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.

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!

A little bit of progress

A few blocks completed and pressed for Dad's lap quilt.  The colors are supposed to line up so that it makes a cute, secondary design when the blocks are alternated without sashing.  It makes the pattern, but not quite the correct way since I messed up the order of the colors.  Oh well.

Life is a little wonky, right?  Especially on bronchitis meds!  LOL!

Right now, all of the little 9-patch numbers are done and I have done the first 12 of the snowball blocks.  12 more snowballs to go and then we can start assembling and making decisions about borders and backings.  I will be very much relieved when this final gift is completed.

My Mom tells me that Dad, "sits around and shivers like a chihuahua!"  Great visual.  So, I figure that he really needs a quilt.  He is diabetic and is feeling the cold more these days.  Mom, however, still has hot flashes and thinks that the proverbial "Nanook of the North" is sweating in his igloo!  Now, I hope that Dad will get to cuddle under his very own quilt, made of guy fabrics, and stay completely and totally warm!

We can only hope!

Woo Hoo! Victory!

My log cabin quilt (Christmas gift for someone special) made it out of the laundry intact.  Whew!

I am quite relieved!  

I don't think I have ever shared this....

As I anxiously await the arrival of the new sewing machine, I thought I might share a quilt that I am really fond of.  It is my one and only antique quilt.  Back in the late, gulp, 1980s (when I was 2--LOL!), hubby and I saw this quilt in a yard sale.  They were using it to pack up items to cushion them for transport.  I was a very, very new quilter and I knew that it was pretty and old.

That pretty much sums up my quilting knowledge.  The edges were tattered and some of the patches of a black fabric had worn down to show mostly foundation muslin.  Some brown is very worn also.  The batting was just clumps of cotton pressed flat and sewn through.  The back was made up of feed sacks that came from a flour mill about 40 miles from here.  You can just make out the printing on only one of the sacks.

It was a mess.  It really should have been a cutter quilt, but I was young, stupid, and fell in love with that faint printing on the feed sack.  The owner thought I was crazy but sold it to me anyway--cheap!

My mom helped me to put a turkey red border around the edge to protect it (yes, I know, a restoration no-no) and it has hung in my home ever since.  For a while it was folded over a hanging rail in my bedroom.  In another house, it hung in the entryway.  Currently, it hangs from spring clips on a display wire behind my couch in the living room.  It's beautiful.

It is made up of shirting fabrics and is quilting in an unmarked Baptist fans pattern.  At least I hope that the ladies didn't mark this out, otherwise those Baptist gals had been drinking rather heavily!  LOL!

I didn't really pay too much attention to the details of this quilt; I just knew that I liked it.  But, it does explain why I seem to be fascinated with quilts made from shirting fabrics and the Baptist fan quilt pattern.  It's just kind of familiar to me after all the years of living with my quilt.

Some progress

Well, I was finally forced to make a decision regarding the baby quilt that I am making.  Mostly, the decisions were made by realizing that while I had started in plenty of time to leisurely work on this quilt, I had gotten busy with other things and didn't realize that the shower is NEXT SATURDAY!!!

So, with time short and money shorter, I had to just go with a plan that would allow me to use fabrics that I already had and that I could sew up in very little time.

The photo doesn't really show it well, but the red outer border is the exact same fabric as the red star points.  It should finish up to a 40 inch square.  I think I might have enough of the blue check from the star points for the binding.  But, at this point, it is going to be bound with whatever I have that will work.  I am not against a scrappy binding.

As for the backing, I will have to start working on it tomorrow evening.  I will be using various shirting materials I have.  The mom-to-be had a color scheme in mind for the top (she has no idea what I did with her color choices, though), but the backing may add in other colors out of necessity.  I plan to piece together scraps from my shirting fabrics to make a scrappy back.  I do have a vintage sheet that is a red, white, and blue plaid that I could use for a single fabric back.

I kind of had it in my head that since this was my first quilt from shirt fabrics that it would be entirely out of shirt fabrics.  I am not sure why it matters, but....

After that, I will be seeing what I have in the batting department.  I may be piecing some batting together to get a piece big enough to work with.  At least I feel like I haven't been wasteful at all with this quilt.

I did plan on making my dad a quilt for Christmas out of the shirt fabrics, and if I am going to do that, I will have to get started pretty darn quick!  Otherwise, I won't get it finished in time.

Work in Progress

Well, I haven't made as much progress as I would have like to have made, but here is where we are.  I put sashings between the blocks out of a fabric that I haven't used before, but since it is blue, it works.  I love that I am able to rummage through my vintage shirts and find what I need.  This is turning out to be a very inexpensive little project so far.

I just have to decide how I want to finish this out.  I know that I will have borders around the edges, but I am not sure how many and of which fabrics.  I am currently wondering if an nice red border surrounded by pieced scrappy bits of red, tan, and blue fabrics, surrounded by another dark navy border would look.

Hmmm.  Maybe I should leave the scrappy to the binding.  I'd love it if YOU, my wonderful and glorious readers would chime in with an opinion or two.....or thirty!   I know that folks do occasionally check out my blog, so I want to know what everyone thinks would look best.

Baby steps...baby steps

Well, in between out of town guests (love them!) and sick kids (allergies backed up sinuses and now kiddos have infections and ear infections, too), I managed to get a little bit of quilting in.

Thanks to a friend who gave me an older sewing machine that has an awesome straight stitch (but no zig-zag), I am back in business.  The star on the left is machine pieced this evening.  The one on the right is hand pieced.  I love them both.  Right now, I am thinking of keeping the hand pieced block and making a wall hanging out of it.  I love the hand pieced block, but I am afraid that the machine pieced one might stand up to various washings for a baby's use a little better.

But, I absolutely love having both blocks hanging up to view them.  I am using old, discarded, I mean vintage shirting fabrics for these.  It's soft and masculine.  It is the kind of thing that I would have hung up in my kiddo's rooms for years since it isn't  kiddie type fabrics

Now, I have to machine piece three more blocks and borders.  We are taking a break from school right now, so it's a good thing that I have suddenly been gifted with a machine.  God is SO good to me!

Port-a-bil-ity!

I am fortunate to own a copy of Jinny Beyer's book, Quiltmaking By Hand.  I had purchased it quite a while back when I was looking for ideas on hand quilting designs.  I never really anticipated needing to learn to sew by hand.  But, I digress...

When I looked at the information in the book on hand piecing (great photos, by the way), I realized that I would need to keep a few supplies together so that I could work anywhere.  Here are the contents of my new portable sewing kit that I made up.  It includes, a mini tape measure, sharp scissors, a rubber coated thimble, YLI Select hand quilting thread in white (needle stuck in top for photo), needle compact (that I will refill), needle threader, and about 8 straight pins.  Now, I just needed a way to keep it all together.

 This is what I came up with (after a little research and trial and error).  It is a Tupperware Sandwich Keeper. It has a strong closure (so I won't lose my stuff) and the lid is hinged (so I can't lose it either).  There is a rather large image of the Pokemon named Jigglypuff on the front.  I pulled this out of the back of my cabinet.  Hey, if I had something that worked, I surely wasn't going to spend money on it.  Yes, I know that I am weird.  But, no one will accidentally confuse their kit with mine, I am certain of that!

Here it is, all set up in working order.  There are two strong magnets hot glued to the lid.  One holds my needle that I am currently using so that it won't get lost in the contents.  The other holds my few straight pins.  Hubby kept the magnets out of an old cell phone case.  They are really strong to be so small.  Hubby scratched up the lid a bit so that my glue would make a good bond with the magnets.

It is the size of a, well, a sandwich actually to carry around.  I keep my current block in progress in a ziplock type (but cheaper) plastic bag to keep all of my pieces together.  I can throw it in my purse, or a tote bag.

It's pretty convenient.  Today, I sewed two seams while waiting for DS14 in the orthodontist's office.  He popped a bracket off and we needed to get it fixed.  I also stitched a bit while the kids were working during homeschool time.  I imagine that if I get a used to carrying this around, I will find lots of small amounts of time where I can do a bit.  Sounds like it could add up to some serious progress to me!

A Small Victory....

 Yep.  Here she is.  The official, first ever, hand pieced block by moi!  It wasn't pressed, just completed while we were homeschooling today.  I took it outside (we homeschool with a friend's son and we use their basement) and took this photo while the sun was shining.  I used thrifted, er, I mean vintage men's shirting fabrics. Let's just say that the new local Goodwill has been very good to me.  So has my hubby, my sons, and various family members who gave me their worn out shirts.  But, I have still had to purchase a couple on half price sale (a whopping $2.20)  to get the colors that I need for various and sundry projects.

 The center blue is a tiny blue and white check, the star points are navy with various blue stripes, and the back ground is a pale blue and yellow windowpane on white.  This is the first block in the baby quilt that I am beginning for a very dear friend.  I am so excited for her as I know that she will be an awesome mom!

Here is the truth of the situation.....the back of the block.  This is where all mistakes will show up.  If you look closely you will discover that I am NOT a very good seamstress by hand.  But, that part will be hidden and more importantly, this star has POINTS, yes, real points.

I have impressed myself to no end!  LOL!

A block to remember

Well, it will be when I get it sewed together!  I have cut out the first of the four Sawtooth Star blocks for the baby quilt in progress.   I have put together a little, portable sewing kit to take this project on the road.  Lately, I find that I may get more done if I can do a seam here or there while the kids are working on school work or while waiting for kiddos at the orthodontist, etc.

It's four blocks, so I don't see this as being an astronomical time hog.  Now, if I were doing a couple of hundred Drunkard's Path blocks or something, I can see hand piecing as really slowing things down, but just four blocks doesn't seem to be so daunting.

I will try to take a few pics tomorrow (when the light is better) of my little sewing kit and (with luck) my block.  Then I will have to cut out another one!  I am afraid that I will have to purchase another tan shirt or two in order to make this work.  I hate to buy more, but I want this to be really super-cute!

I have never really done many star blocks before and I always have a hard time lining up the star points.  I am hoping that hand piecing will allow me to make it look really nice.

A little bit of progress

Well, if my computer and blogger could agree how to proceed with a photo, this is where I would show you some vintage sheet charm squares (from my swap) that I hand pieced into pairs last night.

I have to admit that it went better than expected.  I am still trying to figure out which of my thimbles work best for this.  My good thimble (Roxanne) doesn't seem to work well for this, but it is a dream when I am hand quilting.

I pinned up a bunch more squares to practice on.  I will start joining them into 4 patches when I get them all done.  I figure that I can't do much of anything yet on a "real" project until a) payday comes  (I need straw needles and maybe some 1/4 inch tape) and b) I know if I can pull this off well enough to even bother with something that is for a gift.

So, I will keep on with it.  It isn't difficult so far and I enjoy having some hand work to do when I am just sitting.  At best, I will eventually have a vintage sheet quilt for summertime.  Love that idea.  At worst, I will have a wall hanging for spring and summer for view when you enter my front door.

If I can get photos to post later, I will.

Off the Deep End?

Maybe. This idea just might be totally off the deep end...

When my mom had surgery recently, she asked family members to be my FaceBook friends so that I could update them from my phone and get information out quickly without making a bazillion phone calls. So, many of them did. And they were updated.

Today, I mentioned quilting in a message and I got a reply from a family member. Not anyone I am close to, but a great aunt that I have met one or two times. She is a quilter.

Who knew??? Well, actually my mom knew but forgot to mention it. But, I love that! She and her hubby travel lots in a motor home and she takes projects along to work on. Love that, too!

By hand. Now, I like to quilt by hand. I am still a beginner but the process is awesome and relaxing. But, piecing by hand? I don't know about that one! I don't have great manual dexterity at all. Mom was thrilled when I learned to type and quilt by hand--I never could embroider or anything else. But, a rocking stitch slowly came to me. Somehow.

So, now I am almost tempted to hand piece a little something. You know, just to see if I could. Maybe my hand stitching would be less cantankerous than my slowly dying machine. It would be frugal. It would be slow. It might be fun. It might be harder than it looks. It might fall apart the first time I wash it.

Hubby thinks it is a swell idea.

Of course, I think that he wants off the hook to buy a new machine-LOL! Truth be told, he really isn't, but money is surely tight around here lately and we have other things that need to be replaced also.

Things are a bit better today...

Homeschool is running much more smoothly today. Whatever abducted my kid and left me to deal with a horrible mess seems to have returned to the mother ship.

I even got him to write his first 5 paragraph essay and it ain't half bad! I typed it for him, but it is all his work.

Maybe venting about it made the worst of it go away. I sure hope so.

You might not, because that likely means far more venting in my future-LOL!

After school, I have to make a few work phone calls and then I hope to sew for an hour or so. I decided to start sewing on the quilt that I am giving my Dad for Christmas (glad he doesn't read the blog). The top is all cut out and it will feel productive to get it pulled together. My Mom's Christmas quilt is all done except for binding, so I am ahead of the game on that one (glad she isn't a blog reader, too). Still mulling over a nice (frugal) crafty gift idea (matching hand towels and dish cloths maybe?)for others this Christmas. But, I have time. I have to get the baby quilt together first.

Amanda Jean's filmstrip quilt on crazymomquilts.blogspot.com is looking pretty good too. I could just alternate shirting fabbies with some white or unbleached muslin. Hmmm. Too many choices. But, it is fun to ponder!

No Fair!

Between helping to take care of my Mom, homeschool for 3 boys, and starting a new business venture (slowly....s l o w l y....), I feel like I am hardly able to get anything done (including laundry) well or even at all, sometimes.

You would think that with the economy and how tight money is for us, that since we are home more that we would be able to get so much more done!

Lately, I am so spent from our homeschool time that I take a nap when I get home. I need the break--dealing with my oldest is totally emotional! But, it eats into my productive time, if you could even call it that.

I guess I need to be more regimented. I am expecting the boys to help more around the house with chores, etc. I think that maybe this place will look relatively presentable in the near future. Hey, a girl can dream, can't she?

But, I am absolutely itching to quilt. Something fabulous. Really fabulous. Now!

I need to make a baby quilt for a friend who is having her first baby. She wants navy blue. She liked my suggestion to add lighter blues, and maybe some white or cream. But, even though I have pored over the internet looking for ideas, I can't settle on anything. My mind is just so addled lately that I am taking way too long to just focus.

I am thinking with that color scheme, that thrifted men's shirts could look fun and very "little man" for the quilt. I've even got a few shirts, just no inspiration that I can claim. My stash fabrics look a little too floral and cutesy for this quilt. The mom is not wanting anything feminine at all, so my swirly little scraps are out this time. I do love the idea of creating an heirloom for my friend's new baby without breaking the bank! This economy does keep us being creative, doesn't it?

It's crazy. I even have a bed sized quilt basted and ready for hand quilting and I just can't seem to get started. It's like I am too tired to pick it up, even though I love to sit and quilt of an evening while the kids and hubby watch a movie, etc.

I have got to get past this little slump I am in so I don't lose my mind. I need my quilt therapy (I can't afford the other kind--LOL)!

Out of Sorts

It sure seems odd that I am not posting quilty things lately. I am kind of at a standstill for a few reasons. We are just starting our second week of homeschooling and that's a little involved from a planning standpoint. I am starting a new business and my kick off event is this Saturday, so I am frantically cleaning house, attending training, watching training online, etc. Worst of all, until I can earn the money to purchase the new sewing machine, it is unlikely that I can get anything done at all. Sigh.

I did find out that a young friend of mine wants red, white, and black for her baby quilt, so that is another project on the back burner. Her baby is due just before Christmas.

So, I feel like I am in a quilty fog. Lots of projects adding up, but not working on any for now. Ick.

It's Hard to Keep a Secret!

But, unfortunately, it is very necessary sometimes, especially when the secret involves two matching gift items for nieces' birthdays! I have been dying to post more about them, but I knew that my tech savvy nieces might see them. So....

Without further ado!



This is a purse with two interior pockets made for my 9 year old niece. She seemed to think that it was cool!



This purse is for her big sister who is turning 14! Yikes! She seemed to love that hers was scaled up with a few extra details to differentiate it.

So, I have made two gifts this week. Unfortunately, neither one was a Christmas gift. So, I have to get cracking on that front!

Whew!

I've been working on some gifty type things lately and while I can't be too forthright about specifics, I am excited about them. DS12 is helping me to pick layouts, colors, etc. and seems to be tolerant of his mom doing continual projects.

For the latest one, I have been using a new (to me) way of connecting quilt as you go blocks together with sashings only on the back. I think it will look very nice, but my machine isn't crazy about sewing through all of the layers at once.

This is pretty much a stash project. I had stashed some completed blocks years ago when my skill set wasn't advanced enough to know how to finish them. They are wonky and show loads of beginner enthusiasm, but not a lot of precision. I love that about them. It reminds me of all of the things I have learned as a quilter and how far I have come. Great gift. Scrappy fabrics with memories attached. No cost. Frugal quilting at it's best!

I can't show you the entire project because of the gifty nature, but I can give you a little hint....