Finish a UFO day.

Last night I cut and ironed the binding. This time I cut 2 1/4 inches, but maybe I need 2 1/2?  I'll see how this works.  I used 2" on the turtle baby quilt.

I had help from the "other" tuxedo kitty.  Kitten must have been busy skulking around in my sewing room while the door was open and I was in the guest room ironing.

The binding is rolled (on an empty bath tissue tube) and ready for me to trim the top and sit down to sew.
I aim to finish the top I blogged about so long ago here:  Samurai Squares UFO.  I had been so intimidated by the (home) machine quilting process, and distracted by everything else that came along, that I am nearly a year and a half in getting it quilted.  But hey, that is better, WAY better than the 30 years it took me finish Eron's Tippecanoe quilt (which was originally a wedding gift for his dad to whom I am no longer married).

And then off to Mita's Patchwork Cottage to pick up the supplies I ordered for my trip to Quilt Symposium of Alabama.   This will be my first quilt retreat experience; I am so excited to go!

I want our soldiers home.

I cried watching the You Tube video of soldiers coming home and surprising their families.

At Friday's Pizza and Patchwork at Mita's shop (Patchwork Cottage) I asked for help on my Samurai Squares quilt.  Peggy gave me some good advice, which I took, about the borders.  I still wanted to do some type of free-motion on the outer border, so I decided to use clear thread on the top.  That way my free-motion (lack of skills) won't show too much.

I packaged up my quilt, got to work, left for a moment and came back to this:

Seriously, does she look comfortable?

So I had to find something to occupy her.  She liked this toy for a while:

Notice the snazzy summer collar.  It has bumble bees on it.  AND it matches the ball in the tube. Bonus!

Kitten is kinda lazy when she plays now she's older. 

I went back to work on my quilt border, but I had the darnest time.  The clear thread kept tangling and getting caught on stuff.  I went through an entire package of Schmetz  90/14 needles! I purchased the new package of needles to take to Alabama, but now I have to go buy more.  I HATE the noise the machine makes when I break a needle.  It SCARES me! 

I remembered that I had used an applesauce jar full of rocks (stay with me) when I quilted with clear thread before, so I found the jar I had been using for the locker-hooking string and adapted it for the clear thread.  And I'll be danged. It worked.  Smooth sewing after that.

Oh, and FYI, you cannot use a walking foot and a Super-Slider at the same time. (But that was yesterday.)

And tomorrow (maybe) binding (oh goody!).

Drum Roll Please--

This is a milestone akin to turning over 100K in my old car.  Mom asked me how many posts I've done.  I had no idea, so I tallied this blog (237) and my previous blog, Karmen's Page (55), so that makes 292.
Is it time I figure out how to do a give away?
Any soldiers out there who quilt and need supplies? Or want to surprise someone back here at home with a quilter's gift?

Looking Back

Look what I found at Patchwork Cottage!

This lovely quilt made entirely of Moda's Brannock and Patek "Looking Back" line of quilting cotton fabric.  

The pattern is "Star Flowers" from Out on a Limb.

The quilt maker is Kathy Oppelt.  She did a wonderful job.  I just love this quilt!

Ta Da!

And thank you to Pam at Patchwork Cottage in Lawrenceville for helping me select the binding fabric.

Free Motion Baby!

Yes, I have been practicing free motion quilting. And also, yes, I hated what it looked like when I was doing it, but, darn, the result isn't bad....How does that happen? I started this little practice gem in Peggy Barkle's free motion class at Patchwork Cottage. The piece was to be (I thought) a throw away. Then my co-worker, Rachel, had her little baby boy, Giancarlo. That created a mission for me: Finish the baby panel and see what it looks like. I want to remember, next time I do a baby gift, that it takes 3 hours for me hand-stitch the binding down. Perhaps I could use the machine on that too? Duh! The quilt is on its way to Rachel and Giancarlo today. (Happy dance in progress.)

I Like it!

Yes I do! The t-shirt quilt is migh-T-fine, if I do say so myself. Not sure what I will do about quilting it, but at least I have something to show at the t-shirt class reunion at Patchwork Cottage on Tuesday (if it is still going to happen).

I am encouraged!

I am still playing with the arrangement, and I haven't decided on fabric, but I found a couple more shirts. They were in my closet! What the heck were shirts doing in my closet? I can't find anything in there due to all the shoes.

I think this project will come out just fine, but I have to apologize to Sharon. My first love is accounting, and I cannot resist the allure of ordered columns. I love her pattern, and the class was WONDERFUL!

Last Minute Decision for T-shirt Project

I can't believe that while I was lying in bed ill, my dogs got into my Aunt Millie work basket and ate the kitty circles! Well, chewed them up anyway. HOW THE HECK could they have known they were kitty pictures? At least they did no more damage than that, but it is the darnedest thing!

Well, here I am on the eve of a t-shirt quilt class, and since I have been (still am) quite sick (but not contagious), since I am on all this medicine, I have neglected to think about fabric choices until now. Help, help! I do not have enough of the fabric I originally thought I would use, and I am short of shirts. Take a look at the "make-do" idea I came up with. I think it will work. I have some small shirt prints that I can use to fill in with, since I don't have many shirts. It is not funny, somehow all those printed t-shirts I thought I had disappeared. When I started, I only had four. I had to buy some off E-bay (Chief and Royals) and one from the honor society web-site, and it is turquoise. I thought the color was pretty when I bought it, but it is too late to change it out now. What do you think? I am favoring the tan background, red outer border and black mini stripe for the shirt frames. I may not have enough for the shirt frames, but I am sure the shop (Patchwork Cottage) will have something I can mix in. And thanks a bunch to the commenters (Debbie and Gretchen - check out their blogs) who encouraged me to hang in there with my health and not cancel going to the classes (I am taking machine quilting too). I am really going to enjoy them!

Oh, and these are the iris I cut from my yard. Enjoy!

It's that birthday time of the year

I had lunch with Eron at Ted's Montana Grill in Forsyth County and the food was super-delicious! It was Eron's (29th) birthday lunch; Crit was out of town, so Eron and I walked around The Avenue Forsyth afterwards. I said good-bye to Eron and drove over to the part of the mall that had JJill, but I also discovered 10,000 Villages where I treated myself to the trivet and leather-handled basket in the picture above. I like the store's concept: marketing handmade things from around the world. If you can tell from the picture, the trivet is out of twisted newspaper. They also had some beautiful reverse applique flanged pillow shams that were a nice butterscotch on yellow. Oh yeah, and a mother-of-pearl button covered silk purse to die for. I love the earthiness of their products.
I am pretty sure Wren missed me. I was supposed to stay home and cut fabric all day, since I have two classes next Saturday. I am taking a machine-quilting class (Peggy Barkle) and a T-shirt quilt class, so I will be at the Patchwork Cottage on Sugarloaf all day next Saturday. I will let you know how it goes. I am excited about the machine class because I will be using my own machine. I need to know what I can do with my own machine before making the decision to invest in a new one.