New Quilt Design

Of course by now you all know I use my charity quilts to practice a new quilt design.  I learned a new one this winter and I am very pleased how it turned out.  Here is a picture of the front and back.  The quilt pattern was Disappearing Nine Patch.

Hello, I am Here!

I am back after a few setbacks.  I had to upgrade to Google Chrome which is fine other than so many things have moved/changed that it takes me longer to do things.  As I was going through this task, feeling annoyed, I remembered back when I was employed and our company introduced CHANGE.  Wow, what turmoil and unhappy employees and disgruntled employees we had.  What change was doing was making everyone more accountable for what they did.  It was not that hard, just took time to get used to, so as I was doing my updates, I thought why am I so upset over all of this?  I will and did get through it, and yes, I still have some issues to deal with but they will resolve themselves in time.  I am not going to let being a senior make me an unhappy blogger.

Back to business, do you ever make binding up ahead of time just to have available when you want some in a hurry?  I do, especially for scrappy quilts where  a scrappy binding is often the right choice.

Above you can see my assortment of blues that I sewed together and pressed ready for a quilt.  I usually sew 7 - 8  2 1/2" strips together.  This time I have some left over so they will get joined to some other set.  Below is my finished quilt with the binding attached.  It was a good fit for this quilt.  I regularly sew at night and how often have you finished a quilt and would just love to get that binding on but to start from fresh is just too much at 10 pm so this is when I go to my binding stash.  Try it, I am sure you will like it.

Catching Up

Thanks all you readers and followers who have dropped  by over the past couple of weeks.  I just need to catch everyone up on what's happening on my sight.

This past Monday, October 1, I had a complete hip replacement and got home today.  I am feeling very well and I am getting around good, with the aid of a walker and not much pain.  I had a phone call for my surgery two weeks ago, so to make it brief I was in a whirlwind getting ready.  I need to rest for a week and then maybe I can get back to doing some sewing.  I want to wish everyone here a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

UFO Update

I haven't had a post this week because I have been very busy with garden produce and quilting, but it has been a fun week.  My new UFO sofa topper has had a lot of work done.  I did some rippping of FMQ, don't you just hate doing that but it had to be.  My color of thread that looks stunning on the black, didn't show at all on the greys so I ripped out the quilting and used a navy and all is well now.

I did some pine boughs in one square and when I was done, I realized I had just done thread painting and it was fun and looks great.  I have never tried thread painting and didn't practice this but I am not going to be over confident as the next time I try to do it, it will be a big flop.  Just a lucky day!  Here is a close up of the stitching.

 

My bare tree on the right is upside down and this was one of the blocks I had to redo.  I must thank those of you that left comments and suggestions.  I used each one and I am so pleased with how it is coming together.  Leah's UFO posts are just so great and I have never before had such responsive support.  Now, I am going to see what everyone else is up to this week.

A Feather in my Bonnet

I have met this lovely lady Dora who is a fabulous quilter and we share a love for vintage machines and using our treadles for FMQ.  Dora made a wonderful tutorial here and I told her I wanted to give it a try so I did last night.  I started out by drawing out the design on paper, I always do it on paper first as it just helps my brain absorb it more.

Sorry about it turning on it's side.  The inside center is the trickiest for sure but with Dora's wonderful pictures, it was very easy to follow.  Then I moved on to the real thing.  I made up 2 sample blocks and I think my first attempt is the best.  I was being distracted trying to do the center better in the second sample and it ended up a lot more wobblier so it tells me I need some more practice before I enter this on any quilt.  If you go to Dora's blog, you will see her lovely quilt finished with all the beautiful plumes.  Thanks Dora for the great tutorial.

Annie was just excited to perform last night and is sitting ready for some more action