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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Header Quilt

Thank you for all of the wonderful comments about the Orange Crush quilt in my header. I gave it to my husband and have been wanting it back ever since. (It really doesn't matter because it is laying over a chair right now. I don't think the quilt or my husband are going anywhere.) I do agree with all of you. Bonnie Hunter had a great pattern and a great idea of using orange. It is the high contrast of the black and white fabrics with the orange that is so eye catching.

I am planning to make another one this summer using black and white fabrics with another color.

Hot pink . . .  lime green. . .  red. . .  purple.

Hmmm! What do you think?

I guess I really need to photograph it again in a different setting to get rid of the winter in my blog. Boy, I wish I had a beautiful garden full of flowers. That would be a great spring setting. 

Monday, March 29, 2010

Design Wall Monday

I am using the floor because the baby quilt from last Monday is still on the wall. I thought the baby was due any day now but it is not due until May so I am going to have to sew it together so I can have my design wall back. I'll just have to take a chance I get the embroidery centered.



I need to cut out some more blocks and play around with it. The center will be white and the babies full name will be embroidered there with the other stats in the other white spaces. I made 2 baby quilts using this template and both turned out really pretty. Unfortunately the pictures I took got lost when my laptop crashed. So this time, I am going to make sure I get pictures and save them on my hard drive and my flash drive. I probably need to see about on-line storage for my pics.

I can't wait to visit with Judy L. at Patchwork Times to see what everyone is up to. It is always fun to see creations in progress and get new ideas.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Babies, babies, babies

I've spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning, washing sheets, and enjoying my last couple of days off before heading back to work tomorrow.

I did take long enough this afternoon to make a pillow to go with my curtains and bring a little more sunshine into the room.


It looks like I should have stuffed it a little bit more and used a heavier fabric for the center. Oh well, I'll know when I make the next one. I like my pillows soft so I tend not to overstuff.

I attended a baby shower today (nephew and his wife) and have another one next month. The blue quilt on my design wall last Monday was for the shower today. But, I can't finish it until after the baby is born. The niece the baby shower is for next month is having a girl. And a different niece had a 2nd baby in January. I saw her today and told her I needed the baby's info so I could make her a quilt. She was excited and said she hung the one I made for her first baby on the wall. It is so nice when people appreciate quilts like we quilters do.

See you tomorrow for design wall Monday.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Friday, March 26, 2010

What have I accomplished today?

I spent the biggest part of the day making curtains for my living room. They are just straight panels but really brighten up the room. I had burgundy panels before. With the dark brown walls and no overhead lighting, it was very dark in the room. A lack of overhead lighting and dark walls is the reason I cannot get good pictures in this room. The white glare by the flowered curtains are actually sheer white panels. I have shades behind the sheer panels that I pull down to block the sun on bright days. I made 9 panels and I am glad they are finished and hung.


Remember the cute little bag I made for my Kindle.


Well I added a pouch on the inside to hold my power cord and ear phones. Keeps everything handy.


Now I am working on a baby quilt for Larry's nephew and his wife. When we have babies born in the family, I make them a personalized quilt. So I have this one cut out and on my wall, but I am not going to sew all of it together until I get the birth information from the mother and finish the embroidering. (Not good enough yet to take the chance of making a mistake after it is all sewn together.)



This is actually only the inside block. I have three borders to add to it. Maybe I'll have another picture tomorrow.

Well, that's my accomplishments for the day.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

ABC's of Me

I'm off to Fort Smith for a lesson on my embroidery machine. 

Several of you have posted about yourself and I think it is so fun to learn about others.


So here's . . .

The ABC’s of ME…………….

A. Age: 48 for a few more weeks

B. Bed size: King… My husband and I joke that we can go all night without touching but neither one of us can sleep well in a full bed.

C. Chore you hate: Dusting and vacuuming -- allergic to dust mites and have fits when I do either

D. Dogs’ Names: None right now

E. Essential food item: Bread…  if I make bread I can eat a whole loaf in a day or two

F. Favorite color: Red,  Black, Orange and . . . on and on

G. Gold or Silver: Depends on the colors I am wearing

H. Height: 5’3"

I. I am: hyper --I have to be doing 2 things at once always. Except reading.

J. Job: Teacher

K. Kids: Craig, Kelsey and their sweeties

L. Living Arrangements: Paris, AR halfway in between Fort Smith and Little Rock--15 miles from Mt. Magazine--the highest point in Arkansas

M. M is for money -- something I need more of so I can feed my quilting habit

N. Nickname: Viv

O. Overnight hospital stay(s): Just having my kids!

P. Pet peeve: Whiners

Q. Quote from a movie: Rhett Butler --" Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn."

Right or Left handed: Write with the left hand, bat right handed, catch right handed, everything else--either

S. Siblings: 5 brothers 3 sister -- 9 of us in all

T. Time you wake up: 5 or 5:30 with the alarm -- may sleep in until 6 without it.

U. Unique thing about your car: Another big one. An excursion. The biggest SUV made. Everyone laughs at me because I am so small with such a big vehicle.

V. Vegetable you hate: Must be collard greens because I can't stand to smell them being cooked or sauerkraut

W. Ways you run late: I’m never late.

X. X-rays you’ve had:  chest for bronchitis

Y. Yummy food you make: Fajitas!

Z. Zoo animal favorite: Giraffes or Zebras -- they're just so different

And now - will YOU share your ABC’s?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Decisions, decisions, decisions!

I have this fabric that I recently purchased on clearance and have decided to use it to make a quilt for my bedroom. The walls are a sage green and the curtains are brownish-gold. I have a touch of red in lampshades and other accessories and plan to add a touch of pink and blues.

My question is, "Do you think the black fabric looks out of place?" "Should I use it in the quilt or leave it out?"  I think it almost has an Asian flair to it but not sure.



Here's a closer look.




I have yet to make a quilt with large prints so this will be an experience-- from choosing a pattern to deciding if I want to add some solids with it.

I can tell I am going to have a lot of decisions to make. Let m know what you think.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Thanks for the Comments

Thank you guys for the suggestions on my quilt. I haven't washed it yet but I will try blocking it.

Cindy, I do my own quilting and am really going out on a limb and trying new things. My inspiration is Wendy Sheppard at Ivory Spring. She does all of her quilting on a domestic sewing machine. Bernina, I think. But she does absolutely beautiful work.

I took a chance and ordered a Janome 1600P DB from the internet about a year ago. (It has a 9 inch throat.) It was a really good deal so I wasn't too worried about the fact that I may have to have work done on it. (Thankfully, it is great and I have had no problems.)  My husband made me a quilting frame like this.  I have quilted one king size quilt from it and was frustrated because my quilting space was only about 4 inches.

So, I have been doing stitch in the ditch mostly not using the frame and my embroidery Janome. I plan to use my machine and frame more this summer when I have time to work with it.  I do wish I had a stitch regulator.

I love being on Spring Break and can't wait for the summer when I can laze around all day almost everyday. This will really be the first summer I have ever had off. (I usually have to work part of the summer and  then have workshops on top of that.) I am not scheduling whole lot of workshops this summer, so I hope to have a lot of free time. Yipee. I'd love to be able to get together with some of you Arkansas bloggers.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Monday, March 22, 2010

What Gives?

What have I done? Why do my borders look wonky?



Design Wall Monday

I'm linking to Judy L's. Design Wall Monday.

This is what was on my wall on Sunday morning.


This is what is on my design wall this morning. This pattern is Cotton Candy Squares from Judy Laquidara's new book, Weekend Quilts. I haven't added the outside strip that goes around each block yet. I am using scraps and need to do a little planning.


Have a great day!

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Snow is Gone!

It snowed off and on most of the day but the temp was warm enough that it started melting. Everything is pretty well melted away now.


The table topper I am making would have been finished if I would have stopped after I finished the "stitch in the ditch" quilting. But I decided I wanted to practice feathers so I am putting feathers in each 3 inch square. It is taking quite awhile but is good practice. Some are good, some are bad, some just are.


After I got tired of doing feathers, I decided to practice "pebbles" in the large center block. Now, those take forever. I may be sorry I started that. Very slow going.


I have stopped now for the night and will hit it again tomorrow after Chiropractor visit and dentist visit. Yuck.

Have a great evening.

Happy snipping, stitching, and sewing!

It's Snowing!

Well, it did snow a little bit during the night. It was not snowing when I got up at 7:30 but started again after I returned home from church. It is actually coming down pretty good now. I usually love the snow and think it is so beautiful. But, I am so ready for spring and was wanting to plant a few veggies while I am off this week. I so want to be able to walk out the back door and pick fresh lettuce for salads all summer.


Mt. Magazine can usually be seen in the distance but not today. It is above the tree line at the back of the picture. I am assuming they have quite a bit of snow. It is so beautiful up there but the road to get there is pretty scary when there is snow and ice.

I guess I'll just go back downstairs and sew. I have my table topper ready for borders now and 4 blocks made for Becca's quilt. My plan is to finish my table topper completely today and then design a quilt for my bedroom or the spare bedroom. And  . . . if you have EQ, you know that can take forever.  Because once you get started . . .

I'll come back and visit with you later.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Great Day for Sewing

The morning started off pretty clear and fair temperatures but snow was in the forecast. It started raining around noon and has rained or drizzled all afternoon.

It's a great day for sewing. I read on some other blogs that it is National Quilting Day. I guess the weather cooperated. I am working on a new spring table topper for my kitchen table. Right now I have the sunflower wall hanging (that I'm planning to hang in my bathroom) on it.

I am starting out with a 9 inch square center embroidered with spring flowers.


Then I am adding several rows of 3 inch squares with some embroidered blocks thrown in. Three or four borders and I'll have my table topper. If I wasn't using embroidered squares, I could probably have it all pieced by now. But, it takes awhile to choose and make the embroidered blocks even using an embroidery machine.

So in between setting up the embroidery machine, I am starting a quilt for Craig's girlfriend, Becca. I had her choose a pattern from Judy Laquidara's new book, Weekend Quilts. I am using scraps so I am just cutting out one block at a time. It will probably take me forever this way, but I am enjoying it so it doesn't matter. Here are a couple of the blocks I have finished. This pattern is Cotton Candy Squares.
.


Larry is sick with a bad sinus/upper respiratory infection so he is glad I am downstairs in the sewing room instead of upstairs making noises. The kids are both gone so everything is quiet.

I'm taking a break making a salad, soup, and cheese biscuits for supper. It's starting to smell pretty good around here.

I'm interested to see what the day tomorrow will bring. Will we wake up to the white stuff on the ground?

Happy snipping, stitching, and sewing!

Friday, March 19, 2010

I'm So Excited

I sat down to play around a little bit more with my machine quilting.



I picked up the piece I worked on last night and decided to fill in the centers. I did a small area with mini stippling and decided I would try a free-hand feather.


I actually did it. My first feathers ever. Not perfect. But not bad.


Doesn't take much to excite me, does it? So far on my large quilts, I have only "stitched in the ditch" or did "stippling". 

Anyone have any suggestions on how to make feathers easily on a large quilt.  Does anyone out there use Sharon Schamber's Quilt halo?  If so, does it work for you?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A Little on the Lazy Side -- Maybe

I read how many of you are only able to grab an hour or so to quilt or do other hobbies each day. . .  and yet are able to accomplish so much. That is not the case for me.

My children are both grown and many evenings I am home alone because Larry works 24 hour shifts and yet, for some reason I don't feel like I get anything accomplished in small blocks of time. Case in point--tonight and last night. I spent a few hours each night in the sewing room and thought, "what have I accomplished."

Both evenings I spent working with the tension on my Janome 1600P DB. At first the top thread showed through on the bottom. Then the bobbin thread showed through on the top. So I worked and worked with it and finally this evening, I can get it to sew correctly with all threads except variegated. (Come to think of it, I started out with variegated when I found out my tensions was off.) I guess I went full circle. So I have decided for now I don't really need to use that variegated thread.


I have also never used a stencil for a quilt pattern before and practiced following one tonight while adjusting the tension.  So I guess I did accomplish something. Just not a lot to show for it.

Tomorrow at 3 p.m., spring break begins. Yeah. I hope I can get a lot accomplished during the next week. We plan to camp a few days. The good thing is I have plenty of space to sew since the kids will not be coming. Well, I guess not. I haven't asked them.

Craig and/or Kelsey, do you want to come? 

The bad thing is we don't have internet capabilities at the park. I always feel kind of cut off from the world. But I love the peace and quiet. Especially, if it is sunny and warm and I can sit outside and read a book or sew. I have been know to cut out quilts on the picnic tables. Kind of uncomfortable, but do-able. I have even set up my sewing machine out under the trees and sewed. It is a great life that always comes to an end to soon.

Horray for Spring Break!

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

A Little Bit Accomplished

I dropped by the Dollar Tree today and while I was there some tea towels caught my eye. They were white with colorful stripes on one end. As I have been visiting other blogs, I keep coming across cute tea towels with embroidery on them. These towels just seemed to call my name. And a couple of them came home with me.

So I sat down and picked a couple of spring flower patterns and away I went. Here are the results.





Gotta love Dollar Tree. They do have some bargains.

Until next time  . . .

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Design Wall Monday

Here is what is on my design wall right now. It is actually a panel that I saw and just loved the colors.



I have it hanging on the wall so that I can decide how I want to finish it.

I really want to put a pieced border on it. So I think I'll cut the borders off after the first narrow gold border and add about a 5 inch pieced border. I'm thinking something with curved lines.

Do any of you have any ideas for this wall hanging?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Saturday Outing

My son's power cord on his mac book went out so he has been using mine. Larry and I decided to go to the Fayetteville store that services mac to get a new one.

I decided that while we were making the trip, I would check out some quilting stores on the way. There is a web site that lists all of the quilting stores in Arkansas so I wrote down the stores in the Fayetteville and Springdale area. Let's see the first one we went to was not there any longer. The second one was actually in Elkins with a Fayetteville address. It was open, but they had planned to close and ran a big sale so they didn't have a lot in the store. They have decided to go ahead and keep it open and will be reordering. I picked up some fat quarters. The lady told me everything in the store was on sale.When she rang up my fat quarters I had purchased 10 fat quarters and the bill was less than $15.  Now I wish I would have gotten a lot more.


Aren't these beautiful? If I would have realized they were on sale for such a great price, I would have purchased the whole line.

The next two quilt shops we went to were no longer at the addresses either. We decided to find the Hancock store so I could see if they had some star buttons that I want to put on a winter wall hanging I am working on.  I did find the buttons and they also had fat quarters on sale for 99 cents each. I got these to use for a spring wall hanging and/or to use for applique.


I like them but not near as much as the batiks I got from the quilt shop.

What did I learn? Well, not to trust the internet for finding quilt shops. If I do use that site again, I will be sure to email or call to make sure they are still in business.

If anyone knows if the quilt shops in Springdale, AR are still open, please let me know. It is fun to wonder around for new shops but disappointing when you can't find them.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Birdhouse Wallhanging Completed

Well, I machine quilted the wall hanging that I am planning to put in the bathroom. I put it up on my design wall to take a picture . . .


and realized I did it again. I have a row on the outside border turned the wrong way. See the bottom border with the green on the left when it should be on the right.  Oh well, it is just for me so it will stay that way since it is already quilted.


Even though I only outlined the applique and stitched in the ditch for the rest of the quilt, I think it made the fence and birdhouse really stand out.


Hopefully, I'll get the binding on tomorrow and Larry can hang it for me on Monday. I do believe I am going to have to quit sewing at 11 o'clock at night especially when I am all stuffed up and not feeling well.


Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Sunflower Pillow Finished



Well, I decided to put a fall fabric on the back of my sunflower pillow.

 
I have it sewn together and half stuffed. I ran out of stuffing so that means a trip to Walmart tomorrow. Here is the stuffing I have started using. It says it will never clump and only gets softer with washing. I can't wait to see if it really works. I do like the way it feels.

I have decided I am going to use the pillow on my extra office chair that I have in my sewing room. Craig sat down on it last night and asked me if that chair ever had any padding. I'm not sure. It is a hand me down. But, he is right. Sitting on it feels like you are sitting on a wood board.


Ignore the blue in the corner of the picture. That is a border for another project.

Now, I'm off to work on hopefully finish the backing for the birdhouse wall hanging that will go in my bathroom.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Missing in Action

Sometimes I feel like I am missing in action. I get settled in to sew and seem to get very little done. I do have this applique that I have been working with. My first thought was to make a wall hanging for my kitchen. But now, I have decided to make a pillow.


You might be able to tell that the sunflower on the far left is not yet appliqued. Hopefully, it will be finished sometime this week.

I have also been designing quilts in EQ6. This is so much fun. Monday, I decided to look through my files and see what all I had created. I came across a file with quilts that I don't remember designing. I thought, "Boy, those quilts sure are pretty." I actually thought they came with the program. In reality, they were some of the first quilts I designed when I got the software for Christmas. Many times I'll look at things and really like it and then go back a few months later and think "yuck". Then other times I look at something that I thought was just mediocre a few months before and decide now that I really like it.

Well, it's late and time to wind down for the night.

Until next time . . .

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Design Wall Monday

Oops! I have the same thing on my design wall today as I did last week.


The week just totally got away from me. Hopefully, I'll get to this quilt sometime this week.


I got out this "work in progress" today but didn't get anywhere on it either. It is one of Bonnie Hunter's patterns from her website called "Ohio Stars and Rails". I'm trying to decide if I want to use what blocks I have made and then add borders to get to the size I want or make about 40 more blocks to make the queen size quilt I need. My goal is to finish it by the end of May. I am giving myself a goal so I will be more apt to finish it by then and not let it sit on my shelf for another year.

I also have a few ideas for some wall hangings I am sketching out with my EQ6. I am more interested in doing this now than finishing the "works in progress" I have laying around. Oh well. top

Stop by Patchwork Times for more Design Walls.

Until next time . . .

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Quilt Shop & Quilt Designs

I decided to check out Mama's Log House Quilt Shop near Huntington. This is one of the closest quilt shops to me. There is also a quilt shop in Greenwood that I haven't been to yet. I should have gone to it yesterday because it was less than 20 miles from this one. But I wanted to get home.

It was such a beautiful sunny day that I thought the drive in the warm sunshine would do me good. I forgot to take my camera for pictures, but CJ has some pictures from her visit last month.

It was a great little shop and my husband and I were really surprised that there were 5 or 6 cars there when we arrived at about 11:00. The GPS took us on a scenic drive through back roads into the woods and around a beautiful, quiet lake and it felt like we out in the middle of nowhere. But we took a different road to Hwy 10 on the way back and it did not seem so far. My husband couldn't understand how they were so busy being so far out of town but decided that we were closer to civilization than he thought.

There were 3 ladies sitting in the back of the shop sewing. The owner and another lady were waiting on other customers and chatting with those sewing. They had a steady stream of people during the time we were there. My problem is that there are so many wonderful fabrics, books, and notions that I have a hard time making up my mind.

I purchased two patterns and some fat quarters.


 

I've been wanting to make this quilt since I first saw if on someone's blog. I have the pattern bookmarked but just never ordered it. It was the first thing I noticed when I walked in the door. They also had a quilt made and hanging on the wall in the shop.


They also had the "12 Days of Christmas" Quilt made and hanging on the wall. Both of these quilts are just beautiful.


I just love seeing the fabrics that are from the same fabric line an/or color line. I found a beautiful bundle of fat quarters and picked them up to see the price. They were $95 and my husband was shocked. But he also said, "This fabric is much better than the fabric available locally." I didn't get them, but I sure thought about it. Maybe next time.

Here are my purchases. Aren't these fabrics yummy?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Friday, March 5, 2010

What Was I Thinking?

Did I really say I would sit and design a spring table topper while I was away at my workshop. Yep, when I look back at my last post, that's what I said.

Well, that didn't happen.

I actually shopped with a friend for a few hours on Wednesday afternoon after the workshop was over for the day. Then after a delicious dinner at Market Place Grill, I relaxed in the hotel room. I won a new children's chapter book at the workshop so I sat down and starting reading it and watched "Marley and Me". That was a cute show but boy was that dog ever a mess. Of course, there were a few tears shed.

The workshop let out early on Thursday, so we headed back down to Fort Smith and had time to browse at "Books A Million" before meeting a group of friends at a Vietnamese restaurant.We had a great time with lots of laughter.

Tonight after eating out with my husband, I went to the sewing room and worked on another wall hanging.

Hmmm, I think I also said I was going to quilt the birdhouse wall hanging this week. Must have been crazy. Forgot I would be gone for two days.

Until next time . . .

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Not Getting Much Accomplished

I had good intentions of getting things accomplished tonight. Did you know that the hours from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. are the shortest hours in the day? I know, they really aren't, but those are the hours I am usually home and up and they sure do seem to fly by.

I worked a little bit with my embroidering tonight. Trying out the new machine and checking out the designs.


Then I did managed to applique a few things on a wall hanging I am making for my kitchen.

I'm going to be out of town for the next two days for a literacy workshop. Believe it or not, I have decided not to drag my lap top with me.  I am taking my Kindle though. I can't imagine sitting in a hotel room and not doing anything but watching TV. I have to be doing at least two things at a time.

So I will be out of touch for a few days. I know what I will be doing on Friday evening. Probably being lazy and checking out blogs. But I can embroidery while I am reading so maybe I'll design a small embroidery piece for a spring table topper to embroidery out on Friday evening. Yep, that's what I'll do.

Until Friday . . .

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Design Wall Monday



I designed this quilt in EQ. I started not to put the applique on it but then did anyway. Now, I wish I wouldn't have. I think it would have made a better spring table topper for my kitchen table than a wall hanging.

Then again, I have a very slanted ceiling in my bathroom with an empty wall above the door. So, that my be the spot for this wall hanging. It just so happens that I have the bathroom decorated with a birdhouse picture and a few birdhouses so it will be right at home on a wall in there. The walls are a nutmeg brown so the colors will probably stand out also.

Since I didn't know what I was going to do with it, this quilt has been sitting on the design wall all day while I worked on another small quilt/wall hanging. I guess since I now know where I'm going to put it, I'll have to get it quilted this week.

Be sure to head on over to Patchwork Times to see what everyone else is working on.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

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