Found them!

Phew... I finally found them. :)

I was laying down, trying to ease the tension in my shoulders and my thoughts wandered to where the quilts might be. Then I realized it could be under the 25 yards of flimsy muslin I have. Oh yes indeed!! :)

I also "found" this quilt... eh, not that I realized it was lost. :P But the rows need to be sewn together... might as well add it to the pile?

I'm feeling so much better now... I think I'll sew! Never mind that I still haven't packed any clothing or personal items yet. But I've got the majority of my quilting stuff packed up! :D

Leah

When I should have been packing...

...I might have been sewing. :D

Yup, more progress on the Galaxy Stars quilt. I think I've got the hardest part behind me. It'll just be block sections to piece, and then to put together into a top.

I also need to seriously organize my room... I'm losing quilts! I've lost my snowball and 9-patch blocks. I hunted and hunted for it... but it just wasn't findable. At least it's all together, and not likely a block here, block there. :P On the other hand, I'll forgive myself, as I haven't done anything with it in 1.5 years.

While hunting around, I also realized that I managed to misplace my Snail's Trail quilt top. Ugh. Haven't seen it in about a year. And you'd think I'd be organized enough to hang it up so stuff like this doesn't happen!

Yeah, I'm a little mad at myself, but that's ok... I found a different quilt top to finish piecing at my parents house. Fancy that. :D

Leah

Beginnings of Galaxy Quilt

Got the 16-patches done! I can't promise that this is the correct shading... I might have gone a little crazy in Photoshop Elements. ;)

I haven't done too much more progress on the Galaxy quilt at this time. The heat got to me again. And it's pretty bad - I can drink a gallon of water throughout the day and only go to the bathroom once or twice. Normally, my bladder would have exploded several times over. :P

Got several errands accomplished today, including swinging by the hearing aid place. My left hearing aid was constantly creating a vacuum-like suction that was cutting off my ability to hear. I'd wiggle the hearing aid around and it'd return back to normal. I was thinking the tube was too narrow, but turns out there was a pinch in the tube! It was effectively cutting off about half of the tube's workability. No wonder. Glad to have that resolved, as I want to be able to hear when I visit my parents.

Yup, I'll be seeing them later this month! We're driving instead of flying, so I'm taking my sewing machine and a few projects with me. I already bought over 100 yards of fabric, and my mom has bought more dye than I have ever seen in my life! We're gonna have fun. :)

Off to drink some more water!

Leah

Yup, new project

I decided to go ahead and do galaxy stars, heat or no! :)

Here's a bunch of the strips that I'm about to subcut.

The directions said that I would need (85) 2" strips, I accidentally cut 90... and now I have more that 25 of them leftover! Yikes... that's pretty wonky math. So I double checked the background math, and it's pretty exact, go figure. The good news is that I have no doubt at all that I'll find a use for all those 2" strips. :)


Here's all the hand dyes cut up.

2" squares, 2"x3.5" and 2"x5" pieces. I accidentally cut too many 2" squares too... but again, I'll find a use for them. :) I'm doing the largest size listed (111x99), so that meant extra 2x3.5" pieces to cut.


Now I'm working on the black background fabric, but that doesn't photograph well. ;) What I'm really happy about is that the directions called for (14) 6.5" squares, but I actually got 18 squares out of the three strips I cut.

That adds up to 4 leftover squares, which is EXACTLY what I need to finish this snowball and 9-patch quilt that I frankly have no clue where it is right now. :P



In other exciting news, I got Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 installed! I bought it back in February with the Christmas gift card my brother gave me. Except I ran into a "minor" issue - I couldn't get my DVD Rom drive to open. :P (Don't blame my computer, it's an old geezer at 5 years old now).

So I would pathetically press on the button every few days, feel it whir and click, but nothing opened. Today I decided to give my drive a "lift" by slightly pressing the slot upwards, and it opened!! Finally. :D

And yes, today's pictures are edited (cropped and resize, I haven't figure how to manipulate color yet) and brought to you by Adobe Photoshop. ;)

Leah

A new project?

I' ve been thinking of starting a new quilting project. I won the Galaxy pattern from Suzanne (congrats on your new business venture!) and I had no doubt that I would want to do that pattern in black background and hand dyed fabrics. But do I really want to start another quilt, especially in this heat?!

I can see from the picture I need to take out a few pink/purples and replace them with a blue or two. Maybe swap out a yellow for another orange?

What's holding me back is the heat - I really don't want to turn on the iron! It even crossed my mind to see about setting the ironing board out the front door. Well, it's supposed to cool down some on Thursday, so that might be a good day to open up the windows and do some ironing. Yeah... I'll do that. :)

**********

We finally got my husband's computer finally fixed for real. We were under delusions that it was better, but then it started crashing every 10 minutes or so. Back to the shop! It took the guys a few days to figure it out, but they finally reset the bios on the motherboard and it's been crashed free since. But poor guy, he was fighting with it all week. If I just replace the word "computer" with "sewing machine", suddenly I can relate very well how he feels! ;) But he has a laptop, and I have a back up sewing machine, so it's not like we have to go hobby-less for a bit anymore.

Tomorrow is my quilt guild meeting. Good thing my husband is gonna wake up when I do, cuz I'm planning to steal his quilt for show and tell. :D

Leah

The secret revealed

I can spill the beans now! My husband's birthday quilt:

I made him a bright and cheerful summer quilt. Really thin polyester batting. He's been happily sleeping under it since! :)


A shot of the back:

I did big loopies in the blocks and stars and loops in the border. This was a surprisingly "cheap" project - the fabric for the quilt came from Walmart's $2 pile, the backing is a piece of hand dyed fabric that's muslin from JoAnn's. Add in the batting and the thread, I spent less than $30 out of my pocket for it, but MANY hours putting it together.

And no, I don't mind that I used "lesser" quality fabrics, as thin and lightweight was my intent for this quilt. He's married to me, I can always make him another quilt if he "loves" this one to death. ;)

***********
School's out and we've been settling into a routine. The alarm is set for 8:30, but we seem to get up on our own a little after 8. Then we go to the gym, eat breakfast and settle into the day as we wish. Usually we take turns with dinner or sometimes we both participate - I prepared the pork, he did the rice tonight.

On Tuesday my husband dropped his computer off to a shop - it's been shutting down, showing the blue screen of death and other funky stuff. Not good, especially since his computer is almost 3 times the cost of mine, but only 2.5 years old, whereas mine is 5 years old and I still haven't gotten the blue screen of death. :P (But I did back up all my goodies in the beginning of this month!)

So we're dealing with that, but very thankfully it looks like between the cleaning, diagnostic scan and the upgrades (more ram and a better video graphics card) it'll be $500. Much better than the $1000 he was guessing or the new $3000 computer he was eying as a replacement! ;)

Today I "went to town" - a.k.a. Tucson. Very short-timed decision, but we realized it'd be best/easiest if I just went today. First I went to the Sunflower Farmers Market and was pretty impressed. They have great sale prices (white peaches .97lb, onions .33lb, large artichokes .77each, brown coconut $1.29) and Wednesdays are their double ad days. It was hectic! :) Now I want a store like that to come to my town. Oddly enough, it'd probably be a better deal than having a Trader Joe's here.

Speaking of Trader Joe's...

I got some creamed honey. It's white-ish and almost fluffy looking. I've really been trying to branch out into eating more "naturally", as in no boxed or frozen meals. But fruit, veggies, whole wheat, and goodies like this honey. My goal isn't organic or vegetarian, but aiming for less processed foods in our lives.

Two perks is that I'm starting to lose weight again (I basically bounced up and down between 5 pounds since November) and my husband's actually working on eating healthier. As a kid he'd sit at the table all night long and still not eat his veggies. Totally a "potatoes and meat" kind of guy. Now he's really branching out and exploring in the food area. I won't push him (or else he'd be eating salad by now ;), but I'll keep encouraging him to make baby steps towards better health.

He's gonna be so hot and healthy on his 30th birthday next year! ;)

Leah

Oops! But don't blame me.

I've roughly added 45 more yards to my stash. But it's not my fault! ;)

The gal that I bought the 301 Singer Machine from used fabric to lovingly protect the machine as it traveled from Indiana to Arizona.

The nice part is there's several big pieces - up to 4 yards. They'll make great backings. Lots of kiddie prints too. I'm sure I'll find a way to use them sooner or later.

Good thing I'm not trying to reduce my stash by 100 yards of fabric for the year, this would have seriously set me back! :D

Leah

A new machine for me!

I bought a "new" machine! From a fellow quilter who gave me a great price on it. It's a Singer 301, made in the 1950s. I haven't looked for the exact date yet.

I've spent a few hours today getting to know my new toy. I cleaned it, oiled it, figured out how to wind the bobbin and thread the machine up. Sewed on some scraps to figure the tension, and it's good as gold now! :)


Here it is next to my Bernina. Slightly smaller, weighs less... but the Singer has all metal parts! Well, the pedal foot feels like it has some plastic on it. ;)

I'll probably continue to use my Bernina for the most part. I know that machine well, it's got lots of extras, and the knee lift. I'm so addicted to using the knee lift. I kept swinging my right leg for the imaginary knee lift on the Singer. :P

The Singer is a simple straight-stitch machine. It doesn't even have a free-arm for sleeves and stuff. Eh, not that I ever sew sleeves these days. ;) No zigzag, I haven't figured out how to use the reverse option yet. Nor did I experiment to figure out how to drop the feed dogs. I only have one foot (and one bobbin), so I'm limited to piecing for the most part, but that's exactly why I wanted another machine. So I won't go into panic mode whenever my Bernina lands itself into the shop, be for regular cleaning or something more serious. I will also use the Singer to take with me when I sew with other quilters. Hauling the Bernina for a few hours of sewing can be a real pain. Plus the computer chips in it make me nervous. With the Singer? I just better not drop it. ;)

From the back of the owner's manual:

For Your Protection
Singer sells its machines only through Singer Sewing Centers, identified by the Red "S" on the window, and never through department stores or other outlets.

Ha! They don't make Singers like they used to. ;)

Leah

Happy Dancing Time!

I just went online to check the status of one of my husband's student loans...

And it's almost paid off!!! *squeal!* I wrote the check for $1487.00 even though the balance said $1486.75. Just couldn't keep up with the interest. So do you think I should write a check for $.63 or $.64? Or $.65 just to be sure?! :P

Well, the next payment isn't "due" until July 8, 2013. Now you know where our stimulus check went. ;)

Leah

I'm working on a secret

My husband's birthday is this month, and I've been working on his gift. In fear of blabbing it on my blog, I've been staying away! I don't think my husband reads it though... but if he does, he'll probably have a good idea what it is! :P On the other hand, I was able to surprise him with his Christmas quilt even though I had been visibly working on and off for 10 months. So there's hope. ;)


First off, some recent goodies.

The Tried and True book came from Stephanie, who loves it enough to have three copies! She generously had them up for grabs and I tossed my name in. It's already sparked an idea or two. ;)

Galaxy came from Suzanne, who was hosting a giveaway on her blog. I didn't think I had a chance, but piped up and said I really liked Galaxy. Well! I won! :D Don't you think it'd look great with black background and hand dyes? :)

Last Friday I was at a "get together" with some fellow quilters and one of the ladies had some extra sets of Eleanor Burn's Quilt in a Day small geese ruler set. I was hemming and hawing at purchasing them (at a discount), until my friend pulled out some very beautiful (and tiny!) rows of geese. "Sold!" I told her. :)


But I'm not perfect. ;)

I had to go to WalMart for a few needed things... but I'm afraid 3 yards of this batik with gold crackles clearly fell under "wanted". But hey, I talked myself down from buying 4 yards to three. Progress? :D


While passing time at my in-law's house yesterday, I worked on the Trip Around the World binding.

I haven't worked on this in a few weeks, as I was distracted by my husband's birthday gift.


Here's the back, talk about bright! I did wavy furrows up and down the quilt, but I'm wondering if I should do them across too. What do you think?

The good news is that the whole quilt busts about 5.5 yards.


So more fabric still going "out" than in... but I've been planning my trip to my parents house, and a lot of you know that means we'll be dyeing more fabric!! Since we're planning to drive up this time, instead of fly, I intend to bring my sewing machine with me. We haven't done any real quilting since summer 2005. Seems like dyeing and other events take higher priority! ;)

Leah

Home Improvements

Today was spent trying to improve our lifestyle a bit. We have officially decided to stay in this apartment for another year (was considering a new teaching position), so I figured I had a right to make holes in the wall for signing a new year-long lease for the third time. ;)

Both my husband and I enjoy cooking. It can be frustrating in our small kitchen, but we're learning how to organize things in our favor. So today I put up our new spice rack.

Yes! We do use all those spices. :) It's our "active" spices. There's a handful more in the cupboard above the sink, but we haven't used them in a while and probably should throw them out.

We get our spices from three sources. One is our local grocery store, Fry's Food & Drug. The spices with an orange post-it taped on them are from Sprouts, a store in Tucson that offers spices in bulk. It's a great way to get exactly what you need, be 1 teaspoon or 1 cup of a spice. I found the perfect containers for them from Ikea. The spices that we use a lot are bought from Costco. Who can beat 100% pure vanilla for $5.99?! ;)

The rack was purchased at Lowes Home Improvement for $18. Best of all, there's room for some more spices. :D

There's no pictures... but we enjoyed a lovely meal of BBQ'ed shrimp and mushroom kabobs, some beef (can't remember the cut) and corn. It was my first time eating BBQ'ed corn and it tasted GREAT! We'll definitely be having more BBQ'ed corn on the cob in our future.

Next up... the table we bought from Ikea, and I still haven't put it together! It's becoming a mountain out of a molehill in my mind. At least I cleared out the area where we're gonna set up the table. That's a start, right? Right? :P

Leah

Happy Ending

I never got around to telling you what happened to the Puss In Corner quilt. Yeah, the one that I was delayed on for a month because my machine had to go to the sewing machine doctor. :P

Once I got my machine back, it went fairly well... til I was almost done with the border.

D'oh! Yes, quilter's version of Murphy. "You'll run out of bobbin thread with less than 2 inches left to quilt." And it happened on my Trip Around The World quilt too. I want a machine that uses regular spools for the bobbin. ;)


The completed top, before washing. I always like to wash my quilts before I send it off.

The only quilt I can think of that I haven't washed is my Tubular Rainbow, cuz it went into the quilt show and I wanted it to lay really flat. And I haven't figured out how to block a quilt yet. The need for a flat surface in a 650-square-foot apartment kind crimps my desire to figure it out. :P


I did a meander in the blocks part of the quilt; a loopy line in the flower border, and my attempt at vines and leaves.

Mary was the one who suggested vines and leaves in a comment, and frankly it sounded easier than trying to do free-hand feathers as I originally planned. :)


A shot of the back. I love using the 60" hand dyed fabrics for backings! Just gotta iron them and then they're ready to be used.

I had some minor tension issues, but mostly I was trying to get reacquainted with my sewing machine and the "new" adjustments on the tension. Instead of free-motioning with a tension of 1-2, it's now like 6-7. Almost like the Bernina guy "flipped" my tension around. 3-4 is what works for piecing, both before and after my machine went to the shop.


What did I do with the quilt? I had a random giveaway on one of the forums I frequent. Over 50 ladies put their name in, and one lucky gal got hers pulled out of the bowl! I asked her to share pictures of her with the quilt when it arrived...

She one-upped me by showing this absolutely adorable picture of her son in the quilt! I love it! :)

At least I know this is one quilt that's gonna live happily ever after in their family. :)

Leah

TATW updates

I left off on Saturday night, hoping to have a quilt top. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.

I was 3 seams away from being finished (I did do some more sewing after taking the above picture). But I was starting to make mistakes, so I made myself stop and go to bed.

Sunday was busy with church, laundry - including putting it away. Kinda rare for me to get to that right away. No sewing that day.

Monday was mostly baking. I had to clean the kitchen first, then I started on some whole wheat bread. I'm still so appreciative of the grain grinder my mom generously gave me!

You can see the bread rising. As it was actually baking, I took time to finish sewing the Trip Around the World into a top.


For dinner we had curry chicken and brown rice. First time I ever used curry in cooking.

I took a bite and at first I was like "mmm... this isn't too spic-- MILK! GIMME MILK!" What can I say... I'm a wimp. ;) But yes, it's a meal that we'll be seeing again in our future. Easy, flavorful, healthy. I'll just make sure there's plenty of milk on hand.

Tuesday I sewed the borders on TATW, put some pork in the crockpot and watch a woman win the Biggest Loser for the first time. :)

Today I cleaned and vacuumed the living room floor so I could pin the quilt.

I'm pleased with the results, things are moving a long at a good pace. I did have to open a new box of safety pins. Probably could have gotten away with pinning every other square. Pinning took about 45 minutes in all. A little longer than the time it takes to load a flat quilt onto a long arm machine.

Bah. I shouldn't day dream about having a long arm, we don't have the ROOM. Or the money. :P But the room is the bigger factor right now.

My goal is to get this quilted and bound by Sunday! :)

Leah

Trippy Fun

This past week I've been thinking about starting another Trip Around The World, or TATW as so many quilters shorten it to. :)

The theme is basically girly and butterflies. I just started grabbing fabrics from my closet and had this selection in no time.

Judy's also holding another Quiltathon, looks like I get to join!

Now the question is... will I have a top by the end of the day or not? :)

Leah

The new lamp

On Sunday my husband and I bought a new lamp for the bedroom. There's a switch near the door, but I didn't figure out what plug socket it belonged to until after rearranging the bedroom.

It's so great! We paid $25 for it at WalMart. It's got 3 shelves - you can see that I use one to put my quilting hand work on it. Scissors, thread, needles, clippings. I also got an extension cord so we could put the lamp by my side of the bed. I've really struggled to get enough light at night time for hand sewing... that's fixed now! :)

And you can see the Puss in Corner quilt, which I'm still sewing down the binding. Didn't get a chance to do it today, as I was busy cleaning the bathroom and making bread. :)

Leah