Dirty Laundry

Don't know if you have run across this post from Crafty Garden Mom from a year ago with her 7 dirty quilting secrets but it has resurfaced as funny blog posts often do and it is hilarious!!!  When I was reading it, it was as if  she had read my mind.  But I would like to add a couple of  my own secrets to the "dirty laundry list of quilting"

I  am a lazy quilter.  It's true, I will look at a quilt pattern and if it requires anything with  7/8's or 8ths of any kind, I round up.  I am not known for my 1/4 inch perfection in any quilting circle so   I figure the extra 1/8 of an inch will "come out in the wash" as they say.  In addition, if it requires y-seams, templates, any type of precision or pieces smaller than an inch and a half, I'm OUT.  I will claim that it is because my quilting time is so little and precious to me but really I am a BIG FAT LAZY QUILTER.

I like to "pretend" shop for fabric.  I get numerous emails from websites like Equilter, (heart u!) with notices of special sales, etc.  On any given evening,  I can be found sitting with my ipad watching TV with hubby and loading up my cart with luscious amounts of fabric and then...  I close my browser and go to bed.  It doesn't always work but a lot of the time, the fun of choosing the fabric and thinking about the gorgeous quilt I could create is enough to keep me happy and out of trouble.


What about you?? Do you have a secret you'd like to share??

Tops completed on Retreat

I started attending this 4 day retreat about 2 years ago.  It is held in the Spring (April/May) and the Fall (October).  It had been held at a YMCA camp but as we ladies (not me!) are getting older there were complaints about the accommodations (bunk beds), so the gal who runs it decided to try it at a hotel in the area.  This was the trial run.  Well, let me tell you, it sure is nice after a hard day of sewing to put your feet up on a queen size bed! I don't now how she does it! Each room had a microwave, fridge and TV. In addition, the hotel is close to just about every store imaginable, including a quilt shop and Joann's. 

She also offers a mystery quilt and runs a batik FQ raffle and a thread raffle.

I arrived on Thursday just before lunch and stayed til 2:00 on Sunday.  Here's what I accomplished!

I made myself finish some WIPs before starting anything new. 

First, I sewed together all of the Sampler blocks from the Block of the Month which was run through a local quilt shop and ended in December.  You may remember some of these blocks. I have the fabric for the backing and will try to get that pieced soon.



Next, I put the borders on my "fabric softener" quilt.  The blocks are foundation pieced onto used dryer sheets. This quilt has been "in the works" for about 4 years. The fabric for the backing is at home. Guess I will be piecing backs and making binding next week.



Once I completed these, I started the "Happy Child" quilt using the fabric sent to me by Janet in honor of her friend.  This came out fabulous. I made the binding but was short on the backing fabric so some creative decisions will be made about that. Looking at it now, I may add a small black border. This is the quilt that I had "measuring and direction reading" issues. According to the pattern, these pieces should be 8.5 x4. I'm pretty happy with my "mini" version of this. 

 

 

 

Next, I made an I-spy quilt of sorts for Cayden. He just turned 1 on April 1st and we are headed to see them the first weekend of June for Bella's birthday (she has requested a Hawaiian Luau, lol).  I wasn't sure about the bright blue and orange but it works and I will be loading that right away. I ordered the backing from my ipad while on retreat and it arrived Friday. The back is ready to go. I am now waiting on thread. I want to use a variegated with these big solid blocks.

Finally, I made a start on a quilt using the Fabric Fling pattern. Here is a picture of what it will look like. I am making my version in batiks. It calls for 25-30 FQs. I wasn't sure I had that many. Sadly, I had enough for TWO quilts! The FQs were prewashed and ironed. I cut them into 2.5 strips and started sewing them together. This one is 85 x 85. It will go on my bed or perhaps to my son, Alex, as he just got into his first "all by myself" apartment.

I have already given my check for the October retreat and have even talked my sissy into coming up from Florida for a weekend of quilting.  Gosh, I do love retreats!!!

Also, I FINISHED A BOOK!!  I finished my "palate clearing" book that I chose after Great Expectations. I got it for free through Book Bub. Life from Scratch by Melissa Ford is a cute "girlie" book. I was doing so much more reading earlier in the year and I seem to have hit a bump. I am trying to gain my momentum back. Next up is The DaVinci Code. Book Bub offered that for free recently so I grabbed it since I have seen the movie but never read the book.

Well that's it from here. I did lots of spring cleaning over the weekend. Windows cleaned, spring/summer curtains up, bedding switched over to spring/summer, vacuuming/dusting and flower beds cleared, cleaned and trimmed. Whewww!

 

 

 

The alphabet post - NOLA and MQX

I am back from my vacation to New Orleans. We were there for the Womens' Basketball Final Four. It ended well for us, UConn Huskies fans, with our 8th Championship.  It was a rough season but the girls pulled it together when it counted.  We had a lovely time in NOLA. We did a lot of eating, some drinking and even went on a swamp tour.

We got back on Wednesday and I was on the road again on Friday to attend MQX (Machine Quilters' Expo) in Manchester, NH.  I went with my quilting buddy, Diane. MQX was back in NH after being in Providence for a few years. Believe it or not, there was  SNOW on Friday!

 We had signed up for two hand-on classes with the longarm.  Everyone had their own machine to work with thanks to Gammill. Our first class was with Dawn Cavanaugh on Friday and we were with Linda Taylor on Saturday.   I felt like I was back in school!!! My head hurt at the end of each day with all the stuff we learned. I soothed my headache with a glass of wine! 

 I bought a little bit of stuff which you can see here.  My major purchase was the Leader Grips. I had seen these on one of the Handi Quilter videos so I decided to check them out.  The hubby of the woman who came up with this idea was there doing the demo. I was sold after I met up with him.  I hate pinning! I usually end up stabbing myself. This system will make loading much easier and I won't be so reluctant to turn the quilt to do some lovely border work.

Diane and I, the "unofficial" quilt judges (wink) were not as impressed with the quilts as we were last year.  Here are a few quilts that really caught our eye.

For the traditional quilter, this is a Dear Hannah. 

 For the paper piecing crowd

 For the art quilter.  This quilter, Barbara McKie, takes a photo, prints it on fabric and thread paints. They are amazing!

 My favorite by far.  The center of the flowers are old jeweled buttons or broaches. The applique is fabulous and it is sooo cute.  See if you can find the earthworm in the ground!

This is out of the box for many of us. The quilting on the gold fabric was fabulous.  The beading on the woman and the train of her gown was incredible. 

I returned to work for the next three days and then headed out to my Spring Retreat (Thurs - Sun). It's a tough life ladies but someone has got to do it! LOL!  I got lots done at retreat and will share those pics once I upload them from the camera. Til, then, Quilt til you Wilt

My week in review

Flower Power is on its way to my fairy goddaughter, Bridie. As I posted last week, we have just completed week 1 of March Madness.  I spent most of Saturday and Sunday glued to the TV watching basketball.  I did work a bit on my scrap busting project.  This is what I got done after sewing down the binding on Flower Power. I am sewing 2.5 squares together to make blocks.  The pattern calls for 846 squares! This is going to take some time.

 I also worked a bit on my blue blanket. Boy, knitting goes soooo much slower than sewing.

Please tell me I'm not the only one to have done this STUPID thing!! On Friday, I received some "special" fabric from Janet.  I was so excited to get started with this project.  She sent me about 50 6 1/2 inch squares of Japanese fabric.  I had a project in mind for them and pulled the instructions to start cutting.  Wellll, I had the measurement "6 1/2" stuck in my brain.  It did not matter to my brain that the instructions said "cut 60 8.5 x 4 inch rectangles.  In my mind, it was 6.5 x 4 inch rectangles.  And so I merrily went on my way and cut those 6.5 squares into 6.5 x 4 rectangles.  Now, I decide to add some of my own fabric so I pull some of my FQs and proceed to do the same.  It is only when I am getting set to cut the 1.5 x 8.5  sashing strips that my brain finally sees 8.5.    Seww, what's a girl to do? I did a little math (which  I avoid at all costs) and figure I need to add 20 more of the smaller rectangles to make the quilt the same length. Basically, I will be adding 2 additional rows.  I'm tellin' ya, sometimes I am my own worst enemy. 

A few posts ago, I mentioned the bag of quilt tops which needed borders.  Flower Power was one and that is done. This is another.  I made two of these "chinese coin" style quilts a retreat or two ago and I spent an hour or so yesterday putting on the top and bottom border. REALLY, all it took was an hour. I also pulled the fabric for the backing and made the binding.  I have one top left needing borders. Hopefully, I will get to that one in the next week or so and that bag will be empty.

I currently have 7 quilts ready for quilting. All of them have binding, backing and batting cut and ready to go. Now to find some extra time to spend with Ava. Hmmmm

In Turning the Pages, I finished "Heads in Beds". It was an insider's view of the hotel industry.  A bit disturbing.   I am now in the midst of Life of Pi.  This is a wonderful book! And in true feast or famine style, I have another one waiting anxiously in the wings,  The Twelve Tribes of  Hattie.

We are headed to New Jersey this weekend to help a good friend who was washed out of her house after Sandy.  All the repairs have been made to her house and she is ready to move back in. We are soo excited to help her get back into her nest!   Hope everyone has a wonderful Easter weekend. 

See ya next week!

Off the rollers

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Now back to quilty news....

I finished the quilting on Flower Power yesterday.  I used Superior's monopoly clear and so fine #30 in the bobbin.  The monopoly has been "adjusted" and is not so shiny. Someone at Longarm Club had done a quilt with it and it looked great so I thought I would give it a try since this one had sooo many colors and I didnt' want the thread color to fight with the quilt.   It worked beautifully. Never had one breakage.  Only problem was trying to SEE it for threading purposes. Finally, I took the end and colored it with a black marker.  Worked like a charm.   I will be cleaning up the edges and adding the binding this weekend. 

Have a quilty day!!