It's Monday....again....
We had a wonderful weekend with great weather, Mr. Red Quilts got the yard looking really spiffy, we had a lovely quiet BBQ on our deck on Saturday night...Mr. RQ BBQ'd small new potatoes, rack of lamb and asparagus , salad and chardonay!! It was divine...you haven't lived until you've had grilled asparagus! Looks like his watching all those cooking shows over the winter has paid off big time :)! Sunday we celebrated his and my birthdays with family over...we didn't have cake this year, instead we went with a whole "make your own sundae bar" which was just a whole bunch of sugary yumness! You don't have to follow your diet on birthdays, right??? LOL! I didn't take a photo because I just know you all didn't want to have to face that temptation and I don't want to be responsible for sending out food cravings by blog! :)
Speaking of the yard, here is my Bridal Wreath Spirea...isn't she just gorgeous!!!! This was the first
time using my flower setting on my camera. I think it must take a certain knack because my brother takes close ups of flowers and his look like calendar pictures they are so good. I tried really closeup on my Forget-me-nots.....I love this little flowers, so delicate and simple. I see a quilt there!
I am working with these fabrics from Kim Schaeffer,..they just came in last week at the shop.
I am designing a wall hanging using it..more on it later.
I started cleaning my sewing room yesterday....it really needed to have something done before I got lost in there. Of course, I seriously underestimated the size of the job and I am only about 1/3 done. My biggest dilemma was trying to decide how to organize my fabric. By color? by style? by designer? I finally decided on color with the exception of my Moda's..they will get a shelf all their own. I did find out that I had pretty well weaned out the oldies of my fabrics over the last year. Everything in my stash now has been bought in the last three years and as only quilter's can know..that's pretty darn good!!LOL! I did make a separate section for novelties and panels plus a Christmas/winter section. One little drawer for orientals...I have enough of these for a quilt ...they're really not my "thing" but were gifted to me and are really gorgeous so, of course, I will have to make something with them someday. Fan blocks would be nice, I think or little Dresden plates.
Well, no great travel adventures planned for this week! LOL...just more cleaning in the sewing room! Happy quilting..
Have you ever lost time? An Hour? A Day? A Week?!!! Well, I've been in the Land of the Lost for the past week!! It suddenly came upon me that I needed to step away from quilting, blogging, and a whole bunch of other things to take a wee break. I felt like I had been going in circles, that I was not accomplishing anything quilt wise and my brain couldn't seem to put two cohesive thoughts together in a row! But, I'm back and hopefully the rest did me good! Over the past week, I have looked thru many old quilt magazines and books, slept in, baked some brownies, watched (caught up) on many taped TV shows, straightened one little pile on the sewing room LOL, had a sew day out with the girls, quilted a quilt for a friend; and, yesterday, my good quilt friend Connie called and we went fabric shopping!!!! AND kinda went on a sideways....not quite lost but seen some country back roads....looking for a quilt shop we had never been to before!! We did find it, in the end!
I can't tell you how many crossroads and donkeys we seen along the way LOL but we had a great time just the same! Getting lost in the country in northern Maine is the best place to get lost! The one place we did stop to see if we were anywhere near where we were supposed to be (which we were not!)the lady in the yard turned out to be a long time machine quilter! I mean, really, we quilter's must have quilter radar that lets us find other quilters out in the middle of nowhere!LOL! She gave us brief, really brief directions and sent us on our way!! When we found the quilt shop, the door was open and we went in but the shop owner was "out" working her other job, the shop was "not really" open but "it could be" and her husband turned on the lights and let us shop, cut our fabrics and said come again! LOL! Imagine.....only in the country!!:) I know it sounds like I did alot last week but really, I usually do 4 times as much.
I last posted about inset seams giving me a problem and here is the solution I found to make the pieces go together easier for me.
Here are the directions we were given on how to sew the inset pieces. No matter how many times I did it this way, I always ended up with puckering and yuckiness.
Just when I was about to toss the whole mess in the garbage, it came to me to try sewing the easiest seam first, which is this.....the straight across seam.
I marked my 1/4" down and in and placed pins there.
Here is the block I want to set this piece into.
I laid my piece right sides together and matching up the dots with the seam edge, which you can see underneath. I pinned the two together and sewed from one dot to the other dot.
Now I need to sew the slanted seam. I matched the two edges together, placed a pin at the exact dot spot where I should start stitching and sewed that seam and repeated on the other side.
Now you can see my inset seam with NO puckers!!! Sewing the seams this way means I didn't have to twist the pieces around so much. I can't explain why this method worked better than the directions but it did.
Happy quilting!
I'm doing my extreme Happy Dance!!! Can't you see me shaking my booty!!LOL!
Last week, our guild went on it's first ever shop hop to two quilt shops 3 hours away! We had one HOOTIN' time, let me tell you! That bus was a Rockin"...oh, maybe that was the wind! Oh well, we did have a fine time parting with our $$.
My BIG GOODIE!>>>>why the Schnibbles times Two book!! AND, it was the last copy in the store!! And it was soooo mine! LOL! Also, found the other book on my list...Scrap Basket Surprises..love this one too!
First on the list, Plan C in the large size made with the following Lushies! Mostly Kansas Troubles with some Jo Morton thrown in. Don't they play well together! Just a wonderful selection of yummieness!
Oh, my rotary cutting hand is feeling the buzz .....can't wait to cut into these goodies!! I say that now but it will probably be at least two weeks until I can start it. Gee whiz, I really need to finish some stuff fast!LOL! Doesn't it seem like the more you finish, the more you start? Kinda like the vicious cycle on the quilting track....more time! need more time! Then, to top it off, the guild's BOM for this month is evil in disguise!!! I mean, seriously...take a look at this thing.....
SET IN SEAMS!!!.....first time doing them....hate them....they are nasty little things to sew by machine. I can see this being sooo easy by hand piecing. I have done partial seams with no headaches but these set in seams make me growl....not a good thing. Strains the happy and blissful mood of my home!!LOL! I am having puckers everywhere, wavy seams and edges, twists and turns...you name it! I want to give up and not make this block but I am too stubborn. Have to do some ripping and find a way!
***Update***I found a way!!! Watch tomorrow to see how this block with set in seams comes together easier by machine...at least it's working for me!
Wow! Have you guys heard about the Great May Giveaway!! Since I am fairly new to blogging, I had never heard of this. Go check it out by following the link on my sidebar!
Happy Mother's Day to all Mothers out there! It is a cold, rainy day here....not what a person would wish for a holiday celebration. Thanks for all the entries for my giveaway! I wish I could gift you all :(.
Winner #1 --for book, fabric and supplies....congratulations to Mary!
Winner #2--for the quilt is Lucy..no blog
Email me your snail mail addresses girls so I can get your winnings shipped.
Happy quilting!:)
Last week, I acquired these cute little scraps. Since then, I have sorted them, kept them by my chair, spread them out, played with them, stroked them, repiled them, HUNTED and I mean HUNTED the net trying to find them!! I want some of this yardage! Have any of you seen this anywhere!!??? Do you know the name of the line or the manufacturer? Any help would be appreciated!
Alot of bloggers have sure been busy quilting up a storm! I feel like a storm has hit my sewing room and left me all confuddled!. I am thinking maybe I have too much on the go. But did that stop me from starting a new project! LOLOL! NOOOOOOO......stupid me, I had to even start something from designing it on paper to finished in 5 days. I had this Canadian flag thing running around in my head for days and just couldn't get past it. I used my EQ to help me design the flowers. I made it all in Kansas Troubles fabrics and I like the fact that it is country enough to hang all year around.
I love these little yoyo's....they are 1" finished but they were worth the work!
Here is my finished project. I need a name for it.....
Also, I have been working on Bunny Hill's Snowman BOM and want to start A Tisket, A Tasket. Would some of you excellent appliquers out there please tell which method you used for the applique. I want to use all cottons. The snowman one, I am using lightweight fusible and hand blanket stitching around the raw edges. I am not sure how this will stand up to washing and I want Tisket/Tasket to be washable.
Happy stitching!
Misha's giving me the evil eye! LOL! DO NOT TAKE MY PICTURE I AM SLEEPING!!. Some days I wish I were a cat just so I could sleep as snugly and comfortable as he does!
Summer weather has arrived here, lawns being mowed..not mine, we need a goat!..plants flowering and trees all leafed out. Yesterday, we had our first thunderstorm and humidity that would make you think the calender read August not May!
No sewing done this week, at least not yet. Heading to the sewing room soon....If you get a chance, hop on over to Paulette's blog as she is having a lovely giveaway! Tell her Shelley sent you! Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway too! Happy stitching!
