Thirty Three Years!

Today is my wedding anniversary!

Thirty three years ago today I said "I do"

to a man who has changed my world.

He has loved me through laughter and tears, shouts and silence,

good times and bad, (but more good, thankfully)

 and we are still waking up together

and walking this path that God set us on....together.

I am Blessed.

This week I worked on some little blocks in my Hidey Hole.

The Temperature quilt is actually coming along now.

Three rows are finished and sewn together!

This is January through the 15th of February.

 

 This is all of January and February, but the beginning

of the 4th row is not sewn together yet.

Mary at Needled Mom and her sister started this

Temperature Quilt  QAL and it's fun to see how different our quilts will be.

Mary lives in Southern California, her sister is in Alaska

and I am in central Virginia.

I am slowly getting caught up with my daily blocks for this project

and am enjoying seeing the different colors used.

It sure is nice to be out of the blue colors since they represent the cold temperatures.

A few years ago I purchased a kit to make a

Christmas table runner.

The kit came out of the cabinet the other day and 

will finally be made.

 

 These are the finished blocks.

There are four of each pattern and are 3 1/2" square.

Hopefully I will soon have a completed runner!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Happy Quilting!

Disappointment...

I got the call from my longarm quilter

that my Blooming Nine Patch was finished.

Woohoo!!

I had errands to run,

so while I was out I stopped and bought the fabric for binding

and picked up my quilt.

Last night I laid the quilt on the floor before trimming it.

Something looked off, but I figured trimming it would

make all things right with the world.

I trimmed the edges evenly,

laid it back on the floor and almost cried.

You can't really see it in this photo,

but the sides flare at the top and bottom.

 You can see how uneven the side is in this photo.

I know my stitching was pretty accurate,

so the only thing I can think happened

is when they put it on the frame to quilt it,

the top and bottom were pulled more than the middle.

I didn't stay stitch the edge because I was having a difficult time

trimming just the top evenly and figured I'd even everything up

after it was quilted.

This is how much the quilt is off side to side.

There is nothing that can be done about it now.

I'll use it as a table cloth or something,

but it won't be given as a gift.

I do like the quilting pattern I chose for it, though.

Happy Quilting!

Even when things don't go as planned.

Metro Rings Finish

This quilt has been waiting for quite some time to be finished

and it finally is.

It went to my LAQ a couple of weeks ago

and came back earlier in the week.

I was able to get the binding sewn on yesterday and

am thrilled with this finish.

This quilt was a challenge for the

History of Quilting group I belong to.

"Do something you have wanted to do, but haven't."

My challenge to myself was making something with

Curves.

 

The pattern is called Metro Rings

and it uses the Quick Curve Ruler.

Once I figured the ruler out, this was a pretty easy

pattern to make.

This quilting design is perfect for this quilt.

It's quilted with a light gray thread.

 

I just love the turquoise, aqua and grays together.

It's the first time I've really used gray in a quilt

and it won't be the last.

 

 

This quilt is going to live at my house,

at least for a while.

 

I don't know why I waited so long to get this quilt finished,

but it is now and I love it.

Happy Quilting!

Little Progress...

Little progress has been made with my mom after her

car accident last week.

My mom is having a lot of pain,

probably from bone bruising,

since nothing is broken.

The pain is a bit less,

but not where she would like it to be.

We are all impatient at times like this,

aren't we?

Since I have been with her so much,

(and took a quick trip to California to see my daughter and son-in-law)

(thank God for siblings who are ready and willing to help!) 

little has been done in my Hidey Hole.

I did get a quilt back from my LAQ today

and

I LOVE IT!!

This one has been waiting patiently to be quilted.

 

I saw this quilting design on line and love it on this quilt.

It gives it just enough pizazz, but doens't take away from the quilt.

 

The backing is just plain turquoise fabric.

Love it.

Now I need to make the binding and get it sewn on and finished.

In the few minutes that I've had to sit and sew,

I'm working on my Temperature Quilt blocks.

I am so far behind with this quilt

and hope to catch up in the next month or so.

It took me a while to collect all of the fabrics

and by then January was half over already.

These blocks above are for January.

The blocks below are ready to be sewn

for February.

I need to get the rest of March's blocks cut and then

start on April's.

Mary at Needled Mom and her sister

started this quilt along back in January.

Their quilts look so cool already

and are so different.

Hopefully I will have something to show soon.

 

Be well

and

Happy Quilting!

 

Other Things

I'm here, but not in my Hidey Hole here.

My mom was in a bad car accident

and has required some extra help and company.

She wasn't badly hurt, thank God,

but enough that she couldn't be alone.

Plus, she has needed help dealing with the insurance company.

The driver who ran the red light is uninsured,

 driving on a suspended license

and was "distracted". 

Four cars and a pedestrian were involved.

My mom's car was totaled and we are so

thankful she wasn't killed.

No one was that day, but we don't know the

condition of the pedestrian at this point.

Things can sure change in an instant.

Before this happened,

I started working on another 

Christmas tree skirt for a wedding we

are going to next month.

There are four of these strip sets sewn together.

 

They will be cut into wedges with this template

and sewn together into the tree skirt.

I doubt much will be done in the next few days,

but it shouldn't take long once I am back to my

normal schedule.

Happy Quilting!

Bible Book Block Quilt Finish

It's done!

The largest quilt I've quilted myself is finished.

About half way through I thought,

"What was I thinking?? There is a reason people are

longarm quilters for hire."

Some areas look better than others,

but as a friend says,

"Finished is better than perfect."

 "Bible Book Block Quilt"

These blocks represent the Old Testament,

minus four blocks. I couldn't put them all in the top,

so used one for the label on the back.

I had planned on piecing the four into the back and forgot all about it.

 

The information is written on the boat.

 

Last year the quilt group I belong to made these blocks all year,

while learning a bit about each book of the OT.

We could use any color scheme we wanted 

and the layout was up to us as well.

 (Our leader, Linda, comes up with the greatest challenges!)

 

Everyone's blocks were gorgeous!

The color schemes were so different and all so pretty.

 

The quilts will be on display at the quilt shop

where we meet in May.

I'll try to remember to get photos of all of the quilts

and share them here.

Onto the next fun project!

Happy Quilting!

Things I've Learned Lately.....

These past few days I have been working on different things

and have been trying new and different ways to do them.

First,

I finished two more pair of children's socks to be donated.

I am a double pointed needle sock knitter,

but decided to try the Magic Loop that I've read about

and a friend uses.

Well... I don't know if it's because I've used dpn's for so long

or if there is a step I am missing with the magic loop,

but I am not a fan of the magic loop at all.

The cable would get twisted around my hand,

it took longer to get the stitches back onto the needle

after moving the cable around

and it felt very cumbersome.

Back to the dpn's I go.

Second,

I am quilting my Bible book blocks quilt myself.

This is the largest quilt I've quilted on my sewing machine.

 After marking, manipulating, sewing,

manipulating some more, etc.

it became obvious to me that I should have used

black batting in this quilt.

Look at all of the batting fuzz on this black fabric!

 It will get washed after I'm finished,

but it would have been better with black batting.

Never thought of it.

 

Onward I will go, though.

Third,

in quilting my Bible book blocks quilt,

I decided to try using some rulers in the quilting.

While I am definitely a rookie in this area,

I am enjoying using the rulers and will do more of this.

I have a stitch regulator for my Bernina (BSR)

and have quilted with that for several years now.

When using the rulers,

I have to use the ruler FMQ foot,

which requires using the foot pedal to power the machine.

I have found that I have much more control using this foot

and the foot pedal as opposed to the BSR.

The BSR is powered by moving the fabric....

the faster I move the fabric, the faster it quilts.

The problem for me is to turn the BSR on and off,

a button needs to be pushed.

To push the button, I have to let go of the quilted piece

and it almost always moves on me.

I also realized when using the FMQ foot,

I have more control over the movement of everything.

It isn't as "loose" as it is with the BSR.

When doing meander or loops,

the BSR is great because of the speed of which I can quilt.

Otherwise, I may be a FMQ foot girl from now on when quilting.

So,

sometimes an old dog can learn new tricks

and other times, not!

Hopefully I'll have a quilted Bible book blocks quilt to show soon.

It's coming along!

Happy Quilting!

(and learning!)

Happy Easter!

The Lord is Risen!

He is Risen indeed!

 

Alleluia!!

 

 A small part of the flowering of my church this morning.

It's a glorious day!

These are some of the Easter eggs I smocked years ago.

Some furry friends have found their way into the basket, too.

May your heart be filled with Joy and Love today and always.

Happy Easter!