More knitting going on

I've been working on the teddy bear sweaters and they're easy to memorize. I started the pink striped one while at the salon waiting for my pedicure this morning. I got to the underarms before I was done there. I wanted to do a girly one for the non-football fan. The blue one is for my NY Giants. I'm glad I have something small to work on since we're driving to Phoenix this weekend for a funeral and I'll knit while Bernie drives.


Just had to get a little sewing done yesterday so I whipped up this little sling bag from part of a fat quarter and left over quilt backing fabric. I will definitely make more of these but next time I want to give the bag a bit more substance by using batting and quilting it. I even started on a patchwork version but haven't finished it yet.

New quilt top and sweater done

Just finished this quilt top this morning. I'm still trying to decide whether to make it bigger than lap sized or not. If so, I'll need to get a bigger batting. I just love these two fabrics together. I'm sure this won't be the last time I use them.

This sweater in Las Vegas HS colors is the pre-season charity knitting project for the Football-A-Long. Now I have to start one in New York Giants colors, whip up a couple of scarves and send them off. They are really quick to make but since I haven't done any prolonged knitting in awhile, I am suffering from some wrist pain that might slow me down a bit.

I hope to complete the quilt tomorrow. I have the backing fabric in the washer right now. Pics to come.

Addicted to Quilting

Saw this poem on an online quilting group I belong to:

*Addicted to Quilting*

She learned to quilt on Monday.
Her stitches all were very fine.
She forgot to thaw out dinner.
so we went out to dine.

She quilted miniatures on Tuesday.
she says they are a must.
They really were quite lovely.
But she forgot to dust.

On Wednesday it was a sampler.
She says stippling's fun.
What highlights! What Shadows!
But the laundry wasn't done.

Nine patches were on Thursday -
Green, yellow, blue and red.
I guess she really was engrossed;
She never made the bed.

It was wall hangings on Friday,
In colors she adores.
It never bothered her at all,
That crumbs were on the floors.

I found a maid on Saturday,
My week is now complete.
My wife can quilt the hours away;
The house will still be neat.

Well, now it's only Sunday,
I think I'm about to wilt.
I cursed, I raved, I ranted,
Cause the MAID has learned to QUILT!

Author Unknown
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It's so true except that my husband hasn't reached Saturday yet!

My biggest fan

My baby loves his mama's quilts!

Here he is watching John Cena in The Marine. The acting was horrible!

Last night my friend and I went to see The Bourne Ultimatum while our kids and their friends were watching The Simpson's Movie. I enjoyed it. Matt Damon is a hottie. Great action scenes. Then they wanted to see The Bourne Ultimatum so we took Chris to see Transformers. I thought that was a good movie too! Very action packed as well. Cool scenes of Hoover Dam.

I know that Robert Ludlum died before he could finish his Jason Bourne series. I found out that the Ludlum estate chose another author, Eric Van Lustbader, to continue where he left off with The Bourne Legacy (2004) and now The Bourne Betrayal (2007). I saw this movie without reading The Bourne Ultimatum and in reading the synopsis of the book, realized that the movie didn't even come close to it. Don't worry, I won't spoil anything here. I bought The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Legacy last night. I hope I don't have to go all the way back to the first two books to figure out what's really going on. We'll see, won't we?

No real quilting done today. Just playing around. I finally bought my walking foot and free-motion foot today. Then stopped at Nancy's Quilt Shop to see which Heather Bailey prints she had in stock. I only saw a couple but they weren't the ones I was looking for. I bought a couple of different prints. I think they're Kaffe Fassett but I'm not sure. Have to check on that one. I'd really like to do a Heather Bailey quilt. Just love her fabrics. Very fresh and spring-like. Oh well. I can always get them online, but that will have to wait since I've already spent my allowance. I'm pretty sure I have enough fabric to keep me busy for awhile. Still doing my research to see what to try next. My hands are just itching to cut and sew! Can I just say that free-motion isn't as easy as it looks? I don't have a stitch regulator on my machine so I have to really work on keeping my movements even and smooth. Practice makes perfect, right?

Diagonal criss-cross coasters

Have some leftover 5" blocks from my last quilting project and wanted to try the coasters I made before but with the squares folded on the diagonal rather than in half. I really like the way these look and you can still stick a wine glass base in the center hole.

I also made an Annie's Choice block but didn't take a picture yet. I realized at 2 a.m. that I hadn't done any sewing the day before and went upstairs and cut out the squares and sewed the 1/2 square triangle units for the block. I finished it when I got up this morning. This block contains 16 of the 1/2 square triangle units for a finished size of 12". This was my first experience trying to match up all of those little points. Needless to say, they didn't all match up and frustrated the heck out of me. I also tried to squeeze 2 of these blocks out of 2 fat quarters and came up two (2) units short! Argh! I was hoping to be able to do it, but wasn't too confident. This would be a good opportunity for me to make all the blocks different. I'm also thinking about trying the quilt-as-you-go method again on this. Will post pictures soon.

This week's quilt

Just finished this one on Monday. I'm having withdrawal symptoms. What's next? I don't know. I really want to try something more challenging but not sure what just yet. I found a quilt block I want to try that looks pretty easy. I've also become enamored by the bullseye quilts I've seen. So many choices!

I've been dying to do a baby quilt and just found out that one of my neighbors is a grandma of a new baby boy. Might just have to do one now!

Susan, did you notice I changed my header to say I quilt now? hahahaha Thanks for the idea.

Black and white quilt done

Woke up this morning determined to get this thing done. The red binding was just the right thing. I figure that it takes me 6+ hours to bind a lap sized quilt. I don't know what it is about binding a quilt that is so relaxing. I make sure the drink next to me is full, there's something interesting on TV or DVD, and I'm in my favorite recliner.

My friend, Pat, is coming over on Friday morning and we'll spend all day and night quilting. She's bringing a Halloween print charm square project and her machine and will be spending the night. Now that I've finished this quilt, I have to decide what project to work on while she's here. I have a choice of 4 different sets of fabrics to choose from but don't have a pattern in mind yet. I have been playing with my Like Sew quilt pattern generator to see if I can find something to try next.

What's black and white and red all over?

Okay, so it's not red all over but I think the red really adds a visual punch to it.

I'm not totally happy with the way the center looks in this photo. The pattern of the 4 patch looks heavy on the right but, unfortunately, this didn't show up until I was editing the photo. Too bad, because I'm not taking it apart at this juncture. I don't have a design wall but rather a design floor and was just happy to get this much done.

The 4" squares were some that I bought on eBay and the red was a fat quarter I've had in my little stash for a couple of months. The outer border was one of the fabrics I bought yesterday. I have 3 more black/white fabrics from which to choose to complete the quilt. I just might have to go to the store and get more of that red to bind the quilt. I haven't decided yet. I think that would look really good since the backing fabric is basic black.

New quilt finished this week

Pieced and basted on Tuesday then quilted and bound on Thursday. I made some coasters on Wednesday and just played around with little placemats made from quilt scraps. I had to finish yesterday because I knew I was going to meet my quilting friend for lunch today and wanted to show it to her finished. I'm getting better at stitching in the ditch but joked at lunch that it looks like I Q.U.I., or quilt under the influence, because sometimes I'm in the ditch and sometimes I'm not. I had planned to quilt-as-you-go with this one as well but messed up and had to do it the regular way, which wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

When Bernie came home from work this morning I showed it to him and he asked, "How many of these do you plan on making?" I said "millions" and he nixed that idea. I told him that there is always someone's birthday or baby or other event to give one as a gift. He hates that I've taken up quilting. I don't know exactly why. He calls me a traitor and sell out to my knitting and crochet. I still love those but this is something new that's not boring yet. I hope to get better and better. Yes, this can be quite expensive but so can knitting. I remember spending $100 on yarn for a shawl that has yet to be finished. So far, the most I've spent on a quilt is $25-$30. I'm not saying that I won't spend more. I'm absolutely sure I will!

Today after lunch, Pat and I went to Centennial Quilts, a shop next to the Greek restaurant that we like. They're closing their store and all fabric is 50% off! I bought some Moda fabric for a couple of quilts and still only spent $35! Pat spent close to $170! I told her that if Bernie ever found out I spent that much, he'd kill me. When I told him that, he actually said he wouldn't. I was shocked.

Perhaps he doesn't like that I'm quilting because my sewing area is upstairs in our loft (which gets excellent daylight) and he is crocheting alone downstairs. No wonder he has been spending more time in his office playing X Box 360. We used to crochet side-by-side or he'd watch TV while I crocheted or knitted silently next to him. I'll have to make an effort to spend more time with him downstairs. Too bad he was on duty yesterday when my ass was in my recliner for 6 hours while I sewed the binding down on my quilt!

For my kitchen table

I finished these placemats yesterday (I made 4 of them) and whipped up these coasters and trivet today. I just don't feel complete unless I sew something every day. I used to feel this way about knitting and crochet. I know I will get back to those but for now I just need to feel the instant gratification that sewing provides. However, the other night, I sat in bed and crocheted a coffee cup cozy because I just felt the need to touch yarn. Weird, huh?

Quilted coasters - photo tutorial

I know these aren't new, but they're new to me. I've never made them before although I've seen them around. I found the instructions here called "Penny's Easy Holiday Coasters" but there were no pictures to illustrate them. I made a few of these this morning and decided to put up pictures of my steps.

These should probably be made with 5" squares but I had a bunch of 4" squares left over from my last quilt to play with. You could also put a piece of batting between the bottom two full squares if you wanted to but I'd cut the batting 1/2" smaller to decrease the bulk you're sewing through. For the example at the bottom I used a 3 1/2" square of batting with my 4" squares. Wouldn't these be cool at a party at the base of wine glasses, especially if everyone's were unique? They'd be able to tell which glass was theirs, unless they were totally obtuse like some people I know. I'm already thinking Christmas gifts in stacks of 4-6. Hmmmmmm.

Another quilt done - Quilt as you go technique

This one is about as done as it will ever be. It is a different quilt-as-you-go technique in which each block has it's own built in sashing attached. It really looked simple to begin with and very straightforward. However, I found it to be a royal pain in the ass! I intended it to be a lap sized quilt but since I hated practically every moment working on it, I'm lucky it is as big as it is. It looks to be the right size for a crib. Of course, Sophie thinks every afghan, quilt, etc. is her personal doggie bed and just had to model it for you. It is made of recycled fabric for the backing/sashing and 4" squares purchased from eBay. The one thing about it that I'm happy about is the finished binding. It is part of the backing folded towards the front but I wanted to do something other than plain topstitching. I got really nice mitered corners and used a decorative leaf stitch all the way around. Other than that, I don't think I'll make another one like this again.

I'm so cozy!

I'm getting better at this! I whipped these 5 cozies up this morning after the little one went to school. I think I can squeeze 3 of them out of one fat quarter with careful maneuvering.

I am gifting one of them tomorrow when I meet a friend for lunch. Too bad I already told her about it. I should have just slipped it on her coffee cup. We're going to a Mediterranean restaurant that has the most amazing food. They won awards for their Aphrodite cheesecake that has a baklava crust. Yum! We always split a piece over a cup of Italian coffee after we've practically licked our lunch plates clean.

It was 122 degrees here in Las Vegas today. Don't believe the posted temps in the news reports. They take the temperature in the coolest part of the valley in the shade. Bernie called me from work this evening because they'd responded to 3 fires today and he thought he was all out of clean clothes. Poor guy! And here I am complaining about how hot it is in my car until the A/C kicks in! I can't even imagine how hot it is in all of his turnout gear inside a burning building. I'm just glad I'm married to a man who likes his house very cool inside, especially in the summer, and who doesn't mind that our power bill is $536.00 this month. I'm curious to know how typical our bill is compared to others here in Las Vegas.

Cozies, cozies, cozies on the brain!

Okay, so I was up until 2 a.m. this morning sewing coffee cozies. I've been wanting to make some but didn't want to knit or crochet them...I wanted to sew them! I looked around online and saw some that I liked. They look a lot easier to make than they actually are if you don't already have a pattern. Chris and I stopped at Starbucks on the way to pick up Anthony from his night class and that gave me the cup and cardboard sleeve from which to draft a pattern. Out came the fabric scraps and machine and several templates later, this is what I got.

They're all quilted in some way to keep the batting in place. The pink one has a seam in the back which I'm not at all happy with so I wanted to buy some Velcro and do a closure like that with the subsequent ones but, dear friends, it's 118 freaking degrees outside today and I don't want to go to the store for some. Besides, I needed it at 1 a.m. After I woke up this morning I was still obsessing about them and decided to try a buttonhole closure. Only problem is that I've never done a proper buttonhole before. Undaunted, I got out the manual and figured it out. The green one is the first to get a button, then the golden yellow one told me it wanted not one, but two buttons, then finally I made the black one. Can I just tell you that I also sewed the buttons on by machine? Yep, somebody just try and stop me now!

The last two pictures are just to show that these are really good for cold drinks too so you don't have to worry about the condensation on the outside of the glass! Off to enjoy my iced tea now!

Happy 4th of July!

Can I call myself a quilter?

This is my first "real" quilt. I don't think my previous denim quilt is really considered a real quilt. It is a lap sized quilt that I made over the past 4 days. It is full of "design features" (flaws) but I love it just the same. I used the "quilt-as-you-go" method and it was really easy. I will use this technique again. It is actually made of 6 rows of 5 blocks each. Each row is added to the previous one and then quilted. You can do much larger quilts this way on just a regular home sewing machine. I learned about this technique through various sites online but originally remember seeing Kaye Woods demonstrating her 6 hour baby quilt on TV a few years ago and she used this kind of quilt-as-you-go technique. I want to make my next quilt somewhat like her baby quilt. I have already plotted out the design for it. Being a new quilter with absolutely no experience gives me freedom to try different things because I don't know that it can't be done. Oh, and disregard the date stamp. I took this picture yesterday.

Crazy quilt pillow and applique

My son has a pair of favorite jeans. One day when getting the jeans load ready to wash, I noticed a few spots that needed mending. Until recently, I would have just chucked these into the trash. Knowing how much he loved them, I tried my best to mend the holes. The mending lasted a few months until this week when again, I noticed the holes re-appeared when I was about to wash them. Since I had a small stack of jeans squares left over from the quilt, I thought I'd try to patch them again. It's not pretty, but I'm hoping he'll get a few more months wear from these. You know, he never said a word to me about the holes. I don't think he really cared that they were holey. In turn, I never said a word about the repair job. Let's see if he notices. To be honest though, my heart skipped a beat when I saw that the holes re-appeared. I thought, "Yippee! Another pair of jeans to turn into a quilt!" Sick, huh?

Speaking of quilt, remember that crazy quilt experiment? I had enough to make a pillow to go with the jeans quilt. I'm pretty tired of this fabric right now. I'm ready to try something new. In fact, I bought a few fat quarters yesterday. They're coordinating prints in red and golden yellow with a little bit of green. I was also able to get a new cutting mat, rotary cutter and ruler at 50% from Joann's. I like the crazy quilting but not sure I want to do another one yet.

I did want to try machine appliqued blanket stitch. They aren't perfect yet, but I'll keep trying. Not bad for my first time.

Test drive

After a depressing start to my day, I had to get in touch with my creativity to uplift my spirits. I decided to test drive my new sewing machine to see whether to keep it or not.

Last night I read 'Stack the Deck: Crazy Quilts in 4 Easy Steps' by Karla Alexander. This type of quilting has intrigued me more than the technically perfect quilts with all the precise points. Perhaps it's because I'm so new to the craft that points scare me, or, well...nope, I just like those types of quilts. So anyway, I had a few squares of flannel left from my jeans quilt so I thought I'd try my hand at the 'stack and whack' type of technique. I think I like it. I want to make another lap sized quilt like this. I don't know if I'll continue with these fabrics or not. If so, I'll have to buy more. I'd like to do one of the batik fabric ones that are found in the book. There's one with greens and purples with appliqued hearts on it. I might leave the hearts off.





Since I had the machine handy, I also tried to crazy quilt a fabric postcard. I like it except for the sloppy satin stitch border. I should have used coordinating thread instead of contrasting, perhaps. It's not beautiful but for my 'first' I'm pretty happy with it. I found this type of foundation crazy quilting to be more fiddly than the 'stack & whack' type, which I now like very much. I also like my new machine, a Brother HS100. It is computerized with 100+ stitch functions. I practiced some of the stitches on the postcard and they're cool. I can't wait to do more sewing on this machine.

Heavy, heavy heart

This morning I awoke early because Anthony requested fried rice for breakfast before going to summer school. As usual, I turned on the TV and listened to the news while I cooked. I was stopped in my tracks by the story of the nine firefighters who lost their lives last night in Charleston, South Carolina while fighting a furniture warehouse fire. I know that many people die every day and we hear of our soldiers losing their lives daily in Iraq and Afghanistan but this hits too close to home for me. I know I've mentioned before that my husband is a fire captain for the City of Las Vegas. When I kiss my husband goodbye every other morning, my thoughts are of how much laundry I have yet to wash, what other chores I need done before the kids get out of school, etc. I cannot think that this might be the last time I see him alive. I cannot think about the dangers he faces every day he's on the job...I'd be paralyzed. We've lost 2 men from his department in the last 3 years to job related cancers. Young men in their 40's with families. People don't normally think about the other causes of death to firefighters other than fire. I try not to. I'm really good at this avoidance. I have developed this coping mechanism so strongly being married to a fireman. I say, "If I don't think about it, it won't happen. If I don't think about it, it will go away".

Today's event prompted me to have a chat with the boys on the way to summer school because they had seen the news and how it affected me. I told them that if their father were to die like this, I wouldn't want to stay in Las Vegas. I would want to move back home to Hawaii because that's where my family is. Anthony, the teenager, said that he would want to stay here because this is where all of his friends are. Chris, the youngest, didn't care. I told them that there is nothing keeping me here. I have no ties to this community. I'd need my support system back home, but I understand how Anthony feels. I hope I don't ever have to make this decision. There I go, avoiding again.

My heart breaks for the families of the firefighters who perished yesterday. They will be in my prayers.

Look at what I made today!

I have been planning this denim rag quilt for the past 3 days. When Anthony left for football camp on Sunday, I went through his closet and found several pairs of jeans that no longer fit him with plans to make this quilt out of them. I asked him first and he gave me his blessing. Chris wanted to join in the fun so he pulled out some of his outgrown jeans for me. I had no idea how many jeans I'd need for this project. I think in all I used 3 or 4 pairs of Anthony's jeans and two pairs of Chris' jeans shorts. By the end, I was getting really good at getting the most squares as possible out of them. I also bought 4 yards of flannel for the back of the quilt. I found the fabric at Wal-Mart at $2/yard. I thought of using more masculine flannel plaids from JoAnns Fabrics but those were $5/yard and I wanted this one to be for me, so they had to be bright, cheerful colors.
I used a total of 88-6.5 inch square units (denim on top/flannel on bottom) for a finished size of 44" x 60.5". I even had a few squares of all the fabrics left over but really wanted to stop where I was. I was too anxious to get the sewing part over with. This is by far the most challenging sewing project I've ever done. I knew this quilt would be messy with all the snipping to be done. It was! Also, the Fiskars raq quilt snippers made the job so much easier than using scissors. I was worried about washing and drying it in my machines because of all the lint this thing would create. I spoke to my friend, Pat, who made several of these and she said that if I took it to a laundromat and an attendant saw me bring one of these things in, they wouldn't let me wash and dry it there. She assured me that it would be fine in my machine and I was excited to see it finished so I went ahead and did it here. I checked my dryer's lint filter every 20 minutes. After the first 20 minutes it was jam packed with lint. I am just so tickled that it turned out exactly like I had planned. I'm happy, happy! I can definitely see more of these in my future.