One down, two to go

Here's a quickie baby quilt I did for one of the girls I work with. Her colors are pink, black, and white.

This was a fast job since I received her invitation on Wednesday for a Saturday shower. LOL.

Summer Sunday

It's so stinkin' hot outside. Yick!

I've got fabric serged and ready to wash for one baby quilt and a bunch of burlap in the washer softening up for some other crafty projects.

For some reason this time of the year makes me want to stay inside and craft.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week.

Stitchery on the road

I don't sit well. I have to be doing something, preferably reading or working on a project. Me in a car with nothing to do for 5 hours is miserable, for everybody.

I dug around in my craft room and came up with a couple of projects and managed to get some stitching done during our travels.

I used the pattern out of a thrifted magazine to make this pillow top. I added the snowflakes because the snowman was looking a little lonely.Believe it or not I got it made into the pillow before Christmas. Fabric from my stash. It might need a few more snowflakes.This is another thrifted project. A 40 cent sweatshirt applique kit, a little muslin from my stash and I have the beginnings of a wall hanging.
I'm trying to decide what to do for borders. I found a big enough piece of fabric for the back. Quilted, this is going to be cute.

These were cheap to do and kept me entertained. I can't ask for more than that.

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful start to 2009. I have high hopes for the coming year.

Today was a busy day and it felt really good. DH is getting ready to go hunting again and so he's been preoccupied with gathering his stuff up so he can leave tomorrow.

I managed to get the tree down and the living room back in order. I still need to muscle the boxes down to the basement, but overall I got a lot done.

We took the kids swing set down and moved it over to my sisters so now my yard can recover and I'll have a new spot for the porch swing this summer.

I got the Christmas quilt top finished this afternoon. It took about 15 minutes. Don't laugh. I may try quilting it tomorrow if I can find my backing fabric. I'll be ready next Christmas. My poor sewing machine didn't remember me and wouldn't cooperate for a bit. We're friends again and ready to sew.

Mom came over for dinner and I filled her up on black-eyed peas, fried okra, cornbread, onions, and tomatoes. For desert we had spiced peached cobbler from the peaches I canned this summer. Good stuff.

Since today is also Thankful Thursday I'd better put it out there. I'm thankful that I get to see 2009. I'm thankful that I have a husband who loves me and puts up with my nonsense. I'm thankful for my mom who also loves me and puts up with me. Overall I'm a very blessed person and for that I'm so very thankful.

Finished at last!

Here's the front.
The back with it's little label. Okay, so it's not little, but it's still cute.
I finished it on Thursday. I really hope the recipient likes it and more than anything I want her to let the kiddo use it. I'd love to see it in four or five years with the binding worn plumb off and faded from repeated washing.

Okay, I've got to go pack and finish up some laundry. For some reason DH thinks he needs socks for this trip. Men!

Seeing Stars - quilt along

I finally got my top put together. I didn't have enough background fabric left over to do the big border, so for now it's without.

Three blocks into it I decided I don't care for the white and I'm tea-dying the top. I thought about doing it sooner, but decided the whole top would be easier and stain more evenly.

On the whole, I enjoyed this project immensely and would definitely do another quilt-along with Amanda Jean. Any problems I had were purely poor planning and not paying attention on my part.

Beef Stew

It's been cloudy and overcast most of the day. This is the kind of day that makes you think about Fall, turning leaves, hot chocolate, and snuggling.

In honor of the weather I made beef stew to can. DH is a lucky duck since he got beef stew for lunch. He shakes his head at my canning, but loves lunch time on the days I'm cranking out soup or stew. This is the first two canner loads.

Day before yesterday I made my granny's yeast bread recipe. Granny is a hard act to follow. It turned out okay, but next time I'll let it rise one more time.

I haven't worked on the quilt top any more. I'm one row away from being done. Instead, I've been sitting on my backside reading. I don't have a lot of time left to work on it so I'd better get busy and finish.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic Friday.

Signature quilt

I bought a tatty old quilt at a garage sale on Friday. The seller was the grandson of the quiltmaker and said that she was from Shamrock, Texas and the quilt was probably 100 years old or older.

Since then I've done a little snooping and if the Doris Ann Hoodenpyle is the same one (what are the chances there are two with a mother by the name of Ruth?) then this quilt would date from 1931 to 1940. I've found four of the signers in Cotton Co., OK.So now, what do I do with it?

Here are the signature blocks.
Ressie Austin
J.A.L.
J.C.L.
Gladys Crow
Stella M.
Margaret Hawkins
Ethel Hoodenpile
Helen L.
Jessie Daniels
Sandlin
Doris Ann Hoodenpyle
Louise Hawkins
Clara Crow
Ella Susan or Suson
Ruth Hoodenpyle
Mrs. W.D. Spurlock
Mrs. L.?
Betty D.
Mrs. Hawkins
Doris L.
I know I would be thrilled to find a block that one of my grandmothers had signed, even if I could only have a picture. Should I offer the blocks to descendants in the unlikely event they contact me? Donate the quilt? What? Help me out here.

Starting a new quilt

As if I don't have enough to do or plenty of things to drive me nuts, I'm starting a new quilt. This is a Dear Jane quilt and I'm in no hurry to complete it.

So far I have three little blocks done.


To give an idea of how little these guys are, here's one next to a Seeing Stars block.
Wish me luck. I have a feeling I may need it.

My Granny's quilts

I'm fortunate enough to have four of my granny's quilts.

Granny had a quilt frame suspended from the ceiling in the big bedroom. Each side of the frame had a row of little nails and the corners were held together with C-clamps. When it was time to put a quilt together, Grandad would unroll the frame down to a comfortable work height. Granny would take her quilt back and stretch it on the frame, poking the nails through the edge of the fabric. Her next step was to put down her lining, what we would call batting today. Most of the time it was an old blanket, such as an electric blanket that quit working or maybe even a worn out quilt. Next came the quilt top. All of the layers were stuck over the nails to hold them in place. She would take long pieces of crochet thread and start tying. Once the entire quilt was tied she'd take it to the treadle sewing machine and bind the edges.

I loved sleeping under her quilts as a kid. They're heavy and they just make you feel so cozy. I learned early on to put the string side down so that the little strings wouldn't tickle your face.

This quilt is an example of her everyday utilitarian quilt made of muslin and the inside is an old blue floral blanket. The whole thing is tied with green crochet thread. I remember her making this type the most. Muslin was cheap and there was always an old blanket around.

This is another tied quilt. This one was my grandad's quilt for his bed. I faintly remember her making this one. The back isn't muslin, but it is cotton. The inside is an orange blanket. It's tied with ecru crochet thread.
I helped Granny make this one. She taught me to sew on the treadle joining these blocks together. The back is muslin and it's tied with ecru crochet thread. The inside is an electric blanket complete with wires. I washed this one the other day (gasp!) and when I took it out of the dryer (double gasp!) I found a little silver spoon in the lint trap. I never saw the spoon when I shook the quilt out before putting it in the washer and didn't see it from the washer to the dryer. One of the seams is loose and so I wonder if the spoon was inside the quilt. I'll probably never know. Just a little funny.
Mom said this is one of my granny's company quilts. Mom graduated in 1964 and remembers it from before then. She thinks it was probably made in the 50s. I have it hanging in my guest room. It's hand quilted and probably hand pieced. I remember seeing this one as a kid playing in the closet.
Granny and Grandad have been gone almost 22 years now. I'm so thankful I have these quilts to help me hold on to my memories.

Sew-a-thon results

I wish I had more to show you. I feel like I spent most of my time fussing with the serger or picking out stitches. I emptied two spools of thread and that made me feel like I accomplished a little bit.

This is the little quilt I made to practice free motion quilting. The good news is, it's not my machine that's the problem. It's me and I just need to practice.
Quilt along week 5 block. This is my least favorite block. It gave me ten kinds of fits. I also sewed up 5 more joining blocks for the Seeing Stars quilt. Now I've got one joining block for each star block and feel caught up.

I can't show you the apron I finished, because it's going to a friend and she might visit.

I drafted pattern from an apron I picked up and started sewing it together. It's nearly finished.

I didn't get to the baby blanket or the many other things I wanted to work on. Somehow 12 hours of sewing just isn't enough.

Working on current projects

I finally got this quilt in the frame and have started hand-quilting it. Until I get my machine figured out, machine quilting is out of the question.

I've printed off the new block in the quilt along, but I haven't started it yet.

It seems like the days are going so fast. Before I know it I'll be back in class (June 3) and won't have much time to work on stuff.

The good news is that my house is still clean from the great cleaning binge.

A quilt-along

I made this little 24 x 24 quilt so that I could try free-motion quilting following Crazy Mom Quilts instructions. Her instructions are great, but my machine isn't cooperating.

Today I noticed that she's having another quilt-along and I'm going to participate.

I love stars and certainly need the practice with points. Now I just need to decide what colors I want to use.

Is anyone else going to quilt-along?

Divide and conquer

DH and I had my sister's kids on Saturday.

DH took the nephew fishing. He caught a 4 pound large-mouth bass and a few sand bass. They both had a good time and enjoyed each other's company.

We girls went downstairs and made a little quilt from fabric in the scrap basket. Notice the concentration. She has the attention span of a gnat and a heavy hand.

Here's her finished project. Yes, it's crooked, but it's her first and hopefully not her last.
Just the right size for a baby doll.

Current projects and coming clean

I decided I'd better get serious about some of these unfinished projects I've got laying around and the best way to tackle a job like this is to come clean to your friends. Somebody needs to hold me accountable for my out-of-control crafting.

On the sidebar you'll see my current projects list has expanded dramatically. What kind of crafter am I to keep so many things going at once? A spastic one, that's what kind.

Truth be told, I get bored easily. Way too easily and I have to keep myself distracted by different types of handwork or else I'm tempted to rip into one of the rooms in the house that needs to be remodeled and make an unholy mess way before it's time. See, I'm really doing a good thing by crafting.

My current project list is:
*Hand-quilting the Courthouse Square quilt. Getting it in the frame would be a good place to start.
*Felted sheep pull-toy (a bit more felting, a face, and a base with wheels).
*Knitted sweater. I either need to finish it or frog it. This has been going on for about a year now.
*Knitted dishcloth. It's been on the needles since this summer. It might take 30 minutes to finish it up assumming I can find my place in the pattern again.
*Tatted edging. I'm just doing this for chuckles so I'm not stressed about it.
*Halloween decoration. I should have never opened it and started cutting it apart.
*Embroidery. It's really done. I just need to figure out what to do with it now.

I feel sure there's some cross-stitch laying around somewhere that needs finished too, but since I can't see it, I can't list it. I've probably missed a few hundred things and as I come across them I'll get them added to the list.

The good news in all of this is that I don't have a million aprons that need to be finished and all of my sewing is caught up at the moment. I've also managed to keep up pretty well with my picture project.

Okay, there it is. All of my deep dark crafting secrets are out for the world to see.

Quilt update

I finally got the sashing quilted on the machine. Now I need to drag out the quilting hoop and get it in there. I've decided to quilt the squares by hand. I think it will look better and I'll be happier with it. Plus, I enjoy doing stuff like that.

This is my first full week of classes and I'm super busy. I hope to be able to do some sewing this weekend if I can keep up.

I finally visited the thrift store yesterday and have a couple of things I need to take pictures of and share. Of course they aren't anything nearly as nifty as Nancy Jo's $6 quilt.

Ready for quilting

Finally!

I decided to use muslin for the border. It's not fancy and it's not colorful, but it honestly looks really good. I'm going to use navy blue for the binding and tie it all together.

I spent most of yesterday sewing up the back, laying it out, trying to keep kids and cats off of it, and basting it. I'm a firm believer that more basting is better. This thing is so solid right now you could use it without it being quilted.

I tried out the walking foot on a muslin and batting sandwich and it works great. Now I just need to move the machine in the dining room, butt it up against the dining table, and get sewing.

Part of me really wants to hand quilt this, but the realistic part of me knows that I'd never get it done.

Ready for the border

Whew! I need to figure out what color to use for a border.

Making a quilt top

I finally got all of the sashing done and now I'm joining rows. What a headache! Nothing is square since all of the muslin in the blocks was cut on bias. So when I try to join the sections together my little seams are missing a bit in places. Oh well. I'm keeping it for myself so it's not big deal.

At this point I'm not really looking forward to the outer border or the binding. I found a walking foot for my machine so I'm going to give that a shot.


















Grumbling aside, I'm pretty tickled with it. I've only had to remake about 13 of the 15 blocks (LOL!) and I've had a good time working on it. That counts for a lot. In all of the years I've been crafting, I've never kept anything I made for myself. I think it's time.

A sashing we will go

I pulled out the Courthouse Square quilt blocks and cut the sashing this morning. I decided of all the colors in the block that I liked the navy blue the best. It's the least represented color and so it's not overwhelming.


















I plan to do 3 across x 5 down. That will make a nice sized lap quilt and use all of the blocks.

Sadly, the muslin in the blocks was cut on the bias and so it's very easy to stretch a block out of shape. I've become very familiar with my seam ripper today.

I hope everyone is having a lovely day and wish you all peace and love in the new year.