Thursday, April 28, 2011

UFO Finished!


Hip Hip Hooray! (As my son would say).
Monday during nap time I was able to pin 2 quilts for quilting. I decided to 'practice' on this little quilt I started in 2005 at Yankee Pride as a mystery quilt. I just did a curvy loop on the whole top. The binding was stitched after kids went down for bed. This will be given to my friend Kelly to use as a raffle for the June 'Lacing up for Cancer' event in Morrisville, VT. Most importantly, it is a UFO marked as DONE on my list! The picture does not show the real black well and the bright reds. I may have to try an outside picture once the sun comes out and dries up all the rain we've had the last couple of days.

The next one is Kristin's Yellow Brick Road Quilt that also got pinned on Monday. I think I'll be working on this one tomorrow during nap time. The binding is all set to be put on once this one is quilted. I think I'll pull out the next Midget block and get that started while I can.

Thanks for all the well wishes for AT and his eye surgery. I'm happy to report that he was a real trooper and you would never know he had surgery at this point. The droopy lid is gone and he was back to his normal self playing within 3 hours after his surgery and being the rough and tumble boy that he is the next day.

Happy quilting!
Deb

Friday, April 22, 2011

Guild meeting Wednesday.

We had our monthly meeting on Wednesday night and had a wonderful speaker - Richard Cleveland, the founder of The Vermont Quilt Festival a.k.a. VQF. People were asked to bring in their quilts made before 1960 and he would tell us about the quilts. It was a really interesting night and I learned a lot about older quilts, dyes and how to care for them properly. Guess I need to take the quilts out of the plastic storage bags that my husbands great grandmother made!

This months block from quilterschache was the Pinwheel block - to be made in chocolate and pinks. Here is the one I made for the exchange.

As I won the blocks in November, I can't win again this year but have been making the block every month so the winner will have a good amount to make something with. This month there were 21 blocks made (guess we liked the pattern or colors!) and they drew 2 winners.

I stopped up to Joann's Fabrics this morning with the kids and picked up my little Ott light and some navy blue hand quilting thread so I can start hand quilting the little cat quilt. This is pretty much a practice piece for me and I think I'm just going to do a general cross hatch on it. When done... this will be another UFO crossed off the list. Speaking of which.... I need to get to those 2 backings so I can get at least one quilt pinned for quilting this evening after the kiddo's head to bed at 8. Who knows, with rain in the forecast for Saturday, maybe I can get it quilted during nap time tomorrow....... time will tell.

Happy quilting.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Year of the Pigs Question....

Jill posted this question on her blog - 'What is your least favorite part of quilting?' or essentially what makes you put aside the quilt and work on something else?

Good question Jill! For me.... I dislike adding the borders since they are usually long. Yes, they are easy to do but something about them being long and my little sewing space make it seem like an issue. The other part - pinning or basting for quilting. Lots of quilts get stopped at this point. Making the backing is part of that... those long pieces of fabric again. I do use the Sharon Shamber method and roll the front and back onto the wooden boards and that does make it lots easier to do than the putting it on the floor and smoothing it out and pinning. I'm so glad that I took her workshop in the fall of 2009 and learned that method and how to properly baste a quilt. It was nice to have a day to sew completely away from the kiddos - who where 20 months and 6 months old at that time. So far, those are my least favorite parts of quilting.On the flip side- I love making blocks and I do have to say I love hand sewing the bindings down... wish I lived closer and I'd help you with those, Jill!

On that note, the kids seem to be entertaining themselves (no one is crying or screaming!) so I think I'll go pull out the tops and backing for the 2 quilts that need quilting (Kristin's YBR and a red/black stars quilt that will be donated to Lacing up for Cancer walk in June for my friend Kelly) and measure the top so I can make the backings while the kiddo's are sleeping. I'll also do a quick baste or pin of that little cat quilt from the last post and I think I'll play with my hand quilting on that one after the kids go to bed at night. Nothing fancy, just practicing the stitches and getting them about the same size. Which reminds me... I saw a neat little Ott light that goes around your neck... or by your sewing machine in Keepsake Quilting and they have them or something similar at Joanns. I need to pop in and pick one of those up so I can see what I am doing when I start hand quilting! Have you seen them or used them? Let me know if you have and how you like it!

The kids are calling and want a taster for the play food they are making. Must go taste what my little chefs are making.
Happy Quilting.
Deb

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Tiny Tuesday....


Well, I actually made this the weekend before last but am just getting around to posting it.
This is At the Depot, number 7 from the Midget Blocks from Sentimentalstitches.

I have been sewing and made a bunch more of the white/blue star blocks and my 6 patch blocks of blue.

I also wanted to do something new on Saturday since we all survived the boy's surgery and he was home and eating and playing about 3 hours after surgery... it is amazing how a 3 year old can just bounce back from something so quickly! I looked at my new book by Kathie Alyce and made this:

I'm thinking I'll just add a flower border from my scraps and then an outer border to make it a little bigger. This will probably end up with the dolls in Em's room. I need to work a bit on getting things to match at the end but it was pretty easy if you follow her directions in the book.


I also pulled out these 6 blocks from an internet exchange many years ago - late 90's I think. This was down as my UFO to finish in February. I pulled them into this 20x27 inch top. I have the backing and batting set, just need to get it quilted and bound.



Sunny today so an outside day for the kids. They like to help, so I'm thinking they can pick up the sticks on the ground while I rake a little bit.

Deb

Friday, April 8, 2011

Midget Friday!

I finally got to sew today! It's been a couple of weeks and I really needed to touch some fabrics. I printed down the next 6 blocks and decided to skip blocks 5+6 since they were paper pieced. I needed another week off after all the ribbons I did the last couple of months. I decided to do block #8 - Tricolor Block. I followed the color diagram and this went together quickly. I think I'll do #7 next, then #6 and #5.



Since the kitchen and dining room floors were still drying..... I sewed 4 more of the blue star blocks to use up the half square triangles from my parents anniversary quilt last year. Finally starting to see the end of these as I've made 35 of these friendship star blocks so far. I'll need to cut or find some more of my blue 2.5 inch squares to start making my connector blocks for this quilt... then work on the words for the border. I got Tonya R's book on words and can't wait to start playing with my Twinkle Twinkle Little Star words.


Taking the kids for their portraits tomorrow morning with Daddy. First time he's gone with us but after last year taking a 2YO and a 1YO by myself..... I will always bring someone with me for the next few years! Lets hope they both are in good moods and want to smile for the camera. I'd love to get one of them together...but won't get my hopes up.

A 2nd birthday party for Emily on Sunday with my family. Nice weather so we'll try to throw some burgers and dogs on the grill. I'm going to try and pin my black/red stars quilt on Saturday after cleaning and see if I can get that quilted and bound next week. The little guy is having eye surgery next Friday and Mommy needs some binding to work on while we wait in the waiting room.

Happy quilting
Deb

Monday, April 4, 2011

Quilt Show purchases......

The quilt show was really fun this weekend and a big thanks to all who volunteered their time to help put the show on this year.

Now... on to my purchases! I tried to get something from each of our vendors...I do apologize to Julie from Cowles in St. Albans Vermont for not getting a sewing machine... but I did get a bunch of thread from you within the last couple of months and need to schedule a cleaning of my machine in the next month or two =).
From Quilters Quisine in Newport, Vermont I got these pretty FQ's.

From Country Thyme Vermont in Derby Vermont - I got this little bundle of batik's from the shop hop the last couple of weekends. Very pretty blue, purple and green's.

Forever Bloom in St. Albans had Kathie Alyce there for a book signing on Saturday and I got there right at the end of the show. Turns out... she lives a few doors down from my sister in Plainfield, VT! I'm looking forward to playing with this book and template and have some fabrics in mind for my first project. Thanks Jonnie and Kathie for the inspiration.


From Lois Kenney Designs in Maine I got this beautiful pin and earrings (sorry - they are upstairs - will take a picture of them later) and calendar. The photos are done by her and her partner Don. Very beautiful and I am hanging the calendar in my sewing room once this post is done!



From Yankee Pride in Essex, Vermont I got these two kits. The first is a 58x76 Diamond Chain Quilt Kit in beautiful batiks - blues with a little purple and teal. The second is a bag that contain everything you need to make the bag! It is a Spring Seminole Bag Kit in purple and pink batiks.



Next time there will be quilt photo's - I promise! Seems like the almost 2YO (How can she be turning 2 on Thursday already?) does not want a normal nap and is awake and waiting for me to get her out of her crib. So...no sewing for me today.
Have a great Monday everyone.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Quilt Show this Weekend!!!!

It's finally here. Today is set up and this weekend is the quilt show. I had to 'fix' a quilt this morning for the show. The Challenge quilt needed another washing so it was clean... and I will never use the fusible permanent press things on a 'usable' quilt ever again. After the show... I will be doing some work around the seams on a few of the blocks to get them down. Similar to what I did in the center Vermont block.... but the sewing room is a guest room right now so it will have to wait. Wish Grandma luck with watching the monsters... I mean kids today and this weekend with Daddy.

Here is a link to the quilt show flyer. If you are in the St. Albans Vermont area, stop in and take a look at the beautiful quilts being made by the members of my quilt guild.