A Hug For Me!

Look what I received today from Jan-Maree!  All the way from Australia!  A few posts ago I wrote about my blahs.  So many of you wrote such kind comments that really made me feel better.  In addition to her comment and emails, Jan-Maree made this for me!  Isn't it just adorable!  I love it!  I can't help but feel happy when I look at it!  I am hugged!



Thank you so much, Jan-Maree! 

LaDonna

I've Done My Quilt Aerobics for the Day!

I finished the pink top yesterday and today got it ready for quilting.  First of all, I move the furniture and roll up the rug.  Maggie doesn't particularly like this part.  Fergus, if he's not already on the couch, gets on the couch to stay out of the way.  I move the dining room table and chairs to the living area so I can use the floor space in the dining area.

Next, I use masking tape to tape the backing taut, but not stretched. 

I smooth the batting over the backing and trim away the excess.

I lay the top down, smooth it out, and pin it all in place.  I space the pins out about every 4 inches or so and leave them open.  Maggie waits patiently for me to finish.  She knows she's not supposed to get on the quilt, but she's always hopeful!



After pinning the entire quilt, I remove the masking tape.  I use the Kwik Klip tool to close the pins.  Doing this after removing the masking tape provides enough slack in the quilt to get the pins closed easily and quickly.  Though it's hard to take a picture of this process with one hand!



I'm trying out a new thread, for me at least, Aurifil.  I've heard nothing but raves for this thread, so I'm looking forward to working with it.  I wanted a cream color, but they were out.  I think the pink will do nicely though!  You can never have too much pink,...right?!



LaDonna

I'm In A World of Pink!

Spring is around the corner!  Which around here means Shop Hop is coming soon!  Here's what I'm working on as a shop sample: 



It is so refreshing to be working on a simple but charming quilt.  No triangles, just squares and rectangles!  And, it's not queen size!  Hurray!

LaDonna

With A Little Help From Maggie and Fergus

Maggie and Fergus "helping" me bind the quilt.

LaDonna

Binding

Yeah, the quilting on this baby is done!  The binding is sewn on and ready for hand sewing it to the back.  I wonder how many movies it will take to get it done?!  This is a big quilt, 96 inches square.  That's 384 inches around; I usually take 1/4 inch stitches, so that's, oh my gosh, over 1500 stitches that I have to do for the binding!  My hand is going to cramp for sure!  Oh, well, better get busy!

LaDonna

A Quilt Video

This video is mesmerizing and I love the music. 

http://www.nfb.ca/film/quilt/?ec=en20110209

LaDonna

I Changed My Plan

My original plan was to quilt grid lines throughout the interior of the quilt.  But the more I thought about it, the more I dreaded tying off all those threads!  I still think it would have looked pretty, but I just couldn't do it.  Too much time involved and frustration and stress and eventually, cussin'!  Instead, I'm quilting interlocking circles, like the Peter Robbing Paul quilt block.  It's free motion, no marking, so to put it nicely, all the circles are their own unique individual!  Best of all it's continuous quilting! The only thread tying is when I have to put in a new bobbin or needle or the thread breaks. 

Oops!  As I was taking this picture, I noticed I missed a link.  See the pin?  I lost my way and now have to go back and stitch this little piece.  I sure hope I don't find many more like this!

LaDonna

God Will Take Care of You

This brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face!

How pleased God must be to be worshipped this way! Thanks, Ruby, for sharing this with me.

LaDonna

My four legged child

LaDonna has told you about her puppies and she kept telling me to say something about my four legged child.  My sister has always had a wonderful way with dogs.  Her dogs always turn out better behaved than some of the students that I had had over the years.  This is one ways that LaDonna and I are different.  I love dogs....but cats are my creatures!  I have always had a cat...or two...or three.  I am down to one now.  My husband says that when this one passes on we won't have any more "critters".  He knows better.  Anyway one summer when my husband and I were walking down an outer road, I kept hearing a cat crying.  Bob, my husband told me to keep walking  ( we already had two cats in the house). I kept hearing it but couldn't find it.  Finally this thin stripped cat came out of the soybean field (yes I live in the country outside of a map dot) and started following us up and down the road.  Long story short, the cat came home with us.  She immediately claimed the area hers by scaring away one neighbors much bigger cat and the other neighbors black lab.  I had a difficult time trying to come up with a name for her but lo and behold Bob came up with it.  She had a terrible habit of  "waltzing" between your feet as you were trying to walk.  So Bob named her "Matilda".  I asked him why and he said "You know the song "Waltzing Matilda"  and so she was named.  The other two cats have now passed away but Matilda is going strong.  She is wonderful with the grandchildren even when she is sat on, her tail pulled,  brushed with the doll brush, and bowls put on top of her head.  She is a wonderful loving lap warmer. Here she is......

Here we go again!!!!!

On Monday the forecasters predicted one to three inches of snow.  Here is what we got.....

So yesterday I did a little activity to see if my machines were still calibrated and working correctly before I get started on some projects.  I ended up making "sleeping bags" for my granddaughter's doll family that is supposed to live in her dollhouse.  However...when she saw them, she ran off, got her Elmo and Abbey doll and told me they they needed a bed too.  So what did Mimi do????  I made her two more.

So today I was going to get started on one of my projects.  WRONG!!!  More snow is falling and falling enough so schools are dismissed.  The Elementary girls I keep after school are here now...so there goes my scheduled hoped for plans...once again.  Tomorrow is another day.

~Diana

The Quilt and I Are Making Progress

First of all, I want to thank you all for all the kind comments and emails about my funky blahness!  Your encouragement was so uplifting and made me feel a lot better.  I had no idea when I started this blog that I would be "meeting" such wonderful people!  My mood is getting better and I actually have made some headway on a commissioned quilt. 

All the interior blocks are quilted.  The pinwheel blocks sure used up a lot of thread.  Good thing I bought a huge cone at the Houston Quilt Show!  Just as a reminder, since it's been a while, here's how I quilted the interior blocks.

I am now quilting the border.  First thing I did was baste the border both on the inside and outside edge to hold it in place. You can also see the pin basting.  Those pins, 3 to 4 of them at a time, will be removed as I come to them.



I placed my feather template.

Next, I marked it using a ceramic lead pencil in white.  I love these leads. They come in different colors and remove easily.  In fact, I'm marking only one side at a time so the lines won't brush off with moving the quilt around.

I'm using a variagated thread.  After I get all the feathers in the border, I plan on outlining them about a quarter of an inch.  This will give more curve, plus provide a definite stopping place for the grid lines that I plan on doing through the quilt into the border. 



So, one side down, three more to go! 

LaDonna

alright already

Yesterday LaDonna and I were finally able to talk for a while.  I was listening about her "funk" and what did she do...she started telling me to get pictures of some of the things I had done on the blog.  First of all, I am rather hesitate to show my work because I am my own worst critic...nothing is good enough and I absolutely hate doing anything that isn't well done. So here goes....

My mother-in-law is extremely difficult to buy for.  This past year my husband's family decided to have a family reunion for her  85th birthday.  I was getting stressed...what to get a woman who gets whatever she wants, whenever she whats, lives in a retirement community but needs absolutely nothing?  Then one day when when we talking, she kept saying how cold it was in Omaha.  Light bulb moment!!  A quilt!!!  But could I do it and do it so I was happy with it?  I bit the bullet and dived in.  I began pouring over my magazines looking for something that I could do and get it finished by the April deadline.  I finally found something but ended up changing it.  Then to find the fabric....that took a while.  I finally found some, brought it home, washed it....and looked at it and the pattern ( for several days) and thought, "What am I thinking? She won't like it..she is always saying...Oh no.  I don't like that."  But I made myself get started.   Long story short....I did it and the whole family loved it!!!!  She even called the house and ASKED to talk to me and thank me again for it!!  I was floored!  Anyway here is a picture of the first quilt that I have made from an idea to completion.......

~Diana

Funky Land

I am in a funk.  Have been for days.  All of a sudden I've had to go to the doctors for various small but weird reasons.  Which for me is totally out of character.  I avoid going to doctors like the plague.  Ha. Ha.  I saw a doctor today and to put it bluntly, I don't think she knows what she is talking about.  Like I went to medical school!  But I don't have the warm, fuzzy feeling of relief that going to a doctor should give you.  Instead I feel very frustrated and unlistened to.  Is that a word?  So now, another medicine and another appointment in 6 weeks.  On top of a different doctor next week for something else.  So all this funkiness has thrown my sewing way off, my blogging off, my house off, everything is off kilter.  All I want to do is sit in front of the tv and eat nachos.   I donate to relief causes and pray for people and countries, but this is my little world right now.  And I know, I know, there are lots of people with far worse issues going on, life-threatening even, but this is my feeling right now.  I can't help it.  

I finally skimmed through some of my favorite blogs today (I haven't even been doing that) and I'm glad y'all are so productive.  Even though it made me feel a little worse and guilty to see all that y'all are doing.  I remember reading somewhere about blogging that it's not necessarily a good thing to make yourself write something everyday, that you should feel inspired to write and not write just for the sake of getting something on your blog.  Do I feel inspired?  No.  But even when my sister is wondering why I haven't written on the blog or talked to her in days, I figured I needed to do something. 

Waiting to leave funky land,

LaDonna