Hooked on Quilting

I finally finished the binding after  a couple of years of using and washing it. Trust me, don't try this at home. The unfinished portion was unraveling and the batting had started to expand, so it was more difficult to stuff in it. I'd carried it around in the car thinking I'd have a project if I ever had the time. Unfortunately, something spilled on it and I felt the need to wash it. Not a good idea.  So, I'm linking up to Shanna and Melissa's A Lovely Year of Finishes! Check it out. Keeps me on track, well, sort of. 

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...

Wow, it is so easy to let posting to your blog slip. I'm still reading all of yours, though. Happy Thanksgiving! Gained three pounds! Not good...back to Wii Fit tonight. I finished the baby quilt and even made a label. I used variegated thread leftover from my Take 5 quilt...big mistake. It shows up in all the wrong places. I really need someone to hold my hand when I make these decisions. Maybe one day, I'll get brave and take a photo and share it with all of you. I didn't really "connect" my rows so that adds to the ugly. My daughter seems happy with it, but left it behind when she went home. I thought you'd want to see it finished. Anyway, my next project is to make the smocking Christmas dresses so it's doubtful that I'll do some quilting in the next two weeks. Woe is me. Soon...

Great day! I made a continuous bias binding and attached it and now I have a completed quilt to hand-sew the binding while I watch television. Lots of flaws, but I'm so happy to have this one ready to go. I've promised to smock some Christmas bishop dresses, so I'll have to take some time off from quilting, however, I think I'll load a baby quilt, just in case I have some time to play with the Pro-Stitcher. I'm almost ready to sell my unused groovy boards and rulers and such, anyone interested?

I am enjoying a quilting/sewing retreat at home this weekend so I actually finished the quilting of my first HQ16 Pro-Stitcher quilt! It's a Take 5 pattern and I see some piecing things that I wish I'd changed. I'd also wanted to add a second inside border, but that thought got lost in our move. This was one of my first classes I took at my LQS in MD. I didn't do the best job on piecing or placement on this one so I'm hoping I made most of my learning mistakes with it. I learned lots on how to program the Pro-Stitcher, however, I "nudged" nearly everything to get it to fit. Also, I designed, in QuiltCad, a little quilting motif for the inside border. I also did a single design in the corner because I didn't have time to learn how to intertwine the outside borders. All in all it turned out rather well. I run out of bobbin thread once and it's a bit of rat's mess right there, but I'm hoping to fix that. I hope I can remember how I did every...

Well, I should apologize for not posting for such a long time. Life just has a way of side-tracking us. <grin> Anyway, I've agreed to smock some Christmas dresses, so I'm about to renew my smocking skills and try to remember how to pleat and construct a bishop dress. I worked on my Take 5 quilt and learned a lot about how to use the HQ 16 with the Pro-Stitcher. It really doesn't take very long for the quilting process when it's automated. I'll be back with some photos--if I ever find that darned camera or move all the photos off of this card for my old one so I can share. I'm trying all things to make a design wall happen, but so far, nothing's worked, except in a room way down the hall and I've messed up twice carrying blocks from there. More soon.