Quilting news and other stuff

I haven't really posted anything since my brother died, so I guess I'm getting back to normal. 
So, this is my new baby. I actually purchased her last year, but have had trouble making time to use her. She is a PFAFF Quilt Expression 4.2. Recently, I was asked by my quilt teacher/friend of many years why in the world would I pick a PFAFF when I could own a BERNINA? My answer was simple: I love it! Bernina is a great machine, no doubt. But I learned to sew on a HOBBY 1132, so I'm a little sentimental about PFAFF. Also, there is the affordability factor. I mean, for 5 grand, I could make a partial down-payment on a car, or a house.

I love the ease of use as well. Even for a novice like myself, I find that I don't have to work real hard at figuring out what to do to get the effect I want. 192 stitches! It's simply amazing! 

I'm working on a baby quilt that was entirely applique. Let me say it bluntly: not a good plan for me. Not only was I out of my league, I was using a new machine that I didn't fully understand how to use. Here's where I am with it:  

You'll notice that big, bunch of bananas. I'm ripping that out. I tried to make it look like a real bunch of bananas, but found it only confused people. In case you wondered, it's not my design. I bought it off of someone's Etsy shop. Her monkeys were alot bigger, even though I followed the pattern exactly. Won't be doing this again. 

I keep playing with the courthouse steps idea. I did one block that you see below. It was foundation pieced, which was very, very acurate. You'll have to forgive the material I used. I was trying to use scraps up.  This is what I hope to be making it look like without the blue center:

I got this badly taken picture from a television show from the 90's and thought how great would that look in my living room!  Anyway, that's about all I am doing sewing-wise. 

I started working out with a trainer recently. He's a very nice young man who is down to earth. I only started because I was tired of being sick and tired. My body strength was nil and my legs hurt constantly. Not a good thing for a nurse who is up on her feet for 12 hours at a time. He is putting me through my paces. And, of course, I'm hoping to lose weight, so I'm conferring with him on diet issues. 
Work is very busy, which is highly unusual this time of year. Our census is never maxed out in June, but it is this year for some reason. 27 patients is a lot of patients to keep content.

The Legal Adult moved out after having been with us for some time. He broke his leg last year, and now has a new apartment....again. I haven't written very much about him, but he has effectly made an old woman out of me this year by turning 31. 

Hollywood turns 21 in a week or so. He has an apartment across town, but has never invited me over except to pick him up to go somewhere. Hmmmmm......

The Dyl Pickle is 12 now and is sporting purple hair! Yeash......
But he is so very tall now, and he has grown men feet-size 12! Turns 13 and starts 8th grade in the fall. 

Hunnybunny is working for new company as the mid west sales rep. He just got back from Canada. Always happy to get back to southern cooking. We just celebrated number 14 Anniversary by heading to Hilton Head. It was very, very nice!

As for me, two more semesters of school and then I can sit for the NCLEX-RN. I am nearly as old as the teacher, but I like it. What I don't enjoy is going to school 4 days a week and then working every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Speaking of Sunday, better get a shower so I can head to church. Later, y'all.......

Beatles Quilt progress

So, here we are .....just five years later. Looks like the top is done. I keep thinking I will add another border or something, but honestly...I just want to get it quilted. The Legal Adult is absolutely thrilled. I guess he had just about given up on me. I bought black for the back of it, and I think I'm going to use colored thread in the bobbin to show up on the back. I just haven't figured it out yet. I have this cool dragonfly quilting stencil that I want to use on the back. Yeah, yeah....I know. Why don't I have musical notes or something like that. I don't know why, either. But anyway....

I wish I could find the motivation to want to more to this quilt, but I just don't have the energy for it. Truthfully, I am sick of working on this. I have a whole list of others I want to work on. Most people work on many simultaneously, but I have never been that organized. My goal for this year is to make at least 2 quilts. I've also been toying with the idea of getting a new machine. My dream has always been to have a Bernina.

But I'm having a hard time figuring out which machine to look into. Anybody have any ideas?

"What a Fool Believes" finally finished!

Only took me 10 years from start to finish on this quilt. I haven't been posting pictures lately because my memory stick on my Sony camera was missing. Hunnybunny found it under the huge (old) computer monitor, so I'm just getting around to posting this. Everything I learned about quilting, I took out on this quilt. Free motion, using homemade templates (that was before I learned you could buy them!); hand-piecing, which I had to do when I started as I had no machine. Now I have six. :) I did finish this with a machine as I learned that the back has to bigger than the front.
It most definitely was a learning experience. The reason it was named "What a Fool Believes" was because every time I went to the fabric store, that was the song on Muzak.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds....top done

I had a few ....mishaps....as you can see. That's what I get for trying to get done in a hurry. Nothing to keep your ego in check like a major mess up.
I did alot of reading on working with diamonds, and the information all pointed to one secret ingredient: starch! I must have used a whole can of heavy starch on this top.




I was going to use fusible, black bias tape in between the diamonds, to give it a stained glass look. I think I'm going to skip that unless you all tell me otherwise. The borders will be pieced with the scraps from the diamonds. I certainly have enough of those.

Making Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Here we are so far. Now, imagine this double. That's how big the center is going to be. I'm thinking of adding a wide border, like maybe 7 inches, and machine applique The Beatles characters on it. In between the diamonds, you have to imagine fusible bias binding. That will give it a stained glass effect and reinforce the blocks.





The Legal Adult was gracious as he knows I'm only a month into this quilt. His birthday was yesterday...wow, 24! The cliche is, "But where did the time go?" and it's very trite. Some years went by fast, like when he was learning to walk and talk. Some years dragged on, as in adolescence. But after he turned 22, we really started to talk. I found that I not only LOVE this young man, I can say I LIKE him as well. He's always been a handful, but he's my handful. Here he is at 7 months, and I'm a mere child of 22. I have truly enjoyed being his mother as it has never been boring. Jesse(that's his real name)is a charmer and has been his whole life. Happy birthday, Son!

WIP Wednesday: 24.....it's not just a tv show

It's the number my oldest son will reach on his birthday coming up in May. With "Stars Fell on Alabama" finally out of the way, I have been cutting fabric as fast as I can. No, I don't have a title yet, but I'm thinking it must be a Beatles song since there is so much Beatles fabric. And you know I try to name my quilts after song titles.

So, suggestions would be appreciated for a name. The Legal Adult is big into John Lennon. It's cut into harlequin diamonds, so "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a possibility. I'm planning on doing the stained glass effect and quilt the top of it in between the diamonds with black bric-a-brac.

The Stars Fell on Alabama quilt...FINISHED!!!

It took me a year of ups and downs to finish this quilt for Grandma Hunnybunny, but it's finally done! I really got hung up on the binding, if you remember. And so many of you came to my rescue with great ideas.
Debra had the best idea: sew it on by machine. While I had considered that, I had never done anything like that. I went on Threadbanger.com to see how to do a blind hem. Jackie mentioned how the blue popped against the white,(everything did, I think!) so I took a crack at invisible thread. That stuff was fine as frog hair, as my mama used to say.

I received lots of written advise as well.
It was greatly appreciated. I think I will try another shot at sewing it on by hand, but with a much smaller project.




I'm not sure if it's supposed to look this way, but it looks as close as I can get it.




Hunnybunny did the honors of holding it up while I got a few shots. I love the colors in this and hope she will, too!






Having put it in FedEx this weekend, I spent yesterday and today cutting out the next quilt. This is for the Legal Adult's 24th birthday. I bought the Beatles fabric way back when, and never could really get into using a panel for a medallion type quilt. He waits until I've bought the fabric to inform me he wants a queen-size! Gee, thanks, Son....
To the left is the rough draft placement of fabric. The pattern I'm using calls for some 4-square type diamonds in between.

But the colors and prints are so bold and busy that I decided on a harlequin type look. In between the diamonds, I'm going to attach some black rick rack to give it a stained-glass effect.

Here's the great label that Debra made for me. (I'm not beyond stealing a picture off of her blog. I don't think she'll mind!;) She did a great job, and I believe in the sentiment: "Finished is better than Perfect." Thanks to everyone for all their input and help! I'm sure I'll be asking again as I've not tried a quilt on this scale before. Just one month until his birthday, so I'll do my best not to be a strict perfectionist. But I make no promises.

In a bind over binding

I'm sure you all think I've fallen off the planet, but I'm still here. And I'm still working on that Stars Fell on Alabama quilt. It's the sewing of the binding that I'm having trouble with. In case you can't tell, I absolutely REEK at hand sewing. Apparently, there's a technique I'm not aware of.
I've searched the net for how-to's on the subject, even watched video tutorials. Either I'm so blind that I can't see the stitches they are presenting, or I'm terribly uncoordinated. My choice of binding fabric was hard to match because it's variegated. So, I went with the most prominent color: blue. I won't even start on how sore my index finger is from doing this.


You can see from this picture here that this is where I started. I'm definitely ripping this out.





So, I pose the question to you all: how do you do an invisible stitch? I'm thinking it's alot like the applique stitch, but I've only done machine applique.
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Stars Fell on Alabama borders quilted!

Since a couple people have asked, and I'm more than thrilled to have a reason to use my new Sony Cyber-shot, I decided to show you how I marked it. First, let me say that my hat is tipped to those of you who can mark a quilt with chalk. My art teacher told me to stay away from art implements as a child as I just can't draw. What you see here is your garden-variety quilt stencil, although I guess any stencil would work. I made sure there was enough clearance for my binding strip which will be put on next.
What I have in my hand is a Quilt Pounce. It looks like a big eraser, and has dust in it. The dust is a kind of corn-starch material. It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if it turned out to be just that.
I run it over the smooth side of the stencil so the rougher side can "grip" the fabric. The best part of using a Quilt Pounce is that if you mess up, it's easily corrected. Maybe you move the stencil slightly causing a double-vision: just take out your iron, and it irons completely off! You just gotta love that....











And there you go. And that's not you..I have a little double-vision aspect going on here. So, do not adjust your eyes. This pattern is a little forgiving, so I think I can follow it.

Thanks for asking. Now we'll get into the squaring and binding next.

Kids, Colds, Quilts, and the Winds of Change

Did you miss me? Well, I stayed away from the keyboard to avoid transferring any cold germs. I keep getting the hacking back, but no fever. Sorry I'm whining. I just don't have time for this.

Halloween was fun as the Pickle and his pals went trick or treating together. The Diva was a different princess this year, Sleeping Beauty, and it was my first time doing little girl hair. The Pickle turned into Batman this year, even though his whole room is Spiderman.

Another reason you've not seen me around is that I'm running out of time on "Stars Fell on Alabama" if I intend to get it quilted before we go to Florida for the holidays. Unfortunately, "Stars" has a ton of white on white. Ever tried to stitch in the ditch when the quilt is white on white? I was/am completely "snow blind". Don't laugh too hard at my solution. Blue painter's tape. Yep. I needed to see where the edge was, so that's what I've been doing. I'm sure there was an easier way, but you know me. A friend told me to use the tailor's chalk, but I still couldn't see it.

I found out that I really should be wearing glasses. It reeks to get old, doesn't it? But I already knew that I should be wearing them. It was 2000 when I got my Rx changed last. I've been getting by with readers from Walmart. But I'm cheap when it comes to anything but fabric. So paying through the nose for frames just didn't appeal to me. I found this site. This guy had enough of paying allot for specs so he created this site to deal with it. My eye doctor is young. When I told her that I intended to fill my Rx online, she actually told me what numbers to put in! Some of the sites actually talk you through your Rx so you can make heads or tales of it. I got a single vision Rx, lens included, for $25! I'll let you know how it works out. There is a 2 week waiting period.

In the meantime, the world theater has changed allot, hasn't it? We have a new President and he seems eager to hit the ground running. This is not a political blog, nor has it ever been. But I will say that I have committed to praying for the President-Elect and his cabinet everyday. Especially in light of the fact he hasn't even had time to grieve for his grandmother yet. That has to be hard.
Hope you all are doing well. I'll be around to see you!

"Stars Fell on Alabama " Top Finished

Sorry for the fuzzy picture, y'all... seems my picture-taking teen broke the zoom button, so I'm stuck with crummy pictures until Christmas. Anyway...

I probably wouldn't have chosen the blue border, but Grandma Hunnybunny did, so she can definitely have what she wants.

I picked up backing material tonight. Nothing special, just white, Wal-mart variety fabric. And of course, I forgot to pick up batting, so hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to the store I go.

The goal is to get-r-done BEFORE Thanksgiving. We're making the bi-annual Mecca down to the Emerald Coast to see her. Sort of early Christmas for her.

All You Need is Love

My oldest brother, Jim, was a teen in the 60's when the Fab Four swept the nation. No surprise that he passed on his love for the Beatles to me. I'm sure it was funny to hear a 3 year old try to sing "Strawberry Fields" at the daycare center, but I knew all the words by heart. About the time I bought my first Beatles poster, they go and break up. How dare they do that! So, I've always thought, "If I just hadn't bought that poster...." . Anyway, fast forward to 1985. I am having trouble getting the then infant Legal Adult to sleep. I start singing Beatles tunes to him, however off key I may be, and he goes to sleep. In 1989, the portable CD player came out, and came down in price (still $200!) and I buy the Beatles Cd's.
The Legal Adult hears this music, day in and day out and loves it. He has always been after me to make a "Beatles Quilt". The only one I had ever seen was made by sisters, Pat Holly and Sue Nickels and won Best of Show in the AQS show in 1998.How happy I was to learn that Cranston had come along with Beatles fabric from the cartoon! That way, I didn't have to try to come up with Beatle images and loads of applique, which I completely reek at. Well, I guess I could've done the whole fusible thing, like I did for the Boy Scout quilt. But that wouldn't hold up to the Legal Adults wear and tear. He plans on using this quilt. His Aunt made him a quilt as a child and he's still using it!
This spirally, groovy, funky, 60ish fabric is from
Funtastic Fabrics, and I thought it was perfect!

So, the Beatles fabric is PREORDERED from my favorite online shop, Over the Rainbow. I got it for $6.99 instead of $8.75 that allot of other online shops were charging.
Now, to figure out how to put it all together so he can have it before Christmas! Ironically, I found this picture on my computer....you can tell that John was his favorite Beatle, can't you?

The Stars Fell on Alabama Last Night

Moonlight and magnolias, starlight in your hair

All the world a dream come true

Did it really happen, was I really there

Was I really there with you

We lived our little drama, we kissed in a field of white

And stars fell on Alabama that night

I can't forget the glamour, your eyes held a tender light

And stars fell on Alabama last night

Chorus:I never planned in my imagination, a situation so heavenly

A fairy land that no one else could enter

And in the center, just you and me, dear

My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight

And stars fell on Alabama last night

Chorus:I never planned in my imagination, a situation so heavenly

A fairy land that no one else could enter

And in the center, just you and me, dear

My heart beat like a hammer, my arms wound around you tight

Ah, stars fell on Alabama last night ...

This quilt is named for this song, made famous by Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra. This is Grandma Hunnybunny's quilt top without borders. But at least I finished sewing this together today. It amazes me how much I can get done when I pop a movie into the computer...or in my case, back to back movies.