H Whiskers and How I store my patterns etc.

the front

the back

That was a fun quilt to make! 

 I'm really happy with the quilting.

No picture but Skinny Santa hooked rug was finished about 1/2 an hour ago.  Now I need to learn how to steam and bind it...You Tube tutorials are in my near future.

I am thrilled to have finally got to this point after all these years. 

Today I spray basted Small Treasures together.  I got the idea from Bonnie a week or so ago. It was in the high 50's here today so I did the spraying outside on the deck-good idea until the wind blew and it got a little 'sticky'! (sorry couldn't resist). It worked very well and I'm anticipating a nice finish for it.  I'm going to try to quilt it tomorrow on DSM.  I loaded the new bee table runner on HQ, since it's loaded it has to be quilted next.  

Bonnie also asked about my binders that I keep 'quilts I'd like to make in' that I referred to in my last post and if I could elaborate-

 so here goes. 

Here is a picture of my binders.

 They are labeled left to right:

~Patterns I'd like to make

~Quilts I've made

~Long arm quilting ideas

~Judging comments/misc. articles and "how to's"

~Bunny Hill BOM/FFF/Misc. Stitchery Patterns

After I've had a magazine for a bit and have looked through it and basically read it cover to cover, I take out the patterns that I think I might like to make.  I have learned (the hard way) to always read through the pattern and make sure there isn't any templates on a pattern sheet that needs to be saved as well.  I staple the direction pages together with any pattern pages in between and slide it into a page protector.  I put the best full picture of the quilt on top. So I can easily recognize what it is.

This pattern is called Midwest Pride from a 2007 Quilt Sampler magazine.

I usually put 2 patterns in a page protector back-to-back.

This pattern in the photo below I just  put in the front of the binder. I like the layout and think it might be an idea for using some of my Bl-a-days.  Until I looked at this last night I hadn't thought of making a new center block to go with the bl-a-days.  

I was just locked into using them up not using them creatively. Nice!

Here is the very front of the binder "Quilts I've Made"

You can see Small Treasures is already in there and the page before I have my "Joined at the Hip" patterns 3 of them in one sleeve.

I used to keep all the patterns and articles from one magazine in a sleeve but then I couldn't see each pattern and you know how it is-outta sight outta mind! 

It's amazing how many times I've looked back at the Quilts I've made binder to answer a question about how I made that or some other trivial thing. And I have made a pattern more than once, not often but it has happened.

At least once a year, I go through the "Patterns I'd like to Make" binder and cull out patterns that either don't appeal to me anymore-just because or maybe I've made something similar and don't feel a need to repeat.

The other binders use the same idea.  

In the Judges Comment Sheets one I keep a sleeve for each quilt I've entered, all the paperwork attached to it, a picture of the quilt if I have one printed out and a program from the show it was in.  

So that's how I do it.

I would really love to have all those binders be the same color and print out labels for them with matching fonts.....but not right now...but some day.

*****

and just because this post isn't long enough already.

Here's a picture of the progress (not much) on my little quilt Winter Scraps that I didn't have a picture of last week.

the circle and stars are just sitting there not stitched down yet.  

And now goodnight.  The Pens are losing :( 

I must go root for them~ help 'em out!

DWMonday

This is on my wall. 

A new project...

How does this stuff happen?

 I do not know.  

I was looking through my 4 inch binder labeled "Quilts I'd LIKE to make".  (if I life to be 402-3)

And I saw a pattern I found here.   

Two days later this is my wall.  Well that blue block top left has been redone all scrappy, it was the first block I pieced thinking I would do a controlled color scheme, but realized I didn't have enough strips in any one fabric to do so. Hence I went scrappy-happy, which might not be a bad name...

This week I want to quilt and finish these two flimsy's:

And the binding  on H Whiskers.  

I finished quilting it yesterday. 

LOVE it!

I took these pictures late last night- will get better ones after binding is done.

And last but not least, I am STILL pulling loops on my Santa rug....finish by January....so close.

His beard gets hooked with 'roving'. That should be interesting.  

Check out what others are working on at Judy's.

Small Treasures

                                                         is a flimsy.

(23.5 x 36.5)

    I'm very happy with this little quilt!  

I am very happy to be done with 108 flying geese!

I will bind it with the same light print that I used for the skinny (1/2 inch finish) sashing. 

I spent a little time last night looking through my two L/E books by Bonnie Hunter and have started to sew my 2 inch squares together-a light and a dark-for my new leader ender.  I'm not sure which quilt I will make but after digging around in the 2 inch drawer I had a moment of "enough is enough" too many in the drawer. So we'll have to see where this one goes.

I started making Winter Scraps as a L/E but it went so fast the center is already together...no pictures yet.

Last night I pulled a LOT of loops on Skinny Santa~yes I'm still trying to finish him in January.  

I think I might just make it.

DWMonday

It is all together!! 

whoop-whoop!

Someone asked last week if I had a picture of the original fabric.  That's it on the floor.  

I auditioned a few fabrics I had in the stash for borders but didn't like them.  I'm going to set this aside for a bit and ponder it.

****

Small Treasures is on the wall now

I have to sew the 3rd row of flying geese together and then decide on fabrics for the rest of the quilt.  You can see a picture of the finished quilt at the end of this post here.

******

My Henrietta Whiskers top is loaded on HQ so hopefully I'll get that done this week too.


I'm linking up to Patchwork Times -a great way to see what others are working on.

An Amazing Day

Today we went to the Heinz History Center for their Quilter's Weekend.

This years theme was "Quilts During Wartime".  

The marine memory/signature quilt I made for Paul-Michael was in the exhibit.

and a few of my quilts made with CW reprod. fabrics were displayed as well.

this picture is from home because every time I tried to get a picture someone was standing in the way....and then I got to talking and forgot....

Paul and I arrived and were able to catch the last half of Sue Reich's lecture on WW2  quilts.  It was so incredibly interesting and  moving; if you ever have an opportunity to hear her speak, don't miss it.  

She brought several of her quilts with her and to see them up close and personal, was almost too much for me.  To see how quilter's in that time dealt with their worry, grief etc in the same way that I did.  

The first three or four times I told the story of the making of my quilt was difficult, The first time my husband was standing by listening and he got choked up too and had to walk away.  But after a few times I was able to move through the emotions that I feel whenever I see this quilt (the memories are visceral, and come back in waves) and I was able to enjoy sharing this with others.  One couple came up to us and I asked the man if he was in the military. 

He was in the army. I smiled and said I could tell by his haircut! He has been deployed 3 times. He and his wife were very interested in my quilt story.  A little later I saw them walking away from it and could see in his face he was moved   Several members of my family came to see the quilts, not only mine but the many others as well. 

It was an amazing day.  

Life is Good.

Works In Progress

Yesterday was a very busy day.

  It was like I drank a gallon of coffee. 

(I did not).

I loaded and quilted a 2nd donation quilt top; the one with the red binding in the picture.  I did a randomly spaced wavy line all the way across, took it off, reloaded and did it again in the opposite direction. 

I've been wanting to try this and think it looks nice. The quilt on the left is the 1st donation quilt-it was the one I did to see how the new poles and track system on HQ work

(Annie wanted in the picture since Otis keeps hogging the header photo.) 

****

I also put the borders on this little spring table runner.  

(22 x 46)

I put the main part together during guild's newbie class, which was all about using pre-cuts.
I used an older April Cornell charm pack I had just sitting around waiting for just such a project.
 I found the yellow (inner border) in the stash but had to buy the outer border.
I have the binding made from the same blue border fabric.

I also made great progress on the OB-Wonder #3

I always am amazed at how a project that hogs the entire design wall shrinks so much as the rows are sewn together.  I have a tremendous desire to move all those un-sew rows on the right closer to the sewn together rows on the left.  It's goofy... and I won't do it.... waste of time... 

but I really want to.

Have you seen the t-shirt that says

yep I get that.

Oh and you might remember my Snow Bound quilt and how I wasn't happy with the quilting.  

Well, I got it out and the quilting is fine. Apparently, it just needed to sit in a dark closet for 6 months.  

I put it up yesterday and just kept looking at it and shaking my head as to why I was so bummed about it originally.

Oh and when I was getting Snow Bound out 

this quilt came out too. 

Remember My Apple Orchard?

 GUESS WHAT???   

The binding isn't sewn down!!!  

I think I must have put this away around vacation time and forgot about it!!! 

****

Oh and I gave both the dogs baths!  

They are very sad to be smellin' all nice and clean....

 but that is the price they must pay to live in the house with us people.

DWMonday

Here is my wall.

I have 4 rows sewn and the first 2 are sewn together.  Of course, the race horse in me would like all these rows together for next Monday's design wall! 

 I'm going to try but the goal on 'THE LIST' is to just get 1/2 of them together--there are 18 rows. 

Check out other design walls at Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara.

*******

This is an update picture from my previous post.

Sunday evening

TA-DA!
(and we're still married!)


The completed upgrade track and pole system for my HQ16!
  It is so smooth I had a bit of a learning curve with it.
The quilt loaded is a donation quilt for the guild so I'm not stressing  over it.
Now that we have it together and know how to do it.  It wasn't hard.
The actually doing it took hours....
well worth the time and  effort...
and did I mention--


we're still married.
 :)


Fun times, fun times.  Life is Good!

just a quick update

The 2nd Witch is in is finished.

 It was on my 2010 list and I'm glad it's done and put away.

I didn't say anything but I caved further on Thursday;  I took my laptop down to my sewing space and pieced The 12 Days of Christmas from Temecula Quilt Co

I think I might hand quilt it. 

I say that because this is what HQ looks like right now.

GASP!

That black piece on the table is the bottom side of my track upgrade.  We started putting it together this afternoon, well I supervised cleaned up the boxes; Paul is doing the actually assembly. 

 And then the phone rang. 

 He got called into work. 

Always the way it goes.  

*******

This morning was the guild's newbies class.  It was a very informative class. I enjoyed it very much and from an April Cornell charm pack I made this

I think it will be a spring table topper.

I only have 6-7 charms left, looking at the photo now I think I will make two more blocks  and call it a table runner.

I'm very close to having all the little flying geese made for my Small Treasures quilt.  I had to cut out a bunch more 1.5" squares for it. 

****

Knitting...?

No, just casting....

last night watching a YouTube tutorial.  

I'm left handed so it was a bit awkward at first.  

I cast on 40 stitches-TWICE.

Then I got sucked into the abyss "YouTube tutorial land" watching rug hooking demos...

I am making decent progress on the Skinny Santa.

 Although his being complete by end of January is if-y mainly because the month is going way too fast, and I don't seem to have any control over it.

Is anyone else dizzy?

Perhaps it's just me.

********

Yesterday, I spent the day with several quilters from the guild I'm in at a sew-in for their community outreach. 

They had blocks already pieced from donated fabrics.  

I  put 2 lap size tops together and brought them home to quilt.  

It was a very good day.

I even made dinner.

Amazing.

DWMonday

The wall is the same as last week.  I was hoping to get at least one row on the OBW sewn together but it wasn't to be.

So here is a picture of my 2nd design wall.  It's the same as before Christmas except for the bottom left. The four patch rows I got together yesterday and the four flying geese blocks...

...I only need 104 more for my small treasures mini quilt. I snagged the picture from the All People Quilt web site. 

I'm not even going to comment on the rest of the second design wall who knows how long that stuff will be there.

I've already visited a few other design walls via Judy's.

The List

2012 QUILTING GOALS

NEEDS QUILTED (flimsy)

          Jonquils & Stars

          Henrietta Whiskers

          Aster Manor

          Chloe

WIP

          Strings & Stars (70x70) finished 1/6/12

          2^nd The Witch Is In door banner finished 1/13/12

          Finish Skinny Santa hooked rug

           2 embroidery pieces – finish as pillows, frame etc.

          Small treasures mini quilt (from AP&Q magazine) flimsy 1/24/12

       3rd One Block Wonder 

NEW

          New Purse w/Margo pattern-everything in a box ready to go

          Winter Wonderland kit-got this on the bus trip in 2009, needs to be made or it needs to go

          Applique Swirled Christmas tree wall quilt-online pattern bought in a moment of craziness in middle of this December 

             click on "Swirled" to see the kewl pattern

          Bunny Hill Designs BOM “Dresden Plate”

          Wool penny rug-have all the stuff just need to cut them out so I can stitch 'whenever' this should be AFTER I finish the Santa rug

*Use rest of 2010 block-a –day blocks*

First finish of' the new year

My first finish is my Strings & Stars quilt.  I finished the binding and washed & dried it on the 6th, took the picture outside!  

 

The temperature was in the 50's yesterday and suppose to be in the 40's all week.  I overheard a lady after church saying 'every week with out snow is one week closer to spring.' 

Strings & Stars is one of the 3 unfinished projects from one of my 2010 lists.  

The others are: 

 my 2nd "The Witch is In" door banner. 

I finished the blanket stitching on that yesterday

and  small treasures 

which is about 1/2 done. 

 I cut it out with the intention of it being a leader/ender project.  But I was so busy quilting in Nov/Dec. that sewing didn't really happen enough to get this one done.  

I know I could just keep on L/E it, but I want it done...must finish all on the list...must finish...which really isn't relevant since I've moved them to the 2012 list.

I have my 'Official 2012 Goals" done and will post it separately.  

I've made a tad bit more progress on the Santa rug.

 But forgot to take a picture. 

I do hope to get at least one row of the OBW sewn together so I can have a new picture for tomorrow's DWMonday.

I caved....

Bunny Hill Designs

I have Cathy to thank blame for posting about it on her blog.  

FIVE DAYS I made it FIVE whole days.

(without starting something new)

 I do believe that is a new personal record for me.

I'm feeling pretty good.

I may just join

I'm feeling kinda crazy. 

It could be the handful (7,8, 10...) Hershey Kisses I just ate.

oink-oink

I'm still thinking about the second one, the first is a done deal. 

I've printed out the directions.

Strings & Stars and other stuff

The front

(70 x 70)

The back

 I did "dwirling" on it. I did about half of it on New Year's day and then finished it today.  I used it as a break from all the culling, sorting, filing and shredding that somehow started this morning with me looking for one simple document and sort of snowballed into a massive file clean out which is a good thing but not what I had planned on.   

******

I'm working on hooking the grey background on Skinny Santa. I set the timer for 20 minutes this morning.  

I still have hopes of finishing this in January but twenty minutes a day is not going to cut it.

******

 We went up into the attic on Monday.

The stink bugs were every where. But they're hibernating or whatever it is they do so at least they weren't stinky! 

 I was concerned about all the children's books that I packed away and all my cross stitch pieces. 

Whatever possessed me to store them up there!?-who knows.

Oh wait!

 I live in a tiny house with no storage and I probably just lost my mind and did it 

and then something happened (life)

and I forgot I even did it.... 

..yep I think that was it, 

outa sight outa mind.

So I'm happy to report that although, we shouldn't have waited until a FREEZING, SNOWY day to do this (better than in the heat of summer, I know)

 the books were fine. 

not even the tip of the book hoarders iceberg-he he

2 books from MY childhood...oh the memories

My cross stitch pieces were fine too, I had wrapped them carefully-some are coming out of their frames-I framed them all myself so that's to be expected. The masking tape I used to hold them to the mats lost their stickiness-no biggie.

not even 1/2 of them

 Those four little dolls in embroidery hoops-the lace around them has yellowed. 

I completely forgot I had even made them.

dated 1990

I was ruthless in my culling of all the other boxs of treasures crap we brought down.  Amazing how ten years will change treasure to trash!  I carted all the good stuff I no longer need to hold onto down to the local St Vincent de Paul store.  Yeah.

*******


I've been very strong in not starting any new projects this year and we're already FOUR days into 2012.
Whew!
I know I'm a pillar of self control.


It's going to end soon...
I can feel it...

sigh.