Good Start to May

Every day last week I put in some time quilting DH's Boots quilt.  After quilting the majority of the quilt I began detailing the 12 boots.  This morning I made it up to the top row of boots when I discovered this.  The top of this boot had not been appliqued down.  Of course I did make them about 2 years ago but it was a shock when the hopping foot tried to take that piece of fabric out. 





I decided to cover this mistake with a curlicue stitching.  It took me longer than I expected to detail all of the boots because of the numerous thread changes due to the variety of colors I had used.  I must remember that when working on other applique projects. 

And early today I completed the quilting of this quilt.  I still need to cut the strips for the binding but that will have to wait until I can clear the cutting table.  I must figure out how to put things away so they don't pile up where I don't really want them. 













Below are two of the several quilt labels I am making.  I used to make my labels as I finished my quilts but I have fallen woefully behind.  But our guild is having a show in November so I am trying to get caught up. 

And last but not least, here is my
design wall today.  I decided to finally get busy working on my Celtic Solstice.  I had pieces but nothing put together so today I put 5 blocks together and up on the wall.  And I seem to have made a mistake: can you find it?  I guess I know what I will be doing tomorrow.  :-(



I will be linking with Patchwork Times along with several other talented quilters.  I never have time to read all the blogs that link there but if you go over there, too, between us we can get them all read.  :-)  Have a great week,  Gari

Progress, Sweet Progress

This has been a good quilting week.  I finished the regular quilting on the Boots quilt.  I took this picture with only the light from the window because it shows off the texture of the loop-d-loops.














 Now I am going back through the quilt quilting in detail on the appliqued boots.  I really want them to only have a little puff and not wind up sagging after some use and washing.  I have completed the detail on two boots so still have 10 more to go.

And look, Judy, how far I have gotten on my sweater!  I am on the arm row.







This is the sleeve.  It is a short
 sleeved sweater so this one is done and I am on my way to the second one.  You know, it just may be possible that I will be able to wear this this summer.

Needles Are A Clicking

Here is how far I have gotten on my sweater.  It really isn't ruffely its just that there are well over 300 stitches on that 40" cord.  I need to knit 8" before I can begin separating the sleeves and working on less stitches.  I can't wait.




I am still knitting dishcloths.  I find it very relaxing and easy.

 

 

 

And I am refinishing a hat.  Readers may remember that I knit a hat for DH for Christmas.  Well then we got "destructo dog" who ate part of the ribbing off of it.  So last week I pulled all of the pieces of yarn off and found the last full row of knitting: the stitches were holding well so I threaded them on the needles and began reknitting the top and now the ribbing.  I am going to have a long rib and then double it under for warmer protection for his ears.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just so everyone knows, I am finally quilting DH's Boots quilt.  I have only started the first row but hope to get more done this weekend.

Little Done, Lots Planned

This is as close to a design wall as I have gotten this week.  I put these three mug rugs on the HQ and have them mostly quilted.  I stopped a couple of days ago because I began suffering from thread breakage and since I couldn't immediately figure out how to correct the problem.  I'll work on that this week.

I have quite enjoyed making these "NO COFFEE!"  rugs but I am ready to move on to other things.

 I was going to take them to show at the next guild meeting but then I thought, "what would I do if they wanted me to make some for the quilt show in November?"  So I think I will just pack them up and keep quiet about them.

Sunday I finally got my new baby settled in the studio and even played with it, a little.  I spent some time going over some of the things I learned in my lesson last Thursday and was really pleased that I remembered as much as I did.  






 

And even though I have said that I am cutting back on my knitting time, I have started a sweater.  This cardigan has only one closure and I as it is knit from the top down, I have already made the button hole.  So far I have been able to follow the pattern but as you can see I still have a long way to go.





When I finish the mug rugs I am ready to load and quilt the boots quilt for DH.  I also need to make several quilt labels (I usually do them with machine embroidery).  I have 3 BOMs to do this week in order to be caught up.

I also have a little computer problem.  Every day or two I can't connect to the internet because the driver that makes that happen disappears.  I have had to recover it over and over but can't seem to figure out how to stop it from happening.  So sometime this week I hope to be able to contact Microsoft and see if they can help me.

Wow, that all sounds a little daunting, doesn't it?  Oh, well, I'll just get done what I can and what ever doesn't get done I'll assign it to next week.

I'll be linking up with Patchwork Times on Monday: if you pop on over there you will get to see some beautiful work.  Have a great week,  Gari

Learning Fun

I said I would share the information about Dianne Springer, the speaker at the workshop I attended last weekend.

Here is her book and isn't the cover colorful?  Dianne really likes color and uses bright fabric not only for quilts but on almost everything else.

Here are two pages that show just some of the items she has covered with fabric.

This is one of the first things I would like to make, a mailbox cover.  I haven't read the directions yet but I really want to see this out on our country road.









And this is the other non-quilt quilt I want to make.  Dianne did go into how she made hers so now all I need is the fabric she used as the base (info in the book) and a big enough space to lay it all out.  I would love to see a runner like this on the kitchen floor, it would sure brighten the place up.







I have spent every day this week learning about my new sewing/embroidery machine.  I spent most of Monday just unpacking all of the pieces to the machine and identifying most of them.  What I can't identify I put on a list so I can find out when I go for my official machine lesson.

 

 

And then today I practiced with the embroidery module.  Even though I have had previous models of Babylock machines, this one is quite different and fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the very fancy things is that there is a camera located just above the needle plate.  Why is this important?  Well it will show a green cross-hair that shows exactly where the needle will fall.  This may not seem important but when one needs to match up a stitch it is very important.

 

One of the things I will be learning tomorrow is the tablet that hooks up to the machine so I can edit embroidery design while they are in the machine.  Another thing I need to learn is how to use the two foot pedals.  Yes, I said two.  They are attached to each other and somehow they can be programed to do some of the work of the machine's buttons. 

 

Later this week I will finally get around to installing the new programs and I need to load DH's Boots quilt.  Seems like I am falling behind with my BOMs, too.  I guess I better stop playing with my new toy and get busy ........ after tomorrow.

Owls and Other Things

Last week I was having a great deal of trouble getting a post done.  However since my design wall hasn't changed I am happy share it now.

It was the week of the owls BOM.  I completed the April owl and this is all I have done so far.  These are on the wall in the order the designer planned.  I still need to put the borders on a couple of the little ones and then plan the sashing but we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

I had a really good time picking the fabrics for this month's owl: the body fabric is really tree tops but it just looks fluffy on him. 

When he was ready to fuse to the background I discovered I couldn't find the background fabric.  So I had to take quite some time out to clean off my cutting table and, lo and behold it was buried deep under several projects. 

And here we finally have our owl, firmly fused to the background fabric.  I think he looks quite different from when he was resting on the wax paper.

Over this weekend I went to a quilt show in Pensacola and attended a workshop put on by my machine dealer.  The speaker was Diane Springer of Quilt in a Cup and since I had bought two of her cups more than 5 years ago, I was interested in seeing her in person and finding out what other items she had created.  Here is a picture of what I will be making for myself soon.  I also bought her book:  I will share a picture of it later this week.  Diane is a unique quilter, and former school art teacher, who sees color and excitement in almost everything.  Can you tell I had a great time?

And here is another reason I had a good time, my new machine.  I have wanted this machine for the last 2 years.  It has been upgraded twice since that time and I felt this was the right time to make the leap.  What you see here is me looking at some of the paperwork and disks that came with the machine.  Boy am I going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow to get this beauty registered and running but doesn't it sound like fun?

And I even have been doing some knitting (dishcloths) and bought yarn for two sweaters.  Of course I can't knit and sew at the same time so sewing and the new machine will be taking most of my time.  And I know everyone feels sorry for me.  ;-)

Have a great week,  Gari

Boots and More

This is what I have mostly been working on this past week. I showed it, again, to DH and he began singing Happy Birthday all over again.  I figure I can draw his birthday out for 2-4 weeks as I prepare a backing, load it on the frame, quilt it, and then bind it.  Maybe he will get a birthday month after all.

The boot appliques are from a 2012 BOM by Moose on the Porch.  I had so much fun making these boots but then just couldn't figure out a setting I liked.

Recently I found the embroideries at Artistic Thread Works and I knew how I wanted to use them.  The embroidery went find but then figuring out how to set them (math to figure out the sashing) took some time.  However I am more than thrilled with how this quilt has turned out.  DH is happy but says he doesn't plan t use it until it can hang in our local quilt show that comes in November. 

I did spend a little time doing some machine applique and got completely caught up on my What a Hoot BOM blocks.  However I do also realize that as of Monday I will be back to choosing owl fabric again.  I would kind of like to have this one done by November, too, so I may work ahead and get it done now that the fish are complete.

I have really been enjoying knitting these simple dishcloths.  I also have come to realize that although I love knitting it has taken me away from quilting quite a lot.  With quilting I can be very creative, go my own way, make changes whenever the mood strikes me.  Knitting is not like that, at least for me.  It is much more pattern controlled.  So I an going to cut back on knitting, using it as a form of relaxation, usually as a break during sewing/quilting sessions, rather than putting in a lot of knitting time.  Of course this may change from time to time but I think this will work best for me.  I do still plan to knit a sweater but I will be going very slowly cuz the sewing machine and quilt frame have been calling me.

I do have to share this, a birthday gift for me from our oldest son and his wife.  They were to have come for a visit shortly after my November birthday but I got sick and we postponed it until last weekend, DH's birthday.  Anyway, I got a gift too, this striking owl ring. 

I do realize that it is a little difficult to see that it is a ring so let me pull back so you can see it better.

Can you still see it?  You can see that it is a little big but it is also very noticeable.  Of course that is kind of a strange looking hand, isn't it?

Thank you Scott and Sue.  The ring fits in perfectly in this setting on my fireplace mantle.

And they gave DH a gift card to Dunkin Donuts, which we have already used once.  This birthday thing is great, even in your 70s.

And now I am going to work on getting this new computer filled up with the programs I use.  Of course I have to find the disks and manuals, which are not always where I think I put them.  I have one that seems to have moved out cuz I haven't been able to put my hands on it but I will keep looking.  And I will have a good week, how about you?

Gari