Thursday, June 12, 2008

A link for small decorative wire hangers for your quilts. Check them out. The catagory trip tic has some cute little folding stands. http://www.ackfeldwire.com%20/
Posted

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Quilted Flowers For My Love
This is one of four quilts in the Lori Smith series Fit To Frame: Set One. Hand appliqued and hand quilted. I'm working on finishing the hand quilting on the red, white and black Bow Tie quilt. I'm on the border so a finish is near!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Have you seen this site?
It's called Quilt Coupons. Check it out!http://www.quiltcoupons.com/index.php?a=22&b=4

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Vintage Valentine
Well, here it is! I'm sorry it is such a lousy picture. There are twelve applique heart blocks around a center medallion. The border around the center and outer edge of the quilt is a multicolor stripe. The borders are mitered. The block that is second from the right has Vintage Valentine JK 2008 embroidered on it. I started this quilt in November of 2006. Of course I worked on other things in the meantime.This was a block of the month from The Cotton Patch in MI. I found a beautiful tan and white fabric for the back that has sweet sayings in cursive. I'm going to have it machine quilted by my friend Tyrena, who does all her quilting on a long arm. I think she has been looking forward to getting this one on the frame. I went to Hobby Lobby this morning to pick up some things to make 4th of July bows for the Tootie Babies. While I was there I took a stroll through the fabric department. Is it just me or are the prices of quilting supplies skyrocketing out of sight? Rulers were over twenty dollars,pins were almost ten dollars a box and all the books I wanted were $24.95! The notions were 30% off but still...I received an email newsletter from one of my favorite shops not to long ago. The editor was just back from market and reported seeing so many new fabrics geared toward the younger quilters. You know, those big prints and bold colors. She even mentioned that her trade magazines suggested that these fabrics were hot sellers and she should stock them! With the prices of quilting supplies today I don't know how young ones can afford to spend their money on this hobby. I guess I'm just going to have to start shopping my own bookshelves for new ideas and my fabric stash for fabric. I do see a lot of blogs where quilters are vowing not to buy new fabric but I don't think it's the cost of fabric that is slowing them down but the amount of fabric they have already purchased. I guess after a while people just come to their senses and think about the investment they have made in fabric already. The cost of machines has me baffled too! Pretty soon we'll be spending more to sew on than our cars are worth! Well, that's what is on my mind today...

Sunday, July 06, 2008

I finished hand quilting the Red and Black Bow Tie quilt yesterday. I like how it turned out! This is a UFO from a few years ago. It's made using the 3-D bow tie blocks. Have you ever made them that way? It's so easy and fun!My friend, Tyrena, recently visited and brought four quilts of mine she had quilted on her longarm. She does such a great job! After I sew the bindings on them I'll take a picture for you. Binding these are next on my list.Of course I have to show you a Tootie Babies picture from the 4th of July. They celebrated by sharing a fudgecicle with Mommy! Those are the bows I made for them the other day. They turned out so cute, didn't they?

Sarah

Emily

A Cute Pincushion Tutorial

From Monkeyroom, a cute pincushion!

http://monkeyroom.blogspot.com/2007/01/tutorial.html

What happened?

I just deleted a year of posts! No idea what I did! Help!

The Golden Rotary Cutter and Something For Free

Alright, I am out of panic mode! I had saved my posts up to July 2008 and I found the last ten or so on the web (something to do with beta...?) It'll take some time to get them all back on here but I'm going to try to fix this! So, here is my last post once again.


Do you think this 60mm rotary cutter is made of precious metal? I know the plastic isn't worth the $45.00 retail price at Joann's! Thank goodness for the 40 percent off coupon. I know I complain about the cost of quilting paraphernalia a lot but I just don't get it. This is one of the new cutters with the simple blade changing feature and partial blade cover. If I wasn't so afraid of that little round shiny thing I wouldn't have spent the money. Fear drove me to it.

These days I don't spend a whole bunch on my hobby, what with fabric running $9.00 a yard, books in the $25.00 range and the sewing machine I want totalling $3,500.00! Of course I have a room full of fabric, more books than I can keep up with and I love my machine. I'd boycott something if I wasn't afraid it wouldn't be there when I want it. I'm cheap, what can I say.

Now, this is free. What is it? It's a bag of scraps from my cutting table. After I cut down my leftover fabric to the last little smidge of 1 1/2" (for my 'future' postage stamp quilt) and nothing usable is left I keep it in this bag until I need stuffing for a pillow or something. Let's see, I save about a dollar by doing this? Oh, well. It makes me feel good.

I promised you a picture of the Tootie Babies at the zoo. Here is a better one...all dressed up in their little vests and shoes ready to go to the zoo! Mommy said they could have gone on a really long walk around the neighborhood and been just as happy. LOL!

I like the expression on this big guy's face!

The Great Pumpkin...a repost.

An oldie but a goodie..."vintage" calico star.

Two more "vintage" prints! I found these at the bottom of the drawer and had to use them.


Ready to applique...

The Great Pumpkin! I'm still in a fall mood working on some small projects. My sewing machine is now home and purring like a kitten. Why does it cost $150.00 to clean and tune a sewing machine? Good grief! In my next life I want to be a sewing repair person.

Yes, this is my pincushion.

And, these are my new pins! I sat next to my friend Polly at the retreat I recently attended and she had these wonderful 1 3/4 inch glass head pins. I found some of my very own at Joann's. The Fons and Porter pins like these are outrageously expensive but I found a cheaper brand just down the isle! Try these...you'll love them!

The Tootie Babies are going to the zoo today! Hopefully I will have some pictures for my next post!

Hand Quilting, A Prize and A Ride!...a repost.

Let's see...I have finished hand quilting A Walk In The Garden, one of Lori Smith's patterns in her Fit To Frame series. I don't have the binding on because my machine is in the shop! It was making a loud squealing sound and I hope it is only a belt. The machine is ten years old and this is the first trouble I've had with it. I'm really anxious to get it back next week because unlike many other quilters, I only have one machine! Don't you feel sorry for me? LOL!

This is the finished Spin City quilt. I started it last month at the retreat I attended. The pattern is from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company and I used two charm packs and some yardage of the Portugal line from Moda. It's hand quilted in a big stitch with variegated thread. I want to wash it so it will "pucker up" like an old quilt. Then in the spring I'll use it as a table topper on my dining room table.

Look at these wonderful gifts I received from Paula over at http://alattequilts.blogspot.com/. I left a comment on her blog during the Fall Into Fall giveaway and I won!

Gevalia coffee! Cookies and bon bons!

Four gorgeous fat quarters in beautiful fall colors. I'm going to use them in the next fall quilt I have planned.

Best of all, this little tree wall hanging! Oh, how cute is that! Thank you so much Paula. I love every single thing!

Last night was Trick or Treat and the Tootie Babies went out for a ride in the neighborhood dressed in their Halloween outfits. A blinking pumpkin shirt, striped leggings, spooky socks and a treat bag from Mimi! They had the best time! Sarah loved seeing all the kids running from door to door and Emily waved and told everyone Hi! Later they sat outside with Mommy and Granddaddy giving out candy. They stayed up late (well after their 7:00 bedtime) and slept in until almost 8:30 this morning. What a life!
This week I got seven quilts from my friend Ty (she has a longarm machine) and does such beautiful work. As I get the bindings on them I'll take pictures and post about each quilt.

I have finished the applique and stitchery on the little quilts from the post below. Gotta wait for my sewing machine to sew them together and into a pillow.

Ok, that's about all for now. Talk to you later in the week!

A New Fall Project...a repost.

This a pattern I bought sometime in the '90s. I found it the other day when I was in a cleaning out mood. Good thing I hardly ever get rid of anything! I didn't really like this pattern very much. Now that I have it started I think it is so cute! I dug through my homespun stash and started putting these together.

This cute pumpkin with a blackbird needs to be appliqued down. I'll place some old buttons in some of the squares on the border. When I quilt this I'll draw some lines on the pumpkin and big stitch it with black thread.

I've already appliqued this pumpkin and stem. The pattern calls for appliqued stars in the border but after I had them sewn down I didn't like them. So, I took them off and might do buttons or wooden stars painted black.

As you can see this one is in the planning stages. It is supposed to be an angel. I think she needs a black cat with an arched back, don't you? Appliqued pumpkins in the border with a few stars. Again, I'm not going to like the stars so I think I am going to embroider a few words instead. Instead of wall hangings and a pillow like the pattern calls for I think I am going to do one long pillow with the angel in the center and the pumpkins on either side. What do you think?

This is my design wall right now! The brown background applique blocks are Birds Of A Feather. I'm almost ready to put the top together and start on the border. That pesky block in the upper left hand corner turned out too small. So, I'm doing it over...

It's a rainy day here in north east Texas. Perfect for stitching and napping! I heard the other day that October is our second wettest month of the year. As usual, we need the rain desperately. A Tootie Babies picture from last month...

The Tootie Babies Turn One!!!...a repost.

All dressed up for their party! Of course, they have a tutu (made by Nana) and a crown to help us celebrate!

What would a birthday bash be without a smash cake? Emily and Sarah had a great time at their first birthday party!

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Vintage Valentine
Well, here it is! I'm sorry it is such a lousy picture. There are twelve applique heart blocks around a center medallion. The border around the center and outer edge of the quilt is a multicolor stripe. The borders are mitered. The block that is second from the right has Vintage Valentine JK 2008 embroidered on it. I started this quilt in November of 2006. Of course I worked on other things in the meantime.This was a block of the month from The Cotton Patch in MI. I found a beautiful tan and white fabric for the back that has sweet sayings in cursive. I'm going to have it machine quilted by my friend Tyrena, who does all her quilting on a long arm. I think she has been looking forward to getting this one on the frame. I went to Hobby Lobby this morning to pick up some things to make 4th of July bows for the Tootie Babies. While I was there I took a stroll through the fabric department. Is it just me or are the prices of quilting supplies skyrocketing out of sight? Rulers were over twenty dollars,pins were almost ten dollars a box and all the books I wanted were $24.95! The notions were 30% off but still...I received an email newsletter from one of my favorite shops not to long ago. The editor was just back from market and reported seeing so many new fabrics geared toward the younger quilters. You know, those big prints and bold colors. She even mentioned that her trade magazines suggested that these fabrics were hot sellers and she should stock them! With the prices of quilting supplies today I don't know how young ones can afford to spend their money on this hobby. I guess I'm just going to have to start shopping my own bookshelves for new ideas and my fabric stash for fabric. I do see a lot of blogs where quilters are vowing not to buy new fabric but I don't think it's the cost of fabric that is slowing them down but the amount of fabric they have already purchased. I guess after a while people just come to their senses and think about the investment they have made in fabric already. The cost of machines has me baffled too! Pretty soon we'll be spending more to sew on than our cars are worth! Well, that's what is on my mind today...

I've done it again

Well, I have lost the cord to hook my camera up to my computer. I have some great finishes to show you. My Home Sweet Home top is completed, Flowers For My Love is quilted as is my Tumbler quilt! I have the top for the Mosaic quilt pieced...just trying to decide on whether it needs a border or not and I am putting the last border on my Vintage Valentine top!So, while I am searching for that cord I'll be working on my blog behind the scenes. Those of you who subscribe to Bloglines and such will probably see some "new" posts but really I am just attaching tags to my older posts. Who knows you all might like a little blast from the past.Of course I can't leave you without a picture of my two tootie babies... one is from Easter and the other is Mother's Day. I love the sitting up picture with their bows and big smiles!