this recipe for a while. And I KNOW you can cheat & melt caramels & there USED to be these caramel "wrap" things you could buy to wrap around apples. But, I wanted to make them from scratch. Took me 2 hours start to finish, and you stir the WHOLE time. Will I do this again? Yep, I will. They turned out great, look great, taste great, and I am pleased.

I drizzled them with white chocolate. I wanted to drizzle them with milk chocolate too, but I just got too tired. 2 hours is long enough to be standing in the kitchen. I had to eat my dinner standing too!

the "caramel" color didn't actually begin until nearly the last 10 minutes.





I kept the apples in the fridge - but I still got those little bubbles. That is the ONLY part of them that I don't like.

the baby isn't getting one of these. #1 -he don't have enough teeth. #2 That's pure sugar. PURE. (4 cups white granulated sugar & 2 cups of Karo syrup)

Sam

Not A Christmas Gift

QB1 brought me a few gifts today. One is a basket - monogrammed just for me! It folds flat. Isn't that cool? I carry so much around with me, a basket is WONERFUL idea......And what color is it people??? MY FAVORITE color. RED, red, red. I love red. See? QB1 listens to me.

Also she brought me a folding travel Rowenta Iron. She has one just like it & uses it during guild meetings. I have been gushing over how neat hers is....so she got me one.

The other box is something she picked up for me that I will be gifting. Not as a Christmas gift, just gifting. It's a butter keeper. Do you have one? They are the NEATEST thing. You can load them with a whole stick of butter in it.(real butter here people, not the yellow fake junk) Put the cup part into the bowl part upside down IN WATER and the water seals it & prevents the butter from going rancid. My DD#1 bought one for me that I keep on the lazy susan on the kitchen table.

Yes, i know, those butter keepers are an old idea. You caint get one on @ WalMart - so it's a new idea, right?

Today I finished quilting the last "customer" quilt of the year. I can't go into what it was because MAYBE the intended person reads my blog. Fat chance of that, but it might even be accidently read over someone's shoulder. Let's just say I called it the Fonzie Quilt. After Christmas, I'll tell you what I mean about "Fonzie". (remember Happy Days? I am likely dating myself here...)

Thank you QB1 for the presents. I love them & will definately use them. Darn it, I forgot to send home those little cheese cakes with her too.........I promise you, it's gray hair I have, not blonde...

Sam

Pineapple Update

My regular daytime job, the system that I work in is being upgraded, so I got to take Friday off. Decided I was goint o be SELFISH & sew all day.

I went & picked up the roll up door that Prince Charming & i will install on the shed (probably tomorrow) and then.............I went to QB1's house to sew all day.

QB1 was having new vinyl double hung windows installed (very nice too!) and the guys installing them, replaced the sewing room window FIRST, so that we could sew. Wasn't that sweet of them?

We worked on our Pineapple quilt. Assembling it. It was a fun day. It's been a long time since we sewed that long together.

Let me tell you - my daytime job is not as a brain surgeon - so some things can be complicating for me. On-Point settings is one of those complications. I can not just blindly sew rows together & get the side setting triangles in the right direction. I have to assemble each row individually. Otherwise, I mess up which way the triangles are sewn on.

Since I loathe Frog-Stitching, I just do it the slow way. Thank goodness that QB1 has a similar issue and we got to work together!

What you see here is one row short of being half way done. I am absolutely excited about it. We have a queen sized bed & I am pretty sure this would be a good king size. When it's done, it will be an adiitional 14 inches wider. So it's going to be BIG. I love a big quilt.

At one row short of half way - there are 49 blocks right NOW. I'll have to make MORE to finish it (knew that was coming didn't you?) I only have 23 completed blocks left.........




I am thinking that this baby is going to spend some time hanging on a wall before I use it any.

Have not decided which pantograph I'll use, or what color thread I'll use....(speaking of thread, I have a few spools that I need to send to Joan) Maybe I'll order a NEW pantograph JUST for this quilt. That sounds like a plan.

After this one, I want to complete my Ocean Waves Quilt.

Anyone looking at these 2 quilts, would think me a glutton for punishment. I'm not, a glutton I mean....but I sure love quilts with a bazillion little peices! Edited to add: I have 19 blocks less than half done & if I did the math correctly - I will have to make an additional 20 to make this quilt as large as I want it. Let's see....excluding the side setting triangles & borders - that is roughly 111 blocks @ 37 peices per block = 4107 peices of fabric. That's pretty close to a bazillion, ya'think????



Sam


( I was asked if I quilt for others. Yes, I long arm quilt for other people. Though I do not make quilts for other people!)

Stretched Stars

Finished this quilt sometime last year. I think I posted a photo of it being held up by QB1 & I during show&tell @ a guld meeting.

Well! Since it was finished (&quilted by ME, no less) DD#2 took it to Alabama @ her house. Well DD#2 now lives with us & last weekend my quilt was returned to MY house. Soon as I spotted it, I washed it & spread it on our bed.

So nice & comfy.

I think the pantograph is "Lush Leaves".






Psst! Had to make the bed to take these photos. I really love a photo op, makes me look like the Domestic Diva that my sister thinks I am.........

Sam

Hair

I have a LOT of hair. And it's really LONG. I cut 10 inches off the length a few months ago - but it's still pretty long - long enough that the biggest hair clip that I can buy at Wal-Mart will NOT hold it all up. Not for very long anyway.

I treated myself to a few items of hair jewelry this week. Why hair "jewelery" ? Well because what I paid for one hair clip was more than a few yards of fabric. Non-discounted, not on sale....fabric.

This little gem (below) I got off Etsy (dot com) I twist my hair in a faux french roll & secure it. This jobbie holds it all. Without slipping! Who-Hoo!



Every once in a while - it's nice to buy something nice for me.

Sam

Shed Building

Again, cell phone pictures!

Prince Charming & I spent our Sunday afternoon framing in the ends of the shed. We ran out of light after getting the plywood up on the back wall - but it's already cut for the front. We have to go pick up the roll up door this weekend.

When you looka at the back, the bottom of the window is at the 12' mark! Those walls are 12', then it's floored @ 8' so we have a second story storage area.

There will be no power to this shed. It will have 2 - 12' wide lean-to's on each side too. We just have not got that far. When we get to the finishing part of our building endeavor, it will be sided in white vinyl - to match the house!

Sam

On-Point Pineapples

this is a cell phone picture, taken @ night in my sewing area. So it's quality leaves a LOT to be desired. But I was so excited about how it looks. I bought that black/green paisley print a few weeks ago from The Quilting Squares in Franklin, TN - I love it. It is really ver pretty IRL.

I decided I'd set my pineapple blocks on point - hopefully I won't need so many? One can only hope. I want the side setting triangles & the border fabric to be the same black/green print, but I want to separate the side setting triangles & the border fabrics with a very thin inner border of green. I mean thin. I think I'll cut the strips 1.25 inches. But I have to find the PERFECT green. It's got to match that paisley. So I need to go shopping! Darn it.

I don't have enough blocks completed to set them all - and I sure don't have the paper torn off the backs either! So it's going to be a slow go.

QB1 is this far too. I hope we can get them done simultaneously so that we can do Show & Tell at the January Quilt guild. (I think that's pressing my luck!!!)

Sam

You know what?

Life.

Is.

Good.

I have had a HARD week. and I have had to (multiple times, mind you!) remind myself that I have many more blessings in my life than I have problems.

I have spent all week in classes and I am SO far behind in my "real job", that it's not even funny. but you know what? There IS light at the end of the tunnel.

There are some things I can control & most things that I can't. And for the things that I can't? Well, I let that be handled by a higher authority. It's so nice to just let go - take a deep breath & know it will turn out okay!

I am SO ready for some holidays! How about y'all? This is another Christmas that I am not making any quilts for gifts. Quilting quilts for gifts! None I have made & none that I am giving - but it still doesn't count. Oh well.

Thanksgiving. My sisters (plural!) are cooking Thanksgiving @ my oldest sister's house. I get to bring pies. that's good. I LIKE making pies. I might try soemthing different this year.

I REALLY - REALLY need to get some pictures posted on this blog. I can't find my camera. (Seems my freind Joan is having the same issue - only hers is getting mailed back to her!) I don't know where mine is. I think I put it away to keep out of reach of the baby - well it's put away pretty well becasue I can't find it.

Talk at you all later!

Sam

Rainy Days & Mondays

Prince Charming & I spent last week off from work. We (narrowly!) got the shed/barn dried in. I was bone tired. I actually whined on Sunday & asked "Do we haf tu?" - but we had to ge tthe rest of the plywood on the trusses to dry in the whole thing or risk wasting a bunch of money by letting all that wood get wet.

Now that it's dired in, we can take a break. Sorry no pictures yet. I have been too tired at the end of the day to go back out & TAKE pictures. got to get close enough so that I can show you just how big this "shed" is. Haven't been able to take pictures after work - becasue ...well - it's dark when I go & dark when I get back.

it's rained Monday & Tuesday & I think it's supposed to rain on Wednesday too.

I have a quilt on the rails. Finishing my neices. Then I have 2 more customer quilts. i met VR 2 a quilt shop in east TN (east meaning east of Nashville, but not memphis) She has entrusted me with 2 quilts that she has made for her daughter-in-laws. Plural. Two. They are very beautiful & i should have both of those done this weekend. I think QB1 has one for me to quilt too.

I had business cards printed for long-arm quilting. Put the shingle out, so to speak. I'm not up for making any kind of web-site , i would just like to take in local quilts, i think. We'll see how it goes. I been holding off becasue I just didn't know how my "real job" would go. it's going well, and settling down.

At any rate, folks - i need to sign off & let the big dogs into the kennel in the basement (can't let the fur babies stay outside in the wet/cold!) after that, I think I'll go hug a feather pillow or two for a few hours1

Sam

Remember These? PPP (Paper Pieced Pineapples)

Remeber these? I got 12 of them finished today. Don't think I started from square one, I did not. Those 12 blocks were better than 1/2 done, so it wasn't hard to GET them done, it's just been finding the TIME to sew them. I have off these whole week & spent nearly the whole day at my guild meeting.

Guess how many I have???? Waaayyy more than I thought I did, I'll tell you that! I have 81 finished. How many do I need?

No. Clue.

My next bunch of them that I make will get me to 100. So I am tackling 19. And, yes, I'll be starting from square 1. Literally. Once I get them done, I'll see how I want to set them. I am seriously thinking about setting them on-point with some sort of black print side setting triangles as well as an extra wide black border (same print) , I have several black prints, but not likely enough for what I want. Darn, I'll have to go fabric shopping..........

My goal , this week, is NOT to finish those 19 blocks. Bet you got no clue what the goal is! Prince Charming & I are building a shed. More like a BARN. 16'X24'w/2 12' lean-to's on each side. 12 foot walls with a sub-floor at 8'. OUR goal this week, is to get the roof on.Going to Lowe's tomorrow to buy 40 2X6X12's, and that does not include the tie pieces from truss to truss. We're going to be So busy & SO tired....but when it gets done, we'll get the lawnmower & the golf cart out of the garage. As well as all the other "yard" acruements. If I think about it, I'll try to get photos of it. Our land is not level - so it's pretty high on one end. but guess what? QB1 is getting new windows and she is giving us her old ones to put int he barn. We need windows becasue we're not running power or water to the barn. The dogs think it's for them....Ha !!

Talk to you all later!

I can't wait to show you my 100 paper peiced pineapple blocks!

Sam

PS / was asked where I got my papers from........the truth is, I found a free block on the web somewhere & it was only about 5 inches finished. I enlarged it to about 8 inches, I like that size - small enough to be interesting & not too large that it looks sloppy..... I made about 500 copies becasue I figure THIS won't be my last PP Pineapple Quilt becasue of all the scraps I generate. If I can get "A" quilt plus another ONE from the scraps - whatever is left from trimming the PP peices can be trashed. (I guess! Right?)

Back in the Saddle Again!

Well, hopefully I am. My regular day time job is NORMALLY just 40 hours or less. But in the last 3 months, I have been all over *heck* & half of middle Tennessee and parts of Alabama. Hopefully, my schedule has slowed down & I can get back to normal. Whatever normal is.............

Good thing too!

I really need to sew. I have many many projects in mind. Quilting & clothing. I have been buying fabric & not sewing & my sewing room looks like a tornado hit it. Which would be okay if I could just close the door. Such is not the case - my sewing room is part of our family/bonus room & it can not be hid. Oh well. I can kid myself by saying it's all a work in progress.

No pictures today. Soon though. I promise. I have a quilt loaded on the rails - it's my neice's. Her grandmother made it. I wish I knew someone that could hand quilt. This quilt is all hand peiced & hand appliqued. It will look beautiful when I have it done, but it would be prettier if it was hand quilted. I just can't reproduce that type of look!


Update on my dog: Briscoe has made a FULL recovery & last week he finished his vet required confinement. We turned him loose in the (fenced 1/2 acre) yard & he runs & jumps smoothly. Like it never happened. His hair cut still looks funny, but he really does not care. I'm glad I had the surgery done. That peice of bone they pulled out of his elbow joint was about the size of a dime, round, like a marble. It had to have been very painful for him. And he's such a lover. He only barks bad, he's a big cupcake. Do you know who he is named for? Jerry Orbach from Law & Order. We got the puppy just after Jerry Orbach died. JO played Lenny Briscoe on Law & Order. It was a "B" name, so we called the puppy Briscoe. Seemed fitting for a german shepherd. Though he's no cop dog, that's for sure.

Oh! I ordered business cards for longarm quilting. Putting out my shingle - so to speak. Maybe I can generate more business! Ya think?

Talk to you all later!

Sam