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

Another quilt

I finished another Christmas wreath today like I did the other day and started this one.  I'm doing feau feathers conforming to the shape of the squares on point going up and down the quilt.  One row goes up and one row goes down.  The feau feathers go real fast and don't use near the amount of thread or take as long as formal feathers that have a spine.  Remember the red and white double Irish chain I did recently.  It was queen size and had feather wreaths and orange peels in between.  I used nearly 2400 yards of thread and 29 bobbins.  That's a lot of thread! 

I'm teaching Intro to Free Motion Quilting on Saturday and only have one student so far.  Feel free to come and have some fun.   Call Quilters Corner, at 405 455 5005 for supply list.  The more the merrier.  I'm also teach on Monday and have room in that class too.

Mc Call's star contest

.

A friend of a friend of mine has entered the McCall's Star contest.  If you go to this link  you can vote for her http://ck.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=17717&s=5611669&i=3&m=X#SD  

Happy quilting 

Check this out



How would you like to have this view while you wash dishes?  I think it's pretty cool.

  I have a friend who's daughter is an artist.  Another friend said "Hey, can you paint quilt blocks on my new fence so I can see them when I wash dishes?"  this is the result.  You have to click on the picture and look at all the detail.  She put in fabric detail and on the bow tie, there is a beautiful  design.  Well this has led to budding business for Jennifer, the artist. 

 If you would like to have quilt blocks to hang on your fence or shed or front door, etc, leave me a comment and I will put you in contact with the artist.

I have almost completed another Christmas present.  This one is for my sister.  She saw it when she was here is September, it was hanging over my sewing table.  She said, "You know irises are my favorite, it would go great in my dining room"   I had to reply "Yes, Gina, I made for you, it's your Christmas present!  I've just been enjoying it while it's still here."  I really do love this fabric!  I will be whipping down the binding today at sew ' go.  I will also baste a couple of quilts so I can keep on quilting.

Happy quilting

Ducky is gone

Well, Ducky just left our pool to go live on a pond in the country. 

Some young men who were servicing the Chimneys here in the complex last Friday tried to catch him then, and he few off. 

They came back today to see if they could get him again and after a chase around the pool,  (One of the young men stripped down too his boxers ready to jump in the pool with him!  Brrrr it's 46 degrees outside!), another chase around the courtyard and out to the parking lot, there was a squawk from Ducky and some whoops from the boys. 

They walked back in to view. 

Ducky was calmly riding in the arms of his abductor like he belonged there, calm and collected.  

Before we put him in the dog crate for transport, I petted him and thanked him for coming here and being Dusty's friend for the weekend. 

 Lisa took our picture and then they were gone.  

Dusty's Duck

We still have a visitor in the pool, and today I discovered exactly who he is.  According to what I have found out on http://www.avianweb.com/muscovyduck.html ,  he is a male Muscovy Duck.  I almost decided to change my mind from a duck to goose and even found a blogger with a similar picture who called it a "swoose"!  ...an unholy union of a duck a goose and a swan."  You can see Dusty's duck in the above "Duck Tape" moving about in the rain the other morning.  The funny part about the duck is that Dusty is totally fascinated with him!  Every time we go out, Dusty forgets everything he is supposed to do while outside and just goes and sits down at the fence and watches 'ducky', (that's what he calls him).  He especially likes it when he swims around the pool.  It reminds me of when you sit in front of an aquarium and watch the fish.  He just sits there and watches and watches. 

A little while ago I tried to get a little movie and the sun was so bright I couldn't tell if I was recording or not, (you know how that is with technology screens and the sun?), so I just pointed and pushed the button.
  Dusty has lulled Ducky into a false sense of security, sitting there so quietly, watching and watching.  Ducky gets out of the water and starts walking towards Dusty.  Still about 8 feet away with a 5 foot rot iron fence in between them so he is perfectly safe.
  I'm behind the camera hoping I'm filming, not seeing anything on the screen but my own reflection looking back at me, (I'm such a hick!)
  All of a sudden, Dusty barks one time.
  Ducky squawks, unfurls his beautiful wings and lands back in the pool.
  I stop filming, which I don't need to do, since I never was  filming to begin with.
  Would have been a great Duck Tape.
  Oh well.

Go Sooners!

Happy quilting!

finished another

 Hello again.  Here's a little Christmas wreath I just finished.  Can't see the stitching too well on the front but it shows up quite well  on the back after I darkened the photo quite a bit.  I did a meander of holly leaves over the wreath part and then a red bow at the bottom.  On the first red border, I used a compact "capital cursive L" that kind of looks like old fashioned Christmas candy.  Then on the green borders I always think the spirals look like peppermint.  Be sure to click on the pictures to see the stitching up close. 

I have an update on the duck.  Apparently the management of the complex chased it off yesterday and it flew away.  Came back last night and spent the night puttering about in our pool.  I took a video of it this morning and tried to upload it to show your, but for some reason it wouldn't load onto the blog.  I was going to call it "The Duck Tape".  Oh well.   Happy quilting.

Big give aways

Check out this link to a big giveaway from Quiltmaker.

http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/2010/11/12/big-bundle-giveaway-u-s-and-canadian-readers/comment-page-1/#comment-6672

There is also a million places to send you on this rainy day to look

at neat quilty things.  I'm going back to work,  Started a new quilt this morning, a small one which I will finish before long and will post a picture.  It will be

beeeeuteeeeful!

Happy quilting.

Oh, and he conceded, it's a duck!  See previous post.

This is wierd

 Today, when I came home from Charity Sew'n Go, my husband told me about a goose ahat was visiting our swimming pool.  (Looks like a duck to me, but what do I know, I'm a city girl, he says it's a goose, I say it's not big enough to be a goose.)  Anyway, Dusty, our cute little doggie, was very interested and excited about his appearance at the pool and stood and watched him for awhile.  Gone when I got home, of course.  Just a few minutes ago the goose/duck had returned so I photographed him/her for you.  He/she must be ill or something to all of a sudden show up at our swimming pool and start drinking water.  I guess tomorrow I'll call my vet and see if they have any suggestions as to who could offer help if the goos/ duck is still here looking lost.

Happy quilting

• 

Last night's Guild meeting

Last night was the monthly meeting of the Mid-Del Stitchin' Sisters Quilt Guild.  Our program was presented by Judy Howard the Owner of Buckboard Quilts, and is the award-winning author of 'Heavenly Patchwork—Quilt Stories Stitched with Love', 'Heavenly Patchwork II—Quilt Stories to Warm Your Heart', 'Centennial Stitches—Oklahoma History in Quilts', and 'Thanking Our Troops—God Bless America Touring Quilts' 

Her presentation was fascinating as usual showing  many beautiful antique quilts with wonderful histories.  As she ended her program, she talked about "the Home of the Brave" project that provides quilts to the families of fallen soldiers.  Here is the link to the national page http://www.homeofthebravequilts.com/ .  If you are interested in helping make the quilts, our guild will be participating. Starting next month, you can bring your finished blocks to our meeting (The 2nd Tues of each month at the Douglas Boulevard United Methodist Church, Just South of the intersection of Reno and Douglas Boulevard, in Midwest City, OK.) They ask that you use Civil war type fabric, the muted blues and browns and reds and off whites or muslin.  The quilts are based on the Civil War bed roll.  the OK coordinator will be at the Winter Quilt show in Okc accepting blocks and quilt tops and showing completed tops and quilts and talking about the project.  Here is the pattern for the quilt.  Oklahoma is about 70 quilts behind!   http://www.homeofthebravequilts.com/resources/QuiltInstructions.pdf.

Happy quilting 

Ta dah!!

Been working real hard.  Finally finished the Double Irish chain.

Happy  quilting

Good Progress

Made good progress of the double Irish chain yesterday.  I think I may have got almost a quarter or the way done.  But a lot of the times when working on these big ones,  they just get bigger as I go along. Ha!  Had to stop long enough to go and get a new air erase marker.  Both of the ones I was using were getting too faint to stay long enough for me to get the spine stitched.

When doing a feather wreath, I mark the spine and then then the  inner circle that is the border for the edge of the feathers on the inside of the wreath.  I mark this boundary because it is hard to get a circle out of the inner feathers if you don't, and believe me, this will show and look wonky.  For this particular size of feather, the top of a  ziplock container is perfect.  (The old design had a circle in the middle that could be cut out).  Another way to make the perfect circle template is with freezer paper and a compass, then mount it on a piece of cardboard (cereal or cracker boxes are great for this) or template plastic.  Be sure to cut out the center for the edge of the inner feathers.  After I get the marking done, I build the feathers without marking.  This takes some practice and I did this practice on a couple of charity quilts for my guild.  when I turned in these quilts I was told, " Oh, Mary Ann these quilts don't have to be quilted so beautifully, just an all over design will be okay."  I responded with.  I hadn't ever done these wreaths before and had to practice somewhere, so I practiced on these."  Charity quilts are a great place to practice new designs or your skills on new a sewing machine or equipment.

Remember, the more you quilt, the better you get and that is the ONLY way to get better.

Happy quilting!

Double Irish Chain

Got this one basted yesterday and started it this morning.  I'll do orange peel on the squares in between the big white blocks with the feather wreaths, but I wanted it to get the picture of the wreath on the blog before going on.  This will take a while, it's a big one.


Happy quilting

100th post!

This ought to be a momentous occasion but I don't have a brass band or even a special picture or anything.  I do have something to say, however that has been bugging me for a while and I'm going to say it here.  You know, us quilters are a tough bunch.  We make beautiful quilts and give them away.  I guess you would have to say that we are givers.  I sew with a bunch of women on a weekly basis that hardly have a quilt in there possession because they have all been given away to family and friends and strangers.  We even meet 2 days a month specifically to sew for 'strangers  in need' to give them quilts.

Yes we are givers. If there is a need, we give.  Somebody sick?  Send a card, or take over a covered dish, or visit them in the hospital, or finish the binding on their quilt for the show.  Car broke down?  Give them a ride...  You get the idea.  But, just try to give a quilter a complement on her beautiful quilt and see what happens.  She will throw it back at you in a New Your minute.  (I say "She" because my experience is 100% with women quilters and I don't know if this particular phenomenon translates to men.)  Women quilters can not recieve a complement.  In fact Women in general cannot receive a complement.  Tell a women she looks nice,  she has on a pretty dress,  that was a great casserolle, the list is endless.  You know how it feels to get a complement,  Uncomfortable.  we really don't know how to receive.  but receiving is all a part of the giving process!  You can't have one without the other! When you give something, there has to be someone on the other end receiving what the giver is giving or the process does not work.  You can't have one without the other. 

I guess you might wonder why I am coming at this particular subject at this particular time.  Well, I am part of the committee planning the Holiday party for my Quilt Guild and when the discussion came up about the gift exchange there were some things said that were not very nice about gifts that were received in past years.  "...I gave a wonderful bla bla bla and all I got was a lousy yada yada yada."  And other comments on the same line.  I thought that this attitude is just wrong.  Then I put this attitude together with the unable to receive the complement thing and thought maybe it all goes back to just not being able to receive in general.

When I first became ill with Myasthenia Gravis in 1996, I was just almost helpless.  I required someone to drive me, push me in a wheelchair, someone to feed me at times, bathe me at times, things that were incredibly hard to accept, but let me tell you I learned to lovingly say thank-you and resist the innate response of saying "no thanks, I don't need any help".  I needed help.  And more important, my loved ones needed give me help.

So when someone gives you a complement on your quilting say thank-you.

Happy quilting

Angels

Made some angels today on my embroidery machine.  Never did freestanding lace before and of course I used the wrong kind of water soluble stabilizer.  found that out after I had finished the last one of course.  I started looking at all of them and noticed that the stitching on each of them  was messed up in the same place.  I had an angel that a friend had made on her machine and it looked great.  So I looked up making freestanding lace on the Internet and it said use 2 layers of water soluble stabilizer that was like visquine, not 'solvey'--of course I used solvey.  By the time I got to the 2nd wing the stabilizer was pretty unstable and I guess that is what caused the stitching the mess up at that point on each one.  Will get the right kind of stabilizer before I make more.  But aren't they cute!!

Happy quilting