Snow Day!

We had our first significant snow this winter in the last 24 hours.  We've gotten about 2 inches so far, with more on the way.

Here's a photo of the backyard this afternoon, with lots of snow coming down.  It did this off and on all day, so I called it a "snow day".  Fortunately, no one had to go anywhere today.  We're far enough out in the boonies that we don't get plowed.  They plow the highway which is about 2 miles from here.  It warmed up enough today that some melted, but now we're below freezing again, so there's ice under all the snow.  I have to go to P.T. tomorrow, but not until early afternoon, so hopefully it will warm up enough to have the ice on the road melt before I get out there.

So, due to a "snow day", I couldn't possible do anything other than sew.  *grin*   Here's what I was working on:

My Crumbs quilt.  I got this put together the other day, and then decided it wasn't long enough.  So I was making more blocks to add one more row.  You can see that Shade was supervising me.  I decided that this final row was a "design opportunity" and made some blocks just for this.  I took some of my Parts Department blocks and leftovers and rejects and used them as the starting point for the blocks.  I added a rejected "S", a wonky star, a little heart and so on.  I also added some fabrics that are favorites or significant to me.  That was fun and it didn't take too long.  I managed to get that row finished and sewn together before dinner, but still have to sew it to the top.  Then it's time for borders.  I think I know what I'll be doing.  I can't wait to get this done - I'm so excited about it!

My guild is doing a Crumb block workshop this coming Friday.  I and another lady did a demo on crumb blocks at the quilt show, and everyone wants to have an intensive lesson on doing these.  Since we have a lot of scraps left from the quilt show (we were selling scraps next to the crumb demo), we'll make those into blocks for charity quilts.  It should be fun.  So I want to get my top mostly done.  I only had 3 rows done at the quilt show.  The other lady does bigger pieces and a more controlled color scheme for her crumbs, and I want to show the other end of the spectrum.  In other words, my usual crazy-ness!

Actually, this crumb quilt is going to be my entry (only one?)  in the Scrap Attack Quilt-Along that Rachel Hauser is hosting over on her blog Stitched in Color.  She's challenging quilters to use up some of their scraps.  Since that's my favorite kind of quilt, of course I've got to do it.  If you interested too, go here.  Fortunately, she's not requiring that the quilts be quilted and bound - whew!  And I already have enough crumb blocks sewn for another 2 (at least!) quilts.  The one above is all for me, so the others may be charity quilts.  I haven't decided yet.

I haven't made any more progress on the D9P I Spy quilt.  I'm still debating what I want to do for the border.  I'm tempted to just sew plain borders on to get it done, but that sounds pretty boring to me.  So, I'm still considering possibilities.  I don't have too long to debate with myself.  The quilt needs to be done in a month, which is when DGD's birthday happens.  Do you have a favorite border technique that you use?  I'm sure open to suggestions if you have some!

Getting There

Thank you to everyone for the well-wishes!  I'm making a good recovery.  No more sling, as of Wednesday.  I can shower and dress by myself again, which is so nice, although I still have to adapt for the left arm as I have some trouble getting it up very high or putting it behind my back.  I'm back to most of my usual activities, which is good and bad.  I had to actually cook the other night, and wash dishes too.  I really didn't miss that!  *grin*  And Monday I "get" to start doing Physical Therapy.  But, on the plus side, I finally got some sewing done!

I started with a few string blocks, while I had the sling on.  Now I have graduated to more precise sewing.  When I did my clean-up of the quilt studio, I finally found the I Spy blocks for DGD's quilt.  Yay!  So, I got those up on the design wall the other day, and now they're all sewn together.

This pattern is actually a Disappearing Nine Patch.  All the I Spy blocks are going every which way.  I think one could go insane trying to figure out how to keep all the images right-side up when you're doing this pattern, so I just didn't even try.  Besides, I think this makes it more interesting.  There's no right or wrong side up to it, so when you're using the quilt, it all works.  That's my theory anyway.

Now I'm auditioning something for the outer border.  I think I've decided on a solid green fabric, which is not what's in the photo.  It was tough.  I auditioned at least 10 or 15 fabrics.  I hadn't planned on an inner border, but it seemed to be needed.  The center is so busy it needs a "stop" before the purple border.

The other project I'm beginning is a "Pet Robin", which my guild is doing for our Block of the Month this year.  This idea is from Nancy Chong.  It's where you do the concept of a Round Robin, but you do your own quilt, not passing it around from person to person.  We each wrote a suggestion for the next step,  put them all in a bag and drew one out.  Our first step will be to add applique.  Each month we'll do the same thing for the next step.  I haven't even got a first block done yet.  I had a hard time deciding whether or not to do this.  Now I'm still trying to decide what to do!  I think I'll be different, and make mine wonky.  It sounds like more fun to me.  And it probably won't be very big.  I may start with a block that's somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 to 10 inches.

Well, off to do more!  Happy quilting!

Happy New Year

Welcome to 2012!  I am not sad to see 2011 leave, as it wasn't my best year.

I get to start the new year wearing a sling.  I had surgery on Tuesday last - the 27th - on my formerly broken arm (my fall in Fall 2009) to take out the hardware that was put in to repair the break.  Fortunately, it's my off hand (left arm).  So I can do a few things for myself - like type one-handed!

The surgery went well.  I was home 6 hours after I left the house.  The drugs I got controlled the pain well and I was taking Tylenol in 2 days.  I slept in the recliner for the first few days (with one or the other of the kitties sleeping on my chest keeping me warm), but spent all of last night in my own bed!  Yay! 

I'm doing fine and probably using my arm more than I should.  This is easy compared to having a broken arm!  The only issues I'm having are that my shoulders are getting pretty cramped in spite of the exercises I'm doing, and the tape over the bandages is starting to itch quite a bit.  That doesn't come off until Wed. when I go to the post-op appointment.  So, no real complaints, just some whining.  The best part is no housework or cooking!!  (I really like that part)  DH is a champ at taking care of everything.  Sorry, he's taken!  *smug grin*

Unfortunately, not much sewing will be happening for a few more days.  In good news, I did find the missing blocks for my DGD's quilt!  It was like an archaeological dig in the quilt studio!  But it's 95% clean - just a few bags of projects to find places for - and ready and waiting for me!  I'm anxious to get going on it.

I'd like to thank all my bloggy friends for your friendship, your sweet comments and your wonderful blogs.  Even when I can't sew or blog, you keep me feeling like I'm part of your lives, you make me laugh and I love seeing what you're working on.  I wish each and every one of you a wondeful 2012, filled with what you love the most!

Random Christmas-y Stuff

I've been so busy around here - after all, it is the season, right? I've been trying to get this posted for a week now.

Here's my oldest Christmas quilt.  I made this back in 1980-something.  I don't remember where I found the pattern, but piecing those letters was a challenge for me at that time.  It's very graphic with those bright colors, and I don't know that I would pick those fabrics again!   But it's OK.  I still enjoy it.

Here is my big mistake - intricate quilting on a busy fabric.  Can you see the "Merry Christmas" that I quilted?  Pretty hard to see, isn't it?  Can you see the holly leaf on the left border?  I think those show up fairly well, but I sure learned my lesson about quilting the busy fabric.  Sharon over at Grass Roots Quilting blog talked about this a while back, which reminded me of this wallhanging.

Last week we went to see the Zoo Lights at the zoo in Tacoma.  This shot is overlooking part of the zoo.  We'd never been before, and it was a lot of fun!  There are millions of LED lights all over everything in the zoo.  There were only a couple of animals to be seen.  We saw a sleeping tiger and we were ogled by a shark at the aquarium.  I think he was looking for a hand-out. 

Here is my favorite display - the purple tree!  Isn't it awesome? 

We'd never been to the zoo before, so I have no idea how it normally looks, but I sure enjoyed the zoo lights!  One of these days, we'll have to go back when the weather is good and in the daylight.

I've been working off-and-on at tying the corduroy quilt.  Not making much progress so far - I just don't have enough time to spare right now.   

I've pretty much finished cleaning the quilt studio but have had no time to go in there to play.  I have a few Christmas presents to get sewn this week, so I do need to get in there.  I've mostly finished shopping, I have some wrapping to do and all my baking, but I am hopeful that I can get in the studio!  Besides, I need to go play with fabric for my sanity! 

Happy Quilting!

A Lazy Sunday

Here are the Trip Around the World blocks that I started for Block Lotto.  This was the block for November. They look pretty good, don't they?  Well, what you can't see is that they're the wrong size.  I was aiming for 12 1/2 inches (raw edge) and what I got ranged from 12 3/4 to 13 inches.  I was using my little Brother travel machine, and apparently I've not been getting a true 1/4 inch seam allowance on it.  Rats.  I tried and tried and still couldn't get it right. *sigh*

So, I tried something else.  I got out my ruler and the painter's tape and marked where the fabric should be for a true 1/4 inch seam allowance.  I cleaned out the lint (like that would help?)  and then decided that I should replace the needle while I was at it.  It had been a while.  So, got the new needle in and took a couple of stitches slowly and carefully to make sure I had actually put the needle in the right place.  Guess what?  I think I didn't get it right.  After those two stitches, the machine made a kind-of-funny noise and there was just a stub of metal where the needle should be!  Ack! 

So, since neither DH nor I could get the plate off the machine to find the needle, AND I have a service contract that means I pay NOTHING for service (I LOOOVE that!), I decided that the machine needs to go to the shop and have a needle-ectomy.  At that point, I also decided that it wasn't the right day for me to be sewing.  I quietly turned out the light in the quilt studio and shut the door behind me. 

A few days later, I went back into the quilt studio, hauled out my trusty Bernina, and made 8 blocks (the correct size!) for the Block Lotto.  Whew!  I found my "sewing mojo" again!  Now I just have to get these in a couple of envelopes to send off to the Block Lotto winners.  And I'm sad that I didn't win this month.  :(

Now, I'm free to start work on my Christmas sewing.  Well, AFTER I clean up the quilt studio.  The piles of fabrics and projects is getting too deep to be able to actually accomplish anything in there.  The stacks keep sliding over and off onto the floor.  And there is only about 8 inches square of surface on the cutting table that is free of "stuff". Ugh.  I don't really want to clean up, but it is time.  Maybe I'll be able to find the blocks for DGD's quilt that I've "lost" in there.  If I'm not back in 2 days, send in the Search and Rescue team.  I may be buried alive!

My First Quilt

Bonnie Hunter, over on Quiltville, had photos and the story of her first quilt, and is asking for us to post photos of our first quilt and its story too.  If you visit her here, you can see lots of first quilts.

It took a bit of digging in the blanket chest, but I finally found this beauty!  (If you double click the picture, it will biggify so you can really enjoy it!)

This is the first quilt I ever worked on.  This was back in 1969 or 1970, I believe.  My sister and I had a lot of scraps leftover from all the clothes we had sewn, and one summer we decided it was time to make a quilt from those scraps.  I really don't remember how we did it, but we must have used some kind of a template, because those squares are all the same size.  We put in everything we had.  A lot of cotton fabrics (including kettlecloth, anybody else remember that stuff?), corduroy, wool and even some velvet from a prom dress that my sister made.  Somewhere in the midst of the making of this quilt, I got married and left home, so my sister actually finished this quilt.  There's a couple of rows that are offset from the next one.  I think she decided that the quilt needed to be bigger and added those rows later.  There are ties on only two rows that don't go through to the back and that left side just kind of disappears at the edge.  The backing fabric is bright red (still!) and seems to be a decorator weight.  The quilt is funky, but fun! 

You know, I remember most of these fabrics, but many of them I can't remember what the original outfit was! 

Here's a closeup shot.  You can see wool, corduroy, kettlecloth and plain cotton fabrics.  Look at that chocolate brown with the turquoise flowers!  It looks just like the fabrics that are coming out now.  LOL  I remember my youngest commenting that those were cool fabrics, but then he was horrified to learn that we actually WORE them!  In PUBLIC!

So, fast forward about 10 years.  Here is the first quilt that I actually made.  This was made in 1981.  I decided that I was going to make a 9-patch pillow, like I had seen in some country magazine.  Well, when I got out my sewing scraps, there were so many that I wanted to use because of the memories associated with them, that the pillow grew into this quilt!  I had to go buy more fabric to have enough to finish the quilt to a good size.

I remember the kids helping me pick out which fabrics to include and my DH helping me to lay out the squares on the floor.  I backed it with plain white fabric (a sheet?) and I tied it with white acrylic yarn.  Then, Christmas Eve around midnight, my Mom helped me to put on the binding.  Oh that binding!  It is atrocious!  It was that packaged bias binding, in white, there is no batting in the binding, and my corners are all rounded.  The quilt was given to my youngest for a Christmas present that year, and this picture is from today.  It's held up pretty well!  It's faded, except for the poly-cotton squares, and thin in spots, but he still loves it.

Here's a closeup of some of the fabrics.  These are fabrics that I used for clothing, curtains, robes, a cowboy shirt that I slaved over for my DH and even a shower curtain that I made from a sheet.  And that bright red solid poly-cotton?  My oldest picked that out for me to make into pyjamas for him!  I still remember the lady at the store who was cutting the fabric commenting that the kid would never sleep in those because they were so bright they'd keep him awake.  hee hee!

After I made this quilt, I realized how much fun I had had making it, but knew that I didn't know enough to do a better job.  So, right after that Christmas, I took my first quilting class in Adult Education.  And I haven't stopped since then!  It's good to see how far I've come.

Your turn!  Let's see your first quilt!  I dare ya to show it!

Corduroy & A Birthday

The Corduroy Quilt
approximately 53 inches by 70 inches

Welcome to a special edition of Indigo Threads!  Just in case you didn't know, today is a perfect date: 11-11-11.  A once in a lifetime event.  Those of you who are regular readers will know that I love these fun dates. 

Well, today is much more than "just" a perfect date.  It's also National Corduroy Appreciation Day.  LeeAnn over at Nifty Quilts invited anyone who wanted to to participate in a corduroy quilt-along.  So, if you've come here from Nifty Quilts, welcome!

Initially, I thought the Quilt Along sounded like fun, but I had no corduroy.  I'm not purchasing much fabric lately, as I already have a large stash.  But it didn't include corduroy.  So, I decided not to do the quilt-along. 

Then, unexpectedly, corduroy entered my life!  A lady at quilt guild was giving away a bunch of fabrics, and there were 2 2-yard pieces of corduroy!  Another lady noticed my interest in the corduroy and offered me her corduroy scraps too.  So, it seemed the Universe wanted me to play with corduroy!  Who am I to argue with the Universe??

I ended up with 2 yards of wide wale burgundy, two yards of wide wale tan, a pretty good-sized chunk of purple, some pieces of black, a small piece of yellow and a little larger piece of bright green. Amazingly, it worked together pretty well, except for this piece of bright grass green.  (you can't tell from this picture exactly what color it is/was)  First, I washed all the corduroy together.  The black cord scraps kind of dulled down the bright yellow and dulled the green some.  But not enough.  So, I hauled out the dye and had some fun!  I decided on the blue overdye that the arrow is pointing to.  It didn't really come out great, but it was much better.  Sadly, that was the only fabric dyeing I managed this summer. *sigh*  These colors are not easy to photograph and get true colors.  Some of the color differences you're seeing are just the nap going different directions.  



the challenge is fitting these all together!



I decided early on that I wanted to do something in the Gee's Bend style.  Those ladies made a lot of corduroy quilts, and I knew cord didn't lend itself to fussy. (just fuzzy!)  So, no rotary cutter or rulers, just me and my scissors.  I  tried to just work intuitively.  It was fun!  When I could, I ripped the big piece of cord.  What a mess that made!  I used a walking foot to sew this together, and used 1/2 inch seams.  I don't think this will come apart anytime soon!

I paid no attention to the nap of the corduroy, I just cut and sewed whatever fit together, and patched in other bits when something was a little short.  You know: "if it's too large, cut it off and if it's too small, add on to it"!  I used even the smallest pieces.  I completely used up the yellow and the blue-green.  I have only a small handful of scraps left of the black, the purple and the burgundy!  Oh, and I have the entire 2 yard piece of the tan left - maybe another corduroy quilt in the future??  And, my scissors are now incredibly dull!

 

In true Gee's Bend style, this top is kind of lumpy.  It will never lie flat!  And I'm OK with that.  It's heavy and cuddly and soft and will be warm! 

I had fun, and did this in pretty much record time, at least for me.  It's not tied or quilted yet, but the back is pieced and ready.  I'm using flannel on the back, for even more coziness.  I'm going to making a little test swatch to decide if I want to tie or machine quilt this.  I've had 2 people offer to help me tie it!

The other reason today is a special date?  It's my birthday today!  So, this quilt is my present to myself!  Yay!

I'm not planning anything special today, maybe just some more time in the Quilt Studio.  That sounds like fun to me!  And maybe we'll go out to dinner tonight.  I just have to decide if I want Mexican or Chinese.  Hmmmm . . . . They both sound good!

Thanks, LeeAnn, for the fun Corduroy Quilt-Along!  I got a yummy quilt out of it, and had so much fun making it.  I can't wait to go visit all the other Corduroy Enthusiasts to see their corduroy quilts!  Be sure to go visit Nifty Quilts for the Corduroy Quilt show!

Now, I think I have to take the sticky roller to the carpet in the Quilt Studio before I take the vacuum to it!  Yikes!  Fuzz Attack!

Playing With Blocks

Here is what was on my design wall on Monday.  I've started making some 16 Patches in plaids and black.  I started making these for a Demo I did at the Quilt Show on Quick & Easy 4-Patches.  After the show, I started sewing them together.  This is all that I had cut.  Now it's time to iron and cut some more before I can work on these more. 

However, these are down off the design wall now, to make room for the corduroy quilt I'm making for National Corduroy Appreciation Day.  That is November 11th.  Also know as 11-11-11, "The Date That Most Closely Resembles Corduroy".  LeeAnn over at Nifty Quilts is having a corduroy quilt-along.  There's still time to join up!  The big reveal will be on 11-11-11, so stay tuned.

Dunkel was being very coy with DH the other morning, peeking over the back of the couch while he basked in the morning sunlight.

I hope everyone is taking the opportunity to check out the wonderful quilts featured at the Blogger's Quilt Festival, hosted by Amy of Amy's Creative Side.  I don't know which I enjoy more, the quilts or the stories that accompany them.  If you haven't checked this out yet, don't be coy!  Click on the button for the BQF on my sidebar, and enjoy!