Heaven's Gate baby quilt

On Saturday, the weather was absolutely beautiful........no wonder----November !

(old Benny Hill line--No birds, no bees, no flowers, no trees........no wonder--November !

Anyway, I took advantage of a beautiful afternoon, and I basted the little quilt on my front deck. It probably took me about an hour, I'd say.

I went to machine-quilt it today, and noticed that the top was sort of rumply compared to the back. I must have had the backing stretched a little tight in the basting frame. I know to watch out for that, but apparently I wasn't quite careful enough. Still, the center of the quilt went through the machine fairly trouble free, with only a little fudging, and when I got ready to mark the borders, I unbasted them, and re-basted, easing the fullness out to the edges.

I decided to hand-quilt the edges in a big country-stitch. I tried machine-quilting, but the design didn't lend itself well to that method........too much twisting and too much starting and stopping of the design. I finished one border tonight, so just three to go, and then the decision on what to use for the binding.

This new version of Fairfield's 80/20 cotton batting is wonderfully soft. It is more finished like a Warm and Natural cotton batting, kindof blanket-like, rather than the resiny-feeling of the old Cotton Classic. I don't know if I'd be able to get small stitches with my hand-quilting.......I'm intentionally making larger stitches for this border. But I love the feel that this batting is giving this little quilt. The true test will be in the final washed and dried product.

Heaven's Gates quilt, getting better or worse?

If you recall, I started out by adding borders to just the top and bottom, but I just wasn't satisfied with the bordering I had done on the little mosaic quilt, so I removed the two borders, and replaced them with 4 in this milk chocolate brown solid.

This photo doesn't do it justice here; it actually looked really nice, but too dark.

Then after thinking that was really nice, but kindof boxed the center in more than I really had wanted, I found a lighter warm shade of tan in my stash. However, I definitely was NOT going to remove borders again !

So, I set about making myself a back, incorporating those nice, rejected borders into a stripe on the backing. Well, I was so pleased with the finished results, (you really can't get a good look at it with the duvet stripe showing through the quilt backing) that I refused to settle for a border that wasn't making me sing. So, yes, I removed those 4 chocolate borders, and replaced them with the warm tan. It's a simple border, but it had to be the right tone for me to be happy with the finished result. Now, I like it, especially how it goes with the backing.

Do you ever place your top on your backing and flip one corner over to see how you'll like it when it's a quilt? I like to do that, and with this one, I'm very pleased.

Now to find time to baste it and quilt it. Time I had today, but not energy. Still recovering from this flu, and a coughing jag with lunch left me wasted and napping. I thought I'd never get my breathing straightened out !

Tomorrow will be busy with the cornbread and pie baking, boiling of eggs, and house cleaning ! Let's hope there are more than just the two of us here when it comes time to eat on Thursday. But first, a family dinner at John and Deb's tomorrow night. If they have ham, I'm going to forego the turkey, I think, just so I'm really ready for it at my house on Thursday ! Can't wait for the eggnog and boiled custard !

Fever, chills, achy all over.........

....yeah, a pretty unproductive week around here. I'm grumpy as all get out, and poor hubby's catching the worst of it. And he woke me yesterday with the coffee made and coffee-cake and toast ready for me. How sweet ! I couldn't face the cake, but the coffee and dry toast hit the spot.

I drug out my 20 year quilt, and have been quilting on it a little when I feel like holding my head up, but progress is so slow. Don't ever put a quilt off for this long, guys ! There are blue markings on it from a chalk marker that I know didn't come out when I used it on one of my other quilts......I'll have to try to figure out how to soak them out. In fact, there are some strange looking stains on it that I don't recognize, just from it being hauled in and out to quilt on for years. It's going to need a good long soak IF IT'S EVER FINISHED, and a huge dryer (I'll probably need to go to a laundromat, but I'll be worried that the dryer was used for "oilers" or something !)

Silly me.......that shows that I'm sick,.......worrying over something like that when I lack so much quilting on the thing as is.

Anyway, this is the portion that I still have to work on, and I have yet to decide on what to put in these paisley swags........I think they'll have to be quilted from the backside.

Advice needed !

Okay, here goes................the HodgePodge quilt MAY be finished. I finished machine-quilting it this morning, and spent this afternoon and evening binding it..........................

BUT................. I want to show you how I quilted the blocks and then, that's where I need the advice of someone who makes machine-quilted quilts.

Here's the block........(the color is off because it was photographed indoors under a bedside lamp.) As you can hopefully see, the block has two skinny sides and two fat sides, surrounding the inner 4 rectangles. I quilted across the skinny borders, and through the rectangles about 1 3/8 inches apart, but not in the fat borders. I did this intentionally, so that the quilt would not be totally quilted the same all over. Each block is rotated a half-turn, so when you look at the whole quilt, one block is quilted horizontally and the next is quilted vertically.

Now, the fat strips are 2 1/2 inches wide, and my worry is that this is too wide to leave unquilted. I thought that it would provide a different texture from the skinny quilting, but now I'm afraid that when the quilt gets its wonderful 'shrunken' look from the cotton batting (after laundering), the wider areas will look too 'poofy', and just look like I was too lazy to quilt more.

I need to know if 2 1/2 inches is too wide to leave unquilted in a quilt with cotton batting. Actually, it's 80%cotton/20%polyester, Cotton Classic. I'm not really worried about it moving around, just poofing up or looking funny, unquilted. Am I making sense?

The borders are quilted pretty narrowly too, as you can see here in this shot of one corner and one end.

I had a little bit of fun by inserting just 3 sections of a nice cable braid..........I just couldn't stand not to do a little something extra in that long unpieced expanse of fabric up the lefthand border.

At this point, I'm always anxious to get a new quilt thrown in the washer and dryer for that antiqued look, and yet, right now this one is so nice and flat....no waves or puckers anywhere.....I really like that too !

Not done, ......... but so close !

China wouldn't let me quit for the day without sharing with the world that she's going to be in on the making of this quilt all the way through.

Here she is inspecting the quality of my machine-quilting. She tells me not to be a snob......that some machine-quilting IS worthy of an heirloom quilt...........just not MY machine-quilting. But this one seems to be passing muster for a snuggly........if Mama would just quilt poking that flashing thing in where it doesn't belong.

P.S. Jodie (Anonymous), you're making me think that you discovered some Cotton Classic ! Don't you get my hopes up if it's not true..............WOO HOO !

Influence !

Oh, no ! Look what you wonderful girls have me doing.............I'm machine-quilting that top I just basted (of course, I thread-basted for my normal hand-quilting, and I have to fight to keep from pulling the basting out with the walking foot !)

I don't know how it'll go, or how the finished quilt will look..........I hope it goes SMOOTHLY, and that I still love the quilt when it's all done. Send your machine-quilting vibes and mojo my way today, 'kay?

EDIT--update : A person could get spoiled on this REALLY FAST ! In a few hours time, I got the entire center of this bed topper quilted by machine. This would have taken me weeks to quilt by hand. Of course, there's a place for each kind of quilting, but it finally dawned on me today that this was not an "heirloom" top, so why not try machine-quilting it ? ! ?

I think the cotton batting is what made the biggest difference between this project and the charity quilt that I tried in April. It had a polyester batting, and the top just ran from the back, causing puckers at the end of stitching lines. I had a little of that trying to happen today, but eased the fullness in with my trusty porcupine quill/stilletto.

My Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry......well, mine and a few friends !

Come, have a look at my Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival Entry. I'm off to

find yours ! Click on the link at the top left of my blog for an entire list of entries.

My best thought was to share with all of you online friends a quilt that was helped along by my "in-person" quilting gals !

Many years ago, in a medium sized town, called Shawnee, Oklahoma, there existed a very young quilt guild . Into this guild came ladies of all shapes and sizes, ages and hair color, eager to get to know each other, but frustrated at trying to remember so many names and faces. One thoughtful member hit upon the idea of meeting in each other's home once a month to get to know each other while delivering a block of choice to that month's blessed recipient. At the previous month's regular guild meeting, the chosen quilter would hand out copies of the pattern for her choice of block, along with instruction on what her chosen color scheme would be. Then, on "party night", we'd meet in their home with the finished blocks and refreshments, or, oft-times a few members would bring the fabrics and sewing machine to make the blocks right there on the spot with support from the whole gang !

Well, let me tell you that this was THE MOST FUN way to learn new faces and names, and I was blessed to be honored TWICE, as we kept this tradition going for years.

On my second go 'round, I chose this block, called "Calico Country", from a book by Judy Martin, because I love the look of the spools made from scraps, and our guild's name was "The Spinning Spools". I just requested scraps as my colors, and had the ladies sign the blocks in the lower left-hand corner.

I chose this setting for the blocks, as it allowed me to trim the individual blocks and build them up to a consistent size. I quilted it many years later, and, now that I have moved away, it is a gentle reminder of some wonderful friendships that sustained me through a lonely time away from family. Quilters do that you know.........they fill in the gaps with the batting of understanding, and keep you warm with layers of friendship.

Edit : I just read of a wonderful quilter, donating hours of her time and energy to Project Linus. She has plans to start a machine-quilting business and would appreciate our checking out her site soon. As an added incentive, she's offering an online giveaway......be sure to check out her blog at http://quiltsoflove.blogspot.com/2009/10/bloggers-quilt-festival.html

Edit II: Added bonus for late lookers

Click on the photo of the geese quilt for the story on my flickr page.

Jodie Ann, you'd be proud !

After 32 years of not driving, and 20 something years of Jodie Ann and Wanda picking me up for all quilt-related affairs, I'm finally doing it myself. If you had seen me loading those quilt poles into the back of my jeep this morning, you'd think I'd been doing it forever.......well, I have, but not in my own vehicle !

I started this day by tacking the ticking back onto the quilt boards, but then came grey skies and a few drops of rain. When the rain threatened to ruin my basting day, I called the bank where I used to practice piano lessons in the back/community room, and asked if they still had such a room, and whether or not it was busy today. The lady graciously said that I could use it all afternoon, so around 11:30 a.m., I gathered up all my supplies and headed out. This is the room where all of my friends held their bridal or baby showers when I was a young woman. I found that the bank has cut the room down to a third of its old size and are using it as a conference room, complete with a HUGE table that must weigh about 3 tons ! When the young lady realized that I needed an empty floor space, she helped me move the table, and left me to my work.

It took me about 2 hours to baste the quilt all on my own,........not bad, I think. The cotton batting fought the curved needle with every basting stitch, so I know it will be kindof slow quilting. It would hand-quilt better if I had rinsed the batting, but that shrinks it some, and I like to save that for after the quilt is quilted, to give it that wonderfulllllllll rumply look that I love.

As I loaded the basted top and the frames back into my Jeep, I couldn't help thinking how proud my friends would be of my NEW independence......(as dependent as I was on them, I always ACTED like "Miss Independence" !)

You know what though..........I still need you guys for the BEST part......doing it TOGETHER.

WISH YOU WERE HERE !

Taking Care of Your Tools !

A very important lesson that my hubby taught me many years ago was to take good care of my tools. You rely on them every time you start out to ply your craft. Blessedly, his craft and mine always made a very good marriage. I relied on his woodcrafting to supply my quiltmaking with basting and quilting frames, legs to hold those frames, portable ironing boards........oh, no telling how many more things that I've forgotten as I've taken them for granted. But no more ! Hubby is temporarily (I pray) out of the woodworking line, and I MUST take care of those precious things that still remain to work with. Besides taking him for granted, I must say that I also accepted as normal having a garage where I could store all of my frames and legs and such. Now that I no longer have a garage, I've had the frame boards tied up to some nails on my little back porch, exposed to the dampness and months and months of RAIN !

I went to use them today, and found a mildewed/molded MESS. I've kindof seen it coming, but didn't want to take a good look.

Well, today, I bit the bullet and removed the staples/tacks, and the ticking from the boards, and then cleaned the boards with Pine-sol/water solution. Thankfully, four of the boards were varnished with clear polyurethane before tacking the cloth on, but all 6 boards are made of Redwood, and were well sanded. They look fine, and now that I've bleached the cloth that was on them, I can hide the old tack/staple holes when I reapply the cloth. If it has shrunken or doesn't look good when it comes out of the dryer, I'll replace it with all new cloth. I guess from now on I'll store them in my sewing room, even if their presence is awkward...........they're just too valuable a part of my quilting life, not to mention their sentimental value ! (Thanks, hubby !)

Which leads me to wonder.............what do some of you use to baste your quilts? Are you getting down in the floor, or spreading out on a large table? Are you thread-basting or pin-basting...........share your method with me please !

A forgotten BLANKIE

I don't call this one a quilt, because I tied it with yarn, rather than quilt it. I wanted to finish it while the kids were here, and I just couldn't find time to hand-quilt it. (I really don't like how my machine-quilting comes out, so I didn't even try that.) But here's a photo of it as a top, and later in the basting frame, where I stretched it out to tie. You may recall when I pieced this one back in Shawnee, before moving back to Tennessee.

You can see Zoe trying to help me trim up the strings before finishing, and you can also see the comforter underneath where a neighborhood dog took a nap and the kids played while I tied the blankie.

I also finished Elyssa's quilt today. Here's the best shot of it I could get for now, fresh out of the dryer. I guess it doesn't look alot different from the other photos, but if you look closely, you will see that I bound it with the pink print from the back of the quilt. Some people would argue that I could have just wrapped it around to the front of the quilt, rather than cut a separate binding, but #1. I didn't want the hand-stitching on the front side, and #2. You need to quilt along that sort of binding or it doesn't look right. I know because that's how I bound the edges of the puzzle quilt in the photos above (although I didn't take the time to quilt around the edges.....it's tied, remember !) I'll try to get a nice shot of this quilt with the baby when I give her mama the quilt.

Update on Elyssa's quilt

My dear gal-pal, Wanda Gayle, tells me that I need to update this blog a little more often, and I know that she's right. So here's a photo of Elyssa's quilt in-progress. I'm still deciding on some of the quilting design as I go, so, first, I'm quilting the areas wherein I'm sure of what I want. As you can see, China is on stand-by as my consultant.

It's good to have quilting and knitting to take the mind off of daily trials. But the most comforting thing of all is the morning Bible study. I am so grateful to dear friends who have provided me with fabric and literature to help me with both.

Ready to baste......

What do you think of it?

Wanda, you can probably notice that some of these fabrics are from one of the 'canned' kits you've gifted me. Aren't they perfect for this quilt?

I added the borders to baby-to-be-born Elyssa's quilt today. I decided not to do it totally traditional, so I strip-pieced the two border fabrics and then applied two short and two long. I like the look of it.........not quite so "framey".

I also finished the car seat blankie that I was knitting for Elyssa Paisley. It's the first knitting project I've finished since I've been back in Tennessee. I kept it small so that it's easy to use and remove.

A month late............

........hey, that's not so bad, this summer ! The challenge was to make a baby quilt from the package of fabric Wanda sent me. I received it on May 20th, and was supposed to be finished in 30 days. Well that was up on June 20th and the kids arrived on June 21st. I had dedicated a little time to preparing for them, so I'm late. But I'M DONE !

I managed to squeeze in a few minutes at the sewing machine, to sew on the bindings, so I could sit and stitch while the kids played.

In fact today was pretty productive over all..........I got clothes bought at the second-hand store, for the kids, and got them washed and on the line. Then the jeep got its bath, leading to the kids playing in the wading pool. Supper's over, the binding's done, and pictures are made with the new memory card in the camera. Not a bad day at all. The place is a wreck, but I decided today that that's not that important. God willing, it'll be clean for a long time after the kids are gone back home !

Oh, yeah .......now I remember why I don't piece my backs !

I'm a hand-quilter ! Duh !
I love the looks of the randomly pieced backs I've seen some of the young quilters making lately, and I even took a stab at adding a pieced stripe to the back of this Walking Pinwheels baby quilt I'm making. But today when I was quilting, I remembered why I don't piece my backs. I was hand-quilting in the ditch when I came upon a long stretch where there was a seam on the back side and my stitches became an eighth of an inch apart, if not farther ! I'm not worried about the look of it, as these are meant to be used, but it was actually very difficult to do the stitching itself, and I won't be subjecting myself to that again. I'll save the pieced backs for quilts that I know I'm going to machine-quilt. And that'll have to wait until I re-find an inexpensive source for cotton batting. (Now you know I prefer the dimply look of hand quilting over machine-quilting anyway, so it's not like I'm missing something that I'm dying to do !
But on the positive side of things, I quilted on the deck until the heat and rain sent me inside, and then I quilted under the air conditioner most of the afternoon,.......even while my little family was visiting (Chris and Mandy). So, I've already quilted a full third of the quilt, not counting the outside border. It's lookin' good ! Here's a sneak peek............

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil....................She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31: 10-11, 13

If all goes well, my quiet 'craft til you drop' life will be happily, busily, and oh so temporarily disrupted as of June 21st, and since my challenge quilt (this one) must be done by the 20th, I am working like a maniac ! Some of you know what I'm hinting at, but I don't want to fully spill the beans quite yet ! !)

Lots of Hugs and a Couple of Kisses

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it ! -- Psalm 118:24

What a perfect day........PRAISE THE LORD !
What a way to end this month, huh?

First thing this morning, I was greeted at my back stoop by one of God's masterpieces, (STUDY THE PHOTO CLOSELY TO SEE THE SPIDER WEB !), and the funny thing is that it isn't pointy like webs usually are........it's perfectly round, like my quilted circles I just finished ! Thank you, Sweet Jesus !

Then, I started out working on my little quilt's binding, sitting on the front deck; after lunch, I took the niece and great nephew, and my hubby, of course, out to my brother's riverside camp, where we indulged in some sun and fun. Rugrat shared a fishing pole with me as we pulled little sunfish out of the water......bless their little hearts, I hate that they received so much hook damage just so that we could entertain ourselves.

Dropped the kinfolk off and came home and grabbed a quick shower, always ready to get back to quilting. I finished the binding and snapped a few photos. Hubby gave me a thumbs up on the little polka dot beauty......a big commendation coming from him !

I'm pretty happy with it myself. I didn't think I still liked quilts made with polyester batting, but this one turned out better than I thought it would ! Maybe it's time to stop being a batting snob.

I call the quilt, "Lots of hugs and a couple of kisses", because I quilted it with circles, representing hugs, and threw in two quick x's in the two middle brown setting squares, for a couple of smacks !

Happy Memorial Day

I know that today is set aside as a day of remembrance, and first and foremost, I did say a prayer of remembrance and thanks for all those brave soldiers who risked and still risk their lives to defend the freedom that we enjoy here in the United States. I was put in mind of my father, and how, growing up, I never thought about the fact that he was only in his early, early 20's when he was on Midway Island in the middle of World War II. As a child, you picture your parents as always being 'old', but it hit me last night how very young he and most soldiers are when they go there, and how
they are never the same again. I am so thankful for that service.




But, in more recent years, say 20 years ago, Memorial Day weekend meant that my best girlfriends and I would all come together at JoAnn's house for an all-day quiltathon. You brought your sewing machine, and a project, and your young child, if you couldn't make other arrangements, and you sewed all day, laughing and loving your friends. Her husband would cook our dinner over the grill on the back patio, never minding the mess we were making........cuz when Jodie was happy, everybody was happy ! AND WE WERE HAPPY !

Thanks for the memories JoAnn. and girls........I spent this day basting quilts and thinking of our wonderful friendships ! Love you girls !

Here's today's quilt....and verse..

Whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not unto men.........Colossians 3:23

LOTS AND LOTS OF POLKA DOTS ! Thanks to my good gal friend, JoAnn !

I just love all stages of this kind of work........look at this shot of the blocks all laid out on the floor, ready to be sewn into a top ! Fun, fun, fun !

And this is my deck that the landlord enclosed in lattice this week.......now Piper isn't tempted to jump through the rails when she sees those grey squirrels running around over beyond our drive ! Talk about the Lord answering prayers that you don't even know you have ! Hubby had just walked out onto the deck and told me "I want to go down to the building supply and find some fencing to enclose this deck and maybe make a gate, too". Well, I said, "I signed a rental contract that says that we won't do anything like that without checking with the landlord, so let me call them." Of course, I couldn't reach them and don't have their cell number, so there we were ! Not 5 minutes later the landlady drove up with her sister to put me up some screens, and when we told her what we had in mind, she went home and came back with the lattice, put it up, and then went home and built a little gate!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you, Jesus, that no need is too small if it is important to us !

And the mailbox is a design that my brother (and some guys he crafts with) make to sell around here. They gather muskidine vines and grapevines from the trees in the surrounding area and make wreathes and other things.

First top finished for challenge

Now, keep in mind that coordinated quilts are not my forte´,.......I'm more the 'scrap quilt' type of gal. But I'm always up for a challenge, so this is my first attempt !

I designed it using my EQ5 program, first, imitating these fabrics as closely as possible, and then I translated it into the fabric I had to use.

I don't know how to 'start' something ! I've always had the luxury of time to complete a project in one sitting if it's small enough, so I just followed my usual pattern, ignoring hubby, and stayed with it until it was pieced.

Baby Quilt Challenge -- begun !

I don't want to stop for long, because I'm actually WORKING, rather than thinking about working. But I wanted to post this quickly.........

My dearest friend in Oklahoma, and the world for that matter, sent me a challenge this week. You all know that I have a few baby quilts to make, so she cleaned out her shelves and sent me some fabrics to put together into a quilt or two. I have to use her fabrics as the MAIN ingredients, and I have 30 days to do it (starting May 20, when I received the package.) Here are the fabrics...........


and here is my start......that's all you get for now !






Okay, back to work..........WHAT A HOOT !

Donation quilt finished !

I know I have a dozen baby quilts to make, but I wanted to fiinish something for the Church. The last few days have been very productive.

When I first came back here, I found myself with hours and hours on my hands with nothing to keep those hands busy, so I called around and found a lady at the Church that was purchasing some inexpensive hand-pieced tops to have quilted for keeping on hand to give away. (Wow, was that the longest run-on sentence, or what ?)

Anyway, she let me pick one to quilt, and I chose this one. Unfortunately, none of them were really candidates for lengthy, time-consuming hand-quilting........I mean, that wasn't the point of this project anyway. So, I machine-quilted this one on my Singer stand-up, cabinet model sewing machine......

you know the one !

And, I hand-quilted around the center square of each nine-patch block. I even sewed the binding on entirely by machine, and am happy to be able to deliver it to her this coming Sunday, Lord willing.