Quilt #35 - Jennifer's Lois quilt

Jennifer sent me a Lois quilt to quilt for her and return to her at retreat. Jennifer has documented her journey with Lois' stash and the quilts she has made from Lois' UFOs and you can see that here.



This quilt has a stack and whack blocks made out of fabric with champagne bottles, flutes and fireworks. I quilted it with the Bubbles panto and chapagne colored So Fine in the top and Bottom line in the bobbin. I think it looks fantastic!



And some close up of the blocks...





Lula thinks so, too. She was jumping around too much for this picture, but she is still adorable!

My 2,000th Post Giveaway!!

When I started blogging on the quilt specific blogging site in July 2007, I had no idea that I would keep blogging for so many years and I know that I didn't even consider writing 2,000 posts! It's amazing to me that I have done it!

I have made some amazing friends from the blog and even meet some of them in person - Regina, Jennifer, Amy, Ruth and Judy L. are the ones that immediately come to mind!

Having the blog was also an ice breaker with Jean who announced that she had read my blog when I met her at a Guild meeting. When I went to the first Shipshewana retreat, I met Donna and Vera and they knew me from my blog and it was like we already knew each other.

Having the blog helped secure my turn as a quilter for the Scrap Squad and you can read all about my quilts here.

Documenting my quilts and quilting on the blog has been a fantastic way for me to keep track of how long I have been working on a project and how many UFOs I have. It has also helped me keep track of goals and lists of things to do occasionally.

I think it is going to be a great way for me to keep track of my vintage machine collection. :)  And knitting projects.

Enough of this sappy stuff! It's time to get to what everyone has been patiently waiting for.... THE GIVEAWAY!!!

I am giving away QUILTING! Yes, I am going to choose a winner from the comments and quilt a quilt for her (or him). There will be restrictions, of course.

1. Maximum quilt size of 65" square. 
2. Winner pays for all other expenses - shipping, batting, and anything else that might come up.
3. Quilting will not be a custom quilt design, but I have a wide range of pantographs and free hand designs available.
4. This quilting is only available to US residents only because I don't want to deal with international shipping of a quilt. Sorry. :(

For those that want to celebrate with me but don't want or need anything quilted, be patient because I already have a couple of things picked out for my blogiversary on July 28.

Also, depending on how popular this giveaway is, I might be inclined to sweeten the pot, so to speak, so feel free to share the giveaway on your blog or facebook or twitter pages. :)

And now for what you need to do to be entered... Leave me a comment and tell me how long it has been since you finished a quilt or a quilted project. :)

I will draw the winner on July 31 so you have almost 2 weeks to enter.

And the most important part... If you are a NO REPLY COMMENTER, you must leave your email address in the comment. If you don't and I have no way to get in touch with you, I will delete your comment from the post. If you have ever left a comment on my blog and have never gotten an email response, you are probably No Reply. I will be responding to each and every comment that is left so if you don't hear from me within a couple of days, you are probably marked as No Reply.
If you are unsure if you are no reply, just put your email in the comment.

I will modify this post as questions come up or if there is anything that I need to clarify.

Thanks for sharing in this journey with me and for celebrating my 2,000th post with me!

Monthly Accomplishments - April 2012

I know that I am going to be surprised when I see everything that I got done in April. I don't feel like I did a lot because I was in a funk and my quilting mojo was absent.

1. Made blocks, assembled quilt, quilted and bound dog quilt for the SPCA auction. My co-worker who asked me to make the quilt won it at the auction for $100 and he gave it to his mom. I am happy to know that it went to a good home!
2. Attended the IQF show in downtown Cincinnati to see my quilt that was hanging in the Modern Quilt Guild exhibit.
3. Hosted Jennifer for a night so that she could attend the show with me. :)
4. Voted back on the board for the Homeowner's Association. It has been a very interesting ride both in prior year (since October) and the current year (not even a month).
5. Had a root canal. **SIDEBAR!!!** I have to say - I don't think that I have blogged about my recent issues with my teeth which started in December. As upset as I was at my dentist about a long term infection that I think caused damage to the jaw bone, I am so happy with the entire office and especially the dentist for putting me at ease about the root canal and my visits with 2 different periodontists in the Cincinnati area. I was facing a $3300 post insurance out of pocket expense for bone grafts on 3 different teeth and after I talked to my dentist, he called a different perio, explained his concerns and my concerns and the new perio came up with a different option that he thinks will work 100 times better than the bone grafts. The bonus is that the out of pocket expense for me is going to be so much less than the $3300. And the perk on top of that is that the new perio has a great sense of humor and I am actually excited to have the laser procedure done that he has recommended. OK, sorry about the sidebar here, but having this issue some what resolved has been a great stress relief for me!  **END SIDEBAR!**  lol
6. Worked a little more on the assembly of the second Scrap Squad.
7. Midget block #33
8. Caught up a little on my blog posting with pictures of quilt shows and book reviews
9. Did my taxes - the first year for the quilting business taxes!

I also started reading a little more. I realized that I am behind on my normal reading routine and 10 books behind for the year so far.

1. Explosive Eighteen by Janet Evanovich
2. Love You More by Lisa Gardner
3. A Pizza to Die for by Chris Cavender
4. The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman
5. Cinnamon Roll Murder by Joanne Fluke

See, not a very great month. But May is already starting out to be better than April and March!! And I did at least get the dog quilt finished in less than 2 weeks.

IQF Excitement!

Friday night, Jennifer drove over from Indianapolis to go to the show with me and enjoy the excitement of the show. We went to dinner at the local Mexican dive and then hit the Dip for ice cream. I spent about an hour prepping for things to take to the show and making a list of things that I wanted to look for.

I showed her my red snappers on the frame and decided to look at my Bottom Line thread to see what colors I might need to replace. Of my 11 colors, I guess that I tend to use the neutrals the most.



And some of those a lot more than the others. They were all put on the list.



Saturday morning, we got ready, packed up lunches and headed down to the show. There was plenty of time to see some quilts before I had to report to work, but my camera didn't cooperate and I couldn't take many pictures. It put a damper on my fun, but it didn't ruin the day. I ended up removing the memory card and it helped so I took pictures at the end of the day.

When I was done working my first shift, Jennifer and I went to eat and chat and then headed in to shop. I remember shopping on Saturday last year and it was just crazy with people all over the place. Yesterday, I didn't feel crowded at all and we were able to zoom through the shops pretty quickly.

I found the Notions/Gadgets booth and picked up my favorite thimbles, a Havel's seam ripped and another pack of my favorite pins.



Then, I picked up a soothing massage pillow that will be awesome to use at retreats and after I push myself too long at the quilt machine.



Jennifer and I also tried out the heavy duty foot massagers in another booth and after a few minutes there, my feet were fantastic for another couple of aisles!

I picked up a sampler pack of a new thread, Konfetti by Wonderfil. If it doesn't work on the quilt frame, I can use it for piecing. And we got these adorable little bags with our purchase!



And the Bloc Loc people were there! Cheri told me about these squares in October and I hadn't seen them locally so I was happy to pick up the 5.5" square.



We stopped at the Handi Quilter booth and I visited the Avante machine. I'm so in love with the set up! I can't wait until I can upgrade. I got a DVD of the company and the machines and will probably watch it later this week and several more times until I can upgrade. :) And after we stopped there, we hit the Superior Threads booth and I picked up my Bottom Line. I stayed away from the King Tut and Lava threads because I haven't been having the best of luck with them in my Mega Quilter. Until I figure out what the problem is with the cones that I have, I won't add anymore to my collection. But I did get a new color - a pale pink.



All in all, it was a fantastic time! And I think that I am going to head back down to the show now to see all of the quilts that I missed. I think that the quilt exhibits were so much better this year and I need to remember that I can't work 2 shifts and shop and see all the quilts in one day!

But the inspiration that I got yesterday was enough to make me want to just stay home and sew all day today!

A finished quilt

This week, I finished my Split Second Decision quilt.



The pattern is Split Decision and the fabric is Whimsy. When the fabric was on sale at the Fat Quarter Shop, it took me a split second to decide to buy it hence the name! (Thanks, Jennifer!)

I quilted it with a light tan variegated Lava thread and the Square Spiral panto. I love it!!



And the pups are enjoying the end of summer with fresh air!

Year of the PIGS - 3/9

Here is this week's post. Remember that anyone can join in at any time by answering the question on their blog and posting their link at the bottom of this post.

And this week's questions are - Up until now, we have pondered storage and some obstacles, but this week's question is going to be about sewing space and how you use it. Do you have a separate room all to yourself? Are you a little (or a lot) messy or Princess of Tidy? Are there things that you find a hindrance to your sewing mojo like no place to put an iron but on the other side of the room from your machine or a lack of storage of tools that just create more clutter to trip over? Share your frustrations and maybe we can supply a suggestion or two.

This week, my sewing area is relatively clean, but this is not the norm. When I have a deadline, there is usually fabric, trimmings, patterns, etc. everywhere! But since I have been back from Florida, things are still relatively calm where the sewing area is concerned.

I share my sewing area with my bed. My table was a custom one that my brother-in-law made for me to use while stamping and it has worked out very well at a sewing table. The only thing that I wish I could change is for it to have a space to drop the machine down so it would be flush with the top of the table, but I can made do. I have 2 shelves on each side of table, but I haven't figured out the best way to store things on the bottom shelves. Right now, they hold a hodge podge of things and dust. :(



Behind my table and to the left, there is a pile of fabrics. These are my scraps that need to be sorted and cut down and put into my scraps bins. The bookcase holds my quilting books, my printer, some fiction books and a small part of my Marvin the Martian collection. I probably should reorganize the bookcase because the bottom shelf isn't holding much.

You can also see the Hope Chest that I use as my Staging Area. This is where my current projects are held. Leaning against the hope chest is an 8" by 24" ruler and a square portable ironing board which has been coming in very handy with the Midget Blocks and paper piecing.

Here is a picture of my sewing machine from the front and sitting in my chair. I think that my little workspace here really works for me. The brown box is one of the things that Regina sent me for Christmas and it is the best box. It's one of those things that I never knew I always needed! I haven't lost any tools since I threw them all in it and I know where everything is. It really keeps that side of my machine in order and everything within an arm's reach!



I also have my thread catcher and pin cushions right there and off to the right, you can see a Creative Memories cup holder that keeps all cups out of danger's way. I even take it with me to retreats!

Here is a better look of my staging area. (Jennifer - I think there are only 10 projects out right now. lol) If it weren't for the Art Bins, it would be a disaster area!



A disaster area like this! The pile on the left is the scraps that I have to go through. I do not have a good system for keeping a handle on those. It seems like it works for a while and then just explodes into something that is in danger of falling over and getting wrapped around the wheels on my chair. It could be that all the extra fabric that is cut off when trimming up a quilt needs to be handled immediately rather than being put into the pile to be handled another day. Any ideas?



And my design wall has become a permanent fixture in the doorway to the closet. A great place when laying out a quilt and sewing the pieces together, but not so great when I need to walk into the closet and pieces fall off in my wake. And there is the GO. I haven't figured out a better place to store that either.



Here is the other part of my room and part of my 'dilemma.' I have been pondering for some time moving all of my 'master bedroom' items into the spare room to make that my bedroom and in turn moving all of my stash and sewing items into the master bedroom to have one big sewing room. I keep picturing how my sewing room could look, but I haven't given much thought to how the spare bedroom would end up looking.



I've known other people who have had their rooms set up differently like this to give more room to their sewing. It just seems to make sense, but I think that it would take a lot of work and I would need some help in moving the bed to the smaller room. I think that I could get a better night's sleep in that room since it is at the back of the house and there wouldn't be any lights shining in the windows. And the pups could have their own bed in the sewing room that would sit directly under a window some how. That could make them happy!



Oh I just can't decide! :-\  Any thoughts or suggestions? I may have to wait until the quilting gals are here for Festival in April to see what they think, too.

OK so leave a link to your blog post here. And share some pictures! :)

Fun with Maisy

I think that when I was on retreat, I mentioned to Jennifer that I needed to do another dog video for her kids because about a week ago she mentioned in an email that the pups weren't satisfied with pictures any longer. I had to wait for a sunny day to let lots of light into the family room in order to have enough light for the video and the pups and I set to work on Saturday to have a little fun to be captured in live action.

I had only really planned to get one video, but ended up taking 2 - one of each dog. Kind of a necessity when Max was being camera shy in the first video and was enticed by a squeaker in the second. I was trying to get Maisy to do her little 'dance' where she puts her chest on the floor and wobbles back and forth on it, but she wanted to play with her duck.

Also, you doxie lovers will see that she is jumping in the video and, while I urged her to do it on camera, she had been jumping just seconds before on her own. In spite of her 20 pounds, she jumps all the time - to let me know that she is there, to let me know that she wants food, to let me know that she is there and wants food, and when she gets excited about food. Really, Maisy's whole life revolves around food and how she can get more. But she also gets excited about seeing me when I get home and jumps for me then, too. As much as I try to discourage it, she does have a mind of her own! lol

Now, I said that I took 2 videos. You will have to wait for Max's for another day. It takes a while to upload the videos to Blogger and I want to sew! :)

**Edited to add.... I've heard from Jennifer that she wasn't able to see the video. I have uploaded the file to webshots and am embedding the video here. If you still can't see it on the post, you can click on the Webshots link below and watch the video on webshots.



100_3282.MOV

Projects seen at retreat

On Friday night, everyone was asked to bring the quilts or pieces that they were working on out to the little lobby that we had in front of our sewing room and to put them on display on a piece of furniture so that we could all have a gander at what everyone was doing. Some gals brought finished quilts to share. Here are our efforts!

This is from one of Judy's patterns. I think it is Morning Splash. The quilting was amazing!!



This is a paper pieced Origami birds.



And a close up.



And a few others.











Darlynn's 2" finished bow ties.



Carol and Jennifer's convergence quilts.





Subee's pineapples.



What a group of talented quilters!!!

Meeting new friends

I was a little worried about going to retreat because we had heard that it was full and I had only met Becca, Jennifer and Carol, Jennifer's mom, before heading up there. Well, I had met Bonnie Hunter, also, but I didn't expect her to remember me from a couple of classes more than a year ago. I was also pretty excited to meet Judy L because I love reading her blog!

This is Sally, Becca and me. Sally came all the way from Minnesota and didn't know a soul! Ruthie asked me and Becca if we would share a room with her and we gladly said yes. She came with us to dinner on Thursday night which was the only night that we went anywhere and when we went shopping, she gladly joined us! She was a lot of fun and a very sweet gal! (Hi, Sally!!!)

(Sorry for the terrible picture - this was with my phone after my camera battery had died.)

These gals are from Wichita, Kansas and sat across from me and Becca. Donna is on the left and Vera is on the right. We had great chats about Guilds and serving on the boards. Donna told me about her husband who traveled to Cincinnati on business and just raved about some of the food here. (Donna!!! I hope that you gals made it home OK! Leave me a comment or send me an email!) Becca and I sent Donna and Vera to Caroline's and Donna came back with a tiara!



These gals from Grand Rapids, MI sat to my right and were just a hoot! They have been friends since kindergarten and the 2 on the left will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries next year. At least, I'm pretty sure that is what I heard. From left to right, there's Nellie, Arliss, Joan and Jean. Most of the time during the day, they went out and roamed the town and shopped and then would bring everything back and show it off. I really enjoyed just listening to them tell stories and banter - their voices were just so lovely to listen to! And we had quite a bit of laughter over some of their antics!



And then there was Judy! I was really worried that Judy was not going to be as great as I had expected her to be after reading her blog for several years. You know how sometimes when you meet someone famous in person and you tell them how you follow them and watch what they are doing and they give you the brush off? Well, Judy is very much NOT like that! She is just as wonderful in person as she is on her blog! She didn't recognize me when I got there and the gals at her table had to point me out to her and she just kept saying, "That's not Jill!! That's not Jill from Ohio!" and once I smiled and said it was me, I think she thought maybe it was me, but still wasn't too sure. Once I freshened up for dinner and took my ponytail out, I walked back into the sewing room and she said, "Well, Jill's here!!!" We spent the weekend chatting about our pups and sewing and quilts and Vince. I was just so tickled that she has been reading my blog and knows about what is going on with me!! That was one of the best parts of my weekend!

Again, crappy picture from my phone and I think that is Donna's finger! :)

I also got to meet some other great gals, but I don't have pictures of them.

Karen from San Francisco flew into Chicago and Judy brought a machine for her to use during retreat. Karen was my breakfast companion on Friday and Saturday and we had some nice chats!

Deja is from Maryland, I think, and I would pass her on the way to the room in the late night hours. What a sweetheart! And Saturday night, she was part of the group that stayed up late sewing with me!

Teri was a spit fire! She probably worked on 20 different projects while we were there and she got most of them into flimsies. The amount of energy she had was amazing! She finally posted on her blog this week after an 8 month hiatus and she is looking for fabric. Please check out her blog and see if you can help!

And Janet! I think that Janet was a local gal with Ruthie's group and she was a hoot and a half! Lots of silly times with her around. You will see that in a future post!

And of course Ruthie and Subee! There were so many other gals who were just super nice! I hope that I don't hurt anyone's feelings by not mentioning them! :)

I just have to add that this retreat was one of the best ones that I have been on. It was so peaceful and relaxing and yet full of laughter and energy that you can just feed off of to continue working longer than you thought you could have. And meeting all of the fellow bloggers who I have been reading for a while and the ladies who have been reading my blog... It was like instant friendships popping up left and right!

I can't wait for next year!

Maisy thinks that friends and retreats are nice, but so is staying home to cuddle!

Block of the month sewing

Last night and for a bit this morning, I worked on my blocks on the Mystery Quilt BOM. I got the first 3 blocks mostly done before I moved on to something else, but I am considering going back to them because after working on those blocks with the HSTs and flying geese, strip sewing is getting a little boring.

Here are some pictures of my sewing area and my progress on my blocks using my OCD Binder, as Jennifer is calling it. lol

This is my sewing area and you can see that there is plenty of area for the binder and for space to draw lines and trim HSTs as needed.



Block 3.



Block 2.



Apparently, I didn't get a picture of the first block. I had an issue with my Best Press and scorched 1 HST so I need to replace the fabrics when I get home.

I think that this is a great way to organize the blocks for the BOM and I will definitely be doing it again!

Friday Night Sew In

For the past 3 years, a quilt retreat was held that I attended and helped coordinate to benefit St Jude Children's Research Hospital. Last year at the retreat, I let the other coordinators know that it would be my last year helping with the retreat for various reasons. When the time rolled around this year, I knew that I wasn't going to attend the retreat, but I didn't want to break the tradition of taking the Friday off of work and I decided that I would have my own retreat for the weekend!

Yesterday, I spent the morning and afternoon adding borders to the second secret quilt, prepping the backings for both quilts and then quilting Regina's quilt. I think it looks great! I am going to get the binding on today and then mail it off so I will be able to show the pics on here very soon!!

Jennifer and her mom, Carol, had signed up for the Quilt retreat that was originally scheduled for this weekend, but due to scheduling issues, was moved to last week and they couldn't attend. So they came to Cincinnati for their own retreat! We decided to bring dinner to their hotel room and then we chatted and crafted!

This is what I worked on. On the left is a baby cap that I put another inch on and on the right is the sock that I started last week. We were chatting so much and I was looking at the books that they brought that I didn't get too much done.



On our Yahoo group, Carol hosted a UFO challenge that ended March 31 and she pulled my name as the winner. Woo hoo!! She brought me this book. And Jennifer made me a scrap bag that I can fill up and let the dogs use as a pillow. Very cool!!



Lastly, Max went to the vet yesterday to have his teeth cleaned and they pulled out 4 teeth. I knew about 2 because I could see that they were loose and getting infected which is why I scheduled the appointment. I think that he feels better, but is still sore. And he is making all kinds of new sounds today.



Could be he is still a little upset with me... Looks like I will have to schedule some cuddle time tonight!

2009 in Review

After a little encouragement from my quiting buddy Jennifer, I went through my year to see what all I accomplished. I didn't keep track of 2008 so this will be my baseline year. :)

It was quite an exciting year for me! I upgraded to my Janome 6600P in March, met Bonnie Hunter in August and learned to knit in October! Helped organize the April St Jude Retreat and we had our best turnout in the 3 years since it started and raised a great amount of money!! It was awesome meeting some of my blogger friends in person, too!

Hmmmm... I feel like I'm forgetting something....

OH YEAH!!! Brought home a Judge's Choice Ribbon from the Indy Quilt Show in April!!!

OK, onto the breakdown of quilting/sewing for the year. A small disclaimer - since I seem to have so many projects in differing stages of completeness and there are a few that I only quilted without assembling the top, this is broken down a little more than Jennifer's.

My 2009 accomplishments:

Quilts finished this year (either completely finished or that I have finished my part of) - 21
Binding only - 4 (1 baby, 1 lap, 1 table topper, 1 large quilt)
Quilting only - 2 (1 baby, 1 large - Milky Way)
Quilting and binding - 8 (6 baby, 2 large)
Top and binding - 3 (2 lap, 1 large - Wizard of Oz One Block Wonder)
Top and quilting - 2
Complete quilts - 2 (Cafe Au Lait and commissioned dog quilt)

Quilted for others - 5 (1 baby, 3 lap, 1 twin)
Tops assembled, not quilted - 7 (2 baby, 2 lap, 3 large)
Blocks made for 4 other quilts, but the top assembly has not begun yet. There were also blocks made for 4 comfort quilts throughout the year and 10 blocks for various Guild functions.

Bags - 4
Wall hangings, table runners - 3
Place mats - 15

And Miscellaneous sewing-
Pants - 4 pairs
Pillowcases - 12
Tool Caddy's - 6
Wallets - 7
Rice bags - 23
Coasters - 7 sets
Thread Catcher - 1
Block Butlers - 5
Oven Mitt - 1

Knitted 10 dishcloths and 2 baby caps and crocheted a decorative edging on fleece for a lovely blanket.

Oh and it should be added that of all of this, 8 of the quilts that I completed were for my Guild's Kid Komforts that go to needy children, the 2 baby caps will be donated to a local hospital's NICU unit and the crocheted blanket will go to Project Linus.

Saturday and Bonnie’s Crumb Class

Saturday, Becca and I just stopped for a quick breakfast before heading to class. We were the first ones there and were able to relax and wait while everyone else showed up. We had time to clean our areas and Becca sewed on her stars a little more. Once Bonnie showed up, she discussed the crumbs and smallest scraps that she will use in a quilt. She also threw some of her quilts on the floor so that we could look at them for inspiration and ideas.



Once we were all settled in and ready to start, Bonnie called us over to give a demonstration on how she makes her Crumb blocks. She said that instead of sewing with a long tail of fabric, she will just snip and rip the end of the tail off. Here is Linda’s reaction to that.



And I took a couple of pictures of Bonnie’s samples.



We were turned loose with our machines and scraps and told to sew for an hour before our next demo. Here is Becca, Linda and me with our first Crumb blocks.



Next, we learned how to make Maverick or Wonky Stars.



Sharon decided to use her Crumb blocks with some fabric that she brought to make a larger block in an interesting setting. She has plans to make a whole quilt with the blocks. It was very cute!!! And a great idea for a way to think out of the box!



At this point, it was time for lunch and then we had show and tell. Becca showed off her Animal Parade quilt with her pieced backing and I think that Bonnie was impressed with it! And Bonnie showed us her Dear Jane in the Storm at Sea setting Gorgeous!!!



Next, we learned how to make scrappy hearts. Linda had a bit of trouble with this one. We ended up saying that she needed heart surgery and adult supervision!



There … this looks better!



And Cathy showed off her blocks on her portable design wall.



Then, we learned letters. I like the letters!! And here are all of my blocks from the entire day.



After class, we headed back to Quilts Plus because there was just SOMETHING else that we needed! Once we shopped, Jennifer, Linda, Cathy and I headed to Baskin Robbins for a dinner of ice cream and Becca headed on to Cincinnati.

What a great weekend with good friends and learning! If only every weekend could be this good! :)