Decided to join...

p.s. i quilt's pinwheel quilt-along

I went today and bought the two background fabrics I wanted. I picked a creamy off white for my blue focus fabrics and a more tan than white for the green/red/pink focus fabrics I want to use. Both background fabrics are Kona cotton solids so they are very good quality material. I decided to join her quilt-along as it is only sewing a block a week and I can continue my other projects. I need/want to hone my skills for this major project that I want to do next year.

I picked up this book today. (40% off yay!!) I have been eye-ing it forever. Next year I want to work my way through it and make every block, sort of like Julie does with Julia's cookbook in the movie "Julie and Julia".

Not much sewing today. I did hand piece a little on my Grandmother's flower garden. I mostly just washed and ironed all the fabrics for the pinwheel quilt along.

Will post picks of the pinwheel blocks after I get them made. I am only two blocks behind!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Giveaway!

After seeing this giveaway I just had to post about it! You can win one of two wonderful Janome sewing/embroidery machines!! Check it out!

http://www.thediydish.com/

But here's hoping I win!!!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Got my sewing mojo back!

After the attack of un-sewing I had, it was so nice to make progress again. I was able to get 5 blocks of the leader-ender quilt (shaded 9 patch) done. This quilt will be for my brother so I again am using male oriented fabric. I really like this layout of the shaded 9 patch pattern. The contrast between light and dark is much better than the last one I made.

I also got another "Quilts for Kids" sewn together. I had to make one for a boy after making the butterfly quilt for a girl. I had a bunch of 50% off coupons for JoAnn's so I was able to get the cute sports novelty and the blue marble fabric for a song. I have enough to make another, same as the butterfly. I will probably wait to make anymore until after our trip to Texas in April. JoAnn's will have batting (warm and natural) half price next week. I am waiting to score some of that before I machine quilt them. My hope is to get these two quilted and in the mail with the original quilt before we leave.

So nice to be making progress again!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Un-sewing....

(Jake squeezing his 20 pound body in my fabric shoebox)

That has been the theme for the last three days. I have been slowly sewing on my leader-ender quilt for the last 2 weeks. I had a shoebox full of the blocks. I decided to stop and start sorting them out to make the bigger blocks. I "thought" I had been randomly sewing all the scrap 2 inch blocks together. When I laid them out I found out there was too much order in my randomness. (isn't there some theory about order happening in choas??) So out came "Jack" the ripper and we started unsewing all the parts that were repeats (which was a lot!).

When I got the randomness of the pattern I wanted, I started building the blocks. (Day 2) When I got 18 of the larger blocks together, on a whim I decided to lay them out to see if I like the look. Sigh, I hated it....... out came "Jack" again.....blah!

So after 3 days of ripping, rearranging, and re-sewing, I am back where I was at the beginning. So I learned an important lesson about leader-ender's. Have a plan! I thought because I had made a similar quilt before I could just wing it. I learned that I need to lay out the pieces that I will be leading and ending with so you can see the pattern or repeats (if scrappy).

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Giveaway!

Had to blog about this gorgeous fabric Pickles and Bacon is having. Such gorgeous, yummy fabric!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Cindy

Friday Night Sew In - a success!

Got my project for the evening completed. I don't think I am going to put a border on it. I added an extra row side and bottom to make it large enough. I think I will just quilt it and bind it as is. Max, my kitty, approved of it by promptly hopping up on it.

Also got all these leader-ender pieces done while piecing the kids quilt. So a very productive evening! I hope everyone else had a great evening!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

A woman's perogative...

is that she can change her mind!

I had planned on doing the Schnibbles Madeline quilt for the sew in tonight, but have decided to work on the other "Quilts for Kids" quilt to send with the original. I found these cute butterfly fabrics last week and bought them because they were irresistable. Digging through my stash I found these matching fabrics to go with them. So I am in the process of cutting them out to sew tonight.

I finished the other baby/kid quilt today! After washing it crinkled up nicely and again I longed for a grandbaby so I could sew baby quilts for it!

The good thing about a crinkly quilt?? It hides your wonky quilting! I learned so much quilting this and hope my next one will look more professional.

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Friday Night Sew In

Tomorrow night is the "Friday Night Sew In". I have my project all picked out. I am going to be working on my Schnibbles "Madeline" quilt. The Rouenneries charm packs arrived today just in time! DH left yesterday for a business trip, so I have the house all to myself! (well except for 3 kitties and a dog) It is comforting to know over a 100 other quilters will be sewing with me tomorrow night!

Today I spent ALL day working on quilting the little "Quilts for Kids" quilt. It was my first time ever machine quilting, and boy oh boy, was there ever a learning curve. I practiced first on some scraps before hitting the quilt. It turned out okay. There are a few "wonky" spots, but overall not to bad for my first attempt. I will do the binding tomorrow during the day and post some pics after I wash it. I learned so much doing it.

Until tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Wish I were as confident....

as my daffodils and easter lilies are that spring is coming! As I was leaving to run some errands this morning, I saw the daffodils peeking out of the pine straw at me. Seeing them brought a smile to my face. It seems to have been a long cold winter so far and this gives me a glimmer of the hope of spring.

When I checked the pattern for my Grandmother's flower garden, I saw that the next flower was the yellow one. When I finished piecing it a few minutes ago, it reminded me of the daffodils that will soon be blooming!

Hang in there everyone! Spring is coming!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

So busy... but no pictures to prove it

Yesterday was spent running around shopping for items to get my two major quilt tops ready to go to the longarm quilter and for me to quilt my smaller quilt tops. I found the perfect flannel back for my son's quilt. It has a red and black square pattern on it that is the perfect match for the squares on the front. Spent last night getting it washed, ironed, cut and sewed. I also de-stringed the quilt top.

Today I worked all day today getting the back ready for the Chocolat Jacob's Ladder quilt. Normally it wouldn't have taken me that long, but the quilt was a odd size. It would have taken 3 strips of cloth to fit the back with way to much waste. So I decided to piece a row of Jacob's Ladder blocks down the center of the back instead of wasting that much cloth. So I had to go dig out the remnants, iron them, find the pattern, cut, sew and figure out how the math of getting it dead center of the back.

I must say after I was done it looked great. The problem is after I had bagged both of the quilt tops up with all the stuff I remembered I hadn't taken any pictures. I was so tired from sewing and ironing all day I just refused to have to take them out, take pictures and refold and bag them. I will post pics when they come back from the longarmer.

Ok I am off to bed, because those two quilts whooped me bad!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Quilts for Kids

Woke up and dug right into the little quilt kit that Downy sent me. It is so darling! I petted it the whole time I sewed it. Makes me want little grandbabies so that I can make them quilts. (my son would roll his eyes at that!) It has the cutest zoo animals on it so am going to name it, "The Zoo comes to you!" If you are interested in volunteering to make one of these cuties go here: Downy's Quilts for Kids

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Those "Ah-ha!" moments

Since I started reading all the wonderful quilting blogs out there two weeks ago, I have learned so much! I love how quilters reach out to each other and share what they have learned. Two things have really made me stop and go "Ah-ha!!!!"

I am the bird nest queen, no seriously, I am! When I was a child I was banned from using my mother's sewing machines. It wasn't because she thought I would get hurt, but because of what I could do to them. She sewed upholstery on an industrial sewing machine, and clothes on a regular. She tried very hard to teach me to sew. But every time I would try to sew I would create this bird nest of thread that not only ruined the fabric, but it would somehow migrate down into the bobbin case area and foul that up too. It would sometimes take her 30 minutes to clean it all up and get her machines back to sewing right. When I was in high school in home ec. I was tasked to sew a skirt. You had to sew it or flunk the class. My mom had to sew it for me, because of the mess I made of her old Singer.

Now imagine her suprise when all these years later I started quilting. I started on an old Singer that was 20 years old. I really didn't worry about breaking it, though there were many sessions of trying to clean all the thread out of the bobbin area. I finally watched a quilting show and saw a tip on using a "tween". Thats where you use a small scrap of fabric in between your pieces so you don't have to deal with the loose thread. So my bird nests became non-existant.

But because of all these wonderful blogging quilters I have learned an even smarter technique. It is called the "leader-ender" quilt. Instead of "tweens" you just sew a piece of a seperate quilt. You lead with a block and end with a block from a different quilt. So you are basically sewing two quilts at the same time!! Ah-ha number one!!!

Last year one of my goals was to become more enviromentally aware. I purchased a composter, dived into recycling, and really trimed our waste output. When I stated quilting again this year, I was loathe to throw away all the small scraps I was generating when I cut out the cloth. Then I read how one quilter was saving all her scraps and making cat beds out of them. She would sew a pillow bed, leaving one end open and throw all her scraps into it until it was full. Then she stitched it closed. I have 3 cats! Also I can donate any extras I make to my local no-kill shelter for their cats. Ah-ha number two!!!

Happy Quilting!
Cindy

Shaded 9 patch borders finished!

On a roll!! (so unlike me, hehe) Finished the shaded 9 patch quilt top tonight. I am very happy with the outcome. My sweetie helped me pick out the borders this past Saturday and I have to admit, he has a great eye. I wanted his opinion as this was supposed to be a masculine quilt for my son.

It has some very special fabric included in it. It has some of his favorite shirts, pants, and some pieces of fabric that used to belong to his mother. She passed away when he was four from leukemia. I came into his life when he was 5 and have been his lucky mom ever since. She was such an artist. She painted, was crafty, and made dolls. When I found a stash of her fabric she used to make doll clothes, I stuck it back and held on to it all these years. I finally figured out what I wanted to do with it so that he could have it.

Because I wanted to include so many different fabrics, I had to go with a scrappy pattern. I picked the shaded 9 patch because I could use very small bits of a bunch of different items. I would have liked for the contrast to have been more intense, but because some of the fabrics were neither real dark, or real light, the contrast is more muted. Not one of the fabrics has a flower on it, so I have decided to name it, "No Flowers Allowed!"

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

Quilts for kids!

Imagine my suprise when the doorbell rang and it was the UPS guy with the package of material from Downy's Quilts for Kids. I just volunteered on Saturday. So speedy! It is adorable material. If I weren't right in the middle of putting on the borders of the shaded 9 patch I would start it immediately. Here are some pics of the cute fabric! If you would like to volunteer to make a quilt for a sick kid, go here...Downy's Quilts for Kids

If it could go wrong...

Sorry for the lack of posts, but our wireless router went kapoot. Poor DH worked long into the night trying to get us back on the internet. Thank goodness he had kept our old hardwired router. At least one computer is back up and running though our printers are still off line. We have a print server and it is wireless... (For peace in our family we have 2 computers.) He has been working really long hours so there is little time for him to fiddle with them to get them back online.

I did complete the flag top day before yesterday. I mitered the corners of the border. It was my first time ever doing that and boy oh boy was it ever a learning experience. I must have ripped out the first miter 3 times. But as each corner went together I got better at it. By the 4th I did relatively well.

Sorry for the mediocre pictures. I caught a cold and am feeling so foggy headed. I did find the fabric for the backing in my stash. I think it will work out nicely. I love the sheet music with "The Star Spangled Banner" on it. So appropriate!

My local quilt shop, Loving Stitches, is having their bag day sale on Friday and I will buy the batting then for it. I plan on quilting this one myself. It will be my first attempt at quilting on my Bernina. Wish me luck!

Happy Quilting!

Cindy

A productive day.

Woke up this morning feeling like sewing, so decided to put the flag quilt together. It was straightforward and went together without a hitch. It took me about 3.5 hours to sew it, taking a few breaks to stretch. I still need to put the border on, which shouldn't take very long. Somewhere in my stash I have a backing fabric that will be perfect. It is a fabric with sheet music on it with "The Star Spangled Banner". Will try to find that in the morning.

I used the horizontal layout. I really, really like it and wish I had bought more than one kit from Amy. I plan on giving this to my son as a gift when he graduates from Air Force flight school in April.

Then hubby and I went down to Loving Stitches to pick out border fabrics for the shaded 9-patch. We must have pulled 20 bolts looking for something to go with the busy look. We finally settled on a red inner border and a marbled black outer border. I think it will frame the craziness that is the middle, hehe. That is my project for tomorrow during the super bowl.

Had my eyes checked yesterday and had to have new reading glasses. Boy oh boy, did they make a difference sewing today. I hadn't realized how blurry things were until I put the new ones on.

Until tomorrow!

Happy Quilting!

First Quilt Top Finish for 2010!

Well it took me most of yesterday to complete, but it is done! I am very happy with the results. My DH asked me if I had this one earmarked to be given away, and I told him no. So he declared, "This is my quilt!" Who am I to argue, hehe. Here are a few pics of him holding up "his" quilt.It is made with Moda's Three Sisters Chocolat fabric line from 2006, and the Moda University Jacob's Ladder pattern.

Of course the second the quilt top came out, 3 kitties magically appeared and gave it their stamp of approval.

Now it is off to my longarm quilter!

Happy Quilting!

Fabric medicine

Yesterday didn't go well for me.... caught a intestinal bug from somewhere and had a really rough night. So the last thing I felt like doing yesterday was quilt. Instead I bundled up on the couch in a quilt, and felt sorry for myself most of the morning. Started feeling better towards the late afternoon and then the doorbell rang. It was the mail delivery guy with a package for me!

It was a box of fabric I had ordered from Amy Smart, of Diary of a Quilter, when she had her destash "tag" sale. The fabric really is gorgeous! I think she threw in a bunch more than I ordered! Plus I had ordered it Saturday night and it was here yesterday which was quite speedy! Thanks Amy! One of my first projects out of the box will be this quilt fabric kit she had put together.

It set my mind racing and the creative ideas of how to use it started making me feel so much better. Since it was so late in the day, I didn't really have the time or the energy to pull out the Jacob's Ladder quilt top, but I did acomplish this....

Amazing how much healing power fabric has!!!

Quilt Drama

Had grandiose quilting plans for today. Took the puppy down to doggie day care to play with the other dogs so I wouldn't have to worry about about her chewing my sewing machine cords up. (usually I stick her outside while I sew, but it is pouring rain today)

Came back and got out the Jacob's ladder quilt from the depths of the storage armoire. After ironing it I laid the top and the border fabric out to take a look. When I stood back it was soooo busy. So I decided to put an inner border in to break up all the busy-ness.

So after searching my fabric piles that I have in numerous locations (this took an hour), I finally found the fabric left over from the quilt. I settled on one of the tone on tone reds, and then did the math. I was short..... So I called my local quilt shop, Loving Stitches, to see if they still carried it. Alas, no. The fabric line was long gone.

After searching the internet to see if anyone carried it, (another hour gone) I decided to try to find another fabric. Hard to believe in all my piles of fabric I didn't have anything that would work. (another hour-ish gone)

So.... I packed up the top and border fabric and headed out to the quilt shop ( I am so lucky I only live 2 miles away). They are always so nice and helpful. We pulled all kinds of contenders and then I settled on a lightly marbled red that goes well with all the red tones in the quilt. (yep there went another hour!)

I can't go into a quilt shop without coming out with something else in addition to what I went in there for. I got the Schnibbles "Madeline" pattern and ordered the charm packs to make it.

Now after getting back home I find that all my quilting gumpshun has gone. So.... off to surf Quiltblogs.com!~