A quilter is born?

So I have been quilting for about seven years, in that time I have made a few quilts for my friend Jamie and her growing family. I always showed off what I was working on at the time and Jamie, being a sweet person and a good friend would say how great they were, what pretty colors, lots of time involved.... thank you, thank you, thank you, etc.

But I never tried to get her interested, basically because she showed appreciation for the final product but wasn't all that interested in how it was constructed. So i was shocked and excited when she told me she was going to ask for a sewing machine for Christmas because she wanted to learn to quilt.

She and the kids came over last night and I helped her get her machine set up and gave her some pre-cut squares to start playing with. I got her going and then started raiding my notions and tools to see what I could give her to help her along. (I think she's pretty much set for a little while at least, I didn't realize how many extras I had!) After a four patch, she was excited, then a 4x4 block of squares, then a 16x16 block of squares...she sewed and sewed...perhaps a quilter was born last night! :-) We shall see!

Jamie sewing while her daughter Juli matched up pairs of blocks declaring as she went, "Oooh, this is a cute one!" " Now those are cute together!" and "I love the pink ones!" She was just adorable and DH and I were cracking up listening to her!
Unfurling after the final seam....


Examining her work and points...



Showing off! Way to go Jamie!

I sent her home with enough 4" squares to make a nice sized lap quilt. We'll border it and she can quilt it on the frame when she is done with the piecing.

RxR Update

Here is Cynthia's RxR from Mailblocks with my addition (bottom row) I think this is going to be just an awesome fall quilt. I almost wish I had chose some nice autumny colors for mine, maybe I would actually get it done before next fall!

Don't look now Momma's got her wool out!

My life, is different, I have been told by so many people that hear my tales of normal everyday life here at Casa de Leonard that we should have our own reality show. Hmmm, would a camera man know that when I scream DANGER WILL ROBINSON that means I'm headed out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel and for every one's safety they should remain calm and continue staring at a fixed point in the room lest they be blinded? I think for the public safety we'll just keep the show off the airwaves.

My husband has always been a singer, not that he sings well, but that he adapts current situations into a little tune. The boys were awoken with a little ditty that went something like this, "Wake up, wake up you sleepy heads, its time to get your hineys out of bed!" or he has been caught serenading the cat with "God bless the fuzzy one!" Currently, he has been singing "Don't look now, momma's got her wool out!" Based on a Rodney Carrington song that he heard on the radio Called "Don't look now!" You can click if you want, but after the penis post from a week ago I thought I'd let you have your choice to watch :-)

So anyhoo, these candle wraps are what I've been working on. The gold light bulb was the first, bought as a kit from eBay and the other three were just me messing around with wool I already had and pattern ideas sketched out on freezer paper. I thought these were just a great quick Christmas gift idea. ***12/1 Teresa from Stitchinbythelake asked how these are held together, I used 2 buttons and 2 lengths of floss to wrap around the buttons. Try some yourself, they're sooo easy!

Fishes Everywhere

My blocks from current swap at Mailblocks. The guidelines were only the fish needed to be bright on a dark blue background. Once swapped I plan to make a great little boys quilt for my friends son with some free formed seaweed and bubble quilting. You can find the pattern here.

They don't call it INVISIgrip for nothing

One of my favorite things about a quilt retreat is that everyone is so relaxed and generous. Not only is the advice and inspiration plentiful, but everyone has different tools and notions they're more than willing to allow you to experiment with.

I purchased a Martelli Rotary cutter after my retreat buddy Kathleen showed me hers. Now Kathleen is left handed and found this to be most comfortable for her. I on the other hand have tried lots of different cutters. I like a blade that stays out not the pressure sensitive ones. My major problem has been that I have large hands and no matter which I tried, my hand or finger would inevitably hit the safety button as I was cutting and I would bash my knuckles against the cutting mat and if I was extremely unlucky that day, the ruler would slip and I'd ruin a piece of fabric. Now I find that I have more control, my hand doesn't get as tired as quickly and I can cut through lots of layers of fabric at once. It took some getting used to, but now I am a true fan of the Martelli cutter, next purchase will be a 60mm.

Along with the Martelli, I had the opportunity to use some rulers with Invisipgrip from Omnigrid. A thin clear non slip plastic that adheres to the back of your rulers to prevent slipping. Wow, that stuff was so great, i had to buy some. So it arrived today, the first ruler I applied it to was my 12½ x 12½" ruler. Awesome, couldn't wait to put it on my smaller rulers. I cut out one for my 6 x6 and another for my 6½ x 6½ and another for my 4x14 (this one would be a little small but I was confident that it would still work. Then I tried to get the darn invisible stuff unstuck from the backing paper...then my DH tried...then DS1 tried....then DS2 tried....then DSGF tried.....what was going on????? The first piece went on so easily! We all spent 30 minutes trying to un-stick this stuff from the backing, I was really POed, said screw it and went to make myself a cup of coffee. When the logical mathematical quilter in my brain could finally be heard....6x6, 6½ x6½ and 4 x 12 could all be cut from one 12½ x12½ piece!!!!!! I was trying to get double duty out of a single duty 12½ x 12½" piece! DS summed it all up when he said, "They don't call it INVISIgrip for nothing!" LOL

Row Robins

I really enjoy robins, be they row or round :-) This is my row from a current exchange, raggedy edge applique flowers on a four patch cream background. The top is my starter row and the pretty second row was made by my fellow robin Susan. I plan to add raggedy leaves, butterflies and bees to complete it. I thought this would be a great pattern because everyone just needs to dig through their scrap bin to come up with flower fabric. This is the first one to come my way from Karen. Her Americana stars top will be to celebrate the citizenship of her beautiful little grand daughter. I added the second row to Karen's beautiful starter. Honestly the gold isn't nearly as bold as it looks.

HeeHee!

Another funny from my buddy Janet, she keeps me cracking up with emails she sends!

But will they bloom?

I wonder whether they would look better on the kitchen table or in the entry?

I wonder if they come in different colors?

What about the fragrance?

I wonder if they're cheaper by the dozen?

I wonder if it would help to put those preservative packets in the water?

I wonder if they come in long stemmed?

I wonder if they'll bloom soon?

Captured at 115th and Allisonville Rd. in Fishers, Indianapolis. The sign is real and was up for two hours before someone stopped and told them how to spell PEONIES!

Looking forward

I have been thinking about the year to come and my quilting plans. Although its a little early, I'm starting on some quilting/stash/fabric buying resolutions. I might just get started on these a little early, but I don't think I'll be breaking any rules, especially since I'm making them :-)

1. Finish up at least six UFOs most of which are tops.
Why do I have the machine and frame if I'm not going to use it?

2. Make and donate six lap + size quilts to charity.
I think if I plan on one every two months its a more do-able schedule.

3. Complete two projects with the fabrics I have purchased that are so neatly bundled up together and I haven't dared to rip into.
I buy far too many collections of fabrics looking so pretty together. I'm too chicken to just dive into them fearing I wont do them justice.

4. Make one king sized, two sided quilt from nothing but fabrics from the scrap bin using crumb piecing and stash for borders or sashing. I save all these tiny scraps, for what? I rarely paper piece or applique.

5. This is the biggie, I will list on my blog every fabric purchase I make to hold myself accountable for the $$ that is being spent. I would like to list a dollar amount, but I have no clue as to how much I normally spend, shame on me. So an ongoing list on here should help to keep my perspective and hopefully keep me from impulse buying.

I think this is a good start... check back in a year to see if it will be a good finish!

Recents

From the tone of my last post I guess I implied that I hadn't been sewing anything, which isn't exactly true. I have done a little, but none of which has been terribly inspiring to me.

To begin with, the boys girlfriends asked for quilts. So Stephanie likes orange, so I showed her some batiks I had orange and blue with orange, and I made this for her at retreat in September. About 3 days after my return she broke up with Q. Now I have a nice center but not a whole lot of motivation to finish. Emily, Gene's girlfriend wanted brights on black. This is going in the direction I want, but now I am regretting some of the red and orange squares in the nine patches, I think I need to do some ripping and insert different color squares where it makes the pattern look wonky. And of course I ran out of Kona black. I thought I had some here at the house but when I pulled the top out to work on the borders I found it definitely wasn't Kona, so I've ordered more.

These are blue and cream Jacob's Ladders for the lottery at Mailblocks for this month.

And here are six of the 23 total blocks I made for a Scrappy Irish Chain swap at Mailblocks.

So all in all, I have been sewing, just not with the intensity that I have in the past. I think my motivation is slowly returning, I am working on my Orange Crush Mystery today, getting all of the blocks assembled and hopefully a nice border or two. Then it will be time to choose which Orphan blocks or UFO will grace the back and I'll get it on the frame finally.

My OH My....

Its been a while since I've been on Blogger. Perhaps because this is my quilt blog and I have been going through a motivational drought of late? Yes, I have basically kept up with my commitments, but that's it, and its not been joyfully either, but instead with a "I gotta catch up" attitude which leaves me a feeling of duty done, rather than satisfyingly and gleefully complete.

I think I'm finally heading out into the light again. Is it the weather getting cooler? Thoughts of Christmas looming over my head? Hopefully its just my passion returning.