Bountiful Sunday

A week ago I started a quilt at work.  Have you ever seen the magazine Primitive Quilts?  It is wonderful.  It comes out once every few months and is filled with my kind of quilts and projects.  We try to make samples of a couple things every time, and have kits available.  It was a little slow in the morning, so I decided to pick some fabric and make the quilt, North and South.  I love the way it came out!  It was a little tricky in parts because the strips are cut only 1 1/4" wide.  I was using a diamond textile in the sashing and cornerstones, and it does like to stretch a little.  But the sample is done (not quilted yet), and laying on a table in the store ... Isn't it wonderful?!

I did a quilt a couple of weeks ago and I just love this fabric.  It is a Sandy Gervais  line but it is several years old.  It is just so happy and it would look terrific in my room .... But it was not mine!  I used Glide thread with an all over swirl ... I swear I don't get tired of doing that design ... It just goes so well with almost any quilt.  Sometimes I think I should practice doing some other designs, but then I figure since it works, why?  Keep it simple ... That is going to be my new motto!

And lastly is a picture I got today of our sweet granddaughter ... How she has grown!  She looks so happy and sweet in this picture!  I am taking our daughter back in a week and a half to visit, and I cannot wait!!!  I might pack her in my suitcase and bring her home with us!!

A Lazy Sunday

Hi friends .. Hope you are enjoying your Sunday ... I am sitting here with a cup of coffee enjoying reading some blogs. I had to share with you this blog I love. I have told you about Susan before, but it has been a while. Her blog is called Homeroad and you can find her at http://www.homeroad.net/. She is a junk finder and furniture and treasure restorer and so much more! She takes things you find by the side of the road or at a garage sale and refurbishes it into something wonderful. The project she posted today was a "chalkboard" she made by using a part of an old roller shade and painting it with chalkboard paint, then added a couple pieces of wood trim and the best part is you can roll it up when you are done! It is so clever .. Think of when those kids are laying around with nothing to do and you could whip that out, then when they're done it could roll up and fit in a drawer instead of taking up so much space like a hard chalkboard. You could take it on a trip: it rolls up nice to fit in a suitcase and you have instant entertainment in the hotel room. So do check her blog out.

A week ago I neglected to show you pictures of two quilt tops I finished! So exciting .... The first is a quilt I started about a month and a half ago for my son's fiancé. I asked her what her bedroom colors were ... She was doing browns and wanted some teal accents. Well I don't do too well with only two color quilts (ha ha) so I came up with this grey/brown/teal combo ... It is out of my comfort zone, but I think she's going to love it! I have to get it quilted because I'm sending it to her for her birthday the end of May. It's a surprise .. Luckily she is too busy mothering my sweet grand baby to have time to read my blog, so I can share it here with you!

The second quilt is a quilt I started a few weeks ago. It was a class at the Country Loft taught by Catherine Hughes. She is a local teacher that works pretty much with a lot of homespun and primitive type pattern styles. She always has wonderful tips and shortcuts and her patterns are usually pretty simple. I learned that simple does not mean speedy ... I thought this quilt would go quickly, but with 48 blocks, it took some time. It was extremely enjoyable to piece and I am happy to say I used everything out of my stash! I have told you before that I cut up small pieces of fabric into strips and then sort the strips into bins. Well I needed 1 1/2" and 2 1/2" strips for this project so I pulled out my bins and voila! I had strips already cut!!! What a timesaver ... I even cut and prepared my bindings so when the tops are quilted I am ready to go! I love doing that. Nothing is worse than getting your quilt back from your quilter and then having to dig through your stuff for the fabric for your binding. So always make those bindings as soon as your top is finished. Consider it just one more step in finishing your top! Now if only I could get my quilter to get busy!!!

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. I know a lot of women that are such inspirations when it comes to being good role models. I know many women that are not moms but set such examples of compassion, love and other motherly qualities. We all are not blessed with the best moms, but you take what you are given in life and you either let it hold you back, or you let it make you stronger. I had a wonderful day with my husband and daughter. I got to talk to my son and his fiance, and saw a beautiful picture of my granddaughter. My hubby and I went to see a movie (that was what I wanted), and we had a nice dinner out. Being a mom is a privilege ... An honor and the hardest job I have ever had. It is also the best and most rewarding and I am grateful every day to be a mom.

I did a quilt a couple weeks ago and didn't get a chance to show you a picture. It was fun because it is a friend of mine and she said to do whatever I wanted. I did my little all over swirl in a rust colored Glide thread in top and bobbin. It looked really nice on the quilt.

The other quilt I have to show you is one I finished last week. It was a block of the month ... Fun to do. I decided to go over her embroidery; if you go around, then it all stands up. I tried to do a wider pattern within the embroidery so while I went over the design, I tried not to do it too heavily. I loved her back ... It always takes a little finagling to get it totally centered. She did a beautiful label and it looks so nice! I used So Fine thread in the top and bobbin ... In a nice caramel color.

Enjoy your week!

Friends

Well it has been an interesting couple days! Do you ever have the feeling that someone is pulling strings and your's are getting yanked harder than ever? Just when I think I can't take one more thing ... I was in the middle of a quilt that I had to get done; I've had it a week past when I said it would be done. My bobbin case failed I think ... I made a bunch of calls, ran to a sewing store to have the guy that works there tell me the case is fine. Hmm ... So I came home Friday evening, put the case in, crossed my fingers, said some prayers and texted my friends. I started sewing and it looked good ... My friends came over with wine and cheese and crackers. Moral support to the rescue! They drank and ate and coached me on; And when I made a mistake they ripped it out! Three hours later they left and I felt so much better.

On Saturday one of these same friends gave up her day to come and cheer me on! She marked, she fixed an oopsie I made, and pointed out where I missed something! It made the day pass and I finished the quilt! What a relief!

I still was not sure my bobbin case was great so I emailed a friend in northern California who said sure she would send me a spare bobbin case and overnighted it to me ... I got it today!

Do you have a good friend who always says the right things and is just full of cheer and support? I do ... She knows who she is and I know we support each other ... But she has had the best advice for me so often!

I am blessed ... It has been a rough year,, but when I think of going through it without my special friends, I just cannot imagine! All of them know I would do the same for them .... Isn't life wonderful? Take a minute to think of the sweet people in your life and send them a blessing ....

And in the end I have this beautiful granddaughter who found her tongue yesterday! According to my son, she has it out now all day long since she has discovered this new trick! As my favorite mug says "Life is Good!"

Comings and Goings

The last week was a blur. My darling husband was visiting our son and grand baby in Michigan. He never goes out of town, so I was a little giddy about the free time I had. I sewed all day on Wednesday with some friends. Why is it when you're sewing the time just flies? Before I knew it it was dinner! I took a class a couple weeks ago and so I worked on that quilt. There were 1 1/2" squares, 2 1/2 and 4 1/2" squares ... Well I cut and cut and cut. That should be enough! Started sewing then and when I put them all together I had 22 ... I need 48 ...Ugh! Hmm, more cutting and sewing on Saturday another 15 blocks done. Acccckkkk! Yesterday I cut and sewed some more; counted and I had all 48 ... Well I thought I did until I layed them out ... Only 46! I picked the fabric and sewed them together. Now I just have to sew the rows.

I tried to longarm on Monday but was getting no tension on my bobbin. Took it over to the side and played around .. Nope. Called tech support, and I think my problem is my bobbin case. After a while the little spring on the bobbin case that controls the tension gets worn out. So I ordered two (because you should always have a spare ... DUH!) and they just came today. So I will try them out tomorrow and hope that does it.

Last week I quilted a quilt for Kathleen ... This was her first quilt, can you believe it? Beautiful ... She just wanted a simple all over. I used So Fine in top and bobbin. And just did a simple stipple. She really didn't know what she wanted since she had never had a quilt quilted before.

Ok ... Keeping my fingers crossed that the new bobbin case works tomorrow!