Picking & Grinning

So maybe I'm not grinning as much as I should be! I keep asking When will I learn???? Last night I decided that I would put another quilt on the frame and get it going. Great idea in theory. I should have saved the stitching for today instead of starting it last night. I'm cruising along, thinking the top looks BEAUTIFUL. Boy, do I really need to remember to look at the back of the quilt. Eyelashes and Train tracks, EVERYWHERE. UGH. I got up this morning and started "unsewing". The good thing, my stitching is becoming more more consistent. The bad thing, consistency means the stitches are a bit smaller than they used to be.

Live and learn!

Happy Monday!

Christmas in July

I finished quilting this today. It's a quilt top that I won from the Springhill group that I sew with once a month. Everyone was to bring a Christmas fat quarter to our Christmas gathering. This was the top made from the fat quaters. I was the lucky one to take it home. I think the ladies I sew with never thought they would see it finished.

Thank goodness for Peg's Finish 5 Challenge, because this is #4.

EDIT:
DH went for a 60 mile bike ride today in Lawrence. 3 hours and 43 minutes. Just too much peddling for me. It amazes me that he's taken to biking the way he has. I'm very impressed since he had hip replacement surgery a little over a year ago.

Did a little shopping this weekend. Just couldn't help myself, yeah well... Today was strip club at Harper's and I had to get the charms from Charm School too. Oh well. Since I'm using this month to finish tops, I will have to wait until next month to start sewing tops/flimsies again.

Have a great week.

Looky Looky

No Peg, you rock. Thanks for helping me get motivated. The next quilt will be on the frame tonight.

P.S. - Guess I should look closer at my email.

Dresses

Alas, another project finished. Sad to be reminded by a 4-year old that I had dresses to finish for her. There are now 3 new sundresses to wear to preschool and someone is very excited.

I also made binding and binding and more binding last night. Extent of the evening.

My hope is get another quilt on the frame tonight and possibly start it.

Have a great day!!

P.S. - Thanks Pam for the purple fairy fabric. It's definitely the favorite.

Finish 5 Challenge - Part 2

The subtitle to this post should be Woman on a Mission or maybe Woman Who Has Lost Mind.

I don't think I will be able to keep up at this pace, but I'm going to try for awhile since I have 28 tops to finish.

This is the top I put on the frame last night. It's Moda's Spring Fling Jelly Roll. No really, me use a Jelly Roll - tee hee hee. I figured out that I can make 2 relatively large baby quilts out of 1 jelly roll and some extra fabric for the borders. If this quilt looks familiar it's because it has a twin that I used my Pajama Quilter knowledge on.

Anyhow - Finish #3 for the Finish 5 Challenge.

I think tonight I finally had my break through moment with my machine. Let me introduce you to Bessie. Tonight I think she finally decided that it's OK to work with me instead of against me. Tension was beautiful. At one point I think Bessie was sending me vibes telling me to use a net on the thread cone I had on the machine. Once I did that, not a single break and great tension through and through. I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but Bessie is a Hobby Quilter made by Nolting and she sits on a Hinterberg Stretch frame that is 120" (10' long), taking up one side of the basement.

As I was pulling the quilt off the frame, I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. EEEKKK, a very much unwelcome visitor. Needless to say, it's a big spot on the floor that needs to be cleaned up.

Have a good night!!! I'm off to bed.

Finish 5 Challenge

2 finished this weekend. I showed these tops back here. I used Popcorn from Willowleaf Studios for the quilting. I really like how they turned out. The next top is on the frame and I'm hoping I can get to it this week. I'm going to use another Willowleaf pattern for it.

I also managed to finish another batch of bags for Brandi, although these were blanks, no embroidery.

I'm so tired from the long weekend, I keep wishing I had another day off. Maybe work is really what I need. :-)

Happy 4th of July

This is a quilt that I MUST share with everyone. It was made by Mary Gamper, who used to belong to the Olathe Quilt Guild. Mary died a couple of years back. Her family had an auction and sold off many of the wonderful quilts that Mary made. I was the LUCKY high bidder for this beauty. This quilt was submitted to the Hoffman Challenge and traveled around. Not only did I take home this wonderful quilt, but I took home a couple of others. I need to get them out and take pictures so I can share my treasures.

In honor of the long holiday weekend, I'm hoping to be ambitious and get my RWB strip quilt on the frame and start quilting it.

Tonight I served dinner at the Ronald McDonald room down at Children's Mercy Hospital. Normally we serve about 25-30 people dinner. Tonight it had to easily be 50-60. What a crazy night. It always makes me thankful for what I have.

We have parties galore this weekend, so hopefully I will find some time to sew and blog. If not...have a great 4th of July!