Making Something for Me

I took a break from my usual charity quilting to make a little something for me.  Well, actually, it is a Monster-size something for me!

I signed up for a class last week to learn how to make a Mat Carrier Tote and Ruler Caddy so I could easily drag all of my supplies to classes and group meetings.

This thing really is huge since my large 17 x 24 inch mat fits into the pocket inside.

And the Ruler Caddy fits my 6 x 24 inch ruler easily.

I picked a whimsical owl fabric for the Caddy and the Tote has eyeballs (hiding in the aspen leaves quilting) and cute owls quilted across the bottom.

I love how it turned out and it will be very useful and protect my supplies.

Oh, and while we’re doing cute things, these are the new birdhouses in my neighbor’s backyard.  Since I regularly feed the birds (and inadvertently the squirrels), we were laughing that together we were now running a Bed and Breakfast!

Too cute …

Almost Wordless Wednesday

On the Frame - quilting a friend's top

work in process last night

work in process today - ready to sew rows

the beginning of Fall in Florida?

One More Quilted

The thread kept breaking on the quilt I showed in the last post, so I put the whole machine, frame and computer in a time-out last Wednesday night.  I didn’t get back to it until this evening (had to pull a few weeds yesterday and today), and it finished the last two passes of the panto like a charm – not a single broken thread.  Go figure.

 

The blue behind it is the backing loaded for the next quilt.

This is another one made by Beth in NJ’s sister’s MIL.  It will go to Wrap-a-Smile when I get that pile waiting for bindings finished!

Quilting Requires an Easy Recipe!

My DH is off socializing and I have this quilt top on the frame:

Of course, I don't want to take much time away from quilting, but I needed to cook some chicken I had in the fridge so I whipped up this easy-peasy meal:

The sauce is Campbell's Teriyaki flavor - new to me.

I just put the chicken into the pan, dumped the frozen stir-fry vegetables on top and poured the sauce over the whole thing.  It bakes at 400^◦ for 40 minutes, served it over white rice and Voila!

Oops ... this was supposed to show the pretty presentation - too late!

It’s 10 WW points (3 for the chicken, 4 for the sauce, 3 for the rice - the veggies are zero) so it’s not too bad and it’s at least as tasty as a restaurant meal.  The sauce would be a little too sweet for some (and I didn’t even add the optional pineapple chunks), but it was ok for me.  And now it’s back upstairs to continue quilting!  

Oh, and I always celebrate when I empty a spool of thread because it means lots of quilts have been made and are out the door to the kids-in-need.  Wonderful feeling ...

 

Quilting Again

Yesterday’s project was a cute top made by the MIL of the sister of a friend in NJ (a fellow member of our Sunshine On-line Quilt Guild).  Nice networking Beth!

Beth warned me of the possibility of rippling borders.  This happens when a person does not measure the mathematically correct side and top borders to square up the quilt.  But this particular quilt had another small issue:

Yep … this happened to me once, too.  The is where someone had fussy cut a piece out (you can tell by the pinked edges), then the rest of the yardage was unknowingly cut for borders forgetting there was a dip in it.  So my solution was to cut all of the borders down by a small amount – and it ended up helping tremendously with less rippling since there was less fabric in the borders (win-win).

The pictures don’t do it justice, but the center is the Disney princesses (or are they fairies since some of them have wings? I have to keep up with Disney – it’s mandatory in the State of Florida – ha!):

This top also used several different materials – one was a textured thin material, the awua below (maybe a type of chenille – can’t remember the name) with raised thread dots, and one was a pique (that might have been a cotton blend) and, of course, quilting cotton.  I wasn’t sure how the machine would quilt these various types – i.e., would the tension handle it ok?  But they all worked beautifully and the aqua has a nice feel with that texture.  I just wish it wasn't so thin.

The quilting is a panto called Fable (appropriate, huh?).  This is the finish before binding … that stack is growing …

Those squares that appear grey are actually light green and light blue!

I have more of these tops to finish and some of Beth’s, too, so it’s up to the sewing room I go!

Back from Vacation

We’re back, but I still have some great photos to share of places we visited in North Carolina.  We stopped one day in the Biltmore Village.  This is a shot of the All Souls Cathedral (Episcopal) – isn’t that architecture gorgeous?!

And this is a shot of some of the shops – each was unique and had interesting things:

I picked up this darling hedgehog just because he begged to come home with me (I’m weak that way …):

He’s actually a Christmas tree ornament with a clip on his underside, but I suspected he would like to be in my sewing room all year, so there he lives!

And this is the best-looking McDonald’s I’ve seen (on the outskirts of the Village) – and no, we didn’t eat there.  We ate in a bakery and café – great choice – I had a tasty quiche and peanut butter pie (well, I was on vacation, after all!).

We also stopped in Chimney Rock:

I found this great rack in an antique store.  It was displayed with small thread spools, but I thought my few thread cones would fit and they do!

And I found this beautifully enameled magnetic butterfly to hold my glasses in my sewing room.  It is now clipped to my quilting frame and my glasses now have a home.

Speaking of my quilt frame, this is what I did with the leftovers from the Mickey Mouse quilt that went to India – this is Mickey Mouse 2 – it still needs to be bound.

Now, on to more quilting …

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Flowers I saw and loved on our vacation: