Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Quilts of Valor

These are on their way to Alycia for Quilts of Valor and were both quilted by Joanne.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Happy National Quilting Day!

I had a happy surprise when I went to the P.O. Box yesterday afternoon and found a huge box full of quilts!  Between these and the abundant sunshine this week I believe my quilting mojo has been restored, just in time for National Quilting Day.


Joanne has done an absolutely wonderful job on these.  I couldn't be happier with how they all turned out, and can't believe she was ever worried or didn't like a couple of them. She had the freedom to do whatever she wanted and I tried to assure her there was no way she could ruin them (her worry).  And I told her time and again that they were just tops hanging in the closet, but she was making them into quilts.  She played around with a pantograph and freehand quilting as well as boogie boards (or something like that!).  She says she learned a lot... including some new choice words.  hahaha

I set about trimming them all last night and made bindings for three of the four.  I'm debating about the orange binding, but I want to make it look more gender neutral and not so baby boy-ish colorwise.  I started on the binding for the red quilt first as I want to send it and another to Alycia for her QOV projects.  Better pictures will come once they are washed & fluffy.

Binding kept me up VERY late last night, and I couldn't believe it was 6:45AM when I woke up--I was sure Oscar had peed somewhere inside by that hour, but thankfully he was still sound asleep.  We're used to a morning walk at 5:00AM!

I hope to get at least a couple of tops together today, finish the binding on the red quilt, and run by a quilt shop that's having a $ale.  Maybe I can find some backing fabrics.  

How are you spending the day???

Take care,
Sheila


Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Someone eats oatmeal for breakfast nearly every day... with brown sugar & vanilla.

Someone came to visit Nana the other day.  Such smoochability!  He's engrossed in a Signing Time video here.  (If you have kids or grandkids, this is an excellent communication tool before they learn to speak.)

Someone got a bath and didn't care for it one bit!

Someone sewed her finger last week.  Ouch!  She wonders if it's considered Workers Comp since she was testing a designer's pattern?  Ha.  Here's a peek:


Someone is working on my Barbara's Antique quilt.  I'm excited to see in person what she's done with all of them!

Take care,
Sheila 

P.S. Re: the previous post, the quilt shop tells me that we were only supposed to get one 10" block OR two 5" blocks from the fabric...  not both as the pattern indicated.  hmph

Monday, March 1, 2010

February's tally

Attn. Quilt Shops:  If you are going to offer a BOM, why not give directions on how to use the skimpy fabric cuts to get all the required pieces?


This Bountiful Baskets BOM is supposed to have one 10" block and two 5" blocks each month.  I didn't get enough fabric to make two of those three, and it reminded me why I don't do BOMs anymore.  But I succumbed to the thought of having a quilt in repro fabrics, since that is a fabric addiction I've resisted.  I've been quilting since 1999 and sewing for 43 years; if everyone got the same fabric cuts I did, there is no way a beginner would be able to work through it.

I did manage to get a little sock knitting in--made it through the heel on one, then started the other to try a different gusset/heel to see which I like better.  This Sockotta sock yarn has nearly equal parts cotton and wool and feels much better to me.


I didn't watch much of the Olympics since my TV is not cooperating with the DTV converter, so I tried to catch the highlights on the computer the following day.  I spent most of my month reading (all excellent reads):


Here's to a more productive March.

Sheila