MY WACKY WORLD OF QUILTING

So much going on, so much has happened

2014-09-28T20:45:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it has been months since I last posted! How did the time go so fast, and what have I been up to? I moved to a smaller place, so no real sewing area ( unless you count half of my bedroom), working 40+ hours a week at a job almost an hour away, and college classes mean hardly any sewing time. My machines are so lonely. But, hoping to be back in the sewing saddle soon, and more pics! Wish me luck.
Happy quilting everybody!
Marianne

warning, long long post- and pics!

2014-04-14T21:56:00.000-04:00

I have been so long from the blogging world (as in no posts of my own, but still reading others). Got a new full time job (for now) doing temp work here there and everywhere in a local hospital group. Hoping it leads to a full time (with benefits!) job in one place. Love it, but not used to less time for sewing. For a while, I was working also on the weekends, so some weeks it was working everyday. I think I did 3 weeks straight. Add in school, something had to give and the weekend job went away. Kind of sad, I worked there for 11 years, but it was time. Much happier, and studying more. We are also getting ready to move into a rental house in the next month or 2, and having to pack up 15 years worth of stuff is driving me crazy! But, I have been sewing and quilting:

bought this as a curtain at the local Goodwill clearance center. Works perfect for a backing!

used a panel for a soft baby book for blocks. I love this quilt. Made for a former co-workers baby boy.

Here is another one I made for another former coworkers baby girl:


I used some practice blocks in the backing. She loves it.

My honey and I went to a quilt show in March:


My honey checking out one of the quilts in the show.

We also went on a trip to Old St. Augustine Fl.

The B&B we stayed at, The Carriage Way. Beautiful and the food was so good.


I loved the bathroom, look at the shower!


The bed was so tall, I had to literally jump into it!

We walked around town for hours, and saw the sights:

Flagler college

St Augustine Lighthouse

He talked me into climbing to the top!

And another machine to add to the collection:

A Singer 99, the big sister to the Featherweight. Yep, I have added more to the collection. I now also have a Featherweight, but no pictures. It is now complete ( I hope). Is there a 12 step program for fabricaholics and sewing machinaholics? I think I just made up a new word!
Hope everyone has a great day,
Happy quilting
Marianne

Celtic Solstice top done!

2014-01-30T10:05:00.000-05:00

So excited! I got my Celtic Solstice quilt top done!

It went from these pieces.

To this


The whole top.

I know there is a mistake right in the middle, but I think done is better than perfect. I will be quilting it with an allover design, and my daughter has already laid claim to it! Which is shocking, because she has never laid claim to any of them! Maybe I'm rubbing off on her, and there is a future quilter there somewhere?
Have a great day! I am off to quilt a baby quilt (after I finish cleaning my frame and machine- ick! )
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Christmas time!

2013-12-27T07:58:00.001-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and looking forward to a wonderful 2014. I feel very optimistic about the future.

Since oldest son was going to the other Florida coast to have Christmas with his fiancée's family, we opened our gifts a day early:

She’s my little practice granddaughter. I adore her, she’s my son’s fiancée's niece. She loves baby dolls, and I have some doll clothes I’m working on to go with the doll.

The hat dances and sings, and my ,dog wanted it so bad! He wouldn’t leave my mom alone.

All in all, Christmas was great.

I have also been doing some sewing, this is my progress on Celtic Solstice, Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt. There are 4 steps out so far, I am almost caught up with step 2.

And a bit of buying of fabric. I blew my fabric diet today, but I got great deals, so it’s a win-win, I think. Although, having a cart full of bolts of fabric, and standing in line for an hour is something else. Glad everyone was in a great mood, and as one person was getting fabric cut, another was asking for the rest of that bolt! It was something else.

I hope everyone has a great New Year’s.

Happy quilting,

Marianne

Found quilts

2013-12-04T15:56:00.002-05:00

Does anybody else start cleaning and find quilts that they forgot they had made? Please tell me I am not the only one. LOL. I got the cleaning bug today to clean the kitchen/dining room where we have a large cabinet that houses a lot of quilts and sheets. I also rearranged the dining room. This was fueled by lots of energy and lots of caffeine. I got rid 2 large bags of blankets and sheets we no longer use (my daughter hasn't used power puff girl sheets in years!)

I found a bunch of quilts I made when I first got the quilting bug:

This was my very first quilt. I made it after watching Kaye Woods on PBS. I was hooked from that point on.

I love looking at all the fabrics I used, mainly calicos, etc. This was in the mid 90's. Oh I have come a long way, now I know about batiks, etc.
These quilts are all going into vacuum seal bags and into storage for a few months.
But what do I do about all of these?

These are my more current quilts, in the sewing room closet. Oh well, the sewing room is another day. Right now, have to finish a bunch of Christmas presents. Anyone else doing a homemade Christmas?

Happy Thanksgiving!

2013-11-28T12:39:00.002-05:00

Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving! I promise to be back with more posts after finals!

He's back!

2013-10-23T22:00:00.000-04:00

"He" being my Bailey longarm that I affectionately call Beetle after the cartoon character. I was having so many issues with tension, jamming up, etc, that I gave up and took him into my local sewing machine repair guy who I have taken all my machines to for several years. He got it cleaned up, oiled, and adjusted the tension etc. I put Beetle back on my frame (after I cleaned it well), and started practicing, and this is how it turned out:

So smooth, and quiet, I am so going to enjoy quilting now without all the issues. I already have a quilt top picked out:

No clue what kind of design to do, but I will figure it out, that's for sure.
Besides all of that today, I also made several loaves of zucchini bread some chocolate zucchini and some apple zucchini. It is so good. The weather is finally cooling off (for Florida), and I get my baking groove on.
Hope everyone has a great day,
Happy quilting,
Marianne

another one bites the dust!

2013-10-11T13:14:00.000-04:00

Another quilt top gone from the pile! I take breaks from classwork, and have been steadily quilting this monster (it's large for my frame), over the last few days. Today, I finally got it done, and off the frame:


I always start out with lots of wound bobbins, solves a lot of problems down the road, believe me.

This quilt will go into the waiting-to-be-bound pile.

I have also picked out the next quilt to go on the frame.

It's a Bonnie Hunter pattern and used a lot of scraps, as you can tell. I am thinking of a specific design for it, not just stippling. I did that on the last 2 quilts, getting kind of boring, in a way.

Well, hope everyone has a great day, I am off to work!

Happy quilting, Marianne

LE update

2013-10-04T22:16:00.000-04:00

I have finally started part 1 of The Love Entwined quilt. So far so good.

I love the colors, the round circles are temporarily basted down until I can hand applique them. I made them larger, I tried, I really did but the original circles were half the size, and there was no way! Yikes. As it is, I will be using my handy dandy magnifying glass to applique these down.
Here is the back view:

I forgot how much I love hand piecing. It's so relaxing, and forgiving. This whole quilt is basically appliqued, with some piecing, I will be doing this all by hand. I think this will be another 2 year project!
I also found my other camera with the pictures of the latest quilt I finished. I did this one for a coworker at work, she had a little girl in June, so I was a little bit late.

I love how it turned out, and hopefully, I can get back to my machine and get some of them done. (I say that a lot).

And, a cute picture of the Hiro dog. Isn't he the cutest? I caught him napping on the couch. His eyes always come out blue in pictures, don't know why. Oh well. A mystery.

Hope everyone has a great day.
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Bad, bad blogger

2013-09-29T12:54:00.000-04:00

I have been such a bad blogger. No posts since August?! Yikes! But, I have been busy with other things:


Algebra that I have never done in my life! When my daughter saw it, she says "oh yeah, we did that last year", she is a sophomore in HS the year!


I love this class! It's so interesting to read about the history of different religions, and a lot of them are more alike than I realized.

Almost done with my administrative course, I am in the last chapter, and then the final! I will get my certificate of completion, and be eligible to sit for a national certification. Yippee!


Then, I am onto the medical coding and billing course, to be done by December, and can get my national certification for that too. I couldn't believe all the books that came with just these 2 courses!

My math course and World Religions courses are towards my AA degree, and the other courses are non college credit training, to get me into the work force. Eventually, I would like to have a Bachelor's in Health Care Administration. That is, if the math courses don't get to me first (LOL).

But, I have also been doing some sewing too, never fear.
I got all these blocks done:


122 blocks, they need to be trimmed up, then alternate white, red, white red. My only problem was, when I started gathering red fabrics, I started going through totes of scraps. Which, led to this, among other things:


Ice cream buckets from work (clean of course), full of smallish scraps. I sorted, ironed and got rid of fabric! In addition to these buckets, 3 totes were condensed down to 1 1/2. I organized them by size or type (30's prints, etc), and put them into gallon size baggies in the totes.

So then, because of all these wonderful scraps right beside me, I just had to do paper-pieced quilt.

I just sewed strips onto old phone book pages, then trimmed them down.


Added a 1 1/2 inch border strip.

Put rows together.


And then the rows will be sewn together. I am toying with the idea of offsetting the sashings, give it a different look.

I have also decided to make the Love Entwined quilt by hand for my daughter. See, all 3 of my sons have quilts I made completely by hand. Each took 2 years from start to finish. But, having carpal tunnel, I stopped doing handwork. Well, this quilt is phenomenal, and deserves to be done by hand. So, I figure a bit each day while I watch tv in the evening, etc, I can get it done eventually..
Here are the fabrics I chose:

The first set of instructions.


Here are the fabrics. I chose jewel tones, and the bolt of black is for the background.

So, that's what I've been up to. Didn't seem like a lot until I compiled this list with pictures. Oh, and I finished quilting a baby quilt, but I can't find the camera that has the pictures on it. Lost (misplaced) my good camera, so started using the old camera, found the good camera, can't find the other one. Isn't that how it always works?
Hope everyone has a great day,
Happy Quilting,
Marianne

August already?

2013-08-09T13:15:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last blogged! Yikes! I haven't been doing a whole lot of anything other than sitting at the computer doing homework for my online program, and finding stuff to do that consists sitting in front of the air conditioner. Yep, July and August in Florida is miserable, just miserable. Standing in front of my machine quilting? Not likely, when the cool air only goes out about 2 feet from the window unit. Nope, I will catch up with quilting when its cooler, like November, maybe. :). I have been doing some sewing though, and sorting through fabric:


This is just what I have pressed and stacked so far, I still have to go through all this:

Why is it when you start pulling fabric bits out of a tote, they explode, and become a lot more than you think? And, why, oh why, did I think I would ever use a strip 3/4 inch wide?
That is just one tote to go through, there are also these:

And these:

Including the 3 in the sewing room, I have 20 totes of scraps. Almost 20 years worth! My goal this year is to use as much of my stash as I can, I even joined a group on Yahoo called Stashbusters. I have vowed to buy only fabric that is needed, like for a backing, etc. But, I think I have that covered, because I took down the shelves full of yardages, and put them in see through totes:

All of this is in preparation for moving. We have our house up for short sale, and planning a move out to Montana next summer, so either way, my fabric is ready! I just can't wait to get settled and be able to have stuff somewhat organized again, this is driving me crazy!
Well, almost time to get ready for work. When I get home, hopefully I will have the time and energy to sort through some more scraps. I will also try to find my other camera, which has the pictures of my most recent quilt top I just completed, it's a Bonnie Hunter pattern from her leaders and enders book, Mad City Mama is the pattern. I love it!
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Finally a new post.

2013-07-03T12:59:00.000-04:00

I finally found the time to put up a new post, we were on vacation for almost 3 weeks. Yep, we drove from Florida to Montana with my two youngest teenagers. Oldest son stayed home for work, and he and his fiancee took care of the house and our dog. My other son lives in Alabama, we stopped to see him on the way. I don't remember the last time I went on vacation without a dog or dogs. It was nice to not have to stop a lot to walk a dog around. We stopped to enjoy the scenery

I love visiting my family in Billings, Mt. It's my mom's hometown, and where I am moving next summer. There are jobs in my field, and the cost of living is less. I could get used to the views too.

This is the view of the rims from the end of my aunt's house. It's even prettier in the winter.

My aunt's house. She is enlarging the dining/kitchen area, hence the bare spot in the lawn.

another view of the rims.

her gorgeous lawn. the best thing- no fire ants!

my daughter and my Aunt Joyce

Mom, Joyce, my daughter, aunt Susan, and uncle Lee.

my daughter and son


my daughter and my Aunt.

From Billings, we headed northwest , through some beautiful country

To see this little guy:


My new little nephew!

He is 7 months old now, and absolutely adorable, and has mom and dad wrapped around his finger. Grandma too!

I actually got a picture everybody together:

We had a great time, can't wait until next year, when we move back up there!
Oh, and just so this post isn't all about vacation pictures, here is a picture of a quilt my aunt made for her step daughter's new baby:

Isn't it cute? It's a panel, but she added embroidery, etc. It's so soft, perfect for those cold Montana winters!
Hope everybody has a great day!
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Bloglovin

2013-06-30T22:51:00.003-04:00

Better late than never. I have placed a button towards the top left corner of my blog if anyone would like to follow my blog with bloglovin. Boy, July 1st came fast, didn't it?
Happy quilting,
Marianne

On vacation.

2013-06-09T22:26:00.000-04:00

When this post goes up, I will be on vacation. Time to visit my brand new nephew, my brother and sister in law, aunts, cousins, etc. But I wanted to post a couple of completed pics before I left.

completed baby quilt. This is for a coworker who had a baby girl in January (did I mention I am very behind?)

close up of quilting.

backing fabric.

quilt on frame

top row quilted.

corner detail.

I am quite proud, I finally got a quilt done in 2013! I feel behind, very behind. But, I think I got the issues fixed with Beetle (Bailey), my quilting machine. I named him Beetle Bailey after the cartoon character, because when he works right, he works great, but when he doesn't look out! LOL.
I got one quilt done, 22 more tops to go. Going to be a long summer.
I have also been working on some more toddler dresses. Here are some pics of those.

All that needs to be done on all of them is to attach the buttons. That will get done when I get home.
My next post will probably be a long one, with lots of baby pics. Yep, one of those doting aunts, I am (hey my kids are all pretty much grown, I gotta get the baby time in when I can :)).
Hope everyone has a great day,
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Summertime!

2013-05-21T13:32:00.000-04:00

So, tomorrow is the kids' last day of school, no more getting up early, yay! My classes ended a week ago, and I passed everything, including math, double yay!!! So, it being my summer vacation ( I do still have work, but now I have time for sewing and quilting, time I was spending studying), I have been getting myself into the groove. First up, I finally got the timing set on my Bailey. I have been having issues with it- my own fault- and was getting ready to take it in to my repair guy, when I decided to try it again. I finally realized the foot needed to be adjusted, the needle shaft was correct, and doing what it needed to do. So, a little tweaking, and it works!

Bette Bailey all ready for action!

Finally got my stitches to look great on the top and the bottom! I only have all of these waiting:

22 quilt tops hanging and waiting for their turn. I also just finished piecing this yesterday:

So, that makes 23 tops. I think I need to get busy.
I hope everybody has a great day. I have been watching the news about Oklahoma, and my prayers go out to those affected.
Marianne

Where has the time gone?

2013-04-25T21:24:00.000-04:00

Seriously, it's been over a month since I last posted! I keep wondering how time flew by this fast?! Yikes. I have been very busy, with family, school (one more test- the final exam), and work, that even though I have been doing some sewing, I just haven't had time to blog about it. But, I actually have a couple of days to play hookey, and did a lot of sewing today. I finished these:

Flying Geese, ala Bonnie Hunter's method. All of these flying geese units measure 2-1/2 inches by 4-1/2 inches, and are paper pieced.
They started from here:

To here:

And finally, to here, a finished flying geese block!

You can tell, I really, really like to use scraps. I could not buy any more fabric, ever , (not gonna happen!) and still have plenty of fabric to last me for the rest of my life. My son's fiance (yep, he got engaged this last month) jokes and says I have plenty, and don't need anymore. But, I have her hooked, before she met me she didn't really sew at all, now she has her own stash! Passing it on for sure. Ha, ha, ha.

Other than that, not a lot going on. I found these blocks when I was cleaning up the sewing room:

I have no idea what I am going to do with these blocks. They are all machine appliqued and I am at a loss at how to put them together, but I am sure I will come up with something. I am pondering a pale pink sashing maybe, with a light yellow setting block. Oh, now I have some ideas. :)
Housing news: someone has made an offer on our house, but it's a short sale, so the bank has to accept, etc. So, no clue how long we will be here. Banks work on their own timetable.
So, in a nutshell, that's what has been going on here. Tomorrow, I have the entire day ( I have no work, or school) so I am going to attempt to finish the baby quilt I have on the frame. Wish me luck, I have had more issues with tension than ever before. Once that quilt is done, there are more than 20 waiting their turn. Guess what I'll be doing all summer (if not moving)?
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Lost the quilting mojo, but now it's back!

2013-03-16T10:35:00.000-04:00

The last month, I just have not felt like doing any sewing or quilting. Anybody else feel like that sometimes? But, as of last week, it came back with a vengeance! Three coworkers are pregnant ( something in the water, for sure) and one just had a baby in December, so I am getting busy with baby quilts:

This one is for a baby girl, born in December. I did a raw edge applique for the edges of the hearts, and lots of scraps.

Close up of the hearts. I took pictures as I was making the top, so I will hopefully put a tutorial up later this weekend.

This was a very simple top to put together, which I really needed at the time. I am so looking forward to quilting this, I see lots of unique design areas.

I found a stack of these in a bin, and decided to go ahead and get them ready to applique.

I like to use the glue stick method to do my edges on applique.

Some of the points turned out better than I thought they would. Most of these stars were made by hand. I got them in some fabric bins someone gave me when their mother passed away a few years ago.

Finished and pressed.

My finished Chicago Pavement quilt top.

Close up of the blocks and border. I used fabrics that resemble 1800's fabric.

Well, that's what I have been up to lately. Next week, I am hoping to get at least one quilt on the frame and quilted. I haven't finished one quilt so far this year-yikes! Time to get busy.
I hope everyone has a great day quilting. I will be joining the TheQuiltShow.com, they are running a special due to it being National Quilting Day, so I am biting the bullet and doing it.
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Another show- lots of pictures!

2013-02-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

So, this past weekend was the other local quilt show, in Titusville. I couldn't believe how busy it was only a few minutes after they opened! Apparently, people were lined up when they opened. Wow.
So, I have a few pictures to share:

This embroidered quilt was done way hand.

Tiny pieces of fabric make up these drunkard's path blocks. See, another reason to save every little scrap!

These roses were drawn by hand, and then pieced. Wow!

Umbrella ladies done by embroidery machine, just beautiful.

Hopefully, my next post will have pictures of some of what I have been trying to work on. School is getting to me, and I have been back this semester only a month and a half. Oh well, it will be worth it. Went and bought more fabric the other day (great sale), and my mom asked how much fabric am I going be buying once I am done with school, and working, hopefully making more money than I am now? I had to laugh. I told her probably a lot more! LOL
Hope everyone has a great day!
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Quilt show 2013

2013-02-01T12:43:00.000-05:00

Just got back from the quilt show at the Orlando, Fl fairgrounds. It is going on today and tomorrow. So, be forewarned, there are lots of pictures, with some comments. I did get to try out a Handiquilter and a Gammill. So, there will be a new machine in my future, just not yet. Have to finish school and get moved first. Maybe in a couple of years.
Onto pictures.

Beautiful embroidery

One of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilts.

Gorgeous embroidery and quilting.

This quilt had a story- it was made for a mother whose son had died- it was made from his shirts.

I feel like this most days. LOL

Phenomenal work- too big to get a full picture!

This was the quiltmaker's first try at paper piecing. Wow!

My motto- every scrap counts!

I had a great time, and can't wait for the next quilt show in our area- Titusville Fla, the Brevard Community College campus the weekend of the 16th. Weekend after next. I usually see people from the guild, and just have a great time.
Hope everyone has a great day
Happy Quilting,
Marianne

Too long between posts

2013-01-26T22:03:00.000-05:00

I honestly didn't realize how long it had been between posts- almost a month! How time flies. I have been sewing a lot, and lots of homework. But also, people have been dropping like flies around me with the flu and now the norovirus. I have bottles of hand sanitizer at home and at work, and my hands are dry from washing so much. Argh! Hopefully everyone will be better soon.

So, I have done a few things like:

Made the cover for my dress form dummy so I can make clothes to fit me properly. By the time I got done adjusting, padding, etc, I realized I am larger than I think I am. Time to exercise.

I have now made 45 of the Chicago Pavement blocks. Enough to make 2 different twin size quilts.
I am going to make both on point, but one with alternate solid blocks, and the other will be all chicago pavement blocks. Can't wait to get them done.

Can you see how dirty this ruler is? I got some of the basting spray on it- does anyone know how to clean it off? I tried soap and water, and no go. It's no longer sticky at least , because it's picked up lint, etc.
I think I may try rubbing alcohol tomorrow and see if that works. I don't want to scrub, that would wear the markings off. It's one of my favorite rulers, so I'll do what I can.

Cute little monkey block for my nephew's quilt. This child will have so many quilts before too long. Good thing they live in northern Montana, they can really use them.

This is my Easy Street top with the first border I decided on. The top picture show the right and the wrong side of the fabric. I decided to use the wrong side, I just liked it a bit better. If you look at the piece on the right, there are gold dots all over the right side, it just didn't work. The wrong side has a mottled look, and works so much better. I am so hoping to get this top done, and in the pile of quilt tops to be quilted. The pile that seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

If all of that on my plate wasn't enough, I also have started going through some of my scraps, and cutting them down into usable pieces, then putting them into bins and buckets. The smallest size I am cutting down to is 1-1/2 inches. I have only started, and have a lot more to go. 18 totes and 19 years worth to be precise. I figure by the time I move in just over a year, I may have them done. :)We'll see, I am trying to do at least 15-20 minutes a day.

This doesn't help though, does it? I went to our local Hancock fabrics sale last weekend, and picked up a few things. Sigh- the fabric diet got blown. Big time. But see the yellow in the bottom? The really pretty one? Originally $8.99 a yard- got all 10 3/4 yards for .64 cents a yard! Yep, I told the sales clerk to just keep unrolling to the end, I would take all. I figure this fabric will be showing up in a lot of quilts and doll clothes, toddler dresses, etc, for years to come. I really like it, it's a pretty print. Oh, and some Christmas prints too, to add to the pile from previous years. I will get a Christmas quilt done one day- it only took 8 years to finally do a Halloween one, at least the holidays come around every year, I have time! That's my story and I am sticking to it.
I hope everyone has a great weekend, I will be spending it away from the sick people sewing away. They usually leave me alone if I am sewing, they seem to have an aversion to it. Oh, if only one of my kids would show an interest- but then I would have to share my fabric-never mind then. LOL.
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Chicago Pavement

2013-01-09T15:11:00.000-05:00

So, this morning, I was perusing some of my older quilting magazines, and came across this one:

This is Country Quilts, Fall 1993. I fell in love with the cover quilt, called Chicago Pavement. I just had to make it, today! ( We all know that feeling, don't we?) So, I started cutting some fabrics:

I needed 9 two and a half inch squares of tone on tone white (or whatever lighter color I wanted- I just really like tone on tone white fabric, and have lots of it), and 4 two and a half inch colored squares. I then cut triangles ala Bonnie Hunter, who showed how to use the easy angle ruler and really made things easier for me:
I cut two and half inch strips of the colored fabric, and then cut it, using the 2 1/2 inch line:

After I had everything cut, I went ahead and laid it out:

Here is the first one I did:

The original blocks came out to 12 inches finished size, mine finish out to 6 inches unfinished. I wanted them to be smaller, I really want to use a lot of different fabrics. I'm going to try to do a couple of blocks a day, at least, but we'll see how things go. The new sewing room is clear down the hall, the fabric and quilting machine are back the other way, so I am definitely getting my exercise going from one to the other :). I do need it though, the holidays added up in more ways then one, that's for sure!
On the Easy Street front, the top is done and awaiting borders.

I love it. It's so much bigger than I thought it would be! I found a purple and turquoise fabric in my stash that seems to work, so I'll hopefully get that done today. Depends on how much time I have after the kids get home.
I hope everyone has a great day,
Happy Quilting,
Marianne

New sewing room and Easy Street Progress

2013-01-05T00:37:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and a very Happy New Year. I feel that 2013 will be a great year. The end of 2012 brought an early valentine's gift:

This is my new little nephew, James, he was due Valentine's day, but decided he wanted to ring in the New Year in person. He's doing great, just has to get to 5 lbs, then he can go home. Eat up, little man! The new parents are doing great, and just love him to pieces. There are now 5 grandchildren between the two of us, and almost 15 years between the 2 youngest. And, much to my daughter's disappointment, she is still the only granddaughter. I haven't even had a chance to make him a baby quilt, I was supposed to still have 7 more weeks :). I will be getting it in gear this week. I promise.

My youngest kids have been at their dad's for the holidays, combined with my oldest son moving into this own place. So... his old room became my sewing room!

I love having a room just for the sewing machines, dress form, and all my patterns:


Pattern holder

Isn't it the coolest? I got it from the local library, they were going to toss it out, but it holds patterns wonderfully. I thought I had so many patterns, but they only fill up about 1/3 of it, the bottom and back are empty! More space to fill.

I now have my quilting system in the middle of the room, where I can get around it. I might even try doing pantographs now. Learn something new, right?
Finally, here the progress on my Easy Street Mystery quilt.

The side and corner pieces are done.

This stack has only half of Block A. I still have 8 more to go, and then block B, and putting it all together. It's not difficult, just so time-consuming. I really want to get the top together this weekend, but I have to be on the road tomorrow for about 8 hours ( time for vacation to end- kids are coming home), so maybe by Monday night. I can only hope, right? I am loving the colors though, and I haven't figured out yet what kind of quilting design to do on it. I think I have to wait and let the completed top "speak" to me.

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend,
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Easy Street part 5

2012-12-26T15:58:00.000-05:00

Despite it being the weekend before Christmas, and working, I managed to get a few things done. Most of Easy Street part 5 got done:

This is just a smattering, I love these colors together, Does anybody know how many clues are coming? I am chomping at the bit wanting to know how this turns out. I am also one of those sad people who have to read the end of the book before I start reading it!

I was also asked to please, please, please make a toddler sized Florida Gators quilt by Christmas eve. This was last Thursday. Yep, I was busy. Got the top done, put it on the frame, where everything went crazy. I kept dropping bobbins everywhere, the thread kept breaking, and making birds nests on the back. Finally got it done around 1 am Sunday night. When I went to put the binding on it, my thread kept coming out of the machine, etc. This was one quilt that did not want to cooperate! I didn't get a chance to take a picture, my camera was dead, but here is the aftermath:

I learned two things: orange and blue are not my favorite colors, and that Walmart carries Gator fabrics when you frantically run in at 11 pm the night before Christmas eve, because you don't have enough for the backing. But, it got done, and she is happy with it.

On another note, my oldest son moved out, so his room is being turned into just-the-sewing room.

There is still the fish tank and the turtle tank. He keeps saying they'll be by to get them, but they haven't yet. The poor suckers are lucky I remember to feed them, in this house if you don't remind me by asking " when's dinner?" or bark and beg for food, I will forget. Don't ask about the beta fish my daughter used to have. If they don't come to get them soon, I may put a posting on facebook that reads " Free to good home- one abandoned turtle and a fish family, very loving even if I get a disgruntled look on my face if not fed on time" ( just kidding- maybe) .
Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and bring on 2013!
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Merry Christmas

2012-12-25T06:48:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas everyone.
Marianne

easy street, part 4

2012-12-17T03:41:00.000-05:00

I have been slowly working on easy street , part 4, Bonnie Hunter's latest mystery quilt.

untrimmed flying geese

stack of purple and white geese, with stack of purple and turquoise geese.


geese sewn together.

I really can't wait to see what this comes out to be. Bonnie has also created a pattern for a scrappy flying geese quilt, called geese on a string, based on an antique quilt she found. I love anything with little scrap pieces of fabric! This is one I will be making in the near future. This week will be finding me celebrating Christmas on Tuesday ( my kids are going to their Dad's in Alabama for the holidays), work and cleaning my house, something it is really needing. I will also be moving sewing machines and tables into what was my son's bedroom, and getting some sewing done, instead of laundry and dishes. Yeah, 16 days of freedom, just me, my mom and the dog! I'll miss my kids, but they'll be back before I know it.
Hope everyone has a great week,
Happy quilting,
Marianne