This lovely statue is called the “Arte y Pico” award which was created to be given to bloggers who inspire others with their creative energy and talents no matter whether it be in the form of writing, artwork, design, interesting material, or contributions to the blogger community. When a blogger receives this award it is considered a “special honor” and, once presented to you, it is to be passed on to at least 5 other bloggers who meet the criteria.

Penny at Penny Quilts gave me this award. Thank you! I really don’t think I have that much to say that anyone is interested in, but, thank you!! You made me feel special. Now is the hard part, coming up with 5 to pass it on to. I’ve had my blog for a year (as of last week) but it’s taken me awhile to get into keeping up with it. LOL! I do enjoy reading blogs so if you leave a comment and have a link I’ll be sure to go check out your blog!!  I think  the blogs I will choose to pass the award on to will be Vicky @ Field trips in fibers, Randi @ Allen quilts, Judy L @ Patchwork times, May @ Abyquilt and last but not least to Adam @ Adam’s quilting.

I need to get downstairs and get to work, so I have to make this short and sweet.  I hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Theresa

I was going through some of my quilts and ran across a few that are……..well……..let’s just say, I think I’ve improved with my quilting over the years!

I’ll start with my first quilt.  Now, I was someone that told my sister (I was a teenager) that “I WILL NEVER MAKE A QUILT!!!”  Anyway, years later my Aunt found some blocks in my grandmothers attic that had been hand pieced by my Great grandmother, well, since I was always sewing clothing, craft items ect. she sent these things to me. I told my mom “What am I supposed to do with them??????? Jo’s the quilter” As time (years) went by, I finally decided to do SOMETHING with them, so I appliqued them down onto white muslin sewed the blocks together and hand quilted it. I didn’t know what binding was, so I just brought the fabric from the back around to the front and sewed it down. Wahlah! It was done and I was hooked on quilting!

I was now ready to start another quilt!! I went to a quilt show and they had baggies that had directions for a block and the fabric in them. I bought about 25 of these baggies of blocks. Home I went and hand sewed the blocks together. Then I hand quilted it. It took me 12 months to complete the quilt. (I still didn’t know what a binding was! LOL!!)

After making that one, I took a quilt class and learned what a rotary cutter and ruler were. Thank goodness!!

Anyway, here’s one that I made years later, I quilted it shortly after getting my longarm. Now you need to know that back then there were very few  books, videos ect. on longarm quilting. I bought Linda Taylors videos and Marsha Stevens videos and those were the only ones I knew of. Actually, the only quiltin books were for DSM’s not longarms. Oh well, I really thought my feathers looked good!  OH HOW WRONG I WAS!!!!! Look at these big honkin feathers! Oh my gosh!!!! I put feathers in the colored blocks and stippled in the black areas. I think someday I’ll take those feathers out and quilt something different in there!  See, I can do small feathers now! This is the last thing I’ve made.

Here’s a throw size quilt that I made one time. I forgot about it. I made it for a guild challenge one time. And the back. It’s not one I’ll ever make again. I about lost my mind trying to keep all the circles in the correct spot!

Well, I think I’ve improved with my quilt making and machine quilting over the years!! Don’t you think? I do get a good laugh when I look at some of these!!  I guess we all have to start somewhere!!

Oh, I did finish the monster quilt top. How’s this?

OK, I will stop boring you with my trip down quilting memory lane!

Have a great day!

Theresa

Well, here it is, Sunday night at 1:15pm. I’m getting tired and probably should go to bed but I thought I’d pass on a tip. I can’t remember where I read this but I thought it was a good one. When you ‘re making a quilt top and you have your rows ready to assemble. Take flat head pins and number them with a sharpie pen. When you pick up your blocks, you can keep track of which row is which by sticking that rows number  pin in them.

As you can see, I haven’t sewn on the monster quilt since Monday. I will try to sew the rows together tomorrow. I did quilt 4 customer quilts this week. In fact, I just took the 4th one off the machine, I was determined to finish it tonight before I went to bed. Oh well, back to the pins, I’m using them on the monster quilt. I usually tear little pieces of paper and number them for the rows but I think the pins will be nice. I’m going to keep them in their own pin cushion. That way I’ll have them ready when I need them.

Bob’s been here now for 2 weeks! He’s growing fast and has made this his home. We enjoy sitting on the patio and watching him run and play. He’s decided that my flowers are his jungle. He goes in and then peeks out through the leaves! He’s so funny. Well, that’s it for now. I’m going to bed!! It’s been a long day.

Theresa

Yeah!!! I just finished all the blocks on the monster quilt. Now I have to sew them into rows and sew the rows together. whew!! So far I have not used 1 pin in assembling the quilt blocks. Sharon Schambers tip on using Elmers glue is great!! I now prefer to glue instead of pin. Oh well, I’m just happy that the blocks are sewn.

I better go make myself presentable as I have a lady coming to pick up her quilt pretty soon. Later if I have time I’ll lay out the blocks and see how it looks. Then it’s off to the LA machine to get some quilting done.

Have a great day!!

Theresa

Update………My lady came and picked up her quilt and I’ve laid the blocks out on the floor. I couldn’t put them on the design wall because I already have a quilt on there. See.I have the top row sewn together and the next 2 rows are stacked and ready to sew. The rest of them are waiting. Each star is a different print so I have to be careful not to turn them the wrong way. I also have to remember NOT to turn the fan on! Ask me how I know that?????? Luckily it only knocked half of the squares off.

Oh, I guess I’m getting a little carried away here! Back to the monster quilt. Here it is laid out on the floor. It will have 2 borders on it. A 2″ and a 4″. OK that’s it for now. I really need to go quilt. But how does the monster quilt look?

Theresa

I need a name for the pattern I’m working on. (I absolutely hate having to come up with names for things.) I’d appreciate any suggestions! As soon as I get the pattern written up I’ll have to have a name on the pattern.This is the cat one. The monster one is the other one I’m working on and I have fabric to do one with fairies. Any ideas?

I’ve been cleaning house today and since my DH is off work this week on vacation, I’m not getting any quilting or sewing done. I’ve been doing things with him and other things that need to be done. I wanted the freezer moved from the basement upstairs so I got that done today. It gives me more room in my quilting area. Yeah! Now I can get to my whole pegboard with all my stencils hanging on it. Before the freezer was covering up the last 1/3 of it.I have room now to put my big ironing board up against the wall instead of out in the middle of the room. I had my dad put wheels on it so that I could move it around. He also put a shelf under it. Those big boards are nice but it was so heavy that my ironing boards weren’t sturdy enough.

I also realized today that 2 months from today, Pam and I will be leaving for Italy!!!! I have so much to do between now and then. I get nervous and anxious and afraid that I have to many quilts that I need to finish before we go, and that I won’t get them done. I’m going to have to work overtime on the quilt machine!!!!!!!

I better get something done. Have a great day and please let me know if you have any ideas for a name for the pattern.

Theresa

Well, here it is Monday. I did get some work done over the weekend. I spent several hours Saturday sewing. I have started sewing the blocks together on the monster quilt. I need 24 of these and I have 14 completed and the rest I just have to sew the 2 rows together.

I laid out one of the star blocks. I was debating on whether or not to use the green fabric or the orange polka dot that I’ll use for the inner border. I like the way the green star points pull out the green in the monster so I’m glad I chose it. 

I need to make 9 of the star blocks.

I didn’t get to sew much on Sunday because after church we usually go out to eat with my brother and SIL. Anyway, as we were leaving Bob Evans, I heard a meow in the parking lot and looked over and there was a little kitten in the parking lot. Well, I had no idea which one of the 100+ cars this kitten would have ridden in on, so he came home with me.  There are no houses around and the parking lot is between 2 busy streets and I just couldn’t leave him there with the probability of getting ran over! My DH kept telling me to put him down , put him down, put him down! my brother just shook his head, laughed and knew that it would go home with me!! Anyway, here’s Bob….

My SIL named him that since we were at Bob Evans.  Isn’t he cute?!! He has a bad habit of climbing under vehicles, so I hope we don’t give him an unplanned ride to town!! He’s getting spoiled already. My DH even went up the tree last night to get Bob down. LOL!

Well, I need to go get some quilting done. I didn’t quilt at all over the weekend and I have several customer quilts that I need to finish. Hope you have a nice day and I’ll post more of my monster quilt as I progress.

Theresa

I’ve been busy today quilting on a customer quilt. It’s huge. I was hoping to finish it today since I’ll see her tomorrow at my LQS, but it’s not going to happen. I took a break earlier today and changed the header on my page here. I think it looks better than the dull brown picture that I had on here before. I like bright colors and this looks more cheerful to me. Don’t you think so?

Well, that’s it for now. Have a great day.

Theresa

I want to quilt but instead of that, I’m waiting on my repairman to get here…….. I went to town today and picked up a few things at the grocery store just to come home and find that my extra fridge in the basement is not working. Everything in the freezer was melted and thawed out. What a mess!! I got it all taken out and will wait to see what John says when he gets here. The fridge is old and if it’s not worth fixing I’m not going to clean it out. I almost bought some ice cream…good thing I got sidetracked and forgot because my freezer upstairs is full. I guess I would’ve had to sit and eat the whole 1/2 gallon of ice cream. Maybe that wouldn’t have been so bad…………………….

Oh well, I did finish 2 customer quilts yesterday. I like the way she set this quilt. She put the blocks on point and made a zigzag instead of plain squares. I quilted feathers in that space. Maybe after John leaves I can get the next one loaded and get some of it done today.

I’ve been working on the HST needed for my monster quilt. Those seem to take forever. I’m using the paper that has the markings on it that you sew on the lines then cut apart. I like doing the HST that way because it seems faster. I think the pattern calls for 112 HST.

Johns here……..

Well, he got the fridge up and running. He had to put on a new part, I forget what he called it, but he said it should work fine now. I guess I better go clean it out before it freezes the mess that melted into the bottom of it. Then maybe I can get some quilting done.

Have a great day!

Theresa

I designed a cat quilt a year or so ago and I’ve been meaning to write up the directions for it, but I never did. Anyway, my LQS got in a new line of fabric which has 6″ squares with little monsters on it, and I told her that the pattern of my cat quilt would be perfect for that fabric. So, she told me to let her know how much fabric I needed for it so that I could make it and of course…….I’ve lost the paper that I had everything written on!!

I went in yesterday and took the cat quilt and the layout of the pattern. We sat and figured how much fabric it would take and she sent that home with me. Today, I’ve been working on writing the pattern. I need to write the pattern and then make the quilt according to the directions. That way I should have all the correct numbers of squares and blocks.

Here’s a pic of the cat quilt.

I think the cats are so cute on this fabric. The squares weren’t quite 6″ but I figured they were close enough.

Anyway, here’s the new fabric with the monsters on it.

The green polka dots and the purple polka dots will make the criss cross on the quilt. I hope it comes out looking good. I think I’m ready for cutting now. I just hope I figured everything right!! I need to get the pattern written up, printed and the sample made and then she’ll cut kits for it. I sure wish I hadn’t lost the original! I know it’s around here somewhere……………….

Theresa

Oh, the lady in charge of selling the mini’s at our quilt show, was at my LQS yesterday, she loved the sudoku one that I made. I showed it to her and the first thing she asked was “is that for the sale? I love it!” Hopefully, someone will buy it as it’s one of our big money makers for the quild.