pick up tips...

I have been a quilter for about 12 years. We got a flyer in the mail one day from the local technical school and I was intrigued by a log cabin class. I sent in my registration fee and received a class list. Scissors, ruler, needles and something called a rotary cutter. it was the beginning of a love of sewing. My son sleeps under that quilt every night. I keep wanting to make him another, but he insist it be as soft as one that has been washed every month for 12 years. I don't think there is batting quite that soft out there...lol

In the midst of all this sewing I have learned a lot. I am always willing to take another class because inevitably I will learn something...and every so often I teach someone something..

Yesterday I started working on my second Christmas "thingy"...I can't say what it is as relatives read my blog...(you know who you are!) During construction of this secret project I needed to sew Velcro onto my fabric. And that's when one of my "pick up tips" came in handy.

This is the kind of Velcro I use. The sew-on kind.. not the sticky kind...

and this.. plain ol'Elmers school glue..bought when school supplies go on sale..

this is how I "used" to sew on my Velcro.. but the pin kept getting in the way and my Velcro would always end up crooked..

Now, I slap a little school glue down the center of the back of the Velcro and stick it down.
the Velcro on the right is glued down, left isn't...

and it gets sewn on straight...

So, hope that helps you as you make some great Christmas presents... this one is done and I will start another ???? today.

Off to order some cabinets today...and counter tops...

Nancy

Civil War Love Letters....

Last night was the final meeting of our Civil War Love Letters quilt group. We started meeting in January and in September we lost our fearless leader when she moved to Buffalo, New York. She told us she would get someone to replace her for the last meeting, but by 7:10pm last night we realized that no one was showing up... Oh well. We are adults after all, so we ran our own meeting...which consisted of just show-n-tell.

We had lots of quilts that were finished into tops and one that was already quilted and bound.

I don't have names for all these women, but will comment about the quilts if I can...

Miss Nancy's first two rows.

A FIRST quilt for this lady. She decided to make and donate it to her
daughters fifth grade class.

This one will be hand quilted at some point in the future..

This lady said that although she liked the white, she is going to trim it down so it's not so stark.

This lady is using her 121 blocks to make two wall hangings. One for her and one (below) for her son and his new home...

This is just two rows of his so far. When she went to divide the stacks into two, her stack kept getting bigger and his stayed very small. She realized that she didn't want to give up very many of her blocks, so she is making her's larger and making some duplicate blocks for him.

This is Pat's quilt. She owns two long arm machines so it was quilted and bound..

and this photo shows some of the quilting...

After looking at all the quilts last night I have decided to remove the sashing from the 4 rows I have put together and add cornerstones. Of course it will be awhile til I get back to work on it, but I think I will be happier with it...

Nancy

a mish-mash of stuff....

Isn't the chicken cute? One of my guild members brought a dozen or so for show-n-tell....that turned into a show-n-sell... I think all were sold in minutes... I've seen these everywhere, but never caught the bug until Monday... I love the fabric and she is now roosting next to my sewing machine..


Judy L. over at Patchwork Times had a bit of contest last week. She asked us to link to something we were making for Christmas gifts this year. I linked to my hot chocolate recipe that I give to the maillady and others... and I won those beautiful fabrics hanging over my banister...
They are 10 inch strips. Each strip has 4 different gradations of each color AND there is two strips of each color. I haven't decided what I will do with them so all ideas are welcome. If you haven't ever checked out Judy's blog, do... She is a prolific poster..with recipes, mystery quilts, chickens and tons of talk.

And my grocery order came... from Canton Village Grocers... aren't they nice? I wish I could play with them this weekend...but I can't...I've got to leave this afternoon for that "other house"...


And a bit of a sneak peak of what I worked on one day this past week... It's a Christmas gift...


Nancy
anyone else having problems uploading photos since blogger updated? I had to go back and use the old editor and I really kind of like the new editor more...

retreat photos...

 Where we worked...

B sewed on the left, V sewed on the right

My SewEzi table set up

What we worked on...

Bev's tabletopper. It needs another border so not finished yet.

V worked on a tablerunner from the book "Night and Day" by Eleanor Burns

Turning Twenty Again worked on by B

What we finished...

Pillow for DD2

 close up of straight line quilting

Mystery Christmas present

New Wave quilt made by me, Tutorial by OhFransson

V and her finished tablerunner

and there was one more tablerunner finished, but I missed getting a photo.  I also put a zipper in a tote bag which was surprisingly simple and took all of 10 minutes.

So here are the finished projects...

1. zipper in tote by me
2. New Wave quilt top finished by me
3. pillow quilted and made by me
4. mystery christmas gift finished by me
5. B finished a tablerunner
6. V finished a tablerunner

We all had a wonderful time.  We ate, we sewed and we took a trip to Specialty Quilts  who has more Moda pre-cuts than any store I have ever seen.  They were literally everywhere..  Then as we were leaving we noticed this,..  we were in a resort area.  I'm not sure why FedEx thought they should have their truck towed there.  It's not a town, there isn't anything for miles around...

when it positively, absolutely has to get there...

and every morning this little fellow would show up on the balcony...

And the winner?

Bonnie said...I will say 6. I hardly get anything done when I go.

October 17, 2010 5:04 PM

Bonnie, if you will email me your mailing address I will get the gift certificate filled out and get it in the mail to McCalls Quick Quilts magazine.  

Nancy

grocery list....

Banana
Asparagus
Celery
Wheat
Coal
Charcoal
Earth

Do you think hubby will think this is my grocery list? 

It might work if Kona would change that last name to Potting Soil....

And Jackie would change the name of her store from Canton Village Quiltworks to something like..

Jackies Neighborhood Grocery....

Kona is on sale and I couldn't resist...

Nancy

Blogspot is giving me fits...back tomorrow night with winner..

in a hurry...

I am not supposed to be on the computer.  I AM supposed to be dressed, bills paid and on my way to the "house"....

B and V and I got back from our little mini-retreat yesterday afternoon and we had a wonderful time.  We sewed and ate and even took a little trip to a not-so-local quilt shop.

When I got home and went through the mail I found an envelope from McCalls Quick Quilts.  Because I paid my subscription early...they are giving me a gift subscription to give to a friend...  Aren't you all my friends?  How would I pick?  Should I just close my eyes and point?  Should I have yet another contest?

How about you guess how many projects we got done...together...so add up how many projects you think I got done...How many V got done...How many B got done and add them together...  Then leave me your guess in your awesome comment and maybe why you should win...  I don't have internet at the other house so I won't be able respond to your comments.

Whenever I get back on Sunday I will close the contest.  I don't know what time that will be so get your guess in early.

You can go back here to see how many projects I took with me.  I don't have a clue how many they took or how many they finished, I will have to email them. 

See ya later....with photos of our projects.

Nancy

and here we go again....

Think good thoughts...I am leaving the hubby and son alone to fend for themselves. Hopefully the trash will get to the curb tonight...or maybe I will just do it this morning and not have to worry about it.

Two good friends and I are off to sew for 3 days...unfortunately there are no quilt shops anywhere near where we go, so we have to remember everything...

I am taking....

a zipper to add to a tote cause I have been using for a personal makeup bag and things are falling out.  Let's see if I can figure out how to add a zipper to a finished product...  I fear it won't be pretty..

a Christmas present.

a quilt that is all cut out.

my current redwork project

a pillow project

my Civil War Love Letters quilt

Wonder how much I will get done...we do tend to take breaks and talk a lot...


Nancy

New guild....

Saturday was my first meeting at the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild.  Miss Nancy and I ventured to the city of St Louis which for us is about 45 minutes away.  We weren't quite sure what to expect, but I am sure we didn't expect all this wonderful show and tell..

Since I'm new to the guild, I can't really add names to the faces yet,  so I won't comment....

the center started out as a tablecloth!

sewn completely without reason or pattern and I love it.

her daughters baby quilt string paper pieced

no pattern name was mentioned although it reminded me of Yellow Brick Road

Made for her mom's 50th birthday party. The yo yos make a turtle which you can't see.

original pattern made for guild challenge

another original pattern by same member

she made the previous two quilts and also this one

Pattern is from a quilt-a-long with OhFransson

You can find Oh Fransson here and there is a link on her right side bar to her free quilt patterns.   I took my little flying geese in a circle quilt and that brown/green pillow to share..

We had a great time and there were some very interesting ideas coming up.  One is a brown bag swap and another is a quilt show as early as next summer....guess I better get crackin..

I am packing today to go on a little mini-retreat tomorrow..

See ya later this week.

Nancy

I stitched!!!!

Guess where I get to go tomorrow?  

Nope

Not to the "other" house to work my buns off

Tomorrow is my first meeting of the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild

to say I am excited is putting it mildly

One of the things I wanted to do was to make a new name tag...so yesterday I got out my needle and embroidery thread and my Kona and my sewing machine and had a great time...

I stitched a safety pin on the back which doesn't look the best,  but will keep it from falling off my shirt... and  really, that's all that's important.  

I have my show-n-tell all ready and will have my camera...

And today I am packing to go to a mini-retreat next week with two good buddies..

Nancy