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.
May all your days be Merry and Bright, and all your Christmas’ be Blessed
I started a quilt in 2018 called York Lodge. The pattern came from a Quiltmania book. You can see the start of the project here, and here, here, and here, It was a labor of Love (Hum). From 2018 until a few months ago, York Lodge patiently waited through the thick and thin of life until this October when I asked Rebecca to save me and quilt 12 quilts for me. The very first one that she has completed is the infamous York Lodge! It is a beauty and will be shown next year if I can find a Quilt Show to enter.
Here he is in all his Glory. I am sure that Rebecca will be doing a post on it and when she does I will link everyone to the time involved in producing this beauty! THANK YOU REBECCA FOR A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS PRESENT.
I do believe I have a winner here. I will not get the quilt back until January 2023, but that is fine. I just cannot get over the beautiful work that Rebecca does with a quilt!
Have a wonderful Christmas Eve as I will now start adding borders to Ms Potts quilt, load it for long arm quilting (nothing compared to Rebecca) and try to get the 3 wall hanging done on the Domestic today! (Finger’s crossed).
I decided to just lump them altogether! Here we are in the middle of the Deep Freeze for 4 days. But we are lucky, the wind is dying down and the sun is brightly shinning! We might hit 32 between now and 4 and then a nose dive in temps. I am enjoying the day of not keeping my schedule to walk each day. I have been walking and quilting since Monday and today is binding day and doing 3 pieces on the Domestic Husqvarna D1! Hopefully I will have all done by the time to head into the house. (You know me and goals – especially when we have weather extremes). It is hard to believe that about 6 months ago the Temperature was 115 – now it is 17…. That is a 98 degree change – What a weather change!!!!!
I started with Quilt Number of 13 that required long arm quilting. (I thought it was 10 – think they are growing in the other room). I first quilted a practice quilt on Sunday. Nothing to show on that one but I just need to add a border (to be done totally by machine)!
Quilt Number 1 was loaded on the long arm on Monday and I was very happy to get started! I had decided to stay with the Manual setting and get away from the Regulator and definitely will not be buying a new longarm! Things started well and after finishing the first row, I decided to check things out! In my pea brain I decided to slow the machine down to “50” instead of “60”. BIG BIG MISTAKE. It looked like this….
Until I looked at the back and the tension was a mess! So I ended up with this…..
And then this…..
It took over 2 hours to rip, clean threads off the top, batting, and back, and then prepared the quilt for re-quilting – this time I changed the speed back to “60”. Then I gave up for the day!
On Tuesday I started again and finished quilting it! I finished the binding Wednesday evening. I call it Floating 4th of July! I made the quilt with Lori’s Land of the Brave QAL! Check it out here. I love this block and called it Floating 4 July Quilt. I was trying to remember where I got the pattern and when I made it – October 2021! What would I do without my posts to refer back to where and when I made a quilt!!!!
Lessons Learned from quilting this quilt!. 1). Never end with piano key borders without doing a Stay Stitching, 2) Do not change the speed of the Manual mode unless you have checked the tensions. 3) Check back to see when I made the quilt top and 4) Do not try to “practice” on a quilt when one is not capable! (Top and bottom border)
Quilt Number 2 is one that I made in 2002 or 2003 or there about! It was from a Fons and Porter magazine. This time I learned to leave the Stitch at “60” and basted with smaller stitches at the top and sides. I knew it was about an inch off from being “squared” but did not worry about it. I know there are some Moda fabrics in it but not sure about the rest. I am calling it “The Bunny Quilt”. The quilt measures 53” x 63”.
I am getting better with the Manual Mode…
Quilt Number 3 is a smaller quilt that Jaydee and I were making together a few years back called Ms Potts. Baltimore Applique Society (BAS) was having a LONG quilt along and we decided to join in. We started in late 2015 and quit in 2016 where my blocks sat around for awhile. We both became bored with the quilt and decided to quit toward the end of 2016. About a year ago maybe 2 years ago I put the blocks together and it has been hanging there for me to hand quilt – won’t happen. So now I have 2 borders to add to the quilt and she will be loaded and quilted tomorrow. The quilt will end up approximately 53” or 54” Square! I will NOT try to quilt around the applique. I will quilt a meandering stitch. I am just not proficient in custom work. Maybe next year I will take some time to work on that. This is not a Show Quilt, just one that Jaydee and I made together. Ah the memories! I should be finished with this one by tomorrow evening! Great Christmas Eve present for me! 3 of 13 will be done!
Before I leave all, here are some pictures of our cold winter weather!
We got out to the Studio about 6:30 AM – it was 17 with wind chill of 6! This is ICE inside my windows, not outside!
Clay fed the birds and they are still eating. This is the bird bath! He was able to crack the ice in a small area so they could get some cold water! It is 3PM and still frozen!
I am wishing all a very Merry Christmas this year. I have made peace within myself about our neighbor Mark Crist’s passing, about the way our Government is killing America, and the Illegal Aliens taking over our Country. I have, and will continue to do so every day, to give it to God. There is absolutely nothing I can do about the people in Power who absolutely hate America. They will be judged by God at his time and place, not me!
Here is a saying that can help, although there is no forgiveness for what is happening, just turning it over to God. There are many times I refer to this saying.
I want to enjoy the days I have left in this world peacefully and the only way I know how is to just say “OK God, this one is yours, I do not want it anymore”. I have quit watching the news, but do keep up with it through the Internet. America will never be able to totally recoup from this disaster, but the majority of us are God fearing people and know that he has a plan and we need to just wait and let it play out!
Notice – this is a Two for One Post – Saving on your time! LOL Check out other HQAL Stitchers and of course Slow Sunday Stitching with Kathy!
How to begin,,,, Well Looking back over this year, I started with Bronchitis, still I was hoping for a smooth year. Hum, that did not happen and neither have any of my goals for the last six weeks happened! BUT, NEVER FEAR, we only have 13 (oops unlucky number) days left of this tremendously wonderful year to go. I have started on part of my handwork goals and SHOCK AND AWE – I have loaded my practice quilt and about half way through it. So it looks like the last 13 days (oops unlucky number again) will be peaceful and quiet and I will finish it today and hopefully load a REAL quilt.
With that lovely opening statement, walking was pleasant at 41 degrees this morning. I tried coming to the Studio and to have a cup of Java before the walk, but I will confess I am going to try to get the walk done before Java! I do believe that the prediction for the SA area is FREEZING COLD – 18 Degrees on Friday with little change through Christmas. All of the cold weather makes me want to just sit and sew on my hand projects, but until I finish my lovely practice quilt and a REAL quilt loaded, no hand work during the day. So with all this blabbering, here is what I have done (please do not laugh).
Practice quilt halfway finished (no gifting here – probably a nice mat for clay when he is working on something outside). I wanted to make sure I picked a fabric that I would never need (Kona Orange) and some beautiful Blue thread that I could see the stitches. I did have an eye opener when I started working on the quilt. The machine was just a humming and stitches, circles, etc were doing great. Then I realized I was not using the Regulator. (I wonder if this happened because I turned 78 on Halloween?). So I put it on that setting and talk about seeing a difference. Circles were not evenly stitched, meandering was not very smooth, etc. I have a feeling that the Regulator is not working properly (probably just needs an adjustment) so I am going to go to the manual setting and quilt my quilts. This last year when I was cleaning up a lot of UFO quilts that needed quilting, I thought I noticed problems but figured it was me. Well, it is not me, but I do not want to purchase a new machine, (OR DO I). I purchased the machine in 2005 and it really works great – no computer, etc, I have not priced the new ones, but do not know what I would do with my old one, so I will use it until it just falls apart, or I fall apart! Cheaper that way and that way I can justify sending quilts to Rebecca to do the hard work! Yea a 2022 decision made! Besides, I bet they are all plastic parts made in China.
Next (and don’t laugh) I started Block 8 of Moda Holiday SAL…. of course I realized that I left a leaf off the background (fixing it after this post). See the “leaf”(?) on the bottom left corner with the needle and to the right inside the heart there is a big space….. Need I say more? (Another 78 screw up!).
And here we are with In My Garden blocks. There are 4 identical blocks and the 5th will be the center block and have nice size carrots to applique. I am doing all the stems on the 5 blocks and yesterday I cut out all the leaves for the blocks 1 thru 4. A total of 56 leaves I will prepare the Flowers after all Stems and Leaves have been applique.
A blogger had a link to a Harriet Hargrove book on Borders. There was a picture of a quilt in the book with what I call “ribbon border” that I want to make sometime (maybe on the 6 Medallion blocks that are still waiting for me to make a quilt with them). I showed the picture to Jaydee and she directed me to another Border book by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey and told me that it was available on Amazon (used of course). So I will have plenty of examples of borders and directions to chose from. Here is a picture of the quilt. I am not sure, but I think THINK that the border is made with Squares in a Square! The effect is made by color/fabric placement. The block is a Snail’s Trail block.
Here’s hoping that everyone stays well this Holiday Season so that everyone’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve can be enjoyed.
I think my 2023 New Year’s Resolution will only be that my Walk is Number 1 and after that each day whatever happens happens! I am going to work very hard in getting 10 quilts quilted by New Year’s Eve. Then I can say I had a very productive year! (PS – the “baby” quilt is on hold for January 2023! No Squirrels are allowed between now and then.
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 and Tracy
Weather Alert – it has been Spring here for the last 12 days, now we go back to winter for the rest of the year starting tomorrow. I am looking forward to some winter days ahead and have decided to make some Banana Bread and Carrot Bread this next week. Then I have promised Clay that I will make some homemade Chili and fix some enchiladas for him. I am thinking about baked chicken and scalloped potatoes for Christmas Lunch! We shall see if I get it all done!
Happy Day! Yesterday the problems with my new Apple Watch have been resolved! Thanks to James at Apple Support. For the last 6 weeks I have spent most of my time trying to find someone who has the initiative to really dig into the problem. Yesterday stumbled across 2 individuals who worked on the phone connection issue (Version) and Apple and by 6:00 pm all things are fixed! This is after returning 2 of the new watches (2 from Verizon and 1 from Apple), the problem was not with the hardware (watch), but with the way the watch works with LTE connection and Wi-Fi. I am very happy!
Weather Alert – it has been Spring here for the last 12 days, now we go back to winter for the rest of the year starting tomorrow. I am looking forward to some winter days ahead and have decided to make some Banana Bread and Carrot Bread this next week. Then I have promised Clay that I will make some homemade Chili and fix some enchiladas for him.
With all the interruptions it will not shock you that I have not completed many of my goals for my applique, quilting, or anything to do with fun. Here are my weekly accomplishments.
New tires on the Navigator – Done
Detail the inside of the Town Car – Done (Hard physical work)
Make a zillion calls to Verizon and Apple – DONE (Mental wipeout days)
Detail the inside of the Navigator – Done (Hard physical work)
More calls to Verizon and Apple – Completed on 13 December 2022!
Sleep well Tuesday night – Done!
Exercise – Missed 3 days this week – Done with excuses/interruptions for the month
OH Yes – I have completed tracing all the blocks (5) for In My Garden and did applique some stems on one of the blocks – Done
When I woke up this morning I just kept thinking it was Saturday – you know the feeling when we were all still working and on a Friday we had finished a project and had the week-end to look forward for rest and relaxation – WELL, that is how I feel today, but it is only Wednesday! I feel free from Unforeseen Requirements – 18 days before 2023, and I am happy to see the new year come. Maybe it will be a slow going year, especially since there is no place to travel to during the Flu Season! Of course one must think about the state of Biden Country when traveling with all the uninvited illegal aliens. But I will say I love Elon Musk! He is a true Patriot!
Here are some goals for me this next week and through the end of the year!.
Load a practice quilt!
Quilt as many quilts as I can (hopefully 10 by New Year’s Eve!)
Start on a baby quilt
Stick to a goal to work on applique and binding of the 4 quilts in the evening.
Walk every day the rest of December!
I am sad to see that Linda will not be doing To Do Tuesday anymore after 27 December. I would love to take the Host duties over, BUT, until I know that life is really going to calm down with fewer interruptions, I cannot do it. It would be nice to see this weekly link up party going forward into 2023. Maybe there are 4 quilters who could do one Linky Party once a month with one point of contact who would provide a link to the person hosting it each week.
I personally thank Linda for all the time she spent providing all Quilters an opportunity to showcase our work. Hats off to you for all the hours that you gave us. It is appreciated.
Have a wonderful week as it appears this month is flying by enjoy stitching!
This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate ne 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 and Tracy
I am so late in doing a post, reading everyone’s post that I finally had to just clean. Out the over 100 emails and hope to be on top of things. Tuesday we took care of the Navigator tires and added a new battery to it along with the Town Car! We spent some time with the General Manager of North Park Lincoln discussing some positive issues. He is the definitely the right person for the job. He has a wonderful personality and we enjoyed the detail discussions we had regarding our concerns. NP should be very pleased to have such a wonderful Representative of their Company! Thank you Diego!
After my 1.5 mile yesterday (in summertime humidity) I had the brainy idea to clean the entire interior and shampoo the carpet in the Town Car. After breakfast (which was more like lunch at 11:30) I did not move out of my recliner the rest of the day! I guess at 78, doing a massive clean like that after walking might just have been a bit much! But then I refuse to get old, maybe a little stupid, but not old! LOL. Next cleaning will be the Navigator – probably on Saturday! I am such the neat perfectionist that I have always kept the vehicles washed and vacuumed, you won’t find trash, or other things in the vehicles. But for some reason (we all know why) I had just not had the energy or desire to keep up with keeping leather protector on the seats, etc. But from now on – no excuses! I still wonder what I will be doing when I hit 80!
I am still having issues with my Series 8 watch – what a mess. Apple will be sending me watch number 3 as they believe it is a hardware issue, so while I was resting up from my cleaning job on the car, I spent time a (4 hours total) working with Verizon and Apple. The problem is that the watch keeps breaking connection from the Verizon Network. Only me! But if you ever need advice on managing your iPhone or Apple Watch – call me as I have become an expert!
I have finished my surprise quilt that began with the one block and Block 7 of Moda Holiday Stitch-A-Long. I had no idea what to name it so it is Nan’s Geometric Quilt. It measures close to 60” x 60”. I have also finished tracing the background fabric for 5 blocks for In My Garden. I will be working on the stems first on all blocks and then progress to adding the flowers. Bunny blocks are still waiting for me to get with the program!
For the remainder of the time until next Tuesday I will be working on the long arm and in the meantime I have another baby blanket to make!
I am taking the day off from my walk! (It is be kind to the elderly). Have a wonderful week (what is left of it) and a great week-end. ME – I am waiting for winter to come back!
Greetings TDT participants. Weather is nuts – yesterday walked in shorts and a T-shirt, this morning I had on pants and long sleeve shirt. Mr Fibro and Mr Bradycardia were visiting me today so I only was able to walk 10 minutes! No sun for the last 3 days – hoping that the sun comes back. This week weather prediction is 60’s for the morning walk (shorts again) and 75+ in the afternoon.
I have great excuses for doing a late post this time and just had to document the lovely week. It helps to be able to go back and see why I did not get these 2 projects finished by Tuesday!
Let’s start with this week starting with last Sunday! The last of the interruptions in my life from my neighbor (of whom I have never considered a “friend”) is called DONE! (Some people need to accept responsibility for their lives). That chapter in my life is so closed! Whew!
Monday did not go as planned either, neither did Tuesday morning (Hearing Aid issues, but now completely fixed with the upgraded Firmware!) But Wednesday and Thursday morning were heavenly! Peaceful and fairly productive and a great FT with Kathy on Thursday morning!!
Now let’s move to Thursday! I had placed a special order with Whole Foods for my special mayo. The order was a week late and I wanted to pick it up before the weather turned on Friday morning. So Clay and I decided to take the Navigator for our little outing to SA. They say everything happens for a reason and Thursday afternoon was one of those excises in proving the saying is true. About 20 miles from the house, the “low tire pressure”, etc light came on — well our current tires are filled with Nitrogen (big rip off) and the original tires that came with the vehicle (6 years go, only 20,000 miles on the vehicle) but a couple of months ago they had advised us to get new tires because of their age! We decided on the way back home to change to the Town Car that we would go ahead with new tires and quit using Nitrogen and get back to just using air in our tires. Bottom line on this experience, we are scheduled for new top of the line Michelin Tires to be installed on Tuesday and between some negotiation between the Dealer and Discount Tire, we saved over $400.00 and going with Discount Tire and and a front end alignment! (Just $1,450.00)
The Whole Food errand was accomplished but on the way home the battery light came on in the Town Car! By then I was really not a happy camper and poor Clay had to listen to my muttering (well, maybe a little louder than muttering) all the way home. I stopped at O’Reilly’s Parts for a battery check and it was just about gone, but it had not been quite 3 years (2 months away) since we purchased their battery and they have a warranty that you will get a brand new battery if the battery goes belly up within that a timeframe. This is the good luck part – we now have a brand new battery priced at $286.00 for F-R-E-E! SO THE SAYING EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON IS TRUE! Now both vehicles are fixed and no more vehicle issues after we get the new tires and front end alignment.
After all the “Unforeseen Requirements” during the week I have managed to finish 2 things. I finished the surprise quilt and Block 7 of Moda Holiday Stitch-A-Long. My quilt is rather unusual as I designed it by replicating one block that was made 12 years (when I was taking an on-line color play class) 3 times – and 2 of them involved reverse engineering in order to obtain the design I wanted! That took time and was a great challenge! This is what I started with!
And here is what I ended up with! I am naming it Nan’s Geometrical Quilt. The quilt is approximately 60″ x 60″. Tilt your head to the left to see another design of the quilt.
The next finish was finished 2 times! Here is what happened – check the pictures!
Yes I ripped out the middle part with the red thread and replaced it with the green. Looking at the picture there is a small boo boo left that I just realized – Can you see it! (Take home test).
Between now and Tuesday I am hoping to have cleaned out my email box for the week and provide some comments to all the beautiful quilting projects going on and this afternoon I will be working on In My Garden quilt 5 remaining blocks (applique). The Bunnies are patiently waiting for me to hurry up and finish them!
Well, this is it for the “week” and for TDT on the 6th my goal is to 1) Post on Tuesday, 2) be finished preparing the blocks for In My Garden, 3) have a ‘practice’ quilt ready for the long arm starting on Wednesday. (Any bets?).
Have a wonderful week stitching! I am going to plan on it starting Wednesday morning.
Greetings. I have to admit today is National Fibromyalgia Day for me! DARN! I only made a 10 minute walk and this is just not me! But the good news is it is weather related! Yesterday I walked in short shorts and a T-Shirt! TODAY? Damp, chilly, and had long pants and long sleeve shirt. What a roller coaster in the big LV as far as weather goes! Bradycardia (slow heart rate) is also visiting, but nothing wrong, just things get worse as our poor body changes. I am so happy that I have kept up with my 1.5 miles each day (Yes – I reached the 20/21 minute goal this week). Otherwise I feel that I would be just sitting all day long in a chair and unable to do anything! This coming week should be more stable – 60’s in the morning and 77+ in the afternoon and hoping some sun! Better week down the road.
For those of you who MIGHT make little “oops” like me, you will get a laugh out of this one. I worked hard to finish Block 7 of Moda Holiday Stitch A Long, isn’t it pretty?
YES, I just loved working in the red thread I totally did to recheck the pattern that I was to use Green Thread in the middle. Ever rip out embroidery? FUN!
Last night I was able to redo the middle! Made a huge difference! (Ignore the blue line on the right – that happened when I was labeling the block and did not catch it soon enough to remove it! Ah! The life of a Perfectionist! I see another boo boo but it is easy to fix LATER! Can you see it? (Take home test).
Well, this is all of the hand work that I have been working on. Today I will be working on my In My Garden by Dawn Heese. I have 5 blocks remaining to prepare for applique. That means I will working on tracing the background fabrics and cutting out the flowers. Lazy table work!
I just might get this done and then I will start on doing some binding of my 4 quilts and some applique to keep from getting bored doing the binding.
I am thinking of starting a knitting, embroidery, cross stitch group at our local Library. I am hoping that someone in this area is an expert knitter and will assist me in becoming better at knitting! Hand work is so much fun and would be enjoyable to find some happy stitchers.
Have a wonderful Sunday and a great stitching week.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We had either cloudy sky’s or rain for the last 12 days and yesterday the sun came out. Great mood lifter. Today it will be a little warmer and the Sun is beaming down. Time for a 30 minute sitting for some natural Vitamin D!
I have been working on some finishes! I finished Boo’s and Bat’s and it is now in a nice frame sitting on my desk in the house!
Another project that really took some time was putting the binding on 4 King Size quilts. The hand stitching will start soon so I will have more hand stitching to show off soon. The largest was close to 108″ x 108″. Such fun! If you wish to go down memory land on this project click here and here!
I am working another block for Moda Christmas Stitch A Long – getting there! Can you find the place where I left off something! LOL
I also found some more UFO’s to play with – working on color ways! To see the background on this click here! Here is the one I selected to work on first before I start my Longarm quilting practice quilt! The block is 25 1/2″ unfinished. My idea is to make 3 more of these blocks, put it together as a lap quilt and get it quilted!
I made one block identical to the above block. BUT now I have to “reverse engineer” the next 2 blocks to make the design I want! Talk about brain draining! I have the pattern that I used to make the above block but not in reverse. Happy Happy Day! But it is all fun for a quilter to have a challenge! I have all the squares and HST’s cut and ready to be sewn together. I would have finished today, BUT my favorite neighbor need some assistance with some paperwork. I need to go into business! LOL
For now this is all I have to show. I want to finish the Moda SAL by New Year’s Eve. That way I can say it took me a year and a month to finish the blocks – fast stitcher I am! LOL
Well, have a great week. Grocery shopping on the calendar for Tuesday – probably be lucky to find all I want to purchase and will probably drop $500! Stocking up before there is nothing left since the Railroad will be on extended Striking leave! How sweet it is to be able to stop a country in it’s tracks and give us a real good Recession! Have not had one in a long time – time all the youngsters feel how it is to be in one!
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 and Tracy
Fifty-nine years ago Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F. Kenned in Dallas, Texas. I wonder how many people really remember this President who said, “Ask not what your Country can do for you, Ask what can you do for your Country”! I was 19 years old and remember exactly where I was when this happened. I worked at Texas Gold Stamp Redemption Center. (Younger generations are scratching their heads on this job) living in Corpus Christi, Texas. At the time I had bias against the President because he was a Catholic and my bias came from my Father who did not want a Catholic President. How life has changed. My Father was born in 1908, so he knew all about the Kennedy background. Anyway, I wanted to just post a little remembrance for him as the only one left in his family is his daughter Caroline.
Today I did my walk with a goal of not worrying how long it takes, but can I make the 1.5 mile. Mind over matter always helps so I made it and will now work on doing the 1.5 each day without laying off a day and then in a couple of weeks maybe I can work on the speed! Either way, I need to get off this lazy streak which is attributed to no sunny days, which equates to less Vitamin D for me!
The trip to Rockport is off due to the Flu Season hitting hard. I attribute this bad Flu season to all the 5 million who are illegally visiting our country! Remember they come from places where there are no vaccines of any type! Thank you Brandon. (oops broke my rule).
I finished 2 projects this last week! Boo’s and Bat’s and binding on 4 quilts (VERY LARGE QUILTS) check the details out here! I have the sweetest hubby – he ordered a frame for my B&B’s and framed it for me! Yea! Now to get the matching quilt quilted!
Boo’s and Bat’s November 2022 Cross Stitch
Now to a learning lesson from 2010. I entered a Storm At Sea Quilt in a quilt show. I had used 3 colors in the quilt, white, purple, and a light purple.
Honorable Mention at New Braunfels Show
I received an Honorable Mention but alas, another Storm At Sea won the Blue Ribbon even though my quilt was well made it, was lacking in color and texture. Ah, the pitfalls in being a Traditional Quilter! This experience made me want to learn more about using color for movement and texture in my quilts. (Pre-2010, 2 or 3 color quilts were still very popular.) This was before the “real scrappy” look arrived along with the “Modern” (2013) quilts! If I wanted to stay competitive in quilt shows I had to take the time to work with the color wheel. In the meantime, machine applique and long arm quilting began to take hold in the quilting world, making it difficult for the Traditional Quilter to compete. Now it is all about technique, color, texture, and its affect on movement in the quilt, but mostly quilts are judged by long arm quilting. Hand quilting is now an ancient technique. When I started quilting, Traditional Quilting was being challenged by the Artisans who were moving into our little world, i.e., Kaffe Fassett! I think they have won!
In 2011, I signed up for an on-line class using color and texture in quilts. We were challenged to make 7 blocks using the Ives Color Wheel to practice using color placement for movement and texture. I never did anything with the blocks all these years other than to take them off the hanger and look at them trying to decide what to do with them.
This morning I set my goals for the rest of the year and to challenge myself on adding something different other than catching up on my long arm quilting. After my walk as I came into the Studio I noticed my 7 Color blocks hanging on the “to be quilted” rack. Again I took them to the design wall. Yes, this would be my challenges for the rest of the year – to make some 50″ x 50″ Lap Quilts out of them. Not all at once (tempting) but maybe one a week or every other week. It will challenge my skills in color and design. Here are the 7 Medallion Centers made in 2011 that will hopefully end up as comfortable lap quilts. They will be fun to play with and but not as intense as My Summertime Blues ended up being.
I have an idea of what to do with the above block – it will be another Surprise quilt! I am thinking that I will tackle this one first!
Goals for this coming week.
Work on my new Surprise quilt
Load a practice quilt on the long arm.
Work on Moda Xmas Stitch-A-Long Block 7 (I think)
MAYBE start working on binding one of the 4 quilts in waiting!
Menu for Thanksgiving will be Meatloaf with Potato Salad for Clay and I will have scalloped potatoes. Dessert? Hershey’s Chocolate Kisses.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and be thankful for God’s Gift of Life!
Pre winter has arrived in South Texas. 40’s the last couple of days with nice heavy sprinkles and more on the way. It would not bother me is the weather stayed this way for 6 months. I am enjoying walking in cooler weather also. I took today off just because I wanted to – how about that for just doing what I wanted to do! LOL!
This has been a very quiet week for both of us. We had made reservations for Rockport, Texas, but then we found out that the lovely Flu season is flaring up in the area, along with San Antonio area towns. So that trip has been cancelled, since last December we came home from Rockport with a horrible case of Bronchitis or the Flu – whichever it was not COVID. It took me over a month to get back on my feet and Clay had to sleep in the recliner for 2 weeks until they gave him some great cough medication to help. We decided it would not be worth the trip to get sick again.
I have finished my 2nd cross stitch project – Boo’s and Bat’s. I changed the border on the pattern and am very pleased with the outcome. I now have a quilt that matches my cross stitch project! Clay ordered a 10” frame for me today!
Now to move on to the Binding Story! In 2014 I sent 7 quilts to a Longarm Quilter that I had known for a few years. All I will say is that it did not work well for me. End of that part of the story. I made a stupid decision to let her sew the binding on my quilts using her long arm!!! I did not do any research on this technique and I have really paid for being so dumb thinking that it would work.
A few years back I started doing the handwork on one of the quilts only to find out that because I cut a 2” strip for my bindings and the fact that she sewed a 1/4” when attaching the binding, I had a serious problem. Bottom line – I left 4 of the quilts in the closet for 8 years!
So this was the week for me to correct the problem on all 4 quilts. The quilts were all King Size quilts and very hard to manage. and very heavy! The first step was to rip the existing binding off 3 of the quilts. I had not let her sew the binding on it the 4th one! Whew! As I was sewing the new binding onto the first one, I realized that the quilt was not squared after it was quilted. So each quilt had to be checked and trimmed before continuing on with making new binding for all 4 quilts. In total, I made close to 1800 inches of binding for all four quilts.
This afternoon I finished the last quilt and now I have plenty of hand work to do, which should keep me from becoming bored for at least a month! I have learned another lesson – the hard way.
Tomorrow I will designate it as a day to just enjoy my quilting room and prepare a practice quilt (muslin top and bottom) and load it on my long arm. It feels so good to have achieved my goal. I hope to have them all completed by the end of December, or sooner, as Rebecca will be sending me more either in late December of first of January. Believe you me, I am in no hurry for anymore quilts to make binding for! BREAK TIME!
Have a great week and enjoy quilting, or whatever you love to do.
It is a great day today – Temperatures in the 40’s and 50’s! Yea. It is nice to walk in cold weather rather than 78 degrees at 6:30 in the morning. Life is good, the Country sucks, but we are alive and well, and life goes on! That is all I have to say as I am now just going to get off the roller coaster and watch all the Swamp Creatures to continue to ruin our Country! Signing off Politics for awhile. Football, Gunsmoke, quilting, knitting, cross stitch, and embroidery is much better for getting a good night’s sleep.
OK, here is where I was Sunday as far as my projects are moving along. Today I am happy to report I am more than 1/2 way finished with Boo’s and Bats “frame” and have 1/2 of the binding sewn on one of the 4 quilts that I have to complete the binding on.
Yesterday I found left over fabric for Safe Haven that I can use if I need to recut binding for this quilt. The person who quilted the quilt did the binding and it was a disaster, so it needs to be ripped off and replaced. I am happy that I save all scraps from my quilts. Pays off!
This quilt was the first of 3 quilts done by that Quilter that I realized I had a problem with her sewing on the binding (I still had to hand sew the binding down). I cannot remember the pattern (too many years gone by). It is approximately 108″ x 108″ and I ripped the binding off about 3 months ago and now I have made over 420 inches of new binding (same brown color as in the quilt). Kathy mentioned to me about making Continuous Binding. I began to remember when that technique came around in the early 2000’s. After reviewing the YouTube and the technique I remember why I never pursued that! I cut 12 strips @ 2 and 1/4 inches, sewed them together diagonally, and pressed the strips in half. The entire process took about 1 and 1/2 hours. I was not interested in cutting strips with scissors. But I thank Kathy for the information to review from the past!
Folk Art Christmas (think this is the name) is another quilt binding to be corrected. I have to be extremely careful because there is no more fabric like it. The fabric line was from Robyn Pandolph from 2002 timeframe. This is another large quilt – probably about 400″ also.
This quilt is an Atkinson Design called Fire Escape. I used batiks for this quilt, and I was smart by not giving the quilter the binding for the quilt. I kept it so it won’t take long to complete this quilt.
My goals for the rest of the week will be to have all bindings on my 4 quilts and Boo’s and Bat’s completed. I would like to have the 4 remaining blocks prepared for In My Garden applique also.
Life around here has come back to sanity (neighbor’s problems solved in a very depressing way). I took down the sign that said, “If you have a problem, call Nanette”. I have learned the lesson to let everyone stand on their own two feet without my assistance!!!!!. Also I had spent the entire time since 4 November 2022 dealing with Apple and Verizon. That was what you call a Massive Stressor, but I have had 3 days to just relax and now I am on the happy road again!
Now for some fun news! We are heading for Rockport, Texas in a few weeks and will stay a week. I am looking forward to being at the Lighthouse on the 3rd floor balcony overlooking the Bay, watching the shrimp boats leaving in early morning and coming in at dusk! We have not been anywhere for a year now and we both are ready to go! I wish we had an acre of land with a small house on it in Rockport – we could go anytime we wanted! But too old for that one, so The Lighthouse it is! Isn’t this enticing?
Rockport at night from the Balcony!
The view of The Lighthouse from their private pier.
This is the new pier (about a mile long) at Fulton Beach. It is a great place for me to get my walking done and not for the faint of heart.
I hope that everyone has a great week and a productive time with your projects. Until next Tuesday.
Happy Sunday! The weather is my kind of weather! 38 this morning with 50% humidity and an entire week of the same – YIPPEE! I can say that I love it! I have been dealing with Verizon everyday this week after we upgraded our phones and my Apple Watch. My neighbor’s problem was resolved Wednesday evening. That was 2 weeks of drama. Life goes on.
Now to what I was able to work on the last 2 weeks (not much). I am almost finished with the border for Boo’s and Bat’s cross stitch! I will complete another orange row and finish with a black one and call it a day on this project!
Rebecca has all 12 quilts to quilt, I have 4 LARGE quilts to bind, and about 15 more for me to quilt. I am sticking with my decision to not make any new quilts the remainder of the year until I finish with all of the above! Kathy reminded me of how to make Continuous Bias Binding. I plan on looking up a video on YouTube today since I will have over 400 inches of binding for each of the King Size quilts that need binding. (Fun in my future). These are quilts that I made in my early days of quilting and they have been very patient waiting for their completion! Each of the quilts have a story, but that will come when I complete them!
This is Safe Haven by Lynette Jennings.
Folk Art Christmas
Fire Escape by Atkinson Designs
This is the no name quilt – as I cannot remember the pattern
I will continue to work on my Moda SAL Xmas embroidery project along with preparing 5 blocks remaining for In My Garden. If only my life would be free from drama and interruptions. I am realizing that I can control some things, but others I cannot not. Life is just like a roller coaster sometimes. I pray for peace and quiet all the time and only get drama. HUM. I remember when I prayed for patience and then God decided to test me on that one. Maybe I won’t pray for peace and quiet! LOL.
I am now going to head out for my morning walk. It is nice and cold so it will be enjoyable, and I can wait until 8:00 AM to do my walk.
Of course I cannot leave without my Election Response: I wish I had the money that was spent to just come away with the status quo at the end. I will accept and go on, but again those who think the Republicans do not stand for Democracy need to look up the meaning of the word in the dictionary. Abortion, I guess that was more important than Freedom, Inflation, oil, diesel, food, interest rates, being able to purchase a home and vehicle, etc. But it is what it is and I know that God has a plan for this Country and I firmly believe that we who love Democracy and the Free Will that God gave us will have to sit back and see how the Voters enjoy living in a 3rd World Country for the next 2 years. The youth of this country will reap the benefits as they grow up and realize that there is a big cruel world out there that they have voted for. They are Happy Campers now but that will change one day when their freedoms are gone. So for the next 2 years we will continue to have one of the most incompetent presidents EVER and the most incompetent group of cabinet members EVER.
Clay and I have had enough personal drama and man made drama in our day to day lives the past 2 years. We are secure in our lives and I thank God that we had parents who had great work ethics that was passed down to both of us. The next 2 years will be very difficult for many, so as the Bible says, You reap what you Sow!
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 