New Adventure

 I got a call from a friend, and she has decided to sell her Nolting Long Arm quilting machine. The next question was I interested in buying it. Well, I first had to talk to Fred. Then after we discussed it and I found out what she was asking for it. We decided that it was a go. So about two weeks ago I purchased the longarm and moved it into my upstairs sewing space. 

It was quite the challenge making it fit as the table is one of the longest ones at 14 feet, after some planning and we updated the room with a new floor it was put in place.  So today I put a quilt in the frame and will be starting my first attempt of quilting a whole quilt. I have done several table runners but now it is on to a much bigger challenge. 

Feb 27, 2023

Back in Jan I found out that I am in for another round of radiation. This time I am doing 28 days of treatment and so far, have 9 of the 28 days completed so only 19 more to go. This has been a long ride and has had its bumps, but it has not been an awful time. Sort of scarry when you talk cancer and always a wonder if they got it all and where I stand for the future. 

  The future is not something I can control so for now deal with the treatments and then get on with life. That mean for now driving back and forth to LaCrosse and then hopefully going back to work. I don't foresee this being a problem, but I guess time will tell what happens down the road. 

I am about done with the Puppy Love quilt it just needs binding cut and sewn on. I did a bunch of straight-line quilting thru out the quilt and then an end-to-end quilting motif on my embroidery machine on the green border. I learned a fair amount about lining up the border. 

Quilt Show

This last weekend was our guild quilt show.  I spent all day Friday the 19th at the judging of the quilts we have two kinds of entrances for the show. One is for items that you as a member just want to display and the other is for items that you wish to have judged. I have not hand anything judged for a while now. Usually it is just two hard to get it there by 8:00 in the morning when I was working the Bakery and asking someone to take it for me just was not what I felt like doing.

I had done it in the past but I have not had that done for a while now. Well this year I took 4 things to be judged.  Unfortunately 2 of them were in the category with the most items and this was the winner in that category and it definitely desereved the prizes it won it was spectacular.

It not only won a blue ribbon in large quilts, group made it also won best of division and Best of Show. It was made by guild member Ruth Ann Hunter.

Now I had my camera with me Saturday when I was at the show but did not get any pictures taken. So I asked hubby if he would go and take some pictures for me as he was going up to help with take down and pick up my quilts that were taken.

So he did and he took some of these pictures for me. LOL not as many as I would of taken but then I will not complain I had my chance.

		NEIQG QUILT SHOW 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Sorry some of these may come up sideways.

Quilt I made for someone else

I put the embroidered quilt blocks together for a lady I know as a Christmas present for her daughter. The top was done by Christmas and wrapped and given and then it came back to go to the quilter I got it from the quilter on Thursday and put the binding on it and a hanging sleeve. Nice to see it done.

Granddaughter and hubby held it up for me to take a picture of it.

Where did Sept. go!!!

It is hard to believe we are almost at the end of the month I sure don’t know where it went but looking at the calendar it has just about completely disappeared that is for sure.

Let see the 2nd Monday of the month my small quilt guild did a shop hop and we went to Manchester, Dyersville and Cascade and visited the quilt shops in those towns.

I have been to the shop in Manchester and really like going there even though it really is bit of a drive. While there I picked up this pattern

Along with some fabric to work on a different tote and the stiffener that you use in the different totes/purses. I got the Caddy done but did not get a picture of it to show off. Will go for that in the next couple days.

Add to that I am now writing this blog from my second job. I am doing two 10 hour shifts from noon to 10:00 pm so that keeps me busy too with this being the first month for this.

The nice part about this job is if the world is quiet I can bring hand work along and get a few things done. So far I am about 3/4ths of the way thru doing the 2nd Sun Bonnet Sue Quilt I think I have like 5 blocks left to button hole down to the black background.

So that is what has been going on in my world hope you have been busy and getting a lot done in yours.

found some triangles

I had made a table runner out of this fabric and had a group of triangles setting in a pile and so I got them stitched together and then made into a small table runner or Hexagon runner.
I am so found some fabric that were to be done up in runners that were blue design that had a horse theme these belong to a friend who was making some runners for her mother for Christmas.
She stop by before I got a picture of them. The fabric was enough to make a longer table runner and 3 Hexagon runners. so much fun.
I then dug out a project that has been 2/3rd done a quilt top the pattern is called summer Breeze and was fun to put together then the borders needed to be done and I have a strip fabric for that. The problem is I don’t remember the plan of how I was going to finish the borders and I think I cut them to wide. and the corners are mitered and that seems to be a problem for me right now. I am cutting into what I think I have set aside for binding to finish them and so that may be a challenge down the road.

Another project finished

I had a lady bring me a quilt top and she has dearly loved it and used it. The fabric in several of the areas in the blocks was worn so bad that it was not longer there. I ended up scanning the fabric and printing it and then replacing these diamond shapes. I then stitched the seams that had given and tighten up the whole area. I had been redoing some of the quilted areas though to be honest the whole thing could have been quilted again and I was not going to put that kind of time into it. I stabled squares in areas and today gave the quilt back to the owner.

I am happy to see my to do list going down even further nice to send things home to their owner in better shape then they were in is about all I can do for this project.  I did not get a picture snapped of the quilt it makes me think of a block that I remember called Carpenter square with lots of diamonds going to a center with other squares around it. Then it had an alternate block that was quilted.

where has the week gone

Well I sure don't know where the week has gone it is Wed all ready and I don't feel like I have gotten any were on things. I did get Annie up to the Vet this afternoon for her shots she likes to go for rides and then we did a couple other errons but it is hard to go to far when you have a doggy shut up in a vehicle. Even though I leave the vehicle running I worry about it stopping and even though it is not super hot out if some how the car should stop she would be in the heat of the day.

Just not a good thing so my trip was short and then we came back home again.

Had a sisters weekend with my sister's in law and that went well I forgot my camera but have  pictures shared by Sherrie  Pictures from the weekend Hope this works 

I have been working on the binding for the Sun Bonnet Sue quilt and that seems to be slow going too.

It’s done

I have had this quilt for a while now. It is a quilt that my mother started quite a while ago and then I just could not seem to get motivated to finish it.  The back and front have to be folded under and then sewn together. In a couple areas mother pulled the back to the front and I did not change any of those areas.

My mother had Alzheimer's and this quilt has some issues but I decided this was a quilt that she made and I was not going to try and fix it just finish it.  I completed it last night and then put it in the washer and dryer.

I have not checked the quilting to closely  how the quilting is behaving after it was washed I just spread it out over a twin bed and it would probably fit a full size bed but it looks good on the twin too.

Quilting by Hand

I seem to be into hand work right now. I put this quilt in the frame and have been working on it for the last couple days.  I made this top as part of a class a while ago using some feed sack fabrics and other prints that I felt like they fit in with the group.

I am quilting around the V shape or partial boxes. The units are like card tricks only on it's side or in a row instead of in a square block.  I marked the border with a chalk pencil and not sure that is working out well with my moving around on the swivel of the frame. I have a grace hoop frame on a stand and it is working out to quilt this perfectly other then I am rubbing off the lines I drew on the border. Oh well cannot have it all I guess.

Progress happening

Well the weather out side has been hot.  I have flower bed that need tending but it is just to warm out there for me.  We had fresh beets from the garden that were very good.

I was able to put a smaller quilt in my hoop downstairs after deciding how to quilt it.  The top has been hanging around for a while and it is time to get it out and get it done. 

I also debated what to do about the flower garden quilt I pictured earlier and decided to just keep at it and not take out any quilting I don’t have to. I was able to get another section done and had some scrap pieces that I trim off to add to another area that had been trim off so that I did not have to trim the top too.

As I said this was one of mother’s last quilts that she quilted and I am just trying to get it done.

Problems finishing off this quilt

  This is one of the last quilts my mother made. She had Alzheimer's and it shows on this quilt that she was losing a lot. The quilt was quilted and she was starting to finish the edges and on a couple places she cut the back to deep and the quilting on this last edge area was pulled to tight and has gathered the top and back and making it almost impossible to finish off I guess I am going to have to cut some of the quilting and redo it. I was trying to avoid doing this and just finish off the quilt as it is since it is one of her last works and I appreciate it for that alone.

As you can see the gathered area is making it pretty impossible to finish off this top.

I am just going to have to pull some threads and then quilt it back down if I want to finish off this top.
Such is how it goes if I want to reduce the pile it must be done.

Last night we had 4 inches of rain and then this morning another down pour but the river seems to be going down and since up river did not get as much rain as we did it helped us out. Not so sure that down river from us is so lucky. Plus they are predicting even more rain in the next day or two. We go from to dry to more water then needed that is for sure.

Color quilt blocks

Ok to explain the color blocks and how it works.  
We iron freezer paper to some high thread count fabric and then with pigma pens traced pages out of coloring books. These traced pages are then lined up and wait for children to attend the school house on a specific day where we provide Crayola crayons to color the drawn fabric pictures. We ask the children to put there name and age on the block they color.
Then we take paper towels and place over the picture and iron so that the wax comes out and the color stays in the fabric. These are hung up and displayed the week of fair and then taken down and put into wall hangings that are silent auctioned at the next years fair.
It is a nice little fund raiser it does not bring in lots and lots of money but some and give the children a free activity at the county fair.

Fayette County Quilters and Piecemakers a project.

This week is Fayette County Fair and for the last few years my smaller guild has drawn on high thread count white fabric pictures that children attending the fair and visiting the  country school house that is on the fair grounds on a specific day. I think last year that was Thursday. this year it is Tuesday.

Then the colored block are sorted out and guild members make wall hangings that are silent auction the next year. The money is donated to the Fayette County Historical Society to be used as they feel the need.

So this is the group of blocks that I received to put together.

Twilight Kaleidoscope

Well the picture is not very good but I need to get batteries in the camera and so I used the web camera that is on the computer not sure that will be something I try again.
I have the smaller star blocks done Now I need to do the 12 inch ones and then to sew the strips together for the sashing.  I am using the Square in a Square ruler to make the blocks and it is being a little bit of a challenge. I cannot find the book that goes with the ruler and so I need to figure what size I need to cut the center black squares  to cut them in half to make the Flying Geese units. The center square on these are   3 1/2 inch squares and so the flying geese units I had to cut square that were 2 1/2 in  I think I did not write it down and I should of because I am now trying to figure out what size to cut the center for the bigger squares and it is not going well I thought 4 3/4 would do it and that is not large enough. So I guess I need to cut the square 5 inches for a 6 1/2 inch diagonal cut $*&#(#  I hope that works out right.  I can use the strip I cut to do the  black frame around the bigger blocks so it is not wasted but it is frustrating  I am debating if it would just be better to clean and go thru my book shelf and find that how to book for the ruler. Then I would have the info I needed to make these units correctly. 
The info used to be on the designer of the rulers web site but she has taken that down and so I am out of luck there.  I do like how the flying geese units are coming out but this cut and guess method is not work out.
Oh well back at it or I will not get any where today.

Quilt Progress

I found the backing fabric for the Sunbonnet Sue it was on sale an so I was able to pick it up at a really good price I think it totaled out at 54 dollars for 9.25 yards. It is a black background with small white daisies all over it and the daisies have yellow centers. So tonight I am straightening the edges and cutting off the salvage and I will sew it together. In fact as I started to measure it out for the piece I needed I think the store gave me almost a half yard extra so I am sure the machine quilter will not have to worry about fitting the top on to the backing.

I suppose I could of cut off the extra but who knows what I would do with it and besides I will cut off the edges when I sew on the binding and that way the machine quilter will not be thinking evil thoughts about me as she puts the top on her machine.

My hope is to get this done tonight and then I can run over and get the quilt top from Pat who has had it for a little bit to kind of get a chance to pet it and play with it before it goes to Elgin  to the quilter.

So that should work out just about perfect. So after I get off work in the bakery and then can hopefully head out.  See if the rest of the world agrees with my plan or if something will put a kink into it.  Some times my day’s plan changes on a dime.

Hmm as I type this the weather seems to be getting a little bit of a go again. We came home Monday to find that a storm had blown thru sometime over the weekend. I quizzed at work and was told it happen Monday AM.  There must have been a bunch of wind we have a canoe in the back yard on a rack and it had been blown off the rack and half way across the yard and had a bunch of water in it.  That seem to be the only thing that happen over the time we were gone.

Well I best get the strips trimmed and sewn together.

One of the Sun Bonnet Sue quilts is done!!!

Well I finished the top and now I need to get backing and batting and get it to a quilter. I laid the quilt on our bed and it looks pretty good it is a good size quilt it measure 104 long and 101 wide.

The border is on 3 sides of the quilt I left off the top since it really does not seem like it is  a border that makes sense for over the pillows.

This weekend we woke up to a surprise of sorts the weather man said cold and wintery weather well that is what we got. This is looking out the window going down the stairs in our house.

Messing with Photo’s

I have been messing with photos today of the class I took on Wed and of the show and tell at the afternoon guild meeting. I was going to the evening meeting with a friend but she decided to go late and told me to go ahead. Well I had gone to the afternoon meeting and had to come home and walk the dog since Fred was busy. He was on call in West Union for 24 hour shift so I needed to come home and was going to ride to the meeting with a girl friend. She texted me to go with out her and so I decided to just skip driving the 45 min back again for the evening.

It just did not seem like a very economical use of gas and I had seen the program in the afternoon. I am sure it would have been fun to see again the speaker Marilyn Foreman was an excellent speaker and had a lot of lovely quilts to show off. With that much of a drive by my self I decided it was smarter to stay home.  So Annie (the dog) and I had a nice walk and then I came home and worked on picking up my desk area. It has been a disaster for a while now.

In the post earlier today I used Smile Box a program you move photos into and can view them in a kind of scrap book format. None of the block pictured there are done by me. Lots of variety in the fabric used for those that are participating in our Farmer’s Wife quilt group.

On wed the day after the guild meeting we had a work shop with Marilyn Foreman and I posted a picture earlier of the pattern. Well here are a couple of pictures of my fabric and the teacher and a few of the blocks I got cut out.

 

 

I am twisting and turning my 4 patch blocks to see what way they look best and someone grab my camera and took a picture.

Here are some of the other fabric choices cut up into blocks for the quilt.

		Twilight Kaleidoscope VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL