Old things finished, new things started

Well I have made some accomplishments in the past couple of weeks. I suppose the first thing is that I got Ryan's pillow sham done. I really like it (and he did too) and it wasn't that hard to make. I think I will make one for each of the other kids - maybe for Christmas. lol.

Here's the front:



And the back:



I also finally found a pattern that will work for my show pins. I have tried a number of different patterns and didn't care for the way they turned out. But this one I love. It's pretty enough on it's own and the pins will just be a lovely addition.



I'll put the pins in the center of the flowers.

And the new thing started is actually an old thing redone. I have a webshots account and will frequently look around at the quilts on the site. I found one of a schoolhouse block but where the part of the house with the windows is there were small quilt blocks. I fell in love with it and starting making my own. I wasn't happy with it - partly because I started it not long after I started quilting and the fabric wasn't very good quality. I also do not like working with templates. Everything isn't lined up perfectly but I quilt for fun not perfection so I'm happy with the results. Here is the first block:



I'm using Civil War repros. The brown fabric in this block I got at the last quilt show I went to. There was a vendor with just CW repros. I had a hard time getting out of that stall. lol.

And of course I can't leave without putting up one of the latest pictures of Thunder.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Small Accomplishments

Not a whole lot happenin' on the quilting front this week. I tried to work on a wall hanging for my show pins but the pattern I found just didn't work. Then I tried modifying the pattern and that didn't work. So I took a break from it. Next I picked up my roosting robin. I have until the end of the month to do another round on it. I've come up with a few ideas that looked good on paper but didn't translate well to actual sewing. I finally decided to do a piano key border. And that of course was not without problems - I couldn't get the seam allowance right, the machine unthreaded itself after almost every piece. I have done a couple of piano key borders and I love them. I'm not really into scrappy but this is a sort of controlled use of multiple fabrics and I love it.



I have done some other sewing. I made these sheets for Ryan.



A pillow case is in the works but not ready yet. It will (hopefully) be ready by the end of the month (for his birthday).

And of course I can't leave without posting another picture of Thunder.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Found Treasures

I have gotten a couple of found treasures over the past few weeks. First was a sewing table I got from a freecycle group. If you've never heard of freecycle check into it. It's a great group. If you have something you want to get rid of (in good condition of course) you can list it and someone will take it off your hands. And if you need something you can post a request and many times someone comes up with something for you.

So here is the table closed up.



And here it is with the sewing machine up.




I didn't keep the sewing machine. It worked but the tension is all messed up and I do not have the patience to fool with the tension. I have a machine sitting in my shed because the tension is messed up. But the dh built me a shelf so that I can put my machine in the table and it works great.

This morning I got an older quilt at a yard sale. The folks I bought it from collect antiques but I don't know that this quilt is antique. Here's the front:




And here's the back:





It's a two sided quilt! But for some reason someone put a layer of plain fabric over the back. The lady I bought it from attempted to remove a good bit of that layer of fabric:





I'm not exactly sure what I'll do with it. Part of me wants to leave it the way it is because it's sort of interesting. And part of me wants to figure out how to completely clean up the back - but I don't think I can do that without taking out the quilting. And I won't do that.

I have a number of quilts I got at yard sales and this is probably the nicest one. There are no tears or seams coming apart and the fabric is only a bit faded and there are just a few dirty spots.

Now where should I put it? Hmmm

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Some Sewing - Finally

Well as I get used to having a job outside my home for the first time in almost ten years I'm having to learn to fit my quilting in. Consequently I go long stretches without doing anything. And then I have weekends like this past weekend. Rodger and the boys went to the annual father/son camp-out, Tasha went to a friend's house and I was home alone! So I got some sewing done.

The first thing I did was finish up the round robin swap. This is the last swap project I have left. I can't post a picture of that until it is returned to its owner - but I really think she's going to be happy.

The next thing I did was add a row to my round robin. I wanted it a little bit bigger so I added a piano key border.



And then I finished up my nine-patch top. I saw a picture of a quilt similar to this on webshots and just loved it. I do wish I would have made my blocks a little smaller - they are 8 inch blocks. But otherwise I love it.




Before I go I wanted to post another picture of Thunder. He's almost 5 months old now and I just love this picture. Tasha took it. She's becoming quite the photographer - getting plenty of practice taking pictures of Thunder.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

I have to give this a try

A few years ago my friends at QWHT decided to do a reading club. We picked a book and we would have a month to read it and then we would discuss it. It was about this time of year, I think, that we started it. We wanted something fun for summer so we looked around and came up with what sounded like a really fun book - Sisterchicks On The Loose by Robin Jones Gunn. You follow two friends on a once in a lifetime trip to Finland.

We were hooked from the first book. You see although we are spread far apart geographically we are Sisterchicks through and through.

And the adventures continued - Sisterchicks showed up in Hawaii (Sisterchicks Do The Hula), Mexico (Sisterchicks in Sombreros), Australia (Sisterchicks Down Under), Paris (Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La) and Venice (Sisterchicks in Gondolas).

Now, at long last, Sisterchicks will show up in England (Sisterchicks Go Brit). Oh how I love the English.

So Ms. Gunn is kindly giving an opportunity to win a copy of this newest book and all you have to do is put this picture:



up on your blog and email her the URL. That's it. Nice and easy. Oh how I would love to win a copy of that book. So - I have to give this a try.

Hugs and stitches,

Jody

More accomplishments

With the advent of my new job my quilting has certainly had to take a backseat. But I decided this past weekend to do some finishing up work. I also got my round robin from my quilting group back. This is a huge blessing. I was afraid to join this time because the last time I joined the row by row and I'm still waiting for mine to be returned almost two years later. But everything worked out fine with this round robin - makes me think I might join another one at some time. lol. So here it is:



I also finished up a top. This is a Valentine's quilt. It was mostly done - I just needed to put the border on.




Next on the list was my next round for the roosting robin I am working. We're doing this loosely so we just have a list of suggestions and we each do what we want for each round. Here's mine:




I used some of the fabric I used in my mystery quilt because I love that fabric and I will be donating that top to charity.

And finally I did some work on some nine patches:



I saw a quilt when I was looking around on webshots and these will be the recreation of that quilt.

And on the non-quilting front this past weekend was the prom. Tasha went with a group of her friends. It was very difficult finding her a dress. She is not a frills and lace type person but that wasn't really what caused us the most grief - she's very busty and prom dresses are simply not made for busty girls. We found this dress at Sears, it's from their special occasions line. She loved it and that's what's important.

This is her with her friend Amber. Tasha is the blonde and Amber is the redhead. They had a wonderful time.



I guess that's all for now. Until next time hugs and stitches. Jody

Catching Up

It's been a busy, busy month since I last posted. I had a birthday and got a job. The job is what's really keeping me busy. It's only part-time but it's the first time I've worked outside the house since before Timmy was born. And I'm on my feet the entire time so it's tiring.

I have managed to accomplish a few things though. I got finished with my Autumn Rail Fence.



It's large enough for our queen size bed and the first thing of that size that I have done decorative quilting on. You really can't see it from the front because of the patterned fabric. I did the quilting from the back.



I also put together a center block for the roosting robin my yahoo group is doing. A roosting robin is similar to a round robin except that I will be doing all the work on my own quilt myself instead of sending it around to my friends.

When I first learned to quilt I saw this block and loved it but it's applique and I was so intimidated by applique then. I'm no expert now but I am getting more comfortable doing it.



Thunder also keeps me occupied. He's grown so much. I had him to the vet last week and he weighs 24 pounds 6 ounces. He was 14 pounds 4 ounces a month ago when I had him there the first time. He's completely spoiled rotten and an absolute joy to have around.




Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody