Waiting room quilting

I was called a busy body yesterday. I guess I kinda am. My father in law is not feeling well so my mother in law & I have been in a series of hospital waiting rooms

Since yesterday. I'm glad I had my handwork/knitting bag already to go because it was a life saver for me. I broke my embroidery needle yesterday & I thought jeepers I don't know my own strength, LOL! 

Well the nurse came back in & I had switched to my knitting & that is when she said I was a busy body. Today I've brought along my Y seams project so that I can mark my 1/4".

 That way when I get to sew I won't have to stop & make those marks. 

I also brought more yarn & more needles so I should stay busy & productive while I wait. I hope y'all are having a great day!

More later on,

Vicky

Piecemakers Quilt Guild of Ottawa KS

Thank you! I had a great time with you last night. For the quilters who inquired about my seed packet quilt

This is the book the pattern is in

This is the pattern

Thank you again for a fun night & I hope you left inspired. More later on,

Vicky

It's Monday & there are lots of irons in the fire!

It's a busy Monday here. I've got my car loaded up & ready to go to a guild presentation in Ottawa KS tonight. Every time I load the car I try different ways to put the quilts into the car. This time I've tried to keep them in order so that they are easy to set up. We'll see how it goes. I've got 50 quilts packed into the car, It'll be a fun time & I'm looking forward to it. 

I've not done much sewing since Friday night 😢. Life has been way too busy for me to sit down to sew. I did have a few minutes this am but I decided to finish up the latest scarf.

I decided not to make it an infinity scarf mainly because I ran out of yarn. I really love variegated yarn. The designs you get are so fun. This is a 100% Peruvian highland wool. I used my size 15 needles that are 14".  It's warm! I've got my next skien & needles packed up & they'll go with me tonight along with my needle work. I try to make the best use of my time to get any kind of hand work done. 

On the sewing front I'm working on the Y seams project that I started Friday night & I got my friend Liz's paper piecing project out. They both need to be finished. Here's a pic of the the pp quilt. 

There are four different sections that will make up the star. That & the Y seams quilt will have to wait until tomorrow. It's time to start getting ready to go. I hope y'all are having a great day. It's beautiful day here in the middle of the USA. Check out patchworktimes.com to see what other quilters are up to. More later on,

Vicky 

Learning something new

Y seams. They've got a horrible reputation in the quilting world. I'm not sure who gave them this reputation but they were very effective. I've been quilting for 12 years & it's only been in the last year and a half that I've learned how to do set in seams, curved piecing & now Y seams. It's all about that 1/4" seam allowance, don't get greedy & get into it. I've never taken a class before & my Friday night sewing group wanted to take this one. I had a great time with my friends & I learned a few things. 

I used yardage not scraps for my project. My friends were in shock that I even had yardage. I have purchased yardage before. It's just not something I do very often anymore. Here's my project from last night

I really like it & so does my best friend Liz. She likes the prints, the colors & she likes the design. I asked her if she'd like this quilt instead of the other quilt I'm making her & she asked me if there was enough fabric to make it big. Yes there is.  I've never calculated yardage well plus I'm worried that I won't have enough & so I've always over purchased.

 I'll keep yall updated on its progress. It's time to do chores & I'm having breakfast with a friend who's come from out of town. It should be a great day. More later on,

Vicky

Cross one off the list

I seem to do better & stay focused when I have a list. Writing the blog post about my quilty goals really helped put a fire underneath me. Yesterday I spent my quilty time finishing up my Moms wall hanging. 

Last January I had a presentation in Topeka & afterwards I had to stop at the local quilt shop. I had a great time in there & left with lots of treasures. One of them was a package of 2 mini cheater quilt tops. 

I wanted them for my embroidery. With the pattern already stamped on the fabric a major step had already been done for me.  The first one I made for my friend Liz as her Christmas gift & then this one for my Mom. I think she's planing on using it for her spring wall hanging. Next up on the list is some paper piecing. Time to get my feet wet & remember how to do this. I think I'll practice on the Wild & Goosey blocks before I go onto friend Liz's quilt. That one is way more intense. 

I hope that hall are having a great day. It's simply stunning here. I'm loving this sunshine. More later on,

Vicky

Speaking, a broken sewing machine & my first finished scarf!

This past Monday (Jan 12) I gave my Scrappy quilts presentation to the Lee's Summit Quilters Guild. I had such a good time & I hope that I inspired some quilters to use their scraps! After a quilt is shown they drape the quilts over the chairs so that after the presentation everyone can get up close to the quilts. 

My mom took a few pics while I was speaking

Thank you again Lee's Summit Quilt Guild I had a great time!

For the last few weeks my modern sewing machine has been acting up. The display will fade in & out. I asked my friend Joelyne, who knows way more about these machines than I do, & she thought that it was the power supply. I took my machine to her house yesterday & her friend/tech took a look at it. It turns out that the plug where my foot pedal plugs into my machine is shorting out & not working correctly. Ahhhhh! I will be able to use my machine but eventually the screen will go completely black. There are a few options to get it fixed so I'm staying optimistic. 

I finished my first knitted scarf yesterday! I'm so excited that I finished it & that it turned out! Yeah!

It's very warm & versatile. Success breeds desire to create more, so I am. Here's my newest project

I'd better get up & get breakfast going. More later on,

Vicky

My quilty goals for 2015

I'm insane or at least that's what it feels like. I've set some pretty lofty goals for myself this year. I really want to challenge myself. So here it goes: 

Projects to finish:

My moms wall hanging. I just need to put borders on & have it quilted. 

My friend Liz's purple project. She's been very patient in waiting for this. Though to make it better I've been loaning her different quilts until she has hers.

I had also started Wild & Goosey from Bonnie Hunter & it needs to be finished. 

Long term project: I'm going to make a pineapple quilt. I've got lots of tiny scraps that I can't toss. It's time to use them up. The blocks will finish at 4"

I'll need to make 625 of them so that the quilt will be big enough for me. That's roughly 2 blocks a day for this year & I'm already behind. 

This is also the year that I'm going to make my favorite pattern of all time, The Double Wedding Ring. I have loved this pattern for years but I've always been intimidated by it. Well curved seams do not frighten me anymore & I have a die to cut all of the pieces. There are no more reasons to keep putting this off. I started cutting the pieces & I did sew some of the arcs last night.  The background will be black & the arcs will be bright batiks. Predictable I know but I just love that combo. 

I'm sure that there will be more that pop up during the year but as of right now these are my goals. I'd better go & get started on one of these. More later on,

Vicky

Crickets chirping

It's been quiet on my blog for way to long. Life has been extremely busy in the last 6 weeks or so. Besides the holidays, which were a blast but busy I have started cooking breakfast & supper for my in laws everyday. I don't mind it & my guys really love it, they haven't been eating cereal as much. Though I am finding it more of a challenge to find new ways to cook eggs. Today is my father in laws 90th birthday. He didn't want a party he wanted a coconut cake & a chocolate cake. I made him the coconut cake last night & the chocolate cake for tonight. We are also having his favorite, fried catfish. 

I'm also learning a new skill, knitting. I can't explain it but I just had this overwhelming urge to learn how to do it. Here is my first scarf

It turned out narrow so I'm giving it to a friend for a cold kiddo. Next I made a pot holder 

It was a great way to practice but it doesn't do to well at protecting you from the heat. Currently I'm working on a scarf or shawl I'm not sure which. I'm finding I like working with the largest needles I could find, they fit my man hands. 

I've been quilting as much as I can fit in. I've finished my 4 patch X quilt ( pic coming soon. Gotta wait for a calm weather day outside. It's way to large to take the pic inside). I'm also working on my Spider web quilt. When this pic was taken I had 21 blocks done, half way done!

Now I have 34 blocks done & I'm running out of strings. Time to hunt down done more. My goal is to have this one done in time for my next guild presentation on Jan 19. I'm really trying to make that happen!

I'd better get going. Chores need to be done & I need to start frying the catfish & I've forgotten that I need to make my Sat Sampler blocks for tomorrow. It'll all get done. Next blog post I'm going to share my quilting goals for 2015. I think I'm going to really step out of my comfort zone this year. I hope that y'all have had a great holiday season & are looking forward to the new year. I sure am. More later on & a lot more frequent. 

Vicky