New Years Eve and Resolutions

What are you going to be doing this New Years?

I will be spending some time with my family as we don't have plans to go anywhere and hopefully spending a lot of time quilting. Tonight my daughter is having friends spend the night so my husband and I will probably stay downstairs out of the way in the sewing room.

I have completed my New Years resolution list or at least my "hope to accomplish" list for 2009. Have you done yours?

2009 Resolutions

1.Sew up at least 3 PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) during 2009, some of these I have had for YEARS.
2.Continue to piece at least half of my backings using 10 ½ squares.
3.When I finish a quilt top select fabric for a backing and piece before putting the top away. (I know I won't do this all the time but would be happy if I did this SOMETIMES. I think I would get more done in the long run.)
4.Finish two more UFOs left from 2007 UFO list
5.Buy less fabric than I use so that I can see a dent in my stash.
6.Charity quilting in 2008, I pieced 3 charity quilt tops and quilted 15 tops. I hope in 2009 to do at least the same amount, hopefully a couple more.
7.Do at least one project using up 2 ½ strips as that bin is overflowing.

For non quilt related resolutions.

1.Buy only when I need something (quilt related and not)
2.De-clutter, De-junk or whatever you want to call it my entire house. One drawer or one closet at a time I want to start tossing/donating things we don't use or need.

Have a great day and stay safe tonight, I am glad we won't be going out anywhere.

Kathie

Interlocking Stars

Finished the top for the interlocking stars quilt. This picture isn't very good with it being not real smooth on the design wall and the glare of the morning sun but you can get the idea. I am pleased with the way it turned out.

I think I am going to quilt it with a variegated tan thread but I have two other quilts in line to quilt first.



I am trying to finish up my New Years Resolution listing. I always have way more ideas than I know I will actually accomplish so trying to be realistic and pick a few things I can work on and have a good chance of accomplishing.

I guess one of them (quilt on New Years Day) is a given. I have been doing that since I started quilting. It just seems to me a great way to start the New Year. Since my daughter is having a couple of friends spend the night on New Years Eve I am sure my mini retreat will start then. I tend to hide away from the noisy teenagers in the sewing room. With fabric, sewing machines, longarm and a TV I can be occupied for hours. The only problem is that it is downstairs and can be chilly in the evenings this time of year. Guess I will have to pop upstairs every so often to get hot coffee or tea to keep me warm.

Kathie L.

Lets Go Fishing

I have been under the weather the last couple of days due to sinus problems and a severe sinus headache that just wouldn't go away. I didn't feel like doing much, including sewing but I did manage to sit on the sofa and work on the binding to my strippy fish quilt.

I made the quilt a couple of months ago during a sew-in and just got it quilted a few days ago. I uses a really pretty variegated teal thread on it in free hand swirls and I think it looks like water for the fish. The strippy quilt was made using the idea from Mary J's site www.maryquilts.com (hope that is the correct link), I made the smallest strip just a little bit bigger for mine. The quilt really isn't wavy, it is the way it is being held. I purchased the fish fabric at our annual quilt guild auction probably 3 or 4 years ago and finally found a good use for it.

I also worked some on the interlocking stars quilt today. The whole middle section is done and I have started on the inner border. I don't post a picture again until I have at least the top done.

Kathie

Merry Christmas Eve

My Stepdaughter Angie asked that I make a sofa quilt for her to give to her mother-in-law for Valentines day. She requested tan, cream and a light olive to go in her MIL's living room. Now that is not a color combination I would have bought so it was a challenge to buy the fabric. Then to pick a pattern. Yes I know you should pick a pattern first and THEN buy the fabric but I am a little backwards at times.

Even though the last quilt top I made was the friendship star in a star the pattern I picked out for her quilt was also a friendship star variation. This one is interlocking stars, which is very easy, the hard part is keeping track of all the pieces.

Here is the start to my project and even though it is not my colors I think I am going to like the look of this.

I hope everyone will have a wonderful Christmas Eve, have warmth even in the cold weather hitting most of the country and to arrive at your destinations safely.


Kathie

Dwirling

I have had a couple of charity quilts waiting for me to quilt and I just have not had time to get to them the last couple of months. I pulled out a small one pieced by Julie from my guild, got the backing cut and managed to quilt this fairly quickly.

I think this bright lime fabric must glow in the dark!!! I had lime thread I used and did a version of Dawn's dwirling technique from her Pajama Quilter DVD, I just added lots more swirls. I have done 2 or 3 quilts with this method but I think I like the spacing of the lines and swirls on this one more than the others.

It usually takes me 2 or 3 times of doing a new quilting pattern to really like it. That is going to be one of my goals for 2009, to rewatch all my videos and practice new quilting techniques more.

Kathie

Yet Again

You are going to get tired of seeing pictures of this quilt but I did get the top totally done yesterday so wanted to post a final picture. I really like how this little quilt turned out.

Very cold here this morning at 18 degrees. Now I know that is nothing compared to Montana or several other places but it is the coldest morning of this winter so far.

Kathie

Baby Stars

I did manage to get all nine blocks to the baby quilt done yesterday.



You are suppose to be able to see the secondary large star in the background and after looking at it this morning it just didn't look right to me. I had followed the pattern, which is not usual for me, but I just didn't care for the setting.

My husband suggested that I redo the middle block and use the bright yellow for all backgrounds and I like it much better now. Always nice to have an extra pair of eyes when something doesn't look quite right.



Hopefully I will get the blocks sewn together and the borders on this today. It is dark and rainy outside here in Maryland today, a nice day to stay inside. I am so thankful that we are not having the winter weather that the New England and other parts of the country are currently having.

Kathie

What to Do

My daughter is at a friends out for the day and to spend the night. I have lots of time to sew and didn't know what to do.

I cut a backing for a charity quilt and loaded it and the batting on my frame but then didn't feel like quilting it. I want to sit and piece but had nothing in progress to work on. I didn't feel like cutting out a new project but went to look at my fabric PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) that I purchased at various times.

I found one package of baby fabrics with a pattern already stuck in with it. Must have been set aside for at least six months. Thought I would go ahead and get it cut out and before long I was sewing away.

Funny that the day started out not knowing what I wanted to sew and the day will end with a half finished baby quilt. Do you ever have a day like that where you want to sew, you just don't know what.

I will try and post pictures tomorrow.

Kathie

Stashbuster Christmas Quilt

Since I make so many Christmas table runners for fall/Christmas craft show I always end up with a box full of left over binding pieces and each year I make at least one Christmas scrap quilt in the hopes of using them up.

I have been slowly putting pieces together into blocks and finally got all the blocks sewn together. It ended up being about 52 by 72 which is a good sofa size quilt so I doubt I will even put borders on it.

Of course it didn't seem to even make a dent in the box of binding so guess this quilt will end up having a scrap binding also. Maybe once I get that made up I will be able to see a small dent in my pile anyway.

I am sure this will go on my shelf of tops done and waiting to be quilted but it will be nice to clean up all the extra pieces and get my sewing room a little more organized.

I have been doing so much quilting at the frame the last couple of months it was nice to spend an afternoon sitting and piecing.

Kathie

2008 Resolutions Revisited

It is getting close to the time of year that people (myself included) start making new years resolutions. I thought that before I even consider doing that I should revisit the ones I made last year so I went back to one of my very first blogs.

#1 was to shop stash before going to the store and to try and make lots of scrap quilts. Well I did start shopping my stash more so that is a plus. I made a couple of scrap Christmas quilts out of left over binding pieces and one scrap top for Project Linus but guess that is about all the headway I made using up scraps.

#2 was to piece a lot of backings with 10 1/2 squares to use up some of those smaller pieces of fabric left from various projects. I did very well on this one as I probably pieced 3/4 of my backings this year.

#3 was to tackle my Projects in Grocery Sacks (PIGS) and either make up the project or return the fabric to my stash to use for other projects. I made up a couple of the projects and returned at least two more to stash so I would say I made good progress on this one. If nothing else it reminded me of a few projects I still want to do.

#4 was to de-junk the sewing room and the rest of the house. This of course is an on-going process but did get a little accomplished on it.

and #5 though I never wrote it down was to quilt 12 charity quilts during 2008, an average of 1 per month. To date I have quilted 14 quilts for various charities during 2008 so actually a little ahead on that one.

Since it looks like I actually worked on and made progress on each of my resolutions guess I will start thinking about next years.

How did you do with your 2008 resolutions?

Kathie

Love Quilt

I was going to put this as part of my last post but decided it deserved an entry all on its own. Everyone knows that there are certain times, certain people and certain circumstances where you just HAVE to drop everything else and pitch in to do something for someone else.

A lady in my quilt guild teaches several young students (11 - 13 years old) how to quilt. One of them came to her a few days ago and told her that a girls she knows, only 12 years old, had just been diagnosed with acute cancer and that she wanted to make her a quilt to comfort her during her long expected stay in Children's Hospital. Everyone's heart goes out to a young child struggling with something that no child should have to go through.

The quilt grew into a mini community effort. The fabric was picked out with the assistance of the quilting teacher, one girl was the primary person but a couple of other young girls assisted her with some of the sewing and the quilt teacher with some of the cutting. One girls mom took all the fabric to prewash, another lady contributed money for fabric and last night I quilted it. All this happened in less than a week and the quilt will be ready to be picked up and bound later today and hopefully delivered to the hospital later this week.


I wanted to show the lovely work that 3 11-13 year olds accomplished in such a short time and that giving of your time and hearts can start at an early age.

I quilted the quilt with a bright king tut thread call Joseph's Coat (of many colors) and I thought the title was kind of appropriate as so many peoples efforts were "patched" together into this quilt, the quilt that love made.

Kathie

This Weekend

Every day I have said to myself that I should blog but have either been to busy with holiday and other things or just couldn't think of anything to say or have any pictures to post. Now all of a sudden it seems like I have several things to show and to talk about.

First I wanted to post a picture of a recent customer quilt I quilted. I just wanted to show how nice a totally scrap quilt comes out when there is just a little pre-planning. She didn't plan the colors but just made sure that there was nothing really dark or really bright in the quilt and it came out great. I really should follow her example and make better use of all my smaller pieces like she did with this framed 4 patch.



Second photo is getting ready to go to a sew-in our guild has once a month at our local library. I love sewing in their big conference room. You can either do the project of the day which was a bag yesterday, work on charity quilts or just do your own thing. I had all the pieces cut for a Christmas quilt (for next year) so took that with me and made good progress. Its not in the picture here but I carry the project back in forth in a plastic 9 x 13 cake carrier. I think it was Bonnie Hunter that posted about that on her site and I ran out and purchased a couple. They are so great to organize all your pieces in.

Crazy Time

Wow it has been a crazy week. My last craft show of the season was this past saturday, yesterday was my daughters performance in the Nutcracker and I went into my old job today for a few hours to turn over documentation to my replacement. In addition to this I have been trying to finish customer quilts and haul my daughter to many Nutcracker and high school dance team practices.

I am hoping that maybe starting tomorrow things will be a little more "normal" whatever that is. I want to finish up things for Christmas, give the house a good cleaning, finish quilting the last few quilts with a Christmas deadline and then maybe have the time to work on a project or two of my own and to get another charity top together.

Hope everyone else can slow down and enjoy the holidays.

Kathie

Fabric Finding

We live in a split foyer home. Many years ago my daughter used to use the space under the stairs for a playhouse and had pillows, a bean bag chair and all sorts of other items under there. She quit using it years ago but we never cleaned out the area. My husband was doing that the other day so that we can store the Christmas tree and ornaments under there instead of in the attic.

What did he discover under there??????????? Fabric, yards and yards of fabric that she has used for curtains under the stairs. There must have been 10 to 15 yards of fabric under there in larger pieces. Sad to say that I never even missed it!!

I guess I am set with fabric for charity quilt backings for awhile.

Kathie

Hospice Festival of Trees

Our county had its first Hospice Festival of the Trees yesterday. The trees were beautiful and the cause the greatest. This is a picture of the tree that was decorated by my guild. I had no part in the actual decorating but made about a dozen of the ornaments. It was very well received and I heard several people commenting that it was so nice to see all the hand made ornaments.

I participated in the show as a vendor selling my baby quilts and table runners and had a fun day and made a good profit all at the same time.

Kathie

Happy Thanksgiving

I always have a hard time at Thanksgiving. In 1995 my father passed away after a long bout of cancer on Thanksgiving morning. It has been many years but my thoughts always go to him today. Last year my mother also passed away and on holidays I miss them so much.

Even through the sadness there is still joy and thanksfulness. I am thankful for many things including:

1. A husband that is supportive of my quilting, my choices and is my best friend
2. A daughter that of course as a teenager drives me nuts at times but is basically a great kid, talented and a good student
3. Being able to quit my office job and start my own business
4. Good health for all of us (minus all those general aches and pains of getting older)
5. My in person and on line quilting groups
6. My home, it is not new or big or fancy but it is warm and comfortable and ours
7. Not struggling financially in these difficult times

Hope you have as many things to be thanksful for.

kathie

Holiday Rush

I am in the midst of a holiday rush so have not been keeping up my blog like I should.

I had my second craft show of the year this past sunday and now preparing for my 3rd show on saturday. This past show I was very happy with, it wasn't quite as good as last year but was close and with the way people are slowing down on their spending I am very happy with the result.

Also my quilting customers are busy getting all their Christmas present to me to be quilted so I have been busy five days a week on that.

I would have not been able to handle half of these quilts if I had still been working in an office five days a week. I am really enjoying my "career change". I still get going in the morning, check my email and then start to work but it is so nice to be able to take a break and toss a load of clothes in the washer or other things so all the chores don't have to wait till the weekend.

The other part of my life that has kept me totally busy lately is my daughters dance. They are in the last stages of rehearsals for their nutcracker performance in a week and a half. Her dance studio performs the children/teenager parts while the adult parts are danced by the National Ballet of the Ukraine. So mom and dad's taxi service has had a lot of business. Then on top of that she auditioned and made the high school dance team so that involves practice every night. Sure keeps us busy and on the road but she is loving it and talk about a great way to stay in shape.

Since most blogs are only interesting if they have lots of pictures I am including one of a recent customer quilt. This quilt is made of nothing but scrap squares of every fabric you can think of, what a great stash buster.

Kathie

Sew In

Our guild had a sew in day this past saturday at our local library. They have a great conference room that we are able to use one saturday a month.

I had started the heart blocks for Project Linus a couple of months ago and completed them at a saturday retreat in October. I spent this past saturday sewing on the sashing strips and corner stones so finally have a completed top. It won't get quilted until after Christmas I am sure but at least the top is done and I can now fold it up and put it on a shelf.

Kathie

Quilting Week

I can't believe I have not posted all week but it has been a busy quilting week. I am trying to get customer quilts done as quickly as possible this time of year because I know most of them are for Christmas presents.

This is a picture of the most recent quilt I finished. I love log cabin quilts and Carol made great use of dusty blue fabrics. I wanted a thread that would show up on both the cream and the colored fabrics but not pop to much so selected a soft pastel variegated thread and I like the way it turned out.

I currently have a large quilt on the frame that I have been working on the last day and a half. I would have had it done by now but was feeling a little under the weather on wednesday so got a slow start. My goal is to complete it today and quilt a table runner for another customer. Then I am taking the weekend off.

Tomorrow our guild is having a sew in at our local library. I have been cutting sashing strips to take with me to sash blocks for a linus quilt and if time permits also sash other blocks that will end up being a hospice quilt.

Sunday I will be working on craft show items, seeing if I can get the rest of the runners I have prepared quilted.

Kathie

Saturday Sewing

I had decided that I was going to spend my saturday sewing time on charity sewing this week. I didn't accomplish a lot but I did get these six tree ornaments made that will be dropped off at or guild meeting monday night for the hospice tree that we are going to decorate.

I am going to work on some table runners today and then get the next quilt loaded on the frame so it will be ready to go tomorrow morning.

Kathie

Scrap Quilting

A lot of the ladies I know have been making scrap quilts lately. Not only are they interesting with maybe 100's of different fabrics in them but save money in a little tighter financial times to use what you already have. Of course I am sure that the local quilt shops hate this trend but I don't know anyone that has totally quit visiting their local fabric stores, just cutting down on purchases and considering their choices more.

This picture is a quilt by Carol, my most recent quilting finish. If there was a “scrap queen” title at our guild I am sure she would have it. Pieces I would toss in the trash as just to much trouble to save she incorporates into quilts. She calls these a “Use it All” quilt, I call it the quilt of a thousand seams!!! Makes for kind of noisy quilting constantly hitting seams but my machine handles them no problem.


Kathie

Chain Quilting

Everyone that quilts does some sort of chain piecing. You feed in piece after piece of fabric to the sewing machine without cutting the thread. This saves both time and thread and you end up with a clothes line full of pieces sewn together. Along the same line I was chain quilting on sunday. I loaded a piece of backing fabric onto my frame and quilted one table runner after another using up some of the smaller pieces of batting that I had. Ended up quilting 5 table runners on the same backing fabric with the same thread. Saved me lots of time.

I hope to get all of these runners bound and finished by the weekend. Gives me some hand stitching to do while watching TV at night.

Did you vote today? From the news it looked like huge lines everywhere. I went to my local polling place about 8:45 and was in and out in 10 minutes, quick and easy. makes me think the news media searched all over for the longest lines and then put that on the news to make it look like that was the norm everywhere. Hope it doesn't scare people away from voting.


Kathie

Sewing Assistant

Those that have cats know that anytime you put a project down the cats think it is an invitation. Here Sammy is inspecting the wall hanging as I put the binding on. Doesn't make for easy sewing.

Last week was my last week at my office job. People have asked me how it feels but I don't think it has sunk in yet, feels like I am just having a few days off of work. The only difference I feel so far is that this weekend I didn't feel so rushed, trying to get everything done for back to work monday, that was a good feeling.

Today I need to spend quilting on a full sized green and blue customer quilt and getting all my craft show items and supplies staged for my first craft show wednesday.

Kathie

Homecoming

With out of town company, my daughter's homecoming actitivies and a tumble I took down our stairs yesterday I have not accomplished much on my quilting the last few days. Now all the activities are over and lucky that I didn't break anything I am ready to get back to my quilting.

This week I hope to get a twin sized customer quilt loaded and quilted, a couple of bindings finished and a few more of the Hospice ornaments completed. I started four more of them yesterday but didn't get to far.


I also just had to share a picture of Mandy ready for Homecoming. I still can't believe she is already in high school, where have those years gone.

Kathie

Thursday Already?

I don't know where this week has gone. Ever since I turned in my notice at work I have been twice as busy. Several things I am trying to wrap up and also in the process of creating a turn over book to help my replacement. Looks like next week I will be packing up 10 years worth of files to be transferred to another company.

I quilted on lap quilt this week but is the only thing I have accomplished. Have not had the time or energy to work on any charity projects (need to make hospice ornaments) or work on any craft show items this week and only the one customer quilt done.

We are having company this weekend but I hope to be able to get another customer quilt done and a few craft show items worked on after they leave.

kathie

Linus Quilts

It has been a fun but busy few days. I went to the project linus meeting on friday and continued to work on my heart blocks while several of the ladies working on the new block which was a dimensional pinwheel. I would rather plug along on last months project till completion rather than have a bunch of half started quilts. I also got a customer quilt finished and packed up all sorts of projects to go to a quilting retreat on saturday.

Saturday I finished all the heart blocks, got a binding on a table runner and made a strippy quilt top (from OLD fish fabric) from Mary Johnson's pattern at http://www.maryquilts.com.

Today I quilted a small Project Linus quilt made by Ann. I quilted it with ribbon curls from the magic meandering book by Suzanne Early, quick, easy and looks ok.

Kathie

I Quit

I did it!!!!

I have been working in office settings for 35 years, 11 ½ years at my current company and 10 years on the same program. For a long time I had been wishing that I could leave my job and do something different, the last year or more the desire has been to quit and pursue a machine quilting business that I have slowly started.

Well, Tuesday morning I came into work turned in my resignation letter. It is exciting and scary all at the same time.

I intend on doing a lot of practicing on my quilt skills. I have mastered several free hand patterns but need to be able to do much more than I am capable of at this point. I do tell people that my nitch right now is simple designs at a low cost and that I try to have a quick turn around time. There seem to be a lot of people that would like that college dorm quilt, baby quilt or Christmas present done. They want it together, finished and with added texture but don’t want to spend a fortune.

I am hoping that I will be very busy quilting customer quilts and working on all my craft show items through the holidays and then beginning with the new year I would like to find some volunteer work to do 1 or 2 days a week in addition to the quilting.

As I get older I feel the need to do something with meaning to it, something that makes a difference or helps someone out. I feel some of that with the charity quilting I do but I also want to do something more direct.

I am sure I will have lots of ups and downs and just hope that I can make it work, and that it is the right decision.

Kathie

Charity Sewing

Two charity project I have been working on a little at a time are heart blocks from a pattern given to me at the Project Linus meeting I went to. They were doing them in pinks and reds which looked to much like valentines to me. I decided to do my blocks totally scrappy and use from my stash. I have four blocks done so far of 12 needed to make a linus quilt.

Our quilt guild is also going to do a hospice tree this year. I made these small four patches and fused the poinsettia on them and put a crystal in the middle.

Kathie

Quilting Assistant

It seems like a lot of people have a "quilting assistant" and this is mine. My husband had just removed a sewing machine from the well in this table and went into another room to get another machine to put in. In those couple of minutes Sammy decided it looked like a great place to lay. To bad his eyes look so strange in this picture but then again Halloween is the end of the month and he would fit right in.

Kathie

Sunday Goals

I did real well with all the goals I wanted to accomplish by sunday night.

1. 2 small customer quilts quilted - DONE
2. Two runners quilted - DONE
3. Load Quilt - DONE and quilting started
4. Piece baby quilt backing - not done
5. Sew bindings on two runners (above) DONE
6. Hand stitch bindings on two runners DONE
7. Make Project Linus blocks - not done

So I made real good progress but didn't accomplish everything on my list, but then again I made two small wall hanging tops that were not on this list.

I am posting a picture of the one small quilt I quilted. This was for my youngest customer and she did a great job on her quilt, she is 13. I am also posting a picture of on the table runners I got bound this weekend. You can't tell from the picture but is is decorated with lots of crystals.

Kathie

Stash Busting Vs. Collecting

I belong to the on line Stashbusters group that encourages people to use up their fabric stash instead of buying additional fabrics. I have never joined the “no buy” group but have been trying to use up some of what I already have. I have been semi successful and have used up several groupings of fabric I had purchased and never did anything with. I have also been trying to use left over binding strips etc. laying around in scrap projects.

That being said I have also purchased a fair amount of fabric in the last year. I have slowed down on purchases and have been using some of the OLDER fabrics up so I don't feel to bad about the newer purchases. There are also some times when a new trend, idea or whatever hits and you just HAVE to collect fabric for it.

I have seen several quilts lately in black and white with touches of red. I love how graphic is looks and decided that I just had to make one. I still don't know what pattern I am going to use but have a couple of ideas that use FQs. I have started collecting ½ yard pieces so I could make multiple blocks in one fabric and this is what I have collected so far.

Now I have to make sure I really make this quilt and it doesn't just become another Project in a Grocery Sack (PIGS).

Kathie

Goals

I have tried to set monthly goals for myself in the past but my focus can change so quickly with what is going on at work, home life and also how many customer quilts I have at any time so I am finding that weekly goals work best for me.

What I hope to have done by Sunday evening is the following:

1. Quilt two small customer quilts
2. Quilt 2 more craft show runners
3. Load Carol’s quilt
4. Piece backing for baby quilt
5. Put binding on 2 runners (#2 above)
6. Finish hand stitching binding on 2 runners (1 is half done)
7. If I finish all of the above start making some heart blocks for Project Linus

Panographs and Weekend Progress

A couple of people asked me if my quilting is using a pano or freehand. I hate to admit but I have never tried to use a pano and wouldn't know where to start or even how to install my lazer pointer. It is one of those things I would LOVE to learn how to do but feel I need someone to show me. The dealer I bought my machine from didn't do panos so I never learned.

I accomplished everything on my quilting to do list for the weekend plus spent a little time straightening my batting pieces. I labeled the size on anything big enough for a lap quilt, put pieces big enough for table runners in another stack and put the smaller pieces in a bag to take to quilt guild to see if anyone wants them for rag quilts. One thing in the sewing room straightened up anyway so maybe I don't knock the stack of batting over every time I walk to the iron.

Here is a pictures of some of the Christmas blocks I was working on saturday. It probably won't be a finished quilt till next year but need to take a break from customer quilts and craft show items for a day. This is also stash busting because I am using left over binding pieces for these blocks.

Kathie

Charity Quilting

In January I made a committment to myself that I wanted to quilt at least 12 charity quilts this year, an average of one per month. I quilted this chinese coins quilt last night that will be donated through my guild. This makes number 12 for the year, 10 quilts for the guild, 1 for project linus and a raffle quilt for the Save the Bay Foundation.

There is one blog I read fairly often that Mary J has been quilting 10 quilts for charity A MONTH for the past couple of months so 12 for the year is not a huge accomplishment but I feel great setting a goal for myself and actually hitting it.

I hope that I will get a couple more done this calendar year but if I get to busy with craft shows and customer quilts at least I know that I have made my goal.

Kathie

Wednesday Weigh In

Yes I know it is really thursday but I have been messed up on what day it is all week and intended on posting this yesterday. Three months into my Life Style Change (not calling it a diet because this has to be a permanent change) I have now lost 18 1/2 pounds and most importantly when I went to the doctor on tuesday to discuss my latest blood work found that my cholesteral has gone down by 30 POINTS which made me very happy.

I set several quilting goals for myself for the week and though my primary time to quilt is friday - sunday I have already made some progress this week. My goals for the week are:
Quilt small customer quilt - DONE
Machine applique on 3 table runners - 1 done
Bind 2 table runners - 1 done
Quilt two more runners - COMPLETED last night
Quilt charity quilt

Hopefully I can get these all completed by sunday.

kathie

Now this is a car wash!!!!

My daughters dance studio held a car wash and bake sale. They washed cars for about 2 1/2 hours and were getting ready to pack everything up when they got one last vehicle to wash. You should have heard the commotion when this pulled up.

Kathie

County Fair

I picked my quilts back up from the county fair this evening. Three entries and three ribbons, a first and two second place ribbons. I was thrilled.

Kathie

Weekend

It has been a busy weekend as usual. We went to the county fair, ran errands, I delivered a couple of quilts and of course the endless laundry etc. that magically appears.

I have also managed to get time for my quilting. There is a fairly new chapter of Project Linus in our area and I went friday and hung out with the ladies to see what it is all about. A couple of them were working on bindings and several others were cutting out fabric to make pink and red heart blocks. The coordinator of the meeting brings handouts every month and the ladies can work on that pattern or a pattern of their choice. I think I am going to make some of the heart blocks when I get a chance but think I will keep mine scrappy to not only use some of my stash but also so that the recipient could be either a boy or a girl that way.

Yesterday I was playing around with some of the donated half blocks pictured here and got them sewn together into 12 1/2 blocks. Will probably be awhile before I get back to them but at least it is that much done.

Kathie

County Fair

I was going through all my quilts last night to see what I might want to enter in the county fair this weekend. I ended up pulling out a Christmas quilt just finished, a pink baby quilt with little bunnies on it and one of my poinsettia table runners to enter. I will be dropping those off tonight after work. I am not expecting any ribbons but would be nice to get one anyway.

One of the ladies in our guild donated a couple of huge bags of fabric for philanthropy charity sewing and I was going through some of it with the lady in charge of the effort. So many nice fabrics it was like Christmas. Also in the one bag were some blocks partially put together so I took those home last night to play with. I had all of them laid out on the floor to match up sections I thought would go together. Ends up being that there are enough pieces to make up 12 blocks so with sashing should be a nice size donation quilt.

Mary M. had also received an email about a serviceman that had received a QOV and how much it meant to him. I don't remember his words but he talked about what a comfort it was, and how it brightened up his trip home. Not only providing color and warmth on his trip home in a drab grey aircraft but also what it represented, it was a little bit of home on his trip with him. It about brought tears to my eyes but it really reminded me why we make donation quilts. Most of us will never meet a recipient of one of the donation quilts, or hear the story of what it meant to the person, never know if it was appreciated or tossed aside, but when you hear an occasional story like this it makes all the effort definitely worth it.

Kathie

Empty Spools

You know how when you are doing a project it seems like you always run out of bobbin thread six inches from the end of what you are sewing!!! Well last night I was quilting these two table runners with gold So Fine thread and I kept watching the cone of thread as it gradually became less and less. It would not have been a problem if I had run out. Since I use the color so much I had another cone ready, it is just that I was hoping to get it done without stops and starts.

I don't know if this picture will show up or not but when I finished the second runnre I had about two feet of thread still on the cone. That is calling it close.

As for the tree runners. After getting the binding done hopefully later this week I intend on decorating them with crystals. I order them from Sue's Sparklers and they have a wonderful assortments of colors, types and styles. I ran into them at the Houston Quilt festival 4 or 5 years ago and have ordered from them ever since.

Kathie

Still Sunday

I don't feel like I have accomplished all that much over the past few days but I guess I have been doing ok.

I went to a philanthropy sew in the guild was having yesterday and I did manage to get the red and blue backing together. Turned out pretty good considering the featherweight I was using didn't have a 1/4 inch foot on it and I had to eye ball the seams I wouldn't want to do that actually piecing blocks but for the backing it worked out ok.

I also finished a customer quilt this morning that I have been working on the last couple of days so I have finished most of what I wanted to accomplish this weekend.

I guess I was just wishing to have a lot more energy and get so many more things done. You know how that goes, you don't get a good nights sleep and are extra tired and hard to get in gear. But at least it is still sunday so hope to accomplish a little more this afternoon.


kathie

Mid Week

Hey its wednesday already thats great.

As for my goals or accomplishments for the week not much to report. I went to our quilt guild meeting monday night and they are talking about doing a Hospice Tree this year so have been trying to come up with some ideas for that. I hope the guild decides to do it. Hospice is always my charity of choice as we had hospice assistance for my dad many years ago and for my mom just last year. I can't say enough good about the people and volunteers that work with hospice.

I received several customer quilts at the meeting so loaded the first one on the frame last night and started quilting a little bit but it was late before I started so didn't get much done.

We are having a philanthropy sew in on saturday so I am hoping be be able to make the time to go to that even for an hour or so. I have squares all cut out to make a backing for a chairty r/w/b chinese coins quilt I made in July/August so hope maybe I can get that pieced together on saturday.

So I guess my goals for the upcoming weekend will be to get a couple of the customer quilts done, the charity backing pieced together and maybe a couple of my table runners quilted.

Kathie

No Pattern?

I recently saw a quilt that was done using the Orange Squeeze fabric line and loved the quilt. It look very easy to do as it used jelly rolls so only 2 1/2 wide strips. After studying it a bit I decided that I could make it without a pattern and jotted down the idea for later use.

Yesterday with the wind gusts I didn't want to turn on the long arm so decided to get out my left over Christmas binding pieces, iron them back open and try to make this block. Her is a picture of one big block made up (18 inch square). Think I will make a few of these units from time to time and eventually put it all together, probably for Christmas next year.

Kathie

Another UFO Almost Done

We had lots of rain today and some pretty good wind gusts as the tail end of Tropical Storm Hanna. I was trying to get things done that required electricity just in case so have all my laundry, ironing etc. done for the weekend. Now I should be able to spend most of the remainder of the weekend in the sewing room.

Here is a picture of the little frog quilt I quilted this week (just a meander) for project linus.

Last night I also finished quilting this Christmas Quilt which is UFO #6 for the year. I started these 16 patch blocks out of left over binding pieces from various Christmas projects last December. I finished the top about six months ago and finally got around to quilting it. I put the binding on today so will have several evenings worth of hand work to do on this to finish it up.

Kathie

Accomplishments and Goals

Over my long weekend I quilted two quilts, one of them a baby quilt and the other a 70 x 70 lap quilt. Also got a couple more table runners quilted, borders put on a couple more and bindings hand stitched down while watching TV. I also cut some fabric into 10 1/2 squares that will end up being a backing for a charity quilt once I have time to piece it together

Last night after work I quilted a small Project Linus quilt that was all cute little green frogs. Would have worked on something else also but since it was my "monday" back to work I was beat and was glad to have accomplished as much as I did.

Mary J's blog that I read just about every day has a wednesday weigh in report as she is trying to lose weight. Since I started my own weight reduction campaign a couple of months ago thought I would also have a wednesday report this week. So far I have lost 15 1/2 pounds. I have a lot still to lose but I actually had to buy a pair of jeans this weekend that were a size smaller and boy was that a good feeling.

I am not on a specific diet, or even weight watchers this time (tho I have had a lot of success with them in the past). I am trying to not snack on anything but fruits and veggies (mostly successful) and the biggest thing is to try and get a handle on portion control.

I know if I was counting calories etc. I would probably be losing faster but then knowing me I would just gain it all back (been there done that many times). I am trying to set goals of 5 pounds at a time, or being able to fit into a blouse I have not worn in a year or things like that and not look at the big picture of how much I ultimately want to lose. I am really hoping that this new way of looking at it will help me not only continue to lose weight but to get into the HABIT of eating healthier.

I am not going to say that I am never going to have pizza or french fries again, it just needs to be the exception and not the "usual".

kathie

Wrong Picture

Posted the wrong poinsettia runner, that one was made last year, this is the current picture.

Kathie

Finally Pictures

Finally had time to post a couple of pictures. Most of what I have been working on in the last couple of weeks are customer quilts but here are two completed craft show runners. The fall one I am really pleased with, doesn't it look like all the fabrics were from the same fabric line? They were not, purchased at all different times but they sure go well together.

The poinsettia runner I have been making for craft shows for the last 3 or 4 years. You can't tell by the picture but there are crystals fused in the centers of the poinsettias. Really adds some glitz to them.

The day is half over and have not even stepped foot in the sewing room so should head off to that now. I have an orange/lime/yellow customer quilt partially loaded on the frame that I should get going on.

kathie

Thursday Is Here

Thursday is here, friday I am off and Monday is a holiday, what more can you ask for???

Well maybe someone to clean the house and do all the cooking so I could spend FOUR days sewing. Anyway four days to get up when I wake up without an alarm (if the cat behaves that is), not going into work, being on my own schedule etc. sounds great. Will be doing a lot of running around tomorrow but 3 of the 4 days I intend on spending a lot of time sewing.

I finished up a customer baby quilt I was quilting last night and then sat down to watch TV and work on a table runner binding.

Does anyone else watch the show Project Runway? I don't sew clothes and don't have any desire to but enjoyed watching the show the last few years to see what kind of outfits (both wild and nice) they come up with.

Kathie

Weekend Accomplishments

I was on a roll over the weekend since my daughter spent over half the weekend with a friend I took advantage and spent a lot of time in my sewing room. I got three small customer quilts quilted, 4 centers for table runners pieced, bindings machine stitched on a couple table runners and the bindings on a couple more hand stitched down.

Last night I got a couple of fall table runners quilted (first craft show is a little over two months away now) and the next backing loaded on the frame for a customer baby quilt.

I really need to take some time one of these days and get out my Pajama Quilter DVD and watch that again. I would like to learn how to do her flowers and wonky feathers but I have not taken the time to practice them. I would love to somehow add a couple more hours to the day, and of course the energy to do something with those couple of hours.

kathie

Time to Quilt

Mary asked when I get time to quilt with working and doing long arm quilting for customers.

I guess because I love to quilt and it is so relaxing it becomes a priority for me. I work four days a week so have a 3-day weekend every week. I can spread the errands, laundry and other household chores over three days allowing me some time to sew on the weekend. I also cook things on the weekend in the crock pot or make a meal that I know will have left overs so in a couple of nights I won't have to cook. My husband and daughter are fine with that, as long as it is something they like.

This past week was very busy for me at work, plus getting my daughter ready to start high school took up a couple of the evenings with school open house and buying school supplies. Needless to say I didn't get much else done other than dinner on the table and early to bed.

I am trying to make up for it this weekend. I quilted one small quilt yesterday and another today and have the backing on the frame for the third. Luckily all of the customer quilts I have right now are fairly small so they don't take all that long.

For a few days our DSL at home wasn't working so I didn't get a chance to post these pictures before. One is a customer quilt and I wanted to post this picture because I just LOVE the turtle fabric. The other is a couple of really bright table runners I quilted last weekend. Doesn't the flower power backing remind you of the 1970's???

Kathie

Monday Again.....##@@@@!!!!

Even with it being a busy weekend I managed to get several projects done but since our DSL at home is acting up I can't post any pictures today.

I did get two table runners quilted on saturday night. Yesterday I quilted a small customer quilt, got bindings on the two runners and machine stitched around some fused applique on a couple of more runners.

Busy at work this week and a couple of evening activities will interfere with my sewing for the next couple of days but if my internet at home is working later will at least post a couple of pictures from my weekends accomplishments.

Later in the week I hope to get at least a couple more table runners done and then put the next customer quilt (also a small lap quilt size on the frame).

Kathie

Concert

The American Idol concert was great and everyone did a good job with their songs. The downside was that it was WAY to loud. Sometimes the background music and singers were so loud that it overpowered the singers and the words were not clear. I thought it was just that I am getting older and can't take the volume but my 14 year old also ended up with a bad headache. Wish they could have just taken it down a notch and people would have been able to enjoy it more.

We didn't get home from DC till midnight thursday night so I was pretty tired yesterday and didn't get a lot accomplished. I did finish quilting on a rail fence I had been working on over the last few days. This one is destined for the quilts of valor project and will be donated through our guild. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it before it was picked up. It was red/light tan and blue but more medium blues were used than the usual Navy and it looked very nice.

Today is back to school shopping but hope to quilt up a few craft show table runners tonight and then back to a couple of customer quilts tomorrow.

Kathie

American Idol

During the beginning of the year my daughter and I were big American Idol fans and never missed a show. Tonight we are getting to go see the American Idol concert tour in Washington DC. My daughter has already warned me that she will be one of the screaming teenagers when David Archeletta walks out to sing. Now where are my ear plugs? I hate crowds and usually try and avoid them but I am looking forward to the show.

I have been really tired when getting home from work the last couple of weeks but have been trying to use the idea from the Stashbusters group to do something for at least 15 minutes a day and it all adds up. I spent 30 or 40 minutes last night in the sewing room last night and got a couple of feel of my latest charity quilt quilted and machine stitched down a fusable applique on a table runner. Not big accomplishments but it all adds up.

Kathie

Tuesday

Quilt guild was last night and we used the evening to discuss ideas for increasing membership, ideas of what types of programs people would like to see and also most importantly fund raising ideas to supplement a low treasury. A lot of good ideas presented and I think implementing some of them is going to energize the guild.

My goals for the next couple of days are to fully load a charity rail fence quilt that I only have the backing on the frame so far. I like to have something on the frame ready to go so when I have a night with the time, energy and weather (can't run the machine in a storm) I can just start quilting. I also hope to be getting a couple more bindings on and out of the way.

Kathie

Weekend Progress

I had a great saturday, I met up with a few friends and spent a big portion of the day sewing. My idea of a nice way to unwind and spend a saturday.

I made a craft show table runner top and also worked on piecing a large backing out of 10 1/2 squares for a Christmas quilt I made a few months ago.

I was surprised that I wasn't all sewn out and last night quilted these two runners that had been on the top of my stack of ones to be quilted and got them off the frame and ready for binding. I guess I better start doing a little hand work in the evenings before all my bindings back up on me.

I am bummed, a little bit ago I was thinking that it was still saturday for some reason. Then it dawned on me that today is SUNDAY so back to work tomorrow.

kathie

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Blog Ring

My 14 year old always tells me that I am technology challenged. I guess she is right. The one group I belong to Heartstrings is setting up a web ring. I tried to join it this morning and wasn't quite sure what needed to do. I am trying again, and will see if I am TOTALLY technology challenged or not.

Kathie

Blog Ring

HeartStrings Quilt Project
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Its Monday Again

Its monday again and back to my regular job, I sure could get a lot done if I could stay home and just sew.

I did get a lot done over my 3 day weekend though. I finished quilting a charity quilt, quilted two customer baby/kid quilts, made a charity quilt top, cut borders for several table runners and got a backing loaded on the frame for the next quilt I need to do.

I wanted to share a couple of pictures. On is a close up of the one baby quilt I quilted this weekend, don't you love the pastel fabrics she used? The second is a Chinese Coins quilt that was made out of blocks that another lady at out guild (Elsie) and I made a couple of months ago.

I ran into this white/red background fabric (Alex Anderson) at a discount fabric shop in South West Virginia a week ago and love the way it looks with the coin strips.

Kathie

Charity Quilt

And here is the charity quilt picture that refused to post last time.

Catching Up

I have not posted in what seems like a long time, life, work etc. seems to have got in the way. We were away for a long weekend, new boss at work and all sorts of other things going on.

While my daughter was off at camp for those three weeks I did get everything with the exception of customer quilting samples done on my 3 week list. I was definitely a "quilting queen".

Has anyone seen Mamma Mia? I told someone that the song on there should be Quilting Queen not Dancing Queen. Ok ok I am obsessed.

Anyway I wanted to post a couple of pictures of recent projects. Here are two of the craft show table runners I recently finished and also a purple 9 patch quilt. The blocks were made by several guild members and the quilt will be donated to charity.

kathie