Quilt top completed and another started!

Last night at Piecemakers I finished the quilt top for the NICU "Trip Around the World". It turned out really great. The only problem I encountered was the way I had been instructed to press the seam allowances. I will never, never, and never press my seams open again. The points where the rectangles came together were not even close. From here on I will always, always and always press to the dark fabric so that the seams will click into place and the points will line up. Now all I have to do is a border, layer, quilt and bind. All??? My binding clips arrived from JoAnn's so I am ready to go. Hooray!

I really got on a roll last night and started my next Alaska maternity quilt. It is a simple 6.5 block surrounded by three 2.5 strips sewn together and cut to 6.5. Then all it needs is arranging and putting together. I got 4 rows of 6 together. After I looked at it I think another block will be needed to make it big enough. It was to be 5 blocks by 6, but I think 6 by 6 is really needed. Fortunately I have enough fabric to do this.

This weekend I have two goals. 1) Make my kitchen as neat and clean as my mother always kept her's. She was a fanatic about clean kitchens! 2) Get the rest of the books into the bookcase.

After these goals are met I am going to quilt to my heart's content. I have been granted a reprieve on my Patchwork Illusions class. The next class I am signed up for at Q.U. is going to be delayed because the teacher is having surgery. This gives me more time on the Patchwork Illusions homework. Everone else in the class is having such success and I want to be included!

Have a great day, Karen

Sweet & Sour -- Happy & Sad

Last night I continued working on my NICU Trip Around the World quilt top. I have the right side together and ready for final pressing. I have the rows for the left side ready for pressing before assembly. I may actually get the top finished this evening. I also set down a larger baby quilt with the Trip Around the World pattern on graph paper. It looks like 9 fat quarters will be perfect. I am going to JoAnn's this evening after work and take advantage of their $.99 sale of FQ and pick up some pastels and baby prints that will work well in 2 1/2" by 3" rectangles. This is going to be fun!

My daughter called yesterday on her way home from work. We were discussing this and that and I mentioned that we wanted her, her husband and our grandchild to come over for a visit. She said that as soon as I finish cleaning the kitchen they will come over. They haven't been in the house in almost 8 years. I am finally feeling better after all these years of poor health and the house is starting to look like a home instead of a collection of stuff. Stuff has ruled my life for far too long and I am getting the better hand of it. Before I went to bed last night I actually picked up everything that was mine in the living room. Now I have to continue this on a daily basis and start working on DH to do the same. If we can keep it clean and straight on a daily basis it will stay that way. Oh, I pray we will succeed on this!

Tonight along with finishing the top of the NICU quilt I need to cut out the fabric for one of my Alaska maternity hospital charity quilts. It's going to be 6.5" squares and 2 1/2" strips sewn together to make 6.5" squares. I am not sure how I will alternate the strips blocks. Will have to get it up on the design wall to make sure what is pleasing.

Tomorrow is the big day. DH and I will visit our primary care doctor. I have many concerns that I will be addressing during this appointment. DH driving, DH applying for conceal to care permit, DH using credit cards, DH not remembering, DH getting lost, DH etc..... Fortunately the doctor is on James side and also has been through it with his own mother. I know he will give us good guidance. If only DH will follow the recommendations! Pray for us, please.

I have to get to work on my Patchwork Illusions homework. I have all the fabric, the value finder and the template. I have no excuses to be procrastinating on this! All I have to do is sit down and do it. My classmates are getting too far ahead of me. I think this will be my Friday project after work.

Yesterday I received not so good news from Hancock's of Paducah. My fabric for the background the of Fairy Dust quilt is on backorder. Oh, sadness and woe.

I must end this and get to work. Have a wonderful day, Karen

NICU Trip Around the World

Saturday the patterns for the Fairy Dust quilt arrived. I have only to wait for Hancocks of Padducah to send me the background fabric and I will be ready to start this quilt. It will be my first major project with paper piecing. What a ball!

Yesterday I went to Best Friends Quilt Shoppe for a free class. It was a Trip Around the World in a small size to be donated to the NICU. I had a ball.

It was a totally new pattern to me. I had seen it in pictures, but to try and construct it was a real trip. That plus the directions didn't seem to go with the finished project. The instructor finally made the instructions work and I got most of the right side of the quilt top sewn together. I was very careful when packing the strips so that I can put them up on my design wall and have them in the right order to sew together. As soon as I finish the entire quilt and take it in I will be entered into a drawing for something from the shop. Since it is a really nice LQS I hope I will win something. However, the main reason for this was to learn to make the smaller quilt. I intend to send some of my quilts based on this pattern to our maternity hospital in Alaska that we donate baby quilts to.

We are finally in our own bed again. Yesterday my DH and I finished clearing off the books from the master bed and we finally had a good night's sleep. I feel totally refreshed! And James used his CPAP and didn't snore all night long. While we were camping out in the living room he snored every night.

We picked up the new dining room table Saturday at IKEA. It looks so nice, although it is under a table cloth. Even though it is considerably smaller than the old table it seems larger. Maybe that is because it is 45" in diameter and the old table was 36" by 60". I love the new table.

Thursday is Piecemakers and I have to cut out some fabric for an Alaska quilt. I think I will also cut out fabric for another baby Trip Around the World and work on both Thursday evening.

Have a great day, Karen

Patchwork Illusions

My value viewer and 60 degree diamond cutter ruler arrived from Karen Combs on Wednesday. With all the chaos about the rug cleaning and furniture moving I haven't had a chance to use them for the process of choosing my fabrics for my first illusion cube.

We are still sleeping in the living room. James was just to tired and despressed last night to help move things out of the master bedroom. We have to get moving on this so that we can begin living like human beings.

My plan is to pick up the new dining room table at IKEA on Saturday and have James computer desk and the new table in the dining room before the end of Saturday. That should leave me Sunday for quilting.

Our LQS, Best Friends Quilt Shop, is having a NICU quilt making class on Sunday. It is free and the results will be "Just a Little Trip Around the World" quilt for a baby in ICU. I cannot wait for this free class. Maybe some of my other friends who take classes at Best Friends will be there too.

I have to get moving on all these things so that I can get back to my quilting. I am going through withdrawal...I'm melting. LOL

Have a great day, Karen

Pictures sent & house cleaning

I used my husband's digital camera and took several pictures of my fabric for Patchwork Illusions. After cropping one I sent it to Quilt University. Karen Combs recommended that rather than keep them in the same color, to arrange them by value.

I finally gave in and ordered the value lenses and Karen's diamond template to work on my homework in this class. I cannot wait for them to arrive.

On the home front we got everything out the dining room, living room and hall and had Stanley Steamer come in and clean the carpets. They look almost new except for the few stains that could not be removed. I am going to wait until the carpet is totally dry and try Oxi-Clean in a concentrated form and see if I can get out more.

The new couch was delivered yesterday evening and it looks so large compared to the old one. Because I had to take all the books out of the book cases in the living room and hall we had no bed to sleep in last night. Stanely Steamer recommended that we do not load the book cases until we remove the block underneath. That depends on how fast the carpet drys. Tonight I will replace the books after we remove the blocks from under the book case and then we can sleep in our own bed. The new couch is quite comfortable, but it is not going to become a regular thing!

The new dining room table will be picked up this weekend on Saturday or Sunday. No more card table to dine on! Hooray.

I am laying down the law to myself and DH that we will not dump anything in the living room or dining room and that they are to be kept neat at all times. Also, the frequency of dusting and vacuuming will be more often to keep it all clean! This is my new year’s resolution in July. LOL.

After I get one more room into my austerity program I will start on my sewing room /studio remodeling. I cannot wait, but have made a promise to myself that there are priorities and the studio comes second!

Have a nice day, Karen

Progress not Perfection

Last Saturday was the first day of my Quilt University class Patchwork Illusions with Karen Combs. I purchased some fabric from my local box store (Walmart) on Saturday with the intention of combining it with my stash.

Monday evening I took the time to lay out the fabrics by color and then light to dark. When I was finished I had almost 60 fabrics. They were all layed out so neatly and then I couldn't find my digital camera! LOL? So I put my fabric carefully away. Tonight is laundry and camera search. No reading! No quilting! No piecing! What a bore, but got to get it done. DH is down to his last pair of tidy whites and complaining. I don't blame him at all.

Have a great day, Karen

Sewing Room / Studio

Saturday I rewarded myself for going to visit my mother-in-law by going into the Dollar Store and buying out almost every Sterilite storage box they had. I must have spent about $125 on storage for my new studio. Right now they are balanced on the back of the couch in the family room. As soon as I finish getting the living room and dining room in my new austerity format I will truly start on the studio.

My house is a bi-level and the studio will be in the family room that is directly beneath the bedrooms. It is the coolest room in the house during the summer (which is a good thing) and has a fireplace so that I can keep it warm and attractive in the winter. I am so excited about this new studio. I will be able to have quilting friends over for mini retreats.

I am still waiting for my pattern to be sent from Starr Designs that I ordered at the NQA show. I am getting impatient to see it! I still have to purchase about 12 yards of a pale yellow fabric at my LQS to use as the background fabric. I am thinking about Moda Marbles or Fossil Fern at the background, but will have to see what they actually look like next to the HQ bundles I picked up at NQA.

Several of my quilting friends are passing around vintage quilt magazines. We put a post-it on the page of a pattern or article that we want. At the end the magazine will be taken apart and the individual who want the patter will get it. If more than one is interested a copy of the original will be made so as not to run afoul of the copyright laws.

I picked up several pieces of remnant fabric at our local big box fabric store (Joann's here in Cincinnati) on Saturday. That also was in reward of my trip to my mother-in-law. Several are fleece and will coordinate with other remnant pieces of fleece that I have purchased for my quilts for the Alaska baby quilt project that Piecemakers is supporting. Last Thursday at our meeting we took out an enormous storage box with fabric and tried to coordinate fabrics together into packages that will be used to make tops for this project. I picked up so additional fleece then.

I have so many new projects that I need to list on my blog that I will wait until I get some time at home to do it.

Have a great day, Karen