Books are all gone

Posted on May 17, 2007 by Suzanne

Well, I did manage to get rid of the machine quilting books that were on my Quilt Book Garage Sale list, and 2 of the quilt piecing books were claimed. I got tired of looking at the pile of books, so I took them all to the library yesterday.

When I dropped them off, my sister-in-law happened to be there working and asked if I was making room for new books. LOL. In truth, the answer is more like: making room for what I already have.

I did manage to pick up a new book last night: Plush-o-rama: Curious Creatures for Immature Adults

Yeah, like I need more projects to make.

I finished the first stuffed Jawa, and need to make the 2nd. I’ll snap some pictures in a bit. I just remembered that I’m supposed to run down to the library to look at a Tupperware catalog to see if there is anything I can’t live without.

TTFN-

Suzanne

Here, Kitty, Kitty….

Posted on May 15, 2007 by Suzanne

I did one or 2 useful things today, nothing actually quilt related, though.

The main thing I did today was make this Kitty.

Isn’t she adorable?

The free pattern for the kitty can be found at Wee Wonderfuls

Mark thinks she looks a little bit like a skunk with the stripes on her back and her tail sticking straight up….

One of the boys wanted to know why I would make a cat, but won’t get a real cat for our house. Hmm. Gee, I wonder. LOL.

Both of the boys wanted to know why I had made a cat, but haven’t yet made the stuffed Jawas that I promised them several months ago. (Jawas are creatures from Star Wars…)

It’s a good question. I think I’ve committed myself to actually trying to make those for them sooner rather than later. My problem with that project is that I don’t have a pattern, and I am not entirely sure how I’m going to pull off keeping that particular promise….

I was browsing through blogs last night, and found the Pointy Kitty pattern through a link at my half of the brain. I can’t honestly tell you why the kitty called my name, but she did. And she’s done. She’s not perfect — I really need to practice this sort of sewing more often. I usually only sew straight, 1/4 inch seams and don’t have to figure out how to turn long thin tails inside out without destroying the entire thing. My stuffing skills also need work.

She’s awfully cute, though, and every single one of my boys (the 2 little ones, and the big one, too) couldn’t help but smile when they looked at her. She still needs a name. Joe said he’d try to think of one overnight.

Maybe I’ll come up with one overnight myself. I think I’ll go crawl in bed and start dreaming of names for my kitty. And thinking of other fabric combos and embellishments I could use to make more kitties….oh wait — I should be dreaming of how to make Jawas, first, I guess!

TTFN-

Suzanne

Home again, home again….

Posted on May 14, 2007 by Suzanne

I returned late last night from my trip to Texas. To be honest, it was actually early this morning — about 1 AM when I finally made it home and crawled into my bed. We had a wonderful visit, the trip was great. We hit a small snag on the way home though, as there was a storm over Dallas, which shut the airport down for a time — resulting in our return flights being delayed almost 2 hours.

When we finally got to Dallas 2 hours late (after being in a holding pattern for an hour or more, and touching down in Wichita Falls for refueling…), it was almost comical to watch people as gate changes occurred. I think our flight changed gates about 3 different times. Anybody know what movie that made us think of?

I have absolutely zero pictures to share. I chose not to take my camera, because my Mom was going to take hers (it’s much smaller than my monster). Unfortunately, she accidentally left it in her car back here in Iowa. Oops! There were PLENTY of cameras, though, and I hope to get some pictures from my sister, and if there is something especially interesting I’ll share it.

I have to tell you that the funniest part of the entire weekend was during the ceremony at the church. Remember, the couple had already gotten married last weekend — this was a blessing of their marriage. Nobody stood up with them, and the bride was not given away by her family — the bride and groom (oops, husband and wife…) walked alone down the aisles on either side of the church and then met up at the front of the church. What was funny was the music they chose for their processional:

The Imperial March by John Williams

Yes, you read that right, (and heard it correctly if you visited the link for a sample…)

Darth Vader’s theme music from Star Wars.

It actually sounded very cool on the pipe organ. But several of us nearly died laughing.

I never really heard why they chose it, other than wanting to do something funny and different and get a laugh out of everyone. Tara, the bride, was Princess Leia for Halloween for several years when she was little, and I guess her new husband must be a fan too.

Another movie note of interest related to the weekend, the bride’s parents live in Canyon, Texas, which is 12 miles west of the Palo Duro Canyon. In finding a link for the blog, I have just learned that it is actually the 2nd largest canyon in the United States. The movie related interest is that the opening of the 3rd Indiana Jones movie was filmed at Palo Duro Canyon. I did not get to go visit the canyon, but hope to go back some day and take my family with me.

I’ve got to go move some laundry around and finish unpacking. I have done very little of value yet today, but have hopes of getting something creative done at some point. We’ll see how that goes. I may just go take a nap instead.

TTFN-

Suzanne

Love Makes the World Go Around

Posted on May 10, 2007 by Suzanne

Finally, pictures of the wedding quilt.

I do have to apologize for the pictures: the quilt is fresh out of the dryer, and if it were going to be shown (like in a quilt show), I wouldn’t have dried it, I would have blocked it, but….it has to go in my suitcase and head to Texas, so, this is what we’ve got:

(Also, it is straight and square, but the full-view is taken from above at an angle, so it looks very un-square…) Please click on these to view them full-size. The thumbnails don’t do them justice.

I love how it turned out, but it’s interesting how thing snever end up exactly asyou had intended: this quilt is much darker than I had envisioned. I was picturing something with even less contrast between the “darks” and the “lights” — perhaps if we’d had more time to do some shop-hopping for neutrals, we might have come up with something different, but this is what we got when we went looking at the almost-last-minute.

I mentioned before that my Mom pieced the blocks, I set the blocks together, added the borders, quilted it, and bound it. She embroidered the label as well:

Here are some close-ups of the quilting:

You can see that we picked a sage green fabric for the back. It is even prettier in person.

I used Mountain Mist Cream Rose batting, 2 colors of Superior So Fine for the top thread and Superior Bottom Line in the bobbin. I marked circles for the centers of the wreaths and to create the spines of the feathers in the border and the “dark” rounds of the log cabins. The feathers themselves were quilted freehand.

The continuous curve/orange peel/wineglass design in the light part of the log cabins was also freehand. I had to mark in a few lines to give me guides for where to sew. My dear darling husband said “Wow, did you quilt all those circles freehand?” Alas, I had to say no, no actual circles were sewn in the making of this quilt. Well, except for the centers of the wreaths. I love how the continuous curve looks like nearly perfect circles, though….

I’m just waiting for some clothes to dry, then I can pack my suitcase, and head for Texas. Oh — I need to print out some pictures of kids to take with me. Plus, I’m working today on my red wholecloth. I got my entry confirmation for Machine Quilter’s Showcase — quilts have to be mailed at the end of the month. I’d like to get it done sooner rather than, well, at the very last minute….

TTFN-

Suzanne

Given Away

Posted on May 9, 2007 by Suzanne

I got to worrying that people might think I’m greedy and that I keep all of my quilts and never give anyway, so I thought I’d better set your minds at ease:

On the way to help my Grandma move to her new nursing home I tired to count the number of quilts I’ve given away in 10 years of quilting.

Off the top of my head I could come up with 37. That does include a few that my Mom and I have made together (she pieced, I quilted…).

Oh wait, I forgot about gifts for teachers: make that 43.

Honestly, I’m not telling you this to brag. Well, maybe I was bragging a little bit when Lynn and I were talking about it. At this point, though, it has become an interesting exercise in looking back and seeing that I really have accomplished something in the last few years.

I wish that I had kept better track of all of those quilts — a quilt journal with details of construction, snips of fabric, dates started and finished….maybe I’ll start one of those now. Maybe.

Now, if we start talking about quilts that I’ve actually quilted in the past 5 plus years of being a longarm quilter: between all of mine, plus all of my customers: I’m approaching (or maybe have passed…) 500 quilts. That’s a lot of quilts. That’s so many quilts that I can’t even begin to remember all of them…..

Pictures of that wedding quilt later. Promise. Better make that number 44, I think I forgot to count this one! LOL!
TTFN-

Suzanne