Last Day, my day! " It's All About Me"

And here we are, my "ME" bringing up the rear on the very last day. 

In late January my pal Cher at Marathon Quilter ( featured in yesterday's group and honored in the top 2 of the day---woohoo!) had told me about the hop when we were chatting online.  I jumped at the chance to try Amy's pattern and Cher suggested I see if there were any openings.  No harm in asking!  I adore Amy Bradley Designs, (more about that after I show what I did with the "ME").  The pattern was designed especially for the blog hoppers at the request our fearless leader Madam Samm of Sew We Quilt.  Big thanks to her and our cheerleader Marlene who blogs at StitchinByTheLake for letting me join at the last minute!  I had a ball on my first blog hop participation!

Here are the day's participants---thanks for hanging with me for a bit and I hope you enjoy seeing what we have been up to!

Cherry Blossoms
Hill Valley Quilter
Dachsies With Moxie
I Like To Quilt
Quilt Smiles
More Stars in Comanche
Tea Time Creations
Shedding the Wolf
Life, Quilts and a Cat Too  --- YOU ARE HERE!
Judy at That Other Blog    not up yet?
Madame Samm

Moving on------
I'm afraid that I didn't get too "out there" or change the design much.  I missed the memo about making this look like a "future" me.  My figure is already there, unfortunately.  Hands on the ample hips??  Oh that IS me.  Frequent postural pose there. The glasses could have been dark ones, the wrap around variety, as I have been recuperating the last 6 weeks from bilateral cataract surgeries.  I was wearing those puppies quite a bit not only outside but inside to keep the steam out when cooking and sometimes eating.  Don't think that didn't look a little ridiculous!  Heck, I could have put an eye shield on her, er ME and it would have still fit!   Still, I went with a reader version since the lens implants reversed my almost life time nearsightedness to far sightedness.  Brand new world.

Changing the word "Biased"?  Did not even occur to me!  First, I thought I had to use Amy's choice.  Second, it fits.  I am opinionated and it probably comes with the fact that I am an oldest child (of 6) of an oldest child of an oldest child.  A little bossy, I admit.   They have done studies about birth order and I resemble some of these traits.  I do not suffer fools gladly and it gets worse as I have entered my sixth decade and deal with a cranky husband in his seventh.   Enough psychoanalysis of motivation there! I don't want to scare you all off!

I decided fairly early on that I wanted to make a sewing machine cover for this and incorporate my ME design into the cover.  Practical and needed.  I had won the machine in a guild fund raising auction for about a 4 buck investment and using an old pillowcase to cover it.  Or alternately, borrowing the cover from whatever machine was set up in the sewing table at the time.  It deserved better!

The process
Armed with a basic pattern for making a fitted cover from Spool Sewing,  and a great video from The Crafty Gemini plus a whole lot of looking around on Pinterest, I drug out the quadrille paper to make the applique placement printout work for my needs.   Why quadrile paper?  It is the biggest sheet of paper I have and it is gridded.  Math is not my strong suit.

First she/me needed to have the lettering switched around just to be sure it didn't disappear at the bottom!  Like a lot of the gals, I have bobbed hair about to my shoulders so I tried to lengthen it a bit. I taped that to my base printout.  The pincushion would go to the wrist area.  That gave me a centered motif position with some idea of what the borders would need to be cut. Amazingly, it was square once I tinkered with the border widths.

Measurements of the machine height, length and width were taken, re- taken and taken again, I finally cut out the tops and sides for my pattern pieces.  I knew I wanted a pocket at least on one side to hold the machine cord. ( This machine has a collapsible, hinged foot so it stows under the free arm which is pretty cool.)  I had messed up a machine cover for another machine by making a math mistake and I wanted this one more fitted.  (Picture of it at the end)

As far as fabrics went, I like about anything but dark and muddy.  I didn't have a whole lot of stripes in my stash, or at least enough of it.  All we have in a 20 miles radius of my home is Wal-mart and Hobby Lobby.  I love dots and paisleys so I found stuff that would work at Hobby Lobby.  I love bright colors and any leftovers will work on my pro bono quilts.  I know where to find more!

And here she/I am, ready for the closeup

How she/I came to be:

• That dress is loud but something I probably would wear, LOL though I am a jeans and t-shirt girl primarily.  I thought I had to use stripes for the hair since I had switched out the background making me look sort of brunette while I am truly a graying red head.  
• The pink is border is actually a Connecting Thread Christmas print printed as a diagonal.  Good plan there as at least I was not dealing with bias on what needed to be straight of grain borders.  I toned it down the slightly wrong shade color by using the reverse side. Same with the glasses when I could not find a pale blue or gray in the stash.   Paid for both sides, right? 
•  Pearl like beads were used on the pincushion and floral beads for earrings.  That was a design opportunity. I had not captured the hair quite right leaving a gap at her/mine neck/shoulder area.   Does she even HAVE shoulders,  LOL? 
•  I would like to say that the upside down S was the rebel in me coming out but I would be lying since I didn't realize it was not a symmetrical letter------till it was stitched down! Our little secret---I'm a rebel. 
•  I used a different stripe print for biased, a bit of it for the pin cushion and later covered buttons too.  I do not believe you should match every color in a quilt exactly especially when you can't see it from 10 foot away!  Well, I might be able to now that my eye refraction was switched, LOL.
• The whole deal is bound with the same stripe as the dress, including the top flaps and pocket.

Showing the pocket area for the machine cord.

Using an idea I got from Pinterest and specifically from Georgiana Life:  I made an overlapping flap area on top so there would be a space to grab the handle when needed for carrying but I wanted it conceal the opening when not in use.  Monday evening I decided to add some covered buttons and an elastic loop to keep the flap area closed.  It would have been easier to do those loops BEFORE the binding went on.  I had "stitch witchery-ed" it down so that stuff was not going to let me loosen it up to do this the "right" way.  They barely show up in the paisley fabric so no picture of that!

It is lined, with that brown/aqua dot I used in the pocket, but the quilting part left exposed seams inside.  Oh maybe if I had wanted to just quilt the top to batting it would have been "seamtress optimal" but who is going to be looking at the interior??  I had to do the appliance covers in the kitchen in much the same manner.  The pocket and top flaps are just interfaced with medium to heavyweight interfacing while I used a craft batt in the remaining sections to give it a bit more body.  I even drug out the old dress makers pressing ham and roll to sharpen up the creases.  This will stand up by itself!

It is diagonally quilted on paisley parts of the cover with a YLI variegated machine quilting thread (Carnival or Rio de Janiero or something like that).  The front part, I used monofilament as I didn't want to distract from the motif.  I am pleased that my "honey" of a machine will be protected and it makes a nice bright addition to my sewing room.

Past Amy Projects:

Having made both Amy Bradley's  "Kitty City" and all the blocks for "Dazzling Dogs", I knew what to expect in her designs.  Bright fabric choices, fun subject material and well written patterns.  My completed Dazzling Dog examples HERE,  HERE, one HERE  (below the embroidery---keep scrolling, LOL).  I haven't unearthed them all but you get the idea anyway!! Below, a few shots of my version of  "Kitty City"

.....  with my actual kitty, Skyler.  He was hoping he could run off with the buttons. 

I have all the fabrics to make her "Quilt Diva" -- I would love  that on my sewing room door!  I also have plans to do her "Seasonal Quilter" designs which are in my pattern library.  I did do the "Boo" block that goes on one of the interchangeable mini quilts for a friend's pass around row quilt, slightly re-sized. This was the practice block but I plan on putting it into my own Halloween row quilt at some point.  Debora got the better of the two attempts.

Then there are the 3 Happy Halloween pieces I made from a Bradley pattern in Quilter's World magazine in October 2003.  I made three, two as birthday gifts.   This one just plain makes me smile, even if I am a cat person!  Thanks again to Amy for the wonderful designs and inspiration over the years!

Oh and here is the other machine cover---made with the help of my friend Pam who bailed me out on the math and piping.   It goes on the old Singer that once belonged to one of my quilting friend's mom.   Cute than the dickens, but not as fitted, thanks to my boo-boos and thinking I needed it wider than I did.  Not blaming Cotton Ginny for my mistakes.

Thanks to YOU for hanging out with me for awhile!  Now hop off and see the remaining entries.  Me?  Back to stitching on something for the hop I will be doing in late March!

Tuesday meeting

Yesterday was a fun day at Bama Belles in spite of an overcast, chilly and windy day.  We quilters can make our OWN fun.  Two of the ladies that were visiting at the last meeting came back to spend some time with us and another lady who had hoped to come in the past made it as well.

The church was set up for their turn to host a Lenten meal today so we were more scattered all over the room at any available table so as not to disturb their set up.  Still 4 or 5 quilts were pinned though not with my help, I'm afraid.   I have to work diligently on my stitchery project---get this thing done so I can move on to a couple other small items that are also deadline items!!  I enjoy embroidery but usually I can do it at my own pace.

I saw a pineapple log cabin one gal was doing in lovely batiks.  There was a recent pineapple log cabin class using the techniques of Trash to Treasure by Gyleen X. Fitzgerald.  Jane was working on her version at the Saturday guild sew-in.  I think the strips finish at 1 or 1/2 inches wide using the book and ruler she espouses.  Another was cutting out segments for a block in the month in blacks/whites from an area quilt shop.  Bev was making giant yo-yo's for a runner.   Janet was getting ready to start a Catkin quilt kit from In the Beginning so was trying to figure out what went where and just where everything fit together.  I hope I didn't confuse her about my take of what was going on! The pattern is available for free online at http://www.inthebeginningfabrics.com/freepatterns.htm but I won't give the direct link as it will open a pdf file.  There may be some other patterns that interest you anyway!

Lois was just back from a trip to Panama between meetings so we were all asking her about trip.  It got rave reviews from Lois and racked right up there with "best trip ever or close to it"  A few were missing---one had been ill and another had other obligations.  Another is back to work and her time is not her own.  Those present seemed to be having a good "girlfriend day".

Here are a couple of the quilts turned in----

Janet is practicing free motion quilting and this was her Baptist Fan piece.  She had some samples of large stipple she had been working on as well but this one she was donating for a young child.

And this is Bev's---we just pinned this last time.  The girl is quick!  I am not sure that she made the top or if it is something that she came by as she is an ebay devotee and I think, yard sales.

I got the sew-in date for April set up with the church secretary and we may be having a sew date next month as well as Marilyn knew of a mission field project that we might be able to help with.

I had an eye doctor appointment on the way home from the meeting saving me another trip back into town.  He is pleased with how my eyes look, vision is good, no correction needed other than the readers for closeup work.  Activity restrictions are lifted---yahoo!  I'm doing the last of the prescribed drops, down to one med and daily for the rest of this week.  Just OTC artificial tears as needed.    I may be able to get the corrective lenses restriction lifted from my drivers license with the changes in my vision but the doctor has to sign off on it.  His assistant said that there is a form available but they would take care of it if done in 3 month period.  I don't have to go back for 2 months when I assume he will release me.

It has been a fairly quiet day--a few errands, then out to lunch with the husband.  Don't have to cook as we have leftovers from two meals available in the fridge but I do need to go re-heat something!!  Break time is over!

Tomorrow is my day to show you what I made for the "It's All About Me" blog hop.  I was thrilled that my friend Cher was picked for the top 2 of the day.  I probably won't be as lucky but you never know.  Hope you will come back and check it out tomorrow!  I showed the Belles yesterday and they said all the right things, LOL.

Day 7 "It's All About Me"

2nd to last day.   Today I have a long time pal  Cher at Marathon Quilter who is participating and actually is the reason I asked to join in as well.  We could bounce ideas off each other and share our progress.  So I have seen a little preview of what she was doing, I admit!

Here is today's list for your viewing pleasure------

Wednesday, February 27

The Passions of Cliodana
Quilt Mamas
Marathon Quilter
Marla's Crafts
Fiber Babble
Simple Sew
Sewn Seabees
Charlotte at That Other Blog
Nini's Patchwork
Charlotte's Creations
Ipiece2-Mary
My Spoolish Art

Day 6 "It's All About Me"

Picked a favorite yet?  What a talented group of quilters so I am glad that it is Madam Samm's job to pick top 2 and most creative each day.

I'll be off to my Bama Belles quilt meeting for a good bit of the day so you might get to see today's entries before I do!

Here is the list of today's version of "ME"

Tuesday, February 26

Pat Sloan's Blog
To Love Handmade
Feathered Nest Studio
Selina Quilts
Gypsy Dreamer Quilts
Sheila's Quilt World
Meadowbrook
13 Woodhouse Road
Zellerwear
Stitches of Love
Janice at That Other Blog
In the Sewing Basket

****It appears as in the previous days that a few people did not complete their projects or dropped out---sorry for sending you on a Wild Goose Chase****

Pajama Day?

Well so far today IS a Pajama Day!  I admit that it was not my intention, necessarily, when Skyler drug me out of bed a little after 6 for his morning treat bite but it IS what has happened so far.  It is a coolish, damp gloomy and intermittently rainy day and one of what seems to be many this winter.  Who wouldn't feel like hibernating??  One nice day with sunshine and boom, more rain. UGH even if it has been good for our camellia bush.   Recently a friend who lives in Maine said "well at least you don't have to shovel rain".  This was right after the first huge snowfall/blizzard and they got more soon after.  Maggie, you were right and I should NOT be complaining.

So far I have checked in with today's blog participants which led to finding a neat designer Quilt Doodle Designs.  First I spotted an applique penguin she had on her design blog--- a friend had been looking for penguin patterns.  That led to finding a cupcake design in pdf download on her etsy site.  Do I really want to foundation piece a cupcake or I could possibly applique one for that upcoming guild challenge piece?  LOL could go either way as far as technique but I know which would be easier in the interest of time.

Then I checked Facebook---someone on a facebook group that I sometimes participate in is looking for a sewing machine manual.  I had been that route myself and had a few ideas of where she might look.  A little checking on a sewing forum and I may have found an answer.  The woman was looking for a friend so she'll share anything she gleaned, like is a White 1630 the same as what she had called a Brother De Luxe 1630?   Maybe!  Worth looking anyway.

Meanwhile I am continuing to stitch on my selection for the "Stitch Me Up" Blog Hop.  I took it with me to the sew-in on Saturday and got it moved along in spite of the table hopping to see what the others were up to.  Jackie C was leading the group in making Stack and Whack Fans---Bethany Reynolds has a tutorial on her pages HERE if you don't know what these look like.  There were maybe 8-10(?) in the works.

The neatest part of the day was the group of young quilters that were sewing.  Shelia one of the program leaders was leading the girls in making a strip pieced tote and they were intently listening in this first picture.  One is the protege of one of the members---Caitlyn's auntie lives next door to one of the member. When Caitlyn (in the pink print top, back to the camera) expressed an interest in sewing and got a new Brother for Christmas, they got hooked up.  Probably before that though!   We met Caitlyn at the January Meeting when Carole brought her.  Three others are granddaughters of our members and one was a BFF to one of the grands.

Mallory ( in the white shirt) has made two quilts that I know of and is a honorary guild member.  It was kinda funny when we heard one of the girls going "Nana!  Nana!" and trying to get her grandmother's attention.  Someone said something along the lines of  "There are a bunch of us that answer to THAT name!  Which one are you wanting?"  LOL.

I never take my camera with me as our historian Beth takes good care of documenting the meetings and sew-ins.  Just download it from facebook or shutterfly to avoid a pictureless post.  You may be able to see more HERE on facebook if you "like" the page.

Also over the weekend I finally got around to typing up the guild "show and tell" and minutes notes.  The newsletter editor had not asked for them yet but would be soon!  In addition, I had at one point volunteered to help with the website duties if the member who had been doing it was unable to continue.  She now lives out of state and the board thought it best to take me and another volunteer up on that offer.  I spent a bit of time poking around on the site to see how wordpress differs from blogspot.  The previous web madam had to give us the password so we could add ourselves as administrators first.  I was able to post a note, edit another section and add last month's newsletter.  Here is the link:  http://friendshipquiltersalabama.wordpress.com/

I wouldn't mind changing the font down a little bit and I can't figure out how she added those pictures at the bottom of the page either so there will be a learning curve!  Donna and I will chat about "who should do what" at the next meeting.  I'm the secretary and she's the quilt show chair so there are things that are in our "job" responsibilities, LOL.

Bama Belles meet tomorrow, eye doctor appointment on the way home---and I will still be embroidering!  Jane joked that someone was going to have to call the house and ask DJ to go make sure that I was still working on my piece!  If I wasn't then he was to get me moving on it again.  It is a bit past the half way point in the drawing so maybe by week's end it will be done??  Shooting for that anyway.  I may not get the March row done in time but I have till the 2nd Saturday in March so who knows.

I do have a couple of odds and ends to tend to for BB's.  Things to pack, email to send, that sort of deal---stuff I should have taken care of two weeks ago but didn't.  Bad girl!  Not enough hours in the day sometimes especially ---when you can find ways to spend an entire morning on the computer.  Let's call it research and cultivating friendships.

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

Day 5 "It's All About Me"--edited to correct links, additions and substractions

I hope you have had time to catch up with some of the blog hop entries.  So many different takes of using the same basic Amy Bradley pattern!  I'm afraid I stuck a little "close to the script" but I am not up for a few more days to let you be the judge of that.

Anyway, let's see what today's participants have been up to----the day's bloggers are listed below

Monday, February 25

Quilting Lines
Mountain Delights
Jane's Fabrics and Quilts
The Fuzzy Hat Quilter
Ramblings of an Empty Nester
NautiStitcher
Quilt Doodle Designs
Freemotion By The River
The German Mom
Spoilt Dog Quilts  dropped out?
Vicky at That Other Blog

AND on a personal front, Happy Anniversary to my mom and dad!  Love you both.
 

Day 4 "It's All About Me" Blog Hop

Ready for another day of blog hopping?    The hop takes the weekend off so there will be time to get caught up if you haven't started!

BUT there are other options for viewing or reviewing.   If you use Pinterest, each hop---old, present and upcoming---are posted HERE.   I am not sure but there might also be a group on flickr.  This is my first time up and I am not quite aware of all the in's and out's but I'm learning.

In the meantime, stop by and see what neat things this group has made and shared-------


Friday, February 22

A Little Bit of Lorene
Life In The Scrapatch
Boston Bits
I Love Wool
Patchouli Moon Studio
As Sweet As Peaches
Just Quilt It
Grandmama's Stories
The Slow Quilter
Robin at That Other Blog
Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

I'm off to bake some cookies or cake to take with me to the guild sew-in tomorrow so catch you later!

Thursday check in

Today's blogs are hopped and cheer led.  The laundry is done, except for folding.  Chatted with my friend Cher before she left for work----helps that she is two time zones away there!  Skyler has been treated---twice.  Husband is off to the doctor's appointment.  House to myself for an hour or two.

I got a little helper mid way through.  Good luck dealing with those socks till he vacates.

Also finished packing this stuff up to go back to DISH. There went the rest of the roll of bubble wrap I had and whatever newspaper that I had not taken to the recycle center.  Just to be ornery and because I am a little perturbed with them,  I should have gone out to the storage shed and gotten my bag of packing peanuts and filled it up. Not only do we have to run clear out to the UPS Store some 10-12 miles away to take it back but they are doing to charge us for the privilege in the end.  Say, what???  Seems to me if you wanted this stuff back YOU would be customer friendly and just let us drop it off instead of charging 17 bucks per box.  OR better yet,  come get it and the dish off the house while you are at it.  If the husband suggests changing services again in two years, I am apt to suggest dropping some of the services if the costs become prohibitive instead of going through this crap again, only Direct TV's version of crap.  Okay, rant over.

I couldn't use my cutting/pressing table even if I wanted to.  I don't see the eye doc again till the 26th and I am staying on activity restrictions on the bending, lifting deal until I get the go-ahead.  They are moving to new to them, larger building a couple of blocks away so all the surgery day mates and I were pushed back to three weeks return instead of two.  It works out okay for me as I will be going right near there on the way back from my quilt meeting.  (Two weeks would have been of week in between quilt meetings)  My Kenmore is also sitting behind the boxes but that thing weighs a ton and I would need DJ to move it at this point.  I felt bad enough about him having to rotate three of them a couple weeks ago.  He spared me the "why do you need so many machines?" question, thankfully.  Not sure of that answer but I just do and use them all for different things.  Back ups too.   Really I was hoping that DJ would want to take the boxes out to UPS after (or before) his doctor's appointment since he would be half way there but he expects me to go with him.  I assume after lunch sometime.

If I could sew or dink around in here I had come to a conclusion about a quilt project last night about 2 a.m.  Ever happen to you, where an idea you have been muddling around with suddenly had a possibility come to you from that subconscious mind?  Since at the point I was not sleeping, I almost got up to check something on the computer!  BUT I waited till a few minutes ago to come up with a link to the lyrics to the song "Bushel and a Peck".   Who knew that was from "Guys and Dolls?"  Not me apparently!  Now, why that??  Challenge fabric for guild and specifically, what to do with that Michael Miller heart stuff.  See THIS POST for more of the story.

Okay I wound up with two packets.  I know what to do with the cupcake fabric and its companion.  I have that pattern all printed off and ready to foundation piece.  Those hearts were the problem child.  My brainstorm is this:  mug rugs though up to this point I didn't want to make any.  I will applique down one or more of the hearts in one or the other or maybe even both.  AND I'll embroider some of the "Bushel and a Peck" lyrics on them.   First one might say "I love you, a bushel and peck"  2nd one, "hug around the neck"-- 3rd one, "barrel and a heap"--last one "talkin' in my sleep about you".  DJ would totally get it and has a birthday coming up at the end of April.   He could use a little mug rug on his table near his recliner.  We sing that to each other or I sing it and he chimes in.  Mom used to sing the first two lines but I didn't know the rest of the song till I met DJ.  Considering they are almost contemporaries he knows the older stuff, LOL.   That is my working idea for now----although I may change the numbers of them depending how big I make the font.   I bet no one else at guild would come up with this!!  They have their own fabric samples to play with.

For today,  it will be back to the stitching though I am making some progress on that front----

Today will be a few more squiggles in the foreground and then I am moving to the roof section on this little Victorian cottage.   My right hand was cramping up a bit when I went to bed last night so I am glad that I didn't try knitting too.   Season two of Downton Abbey to keep me company .

First a quick personal errand for me, lunch and then DJ can drag us off on that run to fulfill our leasing obligations to DISH.  Hope you are having a good day------

Day 3 "It's All About Me" Blog Hop

Are you ready for another day of blog hoppin'?  I know I am as it has kept me entertained between stitching something up for one in late March!  Well, that and watching the first season of Downton Abbey on the computer download, LOL.  Finally parts of season 3 made a little more sense with the back story in play.

But I digress------here at the folks that are participating today.  I should also have pointed you to Madam Samm's picks for top 2 and most creative!  She does this each day of the hop Feb. 19-28th and those picks are eligible for giveaways as well as the top commenters.    You can find this all at http://www.sewwequilt.com/  I've been hopping first and then pick my favs and then see if I agree, LOL but it is hard not to take a peek to see what will be tantalizing me later!!


Thursday, February 21

Kris Loves Fabric
The Quilting Alleycat
Cat Patches
Bumbleberry Stitches
Chickadee's Country Cottage Crafts
 In Stitches and Seams
Why-Knot-Kwilt
Quilting Unleashed
Rosemary at That Other Blog
Thimblemouse & Spouse
Sew Many Yarns


Have fun!

Day 2 "It's All About Me" Blog Hop

Now I am just up and barely at it, trying to get my eyes past half mast.  Some mornings there is not enough coffee in the world, know what I mean?   BUT after yesterday's cool interpretation of the Amy Bradley pattern I cannot wait to see more!

Here is the schedule if you want to hop along


Wednesday, February 20

Buzzing and Bumbling
Cherries Prairie Primitives
Kwilty Pleasures
Sew On And So Forth
Sew. Darn. Quilt.
A Stitch In Time
Doodling In My Mind
Moosestash Quilting
Susie's World

And on another unrelated subject---I imported all the older archived material BACK into this original blog area.  Since I discovered that I was using far less of my available photo storage space, there was no need to keep maintaining two sites.  Danged blogger sometimes.  However it did occur to me that I can download some of the "lost in a computer crash pictures" in the old stuff. , LOL  maybe I should be happy they DO keep pictures in an odd way!

Tuesday this and that

 There is not a whole lot of productivity going on around here but that is partially because my main project is hand work.

Actually I feel more curling up and taking a nap like Skyler.  Once the winter moisture condensation settles down on the window frame DJ and I will displacing Skyler from his favorite perch to scrap and paint the window sill and get this thing re-seated properly.  The velcro band that holds it in place is half on and half off with the sheer from him jumping from the bed to the perch.    Recently we had to make him get off of there as the thing was hanging at a wonky angle and we were afraid he would soon find himself on the floor!   We got the supplies needed on a store run today.

Not to give too much away of the "Stitch Me Up" blog hop that will run from March 20-29th this is the project I chose from the group of 8 patterns.  Oh there were other choices but this one just appealed to me more and may go with some other collected patterns in the long run.  There is lots and lots of stitching to be done!  I am a little further along than when I took this picture on Sunday but it  WILL take some time.  Jane, Aline and I plan to go to our guild sew-in on Saturday rather than all three days and I know this is what I will be working on.  Not only will it prevent having to lug the sewing machine and attendant supplies but this needs to be moved along.

I did a bit of knitting last night after laying off for about a week or so.  I had started this same hat once before with the needles called for and thought it looked huge for supposedly age 8 to 12 head.  I dropped down to 10's from the 11's and I still think it looks a little big.   I've done enough rows (11) to establish the pattern and am about half way to the crown shaping.  TV viewing time project.

I am off to see what the participants have done for the current blog hop "It's All About Me".  I hope that you will join me!  Some may have giveaways but to me the best part is seeing the eye candy!!

Here is today's list of participants-----

Tuesday, February 19


Just Let Me Quilt
Sunshine Quilting
Karen at That Other Blog
Grammie Q
Gracie Oliver Arts
Marjorie's Busy Corner
SnippetsNScraps
Sowing Stitches
Pigtales and Quilts
Stitchin'ByTheLake

Have fun!

"It's All about Me" Blog Hop, Feb. 19-Feb. 28

It is about to start! I have been talking about it off and on for weeks. My piece is done but waiting to be shown on the final day of the Blog Hop, under the guidance of  Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt and Marlene our head cheerleader at Stitchin'ByTheLake. Thanks ladies for all you do on our behalf!

The hop runs from February 19 to February 28 so I hope you will bookmark the schedule list and then stop by to see how others have interpreted this cute, "designed especially for the hop" Amy Bradley design. Big shout out to Amy Bradley as well!

So here is the full schedule ---

Tuesday, February 19

Just Let Me Quilt
Sunshine Quilting
Karen at That Other Blog
Grammie Q
Gracie Oliver Arts
Marjorie's Busy Corner
SnippetsNScraps
Sowing Stitches
Pigtales and Quilts
Stitchin'ByTheLake


Wednesday, February 20

Buzzing and Bumbling
Cherries Prairie Primitives
Kwilty Pleasures
Sew On And So Forth
Sew. Darn. Quilt.
A Stitch In Time
Doodling In My Mind
Moosestash Quilting
A Patchwork Life
Vickie at That Other Blog
Susie's World

Thursday, February 21

Kris Loves Fabric
The Quilting Alleycat
Cat Patches
Bumbleberry Stitches
Chickadee's Country Cottage Crafts
 In Stitches and Seams
Why-Knot-Kwilt
Quilting Unleashed
Rosemary at That Other Blog
Thimblemouse & Spouse
Sew Many Yarns

Friday, February 22

A Little Bit of Lorene
Life In The Scrapatch
Boston Bits
I Love Wool
Patchouli Moon Studio
As Sweet As Peaches
Just Quilt It
Grandmama's Stories
The Slow Quilter
Robin at That Other Blog
Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

**You get the weekend off to rest up or catch up--whatever the case may be!!  LOL**

Monday, February 25

Quilting Lines
Mountain Delights
Jane's Fabrics and Quilts
The Fuzzy Hat Quilter
Ramblings of an Empty Nester
NautiStitcher
Quilt Doodle Designs
Living Life
Freemotion By The River
The German Mom
Spoilt Dog Quilts

Tuesday, February 26

Pat Sloan's Blog
To Love Handmade
Feathered Nest Studio
Selina Quilts
Gypsy Dreamer Quilts
Sheila's Quilt World
Meadowbrook
13 Woodhouse Road
Zellerwear
Stitches of Love
Janice at That Other Blog
In the Sewing Basket

Wednesday, February 27

The Passions of Cliodana
Quilt Mamas
Marathon Quilter
Marla's Crafts
Fiber Babble
Simple Sew
Sewn Seabees
Charlotte at That Other Blog
Nini's Patchwork
Charlotte's Creations
Ipiece2-Mary
My Spoolish Art


The last day Thursday, February 28

Cherry Blossoms
Hill Valley Quilter
Dachsies With Moxie
I Like To Quilt
Quilt Smiles
More Stars in Comanche
Tea Time Creations
Shedding the Wolf
Life, Quilts and a Cat Too  --- YOU ARE HERE!
Judy at That Other Blog
Madame Samm

Stay tuned!!

Checking in

It has been a fairly uneventful morning and day of it so far.  We got the laundry done, ran out for a biscuit and coffee mid-morning.  I was working on a scheduled post for the blog hop next week, making sure that the links would be active.  I finished up the embellishments I wanted to do on MY entry.   I cannot show it to you yet and my assigned day is not until the final day, the  28th.   Now what? 

Oh, I can think of a couple things I could start working on as there is another blog hop next month, a stitchery one, that I will need to make something to show.  The Friendship Quilters fabric sample challenge will need to be done as well though I have till April. I could button hole applique the Halloween Button Up while I have the correct machine out but somehow I think not.  That "deadline" is too far off, not a priority.  I could do the kites for the "Seasons in a Row"  for the row of the month though required by March 9th. 

 I could/should type up the LAST meeting's minutes, come to think of it.   I was also going to send out an email to Bama Belles with a couple ideas I had for future meetings if they want to join along.  AND I am getting a "to be quilted" stack again but I know I will wait on this till I am off activity restrictions as I need to move machines and tables and all that good stuff around to be able to take care of any of these.  

Oh, one other thing to add to my list----I had recently gotten a used copy of Patti R. Anderson's EQ Pieced Drawing.   I have never made it all the way through the EQ6 User manual and its lessons.  Even though I have used EQ for years there is always something changed between versions and I could be more proficient in it.  The Anderson book builds on the lessons in the manual so I was going to start there first.  You can teach an old dog new tricks.  Don't have to do it today of course but maybe plan a couple hours each week to play.

Here at home:
We were down to the low 30's this morning though we have a couple nights of 20's and a high of only 40 some coming up.  Today it was up close to 60 so DJ got his tree cutting tools out and went out to deal with a couple more trunks of that awful Chinese Privet.  The piece he is working on is actually two that almost fused but the last branch standing.  He was down to three last week so there has been some progress.  The burn pile is heaped up so there is no place to put the more recent cuttings. 

Those trunks are thick!  He said a hand ax just bounces off the trunk and the chain saw is not working.  At some point he will ask the across the lane neighbor to get his Kubota tractor/endloader back here and yank this thing out.  Where you see the bare spot in around the trunks is the surface area this thing took up.  He needs it gone so he can get around between the kudzu bank and the yard to mow the extra lot of our property. 

Here is what I mean by kudzu bank.  It is dormant now but it won't be come late spring.  I don't know how much you can see about the relationship to the hill and the road down below but they cut through the hill on both sides to make the road.  The lane that our house is on USED to be the main road years ago.    We look out the back yard and are level with the two houses across the road.

 And here is Skyler sunbathing in the bedroom window, catching that afternoon sun.

The next thing I know it will be time to fix dinner.  I have gotten off kind of easy on the cooking deal this week.  The freezer provided a couple of meals, I had quilt group, we were out to Cracker Barrel for lunch on Valentine's Day.  What we would have had for lunch ordinarily became supper.  No such luck tonight though.  I'm thinking Seafood Creole maybe or go Asian with a shrimp stir fry.

And so it goes-----

organizing, or trying to

Bev had a cute little snapware stackable portable storage organizer for some of her supplies  yesterday.   Since I was making a Hobby Lobby run and had a 40% off coupon, I looked to see if I could find one.  Well, I found two.  I told Bev on Facebook that she had influenced me but it was leading to serial cleaning.  Should I blame her or thank her??

Once home, I re-organized some things that sit on the sewing room cutting and pressing table.  Move one thing and you end up doing more than you first planned.   On the left are the two units filled and stacked.  The art type supplies are now corralled from three different locations in their own container.    The neutral threads fit in the other along with a few other little quilting doo dads.     A few other items were shifted around but I may look into getting another one or two of these down the line.  Live with this arrangement for a time.

Because this container used to contain the neutral thread, I was able to combine all five of my machines bobbins and extra feet (in some cases) back in it.  It now lives where the embroidery floss used to be on the book shelves with the additional threads. 

The embroidery floss went on the TV stand shelf.  The new TV set up only requires a small, small box.  My old DVD player was not working so it was removed from the unit---whadya know?  Shelf space is open.  There is one more floss box, maybe another that is committed to a specific project.  I would love to have something similar to a office in/out files thing to shelve them all but I am not sure where it would "live"  if I had one.  This will do for now.

And because the desk needed attention after shifting some of the art supplies etc, the 3 ancient broken baskets were replaced after a run to the dollar store.  Stuff was tossed, papers sent through the shredder and I can actually see the bottom of the pull out drawer....usually I just open the drawer and stuff something in and it gets lost in a dark hole, LOL till I can't stand it anymore..  

The lower larger desk drawer was dealt with as well.  I still need to address the 2 drawer file but I cannot fully open the drawer with the sewing machine table sitting where it currently is.  I hate to ask DJ to move it especially since I still need the machine that is sitting in it.  Two days ago I had to have him come in and move three machines all around the room.  I don't want to repeat that if I can avoid it.  Yes, he would help me if I asked especially since he wants me to behave and have a good surgical result too.  It can wait.  I need to finish my blog hop entry anyway.

DJ and I will be going out for lunch tomorrow.  Yeah, I know it is Valentine's Day and maybe he is expected to do so but we just had an anniversary a few weeks ago so we tend to celebrate it rather than a made for the card companies and florists holiday.  He sort of surprised me when he mentioned his plans when I got home from quilting yesterday.  Fine with me though as we rarely eat out.

I made him some peanut butter blossom cookies today with Hershey's kisses (get it?) but he had to help me with the oven detail.  He was helping me put the chocolates into the hot from the oven cookies.  It is rare to have any assistance in the kitchen but again, he will help if I ask and give specific instructions as to what I want done. Most of the time, we would just be getting in each other's way. 

I'll get back to the machine cover tomorrow----three sides are together but the back needs to be added to the mix and the binding applied to the bottom edge.  Close!  After that I need to be turning my attention to get started on a blog hop that follows in late March called "Stitch Me Up"  The current hop is "Hugs and Kisses February 11-15th so they are three days in!  I haven't had a chance to go visit any of the participants--- yet.  See Sew WE Quilt for all the information. 

Meeting day

Bama Belles met yesterday with a good turnout in spite of the weather! It was clear for a bit at arrival time but the rains came back just in time for lunch and departure time for some of the group. I think there were 12 or 13 of us, including a guest.

Teresa and her sister Judy were working on Teresa's Accu-quilt Go Baby cutting some charm squares Judy needs for her next project. Judy is presently hand quilting her first quilt! Teresa is working on cutting big yo yo's for a bedrunner project right now. Julie and Bev were working on binding. Julie had hoped to her project to be on a guest room bed since company is coming---soon! You'll see the quilt in a minute. Aline was doing hand work as was our guest, Valera. Donna was helping at the pinning table along with Beverly, Lois, Jane and me with others stepping in to help. Janet may have been the only one sewing and was putting borders on a lovely small quilt. Pat and Ada were keeping us all company. Rosa was busy at the ironing board but I didn't see what exactly she was working on. I spotted her with some fabric that looked like swiss cheese though---maybe applique???

So let's see what the gang was up to.   Beverly's Tons of Black Challenge piece was turned in and Jane flipped the corner so you could see the fun backing fabric she used.  Brenda had donated some yardage and it went to good use here.

This rag quilt bunny is adorable, isn't it?    Bev made it and embellished it in a fun way with the heart and the purple fluffy stuff at the paw area.  She did something fun on the face as well but I don't think the picture will show it very well.  I think might be a Simplicity pattern but don't quote me.  Teresa had a commercially purchased pattern that had a bear, turtle and maybe a dinosaur???  all done in rag quilt sectioning like this one.  She hopes to make one of them for her grandson

 Here is the sweet little quilt that Janet was bordering.  I forgot exactly what she called this one but the block is a simple three patch that forms a rectangle.  You then rotate the blocks but she said you have to be sure to not reverse the strip pieced sectioning.    Apparently she had on a previous version and did not catch it till the top was done.

Bev also made this quilt.  I am not sure about the pattern source but I think it should be called "Flower Power".  She used a jelly roll to make it.  Wouldn't this be a terrific pro bono quilt idea?

Next up a top in my beloved 30's prints that Linda C mailed to Lois along with a box of quilting materials.  We pinned it up and I'll quilt it when I get around to my ever growing stack.

Here is Julie's quilt---Pat Speth was the lecturer at the Lick Skillet Quilt guild this past summer.  Julie took the workshop and made her version of  "Heritage Trail"  featured in the book Amazing Nickel Quilts.  Julie did get the last binding edge done and I caught her for a picture just before she had to leave.

Here was her fun backing!   Great way to stretch your yardage, right?  It was professionally quilted by an area long arm quilter.

I took my knitting with me but basically did not do a thing with it---too busy pinning and yakking, LOL.   I had two quilts to pin but I think both of them are going to Friendship Quilters as we are all required to make a pro bono quilt now, rather than let this worthwhile task fall to just a few people.  I may be able to designate that mine go to Wrap Them in Love anyway as most of mine have since the fall of 1999.   I didn't even pull my hand quilting out of the tote which is even less than the knitting---at least that ball of yarn was out where I could get at it, LOL.

Since I was already most of the way out to Hobby Lobby, I ran out there once I locked up primarily looking for some embellishments for my blog hop piece.  A couple more things followed me home but I'll tell you about that in another post.   I had hoped to be working on the binding at the base of the sewing machine cover but I still have the back piece to add to the 3 sides of the piece.   The satellite TV guy had a cancellation and they called to see if he could come out Monday afternoon.  We said "yes" but it did put a kabosh on my sewing for a couple of hours.  I needed to have DJ move the Christmas fabric tub under the sewing machine table to get it out of his way so try to get at the sewing machine pedal around something that measures about 22 x 16 x 16, LOL.  Didn't happen today either----yet, LOL.

Stay tuned for post two!

fooling around/check in

Yesterday was Friendship Quilter's guild day.  Jane drove and we had 5 of us from the north end of the county make the trip.  Aline had a quilt to pick up from a member who long arm quilts.  Several of us are doing the row quilt.  I got to be there to take minutes though I did not get the memo about there being a board meeting prior to the meeting but someone filled in for me on that score.

Since I had not heard from the sewing machine guy or his wife about my machine, I figured he was just going to deliver them BACK to the meeting place.  I was right.   A couple of gears needed to be replaced that control the feed dogs.  He said that another set of gears in there looked "brand new" so it is possible that Lois' mom had had that work done on it.   Also a situation with the zig zag needed adjustment too.  For 45 bucks I am up and running and the cams will work now.  Woohoo!

We went out for a quick bite to eat before we came home.  One of the guild members and her little guest came in after we did and asked if they could join us. Caitlyn is 11 and her aunt lives next to Carole.  She must have expressed an interest in learning to sew and the aunt said, "I know someone who might be able to help you".  The young girl got a brand new Brother for Christmas and showed a cute pillow she had made at guild.  Carole said they are working on a table runner and another project now.  Even cooler?   She will be coming to the next sew-in on the Saturday date later in the month.  Caitlyn will be joined by two granddaughters of guild members who are about the same age.  The long arm quilter's granddaughter (Mallory) is already an honorary member and the other girl, Brooklyn has been helping her nana at the raffle table the last two months.  I think the girls will have a wonderful time together!  The program gal was going to come up with something special for the girls to work on.  Gotta keep quilting going, right???

We made one other stop at the Pink's Variety Store before we left.  I have never known if it is called that because it is their family name or the fact that the building is painted a Pepto Bismol pink.  One may have influenced the other---who knows??  Anyway, it is a hardware and other good stuff/junk store.  My door stop that sometimes shows up in quilt pictures in my living room came from there.  I found these scoop measures with built in measuring spoons at the end there along with a whisk that won't mar the finish of my new bargain pans that I told you about back in December.  (25 bucks for a full set when the neighbor probably sold me her Christmas present but original cost 200 list)  Aline didn't find the drawer pulls she hoped to find but DJ and I found ours there in the past---bathroom and kitchen.

Once I got home, DJ and I took off for one of the grocery errands.  With the lifting and bending restrictions he is not off the hook yet for some of that.   I needed him to lug the sewing machine in from the car as well and put the one that was in place elsewhere as I knew I wanted to "play" today, testing out the repairs.

First review the book.  Lois' mom had lots of notes along side the fashion and flexi stitch cams.  When I had tried to do this before I had gotten myself a bit confused about what was what  but I think I finally had something click.

The black ones are fashion discs and actually there are two more with the machine parts that may have come from another machine as they are not mentioned in the manual.  They control the side to side movement of the needle.  The white  "flexi-stitch" cams  are equipped with 4 different stitches depending on where you set the pattern selectors---and guess what I missed before?  Color coded with another dial.   (You have to sew with something in the space whether you actually use it or not. )  The flexi-stitch ones control side to side movement of the needles along with the back and forth movement of the feed.  You can see why my last attempts to use them came to naught with feed gears blown out.


Some of stitching attempts were a little more successfully undertaken than others.  Mostly I would need to adjust the stitch length or stitch width a hair more though I did produce a decent enough blind hem and feather stitch.  Those two really are the ones I was most interested in anyway.

Next I thought I would try quilting and try to remember which of the two walking feet in the Singer-Kenmore accessories container I had tried before.  One has a guide and one does not.  One maybe goes in with my Jem but which one?  The other is a generic one I got years ago hoping it might work with my Viking but I am still using the original one though it squeaks and looks just a hair whackerjawed.   Both seemed to work--would quilt though I think I had more clearance under the foot with one more than the other.

I moved on to trying a couple types of thread including a monofilament that I normally use for the pro-bono quilts.  Remember, I usually stitch in the ditch, I don't free motion and I don't want to see the thread, least you think I shouldn't use it or it wouldn't be YOUR first choice.  Anyway, I thought some of the YLI machine quilting thread called "Rio de Janerio" that one of the Belles gave me when she moved might work on my blog hop project so I gave it a trial run.  I also tried it with just a plain milk chocolate thread.  I gotta say I like the bright variegated thread better.  Some places it is bold, like the fabric and other spots, more subtle.


You might be able to see the two choices a little bit better in this other photo.

Just as a tip:  I always keep a little quilt sandwich by the machine when I am quilting to re-test my tension and get the bobbin thread pulled to the top when I put a new one in.  I guess I just made me a new one to play with.

Well, it looks like I made some decisions about how to proceed my sewing machine cover for the blog hop but I'm done sewing for the day.  Plenty of time to work on it tomorrow as I have few errands to run or home tasks to tend to.  It would be nice to be able to work on the binding part at Bama Belles on Tuesday.  I finished up hat #32 last night and want to try out a new pattern for the next one that I found HERE on "knitting on the net".   " Downton Abbey"  will be on soon and knitting will be just the ticket!

I hope you have had a good weekend, perhaps in spite of the weather patterns around the lower 48??  I saw somebody on Facebook griping about the weather down here and saying they wanted to "kill that lying ground hog"  while another stated it was all a Democratic plot.  Say what???  That almost got a snarky reply from me but I decided you cannot reason with idiots.  He would not be interested in my version of the truth anyway.  He could have just thought he was being funny or ironic anyway.  (He failed, miserably)

till next time---------