Working on the Stars on Alabama Quilt...Still

With all the snow and ice, I've actually had time to work on Grandma Hunnybunny's quilt. All that's left is quilting the borders and binding it. The tension just wasn't right every time I tried to do a sample. I played around with it yesterday and managed to get it perfect, (after a few mishaps and some ripping was involved) so I may be ready to bind it this weekend. Then there's the label to think about. Last time, I wimped out, and had my friend, Debra,do a beautiful label for the Boyscout quilt. I may try to do one, or just get her to help me out again. She did such a beautiful job! By the way, she's working on a special project, the Homeless Teen Project for Willis Independent School District in TX. She's taken it upon herself to provide a twin sized quilt for each teen. If you would like to contribute to the Project, she will gladly pay postage for the supplies or swap embroidery. Just put a note in your box. Email her at debraspincic@yahoo.com. As quilters, we should get behind this very gracious lady and send her some donations of
* Miscellaneous Blocks or Quilt UFOs
* Thread
* Backings like Sheets, Shower curtains, Curtains, Tshirt Knits, Wool blends
* Batting (or Pieces), Bedspread, Wool Pieces, Fleece
* Any Sturdy Fabrics
Debra has a heart as big as the state she's from, and she organized projects where we got Quilts of Valor into soldiers' hands, and quilts for a children's home.
This picture is for laughs. My crazy boys, Hollywood, Dyl Pickle, and the Legal Adult. The Legal Adult and roommate were guests at our house while awaiting their power to be restored. It's always good to see him, and since he's grown up, even more so.

Something quilty this way comes....WIP from the past

You all remember my Quilt of Valor that the Quilt Studio web ring took as a project? My part was the piecing, and I did have my issues with it.
The next step was quilting it, and it was done by the wonderful Deb at Contemporary Traditions. Didn't she do an awesome job?! She was kind enough to let me use her pictures. What's funny is her camera actually made the quilt look correct...color wise. My camera made it look like a cream color. I guess I need that Ott-Light after all!

I don't know about you, but I really love these feathers. Man, did she make it sharp!

Also, she gave us a tutorial
featuring this quilt. I'm still pretty apprehensive when it comes to borders, and she was nice enough to break it down for us.

So, go to her website and give her some love!

WIP Wednesday: Quilt of Valor (top, at least) ready to mail

Hello, y'all....

I'd bore you with the crazy details of why it's taken me so long to do this quilt top, but let's just say I found a few more of my quilting weaknesses. So without further adio, I give you a Quilt of Valor quilt top.This was a quilt kit from the Quilt of Valor Foundation.


Here's a link to our friend, Quiltfrenzy's webpage for directions. It's called a Faux Log cabin, and had the piecer read her directions, I'm sure it would have turned out better.






But to quote Hunnybunny,"It is what it is...."...(How profound!)





I also won a eBay auction for some quilting software last week! I rarely EVER win, I usually just get the Buy It Now option. But I saw this Quilt Design Wizard, made by The Electric Quilt Company, so I thought I'd at least try it. I'm sure I'll go up to the EQ6, but this will tide me over.

Enter the Matrix

Ever since that crazy movie came out, I've been entertaining a thought: wouldn't a Matrix quilt be cool? But I had trouble finding text material. So, I put my design on the back burner.

Well, good ole Bear Paw Quilt Company is carrying this computer fabric. So, I guess after my Quilt of Valor is in the mail, I'll start planning that again.


In case you were wondering how that's going, here's a preview:



I still have to sew the blocks together, but at least they're all finished. I was hoping to have this in the mail this week, but family obligations and disasters have been going on.

How clean is your house? Couldn't help my studio...

I don't want these chicks visiting my house. Have you seen this show,
How Clean is Your House?"? Well, Dish network lets you preview a channel for a month in hopes that you'll upgrade your TV package. This month, I've been watching the BBC. Most of it isn't my thing, but these ladies are a scream. I saw them on Lifetime for awhile, but they've not been back. I think it's the whole corporate thing because they use things around the house to clean with instead of store bought products. It does amaze me the houses they go into. Most of the time, it's houses that haven't been touched in a number of years.

I think my 'studio' of sorts embarrasses Hunnybunny. You know, the tablecloth on the wall with various and sundry blocks and borders. Then there's the whole fabric everywhere in our bedroom thing, along with my thread, needle, and now sewing machine collections. He's really been a good sport about it all. I try to keep it organized, but I still fall short.
Still working on my Quilt of Valor. It had some issues (operator error type issues)that Debra helped me with over the phone. That was kind of cool....now when I read her blog, it's like I can hear her voice. No picture of my mess today. I don't want the quilt police to make a house call.

Spiderman birthday and yet another late WIP

Yes, friends and neighbors, it was almost 4 years ago that I had this little baby, The Pickle. (This is a sort of sentimental post, so bear with me.) He has been a wonderful gift to Hunnybunny and I, and even his big brothers, although they won't admit it. The anniversary of that great day is coming up, and I simply can't believe it!

For some unknown reason, I have done things differently with this son. When I had this one back in 1985, I just didn't try to do things. I was in my 20's and still nursing a bad self-esteem, so come time for birthdays, I ORDERED the cake. We had some really great cakes. But now, I feel that there's just something about a mama making a homemade birthday cake. I tried when The Pickle was having his first birthday, and it turned out okay. But the last couple of years I (and Grandma Hunnybunny) have bought cakes from Wally World. So, I decided to try a Spiderman cake.

It's not bad, at least it LOOKS like Spiderman. Pickle keeps going to the fridge to "check on his cake".







In other non-family news, here's my WIP for QOV:. It's coming around. Now if you want to see something wild, check this out:


That is the PIECED BORDER of one Geronimo for her very FIRST QUILT!
Here's what it will look like. Pretty ambitious for a first time quilter. Hey, I saved this from a magazine and still haven't used it yet. I think we can expect extraordinary things from this young lady. She isn't even a teenager, yet.

Weird, Weird, and triple weird!

That's the kind of day it's been. I stayed home from church today because I didn't feel too great and began to work on my QOV. Imagine someone in their own sewing room, minding their own business, singing (off key) along with the Beatles in her MP3. In walks the Legal Adult....

"Hey, Mom...." big smile. Kind of like that whole southern thing, "Bless her heart, she's just totally tone deaf!" Now, he didn't say that. But his smartalec smile did. And carrying a laundry basket. Guess what he wants to do? Then, in walks my ex husband. Oh, yeah, that's what I really want, my ex-husband, and all three of my boys in my bedroom while I'm quilting. Unfortunately, that's where the computer is. LA is reading his myspace, Rockstar is playing Z.Z. Topp on his guitar, and The Pickle comes running up to my ex and sits on his lap. (They aren't related, BTW.)Not to mention, my room is trashed as I've been working on this project. Ex-husband sits on my bed and starts yammering about some artist he wants to study under. And we get to talking about funerals, most specifically his. We had jointly owned a plot together in Tennessee and it goes to the first person who needs it. However, he's from Missouri, so I wondered if he wanted to be buried there or at our plot.

"You gave me that plot in the divorce degree." He stated matter of factly.
So, I reached in the file drawer and GOT the divorce decree. He claimed there were missing pages. Sigh...whatever. It was not the way I wanted to spend my Sunday afternoon. Now all three boys, ex-husband and Hunnybunny are watching "Happy Feet" in the other room while the Legal Adult's clothes dry. Maybe I'm just
.....
but that's just too weird!

The Pickle moves up, and a late WIP Wednesday

Yes, that would be MY son....the one with his fingers in his mouth. He moved up to offical pre-kindergarten yesterday. I had him continue to go through the summer so we didn't have to re-learn how to sit quietly, stand in line...things like that. It was a Bible-school/VBS atmosphere, with lots of memorization, crafts, and games. He begins Handwriting Without Tears in two weeks.


Here's a better picture of him....the ham!




And with all his buds. This was our biggest accomplishment, sitting for any length of time.



As for my WIP, I have all the fabric cut out for my QOV, now I'm sewing them together.

Here's the first finished block. Sorry the picture's a little fuzzy