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.
To add to my previous post this morning, we just finished working on the mattress. For some reason Heartland (who manufactures the Mallard trailer) put a King Size Mattress instead of a Queen Size. Camping World would not trade for a Queen without charging us up to $400 so we were considering looking elsewhere, but Tuesday evening when I was taking my Shower a light bulb went on – “Why it cut it down to Queen Size” it is only foam! We have done this many times with foam for our bed in the house.
So this morning we worked on the mattress issue. It is a well made double foam mattress with a wonderful zipper mattress cover with a zipper. Before I realized it had a zipper, I figured Clay can cut it down to Queen (he uses an electric knife) and I would adjust the mattress cover. We had a topper that we always took along when we stayed in hotels, so we added it to the bed. Now we have an 8 inch mattress that is even more comfortable. I will be ordering a Queen Size mattress cover and may be able to use the King Size cover on our bed in the house. It would virtually impossible to reduce the current one down to size and it would be too small for the 8 inch mattress now.
Before:
After:
I made this quilt in 2016-2017 timeframe and Rebecca quilted it for me earlier this year. Perfect quilt for the grey interior in the RV.
Next on the list, Clay will be working on the mini couch to adjust the back of the chair. The back sits too far back to be comfortable for us. This picture was taken when we were first looking at it on the showroom floor.
I will post more another day – I am so PO’d at WordPress. I have no idea where they are saving my drafts! I have wasted 2 hours on this short post just trying to find what I had written only to have it go into space.
Greetings from Number 60 Day of 110-117 degree heat! What a lovely summer we have had! Personally, if not for the mosquitos in Alaska, I would move there! LOL We have survived so far. Cabin fever was difficult to deal with, but we have found a solution!
I have absolutely nothing to show for HQAL, nor knitting, quilting, are doing anything else but the following for the last week, and more to come for a few days. (You will understand when you read the next paragraph).
Last Sunday at 1:00PM Clay came into my ‘play room’ talking about how we really need to take a trip to Sierra Vista, Arizona this November (when it is cooler – like 50 in the day and 20 at night)! We discussed how our world has changed and I told him that I did not want to drive and have to stop at motels where we would most likely lose our lives, get sick, have our Navigator stolen, all the wonderful things that happen in the new world we live in. So we began talking about purchasing a smaller travel trailer (we sold our 36 foot rig in late 2016).
We had traveled from 2000 thru 2016 each winter and I so enjoyed it, getting away from the day to day things and out in the world.
Friday we closed the deal on a 2023 Mallard 22 foot Travel Trailer that has power stabilizers and hook up that will make it easier for us to do the set up and take downs. This trailer is one that Clay will not be re-modeling. It is set up perfectly with a King Size bed, 3 burner stove, Microwave and oven and a full size Refrigerator. The bathroom is one larger than most.
I do not have a lot of time this morning to go into more detail, but here is a picture of the trailer after we arrived home Friday afternoon in the 113 degree heat. I was able to back it in with Clay’s assistance. On the way home we both had turns driving in traffic which was great. The Navigator pulls it like there is nothing there. That was a good feeling.
She will be named 409.4, as she is the 4th trailer that we have had since we retired in 1999.
More will follow later as there is much to do early this morning! Have a wonderful week.
Greetings from Hell! Or at least it is as hot as Hell! I am glad that we are half way through with August and am wishing for a nice Hurricane to hit the Gulf Coast south of us so that we will get a lot of rain from the North side of the Hurricane! Can you tell how I am feeling? Right now I have a very cynical attitude. I know that our 5 acres have not moved from the United States, but when I go out the gate and enter into a country I am not familiar with, it is no fun – that includes weather, grocery store shopping, fuel, and weaponizing our Judicial System! And nothing goes right – no matter what one is dealing with anymore.
I also know the experience I had in May with the quilt show has impacted my desire to make quilts, but I keep on plugging away, very much aware that this horrible 2 months of 110+ temperatures is impacting my moods.
Enough of that! I have now finished Dresden Heaven.
I also have completed Double Hourglass.
I am glad that I have both quilt tops quilted and now ready to go forward with Churn Dash blocks soon! It really is better to quilt my quilt tops as soon as I finish them rather than leaving them in the “to quilt” stack only to become UFO’s.
Next a small update on my knitting. I have 4 more knit/purl rows and then I will change over to 28 rows of knit only. Even though I had problems getting back to knitting it has been worth it. I have both of President Trump’s books and thought I would add him and the roses that Clay bought me to brighten up my day!
I do not have any more quilt tops to machine quilt (do have about 10 to hand quilt when I feel like it) so it is time now to finish up In the Garden and continue working on my knitting.
I have finished the bunny blocks and working on the center block and the other 4 blocks. I have a “tentative” goal to try to finish up by the end of August. We shall see.
Mary Brown is an applique quilt that I started a couple of years ago – check it out here. I have 16 blocks completed, but there are many more blocks to applique should I decide to complete the project. I may work on it after In The Garden is finished.
Well, I will take my cynical and negative attitude into the house now. Have a wonderful week-end and enjoy whatever makes you happy!
I have had about 4 days or maybe a few more since the 100+++++ hit South Texas in mid June where I had no desire to do anything. I guess this is what is called Cabin Fever!. I believe I have found an answer for me to get over Ground Hog 100 PLUS (like 116) degree weather days!
Each morning I do my workout and then sit in the sun (before 8:30 am) with the portable evaporative cooler blowing on me so that I can smell the fresh air and get my Vitamin D.
Today I have decided to add something different to my Ground Hog Day routine. After breakfast I will set time aside to read my Bill O’Reilly books! I am almost finished with his book on President Trump. Then I by 1:00 I will quilt, knit, or applique and just enjoy the rest of the day!
This afternoon I quilted my Double Hour Glass quilt and tomorrow I will sew the binding on. I am glad that I am keeping on top of my quilts by quilting them before starting another one. I am very pleased with this little lap quilt It is a reversible quilt. I quilted circles to match the pattern in the fabric. My HQ only has a Stitch Regulater and not computerized so to I do free motion quilting . I have some rulers but have never practiced using them. Here are some pictures of the quilt.
Have a great Friday and weekend. We will continue to stay in the House and Studio where we can stay cool!
It has been awhile since I have done an HQAL and a Slow Sunday Stitching post! During the last 6 weeks I had been working on a cap (knitting). I had 26 rows of Knit/Purl and achieved that many and was so excited, BUT, alas I had made some type of error that I could not fix, thus – I am starting over. I had not knitted a cap since 2003. During the last 20 years I have made 2 pair of socks and at least 3 cable scarfs. I never took the time, nor had the time to concentrate on knitting something more complex. I do hope to change this in the near future because I had to start over may times when starting this project because I was out of practice casting on. One thing I have learned now is how to use my ball winder that was purchased in 2016, so it has not been a total loss. This morning I am starting over and as you can see in the picture there is already a mistake when I joined the 96 cast on stitches. Oh well, what can I say!
I have finished quilting Dresden Heaven and have started on hand work on the binding.
I have also worked on the remaining five blocks for In The Garden bunny rabbit quilt. I have a way to go but progress is being made. I am finding out that my hands are developing some arthritis, but maybe it is worse because of the 110+ hot days. The lowest temperature at bedtime is 82 – 84 degrees. OH FOR SNOW!
I finished putting my Double Hourglass quilt together Friday and yesterday I made the back. I had a small piece of the fabric that was used to make this quilt and wanted to showcase it on the back to illustrate how this fabrics could make a unique looking quilt. This quilt turned out great and will be a very nice lap blanket for winter time. She measures 38” x 55”. An odd size, but not being a scrappy quilter I did the setting to match the original fabric which is graduated in colors.
Double Hourglass quilt backing. The border had to be 10 inches more than the top for long arm quilting. When I load this baby it will be on a very quiet day in order to align the quilt top with the back. This time I will not be making the mistake of not having the back on the lower take up roller. I have done this too many times this year, so now I have a full sheet of what “Longarm Dummies” have to read before loading a quilt! LOL
This last week I also had a vision of organizing the part of the Den we never use. Like any other Knitters, Quilters, Cross Stitchers, Appliquers, Hand Quilters and lap hooking hobbiest’s I had things fairly neatly arranged here and there, but wanted to have my projects in organized areas according to the hobby. Here is what I came up with and I love it. The Sterlite cabinets are from Walmart (cheapest price) and the laminate top came from Amazon. All delivered without having to go shopping in the 110+ weather!
No luck in selling my Z44 Grace hand quilting frame, so it was moved to the back wall out of the way. It provides me with a place to hang my quilts ready for hand quilting. And of course the bike that I ride that goes absolutely NO WHERE!
Today is for being lazy and working on my projects. I want to get at least 4 rows going on the cap (after I fix the joining boo boo and do some hand applique on In My Garden. Maybe next month I will have a quilt in my new quilting hoop to show off! (Fingers crossed)
Have a great week, enjoy cool weather if you are lucky to have it!
This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below. Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, Connie, and Cathie.
PS – I need to update my “Linking To”. Maybe this week! LOL
Greetings, no stress, no problems, only fun and happy! Been a long long hot summer so far, but it has also been a very no-stress (life wise) life in a long time.
I have been re-arranging our Den. I have been unsuccessful in selling my Z-44, so we moved it to the end of the Den and I will use it to drape my quilt tops that will be hand quilted on my new Dutch Hoop.
Our Den is about 45’ long and 15’ wide. Really enough for 2 different rooms, but we built it like this in 1997. As most know I love quilting, hand applique, knitting, embroidery, cross stitch, and lap hooping. When you have a lot of hobbies like these, little piles of different projects can be PHD (piled high and deeper in corners). So while riding my bike I started imagining how I could solve a “small clutter” problem, but yet maximize use of the space available in the portion of the Den we never use. Neither Clay nor I like clutter so here is my solution to become more organized in the Den.
I purchased 4 Sterilite 4 drawer cabinets from Walmart, and 2 laminated black 24” x 60” tops from Amazon. I first started looking for “real furniture” but the drawers are so small and I did not want to spend a fortune for something that was not really worth the inflated costs. The drawers are 25” wide and 16” depth and 7” deep! Great storage. I have assigned one for each hobby and other things. The table top is going to be great to place the project I am working on in the evening rather than on the floor by my chair or in the end table by my recliner. I am so pleased with this set up. Now I will label each cabinet to make it very easy to find my projects quickly. I have 2 of these cabinets in one of the Studio rooms and they hold patterns. I love them.
I finished Dresden Heaven Saturday, so the next project was to work with my Hourglass blocks. I am just not a “scrappy” quilter, so I really had to ponder on what I would do with the blocks I had made. I keep looking at the fabric and thought, “why not set it like the fabric”! And that is just what I did! Here is a picture of the fabric:
And the resultant quilt!
It will make a great lap quilt when quilted! There are so many intersections that will be bulky and I will have to really be careful when quilt it. But it has turned out brighter and prettier than I anticipated! I am happy, another UFO finished.
Next will be the 80 Churn Dash blocks that I made last July/August 2022. I have no idea how I will set them into a top. Could become a very large quilt or two smaller ones. Time will tell.
I have been working on my knitted cap (you know the one that I re-started 20 times). I had an issue in one area and tried to fix it – did not happen. Now I will be learning how to use my Knit Picks Ball Winder to clean up this mess and start over. I had not been knitting for a long time, so it has been good practice on knit-purl stitches.
Bunny quilt is coming along. I have the Center block waiting patiently and working on the other remaining block. Hoping to get more done tonight and this week-end as I need to prepare the flowers for the 5 blocks. I will also schedule time to do the hand work on the binding for Dresden Heaven.
Have a wonderful week-end. I see that the weather will be 106 all next week (we are having so much fun, but we could use about 20” of rain and 10 inches of snow this winter) I think that this extreme weather makes my bones hurt, but I just keep on keeping on!
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 