fabric bowls

So at the retreat in October we had a table of "white elephant" type stuff.  Basically books and notions somebody did want anymore.  Each table drew four cards and each table got to go the the white elephant table according to the cards they drew.  The pickings were starting to get a little low and I saw the book "Fast, Fun, & Easy Fabric Bowls."  I didn't take it the first time I saw it but it was still on the table the next time so I grabbed it.

When I went to Denver at the beginning of November to pick my BFF up to come visit for a month we did a fast shopping trip at JoAnn's and I bought a couple of yards of Peltex II.  It's fusible on both sides so you don't have to use up a bunch of Wonder Under too.

So this is the results.  Next time JoAnn's has a 50% off coupon and I have the money I'm buying a whole bolt of Peltex!!

All three of these bowls are on their way to their new homes now.

Silence descends!

Boy did it ever!!  My BFF was here all month.  We had a great time! 

Then Son 1 and his family and my mother came for a "pre-Thanksgiving" dinner since he had to work on T-D.  My youngest granddaughter will be 1 tomorrow and is just the cutest and goofiest thing ever!

Then the next week on Tuesday I went and picked up DGD #2 and her dad came on Wednesday.  Then for T-D my hubby's best friend, his wife and 3 kids plus my mom came for dinner.  I think I outdid my self this year and reached turkey gravy nirvana.

I took my BFF home yesterday and hubby is off at his second job and the house is totally silent again.  I mean like clock ticking, I hear the cat snoring silent.  LOL!

In quilty news, I am suddenly the chairman of a quilt show at our local arts center.  I volunteered to "help" and now I'm in charge.  The chairman's husband has several medical issues and she quit.  She gave me notice 2 whole hours before the board meeting.  Wasn't that sweet??  I still don't have any of her notes.  Hopefully I can get them before the guild meeting next tuesday.  If she had let me know right after the guild meeting at the first of November when she also didn't show up I could have had several things done and had more info for the board meeting.  I guess I'll spend the next few days playing catch up!

a UFO finish

I have been working on going thru everything and sorting things out.  Since I've moved 3 times in three years and two of those moves were only 9 months apart things got to be kind of a mess and really needed sorted out and organized.


I have no idea what I was originally going to do with these blocks.  I know I made them at least 6 years ago because we moved from that house in 2005.  Anyway, there were 10 of them.  6 of one color scheme and 4 of another color scheme.  And I had some yardage of two fabrics with them.  I put 9 of the blocks together and added borders for a nice size throw and turned the extra block into an accent pillow to go with it.  I love the way the plaid and gingham work with the florals.

I have one more set of UFO blocks put together.  It's not quilted yet though.

the next challenge project

The next challenge project for the guild I'm in is called "Kansas, My Kansas or what ever state you're from.

I have a rough sketch of what I'm going to do.  I'm going to use the Kansas dugout blocks in dark green and tan at the bottom.  Then the Kansas troubles block in two shades of blue and white and at the top two lines of flying geese.  I'll applique wheat and sunflowers on it and it'll be framed with a wood print fabric I have.

Fair results

"Such a Winter's Day" got a blue ribbon.  The comment from the judge was to the effect she'd rather see the applique and embroidery done before the quilting. It's an art quilt, not strictly a quilt so those decisions are based on the creative process.

"Ladybug Invasion" got a reserve champion.  The judge liked the embellishments.  I don't think I've posted a full photo of it.  So I'll do that now.  Since hubby isn't home to hold it for me I'll take a photo of it on the floor.  The hollyhock and the leaf block are my two favorites.

Such a Winter's Day

It needs a couple of teeny repairs and the label and then a really good pressing.  But it's done.

just the knots!

All I have left to do is the French knots.  I tried to add piping to the binding but nothing I did worked.  It took too much attention away from the center.

it's getting there

I added two more leaves.  The Cardinal looks more like he's perched now.  I am only going to use 7 snowflakes.  I think they're just pinned on in this photo.  The positions will get tweaked a little bit as I get ready to iron each one on and sew it down.  I have the three big ones sewn on now.

I'm thinking about adding piping or a tiny flange in the binding since the binding is going to be the same fabric as the outer border.

just two more leaves!

So it needs two more leaves.  It needs one in front of the bird to make him sit and it needs one in the upper right corner.  I'm glad I looked up a picture of a Northern Cardinal before I used the designer's colors.  She had the beak yellow, they're red.  She also had a white area around the eye, it's all black.  I'll sew on a black bead for the eye.

The snowflakes are next.

all the leaves

I finally quit adding leaves.  It has 97 leaves.  I got the flowers cut out and they're pinned on.  At least there are only 9 of them.  I did change them from the original.  The original flowers were too pointy.

67 was not enough!

There are already 70 leaves on the wall hanging and there's still one branch left to do.  You can see I changed the bottom ones just a bit.  I really did want one that went below the accent strip but I really needed to fill that lower left corner so I took off the short ones and added one fairly long one and a medium size one over on the right.  I don't know if I'll get the rest of the leaves on today or not, we're having company tomorrow so I need to get the bathrooms cleaned and start the food prep today.

40 leaves!

I have 40 leaves on the wall hanging now.  I took off some of the short stems on the bottom and I'm going to add one long vine from the left to the right below the one that's already there.  I'm pretty sure 67 leaves aren't going to be enough.  There are three flowers down the left side and three across that bottom vine with the cardinal between the last two.

And this pattern started off with 16 holly leaves!

10 down...

Ten leaves done and only 57 more leaves, 7 flowers, 10 snowflakes and 1 cardinal to go.  I loooooooooove the way the leaves look.  The stems turned out really cool too.  They're three different shades of brown pearl cotton just held together and twisted a little and zig zagged down with invisible thread.  Well, the main stem is three strands, the smaller branches are two strands and the teeny one with just one leaf is one strand.


Yes, the background is already quilted.  I wanted straight lines and no stops and starts and the only way you're going to get that is quilt first.  Good thing I have that handy dandy super steam iron 'cause this is gonna be wrinkled some by the time I get everything appliqued!



previews!

The first picture is the flowers and leaves just scattered out on the background in the general areas where they're going.  There will also be a cardinal on the lower right between the last two flowers.  In this photo it's just laying on the ironing center.  The brown line around in the center is the pearl cotton threads I'm going to use for the vine.  I had thought maybe about cutting it in pieces but I think it'll look better if it's one solid line with branches coming off of it.  The flowers will be solid enough after I get them backed with thin batting you won't be able to see the vine thru it but you'll still have the impression of the vine.

In the second picture I have the background almost quilted.  I still have to pull the thread ends from quilting the top and bottom borders to the back and quilt around the outside of the accent strip.  I really like the way these snowflakes look.  I need to make two more small ones for the left hand side.  The quilting in the borders is asymetrical, there are 3 lines on one side and 4 on the other side.  There are 10 lines of quilting in both the top and bottom borders.

Next I'll couch down the vine and start appliquing the leaves.  Tomorrow.  When my husband isn't home.



zag

 I got some of the "snowflake" blocks made.  Hated them.  Snowflakes are six sided.  The blocks are 8 point stars.  Plus they do not line up in the centers.  Yes, my seams are consistent and pretty accurate.  So, I redesigned that part too.


It still bugged me there wasn't any of the added in fabric in the center so  decided to take that apart and add some in.  In the process I decided to take the dark purple out of the center and just use it as an accent strip between the center and the border.  In the pic I just have squares pinned over the dark purple ones to see how it would look.  Since I had to take it apart to take out the dark purple and add in the border fabric I also enlarged it by one square each way.  With as many leaves as I have I thought it would probably look scrunched into the center space.

I have top and bottom border to add today and then I can baste and do the basic quilting on it before I start the applique.

                                                                                                                                                                                   

back up and punt

I finally get back to working on the wall hanging.  I'm working on the border blocks now.  I have the centers done (13 pieces and they're barely 3 inches big) and I look at the next set of instructions for the blocks.  The designer, in her infinite wisdom, broke up all the cutting instructions into each section of instructions instead of having all the cutting instructions at the beginning and just the assembly instructions broken into the sections.  Uhhh, I have no fabric and the instructions call for 80 2.24 inch squares.  So I start hunting for the scraps.  And I hunt.  And hunt some more.  The only scraps I find are from the leaf fabrics.  I suspect I used up all the main fabrics since I don't find any scraps at all and I have the binding fabric in the Art Bin with the rest of it.  While I was hunting for the scraps I saw a purpley gray that works really, really well with what I already have.  I'll take apart some of the block spacer units and add in the new fabric there and take the parts I take out of the spacer units and use them for some of the block corners.  It should mix the new fabric in well enough that you won't be able to tell.

I'm thinking about calling this one "Such a Winter's Day."

quilt guild "Opportunity" quilt ready for the quilter!!

I thought I was never going to get all the blanket stitch applique done on the borders of this quilt!!  Next it goes to another guild member with a longarm to be quilted.  After it's quilted it'll come back to me for binding.

If anybody is interested in an opportunity to own this quilt leave me a comment and how to get a hold of you.  Tickets will be sold on this quilt until the first weekend in December and we'll draw for the winner at the end of the local craft show.



bye-bye ketchup

The people that lived here before us painted the entry/kitchen area a dark red and a dark gold.  The red really looks like ketchup.  Today hubby is priming it.

quilt priorities

Sometimes you have to quit working on something and work on something else. My small guild does an opportunity quilt every year. This year the quilt has appliqued borders and a pieced center. I said I would do the blanket stitching around the appliques and to keep a consistent look it was decided that just one person would do that part.

I have the first border done and it looks really cool.

This is one of the end borders.  When it gets put on the quilt the corners are mitered and another of the large center flowers goes on each corner.  That's why the vine ends are hanging loose.  I need to have all of the borders done by the first weekend in June so they can be put on the quilt.  I need to have all of the applique done by the second weekend in June so it can go to the longarm quilter next.  After it's quilted it comes back to me for binding.

random bits

I took my girlfriend back home to Denver over the weekend. While I was there we went to Home Depot, Lowe's and Big Lots. I got more house plants at Home Depot and Lowe's and some flower pots and a rug for hubby's room at Big Lots. His room has tile on the floor and it's cold.

We made huge progress unpacking while she was here and there's not really much unpacking left to do now. Most of what's left is decorative stuff or things that need to wait until hubby paints. The hall upstairs and my closet and bedroom get painted next. The cookbook shelves go in the upstairs hall so the books are still packed for that shelf. The decorative stuff that goes in my bedroom is also still packed.

I'm going to just relax a bit this week and do laundry. We were so busy getting things unpacked I didn't do any of the laundry other than a couple of loads of clothes. I need to do tons of towels, sheets, and blankets now. I'll bet there are at least three loads of towels!

I should be able to get back to sewing in just a few days. I have a guild project I will have to work on next week. I'm doing the applique on the borders for our guild's "opportunity" quilt.

pacing

Hubby said he knew it was time to stop for the night when the cat started pacing the dash. We loaded the trucks and headed this way on Saturday. We stayed in a hotel about an hour from here. It was already 2:30am when we checked into the hotel so it was definitely time to rest for the day.

Good thing it comes off the trucks faster than it goes on! We unloaded the small truck Sunday and part of the big one and then finished unloading the big one Monday.

I really have to pace myself with all the unpacking or I'll be in a world of hurt. Since my girlfriend came with us we're getting a lot more done than I would by myself but we still have to limit ourselves on how much we do every day.

We've made a whole lot of progress over the last week even with pacing ourselves. The kitchen is mostly unpacked and in order. The sewing room is well underway.

Every wall in this house needs painted. The ones that aren't an ugly color are grungy. The previous owner had a day care and they had several dogs. The kitchen is currently painted in what can only be described as ketchup and mustard. It has one fairly bright red wall and the other walls are a dark yellow. The guest bedroom is currently painted blue with a dark navy blue wall. The master bedroom is... well... just ugly. I'm not even sure what you'd call that color.

So far hubby has painted the front living room a really nice medium olive green. The sewing room is now a nice sunny yellow and two walls in the family room downstairs have been painted a deep orange. The guest room and master bedroom will get painted a light sage green. The kitchen is going to be a pale orange behind the cabinets and the rest of the room will be a pale tan. The upstairs bathroom will be a light lavender.

work in progress

Somebody commented on another blog they'd like to see more things in progress. So I'll show you where I started and where I end up with this project.

The first photo shows the fabrics and the pattern laid out together. I really don't do blue at all so I changed to the purply gray fabrics.

The second photo is of the final layout of the applique background and the first flower pinned to it.

The pattern uses holly leaves, flowers and berries. The berries and flowers aren't holly berries or flowers though. Once I got the holly leaves done and pinned onto the background I hated them. I think part of it may have been the colors of the leaves. They just didn't really do anything for it.

So I changed them to ivy leaves and made about 4 times as many leaves as in the original. Since I made soooo many more leaves I can leave off the berries and the applique will still fill the space.

Since our move is only two weeks away it'll be a while before I get back to this.

back in boxes

There's a good size stack of boxes in the spare bedroom now. I hired a kid to come help me. I put an ad on craigslist and he emailed me 41 minutes after I posted!! He packed what would have taken me a week to do in a little less than 4 hours. That room is so small I couldn't get far enough away to get the whole stack in the picture!

My second oldest granddaughter is coming to visit for her spring break so she'll help me build another giant stack of boxes. We'll build the second stack in the living room.

After I take her back and go sign the papers on the house if there's anything left to pack I'll call my packing helper again. He really was great help. We'll have him and his two brothers come load for us when that day gets here.

I get to buy a house! I get to buy a house!!

We actually get to buy a house!! I'm so excited!

I wasn't finding anything for rent so I called one of the realtors there and asked if they had rentals and she said "why don't you call the mortgage guy and see if you qualify." Uhhhhhh, okay. 10 minutes later we were pre-qualified for a mortgage!!

So a couple of weeks ago I went down there and hubby and I spent two days looking at houses. We found two that we really liked that are big enough etc. We put a bid in on our favorite one. That was on Monday and by Friday we still didn't know if they were going to accept our offer or not or what they were going to do. So I had the realtor withdraw our offer on that house and we put in an offer on the second house. I think we have all the details ironed on that offer and we should go into "under contract" before long. The closing is April 1st.

It's a nice size house. The listing says it's 5 bedroom but one of the bedrooms is barely big enough for a day bed so it's really more of a storage room they finished. We'll probably turn it into a small exercise room. Otherwise it's 2 bedrooms up and 2 down and 2 bathrooms up and 1 down. It doesn't really have a dining room so we're going to turn the living room into a dining room/library/sitting room. It's separate from the rest of the house so it can be a more formal space and then we'll put the actual living room downstairs in the family room. The sewing room will go downstairs too. The second bedroom upstairs will be an actual guest bedroom.

This means we should stay put for a good long while. After I get the sewing room together I won't have to move for years and years so I can actually get caught up on everything!!! I'm really excited about that part.

the third baby quilt

I thought I was never going to get the third one done!! I had to quit working on it to shop and wrap Christmas gifts plus do all the cookie baking and mail everything. After that I just lost my momentum for a week or so.

In the picture the binding along the top isn't done but this quilt went into the washer and dryer and straight into a box and into the mail yesterday.

I have one more quilt from these same fabrics but with one of the reds for the outer border. I put it all together in a kit and it can sit on the shelf for a while!