Great Outdoors

Disign wall Monday, again. And this week I have something new.

I was picking up "stuff" and came across the leftovers of The City of Roses. When I looked at the pices of strata I began to see the makings of a new purse.

And this is how far I have gotten. On the left is the body of the purse including a front pocket. The next picture is the lining. The front, lining, and batting are all put together and quilted.

Check

Judy's blog for other projects.

This is a close up of the quilting. And now I really want a computerized quilting system. This was done by machine embroidery, four hoopings. This are the best feathers I will ever do. ;-)

I once again tried quilting Purple Rail and this is the panto I am using.

I really like how it looks but I am having problems with tension, thread breaking and so this is all I have gotten done, so far. I have cleaned the bobbin case, under the throat plate, changed the needle, and tried everything I can think of. It has gotten a little better but for some reason it is not working as well as usual.

So Sunday afternoon DH and I put this gazebo together and spent the rest of the day reading in the shade.

Top Done

This part of this labor of love is DONE! I finished putting on the borders this afternoon and now this poor thing will go into the "to be quilted" room. Never since I started quilting have I had quilt tops lined up for quilting but now there are three. Opps!

I am including this picture of my walking shoes. I want a pair of sketchers but decided that since I have not been doing any form of exercise (no excuses) I had no good reason to buy them. So..... I decided that I would allow myself to get them IF I walked 5 days a week for 4 weeks.... in a row. As of today, I have walked 2 miles a day for 3 days. And now I am off to buy pizza.

Design Wall, etc.

This is still on my design wall. This picture shows the first row and first sashing sewn when in truth I have the second row and sashing also sewn and am almost done with the third. It is not as easy as usual because the lace is "slinky" and travels. After fighting with it for a while, I remembered that I had invested in fabric glue sticks. Now I am glueing the ends of each sashing piece before sewing them down. Then I am pinning the sides out of the way while I sew the sashing to the blocks, glueing the sides down and then stitching the sides of the lace to the sashing. To say this is time consuming would be an understatement. But in the end this will be a delightful, girly, quilt.

I have my comfort quilt rail fence on the frame and even have basted the top on. However, I am having tension issues, and low frustration tolerance issues, so it is still sitting there, unquilted. I will try again either today or tomorrow.

My quilt guild is having their end of the year dinner party in May and someone told me I was in charge of finding out what large dining rooms are available in our town. I don't know how that happened but part of my sewing time will be taken up with checking that out and making a list for consideration at the next meeting.

And lastly, but certainly not leastly, is the final product of our "first rose bud of spring." This beauty came out on Easter Sunday Morning. Isn't she beautiful? And now there are several more buds on the bushes so shortly we will have an abundance of color. Of course, all this spring growth has also produced growth in the yard so one day this week I will have to get the lawn mower out and get busy: the dogs are beginning to get lost out there. ;-)

Dew on the Bud

Everyone who calls me asks "what are you doing?" I know this is because they don't want to bother me if I am busy. However, for the last two days this has not been a problem. No matter what I have started working on, no matter whether it is in the house or the studio, I seem to find myself out on the deck with a book in my hand. If this keeps up there will be no new design wall on Monday and the quilt I just put on the frame will look no different than it did when I laid it on the batting yesterday. However, the weather has been perfect and the books have been fun reads. I hope everyone else is enjoying spring: I sure am.

A Bit of Both

Our Sad News first: our wonderful little Maltipoo died on Monday. Jessica was 11 years old and over the last year had been slowing down and displaying a little arthritis in her limbs. On Monday morning DH was awaken hearing her moaning and crying, a little. He also noted that her stomach was distended. So up he got and took her to the vet. I was called about two hours later to pick her up and when I got there the vet showed me her x-ray and showed me a tumor that appeared to be filling her stomach area. The vet who does the surgery was not in so we made arrangements to bring her back on Tuesday morning to decide what to do. I brought her home and she was a little listless: I figured that they had sedated her so they could poke and prod. She seemed to have disappeared but I found her sleeping in the bathroom so I left her to be able to be quiet. When DH got home that afternoon, he found that she had died in her sleep. It was with tears we buried her but with smiles and laughter as we remembered all the joy she brought to our home.

On a more positive note, I got my jelly roll block 3 done. Isn’t this pretty? I am really enjoying making these blocks. They are easy and the fabric is so pretty, kind of like an island paradise. I may have to make a second set so this can be a bigger spring/summer quilt.

And, I think, the reason for spring is the reminder of renewed life. Here is an updated shot of my first rosebud.

There are now several smaller buds on the bushes but this will be the first rose of spring and I am so excited.

Design Wall Monday

So this is what is on my design wall today. Yesterday I found that I had not made enough sashing strips: I guess I just can’t count high enough. So I made two more and cut the outer borders and corner stones. So now we know what this quilt is going to look like.

Yesterday I also got the backing for the Purple Rail Comfort quilt made so I hope to get it on the frame and quilted this week.

And two nature shots. I found this vine in our woods. The vine twines itself around the trees, probably killing the tree, but at this time of the year the blooms are beautiful. Interestingly, there is no scent in this flower.

With all the beauty that is beginning to show up around here, it is getting very hard to stay in and sew/quilt, but I am trying to balance my time wisely. Yea, Spring!!

One last thing: this is my baby quilt and my finish for March. It took me until last week to find the right fabric for the binding. I used a light green with even lighter green polka dots.

Bunny Hill, Owls, and Spring

My design wall has changed. I have 5 of my Bunny Hill BOM basket blocks completed: the others only need a little hand embroidery. Last week I found some lace I have had for several years and came up with this layout. I cut the sashing, red, and then overlaid it with the lace. I have only basted the lace on as it will be caught in the seams and then I will sew it down at the edges. Next week I will cut the cornerstones and borders (same fabric and the top will be ready to sew together, if I can only get that hand embroidery done. This little quilt is so out of my comfort zone as I just don’t do frilly but I like it because it is different.

And as long as I was working on the Bunny Hill blocks, I decided to get started on her new BOM. It is a series of snowmen and she has posted 3: I hadn’t started any. So I spent part of the weekend copying the designs onto the Heat & Bond and put the first block together. I think that when I get the basket blocks done, I will start the embroidery on these so I don’t have all of them to do at the end. The background fabric has silver metallic so there is a lot of shine behind this little snowman. I have the designs ready for blocks 2 & 3 so will have them fused before the week is over

My new glass owls arrived this weekend. Here it is (the little clear one) nesting nicely with a small selection of my collection. Also in this grouping is the first glass owl I ever got (light brown furthest left) and the clock my paternal grandpa bought for my grandma following the birth of their first son in 1907. Also you can see my collection of batiks: isn’t this a wonderful set of shelves? No wonder I love going into my studio.

And last but not least is a sure sign of spring. Here is the first rosebud on my bushes. We have lots of new leaves but it appears that this will be the first flower of the season. Today it was 74 with sunshine and I took advantage of it by sitting outside designing a snowball quilt.