Some finished projects

This is a "summer stashbuster" quilt from a swap on one of my small yahoo groups last summer. I spent my retreat at Dee's in Leavenworth last June piecing scrappy courthouse steps blocks. They were swapped out and I set it together with a bolt of cobalt blue I have and last Wed. I decided to try to machine quilt it. I had it done and bound (by machine) by the next night and at my guild meeting donated it to the "quilts for chemo patients" project one of our guild members started. Below is a closeup of some of the quilting.

I quilted this log cabin quilt for my friend Jo. I went back and forth on the quilting and finished it awhile ago finally and there is also a picture of the quilting. Jo received it today.
I did the quilting on this baby quilt in between the other two above. I went to a neighbor's who has a Viking Mega Quilter and frame setup and had fun playing with it. I must say I think I prefer my "stuff and fluff" method of machine quilting, but I got a project done! I bound it and have it ready to donate to someone as soon as I figure out who gets it!

My New Quilt Project

I have been doing some machine quilting and miscellaneous blocks. I decided yesterday to start a new project for me just because I wanted to! Yes, I have a large amount of unfinished projects, but they aren't going anywhere. I have several quilts to machine quilt for others (on my Janome 6500) but I needed a me break.

A few months ago I bought the Prickly Pear kit from Bold Over Batiks. I couldn't figure out the directions at first, but finally read them again and it made sense. The designer is Karen Stone and I love her paper pieced patterns but hadn't made any of her applique patterns. I took a before and after picture of one of the blocks and it's amazing the difference the stitching makes.

I am using decorative stitches on my Pfaff 2040 with Madeira Polyneon and Superior Rainbow threads with Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin. It's working wonderfully. Maybe by the time I am done with all 12 blocks I will be able to figure out out to turn corners easier and at the right time!

Webshots Update

I updated my webshots account, will be tweaking it as time goes by, but I put a lot of pictures up there for the last two years of quilting projects!

Giveaway!

Pieceful Afternoon: Drawing Soon - and one more great prize
My friend Jo is having a givewaway on her blog. I am trying to link to it! I just love her hand painted fabrics!

Thread Struggles

I have spent a few days trying to quilt this wallhanging size quilt, or small throw. I was really not thinking and decided to use Superior's Poly Quilter because it had a thickness I wanted to use. However, I didn't have a Topstitch size 16 needle, only a 14 or a denim 16 and really struggled with thread breakage. I think it also had to do with drag on the thread, two layers of batik (and seams also), dense cotton batting and spray basting. I went through all the troublesheeting stuff on the Superior site also.

My kindergarten unit right now is "Stick to It" aka persaverance so did persavere and and finally got the right combination of needles, speed, tension, etc. and finished! I bound it and now have another finished project.

The top is from a "Bag Lady" swap. You send a gallon size bag of fabric/blocks, etc. and get back a finished top. This one was made by Sharon in WA and I love it! I had those two oddball blocks and sent them with a bunch of fabric and I'm thrilled with the results!

I thought this was going to be a quick project in between some commission projects. I have several of those lined up and told myself that I would quilt one of my things in between in each of them.

Happy Valentine's Day

I am actually taking time to post today! It's been a rat race lately it seems with work, meetings, etc. My appointment with the tax man is behind me for the farm and our stuff, I have one out of three kids taxes done. I haven't gotten much in the line of quilting done, but here is what I have accomplished recently.This is a quilt I recently machine quilted for my friend Jo. Most of the quilting is straight lines except for around the motifs in the seed packet blocks. There were some areas left for tying also, which Jo had requested.
Last year my small design group had a UFO auction to raise funds to buy some instructional and technique videos for our group. One member had this walhanging made and even had a piece of batting with it but didn't quilt it. I bought it for $5 and decided to finish it up last week. I added some beads for eyes and lots of fun background quilting and even some metallic thread.
This project has a story. I think I may have posted about it last year, but to save you (and me) the time of digging in my archives I will repeat it! This was a round robin in about 2001. It went missing, supposedly mailed, although the person hadn't done it herself. Early last year the woman who was the last person to see it was home when someone knocked at her door. A woman had been cleaning out her son's bedroom to make a sewing room coincidentally and he was in prison. He had been in a lot of trouble over the years and she found this package in the back of his closet! It had Sue's name on it, so she showed up with it, taking a chance. It wasn't in it's original envelope with my name on it. It turns out the package was in a vehicle and the son had stolen the package looking for something to cell for drug money they assume.

I quilted it several months ago but wanted to add beading and finally finished that up this past week.

My Baby Graduates this Year

My third and youngest child graduates from high school this year. It's also our 25th wedding anniversary three weeks later so it's a milestone year. Brad is following in his sister's footsteps and graduating as valedictorian (how did we get so lucky?) and will be going onto college majoring in agriculture/plant breeding. Doug and I graduated together from the same high school as the kids in the top ten, but we can't remember ever speaking a word to each other and we had a class of 93 students! We met again five years later, courtesy of my sister!

I digress, I stopped in at a little LQS to start collecting fabric for Brad's graduation quilt. We had decided on a log cabin quilt in a "nature" theme. He is an extreme outdoors kid and has studied forestry in 4-H. Little did I know I would walk out of the shop with all the fabric for the quilt including the backing!
Three greens for one side of the log cabin plus the center fabric, ignore my sewing room floor! The carpet was a renmant and is covering concrete!Three browns for the other side of the block along with the center fabric again. Oops this one is blurry, those are pine prints, except the top one which is wheat. The fabrics are in the washer, I will have to replace this photo!The backing. I will be adding a dark green strip and putting the moose piece down the middle and strips on either side of the bear. These are flannel, a request of Brad's since he likes to use my flannel quilt watching TV!

I dug out Amy's graduation quilt photo from 2005. She picked all the fabrics and pattern. I copied it from webshots so it came out small! Amy has already graduated from college and is teaching Jr.High math.
Here is Lisa's from 2006, notice how radically different the color choices are! Smokey the cat loves quilts! Lisa is a college Jr. majoring in Bio Engineering.

I still need to get all my quilt photos off the other computer and onto my thumb drive so I can access them easier.

My other news is there is also a new LQS in my small town of 3,000 people and I also stopped in there and was asked to be featured quilter for March. I am trying to support both shops because I like everybody and I like fabric!

Mini Row Robin starting

I am in a group that is just starting a miniature row robin. I finished my row and will be mailing it off Monday to Virginia. My row measures 3" X 15.5" right now, but will finish at 2.5" X 15". I'm kind of wishing I had made 2" finished baskets but oh well! I am sending along the black and the multi batik. I look forward to working on the other 4 members rows!

Working on another UFO

I set together another set of blocks. They were from a monthly swap group and one was dated 2006. I originally was going to set the with alternate blocks and a pieced border. I finally decided size wise it was going to be big enough with just sashing. The yellow just screamed use me! I will be using that same yellow fabric as a piped border next to a purple binding when ever I get it quilted! Taking a pic on my design wall with a fluorescent light right above isn't the best choice!

A Little Progress

This week I have worked on assembling 18 basket blocks from a monthly block exchange group into a top. I used all my red scraps in the sashings and borders and had to get into my box of reds to cut more. The swap took 18 months, getting one block per month. I underestimated the size and it's just about queen size.
I also put borders on a scrap baby quilt. During Christmas when I was organizing my fabrics I cut up a bunch of bright scraps into 2 1/2" squares. My daughter Lisa wanted to piece something so she got most of it pieced before going back to college. I just had to sew a few more rows and add borders. I finished it up today after the red quilt. I will donate to as of yet undetermined charity after I quilt it.

Finished UFO!

I actually finished a project. It should make Lisa happy, but I have a few more UFO's to get finished to get down to my age! I had a round robin from about 2001 that I loved but was wonky. Too many borders had bias edges and more borders were just being added without measuring through the center. I took off one border and it was the right size for a shower curtain for my new lavender bathroom. I'm thrilled to mark something off my list!

Fabric Shopping

I REALLY needed more fabric. Yeah right! However at 50% off how can one resist? Fortunately I was on a time limit (I am the one that said how long I needed) or I might have purchased more. We were at the Spokane Valley Joann's, it's not even a Super Store, but they still had a different selection than the Joann's in Lewiston and Moscow. The feel of some of this fabric is way better than it used to be and the regular prices are higher too. I am taking after my friend Joanni and showing my purchases!
The red with stars is for American Hero quilts and the polka dot is for my polka dot collection. My daughter Lisa (who is doing the 365 photo thing) likes polka dots and so do I.This is a large scale print I thought would look awesome in a One Block Wonder quilt.I absolutely fell in love with the tiger lily print on the left, my friend Kae Ann did a gorgeous color crayon tiger lily in a class we took (I failed coloring!) and she also had the florist put tiger lilies in a bouquet for me during my surgery this summer. I got the other florals as coordinates for something, I just don't know what!

Road Trip Handwork

Let's just say this hasn't been my favorite week, but things are looking up now. There are so many people in the country losing their jobs and I'm lucky that I don't have to deal with that. The things I have going on seem insignificant in comparison to what is going on in the country right now.

I spent a couple evenings cutting up scraps for a Sister's Choice quilt. I am in a small group that we send out fabric and a pattern monthly and get back a finished block and in turn make a block for others.

I did accomplish some handwork while going to Spokane this weekend for two days to visit my dad in CICU. He is finally better and out of intensive care as of today. I took along a block I had prepared for embroidery from the Winter Wonderland pattern by Crabapple Hill Sitting in a hospital gave me time to work on the block and I finished it today.
On the trip home Doug and Brad were doing more combine shopping and I dug under the seat in the car and found a hand piecing project I hadn't touched for two years or so. I had two blocks done and hand pieced the other three on the trip home and even had time for a nap in the car! I got home and got out the 23 blocks I had done and found out the 5 blocks I had in the car are spinning the wrong way, along with two of the blocks I already had here at home. This is a very long term project I saw years ago in Quilter's Newsletter. Now if I could find the picture of the quilt! I am doing it as a charm quilt, so even though some of the fabrics look alike, each one is different.
These are the spinning the wrong way blocks. Next will be my fabric shopping trip today!

My weekend quilt project

Other than more snow, then rain and melting snow, boring housework and bookkeeping this weekend, I did pretty much make this whole quilt top. It belongs to my friend Deb, and it came to me with a box of fabric, six finished blocks and a pattern. I made six more blocks and did all the setting this weekend. It will be interesting to figure out how to quilt it for her! The pic is taken on my wobbly design wall, it really does have straight edges and hangs well!

New Year's Resolutions (Or Not)

Every year I try to make resolutions and never keep them, so this year I just made suggestions to myself, not resolutions. One suggestion was to get organized in my sewing room. To that end I spent days and days organizing my fabric. It was a major undertaking. I always prewash, but don't press, because I was so far behind in it I figured why bother. Now I will press (but really don't need to purchase fabric for a LONG time) because I have neatly organized boxes containing my quarter yard to one yard cuts.
I also have organized shelves with my project boxes and fabric.Next (well maybe) on my agenda will be tackling my scraps. This is a few of them!I did finish another UFO before the end of December!

More About Quilts

I received this awesome quilt a couple days before Christmas, only it was wrapped so I didn't peek. The pattern is Fractured Stars and made by my friend Lynda in Nevada. She had been a neighbor and quilting buddy and then moved away. We lost contact for about five years and this year we re-connected. I sent her a gift of a quilt for our joint birthdays in July and she said I inspired her to quilt again and I got this really, really cool quilt!
This is a top I pieced this week. The blocks were made by members of WASIQ and sent to my friend Debi on her parents passing. She had an awesome blue batik in her stash and this summer I brought it and the blocks home and finally assembled a top for her. I plan to quilt it this week.
In August I went on the Crazy Eight Shop here in northern Idaho/Eastern Washington. I saw this border print and a book called Cabin Fever at The Crazy Quilter in Deary Idaho, an awesome shop in a teeny tiny town. I cut it out Friday night this week and finished it yesterday. It has minmal quilting and the applique stitching down is done as part of the quilting to make it faster. My oldest daughter loves it, and really I made it with her in mind!
This is a quilt I finished quilting this past week. I didn't make the top, my friend Joann in Arizona made the top for her oldest daughter designing it as she went. I volunteered to quilt it and had a lot of fun doing different designs. My closeups didn't show well since the thread color blended too well! Joann received the quilt Friday and already has the binding on!

Christmas

Christmas happened. Not too exciting but here are a few pictures.
The first quilt is one I made for my boss, the head teacher at the one room school. She had to have an emergency appendectomy this fall and I took squares and fabric markers to school and the students were given instructions to make a "pretty" block. The artwork is interesting! I set it together and gave it to her for Christmas and she loved it. In fact she had been hinting! It was pretty funny. We have 19 students, grades K-6 so the lower hand block is one I made just saying the name of the school and my name, date, etc. In essence a label on the front of the quilt.

Next is a wallhanging I made from a kit from Keepsake Quilting . I actually made two of them, one is mine and one for my daughter Lisa. I love that the black was all precut, you just peeled the paper and fused!
This is our tree, a prelit one we bought the day after Thanksgiving at Home Depot. We have 8 foot ceilings and with the star on top it almost touches.

The fireplace mantle with many of the stockings I have collected or made. For a few years I was in stocking exchanges on a yahoo group, but didn't do it this year due to lack of time, but I have a few stockings. There are more to the left you can't see hanging on hooks under a shelf.

My "big" Christmas village. I have a smaller set too that is on the China Hutch.

Minneapolis in December

I had a chance to go with Doug to Minneapolis the first weekend of December. He was representing shareholders at an annual meeting and I thought I needed to get away. Despite the cold weather we had a fabulous time. Two other wives and I went to Mall of America on the train and the people of Minneapolis were all fabulous at giving directions. You just stood there in the Skyway system looking lost and they asked where you wanted to go, including a UPS man who walked us there!
Doug had a free afternoon the last full day there so we walked through many blocks of the skyway system to get closer to the Mississippi River before we had to go outside and brave the elements. The picture above is me at the southern edge and we walked across the bridge and the picture below is Doug on the northern edge. Well more or less, directions were hard to figure out in that city since things aren't laid out straight and the sun wasn't always shining! We took a scenic path back and and walked across a historic stone arch bridge (not pictured) that is longer open to traffic.The last night in Minneapolis the CEO took the other six of us from the Lewiston division out to dinner at a fantastic Brazilian place. Then as we were walking back to the Hilton we came across a Christmas parade. We had taxied to the restaurant and most of us weren't prepared for standing in a snowstorm but it was pretty to watch! I took quilting along but didn't have a chance to touch it!

Too Much Snow!

I am not a fan of snow. For that reason I live in the wrong area, but I'm not going to change the place I live. I love my house and family! Don't get me wrong, I think snow is pretty, in the fields, on mountains, etc., but not on the roads. It's also very necessary for water. However, our driveway is drifted shut yet again! This is one daughter's car that was parked here a week ago. She dropped her car off to get it's snow tires on and went to Boise for Christmas with her boyfriend.

I have been hiding out in my basement sewing room and quilting at least and don't have to go back to work until Jan. 5th! I managed to get out and do a major food stockup on Dec. 23rd so I guess I shouldn't complain. The snow started a lot later this year than last year!

Where did November and December go?

Time just continues to fly by! November was really busy with the major house cleaning and painting spree getting ready for Thanksgiving. That went well, there were 31 of us here.

However the weekend before Thanksgiving I managed to go to a retreat. I worked on a few things, one of them was this wallhanging. I had printed out photos on Printed Treasures fabric and then used lots of thread embellishing to enhance it. I love the way it turned out. The photos were all from my yard and were taken by my daughter Amy and myself. Here is a closeup of one of the flowers.
Another project I worked on was this wallhanging. 9 of the blocks were made for me in an exchange from a small yahoo group. I made three more and set the top together for a calendar quilt and got it done by the deadline of November 30!


Yet another project at the retreat was this tablerunner for a Christmas exchange on this same yahoo group. The recipient asked for cardinals and I had a picture of her dishes.
This is the one I received in exchange last week.