Hooked on Quilting

I got a few more things done today. I finished the Kids Will Be Kids rows and then sewed some together. Need to finish them and then add the borders and it will be ready to load on my HQ16 Pro-Stitcher which needs to be updated first. There's some good features that were added and I want to take advantage of them. Maybe I'll quilt a different one as a trial. You'll have to turn your head to look at it the correct way, not sure I can flip it now. Got bored with rows of blue/brown and moved over to the Party Mints (boy) and did a few rows, just need to sew the rows together and add a border. I'll really be happy to see this one ready, maybe I'll quilt this one first. Got bored of that and decided I wanted to sew some stratas so I started the Mystery by Lesley and sewed eight of them and cross cut them into 120 pieces. That was enjoyable and wished I had more to do...next step has some. They are hanging in sets of 10 on the pegboard--all 120 of them. Double Delight...

I've added a few more fabrics to my calendar quilt and thought I'd document it. I just don't know what to do now, should I add things I'm working on since I don't have anything else finished in January? I did two thread baskets, shall I add fabric from those? I thought I should have fabrics from January, but I'm going away and won't get a chance to work on anything until I return. Thoughts?

I signed up for the " One Project a Month Challenge " and I actually finished a project in January! Now, don't act too surprised, these thread baskets are easy and quick to complete! Try one! That's about all I did today along with tennis practice. I do plan to add some "days" to my calendar quilt challenge.

I just can't seem to get the blocks to line up with ease. Sigh. Just working on Party Mints (boy) and nothing seems to be going well. I started two baskets from this tutorial . I've already made one, but used batting, this time I want to use the fleece. I'll post a photo when I get them put together. I made two, but the green/brown one is ugly. I sewed some more Unit B's from Double Delight today. Worked on Kids Will Be Kids a bit today; putting them into rows. Most importantly, I took a nap. Gloria

I'm in love with Kim's little red purses (and the stuff inside) so I wanted to share with you her Bitty Bits & Pieces Valentine 100th post giveway. If you decide to participate, please let her know that you read about it here at my blog. Good luck! Gloria

I worked on my Kids Will Be Kids quilt today and this is my first time to do the hourglass block. I found this tutorial on making quick-pieced quarter-square triangles and it was soooooooo easy! I highly recommend any newbies out there to read through this site. I was able to complete all 18 today. The squares are 8 1/2 x 8 1/2 so the quilt should have gone quickly except my other block has borders and I probably should have used a scant 1/4" so I'll be ripping a few out. Sigh. Have I mentioned that every quilter needs, no, deserves, a design wall? Mine is just a makeshift one and just leans against the slanted ceiling and a twin bed because I really don't have a wall that the ceiling is tall enough. I do love having this wonderful room, but those slanted roof walls really get in the way. :) Here's a few blocks on the design board: I also do some work on my other "active projects" but nothing big. Still sitting on the fence about the Foolish Goose Tracks an...

A LQS is closing somewhat near me, so I trekked out there and finally got some stash. I just hope it doesn't sit here forever. I'm not going to pre-wash these fabrics unless I use ones I'm afraid will bleed. So, now that I have about 50 different fabrics (Yikes, spent so much cash!), I feel like I can put together some quilts so I'm going to go through it and see if I can get enough to do the Foolish Goose Tracks from Burning the Midnight Oil Quilts by Heather Finnell. I'll let you know if I can find enough yardage to do it and post them or cross it off the potential to-do list. Why do I need to make every pretty quilt out there? And have so many quilt kits around? Crazy me! Gloria

Well, some of you are doing some more elaborate quilt calendars, but if I expect to maintain one all year long, I'm going to keep it simple. I've only finished (not quite, but hope to soon) one quilt in January, so I put together all the colors and started. Whew! I have several others that I've started and am not sure if I have the fabric yet, but will try to get more strips, enough to finish January at least. Here's some strips from my Take 5 quilt.

Okay, I had tennis practice and came home feeling it. So, I didn't want to cut into my new, wonderful-to-feel fabric for my new grandson's quilt. So, I had a mini-nap and was faced with the same old hard question...pre-wash or not??? So, there's some red and some white-ish fabric in it so I decided to pre-wash...I absolutely hate working with washed fabric, but I didn't want it to bleed and ruin all my hard work. Back in Maryland, again supporting my LQS, I bought some Best Press to try, hope I can tolerate this limp stuff and the spray will bring some of the stiffness back. I don't pre-wash anything, however, all of the stash I'd bought that one day had been washed, so I feel good about using for quilts for me. I'm going out tonight to get that Shout color retainer or whatever it's called so I have that to help with the red. I'm just taking my Take 5 and work on the binding while I chat with some very nice ladies that invited me to join them way b...

I belong to a Yahoo! group for mysteries and I've been trying to do things with other quilters as a means of motivation, i.e., the Calendar Quilt and Project of the Month, however, I'm not making much headway in either! Lesley's mystery steps are given out every day or so and I'm trying to stick with it so it won't just get shelved as another UFO. I feel like we are a group and everyone is sitting at the huge table at my old LQS that I loved. I miss going to sew every Friday. Lesson learned here: support your local LQS or it just might not be there next time. I left mine, but it's the same feeling. I did this with the NYE mystery and I'd gotten seven blocks finished before time was over and I got side-tracked with another quilt, not good. I'm going to try to fit more blocks in and finish it, but it's moved down on the list. I also added Bonnie Hunter's Double Delight in there, so it's also been moved down on the list. Sigh. I'm sure ther...

Oh, my goodness, I just found a kit (includes backing!) called Gossamer Petals that I bought way back in 2007, so I added it to my list of unfinished projects. Have you really looked at my list. Surely, I'll get all these done, right? Wow, I really need to get some of these quilts done so I can have some scrap fabric! I got side-tracked again today, instead of starting my "Kids Will Be Kids" quilt top, I started a new mystery quilt by Lesley at Webequilts that started today. I've gotten some strips cut, but I had a heck of a time coming up with enough fabric to do this and I'm not thrilled with my colors that I'm kind of stuck with in order to complete it. I really wanted to have one more quilt top to do on my HQ Pro-Stitcher. They have upgraded the software and I wanted to practice and be sure the upgrade goes well before I do a quilt for new grandson. He's two months old today! I'll come back and post the stacks of cut fabric when I'm finished. ...

Oh, no, I think I've just gotten side-tracked AGAIN!! I happened on this blog by Pat today and she has just finished the Mother Goose quilt that is in a kit that I bought at the Quilt Box in Dry Ridge, KY in September. Here is Pat's blog and here's my kit...I really need to stop jumping around and finish something. :) I posted to her blog and hope she won't be upset that I love her quilting technique and want to "copy" it! We shall see. Gloria

I finally found one place that had enough fabric to do a quilt for my new grandson. I chose Beep-Beep! and the Fabric Shack had it in the amounts I needed! Well, it came today. I just love new fabric!!! Don't you??? I'm using a pattern from the November 08 issue of Quilter Magazine called Kids Will Be Kids, however, I put it in EQ6 to change the size a bit. I'm very excited! I am trying to begin my calendar quilt soon and will share something soon. Gloria

I've been in Houston attending my granddaughter's baptism. We can only assume that no one told her that she was going to be wet and shared her displeasure with the entire church attendees. However, the proud grandmother certainly had tears in her eyes as I watched her...a great visit and trip. We flew out of Louisville (I live very close to Cincinnati, but their fares are astronomical so I trek an hour and a half away...ugh!) and got in around 1:00 a.m. I'd dozed only to awaken to a police car pulling us over for going slightly over the speed limit (83 in a 70 zone), but he was very pleasant and we promised not to speed again. Whew!!!! Handiquilter has upgraded their software for the ProStitcher and I can't wait to get home from tennis practice to install it!!! Now, I just need to get the baby quilt done so I have a quilt to load. I'm so very excited. Here's what I hope to do this week: (I'm hoping this declaration will keep me motivated.) 1. Start my Calend...

This sounds like a great idea so I signed up for the Calendar Quilt Challenge ! Here's what you do: Add a piece of fabric for every day of the year and by the end of 2009, you'll have a great quilt. Use a scrap from every quilt you've made or do a rainbow of colors...just try to add one piece of fabric every single day! Since I don't have a ton of scraps yet, it might be a bit hard for me, but I might buy some fat quarters or do something to get more fabrics...just not sure how it will go. Feel free to join in!

Taking a break from the two mystery quilts and pieced the boy version of "Party Mints" that I bought as a kit at the Quilt Box in Dry Ridge, KY. The rows--not sewn together yet. Above them is the girl version. What am I going to do with all the yellow in that one row? The cornerstones should have been different than the larger blocks in that row. I should have taken a photo before I sewed the blocks. Perhaps I would have seen that? Nah, maybe not. I'll move them around and see if it will work or rip and re-sew some seams. Gloria - told you I didn't have an eye for color

When we moved to Kentucky, as a way to get involved (really, to lose weight and not have to exercise), I got back into tennis. I've been playing every week at a club and then joined their Interclub team. Today was our first doubles match and, surprisingly, my team mate Sarah and I won 2 sets! The Club sends three teams of two at each level (I'm at the bottom 3.0--got to start somewhere!) and our other two teams were defeated. This was our very first match ever, so there were nerves involved, we'll get 'em next time! I still seem to have cement shoes, but I'm chipping away at them. No weight loss either...should I dare hope for thyroid problems like Oprah? On the no-tennis days, I plan to use my new Wii-Fit and see if that helps...yes, I know, you have eat better along with the exercise, but that's not been happening either. I'm still alternating the sewing of the Double Delight and NYE Mystery this evening, but no photos as they are still just DD 3.5 square...

Okay, I've decided to do Bonnie's Double Delight and have made a few of Step 1 and cut a few center blocks for Step 2. I didn't have cheddar (gold), so my cheddar is pretty orange! What do you think?

Well, I made one or two more blocks, so I haven't totally fizzled out. Notice the third block from the left on the bottom row hasn't been put together yet, but close. Do you see the pattern yet? Check out the new design wall...needs work, doesn't it?

I'm bound and determined to create a design wall and it's been quite a challenge for this room. I have a huge studio which is actually a room created from above my three-car garage plus the laundry room. The biggest challenge is that due to the peak of the garage, I have sloped ceilings with only about five feet of 8' ceilings right down the middle of the room! So, I can't have a design wall attached to any wall because of the windows at each end of the room. There's a couple of half walls with pillars that are holding up the roof and they are just in the way. Anyway, I'd started making a design wall in Baltimore with one blue foam board and this Home Depot only had pink so I'm a bit disappointed they don't have the same background, so I'm going to think about wrapping them before I put up the flannel permanently. For now, I've just sprayed it with removable adhesive and throw up the flannel. I can use it, at least. For now, I'm just leaning...

Well, I did get a couple of each of the blocks finished for the NYE Mystery quilt by Ann Smith. Ann did a great job and I will doing all her mysteries from now on! Thank you, Ann. Here's the two blocks (I've only completed two of each, but others are on their way to completion): I really need to find my camera or take better photos with this one...sorry, they are all blurry (operator error).

I wish everyone a very happy new year and a very prosperous one, too!