Design Wall

Finally, finally finsished!!! Yippee, Yappee, Yahoooeee!!!! This has been languishing in my UFO box for almost 2 years. DH COULD. NOT. start the new football season with a golf quilt on the back of his chair now could he?? Now he has a Cleveland Cavs quilt and a Cleveland Browns and a generic golf quilt ready to adorn the back of his chair during the appropriate season! Perhaps this will help the final score for our Ohio teams????

This will have to qualify as my design wall as I finished it last night and my wall is now empty!!!

What's that strip at the top of the quilt you ask? Why it's the only piece of paw print fabric I own....hence, it's the dog pound....or if you are a Browns fan and get the reference, it's the dawg pound!!!! It cracks me up!!! (in case you are not a football fan, the dog pound is the area under the end zone at the stadium.)





Some poor color shots but you can kinda see the quilting. I used a panto called popcorn and I love it!





Click on over to Judy's blog and see what the rest of the quilters are working on this week!

UFO Challenge-a finish

Done. Done. Done.I'm officially caught up and this finish counted for June!!!! Yippee!!!
This is a recycled photo from when it wasn't finished however it IS done now!!!

Design Wall

I've really been working on ...well, everything! I have this locker hooking rug that is over a year old. I began this rug as a demo for our quilting group. I originally started the pattern with one thing in mind, and then decided that I didn't like it. I changed my idea to just blocks of color. I don't particularly care for the finished product but it will be just fine in my classroom at school. I can't wait to see if it's durable.

.

I made it totally out of T-shirts, It is a great recycle project! The bits of color among each block are the logos, pictures and wording on the T-shirts.




I am allllmost done. The problem is that I am unable to work on it for more then a few minutes at a time.



I have some serious shoulder issues that really, really flare when I work on this rug. I am determined to finish it so I do it in small bits. I find it very upsetting that I cannot locker hook any longer. Luckily I have this and this and this to enjoy. Unfortunately, I also have tons of supplies to do more rugs!!

It's so much fun to pop over to Judy's blog and see what all the bloggers are working on this week!!

Stash report/Catching up

******YEAH!!!! I'M BACK ON!!! COULDN'T LOG IN! ACTUALLY FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS AND CLEARED COOKIES AND VIOLA!! HERE I AM AGAIN!! WHOOHOO!!!!

So funny, I haven't blogged in two months, the urge hits me, blogger is down and it drove me nuts! I guess I'm really NOT ready to quit blogging!!!

Lots to catch up on…
In the department of stash busting….

INCOMING- I bought 5 yards of oriental prints to make an anniversary quilt for my daughter Serena and her husband Chris. I had NOTHING in my stash that would even remotely qualify for oriental. Since it’s their quilt, I figured I’d use fabric they would like!

*****EDIT SINCE THIS MORNING******Went to a friends "getting rid of my fabric" sale. Bought 5 lbs at $3/lb.....equals 20 yards!! I'll take pics of it later and show.....I'll take the "hit" as I got a bunch of wool felt, a few nearly finished projects, and all blenders,neutrals, and tone on tones, mostly pieces but a few bits same as or bigger than fat quarters...things I need!


OUTGOING-I finally finished my April UFO! I used 10 yards of fabric on this! Aviva has a whole room devoted to the Simpsons and I knew she would love this.



Individual blocks.





Doesn't this fabric just scream the Simpsons!



Plus I finished this little cutie! It’s a doorstopper. It didn’t use much fabric but something is something. I used a pattern from Thimbleberries but the door stopper was my idea. It didn’t quite work as planned and it ended up like a big pillow but I still love it!



Used this period: 11
Used year to Date: 59
Added this Week: 25
Added Year to Date: 101.5
Ahead or behind 2011: 42.5 purchased...therefore behind

UFO Challenge

Ok. Ok! I'm in!!!! I'll join Judy's UFO challenge! Who is nagging me you ask? Only the most naggiest, pesteriest of all....my conscience! I have accumulated a few UFO's and I don't like it!

I took this paragraph from the UFO Challenge Directions to heart..."As far as definitions, use your own judgment. Whatever works for you is good for me. We’re not going to get bogged down here with “rules” and there are no UFO Challenge Police on the payroll at Patchwork Times! Here are some loose definitions!"

My daughter is getting married in March. I have a full plate besides a few UFO's! I really want to join this challenge so I have decided that I will list all of my items but, when the month is chosen, I will decide what I will be able to accomplish that month and work on it. I will give myself a self imposed "have to claim it" rule. That is, I will blog about which project I'll work on that month so I can stay on track. I think the first two items on my list are fairly obvious...they will be worked on first!! LOL!!


1. Aviva's Chuppah
2. Wedding Kippot
3. Locker Hooked rug
5. Football quilt
4. Log Cabin-
6. BasketBal quilt
7. QFH/Kona Cotton Quilt
8. Sh'ma needlework
9. Simpsons Quilt-bind
10. Thimbleberries 9 patches
11. Valentines Table Runner-Quilt
12. Winter Table runners
13. Birthday Banner

Stash Report/UFO challenge

I've got a combo post today. I really did finish my January UFO for Nancy's UFO challenge. I did need to compromise with myself though. I have 4 of these table runners and was counting all 4 as one. Nix that! I finished one. It counts! My sister had asked if I could make her a winter table runner...way back in November. Well, I promptly didn't do it. DH was going there last week and when I asked my sis was there anything I needed to send her....well the tablerunner came up. I quilted and bound this in record time (for me that is) . I backed it in pink/red/black stripes. If she throws a few hearts on top of it it can double for a Valentines runner!






I also made a few of these potato bags. I don't eat potatoes myself but they say that they are the best thing to use to cook your potatoes in the microwave. I used leftover strips for the one so felt very frugal!



We also went shopping. I am very good at buying more than I use. But! It's the Poky Little Puppy!! How could I pass up this panel/book!?? Two of those, two candy fat quarters (my GF and I collect candy fabrics) and gulp 7 3/4 yards basketball fabric for the backs of two quilts.

Here is my dismal report. Pop over to Judy's blog to check out the more productive quilters.

Fabric added this week 9.25 yds
Fabric used this week 1.5
Total added YTD 52.25
Total used YTD 18.25
Total 34 yds

The truth behind the quilt

You saw the finished product of Ms. A's quilt. What you didn't see was the horrid thing it was before it became Ms. A's quilt!

I don't know how Ms. CCCat managed to get this thing in shape but she is the pinning QUEEN! She measures and pins and measures and pins and my uneven, poorly sewn quilt miraculously became one that was only 1/4" off from top to bottom. To be fair to myself, and my ego, I never planned on this becoming a quilt let alone one as big as it was. It took a few years to finish, I managed to make some sashing 2 1/2" and some 2"! I used mostly Kona Cotton for the sashing but a bit of some realllllly cheapo black came into play at some point. I never really measured correctly and so.....well.....it was a lousy, lousy top.

I couldn't get the borders on correctly and once again, Ms. CCCat fixed it. How, I'll never know. However, when you look at these pictures you will see the wrinkles, bubbles..... mountains even that we mangaged to pin and quilt out! All in all it is an amazing feat that we, and I do use that term veeerrryyyy loosely, managed to finish this and Ms. A is sleeping under it today.

Ms. A's quilt

The name of this quilt is...."I used to be a pillow."

It all started a few years ago..........I had been reading about using scraps and telephone book paper to make blocks. Intriguing idea! I made one block. Ooooooooooooo fun! I made another and as the late painter Bob Ross would say, "It got to feeling good." A few more blocks and I thought, hmmm, "I have these brand new very big pillow forms...I could make a pillow. In walks one or the other daughter and they say, "Hey is that a quilt for me?" Big sigh! A few years and a few hundred blocks later....viola' ! A quilt!

In the course of quilting this monster, (It was shaped something like a trapazoid when we began it........My wizard Ms. CCCat managed to pin it to death and it finished with only a 1/4" variance from top to bottom!), we became slaphappy. We were not sure what to do once we finished the top border.

We knew what I was going to quilt into the body but were looking for some pizzazz!

Ms. CCCat, who by her name loves cats, suggested we quilt cats into it. I was totally against it as Ms. A hates cats! I think my exact words were, "Ms. A hates cats..... HEY, Ms. A HATES cats! Let's do it!!!" I'm such a good mom! So., as a joke, we quilted one cat into the top.

Like Lay's potato chips, that wasn't enough so we quilted cats with each pass of the longarm. It became a game to hide them in the freemotion quilting!!!!

Suddenly, Ms. CCCAt came up with the idea that we needed mice for the cats to chase! Soon we were quilting a mouse AND a cat. Before you knew it, we had the idea to put mice in the entire border!

All and all it came out cute! Ms. A has a great sense of humor and cracked up when she saw the quilting, and we had a great time goofing around with the longarm.
The photos are not the greatest but it really came out cute. I also made her matching pillowcases....no cats!

A mini fininsh

I don't know if I eve showed this little wallhanging. Right now it sits as a table topper. I was too lazy to pick it up and take a photo so you get it at this angle!

I made it a while ago and when I did, I did something wrong and had to remake the hearts. I have been holding on to these little blocks ever since. In July I bought some placemats at Wal Mart for $.10! I put the two together, kinda like chocolate and peanut butter, and ended up with these. It isn't much, but it is one little leftover project that is no longer hanging over my head!

Stashbusting to date

Fabric bought - 0

Projects finished - 1

Stashbusting efforts

(Notice I'm using caps again?)

I had to redeem myself after such a poor showing in the self control department. Today I bound not 1, not 2 but 3 quilts!! WHOO! WHOO! WHOO! Not only that I moved 3 UFO's to the finished column.

This one is one from our charity group. We call ourselves "Strips and Strings." We are working along with the Heartstrings Project. (URGH! I deleted it and had to reload which means you can't click on it!) This was my first foray into the longarm. I did a panto and decided I much prefer free motion (see below).

This quilt was started last year at retreat. Many of the girls at retreat made blocks. Our charity group made additional blocks and assembled. It was quilted by a very nice member of the Heartstrings group...I just don't remember who! If you are the quilter and read this, let me know so I can give you credit!. It's a good thing I finished this because this years' retreat is next week!

And last but not least, my baby. My proudest quilt. I don't know why exactly but I am very thrilled with this one. I think it's because I

1. had help purchasing the fabric but NO help with placement, problem solving, and pulling from stash. I even made one border, rejected it and replaced it with another. TOTALLY not like me.
2. used nearly all of the green and white boot fabrics. Each has about a 6" square left. If you look at the border, you'll see that there wasn't enough green for the entire border. Had to use the white. Had to figure it out on my own! Then I was still about 3" short so had to add one of the 6" squares to squeak by and get the length necessary.
3. I longarm free motion quilted this.
4. I finished in one month. World record for me!
   

The quilt is not wavy, my holder is sick and not happy to be holding today! The colors on the closeups are more true. Notice the words I quilted in. I took a little detour in my life's journey this summer and fall. I wasn't sure which path I'd end up on and am pleased to announce that path looped around back to where it should be....only better. You don't need to completely understand this however, this became my "healing" quilt. I quilted in words that are meaningful to me. Most of them are in the busy boot fabric because they are nobodies business but my own. The ones I wanted read, I put in the borders.



This is just a closeup of my best flowers.

I'm on the computer.....AT HOME!

It feels great! My computer is back from the hospital and in much better health! To be able to sit at my own computer and not worry about bothering someone else is wonderful.

Ya know, things have to fall apart before you are able to appreciate them. We have had a crazy few weeks. You have to choose to either laugh or cry and I am choosing laugh because it's really rather funny. I wrote about the duct work, computer and the chimney. Well, the grill was leaking when we put on a new propane tank and while DH was at Lowes getting things to fix it, the car died! We bought a new battery for it, went home and while trying to hook things up on the grill, DH broke something making it unusable! (it really was on old grill but still!) It's been a bit irritating but as my in-laws say while playing cards, the worm has turned. My car is working just fine with a new battery, the computer is now home safe and sound. (They didn't need to clear the hard drive but did install a fan so loud that you can hear it all over the house.) I will call the guy later and schedule the duct work and get the chimney fixed by the end of the month. All in all, I can't complain too loudly because all of these things are just inconviences....expensive...annoying...but in the grand scheme of things, just that. Things. Items. The important things in our life are all doing just fine!

My quilts hung in the quilt show and I was judged. I was so nervous but it wasn't too bad. No ribbons but lots of kudos. I keep saying I would never do it again but just may. I have two years to think about it as this is a bi-annual show.

I finished a UFO and marked it off my list. Yee Ha! My in-laws have been visiting for the last 3 weeks so I have not been sewing. I'm looking forward to being able to sew again. We've just been so doggone busy between fixing things and entertaining! LOL!!!!

I will visit the rings as soon as I am able. Looking forward to catching up!