Saturday Accomplishments

I was busy yesterday hauling my daughter back and forth to dance rehearsals and then back again for dance pictures. Their big end of the year show is next weekend so I am glad all the rehearsals and commotion is almost over.

I did manage between all the trips out and about to get a few things accomplished. I finished up all my weekend house chores and did several things in the sewing room.

I got a border on my Christmas tesselations quilt so the top is now done, I sewed three blocks together and bordered it to make a table runner top and I got binding made and machine stitiched on the pink coins quilt.

It was nice to get three projects to the next stage. No finishes but I could get all the pieces picked up and put away and it made my working area a lot cleaner.

We are off to DC today so will probably not get any sewing projects done today. My next task will be to get the next customer quilt loaded on the frame and ready to quilt.

Kathie

I CAN Do Feathers

I have always been "feather challenged" not even being able to draw them well. A lady at our guild recommended a book called Hooked on Feathers by Sally Terry. I bought that from Amazon a couple of weeks ago and have been practicing drawing my version of her method.

When I received the little pink quilt in the mail last night I decided it was the perfect quilt to try out my feathers on. I finished this a little bit ago and I am pleased with my first attempt. I still need a lot of work getting them more even but hey, I can finally do feathers!!!!

kathie

Friday Already

This week has flown and it is hard to remember what day it is. With Monday being a holiday, my daughters dance schedule changed around and trying to catch up on things after being sick I have to think each morning what day it really is.

This is a picture of Carol's quilt that I finished quilting a couple of days ago. She is the "Scrap Queen" of our guild. She will take any and all scraps and make something wonderful out of it. Each time I see one of her quilts I am inspired to try some of the scrap blocks but I never follow up on it.


Last night in the mail I received two quilt tops from my on line group Heartstrings. I will quilt these and they will be donated to our local Hospice House opening this summer. Thanks to all the heartstrings members that contributed to these quilt tops.

Kathie

No Pictures

I have no completions or pictures to post. I am trying to catch up on customer quilts and then in the evening doing a little piecing etc. on my projects.

I did get bindings machine sewn on a couple of table runners yesterday and started hand stitching down the first one.

I also completed all my Christmas tesselation blocks and picked out border fabric (currently in the washer) to finish off that top.

I am also making some 1/2 square triangles to make two table runners. I have had the squares of Christmas fabric sitting on my sewing table for several weeks. Decided that would be my next piecing project just so I could use up the pieces and make my table a little neater.

I guess my main goal for today is to get the quilt on the frame finished and the next one at least loaded and then get those triangles made.

Kathie

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. Days like this I always think of my Dad. He has been gone a dozen years now but Memorial Day and Veteran's Day are two days that always meant a lot to him.

He went into the Army at the age of 18, served in Germany during World War II and participated in the invasion of Normandy.

When I was a small child he suffered from lots of headaches and would get very nervous at times. Today they would call this PTSD, then it was just called shell shock. He worked through it and was a great husband and father.

Thanks Dad and everyone elses Dad's, husbands, and brothers, mothers and sisters that have served to keep this country safe.

Kathie

New Baby

After a week of being sick, other than still having a bad cough I am about back to normal and back in the quilting room. I finished a customer quilt today that should have been fairly quick to do (a twin sized) but it took me three days. Hey at least it is done, maybe now I can start to get caught up.

Friday was our wedding anniversary. Usually we go out to dinner and buy each other a card but thats it. With birthdays and mothers and fathers day so close together we just have never had our anniversary as a gift giving day.

This year we definitely made an exception (a big one). We went out and bought this on friday. It is a lot smaller than our current car so the ride is so much different but I love it. It is cute and sporty and has fun things like XM Radio and OnStar.



Kathie

BOM Quilt

I finished the binding on the lap quilt made out of the JoAnn's Block of the Month blocks a few nights ago. I practiced SID quilting between the blocks which took me FOREVER to do. Then I used Pam Clarke's method of just marking just some registration marks and then quilting large freehand design in each block. Not as smooth as I would have liked but by the 3rd or 4th block they were looking better.

After finishing this quilt I ended up sick and my cat, my pillow and myself have pretty much spent the last three days together on the sofa. I am not used to doing nothing but had no choice other than to just rest.

Feeling a little bit better today so made a couple of minor goals for myself. To get one load of laundry done and to quilt the two table runners that on the frame. The backing fabric has been on there since friday but I have not felt like even going in the sewing room.

If I can get these done then I start loading the next customer quilt on the frame and hopefully by tomorrow will feel like quilting it.

Kathie

Block of the Month

Have you every bought block of the month kits? If so did you EVER finish them.

A few years ago I thought the BOM kits at JoAnns were a great idea. Everything was cut out for you, color coordinated and easy directions to follow. I bought the blue and yellow ones as at the time I had blue and yellow in the living room.

I made a few blocks and there it sat for several years. About a year and a half or so ago I finally got them out and finished up all the blocks. I then decided that I didn't want a full sized blue and yellow quilt so using the setting kit I made the blocks into two lap sized quilts.

I quilted and bound one of the lap quilts about a year ago but the other one has been sitting on my UFO shelf ever since. I even had a piece backing made for it but never had the interest in finishing it.

This past weekend I decided to get it quilt, bound and out of the way. I got it quilted over the weekend and now handstitching down the binding in the evenings. It will be nice to have this one DONE.

Sad thing is that I purchased two other years worth of BOM and they ended up undone also. One set I ended up selling on ebay last year and the other set still sits here waiting for me to start on.

Kathie

Christmas Tesselations

I took a class back in March where we were making this tesselation quilt. I love the look of it but am not enjoying the process. I guess the reason is that I am so used to chain piecing blocks, several at a time. The piecing of this quilt is very easy but you can only do one block at a time as you keep all the fabrics in the correct spots so that they interlock.

I had put it away for awhile and figured if I continued to do that it would never get finished so I have it back up on my design wall. I am trying to make one or two blocks a day and if I can keep doing that I should get it done before long.

Kathie L.

Wild Berries

We had a challenge at our quilt guild starting four months ago where we each picked a crayon. My crayon was a purple, called plum. Were were only to add one additional color and make a two color quilt. The only other requirement was that it had to be of a certain size. Challenges are always fun and I enjoyed this one more than most. I would never have made a two color quilt if I wasn't pushed into it and I like the results. Everyone brought their quilts in monday night and they were all wonderful to see.


My friend Mary Lou nicknamed my quilt "Wild Berries" because of the colors. I didn't win a prize but enjoyed the competition.

Kathie

Hospice Quilts 12 to 17

Last night at our local quilt guild meeting I received six additional quilts for Hospice House.

The first quilt top was donated by Quilter's by the Bay guild. I quilted the quilt and then my friend Kathy V. did the binding and gave it back to me last night. Isn't it wonderful what a beautiful quilt can be made with just squares?



The additional five quilts were all made/quilted/donated by Eileen. She is still going to town on her brand new HQ16. Many of the blocks were donated by her on line quilting buddies. I am not sure which of hers I like the best but I am very partial to the quilt with all the plaids.







Kathie

Week In Review

Well I did get all three customer quilts done this week, binding on both table runners and most of the rows together for the middle section of Mandy's quilt. Not bad considering a couple of the days I was gone from the house a lot of the day.

This weekend I would LOVE to get the middle of that quilt done. Then it could be put aside for awhile to decide on border colors.

Guild meeting is monday night so I want to take time to get everything ready for that and I am currently in the process of squaring up some half square triangles that we made at our last sew in. I am hoping I can get them all trimmed and make them into a couple of quilt kits to take to the guild meeting monday night. I am hoping that someone will take them home and make them into quilt tops for hospice donation.

I still have 3 or 4 hospice tops here to quilt so won't have time to work on hospice tops for awhile.

In addition to this sewing we need to make car repairs this weekend. No not an actual car, it is a car made out of cardboard and is a prop for my daughters upcoming dance performance. This think is falling apart and needs some major repairs.

Sounds like a pretty full weekend.

kathie

Hospice House Quilt #11

The 11th Hospice House quilt is quilted, bound and even a label sewn on it. The pretty floral quilt top was donated by Regina. This was my first attempt at doing my version of echoed floral quilting as demonstrated by Dawn on the Pajama Quilter Reloaded DVD.


Thanks Regina, someone will love this spring like quilt.

Kathie

Isn't this Bright!!

Sunday was my daughters birthday so the weekend was busy between birthday things and her dance rehearsals so I didn't do a lot of sewing over the weekend. I did stay laying out her quilt on the design wall and have been sewing some of it together each day.


Since it is a full sized quilt and the rows have to be sewing together in diagonal rows I discovered that my design wall just isn't big enough to accommodate it. I did a few rows, sewed them together and then put a few more on the wall. I am having to be very careful that I don't get the rows confused, luckily I have a pattern of the layout and am just marking it off row by row as I get them done.

My goal for this week is to get three customer quilts done, get the middle section of Mandy's quilt together and to get bindings on two runners that I quilted last week.

Kathie

Reflections

No pictures today though I have accomplished a lot this week.

I finished the binding on my guild challenge quilt, quilted two customer quilts and yesterday finished quilting a Hospice charity quilt and I also pieced a table runner.

With the beginning of May it is now six months since I quit my office job and have been staying home doing quilting as a business. A couple of people asked if I had any regrets which really made me reflect over the last six month.

I do miss the social interation with other people. Even when I was busy at work there was always a little chit chat during the day and I do miss that. I miss several co-workers that I worked with for several years but in reality that is all I miss.

I love being able to make my own schedule. If I just don't feel like quilting a quilt one day I use that day to do house work and run errands and do the quilt the following day. I try to quilt quilts in the order received but if I have done a couple of larger ones in a row I can reorder and do a small baby quilt next.

I am trying to work on customer quilts only during the work week and reserve sewing time on the weekends to charity, craft show and my own projects.

One of the best things is that I have been able to join a day time quilt guild. Our once a month meeting on a wednesday morning I really look forward to. We have so much fun, have speakers, classes and lots of show and tell.

I am also enjoying being able to coordinate the effort to get a lot of quilts made for our hospice house opening this summer. I have 10 completed quilts, quilt 11 is done I just don't have it back yet from binding and quilt #12 is the one I finished quilting yesterday and just need to get the binding stitched down.

So all in all, no regrets. I do miss the pay check but am getting used to spending less.

kathie