Thursday, September 3, 2015

Kindergarten!

Leonard started school yesterday!

Since he won’t be taking the bus in the a.m., there are no pictures of him getting on the bus. Today will be his first day getting off the bus.  Mom and Dad are doing well, although the first day of school is very long for them. I assured Adrienne that the day will get much shorter!

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His backpack lights up…

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I remember when Adrienne started school... 

Time flies!

Diane

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Saturday Sewing…

…did not got as planned.  I cleaned and oiled my machine as I do before I start a quilt and started having problems immediately.  Of course it took me 2 1/2 hours to figure out that my needle was not in correctly.  Grrr. Of course it was my own fault.  After that I completed just one row and cleaned up.

I am also working on this project.  I changed it up a little and here are some of my blocks:

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I got the rows sewn together today and I hope to get the top together…this Saturday!

Diane

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

How to Make an Ironing Board: Easy Sewing tutorial with Rob Appell of Ma...




 

Thursday, August 6, 2015

On The Frame- 8/6/15

This is a quilt that Mimi made.  John will probably be coming up for the State Fair at the end of the month so I am trying to get a few quilts ready for him.  I quilted another in July; I just need to get the binding on it.  Pictures later.
Mimi and I had very different tastes (except for our Civil War repro obsession) but we always liked each other’s quilts. 
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Connie (at  Mission Rose) helped me pick out the fabric for the back (a nice medium pink) and the binding (medium grey).  Feminine and masculine at the same time! (Oh dear…is that sexist?)
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I am using the same panto I use a lot for my quilts.  It goes quickly and looks nice when finished.  Not sure if I will use grey or white thread.  I need to pick up a batt tomorrow and then Saturday I can start quilting!
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Have a good weekend!
Diane

Monday, August 3, 2015

What I Learned From This Quilt

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1. I have way too much fabric.  Of course I already knew that but still…These were fabrics ear-marked for a civil war repro, but I have two in the works so I decided to make this quilt.  All fabrics from stash, front and back.

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2.  Careful seaming is not optional. This is an Eleanor Burns pattern where you sew, tube, and cut to get the stair step effect.  The directions say to keep one edge straight as you sew your strips together and then straighten the other edge at the end. As you can see, that edge was far from straight.  Note to self: pin carefully-you know better!

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3. Pieced backs are economical but this was really dumb.  There were a LOT of seams that made rolling my quilt neatly tough. And I wish I had saved some of the fabric.  (See #4.)

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4.  Put your binding fabric away, far away from backing fabrics.  That way you won’t use it accidentally.

5. When quilting, if I put my tongue just right in my mouth, the edges come out much neater.  Also, going slowly helps. I can now use one hand for quilting and one hand to smooth the fabric.  Yay!

6.  If I take the time to hand baste the top and bottom of the quilt on my frame, things go much more smoothly.  Machine quilting purists may disagree but that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

7. Blues don’t play well together.  I may have to pick another color for the binding. (Again, see #4)

On to the next quilt!

Diane

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Where Do I Start?

Has it really been EIGHT MONTHS since I last blogged?  To my followers I am very sorry and I hope that you will find your way back here.

So much has happened since I last posted.  Good news is that Adrienne and Joe (and Leonard) moved up here from Baltimore. Joe retired, Adrienne got a great job at Upstate, and Leonard is all ready for kindergarten.  I love having them just a half hour away.
The not so good new is we did not have a great spring.  Michael fell walking the dog at the end of March.  He broke 5 ribs, several vertebrae (is that plural correct?) and his collar bone.  He has had a long recovery but is starting to feel like his old self again.
The summer is going by too quickly.  August already? I did not get as much done as I had planned but I have been squeezing in some knitting and sewing.
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A baby outfit
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A vest for myself, front and back
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A knitting needle caddy
The American Quilter’s Society was in town this week.  The quilt show was beautiful. Of course I forgot my camera but I did snap some pictures of my goodies when I got home.
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By the way, this little quilt finishes to 13” x 14”.  The tumblers are 1 3/4” high, unfinished
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One of the nice things about working at the quilt shop is all the nice people I meet. Many people were in town for the show and one special person that I met was Lee Anna. She is a fellow blogger and posts at Not Afraid of Color.  Please visit her site. She has some beautiful things to show including the cutest dog!
While downloading photos off my camera, this cutie came up:
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Aren’t grandkids wonderful?
Diane