Wall, Deck, What’s the Difference?

Last Monday I took the Dragon down from the design wall, pinned him to the backing and then basted him down really good: check out this post.  When I finished with him he looked a lot like Gulliver when he was tied down by the Lilliputians.  However, now he is folded up on a shelf until I can begin the long, tedious, applique process.   

In the meantime, the wall needed a project.  Recently I found these blocks that I think were a jelly roll QAL run by Konda of Moose on the Porch Quilts.  I liked most of the blocks and even have coordinating fabric for them but never came up with an idea of how I wanted to set them.  So, up on the wall they have gone and hopefully a creative idea will come.







Meanwhile, here is Block 2 in the Carol Doak Mystery BOM 2012.














And doesn’t it look good with Block 1?  Seeing them together I am really getting excited for how this quilt is going to turn out.









And, in the middle of all my sewing on Sunday, DH came to the studio to ask if I could help him “for a minute.”  He has been building the cart that came with our riding lawnmower and needed an extra set of hands.  In fact at one point he suggested we might need a third set of hands but since we are the only ones here, that was not to be. 









But see, it is built and works.  Now we just need to hitch it up and pull something. 












Then back in the studio to start putting together blocks for an embroidery swap.  Here are two but I actually finished three.  I have 9 more to go but they are not due until Aug 1 so I am fitting them in between other projects.

The one thing I did not start was Judy’s feathers lessons.  I am ready to start but decided I needed to get a couple of other things done and then will work at my own speed.  I really like my Carpenters Star so I am a little nervous about making a mess of it.  Oh, well………….

Going Dotty is DONE!!

And isn’t she beautiful?

And besides that I got caught up on the Bunny Hill Snowbound blocks (sans embroidery).

and the Jelly Roll Sampler blocks.

Not bad considering that the new blocks come out tomorrow and/or next week.

I was so excited about getting so much done that I made what could have been a fatal mistake.

I have never done that before. When I found it I flashed back to old movies and cartoons of scorched shirts. However, it is in the middle of my pressing mat so I will be reminded every time I go to use the iron

I’ll be back Monday with my new design wall. I am already working on my current UFO, planning my new project and have the fabric set aside for the new comfort quilt. Finishing something always gives me a burst of energy so I am busy, busy, busy.

Murphy's Law

First, I seemed to be really wiped out from my long weekend of classes and family visits. Monday I got up, ready to go and after just 20 min. of sewing, I was pooped. I tried to gear myself up but by noon I found that I couldn't concentrate. So back to the house I went and I bounced back and forth between a little house picking up and sitting with the puppies.

Tuesday found me in bed until after 9 am. Still tired, or just limp, I spent a little time in the studio, again getting only a little accomplished, so I came back in the house where I got less accomplished than on Monday.

This morning I was raring to go. I was off to the studio where I completed the two blocks I had started on Monday and Tuesday. And guess what happened. The electricity cut off in the studio. I have checked the breakers and can't get it going again. It is still on in the house so I know we aren't having a blackout, but with 98F weather I also can't work in the studio. Does this mean I have to do housework again today?

Here are my two latest Jelly Roll Sampler blocks. I got a little behind but I am caught up now.


Here is the problem with this challenge BOM. I am beginning to run out of full strips. It is going to get really difficult to make the last four blocks with the partial strips I have left. I guess that is what the challenge is. I know that some people are using fabric from either more than one block but I decided to use just the one roll with only adding the muslin background fabric occasionally. May not have been the best of decisions. (?)

I am adding two pictures of the quilt our guild has as a donation quilt. Our town is having a townwide "homecoming" in November and the guild decided to do a quilt show as our part. Additionally, the homecoming committee decided to make some additions to a beautiful playground to make it more accessable to handicapped/disabled children. Our quilt proceeds will be going to that cause.

I am not in this picture and I did not participate in the quilt making or quilting but I did make the label.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have finished quilting the blocks on Baskets & Lace.
And, I believe I now know why I was having so much trouble with the bobbin. I believe the culprit was the thread seen to the right. This is some thread I bought when I first started longarming (I don't know where I got it). It is cotton and I have never seen anything as "linty" as it is.

Here you can see the lint both on the thread and attached to the bobbin itself. I was having to clean out the bobbin with each block and would come up with enough cotton lint to weave a sheet.

I even found some lint sewn into the quilting on the back of the quilt when I rolled the quilt.

I have taken some steps to make sure this doesn't happen again. Firstly I got a Bobbin Genie to put in the bobbin case. It is a DSM size but if it seems to help with tension problems, I will order the M size.

And secondly, I threw out the offending thread.

Now I just need to quilt the corner stones and the borders (with poly thread) and this quilting will be done.

When I get frustrated or tired from quilting I turn to the sewing part part of quilting. On the left you can see Block 6 of the Jelly Roll Sampler. I quite enjoyed making this block.

I also made up two more string blocks and finished appliqueing the flowers on the last border of the Eleanor Burns BOM (Egg Money Quilts).

My, my, I seem to have been busy, don't I?

Dad and other stuff

Who is this handsome man? This is my father as he was when I was a toddler. He has been gone for 19 years and today would have been his 89^th birthday. Happy Birthday Dad.

So far this has been a very productive week. First I finished quilting Purple Rails, a comfort quilt.

I had a lot of tension problems but when I decided to quilt it unregulated, the problems went away. I am not sure why it worked that way but it did. The other problem I had was that I positioned the panto about 4” down from the top so I had to go back and fill it in so it looked like I knew what I was doing. I still have to make the binding and get it bound but it has moved back down the “to do” list for the time being.

The 5^th Jelly Roll Sampler block was announced Monday and here is mine, today.

Once again, I was not impressed with the block when it was presented, but with these fabrics it really looks good. When it was done I just had to see how it looks with the other blocks and this is what I have.

I am not sure how many blocks we will be doing but it should be interesting to figure out a layout.

And as though I didn’t have enough projects going on all at one time, I got these out to start another.

Design Wall, embroidery, and….well….

My design wall would have been empty if I hadn’t had a Jelly Roll Sampler block ready to sew together. Isn’t it beautiful? I wasn’t too excited about this block when I first saw it but didn’t it turn out nice. This is really going to be a beautiful quilt.

Be sure to stop by Judy's blog to see what other's are doing.

I also worked on appliquéing some stems but that is so boring (both doing and looking at) so I won’t show pictures until the flowers start to show up.

I did, however, do some embroidery work. Here are two of six new kitchen towels I am working on. I haven’t had any new towels for about 7 years and although most of what I have are still serviceable, I decided we needed something fresh. The designs are from Artistic Thread Works.

The other embroidery is a shirt for our great grandson’s second birthday later this month. Here it is on the heater in my studio: I don’t have a child sized mannequin.
The color in this close up is not too good but I wanted to show the windows. I used plastic so they look more like a real window. I chose the truck because he is getting an electric riding truck from my DD and DSIL and I wanted this shirt to fit their gift. I have one more shirt to do before the big day arrives.

And lastly. On Saturday the postman delivered this to DH. Since he had not sent for anything he was intrigued, an especially when he saw what it was. It seems that this is what his mother-in-law sent him as a belated birthday gift. Interesting! But to better understand a person would have to know that for Christmas DH sent her a “travel emergency kit” which was a small box with a miniature corn cob in it. Some family I have, huh?