Saturday, March 28, 2009

I've been quilting

Kris gave me this quilt and I added a simple border. Today I quilted it and the binding is stitched on waiting to be stitched down. I also have quilted the two dog quilts I made and a baby panel that I put borders on. They all have the bindings on, but only one has the binding stitched down and that went to Steph on Thursday. I've just been longarm quilting up a storm!
I finished this one today, and one for Kris, and I have one I made last summer loaded on the longarm now that I hope to quilt tomorrow afternoon.
We also had a quilt shop run last Saturday to Tammy Tadd's Design Shop in Sycamore, IL. What a great shop -- lots of great spring fabrics and I managed to spend a lot of money and bring some of them home. They've all been washed and pressed and are awaiting cutting. I have two quilts I want to make in between sewing down bindings, quilting on the longarm, and appliqueing all the stuff that's waiting. It's good to be busy, right?!

I also received Kim Brunner's new dvds and workbook for making feathers, called Twirly Whirly Feathers. I love it and haven't even started practicing, but she makes it look so easy, I'm trying to find a few minutes to get the sketchbook out and get busy.

I went up to Steph's on Thursday -- thought maybe the grandkids would be off to college before I got up there to see them. Forgot my camera, but that's par for the course. They're doing well and growing like weeds.

And finally, Steve is doing the American Brain Tumor Association's 5k run/walk in April. If anyone is interested in donating to the cause (no pressure here but you all know this cause is near and dear to our hearts -- he's now a 15 month survivor!), go to Steve's blog.

Gratitudes:
A cold, gray, rainy/sleety/soon to be snow day -- great for quilting.
Bill spent the day making bean soup -- yum!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

More Spring Cleaning



I finished the guest room today. I spent 3 hours yesterday vacuuming walls, ceiling and beams, washing windows, cleaning woodwork and polishing furniture and washing curtains and bedding. Today I vacuumed the floor again and shampooed the carpet and everything is back in place. That's two major rooms finished so far this year, so I'm pretty happy about that. I also spent the rest of yesterday and most of today quilting on the longarm, so that was great -- except it was all for other people. I still need to put borders on the second dog quilt and then make backings for both and quilt them. I still have enough dog fabric for one more quilt, but I'm getting pretty tired of working with them, so who knows if I finish the 3rd one or not. Time will tell....
Tomorrow after church I hope to get outside and rake the flower beds -- at least the big one where the daffodils are. They're probably already starting to come up, but can't find them for the leaves. We're finally getting 40's and 50's here this week and I sure hope it stays that way. I'm definitely tired of winter.
Gratitudes:
I have a feeling of accomplishment this weekend -- not only finishing the guest room, but also getting a few quilts quilted. Now I can work on some of my own stuff!
Had another sewing day at Kris' this past week -- we do accomplish a lot in about 5 hours or so of work.





Monday, March 09, 2009

Creative Day

Every March, on the first Saturday, a friend organizes what is known as "Creative Day". Byron Forest Preserve District has a really nice facility known as the Prairie Center and they rent out rooms to whomever needs them. The room we rent every year is on the main floor, very large with windows on two sides looking out over the prairie trails. It also has a small kitchen. They provide as many tables as we need and there are outlets all along the walls. It is an invitation only get-together and I think there were about 25 there this year. Melody (the lady that organizes everything) brings barbecue in a crockpot and the rest of us bring every manner of other goodies. Basically, we gnosh all day. Some of us quilt, some knit, some do cross stitch and some do scrapbooking, hence the name -- creative. Mel's been doing this for about 8 years or more. We mark it on our calendars and make sure we plan for it every year! It was held this past Saturday. I brought my featherweight and a whole bag full of fabrics already cut into strips and a bag of 6-1/2" dog blocks. These dog blocks were given to me at least 5 years ago by Kris and another friend, Deb. I ran across them a few weeks ago and decided I needed to do something with them, so Saturday was the day. I had planned on just making plain sashing strips, but Kris bought the new Quilt World magazine the other day and I found the pattern that was perfect for these blocks. I spent all day putting the top together (I had lots of frog stitching because I was too busy talking!) Today I fixed one block that I had put in wrong and then added the borders. I have enough blocks to make two more of these and I cut the rest of the strips for those today also. They will probably be donation quilts.



Gratitudes:

We had a wonderful time on Saturday, and accomplished a lot, too.

I blew my diet, but got back on the treadmill this morning, so that's a good thing.

Quilting with friends.