I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.
I am back on the walking path doing 1.5 miles. With the heat I do a fast pace for the first mile and then “try” to slow down a bit on the half mile. This is the first thing I do each morning and it really helps me with releasing those little endorphins that make me happy. Now the body would prefer me to quit doing the 1.5 but I am telling it to just keep moving! LOL. AND can you believe that we are heading into June? Heck, in 25 days it will be 6 months until Christmas and Summer Solstice is 21 days away. So far our weather pattern has changed and we seem to have cooler temps, if you call 95 cool. At least it is not 100+++.
I wanted to share something positive that you might enjoy! Here is a YouTube video on how to fold quilts for storage. Click here to watch the Video.
AND here how my quilts look folded up on the bias. The first picture are the quilts in line for hand binding. The top 2 on the right stack are finished. (This is my overflow room in the house)
Here are previous quilts that I have shown and my hand quilted projects. Notice underneath the quilt rack on the floor are quilts that were finished this year by myself or Rebecca! The picture is one of my parents. There were in their mid and late 30’s when I arrived at 2 minutes to midnight! There is an advantage in having older parents – you grow up FAST!
Last night I finished binding Alexander Bean Pot! I do believe I am down to 10 quilts to hand bind. Yippee! But I will work on them as I feel I want to – not because I have to! (A new rule in my quilting world).
Remember this quilt? I was not in the mood to make circles at the time and did the buttons on the center. Well, I am getting ready to remove the buttons and cut out 110 circles for this quilt, and I am probably going to change the border. I know I can make it look better! This is what happens when one is just wanting to finish it and say goodbye to a project. I should have sewn the circles on before, but I was lazy. Not sure what to do with the border but it really needs something to make it pop! A good challenge!
I have so many things I want to do, like improve my knitting, do some crochet, lap weaving, cross stitch, and hand quilt the 10 that are hanging around…..and yet I want to make a new quilt! I think I am nuts sometimes, but it is my quilting that makes me feel productive and that is so important in Retirement.
Have a wonderful week and enjoy your hobbies, the keep us sane!
It is with a heavy heart that I have made a decision to no longer enter any Quilt Show and especially any local shows. I am well known in the local Guilds for being out spoken and opinionated, AND for only showing quilts that are of Show quality! My reputation as one who questions the Judges selections appears to have followed me within the local Judges Circle (Political Party). I enter the shows to challenge myself to make a quilt as perfect as I can and be able to compete with other quilters. But no more. In fact, I have pulled my quilts from the San Antonio Show because of the Judges that they will be using in September. One of them is NOT a Certified NQA or NACQJ Judge! She must have judged my Stonefields as she did not sign her name. If the NQA judge did the judging – she was derelict in not signing the Critique Sheet.
I did receive a 3rd place with the annotation “that it would do better in a Mixed Category”. Note that if a quilter enters a quilt in a show and selects a category that the show committee feels it belongs in another category they have the option to change categories. That was not done. No Judge signed the Critique Sheet Again I was given Outstanding for Visual, Piecing and Borders and Sashing. (I did not take a good picture of this quilt)
This show reminded me of the 33 years I spent working for the Government – ALL POLITICAL!
Irish Mist received Outstanding Marks in all areas of the Critique Sheet and I was awarded an Honorable Mention! Blow smoke somewhere else Judge!
Blue Medallion Surprise did not receive an award, with the following statement, “minor variance noted in straightness of long lines”. Not sure what that meant. (I did not get a good picture of the quilt in this picture – I was too angry and did not pay attention) This quilt was perfectly square!
There was an issue with Brinton Hall that I did when I made the top and did not catch it until it was quilted. IN FACT, THE JUDGE GAVE ME AN EXCELLENT IN THE AREA OF THE PROLEM! I was not expecting much from a Judge, but I was given an Outstanding for Visual, Piecing, Borders and Sashing so not sure what they did not like about the quilt as the Critique Sheets were not marked as to what they did not like!
As most of the quilters who follow my blog know I am a 100% traditional quilter (I do not judge how others chose to make their quilts) but for me I prefer to not use glue, paper piecing, nor do I use an Accu Cutter to cut out my pieces when making a quilt. I quilt my utility quilts and if I know a quilt is one that I feel the public would like and it meets the criteria set out by the Hosting Guild along with the Judges (?) Critique Sheet, I send it to a Professional (Rebecca)Longarm Quilter.
When we dropped off my quilts Tuesday I walked around the area and there was a Judy Niemeyer quilt! I told Clay – well I won’t win many ribbons this week-end as the queen of Paper Piecing (no thinking to make this quilt) quilt will come out with the Best of Show – AND THAT QUILT DID! San Antonio has a Judy Niemeyer quilt entered in the September show and this was another reason I pulled my quilts. Why waste the time and effort required to get the quilts ready!
When I started making quilts, there were important things to pay attention to. For instance binding – the Judges will immediately feel the binding to make sure that it is full of batting! (I used to Scribe for Judges). Binding had to be 1/4″ on the front and back of the quilt – ABSOLUTELY NO MACHINE BINDING. Points could not be cut off if it was a pieced quilt and applique was to be perfect. Borders were to be straight, and color was very important. The Judge would want “movement” in the quilt (not just a 2 color quilt). Then they started judging the fabric on the back of the quilt – no more muslin backings.
Then changes really began to take hold with the machine embroidery, (forget that one had hand stitched the embroidery on a quilt) long arm quilting became more important than the technique and precision used in making the quilt top. The Modern Quilt has now taken over and fast and easy is the trend – forget detail work! Colors no longer matter – just put the fabric in a bag and go from there! The younger quilters have no idea how to actually make a quilt – they purchase kits because they do not understand the Color Wheel – they machine sew the bindings because they finish a quilt faster. I could go on and on, but by now I have probably stepped on too many toes!
This all started around 2003 when the Artisans began to come into the quilting world, then the fabrics changed, and in 2012 the Modern quilters arrived which also supports my decision to not participate in quilts shows anymore.
After this week-end I realize now that the quilting world has been turned over to Judge’s that do not appreciate perfection or the difficult work it takes to make that ‘perfect quilt’. I realize that Quilt Shows are politically run and paper piecing is used to make quilts where the quilter has difficult times making a block without cutting off the points. So I accept the changes and will no long participate. There will be a day (long after I am gone) when the quilting world realizes they have made an error by ignoring the Traditional Quilter!!!
I personally know the Judge who judged my quilts and her Critique Sheets do not support honest judging of my work. A Judge is not supposed to know who the quilter is, but I now believe that the Judges do know who the quilter is! Just like our lovely Government – it sucks!
I am not a “sore” loser, I just have to realize that it is not worth the money, time, or effort that it takes to prepare a quilt for show to continue on with this game of politics and having Judges judge on personal opinions. I had hoped to be able to finally get back to showing, but I will now find another avenue to devote my skills to and it will not be to support Guilds. They have become WOKE!
I did not take any pictures of other quilts as we only stayed about 90 minutes after realizing what had just happened to me! This post is mostly meant to document the reason I will never show and a way for me to put this experience behind me and move on to fun things again in my life!
Rebecca posted a write up about my Blue Summertime Surprise quilt. I am not bragging, it was something that just made me so happy. Click on her link to read the post.
Thank you Rebecca, so grateful for your beautiful quilting that made my quilts stand out!
Good morning! Friday and Sunday is the Quilt Show and Sunday we go back to Kerrville to pick up my quilts. Naturally I am excited to see if my quilts are awarded with something, even an Honorable Mention is also a great way to know the Judge noticed your work. I have not shown in a show in 10 years, so this will be exciting for me.
Tuesday we dropped the quilts off in Kerrville and had a great time with Basil, one of Clay’s Ham Buddies. It was Mexican food and I had a cheese enchilada which was great! Basil was sweet enough to take a picture of Clay and I – Clay looks happy and of course I am very happy to be out of LV! Check out that Icy Hot Patch on my shoulder – they really help with Fibro points that bother me! After 4 years I still cannot get used to not having my glasses since Cataract surgery. I wore them for most of my life!
Of course, being in Kerrville, Texas for the day I just had to visit Creations Quilt Shop – on of the Premier Quilt Shops in South Texas. I found a great buy of 1 yard cuts at $8.99 a yard and bought all the batiks and 2 Reproduction fabrics – just love them. I have known the owner, Kathy, for over 18 years and she was at the shop! So good to see her doing well!
Well, I am doing fine and just wanted to show off my fun day! Have a great week-end – will post pictures of the quilts from the show by Monday – I hope.
Best Monday I have had this year! All quilts are in bags, labeled and ready to deliver tomorrow. Going to be a fun week, and a lot of miles to cover! Time to go shopping at the Show and Creations in Kerrville!!!!
My two favorite books that I will now have time to read!!!!!
Have a great week and enjoy quilting – remember it is a hobby with no deadlines!
We have sunshine today – it has been wonderful to get the rain finally (drought since 2019), but 10 days with no sun is just not good. As those who read my posts know that I have had so much fun for 6 months completing all UFO quilt tops and projects! I threw in the Virus just for fun and to add more stress. I achieved my goal and had many nice comments on achieving those goals.
About 12 days ago I finished the 4 quilts for the Hill Country Quilt Show 26-27 May. I believe it was on a Saturday. On Monday, 15 May 2023, I started having some bubbling in the middle of my chest, but no other symptoms. Tuesday we stopped at the EMS here in LV and they did an EKG – it was OK. I know I have what they call Anxiety and Panic attacks (when they come it triggers the Fight or Flight button in my body and mind). I also know that when I am stressed I no longer deal with things like I normally do. When I worked in the DC area from 1993-1996 I worked on a project that required many long hours working for 2 and 1/2 years without a “life”. When the contract was awarded I crashed! I promised myself I would never do that again. (I got to ride in the meat wagon to the hospital twice). It was all STRESS!
Well, yes I now have all UFOs quilted with some waiting for hand work. But last week was the week that I hit the wall from STRESS! I ignored the warning signs but no more. Two trips to the ER in the meat wagon and 3 days in the hospital. I did the Stress Test and another Echo Cardiogram and all turned out fine. The hospital stay was no fun because of my limited diet and problems with medications. But that is all over with to include the reactions from not getting food or only food that I cannot tolerate. Today is the first day that I do not have those little fluttering in the chest – this means that I am calming down and will be fine.
So lesson had to be learned again – or maybe I did not realize that a quilter could stress themselves setting goals and forcing oneself to work on bindings 100% of the time – how stupid! It was not enjoyable at all, but I was overwhelmed with 29 quilts that had to have bindings sewn on and hand work before they would be considered “finished”. I have 11 more to hand bind, only 2 of them need to be ready by the end of August so there is no reason for me to stress on the remaining quilts. IN FACT – I closed the door in the room where they sit!!! Even looking at them can make me feel that I have to finish them NOW!!!
Then in early March I decided to enter the Hill Country Quilt Show and added more stress because I had about 2 weeks to get my entries in – another dumb move on my part.
This week is the Quilt Show so it will be a full week of getting out of the house and going to Kerrville 3 or 4 days. This will be a better Vacation than where I was last week.
I have nothing to show (LOL) for the past week but am hoping that the show will inspire me to move forward and I have a project in mind that is not stressful. I will wait awhile before I start on a challenging one.
I think the best lesson I have learned out of this period of my quilting life is that if I make a quilt that I know I will quilt on my long arm, that will be done before I start another project. ONE AT A TIME! If I make a challenge quilt for a quilt show or I just wanted it professionally done it will go to Rebecca!
Have a wonderful week and if you are pushing to finish something that you do not like – give it away, or only work on it when you can enjoy the process. We all have enough stress with the way the world is now and it is just not worth adding more stress to our bodies!
Well after being gone so long from To Do Tuesdays it feels great to be back! I have accomplished a lot since I last participated in TDT posts. I am doing fine, over the Chinese Balloon Virus, and ready for the Hill Country Quilt Show next week in Kerrville, Texas.
I did post Sunday and no sense in repeating things so click here and read all about where I have been the last 6 months.
I started blogging on 14 February 2022 with Blogger.com. Today I went back to see if it was still there. Click on this link to see what I had been doing in February, March and July 2022 before moving to WordPress. Very interesting as to how I had issues with Irish Mist quilt. (listed above in the 2023 Quilt Menu below my header.)
Today was a trip to Whole Foods in San Antonio and back home. I am headed to the other room to watch Perry Mason while I work on Alexander Bean Pot binding. It is a small quilt and yesterday I almost finished one side of the quilt, and hoping to progress faster this afternoon.
That is all for now and the only goals I have for the next week is to work on the binding of the 11 quilts remaining! I will be so happy when finished with them all!
WOW! This has been a long LONG LONG journey in clearing out all UFOs! I started in 2021 and 2022 working on projects that were not completed and getting them ready for quilting. You can see where I was at the beginning of 2022 here! Then in 2022 the REAL work began when I realized that I really had a problem with quilt tops that required quilting (40 total)! I knew that I would be able to quilt 16 and 10 would be hand quilted and 13 would be sent to Rebecca for quilting.
I have gone from this (quilts to Rebecca)
AND my quilts that I quilted (the last 2 on the left will not be quilted)
To This:
This was a monumental task for me starting in late December and by the end of January I had quilted and completed the binding of the 16 by the end of January! Constant long arm quilting is hard to do, so I am happy that I never decided to become a pro at it. I had been searching for a long arm quilter in the SA area, but not successful, so I was so blessed to find Rebecca! She is an excellent Edge to Edge long arm quilter, so many patterns to chose from, and the quilts look as if they were custom quilted!
By the first of February I was totally overwhelmed with the stack of quilts that required bindings – a total of 13 plus 4 quilts that had been quilted in 2014 and needed binding either sewn on or ripped and replaced! Somehow even with the lovely Chinese Balloon Virus, bindings were sewn on and waiting for hand finishing! It is now 13 May 2023 and I have completed 5 quilts (of the 7 show quilts) with 13 left to hand bind.
I wanted to enter my quilts in 2 local quilt shows this year since It has been 10 years since I had been able to participate in the shows due to family issues. I am entering the Hill Country Quilters Quilt Show at the end of the month. All 4 entries were quilted by Rebecca and are completed and ready to go! I have 3 quilts entered in the Greater Area San Antonio Quilt Show quilted by Rebecca and 2 need the binding hand sewn, and one is completed. All 3 will need sleeves and their labels sewn on. The show is in late September 2023, so I can now relax and work on those quilts as I desire. I will be showing Stonefields, My Summer Blues, Irish Spring, and Brinton Hall. If you wish to look at them go to the Menu Bar under the picture of the Header and click on 2023 where I have added pictures of all the quilts.
I will be working on the 13 during the time we are watching TV in the evenings. No more sitting and working on bindings, UNLESS, I just want to, until Jul, when I will need to have the 3 quilts for the San Antonio Show completed with Sleeves and Labels.
This week I am going to start catching up on reading my favorite bloggers and the Quilt Show with Alex Anderson. I joined in late December and have not had time to watch any programs. I want to go through my patterns and select some projects to start working on. My applique projects hand quilting has really suffered from the work on all of my UFOs so last evening I worked on a block from December. But it is a wonderful feeling to have them at a stage that is more manageable! My goal on having all completed is July, but there is absolutely no pressure to be in a hurry, so I believe I will enjoy the process more than being under a deadline.
Happy Sunday Morning and I mean that literally. I look back since I decided to clear out all of my UFO projects and 40 quilt tops that needed to be quilted and realize that it has been over a year since I realized that I needed to do something drastic. I sent 13 quits to Rebecca for quilting in October 2022 and I had 16 to quilt (some wall hangings included) and 4 left over from 2014 that needed to have bindings ripped and re done along with a few projects that needed to be finished. Here it is 7 May 2023 and all quilts have been quilted, 19 complete with bindings, 10 complete with binding sewn on and ready for hand work. Whew! And in the middle of everything I had to deal with the Chinese Balloon Virus (new one going around). Yesterday the last 2 quilts from Rebecca had their bindings sewn on and ready for me. (Side note – I will still have 10 to hand quilt, but that will be fun time WHENEVER I WANT TO).
I have a quilt show the last week of May and that will require 4 sleeves and 4 labels, along with the 3 labels and sleeves for the quilts for the San Antonio Quilt Show in September. I have all of the 7 sleeves and labels completed and Brinton Hall is ready for me to sew the binding by hand with 10 others waiting in the wings for binding. I need to finish sewing the sleeves and labels in the next few days and then I will breathe a lot easier.
I would not have been caught up if it were not for Rebecca taking my 13 quilts and quilting them. She has done a superb quilting job for me and she is now my “go to quilting gal”!
It appears that while I have been away having so much fun that WordPress has changed their software and I do not have the time to take and mess with it now. Here is a link that gives a status where I was on 30 Jan 2023.
Here is a picture of what the 3 quilts will need by this week. Today I plan on sewing them on the 3 that are completed, the start working on Brinton Hall binding. Goal will be Tuesday! The rest of this month will be to get all binding completed as I plan on starting my quilting life again 1 June 2023. The quilt show will provide inspiration for new projects.
Stonefields Sleeve and Label
I hope that everyone has a wonderful week and I am hoping that my hands will hold out with all the hand work to do. I can say I am VERY UNPLEASED WITH THE WORDPRESS CHANGES. I may find another avenue to blog! I do not know how to find things so wish me luck! I will not be doing much blogging and I know I am so far behind in catching up with everyone. June will be so much better in keeping up!
Good evening all! I am so happy! I have bindings completed on Stars Around the Garden and York Lodge! There will be two more quilts coming from Rebecca but for now I am on top of things in spite of the Chinese Balloon Virus that took a month away from me. You can read my recap of things here.
Starting tomorrow I will just enjoy looking for a new project, or just enjoying my Studio after many months of dealing with UFO’s that required my attention! I want to get back to posting my new projects, etc., and reading the other Bloggers post! In other words, I am going to have more fun even if it is binding all the quilts! I am now really looking forward to the Hill Country Quilters Guild Show in late May
Have a great week and for this week I plan on just having fun deciding what to do next . I want to make a baby quilt and remember all those 80 Churn Dash blocks from last year? They need to become a quilt – they would make a great baby quilt!
It has been exactly one month since Clay and I came down with the Chinese Balloon Virus! For two people who do not socialize, go among the crowds, and have not been on a trip for 16 months how in the heck can we get sick? Clay recovered quicker than I did. Today I can say I am 100%. It took me 8 days to work up to my 1.5 miles each morning without being worn out by noon. I have missed reading, commenting on other’s post, and posting, but whatever the Virus was it was brutal for me and I am glad it is over with. I finally took a Z-pack about 2 weeks ago and will never take one again. To me it did nothing but tear my stomach up. Enough said of the lost month for me, it is history now.
Now on to quilting things. I actually have finished Block 7 of Moda Holiday Stitch Along!
On the Binding of Quilts Project – Irish Mist, Globetrotting, and Stonefields are completed. Irish Mist and Stonefields are ready for Labels and Sleeves for the Hill Country Quilt Show in May. Summer Blues is next for hand binding starting today.
This is Pat Sloan’s Globetrotting BOM. I love the Blue and White quilts! Hope to make more.
Bindings have been sewn on for Cozy Christmas, OMIGOSH, Alexander’s Bean Pot, Star of Chamblie, Sentimental Scraps and My Summer Blues quilts.
Cozy Christmas is a special quilt for me because it was the very first pieced quilt I made in 2004. When I first started quilting my quilts were mostly hand appliqued, or fusible applique with buttonhole stitching. This is a Fons and Porter quilt pattern from one of their magazines. Rebecca did a beautiful job on it.
Summer Blues is a quilt that I designed. I started this project in August 2022 and finished it in October 2022. You can read about my journey here, here, and here including posts from from August through October 2022.
Today I will be trimming Stars Around the Garden and York Lodge and prepare the binding for them. I first thought that I would not tackle the most difficult until this summer but I knew I would feel a big weight off my shoulders if I did them now and be finished!
I am hoping to complete one of them today (could be wishful thinking). Both quilts are very large and will require at least 400 inches of binding for each quilt. I am going to set a goal of having them finished by Thursday due to Doctor appointments on Monday and Wednesday. Both of the quilts are entered into the San Antonio Quilt Show in September.
As soon as I get the binding on them I will have completed the trimming and sewing on the binding for all of the 11 quilts from Rebecca (2 more due by the end of April). Next step is to finish the binding by hand. This will be a big relief for me as I was overwhelmed with all the quilts I quilted (16) and finished the bindings, then began the work of trimming and sewing the bindings for hand work on the 13 from Rebecca.
Altogether in October 2022 there were a total of 29 quilts that needed to be completed (quilted and binding completed) plus 4 were quilts that were quilted in 2014 but I had not finished the bindings. I have completed binding 19 of the quilts, so that leaves me 14 remaining as of today to hand bind. Of course this does not include the 10 that require hand quilting as they are my embroidered and needle turn applique quilts. But there is no hurry on these quilts this year!
My overall goal was to be finished with all quilts by June. I am anxious to work on new projects and may start something when the quilts are finished for the May Show. There are a total of 7 show quilts that will require sleeves and labels before the May Show. When I can reach that goal, the rest of the year will be mine with absolutely NO deadlines for anything but to have fun.
I would be remiss if I did not send out a special shout out to Rebecca of Rebecca Grace Quilting at this time. Rebecca is a one of a kind Professional Longarm Quilter. I have learned so much from her to include different types of battings available on the market versus what was available when I started quilting in 2001, threads, and how to prepare different backings. This Lady is an excellent example of whom to hire for your special quilting needs. I would not be on top of my “to be quilted” backlog if not for her nor would I have the most beautifully quilted quilts to show in May and September. She will have more quilts to quilt for me in the future. AND I anticipate a few ribbons in our future! I highly recommend Rebecca for those “special” quilts! Thank you Rebecca for all you have done for me.
Well, I am hoping this week to get back on my schedule (especially after Monday and Wednesday). I miss reading your posts and providing a comment on your work. May you have a wonderful week and stay away from Chinese Balloons – LOL.
I am blessed to be up and working on my quilts and doing my daily 1.5 miles each day at the age of 78! It would have been so easy to just give up and sit in a chair the rest of my days but I refused to give in.
It is hard to believe that I have been sick for almost 30 days. I lost precious time with my binding project or for that matter any quilting project. To add insult to my illness, two weeks ago this Sunday I tripped and did a crash landing in the Studio, scrapping my left knee, breaking the fall on my little humidifier, and fell on the left upper side bruising a rib. Talk about things coming in 3’s. This last Monday I woke to a frozen windpipe – all due to the lovely Virus that gave me a Sinus infection and ended up with Bacterial Bronchitis. I finally had to get medication as my body could not fight anymore. My doctor sent me a Z-pack, I started an Inhaler for 3 days, and sat in the Recliner for 3 days plus most of yesterday.
This morning I woke up feeling like myself and headed for the Studio for coffee! Clay thought he was over his Chinese Ballon Virus (we call it that because we do not socialize, nor go much of anywhere to get what we had.) but when we went for a checkup yesterday, he ended up with a Steroid shot and will do Flonase for a week or so. What fun!
We are not the only people to get this mess, it starts with a funny feeling in the tummy, extreme headache for awhile, then the coughing sets in. Clay’s went to his chest, mine stopped the the Bronchial Tubes. Then you have NO appetite and you just quit eating, which makes it worse. I had no desire to do anything but just sit in my Recliner. During the month I would think I was over it and would start my walking, but after 3 days I was back in the Recliner. We know of at least 10 people who have had this mess and it is no fun.
But today thanks to the Z-Pack I feel a lot better and hope to at least sit in the Studio and continue to bind Globetrotting quilt and maybe start on the binding for Sentimental Stitches. No promises – Just do not want to see the Recliner.
I am hoping that I can do an update (small one) on where I am in my binding project by Sunday. In the meantime, I am going to finish up my Z-pack by tomorrow and should really feel better by Sunday.
I do hope everyone is well, has a blessed Good Friday and a Blessed Easter celebrating Jesus arising from the grave. This has not been one of the best Holy Weeks that I have seen in my life time. Our country is in trouble and all we can do for now is to ask God to help us.
I am also hoping to getting back to reading the blogs I like to follow next week. In the meantime have a blessed week-end.
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 