June!

June is more than half over! It is hard to believe. The summer will be over before I know it.
I have been able to get some sewing done. Last week I finished piecing 4 UFO's. I have posted pictures. Two of them just needed borders added. The other two needed to be pieced. I had the blocks done. They were 1st Satruday Sampler Quilts, so the blocks had to be done each month.
I quilted all day today on a quilt I pieced about 4 or 5 years ago. I had put it on my machine in April or May and then had to take it off to do two other quilts. I finally got it back on, but couldn't decide how I was going to quilt it. I finally decided and I like what I am doing, but it is taking some time. I think I finished about half of it today. I won't get to quilt much tomorrow. I am going with Chris to Jeff City. He has a meeting and I am going to check out a new quilt shop that I just heard about. I may get to quilt in the afternoon, when we get back. I'm sure Chris will want to cut hay when we get home.
Hope everyone has a great summer! Stay cool!

School's Out

I can't believe it has been over 2 months since I posted to my blog. Track takes up way too much time. School is finally out. Track is over. School ended Thursday and track ended yesterday. We had Sectionals yesterday. I had a relay team, one in the 100m Dash and a Pole Vaulter qualify for Sectionals, but they did not qualify for State. So, that ended the season.

I can now get my house clean and have time to do some serious quilting. My plans for the summer are to clean my house and then quilt and quilt and quilt and then quilt some more. I'd also like to take a trip to the new quilt museum in Nebraska. My sister-in-law lives about 30 minutes from there and we have talked about going to visit her the past couple of years. Maybe this summer we will go see her.

I have several projects on my agenda that I have deadlines on...quilts for other people to get done. Then I can do some of my own stuff. I have lots of UFOs that need my attention. I started a priority list, but I already think I need to make some changes. Oh, just to get started!

It's Friday!

Some weeks Friday's take forever to get here. I am so glad it is finally Friday. Chris is at a Conference at the Lake. Kayla is upstairs in her room. Joey will be home tomorrow for a friend's wedding. So, it is pretty quiet around here. I should be sewing, but have been sitting, watching TV, and doing stuff on the computer. I did get to chat with Marcia for a few minutes. She happened to be online when I first got on. It was good to chat with her.
School is busy. Track is going good. Two weeks of practice have already passed. It's hard to believe. This will be my last year for coaching. I think it will be a good year.
I have my Jelly Roll quilts displayed at the local quilt shop. I took them there for them to display for their shop hop. The lady at the bank this morning was so excited to tell me she saw my quilts. She is wanting to make her father's overalls into quilts for the grandkids, so we talked about that for a few minutes. It's so good to talk to other quilters. I want to start teaching classes at the shop here in town. I have been trying to work out the details for a class or two. Any advice would be appreciated.
Hope everyone has a good weekend. Mine will be busy. I have 4 differnt things to do on Saturday. There are several longarm quilters around that are going to meet tomorrow morning to try to start a local longarm quilt guild. Then, Joey's friend's wedding at 1:00. My nephew's future wife's bridal shower is at 3:00. In the evening is the Miss Salem contest. I have several track girls in that, so need to attend. I hope Joey will go with me to that.

Quilting Retreat

Last weekend I met my best friend, Marcia, for a quilting retreat. It was on a product called Quilt Smart. There were about 30 people there and we all worked on our own project using Quilt Smart. Marcia worked on a Lone Star and I worked on a

Mariner's Compass. It was great fun! It was wonderful spending time with Marcia. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like. We lived in the same small town southeast of Kansas City for years and became best friends. Since I moved to the other side of the state, and we both married, it is hard for us to get together. So, this was a great weekend for us to get together and "catch up".

These are some pictures of the Mariner's Compass that I worked on. The wedges are not sewn together, but were done and put on a design wall. One picture is of Mattie (from Quilt Smart) and me beside the Mariner's Compass.

Since the retreat, I finished the Mariner's Compass and I have sewn it to the background piece. Here it is on the background. I need to add borders to square it up.

What better way to spend a weekend? Quilting with your best friend! Thanks again, Marcia, for going to the retreat.

Don't Fence Me In Quilt

This quilt pattern is called "Don't Fence Me In". I love the fabrics. I pieced this quilt about 3-4 years ago (before Chris and I got married). I finally got it quilted.

This picture is of it while I was quilting it.

This is a close-up of the borders. I quilted feathers in the outside border and leaves in the inside border. They were done free-hand. I think they turned out pretty good.

Here is a close-up of the blocks and how I quilted them. I did a continuous quilt design in the blocks. There are flowers in the center of the block and I did swirls in the corners.

Here is a close-up of the back of the quilt. I used blue thread so the quilting would really show. Let me know what you think. They are not perfect, but I enjoyed doing this design.

Quilting Pictures

I took pictures this week of some of my quilting. Also took pictures at our Guild meeting Monday night.
This first picture is of me showing my quilt at the Guild meeting. It is done with a Jelly Roll. The fabric is Cabbage Rose. I love the colors and the design. Stephanie, who works at a local fabric shop, came up with this design and I "borrowed" it. I am going to loan it to the shop for their Shop Hop next month.




This is the second quilt I started today using the same pattern, but with the Wildflower Serenade II Jelly Roll. I have the blocks sewn together, but did not get another picture. It is ready for borders, but I have not bought the border fabric yet. Maybe next weekend I can get some.
Next weekend is the retreat in Joplin. Really looking forward to it and spending time with Marcia.
I have some other pictures to upload, but will do it tomorrow.
Happy Quilting!

Beautiful Day!

Today was a beautiful day! The weather was wonderful! I hope it stays this way, but I'm afraid it won't. Went to Bible Study after school and then came home. Kayla had to make me supper. They made Spring Rolls in school today. She had some stuff left over and made me one. They were really good! I had to make me another one. She is excited that she is learning to cook more than toast, Hot Pockets, and Easy-Mac.
I tried to quilt last night, but my machine sounds aweful! It was making a terriable grinding sound. I called Gammill this afternoon and the tech said it sounded like the belt was slipping. I took my machine apart to get to the belt tonight. When I took the casing off, I turned the wheel and it turned just fine. I put the case back on and if I tightened it, it make the grinding sound again. So, I made adjustments and got it fixed. I was so excited! I fixed it! So, I got to quilt for about an hour.
Tomorrow is Friday and we have a long weekend. We are out tomorrow and Monday. The teachers have a work day on Tuesday, but the kids don't go back until Wednesday. Five days without kids. I have a lot of quilting to do this weekend. I have a big list of UFO's to work on and they want me to do a quilt for church. I bought fabric for it yesterday. I want to cut it tomorrow so it will be ready to sew when ever I get a chance.
It's time for bed. I'm tired, but get to sleep in tomorrow. I'm excited about that.

Terrific Tuesday

Today I took my 3 quilts to school that I finished in the last 2 weeks. Tina's quilt is so big, I wanted to use the tables in the library to trim it. So, after school, I trimmed all 3 quilts. They are ready to sew binding on. I am excited to have these 3 quilts almost done. I will try to post pictures soon. The binding is ready for Tina's quilt and one of the others. The third one, the binding is almost ready.
Not much else is going on. I didn't do any quilting today. I got home late and then had to go pick up my daughter. Chris got home not long after we got back. We had supper, cleaned up and now I am watching TV and relaxing. It seems like I don't do that much. Again, not much else going on.

Weekend is over

The weekend is over. It is time to go to bed. Tomorrow will start a new week. It will be a long week at school. We were out of school Tuesday-Friday of last week. We still have snow on, but will go back to school in the morning. I guess we have to go back sometime. I have enjoyed my days off. I got to do a lot of sewing and quilting. I have one month until Track starts. Then my time at home will be really short...even less quilting.
Went to the Southwest Longarm Quilt Guild meeting on Saturday. That was a good time of learning some new stuff. We have a meeting in the morning, eat lunch, and then get on the machines in the afternoon. A few of the ladies showed me some new quilting ideas that I am anxious to try. I was tempted to try one today, but I will not quilt on Sundays. I did pin a top on my machine this morning. I woke up at 4:45 and couldn't go back to sleep. I finally got up at 6:00, ate breakfast, looked over my Sunday School lesson, did some stuff on the computer, got ready for church, and still had time to pin that quilt on.
I have 3 quilts to trim before putting binding on. One is king-size. I am going to take it to school one day this week and use the tables in the library to trim it. I don't want to fight with it here.
Well, it's off to start a new week. Hope everyone has a good week! Even though the Cardinals lost! :(

Quilting today, January 29th

We have been out of school most of this week. We went Monday and then the winter storm hit. We will not go back until Monday. It was a great week to quilt! I quilted the Challenge Quilt for the MQS that the Longarm Quilt Guild I go to in Springfield is doing. The quilt is red, white and black. I just have to put on a sleeve and the binding.
I have also worked on some UFOs this week. I finished piecing the blocks for a BOM from a local quilt shop today. They are big blocks...18" finished size. I need to get the sashing and border fabric for it. Haven't decided exactly how to finish it yet though.
I also finished piecing the blocks for another BOM I started 3 years ago. The blocks have applique flowers on them. I am doing machine applique. I have 3 blocks to finish the applique on. It has a pieced border that will take so time. Haven't started the borders yet.
I worked on the blocks this morning. This afternoon, I put borders on 2 quilts. One, a large quilt called "Don't Fence Me In", I pieced about 3 or 4 years ago and the other, made from a Jelly Roll and is a large lap size, I just pieced in November. They are both ready to quilt. I don't have backing for either one of them. I wanted to start quilting the large quilt tomorrow, so may have to go to Rolla to see if I can find any fabric for backing. If not, I will be in Springfield on Saturday.
Tomorrow is another day to quilt! (or at least doing some sewing on UFOs).

Quilting January 24th

I finished quilting my Sister-In-Laws quilt today. I made her a king-size quilt for Christmas. I had the top finished for Christmas, but started quilting it January 1, 2009. Now to trim it and add the binding.
Next, I need to start the Longarm Guild Challenge quilt for the MQS Show in May. I have it pieced.
I also took pictures of the Thread Cabinet that my husband made me for Christmas. We hung it just a few days ago. My Dad and my nephew helped Chris with the cabinet. There is a picture of the cabinet opened and one of it closed. He made it to put my quilting and embroidery threads in. I am slowly filling it up.

Goals for 2009

I like to set goals in January for the New Year. This year one of my goals is to finish all the Saturday Sampler quilts I have started over the years. I started going to The Quilt Sampler in Springfield, MO about 9 or 10 years ago. Within a couple of years I started attending their First Saturday Sampler meetings. I idea is to buy the first block of the year for $5, make the block and return the next month with the block made to receive a free block. I have attended The Quilt Sampler's First Saturday Sampler several years. Some years they offered 2 quilt options...same block, different fabric. Some of those years I would do both quilts. I have not finished very many of those quilts. The only time I finished was when the quilt was a gift for someone, usually my Mom and Dad. So, now I have all these quilts started and at various stages. Some are still just the blocks. Some are finished tops. Some are almost finished tops, may just need the borders added. I have also done a couple of other Saturday Samplers from other Quilt Shops. The Quilt Sampler is still my favorite, probably because they were my "first".
My other goal for this year is to finish as many kits, Block of the Months, and other quilts I have bought fabric for as I can. I know there are too many to finish all of them. I have enough of these that I don't need to buy any fabric for a long time. Some of these can be labeled UFO's but some are not even started yet.
I will post a list of the Saturday Sampler Quilts that I need to finish, as well as the UFO's I have. As I finish these projects, I will post pictures.
Right now I need to go quilt on my Sister-In-Law's quilt I made her for Christmas. It is a king size Log Cabin Star quilt in greens and browns.