Back in the saddle again

Well, hi there!

Has it really been a year since I last had something to say? I always have something to say but I think I forgot that you would like to hear about.

What have I been up to? New job, ugh, new position at same company, sorta. I don't know what is going at my company and don't' want to guess so that is enough of that.

What have I been up to lately besides remodeling kitchen and loving on grandbaby? Sewing crazy stuff...taking a Craftsy class called Stupendous Stitches taught by Carol Ann Waugh. (Craftsy is awesome. Check it out if you haven't already.) Anyway, here is a close up of the first project I did. Supplies:fabric, batting, thread, more thread, still more thread, fancy sewing machine, yarn, colored pencils, markers, and fun. Will show you the finished project and the second one soon.

Thanks for stopping by. See you soon!

Movie and Pizza

On a non-sewing note...hubs and I went out for a movie and pizza last night. That is something that never happens. He has ADD so sitting all the way through a movie is like his idea of hell but he did it just for me. We saw Gone Girl and headed over to Palio's Pizza Cafe for a Hawaiian pizza. My bad though. It had cashews on it and we all know how much my brain does not like nuts. No migraine this morning so it was a win all around. The movie was as good as the book. You gotta go see it.

Most of the straight line quilting on the table runner is completed and the inner border has been marked. I could not get my brain to switch from straight line to free motion so I decided that was enough for today.You gotta love it when your sewing machine decides it is done for the day.

Did I tell you how wonderful my hubs is? Yesterday he cleaned and lubricated the wheels on the Grace frame carriage. They were all gooed up and would not roll smoothly. 

I am looking forward to checking out the Juki TL2010Q at Festival. The reviewers have just raved about that machine so I am seriously considering adding to the machine posse. Have been considering selling my Bernina 440 that I bought a few years ago. Embroidery is completely not my thing so it needs an owner that will love and adore it.

Off to go get ready for fun in Houston. Maybe I will see you there. Look for the girl with the purple flower on her badge.There is a rumor of rain on Thursday. Houston+rain=blech but...I will be in quilt nirvana so who cares about the weather!

Happy Creating, ya'll!

Defeated by invisible thread

Isn't it just the thing? When Craftsy was selling a 3Sisters fabric and pattern from Moda Christmas one, I knew I had to make that one. So cute!

Fastward to a week ago...I could not decide which thread to use in the quilting. Aha. Let's use invisible thread. Blends with everything. 

Argh. Monster machine had trouble with tension again  after quilting along one side and most of the top. Do you know hard it is to rip out that stuff? Thank goodness I could use my rotary cutter to sever the threads from the back but it took about three hours to undo 30 minutes of quilting. Then about an hour to get all the invisible threads out of the front of it.

 Loving the off white COTTON thread that blends with the fabrics. Tension is lovely and so much easier to correct mistakes.

Update on kitchen: Designer coming out today to measure and lend some advise.  That should be interesting.

Starting to do some serious packing for my trip tomorrow. I feel bad that hubs will be here by himself while I go off adventuring. He says he would rather stay home than go hang out at the show.I get it. Told him that I would rather be eaten by wild dogs than go to Dayton for the hamfest.

Happy creating, ya'll!

Hello Againg

I am an incredibly bad blogger. I kinda forgot that I had a blog. 

Our kitchen remodel hit an ugly snag today. We were using a cutting board as a marker on the floor (for a wall maybe) and it fell over on his foot. Wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued. Hopefully it will feel better soon so that he can get back to hanging sheetrock next week.

Sent the blue Spin Around New York quilt to my mil for her birthday. She loved it. The colors were so her. I am glad that I chose that kit when I took Gayle Wallace's class last year. Here it is before it was quilted:

I never remember to take pictures of them after they are completed. Oh well. 

Hubs bought me a Grace Quilting Frame a few years ago at an amazing price. We set it up once and then took it apart and stuck it in storage. I was terrified of it. Okay. More like clueless. Fast forward to this morning when we set it up again. It needs to be cleaned but I think I am finally ready to give it a spin. My baby Betty does not have enough harp space to work well and the big Betty weighs more than a small horse. Methinks I will be looking at that midarm Juki next week in Houston after all.

Yes it time for the annual trek to worship all things quilt. I am getting excited about going even if the drive down is dreadful and being in that city makes me a bit sad. It was hard to get into any of the class so I only got into one of them. Maybe there will be room in the others when I get there. Still in all it is a fun/inspiring/overwhelming/terrific experience. You should go some time.

Off to be productive...

Too Much of a good thing...

I learned an important lesson about quilting yesterday. Don't try too many new things at a time! First hexie quilt=too stretchy. Hello bias edges. First time trying double batting a al Angela=too wiggly. Maybe I should call it the wiggle wagga instead of Baby Meets Modern. I kinda goobered up the numbers at the bottom too. Turns out I created an eye test. Do you see the number 3 at the bottom? DS says that I was just messing with my color blind DH. Bad me.

I got the blocks quilted yesterday with what I am calling monkey vines in honor of the cute monkey fabric on the back. The lines echo the edges of the blocks vertically but vary in their width. Dreamt last night that I was qulting bubbles in the border so bubbles it is. Don't you just love it when inspiration comes in a dream. I get the best ideas that way. The binding is going to be stripes. Too cute!

Tata!

Bad Me

I am a very bad blogger. Bad at blogging.  And I apologize.

This year has been a little more difficult (read also sad, frustrating, and overwhelming for starters) than expected and it seems that real life got in the way of the blog. You know how it goes with the best of intentions.

<sigh>

Let's start over, shall we?

Thought One: Start a NEW blog. Yes. I hear you asking why would I start a new one if this one is suffering from neglect. Basically I had one of those moments of inspiration that I typically get in the morning just before I get out of bed. Sort of a fantasy blog idea. LOL not vampires and shapeshifters kind of fantasy. More like alternative personality blog. My daughter decided that she would change her name when we moved from the land of mountains and Birkenstock to the land of bluebonnets and mockingbirds. Worked out great for her. Maybe it would work for me. Fresh start and all.

Thought Two: Actually...there is no thought two.

In other news, here is what I am working on "Around the Town" from Jillily in the studio. I bought her kit at Quilt Festival in Houston. So cute. Here is the pic from her blog:


I will post my pics when I get further along.

Modern Quilting

I find myself on the fence about modern quilting. Do I like it? Do I not like it?

I like the bold colors. I am so over Civil War prints and some of the muddy looking colors. Never mind that I just bought some. On the other hand, there is only so much of the sixties I can revisit

Let's here it for piecing that leave room for imperfections. So what if everything doesn't match exactly. On the other hand sometimes they just look sloppy. I am trying to screw up my courage to try improvisational piecing but I suspect I already tried that and didn't know that is what you called it.

I giggle every time I hear "negative space." Really? You just named the background. Yes, sometimes the background is important. We have been using some kind of negative space in quilting for like, forever. Check out the Amish. They were all over background/negative space. Any traditional two color quilt is all about the negative space. <snicker>

What do you think of straight line quilting? Pretty much what I already do. But lines after line after line after line? Maybe not. Thankfully, modern quilting is not all about the feathers. So not digging feathers but still. Sometimes they are okay.

Still not sure about the modern quiting thing but evolution is inevitable. As Dr. Ian Malcolm said in Jurassic Park, "I'm simply saying that life (art), uh, finds a way."

Carry on!