Nurse Mom

Just a quick note...I'm nursing a dog recovering from major surgery. I may be absent for a while.

Design Wall Monday

It's a new week and a new project is in the works...

Big decision to make...

My Breakfast Club meets on Thursday and we are making Carrie Nelson's McGuffey pattern from her "Schnibbles Times Two," book. 

Do I make the smaller size and go with a Christmas theme...

Or go bigger and use batiks...

I just don't know!

This weekend I completed a quilt on my Nolting Fun Quilter and got the quilting design worked out for the next quilt project.

I'd love to finish it by Thursday which would mean ignoring everything else (house cleaning...ewh).

Friday Wrap Up

My house beckons me to attend to it...I suppose I really should start putting Christmas decorations away!

My quilting is coming along great now...

I did a little applique last night...added the saddle to the carousel horse.

Just had to put a little rider in the saddle.

Skipping

As in stitches...ARGH! Everything was going so smoothly. I am on the bottom border of my first thread color...so excited to finish and change thread color...but no...all of the sudden I'm skipping stitches. The trials of machine quilting. Checked the timing...it needed fixing. Put in a new needle. Loosened the tension of the quilt top. Still skipping. It must have to do with the humidity...of course...we got a little snow today. At this point I'll take any reason...I'm sure I will work through it.

I had a visit with the vet today, my baby Forrest needs to have an eye removed. He lost sight in it last September...a blood vessel broke in a very bad place causing blindness...no idea why. Cancer has been a big fear but so far he looks and acts great. (Lymphoma was a big concern but that would have run its course in 3 to 4 months so we made it past that hurdle.) He turned one in October and has survived two other health crisis in his young life. I really hope I have him for many more years. I know many of us share struggles with family pets...it's not easy to make these very expensive decisions. He has glaucoma in the eye which requires regular medication so it's not so simple to just stay with the status quo. He sure is a happy boy. 

I thought I'd share a picture of two companion quilts I gave to my mother-in-law, Judy,  for Christmas.

Twin-sized, Yellow Brick Road pattern made with Moda Roman Holiday fat quarters. Judy is a quilter and she is planning to share them at her guild meeting this month. She lives in Marble Falls, Texas. I knew Judy liked this line of fabric because she bought some of it to make a quilt which went to one of her granddaughters.

This quilt went to my sister-in-law, Tara, in Houston. Not a great photo but I thought it was perfect for her...her home is fairly traditional in jewel tones. This will be a nice Christmas throw for those chilly winter nights in Houston (when they really crank the air conditioning.)

I understand my other two sister-in-laws are anxious to get their Christmas quilts! I'm happy to take on that task. No more talking about which quilts that might be until after Christmas.

Time to go snuggle with Forrest and Jenny.

Oh My Aching Back

Thanks everyone for the encouraging comments regarding my quilting design. I am almost a 1/3 of the way through the project. One more row and border to do in blue thread then I am switching to a cream color which is most of the heavy quilting. I've spent 7 hours so far at the frame...in little sessions...and of course some of that time was spent picking out some little areas. I'm doing a lot of stopping and starting which will mean lots of thread tails to bury but I felt the need to push myself. 

My quilting world changed when I discovered these little miracle discs...

They really help prevent loops on the backside. Maybe you never have that problem! I don't anymore.
(They slip in the bobbin case and help prevent thread backlash which is what makes those undesirable loops.) I am always amazed at the ideas people come up with for notions. 

I'm trying a new thing with this quilting project...two layers of batting. I've read several blogs where folks have done this and it really helps give the quilting some fullness. It takes a little care when pulling through the frame but I love the results. With the increasing cost of cotton this is not exactly an economical trend if I like it. 

Design Wall Monday

Really...it's quilting Monday. Hopefully I will get started on actually quilting...

I've spent several days working out the design. This is pretty close to what I envision. 

The quilt is loaded. It's -17 outside. Hopefully I will make some major progress today.

Favorite Techniques for Quilting

I thought I'd share two of my favorite techniques for machine quilting...

Dry Erase Marker Board to practice quilting designs

I love this idea and use it regularly now in preparation to quilt on my mid-arm. I often go two or three weeks between quilting on my Nolting FunQuilter so a little work on my muscle memory is always in order before I start quilting. I start doodling a quilt design on paper but like to work on the actual size of the quilt. Sometimes I rough out the patchwork design on the board in one color and use a different color marker to work on the quilting design. I almost always wind up doing something different once I'm in behind the machine.

Press'n Seal

Not a great picture...I'll show one in a few days that makes the point better but I'm not there yet. I have done this before and it works great. Draw the quilting design on the Press'n Seal...lay it on the quilt top and quilt on top...pull the "paper" away when done. It works wonderfully!

I'm making progress on the Debbie Caffrey Mystery. I've got the borders added...I went totally simple after trying out some border designs through EQ7. The quilt is for my son Zack and he will use it daily so I decided to keep the borders simple. I ordered a wide backing last night via the internet so I will hopefully get this done before my quilt club meets on Jan. 27th.