Unique Featherweight

Ok, I bet you have never seen a water powered featherweight sewing machine. My daughter had to do a science fair project and needed help coming up with ideas. We were tossing a lot of them around and I think I was the one that came up with a water powered sewing machine. I was really joking but she liked the idea and this is what her and her dad put together with a water wheel on the side.

I don't know if you could actually sew with it but they did manage to get the needle to go up and down anyway.

Kathie L.

Last Charity Quilting of 2009

I wanted to get one more charity quilt top quilted before the end of 2009 so pulled this one out the other day and got it quilted up. It is a really cute quilt made by Elsie out of a center panel with a few borders.

This is the 23rd charity quilt I have quilted in 2009. Most of them have been for hospice but other charities have been included also including Project Linus, Quilts for Kids and a Breast Cancer fund raiser quilt.

I don't remember what the goal was I set for myself the beginning of the year (will have to check back to January on my blog) but I am sure this number exceeded that.

Kathie L.

Design Wall Monday

I am just starting on a new quilt for our living room so the only thing on the design wall so far is some of the fabrics I have for it so far. The pattern is called Monet's Wedding Ring by Judy Martin.

Our living room is dark so I am using darker fabrics than I usually do and hopefully it won't show all the black cat hair that ends up all over everything. I still need more fat quarters for this. I did shop my stash but since these are not my usual colors I need to go shopping.

Kathie

Christmas

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful Christmas.

We had a great day. We were invited to Christmas brunch at Mandy's boyfriends house. What nice people and great food. They had every kind of breakfast food you could imagine.

Since my mother has been gone it is usually just the three of us at holidays so it was a nice change to be part of a huge chaotic gathering.

I did use some of my Christmas presents yesterday, a strip cutter and a new large cutting mat to start cutting fabric that will be a quilt for our living room. I am going to make a pattern called Monet's Wedding Ring that I saw in a book two or three years ago. It looks like pretty easy piecing but boy what a lot of little pieces. Since I am going to make it scrappy it will take a long time just to get it cut out and ready to sew so I am going to work on that a little at a time between other projects.

Kathie

Charity Sewing Day

This was my result from my husband and my charity sewing day. These were the blocks given to me by Betty that I took apart, rearranged and sewed together.

The border I added was not a perfect match but I was trying to use what I had. This fabric had "aged" for a long time. It was fabric left over from pilgram skirt that was made for my daughter when she was in the 4th grade. She is now a sophmore in high school!!!

At least I have now seen the last of that fabric.

This top is now folded up and on my charity shelf waiting to be quilted.

kathie

Ed's Quilt

My husband is off from work this week and enjoying having nothing that he has to do. Yesterday he decided to put the borders on this little quilt that he started several weeks ago. I was given a drawing where you sew squares together, cut it into three sections and flip it around and by magic all the squares are now on point.

He thought it looked interesting so tried it with a stack of 5 inch squares that had been donated by someone to the guild for charity quilts.

With a couple of borders added it turned into a cute little quilt that will be donated either to hospice or to the nursing home project the guild is doing.

Kathie

I won

At the craft co-op where I have some of my quilts they recently made up a raffle basket. Everyone added items to the basket and raffle tickets were sold to help pay for expenses at the mill where we sell our crafts. They didn't say anything about members not being able to participate so I purchased a ticket last friday.

This morning I got a call and to my surprise I won the basket. There were lots of hand made ornaments in the basket, a kitchen towel that fastens over the handle of the oven, a Santa for the wall, a can of nuts, a couple small candles and several other things.

What a nice surprise.

This afternoon I spent some time working on that quilt that was given to me. I have the center part all together and now working on the borders. I need to get something on the frame but am having fun doing a little piecing the last couple of days.

Kathie

Design Wall Monday

Judy L. always posts what is on her design wall every monday. I never seem to have anything on it then. Either I finished up what I was working on over the weekend or have not started anything new.

For once I have something kind of interesting on my design wall.

A few months ago we had a workshop at my one guild doing the 9 patch Pizzazz quilts. I finished up mine and it is a Christmas present for my step daughter. Betty started on a quilt but then didn't like the way it was turning out and said she would never finish it. I told her to give it to someone that would finish it instead of just tossing it so she gave it to me last week.

I took a lot of the sections apart, cut a few more solid squares and started sewing it back together yesterday. Once it is together I will have to see if I can find anything for a border to make it a little bit bigger and then it will be added to my stack of quilt tops to quilt and donate to hospice.

Thanks Betty, I am sure someone will appreciate this quilt.

Kathie

Snowy Maryland

I promised my friend in Texas that I would take pictures of our snow storm for her. The pictures of the deck railing were taken yesterday but all the snow fell. We ended up with about 15 inches of snow, not near as bad as some areas.

The other pictures taken were this morning. A lot of the snow blew off the trees in heavy wind last night but it is so pretty outside. Well it was pretty until we had to start working on the driveway. I think next year we better buy a snow blower, we are getting to old for this.

I did get a couple batches of cookies made yesterday and also pieced together this top that will eventually get donated to our local hospice.

Kathie L.

Weekend

Southern Maryland is getting hit hard by snow today so won't be leaving the house for the weekend. No problem, I am done shopping and don't mind staying in. I feel sorry for all the businesses, including the craft co-op that I am at as they count on this weekends sales.

I had to run out the other day and pick up a santa hat for my daughter to wear when they danced at a nursing home on monday. Same day she landed wrong leaping and has a sprained knee so no dancing for awhile.

Back to some sewing and baking cookies (extra credit for school!!!).

Kathie L.

Back to Sewing

I actually had some time to sew yesterday and didn’t know what to work on, do have that problem?

I finally found a bag that had some string blocks in it that several of us had made at a charity sew -in MONTHS ago. These were all done in guy type of colors with blue center strings.




I decided to pair them with cream squares and then cut them on the diagonal. Thought that it would make the pieced blocks go further and that it would be a new twist (for me) to string blocks. I then started to play around with them a bit on the design wall.





I ran out of blocks for what I originally wanted to do but this is what I came up with. I usually have to have things symmetrical so this is a big change for me but I think I like the look.

I will probably let it age a little on the design wall and see if I still like it before I start sewing it together.


This will be another hospice top to add to my stack that needs to be quilted. I must make that my goal for early 2010 to get a bunch of those quilted up. Even a quick meander on a few would get them done.

Kathie

Parties

Our guild party last night was a lot of fun. Games, friends and of course lots of good food. Both of my guilds and my bee all had gift exchanges. I think I will probably only participate in one or two next year, three gets time consuming to do all the shopping and a little expensive.

I did gets lots of goodies over the three parties. Here is a picture of all the sewing related items. In addition to all of this I also received a really cute cassarole dish.

One of the things here I have never seen before was turnovers. Now I have heard of jelly rolls, layer cakes etc. but never a turnover. These triangles are all of very pretty pastel fabrics. I am thinking of pairing them with cream or maybe a pale pink solid triangle and then figuring it out from there.

I also got two seam rippers, is someone trying to tell me something!!! I was glad to see these as this way I can put one in my "sew in" box that I take with me and have another extra when I replace my other one (which I do often).

kathie

Done, Done, Done

Finished the last of my Christmas shopping this morning. Bought some nice things this year but didn't go overboard on anyone. Used plastic as it is just so much quicker than standing there writing out a check but will pay them off as soon as the bill comes in.

This afternoon I am going to concentrate on wrapping packages. I have about half done already so hope to get the rest of them finished today. It would be nice to have that all done and behind me and start thinking about the next quilt project.

Tonight is my quilt guild Christmas party. Since I belong to two guilds and one sewing bee this is the third and last party.

Kathie

Done

After lots of tension problems yesterday I got the last customer quilt done. I still have a few others here but nothing that has been promised for Christmas. Now I am going to take a couple of days to get some cleaning (yuck) and other things done around the house, finish my shopping and rest my knee.

By monday I might be ready to pop something else on the frame but right now resting up for a couple of days sounds pretty good.

I work 3 days in the next week at the crafters co-op so I will be busy anyway but it won't be at the frame. I was only scheduled to work two of those days but a couple of people had medical emergencies so I needed to take another day.

I am hoping now my rush is over with that I will be able to start working on various projects and will again have some pictures to blog about.

Kathie

The End is Near

I am a happy camper today. I only have one more customer quilt to do that I promised for Christmas. Still have a few other quilts and I might get to one or two more but no more that were promised. My goal was to have everything done by the 15th so I am going to be a couple days ahead of schedule.

The owner of a quilt shop I was in the other day said she would be doing customer quilts right up till Christmas Eve. No, not for me. There is so much to do this time of year for your own family and own function that I am not going to drive myself more crazy by taking on to much.

In addition I have been having knee problems so have been trying to baby my knee a bit and take lots of breaks while quilting. I am looking forward to a few days of resting it.

Kathie L.

All in the fabric

It always amazes me that using different fabrics makes a quilt look totally different. In classes I have taken where everyone is making the same quilt they always look totally different with the different styles of fabrics and different placements.

Here is a quilt that I recently quilted for Jane. The piecing is very simple with 9-patch blocks, rail fence blocks and solid blocks but didn't her "Ocean Quilt" turn out nice. It was all in the wonderful fabrics she collected for this, it gives it an elegant feel. Now picture this same quilt in Christmas fabrics or maybe 1930's prints........... it would not be the same quilt at all.

kathie

Craft Shows

I did my last craft show of the season yesterday at our local Navy Base. It was my 3rd show. The first was outstanding and better than the last couple of years. The second one and the show yesterday were a little disappointing but averaged out I made about the same amount as I did last year so thats fine.

Since I still have a space at the local craft co-op I am hoping that most of the rest of my Christmas table runners will be sold in the next couple of weeks.

Now I am going to take time to get my Christmas shopping done in addition to finishing up all the customer quilts I have promised for Christmas.

Kathie

Festival of the Trees

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours was nice but quiet with just the three of us, then I worked friday and yesterday participated as a vendor at our counties Hospice Festival of the Trees.

My sales were not as good as last year but it was good to be part of such a great function.

These first two trees are the two that our guild members made all the ornaments and then decorated. I think they look very pretty.




This last tree is a picture of my husband's favorite. I love all the bright colors and theme of the tree.




I hope hospice raised lots of money for their Hospice House yesterday.

kathie

Recent Quilts

Here are pictures of the last couple of quilts I quilted. Both of these are Carol's quilts. She is official scrap quilt queen of our guild. The first one I quilted with my version of an all over flower and the second with my version of The Pajama Quilter's Dwirling.




The dwirling one I just took off the frame. Time for a rest and then see which quilt is next on my list. I am afraid it is the monster quilt!! Not the quilter piecing or anything like that, it is just going to be the biggest quilt I have ever quilted and I am not looking forward to that.

Kathie

Hospice Quilt 2

Have received the second quilt for the next hospice quilt delivery. This pretty quilt (don't you love the fairy fabric) was made by Chris and I quilted it a few weeks ago.



Yesterday was my first craft show of the season. I had no idea what to expect. The economy still isn't good but the unemployment rate in this area is pretty low compared to other areas.

My sales were good and I was very happy with the way the day turned out. I sold several lap/baby quilts, lots of Christmas table runners and a couple of my fall runners. Nice day but busy and I was glad to get home.

Today I need to get the next quilt on the frame and get busy and run a couple of pre-Thanksgiving errands.

Kathie

Craft show

Between customer quilts I managed to get this last craft show Christmas quilt on the frame wednesday. I put the binding on yesterday afternoon and sat watching TV and hand stitching it down last night. I didn't think I would have it done for my first show on sunday but it is now all complete and ready to put with the other quilts.

I am going to try and get my last two table runners on the frame today and then get the next customer one loaded. I did a fairly large quilt yesterday so am happy to see that the next three customer quilts are all small ones.

Kathie

Quilts for Hospice

A few months ago our guild delivered close to 30 quilts for our counties new Hospice House. We are not sure how long those quilts will last.

I have approximately 10 tops waiting for me to quilt once the holidays are over. This little pink strip quilt was made by Jane and I quilted it a month or so ago. Jane did the binding and just returned it to me so we have one completed quilt for the next delivery.

Makes me motivated to get on the others as soon as I can.

Kathie

On the Design Wall

After a few days of trying to dry out the downstairs with the shop vac, fans and purchasing a de-humidifier I am back in the swing of working on customer quilts and also a few projects of my own.

This is a table runner top that I made on sunday. Fused on the ornaments after tracing them from a quilt pattern. I then used a Christmas stripe print that I had for awhile and didn't know what to do with as the border. I love the look it gives it.



Since saturday I have also quilted two lap quilts and an oversized wall hanging and pieced the backing for my last Christmas quilt.

No wonder I am tired!!!

Kathie

Nothing

So much for setting goals, life happens and nothing gets done.

Here in Southern Maryland we have had a lot of rain lately so the ground was pretty wet. Then we get INCHES of rain over the last two days. Small streams were coming over roadways and my neighborhood had ponds where no ponds exist. This all resulted in a lot of water in half of my downstairs. Luckily there was no water on the side where my long arm and sewing machines are.

I spent a good portion of the day using the shop vac to get up all the water. It is heavy and hard to handle and now my lower back is killing me. Think it will be Alieve and going to bed early tonight.

Needless to say I didn't get any sewing or quilting done today. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Kathie

Time for planning

It has been a busy week so far. I have managed to get both a queen and a full sized quilt quilted and a couple of table runners bound.

I used to post a weekly list of goals and it would help keep me on track getting things done but I have not done that in a long time.

Since it is now my busy season and craft shows are coming up real quickly I thought I better start again with my list of things that need to be done.

I work today at the crafters co-op where I have some space but over the next few days I want to accomplish the following:

1. Quilt customer lap quilt and wall hanging
2. Finish piecing backing for Christmas quilt
3. Bind at least three more runners
4. Cut out chevron table runners

Lets see if I can get all this accomplished by sunday.

Kathie

Christmas Rush

I guess I am officially in my Christmas rush season now. At quilt guild last night I picked up 6 quilts to quilt. Five of them are real small and won't take a lot of time, the other is just about a full sized one. I am also going to be getting another queen quilt later in the week in addition to a few I already have here.

I have a feeling I will be spending as many hours a day at the frame that my back/legs will allow. Thats great though, need to do a lot now as January and February are usually pretty slow.

I intend on taking some time off after Christmas and get some projects done around the house and then hope in January to be able to get some of the charity quilt tops quilted.

Just finished a quilt I started yesterday and in the process of getting another one loaded on the frame.

Kathie

A Few Ornaments

I have slowly been working on a few Christmas ornaments. These three are finally completed and I have 3 more in process. I will take these down to the mill where I have some of my quilting for sale. I don't think I will make anymore after these six are finished. They are fun to make but take to much time vs. what I can sell them for.



I quilted up five additional table runners on saturday and got the bindings sewn on them yesterday. I will try to get one of the bindings done every night while watching TV.

Today I am loading a queen sized customer quilt and will then go off to run a couple of errands and then back to start on the quilting. I figure with other things going on it will take me today and tomorrow to get this quilt done.

Kathie

A Finish

I quilted this quilt a few weeks ago but had not got around to finishing the binding. I took it to quilt guild with me yesterday and sat under it nice and warm and stitched the binding down while a lot of the other ladies were working on large one block quilts. I am going to make the one block pattern eventually, just didn't want to start another project this time of year.




For this snowman quilt I used a pattern off of Quilters Cache called Squares in Squares 2, love the pattern. It is quick and easy and always turns out looking nice.

Back to the doctor today, my eye isn't improving. I sure hope he doesn't have to send me to a specialist but am ready for it to feel and look better. Between sinus/cold problems and now the eye thing I have been going on about half speed for the last couple of weeks. I am definitely ready to feel back to 100%.

kathie

Six Inch Square Swap

We are having a 6 inch fabric swap at our quilt guild for several months. I am trying to think up possibilities of quick and easy scrap quilts that can be made with these. Couple of initial thoughts are to have all the squares on point, make them all into half square triangles and set in various log cabin type of settings or use them to make giant 4 patch blocks and put sashing between.

Any other quick and easy ideas are appreciated.

I had to go to the doctor yesterday with an eye infection so that took up a good part of the morning.

I did manage to get a small customer quilt done and worked on several Christmas table runners last night.

I am off to my quilt guild this morning and then my daughter has early dismissal from school today and early dance class tonight. Somewhere in there I need to find time to at least get the next customer quilt loaded on the frame.

Kathie

One Year Later
One year ago I quit my office job. It was scary and exciting all at once. I was going to try and expand my little machine quilting business and possibly do some volunteer work.

I have had a steady amount of work for my machine quilting. I don’t do anything fancy, just all over freehand patterns. I really need to learn how to do more things but I have no desire to learn or do fancy custom quilting. I will leave that for the quilt shops that charge the big bucks. I am finding that there are a lot of people that just want their quilt done with a nice looking texture and don’t want to spend a fortune to get it done.

My volunteer/charity worked turned out to be quilting also. Our local hospice was opening a hospice house so I organized an effort to make lap quilts for their facility. We delivered around 28 of them this summer with many more tops waiting to be quilted.

What I enjoy about not working in the office is that:
I can work in casual clothes
I can set my own schedule
I am doing something I enjoy
I don’t have to go out if the weather is nasty
I can multi-task by having laundry going while I am quilting or dinner in the oven

The down side is:

I don’t get as much done around the house as I thought I would. Standing at the frame is very tiring so at the end of the day I don’t feel like doing anything else.

I miss the chatter of the office discussing current events, TV programs or just day to day life. Some days the only people I seem to talk to are on-line. When my daughter gets home from school she is busy texting and doing homework and by the time my husband gets home from work he unwinds it is getting late and there is always something that needs to be done.

Of course the biggest thing is the difference in paycheck. I am probably making 1/10th of my former salary. I am getting used to spending less. ( Hey I am saving a fortune not wearing panty hose!!!). Most of the time that doesn’t bother me as there is not a lot that I actually NEED but there have been a few times I would have liked to do something that I just don’t feel justified in spending the money anymore.

I know my daughter likes me being home as “Mom’s Taxi” is more available. She has had the opportunity to go to after school games and some other activities that I wouldn’t have been able to get her to.

I know my husband is jealous when he goes off to work in the morning and I stay home but as long as I am busy I don't think he minds to much.

Kathie

Still No Pictures

Still no pictures to post. I quilted a couple of customer quilts this week but don't want to post pictures of those without their permission. I have also been working on the bindings for various runners in the evening but have posted pictures of those before.

I finally feel back among the semi-well but still have a cough if I do to much without resting a bit.

I have spend a good chunk of today catching up on chores around the house that have been let go and I also ran by a craft show. Since I do craft shows myself I usually don't get a chance to just go to one. This was a nice little show with lots of traffic through it, hope the people were spending $$ and not just looking.

I only made one purchase. It was a very cute pink knit hat and booties set for only $8. Baby girl due in the family in early January so I will put it away for then and hope I remember where I put it!!

Kathie L.

Sick of Being Sick

I am officially sick of being sick. What I thought was just sinus problems is now a full blown cold with no signs of going away. We have a split foyer house and after a few trips up and down the stairs I am out of breath and wheezing, not fun.

I still am geting some things done this week, just at no where near full speed.

I am only making two quilts for Christmas presents this year and got the second one quilted yesterday. Today I loaded a small customer lap quilt on the frame. I am going to get that much done anyway and then maybe lay down for awhile.

With not feeling well I have been making good progress on getting bindings hand stitched down. When I don't have the energy to do anything else I can always get a little binding done and feel like I have accomplished something.

Looks like my Christmas rush of customer quilts has started. I have received six quilts this week to do. Four of them are pretty small and won't take long but two of them are fairly large.

Kathie

Sinus or Cold???

Sometimes I have a problem knowing if I am having sinus problems or a cold. I had a bad sinus headache for over three days last week then ended up all stuffy and with a cough so which is it? I still think it is sinus as it feels a little different and my family has not got sick.

Anyway I have been moving slow the last few days, taking frequent breaks but have still got a few things accomplished.

I finished the quilting on the last of these five runners this morning that I was working on at the sew in last week. They are off the frame but I have not even cut them apart yet.



While relaxing last night I also finished the binding on this little train quilt that I quilted last week. This was a cute little panel I purchased a couple of years ago and just added a couple of borders, I love the bright colors in this. I have 7 or 8 additional panel quilts in my stash that I want to get made up one day.




Kathie

Friday already

I had been waiting on getting some pictures taken to blog again but it isn't happening so thought I would post again before to much time went by.

Had a great time at the sew-in retreat on tuesday. The place we were at was right on the water and it was a beautiful sunny day. It was warm enough that several of us even ate lunch outside on their deck.

It is always fun to see the wide variety of projects being worked on when you have a get together. Everything from Baltimore Album applique, to a string quilt, to a lady making up one of the Downy Quilts for Kids kit quilts.

I was working on craft show table runners and got 6 of the 7 tops sewn up. Two ladies there liked them so much that I sold 3 of them before they are even done.

My goal is to get those on the frame and quilted up in the next couple of days.

Yesterday I quilted up a customer 9 patch pizzazz quilt and today I am going to work at the mill where I have some of my table runners and quilts. As part of the agreement everyone having their things there has to work a couple of days a month.

This is only my second time working there so really don't know what I am doing yet but I will learn.

Kathie

A Finish and a Sew In

I have been getting ready to go to an all day sew in today. Will be a nice break in the normal routine. Lots of time to sew and talk and of course always lots of good food.

Over the weekend I cut out seven table runners to take with me to sew on. Nice to have everything, cut, organized and ready to go. I am also taking a couple of bindings with me that I can work on when I need to rest my back.



In the last couple of days I also finished the last stitches on the binding of this 9 patch Christmas quilt. Someone gave me yards of the poinsettia fabric a couple of years ago. I have used it for a couple of backings and now in this quilt, I think it is about gone.



I have an "interesting" customer quilt project right now. The quilt tops are long and skinny. There will be no batting used and the backing is a beach towel. Very different and the idea is cute, just don't know how they are going to turn out.

I loaded one on the frame last night and the towel was very stretchy and just couldn't get the top on to look straight. I also had no room on the sides to attach side clamps. Ended up taking the whole thing off the frame.

Tomorrow I will try again. This time the old fashioned way of pin basting the top to the back on the floor (if my knees permit). I will then baste it down on my regular sewing machine and then load the whole thing onto the frame as one piece. It should be interesting and if it turns out I will post a picture.

If anyone has any other suggestions I would be glad to hear them.

After an early morning "discussion" with my 15 year old I am off to get a latte that I need, chill out and then go to the sew in.

Kathie

Resolutions??

I was trying to work in my sewing room yesterday and was practically tripping over things, it is such a mess. I took the time to pick up a few things but really one of these days I need to devote a whole day to doing nothing but cleaning, straightening and tossing out things.

This is getting into my busy time of year with getting Christmas presents done, finishing up craft show items and keeping on top of customer quilts needed for Christmas. I doubt I will make any great headway in the sewing room until right around or after Christmas. I guess I am already thinking of goals or maybe call it early New Years resolutions.

When my slow time hits I want to take all the fabric off my shelves and refold and reorganize by color. It starts out that way but usually only lasts a few months and then things are kind of mixed up a bit. I also want to put away all the fabric from past projects that is still laying out. Sometimes I leave it out thinking I will go ahead and make up blocks or kits out of it or cut backing squares instead of putting it away again and then it sits.

I have patterns out that I don't want to put away and forget about but they might be sitting there for MONTHS.

I know I need to get more organized, toss or use some of the extra blocks etc. but never seem to take the time. Does everyone have the same problem?

kathie

Quilts for Kids

I posted recently about the quilt kit that I had received through the Downy website for the Quilts for Kids project. Very cute fabrics and I had planned on getting going on the quilt in the next couple of weeks.

My husband thought it was cool that everything was cut and ready to go and was looking for something to do on a long weekend so he grabbed it and pieced the top. He made one slight change adding the corner stones as he didn't like the way the striped border looked without them.

Yesterday I spent time working on Christmas ornaments that will be used to help decorate a tree to be auctioned off at our counties Hospice Festival of the Trees in November.

I am going to get the Quilts for Kids quilt quilted today and hopefully a few more ornaments made and then back to customer quilting tomorrow.

Kathie

A Sewing Hubby

My husband does a little upholstery on the side so he has loads of sewing machines (hobby also was vintage singer machines) and knows very well how to sew. He doesn't like to quilt but once in awhile will do something.

His grandaughter is expecting a baby girl the first week in January. I told him that I would quilt and bind the quilt if he would piece it. I had some pastel bear fabric that had been hanging around for a couple of years that would be good for the quilt. He used the Warm Wishes/Couch Potato pattern I had made a couple of quilts out of recently and finished the piecing the other night.

I have backing fabric ready to go in the wash for the quilt so hope to maybe get it on the frame next week.

I think he did a great job piecing this.

Kathie

An accomplishment

Finally something accomplished this week. Last night after dinner I finished the last border on this 9 patch Christmas quilt made out of left over binding pieces.

After running a few necessary errands today I really need to get something accomplished around the house and then get back in the quilting room. I have four quilts that need backings made. One of them just needs the fabric ironed and a seam sewn while others require piecing 10 1/2 squares together. I am trying to get my projects done between customer quilts and that will be much easier to accomplish if I will take the time to get some of the backings made.

kathie

Busy Time

It has been a busy few days so have not had time to take any pictures or do any posting.

It was homecoming weekend so a lot of time was spent driving my daughter around. They lost the football game but had a great time at the dance so all in all she loved homecoming weekend.

Monday I was at the base early in the morning to stand in line to sign up for the December craft show. This is probably the best craft show in our area. I could have signed up later in the day or later in the week and still easily got a spot but I have had the same spots for the last five years and I have people that specifically look for me there. I will continue to do the show but think after this year I will just not worry about getting up so early. I will just go later in the day and take the best spot left.

Yesterday a friend invited me to an Antique Arts Guild/club that she belongs to. The meeting this month was on antique quilts. The speaker had so many quilts that he couldn't even show them all. So many styles, varieties and colors they were wonderful to see.

Today is my monthly day time quilt guild meeting. All of these are fun activities but I sure wish everything had not hit in the same week. Last week I hardly left the house other than errands. Our program today is charity quilting but I am not taking my machine or anything with me. We do a luncheon every meeting and four members are in charge of lunch. This month is my turn so I figure I will be busy with that and not have time to sew anyway. Maybe I can help someone iron, trim or pin.

I have been slowly working on my 9 patch Christmas quilt the last couple of days. I am doing 3 borders, a cream one, then a pieced border than another outside cream border. I am working on the pieced border now and hope to have all borders on by tonight so I can get a picture of the quilt.

Kathie

Charity Quilting

I just wanted to show some of the fabric that was in the hospice quilt that I quilted on wednesday. The lady that made this quilt said she bought the fairy fabric because it was cute and then didn't know what to do with it.

I know this time of year people are getting busy with their own projects, Christmas presents etc. I would like to challenge you though to go through your stash and find a fabric like this one. Something you purchased and then didn't know what to do with and use it for a charity quilt.

then...............

1. go ahead and make up the quilt, or

2. pull "go with" fabrics to go with it, pick a pattern and then set aside to do by the end of the year, or

3. Make up a kit with the main fabrics and some fabrics that go with it and take it to your guild, or sewing bee, or on-line charity group and see if someone else has time to make it up. Sometimes some of the older members of groups have hand or back problems that make it hard for them to do a lot of cutting and would enjoy putting together a quilt from a kit for charity.

I coordinate our guild's efforts to make quilts for hospice. This challenge is also a challenge to myself, I would like to try and make up at least one kit by our next meeting and see if I have any takers.

kathie

Week in Review

Ok, its not friday but since I usually take care of household things on friday thought I would do a quilting week in review today.

I have quilted two customer quilts this week, one of them really large, quilted a charity quilt and have another customer quilt loaded on the frame and ready to go.

I also machined stitch bindings on 5 table runners for fall craft shows and finished hand stitching down the binding on my bug quilt. Not bad accomplishments for the week.

I was asked why the quilts are behind chicken wire in the county fair pictures and that is for security to make sure no one walks off with things and also so kids (or adults) don't put cotton candy fingers on the quilts.

This is homecoming weekend at my daughters high school. You know how I will be spending the evenings of my weekend, playing Mom Taxi!!

Kathie L.

Quilts for Kids

There is an organization called Quilts for Kids that is kind of like Project Linus where quilts are made and given to sick children. A friend at our local guild was telling us that the downy fabric softener website had a tab on it on Quilts for Kids.

If you request they even send out out a kit to make a quilt at no charge. You are asked to make, quilt and bind the quilt and return it. They also encourage you to make an additional quilt or two out of your own fabrics and send it on in.

Last wednesday I ordered one of the kits and it came in the mail last night.

I was excited when I opened it up. Not only are all the fabrics there including backing fabric but the strips and squares are precut, a simple pattern is included and also a Quilts for Kids label to be sewn on.

Check it out.

Kathie

Left Overs

What do you do when you have tons of left over binding strips from Christmas projects? My bin was overflowing so decided it was time to do something with all of them. I chose to make 9 patch blocks which I will then alternate with cream squares to make a nice scrappy Christmas lap quilt.


I worked on this a little bit over the weekend.

I was also trying to come up with an idea for making some ornaments for the hospice Christmas tree that our guild will be decorating. Finally made a bell ornament that I was satisfied. I will try and get a few of them made over the next few weeks.

I made some crazy quilt pieced fabric (also out of some of the left over binding strips) that will be enough to make 3 of the bells.

Kathie

Blue Ribbons

I went to the fair last night and discovered that I had won three blue ribbons. Now this county fair is pretty small and they have so many quilting categories I might have only been in competition with 1 or 2 other people who knows, but it was fun to win.

This first pictures is of the Christmas quilt I just finished the binding on the other night. Most of this quilt was made with left over binding strips from various projects.



In this second picture it is hard to see but my quilt is the one in the back right corner. It is a "Happy Block" childs lap quilt. The quilt in the front on the left my friend Jane made and I quilted it. Happy to see she won a ribbon also.



The last picture is of my daughters quilt. I finished it up a couple of weeks ago but I have not let her use it yet as I didn't want to risk something getting spilled on it before the fair or to enter it covered in cat hair. I know she will be glad when I pick up the quilt sunday evening as then she can use it in her room.



Kathie

County Fair

This weekend is out county fair. It is small but I always enjoy seeing all the exhibits and of course some of that terrible for you fair food like funnel cakes!!!

I dropped 3 quilts at the fairgrounds yesterday for todays judging. Will be going to the fair tonight to see if i won any ribbons.

I have had a productive week. I quilted 3 customer quilts, a quilt for hospice and pieced the horse quilt top.

Kathie

Another New Quilt Top

I got this quilt cut out over the weekend and the modified rail fence units made up. I knew this week would be busy with customer quilts. I would do a pass or two across a quilt and then sit down to rest my back. Each time I did that I would pin or sew a few of the blocks together.

By last night I had all the rows done and spent time after dinner joining all of them into a quilt top. I love this little horse quilt and can't want to quilt it.

It will probably have to wait a couple of weeks as I have several other quilts that need to come first.

Kathie

Potato What???????

I recently finished Jake's race car quilt. It was using a pattern called a Couch Potato Quilt. I had pieces left over because I changed the size a bit. I was going to toss them in a drawer probably never to be seen again. I thought better of that and decided to see what I could make out of them before putting any left over fabrics away.

It made a small quilt, only 40 x 40 but could be a little boys play quilt or a nice wall hanging.

Since the large one was a couch potato quilt is this a Potato Chip Quilt or a Tater Tot Quilt?????

Kathie

A Touch of Fall

When the cat decided this morning that I had been in bed long enough (5:30 a.m.) I got up and grabbed a cup of coffee and turned the news on. It was very chilly in the house and I sat under a quilt drinking my coffee, nice a cosy. It isn't officially fall yet but we had a touch of it in Maryland this morning.

The picture is a Christmas quilt I made several months ago out of mostly left over binding strips from various projects. I quilted it yesterday and hope to get the binding on today.

Tomorrow will be back to working on customer quilts. The next two are both full/queen sized so will take up a lot of my week.

Kathie

The Mill

I set up my space at the Mill this morning. It didn't take very long. I think the way I have things displayed will work. I did run out of "S" Hooks so I will have to run off to Lowes to get more of them before I hang anything else up but other than that I am set.

Now to finish up the two Halloween table runners so I can take them to the shop.

kathie

What I've Been Up to

Well I am starting on a new venture. In our town we have a small historic mill that has been leased and turned into a venue for local crafters. I decided to give it a try and my work has been approved to be for sale in the shop.

My husband made me a quilt ladder and came up with a couple of other display ideas. Friday I will concentrate on pulling quilts and runners I want to have in the shop and getting them tagged etc. and we hope to set up the space this weekend.

Several years ago I tried this idea in a different shop and never had enough sales to make it worth while but thought a different shop, in a different location might be worth a try.

Yesterday after finishing on a customer quilt I worked on these two halloween runners. Hope to get them quilted, bound and ready for the shop soon. I ordered this cone of orange thread a few months ago just because it was pretty and have not used it yet. I knew I must have ordered it for SOME reason.




kathie

A New Top

In the last few days I have finished the bindings on a couple of runner, put more bindings on runners by machine, finished up a customer quilt and made this quilt top. I finished the top last night. I want to cut the binding today and then put it away on my "to be quilted shelf" until I get time to quilt it.

I had a sudden influx of customer quilts this week so will probably not be quilting any of my own projects until next weekend. I try and reserve weekends to work on my own things, craft show items and an occasional charity quilt.

Mandy went to a friends sweet 16 party last night, she looked so nice I just had to take pictures.

Kathie

September 11th

Where were you on September 11, 2001? What are your memories of that day?

I was in my office in Maryland about 80 miles south of the Pentagon when we started hearing the news of the plane hitting the tower in New York, the plane into the pentagon, the second tower and then the plane going into the ground. I still can remember the shock and disbelief.

All work stopped and people were glued to the internet and their radios.

I had two co-workers that were in route to New York on business and were in the air at the time. My fear was that something had happened to them. Luckily they landed at LaGuardia shortly after the first hit and were able to get a rental car and get out of the city before things came to a halt. I was later to learn that one of the ladies in my quilt guild lost her husband at the pentagon and another co-worker lost his brother-in-law on the plane that hit the pentagon.

Because of our close proximity to a Navy base and to a nuclear power plant and not knowing what might happen next the school kids were put on buses and sent home early that day. No one told them what was going on but from the looks on all the teachers faces they knew it was something bad. My daughter was only 7 at the time but has clear memories of that day.

There was no way I was sleeping that night. For the first time in my life I didn't feel safe in my own home. I spent most of the night on the sofa watching all the news coverage.

I think I was actually in a fog for a couple of weeks after the attack and from talking to others I know that a lot of people had the same reaction. I remember seeing letters dated September 12th and 13th a couple of weeks later that I had written for work and had no memory of writing them.

My thoughts today are with all the people that lost their lives that day, to all the kids that had a parent that never returned home, to all the families that were shattered. I think today I need to give my husband and daughter an extra hug and tell them how much they mean to me.

kathie

Snowman blocks

Yesterday I quilted a couple table runners then put a customer quilt on the frame and have that mostly finished. In addition I put together a few of the snowman blocks to see what it would look like, I think I like it with the two different snowflake blues.

I also sat and finished the binding on my daughter's quilt last night and started to stitch down the binding on Jake's quilt. My pile of things to be bound was getting entirely to high. A chair in the guest room has become my staging area for items needing binding.

Since my craft shows are only a little over two months away now I am going to try and quilt up a couple runners, a baby quilt or something else between each customer quilt or two.

Kathie