by Karen on February 28, 2010
in quilts
This was actually a quick and easy small scrappy top to make. I machine pieced the top last year and it got put aside forgotten for part of the year, then I was working on other things and never got around to quilting it. I pulled it out on February 19th and said ok – quilt it while the Olympics are on and don’t work on anything else until you are done with one thing! It worked – I finished it yesterday. It took 10 hours to piece and I don’t know how many hours to quilt – I worked on it 9 days, most likely about 2 hours a day so lets say 18 to 20 hours to hand quilt. I did not do an over abundance of quilting in it.
On the table - would you believe these flowers are from the bouquet I bought on the 15th! half of them are still there, I have had to cull out the bad ones over time, but so many are still here it is amazing - this was a cheap bouquet from Wal-Mart.
without the flower jug on it - in this photo the quilt border looks crooked - it isn't it just isn't spread out right
A close up of the 3 dimensional geese and the quilting - I haven't pressed the geese after I took it out of the wash and dry, I might do that although I'm sure after sitting out on the table for a couple days it will flatted out - if not they just look a little wavy - like they are flying you know!
another close up - this one is from the center.
I was surprised I had no bleeding on to the background fabric. The red in the triangle above is the one I had problems with in the red/green applique block last month. This is a small top – 38″ square and I used a large washer load and 2 color catchers – the color catchers were both pink when finished – no bleeding onto the background though so that was great. I had about 3 of this color red in there and some other dark reds as well.
Yes it is Girl Scout Cookie time!! Thin Mints are my favorites and when I stopped by the grocery store the other day a family was set up outside the store with their little girl and all her cookies. I couldn't pass them up - I got the cookies, ran back to the car to stick them in it and then did my shopping. Last year I thought I would grab the cookies on my way out and by then they had sold all the thin mints - I wasn't taking a chance on it this year 
by Karen on February 26, 2010
in quilts
I tend to really gather items up in the sewing room. I told you all the other day I had picked up more of the cute storage boxes for fabric and odds and ends for the sewing room. I started to organize the other day and then got back to it yesterday. I used one of the boxes for scraps – I had several boxes that had been overflowing with scraps and I couldn’t get the lids to stay tight so I got that taken care of and the new box is only half full so more room there for more. I now have 8 boxes with scraps in them.
Next on the list was cleaning out the two drawers of my cutting table. What a mess! I tend to toss things in the drawers until it gets to the point that I can hardly get them open and can’t find anything unless I empty the drawers out. Two of my new boxes were assigned to this mess.
these are two boxes after they were loaded up with "usable junk"
the drawers after the "usable junk" was removed. Yes that is a chocolate tin in the drawer but it doesn't have chocolate in it anymore I use it to store used dull rotary blades. When it is full it will be taped shut and tossed. The gum container has used needles in it - same there when it gets full I tape it shut and toss it out.
this tall standing box with the little dividers in it use to have some of the "junk" in it and I had it laying the opposite way on a shelf - it took up usable space
I think this well be used eventually for hand dyed fabric, there are some fat eighths that I want, I think if I roll them up a certain way or fold them nicely they can be displaced in this decoratively and when I need them for applique I will easily be able to see the colors I want to use.
this is inside one of the boxes - all the marking tools and things to draw with, room for a lot more as you can see. No these really aren't junk and they will be used, but when it is all laying in a drawer you can't find anything and now at least it is labeled so I can take the box down and dig through to find what I need.
now this on the other hand is the box labeled odds and ends! and now you see what I mean when I say - is it junk or not. I have a feeling some of the items will eventually be used - but some of it - who knows, I will hang on to all of it right now - just in case at least now it is all in one place and again if I am looking for something that I really think I have and can't find - this is the box to look in.
How do you all decide when to toss something and what to keep? Some of these things I have had for absolutely ages. Yes the round white plastic thing with the metal screw in it – yes I need to keep that there are four of them and they belong to the sew-ezi table – something to do with using a different sewing machine maybe? I would have to look at the instructions which is in the storage case but I hadn’t room in it for these, well there is room but I thought they might fall out or something – I just know they shouldn’t be thrown away – just in case
I am almost done with the small “Devil’s Puzzle” top! yahoo!! I will be glad to have one done out of this stack of quilt tops to quilt. I am taking a break from drawing the design on the last border. I will start quilting on that tomorrow.
Some of you might read the blog called “Grandma’s Red Needle” – Astrid posted an interesting post about some fruit that is grown on the island of Mauritius where she lives. The island is located in the Indian Ocean about 560 miles off of the coast of Madagascar. The fruit is called Jackfruit and it is grown on a tree. Some of the weirdest fruit I have ever seen!! You should go to her blog and look at her photos. Very interesting I was amazed to see this is in the mulberry family of fruit . We have a mulberry tree and it and the fruit looks nothing like this tropical variety.
I find it very interesting to read blogs from other countries – it is so nice to see what quilters around the world work on and also to learn of their lives.
Today has been one of those days where there just isn’t much of anything to post. I drove to Little Rock this morning for short little visit to my specialist – I have no problems going on but because of medication that I take I have to be checked out every 3 to 6 months. My daughter was working today so I couldn’t visit with her so I went around to a few shops after the doctor visit was over – which went so fast this time and even the lab was not backed up and got in and out so fast it was amazing.
I just wasn’t in a shopping mood – most likely because as I mentioned I want to control my spending so I can let loose in mid April when I go to the quilt show I stopped in Hobby Lobby for a little bit to see if the bigger store had different items than our smaller store does here – it does found lots of things that were nice but I didn’t really need and no place to put them if I had bought them! From there I went to McAlister’s Deli for some lunch. I had not been there before and I loved it. I will have to stop there again another time. Wonderful sandwich – pastrami on rye with spicy mustard! Tasted wonderful. From there I went to a store called Garden Ridge. There are not a lot of these around, it is fairly new to Arkansas and the Little Rock store is the only one in the state. They have tons of inexpensive dishes, pots for plants, lawn cushions, some bedding and towels, a little bit of everything. At that store I did buy a new umbrella for the patio table seeing as they had so many to choose from. The one I had doesn’t tilt and I wanted one like that to block the late afternoon sun when it gets to be summer. They had some that tilted and in all kinds of colors and not very expensive – that was the only thing I bought all though there was tons of stuff I would have liked to have gotten – I was good and passed on all of them.
From there was just one more stop before home and that was Sam’s Club (like Costco) -a big warehouse box store. I like to stock up on the big bundles of things that we go through a lot, like popcorn, granola bars, laundry soap, and some food – like big packages of meat to put in the freezer.
And that was my day. I got home by mid afternoon and got started on the laundry and worked on my small quilt some. I am coming along really well on that small quilt. I am almost to the final border and I will get to that maybe tomorrow evening. Oh I did pick up a couple more of the cardboard decorative boxes (cheap) at Hobby Lobby that I use for my scraps but these are for various odds and ends in the sewing room. I cleaned out the two drawers in my cutting table this evening and have those boxes label so I know what various junk is in them and now my two drawers are nice and neat. I have one box left to put some of the scraps in seeing as I haven’t been able to close a couple of the boxes after the last time I rummaged through them. That can wait for tomorrow.
Would you believe we might get snow on Friday! spring where are you!! I thought that if I picked up the umbrella for the patio table maybe it would encourage spring to come along faster don’t know if that will work!
by Karen on February 23, 2010
in quilts
My girlfriend Regina called me up this morning to talk about thread. I hadn’t looked at the Hancock Fabrics Sales flier that comes to me on line so I hadn’t see this. You all know I have a Gutermann 100% cotton thread cabinet full of luscious colors – well there is a sale going on that some of you that have told me how much you like mine want to check it out. Now they do not have the exact same one that I have. Mine is 100% natural cotton very light weight thread that is perfect for hand applique but not quite the strength I like for hand quilting. The thread cabinets they have right now are 50% markdown. They have one for silk thread, one for embroidery thread (I believe that is machine embroidery) and one of hand quilting thread (which is heavier than then kind I have). The silk thread cabinet looks so great and I would love to have it and at half price it is a great deal — but no can do – I’m going to the Paducah quilt show in April and I know I need to save my spending for that!! I would hate to go and then feel like I can’t spend any money I will pass on the thread as I really have a ton of it here but I thought I would pass on the information in case some of you haven’t seen the sale. I just ordered some much needed twin size batting as I would have to baste together too many pieces of scraps for the next two quilts waiting in line which are not twin size but some where in between that size and the next smaller size. That is about all the spending I am going to do right now even though several sites that I look at have some great fabric.
Speaking of which if you want some hand dyed fabric you should check out these two sites for some fantastic looking fabrics. Field Trips in Fiber - Vicki has great fabrics, she is located in Virginia! Check out her etsy store on her side bar. Also another great site is Chris at Dye Candy. Chris is in Wisconsin she has a etsy store also. These hand dyed fabrics just look so great. Another one of my e-friends that sells fabric (not hand dyed) is Jackie in Connecticut at Canton Village Quilt Works. Check out her etsy store, Jackie also does machine quilting for customers.
So I guess today was a promotion day for me to my internet friends I have no other news – I have been quilting off and on today on my small Devil’s Puzzle quilt top and plan on working on it more this evening and tomorrow and through the weekend if need be – I intend to get this top done soon so I can move on to another. I decided I do not want all these quilt tops to gather up and before I start working on more applique blocks I must get caught up on this quilting!! The Star Crazy BOM quilt will have new directions coming out next week (can’t believe March is almost here) and that will give me a little break from quilting and then back to quilting it will be.
We have a little touch of spring coming our way even though it feels very chilly outside and will get down in the twenty’s on Tuesday to Thursday I think from what the news said. Here is a photo of our first daffodil blooms.
the first ones to open
I also found a leave bud on one of the clematis! Could it be that spring really is around the corner although it doesn’t feel like it
a little blurry but here is a leave bud.
Thank you to all that have left me names of authors to look up at the library. I have made a list and will start to look for them soon. I will go through my shelves and make up a list to post on here too so maybe some of you will find someone new to read also.
I have spent the last couple of days quilting on my “Devil’s Puzzle” little top and it is coming along nicely. I don’t know if you can see the quilting very well on this photo though but the center is done and I am almost finished with the first border around the center. If you click on the photo it will go to a larger size to see the quilting on it. Just simple quilting and I am not putting a whole lot of quilting in on this one. Around the first border I used a simple braid stencil. Around the outer border I will use a different stencil. I’m not sure which one I will use but I have several to choose from. This one will be done quickly. I think when I am done with it instead of starting another applique block for one of my other quilts that I am making I might get another quilt ready to quilt. I really need to get caught up on the quilting. Of course I have noticed in this top that I am working on that I have some of the red that bled in the applique block that I did last month it!! I will have baste some of the color catchers on those areas to make sure it doesn’t happen on this one – love to use scraps but you never remember what has been washed and what hasn’t when you use scraps that are close to ten years old or whatever!
I know a lot of you quilters are also lovers of books. I have to share the name and author of the latest book that I just finished and could barely put down until I finished it. I have been reading it since last night and finished it a moment ago! The author is Nevada Barr and the book is called 13 1/2. If any of you have read her books in the past you know she normally writes a series about a woman park ranger and national parks — this one is so totally different you wouldn’t believe it. It is a novel and not her regular character and regular story line – totally different subject and characters – although murder still plays a large part in this total psychological thriller. I think I figured out the twist about a third of the way into the book. Check her out at this link : Nevada Barr
Another author that I love has a new book coming out in the middle of May - John Sandford newest in the Prey series “Storm Prey“. Sometimes I check books out at the library and some I buy – this is one author that I buy all of his books – I have one shelf devoted to his books I can never put them down until I am finished with them it seems. I can’t wait for the new book to come out. I know some people do not re-read books. I really can’t figure that one out. When I find a book that I really enjoy I tend to go back to it. I have some books on my shelves that I have probably re-read more than 3 or 4 times over the years. I have read the entire Prey series 3 times I think. But then I am the same with movies too and can watch a movie over and over again and enjoy them years later as much as I did the first time.
I am constantly looking for new authors to read as the authors I like can’t keep up with me LOL. I think I read as much as I quilt. And talking of quilting I made a start on the Devil’s Puzzle quilt last night before I picked up the book! Good thing or I wouldn’t have gotten any quilting done last night.
Of course I am now done with the 3 books that I checked out of the library early in the week – I did a lot of reading this week – and now I have nothing for the rest of the weekend until I can go to the library again on Monday - I guess I will have to let my fingers go walking through the books on the shelves and see what it will be for the rest of the week – but I think I will go get some quilting done first
I started making “Going in Circles” on December 20th – I finished the top today, this evening actually. It took 12 days of steady work on this top to finish appliqueing the border. I barely worked on any other project wanting to get this top finished.
Here it is folded in quarter size as it is too big to lay out on the floor - Now it will sit aside for most of this year most likely as I finish up other quilts. This quilt is 100 x 100 inches so it will be quilted on my big hand quilting frame and right now there is another quilt on it. I am in no rush - it will wait until I am ready for it. The border is all needle turn applique although I did make the circles using the technique that I showed in early December on the blog and then appliqued in place - which was easy as the ends were already turned under.
Now that this top is finished I am ready to get busy quilting. I have a small stack of tops waiting for me to get quilted. Counting this one that I just finished there are 4 quilts to be quilted plus the Christmas Quilt that is on the big frame in progress. I thought I would select the smallest top and get started on that one on my 14 inch hoop. I will be quilting two quilts at the same time and in between working on the 2 applique quilts I have gotten started on this year – 1 block finished on each, I will also continuing working on the BOM Star Crazy and the second Dear Jane quilt which I have barely touched in the last month. Way too many projects in the works!!!
This top is called "Devil's Puzzle" it is a small one for me, most I make are much larger than this. This one measures 38 x 38 inches and will be used for a table topper.
A close up of the backing fabric that I found in my stash. This whole quilt will be made from scraps right down to the batting - I will be basting 3 pieces of batting together tonight to use for this quilt. I will finally have to order some more batting though as I am down to small pieces and way too many pieces to baste together for the next quilts I have waiting in line which are about 50 by 70 inches I think. I would have to baste about 7 or 8 pieces together from here out so I think they will be put aside for small projects once again.
I will need to continue making scrap quilts next year as I have barely made a dent in my scraps and that is after using them in the big scrappy quilt too besides these smaller quilts that I have made this past year. For the most part for the last year I have mainly just bought fabric for the backgrounds and backings.
Now I am off to watch more Olympics and baste that batting together. We were really pleased with the Men’s Figure Skating last night and really I thought they all did a terrific job - Oh and could not believe it got up to 60 degrees today!! and no I do not think spring is on its way early – I just bet we will have another cold spell with the way this winter has been.
by Karen on February 18, 2010
in quilts
I was asked about the pottery jug on my table from several readers that I posted in the photo yesterday. My younger daughter used to sell for Southern Living At Home and that is where I purchased it from. This company is one where people set up parties at home and they have a representative come to their home and demonstrate and show products. She no longer works for the company but when she did she always made sure that I had a new catalog and knew when she had parties set up so if I wanted to order I could. I believe you can also order directly from them now on line. Luckily I usually got things on sale as some of the items can be pricey. If you want to see their products go to the link above. They are also the company that puts out the magazines “Southern Living”, “Coastal Living” (I think that is the name), and “Cooking Light“. Great magazines but slimmed down a bit from what they used to be because of the recession I am sure. I’m pretty sure they have other magazines and cookbooks as well.
I am working on the last border for the big quilt with the circles while I have been watching the Olympics – GO USA!! (but good luck to all the rest of the countries participating as well )
I will probably be working on other things soon and posting more but right now I am really trying to just finish this one quilt top before I move on to other things. I hope to have more to post in the upcoming weeks – I just need a little down time from blogging this week I guess.
Nothing like a fresh bouquet of flowers to make it feel like spring even though it is nowhere near! Still chilly, still snow on the ground (granted not much), a little windy — no daffodils open even though there are buds. So to bring a touch of spring into my house some fresh flowers on the table in a spring like jug.
My spring flowers
Now I will get off of the computer and spend the rest of the evening working on quilts and watching the Olympics -
