Quilts, Quilts, Quilts

You may have heard the saying the best laid plans of mice and men. Well my best laid plans were plans not to overwhelm myself with quilts I just "had to make" this year. So of course every where I turn I need a quilt for this spot or that spot or I see a quilt in a magazine or online that I just have to make. Or, as in this case, I found some fabric I just couldn't pass up.



I'm going a very easy "big" block construction on this one. And it will be done like the Spring quilt I just did (backed with a sheet, birthed and tied) and used as a summer quilt on our bed.

And of course then there are those special occasions that arise that need a quilt. Such as a wedding. A wedding requires a quilt. Especially if it is the wedding of your child. Yes in a year I will officially be a mother-in-law! And I am thrilled beyond belief. I have the quilt planned - it will be scrappy, very strange coming from a "resist scrappy at all costs" quilter like me but there is a reason for it. I want the different fabrics to represent the different parts of their lives coming together. And the neatest thing is I have some friends who have been praying for my son and his girl-friend who are going to contribute some fabric to the quilt - so it will not only represent the different parts of their lives but it will also represent the different parts of the country where these two kids have people who love them and care enough to pray for them.

And of course you need to have a new project if you finish a project - which I have done! I finished my "Dreams Do Come True" quilt. This is the quilt I have wanted to make since I started quilting. The applique held me back for a few years but it's done and hanging over a chair in my living room now - and with a week to spare. My birthday is Friday and I really wanted to have this as a gift I would give myself.



I was trying to figure out how to do the label. I wanted something special since this quilt is very special to me. And then I realized I had it - almost. A couple of years ago I attended the local quilt guild. For various reasons I didn't go back but I had the intention of going back so I made my name tag. They had "adopted" Sunbonnet Sue as their "mascot" and each member was required to make a SBS name tag and I did. So I used my name tag as my label for this quilt.



In other exciting news we've had our first birthday of the year. Joe is now 12. He's in to football and Nascar and had a Nascar cake this year.



And of course I can't leave without a picture of Thunder. Poor baby has been through the wringer. We had him neutered. When we went to pick him up he went right passed us and straight to the door. When he got there he turned around and looked at us like "get me out of here NOW!". lol. Although I do have to say I am a bit disappointed. We were told that having them neutered calmed them down a lot. Well not here! lol. He's just as playful and hyper as he was before. Here he is peeking out of our bedroom.



Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Quilt Show!!

I always love it when I can unexpectedly go to a quilt show. I knew this one was coming but I also knew I had to work. But as luck would have it I got off work at noon on Friday so I came home, grabbed Rodger and off we went. We both needed to have our pictures taken for our driver's licenses and the licensing center was about 10 minutes past where the quilt show was so we decided to save some gas and do it all at one time.

The quilt show is a preview for the Mennonite Central Committee's yearly relief auction. They have some lovely quilts but they don't really have a lot of room to display them so it's hard to get good pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

I love Mariner's Compass quilts. I have attempted them but they are beyond me.



This would be a gorgeous addition to any home at Christmas. Simple but lovely.



This one is just too cute for Christmas.



If my kitchen had a bit more wall space this one would be on my to do list.



On the home front I finished my Spring quilt. I birthed it and then tied it so it didn't take very long. No batting because we will use it when it gets warmer.



This is one of the largest quilts I have made. We have a queen-size bed and it hangs over on all sides. I finished another small quilt today but I haven't done the pictures yet so I'll save that for another post.

Thunder wanted to show you all his new friend.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Quilt-a-thon!!

Well as much as a working wife and mother can manage I have been having a quilt-a-thon here lately. I have been staying off the computer and using my computer time to sew.

But first I needed to get my sewing area cleaned up. Since Christmas is over and Rodger is still off work we are doing some things around the house. We're planning to paint our bedroom this Spring so I'm looking at the changes I plan to make then. So I started with my sewing corner. I don't have a separate sewing room but we are blessed with a large enough bedroom that I can use a corner for sewing.

First I moved my rulers and cutting mats. And then Tasha came across this great piece of luggage that I had forgotten she had. It was my mom's so it's from around the 60s. It's a medium sized round case. It's not in the best of shape but it's great for putting quilts in. Most of the quilts in it are older baby quilts.



The quilts stacked beside it are mostly yard sale finds with one or two from eBay thrown in.



So here's how it ended up. Rodger gave me the chair for Christmas. I have a bad back and he said as much time as I spend there I needed a better chair (I was using one from the dining room). The wall hanging is the one I made to put my show pins on (be sure to check out my high tech fancy quilt hanger. lol.)



Once I was all set up it was time to quilt. At Christmas I found out my niece was having a baby - in January. So since January is almost over I decided I really ought to get moving on this quilt. I normally do very simply baby quilts. I want the quilts to get used and if they are too fancy I'm afraid they'll end up in a box in the closet. So I did a charm quilt. I knew the baby would be a girl but I didn't want to do the typical bubble gum pink you see for baby girls. So I did rosey colors and mossy greens. I did something different with this one - a totally random placement of the fabric. I think it looks nice (Rodger doesn't agree with me lol). Every thing went along fine until I did the binding. Since the quilt was very simple I decided to put the border on with a decorative stitch. What a nightmare. I didn't like the way it looked but taking it out was awful. I must have spent at least two hours pulling those stitches out. I decided to redo it with a straight stitch and even that gave me trouble. But I am happy to say that I finished it up Sunday night. And not a moment too soon because I got an email this morning that Rebekkah was born Monday morning.



With all the problems I had with this quilt I didn't get as much done on other projects as I would have liked. However I did get one block done on the log cabin I am starting. The first block actually. I got a great Judy Martin book for Christmas and the Kentucky Home pattern is the one I'm doing. I only got one block done Sunday but I got four more done yesterday and when I get finished here I'm going to go do a few more. I'm loving how this is turning out.



Well I'm off to get some more cleaning and sewing done. But before I go Thunder wanted to say hello. He's a bit tuckered out because he's been playing in the boys room.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

First Finish of 2009

Woo Hoo! I've completed the first quilt of the year. It's a roosting robin I started last summer with my favorite online group.



I can tell this will be a favorite. Since I discovered fusible web I have fallen in love all over again with applique. And the colors are my favorite - green and pink with some black thrown in for some pop. And it's a roosting robin. I'm really enjoying doing the roosting and round robins. It's so much fun to make a quilt with a group but I just enjoy the format of a robin.

I have a plan to finish up another quilt on the to be quilted list rather quickly. I'm going to birth the spring quilt and tie it. Since it's a spring patterned fabric I decided to make it a lightweight thrown. I thought birthing a quilt was a well known term but some friends weren't aware of it so I'll explain quickly. You take the backing and lay it right sides together with the top. Then you stitch around the outside of the two layers and leave a space to turn it right side out. After you turn it you close up the opening and then you can quilt it, tie it or just leave it like it is.

The push to finish up some things is purely selfish - I have found some things I want to make. lol. It's my own fault for tempting fate. I had some magazines and books in my Daddy's attic since Christmas 2007. I brought them home a couple of weeks ago and sat down and looked through every single one of them. I weeded out all the "oh isn't that cute, I should make that" patterns and only kept the ones that I honestly think I will actually ever make. Decluttering is the goal and I'm going to list all my magazines and books that I can on eBay. Hopefully I'll sell them and cut down on my clutter and make a few dollars in the process.

A couple of new projects I will need to add to the list are a fireplace quilt. We ordered a fireplace last week. It's a portable one but it can be placed flat against the wall or in a corner. The plan is to try it both ways in different areas in the living room. Once we decide how we like it best Rodger will build us a custom fireplace. But we want a quilt to hang above it wherever it ends up. And we want a wallhanging for over our bed. We've been talking about this for some time - we want to repaint our room. It hasn't been painted since we moved in (more than 11 years ago) and it's white (gasp! lol). We'd like to try some color. Since we figure it's unlikely he'll be back to work before summer he's hoping to paint a few rooms as soon as it's nice enough to have the windows and doors open. The new project that started the ball rolling is an adorable sheep wallhanging in the current issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. I've never taken particular notice of sheep - as to like them or dislike them - but this wallhanging is so adorable. I want to change the colors a bit (leave out the red and replace it with green) and use it in my dining room.

Well my goodness I got a bit long winded there. lol. Quilting is a passion.

In other news Thunder has become a big boy. He had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago. We got him another bed like he got for Christmas. We got it for in the living room because the floors are hardwood and he loves it so much that we got him one for in the bedroom to use at night. Here he is showing his naughty side:



Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Happy New Year

Well here it is - 2009. Finally here and with it a whole list of decisions to make. About quilting of course. lol.

It seems like I'm working a lot more even though my paycheck doesn't seem to reflect it. sigh. Well at least I have a job.

So I really had to take a hard look at the quilting to do list for 2009. I have so little time to quilt that I really needed to decide what I really, really wanted to do. I have seven that I really, really want to do this year. They are

1. Autumn Pumpkin/Scarecrow - this is a new sort for me in that the blocks are not all the same size so I need to fit it together and make some filler blocks.

2. Christmas Roosting Robin - I am so terribly thrilled with this quilt so far. I am doing the final border and I'm planning a very fancy, time consuming pattern and so I'm planning on it being a major project and leaving lots of time for it.

3. Joe's Quilt - Rodger and I are working on this together. We had planned to have it ready for him when he was hospitalized in the summer - so we are very far behind.

4. Tasha's graduation quilt. I really have a lot to do on this one. Everything in fact. I have one piece of the fabric but we don't have the pattern yet.

5. Mystery quilt. I am doing this for the second year for my favorite Yahoo group. I received the fabric as a Christmas gift and have it all cut and have even started piecing it. I'm hoping to have it done before the middle of January so I can get them the fabric requirements and get it set up as a mystery to start around the first of February.

6. Kentucky Home Log Cabin Quilt. I received the Judy Martin Log Cabins book for Christmas and knew immediately I would make this one. I'm headed to Joann's tomorrow after work for their 99 cent fq sale as the pattern calls for something like 50 of them.

7. Nativity quilt. I found a great pattern online for a wallhanging of a nativity and I want to enlarge it to a bed size quilt to do as my 2009 Christmas quilt.

I'm working on hand-quilting my Trip Around The World and my Sun Bonnet Sue.

I have three tops waiting to be quilted:

1. Double Irish Chain
2. Spring
3. Roosting Robin

I have the backing and as soon as I pick up the batting I'm going to do the Roosting Robin on the sewing machine.

Unfortunately I will need to put a few things on hold. I have put my fall log cabin, my schoolhouse with small blocks in the body of the house done in civil war repros and my black and gold lover's knot in boxes to be brought back out in the future.

I am going to make a commitment to do the things on this list before I do any other work at all. Easier said then done when people start sending me links to simply gorgeous quilts. lol.

Hugs and stitches, Jody

Once again, Christmas has come and gone

And in it's place are the left over decorations, waiting to be packed up for another year. I love having the same treasures to unwrap every year. We add something new each year of course. Our two main things we add yearly are a dated ball and an animated figure. My mom and dad gave us a Christmas ball that said First Christmas Together 1981 the year we got married. Since then, every year we have added a dated ball. Some years have new babies on the ornament. Some celebrate special things that happened a particular year - the year our football team won the championships. Some celebrate "world" things such as the American flag proudly waving on the 2001 ball. But each is special because it celebrates another year of togetherness. We hang them on a lighted garland around the ceiling in the livingroom.

The animated things are the little dancing, singing snowmen from Hallmark as well as some Santas (one on a motorcycle lol) and a few Nativities. We have a snow globe that I just love. Each night after the children put the ornament on the Advent tree they pick one to play. We have a house that plays The Night Before Christmas that we always save to play the first time on Christmas Eve.

Well since Christmas is over and all the gifts have been given I can update you on what I've been working on. This is Ryan's quilt:



And this is Cassie's:



I had posted a picture of the adorable little tree my daughter made in school. Here's my version of it:



As I was making ours I somehow committed myself to making eight more of these - yes that's right - three days before Christmas and I needed to make eight of these for presents. So Tasha and I started drawing, cutting, stuffing and sewing. And here is the result:



And even though Christmas is over the tree making isn't. We're going to try some in different sizes. But not for a week or so. lol.

I've removed my quilting gadget wish list from my sidebar because I was blessed to receive everything on it for Christmas! But I'm sure it won't be long before some other nifty thing crosses my path that I just "have" to have. lol.

Looking forward to the New Year I'm going to try some things here. I'm going to try to keep my quilting list to a minimum this coming year because with the added hours at work I'm going to be having less time to commit to quilting. So I'm going to gather up a list of things I really, really want to get finished and post them here and try to stay accountable to that list when all the neat ideas my friends forward to me come along. I have a few things I have made commitments to make and a few things I just want to make.

Well before I go here's the latest of Thunder. He got three wonderful presents for Christmas - his duck that he has already chewed the feet off, a box of gourmet dog biscuits and his pillow. And he loved them all.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Getting Ready

Christmas is only a little over a week away and we are pretty much done with the decorating (finally lol). The tree is up:



The nativity is out:



And I have done a bit of Christmas sewing. We normally put a train and village under our tree but not this year. Thunder is still a puppy so we didn't want to spend all our time pulling him out of it so we decided to skip it this year. So I made a tree skirt. It's not finished - it needs sandwiched and quilted but I still have one more quilt that also needs sandwiched and quilted and it's a present so it comes first. So the tree skirt is together just enough to be used and will be finished after the holidays.



My darling daughter has been taking "home ec" classes at school and made this cute little tree and brought it home today. The picture really doesn't show how cute it is - and believe me it is cute. lol.



And of course Thunder loves sitting by the tree looking out the window hoping someone will come to play with him.



Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody