It Pays to Clean......

.....member when I was whining about having to make a new schlep bag for my bus quilt trip last month because I couldn't find my other one? 

Well, I decided to put the sofa cushions out in the hot sun today to freshen them up a bit...and found this plastered behind one of the back sofa cushions...

I was so excited I grabbed it off the back of the couch...then when I thought of taking pictures, found it would not attach itself again like velcro.. so just draped it over my machine and took a picture..

It will need washing, but now I do have 2 (two!) schelp bags! 

Now What Else Can I Clean....it seems like Christmas!

The Last of John Deere...Almost

I meet with a church group twice a month.  We make quilts for different purposes, as well as other items..depending upon our whims...

I just finished this simple top for them last week, and hope to find a nice backing so we can quilt it soon.

That would seem to be all of the John Deere fabric.......

but no...

I still have these. 

I will need to add more fabric to make a quilt, but I can see.....

the tractor in the middle, added fabric all around, with a couple of outer borders made from the rest...and, if necessary, a final border of added fabric...

whatcha think?

Any more ideas?

Or should I just throw it in the pot for another member to try her luck?

One sitting, 3 Jobs

I decided to concenrate on my L/E quilt in between pinning my sandwich together (last post).  So I assembled my small mat, cutter, small iron, and new board. 

And I was able to iron, cut, and sew without getting up once!  Maybe I am starting to get into this organizing mode....

I have only a few more blocks to put together and then I'll see how much more I will have to add to the quilt...

A "Chef's Table" for Quilting

I bought the chef's table when I first started quilting..I cannot crawl around on the floor...it would do me in.  It strikes me chest high (almost 40")  and the top measures 50" x 23".

 It  is perfect for me to sandwich quilts on.  It has wheels and is made of stainless steel, very smooth with rounded edges.   The edges of the quilt hang over and seldom touch the floor.  I have gotten adept at gauging the length of each layer.  I do have to stand while pinning, and can only do that a limited time, but it can stay there while I do other things...I do have to be careful when working on the edges, that the weight does not make it slide off the table,,so when necessary I just put a couple of heavy items on it to keep it in place.  I did buy some clamps which I have used, but they need to be clamped underneath the rounded edges, and unless it is a really, really big quilt, I seldom use them.

I decided to start sandwiching a Quilt-Along top (approx 60" x 60") that I have mentioned before (along with the highly touted (sp?) back.  So I pulled out my table, laid out the newly unwrapped queen size batting I bought, positioned it on the table, then put the top on it.  After the top was positioned, I saw where I needed to cut to make a piece big enough..cut I did...

After that, I carefully lifted the top and batting off, with the top sticking to the batting well enough to stay together.  I then laid the bottom on the table, positioned it and called DH to help lay the other two layers on top of it..  Thanks again, DH.

It also has a lower shelf that has junk on it right now, but hopefully I can store my batting pieces on it soon.

And it can be rolled back into my closet when not in use.

The Saga of an Recycled Cheese Board.....

I finally got around to making a portable ironing board out of a cheese board. At least I plan to...I am writing this while making it....I got it from one of those Christmas goodie boxes with cheese, sausage, etc.  It's never been used;  the main surface is approximately 9" x 6" and 3/4" thick.

Looking at the picture, I see that the pieces are not in the right order.. I plan to put the insulating fabric next to the main fabric, with the batting next to the board ..I am using about 3 layers of batting..may not be thick enough, but this is my first try at this and I plan to not to use it as often as my regular ironing board or the ironing mat I am planning to make as well.

I will be sewing the pieces together, hemming and trimming the edges of the sandwich, then I will hopefully be able to staple the sandwich onto the board without splitting the board...we will see...

Well, I measured twice all right, but forgot to allow for the thickness of the batting and fabric.  It might be better to staple everything from the back,,less chance of splitting..

I will need to make a larger covering fabric,so rather than taking off the smaller piece, I'll just add on another larger layer.

The only thing left before attaching it to the board is to add a small rectangular tab to the top (which is at the bottom of the picture...go figure??).  This is so that it can be pulled through the opening and attached to the back.  See below soon, hopefully.

Now for my secret weapon,,er,

"Ohhh, Honey...."

BACK

You can barely see the added-on tab coming through the hole at the top..it worked well.

DH is so good at staples (1/4")...would be better if we had a better staple gun... This is the only part that I would change, if I could think of a better way to attach the fabric and still have it taunt and smooth on the front side.  I will need to be careful where I place this board because I don't want to scratch any nice surfaces...maybe another pad to go under it????

Any ideas?...

Oh, here's the front:

And no splitting of wood!

Whew!  Didn't think I'd ever get this one done....

Thanks,  DH  (Dear Husband,,,,Dear Honey....)

Part 4 - See What I Did!!

Finished the top, except for adding white strips at bottom and top.  Couldn't wait for you to see it..

My inspiration?  Who else....Madame Samm...who used this pattern this last April with her own special additions..

I just took the basic idea, decided on my own math and went from there...Thanks, Madame Samm.

Also, I braided my strips from this quilt...

 

Finally, my Leaders and Enders results thus far...

I do have more, but they will need to wait until the next sewing project...

Oh, the one at the bottom right corner....well, that was when I had that thread delay I talked about in last post..after I solved that, I sewed these together as the next L/E....which was great that I remembered to do this....BUT I had already sewn it on the other side....

Anyone know anything I can make with a very short tube????

Part 3 Pieces Get Bigger and Bigger.....and a New Tool....

 I have sewn the white and colored strips together into.....longer strips...

and am sewing these strips together, one group at a time, so I won't get confused...

At the same time, I am starting my first official leaders and enders...official, because I have an idea of what that finished product will be.  It's exciting to know that I am working on two quilts at the same time.  I have used leaders and enders before, but I only sewed scraps together, a lot of which are still waiting to find a home.... somewhere....

=====THREADUS INTERRUPTUS=====

I was at this point last night when I ran out of thread...not the bobbin, but the top thread...I just finished filling the bobbin and was continuing the piecing when it happened..No big deal.  I put another spool on, threaded it, and continued to sew...NOT!...Unknown noises came from my machine....

Not being a dummy, I immediately stopped and checked....sure enough, a long stray thread was left over from the old spool.  It was stuck in the machine..

OK...

I unscrewed and opened up the end of the machine and saw it clearly....as it disappeared into the depths of the gears further than I could reach....

(no picture, I had other things on my mind then..)

What to do???

DH refused to take any more screws out of the machine...he can fix anything he sets his mind to, but his mind wasn't set on this...

Silly to take the machine into the shop for a thread, but it felt as if it were stuck around something it shouldn't have been....I left the thread alone as I thought about it...

Later, I went to a neighbor and while visiting (in her pool) mentioned my dilemma....

She suggested a tool she had used to solve the same problem once....

I happened to have it and want to suggest it to you, if you don't already know about it...Great idea and very inexpensive....

Got the thread out without any problem and it is sewing great today!

....And I am continuing to sew...hopefully tomorrow you will see the final results....

 

Part 2 of Last Post - Cutting Results

I decided to set myself up for some leaders and enders this sewing session..so after I cut strips for the GD quilt,

I ended up with some extra pieces (3.5" blocks, among others),  a start on a smaller quilt?????

....as well as some more strips for my braiding....

Will try work with all this while it is "hot" on my mind...not put them aside for later....

Cutting Again....with a purpose

I have finished my procrastinations and my math, stopped hemming and hawwing in my mind, and any other delaying tactics you can think of...

I have started cutting this fabric:

Add sides of white and it should finish up with a nice top for my oldest GD....

More later......

Winner! Giveaway #15

......is Linda at Stray Stitches!  Lucky gal....will contact her shortly...

Am cutting to beat the band...more tomorrow!

Reason Why One Should Not Procrastinate....Mini Giveaway #15

This is a combination Giveaway and normal post....

Well,  almost normal.

I waited until about 6:30 Sunday night our time to decide what to highlight as a giveaway today.

About that time DH came in and wondered what the weather looked like on our weather site....."looks as if we might be in for a blow"...rain we weren't too sure of...but we did hear thunder...

Well, not to prolong the story too much, we heard a large thunder clap and went out on the front porch, looking for rain..we hadn't had any to speak of for a long, long time and we were ready for some action...we got it...

Looked out toward the far pasture and saw......fire....caused by a lightning strike...It was at the other end of the pasture away from us. Imagine a rectangle....that is our property..the fire was at one end of the rectangle and we are very close to the other end..so no immediate problem, but nevertheless,,, I never have had to call 911 before, but I ran in while DH ran to the tractor to hitch up the plow in case we had to plow a ditch between us and the fire..

So I tried to call 911 on our land line, but the lightning strike may have fried it and it was no good....will find out more on Monday..  then I grabbed our cell phone and called...gave the necessary information and stayed on the line until she said I could go.. 

By then, about 10 minutes had passed, and .......we got rain! Not just gentle rain, but hard, driving rain,,
DH put the tractor back in the pole barn, got the truck and drove out to where the fire had been, but was no more....big black patch.... 

Fire engines came (volunteer), checked us out and continued down the road to another reported fire close by,,which, we assume was also contained by the rain and checked out by the firemen....

Rain continued for about 15 minutes or so... 

How lucky can we get.... and it all happened within a 40 minute time period....I think.....

So,,,,we came in, changed our wet clothes, had a cup of tea,  and now I am ready to continue with the normal giveaway.

Mini-Giveaway #15

After all of the above, I am now ready, almost at the last minute, to show you what is being given away.. next time I won't wait until the last minute...it might not get done!

And ya'll are lucky, because I added a few more items as a general thanks to the Power that Be...

You might recognize these from the yearly giveaway in April....

I decided not to cut these into 1/2 yard pieces...they are all going to go...perfect for little boys or young men....some are cotton, but I have a feeling a couple may have a flannel feeling...

So...DH will draw on August 17th after 10:00am.  Be sure to comment and be available to notify.

 This next week, I plan to PLAN....maybe even get all the posts ready for the remaining giveaways until the end of the year......more on that later....

Come fire or high water,,, please No, God,,,, we will have our Giveaways!

More Busy Work....and Planning

No, I haven't been busy...I've been lazeing around reading... 

But I did work on.....

...sewing my quilt (seeing the tunnel in the distance now)

...cutting remnants shown in last post (one small pile done, oodles more to go)

...finishing cheater top (easy,peasy)

I also have become reacquainted with EQ6 re: fabric scans

....scanned a few of my layer cake blocks, decided that 40 was too many choices..

 So laid them out on the floor (I really need to get another wall!) and there they sit until I decide which ones I would like to start with.  I may go with the full block/4 square block design.. at least that is what I am aiming for.

I usually just go for broke on choices and cut to see how they look, but not having much Oops fabric, I want to at least be semi-satisfied before cutting...  luckily some of the solids have 2 blocks..that will help...

Will let you know what I come up with, when I get the courage to pick and choose....

Am wondering...I will be cutting some of the blocks in 4 pieces (supposedly 5" squares), but these have pinking shear sides and wonder how much smaller they will really be.....I plan to keep the other blocks at their original size, but wonder if, after I cut the others, I should measure and and maybe trim the pinking off?

Any suggestions, if you understand what I am asking......

So What Have I Been Doing??????

...since you heard from me last.....

1)  Sewing on mystery quilt...still

2)  Putting together a large charity quilt made up of cheater blocks (30) I bought at a garage sale for $4.00... they are around 17" wide or so each...6 x 5 layout. Will use walking foot to quilt (hopefully...big dude!)

Below is the space they were taking up until I started sewing....look quick, won't be there long.....

3)  Gathering remnants of recent projects so I can start cutting them down to size... 

4)  Taking DHs  fried computer to town; buying him a new computer; planning to give remnants of old one to younger DS so he can use the parts.

4a)  Monday will take new computer back to town so computer guy can switch out drives,,,don't ask....

5)  Sweating outside.  Very little of that.....

6) Water exercise almost daily in my neighbor's pool.

7)  Cleaning off movable cart in sewing room.

8)  Psyching myself up to start quilt for DGD (6 yrs old). 

9)  2 shelves of not/in/order fabric on comic book boards and 1/2 cut bolts.. not done, but used all of boards (100/pk) and must wait until I order some more....

10)  Finding more giveaway items.  Ongoing task.....

11)  Living life outside of sewing room......

I'm Right On the Ball With the Winners ...minigiveaway #14

DH was here by the computer drinking coffee so I was able to commandeer him for the big event...

The winner is... Daisy.. with a @ .   Congratulations!

The runner up.....is Chiska! Yea! for her.....

Thanks to all who participated and good weather to all.....

I'll  be e-mailing these two momentarily...

Mini-giveaway #14 - Continuing with Cross Stitch...

When I ran across the embroidery thread last time, it reminded me that somewhere there was more stuff...and I found it (them)....

So I have patterns and kits to give away.... Here they are:

*******************************

KITS - Group A

1)  Unopened - Inspirational Wizzers -  as you can tell, this has not been touched... thread,  14-count light plastic canvas;  Finished size: 4.75" x 6" ....a  real quickie to do...

2)  Opened, barely, barely started - Inspirational Wizzers - thread separated nicely and labeled, barely got one row done......14-count light plastic canvas.. Finished size: 4.75" x 6"

3)  Inviting Welcome opened, thread separated nicely and labeled, 18 count ivory Aida included, although it has been folded for the duration, so you may need to use another canvas.  size: 17" x 6" Frame size without mat...

Sorry about the slight fuzziness...but you can get the idea....

Yes, they all have directions....and you do not have to use the plastic canvas, of course...

Patterns Only - Group B

 

4)  Proverbs 31 Sampler - by Leisure Arts (inside picture) - leaflet shows entire chart as one project..or split into several projects as shown on the back... date 1985

5)  I Pledge Allegiance - from Hobby Lobby - date 2004

6)  Bookmarks Abloom - the 50 state flowers - shown as bookmarks.. again Leisure Arts booklet, several pages.

*************************

I have decided that there will be a winner and a runner up...whoever wins will have the first choice of three items....2 items in one group and 1 item in the other... the runner up will have the rest...This way one will have 2 kits and 1 pattern, and the other will have 1 kit and 2 patterns...

SOOOO,,, comment and be available to contact; DH will draw names Wednesday, August 3, after 10:00am.  See you then.....