Tissues Please....

If you have been following me I have been working on ‘School Bell Has Rung’ by Karen Walker - http://chezstitches.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-school-bell-has-rung-sampler.html

While surfing months ago I saw this:

Because the only free motion design I really know to quilt is ‘Meandering’ I thought with Karen’s help I could learn Feathers.

She has several parts to this project and she shows how to do these techniques:
Magic 8 Method, No Waste Flying Geese Unit, Hourglass Method, and the Triple Triangle Method. (She also has math charts different sizes.)
I could not replace the center section

 

like I thought I could because my Y seams did not match up at all

so I got Jack back out and he helped me  re-rip the middle section out and take what needed to be taken apart.
I remade the center using a different color of fabric as Karen had showed in step 1 and sewed the piece back together.
The real reason I made this piece was because I liked the way Karen quilted the piece. I did every step and…..where is the quilting step???? I waited, and waited, and waited,  finally emailed Karen and she said she was busy working on something else. Will my bell ever ring?
With my tablet by my side and quilting gloves on I started to free motion quilting.  Along with not being able to do precision Y seams I am NOT proficient in free motion quilting.  

Notice uneven, wiggly lines

Thankfully I saw something last week about Golden Threads paper so I got out my roll I bought several years ago.
You can find it here: http://www.goldenthreads.com/shop/category/notions.
I used my Frixion pen to ‘kind of’ copy Karen’s quilting pattern. I like to draw with the Frixion pen because I can erase the lines with my iron that I do not like or correct what needs to be redrawn.

Lar scanned one of my designs in the scanner. Then I copied it onto the tissue paper after I cut and glued the tissue paper to fit an 8.5” x 11” piece of paper so I could run the tissue paper through my printer. I printed as many designs I needed.

I cut and pinned the tissue design to where I wanted the quilt design.

I did learn many things I should have already known.

Choose your fabric wisely, follow the instructions correctly, use a thicker thread when quilting, and most importantly if you don't like it stop BEFORE the next step.

 

Can you hear the bell?

I have used the Panasonic Iron

I bought at Hoover’s the day I bought my new machine many times and have found that I really like it. The best feature of the iron is the ability to iron 360◦ because it is cordless. Nice!

Now can someone please pass me a REALLY BIG box of tissues??

 

I swear I never saw the concrete block around the light post…but I heard it!

 

After quilting the design on the ‘SBHR’ piece and ripping off the paper, there were some itty-bitty pieces of paper stuck in the stitches.

 

I bought this tool years ago and finally used it to carefully scratch out the bits.

The pick is very similar to a nut pick.

 

Have a great week.

D.G. L

 

WAIT!

 

It’s almost Christmas?? I am not ready for Halloween, let alone Christmas!

If we want; which I have no desire to do, we can dress up on Fri. for Boo day. I still do not know what to wear or what to be.

I have been trying all week to finish that little piece from www.chezstitches.com ‘School Bell Has Rung’. I wanted to take it along to the quilt meeting (venting is coming up) Fri. night but my NEW machine is not working correctly. So I started gathering the items I am going to trade in at Hoover’s. I was going to go yesterday and also take my machine in to get fixed. I called to see if Leon was in to fix it and NO he was not! I have to WAIT until Tues. to see if he will be in. NOOOOOO!

Fri. I went to our guild meeting  Susquehanna Valley Quilt Guild. We had a guest speaker Carol Taylor: http://www.caroltaylorquilts.com . Sat. she gave a workshop on her ‘Going In Circles’. It was nice but when I looked at it there was just way too much work for what the end result was for me.

 

(Vent) The guild’s quilt show is in March, the first week of March. That is much less than the 5 months they say we have. By my figuring it is only 4 months, give or take a week. The only TWO categories the committee keeps talking about is the Challenge Quilt (my idea) and the Theme Quilt. Are we supposed to ASSUME there are more categories and if so what are they, what are the rules, is it anything goes??? It would be nice to know don’t you think because when you assume you make an a-- out of you and me.

I did not do too much this week. I went to storage yesterday to get a few items to start the Christmas ornaments and on the way home I remembered I forgot (is this an oxymoron) to grab the glass cutter so now I have to stop back to get it……I also could not find my paints that are buried in the unit somewhere….

I have a pair of jeans that fit me sooo great but when I was wearing them I noticed the seam on the right pant leg was off. Instead of in the middle of the leg, it creased to the left, making it look really bad.

The seam is about 1 1/2" to the left of the crease on the right pant leg.

I decided to embroider something up the side seam to help and draw the eyes away from the miss-creased issue.

 

The result:

 

This was so easy I will have to embroider more clothes, maybe to draw attention away from my fat. WAIT, I would have to be covered from head to toe, that won't work!

 

Someone asked if the tip with the dryer sheet worked. It did work for me.

 

 

This is a great site that answers all kinds of quilting questions:

http://quiltbug.com

This site gives you charts to calculate fabric amount, how much binding is needed, color pallet selection, free patterns,  just gobs and gobs of quilting tips and techniques.

Check it out!

Have a great week.

D.G. L

Two weeks

since we visited. You would think a lot happened in my world but not really.

Is anyone else on this ‘merry’-go-round: Work-Eat-Sleep?

On the sewing front I am still working on ‘School Bell Has Rung’ found on http://chezstitches.com

Well obviously I was NOT proficient at Y seams. To me it seemed like such an easy fix...hahaha. I could never sleep with seams that do not match up and look like this:

So my not so friend Jack was back to visit me. I have fixed that problem and it is back together ready to be quilted. Now on to teach myself free motion feathers. Hopefully next week I will be able to show you my corrected seams.

I harvested the rest of my bounty….

I am thinking of tomato chutney… if I have the ambition.

The big news is I got a new (used) car! Well, Lar wanted a new car to tow our show car…(When it is finished so he can take it to the shows). It was such a great deal I said yes! I really hated that van. Two best things about the new car is it remembers my seat adjustments and it has a keyless starter for those cold snowy mornings!

While at the dealer I saw this:

I will have to have my grandson Daddles make one. Anyone have extra MoPar parts laying around? Maybe I could use parts off my junker Porsche ?????

 

 

 

Pans greasy and icky?

Try this:

Wipe out as best as possible. Set in sink. Put in a dab of dish soap and fill with water. Add a dryer sheet and let soak MORE than one hour, preferably overnight. In the morning rinse out pan, dry, and put away.

Have a great week.

D.G. L

 

 

Problems

I am having major problems with the internet but I wanted to leave you with this thought for the week:

Don't be surprised if you find your destiny on the road you took to avoid it.

Have a great week.
D.G. L

Country vs. City

Where do city people think food comes from???

Last Fri. I had another interruption by having to go pick up apples my neighbor gathered for me. Every year I see these:

 

just thrown away so I got up my nerve and asked him if I could pick up the fallen apples. He said he throws out the ones that fall on the ground and that I could come and pick them up. Lar called, yes while I was sewing, and went to pick up the apples. Thankfully the neighbor had already picked up the apples and so I re-boxed them and brought them home.

 

While I was cleaning up the apples (Sunday) Lar said they looked spoiled….. I said ‘What do you think they put in the cans from the store?’ Really, need I ask?

 

Sunday we went to a car show.

While at the show I got a bowl of Haluski. Do you know the Haluski recipe? I’m sure it is not made with sauerkraut.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/220716/haluski---cabbage-and-noodles/

I see to use cabbage NOT sauerkraut.

 What a disappointment.

 

 

Finally at 2 o’clock  in the afternoon I started making applesauce. By 8:30 I had everything washed up and 29 pints of applesauce!

 

The neighbor also gave me these:

A while back Deby of www.so-sew-easy.com hosted a surprise swap. I could not show you what I sent Sandy but I can now tell you I sent her a pincushion, an ornament and some other goodies. She made me a wonderful bag, sent some fabric, and other goodies. Thankyou Sandy!

 

I want to teach myself quilted feathers and thought this would be a good starter.

 

Does this ever happen to you? You take the time and effort to make something that’s supposed to be fast and easy (which it was.)
'School Bell Has Rung':  www.chezstitches.com
The more I looked at this the more I absolutely HATED the middle fabric choice so I ripped out the center and am working on putting another color in there.
Being facetious here: I LOVE Y seams.

After my practice piece I am planning on quilting feathers in this. I am not sure what to quilt in the stars though. Any thoughts?

*Reminder*: I am still taking guesses on the bobbins in previous post!
(I will be doing so until I trade them in at Hoover's.)

 

When adding up for my binding I hate having to take the time to find a pencil and paper. Because my Frixion pen is always handy I add the side measurements on my ironing board knowing they will disappear the next time I iron.
I find the  total and sew my binding together.