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Monday, July 30, 2012

On my design wall

is this flimsy. I am happy to say I finished it yesterday while sewing with Becca.



I will probably machine quilt it sometime this week. I know I am going to hang it somewhere in the living/dining room. Maybe above the piano. Maybe on the wall opposite the stair way. Then it will be the first thing people see as the climb the stairs. Or maybe above the TV. Then I will see it more often.

I also finished the baby quilt. I used a lilac polka dot on the back and for the binding. I just love the whimsy look of polka dots.



Don't forget to drop by Judy's for Design Wall Monday.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!


Sunday, July 29, 2012

Spent the afternoon

with Craig and Becca. Becca came for company support while she was sewing. She really does look like she knows what she is doing.



She has some of the inner 9 patch blocks made. I just laid out a few.


 Don't they look great. After sewing for a couple of hours, she decided she was tired of making those 9 patch blocks so I suggested that she add the borders to the ones she had made. We all need a little variety, right?  So this was the first whole block she completed.


She was able to complete several of them. And yes, they do all look good.

The sewing day paid off for me, too. Drop back by tomorrow for Design Wall Monday to see what I accomplished.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!







Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Two more . . .

blocks completed.





Let's see, that is 7 down and 18 to go. 

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Monday, July 23, 2012

Design Wall Monday

I can't believe it has been almost a week since I posted. Time flies during the summer.

On my design wall is a baby quilt for a friend.


I really slipped up on this one. I made her this quilt for her first child.


And I really planned to make one for her second child. I have just put it off. I received a text from her this weekend offering to pay me to make one. I told her I would be happy to make one as a gift. So I spent time on Saturday looking for and resizing a quilt.

This is the inspiration quilt. I just had to decide what size I wanted to make it and resize everything. I just love the Moda Bakshop Recipes. There has to be something for everyone.

Don't forget to check out Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Happy snipping, stittcing, and quilting!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

It's Good to be Home

I left Sunday evening to go to a two day teacher workshop on teaching p.e. While I am not a p.e. teacher, the teachers will be responsible for providing an extra hour of p.e. to our students each week. The school received a grant for a bunch of free equipment providing we use their p.e. program and teach it for 120 minutes each week.

I really dreaded going mainly because I do not like taking time out of my busy day for the kids to have extra time outside. But, after going through the training, I believe it is a great program, and both the students and I will benefit from it.

Needless to say, that after two days of learning and playing games with about 60 other adults, I am tuckered out.

Now I have a good excuse to be sitting with my feet up, watching NCIS, and checking to see what all of you have been doing for the past few days.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

The best thing . . .

about summer is that I don't really care what day it is--well,  most of the time.  Today seemed like Sunday all day. Several times I had to remind myself that it was Saturday.

We had a cookout with the kids today and we always do that on Sundays, but it wasn't Sunday.

So, we had an absolutely wonderful day and I never once got out my camera. Too bad because . . .

Becca brought her fabric to begin piecing her quilt. She was able to get 10 nine patch blocks made. Not bad for a first timer. And . . . they all looked great.

We had about a 10 minute rain shower here. It was just a slow, steady rain for a bit.

I settled in tonight and completed the fourth block on the star quilt. I am thinking about taking it easy tomorrow and finish the fifth one tomorrow. That means I will have a whole row completed.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Little Progress

I need a teeny tiny more quilting to have three blocks quilted on the Star Quilt.




I really like the way the hand quilting looks. So fresh.

It seems like the days are getting away from me. I go from one thing to another and never seem to accomplish much. I guess that's what the long summer days are for.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Inspiration Quilt


I was looking for a fall wall hanging for my kitchen and this quilt just jumped out at me. The colors and fabric combinations are totally out of my comfort range. And I wanted to use fabric I had at home without purchasing any.

So I picked out the focus print first, then added the accent fabrics.


This is the quilt I was working on in my letter to Becca yesterday. As you can tell, things were not working out well for me.  I really worried about my fabric choices--until I got it together. I think it was the light (bright) pink that had me worried. It does stick out in this picture too, but I like the effect of it.


The pattern has 3 or 4 borders with star corners and I really like it.


My dilemma is this , , ,

It is the right size for a wall hanging just as it is. A one inch border and the binding will make it a perfect wall hanging.

But, on the other hand, I really like the borders and how the quilt looks with them.

Then again, I will have to make the decision of what fabric to use for the two dark borders. Remember, I have to use something I have as I am not buying any for this quilt.

Well, I think if I can figure out fabric I like, I will definitely add the borders.  I have two different walls that I could hang it on. It was the star blocks in the border that made the decision for me.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

I did find . . .

some shirts yesterday. I brought them home and washed them. I haven't started cutting them up yet. That will take awhile. Well, the buttons will be the worst part because I won't want to throw them away.


Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Monday, July 9, 2012

A Letter to My Daughter-in-Law

Dear Becca,

I am so excited to see you making your first quilt. There will be days when you think what you sewed will never line up correctly. 


But it does. 

Then you start laying out the blocks,  in the color combination you picked out and say, "What was I thinking?" Oh, my. That will never work.


But the farther you get you realize that it will indeed work.


They'll be days when you realize you set the machine to the wrong settings and your blocks do not come out the same size.


And you'll need to cut them down (if it is a single piece of fabric) or redo some. Yuck.

Then you'll look and your points didn't line up exactly straight. Or you have to stretch the fabric to make it fit. You may decide to take it out and try again and after several times, they still don't line up.


And you think you need to throw away that block and start again. But then you trim it and press it, and it is going to work okay.


Because we are quilting for ourselves and not for perfection.

And, in the big scheme of things, are you really going to be able to pick that out in a finished quilt?

No, you won't.  And you are right, it gives the quilt personality.

Love ya!!!!

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

The first thing

I heard on the news this morning was how there would be showers all over the state today. Now yesterday, there were scattered showers in our area. Where? Not here.

So I looked outside and sure enough the sky was gray and the clouds look to be filled with rain. So I was waiting patiently.


Then I looked out again a little later and noticed that the concrete was wet. So I thought, "Why am I sitting in here when I could be on the patio enjoying the drizzle."

Now a few days ago, we got about three minutes of huge raindrops and that was it. But I noticed that the air outside did not smell good. It actually smelt like chicken houses. The nearest ones are probably a mile away and we never smell them. I have mentioned this before to people and they look at me like I am crazy. My theory is that as water evaporates, dust and particles go with it. So when it rains those dust and particles come down with the rain.

I actually always thought this was true until my science teacher friends looked at me like I was crazy and dropped the subject.

So my question for you science buffs out there. (I am too lazy to look it up.)  Why do we smell certain smells when it rains?

The drizzle has stopped ,unfortunately, but I have hopes that a good steady rain will begin sometime during the day. It is so dry here. Think I'll sit here a while longer and wait. Although I do not smell the fresh rain smell that comes with a good downpour. But there's always hope.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Thank you, Craig

I text him this afternoon and asked him to please center my header photo. It took him about a minute to do what would have taken me forever. But . . .

that's his job. He does this stuff daily.

I found . . .

a quilt that I just fell in love with. I have nothing else like it. Colors or shirting fabric, that is. This will look great in my kitchen.



The stripes and plaids are what drew me to the wallhanging. The problem is I don't have any fabric to use. And I do not want to go to the fabric store (Hancock's an hour and lots of gas away) or the local quilt shop (about 45 minutes away and only open on Wednesday and Saturday). I don't want to order on-line because I want it to be scrappy. Wal-mart has nothing to fit the bill.

What to do, what to do?

Well what would Bonnie do?

So tomorrow morning, it is off to the local "COS"--Community Outreach Services.  It is basically a food pantry with lots of clothing and household items for a minimal charge. There I am going to look for 100% cotton shirts to take apart and use for this quilt. The last time I went, I only found a couple of all cotton shirts. It is amazing how many shirts are cotton and polyester blends. I may do a quilter "no-no" and get some of those--if the fabric colors are right. I can always experiment, right?

Anyway, wish me luck.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Finally . . .

I finally got around to sandwiching the Star Quilt Along Quilt today. I spent most of the evening (and into the night) hand quilting on it. I was able to complete one block.


I am just going to decide on the quilting as I go along as each star block is different. It is nice to sit and hand quilt while watching TV. Much quieter than machine quilting.


I have decided I am going to work on one block at a time, even if I have to move the quilt often. I only have to snap the clamps off, move the quilt, and snap them back on.

Another scorcher out there today. I stepped outside to walk at 7 o'clock yesterday morning and it was already too muggy. This morning was cooler.  I guess I could get out of bed earlier, couldn't I?

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

Friday, July 6, 2012

Another finish

That makes it sound like I am really busy. Actually this wall hanging was pieced and quilted last fall.  I even went so far as to square it up. All I needed to do was add the binding. The piece of binding was even laying in the middle of the wallhanging. Wonder why I put it down and didn't finish it?



Even though summer has just begun, it looks like fall outside with all of the dead grass. Does anyone else in Arkansas have trees dying? It's so sad.

Yesterday, three other teachers and I, traveled to a teacher's co-op warehouse. What is that?  The state of Arkansas is divided into co-ops and each co-op has a an office that is responsible for providing teacher training. The schools must pay to be members of the co-op, which makes most of the workshops they offer free for the teachers.

Luckily, the co-op our school belongs to is only about 10 or so miles from my house. So, taking classes during the summer is easy. The co-op we went to yesterday is in the small town of Plummerville,  about an hour and a half away. This co-op has a large warehouse that has all kinds of office supplies that teacher's need in schools. The prices of some things are very good. Some items are items not readily found in nearby stores.

Teachers are able to have the co-op invoice their schools so we don't have to worry about paying and then being reimbursed. Anyway, the only downfall to this teacher's warehouse is "no air conditioning". And, oh my, it was hot. We were probably there about 2 hours and then ate lunch and returned home. The heat must have zapped all of my energy because withing about 15 minutes of sitting down when I got home, I feel asleep.

So today, hopefully, I can get some of the housework completed that I didn't get finished yesterday. I also hope to get the "star quilt along" quilt sandwiched and put on the hand quilting frame.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!


Monday, July 2, 2012

Oh the heat & dryness!!!

We actually got a reprieve from the over 100 temperatures today. I was able to sit outside comfortably until about 1 o'clock. But I live on top of a ridge with a breeze most of the time.

I finished the stocking quilt but it is hard to stage a good picture when your yard looks like this. 


We haven't had rain in I don't know how long.

I am pleased with the way this quilt turned out. The only thing I would change is that I would cross hatch in the stocking area instead of stippling. Now I can't wait to use it. I may just have to put it on a bed or over the couch so I can pretend its cold outside.


And with the pillow I made. I plan for the quilt to go on the wall above the bed and the pillow on the bed.


And the backing.


Isn't it fun!!! I have a lot of novelty Christmas fabric from 5 or 6 years ago. I don't really want to make a quilt top out of it but it is great for backs. But if I ever want to get rid of it, I will need to make some tops from it.

Oh geez! I just saw on the new where Sweetwater, TN has opened a Redneck Resort. 

Don't think I could do it. Actually, people do this stuff around here all of the time. Just not me!!! I must say, the man will probably end up wealthy.

Happy snipping, stitching, and quilting!

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