Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Different fabric....

I made two more burp cloths this morning after I made a trip to the doctor for my shoulder. Cortisone shot. Sure hope it helps. I am ready to start a little girl quilt and have no fabric, no ideas, and don't see a time to get it going. I have until the end of September. (Ok, so I might have some pinks and greens that I bought at Zooks on our last trip to Lancaster. One yard each of about 6 different fabrics. Hmmmmm.....)
I must brag a little about my irises. They are really beautiful. Last year was the first year they were out here, and I got 1 lousy bloom so I am thrilled with how many I am having this year. And all my vases are boxed up, ready to wait for the new house!


Jeanne on Spiral always lists things she is grateful for at the end of her post. Think I'll start doing that some of the time.

Gratitudes:

1) My beautiful irises

2) having Gracie here today to keep me laughing and busy

3) my wonderful husband who helped me book a girls' trip to Vegas this afternoon (Woohoo!)

4) the blogs that I read that give me all kinds of things to think about....like things to be thankful for!

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Burp cloths

So I decided to whip up some burp cloths that I saw on Pieces from My Scrapbag. Everything was going pretty well until the 3rd one. I have no clue what I did wrong, but it's a little shorter. Guess it will still work, though! It felt good to have a project to do quickly and easily. Thanks, Finn.

Monday, April 23, 2007

Chicken or the egg...

Am I down in the dumps because I don't feel like sewing, or am I not sewing because I'm depressed? Either way, I'm not feeling so hot these days. I am hoping to get the energy to go sew on some flannel and make some burp rags that I read about on someone's blog. (Angie? Pieces from My Scrapbag?) Sorry I don't remember who for sure.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

This is finish #2. It's my first attempt at a scrap quilt and it is really scrap. I just picked any fabric I felt like without thinking of how the blocks would go together. I think the blue corners saved it. It's the one with the really weird border/binding, so it's good you can't see the borders. (My husband said he was smiling when I took the picture.)
This is my most recent scrap quilt. Everything was out of my stash, most from other quilts. The colors are gold, rose, and green. I had to buy the border cause I just didn't have anything that would work. I finished hand- stitching the binding this afternoon. I think this started out as a Frenzy from the One Day Quilt Frenzy group.
So I have three quilts finished in the last 3 weeks or so. Now I need to figure out the design for the new grandbaby if it's a girl.

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Issues

I have been busy finishing up 3 different quilts that were ready for the binding. All three quilts have had problems, and I'm discouraged. All problems were with my long-arm quilter.

Quilt #1
I used their backing because I'd made the quilt a little bigger than I first intended. They pieced it, and there is a line of selvedge that goes down one side. It's not even, and since it was in the side, I covered most of it with the binding and the border is just a tad uneven on one side. This didn't bother me all that much.

Quilt #2
This is the one that is scrap sampler. Every block was quilted differently, and I really liked that idea. However, in doing that, somehow the quilt was bunched in places, especially on one side. I didn't really think it was a problem until I tried to sew the binding on. It was really rough, and one side of the border is pulled or pinched looking. I'm really disappointed in this one. I pinned the binding and tried 3 different times to make it flatter until I just gave up. It's only on one side, and I've never had this problem in any of my quilts.

Quilt #3
I am still hand stitching the binding on this one. When I was sewing on the binding, the back didn't reach the edge of the quilt on part of one side. This is the 2nd time this has happened. Fortunately, I could move the binding in a little and got the binding on without it being too noticeable. Another problem was that that quilt pattern on the front was messed up in one place. It was a simple pattern, the shell, and it shows. One row was quilted and then there is another row right under it. Of course, in the scheme of things it won't be noticed.

Am I expecting too much? Am I too picky? I realize that nobody cares except me. And better finished than perfect.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

I'm still here!

Sorry it has been so long between posts. We have been busy here getting ready for Easter, and we're still working on packing up our house in town. Hope you are having a nice Easter weekend and not freezing like it is here in the hills of Tennessee. (My poor irises!)

I have been doing pretty dull quilting things. First, I am hand sewing on another binding. It's almost done. I'll take a picture when I'm finished. I had bought some backing for the sailboat quilt, and I didn't like it. So I searched for some more that I could stand. I had to hit a couple of places, but I have the same border fabric for the back. I've also decided on the fabric for the binding on a third quilt that is waiting. That quilt is totally scraps and stash, except for the border.

I guess it's time for the confession. I've had a horrible time doing the binding on this quilt. First, it wasn't quilted to the edge like a lot of my quilts are, and I had trouble getting the binding on without little tucks. The quilting had some extra puffy places (you know what I mean?) where the quilt had not been totally pulled flat or something, and that really caused a problem.

As I have done my hand sewing, I have been mumbling, "Better finished than perfect. Better finished than perfect. Better......"