catching up

I've been trying to get organized for the past two weeks and clear out old email digests, and move embroidery files to one location, etc.. I'm also working on some UFO's and getting ready to spend winter with my DH in another state, so I've got a lot of projects in various stages. Most recent is a pictorial quilt I want to do for a gift for someone special. I went thru old photos and memorabilia this week, sorting and trying to find the perfect pics. I love this one.. it's DH's mum and her siblings.. MIL is seated beside her brother, probably trying to make him sit still and quit swinging his leg.

I found letters from my aunts and cards from friends, and old school papers of my son's.. great reading..

Hopefully once I get some of these things done I can post pics of what I have done. Maybe it will motivate me to do more. And maybe even blog more, lol..

Nuffin' much to say......

I keep thinking I should enter something on the blog, but never think I have anything interesting to say. My sewing table is cluttered with about six different projects in varying stages, and with summer here, a lot of the storms are keeping me from running my Bernina, just in case of lightning. Waah! I wanna sew !!
Today the sun is shining so I hear my machine calling me. But first, gotta let the dog out..
I'll post pics when I get something finished. Back later !

more warm wishes

Here's another quilt with that Warm Wishes pattern. This one is with Christmas fabric that recently arrived at the store where I work. I did this for a store sample. I wish I'd thought it out a little better because the two greens are so close in shade that you lose some of that great framing, but it still makes a nice quilt.

I've been trying to quilt the other one with the BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) but it was slow going, but I recently had an old Singer machine redone so it has no feed dogs and a permanent quilting foot. Ron at Cote Brothers had designed his Cote Quilter10 that way, and he did a great job for me so I could put it on my Handi Quilter frame I've had for years.. Now if I can get used to the foot pedal and keep an even speed..

quiet.. me ?

I just realized it's been awhile since I posted that I had planned to put in some pictures of the Warm Wishes quilt I am doing.. The top picture is the finished quilt top (unquilted as of yet.) The colors are forest green, deep aubergine, burgundy and beige, which don't show up all that well in the photo. In the lower picture you can see the basic blocks that comprise the quilt. It's all in how you turn the stripped blocks around the focus fabric to create the 'frame'.

I also am working on the Debbie Mumm 2007 Block of the month quilt and have one block left to do. I used very bright fabrics in an attempt to step out of my 'comfort zone' this time.

Here's a photo of the partial layout.

Haven't felt much like sewing in the past few weeks but hopefully this week I can get back to business again. I cleaned and organized the space and will do some before and after shots in my next blog entry. Spring has finally arrived and we are having rain and chilly weather so it should in theory be good sewing weather, but at present my bones are wanting to sit and be pampered.. so I am being quite lazy!

almost finished one UFO, and finished another

I'm making progress, slow but sure, on my resolution to finish those UFO's!!

If I could only find where I left my camera.. these two pics were already in my computer but I need to take a few pics of my works-in-progress..

I've got all but borders and backing done on my Warm Wishes quilt, from this pattern (www.quiltmaker.com/patterns/patt83) .. I finished the quilt for the store, and wouldn't you know, I forgot to take a picture of the finished quilt but here are two pics of it in progress. It's made using Quest for a Cure fabrics from Northcott, and I love how the teacup quilt design I digitised works so well with the teacups in the borders..

It seems the borders were different widths when I fussy cut them from the striped fabric so I had to do corner blocks. I used Bernina's free download of the breast cancer ribbon, and resized and changed the fill from satin to tatami, then set them off from the borders with little bits of piping made with the pink fabric from the center of the quilt.. it was fun, but I was sure glad it was only a small wall quilt and not a bed-sized quilt !!

Back to the sewing room this afternoon for more UFO work !

2008 already..

Where did it go? I just had such a lovely blog entry and pictures and all.. and they disappeared. Sue's MMG must be visiting my computer. Oh well.. here are the plans I have formulated for '08.

I have several UFO's to finish this year. I started this stack and whack kaleidoscope and need to add a border. I think I'll use Flying Geese on it.

There's six more blocks in the Debbie Mumm BOM to finish, and assemble.. I used batiks and brights on this for a challenge to myself. The prim block exchange has been marinating for several years.. I think it's ready to be put together this year, too.

Ironed several yards of fishing and woodsy prints for scrub tops for DH.. will have to get those cut out soon.. and the quilt I have on the quilting frame needs to be finished this year. It was started by my mum 26 years ago and I did promise to hand quilt it for my son.

I'd better get started, eh ?

Quilting in the hoop !

I have a new bedroom and a new sewing room !! We decided to switch rooms, so I can use the large closet for storing my fabric and crafting items, and it's a larger room for all my machines and tables, so I've been moving things in and out all week. I had good luck with using the feather for quilting in the hoop, so I decided to try it on a quilt top I'd had stored for several years. It's coming along nicely. I have just the last border to finish and I'll have a new quilt for my new bedroom... It's a Delectable Mountains quilt from Eleanor Burns' Quilt in a Day series.. only this is more like a 'quilt in a decade', ggg

I quilted it on the kitchen table, where I had plenty of room to spread out the quilt so it wouldn't pull on the hoop. What a brilliant plan. I have decided to use a large table in my sewing room next time, so we can still eat spaghetti in the kitchen (grin)

We picked an odd color for the bedroom. I had some extremely pale pink left over from one room and some equally pale blue from another so we combined them and it's a white with lavender overtones now.. it was hard to paint because it goes on very white and then darkens later, so it was hard to see just where we missed.. only NOW we can see it and of course there's no more paint.. and it wasn't a formula from the paint store, so we'll just live with it.. there are only a few streaks unpainted, and nobody else is going to be looking up at the ceiling in my bedroom at any rate.

It's almost like moving into a new home, with all the things we've done this year ! So much easier than actually moving across town or across the country.. done that so many times as a military wife that I would much rather just switch rooms, believe me !