All Tuned Up and Ready To Go

I was able to take my machine in Tuesday for a tune-up.  They told me a week, so I was surprised when I got the call Friday night that my machine was done.  Of coarse I was already on my way home and did not feel like turning around.  So I picked it up Saturday on my way to a friends house though wishing I could take it home and take it for a test run. 

Today, though I was able to try her out.  Boy did she run as nicely as the day I bought her.  Yes she may not be the fanciest machine out there, but she a pretty good machine.  This is her home on my quilting table.  My Dad is the greatest in the world.  I was trying to find a way to have more table room when quilting and when discussing some idea's with my dad, he said they (meaning him and my brother) could build me something nice.  I wanted something that I could use as a cutting table that would be a comfortable height while standing.  Then I asked if they could add drawers for storage.  And lastly I wanted my machine to be recessed.  They were able to accommodate all my requests.

With my machine safely back were it belongs, I started the piecing of the quilt I showed you in my last post.  I as able to complete 42 of the center squares.  I still haven't decided which size I am going to make.  This is what I would need for a 51' x 60' lap quilt, but I would need 80 for a twin size quilt.  Either way, I am happy with my progression so far. 

 

 All for now.  I'm off to watch some Dexter.

Happy Quilting,

Valerie

A little this and that

So yesterday I gave Randi the quilt.  Total Success!  She loved it.  My son even went as far to say that it was not as ugly as he thought it was going to be.  Oh Boy!!  Don't know when I will ever make one for him if this is how he is going to respond to my hard work and time. He did however like the fleece pull over I made for him.  I bought this pattern a long long time ago and have always liked it.  So after some joking with my son that I was only giving homemade gifts this year, I pulled this pattern out and made one for him and one for his girlfriend.  I did need another size, but was able to find a new copy of the pattern in the size I needed on Ebay.

Saturday night was the start of a snow storm for us here in some parts of Michigan.  But my brothers family and mine had already made plans to finally get together for a late Christmas dinner.  So off to brothers house I went with some roads not plowed and other that had been plowed already had about 2 inches or better of new snow on them.  Dinner was good, everyone enjoyed their presents.  Now it was time to trek on home.  Boy was that fun.  the roads that hadn't been plowed on the way there were still not plowed.  I took a different way home with only 1 road had even been plowed recently.  I know I'm bad but I took a picture out the windshield as I was driving (bad bad bad...but I was only going 25 mph).

The good news, after getting home and blowing out my drive way, was to get a call from my boss telling me that the office would be closed tomorrow (Monday) due to the weather!  So I got a free day today.  I've had fun today getting ready for my next quilt.  I've chosen to do Dixie from Cluck Cluck Sew.  Also I so loved her fabric line Wallflowers that I purchased the Layer Cake just for this pattern.  I cut all the pieces for a crib size (though that is just to start...I have enough fabric for the twin size but I wanted to start small). But this will have to wait since I've decided it is time for tune-up on machine.  So providing I have work tomorrow, I will be taking my machine into my local quilt shop.  They said the usual turn around is 1 week {no biggie}.

The other fun thing today was messaging with my cousin Diana who also quilts.  With me in Michigan and her in South Carolina, we don't see each other very often.   Actually, we haven't been in touch for a long long time {I'm really horrible reaching out to people}.  But last year her brother passed and we were re-united.  I'm hoping to keep in touch with her more moving forward.

Well if anyone has read this post I will stop running on and on for now.  Hope to have my machine tuned-up and ready to sew sometime next week and will have some in progress posts of my next quilt.

Happy Quilting,
Valerie

New Year New Blog

So with the start of 2014 I decided to start a new blog.  This one I'm going to devote to my sewing adventures {or misadventures}.  Although I love quilting and have done it for almost 20 years, I'm still pretty much a beginner.

On average over the last few years I have made (and completed) 2 quilts each year but I'm notorious for starting more that never get completed. So for 2014 my goal is to complete a few of those started but not finished quilts.  I'm really not even sure how many I have.  Off the top of my head I know there are at least 5 but sure the numbers are higher.

This is probably cheating but I have my first one to post today.  This quilt I started 2010 for my son, David, who had been bugging me for a quilt for quite some time.  I decided on the Flying Geese pattern, made a trip to the fabric store, made my selections and back I home I went to get started..  I was working away and was able to get all the geese blocks done.  Yippee!! or so I thought...

It was no secret that I was making this quilt.  So as I was sewing the columns together one day and in walks my son and he says something to the effect "That's not the quilt for me is it? Why are you alternating the colors?  Why don't you make each column 1 color?"  He just could not be convinced that I knew what I was doing.  So to appease him I deconstructed the columns I had done, made more geese because of course I only need 5 colors now instead of 6, and started over with the columns.  The next day he comes in again and this time he tells me he doesn't like it.  Well at this point I am so mad that I throw it all in a box and said forget it.

He has periodically ask me when I was going to make him a new quilt.  I keep telling him, that I will when he will trust that I know what I'm doing.  Well this past summer his girl friend Randi hinted that she would love a quilt and was not picky like David.  PERFECT!  I pulled out the quilt I started 3 years ago for David and decided to finish it for Randi.  It has taken me a while to finish it.  By time I made the decision to start I broke my humerus bone which had to be surgically fix (7" plate with 12 screws).  NO SEWING for me {bummer}.  In November I finally was able to start working on it.  I worked on it a couple weekends.  Procrastinated some.  Procrastinated some again.  Mid-December I was already to start the actual quilting when an ice storm hit and I lost power for almost a week.

I finally finished New Years Day!