FINISHED! DONE! OVER WITH!

Sorry to be shouting but I am thrilled to show the finished Million Pieces Quilt, also known as Scrappy Bricks or Mystery #6.  (You can participate in Mysteries for Relay also -- click on the button to the right to find out more about it.) It is ready for Jen, Brian and Sophia who are coming down tomorrow for the Thanksgiving holidays.  

I've been working on two different sewing machines recently.  This looks pretty funny -- but I was using two machines for a little while.  Well, not at the same time but going back and forth.  Unfortunately I can't have two people sewing like I like to have in this room.  But, I can work on one, push it over and then work on the other. (Being careful not to push it off the edge of the counter!) 

Tonight I should be finishing the turkey quilt. I have about 25% of the binding done and will finish it while I watch another Harry Potter dvd in preparation for going to see the newest one on Friday.  I don't think I'll get through all of them before Friday afternoon but I might.  


I wish all my blogging friends in the US a wonderful Thanksgiving this week.  We're looking forward to Aimee and Kevin and J, B & Sophia visiting.  And, we get to babysit Sophia for a few hours tomorrow.  


Tomorrow -- baking pumpkin pie, apple pie and making cranberry sauce.  And, then hopefully making some more bow tie blocks.  


Happy Quilting All 

Design Wall Monday 11/11/10

I am late this morning but I did succeed in ordering a holiday sweater.  I've been talking about it and finally decided to actually do it.  Yea. 

I am back to working on bow ties.  Ok, so I haven't finished the last bow tie work... This quilt is being made to use a 2 yd piece of fabric I bought at the guild auction.  I was going to cut it up to make foundations, then I decided maybe I should use it as a backing.  It's "sweet" not my usually cup of tea.  Pink and blue flowers with green leaves on a white ground.  I thought, hey, I can do a pink and blue and green bow tie quilt.  I'm sure I've got lots of bow tie blocks already made that would work.  I want to set it 6 by 8 so that it can be a donation quilt for a local hospital's NICU. One thing lead to another and now it is a rainbow. (well, not yet but it will be in color wheel order eventually.)  I've basically just slapped these on the wall trying to get 8 of each color.  I did the oranges on Saturday.  I've got more yellows ready to cut. This picture is a great way to see how the colors work with each other. I'll probably do this as I get closer to an actual layout when I try to balance the lights and darks in each color. Although you can't tell every one of the oranges are a different fabric! 

The Million Pieces quilt is now officially finished (um, er, except for the label that is still upstairs. Maybe I'll sew it on tonight.) And, Mr. Turkey is nearly done.


I didn't want to do that last little bit last night after 5 as I was getting tired.  So, I started the hand sewing after I finished the Million Pieces quilt and got about 1/3rd of the binding hand sewn.  I am in a middle of a Harry Potter movie marathon as we're all going to see the new one the Friday after Thanksgiving. So, I am refreshing my memory.  


Today's big plans include some laundry, but mostly vacuuming and making beds.  Kevin and Aimee and Jenny, Brian and Sophia (woot, woot!) are coming for the holidays.  I've recently gotten new drapes for the room K & A use along with some pillow shams to go on the bed.  And, a new headboard.  So I need to get the tie backs finished, the shams on pillows and make the bed.  Both guest rooms are pretty well decorated (oops, except for pictures/wallhangings.) Next up will be our bedroom.  Harder, cause I have to decide on some colors.  Not to worry about now though! 


Make a point of visiting a bunch of other design walls by stopping first at Judy's Patchwork Times.  I'm off to clean, make beds, think about making cookies... you get the picture -- pre Thanksgiving planning.  

Million Pieces is Quilted!

What more can I say.  I took the Million Pieces Quilt off of Ruthie yesterday.  Sad story was I was on the last border following a design I had chalked on and for no apparent reason I went straight when I should have turned.  Weird. Needed to rip out about 3" of stitching.  It was too close to when I needed to go to the hair dresser so I didn't finish until Tuesday morning.  I've been playing with other stuff a bit but I almost have the nearly 400" of binding made.  Today I should finish with it and sew it on by machine.  Then the tedious part of hand sewing it down.  The finish is getting closer and closer.  YEA! 

I promised I would show you  the finished tree skirt.  Here it is in all of its glory.  I finished it a bit differently than the pattern which basically has you sew all around the edges leaving an opening and "birth" it.  Ties are added down the edges. Yuck.  Ties were way too big.  So I sewed around everything but the center circle. I used bias binding to cover that and added little ties up there.  I'll be passing this over to Jenny and Brian over Thanksgiving.  

I hope to finish the table runner I showed here.  I'm making simple blocks with Halloween themed fabric to use as the backing.  That way I figure there will be two table runners for the price of one.  I will quilt it on my domestic sewing machine in straight lines once it is ready.  (I mention straight lines because a while ago I tried to do a light stippling on the DSM and it looked awful! I've lost the knack.) 


Do you try to take "artsy" pictures of your quilts? I do especially for the blog.  I'm not a complete failure at this but let's just say for every "artsy" photo that hits the blog there are 10 or so ho-hum photos hanging around. This was one of my artsy attempts using an evergreen in the front yard. Washed out, doesn't show the quilt well.  Sigh.  Heaven help me when I decide to take pictures of the finished Million Pieces Quilt... I don't have any where I can get far enough away to get the whole quilt in.  We may have to go somewhere else for a photo shoot! 


Today's plans -- finish the back for the table runner, finish the last quadrant of the trip around the world quilt and decide how many more strips need to be added to make it fit a queen bed size.  Think about starting an easy Thanksgiving themed wall hanging.  (Check out the cute turkey at Fat Cat Patterns.)  I plan on piecing 4 1/2" squares from a lot of tan neutrals for the 16 1/2" backing fabric. Or at least I think I am 'cause I pulled way too many of them out yesterday and they now litter the cutting table.  I will need that table soon to trim -- you know which quilt.  So, with no further ado (or typing) I'm off to shower and then the studio.  


Happy Quilting All! 
 

Design Wall Monday 11.8.10

Not much different from last week.  I haven't been piecing all that much so maybe one strip was added to this quilt. I really like the colors and how they resonate.  I was afraid that they would be ho-hum when I first began putting it together.  No ho-hum but I think they "sing."


Woke up earlier than normal today -- must be the time change. So wanting to get a lot done today before the hair cut I ran up to the studio to grab this picture.  Yikes, the emergency heat was on it was all of 55 or so in the room.  And, then I noticed I'd left the blinds opened.  EEEK!  I won't be doing that again when I have a quilt on the wall. 

That's not so good for color retention. I was pretty good about closing the blinds during the summer because the room would get so hot.  But now that it is cooler I haven't been as vigilant.  Sigh.  One more thing to remember: turn off sewing machine and replace dust cover, unplug iron and close the darn blinds.  


I did make one pillow case this week that I will drop off at the local quilt store for the Million Pillow Case challenge. (yeah, a yard of fabric used!) I should probably make one a week and then I would make a dent in my stash.  Even though the Million Pieces Quilt will be done this month I won't see all that much of a benefit as I bought two borders and a piece for the back. Oh, who am I kidding I should be in the used more than acquired range quite well after that one!  Check back for how well I've done on Dec. 1. 


Speaking of that quilt -- I'm done with everything except the side borders. Today I will take it off Ruthie, pin the zippers on the sides and reload it.  Then I'll have to do three passes on each border and yippee!  The quilting will be done.  It'll probably take me all day.  I am marking some of it with chalk just to keep it looking more even. 


Do you want to see some more eye candy?  Visit Judy's site to see what other bloggers have on their design walls.  


Goals for today -- finish quilting the Million Pieces Quilt, hair cut and a quick grocery shopping trip.  


Happy Quilting All 

Still At It

This is the beginning of the quilting on the Million Pieces quilt.  I did this Wednesday I think.  I'm 2/3rd done now.  I'm so glad I took this photo as it will remind me how to quilt the other end when I get down to it, hopefully today. This is free motion and ruler work.  The center of the quilt I've used a pantograph.  It finally dawned on me that the handles are too low for me when I work from the back of the machines to do pantographs so I tend to slouch and curl up. Not comfortable.  I would probably be done with the center if I had done a free motion stipple on it.  After three passes my back hurts so I usually do that and then move on to do something else, laundry, reading or playing on the computer. 


Friday I went out and about especially to pick up some curtains that had come in at Country Curtains.  I also did a couple of more errands and ended up going to Sam's.  

I was pretty surprised to see these on the kitchen floor when I got home.  (I moved the knife from the living room to include it in the picture.) Raggs has been getting our kitchen towels off the towel bars and taking them around the living room when we aren't home.  Evidently, I didn't have any hung up so he grabbed one off the counter. (It must have been hanging off the counter slightly cause he is way too short to counter surf.) Any way, drying on the towel was this casserole and the grapefruit knife. Half of the knife handle had been chewed off.  The casserole survived the fall undamaged.  I was not amused.  


When we leave the house we make sure NOTHING is out for him to get.  If anything is available he gets it: books, catalogs, towels, baskets.  You name it he gets it -- including books off shelves which explains why there is nothing on any open shelves below 3'.   I'm getting pretty tired of it.  The crate is singing to me although Raggs would be highly insulted.  (and probably howl and slobber constantly while we were gone... not to mention chew on any part of a rug that might be within reach.) 

Here's the Halloween card I made this year for the kids. (Now that I'm sure they've received it I figured I could show it.)  I'm playing more with my Photoshop Elements and hope to show some finished products from that at some point.  And, I hope to redo my banner on this blog so it spreads across the entire top.  One of these days I'll actually do it. 




Today's plans:  iron and rehang the curtains that go in our bedroom.  Finish quilting Million Pieces quilt so that I can turn it and do the side borders tomorrow.  Not planning all that much as I know I won't get much more than that done.  


Happy Quilting All! 

Million Pieces Quilt Still in Progress

Yes, I am still working on the Million Pieces Quilt.  The backing is pieced.  The zippers are pinned on to both the backing and the top.  The batting is airing (or fluffing or loosening...) Thread has been chosen.


Today I will load it on Ruthie and quilt the first two borders.  Then I'll start on the pantograph for the center of the top.  When I finish the other side of the border I plan on turning the quilt so I get a nicer looking design on the borders.  Being a rather slow quilter I'm not expecting to take it off Ruthie until Monday next week.  You never know though.  I could get really jazzed about finishing it and whip through it.  


Needless to say, no matter whether it is done slowly or quickly I will be shouting about it on this blog.  In a change of pace below is a photo from our back door last week.  The weather had turned and there was lots of fog drifting around. Eventually it became a beautiful day.  I'm enjoying the cooler weather that has finally arrived in central Virginia. 

Digi club was fun and yes kwiltnkats, it does grab me. Some day I'll share some of the "stuff" I've been doing with it. Just searching the web for the digital elements ties me up.  But, today I've already spent a bit of time on that so I'm off to breakfast and the quilt studio.  


Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday

Nope, not showing the design wall today -- but I am showing a design bed! The top is done, kind of. But, how did this top get so big?  I'm pretty sure I am going to take off the floral border at the top.  I will be making shams for the pillows.  


Next up is figuring out the backing.  I have a 6 yard piece of fabric so just need to see if I have something I can add to it and I'm pretty sure I'm buying a batting for it either tomorrow or Wednesday. 


Visit Judy's site for more Design Wall Monday photos.


Jenny, Sophia and Kona are coming today for a few days.  (woop! woop!) So we'll be out and about especially a quilt store or two as Jen has a new project in mind. 

Saturday Pat and I went to the Festival of the Grape in beautiful, downtown Powhatan.  The weather was great and the crowd plentiful.  Enjoyed some decent wine.  And we got some bottles for the collection. 


I'm spending the day mostly cleaning, a little trip to the grocery store and playing with Sophia and Kona.  Dinner will be in the crock pot in a few minutes. Life is good.  


Happy Quilting All! 

Slow and Steady

Nancy left a message on my morning blog today to remind me that slow and steady gets the job done.  Yep, it does.  Today I put on 5 border strips.  Three of the pieced borders and two of the floral borders. Tomorrow, if I can, I will put the last two floral borders on. Yippee!  The end is in sight. I might have gotten all the floral borders done except that corner half square triangle was sewn on wrong and I had to take it off and redo it on all four corners.  Luckily only two of the border strips had actually been sewn to the quilt. (also, the right hand border above is just laid down, not cut to correct size or sewn.) 

Before I started the floral border I laid it out on the bed it is going on.  Yipee, it looks like it will fit nicely.  (Now, fingers are crossed that it doesn't shrink up with the quilting.)  


I've got a piece of fabric from my stash that should work well as the backing although I'll have to add to it as I'm sure I don't have enough fabric.  I'm hoping to use the gold for the binding as it will go with both the front and the back. 

Dinner is almost ready so I'm off to get it served.  Nothing hard tonight as I sewed until 6:45 or so this evening!  


Happy Quilting All!  

1800's Quilt Finished

I finally finished the 1800's quilt from Moda Bake Shop.  Each square is 3/4".  Yikes, I found my intersections weren't quite as accurate as I expect them to be.  Can't see any problems now.  This was a quilt along at Small Quilts Chat over on yahoo groups.  The quilt as shown at the Bake Shop didn't have a border.  But I wanted it a little bit bigger.  Plus, it will be on a brick red wall I thought the blue border would tone down the really bright red.  I used a Bar Harbor charm pack and an old beige fabric.  I quilted it on my domestic sewing machine.  The backing is the same as the border.  It's so nice to have a finish! 


I haven't gotten as far on the pieced border of the Million Pieces quilt as I had hoped to. (Shucks, today I cleaned house and did a few loads of laundry -- not all that much sewing time!) I think I now have all the half square triangles made.  And, on the trip around the world 3 quadrants are completed.  And, the fourth one is probably about 1/2 done.  I try to sew one strip every time I sit down to sew.  Kind of like an ender except afterwards I always sew a part of a four patch as the real ender.  


It would be wonderful if I could just sew all day tomorrow but the cabinets and refrigerator are getting bare.  And, rats, it's suppose to rain all day.  But, grocery shopping I must go! Sigh.  When I get to the studio the plan is the to finish 2nd border of Million Pieces quilt. I keep thinking how much yardage I will have used when that quilt is done!  Talk about motivation. 


Happy Quilting All! 

Design Wall Monday

Um, er, make that ironing board design Monday here.  Last post I showed a beginning design idea for the borders of my Million Pieces quilt.  I wasn't particularly happy with the colors in the border so decided to use some of the same gold as part of the design.  And then I added some darker colors for the other side of the triangles.  Ooohh, I like that a lot more.  And, it will look more like a unit.  And then I realized I could make the next a plain border (and hopefully last border...) slightly bigger than the first two and voila! all of a sudden I would have enough width to be done with the quilt top. 

And the corner half square triangle will use the border fabric instead of the blue currently used.  Now that this design is set I can proceed to make the number of blocks I need.  I forget how many but I've already pulled all the fabric I will need.  I think that lighter blue in the top right corner is going back to the fat quarter bin... too light for this.  I'm not sure on the purple or the gold either. 

I've added a new button to the side bar. It is Sew Scraps Along at Pleasant Home.  Considering most quilts I am working on now are scrappy this seemed like something I would like to keep up with. 

Today I hope to finish the Million Quilt scrappy border.  Sew the binding on my 1800's quilt and perhaps get the last border on the Million Quilt too. (If I do then I need to deal with the backing fabric -- one of those things I hate to do -- piece a backing!) 

Check out other Design Wall Monday sites by going to Judy's Patchwork Times.

I'm off to the studio.  Happy Quilting All! 

For You Marge!

Marge and I have been chatting a bit . . .  not much really important just the day-to-day things.  She's leading a retreat in Lancaster County now so she may not see this right away but ... I dedicate this post to Marge. You can visit her web site here.   


She replied to some smart aleck comment I made about not really working on the Million Pieces Quilt. Her comment was "Sooner or later you have to finish the million piece quilt, I have another similar one to show you, LOL!"  ARGH.  Something new with a million pieces? Hum, that could bust a lot of fabric. Bring it on Marge and congratulations, you've inspired me to actually work on the borders. 


I think it is because it is hard to measure and cut accurately that I put off working on the borders of a big quilt.  I originally planned to add a smaller inner border and bigger outer border.  But I need to get at least 13" for the drop so I wasn't sure about the bigger border.  Here's what EQ and Pieced Borders the Complete Resource (by Marsha McCloskey and Judy Martin) and I came up with. 

First, you have to ignore the yellow sunflower fabric.  It is the ironing board cover. I tried to crop it out as much as possible.  The deep gold fabric is the first border actually sewn on.  And, yes it is two different sizes so that the next border would fit correctly.  I am not liking the brighter, more colorful blocks -- they detract too much.  The fabric at the back is the next border.  I think I will make some sample half square triangle blocks using the gold and then more mottled fabrics.  I think these whites are pretty stark. (Hey, I had some blocks ready made in my stash and it was worth a try!) And, by the way the red beyond the other border piece is the wall!  


And, I'll try with just the back fabric as a border.  I was trying to give it some more interest without putting a 10" border on.  We'll see what transpires. 


Today is an out and about day.  The Bernina is finished with her spa treatment so I will pick her up. I'm also going to the local Country Curtains store to see about some curtains for the living room and the dining room.  There are rods already there so all I need to do is find some curtains to go on them.  And, no, I really don't do curtains much.  

Yikes, it is time to actually get out and about.  I don't want to be driving in Friday evening traffic.  (but Richmond is so much easier traffic wise than the DC area!) 


And, here's a new pic of Sophia snoozing away in her crib.  Isn't she the cutest burrito you've ever seen?  (well, ok, I'm only slightly prejudiced!) 


Happy Quilting All! 

How Do I Say It? I Didn't Follow the Plan...

Nope, not distractable me.  I did get quite a bit done yesterday once I started sewing. I just didn't work on the 1800's quilt.  I did get the Million Pieces blocks sewn into rows.


I did get the Quilts for Kids quilt washed.  


I did get the binding machine and hand sewn down on the Irish Chain quilt. It needs a wash before I show it as it still has the markings all over it. 


I did get half of the little border on the old little girl and her dog quilt.  


But 1800's quilt?  Not a stitch.  It didn't even come out of its basket.  

Here's the Quilts for Kids kit quilt on the front porch.  I don't really like my quilts this wrinkled looking unless they are old fashion quilts.  My guess is this fabric was not prewashed hence the super wrinkles.  I know the Warm & White batting was.  Quilted with So Fine, Fleurs panto, Warm & White batting. 


Today I will work FIRST on the 1800's quilt and then sew these rows together.  And, I'll keep pluggin' away on the little girl & her dog quilt.  There is no way I can get it big enough for a baby quilt without doing a lot more and I am so not interested in that. 
  




Jenny posted a new picture of Sophia on Facebook.  (I stole it from there.)  I am looking forward to visiting them next week for a few days.  Watch out Sophia, Grammie is coming with her camera.  You'll be a super star!  


Weather reports that the 90's are going to give way to 80's with lows in the 50's this week.  YEA!  I am very tired of this hot weather.  I imagine we'll still have some super hot days but for the most part its over.  


On to a little laundry and a bunch of sewing.  


Happy Quilting All! 

Sometimes . . .

I just don't think before I do something . . .

All those little balls and white things are various parts of a feather pillow.

We have a very old feather pillow. The ticking cover is actually full size but the feathers only fill up about 1/3rd of the case. It is old, it smelled old. Bright thought -- I know I've read where people have washed their feather pillows. Heck, geese, duck they all get wet and it doesn't ruin their feathers. I'll just chuck this pillow in with the sheets and then air dry it. It'll smell so much better.

WRONG

Well, it could have been ok except for the "old" part. The ticking holding the feathers ripped apart in the wash. And that is what faced me when I opened the door to my front loading, high spinning washer. ACH!

Wet feathers almost every where.

My clean up plan actually worked, thank goodness.

First I cleaned out as many feathers as I could get and threw them in a trash can. Then, I put a beach towel on the floor and moved all the sheets to it. That whole pile went into the back yard where I tried to shake out as many feathers as I could. My blue shorts became nearly white.

Then I dried the sheets checking the drier every 10 minutes to clear the lint trap. And, I got my super sucker-upper vacuum cleaner to clean up the lint trap. After several vacuumings of the lint trap the sheets came out feather free and the drier is pretty much good to go.

Too bad the washer isn't as in good a shape. I vacuumed it also. Cleaned the flap as well as I could and now it is running on clean. I suspect I may have to do that a couple of times. Needless to say I won't be washing any more pillows -- well until I verify that you can wash newer pillows.

Before the exploding feathers I got several more of the Million Pieces blocks done. I've decided I need 63 and I currently have 50 done. This may actually get done in the near future. I also had some fabs picked out for the border but that won't work with the navy in the room where it is going. I'll peruse the stash again but I will probably succumb to purchasing a new border for it. Sigh.

(secretly Snoopy dancing at the thought of visiting new quilt shops!)