I finished something!!!

Yes indeedy. I finished a quilting project. I finished up the row by row I did with the wonderful ladies on QWHT. A big thank you to Michelle, Kymberli, Joyce, Frances and Marilyn for their contributions to this gorgeous creation.



We're working on a round robin now and I can't wait to see mine! I think it has three more stops before it comes home to me. Based on the ones that have come past me and the incredible work I know these ladies do I'm sure it's going to be beautiful.

Here's my next project ready to be quilted:



It's a log cabin Christmas wreath. I have no idea how I'm going to quilt it. lol. I'm sort of looking to do something other than in the ditch - which is what I seem to do mostly. But it's a bit busy for motif quilting. After I finish quilting it I want to add a big crushed velvet bow, either top center or on the bottom right corner. I was thinking of using pink but I might use dark green. I guess I'll just have to see what I can find and what looks good.

Now here's the update on the Double Irish Chain. It's a little over half done. It's seven blocks by eleven and I have seven by seven done so far.



I'm taking a bit of a break today to do some things around the house (don't you hate it when house work cuts into your quilting time?). I finally went out to the shed and dug out the fall decorations so that'll be my fun stuff amongst the cleaning.

Until next time. Hugs and stitches. Jody

Traditional Quilting

Well I have done it again - started another project. I had been looking at the quilts I've made and thinking about making some more "traditional" quilts for quite some time. Then I went to the local quilt guild meeting Monday night. The speaker did a trunk show and she had some gorgeous traditional pattern quilts. So I was inspired to get started on one. I looked through my magazines and books and kept coming back to the Double Irish Chain. All those tiny squares sort of intimidate me because I worry about getting them all to line up straight. But if you don't try, you don't stretch yourself and you don't get better. So last night I started a Double Irish Chain.

So you know when you want to start a new quilt you need two basic things - a pattern and fabric. The pattern was taken care of so it was on to picking the fabric. I found these and decided they were perfect.



Next was lots and lots of straight stitching to get strips.



Then you have to take all those lovely strips and cut them up.



But after you cut the strips up you sew them back together and end up with lovely blocks.



Well that's two blocks down - 61 more to go. lol. And since I only made one strip set of each formation there's still lots and lots of cutting and strip piecing. But in the end can you imagine the gorgeous quilt I will have!

Until next time - hugs and stitches.

Jody

Book Nook

I've decided to add a new feature to my blog and share some of the books I like. In the past I have had quite a problem with purchasing books. A few years ago when my bookcase was just too full I decided to donate some books to the Biblical Ed Center and the local public library. I gave away over 200 books and still had a nice collection of books that I kept. Since then I have been very careful about which books I choose to purchase and try to get most from the library.

There are a few series books that I will always buy - Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilt books top the list, then there are the Harry Potter books (no more to buy there lol), Debbie Maycomber's Cedar Cove series, MC Beaton's Death of A ......... (mystery series set in Scotland featuring Hamish MacBeth) and the Charlotte LaRue mystery series are not to be missed.

I am also interested in having a collection of books about the background of quilting.

While surfing on eBay one evening I came across This Old Quilt by Margret Aldrich. I like to look at the old quilts on eBay. Many are not in the best shape but can be simply lovely folded in a basket. And when I typed in old quilt this came up.



This book looked intriguing although the $20 price tag did not. But through a bit of searching online I was able to find it for $6.25 shipping included.

I haven't read it completely through but I've seen enough to know that it's going to be good. There are tons of pictures - an excerpt from the first Elm Creek Quilts book - some great artwork (Diane Phelan, Bob Pettes, Sandi Wickersham) and lots of stories.

I highly recommend that you look for this one at the library.

Until next time - hugs and stitches.

Jody

Brain Dead

Well here it is - my crochet project. It really is - like the title says - brain dead. Once you get the pattern going it's pretty mindless work - but it works up so pretty. This is the close up view so you can see the work.



This is the full view of what I've done so far. I have terrible problems with measurements on these things. Right now it's 15 by 38. But I think her original pattern said it was 48 by 36 and I wanted it wider so I added 24 more chains at the beginning but I only ended up with an extra 2 inches.



I always use a bigger hook than the pattern calls for because I have a tendency to pull my stitches really tight. Usually I go up two sizes for the chain and then go to the one in between (one up from what the pattern calls for and one down from what I used for the chain) for the pattern rows.

Oh, the soft pink color choice I had planned didn't work because Wal-Mart didn't have the right shade of pink. So I found this blue/green/white that I really like.

Earlier while I was working on it Rodger came in and sat down and looked at it kind of funny and said "have you given up on quilting?". Not in this lifetime. lol. Actually what I told him was that it's nice to be able to work on different things for a bit of variety.

And speaking of quilting, I ripped the binding off a quilt earlier today (had done it on the machine and I was less than happy with it) and I need to find some fabric and get a new binding made. The poor thing is laying there looking naked. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

I've been bitten

by the crochet bug. And I'm blaming this on my friend Molly. Between her projects and some blogs I found linked from her blog I feel the urge to crochet an afghan. I used to do this before I started quilting. I made at least one a year - during the winter to keep warm. It all started with my mom and she's been on mind a lot lately. She made ripple afghans to keep herself from snacking. She whipped them out so fast and they were so lovely. She never did anything but ripples so that's what I have an urge to make. However as I was looking around for a pattern I found a different pattern that I really like so I think I will grab a skein of yarn - I'm thinking soft pink - and work on that. As if I don't already have enough projects in the works. lol. But this one is called "brain dead" because it's supposed to be very easy. Back in the day I could crochet a pattern I was familiar with without even looking at what I was doing and I have hopes I can do this one that way and then I could work on it while I help the kids with their homework. So I'm off to Bible study (we're doing the Mayberry study and I love it) and to pick up a skein of yarn on the way home.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

Since I updated you last

I started and finished two more tops. I always say I won't start anything new until I finish up something but I was working on some Autumn swap blocks and these three fabrics were laying together and I thought they would make an awesome rail fence quilt. So I whipped it up - miscalculating the fabric I would need I ended up going to the store four times. lol. But I love the way it turned out. I doubt I'll have it quilted in time to use this year but there's always next year.




I also did a Christmas quilt. I have a snowman one I am working on and it's so cute but with all the tiny pieces I have my doubts I can finish it for this year. So my dear friend Barb had given me a few blocks. It's so neat how these quilting projects work out. For the snowman quilt I needed small pieces of Christmas fabrics for the scarves and with 20 different snowmen I didn't want to have to get 20 different fabrics so I asked the awesome ladies on the QWHT group if they had any small print pieces that they could send me. I got such lovely pieces from many of the ladies. In with the pieces Barb sent me were some finished quilt blocks that she thought I might tear apart to use the fabrics for the scarves. But I decided to just make more of the blocks and it resulted in this quilt:



I'm not really into scrappy but I think this one looks nice.

Other quilting projects I have worked on include two round robins - I can't post pictures of them now because the ladies I did the work for just might try to get a peek at them and they need to be surprised. So next year - when they make their way back to their owners - I will post pictures of all the rounds I did on the round robins.

Until next time - hugs and stitches.

Jody

Here we are again - a month later

I'm not doing so well at posting weekly - well I guess I am posting weakly. I suppose as I get more comfortable with this stuff maybe I'll post more often. Maybe it's just that there's no news to post. lol. But the past month has been very full. We got Ryan off to college the last weekend of August with the truck loaded to the top.




We learned two very important lessons on our first foray into moving into the dorms - if moving times are 12-4 don't go before 2. We got there at 1 and had to wait in the truck in line for a parking place. Then we couldn't get close to the curb (where you were to unload and there were student helpers to help you carry your things in) so we had to drag everything through the parking lot and carry it all ourselves. Well, Rodger and Ryan carried it all - Cassie and I stayed with the stuff still in the parking lot. Ryan's roommate came at 2:00 and was able to park right in front of the door to the dorm and was unloaded in no time. The second thing is take a dolly. We have two and didn't even think to take one with us. Carrying that little refrigerator was a bit awkward. There was a really nice couple I was talking to while we were waiting and they let us borrow theirs for the last large box we had. Next time we will remember our dolly - when we don't show up until after 2.

On the quilting front I have been working a lot on swap stuff. I'm doing two round robins on two separate groups. I did a basket of flowers for the QWHT group



and a Sunbonnet Sue for TQS.



I'm also working on log cabin blocks for a TQS swap. I did manage to finish up one quilt that I'm calling Confetti. I plan to sandwich my row by row from QWHT's swap today - it's my last top to quilt. I guess that means I need to get another top finished so I'll have something to quilt once that one is done. I'm working on a snowman quilt for Christmas this year.

I guess that's all the excitement for now. Until next time, hugs and stitches.