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.....

Just Finished...well, almost....

Had to do a quickie post...I finished the mid-section of my backing for this quilt.

...and here it is!

I just need to add the white borders to the backing,,,,a little wider so I can trim when I finish actually quilting the sandwich..

Gotta go...food and church are calling...

In the Middle of the Beginnings......

I feel as if I am in the middle of everything..Have you ever had a point where you are still working on something and need to get it done (ie: me with my mystery quilt quilting....and my birthday wall hanging quilting), but also want to start on something else.. ie: a quilt-along top that has been folded up for it seems like ages! finally has a start on a backing.....

Not really impressive yet, but I did use my time in the twice-a-month sewing meeting of a church group to get a jump start on it...It's going to be sort of a patch-as-you-go backing, using pieces left over from the front.  I am constructing it as I go along.... As I told someone there who said why not just a normal backing?????.....well, I just wanted to see if I could do it and wondered what it would look like....

Also, I am still waiting for DH to find his stapler so I can convert this...

into a tote-along ironing mat....I plan to make another "softy mat" to iron on also..we'll see which I like better .......later.......

Finally, I hope to change this....

into some larger useable pieces of batting by fusing it together with the heat press strips I bought...

And finally, to answer the question, "Doesn't she ever work on quilt tops???"..

I practiced on doing wonky.....only I think I wonked too much on upper right corners...by the time I finish with the blocks, there will be no 3rd corner on one side...so,,,more practice.....

So.....  "The behinder I get...."     More later, I hope......

At a Standstill, but still Working...

I finished my Snack Mats a couple of days ago...I had made them to work on while on the trip...which I did, during stops and some in the evening.  I couldn't work while the bus was on the road...

I have had this fabric for about 3 years now,,,I bought it on ebay when I was new to quilting.  I have some other small novelty pieces that may turn into more mats...and I plan to make bigger place mats.  This may be a Place Mat Christmas....or at least partially....

When I got back, I had my fears confirmed....I am ironless....I had two (3, counting the small travel iron that I seldom use), and there were indications before I left that they might have bit the dust....I plan to throw one away (the one that fell on the floor and had a separation between pieces that was not there before) and keep the other one so DH can check out the cord...I would ask him to do it now, but he finished his job jar while I was gone and was so proud of the "0" number on the list, I haven't the heart to add to it for a couple of weeks....he is still sandblasting and I don't want anything unnecessary to weigh on his shoulders..

Besides, we are heading to see youngest GD and family this weekend, and can drop by a store and pick up another one (iron, that is, not GD)...

In the meantime, I feel I cannot start any of the many new ideas/projects I have whirling in my head without ironing fabric during the construction...So I am continuing to work on my room...

Pictures not here...must wait a little longer...

I washed and re-folded my new members of the clan of fabric and am picking up one thing at a time, looking at it and trying to decide where it should go...I figure I can stand another couple of days without sewing...although I have found in my stash/rubble some of DH's holey jeans that he wants cut off at the knees....so I could satisfy my longing with a small fix there..if things get really tight....

And then there is always ya'll to talk to ......

Early Birthday, Late Anniversary, Christmas in July....you get the picture....

This turned out to be a long post...Just got back Sunday evening from a weekend of fun, giggles, oohhs & ahhhs, sounds of  "I want this...Where did you find this...Will there be enough for me...I don't care, I'm buying it anyway...I've never seen this before...Perfect for my _____project..."  and so on....

We went on a 6 quilt shop bus trip over two days....links available on further down...I brought my camera, but was so wrapped up in myself that I didn't even take it out of the case...

But now that I am home, I took advantage of my sheetless bed and white mattress cover and took pictures of my loot!  See pictures further down....

We started Saturday morning at Lone Star Quiltworks in Bryan (all cities in Texas). The pictures in the link are at her new location...she just moved next door within the month and now has a lot more space and a lot more inventory and ideas!

..DH and I got up at 5:00am to get into Bryan, ate breakfast there and was at the shop at 7:30 as ordered (requested).. bus left at 8:15...and hit these shops....

Giddings  -  All Around the Block  (I googled and came up with this blog which had a great post on it)

Victoria  -  Quilter's Patch

New Braunfels - Quilt Haus

Spent the night,,, then the next day..

Lakeway  - Cotton Cupboard

Georgetown - Poppy Quilt 'n Sew

Waco - Tomorrow's Quilts

This was my first quilt hop EVER and I want to bend your ears back talking about it....Great fun! Great shops! Great people!  That Sat & Sun, 7 buses (one from each shop) took off with 40 quilters each, and made a round robin..we had about 1 1/2 hrs at each shop and stopped early enough to eat, relax in our motel rooms and get a good nights sleep before the next day....

and here is what I came home with ....don't ask me what came from where, I can't keep everything straight! 

I also bought pins and pins, and more pins, but these I wanted to showcase..I needed a new cutter so indulged myself...

Have you ever tried threading a needle on a moving bus?  One of the girls gave a testimonial about this needle threader, so I got one...I think a couple of others did the same thing...It has been around for awhile, as most of you know, but I hesitated until I heard about someone else's experience....It is great!  So good for these ole eyes...

I have been hearing about Heat Press for awhile and was able to find a couple of packages...hopefully it will help me use/get rid of a lot of larger batting pieces that I have...

I am a sucker for wood...when I saw this I had to have it...and it was the last big one in the shop...I think I might have barely gotten ahead of someone else who's eye was on it..she ended up with a smaller one...I didn't advertise I bought it..they even put it in a box, wrapped in bubble wrap for me...that's how much money I spent there!

My first layer cake.....I may just sew several together and make two quilts.....

This is the only book I bought...the fonts are great (has a disc inside) and I saw an ABC quilt made from it.....so CUTE!

I added to my collection of browns.....some from sale racks....

Fell in love with the tear drops.... humm, it does look familar...I wonder....well, if I have more, it is still a great piece of design.  This is one of my stripes I bought this trip... and I know I have a little of the orange left from my mystery quilt I am now quilting, but love the color and it goes so well with its' companions.....

A sale item which I would have bought full price...love it!  and more stripes....

And I added more to my red, white & black collection..with another stripe...don't you love those circles!!

...and I might also add the cell fabric to my w/b/r group...depends on how the blue/aqua fits in...

And finally, my only kit I bought....got the packet, read the pattern instructions, and realized I needed a smiggen more parts...Luckily I was able to run back into the store and get them before we left....

Always read before you leave......if possible....

Now, if I just don't goof in the cutting.....

So I am pooped!  My wallet is flat!  And I am happy!

Winners...in a hurry!

I have chosen 4 people to share the bounty......and here they are...real quick, because I am fixing breakfast (at 11:00 in the morning....we did sleep late!)..

I will e-mail these people after breakfast (those I have not heard from)...

Deb, Vrooman's Quilts, Sunnybec, and Natasha....

I will post another tidbit in a little while with more info..but didn't want to keep everyone in suspense...

Mini-Giveaway 13 - Embroidery Thread

Stats out the way first:

These are skeins of DMC thread, 6 strands, roughly totaling 8.7 yards per skein.

I bought these(price at the time: approx. 25 cents per skein!) at various times through years 2000-2004 when I was into cross stitching...

When I started quilting, I knew my cross stitching days were over (eyes, etc) and started using them to baste with...

The above pictures are just examples of what I have...

See what I want to empty?

I know I'll never use all of these, and want to give them to someone who could use them...

I have so much that there is a good possibility this time of multiple winners,, how many, I don't know yet. 3 or 4 maybe ...whoever wins will get random amounts & colors. I am  not going to go through and count...probably just grab a holder full, eyeball them re the amount,  and stuff them in a mailing container (well, nicely stuff.....).  I will probably keep the rings they are on... most of them are in their plastic baggies, although I will probably add a few that slipped out of the plastic...

Anyway, now to the ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.....comment please and be sure I can reach you...DH will draw names on Monday, July 18 after 10:00am, CST...I am going on a weekend (Sat & Sun) bus trip to visit 6 different quilt shops, so after getting back home about 8:30 - 9:00 the previous night, 10:00 on a Monday morning may come a little soon...Don't fret if I am a few minutes late.....

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I am still in the throes of the storm before the calm in my cleaning, filing fabric, etc.  Nothing pops out now for next time (August 1), but there will be a next time....