Halloween - Day of the walking dead...

Day of the walking dead. That description hits close to home right now. My husband and I have spent this entire month feeling like the walking dead. I'm still trying to overcome the bronchitis I got after the laryngitis went away, and my husband was just diagnosed with walking pneumonia. Ugh. We're both waiting for our antibiotic prescriptions to kick in. Needless to say, I've done no sewing lately.

I did, however, find enough energy last weekend to finish my Christmas quilt top. It's currently at Mom's, waiting to be quilted. Then I'll have a second project staring accusingly at me, waiting for me to bind and label it.

I was not sure how well I'd like my Christmas quilt after I got it started, but after I found the right border fabric for it (Thank you, Sager Creek!), I've decided that I really love it after all. Amazing, isn't it, how every quilt seems to go through an ugly teenage phase where we quilt parents are never sure if we've raised the poor things right and if they'll ever find someone to love them? And then they grow out of their quilt acne into beautiful, friendly, and (more importantly), lovable quilts. How relieving. ; ) Anyway, here are a couple of photos that I took as I was attempting to finish the quilt.

Below is a photo taken when I was trying to iron the completed quilt top. It doesn't look all that great when you just see the middle - you have to see the completed quilt with its borders on to lessen the busy look of the fabrics. By the way, the lump in the middle? That lump is the reason I had to stop ironing.

Tadaa! If you could see under the quilt in the photo above, this is what you would see.

No, I did not put the quilt on top of Sinbad then try to iron him. : ) I was ironing first, and he snuck under the top all on his own. I went from a nice, flat ironing surface to a bulging, moving surface. When that cat wants warmth, he wants warmth!

I don't have a photo yet of the entire quilt - I'm waiting until the quilting is done before I take a completed picture; however, here is a sneak peek at one of the corners. Now, how old-fashioned is that fabric? Isn't it wonderful? Since the 12" blocks are old-fashioned scenes on a cream background, I needed a quiet, old-fashioned border to calm the quilt down and pull everything together. Tune in later to see photos of the finished project after it's quilted. 

Hopefully, I'll be feeling better soon and can post more often again. I really need to get back to sewing! So MANY projects! In the meantime, here's my gratuitous kitty photo.

Sinbad says Boo! And have a great and safe Halloween! Meow!

Until later,

Debbi

Christmas throw progress...

I've finished the main portion of my first Christmas quilt. I've been gamely building 2-square segments into 36-square blocks all week, and I've finally finished enough for my first quilt.

As a general rule, I don't buy charm packs or other precuts. I prefer to cut my own fabrics both because I enjoy that aspect of quilting and because I'm more accurate than large factory cutters - and I value accuracy. However, I occasionally find myself in possession of precuts because of give-a-ways, gifts, or door prizes. That was the case with three 5" charm packs of old-fashioned Christmas fabrics. I decided to use these all in their own quilt. Since I didn't have quite enough, I threw in some of my more modern prints, but I tried to keep it as old-fashioned as possible.

I then pulled out this rather sweet piece of yardage and decided that it was just the right mood for the alternating 12" squares to go with my 36-patches.

Once I started sewing the blocks together, I decided that I rather liked the quilt, despite the rather busy look of it.

 



I'm trying to decide whether I need to finish the quilt off with a two or three inch border of Christmas print that I stole borrowed my mother generously agreed to donate to the cause or to finish it as it is. I may sit on the decision until I make the next quilt. The next one will be the same pattern but with more modern, flashy Christmas prints (read that as lots of sparkly silver and gold!). I figure that I've had all of these fabrics for years and have never touched any of them, so I might as well sew them all up at once in this really simple pattern.

Well, lots more cutting to do before I get the next top finished, but I'll let you see it as soon as I have some progress. I'm trying to decide whether to use one fabric for the 12" blocks or to mix fabrics. I'll have to experiment. Maybe rows of red fabrics, then green fabrics, then blue fabrics, etc.? Play time it is...

More later...

Debbi

Yet another new project - my first Chirstmas quilt!

Yes, yes, I know. Why on Earth am I starting yet another new project when I am so far behind on dozens of others? Well, we had our bi-monthly Stashbuster's meeting at Sager Creek Quilts last Thursday, and we received our new, free Stashbuster's quilt pattern. I haven't made the last few patterns (some I was too busy to start and others I just didn't like), so I decided that I needed to join in on the fun again and do another quick quilt. This month we got an extra easy quilt pattern. It is just a 36-patch alternated with a 12 1/2" square. Nothing could be easier!

Since I have tons of Christmas fabric and have never used any of it, I decided that now is the time. You can see some of the 12 1/2" squares I'm going to use with the 36 patches in progress in the following picture.

I want to show you a really neat way to make multiple square patches without having to cut each individual square itself. I learned this method from Dava (I don't remember her last name), who taught a class at my guild several years ago. I love the simplicity of it. So here goes:

If you need 2" finished squares (which this pattern calls for), you will need 2 1/2" unfinished squares to start with. Cut 5" blocks from each of your fabrics. I've started with a fat quarter below.

I've paired the 5" square from my first fabric with a 5" square of red fabric and sewn a quarter inch seam on two opposite sides.

Here is the flip side of that same 5" pairing. Again, you can see the opposing seams.

Now cut down the middle of the squares at the 2 1/2" mark. This gives you two pieces 2 1/2" x 5".

Turn the square and cut down the middle at 2 1/2" again. I've separated two of the four pieces so that you can see how this works. I actually have all four pieces cut in this photo.

Here are all four pieces separated. Now to see your pairs of sewn fabric...

Open the sewn pairings and iron towards the darker fabric. If you are making four-patches, you now have the pieces for two matching four patches. Just turn the bottom two pieces around and sew them back together with their counterparts. You will then have red/green on the top sewn to green/red on the bottom. Perfect four-patches!

Since I want a mix of fabrics for a scrappy look, I am sewing lots of five inch squares together and cutting them into two-patches. I am then sewing the two-patches together in sets of three to make 36-patches (three sets of two-patches by three sets of two-patches equals six by six, or 36 squares). Maybe it's not loads quicker, but I like this method. : )

I'll show you more photos as the blocks begin to come together. I have so much Christmas fabric, and this is such a quick quilt, that I may have to make multiple quilts! They'll be scattered everywhere!

And finally, my gratuitous kitty photo. This time I happened upon Tessie (the broken tabby) and Maxie (the tuxedo) curled up together in a very loving pose. These two have never shown much fondness for each other in the past, but as the weather is getting colder, they've decided to put aside their differences in favor of a warm cuddle partner. Oh, if it were only that easy with people...

Until later,
Debbi

Laryngitis

Who knew that losing one's voice could be accompanied by a loss of interest in talking with one's fingers as well? I was in the middle of a class lecture last Monday when my voice suddenly started to fail. I think it was caused by allergies, but I've heard that there's something going around that seems to be causing this in a lot of people. Anyway, I've been fairly silent until the last couple of days. I missed Tuesday through Friday of last week. I've rasped my way through this week so far. I'm hoping to get back to normal by next week. I think I will have to stay quiet this weekend, though, if I want that to happen.

The good news is that I managed to get a lot of sewing done while I was out. I couldn't move a lot without coughing, so I restricted myself to working on my owl quilt.

As you can see, poor Swirly Belly's left eye went on crooked, so I actually removed it and resewed it straighter. This is a photo before the repair. I haven't taken a "fixed" photo yet.

I also had to tear out the eggs from little Mama Owl's nest and redo them. They were very lumpy looking in my first attempt. This is a photo of the repaired owl. A little better anyway.

 

And following are the reasons for my allergy attack. We have been enjoying some much needed rain after this summer's drought. Unfortunately, blooming flowers bring pollen, even in the fall. Aren't they lovely, though?

We're expecting a major winter storm to hit this evening, and the temperature is supposed to drop from 81 to 49. Ugh! There go all of my lovely flowers! Our lows are supposed to hit the lower 30's, so my flowers are going to be frosted. I'll have to take in all of my indoor flowers that I still have outside.

And finally, my gratuitous kitty photo of Sinbad praying for a warm bed to sleep in when this cold weather hits. Isn't he a sweetheart? Don't worry, Sinbad. You can come cuddle with me.

Until later,

Debbi

When will I learn? Sigh...

Last Thursday, my wonderful Busy Bees friends helped me chose the right colors for this next owl. I love the belly swirls! The pink base went down well. I was pleased with it. The belly also went on beautifully.

The eyes went on wonderfully. Again, I was pleased. Until... I got my little owl completely finished and realized that, once again, I had forgotten its beak! No problem. One beak to add.

Shoot. This beak was supposed to have gone on before the blue part of the eyes. I keep forgetting to check my piece numbers and sew them on IN ORDER!

The blue, the green inner eye (not shown), and the pupil (also not shown) were now all in the way. I had to remove the right eye entirely (I got the beak on slightly crookedly and had to make adjustments). Now I have the blue part resewn, and tonight I have to resew the lovely green. When I'm done, - again - I'll take a photo of the finished owl. It's really cute.

Next comes a rather complicated owl, and I'm still picking out colors. It may be a while before you see any progress on it.

In the meantime, I also spent quite a lot of time this weekend sewing on my Day and Night quilt. I have 24 blocks sewn together. I haven't decided yet whether I'm going to shoot for the entire 42 (6 x 7) or stop at 30 (5 x 6). It depends on how well my green fabric holds out. I'm already trying to come up with original ideas for the borders. Let's see, what do I want...?

For my kitty loving friends, Sinbad is now on an allergy testing diet. This means that he has to eat synthetic food for at least two months and see if he stops scratching and overgrooming. Fortunately, he LOVES the duck and green pea fake dry food. He has needed some persuading over the venison and green pea canned food, though. He finally ate a good portion of it this morning.

The other cats are still on their regular food (except for the yummy canned food - if Sinnie can't have any, neither can they . He would know!). I feed Sinnie in the sunroom and close the door until the others have finished their food and I can let him out without fear of his stealing their food. It's actually working remarkably well so far. I have my fingers crossed that he'll start showing some improvement soon. I'll take belly shots if he ever grows some hair back!

Until then,
Debbi

Minor ear adjustment

You may recall that in my last post I mentioned a small ear mishap with my latest owl. It seems that I forgot to sew on his ears before I sewed on his face! Oops. That meant that I had to unsew a large enough area to allow me to slip in the ears, sew them down and replace the face.

Here is the completed right ear. I notice that I even sewed in a little something extra - a little cat hair on top of his head just above his face (you can just see it about an inch to the left of the ear). This owl gets embroidered eyelashes, so it will be finished later.

Since I gave some purple fabric to Mom to complete her Day and Night quilt that I showed you last week, she decided to thank me with some new purple fabric she found on sale the the Rabbit's Lair in Rogers, AR. Isn't it absolutely beautiful? One of these days I'll go back to taking pictures with a real camera instead of my phone and you can get a better sense of color. I don't have any concrete plans for this fabric yet, but I know I will find it the perfect quilt home sometime soon! Mom bought the whole bolt, so we shared it with six yards each. Mom already has hers made into a back for her Day and Night quilt. She had been wondering what to use when walah! There it was! The perfect piece of fabric!

I have finished another owl since I took these picture. This latest one is on a nest. I rather messed up the eggs it's "sitting" on, so I may try to fix those before I take a photo to show you.

Until later,
Debbi

THREE new finishes! And not one of them mine...

Five of us signed up for a class to learn Eleanor Burns' Day and Night pattern from Sharon at Guthrie's Fabrics in Colcord, OK. I have heard from four of us students - guess which one of those four has not yet finished her quilt top? Yep. Me. But I have photos of the other three!

Stephen and his mom both signed up for the class and Stephen just sent me photos of both of their quilts.

This is Stephen's block on the day of the class. Lovely, isn't it?

Here is the finished quilt top. Great job, Stephen! I love the motion that these colors bring to this quilt.

Stephen's mom, Ruth (I hope I'm remembering her name correctly), chose a quiet, elegant approach to the same quilt. Here is her first block.

And here is her quilt top on the long arm machine. Just lovely! Maybe we'll get an update when it's finished. I'd love to see what the borders look like. Thanks for sharing these photos, Stephen. : )

The last Day and Night quilt top finish is Mom's. Looks a little different from the other two, doesn't it? Mom ran into my favorite situation when making this quilt - she ran out of purple fabric. Redesign time! How fun!

First, Mom picked out a different, complimentary purple fabric. Next, she used the scraps from the pattern (you're supposed to use them for a wall hanging) to make a small center rectangle. She surrounded that with the second purple fabric and then started sewing on the actual Day and Night blocks.

Then she started on borders and matching pillow and foot panels, again using the scraps.

The colors in the upper photos are truer than the one below, but I wanted to show the entire quilt top laid out. (Should I mention that once she was finished, she found a yard of the original purple fabric that she had apparently mislaid? No. I'll keep that secret.)

Here are the two blocks that don't have matching finishing photos. We may never see the finish for the first block (unfortunately), but the second is mine. I'll get it finished some day. I have 20 blocks sewn together so far.

We've had rain for the last two days, so we're finally starting to see some green for the first time since May. Of course it's almost fall now...

We took the dogs for a walk and saw a few flowers and lots of poisonous toadstools.

Those toadstools popped up overnight. And in some strange places. Yes, that's exactly what that looks like. Yuk.

And here's a pretty little flower that we saw along the way. I'll take flowers any time I can get them.

I'll try to get some more owl quilt photos for you soon. I ran into a little problem with some ears. Don't ask...

Until later,
Debbi