A Biker post

This past weekend was the (3rd) annual Erie Roar on the Shore bike trip.  The weather wasn't the best this year: 90's and humid on Friday with an occasional downpour, then cloudy and chilly on Saturday but it was perfect on Sunday for the trip home. 

We rode up on the Harley but the exhaust gave us trouble.  Well it gave Paul trouble, I am no help with such things.  Thank goodness Paul is! 

This was the first fix 

and then the 2nd fix, there was a hardware store about a hundred feet from this place so he fixed it good!

There was a quilt shop right up the road too, but it was so darn hot we just waited in the little shade there was. 

 When Meg saw this picture she said, "mom you look all gangsta" 

ha-ha

Oh yea, I am definitely tough wearing my yellow bandana!

After another delay, this time for rain, which lasted about 45 minutes-- Wayyy to long of a time to be stuck at a Dollar General store, but thank goodness it was there!

A trip that should've been 3 hours turned into 6 1/2 but we finally arrived and still have smiles on our faces. 

The standing joke has been will the Victory trailer be there?  Paul and I have taken demo rides the last 2 years and have been planning on getting one next spring. So we head over to check 'em out.

**Notice I'm wearing my Potato chip bag? It was the perfect size! I do need to make one in a neutral color-I can't stand when my purse clashes with my clothes.**

Anyhoo, a little talking with these nice people and a very good trade in deal and we were heading to the dealer.

Goodbye harley (I never liked you anyway). Hello Victory Vision!

Brand new, more comfortable than the Goldwing-hard to believe but true

and I don't have to wear earplugs--that's a big 'woot-woot'!!

 I'm actually excited about riding again, 

Change of plans

Yesterday was suppose to be a Dr appt. shopping etc. But a morning call from the Dr's saying they needed to reschedule changed all that.

I decided to turn it into a sew day for me! woo-hoo!

Here are my 16 completed Metro Medallion Blocks.Of course, I'm going to make it bigger! 

Why would I ever just follow the plan and be happy that I'm ahead of the schedule?

The blocks are big 13 x 16, so this layout

 (4 x 4) makes it 52 x 64. 

If I add one more row each way (5 x 5) it will be 65 x 80.  

I have the pieces for 9 more blocks cut and I am going to add a small triangle shape to the corners of each block to make a diamond where the blocks come together. This was an option added to the QAL after it started and it really adds to the design.  

I've also been slowly sewing the blocks for my twister jack  pattern. As you see below right now he has a splitting headache ~ackk did I just say that?? 

yep! I did.  ha!

As soon as I get the top together, (maybe today) it's coming down as I have another signature quilt project started...I'm using this pattern and a layer cake of 

Chateau Rouge and I need the design wall space for that.

And I'm super excited that I finally decided to put my Aster Manor flimsy on HQ.  It's 86 x 98 and a block-a-day top. I'm going to quilt my all-over feathers in the center and do the borders separately. The back is ready too. I have a little note pinned to it saying I finished the top in Sept 2010 and I prepped the back in Aug. 2011!  

  I'm going to load it today.  OH MY Gosh binding?? I don't have anything written about making the binding...

fun times, fun times!

Life is good.

quilting related stuff

a finished customer's quilt

on this one the customer wanted 'something' in the center plain block.

I was stumped for awhile and then photocopied this embroidery pattern that I have, pinned it to the block and stitched on the lines.

It worked! She liked it. win-win.

and here is my new laser level. It's so easy to cut batting on the roll straight now.

I saw this on some one's blog a while ago and can't for the life of me find it now, so whoever you are --thank you for sharing the idea! I've used it a couple times already. It was $15 and I know I've have other gadgets lying around here that cost about the same and have been used once if at all.  This will be used a lot by me and I'm sure Paul will be borrowing it too. :)

********

What?? more CW Dresden blades??

  It's the never ending quilt saga! 

The last time I blogged about this quilt was in February.  I thought I was close to done then-just sew the last row on.

Well the day before shop hop last month I pulled out the flimsy to measure it; planning to purchase outside border fabric for it. Could you believe that it was long enough but not wide enough for my queen size bed? How'd I do that?

A few weeks ago I brought it up and laid it on my bed. yep it needs another row along the side that means 6 more blocks.

  Sheesh!!

The blades are all sewn together now and I need to get them appliqued to the foundations.  I do still love it and will shoot for having it on the bed this fall/winter.

Metro Medallion QAL

Yea for starting!!

I was hoping to get at least four done yesterday but we had an impromptu dinner with the kids and my parents.  It's a fun block!

Quilting

 I did this all freehand. 

 I need to get some arc shaped rulers and learn to use them...

 I did the dresden on the left first and then thought of the squiggly rays that I did on the blue one.  

 The signature quilt is done.

This morning before work I made the binding and sewed it on this evening.

I just need to hand stitch it to the back.  

Our co-worker, whom this quilt is for, is back in the hospital so I feel an urgency to get this done.

just wanted to show the DW real quick.  Happy Jack is waiting patiently to be sewn into rows.

The guild BOM is still being scrutinized.  I did find a leftover Bl-a-Day block that worked so I stuck it in (12 inch star block bottom left).  The layout will definitely change...

I did start sewing the leftover blocks, yardage and FQ chunks from Curve It Up for the backing.  

I am itching to start on either of these.  

But so far I'm showing great restraint.

Tonight I sewed on the final curved borders on my quilt top.

I'm hoping tomorrow to start piecing the backing from all the leftover chunks of fabric I have and a couple blocks that didn't make it into the front.

After taking this down, I started organizing all the fabrics I got on the Shop Hop last week.  There was stuff piled everywhere. Once I got things under control, I pulled out my Christmas BOM blocks from the guild.  Our show is the end of Oct. and the ladies who organized the BOM are hoping we get our tops done and entered in the show as a separate display.  I sorta got tired of working on them so this is all I have.

first layout

second layout

3rd

I had to dig through my scraps and found a couple 3.5 inch strips that I pieced to get the last  few plain blocks with the background! whew.

This is going to sit for a day or two.

One of the patterns I bought on Shop Hop was Happy Jack.

I started cutting out 3.5 inch squares for it.

too cute.