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)