Quilt Retreat

Quilt retreat coming up this weekend. Three full days of quilting and fun!

The main project has been cut into a kit and is waiting in the project box. It is the commission quilt, you know, the one I traded for many cords of firewood.

The red/white/blue disappearing 9-patch came back from the long arm quilter. The binding is cut but not assembled or attached. This needs to be done so the quilt can go to Alycia for Quilts of Valor. Need to do this so it can go to retreat as my hand-work project.

A pair of socks was cast on for Little Sister. She wanted blue but I chose to use yarn on hand and because the socks are a bit larger than I normally make I had to choose yarn that runs slightly more yards per skein, therefore I hope she doesn't mind a pair of Halloween socks *smile*. These will be going to retreat with me also. The socks are being knit in the Magic Loop method of two socks at the same time on one long (40") circular needle.

The paint bucket that contains the dark scraps for string piecing will come along for the ride, not that I'll get to them, but I might.

That takes care of the projects. The featherweight is packed up and all sewing supplies are accounted for except thread. Need to add thread. It is supposed to snow on Thursday, now doesn't that just figure. I get to drive in the snow. Fun.

Sisterhood

Christine, Winnowings, has given me the Sisterhood Award.

The Sisterhood award rules are as follows:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

So without futher ado

With Heart and Hands...

A Simple Girl

Elaine Adair Pieces

From The Strawberry Patch

Pieces from my Scrapbag

Stillmeadow Quilting

The Calico Cat

It's the Cat's House, I just live here

These are just a few of the blogs I read daily. Please visit.

Saturday Quilty Friends

Stitching with friends is the best way to spend time, isn't it? That is how I spent my Saturday last weekend. Quilty Friend and I meet once a month alternating locations, her house or mine. Saturday we met at her house and look what she gave me! A treasure box of goodies that included a lot of homespun pieces, a red work hummingbird kit some blank recipe cards, a wonderful vintage red velvet turtle pincushion and three different sets of vintage cocktail napkins. You will see what I use the napkins for in a later post.

Aren't friends wonderful?

I spent the time working on Gail Pan's A Christmas Wish BOM blocks. And by doing all that stitching, I found out that my new glasses (6 weeks old) do not work for closeup stitching! O no! I had to put a pair of those magnifier cheapie glasses on in front of my normal bifocals just to see the stitches. Time to go back and complain, I guess, as this is just not right.

Frugal Friday

Finn and Michele have been blogging about Frugal Fridays. I really like this concept and I have designated Friday as my frugal/creative sewing days since I no longer work on Friday.

Today, I pulled two different pieces of polar fleece from the garment fabric stash along with accompanying accouterments. I cut out two fleece vests, one pink and one blue. I had to piece the binding for the blue one: have you ever pieced swimsuit fabric using a 45 degree seam? Argh!! But I did it. Now there are two vests ready to stitch up and by Sunday evening I will have two new garments in my wardrobe.

The larger leftover pieces were made into bedding for the local no-kill animal shelter. The small pieces were cut into square-ish shapes and will be used for dust rags. They work as good as the Swiffers dusters, at least in our dry climate. The static in the fleece just grabs that dust and does not let go of it.

I busted 6 yards of fleece, two big bags of polyfil stuffing (for the dog bedding), 2 large separating sport zippers and some bits and pieces of swimsuit lycra. And in case you are curious, yes, I have been known to make swimsuits. I have a very rich sewing past and have made swimsuits, prom dresses, wedding gowns, and flannel shirts. I have even done some 3D soft sculpture. You name it and I'll figure out a way to make it out of fabric.

How Very Odd

Recently, I found myself in-between projects. This doesn't happen very often to me.

The basket of leftover sock yarn was empty after knitting up 38 barn-raising squares. Of those 38 squares, one square used two different yarns and another used three different yarns. If you are keeping track, that is 41 different pairs of socks Wowza!

The kit for Quilt Retreat has been cut and packaged in the container just waiting to be sewn.

Yes, there are quilt tops to be sandwiched and then quilted, but not right now. What to do? I felt no obligation or rush to do anything fiber related. I did not feel at loose ends, though, just relaxed. How very odd.

As another load of laundry went into the wash, I realized that there was mending to do. Mending is not my favorite things, but frankly, I was tired of wearing ill-fitting clothes. I had a mission! A pair of sweat pants ended up with a new waistband and was shortened from waist to crotch, two pairs of corduroy pants were taken in at the waist, a bathrobe zip was mended and seams deepened, another bathrobe had crocheted belt loops added, a fleece jacket's collar was restitched onto the jacket body, and a flannel sheet made to fit a 14" pillow top mattress was remade to fit a 9" mattress.

But wait, that's not all! Blocks were prepped for two different block of the month quilts: Noah's Ark by Lynette Anderson and A Christmas Wish by Gail Pan. All the blocks for Noah's Ark have been offered and three of nine blocks on A Christmas Wish are available.

Homemaker stuff was completed. You know, things like laundry, dusting and vacuuming. Croutons and bread crumbs were made from one of those loaves of sourdough party bread. And a peach cobbler was baked and partially consumed.

The in-between projects did not last very long but a lot of other things were accomplished.

Asking a quilter to mend, is like asking
Picasso to paint your garage.

And I cast on for another pair of socks.

The Heat is On

It's been an expensive time around La Casa del Quilter. You would think that the money flows like wine. Remember the post about the oven? Well it is partially fixed. CarGuy determined that one of the door hinges was bent and he bent it back as much as he could. This repair will have to do; it only leaks enough now to be 15 degrees off in the right front corner rather than 50 in the center.

Do you want to know why we are not going to fix it or buy a new one for a while? Our forced air furnace has decided to misbehave to the tune of $625.00. Yikes! It started making sounds in the early morning like when you put athletic shoes in the dryer. Do you know the sound? It seemed to only do it in 'Recovery' mode. Turns out it was the blower motor hub. O, and did you know there are circuit boards in a forced air furnace? Who knew?

A new oven will have to wait.

I have been busy knitting: 2 pairs of tube socks, another rasta hat and 3 pair of heeled socks.

Love the Cover

Can you guess what is under this cover? I spent some time last weekend making the cover and used up some pre-quilted, double-sided fabric and some more of the red rick rack that you saw in this post. BTW, I am almost out of this rick-rack. Finally.

Have you guessed yet? No, it's not a toaster.

It's my Featherweight. I made a cover for her for Quilt Retreat!

4SQS5-Mono

Here is the reveal of my contribution to the Four Season Quilt Swap Monochromatic swap. My swap partner lives in another country so this has already been mailed. I do not know if she stalks my blog so no names will be mentioned.

This quilt is 20x20" and turned out so nice I am making one for myself, albeit in red and green. Sidebar: I have always wanted both a feathered star and a red/green quilt.

There are 4 different blue fabrics playing together and the light blue is also used as the backing. All fabrics are from stash.

Quilting was done on a domestic sewing machine using either a light blue variegated rayon thread or a dark blue variegated rayon thread. The star was ditch quilted and then free motion was added. The center quilted medallion is reproduced in the four corners of the quilt. In the north, south, east, west large triangles I used a quilting pattern called Nordic Cross. The border was filled with a series of straight lines or undulating lines.

Hopefully, my partner will like it.