Finished!

Exactly four weeks to the day and I have my house quilt put together!  I was kind of winging it throughout the project.  I just kept sewing blocks and re-purposing scraps.  About the only plan I had was the finished size.  I knew it would be a wall hanging and I only have one spot where it will go.   I spent hours looking through photos of sampler quilts, primitive style quilts, and wall hanging size quilts.  A few sparked some ideas, but I never really found anything that matched what was going on in my head. (that's usually the case - I'm pretty out there sometimes!)

I'm happy with the way it turned out.  My class loved it - and Julie (the instructor) didn't make me sit in the corner for not following directions :)  She actually showed it to the class after I showed it to her first.

Home Sweet Home

Now I just have to figure out how I want to quilt it.  I've been doodling like crazy and I have a few ideas.  Since it is a wall hanging, I can quilt it more densely than I would otherwise.

Now I'm off and running on the next project.  A log cabin.  Reds, whites, creams, tans, and a black center for the blocks.  I will have a block posted in a few days, so....stay tuned!

I've been a in a bit of a funk today - just couldn't get motivated.   Guess it's time for a good night's sleep.

We're still working on the bedroom.  Reorganizing the closet:  raised one rod and added a lower rod.  Getting a a tall dresser to put against the back wall and adding another rod above that.  Then we can get rid of the ugly old dresser that we've been dragging around from house to house over the past 20 years.  That will open up the space and make it easier to get to the window. - which means I can finally sew the drapes.  I'm going to quilt those (of course!).  I saw some quilted drapes in a high- end catalog - they billed them as "energy saving".  Way too expensive to buy - not much of a savings - what you wouldn't spend in energy costs, you would be spending on curtains.  Unless you sew them yourself, and quilt them yourself!! And I already have the fabric!   Gotta make that longarm earn it's keep!

That's it for today......think I will break out the regular camera tomorrow and work on the picture quality in my posts. The camera on my phone takes pretty good pictures, but the flash just isn't good enough for the nighttime shots.  

Until next time!

My Junior Quilter

For the past month I've been going on and on about all the things I've been doing.  I thought I would take a moment to brag on my daughter, Sara.  She has been quilting for the past 4 years and has made four quilts, along with a few other quilted items.  She has entered her quilts at the county fair and has scored awards each year.  This past summer she won Best of Show at the San Diego County Fair, as well as, Junior Grand Champion at the Ramona Junior Fair!  Did I mention that she's only 12?!  How I wish I had started quilting when I was 8!  I have so many ideas crammed in my head  - I wouldn't be able to make them all even if I quilted 'til I was 100!

A San Diego County Fair Winner!

Sara spent a few years collecting all of the fabric for her quilt. (yes, she even has her own fabric stash!) She came up with her own pattern and then she freehand quilted it on the long arm.  I hope and pray that she will continue to sew into her adult years because she's a natural.  Right now, she's torn between riding her horse and creating things.  I'm sure if she could get a sewing machine onto the back of a horse, she'd be sewing everyday! 

Having Fun on the Longarm

A New Visitor

  My son, Matt saw that I was having fun "blogging" and asked if he could too.  I helped him set up his page and then he was off and running.  He has more bells and whistles on his page than I knew you could add!  A few days ago,  he convinced me to add one of his "whistles" to my blog.  I honestly didn't think anything of it....until now.  I just noticed that I've had a visitor from Los Gatos, CA.  I used to live there, (many, many years ago). So, I'm wondering....do I know you?  If so, please leave me a comment!  Anyway, -  either way, thanks for visiting!

Sweet Sunshine

You wouldn't know that it's winter just by looking outside - or even by taking a long leisurely walk in the sunshine.  It's January 31st and it's been in the 70's for a week now, and they are saying that it will get into the 80's over the next few days!!

Sunshine -aka: "Sunny"

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining.  The warmth of the sunshine is wonderful.  I enjoy not having to wear my fuzzy socks to bed.  And Sunshine (Sara's bunny) loves to play in the garden.  She knows to stay under cover.  she must have heard us talking about the Golden Eagle.  Which has been back hunting Coots. - Sara saw it last week being harassed by a couple of Red Tail Hawks after it caught another Coot.  It finally dropped the Coot and flew away.  I wouldn't think that a few hawks would bother a massive eagle. Perhaps it had already eaten and it wasn't really hungry.

 Quilting class was yesterday.  We made a miniature quilt. -  Little x's for Valentine's Day. It measures 12"x12".

I have a Honey Bun (an assortment of 42" x 1 and 1/2" strips of a collection of fabric) of Mary Engelbreit's Attitude Girls, so I used a few strips from that.  I'm going to add the red ric-rac around the outside edge after I quilt it.

Almost everyone brought in their House quilts to show. (I was one who didn't) They are all so cute!  I think I'm the slowest sewer in the class.  I really wonder if I even belong in that class!  There are so many very gifted quilters!  I just sit and sew and listen.  I know I'm going to learn a lot on Mondays!  Julie and Jill are wonderful teachers - both very creative and always sharing their tricks and tips.  It's fun to be in a class where I feel challenged - and no, I don't mean mentally challenged ;)  They keep a pretty fast pace.  We will be doing a new quilt each month, so there's no slacking off!  That's good for me - it will keep me focused and off the couch! - And I will get to use some of that fabric that keeps piling up!

I should have the House quilt done tomorrow.   I just have to sew together the pinwheels, some four-patch blocks, make three heart blocks, and sew the rows together.  I'm adding one more 4" row below the last row of houses.  I found some blue plaid homespun for half price at Bits and Pieces Quilt Shop last Friday.  I will use that for the border and binding.

Then it's time to check off a few items from my UFO list.  The wall hanging is only a few hours away from being finished.  The appliqué scrap quilt just needs to be quilted.  That will be two items - one for January and one for February.

 This is the reason I didn't finish my quilt last weekend.  Fred and I tiled the fireplace in our bedroom.  We chose a natural slate mosaic for the face of the fireplace surround.  The hearth is 6" natural slate.  It is edged with a ceramic rounded trim tile that is painted to match the slate.  It was pretty easy and I'm really happy with the (nearly) finished product!  We need to grout and seal the tiles.  The sealer will actually darken the tiles and show their true colors - which are pretty gray right now.  So, there's a household project UFO almost ready to be checked off!

This is the "before" shot

Next, we will paint our bedroom and put a closet organizer in the walk-in closet.  We've been in this house 8 years at the end of this month - I want to finish our bedroom!! - We're only a few weeks away!

Another productive month - even with almost a week of down time.  It's very satisfying to be able to look back at what I've accomplished each week.  Now, I need to make some time to clean the house...........

More Fabric Fun

The quilt for the Quilts of Valor is finished!  (except binding).  I was so worried that I wouldn't get it quilted.  I hate how life gets in the way of the best laid plans!

I'm (somewhat) happy with the way that it turned out.  I quilted (freehand) random swirls all over.  To represent the wind.  It was the first time I quilted that pattern, and there were areas that were less than perfect - definitely room for improvement!  It does look very nice and it came out very cuddly - I was striving for a loose pattern that would result in a soft quilt.

Later in the evening, Diane brought over her Surfboard/Beach quilt for me to put on the longarm.  I ended up quilting allover feathers in a free flowing design. (freehand - I prefer to quilt on the front end of the machine) When I was drawing it on my dry erase board, we agreed that it looked like kelp. Perfect! (I don't know what that says about my feathers!)  What a fun pattern to quilt.  I finished it around 12:30 am.  Poor Diane nearly fell asleep in my big comfy chair.  I was having so much fun, I lost track of time!   (One UFO done for Diane!)  I have a week to catch up!


Sorry about the poor photo quality - the flash kept washing out the colors and without the flash the colors are all muddy.  Taking photos in the wee hours of the morning is not a good idea.

The House Quilt is coming along.  I'm playing around with a layout.  I still have to appliqué the letters for the Home Sweet Home panel.  There are 3 more paper-pieced hearts left to make and 4 more houses.  I'm planning on adding some blocks in the borders too.  I should have it done by the end of this coming weekend....maybe.


I delivered the Quits of Valor quilt to Fat Quarters this afternoon.  There on the sign by the front door: 30's Reproduction Fabric 25% off!!  Woohoo!  I had a list of fabric that I needed for my tablecloth quilt -all 30's Reproduction -  getting it on sale makes it that much more fun to shop! 8 - 1/2 yard cuts for $20 and some change! What a deal!  That's pretty much all I need, I have backing fabric and I found a white floral in my stash to go along with it all.

Vintage Tablecloth and 30's Reproduction Fabrics

UFO Fabric

I'm thrilled to have finally come up with a project to use this floral.  I bought this 4 years ago on a quilt run.  I loved it then - thought I would make a table runner.  That idea seemed great at the time, but I never got around to it, probably because I didn't have a pattern that I loved as much as the fabric.  I do believe this qualifies for a UFO.  That will be a two for one!
Notice how I always manage to buy some more fabric.  It's like paint (I'm a painter too - did that all the time before I discovered quilting).  Without  the right paint colors, you just can't paint what's going on in your head.  I can't make a quilt if I don't have all of the right colors!  Thankfully, I have a husband who understands my creative bent.  I think I amuse him at times, and other times, he just shakes his head :)

A Little Bit of This and That....

Here's what I've come up with so far.

My "peepers" are healing beautifully and I've been able to get in some sewing time during the last three days.  Icing every hour for the past five days really messed up my plans to get some things done over the weekend.    I have one UFO that has to be done by the end of the month, a quilt to get back to Michelle at Fat Quarters, and my class project is halfway there and needs to be done in two weeks! (or it may end up in the UFO pile!)  I have to take it easy and no bending or lifting for 8 days!  I can't stand it!  That left the longarm out, but sitting at the sewing machine was doable :)  I came up with a plan for my little houses.  I want it to be a wall hanging for the family room.

Think "Wheel of Fortune" A phrase that has something to do with houses.

I've also been busy designing a quilt made with fabric from a vintage tablecloth.  Diane and I found it at The Urban Barn in Escondido.  We both loved it and instead of fighting for it we decided to split it - literally.  It has 75 little 6" squares with bunches of strawberries and blossoms.  I searched the Internet for ideas (love the images other quilters share!) I get so inspired by the creative works by other quilters.

How, you may be asking, do you divide 75 by two?  Quilter's math prevails in this situation!  The first one finished wins the extra square!!
The race is on Diane ;)

Anyway, I found this great blog: Oh, Fransson.com.  She has a really cute tablecloth quilt that inspired me enough to dig into my Mary Engelbreit scraps to make mine! Her quilt is called Ric Rac Quilt.   Check out her blog - she has lots of great tutorials too!

So, I figure, while I'm working on the other two quilts that are halfway there....I might as well jump right in and start another one!  Its a necessity really - kind of like a mind clearing exercise.  Too many ideas crammed in my head and something is gonna give.  Either give birth to a new project that has been simmering for months,  or suffer a creative meltdown!

I have been able to do one creative thing every day.  When I was in bed icing for a few days, I drew and calculated and figured and doodled.  The result was two quilt designs and one quilting pattern for the Quilt of Valor Quilt - which must be completed tomorrow!  I'm good enough to handle a few hours on the longarm.

The Answer is:  Home Sweet Home

  

Fred says it looks like Nome Sweet Nome.  There is freezer paper on the backs of the letters and they've curled a bit, distorting the letters.  This will go in a row between my houses.  I still have to remove the paper and stitch everything in place.



I've gotten a request to make a T-Shirt Quilt.  Working on a design for that too.  Mostly brainstorming at this stage.  That might take the front of the line shortly - business first, as they say :)  Thankfully, my business is always fun!

Little Houses

I went to my Monday quilting class and made lots of little houses.  These little guys are fun!  I'm just not sure about how I want to put them together.  I'm really struggling with making a quilt that 9 other people are making. Somehow, I have to be different!   I've been reworking it and I'm going to put my own spin on it.........you will have to wait for the reveal in a few weeks :)

I'm quilting this for Michelle, the owner of Fat Quarter's Quilt Shop.  This is a quilt that will be donated to the Quilts of Valor.  Very cool to see all of the names and states on each of the blocks. The hands of women from all over the United States made these little stars.

 

I love what Pastor Jason shared tonight.  (we are studying the book of Revelation) He has so many great insights - I struggle to keep up with his train of thoughts!  This is one thing that he said that I got down..
"God is doing something in you right now that He can't do any other way.  It won't last forever because this life is not all that there is".  Something to think about....