Ta dah!!

Finished the circles!

In this first picture, you can see some of the body of the quilt

and all of the colors.

the quilting shows up well too.

It ended up looking like hot air balloons.

That's one of the things I like most about quilting.

The secret designs that come out by happenstance.

I planned circles in circles.

What happened ended up to be

ovals in circles and then they looked like

hot air balloons.

Who knew?

 This next picture shows the border.

You can see that I repeated the ovals in the wide rectangle and the double wavy line in the skinny one.

And at last, the back.

Usually what everybody is anxious to see.

Most of my customers put solid backs on there quilts so they can see the quilting.

I used Star "gum balls" variegated thread on the front and a star golden yellow on the back.

IIIt has been nearly half a year that I have been blogging and I have to admit that I really enjoy this.

I appreciate everybody that comes and reads these posts, whoever you are. 

I hope you all have good health and many happy quilting experiences in the coming years.

Happy quilting

Dizzy

Still Circling!

Have a few more rows of circles and then the border.

In the mean time I go for a mammogram.

Not my favorite thing to do, YUK!

Have another good hour of circles then off for the squishing

Happy quilting

Circles

About halfway done with this quilt. 

It has machine appliqued circles.

When doing machine applique, always remember to use the lightest

fusible web you can find, and only use it around the edge of the

applique. 

This will leave the middle of the object nice and soft and easy to quilt

through.

You can see that I did concentric (what turned out to be ovals)

in the middle on the circles and then a swirl.  Then echoed the same in the space between the circles. 

When I finish, I'll post a pic of the back.

Happy quilting!

Opening presents



First comes the stocking.

The stockings have been hung for a couple of weeks and just got the toys in them a few minutes ago.  He was soooo very good the last few minutes while we were getting ready,  in that he didn't grab the stockings and pull them down.  He has carefully checked them about every ten minutes for the last 2 weeks.  A few weeks ago I started putting dimes in Ron's stocking.  He saves dimes and at Christmas I save them up a give him big bunch in is stocking.

Dusty was  Johnny on the spot to let us know there was something in Dad's stocking in case anybody was worried about it, 



I put some treats in the stocking and of course they fell to the bottom.  That's why he kept going for the toe instead of just getting the toys out of the top.







Santa Clause is a big hit!




"There's got to be more in there!"





Friendly greeting





"Please dad, I really, really, really, need another present!!!"

Well, Dusty got lots of toys and we had lots of fun watching him opening them and then playing with them.   He is a remarkable little dog a truly what our world revolves around.

We had a great meal and of course Dusty had a plate.  (Chrystal)

Hope your Christmas was as happy as ours

Happy quilting

Merry Christmas

 MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Just finished Ron's Christmas shirt.

I don't wait til the last minute, no not none a me!!  He likes scrub shirts and polar bears.The second picture has  close up of the pocket with the topstitching.  I found a perfect little snowflake decorative stitch on my sewing machine and thought it would be perfect.  I also put it across the back along the seam of the yoke.

Well, better get showered and back to the kitchen if we plan eat more than pie and jello.

Happy Quilting



Christmas Eve

Still getting things finished up for the big day. 

I've got everything finished and sent to family and friends far away and packages have been received.

Still have to finish 2 OU place mats for my brother but will mail them in time for the game next weekend.

Trying to get my husband presents finished up today.  This particular shirt was supposed to be for my nephew, but after I bought this beautiful Russell Athletic ware blank long sleeve T from Sam's months ago, size 2x 'cause he like them loose.  An after I embroidered my very first designed on my software from start to finish embroidery.  I realized that a 2x would absolutely swallow this young man!!  I live in a much bigger x world.  Having purchase the Tee months ago, I knew I couldn't possibly find another so, my husband has an unexpected present and I went Walmart and looked for a Sweatshirt.  Found a beautiful heavy fruit of the loom zippered hoody on a XL hanger for $10 and zing, zang , zoom I was done.  The next day as I was trying to read the content on the label, I realized I was not done.  Couldn't find the contents, but it said 3X.  I tried it on, fit nice and baggy like I like it and boom, I have a new present and my nephew still zilch.  Back to walmart and found the same zippered sweatshirt and carefully checked all size markings and came home with extra large.  Embroidered "OU Sooner Magic"  On the left side and it is now sitting under his Christmas tree in Radford, Virginia.  Whew.  I practiced that design on my shirt under the hood to make sure it was okay.  Soon I will put it on the front.

Still have a scrub shirt to make for Ron.  That usually takes a couple of hours.  

In the meantime, Dusty is going Christmas crazy.  

We have bought about seven or eight new toys for him and of course he knows they are here.

I put them in my closet because as long as they were sitting on the table he kept standing on his hind legs trying to get up there.  Or walking around crying.  The stocking are hung ad he checks them every 1n minutes.

Our Tree is small and high on a shelf and there are some presents up there that came in from a friend in New Mexico last week.

He will sniff the lowest shelf and blow into it and then sniff trying to get olfactory messages from above.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

Happy quilting 

I

Ta dah!!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!  I'm on Christmas Break!! Yeah!! Of course, that doesn't mean that I'm not going to be sewing, OR even quilting for that matter.  But it does mean that anything I do for the next few days, I do because I want to do it.  Of course that excludes that vacuuming and mundane stuff like that. But I;m ready to do the stuff I want to do because I want to do it.

When I told this lady that I would do
these 4 quilts before Christmas,

I knew it was doable, but would be hard to get them finished in time for Christmas.  What with my IVIG infusion thrown in the mix, getting my Christmas finished and in the mail, just living my life,  the usual things,  it was really hard to keep up the nose to the grindstone, so to speak, and keep after it. 
I accepted the work because In this day and age it is scary to reject any work.  What if no one else ever calls me to get another quilt quilted?  Yikes!  (That mantra seems like it is always going through my head!  I mean they are always saying on the  news the economy is tanking, certainly the quilters will be feeling it any day now and quit having their quilts quilted!) 

Anyway, yesterday when she picked up number three, I was doubly glad that I had said yes to the quilting torture I endured the last 3 weeks.  So with extra money in my pocket, and visions of more customers calling me through word of mouth, she said 

"Thanks for doing this for me, your work is so beautiful, you're so talented, I'm sad." 

My head whipped around, sad?, she sad she's sad?.

"I'm being deployed to Afghanistan in 2 months, so I won't be able to keep making quilts."

I looked at her and said,  "Oh, but your babies will be sleeping every night with your arms around them

in these quilts!!"

They say every quilt has a story!

Pray that Maggie has a safe deployment and returns to her husband

and 4 babies.

Happy quilting

Light at the end of the tunnel

Here's # 3 all done.  I quilted this one according to the fabric.  The brown and the green fabric I did free hand flowers and big meandering respectively, otherwise, I tried to outline the fabric in an artistic manor.  (in other words, I didn't outline every single thing, just hit the high spots.  You

can see in the second pic.
The big circles were done on the pink, small circles on the polka dots, etc.

I basted # 4 yesterday and started quilting this morning.  Ran into a problem.  The backing is not long enough.  It is 2 color--brown in the middle and green on each end.  I trimmed off one edge and unsewed the brown part and sewed the green parts back together. and am still about 25" by 4' short which I can probably trim off another side, but this time I'll probably have to splice the 4' part to get it.  I'm already quilting it and will call her after awhile and ask what she wants to do,  Maybe she has a piece of green!!  That would be wonderful.  I started this adventure at 4:30 am and thought that might be a little early even for a mother with 4 kids a few days before Christmas needing to bind 4 quilts.

I'll be glad when this project is finished so I can go on to celebratory Christmas things instead of worrying about, "Am I going to make it?"
I'll be done soon and the happy dance can begin!

Happy Quilting

 Here's the second quilt of the 4 I accepted a couple of weeks ago to be done before Christmas.  I'm getting them done.  I'm halfway done with number three and still have to baste number four.  Coming down to the wire, but I'll get them done. 

I'm having to baste them on

floor of an empty apartment because if I wait until Sew'n Go on Tuesday I'll run out of time.  I basted one on the floor on Thursday and it just about ate my lunch and dinner.  rolling around on the floor is really more activity than this old body is used to! 

I've managed to get some of my Christmas tasks wedged in between quilting and basting.  Got my family's presents all finished and mailed early in the week.  I used a 25% off coupon at Office Depot and mailed them no muss, no fuss.  I was the only person there.  You might want to check them out.  They mail for the post office and for UPS too. 

Finished shopping with my doggie, Dusty yesterday at Pet Smart and got a bag full of toys to be opened on Christmas.  Of course with all the crying and carrying on, we caved and gave him one yesterday evening.  Then I hid them in my closet.  His stocking is hung and he's checking it every ten minutes.

Well, back the the sewing machine.

Happy quilting!

Okay I'm back

I've been really busy what with still three quilts to finish before Christmas

which is closer than I can even think about.

Every time I get on the Internet I get lost in the blogs and spend too much time

so I've just been offline.

I did finish the double quilt I wrote about in my last post and started the twin this morning that matches

it and only have 3 more blocks before the borders.

I also finished up my Christmas presents for my family and mailed them yesterday. 

I went to Office Depot to mail them.  No line!!!  And a 25% off your first package

coupon from the flyer to boot.

We had our guild Christmas party last night and me and another member were in charge.

It's a relief to have that behind me!

I think everybody had a good time,

I know I did.

This is a close up of the centerpiece/doorprizes.

They had a variety of notions like pins, sewing machine needles, marking tools, thread socks, etc stashed

in the pockets. 

there were 8 of them and highly coveted.

Here's a look at the room before every body got there.

I forgot to take pics of the free standing lace angels

hanging on thread stands interspersed in between the bags of notions.

(Here's  a pic from a previous post)

Everybody brought finger foods.  Both savory and sweet and we had a gift exchange and a good time was had by all.

I better get back to quilting

Happy quilting

Quilt

Here's the quilt I started working on yesterday:

It's a double size and there is a twin size just like it.

Cute pattern.  I'm doing some pretty simple quilting.

The Stripes alternate with double wavy lines and loops. 

You can see the large squares pretty well

to see the quilting there.

I love doing those kind of designs in those big squares.

The back looks pretty good too. 

I'll be sure and get a good shot before I send it out.

Getting my infusion.

Should be getting by groove back soon.

Happy quilting

Needles

I just found an incredible deal on sewing machine needles at ctsusa.  The guest blogger at Stash manicure today.  You can click on Stash Manicure on the right side of my blog under "Blog that I follow".  What a savings and no shipping!

I get my IVIG infusion tomorrow--yeah!!  Yesterday I slept from

4;3:30pm to 6:30 this morning.  Can't get

much done with a sleep schedule like that!!

Got a good start on one of the quilts I basted Wednesday.

Happy quilting!

Haven't posted for a couple of days because I've run out of gas.  I got postponed a few days on the infusion of IVIG for my Myasthenia Gravis and I haven't got anything done to post about. 

 I did manage to get a couple of quilts basted with the help of a friend, but that doesn't warrant a picture.  And nothing has happened to talk about because all I've been doing is sitting

and watching TV.

I'll get my infusion Sat and Sun so things will  pick up .

Happy quilting

Mystery quilt and purple potatoes

About a year ago, some friends from Sew'n Go decided to do the Mystery Quilt from Quilter's Newsletter that just finished in the Oct/Nov 2010 issue.

I just finished quilting one of them:

This is not mine.

Mine is in a neat little package of folded up fabric.

It DOES have all the 60 degree triangle blocks completed,

but that is all. 

(I don't feel bad about it, I quilt A LOT, don't have much time for piecing anything for myself.

Two of the others that participated have finished their tops and plan to show them at the December meeting of the Mid-Del Stitchin' Sisters Quilt Guild.

(I will once again show my neat little package of fabric.)

Here's the back:

Last night I made carrots and purple potatoes to go with sliced ham.  I'd never had purple potatoes before and they were very tasty.  Tasted like potatoes, but better.  Aren't they cute?  And very purple!

Happy quilting!

Go Sooners!

GO SOONERS!!!

Double Irish Chain

Here's the Red and White Double Irish Chain

I finished a few weeks ago.

It sure looks great on this bed. A much better look at the quilt

than I can provide in my little bitty

apartment.

Makes me proud!

Fishies

 Finished this one Wednesday but I was sooo busy yesterday I didn't have time to post.  This is a cute little quilt,  Stack 'n Whack out of fish fabric.

 

Stack 'n Whacks are always fun to do.  And you never know what you will come up with, it is always a surprise.

 

today I will be doing some embroidery to finish up some Christmas presents and get that out of the way. 

Yesterday I preshrunk some fabric for Christmas shirts for me and my Husband.  Ron always gets a Christmas shirt, but this will be my first one.

I'm like the cobbler who doesn't have shoes.  I hardly ever have the good stuff for myself, but I have this really cute doggies wearing  Christmas coats and hats that will make a nice shirt and this year it will be mine.  Ron's shirt has some really fun polar bears rolling around through Christmas stuff.

 

I was going to take the fabric to cut out at Sew'n Go on Thursday, but couldn't find the patterns.  I spent about 3 days looking for the patterns and finally Tuesday night, while I was tossing and turning, unable to go to sleep.  I got up about Midnight and looked in my closet one more time and uncovered them.

You see,  last May, when I got a new Quilter's Dream Horn Sewing Table to go in the corner of my living room behind the couch where I do all my quilting,  I had to rearrange everything. 

I had been snugly in that space for over ten years and it was very crammed packed with all the things I needed to do all the different kind of sewing I ever wanted to do.

It was like an explosion when I cleaned it out and tuned myself around 180 degrees. I got rid of a lot of stuff and had to relocate a whole lot of stuff, patterns included.  This was the first time I had to use them and since I always use the very same pattern every time I make a shirt for me or my husband it was crucial to find them.

Sew 'n Go

 Yesterday at Sew 'n go I made 2 of the 15 minute table runners and basted another quilt.  I hadn't made a 15 minute table runner before and they were very simple to make, as advertised. As you can see t

I put 1/4" bias tape on the seam line and red buttons to

hold down the points.  I did not put any batting or stiffener in,  but I have one cut out that I want to quilt, so I will use batting in that one.

Here is the link to Jill Inspired http://jillinspired.blogspot.com/2009/12/15-minutes-table-runner.html

scroll down past the directions and get the PDF file.

I suppose if you want to you could take some blocks you already have

pieced and use those for the front and that would be another way to go,

Be creative.

Have fun

Happy quilting

hey come out pretty cute.

Little quilts

Quilted these little quilts yesterday.  They will be wall hanging Christmas presents for one of my customers.  the pics aren't very clear but I'm in a hurry to get my stuff ready for sew and go today.

 Happy quilting

Go Sooners!

GO SOONERS!

Black Friday

Happy Black Friday! 

Hope you are all safe and getting all the wonderful savings that you imagined you would if you

ventured out today.

Me?

I'm Quilting.

Started this memory quilt.

The above picture shows a block with a lacy blouse. 

Isn't that cute?

I just stitched down the side of the satin in top of the lace.

I'm using white Signature 100% cotton Thread and it really doesn't show up on that lace.

This picture shows a little more of the quilt.

There are some large photos and I don't stitch on them. 

I'm using a Quilters Dream Batting that you can quilt up to 10 inches apart.

A very good choice for a memory quilt.

Never got the pumpkin pie made yesterday, so I will be making a pie today.

We will be having ham and chicken for a loonnngggggg time. 

But come Christmas Day, all I have to do is heat and eat!

My tradition for myself on Christmas is to sew a project just for me on Christmas morning until

Ron gets up at noon.

It's kind of like my gift to myself.

Happy quilting

Happy day before Thanksgiving

It's the day before Thanksgiving and I just got back from getting the last few things I need for our meal.  Our celebration includes me, my husband and my beautiful little dog, Dusty.

At Thanksgiving and Christmas, Ron and I actually sit down at the table and

eat off place mats with food in pretty little bowls, sitting on

Grandma's red and white crocheted round hot pads.  (I have a gillion of those in all sizes, she

was prolific in her later years, it was just about all she could do, in addition to

dishcloths.)

This time of year always gets me thinking about the old days.  My previous post about my dream

made me really start thinking about the old days.

This particular picture is the closest model I could find to look like what I remember our old car looked like.

This is the car that carried us  up route 66, 

past the Blue whale,

past our very favorite bridge in the world,

to Grandma's house every weekend and on Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

This is the car that my brother fell out of in the Utica square parking lot.

This is the car you could see the road going by, through the floor in the back seat, because it had rusted through.

This is the car that took a trip down the driveway all by itself one day after

my brother and I had been playing in the front seat. 

 We apparently knocked it out of gear. 

Went back in the house and while we were quietly playing something else at the dining room table, we saw the car go by the dining room windows sans driver. 

The only thing the saved the garage was a big galvanized washtub sized bucket full of sand that was our 'sandbox', 

 (BTW, the garage is still standing, sort of,  it leans more every time we go by and see the house in Tulsa.)

This is the cart in which Daddy always whisper whistled "When you wore a Tulip" every time he drove us to Grandma's house.

This is the car Daddy kept a little notebook in the glove box that he wrote down the mileage and how much gas he bought

every time he filled it with gas, changed the oil, aired the tires etc.  Actually he kept a notebook in every car he ever had and he did the same with his lawnmowers!

This was the car that you couldn't roll down the back window because my brothers best friend tried to roll it down the wrong way really, really hard until he broke it.

This is the car we carried newspapers to the recycling place in the backseat on Saturdays, and weighed the car and the papers and then the car after the papers were emptied and they'd give us $2.37. 

  Back then that was something.

I guess I miss my family.  They, my brother and sister,  will be having Thanksgiving together.  My brother goes to my sister's house tonight and then on to his daughters house tomorrow in Fairfax Virginia.  (My brother lives in North Carolina and my sister live is Virginia.)

Tomorrow Dusty gets a plate.  He's already getting excited.

If you have memories about an old car leave me a comment.

Happy quilting

Dream

 

 You are probably wondering what this raggedy car has to do with quilting.  The answer is, nothing.  But if you know me very well, you know that I can have some pretty weird dreams with a capital W.  Last night's dream was a doozie!!.  This particular car is actually near and dear to my heart because it is the car of my childhood.  An early 1950's  (1 or 2) Chevy Deluxe and was the star of my dream.

The setting was Tulsa and I was with my brother.  We were wearing white lab coats?  Who knows why things are happening in dreams.  We were in a neighborhood that we, along with my sister, had toured during our last visit 2 years ago.  (But my sister was absent in my dream.  She must have had the good sense to stay home.  Or maybe she didn't have a white coat.)  Anyway my brother and I were walking around this neighborhood, with our clipboards trying to solve a murder.  A murder? Me a quilter and my brother the preacher?  Okay, it's a dream, remember?  Well, every where we looked in this area, on the street, in the driveways, between the houses, in the backyards, the parks, the school

Yards were cars like these.  Piles of them.  Stacks and stacks of them.  All green.  All identical to the one we had when we were kids. Some were shiny and new some were old and beat up, Some were in pieces.  Some blocks just had bumpers all piled up, and some just had tires and rear quarter panels.  But there were thousands and thousands and thousands of them.   Like I said I have some really crazy dreams.  We never found the murderer, or the dead body and somehow we kept thinking we'd see our old car.  (Ya  think?)

Happy quilting

Lazy day

Taught my Intro to Free Motion Class yesterday and at the very end when I was doing a demo on some designs,

 my free motion foot broke.

It was kind of startling, because it all of a sudden popped up and wouldn't stay down.

Well, it was Saturday afternoon about 2:45 and I had no way to quilt.  I was looking at all day Sunday

with no quilting and then Intro to Free Motion Quilting Class first rattle out of the box

on Monday morning so, i had to get a foot for my Juki.  

I called the Stitchin' Post and they were open til 5pm so I was saved.  Managed to get up there to get and then back home in time to fix dinner in time to watch the SOONERS beat Bayler.

That was a way way way too long a day for me !!!

So, I spent most of the day snoozin' today!

Will be back at it tomorrow with my brand new quilting foot.  He was able to fix the one that broke too, so now I have a spare!!

Happy quilting



Finished feau feathers

Finished this one just now and she's on the way to pick it up!  I did the feau feathers throughout the quilt.  You can see them on the setting triangles and borders.  A pattern worth learning if you don't already know it.  Easy to do once you figure it out and it's quick too.

Remember I have a Intro to Free Motion quilting class tomorrow at Quilters Corner in Midwest City.  Call for info, 405 455 5005.  See you there.

Happy quilting