Just like Fred and Ginger!

After a very exciting and laugh filled dentist appointment, I started warming up dinner while I loaded another quilt onto Lenny, the quilting frame. I got the 60" x 70" quilt loaded and the frame prepared in about 45 minutes.

After eating and testing the tension with a few small adjustments, Squiggy and I were off and quilting! I used a Star Brand olive green variegated on the top and Bottom Line on the bottom. I even used the same needle that I used on the animal quilt that I quilted on Saturday.

The whole quilt was a dream! Squiggy and I were like 1 unit moving across the floor! Like Fred and Ginger!! And the result is fantastic!!! No thread breaks! Minor tension adjustments after several rows and it is now perfect!





This quilt was quilted for a gal that I used to work with. I hope she likes it!!

Maisy says,

"Fred and WHO???"

I know, Maisy... I had to google them, too! lol

The Good, the Bad and the Evil

Friday night, I spent some time bonding with my quilting frame, Lenny, and machine, Squiggy. (Those names still crack me up!!) After working on the comfort quilt and all of the problems that I encountered, I really needed time to just fiddle with the frame and the machine and the thread and everything to find the right combination. I had picked up some top stitch needles on the recommendation of my very good buddy, Michelle. I was trying to stick with the needles that the manual said to use. I mean, why would they tell you to use one specific type of needle if you need to use another one?

The Good - So I had 2 different sizes of needles and a Kid Komfort charity quilt that I loaded onto the frame. I was very aware of how I was loading the fabric and batting since I had some issues with this on the last quilt. Everything went fine and I was ready to start sewing. The new needles work great! I was able to use up some bobbins that were left over from other quilts to free them up for new quilts.

Another good thing was that if I have a good bobbin in the machine, I can use the Connecting Threads thread that I bought without having thread breaks. Woo hoo!! This is very good since I have so much of this thread! I will just have to deal with the excess lint, but I'm OK with that!

The Bad - I started having a couple of spots with skipped stitches on the last thing I quilted. It wasn't too big of a deal and I just went back over the spots again before I removed it from the frame. Also, I still can't use the humongous cones of glow in the dark thread that I won at the quilt retreat in April. I'm think that these might go into the 1,000th post giveaway...

And the Evil - I'm still having bobbin issues. When I bought the machine, it came with like 5 bobbins. Of course, this is just not enough! I have since bought the 'correct' bobbins like 5 different times and only a couple of times have they actually been the right bobbins. Because of this, some of the bobbins have gotten mixed up and I can't tell which bobbin is right just by looking at them. Sometimes I can tell by putting them into the bobbin case, but not always then either. So I keep working on separating the good from the bad.

It will be great knowing that the Connecting Threads Thread will work with a good bobbin. I'm actually very happy about that!

OK, so here is what I did on Friday!

The Kid Komfort quilt



Close up - trust me, these stitches look great in person!



And the place mats. These will be a cinch to bind, now!



As long as I had put off trouble shooting the problems, this was not as much of a chore as I thought it was going to be. I'm so happy that I was able to quilt and move along on these projects! But the machine still needs a cleaning and I will add it to my list of things to do in the New Year!

6 days....wooo!

And only 4 more days of working at the real job. One Saturday at the shop. A few more sleeps. And then the fun begins!! Woo hoo!! ***

Tonight, I quilted another of Regina's quilts. I used an Essentials by Connecting Threads thread on the top. I had bobbin issues again. I am seriously thinking that the Essentials thread is just crap! Sometimes it works and is great. Sometimes, I spend 3+ hours quilting a lap quilt. Just ridiculous. The quilt looks great though! Although now that it is off the frame, I have found some eyelashing on the back. :(





I have been keeping track of the threads that I use, but I can't seem to figure out the exact combination that works wonderfully!

*** Are you sick of hearing about the retreat and the weekend of fun yet?

7 days....

Last night, I was pretty productive. I got backings pieced for 3 more quilts and I ran a basting line around the outside of 4 quilts for quilting. Jen does this to give a bit of stabilization to the quilt edges so that there is not a lot of stretching while it's on the frame. This is the first time that I am trying it so that I can be the judge. :)

I also got this quilt loaded onto Lenny and it's ready for quilting tonight! I picked the thread and everything.



7 days from now....

January Accomplishments

With the Waun-A-Quilt challenge, I really got a lot done! I have also been doing what I can to fit quilting in at any given time - at work during lunch, in the mornings before getting ready for work and, even when I get home from work around 8 and am very tired, I usually have binding that I can sit and work on. It would have been interesting to see how much time I accumulated this month while quilting.

1. Finished the binding and attached the label to the red and cream log cabin
2. Made a rice bag to help in healing me of my Cold That Would Not Leave.
3. Finished the binding on the green and orange table topper which I still need to ship off
4. Worked a little more on the purple Not Your Grandmother's Log Cabin
5. Began tracking my net fabric used - to date it is 18.02
6. Quilted and bound 3 Kid Komforts quilt for the Guild
7. Took a machine applique class and loved it! Now, I have to finish a sample for the shop...
8. Made 8 pillowcases entirely from stash!
9. Completed the Cafe au Lait in Every Pot quilt which included finishing the top, quilting, binding and adding the label! Have I mentioned how much I love having Lenny and Squiggy, the machine frame and Mega Quilter? giggle
10. Made 24 criss cross coasters
11. Finished three 6.5" blocks and one 12.5" blocks for the Thimbleberries Club
12. Helped Linda quilt a Nickel quilt on Lenny and Squiggy
13. Made a top for a shop sample
14. Worked on the final pieced border for my Milky Way quilt - more than halfway done! woo hoo!
15. Made 4 coffee placemats
16. Quilted and attached the binding on Lover's Lane. I also have the label ready to be hand sewn down, too.
17. Made 4 blocks for the Teal and Brown $2 a block BOM

Wow! That is a lot!

Wait a minute... I feel like I'm missing something here....

Oh, yeah! I beat Jen in the untweaked version of Waun-A-Quilt! Woo hoo!! But we were even in the tweaked version, so I am still calling it a tie! :)

OK, I am off to try and finish my Milky Way top tonight! I don't have too much farther to go!

TGIF! and goals

I'm so happy that it's Friday! And I am home from work! And I can sew! And I have no plans for Sunday which means that I could quilt Wagon Wheels with Lenny and Squiggy. Have I mentioned lately how lucky I am to have my quilting frame and quilting machine? No? Well, I am!

Anyway, Jen and I are winding down on our Waun-A-Quilt Challenge and I am in the lead! Check out Jen's latest post on our standings! You can also see the latest quilt that her and I quilted together. Well, OK, I wasn't actually there to move the machine around, but I did tell her what color thread and what design to do, so technically I did help. :)

And since I did so well with listing my goals last weekend, I figured that I would do it again for this weekend.

1. Finish shop sample
2. Square up, attach binding and begin hand stitching on Lover's Lane
3. Complete 4 blocks for the 2BB BOM
4. Piece backing for Wagon Wheels
5. Begin final border for Milky Way
6. Quilt a charity quilt

Now, I better get started on that list!

Lots of loops

With a little help from my quilting buddy....



I finished the quilting on Lover's Lane! Man, it was rough! It felt like it took forever! I spent about 30 minutes Sunday night and again on Monday night and I didn't feel like I had made a dent.

The weather seemed to work in my favor. They did an early release since the freezing rain started around 3 so I left work at 4:30 and got home around 5:45. I took the dogs out and ate a quick meal and got back to it. Three hours later....

I think it looks awesome!





And as always...



Doggie approved!

I used Hobbs 80/20 for the batting, a light pink Bottom Line thread for the bobbin (I think I went through 4 bobbins!!) and a pink and brown variegated Lava thread. I think it looks awesome! Wait - did I already say that? :-D

Quilty Sunday

Linda asked if she could use Lenny and Squiggy to quilt a nickel quilt on Sunday. When she got here, I had to hurry and finish the Chicken quilt so we could load her quilt. While she worked, I worked on the binding.

Here is a picture of how I was working on the binding.



And here is Linda's quilt quilted.





And it was doggie approved!



I think that Linda was pleased with how quickly she got this quilted. And I know that me and the ninjas will be very happy to have her back to quilt some more!

Quality time with Lenny and Squiggy

Last night and today, I spent some quality time in the basement with Lenny and Squiggy. Now, for those new to my blog, Lenny is the quilt frame and Squiggy is the Viking Mega Quilter. Laughing, are you? Can you really say that you don't name your machines? They are major parts of the process and are going to be around for a while. Hey, men name their cars ...

Anyway, I spent yesterday morning before work loading the Chicken quilt onto the frame.



Once I got home, I was able to get about half of it quilted before I couldn't stand any longer. Today, I had to get it finished. Linda wanted to quilt a Nickel Quilt so I had to work hard to get it done. I think it looks great!



And it's already puppy approved!



A close up.



After this, we were able to get Linda's quilt loaded and she got started on quilting and I attached the binding to the quilt and started the hand stitching part. It's going to be a big job!

Very traumatic evening - Real Quilter

With another finish thrown in!

Last night started out pretty well. I was productive in getting the charity quilt finished quickly and all running smoothly with Squiggy, the Mega Quilter. The frame was holding up nicely, too. I got everything prepped and started loading the t-shirt quilt onto Lenny, the frame. I had to take a short break and iron out the backing, but it wasn't anything major.

I decided on a black and white variegated Lava thread for the top and a grey Bottom Line for the bobbins and I wound 2 and a partial bobbins. I say a partial because I was trying to wind the bobbins on my Sidewinder, but I was having issues with the cone and the Sidewinder so I gave up and just wound the 2 full bobbins on Squiggy.

I started quilting and I was a little nervous about the bulk of the t-shirts and sweatshirts and the interfacing being a problem with the quilting, but the first few passes were as smooth as a baby's bottom. And I was listening to the iPod since it was fixed and just quilting away like there was no tomorrow!

Now, *insert several ominous tones here* this is where the story goes downhill for our heroine.

At one point, I had to rip some stitches out. Not a big deal, but I couldn't get the bobbin thread to come through to the top of the quilt. I walked around to the back of Lenny, the frame and with my LARGE scissors, I snipped the bobbin thread. I was quite proud of myself as I lowered the scissors and examined my work. Then ... I closed the scissors to lock them....



Apparently, the scissors are very sharp because I didn't feel very much resistance at all when I was closing them. Drat! (Not really what I said, but this is a mostly PG story.) No big deal though, the quilting was going well and I was happy to be able to be quilting again so I just grabbed another pair of headphones and moved along.

Until....




I am still really not sure what happened. I think that I blocked it out like the people who don't remember large chunks of time when they are in an accident or attacked. I do not hold Squiggy responsible for my injuries though. I feel that must be said!

Anyway, I was smoothing something out on the quilt top and my finger just didn't move fast enough. I do not know if the needle went from the top of the finger nail through to the bottom or if it just got a couple of 'bites' out of the fleshy part of my finger, but there was blood. Buckets of blood! OK, it wasn't buckets, but it did fill up a napkin quite well.

I sent Jen a text and she called me right back to ask how it happened and if it was OK and if I had to pull thread out of the wounds. (FYI - I did not.) I told her how I was telling her how Brenda from my sorority told me that you aren't a real quilter until you sew through a finger and my response was - if being a 'real' quilter meant that you had to be a dumb @$$, I was OK with being a fake quilter! So, I am now a 'real' quilter. yippee. (Can you sense my enthusiasm?)

OK, back to the quilting, I had to clean the quilt up a little, but luckily, the fabric was already red and it hadn't started to really bleed until I pulled my hand back to look at it. I finished up the quilting without any more incidents, cleaned up and went to bed!

Another quilt finished!

I am so happy to have a functioning frame and machine again! I offered to quilt a t-shirt quilt for my best friend, Mary, at the shop, but I had a problem. I had a charity quilt loaded on the frame that needed to be quilted first. I had made a couple of passes on Sunday morning to make sure that the brain on the speed control was working properly and I was going to finish it up on Sunday evening when I got back from working at the shop.

I hit a snag. I woke up on Sunday with a bit of a tickle in my throat and chest. I sneezed quite a bit at work and, when I got home, I promptly fell asleep. I woke up around 7:30 congested. It was awful! Well, not really, but I didn't feel like dragging myself to the basement that night. So, I ate a little something, let the dogs out and went to bed.

Today, I didn't feel that awful and I got a good night's sleep last night so I planned to finish the charity quilt, load the t-shirt quilt and quilt it tonight. After all, my iPod is fully functioning again so I could listen to a book while FMQ'ing!

In the past, I have had some spatial issues with the frame and stippling. I would run out of room and end up with a long straight line that didn't fit with a stipple pattern. Since I want to do a stipple on the t-shirt quilt and I want to master this simple design, I tried something new.

I had seen a suggestion on the DVDs that I got with the frame on setting up and using the frame and machine. There was a tip to mark the quilt with something so that you would see how much room was left in the area where you are quilting. I thought it was a silly tip for someone who had no experience, but I filed it away in my head for a rainy day. Well, I remembered it while I was thinking about my issues with running out of room.

To finish this quilt, I got my roll of painter's tape and marked off the quilting area each time I advanced the quilt. I also didn't advance so far each time so that I could sort of overlap my rows so that it didn't look like each pass was separate. Now, I don't think that this quilt would win any awards, but I think it looks awesome! Some kid is going to love it!

Here is the finished charity quilt for the Guild.




Now, bring on the t-shirt quilt!

November Accomplishments

This month, I really got a lot done! But I also spent 3 days sewing on retreat and had the long Thanksgiving weekend!

1. Made the center to my One Block Wonder - includes the registering, cutting, piecing, throwing up, and assembling all the blocks together
2. Made 2 labels and labelled 2 quilts that were completed within the past couple of months.
3. Finished 48 blocks for Chicken in Every Pot quilt
4. Shared Cheech Splashes on retreat
5. Made a Yellow Brick Road quilt and started stitching the binding down
6. Finished the 45 stars and assembled the top and added the first border to the Thangles Milky Way quilt
7. Finished the 4 Fourth of July placemats
8. Loaded a quilt onto Lenny and then found out that Squiggy was not operational due to a problem with the speed control's brain.
9. Got a new phone
10. Completely made the Vacation Houses wall hanging - from cutting out to binding
11. Started cutting fabric for the Not your grandma's log cabin quilt

I got a lot accomplished! I have a lot to work on, but I feel good about everything that I did in November.

A few little things...

A few days ago, I realized that I needed some more flannel pants to go along with my Lucky Charms pants for the winter months. Joann's had this fabric on sale and I got enough for a pair of pants and a pillowcase. I got the fabric washed with the laundry today so I just need to iron and cut it and make the pants. Now, if I can just get that done in the next week or so, I will be in good shape. Although, there are some other holiday flannels on sale this week that I will have to go and pick up for pants, too.



Last night, the dogs and I were in bed and Max ended up with his head on the pillow and his eyes tightly closed. By the time I got my camera, he had opened his eyes and moved a little, but it was still a good photo op.



Tonight, we went outside and he escaped. Right in front of a moving car! My heart stopped! Luckily, it was my neighbor Kim driving and she saw me running through the parking lot after him and screaming like a mad woman. This may have been the closest call he has ever had with a car. Currently, he is tucked safely back in bed!

After work today, I loaded up a charity quilt on Lenny and gave Squiggy a long overdue cleaning and lube job. I probably need to wind 1 more bobbin, but it is ready to be quilted tomorrow. This is part of my test plan.



Hopefully, I will get it quilted tomorrow night. We'll see. It is a Monday night small group night.

Decisions made

Will they work? It's too soon to tell.

I am still sans Bubba right now. No call from the shop to let me know that I can pick him up tomorrow. In all likelihood, it will be sometime next week and I won't be able to get him until Saturday. I can live with that. I still have Lenny and Squiggy who have been slightly neglected since just before vacation and I have several charity quilts to be quilted along with several of mine. I also have a lot of prep work that can be done while Bubba is gone. Lots of ironing and cutting.

There have been some things that I have been contemplating and I think that I have made some decisions about how to proceed with these things. The first thing is UFOs. The second is scraps.

I read somewhere of a way to handle the UFOs. A person would make a list of all of her UFOs and put them on little pieces of paper in a jar and pull one of the papers out at the beginning of the month. She would then work on that project until it was finished or the end of the month came. If she got it finished before the end of the month, she would pull another piece of paper and work on that project. Once the end of the month came, the project being worked on would be returned to the jar and a new project would be pulled.

This sounds like a good system. I am going to try it this weekend and week with all of the things that I want to get done before Bubba comes back home. This should be a good indicator of how well the system will work for me.

Scraps. Well, what can I say about scraps. I have read Bonnie Hunter's Scrap User's System and it seems to make sense, although I can't see myself using a lot of 1.5", 2" or 3" strips or squares. I like the Nickel Quilts books and charm pack patterns using the 5" squares and the jelly roll patterns and books using the 2.5" strips. I am thinking that I will go through my scraps and sort them and start cutting. Or pick a bag and go through it and then grab another and start over. (I have lots of scraps!) I am going to keep the fabric separated as far as Joann's fabric and quilt shop fabric. I have lots of patterns from the Stash Pot Pie classes that I can use on the Joann's fabric and I can pick a pattern and start cutting the scraps according to the pattern so that I can use them up now. I will have to rearrange some of my projects that are already in bins so that I can free up 4 bins, but that shouldn't be a problem for long.

I feel good about these 2 decisions that I have made and I am anxious to get started so that I can see how they work out. I have a ton of shows to watch on my TiVo now that the new season has started and I picked up a few movies from the library this week to watch, too, so I should be able to make some great progress this weekend! Stick around and see what happens!

Lenny and Squiggy saw some action!

Tonight after dinner, I got to the basement and worked on some charity quilts. I think that Lenny and Squiggy were very excited to see some action! They worked wonderfully!

The first one was this quilt made of squares. I was trying a technique that I used in a machine quilting class where you quilt a wavy line hitting the points where the squares meet and eventually the top looks like a bunch of circles were quilted. I didn't have enough room to accomplish this so I ended up doing meandering flowers and loops. I think that the flowers turned out really well.




On this one, I just did a meander, but when I got to the bottom, I realized that I didn't start the top of the quilt soon enough and I ran out of backing. I am now in the process of ripping out the quilting.




Overall, the meandering turned out really nice. I will do it again once the quilt is ready to be loaded again.

Things to do

To keep myself in line, I am making a list of things that HAVE to be done this weekend. I know that I tried this a couple of weekends ago and I barely got anything done, but that was when I had a lot of homework for my Courier bag class and that took up A LOT of time. With this being a 3 day weekend, I think that I have a better shot of accomplishing more. Especially since I have most of my bag homework done for the next class.

There is only one problem with the next class. It is on Tuesday night and I have been invited to go to the Reds baseball game for a work function. And due to information that was learned last weekend, I *really* think that I should go to this work function. It would be BENEFICIAL for me to go to this work function. ;)

Anyway...

So far tonight, I have already cleaned up the house and am ready to start laundry. I just have to gather the laundry from the bedroom and take it to the basement and sort it and get started. I also spent a little time earlier in the week just straightening up my sewing table and all of the projects that are in the works.

All right, here is my list of things that I absolutely have to get done. Or at least work on! These are in no particular order.

1. Quilt an Alaska charity quilt
2. Quilt a Kid Komforts charity quilt
3. Piece an Alaska charity quilt
4. Piece a Kid Komforts charity quilt
5. Finish the 4 secret projects
6. Work on the other set of secret projects
7. Finish one more pair of pants
8. Finish my Courier bag homework
9. Piece my August block for the BOM

I have quite a few more charity quilts to get pieced and a few more than that to get quilted. Lenny and Squiggy could be getting quite a work out!

OK, I'm off to get started!

TGIF!

Woo hoo!! It's Friday! I am so happy!

It's the last day of work before a 3 day weekend.

I only have 9 more working days before I head to Florida for a week with my folks and my grandparents.

Next weekend is the Shop Hop and the plans are set for a car full to run around to the shops together. We are going to have a blast!!

And this weekend, I have very little going on but sewing and quilt related activities. Tomorrow morning, I am heading out to breakfast and to shop with my very good quilting buddies! Well, most of them. Judy and Dominique have other plans and can't join us.

I have some movies from the library that I am anxious to see and there will be plenty of time for that.

I also have quite a stack of charity quilts to quilt so Lenny and Squiggy should be getting a workout!

I can't wait to get started!!

Something is done!

Well, I got something done while I was doing laundry! Lenny and Squiggy were very happy for the attention!

1. Finish the last 5 pairs of pants
2. Quilt the Courier bag pieces for class on Tuesday
3. Piece the August BOM block
4. Piece at least 2 charity quilts
5. Quilt at least 1 quilt
6. Work on 4 secret projects
7. Start on 1 secret project

I got Kristie's quilt quilted while I was working on laundry. I think it looks great! I used a Connecting Threads blue variegated on the top and tan Bottom Line in the bobbin and I just did meandering loops all over.

Another one done!

Last night, I loaded and quilted the log cabin quilt. This was the July UFO from our Yahoo group. It was also the very first quilt top that I made from the very first quilt class that I ever took in January-February 2007. I was able to quilt this in just over 2 hours.

I used the Connecting Threads burgundy in the top and put Sewer's Aid on the spool before I started and I didn't have any thread breaks. Woo Hoo! And I used tan Bottom Line in the bobbin. And I just free motioned loops.









I think it looks great! Lenny and Squiggy seem to be just giddy with the use that they have been getting this week!

Maddy's Quilt is done!

Last night, I got Maddy's quilt loaded onto the frame, Lenny, and quilted with Squiggy. It went very quickly - about 2 hours to load and quilt! It is a Take 5 pattern and the fabric is Michael Miller. I used a Superior Lava black to gray variegated in the top ad had NO thread breaks! I love this thread! I used silver Bottom Line in the bottom because the back is black with white spots - similar to the outer border. It looks really sharp!









I hope that she likes it!