Day two: binding

Okay, I did NOT get much of this done yesterday but I tend to procrastinate with the more tedious aspects of quilting.  It is well documented here, LOL.  I am maybe 3/4 of the way across the first bottom edge but the label is sewn down and about 9 inches on the adjacent long edge at this point?    Also my mind tends to wander to other matters---dreaming of the next quilt projects or solving the world's problems (not!)

December is here tomorrow.  I want this on my bed!!!  I guess I have to get with the program???  Norma, have you finished quilting your lovely quilt so  you can join me in the endeavor this weekend?

I may have gotten a little further on binding but my hands were cramping up a bit by last evening.  I guess between lots of mouse work on the computer lately and knitting the right hand especially was squawking at me by 9 p.m.

A couple of notes on binding.  I do a blind, applique like stitch and I always keep the bulk of the quilt away from me, working left to right with the stitches.  I do it very close together to bury the stitches so you can only see the effect of the stitching, not the stitch itself.   I call it binding, not hemming.

Why do I make that distinction??  You would be surprised how many people think binding a quilt IS hemming.  Like you hem a skirt hemming----with a tack stitch and then a long thread length to the next tacked stitch and sometimes with double thickness of thread.  Of course, they work right to left and in their laps and every blessed stinkin' stitch shows.  Little fingers and toes will get caught in there plus it looks bad.   When you make every effort to use the best fabrics, pick a lovely pattern, execute that pattern to the best of your abilities I do not see why you don't try to do better on your finishing.   Fast is not always better.  If you have good light while you watch TV and "love" to do binding, go for it.  I don't so I have to set up a situation where it is not on my lap and light sources from two directions.   Done is good but try to do your best in that area too, okay?

Normally too, I match the thread to the binding, not the backing but how do you match the stripe?  I tried it with a darker green and I was still seeing stitches so switched to a color that matched the backing.  So far the only spot where I have remotely seen any thread is the bits of red stripe concentration.

Off my high horse----and back to Christmas

The  little town Christmas parade is tomorrow.  Fa-la-la-la Lifetime Christmas movies (DJ watches that cr**, I don't)  or those sappy Hallmark Channel movies are probably playing incessantly from now until the end of the year.  Christmas Carols are playing in every shopping venue.  Ready or not!  It is coming.

I'll switch out the seasonal wall hangings tomorrow but I don't know how much other decorating will happen.   We got rid of another of my surface areas for putting anything out---hall way book shelf---earlier in the year.  DJ has started painting the lower part of the kitchen cabinets and the boxes will just be in the way.  He won't want to put the tree up for another couple weeks anyway.  The Nativity set always goes up even if the rest of it stays packed up.  I still don't have Christmas stockings made though I plan to every year.  The ones I currently have were some I picked up at a church bazaar.  (Unfortunately one of them is cut the reverse of what it should be so the stocking points backwards but I knew the maker) I have plans to do some from the Nancy Halvorsen's  book The Night Before Christmas.   I have no wreath either since the two bedraggled looking ones from years past were finally tossed BUT I have a neat one on one of the tree skirt patterns I just got recently, a quilty looking one.

See my bloggy friend alefthanded quilters recent post and comments about giving quilty gifts  HERE.   Basically know your audience before preceding in my opinion there!  I offered to make a tree skirt for my niece/godchild because she let me know she was looking for one.  I asked her opinion about the style and have a second email out about the fabric choices----traditional or is a more contemporary look okay?  I can go either way since I ordered some stuff from Connecting Threads.

Well, still in my jammies and Aline just dropped off the quilt I am going to quilt for her and her sister that will be a guess what, Christmas gift.  Guess who better get cracking if all that is ever to get done.

And sew it goes-----

meeting show and tell

One of the best things--always--about quilt meetings is show and tell, though I don't think we really ever have a formal one with Bama Belles.  The girls hold up something they are working on, ready to pin, or are turning in for donation as they come in.  I missed a few pictures I might have taken but you'll see them down the line unless they are heading out as Christmas gifts.

First up, Jane's strippie quilt.  Isn't this just a sweet quilt for girl?

Beverly made this one using cloth book panel pieces and a "divide and conquer" method.  She said she used conventional binding on the periphery though.  This is going to a great-grandchild.

Beverly also made this "Bob the Builder" BQ 1 quilt for another great grand.   She started the quilt at the fall sew-in.  The child has a pillow she had made with some Bob fabric in it and now he will have a quilt to go with it.

This is Beverly's mini twister wreath.   She had misunderstood some cutting instructions that I had given the group along with an alternative pattern and re-cut her squares smaller than 5 inches.  I helped her salvage the twister base by rigging up a cutting template that would work.  Here is the result.  (yeah she knows one section was mis-cut but it could not be fixed.  Put a bow on it, LOL)

Lois was working on binding her twister wreath-----just about done!  See the pretty embroidered star she added at the center?

Lois also had quite a few quilts to turn in.  She was busy helping the others pin and just pointed me at her transporting bags so I unpacked them to get pictures taken---the kind without hands and feet, LOL.

Her disappearing nine patch

Lois USA map----this would not be one of her favorites, from what she told me. ( Like I don't have to get her a copy of this picture.  I usually get a print for the maker and another for our albums)

Lois cannot remember the name of this pattern but said it came from a magazine.  While it has a Puss in the Corner feel I do not think that was how it was pieced.  What looks to be a negative coloration block is really a longer rectangle.  It is on point.  Since the background is Little Mermaid fabric, I told her I would name it something along that line in the quilt document. 

Same pattern here but a different colored background

And here is a lovely string quilt blocks that was good for using up some small scrap pieces

There were several quilts pinned, including one that I will be quilting for Aline and her sister.  Bev had one that she had made for someone else to give to his mom for Christmas and had brought her crazy patch block to trim down.  Such a prolific quilter!  

Teresa was giving her sister Judy a quilting lesson as Judy had recently completed her first quilt----she needed a walking foot first!  Teresa was demonstrating her stitching on a crazy quilt blocks (or the accompanying pillow) that she is doing as a commissioned piece for someone.  Brenda was binding her twister piece.  Marilyn was busily putting borders on a Scooby Doo piece for one of her grandson's Christmas.  I was sewing as well---that Criss Cross project that is on "going, drag it around and will get done eventually" 

Some decisions were made for the Christmas party on the 11th, some of us left for lunch and others stayed----the next thing I knew it was close to 2 and time to go home.  Good way to spend a cold and gloomy day this past Tuesday.

another Trip Around the World version

I guess I have still have Trip around the World quilts on the brain.

I drew this one up from a picture of one of my mom's quilts some time back.  I considered attempting it instead of the Quilting Assistant version I did end of making.

I see this as being a take off from Snuggle Up, that old favorite pro bono quilt that is oh, so adaptable and the technique I learned from Billie Lauder "Get Looped"  for making her bargello quilts.  I have that book around here somewhere but of course, now that I am looking for it, can't lay hands on it.  The principle is surely the same though no matter what width you cut them.  I could see possibly having to cut the strip in some manner in the middle area where there is more light fabric or working in quadrants of the quilt rather than long staggered strips as you do in a snuggle up.

I think too that this MIGHT be the idea that Eleanor Burns uses in her Quick Trips Quilts book or at least one version is similar.   I'll have to review that book---nighttime reading, don'tcha know?  LOL.  But I kind of have a plan to try it someday but with a less limited fabric palette.  I want to use the collection of fabrics you see at right,  plus what was leftover from the donation quilt   Some of this I got with my birthday money and others were added later.  You know a stack that you throw in with the rest and think, "this might work" but you are not quite ready to commit to that idea?  Of course, that challenge fabric was a donation fabric which I intend to use for a personal quilt.  I cannot imagine the girls begging me for more of the "tons of black" stuff or begrudge my using it in that manner..

I had some plans to get the binding on my Patience Corner today and frankly have been dawdling.  I spent a good chunk of the morning working on the archived blog material to re-size the photos.  Light Image Resizer 4 is doing a great job on doing batch resizing.  (Thanks for that suggestion,  Linda in KS!).  Then it is just a matter of noting the name/number and locating it the re-sized image folder.  Reload it to images here and delete the old one.  Because I now have a watermark added, and know where Picassa has stuck them, I can then delete the larger images.  So far I have managed to get thru late November to early August 2012---60 some odd posts in.  It is paying off too as my capacity now says-----it was closer to 98 and they would not let me post any pictures till some of it went away.

You are currently using 906 MB (88.5%) of your 1024 MB

Want to check your capacity if you use blogger?  https://picasaweb.google.com/home

Norma pointed out to me that this is happening all over bloggerland---a good many of us long time bloggers are getting hit with an upgrade storage deal notification.  HMMMMMM  It gets curiouser and curiouser. 

On the home front, DJ finished up the painting on last of the upper kitchen cabinets---the two above the fridge and hardest to get at.  I had asked him if he was going to take a break before starting the lower ones.  I guess he did but it only lasted about 2 or 3 days.  He was priming the lower end today, starting at the left end to the left of the sink, near the microwave.  It made nuking our lunch a little more dicey and left dirty dishes in the sink since I cannot open the dishwasher without messing his work up at the moment.  (He didn't remove the right side cabinet door.)  

Well, I still have quilt picture to share with you from our meeting yesterday---Lois had a bunch to turn in and they are always so pretty.  Give you something to look forward to tomorrow.  I think I'll get the sewing table turned around and do what I planned all along.   It needs to be done by the 8th and guild show and tell and really do want it on my bed when I get ready to decorate the house.  Won't happen if I keep procrastinating!!

finished to flimsy

As planned I finished up my "Tons of Black" Challenge piece yesterday afternoon.  I'm pleased with how it turned out.  Good size.  May work for a guy as I don't think the grayish green looks girl-y though it is a vine print.

I spent part of  last evening knitting---making some progress on this latest hat, playing with the double point needles.  Ordinarily I would not worry so much about capping the tips but I am still afraid the stitches might slip off the back end of the needle.  I just move them as I knit around and around.   I've got an inch or so to go before I begin the decrease.  I'm doing to try it on the circulars next, practicing what I picked up on the video links I posted recently.  Like the blue color??  Uh, make that "shaded dusk"

Today was Bama Belles day---the weather was kind of miserable--cold and wet but thankfully the rain seemed to slow down to that misty stuff when we had to haul things in from the car.  I'll report on that later as we had a bunch of quilts turned in at the meeting.  I did a little bit of sewing on the Criss Cross  pro bono top I had been working on at the Friendship Quilters sew-in.  Initially I had planned on putting the binding on my Christmas Patience Corner but I didn't want to be hauling that around in the rain.  It was already in the car, the car is NOT the pampered princess that gets to sit in the covered car port, not worth getting it wet when I can do it here at home.

Aline will have one for me to quilt but it was short backing fabric when the girls pinned it today.  Once that is straightened out, she'll bring it by.

So stay tuned---pics in a day or two!  You know where to find me----------

playing---edited

As much as I like the Trip Around the World (medallion) arrangement of the Mock Trip block, it is fun to play in EQ to find other ways of setting it.

Don'r get me wrong----any of the four examples in the Quilting Assistant file would work.  I just finished drawing up the "Many Trips Variation" and am about to attempt the Streak of Lighting variation too.

How about a straight furrows?  As they say in the pattern---"This simple block can arranged many way--because of the diagonal line.  In other words, any way that you can arrange a faux log cabin block or log cabin block will work for this block.

OHHH I like the flying geese arrangement on the examples of that website.  I should be sewing---and I was---row 5 is done but I stopped to play, LOL.  They say 4 blocks, 6 rows (24) or any even number.  Perfect!
------------
Okay---here are a couple more!

Streak of Lightening but oriented horizontally

Whatever this is!  It looks even better if you back up---like thumbnail it

Now I am seriously off to finish sewing this top---as soon as I give Skyler his treat bite and switch the laundry over, LOL.

And sew it goes-----------

Tons of Black Challenge

Half done with the "Tons of Black" Challenge piece----bottom half will be a mirror image of this.  I am liking how it is turning out though I keep having to flip seams.  It might have been easier to not press them in the first place but that would have made squaring them up a little harder, I guess.

And look who has to test out the pieces!   Actually he has been trying to get me away from the sewing machine to come play/chase him around the house.  He is NOT a cat that entertains himself very often.

I'll finish this up tomorrow---and then plan on putting the binding on my Christmas quilt for several days of hand work.

And sew it goes----------

and this!

and then there is this   DPNs vs two circulars vs something called Magic Loop  from Knitpicks.  Thanks, Paula the quilter---who knits.

Here is what I needed!

knitting ahead

My early Christmas present arrived today---woohoo! 15 different sizes of US 0 to US 15  2mm to 10 mm bamboo 8 inch long double points--5 in each size.

I had decided to try knitting this next hat on double points to avoid the seaming.  I probably need to set this up on 4 needles instead of 3 but that is how I  learned to do double points for mittens.  Of course mittens are way smaller in diameter than 72 stitches for a hat and one's head.  In the meantime I had put the tip protectors on either end to keep from dropping stitches which I had done a time or two while working on the ribbing. 

These can be found at http://www.StitchBerry.com but I found this set of them at amazon.com for 40 bucks off.  I've not tried bamboo needles before but I'll see how they work soon enough.

Well, back to sewing for me.  I had gotten a suggestion for re-sizing my pictures from Linda in KS and my lefthanded quilter pals so got myself side tracked doing that on the new "old" blog here and a few posts on the archived site.  It will be time consuming but should help the storage issues in the end.  The only way I know to be sure that I am not deleting an image I need too----no watermark.

Pokey today but no one ever said that I had to break the land speed record with this piecing. 

More blog content?

Now that I archived the older material to a 2nd blog  I need to get some material up here, on the original location!!  http://catsnqlts2archive.blogspot.com/ in case you need to book mark it.  Guess that means I better get busy doing something.

What prompted the move?  I had hit the maximum amount of storage for pictures.  Norma had done this with her blog and started another one rather than start paying for more.   It is working for her but I don't think it is going to do the trick for me.

The rates are like 2.50 or 5 bucks a month.  I think it is a bit of a rip off.  You know how sometimes you cannot get a picture to show up so you load it again-----all those dupes are stored and goes against your account, whether you could use them or not.   My left handed quilter friend suggested re-sizing the pictures.  Do they click bigger so you can actually see what you are looking at??    I suppose I could and hit the dupes at the same time?  When I can make some time to just fiddle on the computer.

I moved the posts to the archived blog.   I deleted the posts from this blog to start over.  Those posts exist but elsewhere but they still are labeled as being from the original location.  It appears that I lost a few pictures but that might be because I deleted some from picassa web.  Some I could replace fairly easily---others, not sure I have the pictures anymore due to computer crash in early 08.  The ones I deleted were in older titled blog albums that no longer exist but apparently the folder names do not change???   Some they won't let me delete.  I keep checking to see if the number of pictures is actually a true measure of what is going on but unless something magically happens in the next 8 hrs, IIWII. 

BTW too---the capacity measures google drive that I don't really use, google mail which I do use and picassa..  Anyway, deleting some other photo albums and some I should have kept, in retrospect,  dropped my capacity down to about 94% and bought me a little more time.  I honestly do not want to lose my old content as I refer to it often but may revisit that idea.  977 posts since March 2006---some could go, yeah but do the pictures go with it?

Okay, enough about that.  I've got some sewing to do today.  I pulled out Lois' mom Singer Stylist to sew with on Wednesday.  If you have the machines, you need to keep them working, after all.   It has a nice stitch and one of those holes where you can screw in a seam guide.  None of the bells and whistles, like the knee lift and automatic needle threader but it works great.  I am working on my "Tons of Black" Challenge using the Mock Trip Around the World pattern from Quilting assistant.   I have long admired some of the quilts that my friend Pat from Bell Creek Quilts has made from this pattern and took my inspiration from one of her quilts.  They look good in about any color way!

I am using a black and white print that I got from my mom as the light and a Jinny Beyer vine print in a dusty blue shade that Cindy shared with me.  There is plenty left to back the quilt or make another, LOL. The dusty gray tone and tone that I have been calling black (but isn't) is the challenge fabric.  It is a simple block but doesn't it look more complicated when you put it together?  I am going with the basic set appearance of the Trip Around the World---7.5 inch finished blocks set 6 x 8.  The size will finish closer to the WTIL target range.    She shows a cool many trips version that would have worked with smaller blocks and 8 x 10---maybe some day but this time it all came together to do what I ultimately decided on.   Other fabric choices may influence other repeats.

Thanksgiving Day itself was quiet as most holidays are when you are far away from family.  Just DJ, Skyler and me.  To be honest, even if we were back in Illinois, Thanksgiving was a "catch as catch" can proposition.  When I was still practicing nursing there were three others in the medical field in some capacity so that means, shift work, working holidays and making scheduling problematic.  It was hard enough to get together at Christmas!!  Then add in-laws to the mix---you are expected two places at the same time.  ai, yi, yi!  DJ's son was expected at his mom's and squeezed us in between his in-laws.  The way it goes.  Then we moved about 700 miles away and don't normally travel in the fall and winter months as you don't know what you will get into halfway home.   We stay home and be thankful for each other.   I spent part of the evening typing up the rest of the minutes for guild as Jackie will be needing them soon for the newsletter---I was procrastinating and it needed to be done before I can play today.

And because I don't really have to shop for Christmas, I will be avoiding any retail spot, online or otherwise, this weekend unless I absolutely have to go that direction.  Not sucking me into that Black Friday mess!  I will have to get groceries at some point but that's the other end of the store.  I hate that people had to go to work at 8 p.m. last night, on a holiday, so others could buy into that bull and "come on's".  You just know that the lead story on the news tonight was how long some people stood in line to get that big screen TV or whatever or do the tradition of shopping on Black Friday---like IT was the holiday instead of Thanksgiving day.  SIGH. 

Norma has her Christmas Patience Corner quilt loaded on her long arm now that she is home from her trip to AZ.  We hope to work on our binding at the same time.  But first!  I got to finish my challenge top.  Maybe by Sunday??

And sew it goes--------

Happy Thanksgiving!

Moving date

This blog will serve as archived material from March 2006 till November 20, 2012.

http://catsnqlts2archive.blogspot.com/

Current material will be found at the "old" address

catsnqlts2.blogspot.com

Tuesday check in

 Another day almost gone----another day closer to Thanksgiving day. This year has seemed to go by so quickly when you look back.

So what have I been doing with myself other than obviously NOT posting?  Well, Friday I was off to the Friendship Quilter's last sew-in of the year.  I thought that two of the Calhoun County contingent would be riding along with me but it ended up just being me.  At left was my project of choice----Fun and Done! Criss Cross.  I had started this a few months back but I only got three sections done and decided that I hate the technique.  I do NOT want to do a whole quilt this way but I am not going to waste the fabric that I had already cut.  I took those apart and will pass the batting square on to Teresa who likes to do rag quilts.

I could see that each of the segments in Criss Cross (above) was 1/4 of a larger block called The Priscilla  Brackman #2975.  I plan to use it in my Farmers Wife Inspired Sampler (FWIS) because my dad had wanted to name me Priscilla but mom put the kibosh on that---obviously!  The sampler uses 6 inch blocks so it was easy to see where I needed to make my angled line in EQ to maintain that cone shape.  Figuring that it would be easier to foundation piece the block sections since the fabrics were already rough cut, I printed off a "bazillion" of them before I left for Pell City.

I can still use the backing fabric that I had cut but now it will act like sashing between the block sections.  I had decided too that I did not like the randomly placed segments of color and would go with a positive-negative thing with the backgrounds---that is how it was cut out but maintain the same three colors in a block format.   Other than unpacking my supplies this as far as I got on Friday.  I had taken the "Tons of Black" Challenge kit with me but did not touch it-----I STILL haven't touched it unless you count moving it from spot to spot in the room, LOL.  Nothing on my list got gone last week---nothing!

Saturday, I had decided to a "pay it back" day and worked on more of the potholders for the 4-H project sewing up all the leftover ones they had cut out and paired up with batting.  The others had done theirs on Thursday so they could play the other two days.  They were out of hanging loops too---so I made a pile of those before I started sewing from the odd bits of muslin left from cutting the muslin strips.  Shelia said that they had about 700 done now with about 200 more needed by mid January.  Not panicking yet or asking folks to do "homework"

Sunday and Monday I was back to embroidering-----turns out my contribution to the president's quilt was misplaced.  The organizer looked but was not able to come up with it.  I had said that I would just put it in high gear and stitch another one.  I met her this morning for the hand off .Since we were down in Oxford, we ran over to Hobby Lobby.  A couple more skeins of yarn followed me home---for kids' hats.  I had several other stops to make along the way today.   It was a great day to be out with picture perfect weather, the leaves are still out a good bit too making the running around pleasant to look at. 

I had decided to try knitting the 6th (or is it 7th?) hat on double point needles to avoid anyone having to seam them up---not my favorite part and in fact, I mailed what I had done to Cindy un-sewn.  I told her I was going to do that though, LOL.   It was working out okay but I did not have any double point needles over size 9 for when I switch from ribbing to the stockinette part of the hat.  Oh I have double points just short ones and not 10 and up.   I did find a set of  75--5 for each size US 0-15 in the 8 inch length, bamboo at amazon.com for 20 bucks, 40 bucks off and ordered it.  It can be part of my Christmas present from DJ.  Between my circular needle set and these I should be set for life in the knitting department.

My Christmas Patience Corner was waiting for me when I got home on Saturday.  Woohoo!  I will get to it in a day or two but first I need to press the binding.  I don't know how well you can see the  those neat swirls Norma used to quilt it.  I used backing fabric from Connecting Threads in a snowflake pattern so that might be obscuring the quilting a bit from this angle. ( Pictures of the front side are in the last post.

What else is coming up?  Aline has a quilt that her sister made that I will quilt for them.  I say "them"  because Aline had pieced a flying geese pattern for the outer border. I may be wrong but I think this might be her sister's first quilt?  You'll see it soon enough, LOL.   We will probably pin it next week at Belles.  It will need tending fairly early on so they will have it and the binding done in time for Christmas.  It will need to be mailed to Rhode Island too. 

Other than that I plan to at least work on the strip sets on my challenge piece tomorrow.  DJ has a pair of pants tossed over the machine that I need to do a little minor repair on.  The Christmas quilt binding after that.   I found a pattern for a tree skirt today.  Actually I bought this one Mc Call's 3777 at Hobby Lobby today but I really liked the scallop shape and the loop and button closure better on McCalls 6453 instead.  They did not have it in stock but I found it from an alternative location.  I believe that this will work well for Allison's crazy patch piece rather than the vague directions to piece 44 inches square and then have to draw off the shape with a string and pencil.  Knowing me, that is a recipe for disaster.  Piece the petals---better plan.  She is not expecting this to be done in time for decorating this year though who knows?

Thanksgiving will not be a big deal for DJ and I.  Not going anywhere.  I make turkey breast dinners for him fairly often so the only thing I have to do ahead is make a pumpkin pie using a " no bake " recipe.  Easy peasy.  Still will have time to sew----or chat with Norma like I did this afternoon, LOL.  No ambition on my return home, sorry to say.  The only creative thing I did today other than cooking supper was try to re-string one of Skyler's cat toys since I remembered to get some corded elastic.  Then could not find the little toy that went on the end of it.  I used something else but it is a good bit heavier.  Actually I think monkey boy may have run off with my Black and Decker steamer instructions!  I wasted more time today looking for both of those things.  That's what I get for taking things down from the refrigerator!!!

DJ has most of the cabinet doors on the upper part done and re-hung.  I was just holding the trouble light up so he could do so on the two in the corner----not an easy spot to work in by any means.  That just leaves the 4 small doors---above the door and the fridge.  What do you think??  Ignore the dirty dishes---someone by the name of Linda still needs to wash the wok, LOL.  That and the sweet and sour sauce boiled over on the burner so I need to get that sticky mess deal with too---ugh.

 And see who want to play??  Wild kitty on the loose.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

check in/meeting

Finally!   It seems like I have been done nothing but binding lately but the last of the donation quilts is finished up.  Woohoo.  I packed up 6 quilts that I had made and sent them off to Wrap Them in Love headquarters yesterday afternoon.  You may not realize just how rare it is for this armoire not to have something quilty on top of it.  It either needs quilted, or bound, or labeled and it is not always MY quilts either.  Yeah, there are about 26 in the closet that need to be delivered somewhere but they are not piled up in plain site.  I am kind of caught up----though that is illusionary since I know there are three donation tops that I will quilt for others at the church.  Three more that either go to Friendship Quilters or Wrap 'Em are hanging in the closet.

To fill the box I added two of my personal quilts.  You know how you sometimes make a quilt just to try the technique?  Other times, you make a quilt to play with fabrics that you have in your stash, play with that combination of colors.  Doesn't mean that I have to keep it necessarily.  I need the storage room more than I "need" either of the barely used quilts.  One I had displayed on the wall for a couple months.  The other maybe used a couple times on the bed on an especially cold night.   I have others that will do the same thing.  Off came the personal label and on went the WTIL one instead. 

The last one to bind was this modified Prairie Window so here is the glamour shot.  It would go in the washer right after to get the  quilt markings out.

At the meeting the other day, Marilyn was wondering how she might cut up some Scooby Doo yardage for a quilt for her youngest grandson.  I said "you might want to consider NOT cutting it up at all.  How about something like this?"  and I pull out the quilt that I was binding.  We took a few quick measurements for the center panel and she was off and running.  LOL, she could have made it easier on herself piecing it had she treated the side panels like long triple rail sections and the corners as big Puss in the Corner blocks.  I think she might have done it that way except that she did not have all the yardage she needed with her.

Here are two others that were turned in at the meeting.  Silly me went off without my camera so I had to take the pictures once I was home.  I missed a lot of fun pictures that I would have shared too.

Bev's Watermelon 2 

How she had time to finish this up with all the holiday sewing she has been doing!  She had another Christmas quilt to pin---a neat folded pinwheel idea that she shared with us.  Another quilt was a commissioned quilt in black and white with skull fabric, of all things!  She said someone from out of state had begged her to make the quilt.

I had my machine with me to try that folded pinwheel technique but went off without the fabric I had cut for this purpose.  I have not tried it yet.  I found out that my Jem was sewing less than ideally anyway.  Tension a little messed up and when all else fails, change your needle!

Teresa's Flannel Rag quilt.   Pretty, huh?  Some of the flannel is from our donation bin and it is my belief that the print piece was some my mom passed on to us.  Leftovers from some gowns she had made for my grandmother, I think with additional fabrics from Teresa.  She made a couple of pink rag quilts this year for Breast Cancer fund raisers.  She had also made a black and white rag quilt that will be going to her school chum Gene's Ogden House project (at risk teens) but I do not have a picture of it.

 In addition, Beverly was able to use the cutting ruler that I had rigged up for her to use with the scaled down Twister wreath base.  A misunderstanding in directions led to this but we were able to find a way to make it work!  Actually it was kind of cute that way.  She had taken Marilyn's hint about quilting it with buttons and raided her momma's button box.  For that reason she thought one of her granddaughter's would appreciate the vintage feel---and having some of her great-grandma's things included in it.  Beverly said that she might be keeping the re-sized version for herself.

Teresa's sister Judy shared her first quilt---and I would have loved to share that with you.  Not sure of the pattern name she has used but they used a lot of tone on tone in it.  Lovely!  She and Teresa had made a batting and backing run before the meeting.  Hopefully I will get a picture of it once it is done.

Lois had a couple of tops to pin as well.  We had thought that a friend of Bev and Teresa's might be coming so we could help her with some binding questions she had but the friend was not feeling well.  Maybe next time.  I know that Aline was home re-working a border on a quilt her sister had made that I will be quilting for her.  Brenda was not letting a broken but surgically repaired left ankle hold her down and was sewing on her BQ top.   She had broken the right one in the past and had kept the wheel chair and crutches.  

Work on the kitchen cabinets are proceeding.  The green matches fairly closely to the green below the chair rail that is one three walls of the kitchen.  My curtains and appliance covers are a different shade of green but I am not likely to ever want to re-make either of those.

Actually I now have two of the doors back on as of about 15 minutes ago but I took these on Tuesday afternoon.   He had been a busy boy while I was at quilt group, rolling the rest of the wall mounted stuff with a little touch up still needed.  The doors are up over the cups and glasses as well as the plates and bowl cupboards.

He has not done any painting on the small doors about the stove and fridge---no bonding primer or the green.  When I posted this on facebook, my SIL asked if he was going to go the bottom cupboards as well.  Yes, that is the plan in case you were wondering.  Long drawn out process especially since the outside weather has not been exactly conducive to putting them stuff out on the saw horses.  Things are migrating back to the fridge top so he better step it up, LOL.

Now for my upcoming plans---first, this room has got to be straightened up before I can get any cutting done!  My desk top is shrinking with little piles of stuff eating up work space.   The projects I would like to address have not changed but just got shunted aside while I dealt with the quilt stack in the other room.  I find that making a list like this helps clarify what I want to do and more importantly, holds me a bit accountable. 

• Harvest banner to cut and sew---modifying the pattern so it is a sew and then cut proposition
• Sew Tons of Black Challenge piece----may do that at the sew-in date Saturday.  I do not think I am going tomorrow or I would be out in the kitchen baking cookies now instead of pecking at this keyboard. 
• Allison's Christmas Tree Skirt and keep the fabric out to work on my version of the Oxmoor House Christmas quilt

 AND bind my Christmas Patience Corner when it arrives from Norma.    She has done such a lovely job on the quilting and sent me pictures of it the other night showing it draped over her long arm machine as well as a closeup shot.   I asked her if I could post them here as there is no way for me to get as good a picture of it even if is not trimmed or bound yet in this shot.  Can you tell I am excited about this??  I've got the binding seamed but not pressed.   Add that to the list, LOL.

 And sew it goes-------best make this stuff happen!

another finish

I have been working on binding again for a few days.  This Faux RR Crossing is the one I did last week but I waited to launder out the marks from the double hearts I had quilted in the light squares till today------

Pattern source:  I attribute it to Marti Michell and her book Quilting for People Who Still Don't Have Time to Quilt.  What makes it a Faux version is that I did not piece the sashing bits---use stripe fabric!

This is the other one that hit the laundry room.  Bridgecreek Blossom #2.  Pattern:  Atkinson Designs.  I made enough blocks for a queen sized quilt but made two smaller donation quilts instead.  The first one had a jigsaw puzzle border but a pair to the same blocks.

Note who managed to get into the shot with those glow in the dark eyes.  Minutes before when the quilt was laid on the couch he was trying to hid under it or on it or whatever.  It was still warm from the dryer and we all know how cats love warm laundry!

Yesterday was our Friendship Quilters meeting in Pell City.  Aline and I were the only ones of the Calhoun County contingent that went this time.  Life happens.  Our program was on miniature quilts and was presented by Donna who will be coordinating the guild's biannual quilt show.  Her sister was visiting from KS and she assisted with the program as we will be borrowing something for her guild there.  They do a miniature auction as a fund raiser donating part of the proceeds to local charities.   When they mentioned resources for mini patterns and such, someone mentioned "Miniature Quilts" magazine but Donna said they no longer print it.  I knew I had a stack of the magazine currently residing under my bed.  To be truthful I did not remember just how many!  Issues #40 thru #69.    My mom passed them on to me.  Someone in her town donated them to her when his wife had to be admitted to a nursing home.  We have some sew-in days next week again so I may take these with me, especially if I know Donna is going to be there.  Some will be looking for additional ideas down the line.  Meantime I have something to look at for bedtime reading. 

The day before the guild took the quilts from the coordinator's home and their other storage places to the Veteran's Home.  They finally had the ribbon cutting on November 1st.  The girls caravaned over and delivered 211 quilts.   Just in time for Veteran's Day.   The CBS and ABC TV affiliates were there and they either interviewed the guild president or the project coordinator.  The paper was there as well so I have a link I can send you to
http://dailyhome.com/view/full_story/20797824/article-Guild-donates-quilts-to-Veterans-Home?   

Our guild historian Beth got some good pictures too that are on facebook.  If you are on Facebook, try entering "Friendship Quilters Guild Alabama"  and see if you can access them. In one of them you will see
Margaret's (the coordinator) dining room table piled high with quilts and then she and her husband smiling that it was finally cleared off!   Hard to say which of them had the bigger smile, LOL.

 They still say we have more to make but those are for the domiciliary beds, like temporary housing apparently.  The first patients are scheduled to be transferred in soon, about 20 to start with.  Then apparently they have to do some sort of certification or inspection before more come in---from what the guild has been told. 
When I was out on the WM run today, I picked up a couple more skeins of yarn to make a few more knit hats.  I thought these looked a bit more boy especially the one labeled "Woodsy" .  It has an Army, camo feel, don't you think?  I have a routine doctor's appointment tomorrow so I already have my stuff packed to knit while I wait.  Mid morning app't and I know I will be lucky to be out of there by noon.  Might as well keep busy while I have to be parked.

Other than that, not much going on.  Just stitching that binding.  Thursday evening Norma has told me that she mailed off my Christmas Patience Corner that she had offered to long arm quilt for me.  She wanted to be sure to miss the holiday mailing season and be sure it would be on my bed for the Christmas decorating season.   When mailing from BC, Canada to clear down south in Alabama you just never know how long it might take.   Woohoo!  I can't wait to see what panto she used.  Get this though:  she still has to quilt her own!   What a pal!  I knew she had been working on one for her brother and sister-in-law but when she was talking about doing one for another client I never dreamed she meant ME!

I guess that is it for this edition though I still have a feeling that I had planned on mentioning one other thing, just what escapes me now.  It happens--------

Thursday check in

I'm with Skyler----isn't it time to take a nap?  Before my mom calls to see if I am okay and remind me I have not posted in what, a week?  I guess I better to a check in post.  LOL

It has been a fairly quiet week on the creative department.  I spent the better parts of three days just working on binding----ugh.  BUT my twister wreath is finished, just in time for show and tell at Friendship Quilters this coming Saturday.

I also got Faux RR Crossing shown in THIS post finished up as well.  It still needs to be laundered to get the markings out but getting at the washing machine has been a little problematic lately---more on that later.

 I have also been knitting a good bit-----my pal Cindy got me started.  It knits up quickly especially if you do the German, pick knitting like I do (hold the thread and move the needle, not throwing it over for each stitch, more like crochet that way.)   Oh, I learned how to do it the other way, tossing the thread for each and every stitch but somewhere along the line picked up the faster way.  The only time I do it the other way, is if it is a heavily patterned row with a lot of cable twisting OR the first couple stitches on the purl row side.

I have made two like the variegated primary colored one and working on a 2nd one with this "pink camo" Red Heart Super Saver.

 Cindy will get the job of sewing them together but the knitting, the fun part, is done.  She sends them on to school kids in her area who are in need.   She used to make mittens, she said, but you'll seldom get a kid to wear those.

I had intended to run over to WM and look for a green and/or blue variegated yard for the ones when I was out earlier this morning but time got away from me and I needed to be home to start our noon meal.

I am trying to think what else I have possibly been up to.  Nothing pertaining much to sewing that is, for sure!!   I was researching Christmas tree skirt patterns for my niece/godchild Allison and have that narrowed down. Originally she had seen a picture of my twister wreath and jokingly asked if I could cut a hole in the middle and make it into a tree skirt.  No,  much too small for that but I guess she was serious about looking for one.  

 I sent her some links to see what she had in mind and a crazy patch version was the one she liked the most as it would go with any color theme she might choose in the future.  HERE is the pattern I'll be working on.  Because it is a Christmas project, it will fit the criteria for the "Leisurely Turtle Race to Christmas with Squirrels Allowed"  or LTRTCWSA challenge that my left handed pal and Linda in KS cooked up.  I have some fabric pulled but primarily that was because I was still trying to figure out the tree skirt pattern that came in an old Better Homes and Garden quilt kit.  You could make a small throw with the same yardage plus ornaments etc.  Trust me, this stack of stuff has antiqued sufficiently though I have run off with some of it for other projects.  I will happily use the fabric elsewhere for this special project.

Also my dear niece is now an engaged woman!   Yep, he proposed on Halloween.  Turns out he had taken her to dinner and while they were gone, someone left a pumpkin he had carved with the question "will you marry me?"  (not a real pumpkin but some material that she can save his hand work).  No date set yet though she did tell me she was thinking a fall wedding.  Her Grandma H. has the perfect quilt presently at the long arm quilters.  From what she told me, Allison has seen it and remarked that Derek would love it----a  medallion with blue and white stars all around it.  Derek went to the University of Kentucky and their colors are blue and white.  LOL  I had said  "do me a favor and don't get married in the winter so I can be there" while grandma said  "please don't tell me you are getting married two months from now so I can get the quilt back from the long arm quilter".  Mom had said there was no rush when she dropped it off, LOL.   

Anyway I'll be on the lookout for some other kind of quilty idea for a gift or shower gift but her grandparents have the wedding quilt covered.   I am thrilled for them---Derek is a good guy for her and to her.  

So what else?  The car had to go into the shop as I thought something was smelling like it was hot and I was afraid a belt was going out.   The chirp it had been making was getting louder or more frequent----turns out whatever took the place of the distributor in modern cars needed replaced---bad bearing or something.  DJ and I dropped it off and then went to vote on the way home.  Then another run into town to pick it up.  

I had a lab work run, laundry, errands and dropped off a quilt to a friend of a friend for a project he is collecting quilts for (troubled teens and runaways in the Guntersville, AL area named Ogden House that I believe is run through the Tennessee Valley Family Services).  Gene has more about this on his blog as they did this last year as well.  My BQ 1 picnic fabric quilt is going to this project----it was a pay it forward project from a quilt shop in Washington State so I feel it is an appropriate site. 

Of course, I stayed up way tooooo late watching the election coverage and the concession/ victory speeches.  Wouldn't you know that I had accidentally set the alarm be picking up the silly thing on the very morning that I SHOULD have slept in??  Well, if not that, then the little furry alarm clock would have been rousing me anyway! 

Yesterday I spent a ton of time in my kitchen.  I baked some cookies to take to twister class that Marilyn was doing today at her church near here.  I had some prep work to do for our noon meal today as I would not be home till about 11 or so today.  I had everything ready to put in the crockpot this morning first thing for navy bean and ham soup.   Beans soaking overnight etc.  I must have been out in the kitchen at least 4 hours and that did not include cooking supper.  DJ had gone into town earlier in the morning and I asked him to get some coconut as I did not  have enough to make Pride of Iowa cookies.  I thought it was the only thing I needed----well, I was a half cup short of oatmeal and had to make a quick run after all.  

 My kitchen is in a bit of a mess at present and will be for some time as DJ has decided to paint out kitchen cabinets.  The doors have been gone for a little over a week---just long enough for me to NOT be trying to close the door when I get something out of there anymore.  This is just the bonding primer stuff---stark white does not go with that wall paper in the first place and I do NOT want flat paint on this.  We have discussed it for some time since we cannot afford to just replace them.  If we could have, we would have when we had discovered that the bottom of the sink cabinet and the one to the lef to fit were warped from water damage.

This is not wood but that composite stuff, and it looks dated.   The lower half of the room where there are no cabinets or appliances below the wall paper is green colored so the paint selection will be a hair darker than that---as close as we can get it.   It should go well with the kitchen table and chairs.

So he can't paint outside on the saw horses as it is too cool out. Not above 50 when he had time to work on it. The rain threatened the other day and actually started to sprinkle on one door that had not quite dried so we had this scenario yesterday too.  Obviously access is limited to both the washer and dryer but go for it---sigh.  I already had the discussion with him to NOT plan on this spot till after I get a load of towels done tomorrow.

He has only concentrated on the upper part so my kitchen access has not really been a problem.   I suspect that won't be too problematic till we get to the bottom cupboards and I'll have to be mindful of wet paint and my pants legs near the sink anyway.    I have a feeling that it will be awhile before I can show you any after pictures, above or below.

I DID go over to help Marilyn with her twister demo/class this morning for a little while.   As you know I have a few more examples of how to use the ruler than just the wreath so shared those.   Marilyn had lunch planned but I needed to get home.   I have not cut anything out as I had planned other than the "Tons of Black" Challenge piece and prep "Happy Halloween".  Fabrics are pulled for the other project----just sitting and waiting.  Absolutely no sewing this week unless you count binding.  My sewing machine is apt to be getting lonely at this rate!   I've frittered today away to the point that I'll be warming up that pot of soup that I finished making after lunch and making cornbread all too soon.  Now I am out of the notion of doing much of anything productive.  More binding??  There are two more to go.   Go read and forget it??   Just do some Twin Sisters strip sets---that might be the ticket for now.

And sew it goes---------