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Monday, February 25, 2013

Pretty Purple Baby Quilt

Baby girl quilt #2 is done and ready to deliver. Both little girl cousins are healthy and home with family. I was so excited to get the first quilt to them I forgot to take a photo of it finished. Darn. 
It was a beautiful day in the sewing room yesterday.
The temperature was upper 60s here in ATL, so fresh air and sunshine were all over my recently spiffed up sewing domain. 
 My Bernina got all messy with thread tension trouble, so she is off to repair today. I straight-stitch quilted with a walking foot on the New Home machine Mom gave me back in 1997 when I had no machine at all.
I chose a cheerful print for the back and a mild lavender print (selvage says "CLASSIC COTTONS/F.C.I. 1998 100% COTTON") on the binding. I hope they like the little crib quilt!

Saturday, February 23, 2013

Bed runner, island surfing and such

I love to shop at thrift shops, and I found a lovely queen-sized coverlet there last week. It has an all-over quilted pattern on a  sateen fabric that I think may have (or be) bamboo. There are no manufacturer's labels, so I'm guessing.
It makes a nice foil for the bedrunner I just made for a friend from work. She had given me the small squares she found in her mother's sewing room after her mother passed away; she gave them to me three years ago. I know this because I made a pillow from some of her mom's left over blocks and blogged about it. I enclosed a note with the bedrunner saying I'd left the background purposely recessive to allow the nuggets of color to shine, like a mother who has passed on has left her daughter to shine on the Earth with a background of the Universe. 
I used that multi-stitch zig-zag to quilt it, and I like the back as well as the front.
I am doing my best to include lots of healthy vegetables in my diet. Above is two poached eggs on a bed of "super greens" sprinkled with ground flax seeds and a slice of toast made of sprouted wheat bread. AND coffee. Coffee forever.
So I hopped into my car to head to the East Cobb Quilters' Guild and I noticed the really round numbers on the odometer of my 2002 Nissan Altima. I am happy my little car is still working so well. Last week, in the dark, on my way to purchase dog food after work, I tried to surf an island in the middle of a very busy street. Talk about freaked out. A young man came into the middle of the street from a local business to ask what had hit me. I sheepishly had to admit I ended up on the island all by myself. Tires are still inflated and I've not noticed any leaking fluids. All good.
I want to get this book! I will check the library, but I bet I have to buy a copy. 

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Curvaceous Cabin blocks done

 I balked at every step of this Curvaceous Cabins construction.
Now, finally, I like it! I got a lot of encouragement from fellow Silver Thimble members. Since I had started it back in 2008, I was not sure I'd ever work on it again, let alone complete the top.
Thimbles members Julie, Sarah and Jane, helped me with binding color. I was thinking yellow, but they thought green. This is the green I had at home. I think it will do fine.

I needed to press a piece of fabric for another project,
and Joe pulled it off the ironing board when my back was turned. Thanks goodness he didn't pull the iron off with it. 
 Why can't he be good and sleep all day like his big sister Kitten?
He wakes for mischief as soon as I walk into my sewing room. I am lucky to have such good problems. Wow, I just checked the time 5:15 a.m. I forgot to go to bed. Think the kids will forgive me if I miss church? Dang. It.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

When I got to the Silver Thimbles retreat in Ellijay, Mary Ellen of Little Quilts was beginning to pack up, so I grabbed some jelly rolls to play with. Ty Pennington fabric looked interesting and I started stitching. What started out to be hexagaons is ending up being pinwheels.
I got tired of sewing them together, since I had no plan for them yet, so I got out my old blocks from a Peggy Barkle Curvaceous Cabins workshop from 2008. I had all the blocks I needed; the next step was to slash, rearrange and sew together. I am not any good at it, but it got better as I learned to turn all the blocks the same way before I cut them, and to keep the curve conservative.
It looks pretty good laid out on the table, but I think squaring up the blocks will have me pulling my hair out, so I am leaving that for another day.
The weather was wonderful in the N. Georgia mountains, so I went walk-about with my camera.
I would not mind living up here if I could have a house as cute as this one. I wonder what lucky bird makes its nest inside?
And I wonder what the heck monster bird could carve out a hole like this in the side of a tree? Just standing by it to take a photo made me nervous.
And this delightful guy (for you R.) stands guard at the end of a drive way. It was nice to sew with the lovely ladies, but I am back home now and routines await.
Looking down the golf cart path from the 10th tee.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

All is well

Since last weekend was a total loss (update to follow), I had a few quilting tasks to complete this weekend for next weekend's quilting retreat.
I collected up, pressed and folded 9 fat quarters for the games we will play. I folded them according to a video I found online.

The other task was 3 nine-patch blocks in red and cream. Check. I made extra while I was at it.