Catching Up the Blog - Final

This is Installment 3 of playing catch-up going backwards.  We had a wonderful vacation in North Carolina.  It was at least 95 degrees and humid when we left FL, so the mornings in the 50s and 60s were very welcome and the balmy 70s and maybe low 80s by mid-day to play golf in were great!

We started off at an easier muni course near Forest City.  It is not as challenging as the mountain courses we would play later, so a good intro for me since I don't play that often:

 

Par 3 over water - really?! - why is it always over water??

It is a really pretty course and enough to wear me out!

 

It's all fun until they turn the sprinklers on you - LOL!

Then we played at the two courses at Lake Lure:

 

Dogleg right with a creek, no less!

Split fairway with another creek - love this hole ...

Many creeks were swollen from recent rains ... good golfball traps

One day I was playing with 2 guys so I got to see the views from the white tees and this duffer was in a nearby year, hidden by the trees lining the tee box - almost scared me to death, so I snuck in between the trees and took his picture!

And I loved seeing what was blooming:

 

Japanese Maples were lovely

Lots of sneeze-inducing goldenrod

And one day mid-week, the ladies went shopping at nearby Hendersonville – the decorated bears were on display (they get sold for fundraisers later):

the bear above was in front of this ice cream shop

This guy was in front of a Sports Bar

And a local bank had a display of antique quilts - hard to get good photos because of the plexiglass but they were nice:

Then more golf, and home to FL – this was at the FL/GA border Welcome Center - no bears for us.  It was a good vacation!

Catching Up the Blog

This is Installment 2 of playing catch-up going backwards in time.  Just a hint of pictures since the quilt has not been awarded yet.

I got seriously bogged down trying to quilt a special Quilt of Valor for a fellow member of my QOV group.  The top was a gorgeous design using Log Cabin blocks and the US Army logo and was very well made.  The back was a mottled (of course) camouflage in very dark blacks, browns, greens and a touch of gold.

My friend wanted gold thread on the front and black or sage green on the back.  I went with the sage because the bobbin thread wouldn’t show on the front in between the gold stitches as much as black would.  I was thrilled that I had no tension problems and absolutely no eyelashes on the back (an earlier problem as I learned my machine).  I wasn’t able to see the sage in the stitching of the gold on the top (I really don’t like thread on top and bottom that doesn’t match), so I thought I was home free.

I wasn’t able to see the backing very well until I rolled it the first time and I saw tiny pokies of a lighter color.  I thought it was the gold thread and that they would pull through into the batting when the quilt was released from the rollers.  Oh, so wrong!

After the second pass, I kept seeing the pokies more and more so I tested darker threads, blacks and browns – first just on the bottom in the bobbin and then having black on both the top and bottom.  The black looked awful on the front side.  And then I saw that, with the black on the top AND bottom, there were still light-colored pokies … what’s up with that?!  It turns out the pokies I thought were gold thread were actually batting coming thru.  Yes, the dreaded “bearding”.

I was devastated.  I had never had this problem before, although I’ve read about it.  I went back and searched all of my quilter’s message boards for a solution, then I started rip, rip, ripping.  And ripping out long-arm quilting is a pain in the old tooshie, let me tell you.  I had to pull out the quilting on about a third of the quilt.

 

"Ripping Out" is sung to the tune of "Breaking up is hard to do ..."

I was using the batting that the friend gave me, so first I tried turning it over in case it had a right vs. wrong side.  No change.  So then I auditioned battings.  I tried three different brands.  Oh, and the friend inadvertently skimped on the extra backing fabric and top, bottom and sides, so I had sewn on leaders.  I had to keep testing the stitching on the real top and backing since I had different results on the leaders than on her fabric and had to keep ripping it out each time I tried something new.

I also tried adding a piece of muslin the size of the backing in between the backing fabric and the batting.  I couldn’t get both pieces to lay perfectly flat and taut without bunching one or the other, so I gave up on that.

To make a long story even longer, I finally settled on the batting I’ve always used – Hobbs Heirloom 80/20.  It wasn’t perfect, but it was acceptable and probably will be perfect after the quilt is washed.  My reading had told me that it was probably the weave of the fabric that allowed the bearding.

Lessons learned:

I don’t like quilting for others – where I maybe have to compromise my standards.

I like matching thread on top and bottom of the quilt.

I like to be in control, so that if I need to change out the backing fabric, I can.

I like quality materials.

I like to use what I like to use (my beloved Hobbs!).

I don’t like huge quilts – I love the size of children’s quilts.

AND

I will continue to donate my quilting to QOV, but I will pick and choose which quilts I do.

I will never make a business out of quilting for others!  Too stressful for me ... [I didn't plan to anyway ...]

PS  I have completed two other QOVs with absolutely no problems:

Mock Many Trips Around the World made by the group - the light spot is from the camera!

Designed and made by a QOV Group member

Back in the Groove!

It’s finally time to get back into my regular routine and get some blog posts out there – don’t give up on me – I’m still blogging!

We went on vacation – I got bogged down with quilting a difficult Quilt of Valor (bearding on the backing) and just some good ‘ol inertia took over.

But now I’m back at it and I’ll catch you up going backwards.  Today, I sent off a box to Wrap-a-Smile with four children’s quilts that I made long ago (and probably showed here as tops with different names that I’m not going to look up now) and finally got quilted using different designs with my new computer.  Can you say “FUN!”?

First up is 9-Patch Posies with circular swirls and butterflies quilting:

And then a Zig-Zag with some kind of border swirls that I used in rows:

Then I *FINALLY* got my Round Robin finished with hearts:

And last is the Not-a-Maze quilt with retro leaves quilting:

And earlier last week I got one larger quilt sent off to Quilts Beyond Borders because they are winding up a collection requested by IRD for Syrian children in a refugee camp in Jordan.  I greatly respect parents that just want to get their children and families out of a war zone despite the hardships.  The quilting on this was called Denali:

The next post will be about that QOV that was giving me fits … stay tuned!

Reporting on Sunday - Extras

Last Friday was my monthly Quilts of Valor meeting, so I usually finish up some of those projects the week before to take along with me.  The first is a Jelly Roll-type quilt made up from pieces that I bought for just $2 at a guild’s shop during their quilt show.  Someone had cut the strips and had sets pinned together – it looked like the intention was to use them to make a log cabin, but I just went the easy route and made the Jelly Roll pattern.  I think these always look better after they are quilted.

This second one was pieced by someone in the QOV group and I quilted it with my new computerized long-arm.  I think it turned out great!

 

I wish I had made this top - it is gorgeous!

Detail showing Allegiance pantograph

Quilt before binding was hand-sewn down at the meeting

September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness month and my LQS is having a challenge to collect pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer.  That group’s mission is to help children smile while battling life threatening illnesses.  You can learn more about this group at:  http://www.conkerrcancer.org/

These are the pillowcases that I made up last night and took to the shop today (and the close-ups of the cute fabrics – I just love the designs!):

 

Lined up and ready to go

I LOVE those dinosaurs

Puppy toes are always popular

This is the last of my cats-in-the-tulips fabric and I will miss it!

Remind you of a circus?

My favorite footwear ...

And today I MUST finish bindings for my Wrap-a-Smile quilts … I have been saying this for weeks!  I’d like to get a box in the mail ASAP … [more best-laid-plans??].

Happily Quilting Again!

This is the latest that I called “Not a Maze” all quilted – done in Retro Leaves (a digital computerized pattern) - now I just have to get some bindings done.

My DH and I decided to bite the bullet and tackle changing out a seemingly faulty switch on my new-to-me longarm.  OK.  True confessions … I decided that we would tackle the switch and dragged him kicking and moaning up-the-down staircase – claiming all of the way that he didn’t know anything about electricity.  Oh yeah?  Then why did you work for an electric utility for 30 years?  But I was an Accountant  he whined …[and he was a darn good one].

We followed the instructions kinda loosely since that exact part isn’t made anymore:

And we did a great job:

Except for that small (or rather long) slit down the back of that protective cushy covering.  It tore when we tried to get to the wires.   Maybe I can find a bicycle handle cover to replace that – or electrical tape – or good old duct tape …  But otherwise, the new switch works wonderfully!  We’re geniuses, I gotta tell ya.

This is the back of Not a Maze showing the quilting of the Retro Leaves - I'm having a blast again:

Next up is a large Quilt of Valor.  Wish me luck!

Have a Safe Holiday!

Weekend Sewing

Finished up another kid's quilt on the frame.  This was the Round Robin that the Sunshine Quilters and I did a long time ago.  Since it is wider than I normally make, I was reluctant to quilt it on my old frame that had a "bump" on the rails.  It looks tiny on my new frame!

This is detail of the simple quilting - looping hearts:

And, TaDa!  Now it just needs binding ...

Well, we all know I'd like to be a country girl, but alas, I've always lived in a city.  I was watching this thing come up where I feed the birds and thought that it looked like a corn stalk when the leaves first started coming out:

That made sense since some of the seed I purchase has corn in it.  But, NO!  When the top came out, where were the tassels?

Turns out that I was growing sorgham!

I'm going to let it seed out and give those to the birds ...

This is the latest WIP:

I'm calling it "Not a Maze" since it isn't ...

It will be next on the frame, then I'll have to put on two Quilts of Valor - they might be a challenge.

Fortunately, I had lots of time to sew today.  It rained early, then it was back to blue skies - I wasn't chased away by lightning for a delightful change of pace.  This was the view of the clouds from my sewing room: