Finish it up Friday: The Lady in Red

Hello, all!  Been a busy few weeks.  Last Sunday I just HAD to sew.  I finally put the binding on this lovely lady.

This is where she lives.

It is nearly impossible to get a decent picture of a full size quilt by yourself.  To top it off it has rained here and everything is covered with bees' wings from the grain leg running across the road.

This is the pieced back I made.  I used the scraps I had and I am not displeased with it.  The solid is actually the "wrong" side of a print from Connecting threads.

I tried to make the quilting something special....as in attractive, not that polite way of saying something looks like 20 miles of mud fence after a rainstorm.

This is on the back because it shows up better but this is what fills the outer red border.

The next border on the front has the little flowers.  The body of the quilt has the "Hearts A Flutter" design.

I used bamboo batting.  I did like how it quilted but it feels heavy on the bed to me.  Hubby likes it and winter is on its way.  So, it will be good.

Today we went to Indy so that I could see my neuro.  Then down to IUPUI so that I could have a chest CT.  I swear I will soon glow in the dark after all the damn x-rays and CT scans I have had.  But, if this one is clean I get to skip my December CT.  YAY!!

I hope to sew tomorrow.  I have a cousin that had a double mastectomy this week.  I want to make her a quilt.  Red is her favorite color (and mine!) I am thinking of making a black and white print quilt like this one with a red border and red flowers appliqued on it.  What do you think?  Too modern?  Too cutesy?  I want cheerful but not pink ribbon.  I think that can be overwhelming.  My LQS has some black and white jelly rolls that I think would work.  I, of course, have a lot of red fabric.  That is my plan for tomorrow.

Going to try linking up with some parties.

Crazy Mom Quilts
Richard and Tanya
Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

What did you finish this week?  Nothing?  That is okay.  Have fun looking at what others did.  Check out some of the links.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

Friday Finish: Turning Twenty Five

Happy Friday, y'all!  I am writing this Thursday night and hope to link up with my normal parties tomorrow.  We will see how that works.  May be next week because I am on the road to NY tomorrow.  It will be a quick trip.  Going to see friends and Niagara Falls and back to Indiana.

My finish this week is a gift for the friends.  They had their twenty fifth wedding anniversary this summer.  I thought I would make a simple quilt.  What could be simpler than the Turning Twenty?  They like earth tones.  I started pulling fabrics from my stash last weekend.  I made the body and I hated it.  So, I tweaked it.

Yes, that is a Bible.  I am a heathen but I own (and read) several copies.  This is a dual version, KJ/NIV.  I added I Corinthians 13:4-8a to the border strips.  This chapter is otherwise known as The Love Chapter.  I had to take a little creative license with some of the wording to get them to fit.  Nothing to change the meaning.  I changed "love" to "it" occasionally and once dropped the "always".   When I was younger I was lead to believe that was a sin.  Turns out, I don't agree with a lot of what I learned from "Nazarene biddies" when I was young!  They are probably spinning in their graves but I am betting on Jack and Becky liking the sentiment here.

I was pleased with the overall effect.  The embroidery is done in a Charcoal Sulky thread.

Some are a little harder to read from a distance but can be seen fine in person.

I quilted this with a variegated thread from King Tut.  Number 983 if you are REALLY curious.  I used a leaf pattern for the body.

Bless my husband's heart.  He told me what he likes are the little bobbles like you see in that leaf center.  He feels like that shows I did it instead of a computer.  If he looked close enough he would find that proof about every six inches!

I did straight line quilting on the outer border and though you can't see it, I did SID around the blocks with embroidery.

Most of the fabric is from Connecting Threads. I had to order a piece for backing and found this stripe on sale, too.  So, I used it for the binding.

The backing is dark brown and I could not get the colors of the binding to look correct and it to still show.  I was able to get the stray threads to show though.  I knew y'all would want to see those!

I am pleased with this quilt.  I had planned it but didn't start it until last weekend.  I didn't start sewing until Sunday and I had it completed - including binding - by 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday.  It has close to 5 hours of embroidery in it.

Hopefully, I will manage to link up with

Richard and Tanya
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts

Some time tomorrow but who knows.  Have a great weekend!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

p.s.  My husband says we can go to quilt shops on this trip!

Fun 'n' Done is DONE!!!

Happy Friday, y'all!!

Last Sunday I finished this.

I took it right outside (with some of the ravelings still hanging on it) and took pictures on my church pew.....and a rocking chair...

It looks beautiful out there.  It didn't stay.  I don't trust the dogs, squirrels and chipmunks.  This is the terrible picture I took at 4:45 this morning.

This is probably where it will stay.  It really isn't big enough for my taste but I don't think I can make one of these any larger.  Most of my problems were of my own doing.  I really wanted to use decorative stitching for the top stitching but was strongly advised against it.  I wish I had because I ripped out the seams so many times it would have been faster.  Also, I would have switched from the FW.  I was having problems keeping a straight line with the weight of the quilted blocks on the FW.  Once I set down at the countersunk Janome 6600 all of those problems went away.

Here are some close ups of the blocks.

As you can see, I washed it and I am pleased with how it washed up.  I would do one of these again but I would change some things.  First, I don't use a steam iron.  I would for the batting.  I did part of this at a class at the LQS and they used a steam iron.  I could tell that some of my blocks had shrunken batting and I am guessing that is why.  I had double checked each piece of batting's size after I cut them.

Also, though it would take longer, I still think I want to do one with decorative stitching.  Maybe just a table runner.  I was determined this not become a UFO so I waded through it.  I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had done a little at a time.

I am linking up with

Richard and Tanya
The Fabric Addict

For now.  I may be back to add more as more blogs open up their links.  Thank you for stopping by.  Be sure to check out some other finishes.

Back to my cleaning.  Some of my babies are coming home for the weekend!!  Also, I am on my first day of 16 days off.  Woohoooo!!!!

Keep Stitchin'!!

Mary

p.s. Found a new blog to follow and link to.  Check her out here.  You will love her blog.

Finish it Up Friday: Little Things Count

Hello, again!  I do NOT have my Fun 'n' Done completed.  I had to give up because I was so tired I couldn't keep my seams straight.  Here is an example.

I will be picking that out again.   I thought I had completed joining one set of rows and had the first seam in the other three sets.  Turns out I missed something.  One set has no seam and I picked out the seam of one.  Grrr!  You see why I finally stopped.

So, my little bitty finish is this.

That is right.  Two dish cloths.  They aren't the same size because I didn't have enough yarn for the last row of the second one.  They are dish rags for crying out loud.  Who cares if they are straight?

I made the first one last week while I waited on my 22  year old to have a colonoscopy.   I was a little embarrassed the it was all I had completed.  So, today it has a little sister and I am posting them.  Hey, I have worked 72 hours on two different shifts in the past seven days.  This is all I have in me!!

If you are new to my blog, go back one post to see the cute owl pin cushions I posted earlier in the week along with a link to the dead simple pattern.

Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up with
Richard and Tanya
Amanda
Sarah 

For Fiday Finishes.

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

Finally, A Friday Finish - or two!

Hello, all!  I am finally going to manage a post.  I have so many pictures uploaded to Photo Bucket for posts that I am surprised it is still available to me.  I will try to limit myself today.

First.....

This is a Jelly Roll 1600 that I made from a French General jelly roll.

I drug the darn thing all over the house trying to find a place I could get a good picture but it just wasn't happening. See the fourth strip up?  That is the mauve/pink color in it. It matches the carpet in my bedroom - which was supposed to be "Pale Brick".  Looks pink to me and I hate it.  But, I love red.  It is my favorite color.  I found this piece in my stash.

It isn't perfect but will work for the backing.  I have five yards of it and I am going to piece it with that print border in the picture to make it the correct size.  Binding will be the fabric used for the red border.  Made this all from my stash out of things I have had over a year.  Yay!!!

I am linking up with Sarah, Amanda and Richard.  Be sure to check out the other finishes and COMMENT.  We all love comments.

My other finish isn't sewing but it is for sewing.  This was my sewing room at 1:00 p.m.

I wish I had taken a picture of what was under that table in the corner.  If you enlarge the pictures and zoom n you can see all the crap piled on it and the cutting table.

After two hours I found my missing patterns (two of them), threw away a bunch of little scraps I have no idea why I had kept and laid out all of my "current" projects in a reasonable manner.

In case you are wondering, my ironing board (and more fabric storage) is in the bedroom down the hall.  It helps keep the sewing room cooler (I have halogen lights) and keeps me moving to keep it down there.  I did vacuum and dust in there.  I also put away almost all the thread I had out.  I found a missing pair of scissors, too.  So, hopefully I will get some sewing done!

On another front I also put up 37 jars of green beans and a froze a gallon of peaches.

Now, supper and off to work!

Thanks for stopping by.  Hopefully, I am back and you will come back!

Keep stitchin'!

Mary

Sarah's Star

Hello, all!  I swear I did a lot of sewing last month but no posting for some reason.  We are running full capacity at work which is a 50% increase over anything we have previously done.  Twelve hour shifts really take it out of me.

I have posted a couple of times about Sarah's quilt.  Looking back it appears I finished the top in September.  I finally quilted it this month.

I used an edge to edge design that is a leaf.  It turned out well but it took TWENTY passes to cover the entire quilt.

This thing is HUGE!  It is too big for any of my beds. I had to load it on the frame across the short side and it was about as large as the frame will handle.

Sarah is leaving today for a medical mission to Ecuador.  She is a resident in a surgery program.  I so wanted her to have her quilt before she left.  So, I was going to ship it to her.  I sent her this picture:

And said, "Guess what this is."  She knew right away.  She didn't want to risk the mail and they were coming home the next weekend.  So, it waited.  She was so happy!  She had been on call the night before and up for over 36 hours when they got here.  She covered up with double and triple layers of her new quilt and fell asleep.  f

I have one very poor cell phone picture sent to me after the quilt made it home and on the bed.  I am assured that it is warm but I see new curtains in my son's future because my DIL has excellent decorating taste and those green won't cut it if the quilt stays on the bed.

It has been a long time but I am going to link up for Finish it up Friday with everyone I can find.  Thank you to all the hosts!

At this time the list includes

Richard and Tanya
Confessions of a Fabric Addict


I also want to mention that in my previous post I started a mystery quilt.  I cannot promise I will consistently post the instructions on the same day of the week but I will post them.  I work an odd rotating schedule and some days are impossible to do anything but work.  Would love to have you join us on our mystery.

Keep stitchin'!
Mary

Finish it Up Friday: November 30, 2012

Hello, all!  I am still sewing.  Been working a lot, too.

As if I needed something else to do, I signed up for a Row Robin on Quilting Board.  I chose My Sewing Room as my theme.  I thought about just cutting a bunch of random fabric and sewing it to a piece of fabric.  Or, a fabric bomb.  That is what it looks like right now.

This is what I actually did.

It is rather difficult to get a decent picture of a 60" row and I have discovered my new phone compresses them a little much for my taste when I send them to photobucket.  Yet another think I need to learn - how to get the pictures from the phone to the computer.

Okay, okay...I know.  No one is interested in my technical difficulties.

If you are interested in what the blocks represent, here we go.  Otherwise, scroll to the bottom and check out the Friday Finish linking parties.

The block on the right is a Jacob's ladder.  I have made a lot of those (since my name is Jacob) and should be better but what you see it what I got.  The fabric line is from Connecting Threads a couple of years ago.  The block beside it is some fabric from Robert Kaufman (I think!) that I found at an almost LQS.  Do I really need to count the two hour drive among friends?  I chose the fabric because - horror of horrors - I like to sew clothing.  It is what I grew up doing.  It is what my mom and grandmothers did.

I am old enough I took home ec in junior high.  We learned how to measure for clothing fit.

This is my pretty lady.  No, I don't look like that when I sew.  Apparently, she follows this directive that is supposedly from Singer.

I don't even own powder and lipstick and I sew barefooted.  But she is elegant looking.  I could use a little elegance added to my mess cage sewing room.

It's a little busy, huh?  I need work on those spool blocks.  I finally just gave up and went with what I had.  You will never notice it from a galloping horse.  I used various selvages on the spool.

And.....because I live in a log home and I love 30s repro fabrics.  I thought this block was fitting.

Now, how did that happen?  That picture was rotated 90° to the left when I copied the link.  Same difference.  Like my feet and the leaves on my deck?  I think the leaves are supposed to be cleaned up this weekend.  We live with woods on three sides of us.  We rarely have them all cleaned up.

What did you finish up this week? Nothing?  There is always next week.  In the mean time, check out these fine folks who are hosting linking parties.

Crazy Mom Quilts
Richard and Tanya Link a Finish Friday

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Thanks for sticking through to the end!

Keep stitchin'!

Mary

EDITED: Happy Version: Baby Quilts and Cradle

Hello, all.  I am dipping my toe buck into the blogging waters.

That was this morning.  I swear to y'all, I am NOT depressed.  Both sides of my family are prone to extreme depression.  You know, the kind where you don't turn on the lights or open the curtains, wear the same clothes for three days and nights straight and eat bags of Cheetos with a side of cookie dough ice cream?  My family has this down to an art.  We can do this sort of thing for YEARS.

Not sure what happened but every time I sat down I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  I have also stopped sewing for about three weeks now. I think I mostly got myself exhausted.  As I have mentioned before, I work a rotating schedule.  I was doing something every day I was off.  My house is clean.  My lavender bed cut back.  My baby gifts made and my research at work is up to date - this has involved emails and phone calls on my off days with my manager.

 Have to start back to sewing and blogging today because I enjoy them.  So, starting with blogging.

First, back in October I gave this quilt to a co-worker for her first granddaughter.

I made this from fabric in my stash.  My husband bought me the pink a pack of fat eighths.  I had the rest "laying around".  I thought it looked a little too "old lady like" when I finished.  So, I added this cute jumbo rick rack.  I think that really sets it off.

I ended up sewing the rickrack around both edges because it curled so badly when I washed it.  I told the grandmother, "I don't make art or heirlooms.  I make throw over the baby carrier, into the car, onto the floor, let a toddler drag behind 'em" quilts.  But, the mom liked it so much she put it in the nursery to use.  What a compliment!  I backed it in scraps of flannel.  I think I used two shades of pink but I am not sure at this point and I didn't take any pictures of the back.  I was feeling artsy, though, and took an entire series on my porch.

This is the finished Dr. Seuss quilt.  I still need to label it but because they aren't telling the baby's name, I didn't put the label on yet.  That entire name thing has gotten funny. They wanted to keep it a secret but started giving me clues - unasked.  Once they told me what it started with and how many letters I knew the name.  I had to wait until the next day to guess so I could come up with OTHER names to guess.  So, they told her mom.  We didn't tell people we knew.  When they found out at the showers, they got mad!  I still haven't told anyone.

 Probably after Thanksgiving I will label this.  It is still at my house right now and after T-giving none of the other kids should be home until the baby comes.  I really like how the striped binding turned out.  It is a big quilt but will be great for a toddler.

I had a different plan for quilting but my son asked, "Are you going to do the all over squiggly for the quilting?  I think that looks very Dr. Seuss like."  So, I did the all over squiggly.  I don't feel very comfortable with it but I think it looks okay.  I used a variegated Mettler thread.  Hmmm ....just realized I didn't photograph the back.  See that white with the rings on it in the upper center of the picture?  I used that in flannel on the back.

This is the big gift.  My husband built this cradle.  It is made from lumber from trees here at the farm.  He cut them, milled them and then made this cradle  - after letting the lumber dry several years.  He designed it himself based upon one his grandfather had made us.  Grandad worked in pine.  This is oak.  The platform is red oak and the frame portion is white oak.

My contribution was calculating the desired angles for everything for him and drawing out the curves.  He was having a hard time achieving the look he wanted .  I also made the fitted sheets - two - and a fitted mattress cover for it.  I made several blankets, quilts and other baby items, too.  Then her family had a baby shower and she got four more quilts from her great aunts.  This baby should NEVER be cold.

The cradle is a work of art, in my unbiased opinion.  The finish is as smooth as silk.  We still have the one Grandad made. It has my Raggedy Ann collection in it.  But M wanted to keep it here and figured the grands  can use it when they come to visit us and he will make each of the kids one.

Very unexciting post, huh? I tell you, all I seem to want to do is sleep right now.  Can't get caught up.  I worked nights the weekend of time change.  So, not only did I work 13 hours to cover the shift but I had to work over every night.  We also got no fewer than 6 phone calls per day about the election.  I think I am still trying to recover from that.  Trying to pull myself out of this cycle or it will be a LONG winter.

Today is the first day of deer camp at our house.  Indiana shotgun season started at 30 minutes before sunrise this morning. Hopefully, I will get some sewing done this weekend while the guys hunt.  Did I mention I have to complete a full size quilt by December 23 and I haven't started it?  It should go fast and be fun but I have other things to catch up on first.  Been in my sewing room this afternoon working on some of them.

Linking up with

Crazy Mom Quilts
Richard and Tanya Link a Finish Friday
Thank Goodness it's Finished
Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Please check out some of the projects and COMMENT.  We all love comments and questions.

Keep stitchin'!

Mary

A Friday Finish - FINALLY!

Hello, all!  I am so glad to finally have a Friday Finish.  I actually have a couple for this week and one I don't think I posted about from a couple of weeks ago.  Also....I am having a giveaway because yesterday I made my 100th post.  More about that in a bit.

Getting business out of the way first, I plan to link with

Amanda at Crazy Mom Quilts - Welcome back and thank you for hostessing!
Karen at Sew Many Ways - I am always looking for new friends and followers can win my giveaway
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict - I may have let out a Whoop or two for today's finishes!
Richard and Tanya at Richard and Tanya Quilts - I am squeaking in on your giveaway.  Thank you!


So, my finishes.....I just peaked at Sarah's blog and I stink compared to that woman.  All I have done right now are tops - flimsies, some people call them - but I am celebrating after the "troubles I've known!"

First finish is an old one that I finally got a picture of.  We have had rain for several days and I am NOT complaining!  But it made pictures difficult in my house.  And, I do this alone.  So, my clothes line is a great help.

This is my Tetris top from Melissa's quilt along.  It is longer than my clotheslines are tall and I wanted the entire quilt.  I apologize if the picture gives you vertigo - it did me!

I think I am going to add the word "TETRIS" down one side and embroider on the other side. I thought I could put "High Score" and my name and date and put the recipient's name and her birthday as the score for the current player.

My next finish was earlier this week.  I had this one done a week ago but it would not lay flat.  So, I took all four borders back off and tried again.  The result is I lost four inches on each dimension.  Now it only measure 94"x110".  It is for my DIL and as I crawled all over the floor muttering, measuring and cursing my son asked me if it was for his wife.  When I told him yes he said, "Mom, it is good enough for who it is for.  We will love it.  Stop killing yourself over a half inch."  So, not perfect but....

There are two more rows of blocks I couldn't show.  I don't know why that blue photographs like that but it looks fine in person.

Photography does odd things.  The star and the first light fabric have the same design in them the "odd" blue does.  I am so glad to finish this.  I keep calling it "The Albatross" but it will be called Sarah's star when it is labeled.

My finish today is my Dr. Seuss quilt I mentioned yesterday.  This morning it was NOT going well.

I had it pieced but now hated the green.  So.....I cut off all I could.  Then I started adding borders.

MUCH better.  I was worried I was going to have to trash it for a while.  I am sick to death of borders right now.  I was so worried after the Albatross that I measured everyone of them about 14 times.

As I mentioned yesterday, these are the fabrics in my giveaway.  You will get a minimum of a fat eighth of all (including the two fabrics I didn't use in the quilt) except the Lorax fabric.  I had a cutting error and I don't have a full fat eighth remaining.  You need to be a follower and leave a comment.  I won't be drawing until after the baby shower on Oct 20.  Good luck!

This was my photographer's assistant today.

Doesn't she look pitiful?  Her name is Bonnie.  She is an English Shepherd.  We went to the vet yesterday because she has a hot spot on her neck and chest.  Hopefully the steroid shot will help.  Hasn't slowed her down any.  She is 56 pounds of mole catching, tennis ball chasing energy.  That mole catching is great but the holes not so much!

Thanks for wading through my monstrous post!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary