Show and Tell

Friday our stitching group met at Linda's house for a much cooler gathering. We usually share what we have finished or started new, or just purchaced since we last met.

Bonnie started it off showing off your new cell phone cover.

Cathy is working on her brown bag challenge.

Ada was finishing the binding on her brown bag challenge. Do you see a trend here?

This is Cathy's Holiday Pineapple. She was working on it at the April retreat. All it needs now it the pieced border.

Barbara made this little toiletery bag for Wayne. Barbara has been on You Tube again.

Faye is moving along on her applique piece. Two weeks ago there was just a single stem.

I got the borders on the blue and white Jacobs Ladder.

I had gotten this little snow ball quilted and worked on the binding Friday.

I also finished the red, white and blue Patriotic Patchwork. Now to find a back, I'm looking for a shirting or something similar.

Linda provide a wonderful lunch and with the nice air conditioner we were able to stitch until after 3 o'clock. We will meet at Gina's house next week. Johnny said I don't guess the BHOL will be back here until it cools off some. He really misses the deserts.

that ugly fabric looks good here

Look closely the red is fabric strips. We are using them to tie up tomato vines. Branches that escape the tomato cage need a little support. I started saving strips when straighting the edge before cutting strips. These worked well but we needed more so I pulled out some of that "what was I thinking when I bought this " fabric and cut the needed strips.

Just shows you should never stop thinking outside the box. The only problem was that I kept thinking I had a tomato getting ripe when it was just an orange strip.

DWM brown bag

My design wall is actually empty, which is a good thing. It means I got the red, white and blue Patriotic Patchwork put together. Now I just need to find a back and get it quilted. I'm sure I have  something for the back in my stash. This is my brown bag challenge. I was given the Hoffman fabric in the center of the stars. The hardest part of this challenge was that I didn't know my brown bag owner. She is new to the guild so I haven't really gotten a chance to know her likes or dislikes. I planned to put the focus fabric as another border but it seemed to take away from the table runner so I put it on the back. I hope she is pleased with it. My longarm quilter buddy Barbara let me try some custom quilting on it so it was also a learning experience for me.

Got a lot to do today and it is going to be another hot day here. Yesterday it hit 101 degrees with a forcasted 98 today. It was 77 when I started my walk this morning and 80 when I got back 53 minutes later. The 77 was at 7:15 a.m. . Slept late or would have gotten an earlier start.

Lucy was waiting for me when I got back.

Too Hot to Stitch

Yesterday was our stitching day here. It was pretty nice outside before lunch, we had a nice breeze. We were a little short on attendance as well, only 5 of us. We just had sandwiches for lunch with weight watcher pop cycles for desert. About one o'clock the breeze died and we called it quits by 2 o'clock when it had reached 94.5 degrees in the shade. I think next week we will have to move to an air conditioned site because the weather forecast for next weekend is more of the same.

I have been trying to walk every morning. This morning I left the house at 7:17 and didn't get back until about 8:10.  Tomorrow I plan to get an earlier start. Johnny and I hit the pool about 9:30 and the water temperature was 86 degrees. Very nice, just floating around for an hour or so. I got out and picked green beans and then got back in the pool. I can tell you I am in for the day, hope to get the red, white and blue blocks put together.

Gone stitching!

Truck

This is Johnny's red truck. It is a Nissan Frontier. Today he will have a little driving time, first he has a dentist appointment this morning and then this afternoon he is going to Rogersville to see a radio buddy of his. Being retired he really doesn't drive it that much and in all fairness I probably put more miles on it than he does. It should last us a long time with as little miles as we put on a vehicle now. When we lived at the river and worked in Huntsville we each put a 100 miles a day on our vehicles. Then when we moved to Tanner I was the only one working but I still put 60  miles a day on my car. I doubt we put a 100 miles a week on both the car and truck combined. It's about 50 miles round trip when I go to Barbara's  to quilt and everything else we do is usually only 10 or 15 miles round trip. Just don't get out much these days and I like it.

Beating the Heat

It is so hot and getting hotter every day. I am have to do my walking early in the morning.  This morning I left the house at 6:40 and just walked 30 minutes because I wanted to get to Barbara's early to quilt my brown bag project. We wanted to get the quilting done before it got too hot in the quilt machine room as well. We were through by 11:00 and then I made the dreaded Wal-Mart stop. I did go ahead and stop at the one in Athens, it was always my choice of all the Wal-Mart's in the area. They have completely redone the store since we left Tanner nearly two years ago so it is now like most all the rest. Had trouble finding things. The heat just saps all of us, so after lunch we all had a nap. I only got about 30 minutes in the chair but 3:30 we hit the pool. Except Lucy, she is not a water dog which is unusual for Labs. (just realized the date on the photo is wrong again, don't know how it gets changed). If you can't reach us by phone in the afternoons, this is where we are. I don't know if the stitchers are planning on swimming Friday or not but they should probably bring their suits because it is supposed to be 98 degrees or higher this weekend. I'll be using that air condition we are paying for during the heat of the day. Got to sew.

6/18 dwm

My design wall hasn't changed much this week. Most of my time has been spent walking, working the garden and working on little projects. The guild is doing a brown bag challenge and I got that pieced, will quilt it on Wednesday. I also got my donation Christmas quilt for the Silent Auction quilted. I got all the blue and white Jacob's Ladder blocks put together and have started on the borders. This week looks pretty busy too so may not get far on this one again this week. Will try to find sewing time every day.

Lucy

This is Lucy, she is almost 20 months old. She pretty much rules the roost here. She weighed 55 pounds the last trip to the vet so she may be a little more than that now even though we are supposed to be cutting back her treats. Thank goodness she has quit chewing everything in site.

The Pear tree

We can see the two pear trees from the bay window in the dinning room/kitchen. Last night we realized something was different. One limb looked like it was broke. We went to check it out and it doesn't look broke or cracked anywhere just bent by the weight of the pears. Problem is the pears are only half grown. As they get bigger this limb may not make it.

A closer look at just one branch on that limb.

Even closer.

This type of pear is not ripe until late September so they still have a big portion of their growing season left. Last year I made pear butter in the crock pot and a pear relish that is sweet and savory. It's very good with pork.

Stitching projects

Friday is our group stitching day. Most just bring some hand work and we stitch and visit. Some might say we gossip but I'm sure that is not what we would call it. I thought I would share some of the projects the others were working on this week.

Donna brought these little blocks to show and tell. The nine patch is made with one inch squares. She brought some thrift store shirts to cut apart today. She is not real big on hand work. She usually doesn't get to stay all day because Friday afternoon is Bingo at the nursing home where her Mother is living so she has to go help her play Bingo.

Ada finished the binding on these cute little pot holder mitts. Then she worked on some English paper pieced flowers.

Faye was working on an applique piece from a class she took last weekend at the Alabama Quilt Symposium. I think this one was from a Pat Sloan Class, I don't remember who the other national teacher was that she also took a class. I can't believe that the rest of us didn't go down to the quilt show last Friday, but maybe we were just road tripped out. I think this was the first show I missed since they started having the symposium. I took some of the classes the first year or two but didn't take any other after Quilter's Refuge opened. Maybe I'll get a chance to take a class next year.

Dianna said her husband was out of town for three days last week so she had her own personal private quilting retreat. She said all she did was water the plants and sew. Three very cute little projects. She finished the hand work on one of these and started her on red work project. She is going to do the Snow Happens that several of us have done.

This is my red work project in black. One lady that came to the shop a lot did this pattern in the black and tans. I tried really hard to get her to just give it to me but that didn't work so I'm tackling it myself. It may be a little ambitious. I've worked several stitch sessions on it and have only got these trees done. The pattern is Over the River and Through the Woods. There are two long scene panels and one panel with the words then pieced blocks.  Barbara worked on a little red work as well but no picture.

Usually we will stitch until 3 or 3:30 but today we broke up about 2:30 because it was already 87 degrees. We did have a nice breeze so it wasn't too bad. We had three missing today, Gina and Cathy were on other road trips headed in opposite direction visiting family and Linda was busy with plans for her Mother's birthday.

Garden bounty

No sewing today. After walking this morning I started freezing the dishpan of green beans we picked yesterday afternoon. We were floating around in the pool and something was said about beans needing to be picked in the morning. I suggested we pick them then, our wet swim suits would keep us cool and then we could get back in the pool. So that is what we did. I wish I had taken a photo of the full dishpan but here is a picture of the cooling beans.

I was able to freeze seven quarts from this first picking.

We have also had a good bit of squash, peppers, cucumbers and some onions. I wish I knew a way to put up the squash that we would like.

While the beans were cooling I made a blackberry cobbler. I meant to take a picture of it as soon as it came out of the oven, but I picked up a spoon rather than the camera. It didn't help that it came out of the oven right at lunch time.

The stitching group is coming over tomorrow so maybe will get a little sewing done then.

Planning for Quilt Show

I am a member of the Athens PieceMakers Guild in Athens, Ala. and we are have a quilt show this September. I have committed a donation item for our Silent Auction. This year I made a small snow ball  quilt using a couple of charm packs from Moda. It is not the traditional Christmas reds and greens but I hope it will appeal to someone or for the auction to be successful I hope it appeals to several someones.

I finish the borders today and hope to get it quilted either tomorrow or the first part of next week.

Due to limited space at the college where the quilt show is held we can only enter two bed sized quilts. There is no limit on wall hangings or miniatures. The two large quilts that I have chosen to enter this year are both Bonnie Hunter patterns. The first is one of her free patterns called Kiss in the Corner. I chose to use cheddar as the main fabric color instead of the yellow in Bonnie's so I am calling mine Cheddar Kisses.

I really love how the secondary pattern becomes the main focus. It's actually hard to point out the original block.

My second entry is a pattern from her Scraps and Shirttails II. I was working on the pattern Fair and Square but the book flipping over to the next pattern Tumalo Trail. The more I looked at it the more
it kept calling me. Needless to say Fair and Square got move to the back burner and I started on my version of Tumalo Trail and because it was such a temptation I am calling mine Temptation Trail.

I have to add hanging sleeves to both quilts and labels as well. It is nice knowing these are ready for this show and no rushing to get top finished and quilted at the last minute. If I get the pieced borders on my embroidered snowman I may enter it as well, otherwise I haven't really done anything small since our last show.

Patriotic

To all magazine editors and publishers, to all book authors, you are doing a fantastic job. I received the July/Aug issue on Fons & Porter's Love of Quilting on either Wednesday or Thursday of last week and immediately sat down to read the latest. I'm usually drawn to easy patterns with just a twist on placement or color. Well I wasn't just drawn to Patriotic Patchwork but it took me by the hand and into the sewing room to start cutting. Five days later I only lack a few blocks. Actually I have enough for the pattern but it is square  so I'm adding another row. So if the objective of editors, publishers  and authors is to get people inspired then they are doing a good job. The problem is I get inspired to start another project before I finish one, hence the title of queen of UFO's.

Look how simple the blocks are. It is just the placement of color and the way you turn the blocks to create the rows or furrows. There is also no borders on this quilt which makes it more old fashioned. I really like that look and will always make more blocks to get the size I need rather than add more or larger borders, but that is just my personal choice. I think the personality of the quilt is in the blocks, of course pieced borders just keep adding personality. Hopefully I can get this done in the next few days so I can get back to the ones I was working on before the magazine came in the mail. Only other problem is I really like the quilt on the cover. Oh what to do but get SEWING.

Another project on the wall

OK I confess I couldn't wait to start sewing with some of my road trip fabric. Before our great adventure I had seen a pattern in American Patchwork and Quilting called Ship Shape. I have really been thinking about an ocean wave quilt for a while, but seeing it done in blue over and over just wasn't really speaking to me. Then Ship Shape appeared in reds and browns and bingo this was it. So as well as replacing some of my blue stash, I collected lots of reds and browns. I mostly chose what I call brownie reds and reddy browns (if that's a word). I found this little cream and red print at the Quilt Sampler in Springfield. I'm not sure it is the right background print or not. I may have to make a few more blocks before I can tell for sure. What do you think? Either way I have to make a bunch of half square triangles. I am using 2 inch finish Thangles. I using a piece of pack and hope I have another full pack in the drawer or I might be forced to shop again -lol. I find Thangles work the best for me when I am trying to make a lot of HST. I can easily keep up with variety when using units of six. Since I will need over 600 having 6, 12 or even 18 alike won't be a problem. I like to make a bunch of sets and then just cut one section off which gives me two HST's. This way I can make a block along the way and still have variety in the block. This helps me determine if I need to add more fabrics for variety or if it  looks good with the ones I'm working with. Also if you decide in a project to make it bigger half way through more strip set can easily  be added with the first section that haven't been cut apart.

I did lay out all the Jacob Ladder in blue blocks and have started sewing the rows together. I'm going to try to finish this in between making HST's. I also need to get the border on a little Christmas lap quilt that I have promised to our Silent Auction chair for this year's quilt show. I also found a border fabric for a 1600 quilt I had done earlier this spring. Needless to say I have plenty going.

Gone to sew

Grand total

Yesterday we got together with our other quilting sisters or is that "sistas" for our weekly stitching. Mostly it was show and tell of all the goodies we had found on the great road trip. On recount of shops we actually hit 20 different shops and went by 2 others that were closed at the time. Maybe we will catch them again sometime. Based on the amount I spent it may  will be a long time before I can go into a quilt shop. As far as the winner of the book goes we were all way under the amount spent but Barbara was the winner with the highest guess. It turned out kind of funny for me and Barbara, my guess was 100 less than hers but the whole trip she kept saying she guessed too low and I was thinking I was way to high. Truth is if you put mine and Barbara together you would have the total and NO I am not saying that here or anywhere that we might be held accountable. Gina said Butch tracked her across country by the credit card and David thinks Linda did real good on this trip by the little amount she charged. He just didn't know how much cash she had. On a good note we spent much less on gas than we had thought we would have to spend. When planning the trip gas was estimated to be over $4.00 by this time, but we were able to buy it for an average of $3.35-$3.49 so less than $500 on gas. Donna was really surprised by how small our piles were especially Gina's. If she had made the trip we would have had to ship some back UPS. Sadly the price of fabric has gone up so much our money just didn't go as far. Most was $9.90 to as high as $12.25 a yard. Luckily we did find some sale tables.  Now to find a place to put all my goodies and what will I start on first. I caught a break this month with Judy's UFO challenge. June's number was 12 and I had already completed that one earlier this year. It only needed the binding so it got done at one of our stitching sessions.
gone to sew