Becky's Blabber

WIP Wed: Block and Cover ;-)

2012-02-15T13:55:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday, so once again, I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed. Come see what others are working on!

I finished up another block for the Solstice Star Series. I also made another block for my "Scrap Attack" quilt.

Mostly, though, I've been working on some new Kindle covers for my Etsy shop.

Other non-sewing news is that our main computer, with all of my pictures from last week back crashed over the week-end. Luckily we have another computer. It's super-slow, but it's better than nothing! I'm hoping that we can get it back soon, and that the tech will be able to save all of our data!! It's backed up, but of course it'd be best if all can be fixed. Wish us luck!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2012-02-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

I made up a few of these cards for the sweethearts I share my life with on a daily basis. I hope you all know how much I love interacting and being inspired by all of you who read this blog! Thanks!

"Tool Time" (Project Quilting challenge 3)

2012-02-12T08:35:00.000-08:00

I barely got "Project Quilting"'s 3rd challenge done this week! The challenge was to create something with "tools" as the theme. We had to incorporate 4 tools into the quilt.

The kids and I have been making "bleach" T-shirts on a regular basis for years now. It's the perfect thing to do on a hot summer day when the kids are bored to death! We take dark solid T-shirts, I let the boys arrange objects on their shirts (often making ones for me and my husband too), then use a spray bottle to spray bleach on them (to make the hands, above, I traced the boys' hands onto cereal boxes, and cut them out). As the bleach reacts, it leaves the silhouette on the shirt. I remove the objects, and plunge the shirts into a bucket of water once they start reacting, to stop the reaction. It's a whole lot of fun!

I decided to try this approach on my "tool time" quilt, using black fabric and tools that I use regularly, a knife in the kitchen, scissors in the sewing room, a hand shovel in the garden, and needle-nose pliers, for beading, and various other things.

I had to try a few times to get it right, and the weather wasn't exactly ideal, but I'm pretty happy at how it turned out. I figured batiks would be the best type of fabric to pair it with, and used up some of my scraps as well.

If you've been following my Pfaff free motion saga, I did get it to free motion quilt quite nicely, after opening up a brand new pack of 90/14 top stitch needles (I was using embroidery), and playing not only with the balance adjustment, but also the tension adjustment. I am writing EVERYTHING down that I try now, so that I can also go back and look at what worked for each thread type, etc. I also found and bought some Isocord Thread on-line to try out. This is what Leah Day of "Free Motion Project" blog uses, and actually Pfaff customer service, whom I now have a dialogue with, suggested, using a high quality polyester thread, as they said sometimes cotton can be "more delicate". Enjoy, and wish me luck!

Finish it up Friday: New Pants and a Postcard

2012-02-10T09:25:00.000-08:00

It's Friday, so I thought I'd share yet another garment finish, and a (late) birthday postcard that I'm putting in the mail today. I'm joining up with Crazy Mom Quilts' Finish it up Friday's link-up. Come see what others have finished this week!

Yesterday, I finished up my new pants! These have got to be the most comfortable pants I've ever had! They're made of stretch corduroy, a wonderfully comfortable fabric! They were also super-easy to make (an "easy Simpicity" pattern). I already had both the fabric and the pattern, so they are also easy on the budget!

I also had a birthday in the family this week. It kind of crept up on me. It's for my little nephew. I had this robot Japanese "Kokka" fabric that I bought in a a big scrap bag of fabric off of Etsy, and knew it'd be perfect. If you haven't typed in "fabric scraps" into Etys's supply search, give it a try!

I also wanted to figure out a way of "writing" on the postcard that was different than machine embroidery or hand stitching, or writing, and suddenly figured out a way to use up (a very wee little bit of) the fabric selvages that I have been saving to some day make one of those awesome selvage projects I've seen in blog land.

I love it, and hope he does too!

I hope you have a great week-end.

Ott light, new jacket, and split personality

2012-02-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments yesterday. Most are things I've tried again and again, but there were a few new things. Pfaff also wrote again, and suggested many of the same things (bigger needle, different thread, etc, etc,), but also suggested that I try a spool net over the spool. Hmmm that's a new one too, so I hope to play around with it later today...

After my rant yesterday, I just have to make sure I give the flip side, and tell you about a great customer service experience that I also had this week. I have been wanting to buy an "Ott" lamp ever since I moved my sewing stuff into our dark bedroom. I watched Jo-Anns, and pounced when I saw them on sale for 50% off and free shipping. Upon screwing the bulb in and flipping the switch, the bulb made a loud pop, and started smoking!! DH quickly unpluged it, and removed the bulb. YIKES! He put in another florescent bulb (something that I've since learned SHOULD NOT BE DONE), and that worked fine. So the lamp works, but the bulb must have had a problem. I called Jo-anns, who was more than happy to replace it, and even cover the shipping (I also learned that I can't bring things into Jo-anns stores for returns that I bought from the internet), but I had to send in the whole lamp and bulb, since they were sold together. They also recommend that I call Ott and see if they could help. So I did. I talked to a customer service rep, and explained what happened, and they immediately agreed to send me a new light bulb!! All I had to do is email them a copy of the receipt. It's in the mail right now!! They also told me to immediately remove the regular bulb from the lamp, as apparently the Ott bulbs do not produce much heat, and regular bulbs can, even melt the plastic lamp shade :-O. I must say I'm really impressed with their response.

I also finished my jacket. I used the above pattern, which is really cute, but I'm not sure I like how it looks on me. It's very cute, I just don't have the right body for it. I think it'd look good on a taller person, but it's nice and warm. The fabric is a light-weight sweat-shirt woven kind of fabric... flannel on the "wrong side", so it'll be great to wear at night when I get cold watching TV!

Lastly, see that red button below my face up there to the right? Yep, I finally signed up for Pinterest, and have spent a LOT of time on their site! Wow! I really didn't think I'd like it as much as I do. It's like a visual bookmark tool! Combine that with my bog, my almost inactive Twitter account (I hate the brevity of the "tweet"), Facebook, and other various social networking sites, I'm feel almost like my personality is split into many different ways. It's really a strange feeling. It almost makes me, at times, want to delete them all and go back to the "way things were", but I also love all of the people I've "met", ideas that are shared, and the tons and tons of information and inspiration. I must admit that I do like being a small part of it!! If you're still reading, thanks for that!!

WIP Wed: Frustration (rant warning) and Fabric

2012-02-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

Once again, I'm having problems getting my Pfaff QE 4.0 to free motion quilt. Normal sewing is fine. It sews well on fabric postcards, and even my Kindle covers, which have interfacing under the fabric to help them keep their shape, but the moment I start to quilt an actual quilt, it starts skipping like crazy and breaking thread when I sew backwards, or over seams, no matter what I do. I've just about had the last straw. I even wrote to the company and explained my problems with the machine, and their response (which was in line with our local dealer's response) was that since I bought it used, my warranty is void. Boooo..... Their only suggestion was to make sure that the computer was set to the proper free motion setting. Boooo again. I hate to say this, but I feel like no one takes me seriously. No one believes that I KNOW how to free-motion quilt. Dealers and the company think that all of these problems are just bad technique. My gut says that this is a defect with the machine, but I don't have the money to buy a new one, so I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. It stinks that this uber-expensive machine isn't living up to its price, and that the company won't stand behind it.

That said, I've decided to step away from quilting for a bit, and focus on putting a dent in my apparel fabric stash. About half of my fabric stash was bought over 5 years ago, to sew clothes for me and my family. I caught the quilting bug soon after I decided to become a stay-at-home mom, and have done very little garment sewing since. I have 2 garment WIP's that I'm working on right now, a pair of pants:

and a shirt/jacket:

The pattern on the jacket is a bit busy, but it's the only fabric I had enough of to make it. I already had the patterns and the fabric, so I'm getting a few pieces of new clothes for "free"!

As usual, I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP wed. Come join us!!

Picture-Perfect

2012-02-06T12:02:00.000-08:00

My friend, Amy, of "The Never True Tales" has a wonderful blog post today about those "throw away" pictures we have so many of in this digital age. It's so easy to make things picture-perfect now. She's right, you rarely see "bad" pictures on blogs, but some of these pictures are still meant to be shared. I thought I'd share a "bad" picture I took recently that is so good! That's my teenaged son on the right, with his uncle and little cousin. This picture may not be perfect, but it makes my heart sing! What about you? Do you have any of these to share?

Postcards and Pictures

2012-02-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

This week I received not 1, not 2, but 3 fabric postcards from my "Year of the Dragon", and "Embellished Owl" swap. The first 2 are from Monika of "My Sweet Prairie". The last one is from postcard swapper Karen.

I also have some pretty pictures to share from my walk this morning. One of the best things about having our dog, is that he gets me outside just about every single day, usually in the morning. This morning we happened to be out just as the freezing fog was lifting and the sun was coming out. The white frost on the trees and grasses were just beautiful, not yet melted by the sun, and the sky was such an amazing blue! I'm so glad I had my camera with me!!

Here's a close-up of the frost. It took me so long to get my camera to focus on it. One of these days I'm going to get a digital camera with a manual focus...

Friday Finish:Pathway to the Stars

2012-02-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

I've only taken 2 quilting/sewing classes, both from my friend Colleen Blackwood. She's the designer of this pattern, "Pathway to the Stars", as well as many other patterns. She also teaches free motion quilting locally in NE Oregon and SE Washington.

I just got it back from another friend, long-arm quilter and pattern designer, Marlene Oddie, of "Kissed Quilts". I almost forgot how incredibly easy it is to drop off a quilt at a long arm quilter, then pick it up and simply add the binding! She did a great job!!

Here's a few more details:

Here's the back. I used up a lot of my batik stash of various fat quarters and a few full yards. This is one of the biggest quilts I've ever made, and I forgot just how much fabric both the front and back take!

My husband loves this quilt as much as I do, so it's already on our bed :-).

I'm linking up with "Crazy Mom Quilts" Finish it up Friday. Come check out what others have finished up!!

WIP Wed: Another Star and How to Sew a Partial Seam

2012-02-01T16:09:00.000-08:00

I've been sewing along with Faith at Fresh Lemons Quilts, Solstice Star Series. Her star today is "Another Star". Her instructions are great, but I thought I'd share an alternate way to sew up the middle square, using a partial seam.

I cut all 4 of the center strips the same size, then starting with the first strip, I lined up the "bottom" of the strip with the bottom of the square, leaving the "tail" hanging off at the top. The most important step is that I start sewing in the MIDDLE of the square/strip seam, making a partial seam, sewing towards the "bottom", or where the edges line up.

I then pressed this open, and simply lined up the next strip up with the square and strip and sewed.

Pressed.

Sewed the next strip.

Pressed.

Sewed on the entire last strip.

Press.

Now all you need to do is finish that first seam by folding the "partial seam", right sides together and finishing it up.

Press, and you're done.

The rest of the tutorial can be found here at Faith's tutorial site!

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed! Come join us there!

How to cut different sizes from one sewing pattern

2012-01-31T16:04:00.000-08:00

I've been going "back to my roots", sewing clothes (making some PJ's) here before it gets too warm to wear them (blush). I've sewn far more clothing items in my life than quilts, and one thing that is difficult with sewing garments, is that you can't try them on before you sew them. It's actually a great way to learn what looks good on you and what doesn't. You can hold the fabric up to you in the fabric store and see if the color looks good on you, but sometimes even that will throw you for a surprise as the patterns play out in the finished garment.

A sure way to solve this is to use the same pattern over and over again when you find one that you like :-). This is true for my boys too. But as they grow, I need to use a bigger size. Plus, with 2 boys, I often make 2 different sizes of the same pattern for each kid (like the PJ's). I thought I'd share with you the method I learned through trial and lots of error to get the most out of a pattern. You COULD cut the smaller size, and tape it back together, or buy multiple patterns, or trace the different sizes onto a new sheet of tracing paper, but these are all tedious at best.

I found the best way is to cut "under" the pattern line you want. If possible, I fold it along the size line and cut right next to it (making sure I pin right next to the line). You can even fold along curved lines if you cut and unpin strategically.

A few more shortcuts I use are clipping at the notches, and using pins to mark the "markings" (again, you can do this "under" the pattern).

My kids love polar fleece, and I've sewn with a lot of it, and other stretchy fabric, using my serger, so one more tip I'll add, because I made this mistake while cutting these out, is to be sure you pay extra attention to the direction of fabric that you place the pattern on. It usually stretches in one direction well, the other not so well, so if you try to use a scrap to save fabric, and cut against the grain when you should be cutting with the grain, you'll be in trouble!! Luckily I had plenty of fabric ;-).

I'm joining up with Quiltstory's Fabric Tuesday for a change! Come check out what others are working on!

Whirling Star

2012-01-30T17:22:00.000-08:00

I've decided to add yet another quilt along to my list. Here's my Whirling Star block from Faith's Fresh Lemons Blog's Solstice Star Series. Enjoy!!

Cheeseburger in Paradise Quilt

2012-01-29T09:30:00.000-08:00

I finished up my 2nd Project Quilting quilt last night. The theme was a song title. This was such a fun quilt! My friend Kathleen saw the border fabric (french fries) at a quilt store about an hour and a half away from me, and knew I was looking for some, called me up, asked if I wanted some, and bought it for me. Isn't that so nice!? Yesterday I was able to get it from her. I think it's the perfect binding fabric!

I also decided to do more free-motion quilting around all of the little fabric pieces, then hand sewed on the sesame seeds with embroidery floss that I had.

Be sure to look at the Project Quilting Flickr Group!! Anyone can jump right in and do the up-coming challenges as well!

Project Quilting part 2 WIP: Song Title

2012-01-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

Here's my Project Quilting second quilt. The "theme" this time around is "Song Title". When I saw this Sunday, I immediately thought of Jimmy Buffet's "Cheeseburger in Paradise". My husband is a huge Jimmy Buffet fan (parrot-head). We probably have every CD he's ever come out with, and they get played regularly, although there are a few that got somewhat "censored" when our kids came along. It also occurred to me that while I have been making relatives birthday cards since this Spring, I never made my husband one for his December birthday. So this one's for him! It's only 7 1/2 by 10 inches, making it a very small quilt (and yes, it does have batting in it). I figure he can hang it up at work, or anywhere else he wants.

Right now, though I'm trying to decide if I should quilt on top of the burger and tree leaves. My machine started acting up a bit, so I took a bit of a break today, but hope to get it done tonight or tomorrow. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I also got this beauty in the mail today! It's a postcard from Cheryl from our "Year of the Dragon" postcard swap! I just love the colors she picked! I can't decide what's more fun... making these postcards, or getting them...

"Octo-Swirl" Quilt Block Tutorial

2012-01-26T16:33:00.000-08:00

You asked for it! Here it is, my "octo-swirl quilt block" tutorial on how I made my quilt block that I donated to a charity quilt for breast cancer. I couldn't resist the pop-culture reference ;-). Here's the first block I made.

The first thing I'll tell you is when you make up a block from total scratch, take notes on how you did it, in case you want to make it again!! I didn't, and it was pretty darn hard to re-create it, but I did!

When I made my first block, I had a specific fabric that I wanted to use (the pink "Fandango" hearts), but only a small scrap of it, and the block needed to be 12.5 inches square. I looked all through my "5500 Quilt Block" book, and didn't see what I wanted, so I looked at what I had. I had some 2.5 inch jelly strips that I had collected on a local shop hop, and thought it'd be fun to wrap them around the block like a log cabin block, but I wanted something a little more challenging. I decided to chop off the corners of my square block to make it an octagon. I did a lot of experimenting, and even more while I made the blocks for this tutorial, and came up with these instruction.

They do include a partial seam, but don't let that scare you away, it's easy to do!

The blocks with pink in them use larger squares, 6.5 inches, and the block on the upper right uses a 5 inch square, the standard charm square size. You could easily make up a bunch of these blocks with a pack of charm squares and a "jelly roll" of 2.5 inch strips.

Either way, you need 1 square (5 inch by 5 inch or 6.5 inch by 6.5 inch), and 2 jelly roll strips (2.5 by 42 inches,or width of fabric) that are cut from 2 different colors. You could also make this block with all sorts of combinations of different sized squares and strips...

To cut the octagon, I use the 45 degree line on my cutting mat and line it up on the line, then chop off the corners so that the length and width are the same. So if it's a 5 inch square, I put the ruler 2.5 inches to the left of the top and bottom point and cut, then do the same to the right side. I hope these pictures will make it clearer.

I cut at 3 and 1/4 inch on both sides of the 6.5 inch square.

Then I flip it and do the same to the top and bottom.

From here on out, I'll just show the larger square, but the steps are the same for the smaller one.

The 2 most important steps come right at the beginning:

1: Make sure you leave a 5 inch "tail" that extends on both sides of the first seam. This is critical, as you will see later.
2. Start the first seam in the middle of the side, or seam, making a "partial seam". You only have to do this on the first one.

Sew right sides together. DO NOT trim the strip yet!!

Press the seam open, always toward the outer edge, or the pink or white in my case.

Next, flip the fabric over (right side down), and line up your ruler along the next seam. In will be on the side where the seam is complete. You will keep rotating around the octagon in the same direction.

Cut the first strip on this line.

Grab you second jelly roll strip (alternate color), and line it up, right sides together starting with the top of the first strip, and sew.

Press

Flip and cut as before (you can use the lines on your cutting mat if you want).

Take the first color strip, and sew your next seam, starting again at the top of the previous jelly roll strip.

Press.

Trim.

Continue as above, alternating colors, and going in the same direction, being VERY careful not to cut that first strip off. You'll have to tuck it out of the way as you get all the way around.

After you trim off that 8th strip, simply fold the block, right sides together, lining up that last seam, and sew!

Press (you're almost done).

Here's what the block with the 5 inch center square looks like:

Next, you need to trim up the sides. Be really careful which sides you trim. Remember that there are 8!!! I learned this the hard way with the 5 inch square. Put the colors you want to be "straight" on the right, with the corner you want as the triangle on the upper right. Here's your 2 choices. See the difference?

With my block, I trimmed the larger square 1 1/4 inch from the inside seam on all 4 sides, making an 8.5 inch square block!!

With the 5 inch square center block, I trimmed it 2 inches from the inside seam, also making a 8.5 inch complete block. You could use wider strips on a bigger block to expand the block too.

I wanted the purple as the triangle though, but didn't realize my mistake until it was too late. I may play around some more with this one (and take better notes this time).

You can add white borders around the 8.5 inch square, as I did with my block for the breast cancer quilt, to make it a larger block. Remember that with quilting, you can always take away, you can't add, meaning cut the wider borders a bit wider than you think you may need. You can always trim it down smaller.

I sure hope I made sense. Please ask if you have any question (or let me know if I made any mistakes)!! Feel free to share, but please give me credit, as I now have a much better understanding of just how much time goes into these free tutorials!! I've benefited from them a lot though, thanks to other bloggers, so I wanted to give a little back myself!! Enjoy!

WIP Wed: More scraps....

2012-01-25T16:52:00.000-08:00

I'm afraid I've been busy the last few days dealing with car problems. We have a hybrid car, and the main battery pack bit the dust, but we're hoping it'll be covered in a warranty extension (fingers crossed). I did manage to get a few blocks sewn, including the first star (above) in Faith From Fresh Lemons blog's Solstice Star Series. She sure savors "s"'s! I did the Summer Sampler Series too last summer, and love her tutorials! I also got another Scrap Attack block done (below), and am trying to design a quilt for this week's Project Quilting that needs to be based on a song title. I'm keeping it under wraps, mainly because there's really not much to show yet. Stay tuned. My Etsy shop has some new Kindle covers, and I'm also hoping to show you how I did my block for breast cancer, so I can get a tutorial of my own up here soon! As usual, it's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed. Come join us there!

Treasure in the freezer

2012-01-22T13:33:00.000-08:00

This morning, when I opened my freezer, I found this treasure in there that had been stored away by one of my kids.

Here's where it came from:

You see, yesterday, the sun finally came out, and the icy hold that has gripped us for days finally started to melt! For a few brief hours, all outside surfaces started shedding their icy skins, much like cicadas do, leaving behind exact reverse models of each little thing... rocks, fence posts, branches and such. Most broke as they hit this ground, but this little ice shell is now being kept as a souvenir of this natural wonder. I love the fact that my son recognized and appreciated it enough to save.

Here's a few pictures I took when I could. It sure was pretty, but I'm glad it's gone!!

Friday (icy) Finishes

2012-01-20T12:11:00.000-08:00

We're still stuck inside, I'm afraid. The storm that hit the PNW really did a number on us. Luckily, we still have power, and a fully stocked pantry. With the roads for miles looking like this though, schools and even many work places and highways and interstates have been closed for the last 2-3 days. The weather forecast isn't good, and it looks like we may still have another day ahead like this. But it's been good for getting sewing things done! I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilt's Finish it up Friday. Head over there to see what others have finished up!

Besides my New Orleans inspired quilt for Project Quilting, I also finished up a pink and white block for a local breast cancer auction quilt that's being made. I also finished up my postcards for my swaps, but they're still here not mailed, due to the ice. I haven't left the house since Tuesday!!

I also have been working on getting a long-standing UFO finished, to take to Marlene Oddie, of Kissed Quilts. She does long arm quilting, and I won a 1 cent per sq inch discount for her services! Now that her holiday rush is over, I've been working to get the border sewn on, and the back made. I decided to piece together the back with various fat quarters that I had in my stash, and a few big pieces from yard long cuts as well. It took a bit of doing, and I've put a huge dent in my batik stash, but I only had to buy a few fat quarters to finish the entire quilt. It's huge, 81 x 81 inches. I took a class from Colleen Blackwood, a local quilter and pattern designer. It's her pattern, "Pathway to the Stars" pattern. I also took her free-motion quilting class, which helped me a TON! If you live close by (NE Oregon, SE Washington), I'd highly recommend any of her classes!!! My husband loves this quilt, so when it gets all quilted and bound, it'd going on our bed!!

Finally, I have a lot of Kindle covers that I'm hoping to get finished up soon to go into my Etsy shop!! As soon as this ice melts though, I'm taking a sewing break! I hope it's soon!

Stick a fork in me...

2012-01-18T16:22:00.000-08:00

And call me done!

***spoiler alert... if you swap postcards with me, and don't want to see your January cards, don't scroll down!!***

The kids had a snow day today, after night of thick slushy snow, and the forecast of freezing rain and/or more snow. The snow turned to rain this morning, making it too yucky to even go out and play. The roads are slick and icy, so we've all been stuck in the house all day (except for the walk our dog insisted upon). The done their share of bickering, while I've tried to get some sewing done. I sure hope there's school tomorrow, but with temps getting below freezing tonight, it's likely that they won't. Only time will tell.

I've worked more on my scrap attack quilt. The plan was to make all different blocks and put it all together into one quilt, but now I'm thinking I may change my mind. What do you think? I really like that lower right block...

I finally decided to get a whole bolt of interfacing this time around for my Kindle cases (my dog's thrilled). I'm sick of driving an hour each way when I run out, and Jo-anns had a whole new bolt of what I needed, and were more than happy to sell it to me. I was even able to use my 40% off coupon! I've been cutting it up today, and will soon have some more Kindle covers on my Etsy shop.

I also finished my postcards for my swap, although I need to take them to the post-office, and don't want to drive in this mess, so it'll be later this week that they get off. They turned out really cute! I hate to spoil the surprise, but I also hate waiting to post, and frequently forget if I wait, so here they are!! I joined 2 this month, "Embellished Owls, and "Year of the Dragon". I found that this scissor work was a nice thing to do while watching TV in the evening, and didn't aggravate my hands, so I may just start doing more of it!!

Enjoy!

Trial and Error

2012-01-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes when I want to do something new, I have to stop trying to figure it out in my brain, and just start to do it. This is when the seam ripper gets used, I make many mistakes, but I also learn and sometimes even surprise myself.

Last week I heard about a local quilt being put together to raise money for breast cancer. Each person makes a pink and white 12 inch block, which will all get sewn together into a big auction quilt! I was stumped at what to do, and just started playing around with fabric I had. I knew I wanted to use a specific fabric, but thankfully decided to try it out on other scraps first, since I wasn't using a pattern. You can see the mistakes I made above. I figured out partial seams were needed and that I needed to add some extra fabric in places. Here's the finished block I made next.

Today I was making some birthday fabric postcards and trying to get my January swap cards made. One of the cards, "embellished owls" had me stumped. I have 3 different owl fabrics, and while I'd love to sew some of my vast bead stash onto them, I feared they wouldn't make it through the mail. I really don't like hand sewing anything, and tried some various trims, but didn't like them. I had these colorful batik scraps laying around from the birthday cards, and suddenly got an idea.

First the trial and error/ playing around part:

This led to another idea:

Sweet!!!

I couldn't help to also add the only embellishment the owls I used to work with had... fish and wildlife tracking leg bands ;-).

Since today, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, has become a traditional day of service, I decided it was a great excuse to start another Project Linus Quilt.

I've had these scraps partially cut out into pieces to make bow tie blocks forever. This project became a UFO when I couldn't find a good "background" fabric for the bow ties. The Kona solid scraps from my architecture quilt were still laying around, and suddenly I knew exactly what to do. The Kona solids are PERFECT!!!

Isn't it amazing what happens when you just start playing around?

Project Quilting Challenge 1 Architecture

2012-01-15T09:31:00.000-08:00

Here's my entry for Kim's Crafty Apple's Project Quilting's challenge . The challenge was to create a quilt of any size that uses architectural elements as its inspiration. The finished quilt is 30 by 40 inches long, and I used Kona solids for my fabric from a swap that I participated in with Annemarie at Gen X Quilters. I used a simple "stitch in the ditch" quilting for it. See my last 3 blog entries for more discussion of my creative process.

Here, courtesy of my friend, Dan Martone, is a few pictures of my inspiration:

They are doors in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This style of houses, the "Creole Cottage" are scattered liberally throughout the French Quarter, where Dan and his wife, Laura Martone live. Be sure to visit Laura's personal blog, Laura's Simple Pleasures, or her professional blog, "American Nomad" at Moon travel, where she's currently working to write the next Moon travel guide fro New Orleans (yea!). Thank you Dan and Laura for these great pictures!

Be sure to also visit the Project Quilting Flickr page to see what amazing quilts others have made as well.

Architecture progress

2012-01-14T16:07:00.000-08:00

I got my quilt top finished for Project Quilting's first challenge. The back's all ready too. I just need to quilt them together. Here's the only picture I have of this style of houses though. God forbid that you look like a tourist in your own town ya know. I'm kind-of shocked at how FEW pictures I have of the French Quarter, after living there for years. I guess part of it is that until recently (like 2 years ago) I only had a big bulky camera that I never wanted to carry around with me. Big bulky cameras also attract criminals who target tourists in the quarter, so I just never carried one around when I lived there. (sigh). The only reason I have this one is that it was taken just 6 months after Hurricane Katrina hit, and we were there visiting my parents (who were living in a trailer). We spent a lot of our time on that trip touring the vast destruction.

If you have a good photo I can borrow by tomorrow at noon, send me a line. Otherwise I just hope people can see my inspiration. Oh, and wish me luck!!

WIP Wed: Architecture

2012-01-11T16:39:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm joining up (a bit late) with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed.

I've got a start on my Project Quilting Quilt. It's theme is architectural elements. My quilt is based on the Creole Cottages and Shotgun Houses that are so much a part of New Orleans, especially in the French Quarter and older parts of town. These houses, as well as so many others have floor to ceiling windows and doors to take advantage of cross ventilation in the days before air conditioning. That means that there's typically another set of these windows on the opposite end of the house. Many of these old houses have really tall ceilings. The houses in the quarter that are more than one story often have beautiful balconies that are an iconic part of the French Quarter.

I'm also working on my postcards for January ("embellished owls", and "year of the dragon"). I don't want to spoil the surprise though.

While playing around with my new EQ7 program, I couldn't figure out how to design this current quilt, but I did stumble across the applique library, and found a way to print out text applique templates, which makes me so incredibly happy, as I have had another New Orleans themed quilt in my "idea notebook" for quite a while, but getting letters to applique on it was a big stumbling block! This is no longer the case! I can hardly wait to finish these other projects before starting on this other fun quilt!

2012: The year of the Quilt-a-long?

2012-01-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

Gosh, I think hosting a quilt-a-log must be on the top of a lot of quilt blogger's lists! I can't remember ever seeing so many quilt-a-longs as I have the last week or so! I LOVE quilt a longs, and already have a growing list of ones that I eventually want to make, but alas, there's just not enough hours in the day!!

How do you choose? There are many that I want to do, but I had to narrow the list somehow. I'm already involved in my postcard swaps, and then there's the Etsy shop... I finally decided to narrow it down to a scrappy quilt-a-long and an artistic challenge. I'm joining up with Stitched in Color's Scrap Attack Quilt Along, and Kim's Crafty Apple's "Project Quilting".

Both of these QAL's involve no pattern at all. I love the freedom involved in these. Don't get me wrong, I love patterns too, but more and more, these projects that have a theme that you build your own quilty project around have become my favorites (the postcard cottage works much the same way). Both are new or almost new blogs to me as well, so it'll be fun to get to know these bloggers!

I already had a pile of 3 inch batik squares laying around from extra fabric that I cut but never used in Lee's Supernova QAL. I dug out my box of batik scraps, cut what I could into 3 inch square, and now I'm happy to say that I no longer have any batik scraps that are larger than 3 inches. I'm not sure what I'll do with the little ones left, but they do make great postcards... Stay tuned to see what I have planned for these.

I don't know how I missed the first 2 "Project Quilting"s, but as soon as I saw this challenge, it grabbed me like few others have!! I just LOVE this challenge. The fact that we only have a week to do it is a bit intimidating, but I love challenges too! This week's theme is to use an architectural element to make any size quilt. Considering my New Orleans roots, I feel like I have a head start though. New Orleans is one of the most architecturally interesting places I've ever known, something I took completely for granted until I moved out West in my 20's. It didn't take long thinking about New Orleans and quilt design before I decided to highlight the Creole cottages and Shotgun houses' distinct style that you see all over New Orleans. I got even more excited when I remembered that I still have a stack of Kona solids from Gen X's Kona solids swap that I did last year. I'm SOOO excited about this project!! I tried to design it on my new QE7 computer program, and quickly got frustrated, but I did manage to get a template made, and used pencils to scribble out the rest....

Gosh, I'd better stop writing and go sew if I'm ever going to get this done!! More to come...

New year, new sewing set-up

2012-01-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to change the name of my blog for a little while now. I decided to finally do it! I hope it goes seamlessly. Hmmm... it didn't. I didn't realize that all of the old links would be gone.... I'm keeping it for now. I think I restored everything back, but now I'm thinking about starting a new one. I started blogging over 3 years ago to keep in touch with family and friends when we moved from Michigan to Oregon, but in the last year or two, it's evolved more an more to reflect my sewing hobby.

I've also been slowly moving my sewing things into a more permanent spot in our house, and this week-end, with help from my husband, it is finally pretty much all in one permanent spot! I have been using our dining room table since we moved. We downsized quite a bit in this move, and for the first time in years, we no longer have a spare room or space to use as a guest room/sewing room. I've been slowly clearing off our desk in our master bedroom, getting a printer, computer, and piles of paper and computer-related stuff off of it to make room for my sewing stuff! It's not ideal, and I hate the decor (from the previous owner), but now I don't have to work in the dining room and entryway anymore, and best of all, I don't have to put it all away for company!

Really, the only downside is the lack of light in this room. It's also the coldest room in the house, which is great for sleeping, but not always good for sewing. But hey, I can just drape a quilt over myself LOL! Eventually, I hope to give the room a new, much lighter coat of paint to reflect every bit of natural light we get from our single North facing window. I'm also seriously eyeing the sale next week of Ott lights at Jo-anns fabric...

In case you're wondering, my fabric stash has been, still is and will continue to be all in our closet.

Our year's starting out with some nice changes. How about you? Any good changes?

Pictures from our trip

2012-01-06T08:47:00.000-08:00

I was just thinking about giving this a title of "slide show", and it occurred to me that while my kids know what slides are, I'm not sure they've ever seen an actual slide show... you know, the l-o-n-g slide show, when slides cost a fortune, and after every trip, you had to get your money's worth, and friends and family often politely would sit through a very long dark evening of that click, click, click, as the tray turned. Digital photos have really changed the way we all take and share pictures. It's so amazing how things have changed. I now get to share vacation pictures with people I've never met (bwahahah!).

But seriously, I really did, and do love seeing pictures. Maybe it's because I'm really visually inspired, curious about the world, and it's a cheap way to travel! I caught myself telling my husband, as I downloaded our trip pictures that I "only" took 60 pictures! Not too long ago, that amount of pictures would have been financially impossible for us. It's a wonderful world! Here's a few pictures of OUR wonderful world out here in Oregon.

I don't camp in the winter, but I've never passed up a chance to go for a walk or hike, especially in a place like this.

Even the puddles are pretty...

The drive home from Portland, is one of the most beautiful drives in the country (IMO), up the Columbia River Gorge, East on Interstate 84. The river is on one side, and these moss-covered rock cliffs jut up on the other side. They're covered with dense forest and punctuated with strings and ropes of waterfalls for miles and miles.

But on the East side of the gorge (which is in the Cascade Mountain Range), the land opens up, and dries out, the sky gets blue, the sun comes out, and when the landscape starts to look like this, we know we're getting close to home...

WIP Wed: More Kindle covers, and a Valentine's Day Project

2012-01-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

Now that our vacation is over, I'm eager to get more inventory made up for my Etsy shop. I have several Kindle covers all cut out, partially sewn together and ready to bind and attach Velcro. I'll be sewing these up for a while before I tackle much else.

I did however do a bit of sewing with one of my friends, whom we spent time with over the New Year's holiday. She's also a quilter and sewer, and had a Valentine's Day project all picked out and ready for us both to sew up. Together we made 2 small (1 foot by 2 feet) wall hangings. We didn't quite finish them, but she let me pick several bits of fabric from her large heart fabric collection to take home with me to finish up. FUN! I also brought a wallet pattern to make for her, which I got done, but failed to take a picture of...

I'm trying really hard not to start a new quilt until I get at least a few more tops sewn into quilts. This is the next one on deck!

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed. Come join us!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

I hope all of you had great New Year's celebrations! We just got back from a whirl-wind 5 day trip to see family and friends in Oregon. We had such a great time! We rung in the new year around this ginormous bon fire! These are huge logs from a friend's 80+ acre property.

If it were up to my husband, we'd live in a similar place, and I must admit that it reminded us of Michigan, and pulled a bit at us... so much room to spread out, no traffic, noise, and so beautiful! Living where we do, a town or 16-17 thousand people is a good compromise, as I occasionally crave the city life. We did both, spending a night in Bend, OR, and Portland, OR, so we all got our various "fixes". Now that we're back, I'm busy tackling laundry, groceries, and the such, but hope to get back into the swing of things soon, including blogging!

I was totally off-line the whole time, but my husband and kids were not, thanks to various internet-connected devices. I'm the last hold out in the family for mobile internet devices, but having my Etsy shop might change it all, as I had 4 sales waiting for me when I got back home!! Seeing my husband's new ipod with its camera is pretty alluring too.

I'm constantly amazed at how fast our world is changing. We had to explain to our kids that when we were their age, we had to use post-cards to communicate with friends on such a tip, not texting cell phones. Seeing them ditch the phone for a nice bon fire was a wonderful reminder that the most primitive of social gathering places can still captivate and make them forget about ipods and cell phones, if only for a few minutes...

On deck

2011-12-27T10:13:00.000-08:00

I hope all of you had a great last few days! We certainly did! The last of my Christmas presents just arrived this morning... The Electric Quilt 7 computer program!! My DH ordered it all by himself!! Is that sweet or what? It's his birthday today, so I'm going to have to find a way to say both thanks, and Happy Birthday!!

I got a few presents made for my kids... fleece pajamas and I made this ipod cover for my youngest, with plans to make another for my oldest. Maybe I'll do a tutorial for it here next year (LOL).

I have my Summer Sampler Series "on deck", all pin-basted, and ready to quilt, but it'll have to wait, since I'll be playing with my new toy for a while, I'm sure!!

Gal's Pal Quilt

2011-12-24T13:14:00.000-08:00

Can you keep a secret? My furry pal sure can!! I probably spend more time with this critter than I do with my family on a day to day basis. Dog's aren't just man's best friend, they're real gal pals too!

My dog has gone for over a year now without chewing up a single pillow or blanket, so I decided that it's time to make him a quilt! Maybe it's just a sign that I have made way too many quilts, maybe I'm crazy, but I think he deserves it LOL. He gives me unconditional love, never asks "What's for dinner?" (never complains about what he gets for dinner), and makes me laugh and smile on a daily basis. He's also my personal trainer (daily mandatory walks, no matter what the weather), and household alarm system. He brings a lot of joy to all of us!

I'm not telling my family the quilt is for him, but there's a few clues that I sewed into the quilt. I wonder if they'll find them. It'll be fun to see. But you got to keep it a secret too until they find them!

I hope all of you have a great Christmas and holiday season!!

Churn Dash Quilt done!

2011-12-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

My churn dash quilt is all quilted, bound, washed, and ready just in time for Christmas, although, it's going over 3000 miles by mail, so it probably won't get there in time, but it'll be close! It's always hard to make a quilt for someone else, but hopefully she'll like it!

I made a few pillow cases to "wrap" the quilt in. I love the way these turned out! Pillowcases are so easy to make, and make great "wrapping paper".

I also was able to get my next quilt all pin basted and ready to go!!

Progress, and "I Spy"

2011-12-18T14:33:00.000-08:00

I decided to try something new with this quilt and use a "pivoting free-motion design". I'm not sure why I was so intimidated by this technique, because now that I have about half of the quilt done, I realize it's not hard, and it's kind of fun. I think it looks cool, but it is taking longer than a stipple.

I broke a needle going over a thick seam (the Pfaff still doesn't really like these bulky seams). After I used my scissors to cut the thread, and unscrewed the broken needle, I looked and looked all over for the needle tip. It took a little while for me to find it. Do you see it?

Now do you see it?

Seems as though my scissors are magnetized, and picked up the tiny needle tip! Isn't science cool?!?!

Churn Dash Quilt top Done!

2011-12-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

What I really should be doing is sewing up more Kindle covers, but instead I'm trying to get this quilt done in time for Christmas. Hmmm... The top's all done, and the back is all ready to sew up. Hopefully I can pin baste it today, and start quilting! We had one nice day of sunshine, but are back to freezing fog again (which means low light, and not so great pictures...). I hope all of you are getting your holiday sewing done!!

Newest (Pendleton wool) stash material!!

2011-12-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

I feel so lucky to live in the same place that makes the amazing Pendleton wool blankets. It's one of only a few remaining textile mills left in the USA. I've heard that they have an amazing outlet store in Portland, but even here in Pendleton we can still get some really good deals. The back room of their mill store has true "2nd" blankets for incredible prices... ones that are slightly imperfect, and that's an understatement. We've taken many friends and family there for tours and shopping, and I always have to call a sales person over to show me the "defect", and often they can't even find it. This place brings a new definition to the word quality.

In the same room, they have a few "surprise bins" that they put remnants in. I've found some really neat fabric in there from time to time. Today was no exception! I saw this wool blanket / upholstery remnant there, marked down to $37 (66 inches by 36 inches). It has to be the most beautiful piece I've ever seen in the bargain bins. Even marked down (it's normally $50/yrd), it's still probably the most expensive single yard of fabric that I've ever bought, but I'm calling it an early Christmas present for me.

I'm torn between trying to make something to sell on Etsy or making something just for me! It seems crazy that a person selling on Etsy from Pendleton Oregon wouldn't take advantage of our mill, but mark-downs are still rare, and this fabric is expensive (but worth it). With such a big print, I'm thinking a nice jacket, vest, or big purse, maybe a back pack... pillows, a scarf? I'm even tempted to collaborate with my oh-so-good-at-woodworking husband to make a piece of furniture..... haha, would THAT be a true test of our marriage or what LOL?!?! Any other ideas?

'Tis the Season...

2011-12-13T08:40:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been spending a whole lot of time at this place, helping my sons' boy scout troop sell Christmas trees. We've had a long-ish spell of freezing fog to coincide with it too, beautiful, but cold, and icy!

Today, the sun is really trying hard to peek through the fog. I sure hope it does! Luckily, I have a lot of warm winter clothes from living in Northern Michigan, but it's still given me a whole new appreciation for those who work outdoors this time of year.

I did manage to send off a few hand made gifts this year. I found these ultra-cute paper dolls printed on fabric at our local quilt store this summer, and bought up enough to make some for my nieces. All I did was fuse the fabric to some fusible fleece, then cut it all out. No sewing involved, and a perfect thing to do while watching TV at night.

I also had a personal request to make a replacement purse for another niece, after she lost her purse in a store. Welcome to the world young lady! At least she's not old enough to carry a credit card and drivers' license!

I also had to order batting on-line, after driving to the closest Jo-anns, an hour away, and they were all sold out! Booooo. Luckily they had it on-line half off, with free shipping. But it took forever to get here. Now I can finally put some quilts together (once I find some time). I also decided to send my Bliss Quilt to my intended recipient (another niece... my SIL and BIL have 4 beautiful girls, and my brother and SIL have 1). I still feel bad that the quilting isn't great, but luckily it is a really pretty quilt.

I hope all of you are enjoying the season! Yes, there's always a ton to do, but it's also a nice time to reconnect, help others and to remember that the best gifts are those that don't cost a cent.

Making Hay While the Sun Shines (more Kindle covers)

2011-12-07T11:57:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm feeling well again, I've been trying to make up for lost time by sewing up more Kindle covers for my Etsy shop. Selling has picked up quite a bit, so I'm trying to take advantage of it while I can! The cover above is actually a large tablet cover I custom made for a good friend of mine. She was my first room mate here in Oregon, when we were both working as wildlife biologists. She also introduced me to my husband!

Here's a peek at the ultra-simple way I photograph my covers for Etsy. It's proof that you don't need anything too fancy. Our camera is a basic point and shoot Cannon Power Shot. It's great! I love the way it takes "micro" images, up close. Now that it's winter, I'm again enthralled at all of the beautiful ice crystals that form each night, including these that I took a picture of this morning.

I also have to brag and show off my husband's latest creation... he's making us a new shed!! Yea!!! Yes, I know, I'm very lucky to have a guy who knows how to build and work with wood and construction!

Coming up for air (gulp), plus a few more postcards

2011-12-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Lately, I've been the kind of sick where I only worry about the survival needs of my family. Even my husband has stepped in and helped out by making a few meals and braving Wal-Mart to get my antibiotics. All quilting is at a stand still, and even Etsy has taken a back seat. I'm finally on the mend, but my energy has been totally drained. Thank goodness for the miracle of antibiotics, prescription cough medicine, and OTC meds! I hope to be back in full swing soon!

I'm just coming up for air to say hi, and to share a few more postcards that I managed to get done in the last week for swaps and for my mom's birthday (top). My mom taught me to sew, among many other things, but her real passion is music. This seems perfect for her!!

The 2 swaps are "Favorite Winter Activity", and "Northern Lights". I hope the winter group gets my ironic sense of humor LOL, I just couldn't resist! All joking aside, though, when we lived in Northern Michigan (Gaylord, our closest town, averages 150 inches of snow a year), shoveling snow was a chore I really didn't mind. It had a meditative quality to it, got me outdoors, and I really do love snow, so being out in it, even with a shovel wasn't bad at all. I even got to see the Northern Lights while we lived there, which was an experience I'll never forget! My dad was alive then, and the first thing I did was to call him and my mom to tell them about it as I stood out in the cold in amazement, so it's an especially fond memory for me. I really was stumped with the NL swap until the very last minute. Like my microscope quilt, it's very hard to represent light with fabric, but once I found the sheer red ribbon and sheer green fabric in my stash, it all came together!

Churn Dash Quilt/Seeing Red

2011-11-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I'm very thankful for all of you who read my blog! It's so fun to share a hobby that you love, and I'm afraid not everyone in my day to day life shares this enthusiasm LOL! So this is a really fun outlet for me! Thanks!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, spent with old and new friends, and our immediate family. I feel very lucky! Today I have my post-Thanksgiving stretchy pants on, did a few extra laps walking our dog this morning, and I'm trying to finish up this churn dash quilt. I'm hoping to get it done in time for Christmas (wish me luck). Red is one of my least favorite colors, but the recipient likes it. I don't know if it's because of this, or because I just don't have the experience working with this color, but I'm not as excited about the almost finished product as I was in the beginning. But I'm not going to change it now. I made the quilt pattern up myself (lots of delicious mind crunching math!), so ended up short a few blocks. I have plenty of extra fabric though, so that's no problem. I already have the rows wen together... just need to make the missing blocks.

I'm not a big shopper, but I really need more batting (I'm all out). I've been waiting for it to go on sale at Jo-anns, and it is today and tomorrow, so I'll be doing a wee bit of holiday acquisition... I hope all of you are having a great holiday week-end!

WIP: Optical Illusion Quilt

2011-11-23T12:35:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee again at "Freshly Pieced" to tell you what I'm working on.

I've had this quilt in my "idea notebook" for a while now. My kids were looking at optical illusions one day last Spring, and I saw this "Cafe Walls" illusion, and immediately though "I should make a quilt like that!". So here it is, coming to fruition!! I've got it about half way done, and I love it! It's super easy too, and with the $5, 2 yard fabric bundles at Wal-Mart, I've only invested $15 so far (and some time).

One thing that's NOT an optical illusion, is my oldest son's height. Last week, when I took him to the doctor, the "illusion" that my husband had been telling me about, became real... he's indeed TALLER THAN ME!!! :-O I must admit, that this has really thrown me for a loop! It's probably what led to my last post. I guess I'm beginning to realize that my whole world is shifting now, just like these lines appear to do. My oldest child is no longer a child. I hate to admit it, but there ARE some things that he now knows more about than me! He's still that little baby to me, yet he's now officially taller than me, wears bigger shoes, and has a voice that keeps getting deeper and deeper. Oh my! Some of my parenting "strategies" suddenly seem ineffective. I can also tell that he's eager to do things that he can't yet, like driving and earning money. So, yes, welcome to the world of parenting-a-teenager! As challenging as it can be some days, I give thanks that he's healthy, smart, strong and has a really good heart. I hope you all have just as much as we do to be thankful for tomorrow and every day! Happy Thanksgiving!

Panel Quilt and Thoughts About Condescension

2011-11-22T14:48:00.000-08:00

Quite the title, huh? I'll explain below, but first, here's my finished panel quilt:

I was really tempted to call it a "cheater quilt", but as I thought more and more about that, I realized that term may be cute, but it also may be a bit condescending to some. Sorry. I hate it when people are condescending to me, and I try really hard to not be to others, but you know what? It happens.

A really good example from my life is about being a boy-girl twin. Growing up, I don't remember a time where I didn't know that I was a "fraternal twin"... the result of 2 eggs, 2 sperm, versus an identical twin, split from one egg and sperm after fertilization. The fact that my brother has a Y chromosome and I don't is even further "proof". Yet I can't count how many times I've been asked if I was an identical twin, after telling people that I have a twin brother.

When I was much younger, I'd roll my eyes, and reply in a condescending, know-it-all manner. I'd watch as the innocent person got embarrassed, or defensive, or both. As I got older I learned that just a simple friendly explanation in a very non-condescending manner would give me a much better, nicer response. I could see the light bulb go off in their head, a smile would come across their face, and best of all, no hard feelings.

I think it's super easy to come across as condescending as a blogger. I'm sure I have in the past. It's really something I'm working on, here and most importantly with my teen-ager, who can also be a wee bit condescending at times. I don't need a New Year's holiday to make a resolution. I'm going to try hard to be less condescending towards him, around him, here and everywhere.

Yes, this quilt was very easy to make, but I love it, and that's all that matters!! Just because it's easy doesn't mean it's cheating. Some of the most beautiful quilts are made from "whole cloth", almost no piecing involved. This will be a perfect quilt to try out some more intricate quilting (we'll see). I'll for sure be making more of these in the future!! I try to learn something new with each quilt I make, and who knew that such a simple quilt would teach me something so important!!

Non-traditional vs Traditional

2011-11-19T15:19:00.000-08:00

I'm working on 2 quilts right now... 1 is a gift, 1 is for fun. 1 is very traditional, 1 is very non-traditional. I'm excited about both of them!

Non-traditional:

Traditional:

Postcards!!

2011-11-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

As you may know, I just love making and receiving fabric postcards! I think I'm even getting the local post office folks on my side too ;-).

This week, I received not 1, but 2 postcards, and one, (the beautiful "African animal"... LOVE her cute mane and tail), was a complete surprise! It's from Beth, one of my oldest on-line quilting friends. She currently is living in South Africa, and shares some of the most beautiful exotic wildlife and botanical pictures on her blog, "Notes...". She's also an accomplished quilter, and has been gracious enough to help me out time and time again with all sorts of quilting questions and concerns. Thanks Beth!!

I was also lucky enough to sign up for a postcard swap with Monika of "My Sweet Prairie", through the Yahoo postcard cottage swap group. She's also helped me out in many ways! Her fiber art is so creative and beautiful! The October swap was "My favorite pumpkin recipe. The middle card is the one I made for everyone, and hers is the pumpkin pancakes. Sheila made the very clever pumpkin shaped card!

Yesterday, I got a card from Colleen, who's in our group for November's swap, "Favorite winter activity". I haven't even started mine yet, but still have until the end of the month.

World Prematurity Awareness Day

2011-11-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

The March of Dimes is trying to raise awareness for the serious problems of premature births, and has asked people to blog about it on today, November 17th, "World Prematurity Awareness Day". A friend of mine, Robin Weiss, made me aware of this day. She's a true expert. I'm not. But I do have a story to share...

I have a twin brother, and we were both born 2 months early. So this is very personal for me. I'm afraid Hurricane Katrina wiped out almost our entire family photo history (including pictures of us in our incubators), but I did manage to find the above picture (one of only a rare few) of my mom with the 2 of us, fresh from the hospital, where we lived our first few weeks of life. I can only imagine how those first few weeks were for my parents, who weren't even aware that they were having twins until my mom's labor continued. Back then, she was even given DES to stop her early labor, a drug which has since been shown to cause horrible problems in the baby who is exposed to it (that would be me and my brother). My mom wasn't given the option to nurse us, and neither my mom or dad were allowed to touch or hold us. My dad wasn't even allowed in the delivery room. These such practices have thankfully changed. Our birth happened before the discovery of light therapy to treat high bilirubin, and I was also subjected to a "blood exchange transfusion".

None of this is news to parents of premature babies. I was fortunate that my 2 boys were born full term and were, for the most part, healthy. We've come a long ways, but the effects of premature birth not only effect a tiny baby and his of her parents, but can be permanent and persist throughout a life time. For me, that's personal!

WIP Wed: New Projects!

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday, and as usual, I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced's linky party! Come join us!

I'm afraid we've had some nasty respiratory bugs here in our house, which has kept me close to home, but luckily I've managed to stay healthy! One good thing (I guess) about working in a hospital is that I think it really exposed me to so many viruses and such that I've built up quite an immunity to them. Same is true for school teachers, I hear... It also taught me the importance of hand washing and surface cleaning... I still have one home from school, but at their age, they don't need nearly as much "care", (but just as much TLC). So, I've been able to get some sewing done.

My only "old" project in the works this week is my Summer Sampler Series Quilt. I found some really cool clearance fabric to use for the back. It's a map, and some of the town and city names are where I have relatives, which is pretty neat! I bought all that they had left, which was about 2 2/3 yard, ALMOST what I need for the quilt back. I hope to get the back sewn up, and then pin baste the whole thing this week.

As I was going through my stash, figuring what to make next, I came across a few fabric block panels that I bought in Michigan, and had thumb tacked up on my wall there. We don't have nearly as much wall space here, so I decided to make a quilt quilt from them. It's the first time I've used a panel, although I own a growing collection of them. The quilt came together so FAST! I ran out of the green fabric though, so I just need to buy a bit more to finish the borders. I literally made this in one afternoon! I love crows and ravens, and this will make a good Christmas quilt, but won't be so "festive" that I have to put it away in January!

I've also been working on Kindle Covers, but all of the wide black Velcro in town is sold out. I'm guessing someone else bought it all to make things for our big craft fair. I was hoping to drive to the nearest Jo-anns to get more (an hour away), but with a sick kid, I haven't been able to.

So I started cutting out a few more quilts instead. I'm planning this one for my MIL.

But I'm really excited about this one! Yes, that's the only fabric that will be in it! If all goes well, I may have a super-easy nerdy quilt to blog about really soon! Thanks for stopping by!!

Thrift Store Challenge Done!

2011-11-14T08:34:00.000-08:00

I was able to finished the local thrift store / art center challenge Friday night. It will be displayed in the store window, along with the other challenge projects. I got a sneak peak of some of them, and was really impressed! My total cost was about $8, but it did take a bit more time to sew up than I had expected. It's done though!

I straight stitched the quilting, because I was having some problems (again) with free motion quilting on my Pfaff.

I've been sewing up some more Kindle covers though, and wanted to quilt these. Before I took the Pfaff in for service, it had a nasty habit of breaking needles. I'm happy to say that this habit is now GONE! YEA!! I realized Friday that I had long ago run out of top stitch needles, so I bought another pack in a last ditch effort to get it working again. I also discovered a setting that I hadn't tried yet... the "balance" setting. The manual on this machine is horrible, and my old machine didn't have such a setting. It's on the 2nd "page" of settings, so you have to scroll through the whole first page to get to it. I changed this setting, put in a new top stitch needle, and now it's working wonderfully!!! I am SO happy! I got a lot done this week-end, but ran out of Velcro, so will be running out for more supplies today!

Give away at "Kissed Quilts", and a bit of this and that...

2011-11-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you SOOO much for all who left wonderful comments on my blog Wednesday! I set a record for sure! Please forgive me if I don't get to respond to so many comments!

Next, one thing I love about quilt blogs, is meeting other people, who share my love for sewing and quilting. Some of these people are literally across the globe, but every now and then, one is much closer.

Marlene Oddie, at Kissed Quilts is one "next-door neighbor" (she lives an hour away)! I "met" her at Lee's (Freshly Pieced) Supernova Quilt a long. Since then, we've had lunch together a few times, and met a few more! I've seen her studio, and even got a few sneak peaks at her current projects! She's a great quilter and friend who just happens to be celebrating her 2nd anniversary with her business.

If she gets 100 followers by Sunday night, she's giving away a whole bunch of things!! Check out her blog and help her reach 100 followers! You may even win something!!

On a personal note, we've had our first round of seasonal yuck in the house. I can't complain, as my kids are getting older and older, and have gradually brought less and less of these unwelcome guests into our house over the years, but it's slowed us all down a bit. I did finish my thrift store challenge last night, and hope to blog about it soon!

I can't post without a picture, so here's an old one from last year. I've been making quite a few more of these gift bags to sell locally. Hopefully I can make a few bucks to support my hobby! Here's the post where I wrote about how to make these. They're quick and easy, are reusable, and environmentally friendly!!

WIP Wed: Thrift Store Art Project

2011-11-08T22:35:00.000-08:00

It's Wednesday, and once again, like I have for the last year, I'm linking up with Lee, at "Freshly Pieced" Blog for her linky party! She's celebrating her one year WIP Wed anniversary today, and was kind enough to share the love and include me in her blog post today!! How sweet! Thanks! Be sure to visit today, as she's also giving away some fun gifts!

Several weeks ago, the local art center here in town asked if I might be willing to participate in a fun art challenge they were doing in conjunction with our local thrift store. The challenge is to buy 5 dollars or less of "materials" from the thrift store, use that, plus anything from your "stash" to create something to display in their store window, on our Main Street. Here's what I bought:

I'm afraid if you're not from around here, I'll have to explain what it is. Each year, during the Pendleton Round-Up Rodeo, a group of people, "The Main Street Cowboys", host a huge music, carnival, shopping extravaganza on our Main Street. They place these awesome green and purple benches all around town, and at all of the stages. They even find their way to local soccer fields and along parade routes, and regularly make their appearances at other local events throughout the year. So as soon as I saw this green suit, I knew what I wanted to do!

I fused some fusible fleece onto the back of some of my own purple fabric, as I'm afraid I couldn't find any purple shirts at the thrift store, except for T-shirts. Cutting the letters out is a bit tedious, but I hope to have it done soon. It's going to be a kids' "educational toy" that they can use the felt letters to stick to the bench and make up their own words on the bench! I'm hoping to finish it up by next week. Thanks, as always to Lee and everyone else for stopping by!

Shrinking batting (and it's not from water) _$$$_

2011-11-07T12:19:00.000-08:00

Has anyone else noticed that the batting is shrinking, or more specifically, getting thinner? I recently bought some "Warm and White" from the store to finish one of my Project Linus Quilts. I've worked with a lot of batting, both making quilts, and with my Kindle covers, and this new roll seemed very thin at the store. The owner wasn't aware of any change. Today, I was cutting more batting for my Kindle covers and got out some of the old stuff to compare. The lower or left batting is the new Warm and White, the top, or right batting is the old stuff. See the difference?

I finally got out some old scraps and compared the 2, and sure enough, the new batting is MUCH thinner than the old stuff. I know cotton prices are up, but I'd rather pay more than get less. Ugh!

I noticed the same thing with our toilet paper too. Same price, just less. I don't know about you, but I really don't like this deception. I'm not sure I even want to sew with this thinner stuff. Anyone know of any other options?

Another Friday Finish: "Blue Infinity" (twisted 9-patch)

2011-11-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

I finished up my twisted 9-patch quilt yesterday!! It's been a "UFO" for a few years now. I actually started in in Michigan, and finished it in Oregon, and we've now officially lived here in Oregon for 2 years!! Back in January, I finished the top, and blogged about it. I included how I did it, if you're interested.

Unfortunately, I bought the black fabric also in 2 different places, and boy, is this ever an education about how solid black fabric can be so different (and such a lint trap and magnifier). As a quilter, the color inconsistency bugs me, but when I recently showed it to some artist friends of mine, they said they loved the 2 different blacks, and even gave me an idea for a new quilt...

I pieced together the back with left over blocks, scraps and some wonderful fabric that I picked up at a yard sale for $1 a yard! I love the fabric, and wish I had more, but it works great on the back of this quilt! The red on the carousel horses even inspired my color selection for the binding!

The infinity design doesn't show up as well as I thought it would in the blue blocks, but does show up quite nicely on back LOL! But best of all, it's DONE!

Speaking of Blue, the mountains that surround us here are called "The Blue Mountains". Today, we got our first white in the blues!! (Hmmm.... maybe, as a friend suggested, I should call THIS quilt "White in the Blues" instead!)

I'm Featured on Gen X Quilters, First Quilts on the First!

2011-11-02T08:26:00.000-07:00

One of the earliest quilt blogs I ran across was Annemarie's blog, "Gen X Quilters". As a fellow "Gen X Quilter", I was so excited to "meet" other quilters my age through her site. It really became a gateway for meeting others, and those sites for more, etc... Thanks Annemarie for creating this place!

Today I'm the featured "First Quilt on the First"!!

Head over there to see my first quilt, as well as one I finished less than a year ago!

Just for fun, here's my quilts number 4 and 5 (for my 2 nieces, who now have 2 more sisters). I don't think I'd sew with this shiny fabric again, but it was fun! Those tiny toes are those of my son, who now wears the same size shoes as his dad!

To Infinity... And Beyond!

2011-11-01T14:54:00.000-07:00

You just never know what will inspire you! As I was reflecting on my last post, while I was quilting my "Twisted 9-patch quilt", I was trying to figure out how to quilt the blue sections, and it came to me... As Buzz Lightyear says... "To infinity, and beyond!".

Halloween Masterpiece(s)

2011-10-31T14:53:00.000-07:00

This very well could be the last year I made my kids' costumes LOL! It was a mere ... 8 years ago (wow was it really that long ago?). I put so much work into them, that I let them quite literally wear them out in the months to come, because I wanted them to get USED (kind of like my quilts). My kids obviously wanted to be "Buzz Lightyear", so I got a pattern, felt (never again), and got to work...

Aren't those little toes the cutest?! It's been so much fun reliving those years through seeing other parents getting costumes made for their little ones! It could very well be the last year that my oldest does trick-or-treating, as he's now officially as tall as I am :-O. But then again, I said that last year! But I've earned enough gray hairs to tell the rest of you younger moms and dads to enjoy these precious years!!

When my boys got to be about 9-10, I figured they were old enough to start creating their own Halloween costumes! Free candy is very strong motivation to get their creative juices flowing, and they have far surpassed anything I could ever come up with over the last few years, even without a sewing machine!!

I encourage any other parents to do the same... let you child (once they're old enough) invent their own costumes! It's been such a blast for me to see what they come up with each year. One year my youngest was a ghost, and my oldest was a "MEAP test", the Michigan standardized school test... all we needed was white fabric, and 2 white poster boards and a black paint/markers. Big brother got so many laughs!! It was also much less work for me, and much more satisfying for them! Happy Halloween!!

Blogger's Quilt Festival - Halloween Quilt

2011-10-28T13:23:00.000-07:00

One of the first big exposures I had to the world of quilting blogs was Amy's Creative Side's Blogger's Quilt Festival. She hosts them twice a year, and stumbling onto one of these, a year ago was a huge revelation for me! I've made so many on-line friends by connecting to some of the fellow bloggers who have posted quilts on her link-fest, and I've even been able to meet a few in-person! I've also learned a ton, and been so touched and inspired by countless other bloggers' posts. Thanks Amy!

The timing couldn't be more perfect! I just finished up this quilt yesterday, and thought it'd be fun to post it on the Fall 2011 Quilt Festival.

It all started in September during a lunch and fabric shopping trip with a friend, right after our kids started school for the year. I'm not a big home decor kind of gal. In fact, we moved here 2 years ago, and just look at my bare windows (blush).

Needless to say, I don't do a whole lot of holiday decor either (sigh). When I saw this Halloween fabric at the quilt store, it didn't initially "grab" me, but once I found out that IT GLOWS IN THE DARK, I HAD to get some, which meant that I had to make a quilt LOL!

I based the quilt on the "Children's Delight" pattern in the book, "Quilts From the Quilmaker's Gift". I've made a lot of quilts from patterns in this book, including my recent Project Linus Quilt. It's an easy pattern, which came together fast, which is great, because more and more, I've been enjoying the process of the actual quilting more than the piecing. My machine has been a bit naughty lately, so I did about half of it free-motion quilting, and about half of it is done with a straight stitch, or decorative stitches that anyone can do quite easily, even when your machine is not behaving.

My photographer was my tween son.. It was windy, which made it a bit challenging, plus my dog wanted to be part of the action too, so here's the great picture of the back that he took (he took the top picture too)!

Here's a few details of the actual quilting.

Can you see the spider web in the corner (all done with a straight stitch)? The narrow orange border used a decorative stitch that reminds me of "stitches", and when I started the green binding, I still had orange thread on my machine from my Project Linus Quilt, and was thrilled at how it looked... a happy mistake. I liked it so much, that I decided to use orange "fangs" to machine stitch on the binding.

And did I mention that it GLOWS IN THE DARK?!?!

I hope you'll take a moment, if you haven't already to check out all of the other amazing quilts on Amy's Blogger Quilt Festival!!

Finish it up Friday: Another Project Linus Quilt

2011-10-28T09:19:00.000-07:00

I have 2 quilt finishes to share today!! I finished both the 2nd Project Linus Quilt, and my Halloween Quilt (which I'll share in a post for the Blogger Festival)! I'm also linking up with Amandajean at Crazy Mom Quilts, "Finish it up Friday" . I had more free motion quilting issues that made my finish up a lot of the Halloween Quilt with straight stitching, but after a nice long spell of smooth FMQ-ing, I realized that I had forgotten to drop my feed dogs, and remembered that Leah Day recommends in her blog that it's fine to leave them up with some machines. I put the feed dogs down, and had more thread breaks, so with my feed dogs up, I was able to finish it all up, which makes me very happy!!

Here's the back of the Project Linus Quilt (thanks to my tween photographer son for taking pictures for me!).

As I was binding the quilt, I remembered something that I had read on another person's blog who had written prayers for the quilt recipient in the seam allowance for the binding before flipping it over to be tucked inside. I loved this idea, so decided to write a "hidden" message for this quilt. As I've mentioned before, my dad was a minister, who loved children, and that I wanted to make these children's quilts, in part, to honor him. So this is what's on the inside...

I wish every kid had a dad like mine. It really makes me sad that some of the kids that these Project Linus Quilts go to aren't as lucky. I'm doubly lucky that my own 2 boys got to know their grandpa, as we talk about him very often, which helps all of us with our loss, and help us remember his kindness and generosity.

Potato - Fail

2011-10-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

What you are looking at is our entire potato harvest for the year! Yep, pretty much a failure of our potato experiment this year.

The wire bins that we filled with soil, compost, and straw as the potatoes grew, proved irresistible to the many burrowing moles, voles, ground squirrels and such that we have in multitudes here. The hypothesis was that the loose enriched soil would make it easy for potatoes to grow and people to dig. We'll never know for sure, because it made it even easier for these creatures to weasel through for their 24 hour buffet. I'm surprised that they missed this one!

Considering that we harvested fewer potatoes than we planted the summer before leads us to the conclusion that we'll be buying our spuds at the grocery store from now on!

But our tomato crop more than made up for it. We also lost all 3 baby Aspen trees to deer, and they found our 2 fruit trees very tasty. I'm hoping they'll recover and that we can find a better way to protect them next summer. We haven't gotten a single fruit from these either, in their 2nd year, so those too may be a failed experiment, but our raspberries and blueberries have already shown promise and produce!

I've spent a great deal of time in our beautiful fall weather doing my least favorite chore... pulling up dead plants, cleaning up and putting the garden to bed for the winter. It's time now for some serious sewing!!

WIP Wed: Postcards and Binding (and Kindle Covers)

2011-10-26T11:07:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced, WIP Wed. Come join us!

Lately, I've been busy making postcards for my October swap, and trying to make up more Kindle Covers for my Etsy shop.

The Kindle covers take a lot of binding, so I've been making more for those, as well as binding for a few quilts I'm trying to finish up.

I don't want to spoil the surprise for the October swap, but did get my final postcard for the September swap ("Wind, How it Blows"). This is what I sent off:

Here's what I got back! Aren't they fantastic?

I also thought I'd share a postcard that I made for my Bengal-fan, Brother-in-law's Birthday!

Get it? LOL He loved it! So what are you working on?

Wind turbines

2011-10-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

Blogger and fiber artist Kit Lang recently posted this picture on her blog that she took on her commute to work, and asked readers to also post commute pictures.

I haven't commuted to a "regular" job for 5 years now, but do spend a great deal of time driving my kids around to school, appointments, activities and such. I'm pretty private about my kids though, plus I'm always the driver, and can't take pictures, so I thought I'd post a picture that I recently took (while my husband was driving) of the wind turbines that have been multiplying like rabbits out here in Eastern Oregon. It's not quite as cool as a piece of subway art, but I bet many city-folk don't see these very much.

One thing I love about reading blogs is that I can get little glimpses of other people's lives that are so different than mine. Something as ubiquitous to Kit Lang as a subway commute is quite exotic to me. I've been in a subway only a few times in my life. The experience was so mentally novel that it's imprinted on my brain. I can still see the faces of the other commuters, and could probably recognize them in a crowd. I can still see my kids' excited, astonished faces riding right next to me!

So I though I'd post this picture of what's becoming quite a common sight here along the Columbia River, where wind is plentiful. Like many people here, I have very mixed feelings about these things sprouting up all over the place. We have solar panels on our house, grow our own food, and even drive a hybrid car, but we also love the natural beauty that we find here in the more rural parts.

So what about you? What does your commute look like? What do you see every day that others might not ever see?

Progress...

2011-10-21T15:11:00.000-07:00

Does your hobby ever make you crazy! This week mine did! I started quilting quilts with my Pfaff machine, fresh back from the shop, and while it's doing much better now, no motor overloads, thread jams, or broken needles at all (knock on wood), it was still skipping stitches and the thread was still shredding.

Long story short, after more trial and error, I THINK I finally got it all "dialed in". I filed down the burs on top thread guide, and dialed down the bobbin tension, like I had done initially when I first got the machine. So far, it seems to be sewing much better! I may have to get a 2nd bobbin case to switch back and forth easier, but for now, I'm just happy as a clam to be FINALLY getting some quilts sewn together!! Thank goodness I'm a stubborn sort of gal! Hmmm maybe that's where my oldest son gets it from LOL! Anyway, wish me luck!!!

All I have left on the 2nd Project Linus quilt above, is binding, the Halloween Quilt is on the machine, and a long-overdue quilt top is all pin-basted and ready to quilt!

MQX-West

2011-10-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

Over the week-end, our family had the opportunity to travel to Portland, to see family, and do some sight-seeing. We had a great time, and really didn't want to head back home. I was lucky enough to also be able to spend a few hours at the MQX-West Quilt show! I was delighted and amazed at the complexity and beauty of these quilts, that were literally from around the world. I took a few pictures of my favorites. Forgive the poor quality of some of them, and forgive the omission of artists and quilters. The "WOW"-factor was just too high to not share a few of them! Enjoy!

I did find a website about "The Quilt Show, by Laura Peterson", which was a special exhibit. Click on the link, and it'll bring you to her website, which explains the wonderful story and process behind this quilt!

Finish Friday: Bliss Quilt

2011-10-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Amandajean of "Crazy Mom Quilts" is hosting a "Finish it Up Friday" link party starting today, and it's perfect timing to share my Bliss Quilt that I finished binding this week. After the wash, you can hardly tell that it has 2 different styles of quilting in it. Previously, I have not been a huge fan of the "crinkly quilt", but this quilt changed my mind LOL!

I started this a year ago in the "That Girl That Quilt-a-long" as a Christmas present for my (now) 4 year old niece. I finished up a quilt for her sister from the same quilt a long, as well as 2 other (4 girls in the family!). But as I've mentioned over the last year, this quilt has caused me much much frustration as I tried to quilt it. Now, I fell like this quilt has so much "bad karma" that I don't want to give it to such a special person. So for now I'll keep it.

What about you? Do you feel the same about quilts? That part of your energy goes into it? Would you still give it to a friend or family member? Or would you start from scratch and make a new one instead?

Regardless, I'm very glad that it's DONE. It's really a very pretty quilt, just not my style at all, and in our testosterone-loaded household, it kind of sticks out, but I learned a great deal from it!

WIP Wed: Halloween Quilt

2011-10-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee, at Freshly Pieced WIP Wed link party! Come join us!

As soon as school started this fall, my good friend Kathleen invited me to go to a fabric shop that she's wanted to take me to ever since I moved here, and met her. It's The Sewing Basket, in Prosser, Wa. I don't think I've ever seen so many bolts of fabric in such a small place! It's overwhelming! I concentrated on getting some boy fabric for quilts I'm hoping to make my sons for Christmas this year, but couldn't pass up this Halloween fabric that she had there. If you want to shop there, she has an on-line shop that has very generous prices. She has a huge selection! I only bought a half yard of each, so it's just going to be a lap quilt, which is fine, because I'm not much of a home decor person, and have gotten rid of much holiday decor in our last 2 cross-country moves. But one of the things I love the most about quilts is how little room they take up!!

I decided to strip piece this quilt. I love this technique, as it makes a quilt come together fast!

There's a lot of fun Halloween fabric out there, but do you know what really "hooked" me about this fabric? It GLOWS IN THE DARK!!!! Is that cool or what?!?! I think I'm more excited about it than my boys LOL!

I also finished up my 2nd Project Linus Quilt top. I didn't originally intend it to be such a lovely fall quilt, but it is! I used up blocks that I had from an old UFO/WIP. I didn't have too many, so it's a smaller quilt, but will be perfect for Project Linus! I hope to get it pinned and quilted soon!

I also am in the middle of making the binding for my Bliss Quilt. I hope to have it finished up soon as well!

By the way, both of these quilts were inspired from patterns in the book, Quilts From the Quiltmakers Gift. Both the original children's book, and the "Quilts from" are WONDERFUL books!!!

Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0 back from the shop

2011-10-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

Friday I picked up my sewing machine from the shop! I finally brought it in to have it serviced and repaired. I explained the free motion quilting problems that I had to the shop, and they told me that there was a factory fix kit that they would install. Also the machine had never been brought in by it's old owner for service. Overall, I was impressed by the repairman's work. All in all, it cost $90. Ouch! But I hear this is typical. He gave me a few of the old parts as souvenirs for me to take home. He also replaced the thread uptake lever. Here's the old one first, and the new one.

As I tried it out on some of my Kindle covers, it seems to sew much better! He fixed the timing so that the feet pull much better for regular sewing, and the machine is much quieter now. The bobbin area seems to be a bit more sound as well.

As I've said before, it seems to handle flat, stiff surfaces, just fine.

For the ultimate test, I got out my "Bliss Quilt". Sure enough, it started skipping stitches and shredding thread again. It seems like the old problems are still there, but are a bit better. It mostly has problems when going backwards, or when the fabric is being moved towards me, rather than moving away. It also still seems to have problems with seams of any kind. I finally gave up on the original design that I'd been doing on the Bliss Quilt, and stippled the rest of it. The machine seems to do OK with certain "patterns" of FMQ-ing, but not with others. I'm happy that my quilt is done, but since it was intended as a gift, I'm not happy, as I don't' feel like I can give this away now. It has 2 different designs, and there's so much frustration that happened with this quilt that I feel it has "bad karma". Ugh!

I did notice 2 grooves that have been worn into the plastic from the thread. As I sewed, I finally noticed that most of the time that the thread shredded I would look into the thread guide and see that the thread had moved up onto the plastic "lip". I've already removed plastic burrs from here before.

One thing that bothers me about this machine is that I can't open it up to look inside. I got a mirror out and looked underneath, and noticed another place where the thread has migrated and formed a groove.

So..... While I do think that the machine is sewing much better, it still has some problems. I'm very glad that I didn't pay full price for this machine, and quite honestly would probably not buy another, or recommend it to anyone else. The longer arm is wonderful, and since it's a HUGE step up from my old mechanical machine, I still am happy with it, but I'm now wondering how many other plastic parts are inside the machine that I can't see. It bugs me that I can't tinker with it myself and that it costs so much to repair. I love the way it keeps the tension so accurate. The needle down, and bobbin alarm are worth every penny. I guess there's no perfect machine, but when you pay so much money for a machine like this, it's disappointing when it has problems. I'm also not too happy about how the bobbins are "trademark", not interchangeable. So I have to buy the Pfaff bobbins, from a Pfaff shop, and they're quite expensive, not to mention that I have to either pay for gas to get to the nearest store, 40 miles away (and back), or pay for shipping. It also didn't help that the staff at the store suggested that I take a free-motion quilting class from their staff (grrr...). So, yes, I'm a wee bit frustrated. I just wanted to put this out there, because I have found so little information about this machine on the internet. Any "McGuiver" ideas for fixes of these plastic guides would be much appreciated....

Summer Sampler Series Quilt top DONE!

2011-10-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

One good thing about having older kids, is that I can enlist them to help me take pictures :-). I finished my Summer Sampler Series Quilt top today, and got my younger son to help me take a picture of it. That's me (and our dog) behind the quilt! It only seems fitting to be bringing this quilt to an end (or beginning?), as the weather turns crisp and the leaves start their beautiful demise.

Here's a picture he took of me (and the dog, again) as I headed inside!

WIP Wed: Another Project Linus Quilt, Summer Sampler and Art Project

2011-10-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP wed, and letting you know what I'm working on!

In the box with the striped squares that I used for my first Project Linus Quilt was a bunch of "puss in the corner" blocks that were made up. I decided to pair them with another yard of fabric I had in my stash to make another Project Linus Quilt. When I dropped the first one off yesterday, one of the coordinators was in the quilt shop, and it was fun talking with her about the project. She told me that one of the agencies who gives away quilts also receives many nice stuffed animals to give away, and when the kids are given a choice between a toy and a quilt, they ALWAYS pick the quilt! Is that neat, or what? I had already started the quilt, and as I was sewing the rows together, it occurred me that the puss in the corner and striped blocks were originally meant to go together as one quilt... they were the same proportions, same box and all. Oh well... That's what happens when you have a WIP for 3-4 years shelved away in a closet. I'm really happier with the 2 separate projects than the initial one. So sometimes I guess all it takes to resurrect a WIP or UFO is to split it into a few different quilts...

I also decided to get out my Summer Sampler Series Quilt to finish, now that the weather has turned. Originally I was planning to add additional blocks to make it bigger, but I found a cream fabric on clearance that was a good match, and now I'm going to make it bigger by giving it nice wide sashings and borders.

Finally, I'm taking part in a local art challenge that's perfect for me! The challenge is to go to a community thrift store here in town (which raises money for local charities), spend no more than 5 dollars on items there, and create a piece of art to be displayed in their street window. We can also use items from our own stash. Here's what I bought yesterday, a $3 polyester/rayon women's suit, and an orphan flannel brown flat sheet for 25 cents. As a bonus, I found a vintage sheet that was ripped that they gave me for free, and 3 men's silk shirts, all under $3 per shirt! If my husband won't wear them, I may have to make a quilt from them! Has anyone ever made a quilt with silk? Any tips? These shirts are so luxurious!!

We are finally getting our fall rains here, after many, many weeks without measurable rain, which is typical here. It's so nice to see clouds and rain again! Best of all, rain, clouds, and cold means perfect sewing weather!!

Harvested!

2011-10-02T19:47:00.000-07:00

To me, this is as pretty as a quilt. It certainly represents just as many hours or more than a typical quilt takes to make. I have easily twice this much, as we have another freezer that's full, plus 2 batches that I canned in the pantry. We had our first local freeze, which took me by surprise, as it wasn't predicted. I'm learning (in this case, the hard way), that our garden can be as much as 10 degrees colder than the weather station's prediction. Luckily, it wasn't a hard frost, and I was able to salvage everything except our basil. The amount of fresh vegetables that we ate this Spring, Summer, and Fall saved us a tremendous amount of money too. They were also as local as you could get, all organic, and so fresh that I'm going to have a really hard time buying produce again! We planted a bunch of blueberries, raspberries, and a grape vine this Spring that we hope will produce next year. Our 2 fruit trees didn't produce at all, and the local deer have discovered them, so we're going to have to figure out how to deal with that. But with just about all of our last produce preserved or eaten, I hope to have a bit more "free time" on the way!

"Peace" (Project Linus/100 QFK) Quilt

2011-09-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned last May, I have been wanting to make a charity, or comfort quilt to donate to a child, in memory of my dad. Kate, of Swim, Bike, Quilt, invited the blog world to contribute to 100 Quilts for Kids Project about the same time as I saw an article in the local paper about the local Project Linus chapter. I knew I had to make one! I named it "Peace", because my dad, a Presbyterian minister, signed most of his correspondences with a simple but meaningful word, "Peace". I hope this quilt helps a child and his or her family find a bit of peace.

I started these blocks a few years ago, and ran out of enough striped fabric to make a big quilt. I'm afraid I've been getting more and more high school graduation invites than baby shower invites lately, so this was the perfect project to make! I finished up the striped squares, cut out and added the aqua squares (also from my stash), and added a pretty orange from the local quilt store to finish it up!

For the back, I used up the "leftover" blocks and fabric, as well as some more stash fabric.

Since I had to take my new machine into the shop this week, I decided to just do straight quilting with my walking foot. It turned out nicer than I expected :-). I'm glad it's close to Halloween, since I was able to find this wonderful orange binding fabric in our local quilt store!

I hope this is the first of many quilts I make for this deserving group! Thanks again to Kate and her organization!!

WIP Wed (Project Linus Quilt for 100 Quilts for Kids)

2011-09-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced's blog's link party! Come join us!

I was hoping to get my 100 quilts for kids quilt done today. It may still happen, but once again, I'm having problems with my machine skipping stitches. It has been sewing flawlessly on my Kindle covers and postcards, both of which have interfacing under the fabric, but once I put it to work on a softer traditional quilt, it's nothing but trouble! Case in point...

I know from reading other blogs and posts in message boards that the original thread uptake lever on this particular machine (Pfaff Quilt Expression 4.0) has a factory "fix" that's supposed to really help. The thread comes off this lever.

But since I bought my machine used off Craig's List, all of the local dealers (which are all 40-60 miles away) want anything from $70-90 to install the replacement part. Since all of the local stores are having a "shop hop" this week, I decided I'm going to finally bite the bullet and take it in to get a tune up and to replace the bad part (and get some shop hop goodies). Luckily I have my old machine.

I've also been invited (along with other local artists) by our local art center to create an up-cycled piece to be displayed in the same thrift store that we buy our used material!! FUN!!! I hope to get started on that soon. I also made a list of quilt tops that I've been waiting to finish and it's getting longer by the month. Hopefully my sewing machine will be fixed soon!

A few more Pendleton Round Up Rodeo pictures

2011-09-26T08:43:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that the Pendleton Round Up Rodeo ended just a week ago! Between gobs of tomatoes to preserve, and a week-end camping trip, I've had little time to blog. But I wanted to share a few more pictures from the Round Up activities. My 2 favorite things about the rodeo are all of the wonderful arts and crafts, and the Westward Ho Parade. I especially think that the leather work on the saddles is just so incredibly beautiful. I even find myself lusting after a nice pair of leather cowgirl boots.... The "Westward Ho!" Parade is all entirely non-motorized, showcasing the West's culture and history. I love it! There's some other pictures thrown in as well! Enjoy!

Seeing red

2011-09-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

Can you see what's getting between me and my sewing? LOL

I think we just MAY have planted a few too many tomatoes...

Here's the baby quilt top that I finished for the 100 quilts for kids campaign. I hope to sew the back together today (after I get these tomatoes taken care of).

WIP Wed and Rodeo

2011-09-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here's what's on my sewing table today... the beginnings of my next postcard swap cards... I'm glad I made an extra set for me, because these are going to be cute!

I also have been wanting to join in with Kate's of "Swim Bike Quilt"'s blog's 100 quilts for kids campaign. A recent story in the local paper about the local Linus project was what finally got me motivated. I also realized that I have a few UFO's that I either lost interest in, or that are too small for anything other than baby quilts that would make a great quilt for this. Here's one of them:

I've been trying to make more Kindle covers for my Etsy shop as well.

Here's one I just finished that I love!

The tomato situation around here has almost gotten out of control. I've canned or frozen 3-4 dozen pints now, and picked another 20-ish pounds just this morning :-O. But I'm not complaining. I keep reminding myself how wonderful they'll be in January!!

Finally, it's rodeo week here in Pendleton, and our little town has once again been transformed. My boys have had all week off school, so I've done some running around with them. Here's our Main Street:

Here's the Rodeo grounds (first of 4 "shows" started today):

There's a lot of fun people watching to be done.

There's also tons of merchants and artists to peruse...

Of course it's Wednesday, so I'll be linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed, and The Needle and Thread Network's WIP link up! Come join us!

A few more postcards

2011-09-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

It hasn't been all canning and preserving around here. I sewed up a very cute purse for my 5 yr old niece that I forgot to take a picture of :-(. Her birthday was this week. But I also made birthday postcards for my brother-in-law and my niece. Can you guess which is which LOL?

I just have to brag about my brother-in-law. 20 years ago, he hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Mane! His "trail name" was "grasshopper". That's why I sewed up this card for him. Yes, I know it only has 4 legs, instead of 6. I used clip art, as a pattern and failed to notice this until it was done. I'll just tell him that one of my boys (or the cat) ripped the other 2 off :-O. LOL.

I am still swapping postcards with the Postcard Cottage Yahoo Group. My August's theme was "Flower Power". Here's what I sent out:

And here's what I got back!

Getting these little gems in the mail never fails to just make my day! What fun!!!!

It turns out that my biggest fan is my little 5 yr old niece. She sleeps with them at night! Is that cute or what?!? I just had to make her another one!

Didn't I tell you that these are the perfect summer projects!!! Quick, easy, not hot, and extremely satisfying!

Putting food up

2011-09-08T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe, with a teen and tween boy in the house, that we'd have any food to preserve this year, but we do. I'm going to the store today to buy more canning jars! I haven't done that in a long time (bought more jars). I have a few dozen now "put up" with tomatoes, and dilly beans, plus a dozen-ish pints of frozen grated zucchini in our freezer to use later in bread. We've also been eating lots of it daily, and I've made 2 big batches of fresh salsa that got devoured within a day or 2. I'm also so lucky to have a family that gets excited each time stir-fry is served for dinner (which has been frequently)!

Unfortunately, we already had a freeze in the garden that wiped out a big chunk of it, including half of my okra plants, and all of our pumpkins, but it taught us a valuable lesson. It only hit one section, and it is a section that has never produced well. Plants there for the last 2 years have been stunted, or failed to grow well. Now we know why. It's a tiny micro-climate in our garden, a low spot that cold air drains to. With that knowledge, we'll plan our garden much differently or try to protect plants there. We may even move the garden a bit, but that's hard to do with the deer fence.

Speaking of deer, we've had some hanging around our house lately. We think they're what killed 3 young Aspen that we planted this spring. There are antler rubs all over the trunks, and most of the bark has been rubbed off. One is even snapped in 2. Bummer.

Another loss we discovered, upon digging up our potatoes, is that those have been eaten by gophers or some other underground creature.

We ate the last of the corn last night, and I'm afraid except for the tomatoes and winter squash, most of the garden is slowing WAY down, despite the hot afternoons we're getting this week. Usually by this time each year, I'm more than ready for this transition, but this year I'm not quite there yet. Maybe I will be after a few more dozen jars have been put up....

WIP Wed

2011-09-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?

Glacier National Park and beyond

2011-09-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful visit from my mom the last week or so, right before school started. She fled hot, hot Texas for a wonderful trip to Glacier National park and other high altitude destinations. I spent much of my childhood going on camping trips with my family, and this was a chance to reciprocate. With Glacier National Park a day's drive from us, and a place high on my bucket list, we set off mid-week, boys and dog in tow. It's fire season, so my husband couldn't go with us. I was amazed at the beauty of Glacier National Park. It even captivated my boys enough to get them to actually turn off their electronic devices and look out the window!!

We also spent some time exploring local rivers and lakes, high in the mountains. My boys never turn down a chance to swim, no matter how cold the water is.

Now that my mom's back in Texas, the kids are in their second day of school (BOTH are now in middle school!), and my husband's busy with wildfires, I'll be doing some catching up in the garden-and-housework division... Hopefully I'll be able to get my sewing machine humming again soon!

Odds, Ends, and Fiber Art

2011-08-18T09:47:00.000-07:00

First of all, if your name is Faith, Lee, or Kate, don't read any further, unless you want to spoil a surprise... I wasn't going to post anything here, but I saw this link up party that Monika of "My Sweet Prairie" is starting up, and wanted to join in! It's focus is on fiber arts, with an emphasis on Canadian artists. I'm not Canadian, but live pretty close. I hope that counts :-).

Other than sewing, I've been doing a little bit of this:

and that:

and a whole lot of hanging out with my boys!

I sewed up a few pillowcases for the kids and their friends (they make great wrapping paper for birthday gifts).

I also made this "mug rug" for my husband...

But my favorite project last week was the thank you postcards that I made for the generous ladies who put together the Summer Sampler Series!

Last block of the Summer Sampler Series

2011-08-15T08:07:00.000-07:00

"Kansas Dust Storm" is the last of the Summer Sampler Series quilt along. I had so much fun doing this! Thanks to Kate, Lee, and Faith, who put it together!

Here it is all in one place:

I'm thinking about alternating the blocks with "scrappy squares" like this.

What do you think? It'll be a while, as I have already put it all away to get ready for our final end of summer activities. I hope you are all enjoying summer as much as I am!

WIP Wed: Summer Sampler Continued

2011-08-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

I have 2 more blocks done, and only 1 left to make! Yipee! I love how this quilt is coming together! With only 21 days left until school starts, I hope to get some good chunks of time back to do some actual quilting soon (weather permitting). I can't complain much though, as my kids are getting old enough that I no longer worry about keeping them out of trouble, but instead worry that they spend way too much time entertaining themselves on the computer. I've been able to do more sewing this summer than ever before! I've started the final block, and hope to finish it soon, and pack up my finished quilt blocks to make room for school supplies and veggies.

Speaking of veggies, our garden is coming along quite well. I'm so glad my kids like veggies. Each year, our garden gets bigger and bigger, and we have less and less of it to preserve. Anyone with teen boys knows where it all goes :-). I only planted a few flowers this year, none for cutting, so I'm enjoying instead the flowers in the garden. Ever notice most are yellow? I wonder why. But I did find a few purple ones this week... an eggplant flower, and a yard-long bean flower. Pretty!

We also have some young okra almost ready to pick (my favorite veggie), and some red starting to appear!

As usual, it's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced blog. Come join us!

2 more blocks!

2011-08-08T08:33:00.000-07:00

This block, from the Summer Sampler Series, (Arkansas Traveler) is one of my favorites! So pretty. I love the diamond shape in any quilt or design. So elegant!

I also finished up the "mosaic" block! Very fun! Only 3 more blocks to go!

First Okra Blossom!!!

2011-08-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

I just had to share this! We have the first (several) okra blossom(s) in our garden! Okra doesn't grow nearly as well here as it does down South, but it does grow. Taking that into consideration, we planted a TON of okra, hoping to get enough to make me happy! It's my favorite vegetable! My husband even jokes that okra blossoms are my favorite flower :-). They certainly are pretty!

Here's our harvest for the day:

I decided, as I was going through all of my batik scraps that I'm going to add more blocks to the summer sampler quilt (eventually). I have a ton of extra 3x3 squares that I cut for Lee's "Supernova" quilt along that are just begging to be used up. I'll have to cut up some more reds, greens and oranges to add to the mix. I hope it doesn't get too scrappy! I'm thinking of adding them checkerboard style, and putting the quilt on point. We'll see....

With family in Texas, my mind has been there quite a bit. I hope all of you are safe and staying cool!

2 More Star Blocks Finished

2011-08-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

I just finished these 2 lovely blocks from the Summer Sampler Series. What fun!

WIP Wed: More Sampler Blocks

2011-08-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

I almost have another Summer Sampler Block finished. I'm slowly getting caught up. It's been so much fun sewing these beauties up! Using up scraps and learning to paper piece is also great! As usual, the flickr group looks fantastic! I marvel almost every day at how the internet has transformed my life (and the world)!

Here's the group I have all finished up:

The garden's loving the hot weather we've finally been getting! I picked our first green beans and our first pepper today! Yipee! The summer squash have been producing for a few weeks now!

It's also Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed blog! Come join us!!

A few more blocks: Evening Star and Virgina Star

2011-08-02T14:43:00.000-07:00

Gosh, the paper pieced Evening Star was quite the challenge for me! But I was up for it, and it turned out so pretty! I impressed myself LOL! It's got to be among my favorite pieced blocks!

After that, the Star of Virgina was such an easy fun block. I've made many of these, but never scrappy like this. This quilt is coming together so well. I love all of the colors! It's nice to finally have enough scraps to do a quilt like this. It's my 3rd quilt made almost entirely from scraps. So far, I haven't bought a bit of fabric. I hope I don't have to at all to finish this! I'm taking a break though, and I'm off to the pool with the boys!!

Greek Cross Block

2011-08-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm hooked on the Summer Sampler Series... I had to make the Greek Cross blue, since my father-in-law is Greek, and would give me a hard time if I didn't!

I forgot how much fun sampler quilts are. It's neat to focus entirely on one single block, instead of one block made many times. I started my second paper-pieced block today, and honestly that's another biggie that finally drew me in. I love to learn new skills each time I make a quilt, and certainly my ripper has been busy ;-).

The floor looks pretty too!

Luckily, my husband is looking out for our garden! He pulled all of the garlic and tied them up to dry over the week-end! NICE!!

Sumer Sampler Series = Potato Chips

2011-07-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

Turns out you can't eat/make just one...

Minnesota Block: My First Paper Pieced Project!

2011-07-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

Here it is! I had so much fun making this! Thanks Lee!

Paper piecing, Summer Sampler Series, and a Surprise!

2011-07-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

First of all, I got such a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday! The above picture was taken at this year's Sisters Quilt Show in Sisters Oregon., and mailed to me!! It's from last year's winner of their quilt block contest. The rules have changed this year, but last year, one winner was best of show, and 24 others were picked as "teacher's choice" awards, and the top winner got all of those blacks to make a quilt from, as well as $50. The rest of the blocks were sent to randomly chosen contest participants. Long story short, the winner, Ruth Newell, of Michigan, sent me a wonderful handmade pin as a thank you gift (so generous, and totally unexpected). Imagine my surprise when I got this picture of hers of her finished quilt that she entered into the Sisters show of all of our blocks in a finished quilt!! WOW! Great job Ruth!!

Here's the block I entered last year:

This year, they picked the top 6 and all of the blocks were divided up and sent to them. I did not make the cut, but got to see the winners (on the Internet), and WOW what a wonderful job they all did!

Next, I was able to catch up on my blog reading today, and was stopped in my tracks by the lovely Minnesota block that Lee of Freshly Pieced Blog had on there today. One of my favorite parts of the quilt blog-o-sphere is the quilt alongs, but I've resisted joining in this summer because I just don't have the time with my kids home 24/7. This block, though, caught my attention since it's so pretty and since it uses paper piecing, a technique I've been really wanting to learn / try for some time now. Lee's directions are clear as a bell, even her computer direction... I decided that I want to make it.

But the clincher was visiting with Marlene at Kissed Quilts, who lives about 45 minutes away from me. I had some rare summer kid-free time, and headed over there for a trip to some fabric stores and to see Marlene's studio (she has a long arm quilting and pattern business). She just happened to have some paper piecing templates laying around, and helped me in person understand how to do it! Thanks Marlene! I'm not superstitious, but if this isn't a "sign", then I don't know what is LOL!! With Lee's computer help, I just now printed out the templates, and hope to get a block made soon!

Finally, I have a stack of Kindle covers for my Etsy shop all ready to sew up. I hope you all have a productive week-end as well!!

Creative Ammunition

2011-07-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

It's funny how creative ideas are born. Sometimes it's something so simple and random... I only have be open to the ideas to see them. I was playing with some lace and trim that I got from a local thrift store recently (for the blue and lace postcard swap). I picked up my boys' Nerf darts off the floor (for the millionth time), and noticed they were the perfect match to one of the colored bindings that I had. Hmmm... I'm thinking "Nerf Quilt", before my boys get much older!

BTW, I got all of this for $5!! My favorite is the orange ric-rac! I hope to use the binding for postcards, and who knows with the lace. Any suggestions?

WIP Wed: Molecule quilt back (and the garden)

2011-07-27T14:36:00.000-07:00

This week, I decided to get the back all done on my molecule quilt. Here's the front again:

Here's the just-finished back:

It's not real pretty, but it's done, and I was able to use all fabric that was used in the front, so I didn't have to buy any additional fabric (yea!).

I was hoping to get some more Kindle covers made for my Etsy store, but ran out of the interfacing I use, and the store in town was out. The next closest store that carries it is over an hour away, but I finally was able to make it over there (combined with other errands) to buy more. Maybe this week?

Of course the garden is growing. Check out this tomato plant!! Amazing!

Besides okra, onions and garlic are all time vegetable garden favorites of mine. I like them all, but one of the best things about onions, garlic, (as well as potatoes too) at least here in Oregon, is that they can stay in the ground pretty much until you need them (or until hard freezes start). They store well, once they're dug up too. Along with winter squash, I can't think of much else that keeps as well without any refrigeration or preservation. The flavor they add to dishes is wonderful. That said, it's not surprising that they're found in so many cuisines from around the world. And at least here, onions, garlic and squash are incredibly easy to grow, nutritious, and attract few pests! We tried dried beans one year, and ended up with a bug infestation in the pantry that was quite ugly, not to mention the work and food thrown away :-O. Never store home-grown dried beans in open containers in the pantry!! We applied that lesson, learned long ago, to even our onions, garlic and squash... they stay out in our garage until we need them!

As usual, I'm linking up to Lee's Freshly Pieced blog's WIP Wed. Come join us there, and tell us what you're working on! I'd love to hear how your garden is growing too, or what you'll be growing next year!!

Vintage Bed Sheets Project 2: Postcards!

2011-07-25T08:17:00.000-07:00

I just finished up some postcards that I'm making for a swap! I originally had fabric and a plan all figured out, and had even started cutting and sewing, but the curtains that are now finished left me with a few scraps laying around and suddenly I decided they'd be fun to use instead. The theme is "boxer shorts (I'll show you mine if you show me yours)". There's 4 of us in a groups, so we only have to make 3 to send off (and get 3 back). I like to make one to keep though. It's my second swap, and getting the first round was so much fun! The first round was "blue and lace". Here's the cards from that swap (mine is the top right):

Here's the finished curtains!

And I can't seem to post anything here without a garden related photo! Enjoy!

WIP Wed: Looney Tunes Vintage Sheet Curtains

2011-07-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

For the last few weeks, I've been working on these curtains for my son's room, after we removed the bi-fold doors on his bedroom closet. I'm almost done with them, just need to mark and sew a hem line!

I LOVE the way they turned out, and the funny thing is that I originally was just going to make them plain, but the sheets weren't wide enough for the closet, so I had to add a border. Now I'm so glad that my original plan didn't work out!! I'm tempted to make a quilt using the same theme, and even saw these same vintage sheets on eBay yesterday. Hmmm...

It's my first vintage sheet project, and it really wasn't bad working with the poly / cotton blend. The fact that they were thin from wear made them cooler to deal with too!

"Our" baby quail are growing fast! I took this pictures over the week-end, and already they're flying!! It's been incredibly fun to watch this "WIP"!

Finally, our garden is progressing very nicely! We're eating zucchini now, and have tons of green tomatoes, baby corn, and peppers. The cucumbers and beans have flowers and the winter squash and okra continue to grow! Onions and garlic are turning brown, so it won't be long before we can dig these too!

As usual, I'm linking up with Lee's WIP Wed. Come join the fun over there!

A Sign of Things to Come (veggies and vintage sheets)

2011-07-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

I love the sight of this in our garden...

We will eat our first zucchini of the year in the next day or two!

Our shade cloth experiment is going nicely...

The only sewing going on lately is some "closet curtains" that I'm making for my oldest son. We spent the better part of a day or 2 cleaning out his room, rearranging furniture and removing the bi-fold closet doors that I hate and that take up so much room. I cut up some really fun vintage sheets that I had and I can't wait to show you what I'm planning with them.

My boys have been busy too...

These tiny quail chicks are having the hardest time getting up over the street curb. They're incredibly cute! In a few days I'm sure they won't get so stuck!

But lately I've been spending time just about each day at this place... I feel so lucky to have this in our community!! How's your summer going?

Fabric postcard fun!

2011-07-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd share some fabric postcards that I made for family and friends whom we visited on our recent trip. I also made a few birthday postcards, but forgot to take pictures of them before mailing them off today!

The produce starting to come out of our garden is very "spring" in nature, but it's rolling in! My husband just put up a shade cloth for the lettuce and radishes to try to extend the season. It's a first go of shade cloth for us. I'll let you know how it turns out!

I hope you all had a great 4th of July. We are still recovering. The days are so long now that yesterday the local rooster woke me up at 4:40am (first light), then our city fireworks didn't start until 10pm (that's when it's dark). Despite the frequent sleep deprivation, I love summer, spending time at the pool, eating fresh ripe berries and produce, going barefoot and being free of the school schedule. I still manage to get in sewing from time to time as well, and this new postcard addiction is a perfect way to "quilt" when it's hot!

Organic Chemistry Quilt

2011-06-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is, as of today: Not quite finished... I have the blocks all sewn together, but as I was cutting out the borders, I decided I needed to make them a bit different that I'd originally planned, and then I decided to piece together the back with all of the left over fabric that I had made the front with, which is proving to be a bit time consuming.

Then last night, DS1 broke his glasses (luckily an easy fix), so we had to go to the eye place today. Short story long, it won't be in the modern quilt guild's contest, but now that the pressure's off, I may very well get the back pieced together and put it away until fall. We'll see. As I ironed the piece yesterday, I was once again reminded of why I just don't do much quilting in the summer!! It's just too hot!!

Truth be told, I already started a few more fabric postcards today (a much more suitable summer project), and have totally enjoyed having a few "down" days with my boys. I think we're all glad to be able to stay in one place for a while!!

Oh, and in case you notice, I know that there are a few "mistakes" on the quilt... a result I'm afraid more of using permanent ink to draw out the molecules than anything else. Lesson learned. I'm happy with how it turned out, glad I did it, but it isn't quite as I envisioned it. It sure is one of a kind though LOL! Glad I finally got something out of that organic chemistry class I took many years ago!!

WIP Wed., Organic Chemistry Quilt, and vacation

2011-06-29T09:58:00.000-07:00

Over the last 2 weeks, our family drove from Eastern Oregon to Chicago and back, mainly to see family and friends, but we also took in many of our country's natural beauties along the way. We tried to stay off the interstates, and camped all but 2 nights (or stayed in family or friends' homes). We covered almost 5000 miles, and were in our truck almost 90 hours! I'm afraid my pictures weren't that great, especially since we got a lot of rain on our trip, and since many of the pictures were taken from a truck moving 55-70 mph. Here's our favorite camping spot that we found on our trip... It's just outside the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area, in NW Nebraska. I joked that we had a million dollar view for only $8. We had the small campground all to ourselves, if you don't count the multitude of birds. Some of our favorite spots, other than the homes of our loved ones, were City of Rocks Rec Area in Southern Idaho, NW Wyoming, LaCrosse, WI and surrounding areas, Lake Superior and the NE corner of Minnesota, and the mountains of Western Montana and Northern Idaho.

Another view of our view...

Lake Superior.

Mountains of Montana.

We also had the unfortunate opportunity to drive through Minot, ND the day after the town had been evacuated due to flooding. It was devastating to see so many houses already underwater, and to see the desperation of those trying to save what was left. We tried to avoid the area, but all US roads to the north were closed. We saw a tremendous amount of flooding, in North Dakota, but also in Eastern Montana and Southern Minnesota. So so sad!

Today is also Wednesday, so I though I'd link up with Freshly Pieced Blog's WIL WED and share my progress on my "molecule", or "Organic Chemistry" Quilt. I was hoping to get it done in time to enter into the Modern Quilt Guild contest, but am not holding my breath. I've all but come to the conclusion, after trying to enter 3 of these contests, that 3 months just isn't enough time for me to create an original quilt and make it. This quilt has taken more time than just about any quilt I've made, mostly because I have hand embroidered so much of it. I did most of it in our truck on the road, and only have 1 or 2 blocks left, so there's still hope, but another problem with it is that it's not going to photograph very well. But here's a picture of my "Estrogen" molecule, and a detail. I hope to have a finished quilt, or at least quilt top to show soon! With the weather getting hot, my time on my sewing machine is becoming limited...

I hope all of you are having a great summer so far!!

WIP Wed: Not your typical "hexie"

2011-06-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

It's Wednesday, so I'm linking up with Freshly Pieced WIP Wed today!

I've been spending the last of my kid-free time trying to get my molecule quilt blocks all ready to hand embroider. This project has turned into quite a time hog, but I'm really really enjoying it! Once again, it combines my nerdy science love with my fabric quilty love... a wonderful match for me!! I don't have a ton of time (only 5 hours, 30 minutes left of school, but who's counting), so this will be just a few quick pictures. I'll try to describe more of my process later, which may be a lot later, since we'll be doing some camping, and kids will be home 24/7, and we only have one good computer here...

I LOVE the background fabric I found... It's from Moda, and it looks like notebook paper!! Perfect for this quilt!

I also got a few fabric postcards done for friends, and have all but finished my Sisters Quilt Show challenge quilt block. I just need to stitch it down. I loved the blue circle fabric, and as I was trying to figure out what to do, I thought about the Grateful Dead's lyrics "The sky was yellow and the sun was blue", from their song "Scarlet Begonias". Do you think this will be the first Grateful Dead-inspired quilt block there? LOL I'm a fan of theirs, and have been to 2 of their shows, in New Orleans and Eugene, OR, many years ago. I was much more of a spectator at the shows than a participant, if you know what I mean, but love their music! Here's the before and after pictures...

Lastly, we ate our first food from the garden last night!!! Salad! Isnt' it beautiful?!?! Also, our okra started sprouting!! This makes me so incredibly happy! It's been so hard to get fresh okra ever since I moved away from Louisiana, and the best way is to grow it!!

If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know that life is keeping me busy!! Enjoy!

Molecules Awaiting Assembly!

2011-06-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

Here's what my ironing board looks like right now! I have all of my hexagons and pentagons all cut out, pressed, and waiting assembly. There's even some of my Kona solids there, from Gen-X's swap back in February. I'm hoping to get them all appliqued onto the quilt this week, so I can work on the embroidery soon (wish my luck LOL). I had so much fun picking out the fabrics for each molecule, most of which I already had in my stash. I did have to buy the main fabric for the quilt. I was tempted to travel an hour to one of my favorite fabric stores for the 4 yards I need, but with gas prices being what they are, I decided to stay local, and luckily our LQS had the most perfect fabric for this quilt! I can't wait to show you, hopefully tomorrow. My boys have one last week of school, and we spent a warm wonderful week-end doing household/yard/garden stuff. I'm hoping to really be able to crank out some sewing this last kid-free week. I also hope to mail off a few more postcards that are almost done. I don't want to spoil a surprise though, so I'll keep them under wraps :-).

Probably the biggest news this week-end is that I FINALLY am wearing shorts! The local newspaper reported today that this May was the coldest ever recorded in this part of Oregon, and the 3rd wettest. We got snow in the foothills this week (I took this picture Friday). It's wonderful to finally have some spring-like weather. It's amazing how fast our garden is responding to the yummy warmth. I hope it lasts!!

WIP wed: Garden and Biochemistry

2011-06-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

"Don't Call Me Betsy" is hosting this week's WIP Wed! Come join us over there.

Last Wednesday on WIP Wed over at Freshly Pieced's blog, I once again admired all of the lovely hexagon quilts there. I made my first one last week, my "Caffeine molecule hexie". This set in motion a whole new quilt idea using hexies and biochemicals. In college, Organic Chemistry was one of my hardest, least favorite subjects, but in the lab, it was incredibly important. In practice, in the lab, it was much different than in theory, so it's been a long, long time since I thought about bonds and elements, rings and chains. I must admit that researching these for a potential quilt has been much more fun than years ago studying for classwork.

I'm hoping to get all of the fabric picked out and the hexie part of the blocks done before an upcoming road trip. After struggling to get my machine to do the bonds and letters of the elements in the right places for my caffeine molecule, I decided I'm going to try to hand embroider (!) these in my quilt! Any ideas on how to do it, or what stitches or floss to use would be much appreciated!! I have the usual DMC floss, a hoop, and needles... I'm hoping to do the embroidery during the time in the truck on the road.

I also got my fabric and packet in the mail from the Sisters Quilt Show Quilt Block Contest for Sisters Oregon Quilt Show. I already have an idea for that too, but am not quite ready to share.

We spent the long week-end getting our garden all ready, a major WIP (hmmm maybe I should make a garden quilt next LOL). My husband has outdone himself this year! He likes to create with wood, and cut and made a bunch of trellises and supports for our tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, and squash.

He also set up a new method of growing potatoes... each bin has them planted in the bottom, and as they grow, the idea is to keep covering them up with mulch and straw (and soil?) so they grow up to the top. When they're ready to harvest, you just open up the bin and there they are (or so we hope). I helped plant seeds and set up the irrigation, and also spent a great deal of time removing "rockscaping" in our yard to make planting beds. Backbreaking work!

I actually haven't touched my sewing machine in almost a week, so I'm hoping to get back at it today! I can't wait to see what everyone else is working on over at Don't Call Me Betsy!

Hexie and Etsy

2011-05-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

I spent yesterday putting the binding on my Kindle covers for Etsy, and found that I had just enough scrap to make my hexie into a little pot holder or mug rug. I didn't want to change my machine around to do free motion, so I may (or may not) add quilting later. As with so many other things in life, once I got one hexie under my belt, I'm eager to do another!! I've heard that these are addicting. I can now understand that! Hmmm maybe a hexie postcard is in order.... :-)

Here's my stack of Kindle covers all done, but this morning we got such a dark storm come through, that the light is going to have to improve a bit before I can get some decent pictures for the shop. Luckily it's already starting to lighten up as I write.

I hope all of you have a great Memorial Day week-end!