DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
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I'm STILL playing with -
EASY STREET DETOUR AROUND THE WORLD -
My version of Easy Street - HERE - ;))
And you’re probably getting as bored with it as I am - ;))
I’m trying to get to the “flimsy” stage -
So I took a couple of sections off the hallway design wall -
And transferred them back to my sewing room design wall - ;))
I want to have some extra at the edge -
To be trimmed after it is quilted -
And one section came up a bit short -
So I cut a larger piece -
To substitute -
And you can hardly tell -
But it will give you something to look for -
If you ever see this one in “real” life - ;))
So I got the right side done -
Just need the left side - ;))
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When I was “talking” to LindaJ the other day -
I mentioned that for some reason -
The bigger this thing gets -
The less I want to work on it -
Even though the bigger it gets -
The closer it gets to being DONE -
Wonder why that is - ;))
She said that she thought -
It was because I was getting bored with it -
And the bigger it gets -
The harder it is to sew the sections -
And that I was wrestling -
My own version of a bear - ;))
And she’s right -
Wrestling bears is not nearly as much fun -
As playing with squirrels - ;))
And she DID send me a Box of Squirrels - HERE -
So I need to finish this sucker up -
Because I want to play with THAT!! - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
QUILT JOURNAL - PINK EN POINTE (#1)
Machine Pieced
Machine Quilted
48" x 48"
Started - June 12, 2006
Completed - March 26, 2007
Made for a friend -
To make her laugh when she tells the story of this quilt -
And gets to the "Oh, Crap!!" parts - ;))
Oh well, nobody's perfect - ;))
Pattern - Pink En Pointe -
A Brendalou Scott design -
Featured in "Quiltmaker" - May/June '06 - No. 109
The lady who used to "do my nails” is a quilter and has become a friend. I had shown her how to make a couple of quilts and one day asked her if she would be interested in making a "Mystery" quilt.
I had seen the pattern in the latest issue of "Quiltmaker" and immediately thought of her. I would walk her through it and tell her what colors to get, how much to get, and what to sew and when, but not what the final quilt would look like.
She agreed and said she had a great time doing it.
She told all of her clients that she was making a new quilt and when they asked her what it was going to be she said, "I don't know."
When she went to get her fabric, the lady at the store who tried to help her asked what she was making and she had to say, "I don't know."
I decided to make one at the same time since I would have to re-do the instructions a bit to simplify them and change the sequence to keep the secret. I would do it first and then write notes for her to follow.
She would keep D (the lady whose nails she did before me) and I up to date on her progress and when she was ready, I would show her how to do the next step.
My first choice for the light pink didn't work - it was way too close to the cream - so I had to substitute the light green. I couldn't for the life of me find another pink that would go with the medium pink I had already sewn to the dark green squares for the checkerboard blocks. The light green changed the whole look. I don't particularly like green and I think that a pink would have been prettier.
At the very end, I got my top together to show her and D. When I held it up, it was upside down from the way I had been looking at it on the design wall.
I said, "Oh, Crap!!" as I realized that I had screwed up.
The top left block has the green squares going the wrong way. They should have been the same orientation as the bottom right block.
Oh, well!!
We all had a really good laugh!! The teacher screwed up!!
I had the top together, but still didn't like the light green. I needed to put on the borders and I thought I would never finish it, but decided one day to make it for her to make her laugh. She even liked the green.
I left off the last border and bound it with the medium pink. I pieced the backing using the rest of the medium pink and a leftover strip of the cream floral - it looked good! Then I spray basted all of the layers together.
I decided to use the same quilt pattern I had used on my sister’s quilt (Alex Anderson's soft curved lines). The quilt kept dragging and the stitching was awful! I was about 1/2 way done before I realized what was happening. The basting spray was gumming up the needle!
Oh, Crap!! - Again!!
After I wiped the needle down with an alcohol patch, it would sew cleanly for a bit. I just had to keep the needle clean.
I used my new EQ6 (Electric Quilt) program to make the label. I intentionally messed up the coloring on the outside border to "match" the messed up squares on the front.
After I had printed the label, I realized that the "pre-treated, washable fabric" was actually the "rubbery" stuff they use on t-shirts!
Oh, Crap - Again!!
This whole quilt was a series of "Oh, Crap!!" moments!!
When I found the "right stuff", I redid the label - ;))
QJ - 2007
Once again I have joined a bunch of other stitchers -
In Daffycat’s TUSAL - HERE -
It's a Totally Useless Stitch-A-Long - ;))
To play the game -
I have to fill my glass container -
With saved thread clippings -
Or ORTS - Old Ratty Threads -
Fabric trimmings -
Stitching cast-offs -
And then -
On (or about) the New Moon -
Take a picture of the ORTS in my jar -
Post it to my blog -
With a link back to her TUSAL post - HERE -
Label the Totally Useless posts with “TUSAL” -
And then visit her blog and comment on her ORT report for that month's TUSAL - ;))
It's EASY -
It's TOTALLY USELESS -
And -
It's FUN!! - ;))
This year I decided NOT to empty my jar each time -
Maybe a year-to-date accumulation of ORTs -
Will make it look like actually DID something - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
I'm STILL playing with EASY STREET DETOUR -
My version of Easy Street - HERE - ;))
BUT -
I’m ALMOST there!! - ;))
First - the basic block layout -
Add some side triangle bits -
And some corner bits -
And some more bits -
So far so good - ;))
Extend the corner out a bit more -
Fill in some more -
But that sucker is going to be HUGE!! -
So transfer the left half to the left wall in the hallway -
And the right half to the right wall in the hallway -
Gather the filler pieces -
Fill in the blanks -
Take a look at the top right corner -
And I LIKE IT!! - ;))
Maybe I should rename it -
Easy Street Detour Around The World In 80 Days -
What do you think?? -
I’m open to suggestions -
Let's just not take bets on how long it will take -
For me to get it together into a flimsy - haha - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
QUILT JOURNAL - CHRISTMAS TABLE TOPPER
Machine Pieced
Machine Quilted
35" x 35"
Completed - December 2005
Pattern - Rail Fence -
I Can't Believe I'm Quilting
By Pat Sloan (c) 2004
Made as a quick project for Christmas from a very basic pattern -
Just to use the REALLY PRETTY Christmas fabrics - ;))
QJ - 2005
DESIGN WALL MONDAY -
Check out all of us who link up with Judy L. -
At Patchwork Times on Mondays.
We have some awesome stuff on our walls!
Well, THEY do - ME - not so much sometimes - ;))
===
I'm still plugging away with EASY STREET DETOUR -
My version of Easy Street - HERE - ;))
I finished up the corner sections -
And then played with the side-setting triangles - ;))
I found two more chocolate squares -
That had been CUT somehow -
And had to replace them -
Thank goodness for EXTRAS - ;))
Then when I had finished these -
I took a break -
Shifted gears -
And quilted (in the ditch) an I Spy panel print quilt -
-(c)DreamSpinners (R) for V.I.P., a division of Cranston Print Works Company -
For a friend's Granddaughter -
And added the binding to the back first - ;))
I like to quilt the quilt -
Run a basting line close to the edge on the front -
Add the binding to the back -
Using the basting line as my placement guide -
THEN trim the whole thing -
Even with the binding -
From the back - ;))
When I get to where the binding pieces join -
I just flip them out of the way -
And continue trimming - ;))
Flip it to the front -
And the corners miter nicely - ;))
When I get to where the binding pieces join -
I trim them to fit inside one another -
Unfold them -
Fold them back on themselves -
To "nest" them -
And then fold them over to the front -
And stitch it all down with a decorative stitch -
From the front - ;))
It doesn't look too bad from the back -
And I don't have to worry about not "catching" the back -
Because it's already sewn down - ;))
All done -
Washed and crinkly - ;))
The back is pieced with some novelty prints -
That I had on hand -
Some animals -
Some environmental stuff -
Some skates and mittens -
Some ELVIS - ;))
And some paper dolls - ;))
LOTS of FUN stuff to SPY -
For a sweet little girl -
From her Grandma's friend - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
Sorry for the crappy photos -
But I wanted to share a recent "event" -
And it's difficult to take photos -
Of a fish in a fish tank - ;))
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In the morning -
When I went to feed BRUCE - HERE -
I checked his office -
And I couldn't FIND him!! - ;((
Where's WAS he?? - ;((
If the poor thing had died -
Wouldn't he be floating on top?? - ;((
He wasn't floating -
And he wasn't visible -
So WHERE WAS BRUCE?? - ;((
Then I checked the file cabinet -
And he was IN the file cabinet!! - ;))
I tried to catch a photo -
As he was coming out -
But it is VERY blurry -
Sorry - ;((
But I caught him going back in -
And you can almost see a RED blob -
IN the file cabinet -
And then I caught him coming back out - ;))
WHEW!! - ;))
Who knew that he even FIT -
In the file cabinet??
I wouldn't have thought that he had room to turn himself around -
To come back out -
But now I know his secret hiding place - ;))
Talk to you later - gotta go - gotta sew -
