Ranting over A Self - Made Situation----Parts 1 & 2

Why is it when you know you should do something in order for something else not to happen, you still don't get around to doing it until the thing that shouldn't happen happens.... again and again and again.....

I see all these pictures about what  wonderful pressing boards people have (I now refuse to use the word beginning with an "i...." anymore,,,at least for awhile...).  They all have a sturdy base and one that is easily accessible in their work area.

I have mine easily accessible, except it is in the traffic flow between my computer, sewing machine and cutting table...hence the above happens on a regular basis...won't tell you how many "i...'s"  I have bought except to say the last time I bought one (this summer), I actually bought TWO!....and guess how many I have now....(not counting the little one that still works..)  ZERO! 

I can't run out right now and buy or look for a nice flat surface can be covered and that is large enough to accommodate larger pieces of fabric, but this can't go on.. 

I have a smaller board with small legs that can sit on a table....I actually measured it yesterday for batting and cover...I will finish it before I do Anything Else (except writing this post) and then maybe I can find something to use and a SAFE place to put it......Maybe in Another Room!!!!

Then and only then will I buy another "i.....".

Thanks for letting me discuss this situation with you....

I'm calm now.....

I'll pick up the object and see if it still works.    Sigh....

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Two Hours Later:

Almost deleted this post...Am so much better now...remind me never to post right after a "situation" happens again.

I have moved the table and ironing board (now I can say it,,,yea!) so that they are not competing anymore.

They are at right angles to each other, with space between.  I am still going to look for a better solution, but maybe this new arrangement will do for awhile.....

Now to sit back, cut, sew, enjoy my sewing, and watch Julie & Julia on my computer.......

Mini-Giveaway #17 Winner is..........

gill !!  Another international winner!  Congratulations!  I will be e-mailing her shortly with the good news....

Thanks so much for participating in the Christmas giveaway....

See ya'll again on the 1st....

I WON An Addition to my Sewing Room.......

My DH came into my sewing room the other day,,,wondering what all the commotion was about.  I had stopped my Hopeful Rain

Dance (dry, dry, Texas) and started chanting like a locomotive.....

Go!    Baby!      Go!      Baby!     GO!!!

I had WON this thanks to Linda at Stray Stitches. Such a surprise!  And it came so FAST!  This weekend will be so much fun....Hope DH knows he is going to have to cook for us...I will be turning into a cutting whirlygig!

I plan to make a lovely carrying bag for it, made of one of the dies I picked.  My scraps are going to really disappear now! 

I will have to decide where to put it permanently, or as permanent as one can place things in a sewing room.....in the meantime,  it will be used.....a lot.....

Thanks Linda.....you have put new life into this gal, and at my age, that's saying a lot!

One Quilt Finished, While I Wait By The Door

I finished it!  My Mystery Quilt is DONE~ 

It's only been about a year or so since I started....HQing does take awhile...especially when you are just stitching by the seat of your pants and don't have any particular design in mind. I just kinda "do my own thing" , but it stays together and looks okay.

This is called The DaChintzy Code Quilt.....It was on a forum that I frequent,,,every two weeks another step of the construction was revealed...I think they chose a lovely pattern. I am giving it away to a relative.......maybe the givee will like it as much as I do....

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IN THE MEANTIME... 

I am checking outside, waiting by the door, looking at the clock.  Waiting for that special package that UPS states, "...is out for delivery".

Just stepped outside...at 10:30am (our time) the temp. is about 74* ...this is waaayyyy different than the 100* + weather we have been having...don't know if this is the beginning of a trend, finally, or just a teasing hiccup, but I am heading for the front porch to drink a cup of coffee with my DH, 

while staring down the lane looking for that big Brown Van with that Special Package......... 

Ho, Ho, Ho = Mini-Giveaway #17

I had so much fun giving away the Christmas fabric that I am going to do it again!  Seems as if the timing is right for that.

So, I dug around and found these lovely pieces:

 There are various sizes,,, one is a very long narrow piece (14" wide x LONG), another is over 1 yard, and a couple I can't remember, but they are somewhere between 1/2 to 1 yard......

I am certain whoever gets these lovely pieces will create a lovely memory for someone special.

DH will draw the name of the lucky winner sometime after 10:00am on September 17th.  As usual, be sure and be available for contact. 

Looking forward to another giveaway on October 1....be sure to watch.

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I haven't mentioned this in awhile and since some of you have gotten on board since this began, I thought I would.

These giveaways started because I was trying different ways to clean out and clear out some of my unneeded items in my sewing room.  I schedule them on the 1st and 15th of every month and called them my Mini-Giveaways because they usually consist of only one or two items....and they don't ordinarily last long, only a couple of days or so, depending on the timing of the calendar.

Most of the time they are quilting items, but I have had non-quilty ones in the past...

My sewing room is definitely looking better, but nowhere near clean and efficient as some I have seen around Blogland...and probably Never will... It will always echo with the well-known phrase.....

 "Now where did I put that thing I was working on/looking for/saving/wandered through with? "

Keep Keepin' On .....I'm having Fun!

Weekend Progress (+ Monday)

I added the binding on the Mystery Quilt....now to hand stitch it down.

.....Gave the Cheater Top and Back to a LA quilter in our church group..she will do the quilting and then I will add the binding...

..... Have all 3 layers of the John Deere ready to sandwich and tack down, will be doing that at next meeting...maybe. (2 weeks away)...

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Picked out fabric for cuddle quilt (new project)..

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and Cut the strips for binding the Pink/Green/White quilt so I can play with the remaining fabric   without worrying....

See you next time with some finishes, I hope!



Things to do This Weekend.....Bind, Bind, Bind....

Use your imagination for a little while and picture these ready-to-work-on quilts.  I set them up with the ingredients....the final products are still in the oven....

With my one of my bi-monthly quilty meetings coming up next Monday...here is what I would like to get done....

.....Prepare the 3 layers of the tractor quilt so it can be tied...

 and take 2 layers of the cheater quilt (top and bottom) to see if they have anything to use in the middle (big, queen size + quilt)

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  I am planning to make a binding for my pink/green/white top for later use.  If I make the binding now, I will know how much fabric is left so I can play with it without worrying if I will have enough.  It's approximately 85 x 110 inches....that's practically 400+ inches needed for the binding....

All my Mystery Quilt needs now is.......another binding... do you begin to get the picture of when I slow down and what job I really don't like to do?????

But then, if I really didn't like to do it,,,I wouldn't be a quilter, would I???

Finally, the small Birthday Wall Hanging is also awaiting it's binding....a simple and quick job, once I decide what to use...

So, I really need to get started because after this Monday at least one of the first two will be ready to be bound also.

Besides, I am ready to start work on a couple of more projects.....

Always thinking ahead....

Pictures of the final two when everything is done....

We have a winner! Mini-Giveaway #16

 So many hopeful comments! This has been really a popular giveaway!   Thank you! 

This week's winner of the Christmas fabric is.....

PAM.....

Congratulations! 

I'll be contacting you very shortly!

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I am glad I decided to give away more Christmas fabric next time.  Come again on 9/15 at 10:00am to see what else I plan to offer.   

Christmas Fabric - Mini-giveaway # 16

Welcome!

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Added on just before posting:  Re: earlier post - John Deere top -  Just wanted you to know that I saw the picture on my blog....couldn't stand it.....ripped out the corners and put all the tractors right side up, as well as putting one "dark" and one "light" block on each side....It would have driven me nuts not to "correct" it!   Looks SO much better!

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NOW>>>>>>>>>

Did you ever have older Christmas wrapping paper that you really needed to use, but were tired of?  It got to the point where my family started saying, "Won't you ever run out of this?  We've seen it 2 or 3 Christmases in a row!"

Well, that is the way with my fabric this giveaway....this doesn't even start depleting the stash I have.  These may be 2, 3, or possibily 4 years old...a lot was from JoAnn's (I hadn't discovered my LQS then), and some may be from Michael's or Hobby Lobby..don't know for sure.

Anyway, here it is....

Sizes?

Two are a little over a yard, and the other two slightly over 1/2 yard in length. 

This giveaway will be over the holidays and I don't like to have you wait until after they are over....in this case, it would be almost a week....

so,,,,

I won't...

DH will pick the winner at 10:00am on September 4. I will wait a few days for the winner to confirm, in case someone is out of pocket or on vacation..

That's it for now....

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And the next time....

Some more Christmas....

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????