FINISHED MY DAUGHTERS PURSE

Today Sunday I decided I had laid around long enough...with all I have to finish I should work 24 hrs a day...first I was going to try to use more scrap on my sewing table but thought no finish your daughters purse...I had a dilemma ...she wanted a zipper put in after I had sewn it together and I was dragging my feet figuring out how I was going to do it...Well this morning I tackled it....I had a lot of steps to finish it along with putting that zipper in with the finishing touches...but I did it!!!!!

I have several bags to finish and I have been working on hanging my ufo quilts in the craft closet in the sewing room...I cleared a space under the rack so they would hand ok...I am afraid I am going to run out of  room but that should be an incentive to get some finished...right????...lol

I am feeling better but I am so tired...I think that spell took a lot out of me...last night I fixed a steak thought maybe all that protein would help...along with couple veggies and strawberries later....that should boost a little energy I would think....we'll see....more later....

THE BAG LADY IS AT IT AGAIN

The bag lady is at it again yes I made another one....the earlier ones were made from leftovers on my sewing table but this one was planned from my stash with just enough to make it too...it had me worried for a bit because I didn't measure to see how much I needed...but I think it turned out great...the 9 patches are peach colored not white as shown...

Yesterday I was going to work on a quilt in the sewing room but when I got there I found a bunch of different colored blue squares I decided to make a purse with them...so its done except for the straps and the top band...later today I will finish it I think....

I see another quick grocery trip to the store for the things I need for my seafood pasta salad I want to have for my supper....that will last a couple days and will be an easy meal....so I better get in gear and get going....I slept in today so the day will go so fast......more later...

ANOTHER BAG, ANOTHER DAY

Yesterday I finished a bag I had started about a month ago....I had decisions to make with finishing it so I just let it sit...I got tired of looking at it so I just did what I thought would be fine and it was....these blocks I used on it were small I like the effect but I don't like working with them so not sure I will use this size again...I plan on keeping this one for myself... bag size is 16x15 ....I made a 8 inch square bottom in it..i think it will hold a casserole or covered container for meetings...

Today the weather is so lousy I think probably I will spend it sewing or doing laundry or a little of both...of course I have more fabric I could wash/iron too....so I guess I will just dive in and do whatever...

I would like to finish my daughters quilt top today...it is made with the same scrappy pattern as the above bag but bigger blocks which went together fast and is good for leader and ender blocks...

Ok enough said today...got to get to work time is a-wastin'....more later....

9 PATCH/SNOWBALL QUILT IS FINISHED

I hope everyone had a blessed Easter....we had a small family gathering...it was nice for doing a lot of visiting which is hard when everyone is so busy these days....

This morning I finally wound up the camera and took a pic of the finished 9 patch/snowball quilt...it was such a joy working on this one....of late I haven't had time to just sit and hand quilt....hopefully I will be doing more of it...one of them will be that little green/aqua scrap quilt...its about the same size as this one 40 inches square...nice size to finish in a few days....

I think the guys took care of my sewage problem...at least I hope so....that is one problem I never want to see again in my lifetime lol.....when I was young problems didn't seem as big as they do now that age has taken over....I can understand my mother in her late years now lol....

Got errands to run this afternoon so I guess I better get my list of things ready...odds and ends at the grocery store for potato salad to go with the leftovers I brought home from my daughters easter sunday....more later.....

ELABORATE QUILTING ON FINISHED QUILT

Sunday is suppose to be a day of rest but right now I am deciding whether to sew most of the day or leave and take a drive and eat dinner out somewhere...the weather is nice so far but the ever looming threat of rain is in the forecast...

I did wind up the camera this morning and took the picture of the finished quilt I did for my granddaughter...she wanted a scrap of fabric that had fairies on it made into a quilt...the picture is a little off color..that is robins egg blue....not lavender....

yeah it was a challenge considering I only had about a fat quarter to work with....so there were a lot of sashes and borders which meant a lot of  blank space to deal with...well I decided to get elaborate with my quilting....

I had a nice big feather border stencil but it had no nice corner with it so I tried designing one but I could not do it justice so I found a shell block stencil that worked really good I think...its the most elaborate hand quilting I have done in a long time...

Other sewing I have been doing is the flannel receiving blankets I told you about in last post...I did 3 of them...I haven't made up the rest of the leftover fabric but they will be lap pads I think...I will be sending them away to a family member soon along with some other things...

I have more to tell ya about but not right now..it was a very productive week and into the weekend so keep looking more is coming...I am lovin' this sewing streak!.....more later.....

FISH QUILT AND DESCRIPTION READY FOR CHRISTMAS

Here are pictures of my sons Fish Quilt I made for him this past 2 months and is hand quilted throughout....

I had gotten the fabric about 3 years ago...I found it on sale in one of the fabric catalogs...at the time I didn't know how I was going to make the quilt but at least I had the fabric...I particularly liked the collage fabric but I didn't have enough to do much else with it...in fact I just had enough to use as a border after I matched it...the ends had to be seamed to work.

 

I drew a fish to use as a stencil for the brown border and quilted it in navy blue...I put them in a line to look like a fish swimming....the ones at the top seem upside down but this is a directional quilt so if the quilt is upside down to my son when using it he can see the fish right side up....lol...I freehanded the cattails in the corners of the quilt....I think they should have been bigger now after looking at the quilt....

 

The back is still some of  the fabric I bought to go with the quilt at the same time....its an all over fish print...

 

I was going to use on the front somewhere but it seemed right for the back....the binding gave me some trouble...on the last side it kept twisting and causing ripples along the edge of the quilt so finally had to hand baste as I went along to get it to lay right........its the color of the narrow border around the panel in the center to tie it all together...the  batt seemed a little thick though it didn't say it was extra thick , it did turn out fine....I am glad this one is done and now 1 more to get done before Christmas....

 

I hope to keep up with the pictures lol....I just don't take the time to get the camera going....I could bombard you all with pictures if I took of all the  things I did in a day lol...but you would get tired of seeing them I am sure lol....but I will try to do better than I have.....more later

HERE IS THE 'SHERBET' QUILT

Well here it is....the 'sherbet' quilt all finished with hand quilting....it too will go to the fall festival...not sure it will sell, the public is hard to figure for sales but at least my work will be out there to show...

 

While the pastel and medium color fabrics were out all over the sewing room I decided to make another pastel quilt larger baby size this time....4 different color triangles around a  light beige square....I made one of those only with plain white center and calico print triangles around the outside...as I recall the blocks were smaller and on point...but it made a beautiful baby quilt....my nephew got that one for his new one years ago...its pictured on the right with the caption 'Nicoles Quilt'...anyway I made 19 blocks which will be 4 1/4 inches square....not very big but the quilt will be very colorful as is this one I am showing today...

 

I am on the outside border of my sons fish quilt, may work on it later today some....right now I have so many things going its hard to keep track of them....I have got to get some order to things or I wont get much done just running here and there....

 

the weather has been so nice I feel I better be outside and enjoying it so I guess I will get a few groceries sometime to day....I really need some good ideas for meals lately I have been fed up with food lol...no time to sit and look for recipes so will have to wing it ....just roam the grocery store looking for something good.....more later....

PICTURE OF FOOTBALL QUILT/MATCHING PILLOWCASES

Here is the picture of my grandsons quilt i finished and delivered....i am glad to have it done and gone....

and the pillowcases to match below

while quilting it i found i had quilted a couple huge wrinkles in the back....it took almost a day of ripping and smoothing and i finally got it ok....the back fabric was soft and easy to wrinkle....i am thinking maybe i could use spray starch on  the next back to see if that will help keep wrinkles at a minimum....i hope so....

i am having a lot of trouble with my left knee today...the arthritis has kicked up....i must have been up and down a lot the last few days and scooting my chair while sewing irritating my leg....i hope tylenol and my pain med will take the pain away enough for me to get to the store...got a few things i need that cant wait.....more later....

GRANDSON'S "FOOTBALL" QUILT

First i have to say what a wild and not so nice a week this past one was....the flooding in the midwest, here included, the explosions in Boston and Texas...it makes a person sit up and take notice what is going on around them...i know i am more alert of my surroundings...just hope this next week and beyond is more safe for all of us....

while sitting here drinking my coffee reading some of the blogs i thought i better get some pictures taken...so here is my grandsons quilt with the final red border on it...i made up all the black blocks as much fabric as i had...

i would have liked 1 more row on the sides but it didn't work out....then i ran out of red fabric...then my order came with red in it for another project and it worked for the quilt so added another border...it still isn't as big as i would have liked it...but he can wrap up in it anyway....

i got out his pillowcases that match it and you can see a closeup of the football print...

i had planned on giving all the grandkids pillowcases but some were dragging feet about what they wanted so i still hadn't given those i had done to them....this is going to work out well...he will have a quilt and cases to take with him when he goes off to college this fall...

the sun is out today and it looks like a really nice day so i think i will get out and shop a little...didn't go to the store other night as i planned so more groceries to get....getting tired of the same ole, same ole meals here so i think another good idea is to make out menus for this next week and follow them...i got out more in the winter than i thought so didn't use a lot of the stock i gathered for bad weather so i should use it now...

going to cut the backing ready to piece for grandsons quilt later today too and then wash the pieces...i would rather iron 2 smaller pieces than 1 big one...have to piece it anyway as the quilt is 50x 72 then i can pin ready for quilting....trying to get brave enough to machine this one....trying to do a bigger one each time till i get comfortable doing large quilts by machine...oh i wish i had a longarm!....

i was dreaming while relaxing last night....about building an oversized 1 car garage up close to the house and making it into a sewing studio....i could  do that there is enough room and with a few short steps from the house even...oh that would be so nice...my sewing room is small and its jam packed...i am sure you all know about that in your world too.....well off to do whatever....more later....



FINISHED QUILT PICTURE AND STORY

I finally got the camera wound up today...i shouldn't wait so long to take the pics for the blog as i can forget things that i have done for a week when i skip around working on things....

the first one is the finished blue quilt with the detail picture of the quilting...it doesn't show up on the big pic of the whole quilt...i had bought the backing fabric about 2 years ago when i first started this quilt...

there is a story with this quilt....it started out as a 9 patch with white as the other color....after i got the quilt top finished i hated it....so i tore it up into blocks and packaged it up....then a couple years later i tore it up back to squares and started over adding the blue for 4 patches....it was a good idea because i think all the colors worked well.... 

my daughter was here last week and she held this quilt in her lap for a long time...i do think she wants it lol....she has had an interest in it from the beginning and she is a big lover of blue...lol

over the week end we got more snow...i dont think i have ever seen it snow for 3 days like it did this time....thank god it was almost a rain for part of it at times to keep the totals from accumulating more than it did....this morning i went out and shoveled off my back walk before anyone walked on it making it easier to shovel....now the sun is out so it should melt some today....got to make a trip to town to pick up meds this week so trying to get the snow out of my way so i dont fall...

today i had dinner brought in so i am about to go enjoy it...i made a big bowl of potato salad yesterday to have as something quick to go along with my meal to make cooking easier this week while i am sewing....good idea i think!...

i will have more things to talk about tomorrow or the next day depending on how busy i get....lately i am busier than usual or extra slow lol...see you later with more....

2 FINISHES

I

the fold back part is the pretty back ....i found this fabric and knew i had to use it as the back....it goes with the quilt so good..i may have quilted it too close i think...another ufo off my list...

this is the very last quilt made with the old courthouse step blocks i made a very long time ago...this was one of the first blocks i made when i really got into quilting big time....i must have made a thousand of them cause i sure have  made a lot of small quilts with them....guess i should have made a big bed quilt from them...but i thought i had them all done then found more...

here is the 'mini square' quilt i showed in another post all done now with a dark ruby red binding....it will go to my daughter as i mentioned before..

Well its off to quilt on the blue quilt...and hang up the 3rd load i have in the dryer....and make sense of my day....more later....

TABLE TOPPER FINISHED AND CURRENT QUILT DETAIL

I finally got going on the camera again....here is a closeup of the stitching on the blue quilt i have in the frame....the thread is navy and it is quilted on the diagonal ....its taking a little getting used to standing out like it is but i am getting used to it....

i have 3 light blue rows done so far...the quilting in the dark squares is jus outlining the squares on the inside of the square so the quilt is quilted pretty close....i have a small problem i noticed today...i have a wrinkle in the area of the back that i am working on that will require me to be very careful to work out....

here is a small blue table topper that i finished recently during our first snowstorm...it had been waiting to be done for quite awhile....i am glad to get it off my table....

today i worked more on the quilt in the frame for most of the day stopping long enough to get a meatloaf ready to bake...this time its a big one....i am used to making mini meatloaves so i dont have leftovers but i think meatloaf sandwiches will taste good for a change...i also got a  bowl of bake beans in the oven too....i will add a big lettuce salad and call it supper...haha and i might as well make enough salad for tomorrow cause i will be having the same thing tomorrow lol and the next day lol...

we have about 16 inches of snow on the ground right now and rain coming the last part of the week....it may cause some flooding around the area as it will start to melt all that snow....just hope i dont end up with water in the basement...there is mud everywhere so the ground isn't froze either....

i have more pictures to post so keep watching for more and of course i am always working on something...cant stand to have my hands idle anymore....so many things so little time!!!! lol....more later....

CHALLENGE PROJECT POSTED

I am posting a picture of a recent challenge i participated in , in my quilting group....the host just posted the pictures so i can post mine....

the challenge was how we viewed 'Apple Pandowdy'....i chose to let the fabric colors be it....a description as follows:
starting with the outside row....the red is the apples...the next row in which is a brown instead of white with red is the dough, the white in the next layer is the cream i would put on to and the next layer is more apples and the center is the dough....i know its far fetched but i dont have an embroidery machine to do graphic things and i didn't want to do applique so that was my version lol...i wouldn't blame you if it left you scratchig your head lol.....

i finally got a quilt laid out and put in my quilting frame....

where you see the light blue space in diagonal rows is where i am quilting a long feather the length of a row in each of those light blue spaces....i am also doing something a little different for me too...i am using navy thread for hand quilting this time....i wanted to show the feather and take up some of the blank space....dont know what i am going to quilt the border yet...got a little time before it get to it...lol...

we have gotten a lot of snow this past 2 weeks today included....i got out yesterday for some groceries before i got snowed in again so i will have plenty of time for quilting....the really only problem i have is my sore fingers if they arent sore from quilting i make them sore from working on the girls' grandmothers flower garden....but such is life!....more later....

SOME PROJECTS GETTING NEW HOME

I thought maybe i should come in and post now as i gotta get some groceries and run errands, then wrap my granddaughters birthday present....

Her present is the quilt i made and i made her a pillow complete with pillow form like the quilt also....

then there is the pillow form and pillow like the table runner she wanted too...she already has the runner...

its a small one that she says works over the arm of her sofa so the pillow to match should look good there too...i dont think she will need more pillows for awhile lol....she already bought  some in the colors of the quilt above....both pillows measure 18 inches square so they are good size ones....

Maybe i will get to do a little other sewing later today....i have projects sittin all over right now....its finish time i think before i start anything new....i would like to get the rest of the blocks made for the 'stringy stars' quilt i am working on....i am liking it quite well...no pics yet.....lol...dragging my feet on that....and of course i would like to get the quilting done that i started before my quilt foot broke....so lots of things i should be doing....so i guess i better get going....more later....

LAST OF THE COURTHOUSE STEPS? MAYBE FISHING IS NEXT!

Well yesterday i did get to wally world for a bit....i got my lunch at a fast food place and wrote out a small list so i wouldn't forget what i wanted in case i got into a conversation with anyone and my thoughts went out of my head lol...i got there at a good time too, the parking spaces were up close but the wind was sooooo strong, glad i wasn't wearing a wig! lol....

here is the yellow background, courthouse steps quilt i fnished the other day....

AND i sure hope this is the last of those pesky courthouse steps blocks that i have had for the last 30 years....why o why i made so many of them is beyond me....but  i think they are all made up now....i know i said that before but i have looked in every nook and cranny and dont see anymore...i have made a lot of smaller baby type quilts with them for sure....and i am ahead and ready for the next new babies in the family...

this morning i got out all the fabric for my sons quilt....i found FISH fabric about 2 years ago for his but couldn't make up my mind on how to make it...not only that but i finally washed up the last of what i got for it so its all ready to work on now....i measured and decided on how i was going to make it today....in fact i might go in and work on it later today while everything is fresh in my mind...at least get the top done....and today i feel confident enough to machine quilt it....hah! have to see how i feel when i actually go to quilt it...that might all change lol.

yesterday i got enough goodies to make a veggie soup and i think i have a chunk of roast that i cut off some time ago in the freezer for the beef part....then later i can make ground up meat sandwiches with mayo,celery, onion and pickle relish to go with the soup...i never add the meat to the soup as it get old faster than the veggies do so this is a good trade off for nutrition......lol, my idea is simple, i wont have to cook for a few days and that leaves the door open to sew lol....plus the weather is going to get close to 10F daytime and i wont go out in that if i can help it lol....

i want to play around wih those new modern blocks i am creating....maybe add another element to them or make the bigger one smaller...they look too plain at the moment...more on this later as i stated...but they will be on my mind till i get them worked out  so i am sure i will pick up where i left off yesterday....

hmm...i left a coffee cup somewhere and i need to find it and warm it up again...cold coffee isn't bad either...i get a lot of that when i am sewing and too lazy to go warm it back up lol ...lets see where was i last?.....more later......

MY GRANDDAUGHTERS MODERN QUILT

I finally got the camera going and took a picture of my granddaughters quilt all done....it has been a year in the making...i kept putting it aside for other projects through the year and last month i made up my mind to get it done...here it is....

but you know there is always something right behind it ready to be done and i have quite a selection to pick from lol...

its a toss up between the color study quilt i call 'MAZE TO NOWHERE'...cant remember now if it is no. 1 or 2....this one has a green border...the other one that is done has a blue border (in the first pic)....both are pictured below...they are alike except for the borders....a case of making too many blocks lol...

this is my own block that i designed and it is a very easy block to sew ...the seams dont meet so you dont have to deal with bulk there and it goes fast ...it does take a lot of variety of colors though...it took me a long time before i got what i wanted to use gathered up but it gave me time to figure out just what kind of block i was going to make...

and the other quilt to be quilted is this one...

.

i would like to get it done too...i have the back for it that i want to use but dragging my feet on what to quilt in the light space....i love feathers and i think i have a stencil that will work....i will hand quilt i think as i am not good enough to do feathers on machine and i would like to give this one away as a gift later....more on my dilemma later lol

for right now i am nursing a back ache...i aggrivated an old injury last week carrying something i shouldn't have and now i suffer for it....and believe me winter weather isn't helping...but our weather could be worse and i am glad so far that the snow is north of us but soon i think we will have some....then i will have plenty of time to sew just hope my back settles down by then...

well lunch is coming  later this morning so i dont have to cook.... i better get dressed and i could use more coffee to get woke up...happy sewing....more later....

SMALL QUILT DONE

the sun is out today but i am sure its deceiving as the temp is just above freezing....i was suprised this morning when i looked out the kitchen window to see ice in the corners of the window....i dont think there should have been....maybe the window isn't tight anymore...will have to look into that i think....

saturday i walked by this quilt laying on the table ready for quilting and i said to myself several times during the morning 'i better quilt that today' and the last time i thought why not just sit down and do it now...lol....

so i did....got it all done including the binding before the day was through....hopefully these are the last of the pastel patches i cut out years ago....they have to be at least 20 years old lol....i had a habit of cutting way too many squares for things back then....but then i was making a lot of baby blankets for kids so i guess i thought i was ahead of the game....well they all grew up and now their kids are having kids and i am back making baby things again for great neices and nephews ...not as many though....

i wanted to make a quilt top for my good friend who is very sick with diabetes and other health problems but after figuring, i couldn't use the fabric for that particular pattern... i didn't have enough so now i am looking for another pattern to use....

Not sure what the rest of the day will bring....this morning i worked on sewing the posies to the main part of one of the gfg quilts...i think this week i will work on that then by Thanksgiving day i will need to baste more white hexes again so that will be my sewing while i am visiting and eating thanksgiving day lol....

but for now i am just going to get another cup of coffee and ponder my next move.....more later.....

SHERBET COLORS QUILT

i made this quilt a few years ago for my grand niece when she was expecting a baby....i have liked it really well and almost kept it as i ran out of a lot of the colors especially the blue border which i think is very striking and i wasn't sure i could ever make another close to the same colors again....

its a basic hour glass block with all colors combos without matching when its put together hence the prism effect....the picture shows them pretty good but the colors are more striking in person as i remember....cut two strips at least 1-1/2 inches, i think i used 2 inch strips...use triangle to cut and use both sides of the fabric making a positive and negitive and use both in the quilt for contrast....

well while i was ironing my new fabric yesterday i thought about this quilt and wondered if i had enough pastels to make another to put in my cabinet for my future GGChildren if they come to be....i looked up the picture again in my photo album i keep and again on line to see if i still had a record of it....

i recently found a blue that is almost the color though it has a hint of purple here and there in the fabric but i think it will be ok....i would like to be as bold as the one in the picture....i have yet to round up all the pastel solids or blends to make it ....i am sure it will be different from the picture because some of the blends i liked are no longer available...i already tried  reordering those lol....Hoffman watercolors really stood out in the quilt but they have discontinued several of them i used....but i will keep looking because one day soon i will be making another one similar to the sherbet colors above and i think bigger....it was so much fun to make!.....more later.....

ELONGATED BLOCK QUILT

I was looking back through my sewing pics and i came across a quilt pic i took in 2007...boy how time flies...i didn't think it had been that long since i made this quilt....

suprisingly i remember how much i liked it then and would like to make another one in different colors...that much i know...the colors?....no idea as of yet but now that i have it fresh in my mind i am sure i will think of color combos that might look good...the picture should have been taken the other way around to show off the colors better as the long boxes should be up and down....

I also noticed that lately i have been making blocks with sashes around them.... i wonder what the deal is with that....do i go with an idea till i wear it out???....hmmmm i will ponder that one!....lol...

my sister called last week and in the conversation she mentioned that she cant go anywhere without her walker now...and that got me thinking that she needs a walker caddy....so i have been 'scouting' my stash cabinet for a good print to quilt to make her one....i got called away so i think i will go back in and start looking again....i wanted to make her a tv remote chair caddy so i think i will just start a box and fill it and send...i was reminded that the postage will go up again in Jan '13 so it would be good to beat that if i could....wont she be suprised lol.....

i have a gazillion notes and figures sticking out of the box i keep my rulers standing up at the head of my table in the sewing room....some have written on them which of the items they were for and others dont....i found a notebook that i am starting to take them and transfer the notes to the notebook for safe keeping in case i want to go back and make another....some of them would be for quilts that have found a new home and i wouldn't have the dimensions otherwise...i should have done this a long time ago....sigh!

i made it to the store yesterday and got my chicken dinner for my supper and took advantage of the sales they had and by the time i carried my grocery bags to the house from the garage i was beat so i didn't make it to $general to look around....maybe today i might...my daughter informed me she was stopping by after she gets off work so i need to be here then....time has a way of getting away from me before i do what i say so we shall see lol....more later....

BAG IS FINISHED

well here it is the week end again....i swear some of the week days get overlooked and the week end rolls around too quick, making the weeks just fly by....being busy makes them go by so fast too....

i got up in time today to see my saturday sewing shows on public tv....a regular sewing show which had a lot to do with quilting this week, Fons & Porter show about quilting, showing a new block and a Quilting Arts program....while watching them i put together another posie together for my Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt....

yesterday i worked on my bag i have started and finished it...and it all started because i didn't want to throw away a scrap of floral fabric...isn't it funny what peaks our creativity?....i got side tracked because i was waiting on a thread order to quilt it then got busy with other projects but now its all done....

i had quilted this before i lost my confidence in machine quilting and had very good luck with it at the time....i think this bag looks tropic for some reason , maybe the colors...here is a back view...wish i had, had enough floral fabric for the back...

i only have a scrap left of the green used for the bag...it was just the right color...this bag was truely built from scrap lol and it will make a great contribution to make my sewing portable...

i will be going to my grandsons birthday party later today so i will pack my bag with the mug rugs i made this week and finish them by sewing the binding down on them...right now its foggy and not very nice looking outside so i hope the sun comes out to burn off the fog so the wiener roast goes off without a hitch....

and for me i need to get around....have fabric in washer at the moment ready for dryer, need to take care of that and work in the kitchen so no major sewing today unless i do some when i get back home if i am not too full of hot dogs and marshmallows lol....more later....