This and That

Isn't it amazing how you always run out of thread when you are almost done. Yep just this little corner to go and the whole quilt would have been quilted and I ran out of bobbin thread. But happy dance the quilt is quilted and I am half way done with the binding then this can go to it's new home.

I did have to stop for a while and start a quilt that is not on my UFO list. My husband friend was just diagnosed with terminal cancer just months after beating a different cancer. He is going to do the chemo so I start this lap quilt for him to take with him. He loves his jobs as a Police officer so I thought this fabric would be perfect for him. I was able to make the entire quilt from stash but I want to make it a little bigger so I did purchase some fabric for the border.

This quilt will knock two off my UFO list. This is my Super Bowl Sunday mystery quilt. I had a blast working on this. I had a couple of friends drive down from NH Saturday and spend the night. My husband woke up early and fixed us all breakfast. Then we got to spend the day at the quilt shop sewing up out quilts. This does have one more section to go and then a border. I am going to also use this for the baby quilt for my godchild so this will knock two quilts off my UFO list. I was really tempted to keep this quilt. I just love the colors.

I am wondering how long it is going to take my dogs to realize that they can just walk over the fence in the back yard. I snow is so high and the dogs are so light that they can walk on top of it. So far they haven't figured it out yet.

Top Completed!

As promised I spent the weekend working on borders. Well okay I waited until Sunday but hey they are done. Backing fabric is washed and ready to be pieced. I hope to have this on the machine tomorrow and be all ready to go as soon the the panto comes in the mail from Willowleaf . It is going to be a while before I attempt another king size quilt! Now off to get my jog in and maybe some more piecing on my nieces quilt.

Borders

I don't know what it is about borders but every time I reach them my quilt always seems to come to a grinding stop! I promised myself that my current quilt would not become a UFO and that no other quilt would be worked on until this quilt was finished. I have been doing a great job keeping that promise well until last night when I reached the borders. ow I have never met a border that I like add to that this is a pieced king size border. Arg!!!! So I spent the night piecing.

An turning my pieces into strips. and dreaming about other quilts that I could be working on. I would start to stray but I would catch myself and come back and work on the borders some more. So I made a compromise. I finished and attached the pieced border. Proud of myself except there are still two more borders to go. But it is late and the thought of laying out the quilt is just to much to bear at this point. So I promise these borders will be done this weekend.

In the mean time just look what I dug out of my UFO pile. I wasn't tired so I figured I could do a little piecing. Just had to take a few minutes to remember where I left off.

Went through the box and refreshed my memory with the directions. Made sure I had all the pieces. And started to sew on something that wasn't a border. Ahh it is so much more relaxing to sew this way. Of course eventually I will hit the borders with this quilt as well. at least it is not a king size border.

And look how much it grew. I am making this for my niece and she has been waiting a very long time for me to finish this. Once the Soccer quilt is finished this will be the next one I complete this year. Well until I reach the borders.LOL

On a side not it is only -3 outside. I am not liking this could weather. I am used to it but still not liking it.

It's a New Year

Okay so it has been a real long time since I posted last. No excuse other than well life just kinds of getting in the way. I haven't sewed in months but this is changing this year. I have been working pretty steady on the quilt below. I am making this quilt for a dear friend of the family. His only request is that it have soccer fabric and be King size. I think I kept a straight face when he said King size. But yep this should be about 120x120 when it is finished. This is from a real old Fons and Porter Mag. Here is a close up and the completed top minus the three borders.

Here are the pieced borders that I am working on at the moment. This should have beendone by now but my iron keeps gunking up and I am not sure why. I use distilled water and I washed my ironing pad. I am going to clean it again and try using new fabric on the iron pad.

And here is the backing. I recently used this backing on a quilt for a friend and loved how it looked and felt.

No T.V. Here

I have been informed by daughter # 2 that this is turn of T.V. week. I am not sure if this is a school thing or a state thing but it is now a house thing. Daughter #1 is not thrilled and my son is devastated but alas the T.V. has been turned off and it hasn't really made much of a difference I noticed. The weather has been great so the kids have been out riding bikes until dinner time anyways. I think as long as we don't have any rainy days we should be able to fly through this week no problem. Or at least until Thursday which is when I leave for MQX.



My mom just got me a great new coffee pot for my birthday. It is this great new one cup machine. I just love it. It is fast and as I just drink one cup when I do have something it works out perfect. The only down side is my girls have found that it is so easy to use that they can use it. We now a have one cup of coffee a week rule. Which they have already broke. I did make sure that the coffee they use is decaf and as we do not keep soda or sugary juices in the house I guess one cup on the weekend with mom won't hurt.



On the sewing front I pulled out my whole cloth that I designed last year at MQX and I finished marking it. I have decided to handquilt it so it is now on the longarm to be basted. I will do that today and start hand quilting tomorrow.

A flash back in time. I just had to post this pic I found of my baby Bosco when I first got him. this is at the airport when I first picked him up. He was so fluffy back then. He grew up to be a big boy of a little over 6 pounds now!

Did you know?

As the mother of twins you often end up with two of everything. Usually not a problem because you need two of everything. In our house it ends up being two different colors of the same thing because the girls have completely different taste in everything.

This birthday was no exception except for the flavor of the cake. One usually likes vanilla and the other chocolate. This works out great this way we have cake for everyone. Not this year. Both wanted vanilla cake but different designs. So I ended up with two yep two vanilla cakes. Did you know that your local food shelter will take this? I thought it had to be unopened goods. But nope even though the cake had candles and had been blown out they still took the cake. This made me feel so much better than to throw an uneated (an expensive) cake in the trash. I am sure not all places are like this but it is worth looking into before you throw away food that others could benefit from.

Have actually been sewing

I finally feel like I have made a dent in my UFO's and have gotten some sewing done. I promised myself that this year I was going to remember to enjoy the process of quilting again. No more rushing. I just put in a book on tape and go along.

This first quilt was a mystery quilt done at my local quilt shop "The Calico Basket" Sorry they don't have a web site. A group of us got together(Me, Melissa N.H., Sue and Susan) This was done on Superbowl Sunday. We had such a good time sewing and eating. Melissa and I got a little nervous with some of the directions but that made it even more fun. We left with completed tops that just need borders. Mine is now quilted and bound. I used the same pantograph that Lori used on Giz's quilt.

And here is a close up of the quilting. don't look to close though.

I am going to give this quilt to my Mom.

I didn't make this next quilt. It was made by a friend during a challenge we had a couple of years back. I have finally decided how it is going to be quilted. (BIG GULP) I am going to hand quilt this one. I have the stencil bought and and the thread and hope to get it basted in the next couple of weeks.

I also finished this years Nashua challenge but can't show it yet. It is all quilted bond and washed. I just love how it came out and I can't wait to mail it out!

And finally a got a BOM for Christmas and I have two blocks done. I just received block number three in the mail and am going to work on it this weekend.

My Mom got me this as my gift this year and I am soooo excited. I plan on staying up to date on this quilt!

Till next time.