READY FOR BINDING

 

last night i quilted the blue runner on the left in the pic

 but the others ones were sitting there staring at me so i just went ahead and did them also....I dont know how old the one with the pink in it is...it was an experimental block is all i remember about it.

In the back is a potholder in reds and another one beside it in a green star...

I may have plans for the beige bordered one....its about the size i need for a pillow in my computer chair so i should make a pillow out of it...i might have a pillow already stuffed could be about the same size....i am so short i need a boost lol....

Not sure if i will get to it today or not....having one of my weird days where i cant keep my mind on one thing very long.

While back i got some quilt tops out of the closet to analyze them and there they sit so i should put them back and only get one out at a time....I get overwhelmed at times how much stuff that is waiting to be sewn...

So stay tuned never know where i will lead you next ....more later.

ON THE TABLE

 

When checking my dining table where the machine is i found this runner that needs batting then quilting....i am thinking of working on it today.....At the moment my back feels pretty good even though i have been up since midnight after 13 hours of sleep.....I will take a pain med before i start to help and maybe i can get something finished.

Later when i am fully awake i will do the pickles if i am still in notion .....its funny how a person can be ready one minute to do something then in the blink of an eye be so down and out about doing it.....That happens to me a lot....most of the time it has to do with pain....

I found i have several small quilt tops that need analyzing to check if size remains or can go bigger....or if i want them to....at the time i got them as far and then i forget just why i made the dimentions  that i did...i hate that.

Ok its now 5 am and i need some breakfast before i do anything....been scouting on computer for ideas so now its time to work while the energy is there.....more later.

TO EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS SEWING?

Its been a busy weekend so far....some of those Christmas blocks I tore up are now remade into this little topper...I used some of the squares for the outside border too...I wasn't sure I was going to be able to quilt on my little machine as the last time it threw a huge temper tantrum and wouldn't sew right...after messing with it 6 months ago I left it alone  before I had a stress fit.

Well this week I decided to see if it was over it...I adjusted the tension again and low and behold it wanted to quilt... but I am sooooo out of practice...tonight I tackled it again and made a lot of mistakes and had to rip out a lot but finally got it done...now its ready for a binding...maybe tomorrow...

I'm trying to get back to the sewing I did before but after 6 months of not sewing ya know its like starting over lol....

The rest of the weekend so far I have made a big batch of potato salad and homemade cookies....made homemade pizza Friday night with the leftovers from homemade spaghetti sauce.....do ya get the hint I did a lot of homemade cooking this week  hahaha.....

Ok i'm tired so that's why the humor I get a little crazy when I am tired....but its a good tired because I was sick the whole month of June with Shingles and still being bugged by the after effects...soo its off to lay down and watch tv before I doze off.....more later

LITTLE THINGS MEAN A LOT

You might have noticed that i haven't posted for a bit but i have been a busy gal...if you quilt then you know you have leftover fabric and odd blocks from other projects well i am not different lol....i was getting too many little bags in my clothes basket of blocks so i started looking through them and found several that would make good small items for giving 'just because'...so i started working on them a couple weeks ago and came up with a lot of goodies....too many for one picture....

I never seem to have trouble giving potholders away or the little mug rugs...so i end up making a lot of them...I still have more in the works but my machine is giving some trouble so not too eager to keep going on them at the moment till i get it back in good condition...its easier on my nerves lol....It hasn't taken down the amount of bags in that clothes basket though i still have way too many in there...

Today its supply day so gotta get out of the house for that and maybe a late lunch....have to see what happens....more later....

STAR RUNNER FOR MY FRIEND

I can post this now that it has been delivered...i made this runner with a quilter friend in mind when i started...i had been tinkering around with some stars with triangle blocks squares leftover from the big star quilt...then i made some other stars the same size maybe to have a big quilt someday with all them in it...Well when working on this runner it was looking a little plain so i decided to hand quilt in the white with blue thread...and after all that i thought it needed more so hence the stripe binding....Not too bad but i would have liked star binding better but no luck....

Today i have been working on another small quilt for charity...2 inch squares around a 5 inch center square...i have a lot of solid colors that i can get the centers from and a lot of 2 inch squares to pick for the rest...i think i will need 35 blocks then i can put together...i might machine quilt this one before i send....we will see later......that is all for now...will be a quiet holiday here that is ok...time for sewing?????.....more later...

NEVER TOO LATE TO FINISH A UFO

I have been working on a UFO that i started back in 1980...not sure why i quit working on it but i think its because i had trouble appliquing it to the white background...It was my first attempt at applique and i didn't do a very good job...BUT i decided to finished anyway...It was a good item to practice my hand quilting on it... and what it would look like if you couldn't get all the design where you wanted it...Its 28 inches square so not a lot of room...i had all the pieces there to finish it but had to find a binding color as i dont have any of the fabrics left in my stash...Not sure i will be making a wedding ring quilt in the future...but then i never say never...

It hasn't been a very good week..one trouble after another...first the main sewer pipe was plugged and had plumbers out to work on it....was very inconvenient for couple days....then hot water in shower wouldn't work all the rest of rooms did...finally got that unplugged...was an air lock....and last but crazy...the crockpot couldn't cook a chicken in 6 hours at 300 degrees...

Today i left to maybe change all the bad karma that is floating around here...maybe it went out the door when i left....well i hope so....so its time for me to get going on something being i have basically goofed off today...more later.....

COUNTRY LOOK TABLE TOPPER FROM 1 SCRAP STRIP

I made this little table topper last week out of a 3 inch strip i had that i got from a scrap bag a lady brought to the quilt meeting last month...it made 7 little pinwheels and was so pretty i couldnt see burying it in the middle of a quilt so i had to make something to show them off...i just kept building the block then laid it out and this is what i came up with using all but one block...I had a stencil i wanted to try out hand quilting before i put it on a big quilt, the verdict is out on it so far....I took the topper to my daughters mothers day hoping she would like it...these are the colors she likes....She Did!...she is pretty picky about what she wants so not always easy to please her lol...

My stencil order came so now i have new ones to play with...more sizes which will be helpful...i see one already that i plan to use very soon...

Today i made a couple mug rugs, the binding to sew down tonight while watching tv...my machine was acting up terrible but i finally got it going ok...but i made a few mistakes  here and there till i got it to work...it seems it wants the thread to be in the spindle on top of machine not the horizontal one...now maybe i wont have trouble for awhile....hope not i have a lot i want to do and dont need the stress....well its time to get back at it so till next time....more later.....

MORE SCRAP TURNED INTO SOMETHING

The other day when i was tinkering around in the sewing room i found a fat quarter and some leftover triangles sitting on the table...they kinda looked like they should go together so i scrounged around in the cabinet for a co-ordinating piece to make sashes out of....this is what i came up with.....

I think it will be a nice addition for someone next fall...and more important ..some more things off my table....i swear the table content multiplies over night.....

I also noticed that there are solid colors accumulating on the table....i am thinking i should cut some strips maybe 2 1/2 inches wide of lots of different colors to make a irish chain quilt....i love that pattern...its so simple but it looks so clean and striking with lots of room for nice quilting...this idea has been roaming around in my head for awhile....sooner or later i will make another one lol

Gotta get out today and see if i can get the garage door open so i can get out and get groceries....i am sure its stuck with the 'watery' snow we got last week and now cold weather...today it has moderated so maybe if i can get the snow away from the door it might open....Hope So!....more later....

ANGEL TOPPER --A GIFT FROM MY SWAPPER FRIEND

Isn't this pretty???? ...Beautiful Angel!... It's a topper made by one of my on line quilting friends for Christmas swap i joined....i am thinkng of putting a sleeve on it so i can hang it....i have just the spot for it and i think it would look nice ...

Yesterday wasn't a total loss...i washed up a small load of clothes and another load of dark fabrics and ironed them for my cabinet...

I just havent felt like doing too much...this past week i have had some sort of bug working on me...i think its a sinus infection but so far i am still going...very tired all the time though....so not much is getting done...

Today i hope to change that....i have a lot of fabric that needs washed up so it can be used so this is the game plan....wash a huge load of same color type fabric and dry a few at a time so when i iron them my arm doesn't get so tired....i think this will work better though its kinda slow process but workable...

I have already worked 3 hrs on my grand daughters flower garden quilt....this border is getting to me...for some reason its taking forever to finish...one reason is the Kona white cotton is very stiff to work with....i hate it....the last batch of it got was this way....

I ordered fabric for the background of the last flower garden quilt...MINE....it wont be Kona for sure....i am making sure i got something that is soft to hand sew....one note...when i went to order...it seems most of the other whites in all categories is sold out or has very little yardage...what is going on?????...is the companies not making any or is the public making quilts with all white backs?????.....unbelieveable!!!!

My sewing table is a wreck again...but what should i expect when i am working in there most of the time...i never stick with one thing very long so there is always 3-4 projects going on all the time....

I cant get anything done sitting here so off i go...maybe it will be a very productive day....more later.....

UFO GETTING ATTENTION TODAY

Today while drinking my coffee still trying to wake up I decided to look at the back pictures in my camera file to see if I missed anything....sometimes I take a lot of pics to use with posts here and I miss one now and then....well I am not sure but I think I found one lol....

This a UFO I started couple years ago...all it is lacking is the rust border maybe about 5 inches or so then it will be ready for quilting....I started it because I wanted a different layout for the string blocks...I call it southwest stars....it reminds me of the colors you would find there....the background looks white but it is a very light gray...these colors you wouldn't normally find together but they somehow work just like the sunsets in the southwest....it will be bed size when finished....this is on the agenda to finish before the year is up....

I seem to have a fascination with star blocks....

I keep going back to a challenge that I participated in while back and made this topper....I like the colors and the design of the topper ....I wonder if a large quilt would look good with them.....or something similar ....maybe more later on this one...

Update on the snowball quilt....I did get it to the narrow border stage after getting the rows done but didn't take a picture yet....I have been trying to decide on just how big to make the borders or how many....that will be the story for later this week lol.....

One of the first things I have to do today is do up the dishes and straighten up the kitchen....when I work on a project in sewing the kitchen always suffers ...I just eat and pile dishes and go back to sewing....so now it judgment time lol plus I gotta cook something today so I can do both at the same time lol....geez its a new week again....time is flying....and so am I lol....more later....

A FEW MORE THINGS FINISHED THIS WEEK

Today feels like a fall day...and it wont be long till it is fall here in Illinois...and that means lots of sewing projects for Christmas....which right now my head is so full of quilty things that there are no ideas for anything else....

I have done a lot of sewing this last 3 months and I am not caught up yet....I finally got pictures taken and put in computer of things so I can post them for awhile till ya get tired of them lol

As some of you know I am participating in a fall festival with my gd later in the fall so have been making up some things....

 

couple of runners.....

 

 

At the moment I am trying to finish my sons 'fish' quilt top so I can sandwich it and start with the hand quilting....I have been talking about it for the past couple years or more and now finally getting started....I hope to finish by October for his birthday but if I don't there is always Christmas lol....or next year....I have learned not to make promises though the years....lol...

 

My new computer has taken a lot of my time lately trying to find things that are there but not where I would have liked them to be lol and today I had to load a couple more programs that didn't make it....first I had to look up the disk I knew was here....grrrr got mixed in with the empty cases....that took about 2 hrs to find....as you can tell I am not a very patient person lol....

 

Looking forward to Chicken salad sandwiches for supper tonight...I got hungry for them for some reason so thawed out chicken breasts, cooked them and will make it when I am done here...might save out one and use broth and have a 'dab' of chicken and noodles...

 

That seems to be all for today....not too gabby today but then I haven't been doing anything but sewing....I am sure there will be more later.......

 

 

STARTED A NEW QUILT

Today i started what i call a 'sherbet' quilt....well its not sherbet ice cream just a lot of colors you might find in sherbet...

I made one of these about 3 years ago and gave it away right away at a baby shower and it was a hit with all that saw it...i have posted here before....

well while back i started cutting strips and cutting big triangles after 2 strips were sewed together creating color combos...well last night about midnight i got started again and just kep puttin blocks together and i got enough done to make another baby quilt....

this past week i made another runner


it too is based on the scrappy quilts using various strips....i didn't have as many blues as i did the browns, oranges etc...

my granddaughter was here for a bit this afternoon and we kind of discussed our strategy for the fall festival sale we are planning on....it should be interesting to say the least....

i will have more pictures when i get the 'sherbet' quilt done...should be this week...just got to remember all i need a picture of......oh its fun to get old!!!!....more later!

QUILTER CACHE INSPIRED RUNNER

In the midst of all the other sewing i have been doing i found time to make a new runner....

It was inspired by Quilters Cache...i dont know why i went there, lord knows i have enough ideas to work out of my head but its always nice to find a new idea, right??...lol....its not entirely like the one they had pictured but similar....and i think their blocks were bigger in the center and i wanted triangles around the pinwheel...that is light yellow sashes around the pinwheel and a funky color green triangles...glad that one is used up...i still wonder why i bought it....that will need machine quilting this week sometime...

its such a very dreary day today i think the rest of the day will be spent putting blocks in therows of the gfg quilts and see if i can get a row done on each of them....got leftovers for supper so no cooking this evening, good time to just keep on sewing and forget the weather...now if the tv will co-operate and have something decent to watch while doing this lol....

by the time i get all that done i will probably have some sore fingers so maybe the rest of the week i can get caught up on the machine quilting...hope so.....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....

FINISHED RUNNERS PLUS

Well here are 2 pictures of runners i finished....i am so disappointed....they are batiks and they photograph bad....in an earlier post i posted one of them and these didn't turn out any better...in person they are fine....i guess that is what counts but they wont look very good in the book i keep pics of my projects in

They are about 12 x30 inches,

the bottom one a little smaller....but i got a lot of practice with my machine quilting on them....

More practice is coming....i have i hope the last of the smaller quilts with courthouse steps to quilt....i could have finished it while back when i mentioned it, as i had a back ready but changed my mind and ordered fabric i saw for the back...

The fabric at the top is the back and the lower one is the quilt....I think it will look great with the variety of color the quilt has....so i am going to work on it sometime over the week end unless i get side tracked....

I made a bunch of labels for my quilts while i was waiting for the new quilting foot to come to replace the one that broke....and now  i have all but 3 sewn in the quilts....guess i should have made more of them....i have a bunch of partial filled bobbins that would be good to use up ready to wind for full bobbins and new quilting....

I took this picture through the storm door of the back porch and yard....we dodged a big snowstorm that was headed to the midwest thursday over night....we only got less than 2 inches....i was glad so i didn't have to shovel snow....we need the moisture and have gotten a lot of rain this winter instead of snow that should help....its blowing and dreary looking today so i suppose the snow could blow...but it looks like we got some ice on top of it .....

well going to sew this afternoon after i figure out what kind of a meal i will have later...maybe something simple so i can sew more....lord knows i need to sew 24 hours a day as many projects i have going at the moment....more pics about them are coming in more posts lol....but for now gotta run.....more later....

HEXES AND HOUR GLASS

this morning i am having trouble getting started with my day....when i loaded a bobbin in my machine i noticed my bobbin box had a lot of bobbins that only had a few feet on them....so that told me to get out the hexes and use those few feet of thread for basting my hexes for the gfg quilt

i need to start adding the white ones around more blocks like the picture so i can add them to make a row and it will take a lot of white ones....i seem to be always running low on those....if i start working on this quilt again i wont be able to put it down....and i have a lot more things i need to work on too....

i quit and now not feeling very well...not sure why but i am going to try to sew and forget my 'ails'...my back is also bothering me so that could stop my sewing cause it probably hurts from all the sewing i have done lately....

 

more later....