WOW & it’s Mildred

I have decided to finally name my HQ16.  Her name is Mildred and she is 5 years old.  I wanted to name her after one or the other of my grandmothers but I sometimes get mad at her and I just couldn’t say some of those things to either one of them.  So, why did I choose Mildred?  Well, my mother has a friend named Mildred.  They have shopped, traveled, and been friends together for years and years.  Sometimes they have a great time, laugh, shop, cook and enjoy each other.  Other times they get in each other’s way, don’t agree on how to do things, and stay apart when they need to.  Well, except for the cooking, I have the same relationship with my HQ, thus, please meet Mildred.

I love her and we have great times together.  And sometimes I don’t like her very much and I leave her alone in her room for days and/or weeks.  However, because she is a really good friend, we get back together and make our friendship work, again.  Cool, huh? 

For my WOW entry in Esther’s blog I am showing what I worked on yesterday.  I do machine applique so I drew one copy of all of the parts to Block 4 of Heart’s Desire.  Then I photocopied the two pages with my printer and didn’t have to draw them for the 2-4 blocks. 

Here are the drawings and copies laid out with the chosen fabrics.  See the little pink post-it?  I labeled each fabric and then also put the number or letter on the master sheet.

This is the beginning of cutting the little pieces up and placing them with the proper fabric.  Excuse the color, a big storm was approaching and I was trying to get them all sorted before I left the studio.  However, everything is now ready for me to come back in and press the block parts to the fabrics. 

I am now way behind on this mystery but I did have to take some time out to get some other projects more up to date and a couple even finished.  However, I do intend to finish this quilt, it will just be closer to Christmas than to the end of summer.

Today looks like a rainy day, very good after almost 6 weeks of no rain, so I plan to spend most of the day in the studio.  However, I will be taking some time out this afternoon to have my first ever massage.  In the movies they have looked pretty painful but I am looking forward to it. 

Another Design Wall Monday

This has to be the most boring design wall in history.  I did take this picture Sunday afternoon but it looks a lot like the picture I took Wednesday.  The difference, however, is that I have started sewing the rows together.

I have three more rows to do and the center will be done.  And I have already decided how I am going to quilt it…….

Isn’t this cute?  I got it last month as part of the ‘panto of the month’ program from Urban Elementz.

And speaking of UE, yesterday I got June’s panto and have decided to use it on JR. 

I think this will be perfect for that strip quilt.

Speaking of quilting, I started quilting on this today but had to rip it all out (only got 6” in).  The tension, which tested perfectly, went all whacky.  I think it is really the thread but after ‘unstitching’ I was not ready to try again.  Perhaps this afternoon.

And one last picture, since my last cat picture did so well…         

I am not really into bathroom humor but I cam around the corner and this was what I saw.  She has water both inside in the kitchen and outside on the deck, so where does she drink?  No wonder she was so laid out last week.

 

Mid Week

Well, here I am, finally getting back to at least twice a week posting.  You can blame Esther Aliu for this.  She has started a WIP Wednesday on her blog.  So I decided that if I want to be a part of things I need to get back to Wednesday blogging.

I have been somewhat busy.  I got a backing sewn for my JR quilt and got it all on the frame yesterday.

That's as far as I got but Friday I will decide on the thread and pattern and maybe even start the quilting.  It should go fast and then it can travel with us next weekend.

I also finally cut the white squares to fit in with the 16 patch leftovers for a comfort quilt.  I have the top two rows sewn, not together, and plan to finish the rest this weekend.  Right now it is only 36x48 so it will need a couple of borders before I can call it finished.

And I did something that is unusual for me.  I cooked.  This is not my creative bent but my DIL posted what she was making for dinner and it sounded good to me.  I changed it a little to fit my Weight Watcher’s points (and what I had on hand) and look how my Ange’s Oven Fried Chicken turned out:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isn’t that beautiful?  I must say that those chicken breasts were huge so we split one, and look how I packaged the other:

I wanted to remember where I got the recipe when I find it again in the freezer.  

Today was my last day to lead one of my WW meetings and I am feeling a little down.  I hate closing a meeting when there are still some people who want to continue but we just don’t have enough to keep going.  I also feel I am loosing friends who are helping me as much as I am helping them.  But they have the tools and a list of other, further away, meetings where they can continue so we are all moving on.

Something New & BOMs

(I am unable to edit my pictures without losing them so bear with me.)

On the design wall today is the Henrietta Block 5 and……………

Block 6. I am finally caught up, yippee!

Also on the wall are blocks 1 & 2 of Crazy Cats from syverkstan.net. I have been saving them all year but recently decided they will be a great Christmas gift so into the mix they went. The trouble is that I was having trouble finding time to get them started. Aren’t they cute? They will have embroidery on them later.

Also on the wall is Block 5 of Boot Bash from Molly’s Place. I fell behind on this one, too, but I am getting caught up.

I also worked on a new project, a Jelly Roll Race quilt.

This is me sewing the strips together: I can’t remember which Moda line it is, but it is bright and cheery.

Here is the center, finished. I was really surprised at how big it was. But, as is my want, I thought it needed a little bit more.

And here it is, a finished flimsy. The inner border is orange stripe which will also be used for the binding (you can almost see the binding strips on the hanger). I hope to get it on the HQ this week as I would love to take it as a handwork project (binding) when we travel later this month.

And this is Ms. Murphy, lounging. She was sound asleep and for the life of me, I couldn’t see how she could be comfortable.

Now, after you finish laughing, don’t forget to pop over to Patchwork Times to see all of the other quilty creations being shared.

Design Ironing Board 6/13/11

This is all I have to show for a weeks worth of sewing.** Well, I had more but for some reason my photo program has decided that if I name a photo, it discards it. I have no idea where the pictures went but they are GONE. These are my applique pieces for Henrietta Whiskers, Block 5. They are just resting on the ironing board, waiting to be pressed to the background and then appliqued in place. I plan to prep Block 6 before I complete 5 and then I will have both to complete and I will be caught up, with this BOM.

I also made the two blocks for my LQS BOM. They are Underground Railroad blocks, made with batiks. I will get new pictures done so they can be seen later.

I did get the quilting all done on this batik quilt. This isn’t a good picture but I was afraid to monkey with it for fear it would disappear.

Here is the back. I love the color and the quilting shows up so well on the black stripes.

And, last but not least, here is my poinsettia from Christmas. There are only about 3 very pale red leaves now but we get new green ones almost every day and it is very healthy. I have never had one of these live anywhere near this long so I am really excited. And, actually, very few plants live long here (black thumb, you know).

**This has been the week that wasn’t sewing. Every day I was planning to work in the studio but every day DH has come up with something that has taken me away from it. I have been to Walmart, twice ($$), out to eat (several times and I am not complaining), moved furniture both in the house and studio (both places because DH wanted me to do something else that required furniture moving), and hours and hours of dealing with our internet provider who just Friday seems to have gotten everything working again. Not complaining, just explaining.

Be sure to check out Judy's blog for more inspiriing quilting ideas.

No Design Wall Monday 6/6/11

Because I spent most of the weekend sewing on this batik quilt top (along with a couple of surprise things that can't be shown, yet), there is nothing on my design wall. Now, that beats having that feathered star partial top up there for weeks on end, doesn't it?

Anyway, this top is done and here you see it on the frame, ready to quilt. I did have to spend some time piecing the backing and then forgot to get a picture of it so you will have to wait until it comes off the frame.

Here are two pictures of the quilting: the one above of the top and the one below of the quilting from the back. I especially like that one because you can see the top through the batting as it is hanging down.

Since I took those pictures I have quilted about 2/3 of the quilt so I should have rest done tomorrow morning. I have the binding strips cut but not sewn together so that will be my next sewing task. I do, however, already have the label done and ready to sew on with the binding.

I was going to show the label for the Eleanor Burns Egg Money Quilt that I finally gifted to my DS#2 and his wife for their 25th anniversary. However, my laptop, with those pictures, has been infected with a "worm" and is at the computer doctors for a wormectomy. I did ask that if they had to clean out the whole disk that they save my pictures, my quilt patterns, and my machine embroidery designs. She asked if there were any documents I needed but I told her that all my interests were in those three libraries and that would be sufficient. I hope to hear something this week.

Now I realize that this is not a very informative post but you must remember that I was alone for 4 days, doing a lot of sewing, some cooking, some cleaning, and one day not feeling too well. None of this is very interesting, not even while I was doing it. Of course, nothing much interesting goes on here even when I am not alone but it sounded like as good as an excuse as I could think of. So, for some more interesting blog posts, hop on over to Judy's blog and see what is going on in other parts of the quilting world.