Roar!!!!! Lion head is done

January 31st and I finished another January BOM.

Here is the finished January lion block from Angie's Bits N Pieces.  I had tiny black buttons on hand so I used them for the eyes.  It will be a wall hanging so it shouldn't need to be my the baby itself.

It's surprising how much little things like the eyes and mouth make it come more to life.

http://ajpadilla.com/bom/animal-babies

Check out Angie's site.

Slip sliding away.....

to work that is.  I woke up to temperatures in the 40s but yesterday we had the sleet/rain combination.  By 3 p.m. yesterday I could only partially see out of my window because it was covered up with ice.  This morning there is standing water OVER the ice that hadn't melted yet.  So I was slip sliding down my ally on the way to work. 

So at work I opened up my 2013 Quilt Art engagement calendar (Thank you Shelley) and LOVE the  picture for this week.  Here it is.  It is called Dream Garden III by MIchelle Quick in Cody, WY.

I love this quilt!

rain rain go away

It's January and we get rain?  Really?!

We are getting rain right now but it will freeze overnight.  It was predicted that the ice tomorrow morning could be a couple of inches thick.  If so I'll probably stay home and might even be without power.  That being the case, I thought I'd better post here while I can.

The turtles have been dyed, although I want to say died.  The picture of them is on the work computer so you'll have to wait a bit for what the final dye looked like.  I can live with it.  So then I went to start on the next project which is the test project.  Of course I can't talk too much about it because it's still a secret but I can tell you that i bught three fabrics that looked good until I had to put it together.  Back to the drawing board.  I'll have to wait until payday to try and get different fabrics.

So on to the NEXT project.  I'm stuck on what to do next.  Too many choices.  Finally I decided to get out the Animal Babies that Angie's Bits 'n Pieces is offering.  Check it out.  You get TWO (2) free patterns each month.  Make sure to check it at the first of the month because if you miss a month you have to pay for the patterns.  This is the site which offered that cute Asian Teapot BOM last year.  The site is located at:

http://ajpadilla.com/bom/animal-babies

I decided to do the lion first.  I have the horse drawn on fusible but haven't found a good color for part of it yet.  That's ok.  It's downloaded and it will wait for its turn in the que.  In the meantime here is the lion one.  It's fused on but not sewn on.  I think I'll use two small black buttons for the eyes.  There will be black embroidery coming down from the nose and will form a smile on him.   At least it's fused on so I can take it to work and pick it up to work on at lunch hours.

If you think it will be a cute BOM (I know I do) then make sure to scurry over to Angie's before the first BOM patterns get taken down.  Either way her prices are reasonable to think about it.

The wind has picked up now and the lights are flickering.  Time to sign off.  Everybody have a safe and good night.

Turtle Dyed once

I managed to do a coffee stain on the fabric and after it had been put on, dried and ironed, I washed it.  I didn't want to give it as a gift if it was going to wash out or run.

Hmm.  Now I have to decide if I'm going to go for a second layer of stain or not.  What do you think?

Can you see a difference?  I might have to try something else.  Hmm.  Perhaps coffee grounds being blotted onto it?  I don't want to use paint for a couple of reasons.  The first is that I don't know how to use it and don't have time to learn it before I need to finish it.  The second is that I want to make sure that this isn't "stiff" which is also why I don't want to do the colored pencils.  The fabric medium to make them "set" usually leaves a sheen on it and/or makes it a little stiffer.

Now what

This weekend has been a weekend of opposites.  First I lost my needle with the thread in it and then I found it the next day.  No, I didn't step on it ( on in it) but I did find that it had dropped into the bathroom sink.  The thread matched the inside of the sink and I didn't spot it when I first checked.

Then I took my needle and thread to mom to finish up a sewing project that she wanted me to do.  Well THAT didn't happen.  Instead she had a new project for me to do.  Can you figure out what this one will be?
I'll report on it next week to give you a chance to think about it.

One of the things that DID turn out right was me going to JoAnne's and matching the teal color of the Herd of Turtles.  I found it in Gutermann thread and it's called Peacock.  This picture makes it look more blue but it is a teal/peacock color.

Speaking of The Herd of Turtles, I finished stitching the top.  I still want to darken the top color.  On my test material I had dyed a couple of sections with coffee.  It pretty much came out though after I washed it.  That will be a problem.  I might use the stronger coffee that I had and then wash it.  If it washes out then it might keep just enough to color it how I want.  Any suggestions on how to keep the coffee color in there after I brush it on?  Perhaps I have to "over dye" it and wash it.  Any suggestions?

Here is how the top looks like.  I will need to restitch it in a couple of places but not too bad overall.

It's time for me to stop this and give my fingers a rest.  LOL.

Everybody have a great day.

turtle turtle where did you go

I think this Herd of Turtles is having fun with me.  I'm close to finishing the top and cut out the last turtle.  THEN part of the turtle shell disappeared.  no great loss.  There's plenty left of the shell so that it's not REALLY needed.  So I tack down some of the shell, turn it around so I can get my needle and thread......

wait....

Where did my needle and thread go.  I had it all threaded and it was hooked into my blouse just a minute ago.  As I look IN my blouse...nope not there.  Hmmm.  Look on the floor...

Nope not there either.  Of course that might change tomorrow when I get up in the middle of the night and walk to the bathroom barefoot.

Bathroom!  Maybe it's in there.  I was in there too.

Sigh.  Nope, not there either.  So I see the spool of thread I'm using anyway.  Now to hunt down another needle that I like to stitch with.  That means a thinner one and not so fat so it will go through the material real nice like.  Hmmm.  maybe that is what happened.  The needle went through the material so nice like it slipped off somewhere.

Oh well.  Enough griping.  Time to hunt for a new needle and continue sewing.

May your turtles always stay in place!

Happy stitching.

Turtle Update

My friend Diane sent me a picture of Brutus the Sea Turtle as inspiration to continue on with the wall hanging called Herd of Turtles.  It must of worked because I made progress.  Here's Brutus who came up on the sand to get warm.

Doesn't Brutus look comfortable?

Here's the Herd coming to visit him.

I have one more turtle to work on and then, hopefully, the stitching will be done on the top.  I still want to dye the turtles a little bit darker and I think I have the solution.  I won't know until tomorrow because my test material has to dry first.

If things go according to plan, the steps will be:

1.  finish stitching the turtles
2.  wash the top since I used glue on it
3.  Dye the turtles
4.  sandwich the top and quilt
5.  Get it in the mail.  I'm not sure I can get it all done and mailed by the end of the month but then they ARE turtles and perhaps they are moving slow.

I had to stop since my finger was getting sore.  I'll take a break for a couple of days and then get back to it.  I will have to remark the last turtle anyway before I cut and stitch.

Brrrrrrr......

It's a cold day today.  I suppose I should have been prepared for it, and I guess I really was, but it doesn't mean that I still waned to see the temperatures be around 27 for a high.  I went out to scrap the windows before taking Biscuits and Gravy to mom.

It took me a couple of minutes to get INTO the car for the rain we had a couple of days ago turned into sleet some time in the middle of the night and the doors were frozen shut.  THEN it took about another 15 minutes to scrap the ice off the windows so I could safely drive.  Whew!  I was ready to go back to bed!!

Made it to mom's and back without any problems.  What does it look outside now?

here's a webcam image link for what it looks like across the street from where I work.

http://www.reg.niu.edu/regrec/kingcam/index.shtml

I haven't worked on any projects this weekend yet.  I signed up for another test pattern so that will be fun to do.  Eventually you'll see pix of it here.

The turtles are coming along.  I cut the fabric wrong and one of the "turtle shells" is very thin.  I almost scrapped the whole thing but my friend Connie convinced me to carry on.  I'll probably thank her later but I don't know.  (grings).

I need to get it done by the end of the month or close to it so I guess I'd better get off the computer and back to stitching.  Two more turtles to stitch and then dye the fabric a little bit more and then sandwich it with the back.  Wish me luck.

Everybody have a great day.

I think I've got it!

I think I've figured out a system to help me with my 2013 projects.  At least I'm going to try it and see how it works.

First of all, I've started a word document with the links to the BOM's that I wanted to or thought I wanted to do.  More importantly, just because I'm a visual person, I have a  binder set up labelled simply 2013 Quilting Projects.

Then I made a divider for each of the projects so I have the pattern right there and I can add to it each month.

Of course I'll look at the binder and say "Pixie Garden"?  What did I want that one for?  So I taped a picture of the finished  BOM so it would remind me.  Here is the Pixie Garden one.  I liked how this had some "different" appliques to it.  The toadstool with the ladybug on it, the dragon fly, etc.  It should be cute when done. 

So what *am* I think of doing in 2013?


Animal babies - http://ajpadilla.com/bom/animal-babies


Pixie Garden - http://www.jeanneraecrafts.com/pixie/pixie.html 

Sulky International -

http://www.sulky-international.de/scripts/clsAIWeb.php?seite_id=200

There’s a bunny in my basket -    http://twosistersandaquilt.com/free-bom/theres-a-bunny-in-my-basket/

Quilt Pattern Magazine mini block of the month - you need to subscribe to their newsletter - http://www.quiltpatternmagazine.com/SignUp.html

I also need to finish up my Asian Teapots BOM from 2012 as well as Winches Christmas Baltimore BOM from 2012.  

I also have some others that caught my eye so wish me luck in getting most of them done this year!

That's my little attempt at conquering the organization for this time around.  I'll let you know how it works out.