Category: One Monthly Goal

The good, The Bad and the Ugly…..

So, you know what really stinks?  When you finally get around to doing something and it is screwed up.  So, my one monthly goal is to quilt this quilt.  So, I spray basted it about a week ago.  I go to get it and it looks like this.  So, the border was totally jacked up.  It looked fine when I had it all laid out, but I like to wait until that spray basting is dry.  Ugh.  So, more finagling with the border.  I am trying to figure out what I did.  Did I stretch it out when I basted it?  Do I not know what square is?  Could be either, I have my moments.  Will have to figure out something. Open for suggestions.

WaterMark_2018-05-13-12-39-59So, on a more positive note.  My star quilting looks awesome.  I love this ruler, even though it is not really a ruler.  It makes it look like I WaterMark_2018-05-13-12-39-26am way better than I am.  It is hard to mess up.  Perfect stars.  This was my test piece, until I figure out what to do with my border.

Baby birds look about the same.  Getting more feathers though.  It rained a lot here yesterday, so I watched Mom andIMG_06261001 Dad collect worms for the babies.  So cute.  This morning when I left, it was sprinkling, and Mama was sitting on the nest, keeping the babies dry and warm.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

One Monthly goal and a little “Side Sewing”

What do I mean by Side Sewing?  Sewing something not quilty.  I don’t do it often, but it does happen.  I like my little key chains.  Quick gift if you need one.  I used the Lazy Girl Tutorial.  I love her name, I am totally in synch with her name.  I am a lazy girl.  When I say that I don’t really mean lazy, but looking for a better faster way of doing things.  She made hers out of candy wrappers, which I will have to try.  I love reusing stuff.

So, For my One Monthly Goal, I am going to quilt and bind my “Starry Starry Night quilt. WaterMark_2018-02-26-13-45-16 I am going to attempt to use one of my new rulers.  We will see how that goes and if the plan changes.  Time will tell.

On a positive note, some things are looking up.  All the crapiness shall pass… and new crapiness shall take it’s place.  But different is sometimes good.  Sewing/Quilting is my drug of choice.  Pretty sure it keeps me from being going to jail.

So, on a happy note, I found these beautiful Robin Eggs in my landscaping.  Can’t wait to 20180430_201358see them hatch.  Pretty sure we skipped spring and went right to Summer though.  Very Confusing weather here in Ohio.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

One Monthly Goal…It is truly a miracle

I am not sure how I managed to finish my One Monthly Goal, but I did.  This is the quilt WaterMark_2018-04-21-19-28-17top given to me by Nanette.  I love it.  I quilted dog bones, free-handed it.  That was a bit scary, but it came out all right.  I used a festive multi-watermark_2018-04-21-19-26-10.jpgcolor thread.  I love multi-color threads.  I don’t know why.  I am weird.

So, the back, come crazy dog fabric.  I had a friend give me whole bolt of this stuff.  It is sort of odd, not exactly fleece and not exactly flannel.  Just weird, but perfect for my dog quilt.  Yes, this is my dog quilt.  I have already used it while lounging on the couch.  Warm and cozy and extra special since the top was made by an extra special friend.  I have plan to make another quilt like this and donate to a dog rescue so they can hopefully raise some money.

Seems that family is on the mend.  Kev is getting better and my sister’s prognosis no longer seems as bleak as it once was.  A long way to go, but there is light.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

 

So, this counts, right? – Hand Quilt Along

Once again, I am apologizing.  I have gotten nearly nothing done.  Both, with sewing/quilting and my personal life.  There is so much going on in my personal life at the moment, I just want to go somewhere dark and warm and sleep for about a week.

For my hand quilting, I did finish the binding on this quilt….  That counts, right?  I do have a piece of embroidery for a quilt, but for some dumb reason I did not take a picture of it.  Next time.  This binding is actually on my One Monthly Goal quilt.

Besides all my personal insanity, Kevin (AKA man-friend) has gout so horribly he can hardly walk.  My little sister is also not well, and honestly, that is just not allowed.  As the older sister, I just want to take it all away for her.  Regardless of her age, she will always be my little sister and damn it, it is not her turn.

Please visit all the other wonderful people who actually get things accomplished:

Kathy, Lori, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan , Sherry,  Nanette, Sassy , Edith, Sharon and Bella.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My One Monthly Goal for April

March is over.  Yeah.  So, I am going to get the quilting done on my special dog quilt for my one monthly goalmy one monthly goal.  I have started, but have a long way to go.   My intent is to have it completely done, binding and all.   I decided that I would do an all WaterMark_2018-04-03-20-19-19over dog bone pattern.  So far, it is going OK.  I don’t hate it.

I have multiple projects going, so I am hoping to get a few things done.

So, in my March month of hell, there was a very bright note.  My 13-year-old eighth grader passed her entrance tests to college and actually gets to start this summer.  Helping her prepare and running to the testing center, was one of the many things that sucked up my time.  I am very proud of her.  I would like to take all the credit for her smartness, but I can only take full credit for her smart a$$ness.

Wonderful thing here in Ohio, kids who can pass the tests can get up to 2 years of college credit totally free, including books.  If all goes well, she can start college after high school as a junior.  Also, her college classes count as her high school classes, so she is not doing double work.  I might have enough money to fund those last two years.  She does not understand how important it is, but I was fortunate to leave college without any loans (thanks Mom and Dad).  At the time, I did not realize the importance, but there are people my age still paying back college loans.  Yikes!  I don’t want that for my daughter.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My one Monthly Goal in this crazy month

So, I finished my one Monthly goal and I don’t like it one bit.  O, my intent was to use this to practice my curved borders.  However, I got new rulers and got all excited about that and we have some pretty awful ruler work.  I thought about tearing it all out, but I just did not feel like it.  They are not all bad, but there are a couple that are pretty hideous, not to mention that for whatever reason my measuring skills were totally non-existent.  I will use it on my table.  Everyone always makes a big mess anyway…..It will blend in with the quilting.

This is the crazy birthday month.  All the kids’ birthdays are this month, along with my late mother, and my late husband, Derrick.  While I understand what everyone was doing that July before, I just do not understand why, myself included.  Fourth of July is really not that exciting.  So, the month has been getting gifts and making food and it is not over yet.  Still one tomorrow and Friday, Haley has some of her friends over.  Teenagers.  Great.  They will eat all the food, drink all the pop, and be super annoying.  Such is life being the parent of a teenager.

Due to all the crazy birthday stuff, I get little or nothing accomplished from a quilting perspective.  Add in there that I really miss my Mom and I have spent the month constantly thinking about Derrick and feeling a bit sorry for myself.   There have been numerous times that I just wanted to call Mom and talk to her about “things”.   Next month will be Dad’s birthday and I was totally a Daddy’s girl. Yeah.

Then there is the fact that, the first dead husbands brother died.  Haley wanted to see him before he passed.  I took her.  I had not seen these people in nearly 10 years.  It was stressful, but not nearly as awful as I had managed.  Sad that he is gone, I always really liked him.   At least he will have some good company.

Gosh, I sound depressing.  I don’t feel as bad as it sounds.  Sometimes, life just happens.  I need to get more sewing/quilting in and chase away the blues.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Brought a tear to my eye—Happy Pi Day! – Hand Quilt Along and Ruler Work

So, I feel like it has been forever since I have posted anything.  I have been working on a few things (therapy) and practicing with my rulers.

So, the beautiful dog quilt in the photo was sent to me by me dear Friend Nanette Chopin Cook of Chopin – A Passionate Quilter.  We talk and she knew it was a rough couple of weeks for me for a host of reasons.  She sent me this beautiful quilt top.  I can’t wait to quilt it.  It will be all mine.  I have not stopped smiling since I opened the package.  It is certainly going to be the next thing I quilt.  A perfect top for the crazy dog lady.  Gosh I love her.  She is awesome in every way.

My daughter’s school sells Pi day Shirts and every year we get one.  So, Happy Pi Day20180314_063442_resized.jpg from the Nerd squad!  Cow Pi’s bahahaha.

I have been working on my One Monthly Goal, but have changed the direction I am going.  I was going to practice my scalloped border, but instead lost my mind with the new rulers.  Not sure I 20180313_194211_resizedactually like it on here, but it’s too late now.  I am already committed.  It doesn’t look to bad, but I will have a later post on my additional learnings as I continue to figure out ruler work

Epic fail on hand quilting for the HQA.  So sorry.  I will try to get on the path of straight and narrow again.  To see all the beautiful work of those that are not slackers, click on the links below.

Lori, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan, Jessisca, Sherry, Nanette, Sassy, Edith, and  Sharon

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My One monthly goal…and some other stuff (Fluffer Nutter Butter)

So, For my One monthly goal I am going to finally finish this Table Topper.  Not sure I would call it a UFO, it is less than a year old.  I made this with the intent of learning/practicing some type of scalloped border.  I bought one of those fancy border rulers a while ago, so I will finally have a chance to give it a try.  My plan is to have this totally completed.

So, my friend Lynn was telling me how she bought some rulers for Ruler work and it was really easy.  So, since Lynn always has great ideas, I decided that I needed to give it a try.  On the way home from the swim meet on Saturday I stopped by a quilt shop and purchased the Ruler work foot.  A ridiculous $125.00.  Ugh. Then I purchased a starter set of Westerlee Rulers.  I hope to use these rulers to finish the quilting on the table topper before I give it a fancy scalloped border.  I am very excited about my rulers and I am hoping It helps me become a more confident quilter.

The Fluffer Nutter Butter quilt for the mystery quilt…..ugh.  Not much progress. Dang itwatermark_2018-03-05-13-26-48.jpg.  I think I was supposed to post on Feb 28th, but I was busy hitting 20180228_201013_resizeda deer.  I have such luck.

Here is a list of participants in this quilt along:

 

 

 

 

Saturday was the final swim meet.  Yeah!.  I can’t tell you how exciting that is.  Swim practice was 4 days a week and then weekend meets, often at least an hour away.  The school it was held at, had an awesome Natatorium.  Two Pools.  However, the most intriguing part was that the school was decorated with quilt designs.  Odd but refreshing.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

 

Blogging Slacker here but I got my One Monthly Goal completed! Woohoo!

I feel like it has been forever since I have done a blog post.  Way too much going on.  My daughter has had some crazy virus.  SHe is getting better, but we are still doing breathing treatments three times a day.   Kevin has also been sick.  Amazingly, the person with the compromised immune system (me) has managed to stay healthy.

I managed to completed my One Monthly Goal amidst the insanity.  I really love this quilt.  I have names it Hugs and Kisses.  I quilted circles on this quilt (hugs).  They don’t look to bad.  I used freezer paper.  basically, I used a protractor (showing my age) to draw circles on freezer paper and then sewed on the lines.  The freezer paper was good but I did learn a few things.  First being, don’t iron all the pattens on at once.  Just iron on a few at a time.  I initially ironed them all on and manipulating them under the machine caused them to loosen.  I eventually, pulled them off and only put them on one row at a time.  Then I had no more issues.  I will use the freezer paper method again.  I ended up using a sulky thread that was sort of an Ombre orange.  It went from dark orange to light orange.

I got to make this quilted wall hanging for free.  My local quilt shop Red Rooster Quilts gives a free quilt block every two weeks.  I am already collecting my next set, which is a lovely christmas wall hanging.

I really like this wall hanging and plan on hanging it in my family room.  I think it is because I really like orange fabric.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My One Monthly Goal

So, for my one monthly goal, I am going to finish my hugs and kisses wall hanging, in entirety.  Thank you, Red Rooster Quilts, for giving this to me, block by block every two weeks.  I also need to thank them for allowing me to deposit my paycheck at their store every two weeks when I went to get my “free” quilt block.  I would love to see the statistics on their sales and see the benefits of this way to get more money from us quilters.  I don’t blame them, I love the shop.  I would imagine that people may have went more often and bought things they really did not need (not talking about myself, no I am not). I think of the 26 weeks, I only went three times and walked out with nothing, and that was likely due to being short on time.  And yes, should they do this again, I will fall prey to their clever marketing schemes.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, it is about a mile from where I work.  So, when the nerds start getting on my nerves, I must go to a happy place. $$$

So, last week-end, Lynn and I had our own Sew in. She brought this beautiful quilt she had done.  She had such awesome quilting.  I asked how she did.  She told me she traced her design on freezer paper, ironed it on and then follow along.  Sounded like something I needed to try, which is why you see the freezer paper all over my Hugs and Kisses quilt. Hoping it makes my quilting less scary. I had a picture on my phone, but some how bunches of my photo’s keep disappearing.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting