Three Quilts Gifted...

Over Memorial weekend, Andy & I traveled to Illinois for a family visit.  On the way through Ohio we stopped at my brother's house for a visit and to deliver some quilts that I had made for three of his grown children.  

The first one was for Leah.  The embroidered top was purchased from Ebay and I added the borders and hand quilted it.

The second quilt was for Sarah.  This was a top that I started as a craftsy.com block-of-the-month, but ended up deleting a couple of their blocks that I didn't like and adding a bunch more that I found online.  It is hand quilted. 

The third quilt that I gifted in Ohio went to my nephew, Daniel.  He served our country for 4 years in the Marines just a short while ago, so I made his "Red, White, and Blue" in tribute to his service! The pattern for this one is "Blue Ridge Beauty" by Bonnie Hunter and is hand quilted, also.

I gifted one more quilt when we got to Illinois, but I will blog about that in a separate post.

All the quilts were received with much appreciation and the appropriate amount of "oooooh's and ahhhhh's"...and that does a quilter's heart good!  :)

Loretta

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

I hope that you are all settling into your Christmas celebration, whatever that may entail!  Your hard work has paid off and now it is time to enjoy your family, your baked goodies, and your decorations!  

We didn't decorate or bake this year, but I've been enjoying my 9-day break from work by spending lots of time in my sewing room!  Yesterday was the Christmas party at the chiropractor's office where I work part-time and it was nice to enjoy the company of my co-workers.  The recovery room where I work has delayed their get-together until after the holidays.

Today I've been streaming Christmas music on my tablet, which is nice because I can take with with me from room to room, depending on where I am and what I'm doing!  Tonight I will be attending Christmas Eve mass with my neighbors, followed by refreshments at their house.  I made some peanut butter chex mix and deviled eggs to take over with us.  We're going to take our Apples to Apples game and see if we can interest them in playing!  

For now, though, let me share pics of my recently finished "Sherbet" quilt.  I put it into my hand-quilting frame on 3/31/14 and took it out about 10 days ago!  It has been labeled and washed and I LOVE the way it turned out!  Nice and crinkly, like a vintage quilt!  

A close up of the crinkliness...

Even the backing is pieced!  

Now, shamelessly bragging on my grandchildren...because I'm a grandmother and it's my prerogative!  :)

Clark, 6 months, and Sera, 8 years

Last weekend our son and daughter-in-law had Christmas at her grandparents house and she sent me these pictures.  

Alex 17 months, with his great-grandfather!

My son, Paul, grandson, Andrew III, in the middle, and his little cousin on the right...

looks like they are enjoying the four-wheeler.

Loretta

Busy Busy Busy...

"It's the thought that counts".  

If that is true then I have blogged many, many times over the last couple of weeks because I've "thought" about it a LOT.  Putting fingers to the keyboard is another thing altogether.  

I've been trying to get a couple quilts ready to gift...which I thought would be happening around the beginning of the new year.  However, our plans have changed a little so the quilts will be hanging around here with me a little longer.  BUT at least they will be ready to gift when I get the chance because I've been busy binding and labeling them!

In the past couple of weeks, I finally finished up the Sherbet quilt...

...but haven't had a chance to take pictures of it.  I will post pictures of it soon, though.  I really love the way it turned out!  

Here are the labels I've made for 2 of the quilts I've finished up in the last couple of weeks...

For obvious reasons, I've had to blot out the name of the recipient until such time that they have been gifted.

I finished the quilting on the Daffodil quilt 2 years ago, but had never put the binding on it.  

BUT...I can finally remove that task from my "to do" list and now the quilt is ready for labeling!  :)

See...I told you I'd been busy!!  LOL


Today Andy installed some much-needed track lighting over my cutting table!  

I can see now...it's a Christmas miracle!  I have angled the far right light so it shines on my ironing board.

Tomorrow when I am in town, I will go get some conduit to attach and cover the cord along the wall.

Loretta

Some Quilting Updates...

Quote for the Day:

“It's tough trying to keep your feet on the ground, 

your head above the clouds, your nose to the grindstone, 

your shoulder to the wheel, your finger on the pulse, 

your eye on the ball and your ear to the ground.”

~author unknown

I have that decided that as much as I would love to JUST hand quilt my quilt tops, it is really unreasonable to think that I will ever get all of the quilts done that way.   I'm going to have to resort to machine-quilting some of my quilt tops to get them done in this lifetime.  I don't have the room or the money for a long-arm quilting machine, and if I did have the money I'd buy myself one of the "sit-down" long-arms, anyway.

However, the money issue makes it a moot point.  However, I decided that I was going to buy a machine with a larger throat/harp area that would at least make it a little easier to wrangle large quilts through it so I could get some quilt tops quilted.

After a lot of research and reading reviews, I decided on the Juki TL 2000 Qi.  And as if it was a sign from heaven, www.sewingmachinesplus.com offered a $100 off any purchase over $500 for Memorial weekend!!  With the free shipping offer, it was too enticing of a deal to turn down!  :)  

It took about 10 days for it to arrive because there was an "error" on UPS's part.  UPS wouldn't tell me what it was, but I think they routed it wrong and it ended up in Timbuktu!  

But, she finally arrived and she is NICE!!!

The body is all metal so she weighs a freaking ton!  The extension table is plastic, but most are, anyway.  She is mechanical instead of computerized and only does a straight stitch.  However, she also does 1500 stitches/minute, so she FLIES!   She is made for quilting!!  

I put her to work as soon as I got her set up.  I'm using her to piece my next project...a rainbow baby quilt...

When the top is done, I will get to use her to machine quilt it.  For those who don't know this, Juki is one of the primary companies that makes industrial sewing machines, so they are hardy, built to last, and take on the work load!!!

I am seriously thinking about selling my Husqvarna Viking Platinum 775 computerized machine and just using the Juki for piecing.  If I need to hem or sew on knit fabric, I can use my Husqvarna Viking Scandinavia 400 machine...which is my "embroidery" machine, but it does regular sewing like zigzag, too.  (When you sew in knits, you have to use a zigzag or a special stitch to keep the stitch from breaking when the knit gets stretched.)

I just don't have room for all of my machines, so I'm giving the sale of the Platinum 775 some serious thought.  I currently have one of my three Singer 221 Featherweights and my Featherweight table up for sale.  There is someone who has expressed interest in it, but nothing is final, yet, so if you live nearby and are interested in it or know someone who might be, pass the word along.   I'm asking $175 for the machine and $75 for the table.

On the hand-quilting side of things, I've finished up the row that I've been working on on the Sherbet quilt...

I have rolled the quilt and am getting ready to start the next row...

 Loretta

Happy Saturday...

This weekend the United States is celebrating Memorial Day weekend...the time that we celebrate and remember the brave soldiers that lost their lives in the service of our nation.

Memorial Day weekend traditionally signals the beginning of summer and vacation season here in the USA, too...cookouts, picnics, family gatherings, etc.  In celebration of the unofficial start of "summer", I decided to buy some new cushions for our porch furniture so we can enjoy the new, warmer weather!

I had power-washed the front of the house and the porch furniture on Mother's Day, but the old cushions were just too far gone to use again...they were 12 years old, so they needed to be retired.  I saw that Ollie's Bargain Outlet in Bridgeport had patio cushions on sale, so yesterday when I was out and about, I stopped in and bought some!

Doesn't it look like an inviting place to come sit and visit for a while?  And that's just what my neighbor, Kathy, and I did last evening.  We partook of some wine and caramel corn (don't judge us!) and enjoyed the evening on the front porch!  


I've been busy with working my two jobs these days, but am still trying to find a few moments now and then to sneak into the quilting room and work on the "Sherbet" quilt...

I'm also trying to get the machine quilting finished on the Choo-Choo train quilt for my grandson, Alex's first birthday coming up the beginning of July!  

Even though this quilt is a gift, I can still post about it because it is now a family tradition that all grandchildren receive their Choo-Choo train quilt for their first birthday!   They are all the same pattern and the tradition was begun when the original quilt was gifted by an aunt to my son when he was 15 months old.  Both of the children used and loved that quilt and they each wanted one for their children.  So...each grandchild now gets one for their first birthday!  :)

Now...I need to go outside and spray the weeds in the driveway and walkways.  Ah...the joys of home-ownership!  :)

Loretta

Happy Weekend to Everyone...

Quote for the Day:

"A word to the wise ain't necessary - -

it's the stupid ones that need the advice."

~Bill Cosby

I feel like my life spun out of control when I went back to work last week!  I zigged when I should have zagged and re-injured my back, so I've been making frequent visits to my chiropractor again.  Just when I had "graduated" to only going once a month, I made it two weeks into that first month and BAM...I feel like I'm back to square one.  I know that technically I'm not, but it still feels that way.  **sad face here**

In between the chiropractor visits, I have been working, hand quilting on the "Sherbet" quilt, and making baby gifts for our grandson that is due to make his appearance the end of June!  I can't show you the baby gifts until after they have been delivered to and opened by Erin, but I can show you the progress on the "Sherbet" quilt!  

I am only able to reach about 1/2 way through the block before turning it to the next area, so these blocks were 1/2 way done when I took these pictures last week.  However, I have now finished the second half of the blocks and have cranked the quilt again since these pictures were taken!!!  I am moving right along on this quilt!!

I am using pastel pink thread for the hand-quilting, but as you can tell by the picture, you can barely tell there is any color to it.  One of these days, I will get brave and use a darker color, but that will definitely show up uneven stitches more.  The lighter thread "hides" the imperfections!

I have never entered a quilt into a quilt show before, but if I can get this one done by June I'd like to enter it into the quilt show in Bridgeport.  I am under no illusions that I would win any awards because my stitches are far from "perfect", but I would still like to enter it....just for the fun of it.

I have finally made my blocks for "Kevin the Quilter's" Quilt of Valor challenge...

Kevin... I will be mailing them out to you this week!!  :)  Thank you for doing this challenge!  Your quilts will be a blessing to so many veterans!!

Loretta