Our house has been taken over! plus I got to buy a couple more pretties today ;)

Our house has been taken over by illness! Boo....... I got it first and am just not feeling like myself... sadly my poor husband caught it next and is currently at work suffering because his work does not offer sick days (paid or otherwise). He refuses to miss anyway unless he's knocking on deaths door and is to delirious to stop me from calling him in (which has only happened once in 7 years).  Let's all cross our fingers that Payton's isn't up next!

I picked up a brown and green fabric from Joann's for Dan's Quilt of Drew.

I have a couple finishing touches to get the last cushion for Jodie completely finished and promised to drop it off later tonight or tomorrow morning.

We're getting many things that are not often used boxed up and ready for the big day Nov. 1st. I think some deep cleaning is in order tonight.... maybe the charger will turn up! If not we'll stick with the "cat ate it" excuse and figure out how to fit a new charger into the budget.

 

Applique', boxing, pets, sickness, painting, moving... whew I'm tired just after reading it!

One month 6 days! Until the big move that is ;) So I started boxing things that won't be used between now and then to get ahead start. Sinus season is in full swing and I'm already not having fun on the trip, hopefully it doesn't turn into full blown illness. This past weekend we stayed the night at our friends place, Payton to, and helped them move into a new place to! Actually, it was lots of fun getting to hang out for the entire weekend with friends. Payton always loves getting to see his Uncle Dan *also his godfather* and Sarah *Dan's girlfriend*. I started a new applique' project and am sewing down block 2 of 15 not including the center medallion.

The camera charger is still MIA.... I'm beginning to think a cat ATE the darn thing! If it doesn't show up soon something else will have to be figured out, this is much more interesting with pictures!!!!

Elizabeth's cat Carlos (commonly referred to as demon spawn by me) got really sick. He went to the vet and we found out he had an extreme urinary tract infection that was so bad his urethra became plugged! Also found out that can be a common problem in male cats, I didn't know that did you? He stayed at the vet for 3 days having to have a catheter put in to help fix the problem and was on pain meds, antibiotics and lots of TLC. He's home and happy now. I may not be his biggest fan but I'm glad he's better, can't stand to see an animal in pain. Doesn't matter if that animal is nice or not!

Last but not least there has been quite a bit of time this last week, and continuing tomorrow, helping my Mom and Aunt Jen paint a house. Hopefully in the next two or three days it will be done!

 

So many changes in such little time!!!

I think I'm having picture withdrawls! Still can't find that darn charger! Weirdly enough we can't find one of the cats, looked everywhere and he is nowhere to be seen. We're hoping he'll show up soon and keep checking the basement (if they manage to sneak onto the back porch they can get down there) just in case but Carlos has to be in this house somewhere!

Now those changes I hinted about in the title. We are moving into our new place November 1st!!! I am so excited :) I get a sewing room again and payton will have a bigger area to himself and more room to play! Better yet, we go back down to just our dog and 2 cats :) Woo-hoo.

My DH also found a great deal and is getting a Harley! I couldn't believe it lol That tidbit was sprung on me when he got home from work today. We shall see how this goes, but I'm so happy for him. He's been dreaming of a motorcycle for a loooooong time.

I also finished a Quilt top today! The X and O's needs boarders (I don't have a fabric budget left so I'm calling it finished since there is no fabric in my stash to match). I have another with all the blocks done but needs sewn into a top.

If I ever find that darn charger I will post the pictures, I promise.

Oh Yes I almost forgot. We had family pictures taken the other day :) These I can post because they were e-mailed to me. Not taken by a professional (though I think the pics look good as any pro's) so there is no copyright to worry about.

 Here we all are.

 Jodie, Payton , Mike

Step-Mommy-in-law, Daddy-in-law

 Sue, Payton

Mommy-in-law, Son

 Terry, Shirley, Payton

Daddy, Mommy, Son ;)

 Our hands trying to look like hearts lol

 

Nick, Mallorie, Payton

My DH, Me, DS

 

I really like how they turned out :) Happy Quilting and hope you all have a great week!

Catching up on projects!

I'm so excited! Nick (my husband)'s quilt is an official quilt top. That center flower wasn't as bad as I built it up to be. Don't mind the mess, between hubby and son it does no good to pick up until they go to bed!

 

Actually I made progress on two things this week. I also follow Bonnie Hunter's blog Quiltville and there was a challenge posted a bit back about handwork an hour a day! I haven't linked up yet but I have been keeping track and getting more than I anticipated done on the Hexi Quilt! It now has 3 rows completely attached with only 2 more left, well that and borders. :) Sadly the camera battery charger is MIA so I don't have a pic. I do have a serious annoyance of the darn cats that like to bat it around if they notice it on my computer desk : /  I'll search tomorrow, this afternoon is reserved for quilting at Sally's with Sue :)

 

Suzie went with me yesterday to Heaven on Earth, which is about 30 min away, and I picked up heat resistant templar template material. I was so excited about finally getting it that I got all 8 blocks from a follow along cut out yesterday! Now to grab a nail file an check for bumps, get my fabrics, starch, paintbrush, and June Tayor cutting mat and ironing board combo, and templates ready to go.

 

Tutorial- How to make alternating diamonds

I posted this on the Quilting Board yesterday and figured I should share here to. I realize this isn't a new design but am confident that no laws/rules are broken because I figured it out on my own before ever seeing it anywhere else. :)

For the intermediate/advance quilter, you can skip about halfway down if you'd like. I wrote this from start to finish so that even the most basic beginner can follow.

Materials Needed-
You can cut your own squares or triangles.
I am using two charm packs.
Two Fall Batik Charm packs from Connecting threads (which equals one reg.charm pack from almost anywhere else)
One White on White charm pack from Wal-mart that my Aunt gifted me.
Your choice of boarders- I picked up One Yard of a Blue Batik from Heaven on Earth (an LQS about a half hour away) I only think it will take a half yard when sewn but haven't done that yet lol

 If you cut triangles you can skip this step! I like to

fold my light fabric in half and crease it with an iron

instead of using a marking pen.

 Still loving this iron :)

 All done and here is what we are working with.

On the black and white quilt I used the

easy angle ruler and cut 6.5 in HST then

sewed them together individually. I find

the square process so very much faster!

Match one light to one dark, right sides together. 

I pin mine to prevent shifting

 About half done

 Using a 1/4 in foot line it up with the crease and sew

down one side. Chain piecing these goes quickly.

 Now we flip around and do the same down the other side

chain stitching the other side.

 Line your ruler up and cut down the middle.

 All but one of mine looked like this :)

 I got in a hurry on one and look what happened!

I just re-sewed it with a scant quarter inch and it

was fine after trimming up... oops ===:o

 Don't forget to set your seam!

The Quilt Police might show up if you forget ;)

 All ironed and ready for trimming.

 I trimmed down to 4" but they could have easily been 4.5

I just have a severe dislike of pinked edges.

The mess with my seams : /

 Now pick out 4 of your favorites.

These are mine.

 Put them together to create our center diamond.

 

 Now take our next two and make a light triangle

right above our dark triangle.

 Repeat that for the other three sides.

 Now fill in your corners, just math dark edges

together to make a solid line.

 Next we put our Dark triangles above the light

go ahead and do all four sides :)

 Now we fill in the light line, just match

light to light. Then you can start on filling

in the dark corners.

 Rinse and Repeat with light corners just as we

did the last couple times.

 Keep going until you have the size you want!

See easy as pie!

 If yo want to make sewing easier the quilt can

be split up into 4 identical quarters.

 It breaks down to this.

 For visual learners here it is separated to make the

block orientation very clear.

 

 

Don't Forget to pick a boarder you really like!

I love this one but will add a small solid white boarder first to

help separate the top from the boarder.

 

If your a rebel, you can skip the boarder all together and just quilt and bind!

 



Handstiching away

Over on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville, to find it click here, she is challenging everyone to do an hour of handwork every day. I decided to tag along so you might see a short bit here or there keeping track of my time :) Tonight I got in 45 min. while watching her on Quiltcam, Love it! Another bit of the hexi quilt done, at the rate I was going I'd be 100 before it's finished. Hopefully participating in this will have it done before Christmas!!!

I'm about half way done making a tutorial for the Quilting Board that I promised. It's nothing extraordinary just how I made the Black and White quilt for Aunt Gracie. I'm going to use that to post the pic of it again, just because I can and I LOVE it!

 

Today was my Grandma's 90th Birthday! Plus my Link for the UFO Sunday Project over at Leah Day's blog at the bottom!

The UFO Sunday project is at the bottom if you'd like to scroll right to it. :)

There was an open house for her with plenty of cake and snack food. Can you believe that I forgot to take a picture of her!!! Most of my pics were of the kids playing outside. I'll have to copy one when they get posted on facebook ;)

Jadia, Analyse (not sure if I spelled that right), and Jaylynn

Payton being all ninja with the sticks lol

 Kendall she's still such a cutie!

 Korbin is so sweet. He insisted on posing

by the gate :)

 Corey is Payton's almost birthday buddy.

They are only 10 days apart! Him and

Payton are always asking to go to

each others house and say :)

 Payton again :) Hiding by the car in a game

of hide and seek. No worries we always check

the cars for kittens and watch for kids when

trying to back out!

 

 

Here's a picture of Nick's Quilt. I just need to sew down that center flower. I've been putting it off  (for about a month) because it's raw edge applique and I'm nervous about the placement! So I'm going to link this one up for the Sunday UFO Project over at Leah Day's site. She does the Free Motion Quilt along for anyone who doesn't know. You can find the UFO Here. UFO Sunday Project

 

Classic Dry Iron ~ no steam holes!

If you would like to check it out, you can find it here.  It comes from Home Depot. Yup, you read that correct I bought the best iron ever from a hardware store for a fraction of the price that they cost in some nameless chain quilting/ hobby store...... cough cough Joanns cough....... Only downside was that the closest one to us, about 20 min away, did not sell them in the store so it had to be ordered online. Only took about a week to get here though. That was one very looooong week. ;)

 

New Iron and New Projects!

I can't say enough how much I love this iron!!! Holy bananas it's amazing the difference it makes.

The most amazing thing is being able to do in one swipe what used to take 3 or 4. Oh and before I forget. I thought I disabled the prove your a robot thing long ago but could you let me know if it is really off when you post a comment. That way if it is not I can figure out how to fix it! I might have asked this before but honestly I can't remember.

New Project

Actually I started two.

First one is a lap quilt for my DH's best friend Dan. Dan's beloved Drew had to be put down :( Drew is a full blooded Pit Bull. I know some people are scared of them but this one had a great Dad that took care of her and taught her how to behave well. She had a weird quirk that would terrify anyone that didn't know her though! When you would pet Drew, she would growl viciously and bare her teeth and just look mean as dirt and twice as scary..... when you would stop petting her she would cry! I'm talking pitiful heart wrenching cries that made you wonder if she was hurt! By no means was she a mean dog.... unless you pointed a gun at her. Real or fake it didn't matter she would attack the gun and take it away from you! She really hated guns.

It's still very new so I just have the pictures printed on the fabric and no color choices layed out yet.

 I don't know if you can see the

hand on her head petting her :p

 

 Her full name is Drew Barrymore Martin

 

 She was such a sweet dog.

Hope this quilt helps Dan and his girl Sara

feel like they still have a piece of her

close by. They had her cremated so

she will literally be close by....

 



I'm thinking green and brown but my DH thinks green and yellow since they are Greenbay Packers fans... I would rather do Colts colors if it comes to that since we all agree on them! What colors do you think would look good? 

 

 

New Project Two

 

 I just love this layer cake from

Connecting Threads called Canning Day

It's not for sale anymore though, sorry.

I have been hoarding it for over a year!

 



It is destined to become an X and O's quilt.

I got the tute from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.

You can find that here.

 

I don't have a person that this is being made for. It is a very odd feeling. Every quilt I make has a destination. That destiny might be our couch or a family member or friend but every quilt has had a home that it belongs to. It's a bit odd to make the quilt before you find its home. Do you ever feel like that? It could just be me ;) 

 

 

 



Starch Experiment

I made the starch according to the recipe that I posted here.

I don't have any heat resistant templar template material so I made my own version that works ok but can get soggy.

Mini Tutorial for tough template

Materials needed:

Ironing board
Iron
Freezer Paper
Chosen template pattern

Step one: copy pattern onto freezer paper

Step two: cut 3 additional pieces of freezer paper to that size

Step three: iron one of the additional pieces to your board

Step four: iron next additional piece directly on top of the one you stuck to your board

Step five: repeat step 4 with additional piece and pattern piece making sure the pattern is on top so you can see your design.

Step six: cut out pattern that will be almost as stiff as cardboard but thinner!

(Note: you cannot reuse freezer paper if you choose to peal it apart and if you apply to much starch it can get a bit soggy.)

Now on to what your reading for!

 Got all my supplies ready!

 

 Here is the applique piece before home made

starch and ironing

 

 Here goes nothing! Starch got applied

along the edge before the iron hit it.

 

 Here is the after! You might notice I cut

off the butt, it was just to fussy to mess with

and I want a brown center anyway :)

 

 Even after seperating it stayed together great.

 

 I also did a stiffness test.

Starch is on one half but not the other.

Can you see the difference?

 

 

 Unstarched side gently held up.

 

Same on starched side.

 

I like it! Next time I might add a tablespoon and a half or two just to see the difference. It doesn't seem necessary though since it worked really well and did exactly what I wanted!

 

Can't beat the price either! Eighty-nine cents for corn starch the rest is free :) There are a great many more batches left to be made out of that box!

 

I hope you try it at home and let me know if you like it as much as I do.