Let's Try This Again!

I seem to be a terrible blogger, but I'm going to try and do a better job at this.  I envy those that post daily.  I will try to do daily, but I'll be happy with once a week.  I'm going to use Bonnie Hunter as my inspiration and use this blog as my quilting journal.  It's really just a conversation and I have to keep that in mind when writing it.  I have a bad habit of over thinking what I write and what I want to say.  The best plan is just to write what I'm thinking and be done with it.  I will obsess over an email at work and go over and over it until I get it right.  I have spent half a day just on one email.

I own the online quilt shops PT Quilting (ptquilting.com) and Teresa's Quilt Boutique(teresasquiltboutique.com).  I also have a day job.  I have a wonderful husband, who is my best friend and soul mate.  I count myself very lucky because he allows me to indulge my passion of quilting. 

That's all for now.

Finishes

I've made some headway and have finished several quilt tops.  The quilt I call "Sunshine", I talked about it in the last post, has been quilted and I'm hand sewing the binding on.  Still waiting to be quilted is Comfort, and My Stars.  I got all my blocks made for the pineapple quilt.  I couldn't decide at first whether to put borders on it or not.  Finally made the decision this weekend, that it just would not look right without borders.  So I should have the borders on this week.  I've finished a couple of others that I haven't talked about here yet, they are small quilts and I'm just waiting to put the binding on them.  I have another one on my design wall that I work on in between quilting all my other finished tops.  I'll show them all to you tomorrow.  I haven't been good about writing posts regularly, so I thought I needed to at least give an update on what I've been doing.  I promise I'll post pictures tomorrow.  Happy quilting!

Time to Catch Up

Can you believe the year is just flying by?  Here it is August already.  I didn't realize that my last post was in November of last year.  I guess the time just slipped by without me realizing it.  I have a day time job, so it's not always easy to sew everyday.  Sometimes I'm too exhausted mentally to even consider sewing.  By the time I usually relax enough to even think about it, it's time to go to bed.  I envy the bloggers that post something everyday.  Although I haven't blogged about it, I have been busy sewing when the time presented itself. 

I finally finished the Road Less Traveled.  I don't have a picture of the finished quilt however, I gave it to a nice lady who is loosing her eyesight, but she could see that quilt and fell in love with it.

I completed the top for the "Comfort" quilt from Collections for a Cause by Howard Marcus. 

Not the best picture, but I couldn't fit it in with the space I have.  I still need to piece the backing and sandwich it, then I can quilt and bind it.  A quilt is not finished until its been quilted and the binding finished.  Why do we quilters tend to stop working on quilts once the hard part is done?  The easy part is the quilting and binding, the piecing is the hardest part.

 

 

This is my quilt I call "My Stars".  I have pieced the top, just need to add the border's.  This pattern is actually called Sparklers from The Quilt Company.  This is my version of that quilt.  It requires the specialty rulers from Creative Grids.  They are called Scrap Crazy 6 Ruler.  Very fun and easy to use.

 

 

 

 

These are a few of my Pineapple blocks I made using Creative Grids Pineapple ruler.  Creative Grids has a wonderful video on their website, that explains how to use the ruler.  Once you get the hang of it, it's a wonderful ruler to use.  I'm trying to make the blocks as scrappy as I can.  Planned but not planned if you know what I mean.  I hope to have the blocks completed this week, and then I will start piecing them together.  I want it be a king size quilt.  Not sure if I will add borders or not.  It depends on how big it is once I sew all the blocks together.  What do you think?  Should I add a border?

 

 

 

I call this quilt top "Sunshine".  The pattern is called "Blitzen".  It's a free pattern from Moda fabrics.  You can use charm packs cut on the diagonal.  The pattern calls for the charm packs to be cut down to 4 1/2" square, but I didn't do that on this quilt.  I left the charm pack squares at 5".  It made the quilt a little bit bigger by a few inches.  It turned out beautifully I think.  I still need to piece the backing and quilt and bind it. 

 

I'm also working on a block of the month(I'll show pictures of this later), and I've got to get ready for a class with Jacqueline de Jonge.  The class is in October, but I have to have some of the cutting already done before the class so I can spend the time in class sewing.

 

That's all for today.





Sunday Sewing

I spent most of the day sewing.  The weather was overcast, no rain, but it was a perfect day to sew.  While my husband worked on this car outside, I sewed in inside.  Very relaxing day.

 

I started a new quilt called "Comfort" from Collections for a Cause by Howard Marcus.  It comes in a kit, so all the hard work of matching fabrics is already done for you.  It is sewn with precuts, strips and squares, so there's not a whole lot of cutting involved.  It's mainly 9 patches and squares, using reproduction fabrics.  I hope to have this one up on the design wall soon once I get all the 9 patches together.  Needed something that went together quickly.  Normally, I like very complex designs, or lot's of pieces.  Those types of quilts tend to take more time to finish, and I wanted something that took less time and was simple, but results that are beautiful.  I think this fits the bill.

 

I got the backing finished for the "Road Less Traveled" and rolled up on my Janome quilting machine.  It's not a long arm quilt machine, but it does what I need it to.  The machine has a stitch regulator, so that makes it easy to use.  I don't have a very wide throat space on my machine, but it gets the job done.  If you look real close you might be able to make out the quilting.  It's going fairly quickly.  Maybe I'll get if finished by the weekend.

 

Haven't made much progress on Spring Bouquet.  I'll show a picture of my first block later.  I still have to piece the backing for "Civil War Homefront".   It will go on the quilting machine after the "Road Less Traveled" is completed.  

Until next time!

Making Progress

Well I've made a lot of progress since my last post.  I've completed the two tops I was working on.  I still need to quilt them.  A friend of mine, a very wise lady, says "A quilt is not complete until it's quilted".  She's right.

 

 

Here's my Civil War Homefront quilt top.  I went to my guilds quilt retreat they have every year and put all the blocks together.  I was able to finish it while at the retreat.  Now I need to decide on a quilt pattern.  I'm thinking feathers, but I can't do them free hand, so I'll have to find a stencil of some kind.  Those blocks are calling for feathers.

 

 



Here's my Road Less Traveled.  I was going to add a pieced border, but I wasn't satisfied with the results.  So I went with just a 3.5 inch border strip.  It looks nice with just the plain border.  A meandering quilt pattern would work for this one.  What do you think?

I've started the Spring Bouquet applique quilt.  I don't have a picture for it.  I'll add a picture for my first block later.  I also started a quilt called Comfort from the Collection for a Cause from Howard Marcus.  Its a nine patch quilt using reproduction prints from the 1800's. 

I worked on the Comfort quilt this weekend while my husband and I were camping.  We quilters use any space necessary when wanting to sew or quilt.  I put my ironing pad on my counter over the sink covers in the camper.  It was just the right height and I had plenty of room to iron.  Such fun!

That's all for now.

It's Friday

It's Friday!  I had a very stressful week at work, so I didn't get a whole lot of sewing done.  Normally when I stressed, I will sew some and it relaxes me.  But I when I got home everyday, I just didn't have the energy to do much, the thought of sewing made me feel even more tired.  I plan on changing that this weekend. 

I plan to continue to work on the Road Less Traveled and get the border on it this weekend.  I'll be glad when I have the top to this one completed.  I'm ready to get it on my quilting machine.  I also hope to get the Civil War Homefront blocks up on the design wall and get it laid out how I want it.  So a busy weekend.  I'll post pictures later, hopefully I'll make a lot of progress.

I think I'm going to start a UFO list on my blog, and place the dates I finish each project on it.  I've only listed so far the three projects that I'm currently working on, but I'm like most quilters, and have several more still waiting in the wings that have been started but not finished.  So I've got plenty I can work on, and plenty I want to start. 

Rainy Sunday!

Rainy Sunday's or rainy days in general, make perfect days to sew.  I've spent a good part of the day working on the Civil War Homefront quilt.  I've completed about 20 blocks, 10 of them this weekend and have 5 left to make before I can start assembling the quilt.  The quilt calls for 25 of these blocks.  I'm excited.  It will go quickly from here.  I'm hoping to finish up the last 5 blocks and start putting them up on the design wall soon.
 

 

 

I still have the Road Less Traveled on the design wall.  I decided to put a pieced border on it first before I can move the Civil War quilt to the wall.  I'm like all quilters, not just happy with one project at a time.  I try to be diligent and at least try and get the blocks pieced together before I move on to the next project.  Not always able to do that, but I at least try.

 

My next project is a Spring Bouquet BOM quilt.  It's an applique quilt.  All the flowers are precut for you with the wonder under already ironed on.  You just have to position the pieces according to the pattern, and then iron to the background fabric.  You can embellish the blocks anyway you might want.  I'm excited to get this one started.  I've been wanting a project that I can do hand work on while I watch TV sometimes.

 

 

Well I need to get busy with laundry and wash the dishes.  You know, the boring stuff, then it's back to sewing, the fun stuff. 

 

Talk again soon!