We've moved!!!

Hello everyone!  I have had the opportunity to move my blogs over (and consolidate them) onto my very own domain!  I sure hope that all of you can visit me in my new digs over at the new home of Another Hatchett Job, www.janhatchett.com.

Please be sure to update your bookmarks, etc.

I am doing this in conjunction with a blogging class that I am taking for work.  So, the latest posts are decidedly about my jewelry business.  As class ends and as I have more time to make the quilts I have planned, there will be more quilty goodness on there also!

Thanks again to my loyal readers--both of you!

2010 comes to a close...

and I am ready to see it go!  2010 had lots of good family moments, but more than its fair share of heartaches and issues also.  We had some painful transitions to go through and I didn't get nearly as much quilting done as I would have hoped.  Sigh.

But, 2011 is a NEW YEAR with new hopes and dreams.  I hope and pray that this year will run a bit smoother and have fewer of those nasty (forced) transitions!  We are settling in rather well to our homeschooling routine and the boys are thriving, so I am pleased about that.  Actually, that is one transition that was painful (the situation the necessitated a total upheaval) but I am gradually letting go of the hurt feelings and gaining a sense of peace and acceptance.  I think this was one of those things that just had to happen in order to make me see what my kids weren't getting from our situation at the time.  Now, they are beginning to love learning again.

I wish all of my readers a joyous and blessed New Year!  Hope to hear from you all really soon!

They were a hit!

The Christmas quilts, that is!  Here are Mom and Dad with their quilts on Christmas Eve.  Yes, they live in a log cabin, so the quilts work well there.  They both loved theirs and they told me that they have curled up with them after we left on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and this evening.  It made me smile.

Christmas--the After Photo....

The festivities are over.

Even my Mom and Dad's dogs are feeling a bit pooped!

Victory!

Victory at last!  Dad's quilt is completed and ready to be gifted when we see him for dinner tonight!  Whew!  I am really glad that this one is ready in the nick of time (I have never run so late in my life).  It might be awhile before my hands aren't claws, though since I did the big stitch quilting around the outside edge to stabilize it (there were 4 layers of fabric and 4 layers of batting at the edge).

I hope that all of you have a warm and wonderful Christmas with friends and family!

Close, but not complete....

Okay, I have been making lots of progress with Dad's Christmas quilt, but I keep finding more things that either keep me away from finishing up, or that create extra work for me.

But, here is where we stand...

This little baby is an absolute trooper, but as I don't have a walking foot for it (soon, very soon), I had some trouble with the edge stitching.  I used two layers of Warm and Natural batting so that it would be very warm and where the edges all are sewn (yes, I sewed and flipped--don't judge me) there are 4 layers of fabric and 4 layers of batting all crammed up in there together.  Can't topstitch without the walking foot because the top layer was getting all puckery. So...

In order to secure that edging and keep it stable, I am hand quilting around the edge, big stitch style with the same crochet cotton that was used in the interior blocks (more on that later).  Of course, after 1 and 1/4 edge, my hands turned into claws, so I had to put it down for the evening.  But here it is in progress.

This is what my completed corner looks like.  It is holding the edge stable and it gives a bit of a rustic touch, which I like for this.  My parents live in a log cabin (hence my Mom's log cabin Christmas quilt earlier this year) so rustic and folksy works well for them.

This is the backing fabric that I used.  It is part of the extra long, California twin sheet (that my Mom kept for years) that my baby brother took to camp in the summer time.  It's a nice plaid and large enough to use a single piece.  The plaid is a nice touch.

Normally, I really think that tying a quilt is kind of like cheating.  Yes, it works for awhile, but it isn't terribly durable compared to good old fashioned quilting.  But, hey, it is December 22nd and I have battled multiple broken sewing machines, bronchitis, and the lack of a walking foot to get this far, so I ain't stopping now!

Actually, I saved a bunch of the buttons that came off of the shirts when I processed them.  Of course I used bunches to make my button and twig snowflakes, but still had oodles to tie one button in the center of each square in the quilt.  I left the little ends sticking up a bit past my surgeon's knot so that it would add to the rustic flair.  The buttons don't match in size or even colors, but that makes it look even scrappier.  The more I work with it, the more I just know that it suits Dad perfectly.  Tomorrow I will work on it further and with any luck finish it and start cleaning my horribly neglected pig sty house for the festivities to begin.

I hope that everyone who reads this post has the opportunity to celebrate Christmas (or the holiday of your choice) with the ones you love.  Can't wait to see what I we can get into quilt-wise for 2011!

Borders and Astronomical Delights

Okay, I will freely admit that I am a night person and that often the best chance I get to do anything remotely creative is after everyone is in bed and I can enjoy the quiet.

Tonight, I got the quiet AND a really cool lunar eclipse.  Between checking the eclipse and cutting and sewing border strips, I feel kind of accomplished tonight (and seriously sleepy).

It's really too wide to show it effectively on my curtain rod design wall.  But, the eclipse was lovely and I got to see it really well.  Once the clouds came rolling in heavily, I had gotten to see it and I figure it's just backwards from here on out.

The quilt top is completed.  Tomorrow, I get to piece the backing (and some batting) and see how this new machine does some simple quilting.

I really liked the piano key border idea, but the more I work with this top, the more I think it suits my Dad.  And, I really like that!

I am off to bed.  I promise to take a better photo of the top sometime.  Yawn!