It's the little things that get me

Last weekend Ray and I went to the Sewing Expo in Lakeland. Trying desperately to stay out of a depression that keeps following me around, I thought the sewing expo sounded like something fun.
The only problem was Ray thought he needed to go with me. I'm not sure why, as we had already discussed that he would go do "boy" stuff while I did my "girl" stuff. I was surprised when he didn't drop me off at the entrance, but paid for parking and walked inside with me.

The expo was pretty much fun. It was like a quilt show with garment fabrics and embellishments thrown in. I got to play on longarms machines. I would have played more if Ray had not been there but I played. Maybe that was why he went in with me, he was afraid I would come out with one. Ah ha! That might be it!
Back to the show. After the second row we saw this beautiful booth that drew us in. It was the Primitive Gatherings booth. Ray and I both were dumbstruck! It was beautiful! It had all the traditional quilts we both love. There was one problem; they were small. I mean really small. Did that stop Ray from asking if I would make one for him? Nope! Didn't even slow him down.  Look at the pattern he picked up.

22" X 28"

Did you happen to catch the size? Yes this is one of the patterns Ray grabbed. Yes, I am nuts, because if he asks me to make it for him I will. He pointed out a few other items that I will show later. I am still shaking my head over this.

A friend of mine, Karen, told me the last time I saw her that she thought I was nuts when I first started working in 1 1/2" strips and 3" finished sizes. Then she tried a Miss Rosie pattern called Cracked Pots. She now is a convert and loves them. I too love working small, but have never worked this small before. The pinwheel pieces are worked on HST paper and that measure 3/4" finished HST. Now that is small!
I am using the Triangulations papers that I print here at home so I don't have to worry about running out and needing to go to the quilt shop. Since I work late at night that is a good thing. Do you know about the Triangulations CD? I love it. I know how to make a HST without paper and I can make them pretty accurate with the need of only a hair trim to make it perfect. When I use the Triangulations is when I want to make tons of them. It really is faster to work with. I don't sell the CD, nor am I paid by Bear Paw Productions but I do love this CD. I have the 2.0, and now they are making the 3.0 and I read they have lots more to offer on it like a couple of quilt patterns. If you make HST and QST a lot and you are looking for a good way to make them try it, you'll like it.

Ok, now I am off to do some sewing.

Later,
Diane

I am back in my sewing room

I have been back in my sewing room for the past couple of days. What a relief! I was so afraid I had lost my quilting mojo. I have been playing around with a Texas theme in my head and been cutting and ironing fabric. I dug some strips from my strip drawer and sewed them together and tossed them since I had not quite got the method worked out. Cut a few strips and sewed and tossed them, still the method was wrong. Now I think I have it.

I have pulled every scrap and fat quarter out and washed, ironed, cut and sewed until I have stacks of pairs. Now I will pair up my pairs.

Years ago, about 15, I went to a swap class at my quilt guild. We all swapped strips of fabric and sewed them together and then cut them again and swapped those strips. What we ended up with was a really cute Texas flag.  It is just big enough for a wall hanging or a small pillow since it is only about 12" X 17".

My idea is to make a large Texas flag for my living room, one big enough to take a nap under if I want. Since we have decided to make the family room into a Texas themed room I think it will look great draped over the couch.

This was found on one of my last trips to Houston. I wanted it for my living room, but it may end up in my sewing room.

Beading fun

I've been working on a necklace pendant. I really like how it is turning out.

I haven't played too much at the sewing machine. Too busy with everything else. The original plan was to take the whole weekend and dare anyone to bother me. Dear husband stopped that. He surprised me with a weekend trip. I'm not complaining by any means, but sometimes too much is just too much. I will laugh and smile and enjoy our time together. There are so many I know who would give anything for a weekend with the one they love. I will sew next week.

Diane

Just a few minutes

I have been working at cleaning this dump of a house today. UGH!
Sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, laundry, etc.You know the drill.
All I wanted to do today was go into the sewing room and lock myself away, but I knew I had to get some work done.
I did take a few minutes to play with one of my new books. This block was really easy! I know I will be making more too.

I'm trying to post from my phone so I'm not real sure how this will work. Fingers crossed!

Diane

OMG!

As Rosanna Rosanna Danna used to say..."It's always something!"

I was going to blog about the wonderful speed in which Amazon got my amazing new books to me, but before I could, I got an ugly message on my computer that said I didn't have enough disk space to do anything. I needed to delete some items to carry on. UGH! I don't know enough about computers to do that!!! If I did I would have a long time ago! (That is what I was thinking).

After begging my son to come help me "fix it", he click, click, click, got me to the place I needed to go and told me to click, delete, click to my heart's content. I deleted over 25 GIGS! That was just pictures too. If I did a real house cleaning and got rid of files I no longer needed or wanted I could probably do at least that much more.

Anyway, back to the original reason for my post. I got this today!! I was excited to hear it had been released finally after waiting for months. Judy's blog is one of the three that I look at everyday with only the occasional miss. I loved her previous books and didn't think anything could top them, until now.

If you need fresh ideas for borders, this is the book for you. Her instructions are clear and concise. Plus there are 15 quilt designs, how cool is that? She tells you how to make any border fit any top. I know where I will be after I post this!!

Another book by Judy that arrived today is one I have owned for a while. I had to replace it after loaning it out and like a lost sheep never came home.

This is a great book with great quilt designs. The instructions are divided into one hour increments. That way if you tend to have just a small amount of time to work you can still get a lot accomplished. Like the old saying, slow and steady wins the race. It is amazing what you can get done in an hour at a time.

 

The last book that came in the box is:

 

I have been interested in this one for a while, but never remembered to order it. This is going to be great! I want to make some quilts for family members and I want them to actually use them so I don't want to invest tons of time. Great quilts, just not time consuming. This will fit the bill!

 

Ok, I popped the top on a cold Coke, have my comfy chair with two chihuahuas in it and I am going to read for a bit.

 

Oh, I almost forgot, Amazon was super speedy on this order. I paid for 3-5 day shipping and got it in 2!! Maybe I should be praising the Post Office...Who ever got them to me so fast, thank you!

 

Later,

Diane

Returned

Airline security, family, friends, more family, responsibilities, hugs, exhaustion, stress, tears, laughter, TSA clearance, long noisy flights. That just about sums up last week.

Laundry, grocery shopping, meat market, baking and menu writing. That is the goal for tomorrow.
I HOPE to go into my sewing room after that.

While away my MIL gave me some blocks her mother put together. I brought a few home and hope to carefully put them together into a wall quilt for her sister and a small sofa quilt for my MIL. She was surprised that I would want to do that for her, I don't know why.

Pictures coming as soon as I find where the camera landed after unpacking.

Diane

Another check mark!

Another UFO bites the dust!
This feels great! Looking around at all of the "kits" I have ready to go I could do this a lot more, but I know I will not keep going at this rate. As a matter of fact next week I will get nothing done as I will be back checking on my parents. No sewing gets done when I am visiting so I have stopped even taking it with me. I used to take my Featherweight and something to work on just to schlep it all back home untouched. Now I don't even pack it.
But I am so pleased with all I have accomplished son far. Yeah me!

Today I have been hanging rulers near my cutting table. Tired of always searching through stacks of rulers to find the one I want I have hung them within reach. Hopefully this will help with the chips on the corners from dropping them off the cutting table while looking through them. Rulers are too expensive to ruin with being so unorganized.

Also I have been going through stacks of blocks. I don't know about anyone else, but I always, no matter how well I count, make one or two blocks too many. Probably has to do with my chaotic and spastic sewing attitude. :) Anyway I have a stack that has accumulated and I am trying to see if I can make a scrappy block top out of them. The jury is out but I am trying. Pictures to come later.

Diane