Close up of the rainbow

Deputy's Wife has been wondering how I pieced the rainbow quilt.

If you look closely, you might be able to see a seam line in the middle of each color. All the pieces are the same size as the black diamonds. Correct arrangement gives them stretched rectangle look.

The piecing method is pretty similar to how I did this binding. Or at least the cutting on a 45* angle.

And here's the Simply Quilts episode that sparked this quilt. :)

Leah

I do believe I am back

4 posts in 2 days! That's probably more than the entire month of January. :P

I'm starting up a new scrappy project. I probably won't plunge into this fully until next week though, I have some red fabrics that need to be washed before I use it.


This morning I got my Quilt Guild's newsletter, and I'm in it! :D

Guess which one I am? :D I don't suppose my hearing aid gave it away. ;) Anyhow, the lady on the right made all three vests and she needed two more models. She picked me and another lady who was sitting next to me, just cuz we were the closest to the door! :)

When I was at the store today, I picked up a real estate magazine. Nope, we're not looking for a house (certainly not in this area) but I've been happily watching the downward trend in housing prices. It actually makes me feel like we'll be able to afford a house in a few years! I do insist that we have at least a 10% down payment. I'd love to do 20%, but I'd probably be 30 years old by then! :P

Leah

Local Quilt Show 2007

Here my quilt is, in fully glory, hanging out there where several hundred people saw!

I did put a price tag of $175 on it, but no bites. :P That's ok, my husband really likes it, so I don't mind that I still have it.

I think the highlight of my day was when I saw one couple looking at my quilt, pointing at it, talking about it... yeah! :D In all honesty, they were probably trying to figure out how the quilt was pieced, but I don't care, they looked! Can you tell that this is my first quilt in a show? :)

The two other quilts that I put in the show are my great-great-grandmother's quilts.

The quilt show had a whole section on antiques. I have to say, I was surprised at how white and crisp mine are, compare to some of the others. I'm just glad they're in great condition, I want to enjoy them for many more years. :)

And nope, they didn't have a price tag on them. Or if they did, it'd be something like a million dollars. I ain't giving away these quilts! :P

This quilt at the show really caught my eye - great stashbusting!

But if she's like every other quilter I know of, she probably still has enough scraps to make 10 more just like that one! ;)

And just cuz I like dogs, I had to take a picture of this one. :)

The squares were about 2" each.

And now I think I finally have caught up! February just has been too hectic. My goal for March is to post every day. Think I can do it? ;) I already have another project lined up, so there'll be plenty of quilty material ahead. Oops. Bad pun. :P

Leah

Nothing like waiting til the last minute...

Let's back up... to 2 years ago. About January 2005. I saw a Simply Quilts episode with Rita Hutchins and her Totally Tubular Quilts method. I really enjoyed it and figured, shucks, I can do that! And I did, without buying the book. :P

I created the top you see - I think it only took about 2 weeks. It was when I first got my Bernina. I was so excited to be using my "new" sewing machine! Then the top got put away. I pulled it out long enough to take a picture of it for the quilt show registration deadline in January, and then I tossed it on the back of the couch... and didn't touch it until last Tuesday.

Then the panic starts to hit me, I basically have 3.5 days to get this baby finished and quilted! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeh!

Tuesday: put on the borders, after sewing around the top to stabilize the edge. The whole thing is on a bias, so very easy to stretch.

Wednesday: pieced the backing and pinned that poor quilt to death. I used 200 safety pins. The whole bias factor made me kinda nervous.

Thursday: started to quilt it! Loopies and stars were the plan.

About half way through the quilting, I accidentally crossed two loopies on top of each other. I knew I couldn't live with myself if I left it in, so I pulled it off the machine to rip it out... and discovered a bigger problem. :P

I had done it again, I unknowingly folded the backing over and sewed it down. It's not the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last. That took a little while to finish. Definitely started to feel the crunch of time.

Late Thursday night I get the binding sewed on and the excess trimmed off. I started to sew it down, but it was 11pm and my husband wanted to go to bed. I joined him because I knew if I stayed up, I'd just badly disturb his sleep whenever I did go to bed. Not everybody can sleep like the dead... like me. ;)

Friday morning the panic really starts to set it. I thought it'd take me 3 hours to sew down the binding... but it took 4!


Close up of the quilting.


Then I had to put on a sleeve. Something I have never done. *gulp* It took me one hour just to handstitch the sleeve on the rainbow quilt. I still had 2 other quilts to do, and they were bigger and I only had one hour left. I had to resist the urge to cry... then I had a lightbulb moment, I'll just safety pin the other sleeves on! It worked, they were both done in 45 minutes.

And I got all three quilts safely delivered in time. Whew! I'll tell you about the other two quilts in my next post. :)

Leah

Disney quilt finished!

I finished the Disney quilt a week ago. I was going to mail it Monday the 19th, but duh, it was a holiday. So it headed out in the mail on Tuesday. :)

Just a simple medium meander.

I did outline each princess to make them pop.


And since pink is this girl's favorite color, I dug deeply into my pink stash.

The blocks are 6" unfinished and I didn't fret too much when all the corners didn't perfectly match.

But I was absolutely thrilled with how crisp my binding corners were!

It may have been due to slightly stiffer fabric, but it had me in smiles. :)

Leah

Time to panic!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh! Quilt show is tomorrow! Gotta turn in the quilts today! I have one that needs binding and a sleeve. And two others that need a sleeve. AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By 4pm this afternoon. :O

Guess who procrasinated, again? :P

Leah

Surfacing for air!

I've had some loving reminders that I need to post! :P Thanks for caring ladies. :)

I've been "hiding" the last 2 days because I was moody, grumpy, clingy, dealing with heartburn and an upset stomach. All from eating out! My husband took me out for dinner on Wednesday night, which was very nice. Thursday I wasn't feeling so good. Just blah. So hungry hubby orders pizza out. Of course I eat it and feel worse.

Friday afternoon, it hit me that all the eating out was basically making me sick. I haven't eaten out in 2 or more weeks before Wednesday. So all the fat, oils, salt and preservatives was whacking me out. I never want to eat out again! :P I told my husband that if he wants to take me out, he can take me straight to the grocery store. :)

Now the fun part, pictures! ;)

I turned in two quilts for Project Linus last week. My name is now entered in twice to win the sewing machine Janome is offering. I am a very hopeful gal! :D

The pinwheels were made from "bonus" HSTs from doing my sister's quilt. If you look at Bonnie's directions you should see what I mean by bonus HSTs.

The other quilt I gave to Project Linus is this one. (Scroll towards the end of the posting, it's the yellow quilt).

Remember this star? I made 8 more, put it into a top, and tada!

This is going to a friend. I'll put it in the mail on Monday.

She also has a 6 month old boy, so I used bright kiddie blocks for the back. Now both mom and son can enjoy the quilt! :)

On top of it all, I'm making a quilt for a customer. She has a 3 year old, pink Disney loving niece. :)

Here's one block, but I'm done with all 16 now. I need to put them together, get a backing and label done, then quilt it! :)

Last Wednesday was also the quilt guild meeting. Every 3 months they do a Blotto - block lotto. They give you a fabric and a block pattern to do. I had three months to make my block... and I did it the morning it was due. :P

The fabric handed out was the dark purple. Last time I did the blotto, my block was picked last! I was saaaaaaaaaaad. So this time I tried very hard to make the most appealing block. My quilt guild's name is "Hummingbird Stitcher's Quilt Guild", so the hummingbird was the perfect way to make my block #1. :D Names are randomly drawn from a baggie... and my name was picked! And so was another lady's, but she wasn't there, so I got first pick for half of the blocks. You better believe that I picked up mine first! :) So now I have 7 blocks and some leftover fabric to make more if I wish.

I joined the local Freecycle. I wasn't taking an active part in it. Seemed like every time I saw something that might be useful, it was taken. Then on Wednesday night, a lady posted that she had "4 tubs of grain". I emailed her asking to clarify - baking grains, for animals, or what? She said that they were baking grains. Apparently a friend of hers had given it to her when the friend moved. Sounds like the lady doesn't have a grinder, so might as well get rid of the buckets. The grains are about 1 years old. With proper storage, whole grains can last up to 30 years!

And wow! 4 buckets of grains. I weighed them and it's about 95 pounds in all. Toss in my 12 pounds from Sprouts, and that's over 100 pounds!

I was able to identify the wheats with the help of the ladies from Prairie Homemaker.

Black bucket: Hard white spring wheat
Yellow bucket: White hard wheat
Blue bucket: Rye
Red Bucket: Hard red winter wheat (same stuff that I have from Sprouts)

Wheeeeeeee! :D I'm doubly thrilled that I got the grinder from my mom. And after that eating out fiasco, you better believe that I'll be baking more. :)

Somebody also pointed out that they have Gamma lids, which sell for about $8 each. Wow! Another lady said that her son used one of those lids on a bucket when he went canoing and his stuff didn't get wet at all.

Now if I win the Project Linus' Janome sewing machine... I'll be on cloud 9 with my blessings! :)

Leah