Done...almost

Ahhh.  the weekend is almost done and so is my time for quilting projects.  It has been a satisfying weekend though because I feel that I got a lot finished...almost finished...ummm.  made progress at the very least.  :)

Remember the t-shirt wall hanging I was talking about?  Here is the finished product.  I just need to put the hanging sleeve on it but I have other things to do today so that might have to wait until tomorrow.  I am counting it as finished since it is for the office and I have a couple of quilt hangers so if it fits in that space I won't need the hanging sleeve.

 

Here is a close up of the binding.   The material was a gift from my boss when he came back from Ghana.  I wasn't sure at first if it would work but I think it looks pretty good on it.

 

I also used the same fabric on the back (same as binding). 

Now on a semi different topic, or at least different project, here is my August block for Wenche's Christmas Baltimore BOM that is being offered via The Quilt Pattern Magazine.

Another woman who is doing this project also happened to use the same red fabric that I used in the flowers.  It's a small world.  Obviously we both have good taste in fabric.  LOL.

Everybody have a great day.

Progress...at last

This weekend is UFO weekend in my yahoo quilting group.  While I only have a couple of UFOs (yes, I'm in denial) I did make a list in my last post on what I wanted to work on.  I am happy to announcement that I actually accomplished part of that list.

I managed to get the t-shirt blocks for Connie done and will take them to work with me on Monday as well as getting some t-shirt blocks cut out for me.  I've never made a t-shirt quilt before and while I didn't want to make a full quilt, I did decide to make a wall hanging out of NIU related t-shirts that I no longer wear for whatever reason.  I managed to get the top done and I have to say, I don't think it looks too bad.

Connie usually just puts fleece on the back but this will hang in my office on the wall for a little while and I didn't want to use fleece.  I was looking through my fabric and found a black and white fabric that my boss, Lyndon, brought back for me from Africa.  What do you think?  Think it would work?  It would be nice to use that since it too ties into NIU.  I hand washed it and now it is drying so I have the rest of tonight to decide if I will use it or not. 

Care to give your opinions on it?

Oh yes, before I forget.  I have also worked on the test pattern.  Had to go out and buy more embroidery floss...really...I just "had" to.  (grins)

Trial and Error But.....

Welcome to Friday everybody!  It's my last Friday off for summer now that we've hit August.  School will start again in a couple of weeks so that means back to five day work weeks.  That also means less hours to work each day which will be a joy.  To celebrate I plan on doing a lot of crafty stuff this weekend.

My list of things to work on so far is (not in any particular order):

1.  Herd of Turtles
2.  T-shirts cut and interfacing put on for Connie
3.  T-shirts cut and possibly interfaced for Bonni
4.  Test pattern for Quilt Pattern Magazine
5.  Asian Teapot BOM
6.  Baltimore Album BOM

Whew!  That's a lot to work on.  I might get the T-shirts done and ready to go back to work for Connie and maybe the Asian Teapot BOM for August done.  The rest are on going and will take longer than one weekend but I will be working on them.

Herd of Turtles.  That is the pattern that I am working on for my friend Dan's fiance'.  Dawn loves turtles and I saw this pattern and thought I'd do the wall hanging. You saw the picture of Herd of Turtles in my last post.  There I had the blue/teal background with a dark brown for the turtles.  It looked good in the picture but when I took it to work and hung it up on the wall and looked at it all morning from my desk?  Nope.  It wouldn't work.  It was too dark.  You couldn't see the pattern at all.  It blended too much.  Round three has me working on it again but with a beige fabric.  The fabric is cute and has light brown circles on it which I think will look good for the turtle shells.  NOW my problem is that I'm thinking it is too light but I'm not going to restart it again.  If I had thought about it before (before I started to sew on it), I should have tea dyed it a little bit to make it just a "tad" darker.  Here is what I'm talking about.

I'm thinking now that the fabric will be too light but, like I said, I'm not going to restart again otherwise it will never get done.  Afterwards I'll see if there is something that I can do.

T-shirt quilts....I am helping my friend Connie work on some and thought I might go and do a wall hanging on some of that I am not wearing.  I have a couple of ideas that I'm working on since I want to do one for military themed but I only have two t-shirts for that.  I can take another couple of them and take the US Flag off of them to off set it.  I'd cut out the flag and applique it to the back of the other one or something.  That is still be brainstormed in my mind.  I also thought I'd do one from the NIU t-shirt that I'm not wearing.  I can do a wall hanging for work with those.  I saw a picture of somebody who did a t shirt quilt but they did it more free form and just appliqued on what they wanted instead of the more structured method of squares etc.  That might have to be done for the NIU one.  It is hard to say at this point.

One thing is certain.  I will not get anything done if I don't get off the computer.  Everybody have a great day.  I'm out of here to get crafting.

Herd of Turtles

I've had a busy weekend for working on quilting projects.  I cut up over 45 t shirt quilts to help a friend.  I cut up the t-shirts, ironed on the interfacing, and cut them to the 12.5" square size.  I still have around 21 t-shirts to go for her and then I have some that I will be using for myself. 

In addition to that, I signed up to do another test pattern.  It's a nice spring one but, of course, you won't get to see it for awhile yet.  I am in one of the most difficult parts of it...picking out the fabrics that I want to use.

I also managed to work on the Herd of Turtles wall hanging.  The pattern is from Pacific Rim and I am having trouble doing it their way so have adopted my own way of doing it.  If it turns out good enough when finished it will be for a present.  Can you see the herd of turtles starting to take shape?

This method uses two fabric for the top of the quilt.  You cut away what you won't need.  In this case, the brown will be the turtles and the border and the blue /aqua is the sea they will swim in.  You leave gaps in the brown to get the turtle shell affect.

Wish me luck.

Tragedy...almost

Whew!  Have you ever had one of those days where you have a project and it should be relatively simple but it doesn't turn out to be?  That's the Herd of Turtles wall hanging that I am doing for a good friends betrothed.  Isn't that a great word?  Betrothed.  Anyway, I picked out the pattern ({Pacific Rim) because she loves turtles.  I bought the fabric and but didn't realize how hard the one fabric was to mark.  Got rid of that fabric and picked out the brown.  Turtles are brown so it should work.  I still had problems with marking it so am doing it the long way around.

What's that you ask?  i drew the pattern on freezer paper and am slowly cutting and stitching it as I go.  Pacific Rim has a whole line of lovely patterns that are for two fabrics.  This is one.  You basically cut away what is not needed and stitch.  Then you finish your quilt in the normal way.  This is working out but there was one more "almost" tragedy to it.  I had it on my table when Jessica came over to clean.  She accidentally bumped into it and spilled my soda that was also on the table.  Just a couple of minutes before then I had moved the Herd of Turtles to the bed to work on something else.  The soda (a full glass0 tipped over and ruined between 2-3 yards of Heat n Bond Lite and my pattern that I was half way making templates on.  Back to the drawing board with those.  At least the Turtles are safe and I don't have to start over - again.

:)

I also received a package in the mail from one of my online quilting friends.  She sent me two pieces of pink (and I *mean* pink) fabric.  Not sure yet what I will do with those.

The fabric is a little deeper pink (on the right) than is shown but it still is a pretty pattern to it.  She also sent me a counted Cross Stitch kit.  Isn't it cute?

Well that's about it this time.  I will be updating the medieval quilt blog also in the next day or two.  Check it out if you have time.  I am in the middle of doing a mock top to see if it is the right size or not.  :)

Happy Stitching everybody.

Vacation is Over

It's Sunday and tomorrow I go back to work.  Sigh...BIG SIGH.  LOL.  I like my work so it's not that bad but I could get used to having some extra time to work on things.  Things like cleaning the apartment. for company.  Tuesday Harmony came over and we had a quilting play date.  It was a special treat since she has kids at home and managed to get a babysitter so she got away from that too.  I believe that my last post showed pictures of the clean apartment.  Well It's a little cleaner since I sent back with Harmony some fabric.  I was able to empty out those three milk crates of fabric and it cleaned up that corner pretty good.

Of course during her visit it looked more like this:

Harmony also gave me the cutest birthday present and I found just the right place for it.  I love this.  Perhaps I'll not lose my keys now.  LOL.  Don't count on it.  The wheel on the sewing machine moves also so it is fun to play with.  (grins).

Connie, another quilting friend, also managed to come over for lunch and stayed a little longer.  Actually it was Connie who threw the fabric at Harmony for the photo opportunity.  Not my fault...really it wasn't.  Umm...I just had the camera in my hand. 

Then on Wednesday and Thursday I planned on what else to work on.  More on that probably in another post.

Friday came around rather quickly and my Niece in Law Jessica (mother of five of the cutest kids you ever saw) came over to help clean.  She is my biggest supporter on getting the apartment all cleaned up.  She doesn't know how to sew but I told her she could do a tote bag.  Simple...No measuring even.  So we set to work.  She wanted to give it to one of her girls, who loved it, and now is thinking she has to do two more for the other two girls.  I think she did a great job on it.

Today also was a good day for mom.  Even though I was 10 minutes late for bringing her breakfast, she cheered up when I hung up her mini wall hanging that I had finished.  She also had gotten a perm and wasn't wearing a hat (a shocker by itself) so I, of course, had to take a picture of her.  :)

 

Overall it was a good vacation.  Made progress on projects, got to see a person take pride in what they did, and made Mom happy.

That's it for now.  I have to get back to working on projects so I can show you more next time.

Everybody have a great day.

HUGS to all.

The Apartment is CLEAN!!!!!!

Well as clean as it's going to get.  LOL.  I'll slowly work on getting some changes done to it (read that as I'll hire my niece to do it) but for now it is all ready for my quilting play date with Harmoy and Connie.

To prove that I actually got it (Thank you Jessica) clean at one time anyway, here are some pictures.  It's a small apartment.  So first of all here is the view as you stand in the doorway.

Look mom!  Clear pathway all the way through the apartment!  LOL. 

The first area is the kitchen.  No cupboards except in the sink area so that's why you see everything out.  Also notice the slanting ceiling and walls.  That's a decorating nightmare.

The little hallway has the bathroom off to the left and two single closets that are great to hide...I mean store stuff.  Not large enough of course since it is my only storage space.  But after you go past the hallway it opens up to the sewing area.

Did you notice that you can see the carpet?  I'm not sure how long that will last tomorrow.  LOL.

The other, and final, area of the apartment is the living room.  Aptly named since I virtually live in it.  It has the TV, DVD player, the A/C (can't forget that in the summertime can we), the computer and the bed.  Almost everything that I need.  LOL.

That's your tour of my CLEAN apartment.  We'll see how long it will stay that way tomorrow.  Hope you enjoyed the peak into my inner sanctum.  I'll report later on what we do tomorrow.

HUGS to all

July 3, 2012

What do you do when you have blocks you no longer like for whatever reason?  If you're me...you make them into mini wall hangings for your mother.  Mom is 92 and in a nursing home.  She only has room for mini wall hangings (around 12 in size).  I am totally starting over with my Baltimore blocks and the center block which I first did by needleturn didn't turn out the greatest.  Mom thought it was beautiful so I asked her if she wanted me to finish it for her and she said yes.  That was indication that her eyesight is bad because mother is a picky person.  LOL.   Here it is.  I just have to put the sleeve on it by Sunday and then can give it to her.

As you can see, the face isn't straight, the flowers have more pointed points but the leaves don't.  Go figure.  Still it was good to know that I could use it after all .  Some of you might be wondering why I'm not using it or why I'm going to start all over.  That's because I found out that I wasn't consistent with which side of the fabric I used.  In addition the fabric that I was using came in white on white and a cream on cream.  I, evidently, mixed them up and have some on cream and some on white.  I can hear you quilters opening up your mouths to tell me that I can still use them and it will give it a different look is all.  You are absolutely correct.  HOWEVER that is not what I envisioned the block to look like and it ruined it for me.  Back to the drawing board.  :)

I'm baaaack

June ran away and before I know it, it's almost July.  I'm still trying to get the apartment cleaned up and organized and have made some more progress on it.  I will have to change how it is set up but that's ok.  I went to Goodwill and picked up a winged back chair for only $4 which was good and then also added, at the last minute, a computer table.  Well the table won't work as a computer table but it is looking pretty good in the sewing area.  :)  I also got rid of my regular ironing board and picked up a small portable. That works better in my limited space. 

I did manage to finish my tote bag.  Had an awful time with the handles.  The thread kept breaking until I slowed down my stitches to almost one stitch at a time.  It's not elegant, it's functional.  I put stuff in it today and took it with me when I went shopping and it held together so it's ok.

Like I said.  It's plain and simple but at least I have a new bag.  This weekend I should also finish mom's latest wall hanging.  I have to redo all my Baltimore Album BOM blocks so she gets the centerpiece of the old block.  I'll post up the picture when I get it done.  I don't like my needleturn on it but she won't care.  :)

Flowers

I didn't get much work done today (shhh, don't tell bossman) but I worked more on getting the office situated.  I was pleasantly surprised and delighted when flowers were delivered.  A friend sent me congrats flowers after I had texted a picture of the blank table.  Wonder if I text another pictures showing dead flowers I'd get fresh ones again?  Might be worth a try.  LOL.

I also have figured out that I need to do a wall hanging and posted a picture of what I plan to do above the flowers.  That way it stares at me until I get it done.  It's the Kumbayah Wall quilt from the August 2009 issue of Quilter's World..  I might modify it somewhat though.  There is a nine patch friendship star in the middle and I'm thinking instead of sewing on the triangles to the corners of the quilt to just applique the nine patch onto a solid piece of fabric.  Less seams on the back ground to sew thru when appliqueing the shapes onto it.

Plenty of time to figure out what to do on it., but here's a picture of my flowers and then I'm out of the office.  It's 6 p.m. and time for me to leave since I've been here since 7 a.m.

PS:  The table cloth is some fabric that Lyndon (Bossman) brought back for me from Africa.  :)

Sewing Room and New Office

Whew!  Vacation time went fast.  It ended with my niece in law Jessica coming over and we spent 6 hours going through the sewing room.  It's not totally done yet but at least I can find the sewing machines as well as the floor.  Progress!

The yellow bars are the Flynn Quilting System

The crates are full of fabric and that's only one part of the room

I also managed to make it to a free motion quilting class (3 hours for one Saturday) which was interesting.  The day before I went I had problems with my sewing machine so I bought a new one.  I can only afford to pay $200 for it so i found a brother for that price.  So here I was going to class with a sewing machine still with all it's advertising stickers on it.  Good thing i had the manual with me!

The class wasn't too bad.  I need lots of practice but did learn a couple of things and the machine does quite a few stitches and a block alphabet.

The white square with all the squiggles was my practice piece from class.  It's hard to see.

White squiggles on white board is hard to see but was my free motion practice piece

Then yesterday I was told I could get the office space across the hall from my current location.  That gave me an office that's about 2 times as large as the one I had been in for over 10 years.  Here is what it looks like...sort of.  Still working on it but I thought I'd better take a picture before it gets cluttered again.  You can't see the boxes that still need to be unpacked because I hid them under the desks.  :)  Oh...did I mention that I swapped out the desk chair for another one that we already have?  Now my chair has the massage feature so after moving in all day I sat in it and turned it on.  A gal might come to work with that waiting for her.  :)

I decided that the space by my diploma needed something so am making this little mini.  The fabric came from a basket of scraps that my friend Harmony gave me when I went down to see her on vacation.

Here is Harmony in her quilting space in her new home.

And then we are in June.  June means I can finally show you one of the test blocks I did.  This is for Wenche's Christmas Baltimore BOM.

Well that is it for now.  I'll write more later and/or post some more pictures.  Have a great weekend!