EDIT-EDIT ! ! ! ! NOT two months........

CORRECTION:    TWO WEEKS ago today I started hand-quilting the zigzag quilt.

Today I finished hand-quilting the zigzag quilt.

Hooray !  Hooray !   This was a VERY GOOD DAY  ! 

Praise the LORD !

Now I need to decide on a binding fabric,

 and sew it on,

giving me a good sturdy edge

 from which to remove those final points !

SNOW news is OLD news.....

....but it's still news to me !

Oklahoma got plastered again, and we here, southwest of Nashville, are finishing up with about 2 1/2 inches.  Wow, I love to watch it snow !   I sat down at my sewing machine and was able to look up through the windows above it and get my heart's fill !

And........I finished this little top.........unless I decide to border it, which I HIGHLY doubt.  It is what it is.   I don't guess I"ll truly name it until I've quilted and finished it.  I am now reminded of leaves lying on a swimming pool or some other water.

 The photo is a bit overlightened, but was too dark before and I went with auto-adjust in my photo program.

On the techy side, I had two problems solved today.
My digital camera has been making me format the memory card after EVERY set of photos I take, and I suspected that it was more a problem with old batteries than with the card.  I use rechargeable AA's and I've had them for atleast 4 years, maybe 5.  I bought new ones today, and sure enough, no more problem with the card !  Yay, praise the LORD !

And I had a live online chat with my cable company because my phone was out YET AGAIN.  I learned that power surges cause you to need to reset the modem by unplugging it and plugging it back in.  Could I not have been told this one of the 6 or so times I've had this complaint before?  Hmmmmm.......well, anyway, atleast it's working again and it was an easy at-home solution.

By the way, since Connecting Threads sent me a replacement set of strips, I am impressed with their customer service if not their quality control.   So I want to mention that if anyone is interested in making a zigzag quilt like mine with solids, the sampler set of strips are on sale again, 40% off this time, making them $3.98 for a set of 24  2 1/2 inch strips, and it takes two sets to make a top like mine.
Scroll down the page a bit for the fabric samplers.  I used the cool solids sampler, but am thinking that the light solids would make an awesome one.

6 more days to decorate our blogs with hearts !

Then we can start looking for 'Springy' themes !   Woo HOO !

Today was a very good day........lots of sweet baby time.  I watched Allyssia for 10 hours while her mommy was at her new job, house-cleaning/sitting with an elderly home-patient. 

Baby-girl was very good, including an hour-and-a-half nap in the morning, and quiet play that allowed ME to play at my Autumn Blues quilt-top just a bit more.  I won't bother with a photo tonight, as I'm close to finishing.  I got half of the blocks sewn into rows and then into half a top. 

Thank you for the generous enthusiasm over it.  The leaves were pieced many years ago when I pieced the ones that are in this quilt.  I guess I couldn't decide on a background, because I pieced about the same amount of leaves on a blue background as I did on a light background.
The light ones weren't even pieced for the quilt in which they wound up.  There was originally a quilt in an issue of Quiltmaker that was all leaves and I collected the same fabrics that were featured in that quilt, and used the pattern, but that's where the similarity ended.  That's the only quilt design for which  I remember ever actually trying to purchase the exact fabric that I had seen made up in the original quilt.

The blue-backed leaves got put into a little plastic shoebox, and I revisited them often.  Finally a few days ago I got the idea of making the blue scrappy nine-patches to set alternately with the leaf blocks.  But when I lay it out, it just struck me as being too traditional for my current quilt-mood.  So I arranged the leaves around the ninepatches, which really became just a scrap-square center, and I was much happier with the new look.  I had one leftover leaf, and lacked 3 nine-patches to fill in the center, so I made 2 more nine-patches and threw in a green leaf for starting Fall's descent.  



Photo taken at same time as  previous shot.......not updated with today's progress.

Some people get the blues when Autumn comes around, with the foliage dying and all, but I'm always so ready for the change in temperature, and some good in-house recreation (quilting, sewing, or knitting at my age, don't get any other ideas now !) that it's kind of refreshing to me, and one of my four most favorite seasons.  So, I'm dubbing the little quilt, "Blues of Autumn", or "Autumn's Blues".  Which do you like?   You can wait to see the finished quilt to decide. 

Once again, this will be a small quilt,.......6 blocks wide by 8 rows long......7 3/8 inch blocks......approximately 44 x 59 inches, unless I add some kind of border.

Phew,.....been a little under the weather

And what weather we have this year.

   It's snowing again, .....

 not alot, but coating the trees prettily again. 

 I've figured out that it's not only the blowing

 wind during the snow,

but the rain that comes before hand that makes it

fill in all the places in the limbs and everywhere

.   That God of ours,........what an artist !

Be safe and warm everyone........

Spring WILL come, and you'll have something to celebrate,

 for sure !   I know that I WILL,

right Kelley?

And, when I get around to sewing again,

 I hope to be playing around with this some more !

Yep, it's being hand-quilted

I call it "big-stitch" and most people tend to do it with perle cotton, but I'm using different colors of quilting thread and an embroidery needle.   I find that flannel backs take better to the bigger stitches, and wow, it is faster to do. 

I'm not having to mark any of the quilting lines, as I am going once in the ditch of the colored zig, and once half-way through the zig.  The rectangles finished at about 1 5/8 inches wide, so I'm just eyeballing it. 

Every other day, I hoop the quilt in my 17 inch-square Q-snap frame, and that gives me four different colored zigs that I can quilt.   I follow them all the way across the quilt horizontally.  I start around 8:00 in the morning with the light coming through my sewing room window to where I sit in my glider-rocker, and usually the sun has gone from my window by the time I finish the four rows in the late afternoon.  Of course, I'm jumping up and down all day long doing other household things too.  In fact, I didn't get to finish my rows today, as I kept Allyssia for a few hours.

On the odd days, I take a day off from quilting to let the fingers get over the soreness caused by stabbing myself with that huge needle.  (I can't wear anything on the finger under the quilt....it just keeps me from feeling whether or not I've made a good stitch all the way through.)

*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*
I want to send warm wishes and thoughts to those of you who are so covered up with the latest snow STORM.  I am so sorry for the inconvenience it's causing you.  I hope that you can stay in, well-fed, warm, and happily busy with your favorite craft/quilt.
All we got was a quick dusting of snow this morning, and then the sun came out and immediately melted it away.  But I'm still enamored of the last snowfall we got, and just had to use another photo from it for my header. 
We're supposed to get more snow this weekend, and all I can say is PRAISE GOD for keeping us warm and safe, and if it has to come, I hope it's a beauty like the Jan. 26th one.

I guess I made a MUG RUG

New times, new names.........we would have just called it a coaster !
Maybe it would look more up-to-date if I had made it rectangular.

You girls have done a much better job of this than me !

I took one of the free-motion quilting practice pieces and colored it with crayons. 

Oh, well.  It will protect my little double-wedding ring quiltie........which they are now calling 'pickle dish', by the way !!!!!!!!!

(Thought I'd inject a little summertime blues into the winter's picture for all of you who are snowed in right now !  Stay warm and safe !)

Progress report on Ziggy

The colors are truest in this photo that was taken using a flash.

He's half-done !  And, yes, my glass is OVER half-full !



Color is a little off, but the quilting contours show.



Attention VINTAGE SHEET COLLECTORS

I just stumbled across a nice giveaway on this blog......7 fat quarters cut from vintage sheets.
Feel free to go and enter......I did !

66 degrees here

and it's amazing how that and the sunshine lift your spirits out of the midwinter blues !

Yep, I know it's only temporary, but so are the blues, praise the LORD !

My fingers are sore from the big needle I keep poking them with, but I've finished a fourth of the quilt.

I just have to share these precious coveralls that my gal, Jodie, has made for her two grandsons. 

Adorable.........er, uh, (think manly) those are right usable.

Color me HAPPY !

Remember how I was so disappointed the other day that my local WalMart store wouldn't honor their online price of $39.00 for the 6 ft. folding table?  I went ahead and paid $44.88 to be sure that I got the model that I wanted while I could find it?  $5.00 extra........doesn't sound like a lot, but with the limited "fun budget" that I allow myself, it's quite a nudge. 

Well,.................today's ad in our local paper announced a ROLL BACK on that table.  It now sells for $34.88 !  That's right !   $10.00 LESS than I paid.   I took my receipt out there and they refunded $10.95 to me !  Woo Hoo, glory HALLELUJAH !

I sat down later to start hand-quilting the zigzag quilt.  Uh.....it's been awhile, and I don't love it so much as I used to !   Hand-quilting that is !  Actually, I never loved DOING IT, just the after product.   Now, I just keep thinking .......hmmm...I could have this baby done in 2 days if I went to the machine !

EDIT:  Wait, wait, now I'm getting my groove.   I switched to a big needle and a bigger stitch, and I'm a happy camper again.  I'm planning on using this quilt a lot, and didn't see any use in killing myself for tiny stitches.  I don't know......like I said the other day, then was then and now is now, and I'm actually enjoying this, quilting it this way, so, as someone said the other day........WA-LAH !

Winter's most beautiful !

Well, last post I established how old I am, and let me say that in all of those years, I don't remember EVER seeing this type of beauty from a snowfall !

When we went to bed, it was raining, in fact it had rained ALL DAY.  This morning, looking out my window, I found that every tree, limb, crack, crevice, surface had been covered by this beautiful, wet, clumpy snow. 

 I mean, it is BEAUTIFUL ! 

There's not a LOT of it, so that driving shouldn't be too awful, although most of the towns around us, and this one too, are out of salt because of this banner year of snowfalls.  The snowplow JUST went up our hill, in fact.  But I dread the sun melting it, it's just that magical !


This photo looks a little unreal.

I want to say a special thank you to those of you who prayed for safe travel for yesterday's evaluation.  We clocked 200 miles in gentle, constant rain, and there was NOT ONE problem all day.  Favor is upon us, and I appreciate your prayers.   Praise the LORD !

Facing Facts

I'm coming to terms with some facts in my life. 

I AM a QUILTER.   
It's what I DO.


I also am 53 years old.

Gone are the days when I could set up a big basting frame and thread-baste for 3 hours straight and still walk upright when I'm through. 
I also do not have room at home to set up such a frame except when the weather is nice and I can do it in the yard.

I cannot conveniently make bed-sized quilts right now......I just don't have the room to lay them out OR baste them.  So, I am going to make the quilts I WANT to make, that fit my current situation........until I can no longer do THAT.

So......having mulled all of this over, today I treated myself to this little beauty.  (Big Thanks Cheryl J. for the pingpong table inspiration !)

I have spent DAYS not quilting because I couldn't baste and didn't want to start something new until I had reached a point of quilting with the zigzag top.  I really like it and want it to be my next quilt .  I also really like the flannel that I bought for the back of it, and I think that I am going to hand-quilt it.  We'll see when I get time to try it and see........this polyfil 80/20 batting feels kind of stiff, so it might be a nightmare to do by hand.

Anyway, back to my new 'helper'

I searched online for a 6-foot folding table, and found a price of $39.00 at Wally World.  It showed that my local store, surprise of surprises, had one in stock.......I didn't notice that the site said that store prices MAY VARY.  In store, it was $44.99.  I argued the point, but lost.  I decided to go ahead and pay the extra, though, as they have changed the table and the newer ones that they also had did not include the carry-strap/handle, and did not lock closed on the end.

They only had one of this older style and I like those features enough for it to be worth it to pay the markup.

I bought silly little plastic clamps that are really too small, but they were the best buy I could make locally today.  I lay the quilt out and wondered how well it would go, but I'm pleased with the finished results.  I think it actually came out better than if I had put it in the frame or if I had clamped it tight, as the flannel tends to stretch so easily.  Tonight's work seems to have come out just right for THIS job.

I even basted the backing over the edges

 incase I DO hand-quilt, as I suspect it'll take awhile and I'll want to snooze under it now and then when I nap.  Hubby uses the flannel quilt that Jodie ann made for us when he had his first stroke.......in fact, we almost fight over it (nicely, of course), so finishing this one will be just in time.  It still won't be a snuggly as the all-flannel one, but it'll do.

I did get one bit of sewing done a couple of days ago, when I was just going MAD for a little pieceing  in my life (thankfully, I do have PEACE from the LORD). 

 Anyway, my bathroom in this trailer has a clothes dryer placed beside the toilet, and a shelf above the toilet.  I have to put the hubby's shower bench on top of the dryer and I hate how it looks, so I took lots of my old browns and blacks and pieced up a nice long curtain to match my jungle-animal decor and hide the uglies.

Tomorrow we drive back for another 2-hour evaluation for the hubster.  Blessedly the snow that was forecast for Tuesday has slowed down in it's track and we're supposed to have rain and 46degrees tomorrow, with the 1 to 3 inches of snow coming in tomorrow NIGHT, after we are back safely home.  I praise the LORD for this HUGE BLESSING, and yet, still would not object to a prayer or two offered up for our safe travel for tomorrow.  Thanks for that !

Goodnight, now.

Link to a giveaway !

Someone named Lila Tueller is giving  away a stack of fabrics, and you shouldn't miss the chance to win !

Here's your link.............now, GO !

It's snowing again !

Here in Tennessee, that is.............not so much in LAWTON, OKLAHOMA !

 

See, Kelley,........I told you that you guys should move here close to Nana and PawPaw !

Looking back.....

.....quite a way back, I mean, not 2010. 

I was thinking today about all the numerically 'special' dates that have occurred recently, like January 1 and January 11 of 2011.  The reason I was reminded was that I spied evidence of the first time I remember commemorating such a date. 

I was quilting this quilt one day, and it occurred to me that the day's date was 01-02-03 !

I had seen many old quilts that had interesting things quilted into them, where people didn't notice until their eye accidentally fell on that particular spot.  I decided that I just had to include that day's date into that day's quilting.  Blessedly, I was quilting the borders, so it worked out perfectly to include the date at one end of the quilt.

I finished this quilt shortly thereafter, in 2003, and yet, until today, it had held it's pencil markings throughout several washes.  Today, I washed it to remove likely dust from it having hung on my living room wall all summer, and SURPRISE..........among all the lovely, cottony crinkles, the pencil marks are GONE !   Oh, I'm so glad of that !

The center of the quilt was all hand-pieced, one of those many-year projects that you keep in a little box and pick up and put down for 'lap work'.  When it reached a size big enough for a throw, I wanted to quilt and bind it, but I stumbled across some odd borders that I had pieced years before, and miraculously, they fit it.  So I added them by machine (they had been machine-pieced), and I hand-quilted it.

For the back, I used 3 toile fabrics that I had been hoarding and couldn't bear to cut into little pieces.  Since the borders were three different color-families, I felt that it gave me 'license' to use the three colors on the back (this was long before I used multi-fabric backings as a general rule ).

So, it turned out to be a favorite quilt, front AND back, and now it's truly wonderful with it's CLEAN new look.

This whole thing has me thinking about the quilt I'd like to be working on on November 11th of this year !   Think about it --  11-11-11

Oh, and a little edit here........I made this today.

  I know, I know, it's small and kindof useless, but it kept my mind and my hands busy, so it was definitely not worthless.  I had 10 or 11 little blocks leftover from the zigzag top and when I lay them together on my cutting board, I took one look, and then another, and then I said, "oh, why not just sew them together just like that?"  They fit a little pillow that I had lying around, probably 9 inches square or so, and give it a fresh look.  The hubby called it pretty, so I'm calling it a success.

A day without quilting....

......is like a day without sunshine.  Blessedly, today I had plenty of each.

 While the snow continued to melt, outside, I wanted to play, inside, without committing to a big project; so, I decided to try some string blocks.  I cut 4 squares from typing paper, 8 1/2 inches square, and used a gently striped fabric for the center diagonal strip.  Then I just kept adding strips on each side, using the scrap bag containing leftovers from Judy's cross quilt, and MaryLee's Diagonal Gardens quilt. 

I trimmed them up, put them together to make a square on point in the middle, and quilted them free-motion.  I backed them to make a pillow for my glider-rocker........I bought a pillow from the second-hand store a couple of months ago and forgot all about making a cover for it.  I guess today was the day !

And since no quilt is complete without a cat giving her approval, I present China, nesting.
This serves as a welcome and a shout-out to my newest follower, Annie, whose kitten slept in a basket on her sewing table the entire time she 'played'.

China usually sleeps in the sewing room, but she's recently  discovered the down comforter on my bed, and has started spending her days there.  This is quite a compliment for my quilt, as there was plenty of comforter left for her to sleep on, but she still chose the quilt !

"A REAL PLUS"..........

.......my first finished quiltie of the year.

She measures approximately 46 inches square, and was free-motion quilted on my Singer model 15-91. 

I channel-quilted in alternating directions for connecting plus 'blocks'. 

For the border, I drew the curvy line using a stencil, and then free-hand quilted in the leaves as I went around the quilt.

The backing is a combination of pieces pulled from my old stash of fabrics.   It mainly consists of 'picture fabrics', which can be hard to fit into the average piecing of a scrap quilt.   I really like the back, and managed to create one last 'plus' out of the giraffe print.

With the snow melting today, I just had to grab a few photos with this winter backdrop.   After all, when I grew up in Tennessee, snow staying around this long was unheard of !

Thanks again for the fabrics, Jodie Ann.........including many (if not all) that are on the back !

NOTE :  I was tagged on Jessica's blog today as being one of her favorite small blogs for people to check out.  I so appreciate the notice, but just couldn't pick my favorite little blogs, so I'm going to suggest that you check out some of the many blogs along my sidebar.  They're fascinating to look in on, and have followings of ALL sizes !

When you're out there stocking up.....

......on the proverbial "milk, bread and eggs"........

DON'T FORGET THE TOILET PAPER !

Just sayin........

A Real Plus--sneak peek

Thank goodness for pieces of batting that can be pieced together......backs too !  (I'm not revealing the back until I'm all done!)

Here's an in-progress photo......the center is all quilted.   I need to figure out what I want in the rust border, and then quilt it and the little pieced outer border.  As you can see, I still feel safer with thread-basting, and I was able to move things around enough in the living room today to set up the basting frame.

I'm liking how this is quilted.  I just looked all over Flickr for plus quilts, and many of them are quilted the same, it seems........a quarter-inch in from the edge of the block, with the centers left empty.  Not to pat myself on the back, but I like this look much  better........plus, I got a REALLY GOOD upper body workout out of it at the same time !   Love that free-motion quilting .

Happy SNOWDAY !

The potato soup was wonderful for lunch, topped with chopped red onion and crumbled bacon, served with a buttery slice of cornbread !  Ah, so good !  Thank you, Jesus !

I had fun going around sweeping the snow from my jeep and my front steps, but I am antsy, wanting to baste that zig zag or that plus quilt top.  I don't like anything that I have for the back of the zigzag, really wanting to BUY some yummy flannels from Fabric.com ! 

I might be able to find something suitable for the plus top......I guess I should go do some digging around.   Feeling lazy with a full belly and the hubby snoozin' in the recliner !

Be safe and stay warm !

photo courtesy of fabric.com

EDIT:  That old clock ticking down works on me almost every time ! 
Fabric.com was warning that this was the last day.......midnight limit......to order the flannel that I wanted for $3.98 per yard, so I went for it.  Rather than piece a back, I finally decided that I wanted all the lusciousness of pure aqua on the back of the zigzaggy, so I just ordered 3 yards of the ONE fabric.  Doesn't it look snuggly?  Can't you just feel it?  Ahhhhhhhhhhhh