Tag: free motion quilting

One Monthly Goal for March…..No way…….yes way……

Even though I have not started my new job, my mind is certainly in a different state.  I have until April 8th.  I finally feel ike I am on vacation.  Not only did I finish my One Monthly Goal for March, but it is packaged and in the mail for my Star Wars loving nephew.  Even made a couple of star wars pillow cases (forgot the photo of these).

Originally I bought this fabric on clearance to make something to practice on.  It was odd.  A very square desigN.  The only way not to cut up all the design was to fussy cut each square, which I did.  It is an odd-looking quilt, but it is Star Wars.  For some odd reason, I put borders on the left and right, but not on the top and bottom.  Not sure what I was thinking there, or not thinking at all.

20190320_191727So, I did practice my quilting and I was very happy with how the quilting came out, so I figured it was at least worthy to give away, even though it is odd.  I used my “star” ruler and then made angle lines.  There is a lot of quilting in it, but I enjoyed using it and it looks pretty good.

I did have to wash this quilt prior to sending, it hung on the back of the couch with the binding half on for a couple of weeks, which means the dogs assumed it was for them.  Kept yelling at them, but I guess the rule is?  “If there is a blanket or anything that looks like a blanket it is ours to cuddle up in.”  So, I needed to de-dog it.  I thought I would not like it as much once washed, but I actually liked it more.  Interesting.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

A Cute Table Runner…..

So, I made this table runner, however, I can not receive full credit.  Nanette – doitrightquilter.com sent me a box of miscellaneous items and fabric.  These adorable little blocks were in the box.  I hung them up on my design wall until I figured out what I was going to do with them.  They were just to cute to ignore.

So I arranged them until I had them the way I wanted and sewed them up.  I did a small watermark_2019-01-19-15-25-06meander for my quilting.  Oddly making sure I kept the meandering small and similar in size, was not an easy task.  I kept having to check myself to make sure I was not getting bigger as I went along.  I used a light variegated thread and I did not quilt any of the prints (except background fabrics).  I wanted to give the blocks a bit of a 3-D look.  It worked for the most part.

I really enjoyed making this.  I am currently working with some other blocks that Nanette sent me.  It is sort of like a quilt puzzle.  I  take what I have and see where it fits together.  Thank you Nanette!.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

The Hand Quilt Along and My One Monthly Goal

WaterMark_2018-10-28-20-46-25Honestly, I did not get much hand sewing/quilting done.  THe only thing I can truly take credit for is the binding on the back of this baby quilt.  I find the hand sewing on the back very relaxing.  It just so happens that this also Mo One monthly Goal Project. So to see all the fabulous project where people actually get stuff done, please visit all these lovely ladies who make way more progress than me on a regular basis.

Kathy, Margaret, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette, Sassy , Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

I did manage to complete my One Monthly Goal Project.  Not the best photo, but I like the quilt.  It came out pretty good.  Simple but cute.  My manfriends sister is having a baby, so this will go to her.  I am also working on a dinosaur quilt for her, since that is her watermark_2018-10-28-20-37-26-1-e1540775539573.jpgtheme.  I pieced the back.  This was my second time attempting this.  It was supposed to have an orange piece at the bottom also, ut that did not go as planned.  It is still OK, just a little odd, but tolerable.

So, what lesson did I learn this time????? WHen you are hand binding and it is raining outside, do not forget to put the doggy door in, because the Moka Monster likes to stand in the rain and get muddy.  Then she runs in, down to the family room and jumps on me with her muddy paws, which means watermark_2018-10-26-23-57-13.jpgshe just jumped all over the quilt I was binding.  The things that came out of my mouth. I will not repeat here.   So, yes it has been washed.

Kellie – This has been hard.  I thought it was supposed to get better with time.  Not so much.  For me the image of her laying in the casket is stuck in my head.  I constantly see it.  That is not how I want to think of her.

I have not dreamt of her.  I finally had a dream last night that I remembered.  We were living in my Old condo and it was burning down.  Have no idea what that is supposed to mean.  She was not there.

This was the one time I remember Kellie having short hair.  She had such beautiful long hair.  If I remember correctly, the dog on the right was stuck in her bag (by Mom) when she went on her honey moon.  It was her favorite.  Happy Sewing, Happy Quilting, Love the ones you are with.

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When life throws you a curve, quilt

This is my One Monthly Goal Project.  I actually finished it.  It was completed before my sister died.  I think I needed something to do rather than sit around and wait for something to happen.  I actually finished the binding on the evening before.  I needed something to do with my hands.  It is a cute baby quilt, even though my fire fly looks like it has mated with a bee.

For the first time, I pieced a back.  Nothing fancy, but I did it.  Learned a few things.  If watermark_2018-09-24-19-02-24.jpgyou can piece your back, you can save a lot of fabric.

I used my heart-shaped ruler for my quilting.  It does not look watermark_2018-09-24-19-02-49.jpgto bad. I find quilting with shapes and rulers relaxing, which is why I probably got this completed.  I needed to do something that was sort of mindless. For some weird reason, the color looks goofy in this photo.  Maybe because it is a close up

I hope you don’t mind….for a while I will likely add pictures of my sister Kellie.  I think honoring her helps me a bit.  It has only been a week and there were many time I said oh I will ask Kellie, burst in to tears when I suddenly realized I could no longer do that.

KELLIE – When, I had issues with my first husband, My sister drove down and picked up Haley for

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Kellie and Lori

the weekend so we can try to sort out what we were doing.  Unfortunately, that same weekend, my husband Jerry took his own life.  Kellie kept Haley for a couple of days so I could make arrangements and then brought her home.  She wanted to protect her for as long as she could, from how hard life was.  Haley was only 4.  I was so thankful that she did that.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure those you love like there is no tomorrow

Couch Sewing (meaning sewing while on the couch not actually sewing the couch)

So, the dear Nanette of Chopin a Passionate Quilter, sent me this top to, as she said, “Practice On”.  I find it the perfect piece for my dining room table, since I always need to have something quilty on my dining room table.

I have a quilt that has been on my design wall for quite some time.  I am not done with it, but hope to get there.  This past week, I have done a few of the curved blocks each evening.  It is my moon and stars quilt.  So, on this table topper I practiced my moon andWaterMark_2018-07-26-20-02-56 stars quilting.  It was actually quite fun.  I made pock-marked moon and stars using my star shape ruler.  After doing this piece, I will not have a problem with my quilt.  I also have a lovely piece for the dining room table.  It adds some color that my boring dining room needs.

I do have to admit that I had everything done on this quilt before all my crazy drama.  I even had the binding sewn on.  I just needed to fold over and hand finish.  Off course, I do this while sitting on the couch, right next to my basket of sit on the couch sewing/quilting supplies.

I am getting back to feeling like a human, which I am grateful for.  Summer is almost over and in the very near future it is school shopping and princess will be back at school.  Time flies, even when you are not having fun.  LOL.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

My One Monthly Goal Finish….

I would say it was a miracle that I completed my One Monthly Goal, but I have already used that headline…LOL. I finished my “Starry Starry Night” quilt.  This was a top that I paper pieced for Denise at For the Love of Geese as a pattern test (She does have some lovely patterns).   It came out not too bad, considering I don’t consider myself a very good paper piecer.

I had a lot of fun quilting this project.  I think that is because I like how the quilting cameWaterMark_2018-05-23-19-12-25 out.  I wish I had chosen a different thread for the front, because I wound up liking the back a lot.  I used a variable thread on the front, and all I see is the the light part of the thread, which shows any mistakes.  I do not have a long arm, so I am always using my domestic machine and I always want to get the “longarm” look on my WaterMark_2018-05-23-19-10-53domestic machine.  I know it takes a lot of practice to become proficient and I have been working on it.  However, I found these rulers (not sure why some are called rulers) at my local quilt shop.  I quilted this using the Star shape.  It made making beautiful stars on my 20180422_135918.jpgdomestic machine easy.  They come out nearly perfect.  I am still getting used to using them, so not every star is perfect, but I like it.  I think I will keep this quilt for one of my future grandchildren.

This is the last photo I have of my birds.  They have all flown the nest.  I see them in the yard, learning about life, trying to get food.  It was wonderful watching them hatch and grow each day.20180523_175037_resized

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday weekend.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

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…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

 

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