A Close to Finish...

Here's the first of the three quilts I am doing on Ruthie soon. This is a Happy Quilt top I finished before the move and had hoped to get quilted before we moved... didn't happen until now. I used a new pantograph and I'm not that excited about it. And, I am definitely rusty too, which may be why I'm not all that thrilled with it. My curves are lumpy. My points are bumpy. I need to get my skill back. I practiced a couple of rows of two or three pantos before doing this one. Sigh. Maybe by my third one I'll be back up to snuff, so to speak. On the third quilt I am going to use a very easy pantograph of roses. Monday I'll be quilting last weekend's mystery quilt -- probably freehand stars with curlies going around too.

This panto is called Flyaway by Willow Leaf Studios. I used navy So Fine by Superior Threads and Warm and White batting, preshrunk.

Guess who got a hair cut today? Finally. And not a day too soon -- it was about 104 in Richmond today. Shoot, it says it 102 in Powhatan at 9 pm. Yikes

Do you keep up with visitor count on your blog? I do a bit. When I checked all of the statistics the other day everything was gone. Yikes. Where did it go? But, today, info is back. Hopefully it is accurate... although I don't pay that much attention to it -- more curious than anything else. And, the number of viewers each day fluctuates wildly. But it is nice to see that a few people read this. It's nice to have an audience.

Goals for tomorrow:

• trim million pieces blocks.

• tie off any loose threads on Happy Quilt.

• go to sit and stitch with Country Piecemakers.

• sew batting together for mystery quilt.

That's more than enough for me. Some of those things will be done at the sit and stitch, some at home.

Happy Quilting All!

Visitors

Jenny came up to spend the week with us last week. Brian was out of town and Jen was on spring break/furlough from the university. We spent one day shopping for maternity clothes and a lunch out. Here she is with the dogs, modeling the "bump." Kona enjoyed her visit but looked worried every time Jenny left the room. Last time she visited she stayed a couple of extra weeks cause J and B were going on a trip.

One reason Jen came up was to use Ruthie to get the quilting done on a friend's wedding gift. She used the butterfly panto and it came out great. I love how forgiving that panto is especially for newbies. Some pantos look wacky when done -- well, I'm not a pro yet so hopefully some day they won't look wacky.

We went to A Stitch in Time so she could get the backing for this quilt. I got the scraps. Her sewing room will be turning into the nursery so she isn't keen on lots of scraps. And, she calls me when she needs extra scraps anyway. (hum, do I need to report those scraps??)

I think she did some work on the one below but I can't guarantee it. Jen was motivated and sometimes went up to the studio while I was totally lazing away.

We took this photo as she was loading the car to leave. When Pat and I came back into the house. Oh no. She had left the other quilt on the chair. Thank goodness for cell phones. She' d gotten no more than 5 minutes away before she turned around to get it.

Have a quilty day all! Happy Quilting.

Bits of This and That

First up is the night picture we took of the Eiffel Tower. (do you realize how hard it is to spell that name? Thank you Wikipedia for the correct spelling. It is correct isn't it??? ) I just read that it is the single most visited paid monument in the world. Hum, the writer in me would love to rewrite that so it isn't so awkward sounding, but that would take a bit of thinking on my part and I just don't want to think that hard. This isn't a good sign when there are more tiny thought words than actual commentary on the pictures...

Next up are a couple of pictures of quilts made by my friend Sharon. I had permission to show you the pink one but not until she gave it to her daughter. Her granddaughter, Alexis, was born a while ago so I can share this cute quilt with you. I love the mix of colors in this. The border is subtle but really goes so well with the center. Great job Sharon.

This next quilt was a round robin if I remember correctly. Our guild, Faithful Circle Quilters sponsored the RR many years ago. Each pass had different rules -- must have triangles, must have applique, curve piecing. Whatever. Some of the best quilts I own are ones I've done in round robins.

Yesterday I spent several hours quilting on a twin size charity quilt. I hadn't touched Ruthie for a full month. (hey, we were on vacation!) I borrowed some pantographs from a friend who is spending part of the winter in warmer climes. (HA! They got 5" of snow in lower Mississippi the other day.) So I used the panto Waterworld. (scroll down to see the design.) It isn't all that hard but it certainly isn't looking as nice as it should. I'll finish that this morning and then I'll put the rows together on the quilt I was doing earlier in the week.

Off to get going this morning. Can't laze the whole day away although sometimes I really wish I could.

Hapy Quilting All!

Back to Ruthie

I've been ignoring Ruthie a bit over the last 6 weeks. In fact, I only quilted one quilt in October. So, now I am working on Ruthie a bit more. Today I started on a twin size charity quilt from Faithful Circle Quilters. I pulled out one of the pantographs I bought a while ago. I'm a bit more smooth doing it but I'm not overjoyed with the results. I still have some funny looking designs!

See the cute little design below. I just picked one that actually could be seen in the picture.

And, here's what the panto looks like. I'm not sure I would buy this now, after I've seen it sewn up. But, maybe after I get this whole quilt done I'll like it much better in reality. I really liked the panto.

The next quilt up after this one is a charity quilt made by members of Stash_Quilters on yahoo. It will be going to a wounded soldier as soon as I am finished with it.

And, around the corner is a super deluxe BIG king size quilt for Jenny. Remember seeing this one? It is the one behind all the others. It will just barely fit on Ruthie. I'm pretty sure I will be doing free motion on this quilt. And, knowing my luck I'll probably have to flip it also. I am sure learning about machine quilting with all of these quilts!

And, still waiting to be sewn together is the Mystery Quilt. And, I want to put the binding on the Bricks and Stepping Stones quilt... .... .... time to get onto to all that!

Happy Quilting All!

More Pantos

These are the other three pantos I received yesterday. All of them are distributed by Willow Leaf Studio. The first three were designed by Jodi Beamish

All were bought through Kings Men Quilting Supply. And, wow!, talk about great turn around time. I received them 4 days after placing the order. Amazing.

This one is Starburst. It is a 6" panto.

Here's Wildflower. Another 6" one.

And this one is a mini design with two 5" designs on one roll. (sounds very economical to me.) It was designed by Hermione Agee of Lorien Quilting, and distributed by Willow Leaf Studio.

The top one is Frisky, the bottom in Yoyo.

I now have a decent variety of pantos to practice with. I certainly have several tops ready to quilt. I may throw on a charity quilt to practice with Popcorn before I put on my next quilt.

Last night I finished the second sock except sewing the toe together. And, I only have one little piece and the embroidery on the Bunny Hill Designs Basket block of the month. I'm feeling like I am getting things done.

Keeping with the getting things done thoughts, I'm off to do just that!

Happy Quilting!