Great visit but I forgot

Today we had our children and grandchildren over for a wonderful visit.  I had to think of something special to do for the grandchildren, so I made 11 halloween pillowcases, filled them with toys and candy.  I thought it would be fun to hide the bags so the kids could try to find them.  I told the kids before searching, that if they found a bag that didn't have their name on it, they had to leave it there for the actual owner to find.  They had a really good time trying to find them.  I knew that Jake and Nate, the oldest grandsons, would find some of the bags first because I didn't really hide them in difficult places, so I hid Jake and Nate's in a more difficult place.  It took them quite a while to find their bags, but they finally did.  I think the kids really enjoyed that hunt and the toys they got.

The only thing that I did not do, shame on me, is take pictures of those pillowcases.  I was having so much fun making, filling and hiding them that I completely forgot about taking pictures of them.  Oh well, next time. 

Now I am off to making yo-yo's.  I am going on a business trip to NJ and VA this week, so I thought I would make some yo-yo's while I am away.  I am still waiting for my yellow thread that is on back order before I can continue working on my mystery quilt. 

Jelly roll race

Well, I tried it and they sew up pretty fast.  I have made 2 and I like them.  I take the jelly rolls and put them in a bag, mix up the strips and sew them together.  You don't know how the strips will end up.  It's like sewing a mystery quilt, you just don't know how it is going to turn out.  The first one I made, Happy, I didn't make it right.  I cut the 1st strip in half and sewed the strips together, but put the other half of the first strip in later on.  As you can see, by doing this, the seams are not staggered and doesn't give it an attractive look.  It still looks nice but not as nice as the second one, Gelato.

The first one is a Jelly Roll called Happy by Moda.  This one is really cute, bright and just makes you happy.  I guess that is why it is called Happy.

This second one is a Tonga Treat-Gelato by Timeless Treasures.  I love the pinks and purples in this quilt.  The yellow makes it pop too.  This one reminds me of raspberry ice cream.

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Life gets in the way

Well my life certainly has gotten in the way of quilting, as you can tell by the last time I wrote in my blog.  I put my mystery quilt back on the frame but I only got the first border done before I had to take it off to work on a customer quilt. 

This quilt was made by a 91 year old lady.  She is donating it to her church bazaar and she needed it done in a jiffy.  She wanted a pantograph on the quilt, so that is what I did. 

I am going to put my mystery quilt back on the frame so I can try to get that done. 

The fish are up...

Today we finally hung up my fish quilt.  I can't say enough about the talent the women have that made these blocks for me.  These blocks were the result of a friendship block.  I picked the theme of an "undersea the sea" theme.  I wanted a quilt to hang in my bathroom.  I asked that they embellish the quilt as they wish.  I provided the background fabric, some fabric and embellishments.  They had to come up with their own theme.  I got 14 great blocks but only used 12 because the space was limited.  The other 2 I will mount on canvas. 

Anyways, I just love this quilt.  It looks awesome hanging in my bathroom.  It looks so nice I had to share.

Oh man..

It's been a long time since I wrote in my blog.  In my last post I mentioned I was going on vacation.  Carl and I went to Las Vegas.  We did a lot of walking.  We saw the Terry Fator show. We got to see my 3 brothers and mom. We also went to my nephews graduation.  We were in Vegas for a week and we stayed at the Bellagio.  We had a good time but by the time the week was over, we were ready to come home.

When we got home from Vegas, I only had 11 days before my guild's quilt show.  The show was very successful.  It was our first time at that particular venue and I think that helped make the show a success. 

Now that the show is over, I promised I would make a quilt for an ex co-workers granddaughter.  When we first discussed this quilt 3 years ago, he couldn't make up his mind for a theme, so I didn't pursue it.  In April he finally told me that he would like a quilt with dinosaurs on it.  So while I was at MQX show I found the perfect fabric.  But, because of our upcoming show I didn't have a chance to make it until the beginning of July.  Unfortunately, I didn't get it made before my co-workers wife passed away.  Sad, I know.   I wanted to have this quilt made so she could give it to her granddaughter.  I did get the quilt done and mailed this weekend.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it quilted, but here it is.  I did the same pattern as I did for the other kids quilt because it was fast and easy.  I also made a pillowcase to match.  I hope that Katie likes it.

After finishing the above quilt I was hired to make these things called drones.  These drones are for bagpipes.  I had a problem with my serger even before I got this project started.  Once I got the serger going it took me 8 hours to figure out how to sew the ends.  I was just about to give up when I finally figured it out.  This morning I serged the edges and then this afternoon I finished them off.  I am so happy this job is completed.  I am not a sewer of any other kind than for quilts, so when I get these kinds of jobs, I am happy when I can complete them. 

They are not perfect but I think they are good enough.

My next project is to complete my mystery quilt that has been put on, taken off, put on and taken off the frame.  I am bound and determined to get this quilt done.  I also have a quilt in mind that I am going to make next.  I need to work with EQ6 to get the design and pieces figured out. 

Until the next time....



Wow...I am on a roll

I am just moving right along here. I set a goal at the beginning of the year and I have almost reached that goal.  Of course having a quilt show scheduled in less than a month certainly helps with finishing these tops.  I am going on vacation in a week, so that kind of pushes me along as well.

I finished two more quilts this past week. One of them was my "under the sea" quilt. These blocks were made from members of a program called Friendship blocks within my guild. There were 14 members and we each chose something that we wanted to have blocks made of. These 14 members would work on each other's blocks. I chose to have the members make me a block from something under the sea. I asked each member to use embellishments, whether it be beads, yarns, buttons, anything they felt would work for an under the sea theme.  I also requested they use batik fabrics.  This quilt will go into my bathroom where I have a fake aquarium above my shower.

 

After finishing my fish quilt I decided to quilt my quilt that is called Shadow Play.  I made this quilt back in 2008.  Wow, how time flies between making quilts.  I put this to the side not knowing how I was going to quilt it.  I put it on my frame know that I wanted to quilt it with a feather meandering design.  I got this quilt quilted in almost a day.  I loaded this quilt the long way on the frame and because the panto design was so big I only had to advance this quilt 4 full times and a fifth with about 6 inches to do.  I like it and I think it came out pretty good.

I guess I have to load my mystery quilt from 2009-2010 guild year.  I had this quilt loaded once but had to take it off and remove the quilting because the tension was horrible.  Hopefully I can get this quilted nicely and looking good for the show.  

Finished...the mystery

I finished the mystery quilt.  I ended up taking out all the stitches from that quilt, I skinned it, as they call it.  I couldn't just let it go.  The stitches looked terrible.  I posted a picture of the backing in the previous post. Once I got the stitches removed, I changed my bobbin thread, tested it on the side of the quilt and VOILA, the stitches look great, the backing looks so much better.  I am back in business.  I used the new thread from Superior Thread, called Omni, and I was impressed by it.  I used it on the top and bottom.  I used the Warm and White batting.

I decided to do a pantograph on this quilt.  I wanted to do more of a custom job, but time is really short.  I have to get 2 more quilts quilted before vacation.  So I went the easy way with this quilt.  I decided to give this quilt to my friend Kathy for her birthday.  She does have a quilt from me, but that quilt is a memory quilt and she really can't use it like a quilt should be used.  From the beginning, Kathy has liked the fabric that I used, so I decided this was her quilt.  Today is Kathy's birthday.  I gave it to her, but took it back as I have to still need to put the binding on and I am putting it in my guild quilt show in June.  What an indian giver, I giveth and I taketh away.  Geez, what kind of friend am I?

Mother's Day was a good day until around 5:00, when I discovered that my washer broke on me.  I am glad that it broke at the end of the wash cycle.  I ended up getting a new front loading washer.  I hope I like it.  I read several reviews and hopefully they aren't true.  I don't like the reviews I read.  Errr!!  I guess I can't believe everything I read.

Back to quilting, that is much more fun.  I have 2 quilt tops to finish before going on vacation:  my fish quilt and last year's mystery quilt.  I am going to put last years mystery next on the frame.  Hopefully I will have a better beginning with that one than I did with the one I just finished. 

Oh, last Thursday I was on the phone with the insurance company discussing my minor fender bender, I got rear-ended again.  Anyways, we had a some sun, we had some rain, then we had some sun again and then we had this.  This was a great way to end a bad day.

I am not sure if you can see the double rainbow, but the second one is to the right of the one you can see.  This rainbow was practically in my back yard.  Wish the pot of gold was there too.   :)