What I'm working on

I have been a little neglectful in my blog posting. It has been busy with life & quilting. I got my off set log cabin quilt back from my LAQ & I love it. She used a purple batik on the back & purple thread, now I just have to bind it:(  

Then I started treading like a crazy woman to get my current treadle quilt done so that I could hang it in my guilds quilt show this Saturday. All of the food fabrics are scraps & I can't really tell you on the black. I've used so many of my black scraps in quilts lately that I don't know what came from a scrap or yardage that I purchased. My LAQ is going to used a veggie panto I'm excited to see it!

Last week when I stopped by to drop off/pick up a quilt I was chatting with my LAQ. She has been sewing up a storm lately & has been going through her stash. The seed was planted though I didn't know it. My regular group of Friday night sewing ladies didn't meet so I spent some time in the sewing room. I was sitting on the floor & I had this uneasy feeling that my stacks & piles were going to fall on me at any moment. I was searching my 1.5" strip drawer for Civil War fabrics & my husband came into my sewing room & said "Babe you have serious problem". Well that statement & the seed that my LAQ planted I got to work. I went through bags & bags of fabric. I sorted into 2 different piles, fabric that I know I will use & fabric that I would love to keep but I just don't have the space. In my local community we have an Assistance center that has a store ( kind of like the good will) & a quilt store. In the quilt store they sell all kinds of fabric & do machine quilting. Well I took in my 3 bags. It was so much fun today. I know that what they don't use or don't sell they donate it to different churches in the area & a Council on Aging. They will make charity quilts from the fabric. It will not go to waste or be thrown away. 

Now don't worry about me I still have enough scraps to keep me happy for a long time. 

What I'm working on now is turning a container full of Civil War scrappy pieces into useable strips.  My Mom came up last year & helped me clean out my sewing room. We filled this container full of scrappy goodness that I could not bear to part with. The container was so full it was bulging out the sides. I had to stack more fabric on the top just to keep the lid on it. 

This is just a handful that I had taken out of the container to sort, iron & then cut. My next project uses 1.5" pieces but I'm cutting to make the best use of the fabric. I have piles for the neutral & colored 1.5"

A 2" & 2.5" piles. The 2" pieces will go to the treadle. My current Leader & Ender project uses this size & color way. The 2.5" pieces will be cut into hst for the Leader/Ender project at the Pfaff machine. 

All of the 2 & 2.5" strips that are on the table came from the one container I'm working from. I know that I need to organize more & clean up more but I really want to sew now! I hope y'all are having a good day. Typing out this post was a good break from the sorting, ironing & cutting but I'd better get back to it. More later on,

Vicky

The grass is greener on the other side

Part of my morning chores is to walk the electric fence. With the grass being so green & tempting the cows just couldn't help themselves. I found this the other morning. 

Some how those crazy creatures twisted one wire on to the other wire. They also did this at the farthest corner from the gate. I walked back up to the barn to unplug the electric fence & then back down to the corner.  In order to get it untwisted I had to find the closest splice (a splice is where we join two pieces of wire) so that I could take it apart & untwist the wire. Which ever cow did this I'm sure she mooed. It's amazing what they will do to get a little grass. Hopefully they will all stay put until we get a little work done in the back pasture. More later on. I'm hoping to get some sewing done tonight!

Vicky

What I've been working on

I got some time with my sewing machine this weekend. Woohoo!!!! I feel like I've accomplished something. First off I got the log cabin quilt done!!! I used my Accuquilt log cabin die & lets just say that there was definitely a learning curve that went with this quilt. It did not go together like previous log cabin quilts that I have made. That being said I'm glad that it's done & I like how it turned out! All of the bright batiks are all scraps & about 60% of the black is scraps. I've used up all of my black scraps & had to get some yardage. 

Next up, bindings. I think that I've said this before but binding is probably my least favorite part of the the whole quilt process. Even so they still have to be done. I had three to do. I kind of put them off until I just have to do them. My guilds quilt show is in a few weeks & these three will be in the show. The first quilt is my lockin quilt. Y'all have seen this one before but now that the binding is on I can call it done!

 

Next up were my two practice Drunkards Path quilts. These were both made on my treadle. They along with some other quilts that I have made on my treadle will be on display. We are going to have a display with treadle & hand crank sewing machines. 

I'm ready to work on a project on the treadle. I hope y'all have a great day. Check out what others are working on at patchworktimes.com

Vicky

An explosion of ideas & what I'm working on

You know when you're around certain people & the ideas that you get from talking with them kinda over whelm you? Well that has happened to me today. I stopped at my friend Maria's & we got to talking & now the ideas are racing through my head. It's a little bit overwhelming.  I knew that I should wright them down but since I've gotten home I've been running & I have guild meeting tonight. I'm sure the ideas will still be there. I do have a scratch pad in my purse in case I think I might forget them. 

This is the quilt that I've been working on. I've wanted to make a log cabin in this setting for a while now. All that is left is the borders. I was wanting to add them today but life got in the way. There is always tomorrow. 

I hope y'all are having a great day. It's windy but nice here in the middle of the USA. More later on,

Vicky

Lots of pots on the fire.

Life has kept me pretty busy the last two weeks. My kiddo was on Spring Break last week. I try to have at least one adventure with him while he is on Spring Break. This year we went to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art here in Kansas City MO.  It is a free huge museum with lots of art. My kiddo did find the only painting of cows!

My brother & sister in law just had their baby girl on Thursday. Auntie Vic (me) needs to get the binding on her quilt & get it out to her. She arrived 2 weeks early. I thought that I had plenty of time. Hopefully I'll be able to get the binding on it today so that I can ship it off tomorrow. 

My guilds 20th anniversary party is coming up rapidly & I am wanting to be ready & not frantically trying to get it all done the last week. Remember I thought that I wanted to make these fabric flowers?

Well I changed my mind when I realized how long they take to make so my brilliant husband came up with the idea to use fabric measuring tape for the napkin ring & silk flowers to go on top

I think his idea was brilliant & the silk flowers were 50% off, bonus!!! I've got 26 made & more will be made this week. 

I hope y'all are having a great day. I have lots to be thankful for. More later on

Vicky

Finally some time to sew!!!!!

Well I got some time to sew this week!!!! I was able to finish my mystery quilt. I didn't do the borders like the pattern called for but I really like how it turned out. I was unable to take pictures outside. It's been too windy here. 

 I think that it would look really cool if the border fabric was glo in the dark! 

I also got to go & give a lecture/trunk show to the Northland Quilters Guild on Thursday. I have lived in the KC area for over 25 years but i got quite the tour on Thursday. My kiddo ( he started his spring break on Thursday) came with me. He's been wanting to go with me for a while. We left in plenty of time to get there by 9ish. That way we could have plenty of time to get set up. Well I trusted my Onstar navigation & it took me 45 minutes in the wrong direction. The meeting was set to start at 10. I showed up 10 minutes after 10. They were so nice & understanding & they let me go on after their meeting & snacks. I was very greatfull for all of the help from my Mom & kiddo. They helped me set up, hold quilts & pack everything back up in the car. I learned that I should never completely trust technology. I should trust my instincts. I should also get at least 2 different cell phone numbers for guild contacts. I couldn't call anyone & let them know what was going on. They did call me & I did let them know. All in all it was a good learning experience.  

I finished my niece/nephews quilt. It was fun to see how this quilt came together. I started out by just doing some KU Jayhawk embroidery & I kind of went from there. I really like how it turned out. I was able to use fabric that I had on hand for all of the quilt top & backing. I also used some of my leftover batting. I just pieced two pieces together to get the size I needed. 

I went to a quilters sale on Saturday. A fellow quilter had passed away in January & her mom was selling all of her quilting supplies, books & rulers. I did not come home empty handed. Actually my hands were quite full. Some fellow quilters were giving me a hard time because I was buying yardage. I couldn't pass up the good deal. Since I can't pass up a good deal I came home with 19 books. Jeesh, that's like a brand new quilters library. 

I'd better get going. There's lots to do today both farm stuff & quilting stuff. I'm hoping that I'll get the farm stuff done so that I can get to the fun quilts stuff. I hope that y'all are having a good day. Check out patchworktimes.com to see what others are up to. Talk to you more later on,

Vicky

Busy, busy, busy

I've just been very busy the last week and a half. Life has been getting in the way of quilting. I made up for it today. Today I sewed from 10 am to 10pm. My friends Theresa (my long arm quilter) & Sharon had their annual Lock-in today. There were 60 quilters sewing & having a great time. This year I really stepped out of my box & used lime green for the predominat color in the quilt. The quilt does have yardage & scraps in it. I just find it difficult to compleltely use scraps in a mystery quilt. All of the black & white fabrics are scraps from my stash. The other fabric is yardage that I bought from my friend Maria over at airborneheirlooms.com  I was really motivated to see how far I could get. Friend Pam T & I were the last quilters to leave. I was making the square queen. I got all of the rows & all of the sashings done. I really wanted to see what it was going to look like. I'm not sure yet if I like it or not. It all depends on what I decide to do with the borders. Luckily for me that does not have to be decided tonight. I had a great day. It was fun getting to know new quilting friends Morgan & Colleen. I hope y'all had a great day, I did & I'm beat. I'm headed off to bed. More later on,

Vicky