Welcome 2012!!

Happy New Year !!

2012 New FO plan

Who wants to finish OLD projects - Not ME!  That's why they are old, cause I didn't want to finish them in the first place :) So, I'm joining CATPATCHES 2012 New FO Challenge - start a new project once a month. OY, I must be crazy

.  See the button on the side of the screen?  Click and you can join in, too!

So, here are the 12 quilts/projects that I want to start in 2012.  Drum roll please. And in no particular order

1.  Black and White Stack n' Whack - I have some great black and white jungle fabric that I've been planning on doing as a stack and whack - this is the fabric   Pretty cool - see the gold in the eyes?  Anyway, I've been saving this so I'm gonna do it!

2.  I found a pattern in a magazine that was Blue and White Churn Dash - the dashes are dark blue/white and the background is white/blue.  I had several pieces of dark indigo so I've been gathering white/blue and I want to make that one.  I'll find the magazine and picture and post later. ( I'm at work right now and, well, the magazine is home :) )

3.  Falling Leaves - omg, I've have this pattern for so long and have had fabric pulled for several years.  Now I have a terra cotta colored kitchen and a perfect place for this quilt ( hanging on a big wall in my kitchen ) ( another one I have to get a picture of the pattern )

4.  Kaffe Fassett has a cool pattern of houses - always wanted a house quilt - only this one is made of fabrics with circles on them.  I've collected all the fabric and now it's time to make the quilt!

5.  A French Braid Quilt!  this one in black and white prints ( cause I have them )

  I have been wanting to make one of these quilts ever since the book came out.

6.  Turning Twenty - in purple!  one of my favorite colors - and, guess what!  I have the fat quarters already, too!

7.  Spa Quads Quilt - I may have the name wrong but I'm at work so that's ok.  I'll fix it when I get home.  But it's a cool freebie pattern I found on the web, and yep, I already have the fabrics!  I did find another I like that the fabrics would be great with - so I'm going to take the liberty to make up my mind later. The other is Birthday Cake Quilt by Elizabeth Hartman at www.ohfransson.com.

     8.My friend tirane and I have always talked about making a Hunter's Star - I'll do mine in blacks and whites and she is going to use colors ( she is getting so much better at using color! )

 

9.  There is a green scrappy quilt that I saw in a magazine a few months back - I'm going to put that quilt on this list, too. Found it!  It's called "How Green is My Stash" and I was drawn to it cause I do have a lot of green!  McCall's Quilting, Sept/Oct 2011

10,11,12 - I have to leave room for donation quilts.  Those will be finished, not just started.  I have lots of fabric and there are lots of people who need quilts.

SO, there is my list ( I'll come back and edit with some pictures of what I want to do ).  The cool thing is no pressure to FINISH!  Just to start them!

Want to play with me?

The Last Quilt of 2011

I took a day just for ME,, and got the top finished on 9-Patch Agony.  and I think my borders are even steven on this one ( I usually have problems with pieced borders, they are just not my thing :( ) but I think this time they came out pretty dang good!

I like it.

I like how the dark border gives a good finish to the top.  Fabrics all came from my stash --  a new reason to go shopping, right?!  no no no, I'm just tickled that I had fabrics that I could use up.

and yes, I took this photo today - it must have been about 60 degrees outside, bright blue sky - absolutely beautiful for Dec 27.

So this is the last quilt of 2011.

and I like it.

No UFO Challenge for ME!

Nope, not going to join a UFO challenge for 2012.  Couldn't guarantee that I would get something finished in a month anyway.  My sewing is too sporadic to guarantee that.

BUT

I can join CAT PATCHES Challenge!  She has a NEW FO Project challenge starting.  Just start something!  LOL I can DO that!  Check out her blog and see what it's all about.  I figure this will commit me to pulling the fabrics ( I wish my stash looked like this! ) that I bought with a particular quilt in mind cause right now they are just languishing in my fabric closet being lazy, taking up space .  And Maybe, just MAYBE, if I have them pulled and cut, I might actually get them made.

OH another plus, when it's time for retreat, I'll have kits all ready to go!

so have you figured it out --  sounds like my plan is to make kits, not acutally sew them, but just kit stuff up.  No, not such a good plan, but it might be fun to be able to pull something ready to go and get it done.

Ok, making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who's naughty or nice  ---  no no no,, that's the wrong song :)

9 Patch Agony

Well, not really agony, but I'm REAL tired of 9 patch blocks. I haven't pressed the seams yet on this top, but I got all the rows together and wanted to see what it was looking like. Darn thing is so big I had to push the couch out of the way to get it all flat -- and, get this! I don't have borders on yet!! Yikes! The borders are about 5 inchs, with MORE 9-patch blocks.

This has been a great way to use up some small pieces of fabric and I really do like it but golly molly, I'm ready to move on to another kind of block.

A Christmas Song for a Saturday Night

Merry Christmas Smiles

We Occupied a Sewing Room!

Our annual Christmas retreat was this past weekend - and as always loads of fun, loads of food, lots of sewing and wonderful company!  I was so busy - eating and talking - that I didn't get everything done that I brought,, but isn't that the idea of retreat? To relax, and enjoy friends?

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

I just finished this wall hanging tonite, got the top all done over the weekend, but finished it up tonight.  Think I'll take it to work and hang it on my cubicle wall --  it's a Kim Schaefer design and was so much fun to do. Everytime I do a fusible applique, I think of coloring books.

Check out this one!  another fusible --

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter and this beauty is all Minkee fabrics - the backing is a beautiful red.  so soft and scrumptious!  I want to make one for me !

check out Shakespere in the Park!  all beautiful batiks - and from her stash!  I fell so in love with this that I ordered the book on line that day.  hhmm, do I want batiks, too?  do I want the blue theme?  I can't wait to see this quilted.

t-shirt quilt - being reworked by a nice mother in law

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I love the fabrics in this one, those big roses!

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

ok, check this out.. see the dime?

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter can you imagine !!??  I don't know how she did this.  I saw some cutting and templates,, but dang!

ok, lets get out the scraps and you, too, can do this!  Now, don't just glance at this,, look close,,  it's not just strips, but squares and squares in squares.  I bet with all the scraps I have, I could find enough to make one like this :)

great snowballs! it has a very modern look.  wonder how she is going to quilt it? wonder what the back is going to be??

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

From The Ramblings of a Texas Quilter

this is from a block swap we did about 6 years ago.  How many groups of blocks from swaps do you have?

one of the ladies was super busy making rag quilts for grandkids -- she cut and cut and cut ( this is just a small pile of batting squares ) finally done with cutting batting she started in cutting novelty fabrics,, we had more fun looking at those fabrics.  I have to get mine out, get them used, share them with kids!  What good are they doing in the closet.. yep, they need to be shared.  a really cute strip quilt. yep, novelty fabrics need to be shared.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidy season.  I have to get busy!  I just realized that I haven't started Christmas shopping --  yikes!

Mary did you know?

it was the most wonderful weekend --  rainy, cold, and just wonderful!!  I know, that sounds really strange, but I got to stay in jammas ALL weekend!  I didn't leave the house just once and I got to sew, and read and sleep --  I was in heaven!  And my DH was gone most of the two days, too - WHOO WHEE!  not only did I get to stay inside, I had the house to myself!  As a bonus,, ( and gee, it's fun to read other's blogs cause you never know what you might learn ) I was part of the OCCUPY YOUR SEWING ROOM group/giveaway < a huge grin goes here >.  There is a button on the right and you can go here to link to the blog.  There's a giveaway, too!

So what did I do with my time, you might ask?  Well, since retreat is next weekend, I got two kits cut to take with me, cleaned the sewing room a bit, worked on MORE nine-patches for that garsh darn 9-patch quilt.  I also started reading the book HUNGER GAMES and I'm just about finished with it .  The thing I didn't do was cook --  my husband is just the best - he isn't really picky about what he eats so he was perfectly happy to go out and get us dinner last night and have sandwiches and soup tonite.


And since it is Christmas, I wanted to share my favorite Christmas song with everyone.  Enjoy!

went to retreat this weekend --  I think that qualifies for more Occupy Your Sewing Room!

Have I said I'm tired of 9-patches?

This is my latest project - found the design/pattern in a magazine ( maybe McCalls?)  I started it when I when on retreat at Memory Lane Inn and I'm getting it finished now.  I still have MORE (aarrrgghhh!) small nine-patch blocks to do for the border.  Don't get me wrong, these are super uber easy blocks to make,, I'm just ready to move on to something else - LOL - I'm always ready to move on to something else

Ok, this morning, instead of being out shopping looking for all the super good deals (!!??) at 4am, I laid the blocks out on the living room floor and oops! there almost wasn't enough empty floor space.  This is going to be one big quilt! cause borders still have to go on.

but,,  I like it! Ok, going to go finish it..

I've been cooking ALL day! - NOT!

This is usually me right before everyone shows up to eat.  Not this year! 
This year we go out to eat ( see me doing the happy dance! :-)  hahaha~ )  no kids, no grandkids just 6 old people ( dh, mil, me, sil, her dh and neice ) and no one offered to cook.  Ok with me!

I have 5 days off, hopefully I can get stuff done, spend some quality time being productive.  I don't have any plans on hitting the good sales but you just never know!

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

Need Ideas, Please

another of those poor orphan quilts that I want to finish.  This was made from a couple of charm packs given to me by a lady in my Saturday group cause she didn't want them.  I'm not one to let something like that go to waste, so Voila!  looks like a kitchen table topper to me!

But,, I need to finish this off and I am just not sure how...  so ideas?  What would you finish this one?

From Quilts I Make

It's the Giving that feels good!

From Quilts I Make

My 83 year old Mother in Law lives in a retirement home and has made a very good friend there, Miss Charlene.  They talk, they walk, they watch TV together.  They share everything! It's almost like sisters -- very sweet, and good, and loving.

Miss Charlene is going to move.  Her son has moved to a different part of the city and has found a new closer place for her to live.  Both my Mother in Law and Miss Charlene are devastated. 

The quilt above was a mystery quilt that I did a couple of years ago.  It was all pinned and ready for me to quilt - I just never did.  This must be the reason - it was waiting for just the right person to give it to.  Miss Charlene! 

Now I'm not a good free-motion quilter,, but I keep trying. 
So, Self, how can I get the design on this one that a good long-arm quilter does?  I have  free motion designs, but how do I get them to the quilt, cause I sure can NOT do it without tracing something

AAHH,, self I say, copy those designs to paper then stitch thru the paper! 
AAHH!  Freezer paper is big and wide, that should work --  ???!
 I traced the design and pinned the papers to the quilt top, so far so good.  I sewed thru the paper and that worked well.  < I'm getting better with my stitches being uniform - that's good!>
  But freezer paper is heavy so turning the quilt around was difficult at times which didn't help getting some good curves.  But that's ok, I'm Learning!

I told self to remember that --  freezer paper is big, but heavy.

Time to tear off the paper.  Freezer paper DOES NOT tear easily.  and, Tearing made some stitches come loose.  Not good.  So I tore off what I could, then figured when I was all done, I could WASH them away! < yeah yeah! that will work good! Paper dissolves good in water! >
But I can't do this until I'm all done with the borders or binding.
For the border, I sure didn't want to use freezer paper again, so I had some Solvy stuff and spray adhesive that I bought at the Houston Quilt Festival last year,, why not finally use it!  I copied my design, sprayed the borders and stuck it on.  It wasn't bad.  Held pretty good and was very easy to follow while I was stitching the design.  It even ripped off pretty good and where it was inbetween the stitches, all I had to do was heat up a little iron, and with heat, this stuff balled up and I just brushed it off.  VOILA!  It was pretty cool for small spaces, or borders :)

From Quilts I Make

The Back....This shows the border design - it doesn't show to be even, but it is on the front.  I had put a panel on the back with white surrounding it, but I didn't get it exactly centered.  Learning!
How did I get the paper off the front you might ask?  No, washing didn't work.  All I had was a quilt with bits of paper stuck in stitiching.  So Sunday afternoon, I sat in front of the tv with the quilt and tweezers pulling out bits of paper.

I'm learning!!

So this is the story of Miss Charlene's quilt, I hope she likes it and when she puts it on her lap to stay warm, I hope she thinks of my mother in law and how much we miss Miss Charlene!

Watching Dancing with the Stars - and Blogging

I have a great fascination with DWTS,,  the only thing my husband and I sit and watch together, so that's a good thing! ( he likes the half naked girls :) ! ) and I don't have a problem watching the beefed up guys, either!  A little booty shakin' is good for the soul

So, you might wonder what else has been going on.  I have been busy and completed a few things. A big pat on the back for me!

A couple of weeks ago, tirane and I went to a most fabulous retreat, about 2 hours from here, at the coolest Victorian house.  Memory Lane Inn in Tyler was beautiful!  You have to go check out the pictures at the web site, I just can't describe it.  EVERY?THING was thought of,, the beds were wonderful, the kitchen was fantastic, and OMG!  the space we had to sew !!
Imagine a place that is designed to have about 18 people in it and it was being shared by 7 --  tirane and I had a seperate room all to ourselves to spread out or sewing and the other 5 ladies had a huge room for all their scrapbooking...  it was great and we made new friends.  I can't wait to go back

Seriously, go check it out!  Beautiful decorating, claw foot tubs, wavy glass in the windows and the landscaping is beautiful!

So, what did I do, you might ask?   Well, I did finish two quilts, was going to put borders on another but everyone decided it was good as it was so that was a WIN and started sewing another.  Busy!

My friend had some blocks from a swap that she did a few years ago, she was cleaning her sewing room, found them and gave them to me.  I've had them a few years, cleaned MY sewing room, found them and took them with me.  Hearts, done in 30's fabrics and 2" strips were included for each block.  I just sashed each block and sewed them in rows.  It's for a charity quilt and it came out great!
  I threw this on one of the rockers on the front porch of the retreat house ( see the flowers and wrought iron fence in the background?!).  I think it came out great - longer than wider which will be great for a twin bed.  Tirane is going to quilt it and I'll do the binding.

Next --  more charity blocks.  I started these a few years ago when my saturday group was going strong and we were doing a lot of charity stuff.  Well, these got hidden, too, and I found them at the same cleaning time as the previous blocks.  There was only 9 of them and I didn't have fabric to make more.  Making bigger sashing gave me a bigger quilt and tirane a pallett to play with when she quilted.

There really is light blue floating in both the fabrics in the blocks and again, the big fron verandah at the retreat --  a great showcase for displaying quilts.

I also had the pink/black/white quilt that my bee did as a block swap ?? years ago.  I put borders on it, and messed those up, so I took them off, was going to redo them and everyone at retreat said it looked good as it is.  This is a picture with the borders that I like but just didn't lay right..


so, I took them off.  Tirane has it and will quilt it --  aaarrrggghh another one that is going to need binding :)  about time I got it finished!

aawwwhhh, Hope and Max are going home.  Dang!  No more of Max and his 6-pack ABS, or his BUTT or his,, geez,,  I just like to watch him < said with a huge! big grin!>

ok, back to reality and the husband I love ( I love my husband, I love my husband, I love my husband )

Where in the world is.... ?

Have you ever just been overwhelmed?  I think I am.  Don't know why - just feel overwhelmed.  Had a great retreat a couple of weekend's ago, enjoyed grandson this past weekend, I'm having fun looking at all the blogs from the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks Blog Tour

So what the heck is the problem?

ok, going to have to have a talk with self, drink a Starbucks coffee, and eat a cookie.

I'll get back with you and let you know if things improve :)

(don't forget to join the blog tour! go here to start http://www.quiltmaker.com/index.html)

Quilts, Hugs, and Friends

I've talked before about our little group that meets once a month, it's a fluid group and we don't always get to meet every month, but for several years we have managed to stay in touch, to meet, to share, to laugh and talk and even get some occasional sewing done!

One of our group  needed a big hug - a really BIG hug.  So what does a quilter dor for a friend in need?  Why make a quilt of course!  A perpetual hug - a bunch of arms that wrap around you in affection and acceptance.

So, Tirane and I picked out a pattern, decided on colors and wanted it to be scrappy.  She went to her stash, I went to mine; we made blocks and didn't check with each other to see what we had until it was time to put it together.  Dang! We did good!

  

                   this is a picture of the back.   Look close at the quilting.   Tirane quilted a path of pebbles with the word Friend spaced thru it --  the thought was that life is a path of pebbles, but friends can help you get thru the bumpy parts.
 The blue parts are really full of daisy flowers -- to bring a smile.    I think it worked - for a little bit anyway.  Because we knew that our friend was hurting it was hard to work on this, but our hope was to give her comfort in days to come -- I hope it does.