Catching up

I'd hoped to squeeze in some quilting but at least I got caught up with the mail, paid bills, ran errands....I even cooked dinner. Tomorrow I hope to steal a little time away for quilting.


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Did you miss me?

Just got home tonight from MQS. Deb and I had a great time and she even won a ribbon! Her quilt (designed and quilted by Deb, pieced by members of her guild) won 2nd place in the Theme category. It was very exciting.

We also took classes from Jamie Wallen and Dawn Cavanaugh both were excellent. Deb did a great job choosing the classes for us.

We met up with quilters from MQResources. How fun to meet Suzanne and the others we've been chatting with online over the few months or so. If you haven't joined this group for machine quilters, you should check them out.

And of course we shopped! I bought a couple new templates from Circle Lord, a couple books on background fills, Superior threads, crystals, wool felt, and probably some other things I'm forgetting right now. I'm make sure to share more information over the next couple weeks as I sort out and start using it all.





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MQS

I leave tomorrow to meet Deb at MQS. We'll be at the bar in the Sheraton Tuesday night catching up with each other - hope to see some of you there.

This afternoon I'm doing laundry and Mom and I are making some more postcards. This one is inspired again by the book Quilt Toppings: Fun and Fanciful Embellishments by Melody Crust. I'm not 100% happy with the result but I'm not unhappy either.

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To busy to blog

I've been having a great time visiting Mom and seeing almost all of my brothers and sisters (we missed you Deb!) that I haven't spent any time on the computer. Friday and Saturday we worked on making postcards - we just started doing a monthly family exchange and they were all looking for ideas.

I was running between them helping for the most part but I did manage to make one myself - the top pink heart is my card and Ann (green) and Mom liked it so much they made their own versions. (Inspired by a photo in the book Quilt Toppings: Fun and Fanciful Embellishments by Melody Crust). Click on the photo to see a larger view.

I'll be at Mom's until Tuesday morning and then I fly through Atlanta to meet up with Deb and we head to MQS.

Happy Mother's Day!

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Gone

I leave early tomorrow for VA and then on to MQS on Tuesday. I won't be home again until Friday night (the 16th). I'm not taking my laptop but I may (or may not) post when I'm at Mom's.

I know I shouldn't focus on the negative but I'm a little frustrated - most of the boxes are unpacked but I'm still having trouble finding things....my fabric sheets for labels, power cords for my electronics, my photo paper....... I'd been searching for the battery charger for my camera for a couple days and only found it today when I was searching for my backup charger for the Kindle to pack for my trip. Everything just takes longer because I have to stop and think (or try to remember) where things are.


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Rain, rain go away!

I'd hoped if I worked this afternoon, the rain would go away and I could walk downtown for some exercise and dinner but it's still raining so I'll probably just stay home.

This is another HeartStrings top pieced by Nancy and her group and the last of this first group to go back to them for binding and donating. (The pantograph is Happy Times - to see the quilting better click on the photo to enlarge it.) I don't usually quilt donation tops and return them - most of the ones I do, I finish and donate myself - but I like working with this group of quilters, after all their church is named St. Mary's......

It's finally starting too look like spring around here - the grass and trees are greening up.

Look at those plantings - I didn't have to do a bit of work and I don't have a clue what's there in but I'll make sure to take some photos when stuff blooms.

Someone is watching from the door trying to figure out what I'm doing outside without him.

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This and that but none of it quilting progress (yet)

MQS
Is anyone going this year? Deb and I fly in Tuesday and leave Friday. We're staying at the Sheraton and will probably end each day in the bar there.

More travel
I'm going to Mom's Thursday (VA) to celebrate Mother's Day with her and then straight to Kansas so I'll be gone a week.

We just planned a neat trip with Keith's sister for September. We're going to fly to New York City (I've never been) spend 3 nights, and then take the train to Washington DC and spend another 3 nights. In DC, we'll visit Arlington National Cemetery where my father-in-law was buried 3 years ago and I hope to see my brother and sister who live in the DC area while I'm there.

A visit from Chris
My son is coming to visit over Memorial Day weekend - it will be fun to have him visit us in the new townhouse and for him to see Minneapolis in the spring. His previous 2 visits were in the winter.

Stepping out of my comfort zone
I've been asked several times to come speak to groups/guilds about my quilting and HeartStrings and I finally said yes to a local guild for August. I'm a bit nervous since I haven't done any public speaking in a while but I've been told that it is a small, informal group so it's a good way to test the waters!

The plan for today was to get outside for a long walk or a bike ride (or both) but it's raining so I'm going to go load a HeartStrings top on the longarm and do some quilting.


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Lazy day # 2

A few errands, a couple postcards made but not much else accomplished.

I've been playing with some supplies bought in the scrapbook isle at Michael's to make postcards (ones that are more greeting cards than *art* cards) but can't show them because the recipients might see them.

I did manage to finish assembling and stitch the edge of my spring journal card too.



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I'm having a lazy day

Keith left this morning for Chicago and I've just been puttering around here. I managed to spend a couple hours in the sewing room - putting away and unpacking so it's much better but I still have about 5 boxes to unpack and I'm going to need another set of drawers for some of the small bit and pieces that are sitting in bins.

Since I can actually move around in there now - I think I will go make some wonky trees.

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I have a serious lack of artistic talent!

I interrupted my unpacking for the trip to San Diego last week and then chose to focus on Heartstrings quilts this week in honor of National Volunteer Week but I was craving some time in my sewing room.

If you've followed my blog for any time, you know I don't make art quilts - I'm kind of a paint by the numbers girl - give me a traditional block and I can usually make a fairly decent looking quilt. Last fall I started making postcards and am trying to venture out of my comfort zone a bit. While I wouldn't call this *art* this first postcard I made today is simple but kind of cute...

This 2nd one however didn't quite live up to my *artistic* vision. It's kind of based on a much more artistic quilt made by Mary Stori in her new book. She beaded multi colored felt strips to her background and sewed buttons in the breaks. Since things are beginning to green up around here I decided to go with a SPRING theme. The edges haven't been stitched yet because I can't find my blue thread.In case you're wondering WHY I can't find my blue thread - this is what my sewing room looks like tonight....do you think I need to finish unpacking and organizing it before I try to sew anything else?

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UFO #14

This is the quilt I finished binding last night. It was a top pieced by Sandra from blocks sent to her by Stashbuster members and then sent to me for quilting and donating.

Keith and I found a sleeper sofa and coffee table at the first store we went to today. Now I'll worry for the next 6-8 weeks about how it's going to look in this room. I have VERY limited taste and not much decorating sense.

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So much for my sew-in

My intention was to have a retreat tomorrow - a sew-in- in honor of the last day of National Volunteer week but I have some *house* things to take care of AND Keith is leaving Sunday - we'll spend most of the next 2 weeks apart so I'll make some time for him tomorrow AND hopefully will load another HeartStrings quilt on the longarm and start the quilting....we'll see how it goes.

The good news is that I met all my goals for the week already - 3 HeartStrings tops quilted and the binding on a 4th HeartStrings quilt finished. I hope some of you were able to work on donation quilts with me this week.


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Quilting flowers

My Pajama Quilter workbook arrived Tuesday and after trying to draw these flowers unsuccessfully, I quilted the echoed swirls on the 2nd of 3 HeartStrings tops I had on my list to do this week. I kept trying to draw the flowers and last night - I was finally able to do them well enough to give them a shot on the longarm (that was 2 days of practice - you'll note that my whiteboard is MUCH smaller than the one Dawn recommends using but it's what I have here).

Click on any of the photos to see a larger view.

So this afternoon, I quilted these flowers on this small HeartStrings top.

While they're far from perfect, overall I was pleased with the results. Dawn is such a good teacher!
Since I've been whining about my living room, I thought I'd share part of what we've come up with. This room is long and skinny and designed to be a living room/dining room combination. We're skipping the dining room and are going to use it as one big living room. As you can see my furniture is VERY dark but it will do for now. We'll look this weekend for a sleeper sofa or sectional to fill the other half of the room.

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Chesty's much, much better!

Thank you all for your emails - Chesty is eating (I don't know how I'm ever going to get him to go back to dry food after feeding him chicken and rice!) and is feeling much better. He even chased his favorite toy around this evening.

I'm on track to accomplish my goals of quilting 3 HeartStrings tops and finishing the binding on a 4th quilt in honor of National Volunteer's Week. I loaded this top tonight and will quilt it tomorrow. It's another one from Nancy and her group - so nice that I'll be able to send this batch back to them for binding!

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Quilt #2

Thanks for all the concern for Chesty - he's still resting and will occasionally take a lick of one of those ice cubes in his bowl if I hold it up for him.

I loaded the 2nd of 3 donated HeartStrings tops I plan to get quilted for National Volunteer Week this afternoon. This is another top pieced by Nancy and her group.

I decided to quilt some freehand swirls on this one and add some echoing like one of the designs in Dawn's Pajama Quilter workbook - mine aren't too bad in spite of the machine vibration and my quilting being a little rusty but they could definitely use more practice.

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Quilt donations

I had a email from Beverly in PA telling me that she'd made two quilts using my Quick Strippie instructions - these quilts will be donated to Hospice patients through her guild. I also received a package from Barbara in Florida with tops that I will quilt and donate through HeartStrings.

One of my favorite things about blogging has been meeting other quilters who have the same desire as I do to make and donate quilts that comfort those in need. Thanks for sharing your quilts Beverly and Barbara!


Chesty is still ill, not vomiting but not eating and very lethargic. He's sleeping right now and I'm hoping he'll feel like eating soon - I fixed some chicken and rice for him last night.

On the unpacking front - we've finally given up on being able to arrange the living room like we wanted and are in the process of making do. One of the things I dislike about moving is that furniture bought to fit in one living space usually doesn't work so well in another.

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Chesty's sick...

I was up all night with him - he was vomiting and then started with some diarrhea this morning right when we got out of the car at the Vet's office. She thinks it may be a GI virus he picked up while boarding and kept him for some fluids and observation. I'm waiting for a call this afternoon to see how he's doing. They don't have overnight services so he'll definitely come home, I just hope he feels much better.


Luckily, I received something in the mail today to help keep my mind occupied. I'd ordered the companion workbook to Dawn Ramirez's Pajama Quilter DVD and I'm going to pick a design for the quilt I'm going to load next and practice drawing it a bit.


I love quilting both Dwirling and Wonky Feathers but I hadn't had a chance to go back and watch the DVD in the last few weeks to pick a *new* design to try - the workbook is great, the only difficult thing will be picking which one I'm going to try.


I did finish up the quilting I started yesterday - this was a pantograph called Whirlygig by Willow Leaf Studio - they make and/or distribute many of my favorites. Excuse the poor photo - it was taken after dark in the longarm room. I've tried a couple things without much luck to fix the vibration on the longarm that showed up with the reassembly after the move. Luckily I can still quilt while I try to figure it out.



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I'm frustrated but...

At I'm least I'm finally quilting again! I thought I had things ready so I could just load a quilt but I ended up running around looking for things, my power cord for the bobbin winder, my side clamps, my tape measure and then when I was ready to load the quilt - I realized the backing wasn't pieced.

Finally, I got the quilt loaded and started quilting and the vibration while I'm quilting is bad. I checked the table - it's pretty level (just a hair off but that was as close as I could get it in the apartment too) so that's not the cause. The machine moves freely along the tracks when it's not on so I'm guessing the wheels on the carriage or the wheels on the machine itself need adjusting due the move. I played with it a bit and maybe noticed a tiny improvement but not nearly good enough. I need to research this a bit and see if I can figure it out.

In the meantime, I'll keep quilting - the stitches look pretty good except for occasional small bobbles that aren't too noticeable (like the one in the photo below in the yellow strip).

I really hate this....I just want my machine running well without this vibration.

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National Volunteer Week - April 27 - May 3

We're home and as I was flying from San Diego yesterday, I read that this week is National Volunteer Week. So although my house is a mess and I have boxes left everywhere to unpack, I'm going to focus this week on my HeartStrings quilts and end the week with a Sew-in on Saturday May 3rd.

I've already pulled a top pieced by Nancy and her group that's been waiting for quilting and I'll load it on the longarm and get started.

My goal will to quilt 3 HeartStrings tops and finish the binding on another HeartStrings quilt I quilted a few months ago (I blame the move for it taking this long to finish it up!)

By the way, Chesty is home - he's exhausted from his stay in the kennel so he's resting now.


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Another lazy day

It's rare that I visit a city without doing a lot of exploring but this trip is just for relaxing.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon at the spa - the spa pool area was almost completely empty and the view was great. Hopefully when we head home tomorrow I'll be refreshed and ready to finish unpacking and get back to my quilting.

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