Quilt the day away...

This Wednesday we were at Carla's house for quilting.  She made an Apricot Danish and Blueberry Coffee cake for us to snack on.  Thank you Carla (and Bob); they were delicious!  I always enjoy getting together for quilting to catch up with each other and ooh and ahh over the beautiful projects everyone is working on.

One of our members, Susan LeHoullier, has her put her first pattern out.  It's called 'Colour Charm' and you can buy it at Thimble Pleasures.  Another member, Bridget, tested the pattern out for her.  It's very simple to make, but really showcases your solid fabrics.  Check out Susan's website, Seedlings Sewn, for more pictures.  She made it up in some hand-dyed fabrics and it's gorgeous!  I'm sure this will be the first of many.

I've finally finished quilting the flower quilt for Chris, my secret sister.  I've even finished the binding.  Usually at this point I would be done, but on this quilt, I'm now hand sewing on a bunch more yo-yo's.  I've made about 200, but can already see that I'm not going to attach even half that many.  Perhaps I'll send her the rest of them and she can use them to embellish a pillowcase or something.

Here's a few new pictures of David.  He just keeps growing and growing.  He's only 6 months old right now but he's already longer and taller than our other cats.  He's not yet fatter than the others but looking at his belly, you can see he's working on it...

Can you see the shine of his new collar?  He's turned into a little escape artist.  He keeps trying to dart out the front and back doors, but usually only at night.  He's a little difficult to see out there so he must now wear a reflective collar, a name tag and a BELL.  All the other pets appreciate this for different reasons.  First, he can no longer sneak up on the other cats.  This has allowed all of them to finally relax without worrying he's going to suddenly appear and tackle them.  And Gabriel, our dog, loves it because she can keep tabs on him whenever she wants to play.

Finally, it's helped us as well.  I can't tell you how many times we've accidentally kicked him coming out of the bathroom at night.  Now we have some inkling he's there in the dark.  Mr. QuiltingBug and I were talking just this morning that he's only been here for 2 months, but it seems like much longer.  He fits in so well.  (As I'm typing this, he's fast asleep on my legs.)

I hope everyone is enjoying the brief bit of fall weather we're getting now.  I'm even considering taking off one of my pairs of socks.  'Til next time...

Another chilly night!

Well, I'm still cold.  I have a feeling I'm going to say that a lot over the next 6 months or so.  I'll also be doing laundry more frequently as I now start wearing 2 pairs of socks every where I go.  If your feet are cold, then the rest of you will be too.

I got a little time today to sew on the binding to the quilt for my Secret Sister.  I still need to hand stitch to the back and attach a gazillion (or so) yo-yo's.  Then I can finally mail it off to her.  I hope she enjoys it.  I also managed to work on step 1 of the new mystery quilt Jan is hosting for our bee.  We get step 2 in a couple of weeks and it would be nice not to be behind.

I signed up to make another challenge quilt that will be raffled off next year.  The challenge part of it is that I can only use two colors in it - black and any value of Crayola Wild Strawberry.   I've been looking to find a fabric that has both these colors in it.  I didn't think it would be that hard, but I haven't had any luck.  However, I did find one black and white scroll fabric that I've decided to try and dye the right color.  To that purpose I ordered a practice dye kit from PRO Chemical and Dye and a color chart.  I've been told the process is very simple and the directions sound like it, but I'll let you know after I try it out for myself.

The kit will dye 30 fat eighths (9"x22") of fabric in a gradation of rainbow colors.  Assuming I do it correctly I'll have some very pretty hand-dyed fabric from which to make something.  I still need to buy some PFD fabric to go with the kit so I'll be on hold until I get it.

You see that you can dye fabric in almost any color.  The chart also tells you how much of the dye you need per pound of fabric.

When I ordered the special fabric for Heather's quilt (see last post), I also managed to pick up a few yards of batiks at a really great price.  These fabrics have already been washed and pressed and are awaiting their new homes.  I already know that I am going to owe 10 of the beautiful ladies in my quilt bee fabric for each item I don't finish up on my quilting list.  To date, I haven't completed 5, but I'm hoping to whittle that down to 3 by January 1st.  So ladies, take a look and see if there's anything you like.  It's not too late to put in a request either...

Brrr! Chilly...

Is it just me or does winter seem to be crowding out fall lately?  I've got the heat on today, fleece pajamas, a sweatshirt and 2 pairs of socks.  And let's not forget the booties...  We even have a frost advisory for tonight.  I'd like for the mid to low 70's fall temperatures to return for at least a little bit.

I've been very lax about posting lately.  Part of that is again because of the weather.  The cold has my fibro acting up and makes some every day tasks harder to do.  So I'm trying to take it easy and not aggravate it any more.   In the last couple of weeks I did manage to finish up one of my to-do's.  I machine quilted a baby quilt for my neighbor who had a beautiful little boy at the end of August.

 

I did some outline stitching and some stippling in the borders.  However, I did try something new and stitched his name and birth information on the top and bottom borders.  Here's a closeup:

It's probably a little difficult to see, but I was pleased with how it turned out.  I'm getting a lot more practice on machine quilting with the Grace GMQ Pro frame I have and I'm starting to feel more comfortable with the whole process.

Last time I saw my sister, she asked me to make her a quilt to hang above her living room sofa.  She picked a very simple pattern and this focus fabric that she fell in love with...

It's a Tina Givens print.  I had a chance to look for coordinating fabrics last week and already have them washed and pressed.  (This is the first chance Heather has to see them so I hope she likes them?)

OK, I'm going to go snuggle under some additional covers right now to try to stay warm.  I hope you do the same!

Smile a mile wide...

OK, I'm just grinning from ear to ear today.  I found out this morning that my quilt, 'Deconstructed', aka the doggie quilt, won Best of Show for the Scraps to Treasures Challenge I told all of you about.  Quilters are such sweet people; they've said so many nice things about it.  And to think, I almost didn't finish it.  Right now I'm so glad I did!

Bats, ghosts and pumpkins...

Yes, Halloween is approaching.  Stores are filled with a gazillion bags of candy reminding us of that.  But I'm referring to block 5 of the Baltimore Halloween quilt I'm working on.  I just finished putting the last stitches on it.  I had a harder time with this one and unstitched a whole lot.  I originally appliqued the acorns in a different fabric before tearing it out and starting over.  I almost left them because being such small pieces, they're challenging to stitch.  But I knew it would always bug me, so I redid them.  And now that I'm done, I'm glad I spent the extra effort.

Now we'll see if I can finally get started on the next ship block...

I won...

I went to Wish Upon a Quilt yesterday to look for fabric for Jan's mystery quilt.  Because it's Stash Dash time here in central NC, they were having a party over there with door prizes and lots of coupons.  And I'm so excited that I won one of the door prizes!  I didn't care what it was, I was just thrilled my number was called.  However, I won a cut of batik fabric and a name tag holder(?).  I like the fabric in both.

After a lot of indecision, I finally picked out the fabrics I plan to use for Jan's mystery quilt.  I know the full quilt has 12 blocks, but I plan to do a smaller 4 block version - mostly because I'm concentrating on making wall quilts now.  I tried to pick fabric choices that I wouldn't normally consider and I'm pleased with my final decision.  Dennis also gave them a thumbs up when they came out of the dryer.  Now to get on with the cutting...

 

We're doing one step every 2 months and there are 3 steps so this will be an ongoing project. 

At quilt bee this week, we had some great show and tell.  Janet finally finished her Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  The quilt is just gorgeous in person and very big.  Janet did all of her quilting on her home sewing machine too.  Way to go Janet!  (That's Janet's head sticking up in the back.)

A few months ago, I volunteered to quilt some of the soldier quilt's that our bee was making so that I could practice on the frame and machine I have.  I finally got around to doing one of Kathy's.  (I still have another of her's to quilt in the next week or so.)  I learn something with each quilt I do and I'm starting to feel a little more comfortable with the mechanics of everything.  I just did a big all over stipple on it and I managed to get the tension right for the whole thing.  Yeah me!

Didn't Kathy pick some beautiful fabrics for her quilt top? 

I also want to mention that Jan showed off a gorgeous quilt on Wednesday made from her own pattern.  I don't have a picture to show but I just wanted to give her kudos for her wonderful sense of color.  I'll say it again - her quilt would look perfect on my bed!

Until later...

Fall is in the air...

And so are a bunch of allergens!  I'm one of the lucky people that don't generally suffer from allergies.  I know several who have them year round - including my mom - and have to take something every day to help them live with them.  I'll take Benadryl for the short term if I get bit by something I'm allergic to but I really prefer not to take it often because of the groggy feeling it leaves me with.  Lately we've been keeping our windows open a great deal, trying to air the house out.  But both Dennis and I are finding ourselves suffering with allergies.  Times like this give me a much greater sympathy for those that fight with them everyday.

I've been taking it a lot easier since I finished my Scraps to Treasures quilt.  I hadn't realized just how much that deadline was worrying me.  I've continued to cut up my scraps into more useable sizes and I've been playing with my quilting frame and machine some.  I keep telling Dennis that 'next month' will be the month I really settle down and practice on it, but that hasn't happened yet.

I also finished appliqueing a block for a friend who lost her mother recently to cancer.  Some wonderful ladies have volunteered to put the blocks into a quilt for her.  The pattern is from McKenna Ryan.  It's supposed to be around 16" x 20" but I shrunk it down to fit in this 8.5" block.  The lady I've made it for just loves pigs.

My quilting bee meets tomorrow and I'm looking forward to seeing what beautiful things everyone has worked on since last week.  I've just started on block 5 of my Baltimore Halloween, but soon need to switch back to the Ladies of the Sea ships.

Until later...