Tap, tap. Is this thing on?

Well, this is my first post in almost a year. Sorry. The quilting itch disappeared, and I haven't done much sewing in over a year. I just didn't want to, so I didn't.

I have been ready to start again, though, and got started a couple of days. I picked an easy pattern to warm up with, and grabbed an unfinished I Spy quilt I had intended it to be a western themed quilt, with the chicken wire and bandana fabric. I never did really find all the western objects to spy, but there are quite a few. Here is a close up of some of the fabrics.

I thought it was way too busy and was calling it ugly, but my grandchildren disagreed. When they would watch me, they were really loving the fabrics, so I decided to just go with the flow. Little kids don't care what I think is ugly. Below is the finished top.
And here is my sewing company. She keeps an eye on both me and what is going on downstairs from here.

If anyone is checking back over here, thanks for sticking it out!!

A new post??

Surely not!

If you are reading this blog, more power to you! I have been AWL, and that's the truth.

I have not sewn a thing in months, but have just recently gotten the bug again. This morning, believe it or not, I finished up everything needed for Joey's quilt to be taken to the long arm shop. Joey, my newest grandson, was born Oct. 1. I had it all ready, except piecing the back to make sure it was big enough. I've had issues with that anyway, and didn't want to take a chance.

I also dug out some stash fabric that will work for another backing if I piece a little something on it to give me a few inches. I'm thinking about a green rectangle in the middle. I was bragging about using stash, and my husband didn't appreciate the big deal. I thought he'd be excited that I wasn't spending money!

It's a little hard for me to buy fabric now anyway. My Hancocks has closed and my Hobby Lobby has reduced their quilting fabric. Lucky for me, at this point, that's not a problem. I honestly have at least 20, probably more, UFOs and planned projects.

I will be out of whack for a little while and won't get much done, but I think I am ready to start once again.

Hope everyone has happy 2008....a little late, but sincere. (Just extending your holiday season!)

It's a Boy!!!!

Joseph Aaron
Oct. 1, 2007
7 lbs 12 oz
19 inches long

Sailboat quilt will need to be finished ASAP!!!!

I'm sewing!!

I know you think I'm just kidding you, but I really am sewing. And, of course, wouldn't you know it? The pattern is full of half-square triangles and I've spent the afternoon doing the tedious squaring up! Ugh. I cut my squares a little larger as I learned from Deb on Quiltaholics, and then cut them down to a perfect 2 1/2 inches.

The pattern is Woven Stars, and I'm making it in rose and sage green for a little girl, Ruby Kathryn, I might get to meet toward the end of the month. Of course, it could be a little boy, Wyatt, and, if so, he has a sailing top all ready for him.

Happy September, everyone!

Gratitudes:

1) I have a plan for my little girl quilt and I am almost ready to 'get 'er done'

2) I got up early this morning, for once!

3) My new red suitcase

4) Exciting travel plans and a husband who is ready to go!

She lives...but doesn't sew!

I can't believe I haven't posted in so long. Things have been busy around here with grandchildren and my husband having some back trouble.

I did get to Mary Jo's when we were in Charlotte, and I tried to make it quick with a husband waiting in the car. We all know how that is. Anyway, I bought a bunch of pastels to do something for a little girl, but haven't figured out what I'm doing. I'm thinking about just doing 8 or 9 inch stars in different pastels with a WOW background. Then border it in some pastel pink star fabric.

There's not much inspiration in me these days. I need to get going cause this baby is coming whether I'm inspired or not. *G* And thank goodness for that.

Hope my readers are doing well, being creative, and manage to come back over here once in a while. I'm not doing much commenting, but I'm reading all my quilt blogs every day!

Plans...

finally! I am planning a trip to Mary Jo's at the end of the week. I think I'm going to finally decide on a pattern for the baby girl quilt and buy some Aunt Grace repos in pastel colors. That's the plan right now anyway. Who knows if it will change!

I have not done any sewing since my last post. Those new meds have really thrown me, but I think I'm getting there. I have slept so much that surely I am rested and ready to begin a new project. Although I haven't done anything myself, I have kept up with you incredibly creative folks who blog. I'll never keep up!

So....

bless your heart if you are one of the few that come by and check on me. My blood pressure medicine was changed, and has had me wanting to sleep and rest all the time. Enough of this already! Hopefully we have it adjusted now and I'll perk up. (Gosh, that sounds like an old person!)

Still no sewing going on here. I haven't started the baby girl quilt yet, and I have been afraid to take the little boy quilt to the machine quilter. I haven't had good luck with them lately, an I don't want this one messed up. I guess I am going to have to learn to machine quilt in self defense. I am afraid to try!

Gratitudes:
1. Lovely children who remembered their momma' on Mother's Day
2. A husband who puts up with a snoozing wife
3. Rain!! Finally!
4. All my blogs I enjoy reading

Not much sewing getting done here. I have no excuses either.

Gratitudes:
1. My Rosie puppy is feeling better. Her back has been sore.
2. My Eva is graduating from college Saturday after doing it the hard way. We are very proud of her.
3. I'll get to see my far away grandson this weekend.
4. It's almost Cinco de Mayo!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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......"

A finish!

I finished hand stitching the binding on my fall quilt last night. Here comes the confession part; I had some fabric for the backing, but I accidentally made this quilt too long (I was on a roll) so I ended up not having enough fabric. I ended up using some of the fabric I bought for the backing for the binding. The machine quilter and I decided to go with muslin for the backing and let the quilting in a dark color be the design. It's quilted in a reddish brown. It's the only one I have done this way.

I have the binding ready for another quilt and will sew it on soon. It's for a scrap sampler I made from Quiltaholics.

Picture on a Saturday morning

I finally got around to taking a picture of the finished sailboat top. And had to post this one to prove to all you cat people that dogs love quilts, too. This is my Rosie.

I am going to get my act together shortly to go into Hancock's. Drove by yesterday to see the big sign that said "STORE CLOSING". Darn.

Monday

Boy, I needed today to rest! We have finally started in earnest to pack our house in town so we can sell it. We worked for 4 days and I'm beat. It was good to have a day to rest and sew. And play with Grace.

I finished the sailboat top today. If my new grandbaby is a boy, he's all set! Guess I will have to wait until September or October to know if it's a boy or girl. I am looking at patterns to start a quilt for a girl. I decided to do two this time. The other quilt I made ended up a little 'girly' for a boy. Not this time! We got fish and boats.

(And why do I have the only kids who don't want to know what sex the baby is??!?! How easy they could make this!)

I found a quilt today with Teddy Bears. I'm thinking. Anyone have a special pattern you use for a baby quilt?

I was a baaaaad quilter!

Wait! I'm not on a no buy program. I'm free to spend money...and I did! *G*

Mary Jo's is just amazing. I really have to focus or I could just wander around for hours.
I bought a cool backing for the sailboat quilt. I got a new brown that isn't a directional print for boats.

And then I bought some pretty Thimbleberry fabric I just liked. It's stash. But surely I got enough for a quilt!

4 yards background, 4 yards dark (I really liked this one), 2 yards of med dark, 2 yards med, and 1 yard of another sorta' light medium. I was thinking maybe I could just find some blocks and do a sampler. Surely I can get a pretty quilt out of it. Or I might do the Quiltaholics mystery quilt next weekend. That's a thought.........

I'm so sorry that I am so bad about updating this blog. It seems as though I am busy all the time and accomplish nothing. I am trying to read some of your quilting blogs, but haven't commented. Bloglines is good on letting you know when people update, but it's a lot of trouble to comment from there.

I have done some sewing. I have finished all the sails for the sailboat quilt and now I'm working on the boats. I have 40 HSTs to sew and square up to finish the boats. (Well, 36 but who's counting?) Then I need to shop for some fabric for the backing. I think I know what I want. Just need to have time to get there and pick it up.

I am so ready for sunshine and warm weather. C'mon spring!