Hearts Are A No Go

Ky came after school yesterday and wanted to work on the "hearts" quilt she started the other day.

However, when you sew the top row to the bottom row of the block, you lose the straight edge strip because of the seam allowance.

I remembered after seeing her first block, I had tried this heart before and for the same reason it doesn't work.

So she is going back to square one "Gems" for the quilt.  She was disappointed, because she thought she had come up with a new pattern, but still happy the way the Gems pattern is looking.


I managed to finish all of Sarah's pillows.

Look simple don't they.  Machine sewing was the Easy part.  The hard part came when I had to hand sew the openings.

It actually took longer to hand sew than to make and stuff the pillows.  Well they are done and she said she loves them.  Good!!!

Each time I make pillows for other people, I keep telling myself I should get fabric and make my own.  Always seem to forget to look for fabric when I'm at the store.  Always so busy looking at quilt fabrics I forget about upholstery fabrics.

Today is sew day with the girls and I'm taking only hand sewing with me.  Making travel bags and I need to sew the velcro on the the opening flaps.  There are days I want to sew with my friends, but just dont feel like hauling the sewing machine, cutting board, etc etc etc, - much easier to do hand sewing and I have plenty of that to do.

These are great little travel bags, for make up or for us sewers needles, thread, scissors etc

Taking them with me to Edgerton show and will put a small price tag on and try selling them.

Oops I gotta go time to leave and pick up Annette for sew day

Baby Brother Quilt

Put as much into one day as I could and still found the time to do the quilting for Ky's baby brother quilt.

Now she has to bind it and its finished.

Wayne and I cleaned house this morning.  Yes, Wayne helped.  Don't panic its only because I cut his hair this morning and the deal is he has to vacuum after I do this. So instead of just vacuuming the hair, he actually did the kitchen, living room, hallway, bathroom, I finished with my room, laundry room and bedroom.

He doesn't do my sewing room and I prefer it that way. Too much to move around for him to mess with.

Cut all the fabric for Sarah's pillow covers, went to town to visit Nettie, and picked up fabric to cut for her.

Trimmed and cut back dead flowers in yard.

Cleaned sliced and prepared scalloped potatoes with kohlrabi.  Then, went to sewing room and did the quilting.


I think I'm done for the day.

Change Of Plans

Instead of this

I just didn't like the way this looked so instead - I cut it up and made this

Its reversible - tired of one side flip it over for a while.

I like this so much better than what I started with.

My plan for the rest of the day was to load and quilt Ky's baby quilt, but I got side tracked.

Instead I added one more border to my OZ quilt - its now 94 x 108 and ready to be quilted.

Also started to recover pillows for daughter in law Sarah.  She didn't like the pillows that came with her new couch, so she brought me the pillows and the fabric to cover.

Manage to get one done today.  Took longer than I thought - the hardest part is hand sewing them shut.

 Hope this is what she had in mind.

Minnie Me

That's my Ky.

She was on a quilters roll today.

Finished the binding on her quilt she is entering in the October 20th quilt show.

She also managed to sew a baby quilt - grandma still has to quilt it for her.

In addition to sewing this and the matching pillow, she also sewed the pieces to yet another quilt, she is hoping to get finished before the quilt show.

She was using my pattern "Gems" and then started to play around with the pieces moving them here and there and came up with her own pattern design "Hearts" - So we are calling this Kylee's Heart.

She still has to sew all the pieces into blocks and the blocks into columns and then add the sashing between the columns and of course a border, but with another good sewing day like today, she should be able to get this done in no time.

Me, on the other hand, managed to sew some strips together to make another bear. Cleaned the house, canned 2 quarts and 14 pints of pickled beets, made chicken soup and helped Ky with her quilts.

Kylee had such a productive day I'm call her my Minnie Me.

Its Still A Challenge

Made my second bear this morning.  I thought oh boy I should know what I'm doing with this one.

Yeah Right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Picked though scraps to find the fabrics I wanted for the second one.

I had to try and find scraps that would look good with the "miscut" pieces from the first bear.  Why waste those pieces.  After rummaging and tossing and cutting strips I was ready to begin.

Got all the pieces cut and ready to sew together.  There I sit at my sewing machine and I'm still not sure how I did it yesterday.

In the long run I finally got it all figured out (again).  Good thing those pieces have notches to line up or who know where the legs and arms not to mention the head would wind up.

I did make notes on the paper pieces so maybe, just maybe the next one will be easier.

Yes I'm making more.  The PLAN each one of my grand kids will be getting one of these for Christmas.  I don't care boy or girl, old or young they are all getting one.  I hope they like them, knowing they are from grandma and made with lots of love and many bad words while making them.

Lions and Tigers and Bear Oh MY

Well no Lions or Tigers but there are Bears.

Here is the challenge.  My friend Liz made one and I just had to make one too.  So she gave me the pattern pieces but NO instructions.

Are you kidding!!!!!!

I sewed strips of fabrics together until I thought I had enough to cut the necessary pieces.

After cutting them all I called Liz and asked her for instructions, and she tells me there aren't any.

So she came over briefly and brought one of her bears for me to look at while I tried to assemble mine. Only to find out I didn't cut reverse pieces - I had all one sided pieces.  So its back to sewing more strips together to cut the other side of the bear.

I had the body and the legs and one arm sewn on the other day and proceeded to Finish this morning.

That is AFTER I realized the legs were not sewn on correctly, and the ears needed to be removed and put in a different place. Well after all of the sewing and unsewing and a few choice words thrown in for good measure - I finally got it sewn and stuffed.

Mine is the striped one with lavender bow, the other is Liz's bear.  Its a good thing she left this one for me to keep referring to or I would still be in the sewing room trying to figure out which piece goes where.

Now I have to quick make another one so I don't forget how its done.  I will have to write up these instructions for future reference.

A Warm Hug From Mom

I had the pleasure of quilting this scrappy Jacobs Ladder quilt for Peg Nelson.

She said her mother had made this top and she is now having it quilted and giving it to her sister.

I'm so sure her sister will love it, especially knowing her mom made it. Like getting a warm hug from mom.

I quilted this using King Tut "Pharaoh Tales" thread and a Panto by Patricia Ritter.

Loved the way the variegated thread looked on this all colorful scrappy quilt.

Perfectly Lovely Shower

Everything worked out so well yesterday for the baby shower and family and friend gathering.

Kylee came early to decorate the pergola and to get her games ready (which by the way worked out great)

Her hair was adorable, it was put up in a bow!  Grandpa said she was going to have birds nesting in her hair, but instead she had bees trying to go in the bow.  I think they thought it was a bee hive.

We had a wonderful turnout of family and friends and I thank each and everyone for coming.

It was so enjoyable.  We had a wonderful delicious meal (Toby cooked the meat and it was awesome)
Many dishes to pass.  After stuffing ourselves silly. We let Sarah open her presents.

And then CAKE

Many many presents and all as cute as could be.  These little moccasins were a hit and everybody commented on how adorable they were.  Thanks Bill and Donna love them and you.

I didn't take pictures of all the presents but now I wish I had.

The cake was beautiful and delicious.  Thanks to Stacy getting that for the party

Aunt Stacy showed her how to put frosting lipstick on and then the frosting painting began with the kids

Did somebody say cute!!!

We finished the evening by sitting around the campfire.  However, many people left and the grand kids had to leave. So we didn't get the s'mores made. Poor Ky she got it all out but nobody around to enjoy.

Like we needed more sugar by that time.

It was a perfect day and wore me out and wore me out slept until 7:30 this morning.  I never sleep that late.

My Ladder Overflowith

After class the other day at Twin Turtle Quilts Shop in Clinton, I brought home all of the quilts that were at the shop for display.

They will be displayed in my booth at the upcoming Edgerton Quilt Show Oct. 20th. - If you haven't thought about it yet, consider entering your quilts in the show. Entry forms can be printed on line from the Edgerton Chamber Commerce website.  Or I also can get you an entry form.  Its a viewers choice non judging show.

For now I have them stacked and layered 2 and 3 quilts per rung on the quilt ladder.

And one on the back of the couch.  This isn't even all of the quilts I will be taking with me for the show.

Still have 2 that aren't even quilted yet.   Not mention the BB Baskets quilt

Oh the top rung top quilt is actually Ky's she is still working on finishing the binding.

I am seriously overloaded with quilts for now.

Today is the big Baby Shower Family/Friend party and finally have all of the house cleaned, beans are cooking and I'm off to take a much needed shower.

We are having the most perfect day for it today.  The weather is gorgeous. Im going to get out there as soon as possible to enjoy it.

Chicken Soup

Cold rainy day and I have been fighting off a cold.  At least I think its a cold that is trying its darnedest to break through.  So I made Chicken Soup for supper tonight.

Felt off and on for past few days and today its more off.

Took some alka seltzer plus and went to bed this afternoon trying to take a nap.  I dozed off but didn't really sleep.  Kind of like last night.  I did that all last night woke up 3:30 - 4:30 - 5:00 and finally Wayne got me up at 7:00. More tired than when I went to bed.

Minor sore throat.  Lets hope it runs its course before Saturday the day of the baby shower family friend party.

I have much to do before that, but when you don't feel well its really difficult to keep going.

Did manage to finish the wall hanging for Deena this afternoon.  Its quilted and bound.

backing

I really hope she like this.

Learned a valuable lesson today, never quilt when you are tired and or sick.  Even though I like the wall hanging I think I could have done a better job quilting it.  In fact I'm sure I could have done a better job.  But, you know, quilters are their worst critics, so hoping she doesn't mind it not being my best work.