Some Finishes and a Trip Away

Before we left for vacation, I was able to send these two off to Wrap-Them-in-Love.  They are destined for an orphanage in India:

I was in a rush to complete them and I forgot to quilt the one with Gila Monsters in the Gila Monster panto that I haven't used yet – fortunately, I still have some of that fabric so I can do that next time!  Both of these were quilted with a quick and easy panto called Cotton Candy.

We had a great time in North Carolina – the temperatures were wonderful and we were able to play a lot of golf.

Got rather cool at night (in the fifties), but a sweatshirt was all that was needed in the mornings and that was down to a T-shirt by late morning.  Such a very pleasant change from FL this time of year!

We saw some of the trees with leaves that had turned colors but not many:

And there were deer all over the first day (even right next to the cart path), and then we barely saw them again:

One of our friends that has moved up to NC found this cute shop with lots of barn blocks and a Model A in front.  It wasn’t a quilt shop, but I was able to help the economy anyway.  I bought a really nice magnetic enameled eyeglasses holder so I can find my reading glasses up in the sewing room.  And I also picked up a lovely pottery mug so I can stay in my sewing room all day if I want to!

I do have a third quilt that didn’t make it into the box to WTIL.  I’ll get its picture up tomorrow.

When Quilting is No Fun

I have been quilting the Project Linus quilts using donated polyester batting and having a terrible time with it.  The batting was very inexpensive – it has the “special” price on the label (probably why it was donated).  The batting itself is very uneven, and has a horrible texture.  You can feel the tiny bits of plastic clumps in it and when the needle hits them, the thread breaks – often – over and over - repeatedly.  My advice:

    Do.Not.Buy.Batting.That.Is.$7.48.For.Ten.Yards - not even for charity quilts!

I have a whole second roll that is unopened and will stay that way as far as I am concerned.  I am done with messing with it.  I will return it to the Project Linus group and buy my own batting from now on to donate for the tops I quilt for them.  Enough ranting …

This is the quilt I just finished for them - the panto is an edge-to-edge called Joy:

Even though I switched over to expensive batting, I had a rough time getting my machine back into smooth working order.  I had to change the needle, the tension, and the tautness of the backing, among other things.  And they gave me muslin for the backing, so every little quilting mistake and stop and start shows. 

And to top it off, I put it on the frame at night and I think I put the nice, expensive batting on upside down.  It was so frustrating and I had been having such fun before using the cheap batting.  Oh well, back to the drawing board … I expect to have fun sewing this weekend!

Project Linus Day

I just finished quilting another top for Project Linus.  They provide the top, backing and batting and I just get to pick a panto and quilt them up - what a deal - I get to have all the fun!  This simple design looks so sweet with a panto called “Eye See You” that has butterflies, dragonflies and birds.  I return them to the group as is so they can bind them.

And this is the next one on the frame for Project Linus … the panto, called Joy, looks pretty with the roses in the fabric.

I’m on a quilting roll today!

Almost Forgot the Reveal

The recipient has the Sneak Preview quilt in hand from this post and is happy with it, so here is the less-than-big reveal:

The fabric I was given is the black/white Rotary Club fabric in the middle.  It was printed like a batik and was less than perfect to work with.  The lady wanted some color to go with it, so I came up with the multi-color HSTs for the front.

Then I had to piece the back (I wanted to use all of the fabric I was given), and I found the lovely golden yellow prints.  I almost like the back better!

But like the Quilts of Valor that I sometimes quilt for my group, these large quilts are just too much of a hassle for me to work with very often.  I really love working with smaller children’s quilts and I’m going to stick with them for the foreseeable future!

This is the latest “boy” quilt top.  Love those critters on quilts – LOL.

I’ve Been Working

I’ve been knocking myself out on a quilt that is much larger than I am used to.  I won’t be able to show it here until it is given away, but here are two sneak preview pix:

 

Front

Back

Odd fabric choices, huh?!  But I am happy with the finish and I’ll be sure to show the entire project later.

Meanwhile, here is the sunset reflected in the clouds outside my sewing room window:

And knowing how goofy I am, it won’t surprise anyone to know that I let some of the weeds grow from the birdseed that I put out just to see what plants come up.  This was turning into a beauty but I had yet to identify it – I was waiting for a blossom or something:

But I waited too long and the deer decided it was good to munch on …

Now I’ll never know what it really is – I think the deer just call it “tasty” – LOL.

Quilting for Others

I’ve been quilting for Wrap-a-Smile and Project Linus members, but I think I have been sporadic about posting the finished quilts and the quilting details.  Some of these may be repeats, but then I will be caught up, I think!

First, these novelty squares quilt tops from Beth in NJ for WAS are fun because I get to pick an inspiration novelty print and a matching quilting pantogram design.  It’s a lot of fun to go through my notebook of designs and find something new to try.

Here’s Butterfly Enchantment (details were shown in the last post):

Next is Critters with details:

And then we have Musical Notes (details were shown in the last post):

And last is Seashells with details:

And I finally saw that there was a printed ink overlay of flowers in the tough-to-choose Project Linus quilt top, so I selected a floral quilting design and it turned out fine:

Big Time Score!

A local quilt shop is having their pre-inventory clearance sale and I scooted up there today.  It’s my destiny to help the economy, you know!

I made out like a bandit!  For all but one of the above I got 70% off the price per yard for buying what was left on the bolt.  And that meant that I paid only $3/yard for $10/yard fabric.  I was so excited.  And the other piece was 60% off and the two panels were 50% off.  This fabric just feels so darn nice in your hands … I may have to fondle it awhile before I make up a few quilts …

And I noticed that I had forgotten to post a few of the sneak preview close-ups of the quilting I was doing for Beth in NJ for Wrap-a-Smile quilts.  This is Musical:

You can see grace notes and whole notes and the upside down treble clef – so cute!  These are part of the bunch that I am binding now.  I'll be done tonight and show them all soon.

And this one is Butterfly Enchantment – butterflies, of course and swirls for them to perch on:

And I have to include the Nature Shots of the day.  The first is the Woody the Woodpeckers that we have been watching.  These things are just so huge and they sound just as nutty as the cartoon Woody when they call.  First, this is how far away the snag they like to run up and down is behind our house:

This is a stock image of the male Pileated Woodpecker from Wikipedia.

I think I have a breeding pair.  They are just too cool.   And this is as closeup as I could get with my puny little camera:

And we’ve had so much rain, it’s been hard to get too many outside shots, but this was a nice sunset the other day:

That’s the fountain in the pond in front of our house.  Very pretty!

Air-conditioning is a Good Thing

We are not in the Dog Days of Summer … we are in the throes of Heat Stroke.  The heat index the other day was 105^◦.  And I am doing as little yard work as possible.  Does that mean I have more time to sew?  Not always, but I have accomplished a little.

Remember these pillowcases I made last Sep for ConKerr Cancer?

They had another challenge at the LQS and I made six more, but forgot to take their picture in my haste to get them turned in by the deadline.  These were the fabrics I used and they were cute as a button – take my word for it!

And every once in awhile (like every day recently), I get chased downstairs by the thunderstorms.  I have arched windows in my sewing room on the second story and lightning out those windows is too scary for me (and I have to unplug my expensive machines!).  This little rain cloud I can take:

It’s when the big ones roll in that I take cover!

I did manage to quilt this one for Project Linus:

The colors are much better in person – it’s a very sweet quilt in pastels.  The panto is Flora Wave.

This one for Project Linus is a Brain Teaser though … how in the world will I quilt this fabric?   The center is printed fabric, not pieced.

I’m only up to edge-to-edge pantos, no custom quilting, and don’t know whether to go with squares or bubbles or something wavy?  I’ll have to ponder it for a little while then bite the bullet and get ‘er done!