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

First Finished Quilting Project of 2008

Here it is - drum roll please - the first completed quilt of 2008. Rodger saw a man he used to work with and the man and his wife are expecting their second child so I whipped up this quilt.



I don't really do a lot fancy for baby quilts because I want them to be used and to be used they need to be washed - frequently. So it's a simple patch quilt that I machine quilted. It feels nice to finally have one in the finished column.

Our new addition is settling in. If he can sleep here:



He can sleep anywhere. lol

We're still working on where to set up his area. For the time being his water and food are in the living room and I really need to find another place for them.



I've made a log that I'm filling out every month with my quilting projects in it. I've "abandoned" a few projects that I've been working on for a while and frankly just don't care for the look of them anymore. I have a stack of blocks to send to the disaster relief girls and a bunch of ideas to take the place of the things I've gotten rid of.

I'm planning a sew in tomorrow and I have a charm quilt I want to put together. I think I'll probably send that on to the disaster relief girls too. I'm also planning to get the border on the mystery quilt I just finished up. Maybe I'll have some more pictures of finished projects in the next few days :0)

Until then, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thunder

No - we're not having storms. We have a new addition to our family. Here's our little darling who we have named Thunder.



We've been looking for a while. We had a Sheltie named Winston. We got him as a puppy and had him for about 3 1/2 years and then he was hit by a car. That was about 1 1/2 years ago. We had decided to look for either a German Shepard or a Golden Retriever but we were really focusing more on a Golden. So we've been watching the paper but they were so expensive. But then last night I saw an ad in the newspaper for purebred AKC Golden Retrievers at a decent price. So Ryan and Tasha and I took a ride out to see them. We were just going to look but I think we all knew if we looked we would bring one home. So we left Rodger, Joe and Timmy to go out to the shed and dig out the dog crate and went to see the puppies.

There were six of them - five males and one female. We've always had male dogs but were open to having a female. So we decided what we would do was just look and see if one especially caught our eye and not worry about the sex.

When we pulled in the driveway and saw them Tasha started "can we have one, can we have one" before we even got out. And then Ryan said "we're going to have to remember we're getting only one".

They were all adorable but this little guy looked up at me and I knew he was the one. His momma was there and she is beautiful. Her coat is a bit on the dark side and the breeder said the father is basically the same color. Of the six puppies Thunder was the lightest - he was also the biggest.

We brought him home and dumped him right in the tub. He was born on a farm and he smelled like it. lol. He looked so cute wrapped up in his towel.



So we are in the process of getting used to a new little one again. He missed his family a bit last night but he only whimpered and howled (yes - tipped his head up and howled lol) for a short time. Rodger kept telling him not to worry - he'll like it here soon enough. He loves being carried around - he's just like a big baby. But the best of all is when he lays on my chest and tucks his nose up under my chin.

So I've put quilting aside for a bit (but you can bet it won't be for long lol) and am focused on the puppy. I suppose if I make a quilt for him I can be focused on him and quilting. That's a win-win situation.

Until next time, Jody

It's Home!!

My round robin has come home and I am thrilled with it. Since this was my first round robin I decided I would just jump the whole way out on the limb and I did an applique center.

First I have to mention the wonderful group I did this with. Because I have lost things in online swaps before I always hesitate before sending away something I have really labored over. So normally I would have had a hard time sending it off. But these ladies are like my sisters. The lady at the post office would ask me every time "do you want delivery confirmation?" and I would say no - Joyce is not going to say it didn't get there if it did. I don't have that kind of confidence with everyone, unfortunately. And when Frances said she was sending me something I knew that within a few days a package would be in my mailbox.

So here is my completed round robin:



I obviously did the applique basket of flowers in the center. Next it went to Joyce for the framed border, then on to Julie who did the checkerboard. Julie, being our resident applique expert was disappointed that she didn't get to do applique on mine. So she took my label and put an applique border around it. It's beautiful.



After Julie it went to Susan who did an applique round. Then Barb got it. She had to put triangles on it so she put pinwheels in the corners. And she appliqued some butterflies. And then it went on to Frances who pulled it all together with her final round.

They all did such a wonderful job. I can't thank them enough for the beautiful quilt they made me.

In other quilting news I am doing a mystery quilt for this lovely group of ladies. So I have been working on the sample. These ladies are so enthusiastic that I love working with them.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Busy Week

I actually finished up two things this week. The first was my DIC. I had the fabric for the outer border but needed something for the inner one. I picked up a piece of navy blue fabric and added a thin border of it and then the final border fabric. Now it's finished and sitting on my ever growing to be quilted pile. Here's the picture:



Then the next thing I finished up was Joyce's round robin. That's the final one I will have in this group. Three of the seven have made their way home and they are all gorgeous. I can't wait to see mine and I know the last girl to work on it has it now so it won't be long.

Here's Joyce's:



What I've been working on mostly the past couple of days is the handquilting on my rail fence. I also have done a little sewing for the mystery quilt I'm working on. It's not starting until March but I want to give everyone time to get their fabric so I'm hoping to have the top complete by the end of next week or so.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Traditional quilting

I'm sure we all have our idea of what it is. I asked a group of online friends what they considered traditional quilting and found it interesting what they had to say.

My idea of traditional quilting is using patterns that have been around for years and years and years and what I would consider old fashioned fabrics - no novelty fabrics, no neons, none of the abstracts I've seen lately. I suppose mainly either solids or calico fabrics.

I've done lots of work with novelty prints (finally got that out of my system lol) and I've done lots of patterns I find in magazines and online, etc. But I want to make some things that I would think would have been around years ago. My goal is to make one "traditional" quilt a year until I finish all the ones I want to make (which could take a while as the list continues to grow lol).

Right now I am hand quilting my rail fence which I started last year. I also have a Sunbonnet Sue on the "to be quilted" pile. I've got my Double Irish Chain all done but the borders (can't find just the right fabric).

I found some fabric I liked and decided to make a Bear's Paw with it. But I just kept looking at the fabric and not actually cutting it. It turns out the reason for that is that the fabric wasn't really meant for a Bear's Paw. It seems it was made for a Trip Around The World quilt.

The first block I ever made was a Trip block. I attempted to make a quilt a year or two ago. I strip pieced it and it just didn't lay right so I got frustrated and threw it in the trash.

But I was looking at pictures of the Trip quilts my friend Joyce has made (she's a bit of an expert at Trip quilts) and decided the fabric I bought for the Bear's Paw would be perfect for a trip quilt. Only problem - I had only gotten three fabrics and I would need more for a trip. So I went out the road to my favorite local quilt shop. It's a small place and they don't have a huge selection but I always seem to find something I can use. It's run by some Mennonite ladies and they are very friendly. I found more fabric, brought it home and laid it out. I took pictures, rearranged the fabric and took more pictures and started to consider them. I was really having a hard time so I started cutting squares. Then I started laying the squares out in the Trip pattern. Again I took pictures but this time I printed them out and hung them on the big mirror in my bedroom. I had seven pictures and eliminated three or four of them right off the bat.

The more I looked the more I realized that what I didn't like was the same in every picture - there was one fabric that just didn't work well with everything else. So I took that fabric out, added more rounds with my focus fabric and found something I really like.

This one I did by individual squares rather than strip piecing and I think it lays pretty flat.

And this is the finished top:



I finished it in about three or four days, neglecting all but the basic necessities of housework (mainly laundry and meals). It's terrible but I get that way. I can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm still not sure how I will finish the quilt. Joyce leaves her points points and miters all the corners when she puts on the binding. I love the way that looks but I'm afraid I would be overwhelmed and not finish it. She said that you can just level off those points to a straight edge and that may be what I'll do. It's sitting on my to be quilted pile so I don't have to make a decision until I'm ready to quilt it. And being that I have three or four others before I get to it I have plenty of time to decide. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

At long last

there's a new quilt. Sort of. It's just the top but I am way ahead of schedule because this is my Christmas 2008 quilt.



I haven't named this one yet. I got the fabrics from a couple of online swaps. The pattern is called Cheaper By The Dozen. I didn't get the pattern book - I've never even seen it up close. I just looked at the cover online and figured out how to make the blocks but I believe the "Dozen" is for the number of fat quarters you need to make it. I made mine a bit larger than the one I saw. Mine is 4 blocks by 5 blocks (the one I saw was 3 by 4 - so maybe the dozen is for how many blocks you finish with).

I'm thinking of getting some light colored fabric for the backing and some colored thread and using my new machine's stipple stitch to quilt it.

Yes that's right. My new machine. I got a new machine for Christmas. Now remember I'm just a simple country girl so there are no Janomes or Berninas for me. It's a Brother CS 6000i. I have been using a Brother for the past three or four years and I love them. But I wanted a blanket stitch and the old one didn't have it. This new one has 60 different stitches. I did a sample of the stipple and it looks great but before I start quilting a quilt I want to play around a bit - changing the size and such.

I have been keeping busy but I've been doing mostly round robins and I can't post those here until they are back to their owners. Oh wait, Julie has hers back so let's see if I can find my picture of that one.

Okay - this is what I received in the mail:



And this is what it looked like after I added my round:



Julie did the leaves in the center. The it went to Kymberli - who was supposed to do a framed border. She did the acorns framed in turquoise. Then it went to Susan who was to do a two color border. She did the orange and brown with the bear's paws in the corners. Barb got it next and she put on the brown border. Then on to Frances who did the appliqued pumpkins and leaves. The requirement for my row was to use triangles. So I echoed Susan's round and did a plain border with bear's paws blocks in the corners. Then it went on to Joyce to put on the final border before going on to Julie. I am so proud to be working with this group of very talented ladies.

I am having so much fun with this swap. I have Joyce's now and I'm doing her final border.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody