Tumblers

The tumblers are together and I love it - I'm going to bind the sides as is rather than trim them even. I love irregular edges but this will be the first quilt I've made with one.

There was a question about the size of the tumblers. They're cut:
6.5 inches long
6.5 inches wide at the top
3.5 inches wide at the bottom

The last of the errands were run today so tomorrow I should hopefully manage to get back to quilting.


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I came home to Spring!

The design wall has been reassembled

Before getting back to work on Adam's quilt -- I decided to play with my I Spy tumbler quilt. My friend Cecile send me a BUNCH of novelty fabrics leftover from kid's quilts she'd made and I'd started cutting tumblers a couple weeks ago.

After assembling the design wall, I cut some more and arranged the blocks. This quilt looks SO much better in person than in this photo - I was worried about the tumblers being too big but they're perfect.

They're ready to sew but first, Chesty has a vet appointment.


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While I wait

I always seem to want the latest and greatest gadgets so when Amazon came out with the Kindle 2, I avoided looking at it until friends and family started buying them. Once I started looking, of course I wanted the updated one too.

So with a birthday coming up and the old Kindle given to Mom this weekend (we can share books as long as both of them are registered to the same account), I'm waiting for UPS to deliver the new one today. In the meantime, I'm working my way through this stack of mail and paperwork somewhat diligently.


How well do you know me by now?? If you know me pretty well - this didn't surprise you.


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Home!

After being gone so much the last couple weeks, I'm thrilled to be home....tomorrow and Wednesday I'll spend catching up and hope to get back to working on my to do list after that.


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A Mother's Day cookout

We had a small family cookout this afternoon for Mother's day, just 8 of us which is small for one of our family gatherings but very nice. My sister Maureen took the above photo of me with Mom.

I head home tomorrow and will be glad to stay put for a few weeks!

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Ooops!

Not sure why my text disappeared from the previous post but the lambs are Mom's -- from a pattern from a special edition of Fon's & Porter magazine -- Baby Quilts Winter 2008.

Family in and out visiting today and tomorrow so no sewing but it's great seeing (almost) everyone.


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While I was cutting

Binding #6

Even away away from home I'm making a little progress on my to do list.

4 quilts left to bind; 7 tops left to quilt by the end of May.

Cutting

New books

I'm in Virginia visiting with Mom and we've been working on a few things today and running some errands. While we were out I bought these two new books -- I especially love the Quilting Designs from the Past one.

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just needs binding

A simple meander on this top -- #3 of 10 I want done by the end of the month. After checking email, I'll head up and get it trimmed and the binding on so I can carry it with me to VA tomorrow.

In between working on this one -- unpacking, laundry, and then repacking being done.


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On today's agenda

Writing a tutorial on How to Tie a HeartStrings Quilt.

Julia and Sheree posed with our tied quilt from Saturday.

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Home

I'm home after a 4 day trip to Nebraska to attend a HeartStrings sew-in. You can see the Happy Blocks on the wall behind me which were our main task but I was thrilled to work with Jay to hand tie a HeartStrings top that had been pieced by Laura.

How wonderful to be so connected to the past just by the act of tying a string quilt....Jay even had an old blanket that we used as batting and showed me how to bring the backing around to the front of the quilt for a binding. Talk about knowledgeable -- Jay's a librarian so it was no surprise to find him a great source of information but I really enjoyed hearing about how he was taught to quilt by his grandmother.


If you'd like to see some more photos from our sew-in please visit our HeartStrings NE Sew-in album. Photos were not allow during our visit to the International Quilt Study Center but they have a wonderful website so be sure to take a virtual tour.


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My Traveling Partner

Sheree and I are taking a break after attending the all day Heartstrings sew-in. Jay and Julia were wonderful hosts and I have lots of photos to share when I get home.

A visit to the International Quilt Study Center was today's highlight along with a shop hop to several quilt shops in Lincoln, NE.

Road trip

I'm heading to Nebraska this morning for a visit to the International Quilt Study Museum and to participate in a HeartStrings sew-in.

I hope you all have a great weekend!


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#3 is on the machine and in progress

Been a while since I simply meandered a quilt -- this photo isn't the best but it's looking OK. The thread matches the fabric exactly so I've been quilting with the lights off with just the side lighting from the window but I'm losing the light so I probably won't get this done until I come back from Nebraska.



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Baskets and bins

Since I'm taking my design wall with me to the HeartStrings Nebraska sew-in this weekend, I had to finish assembling the blocks on it. I still have 3 rows of blocks to piece and add to this 72 x 72 section but progress is being made and the design wall is packed up and ready to load into the car.

Baskets and bins - I'm overrun with them! Is anyone else? I bought more of the wire mesh bins I store my strings in yesterday to hold strips - I plan to start cutting a bunch of 2.5 inch strips using the GO cutter and needed somewhere to store them.


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Tumblers

OK, I couldn't resist cutting some out but I won't be able to sew any of these blocks together before I leave on Thursday for Nebraska.

In the next couple days I've got 3 more seams to get the large center section of Adam's Boxed squares off the design wall so I can pack it up to take with me. I've got to load and start quilting a top I need to take with me to VA on May 6th, take Chesty for grooming, and get some laundry done.


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Look!

My friend Cecile sent me a box of novelty fabrics to play with - don't these look fun? I have a big honking 6 inch tumbler die for my Go Cutter that I've been wanting to try and use to make an I Spy Quilt and these added to the ones I have will give me lots of variety. Thanks Cecile!

My day so far has been making bindings and backings and I got a couple more bindings machine stitched and ready to work on over the next few nights. I'm going to run out for some dinner (Keith is still gone and I don't cook for one) and then may get a top loaded on the longarm tonight.


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Google Reader

Yes, another post on managing blog reading. I don't seem to do a good job of keeping up anymore and I'm in awe of people like VickiW who seems to manage a large list of blogs AND actually comment on many of them.

Today I separated all 130 subscriptions into just 2 folders --- daily and "whenever I have time" -- well actually it's called monthly but the goal is to read through some each day. Right now, I'm only 519 posts behind.

Google reader allows me to read newer or older posts first regardless of which blog posts them - this way I don't get part of the way through the list and then never get around to blogs that aren't in the top 1/3.

Now if I could just keep up with reading on my MQResources list and catch up on the online class I'm supposed to be taking....


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Another Happy Quilt done

Can you stand to see another Happy Quilt? This is my twisted version and although those blues look very blendy next to each other in the photo there is definitely more contrast from one block to the next in person. This one was also quilted with the pantograph Whirligig from Willow Leaf Studio.

It's the 5th of 10 bindings I want done by May 31 so I'm doing well on the binding front...just need to get more quilting done.



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How's your Sunday going?

It's a rainy day here and Keith is out of town - I'm feeling kind of mellow so reading and binding have been on my agenda although I did head out downtown for an early dinner and am now hanging out in the coffee shop.

I handstitched the binding on this top pieced by Liz as part of HeartStrings Happy Block project and sent to me to quilt and donate.

I love the quilting on this one - Whirlygig from Willow Leaf Studio.

I haven't decided what I'll work on later tonight - maybe more binding although I should probably be quilting.

Hope your weekend was as nice as mine!


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Sew-in

I attended one of our HeartStrings sew-in's today and we had a great time and got plenty accomplished. Of course, we usually manage to squeeze in a visit to a quilt shop and I took the opportunity to stock up on some of my Reds.

Some additional photos are posted in our HeartStrings album. I'm looking forward to a road trip to Nebraska to visit the Quilt Study Center and attend another HeartStrings sew-in next weekend.


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Top #2

I probably should have used a darker brown thread on this top so I could see the quilting better, the beige was really blendy but these Wonky Feathers are forgiving and I'm always surprised when it turns out better than expected. The top was pieced by the quilters at St. Mary's in CT.




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Binding #3

I'm making more progress so far with the binding on my list than the quilting and here's #3. A beautiful HeartStrings top pieced by Paulette and quilted with Dawn's Wonky Feathers from the Pajama Quilter DVD. I just LOVE the look of the feathers on this quilt.


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I'm having the best time

Reading all these comments on hair coloring has been interesting and fun. Thanks for taking the time to write.

I don't plan to color my hair -- I was just surprised to see in the photos that I'm more gray than I thought! I have colored my hair in the past for fun but it does take time and $$ for upkeep and I'd rather spend both reading or quilting.

Keith loves it the way it is and my hairdresser is adamant that I don't color it (he says it looks great as it is).

Of course, as I've gotten older and wiser - I try NOT to say I'll never do something. I'm just a little shy of 48 and I'll have to see how I feel in a few years when I'm more gray than brown but I'm thinking I'll be lucky because my hair is really more white than gray.


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I worked today

But no quilt photos to show -- you've seen enough photos of Adam's quilt in progress and as of today I'm half way through joining the rows for the 12x12 section and then I'll need to add 3 more rows.

I also made and sewed bindings on 3 quilts -- and have one already stitched down except for the corner where the label goes - I need to print some more labels so you'll see that one tomorrow.

So since I don't have much on the quilting front to talk about I'll ask a personal question. Do you color your hair? to cover gray?

I don't -- too much time and money and the gray doesn't bother me for the most part but....I'm wondering how I'll feel when I have more gray than brown. It was windy in Ireland and I was surprised at how gray my hair looked in a lot of the photos. This first one is what I usually see in the mirror and I'm OK with it.

As this next photo shows, I have a lot more gray underneath than I do brown.

It's not unusual for people to tell me I should color my hair but I don't think I'm going to change my mind.


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