ANSWERING A COMMENT AND MORE INFO ON A QUILT

To answer a comment from the last post by Love of Quilts....at first I thought the border might be too bright too but after I remembered that am going to add a quilted heart of the block color in the center of each block I think that will make it better and also the border might not be that wide...I will play around with it some before deciding...thank you both sheri and love of quilts for your comments...I always like comments....

Sometimes I have a hard time deciding on a color for a border unless its very similar  or the fabric like the rest of the quilt....I don't seem to put a lot of contrasting borders on them....

I have to get the fish quilt done before October 3 for show and tell at the quilt meeting....maybe if I hustle I can have one of the small ones done too to show....but high on my list is PUT ALL THAT FABRIC AWAY!!!! .....more later

MORE QUILTS IN PROGRESS

The fall festival is over for another year....the weather was great, a little cool but ok.....the crowd was a little thinner I think and looking not buying unless it was food....that was the busy places...according to one vendor people just seemed to be out for a stroll lol....but then I kind of expected this as I hear every day on the tv that the economy is still not the best....

Here at home at this very moment I have 3 quilts started on the back corner of my table....I think all three will be at least  double bed size....you will see more of them as I work on them but I had to package them up to keep it all together...that becomes a problem sometimes as limited as I am for space...

 

I got my order Saturday with the border fabric I am going to use with the floating boxes quilt...that should make it twin size....

its another one of those conversation thingys that my family most likely will comment on....its kind of a fun quilt so why not put a fun border on it....it might go to the nursing home to brighten up someones life...more on that later.....

 

All those medium and pastel fabrics I had out when working on the sherbet colors quilt I decided to make another one only prism design....

years ago I made one with pastel prints where the colors are with white as a background....it went to my nephew's family and I liked it so well that it stuck in my mind and I said one day I would do another....the colors I had out seemed the right choice for this one instead of the prints....more on this later too....ok I am editing this...I was looking over the blog and found I had a picture on the right of the last prism quilt with the prints....so you can see what one looks like done....

 

Life is back to normal for me now lol....my brain is working overtime as usual so maybe I will come up with some goodies .....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....

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.......

 

 

HERE IS MY 2 GRANDMOTHERS FLOWER GARDEN QUILTS

Finally!!...i have had trouble trying to post this picture....here are my babies....these are my 2 Grandmothers Flower Garden quilts so far....the tops are done so the next step is to sandwich them and start hand quilting them....so it will probably be at least 6 months before they get done, maybe longer....they measure 74x92 inches and are all hand made and i didn't use any paper disks....as i dont like English paper piecing or any paper piecing for that matter lol

I am back on my laptop today...my new computer quit working....tech and i thought it was in the computer since he installed a new monitor and it still didn't work...but after he left....my mouse decided to die....so now i need to get a new one and hope that was the problem...to tired today to make the trip to get one....

I have been working in scraps most of last week and so far into today.....and this afternoon i worked on straightening up my work table....geez what a mess!!....i hope i can keep it cleaned off....FAT CHANCE!!...i did put some of the 'stuff' in bags sorted so that helped and maybe i wont be moving it around.....

Its been a long day so far and i need some food and i am tired, brain tired....hope you enjoy the gfg picture...the girls at the quilt meeting helped hold them up so pictures could be taken....they were a spectacular site seeing them both together.....so glad  i stuck with making them.....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....

SHERBET QUILT IS ALMOST DONE!

i decided to start with something bright and cheery today...its clouding up so maybe it will rain some and cool down....as long as its hot i am contented to be inside where it is cool....i found these flowers in the garage along with some others and decided they might look nice on the deck even though they arent fresh....i have a bad habit of forgetting to water plants outside...my kids say i put them in 'dry dock' lol...

i am making progress on the 'sherbet' quilt...working on the border now...

got almost one side done last night and now the markings are gone for around the corner so will have to mark that and the next side...it moves pretty fast when i get started...i think it will be a 'striking' quilt when finished...i may put it up for sale at the festival but being its hand quilted i would price it higher....

i need to quit sewing for a bit and start putting fabric back in the cabinet...i have all the pastel and brights i used in the sherbet quilt still out and fabric from several of the runners too....2 piles on the machine arm makes it hard to sew and  piles behind the little ironing board makes it hard to press things and god forbid if i had to press a large piece of fabric....and i guess i will just have to gather all the scrap i have accumulated of late and just put in a bag for now as my scrap box is overflowing....i feel another string quilt coming on lol....

ok i either have to find something in the freezer for my supper or get out in the heat and go eat somewhere....i am leaning toward the latter lol....no cooking...its a good thing! lol....more later.....

PROGRESS ON THE 'SHERBET' COLORS QUILT

It sure is hot here in Illinois this week but then its the middle of July...from now through August we can expect this...i have seen it as hot as 114 degrees actual...it was so hot then that my husband had to carry our dog across the patio to the grass to do his business, just too hot for his little paws...almost too hot for everybody...i hope we dont see it that hot here again but this year of extremes who knows!

I put together the 'sherbet' quilt this week and now decided to hand quilt it....and i am almost done with the center of it....i got out a stencil that would fit the block and decided it had too much detail so i didn't mark a lot of the lines and found it created a 'wonky heart' design....i like it very much i will have to make a note to do that or later i might wonder where i found that idea lol...i am still deciding on the border...its 4 inches and i have a scollop design stencil i may use ....

Yah i am dragging my feet on pictures again but later today if i get bored with the quilt i will wind up the camera and come in and post again today or wait til tomorrow....geez i am so lazy lol....i will blame it on the weather lol....

Well back to the quilting....maybe i can get the center (20 blocks) done today....onward....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!

PROGRESS IS MADE ON MODERN MAZE QUILT

Back when i was making the pastel 'maze' quilts i thought somewhere in time i would make one that was made with batiks with the same principle....so about a year ago i started drawing up a new pattern for one....you have seen the block in earlier posts and i have been working on it now and then....

i am almost done with the top...

i have been putting together sections in 9 square blocks (3x3) and have 2 more sections to go....i think i have enough 6 inch blocks to finish...then decide if it will be another row of 3 wider and longer....

here is a closeup of a 9 square section.

before i do that though i want to work on my grandsons quilt i started before my health problem....i have the back, gotta wash/iron it yet then sandwich and i can quilt....i hope i can do a good job on it on my little machine....then also quilt those pinwheel runners too....

yesterday i mostly spent in the kitchen trying to cook things that didn't have salt...that is one losing battle...i have doc appointment next wednesday so i thought cook reg but watch the salt very carefully and see if i am doing ok at the docs....i havent cooked with salt for years...my down fall is eating out!...i will have to get used to using unsalted products as i find them....i keep forgetting i can season them later with salt substitute....

a very good salt substitute is called "no salt"....i swear by it!

time for lunch so gotta run...more later....

A HEART ATTACK IS SLOWING ME DOWN!

If i was missed this past week i had a good reason, not a happy one though the outcome so far turned out better than expected....i had a heart attack!...my lungs was filling with fluid smothering the heart....i think i had all the tests in the hospital before they were through....i came home today with lots of instruction and lots of bp meds....so it will take some getting used to and a lot of trial and error....i dont mind telling you it will be a hard thing to do...

I am so tired and they took my arthritis meds away because of the health risk so now my arthritis is really kicking up a fuss....i can hardly move without pain....so lots to get used to there too...

sewing may have to take a back seat or i might not be able to do as much as i have in the past...but i will do as much as possible...i have so much to do!....

that is it in a nutshell about me for now so i have to wear a new groove in my life...is it too late to teach old dogs new tricks?? guess we will find out....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...

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....



FORGET SEWING, NEEDING AN "ARK"

YES forget sewing and start building an ark....we got 6+ inches of rain in a 24 hr period and now no one can get in or out of town as water is over the roadsand bridges that lead out of town....i havent seen the water that high since 1979....and those bridges are high off fields below...there are a few creeks that run into the spoon river and it can really go on a rampage....in fact i dont know when we got this much rain in the same time period before...and its not over yet....more rain is forcast today and tonight at least 2-3 more inches....then friday its to get colder and  "snow"???? geez whats next!!!!

i have water in the basement....i knew i would have ...it seeps in around the blocks at the base of the floor and runs to the drain when we get a lot of rain...i havent been down to look yet how bad and just hope no one put things back on the floor....i usually keep things off the floor because of that....am not looking forward to going down the steps as they are hard for me to navigate with my bad arthritis and i dont want to fall....

i worked on the modern quilt today trying to keep my mind off the basement and started putting the blocks together and trying to decide just how big to make this quilt...its looking good so far...

i should go to the store after supplies but the milk man and bread guy probably didn't make it so shelves will be empty and that is what i need lol...i could make some french bread it dont use milk  but i dont have a cow so am out of luck in that dept. i can cook around no milk though so no problem...got hamburger out but no ideas yet what to cook later...i'm more interested in sewing lol.....

schools are all closed all over the county today some are trying to clean up...others because they are rural and cant get to the students....bet the kids are happy! lol....

oh yea! its starting to rain again....well its 'backstroke' to the kitchen for me.....more later.....

SO MANY QUILTS -SO LITTLE TIME!!

Right now i have so many quilts going...i am beginning to feel bogged down....i know, its my own fault lol...but i can explain lol....

i have the snowball quilt you saw in last post but i was looking in the cabinet and found the fabric that was left from the pillowcases i made my grandson...i guess i havent taken a pic of those yet...

anyway i only had about 1 yard of the fabric left so i made blocks out of it alternating with red and blue to make it go farther....ran out of red and didn't think it was going to be big enough for him but i had ordered red for another project and it matched what i ran out of so after i wash it i can put the last border on it...will get pics when i get that border on....

then i got out the blocks of the modern quilt i have been working on all year now and then....

this is a pic i had in the archives but i have almost 70 blocks now and will make quite a few more before i decide just how big it will be....its going to be very striking in color....the pic dont do it justice....will try to get a better one later....

i have the backs for all the quilts now except the modern one so i can get going....and i also have 15 new blocks for the gfg quilts and will start again setting them in rows....

had a good after surgery checkup at the eye docs other day....i never went back for the check up when i was suppose to so he gave me a lecture lol....and i promised to go sooner than 5 years lol....i know i shouldn't take it lightly as i have had eye problems in the past and still have one that will go out of this world with me....

i got steel in my eye years ago and had to have rust scraped from the cornea dead center and it created a shadow that i see when i move my eyes and the new lens from cataract  surgery makes it more prominent to see...

rain, rain all week so i guess i will be sewing more maybe i can get caught up with the pics to show ya....more later....