Threads of Mine

Carla's 1600 Quilt

2012-01-29T20:52:00.003-05:00

Carla was a guest at our guild meeting a couple weeks ago and she helped Mona with her quilt. Then she went home and cut some childrens novelty fabrics and made a 1600 Zippy Strippy quilt. She wanted something fast and easy as she is donating this quilt very soon.

I quilted it with Angel Wings panto because the border fabric has butterflies. Hobbs 80/20 batting and Omni Pearl White thread.

Just look at all these cute fabrics. It's going to make some youngster very happy.

Kim's Applique and Pieced Quilt

2012-01-26T14:00:00.003-05:00

Another one for Kim and just like the last one, she wanted a meander on this one also. A lot of work went into piecing this quilt and she did a great job.

I chose PermaCore Mother Goose thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting. This is another one that I would love to make. But I think I would add some borders to it to make it fit my bed.

And the back:

Stashbusting 2012 - #3

2012-01-22T16:50:00.005-05:00

Fabric Added this week - 10 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 10 yards

Fabric Used this week - 0 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 1.5 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: -8.5 yards

I went to Joann's yesterday with Janet and was hoping to spend $50 so I could get a 30% off card for this week. Their clearance fabric was 50% off the clearance price so I picked up some for backings. The football will be for charity quilts and the brown and pink for my pineapple quilt. They also had Kona on sale, so I got 3 yards of it for making the Starry Eyed quilt. I bought some other things and used my 20% off coupon on my phone. My total before tax was $51, so I have the 30% off coupon to use this week.

Common Threads Guild 1600 Quilt Race 2012

2012-01-21T16:41:00.001-05:00

Here's a slide show of our guild 1600 Jelly Roll Race at our January meeting.

Some members started in the Fast Lane by sewing their strips together before the meeting and some started from the beginning after Viki blew the whistle. The Peggy's team finished in just 32 minutes. Boy, what a system they had....one person sewed, one pit crew member took the newly sewn strips, opened them up and then layed them nicely in a stack and then the stack was handed to the other pit crew member and she kept them coming to the sewer.

Tammy started from scratch and still finished her quilt in less than and hour and a half.

They each received a jelly roll, a chocolate bar and a crown.

Perfect Stitch and an Antique Quilt

2012-01-19T22:18:00.004-05:00

No, not the stitch on one of my machines, it's the name of my husband's business. He took sewing machine repair classes last spring and has been servicing machines since June. He's learned a lot and it really amazes me how much he knows about them. He buys lots of machines, services them and then sells them. Santa brought him a sand blaster for Christmas this year and you have go to see what he has done with a very ugly, old machine.

The Antique Quilt
Betty brought me this grandmothers flower garden quilt and wanted it finished. It had been hand quilted and had about an inch of yucky batting sticking out on all sides. I said the only way I would fix it is to add a facing and turn it to the back and stitch it down. She said that would be fine and that's all done and now I will wash it. The difference in color really isn't as noticable as it looks in the photo.

Another one for Carol

2012-01-16T20:38:00.006-05:00

I loaded and quilted this 30 x 34" quilt for Carol B. It's another one of Carol Hopkins patterns, this one is called Lizzie's Tents.

Warm and Natural batting for these last 2 and PermaCore Mother Goose thread.

I quilted one of these for Carla here, so I was pretty sure how I was going to do this one.

And the back:

Carol's Quilt

2012-01-14T19:03:00.004-05:00

This quilt made by Carol is from the Carol Hopkins pattern Abigail's Gowns. Very cute quilt and I was in the mood for a little custom, so today I spent an hour quilting, then an hour working on a jizsaw puzzle, and then an hour on hand stitching the facing on a antique Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt that belongs to Betty Frank. Maybe I have a bit of A-D-D.

The pieced blocks have continuous curves with a loop in the flying geese blocks. On the solid blocks I drew diagonal lines from corner to corner and then quilted 3 loops in each section. It makes a great design and I was able to do a row of the setting triangles, one row of pieced blocks and 1/2 of a solid row with one start and stop. (Unless, of course, I run out of bobbin thread, darn it!)

And the back:

Debbie's Queen's X Quilt

2012-01-11T21:53:00.003-05:00

One of last years retreat lotto blocks was The Queen's X, a quilterscache pattern. Debbie liked these blocks so much that she made a quilt for her granddaughter. I love the pastel colors she chose for making these.

Since some of her background fabrics had daisies in it, we chose daisy swirl panto. Permacore white thread and Hobbs 80/20 batting.

Here's just one block:

And the backing fabric.....very pretty!

Elizabeth's 3rd Birthday Party

2012-01-09T20:48:00.004-05:00

Elizabeth and her cousin Rylan shared a birthday party this year.

He's 5 and she's 3 and they're almost the same height. They were both cute as can be!

I made one cake for both of them, he wanted Smurfs and she wanted Dora. I found similar images of both of them and I think it turned out great. Can you see the dots of icing....orange and pink for her side and orange and blue for his side.

Here's Liz with her Barbie quilt.

Sharon's Doggie Quilt

2012-01-09T20:35:00.003-05:00

Sharon made this cute quilt for the friend of one of her children.
Lucky friends, huh?

She wanted a largish meander and that made it easy for me to load and quilt it yesterday afternoon after the birthday party.

And the back, cute as the front isn't it.

Stashbusting 2012 - Week 1

2012-01-09T19:27:00.002-05:00

Fabric Added this week - 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 0 yards

Fabric Used this week - 1.5 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 1.5 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 1.5 yards

The only fabric I used was for Elizabeth's Barbie quilt sashing and binding. It's a start!

Elizabeth's 3rd Birthday Quilt

2012-01-06T22:46:00.003-05:00

I'm working on the binding tonight on this cute little quilt, but had to take a break to do some computer stuff.

Julie bought the Barbie fabric at Shipshewana from Susie and asked me if I would make a quilt for Liz. There's still a lot of the fabric left, so there will be more than one Barbie quilt.

I bought some fabrics for the block borders and sashing in Shipshewana and got a good start on it there. It got put away shortly after that but since her birthday party is this Sunday, I need to get the binding finished tomorrow.

I chose Button Flower panto and used Permacore Light Strawberry thread. I actually piece the Hobbs 80/20 batting.

And here's a little one for her baby doll:

Airplane Germs

2012-01-06T22:34:00.003-05:00

Yuck!

We were stuck on the plane, on the tarmack, for over an hour on Monday in Detroit, coming home from New York. There was no air circulating and it was very uncomfortable. After the wait for de-icing, we finally took off and then were told there would be no beverage service. By the end of the flight my throat was starting to feel really funny and my worst fears happened.

Tuesday I had a bit of a sore throat and by Wednesday morning I was coughing and sneezing. I spent an evening on the couch bundled up watching tv, and then I slept in the spare bedroom because Dan said I was making lots of noise and he would wake me up to tell me that.

Last night I knew I needed to finish Elizabeth's 3rd birthday quilt, so I did finally got in some sewing.

My throat is still a bit sore, but I feel much better.

2012 UFO List

2012-01-01T20:28:00.006-05:00

I sure didn't get very many finished from my last years list, but I did complete lots of quilts. I'll post a summary later this week. Here's my list for this year:

1. Log Cabin Blocks - 2001 - ready for quilting

2. Lost Socks - 60 blocks - ready for quilting

3. Americana Block Swap - 2007 - ready for quilting

4. RR Snow Globe - 2006 - ready for quilting

5. Square Dance - Halloween - ready for quilting

6. 1930's block swap from longarm list - blocks made

7. Barbie quilt for Elizabeth - 2011 - some blocks made.

8. Guild Row-by Row - Kansas Troubles - rows

9. Homespun Cats - 2006 - ready for quilting

10. 1930's blocks from BOM at Cheryl's - 2010 - blocks made

11. Storyteller - 2009 - ready for quilting.

12. Christmas Lights - 2010 - ready for quilting.

Hip To Be Square

2011-12-31T16:00:00.000-05:00

This is my last quilt of 2011 and my last Scrap Squad quilt and I must admit that makes me a bit sad. It's been wonderful getting to know the other members and Diane Harris via emails. I completed 6 scrap squad quilts this year, have gifted 3 of them.

I spent hours using EQ to draw out some ideas for this one and settled on a dark background Christmas quilt for this one. I used 4 reds, 2 greens, many blacks and kona white. Probably my least scrappy of all of the Scrap Squad quilts.

I made 24 blocks and every other block is turned a quarter turn, which makes a secondary star pattern and 4-patches. In order to have the seams nest when assembling, I pressed the outer block segments towards the black in both blocks.

Not wanting to waste those 96 bonus triangles, I trimmed them down to 2.25" to use in one of the borders. I made an additional 40+ half square triangle blocks.

I used both greens in the inner border and just the mottled on in the outer. The binding uses all 4 red fabrics.

It's quilted with holly and poinsettas using gold Glide thread.

This one will go on the twin bed in the spare bedroom next Christmas so I'm ahead of the game for 2012.

CONGRATULATIONS to the new Scrap Squad members: ENJOY! You'll have a great time!

Retreat Updates

2011-12-27T21:20:00.003-05:00

I finally got some time on my computer tonight to update both retreats.

Our guild retreat "Spring Break in Vegas" has 25 registered and room for about 2o more. Your first payment isn't actually due until January 18th so you have plenty of time, but it would be great if you could get your form to me soon, so we can plan meals and activities.

The October 2012 Shipshewana retreat has 50 paid registrations, so we have room for only 10 more. If you're thinking about joining us, you will want to get your form to me soon. Of course, the room will hold more than 60 quilters, but it sure was nice to have a table for each quilter and not be crowded at all.

If you need a form for Shipshewana, you can print it here.

Private Selections

2011-12-27T11:25:00.007-05:00

Through bzzagent, I received coupons for some free products made by Kroger brand, Private Selections.

Barbeque Chicken Pizza was the first one and it was very greasy....soaked through a paper towel. Once that was taken care of, the taste was really good. It's a thin pizza, so extra crispy. Not really big enough for 3 servings though.

See, not even as big as a Bounty Select-a-Size paper towel.

Next up is the Chicken Trumpets appetizer. These were yummy, but once again, very small portion sizes.

The dessert we picked was mini eclairs, which we took to Christmas Eve at Julie's. I didn't get a picture of them, they were mini all right, but very tasty.

I'm not sure if I would purchase these at their regular prices, although I did get a great deal when I got them as Kroger was running a promotion were you got $3 off your next order for purchasing 3 Private Selections.

Stashbusting 2011 - #52

2011-12-26T15:48:00.003-05:00

Fabric Added this week - 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 105.625 yards

Fabric Used this week - .5 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 217.875 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 111.75 yards

I used a grand total of 1/5 yard this week, just enough to make a bag for my granddaughter Courtney's new tablet. She opened her presents from me on Christmas Eve and didn't get her Tablet until Christmas Day, so I bought a little pocket calendar, notepad and pen set to put in the bag. She loved it as it was and was even more excited when she realized her Tablet would fit inside.

The pattern I adapted for my use was Lindsay's at The Cottage Home. I added a strap to mine and only one button tab.

Guild Christmas Party

2011-12-22T20:30:00.004-05:00

Tuesady evening was spent getting the final touches ready for our guild Christmas party last night.

The party was loads of fun, lots of yummy treats because we all know that quilters are great cooks also. We had a potholder exchange rather than a fabric exchange and what a wonderful idea. There were some great potholders made my members, and even a few made by well known retail stores. Our potholders were exchanged via a left-right story about Mrs. Wright, the quilter.

I collected 19 handmade and 31 purchased placemats at the meeting. Bright and early this morning I delivered them to our local Meals on Wheels office for distribution today with their meals. Hopefully, they will bring smiles to those who receive their meals today.

We played a couple of games....

Name the Christmas carols such as:
The apartment of 2 psychiatrists
(Nutcracker Suite)

Decipher these acronyms:
STABLE
(stash accumulation beyond life expectancy)

WOMBAT
(waste of money, batting and time)

The officers and committee chairpersons received poinsettas complete with a card describing the latest drugs for quilters:

Oxy-cotton - Never fear sewing with a polyester blend again. Take this little doozy and all the fabric you've collected over the years will automatically have the look and feel of 100% cotton.

What a great time we had!
Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos :(

The last quilt before Christmas

2011-12-22T20:23:00.004-05:00

I quilted this one for Cindy on Monday evening and what a pretty quilt it is. It was a row of the month at a local quilt shop. The fabrics are perfect and her piecing is impecable. It was really a joy to quilt.

I used Echo Holly and Poinsetta panto, Omni Safari thread and warm and natural batting.

And this makes 35 quilts since November 19th! Whew!!!

Carla's Baby Quilts

2011-12-19T21:30:00.004-05:00

I finished all 3 of Carla's baby quilts and they are just cute as can be. They were just panels that she added borders to.

The first one, I quilted with angel wings because of the butterflies in the border fabric.

The second one has Button Flower in the center only and the borders have 2 different quilting designs.

The third one has stars and Loops in the center and wavy diamonds in the outer border.

I think they all turned out great and I'm sure her great Nieces and Nephew will love them.

Lois' Sock Monkey Quilt

2011-12-19T21:26:00.002-05:00

Lois made this cute quilt with sock monkey fabrics.

I already had the stars and Loops panto on the table, so that's what I used, along with white Permacore thread and hobbs 80/20 batting.

Stashbusting 2011 Week 51

2011-12-18T09:32:00.000-05:00

Fabric Added this week - 0 yards
Fabric Added Year to Date - 105.625 yards

Fabric Used this week - 0 yards
Fabric Used Year to Date - 217.375 yards

YEAR TO DATE STASH USED: 111.25 yards

Nothing in and nothing out. I finished the secret project this week but you'll have to wait to see it.

A Dreaded Virus

2011-12-17T19:47:00.002-05:00

So, I was reading along, checking out the blogs in google reader, when suddenly IE closed down and XP 2012 windows started opening up warning me. The strange thing is they were warning me of a virus and XP 2012 is actually the virus. Not sure what to do but I'm glad I have my iPhone. I'm unable to open IE and it has disabled my Microsoft Security and Spybot, too. Any suggestions?

Virginia's Racing Quilt

2011-12-17T17:00:00.005-05:00

This is the seventh quilt I've quilted for Virginia this fall. She's been very busy making quilts and sewing PJ's for Christmas.

I was planning to quilt something different in the flame blocks and do the borders separately, but when I saw the Mini Ebb panto on Jill's blog, I knew I was going to use Ebb and Flow for this one.

It's supposed to be water, but I think it sure resembles the flames and pulls the whole quilt together.