My new project

Well, I wrote a while back about wanting to start on a new project and it finally got the better of me! I started working on it! I ordered a  bolt of this beautiful hand dyed 108″ wide backing fabric and when it came I just thought it was so pretty!  Anyway, I had ordered a set of patterns of state birds and flowers back in 2003 (I looked at the post mark) and I thought hmmmmmmmmm, I wonder what that would look like if I embroidered it in white? hmmmmmmmmm So anyway, I couldn’t wait any longer and I marked one block and started work on it. Here it is. What do you think?

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So far I’m lovin it! I started it Thursday night and Friday I decided that I needed to make a bag to carry it in. That way, I’ll have everything together and if I need to grab it and head out the door, all I have to do is grab the bag and go. So………today, I made a bag for it.

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I combined 2 different pattern ideas and made it the size I wanted. It folds open so that I can get to what I want.  I put pockets on the inside to hold certain things.

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I’m going to add velcro to the upper corners to help hold it closed. I will also put a small piece of velcro behind the yellow pocket and the turquoise pocket to hold them closed.

The turquoise pocket will hold the patterns and blocks when I get them cut.

The orange pocket is divided into 3 sections and will hold the embroidery floss,  scissors and the pens I use to mark the patterns. The green strip is the bottom of the bag.

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The yellow pocket will hold the finished blocks and the pink pocket will hold the block that I’m working on.

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Well, that’s what I’ve accomplished over the weekend.  As soon as I get the velcro pieces sewn on, I’ll be all done with it! Yeah!! The bag anyway!!! LOL!!!  It will take years to make 50 blocks. That’s one reason why I chose to make the bag using a black fabric! LOL!!  Who knows what the bag will look like after I tote it around for ?????years.

That’s it for now……………….

Theresa

A little tip that saves time

I didn’t get a whole lot of quilting done today, but I did get some of the blocks quilted. I thought I’d share a tip that I used today for marking. I made radiating lines coming out from the design in the center, so instead of using a ruler and marking off every so many inches on each side and having to find the center of each block,  I cut a square of paper the size of the block and then folded in half, folded again in half, then again so that I had even folds along the edges. I then clipped the edge of the folds, so that I could use that as a guide. I then opened the paper and folded the opposite way, to get the other side marked so that it has little notches all the way around. I then laid it on the block and made little marks in each notched area.Picture 009

Then I took a long ruler and connected the marks, so that I could see where to quilt when I was against the design. (I used a disappearing pen and it didn’t stay on there very long.) Once I started I had to work fast!

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If you haven’t used folded paper for marking distances on sections, it is quick and easy. It can also be used in sashings.

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Ok that’s if for now. I’ll get back to canning tomatoes. They are finally coming on strong, so the next few weeks I’ll be canning lots of tomatoes and making salsa. Yum! Yum!

Have a great one!

Theresa

Getting back to work

I had a busy weekend so I didn’t get hardly any quilting done.  I had one on the machine last Thursday that I knew I would finish on Friday. Well, it didn’t happen……….DH was home Friday & for some reason, when he’s around, I just don’t get as much done as I hope to. Oh well…….. he did go over to his Dad’s that night, and I thought I could finish the quilt before I headed out to the races. Didn’t happen…………….thread kept breaking. Oh well……………..I thought I could get it done on Saturday. Think again! We had a picnic over at the ball fields for the team that my DH coached this summer. I ended up spending Saturday getting everything ready for that. Running to town to make sure we had everything and then cooking that afternoon. I kept thinking about the quilt that was almost done.  Sunday came, went to church and finally late in the afternoon, I finished the quilting. Yeah!!!  I always do the borders last and it had a solid black border and I was using King Tut variegated thread so I was anxious to see how it was going to look on the border. I put  chubby little leaves in the border.

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The quilt was made up of nothing but triangles, so I just put a flower in each triangle.

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I was glad when I finally  finished  it.

My brother and I went to a funeral yesterday, it’s almost a 2 hour drive to get there. He made the comment when we pulled up that “we probably look like the Redneck cousins” since we had a motor in the back of the truck. I had to laugh!! He figured that since we were only going to be 20 miles from the place that he needed to take the motor, he might as well drop it off.  So we did!

So anyway, today I got back to quilting. I actually got 2 quilts quilted today. I only meandered them, so they went fairly quick. But they are done!!! I just finished loading the next one on, so hopefully I can get started on it in the morning.  I guess I better get to bed now, it’s getting late.

Have a great day!

Theresa

Oh….I was thinking today while I was quilting, the next quilt is one where I’m going to put the binding on while it’s still on the machine. Anyone interested in seeing pictures of how that’s done?  I thought if I remembered, that I could take a few pictures if anyone is interested. Let me know.

A day out with Family

I didn’t get any quilting done yesterday. I went to lunch with my sister, Mom, 2 Aunts, 2 cousins and my Aunts Great granddaughter. One of my cousins lives in Oklahoma and she came up for a couple days, so we decided to have a get together.

Aunt Donna, Mom and Aunt Kathy.

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Aunt Kathy with her Great Granddaughter Kendall.

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Cousin Diane, sister Jo Ellen and cousin Jean.

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Aunt Kathy sent me this picture last night. I NEVER look good in pictures, so I avoid having my picture taken. We were kidding around yesterday and I posed for this shot.  I was trying to look glamorous but instead I look like a dork!!LOL!!! As usual!!

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We had a really nice day. After spending 2 hours at the restaurant, we went over to the Russell Stover store and they all had ice cream and we visited another hour or so.

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Now I need to go finish the quilt I’m working on. I only have a couple more rows and the border to quilt, then it came come off the machine. Yeah! Then I can load the next one.

Have a great day!

Theresa

My boring blog needs to change

I’ve been thinking about this blog here, and I’ve come to the conclusion, that it’s terribly boring! I try to keep it quilt related, and I read somewhere where some people don’t show their customers quilts on their blogs, so I thought about it and quit doing that………well, I’ve now decided, that quilting for my customers is what I do! I won’t show every quilt that I quilt, but by golly, I’m going to show some of them. Otherwise, there’s nothing on here to read or look at. Right? I’ll start by showing some quilts that I finished up last week that are on their way to my friend Jill.

This first one has oriental fabric for the border, I was stumped with just what to do with those side triangles. I wanted something that would look kinda oriental. I decided to put some fans in there. Hope she likes them.Picture 6091

This one is a Tenn Waltz pattern.

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The borders on the TW.

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I don’t know the name of this one. It’s made with batiks.

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This last one was made by Jills friend. She used her husbands old shirts. I put feathers in the sashing strips and then some swirls and flowers in the other areas.

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I’m waiting to hear if Jill and G. like their quilts. They should receive them in the next few days. I hope!! I always get nervous sending them off, until I hear that they’ve arrived.

I’ve quilted two more this week, but haven’t taken pictures of them yet. I have one on the machine now that I need to get back to.  I also didn’t start the new project that was in my head the other night. But I haven’t given up on it either. LOL! I showed my idea to my friend Doris the other day and she said I should go for it, so that she can see it! She loves the idea! Anyway, for now it’s on hold.

I better get back to work.

Theresa

What are you?

Are you a starter or a finisher? Are you one of these people that love to start new projects and never finish them? Or are you one of the ones that always finish what you start?

Unfortunately, I am a starter! I start new projects  because I get an idea that I just can’t shake from my head, so I start pulling fabrics or designing a pattern, or whatever it is that pertains to that nagging idea that’s in my head!! I can’t concentrate on what I need to do because of the urge to start that new project! They need to have some kind of therapy for those of us that can’t fight the urge to start that new project while looking at all the other unfinished projects sitting there!! LOL!!!!

If you are a finisher, my hat goes off to you!!! How do you do it?

In case you’re wondering………Yes, I’m trying to tell myself not to go down and start on something new! LOL!!!!!!! (but I think it would look so awsome! and it’s handwork, so it would take me a few years to get it done, so I need to start on it now…………….help!!!)

Theresa

Quilt Barn Block

In the latest issue of Quilters World magazine, there is an article about barns in Ohio that have big quilt blocks painted on them.   Anyway, today I had to run to St Louis, Missouri and coming back we pulled off of I-70 just west of Columbia, (potty break time)  and there on the side of a barn was this big quilt block! I got excited and grabbed my camera! I don’t know why I took it with me today, but I’m glad I did!

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Here it is as we went to get back on the interstate.

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I wish I had a big barn! I think these are awesome!!! Anyway, if you’re ever west of Columbia, MO on I-70 look for it on the south side of the road.

Theresa

I did some sewing

I had my guild meeting on Thursday and we made little sewing bags. I didn’t want to mess with taking my machine to the meeting, so I just visited with everyone and brought the instructions home to make mine. It will hold a 6X8″ cutting mat and ruler as well as a few other things. Picture 5859

I still need to add some velcro to keep it closed and make a little name tag to go on the inside.

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After  making the bag, I made my block for this months Saturday sampler BOM. Although the first Sat. is next week, since it’s a holiday, the shop will be closed, so we have our July meeting today.  Anyway, I got my block finished for this morning.

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When making the pinwheel in the center area, the directions said to cut the pieces into triangles and then piece them together (which I don’t like to do) so I did it the quick way and left the square big and just sewed the lines then cut apart and had my triangle pieces sewn together, then added the other piece and it was done. Much easier way than cutting and sewing on the bias.

Well, I guess I better go get myself ready. Have a good day!

Theresa

Meet Beau

My son came home last night with a surprise for me. A new little orange kitten!!

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He was hoping the kitten would be ready for my BD back in May, but Beau was only a week or so  old at that time.   He asked me several times if I was going to get another cat and I’d say yeah, one of these days. He’s already called home today from work to see how Beau is doing.

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Isn’t he cute???????

Well, I better go get something done today, other than playing with Beau!!!

Have a good day!!

Theresa

MQS quilt – Flora Elena

I posted a while back about a quilt that I was quilting for a friend of mine that we were going to enter in the MQS show. Well, here it is.

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Doris took these phot0s outside so that the quilting will show up on it. Hand dyed fabrics were used in the applique flowers and baskets.

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I couldn’t decide what to do in the sashings until the very last. This ended up being very tedious and time consuming. (Wait, who am I kidding, this whole quilt was time consuming.LOL!!)

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Anyway, we are so excited this morning, after seeing that it received a 3rd place ribbon at MQS!  That makes it worth all the hours that went into the quilting of it.

Have a great day!!!

Theresa