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Sunday, December 23, 2012

More Clearing Of The Design Wall


I made this orphan block when I was experimenting with my technique to keep my quarter log cabin block from going wonky...it worked, but I was left with this cute little stray. It and the other little pads are so darn cute, I don't have the heart to use them as true potholders yet.

So....



I made this one (not so cute and also from the wonky charm square block experiment) and didn't bind it.

This one is used as a potholder and the others as mug (o'soup) rugs...with the backside flipped up when the mug of soup goes on.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Christmas Decorama


Finally got all the frames filled with Christmas themed blocks...I see now I should have continued with the star theme...there's always next year.

Friday, December 21, 2012

My Take On Rolo Candy Treat


I thought I would try using little butter cookies as the base instead of pretzels. These are cheapo butter cookies from Wally World and to be honest...they make them just a little too sweet. So I bought a package of Lorna Doones (which cost 4 times as much) and of course, they were much better...less sweet.

For my next mini batch, I think I'll get some salted pecans to try on top...it's missing that little salt kick from the pretzels. I wish the square woven pretzels were a bit bigger...maybe I only saw the mini ones.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Redneck Wine Glasses


Saturday evening, Sweetie and I went to friends house to play cards, munch on finger food and sip wine.

The hostess made these for everyone...in addition to the gift tags, each one had a different colored marble in the base to help you keep track of you glass.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Binding Clip Practice

 
I wanted to work on my technique to completely machine sew my bindings...and I needed some new pot holder! These are a couple of orphan blocks that were hanging on the design wall that I layered with Insulbrite (sp?) and quilted.




I did the potholder on the right first, using a 2.5" strip and did a mitered joining. On the left, I used a 2" strip and tried a different technique (due to a mistake) to finish the binding. As you can see it wasn't a success. I would use the 2" strip again (or maybe 2 1/4"), but would miter. The experimental technique was just too bulky to neatly sew over.



My technique still needs some work, but I'm liking it so far. If it's not going to be judged...why not...it's so much faster than hand finishing.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Quild Donation Quilt

 
Finally finished this donation quilt...it's been aging in the shop for a while.  It's just pre-printed fabric that I used my machines wabble stitch around the squares and then used my new binding clips to machine bind it totally.  Amazon had a great deal on the clips (the new red and clear ones...brand escapes me right now)...50 of them for $16 something.Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Christmas Decorama Finish

The center fabric came out of a scrap bin while shopping for my pineapple quilt (which will finish as an oversized king....lots more scrap shopping in my future).

Frosty and the candy canes were a long strip that I cut apart so I could have snowmen and canes facing both ways and oriented correctly .

The red Moda Marble border is from my stash and one of the few pieces of fabric that I've paid full price for.


Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Working On A 2011 UFO List Item

Below is a machine pieced hexie table runner flimsy that will finish 12" x 25". Now to agonize over the backing and binding selection.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Quild Christmas Block Lessons

 
Every year the Guild's Christmas Block Committee selects fabric that is distributed early in the year to members that want to participate and be eligible to win blocks a the end of the year.  The only stipulations are that you only use the fabric supplied and the blocks are 12.5".  For every block you turn in your name gets thrown in the pot to win a stack of blocks.
 
I record the Eleanore Burns show (doing Victory Quilts now) and on one show she was doing a Brave World block.

 


These are quarter squares that make up the Brave World block (I've seen this subsection in quite a few quilts lately)....actually they are trimmed down rejects that ended up in the Churn Dash...well, three of them did.

 
 
After I had the Churn Dash put together, I put the 12.5" ruler on it and one corner looked wonky...I'm not going for wonky!  I knew I didn't have enough fabric left to remake the quarter blocks by Eleanore's method, so I had to dig out my Fons and Porter Half and Quarter Ruler (have had it for several years and hadn't used it till now) and cut some triangles. Triangles have scared me...I would avoid them at all cost...but you know what....they weren't so bad. I think some triangle flying geese are in my future!
 
 


Monday, September 24, 2012

Scrap Shopping And A Hitch Hiker

Well, here I am again using Blogpress! When I looked at my last post on my Kindle Fire, it didn't look quite as bad as it did on my laptop. Also, when you tap on the photo you get a better picture....so I'll have to put that caveat in my posts.



Went scrap shopping at the quilt shop in Jasper to stock up on scraps and did pretty good. Four and a half bags = 2.5 lb = 7.5 yd x $10/yd = $75 value. Spent $15 + tax...woohoo!!!

On the way home, I noticed the hitch hiker that had made its way into the car.



I pulled over and took a picture and tried to shoo him out of the car. Notice I said tried...



I had to stop at a friends house to look in on the cat and plants while they're on a cruise. Hopefully the little green guy ran for his life while the doors were left open.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Photo testing

This photo was taken and it went directly to the post...and it isn't showing up in iPhones camera roll.


Notice the black bars...



I took this picture with iPhone and then retrieved it from the camera roll.

It will be interesting to see if there will be any difference in quality.

All Blogpress posts so far has had pictures as large as Blogpress will allow (400 x 400).

EDITING NOTES:

What a hot mess this is...not at all what Blogpress preview was showing on iPhone.  I think part of the problem was that I had selected the first photo to be left justified and even though my text was below the photo, it jumped up to wrap around the photo.  The second photo from my phone's camera roll didn't offer a placement selection.

I could only straighten it out on Blogger because everything looks OK on phone (I'm leaving it like it first appeared).  Also, the ability of edit with you phone rotated didn't work...screen went blank and keyboard went away.

The picture quality is really crappy either way you insert a picture...looks like I wasted $5.00.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trying Blogpress Again

Can I get a picture to post?




Cloudland Canyon State Park, Rising Fawn, GA.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Trying Blogpress

Monday, August 13, 2012

Destination Munich

On Thursday, we were off to Munich. On the way there, we stopped at Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the most popular castles in Europe. The crowds and parking shortage would attest to that. You have to wait in line until someone leaves and then you can enter the parking lot. Crowds asides, it's a beautiful place worth seeing.

Upon arriving in Munich, we checked into The Palace Hotel a beautiful boutique hotel.After we were settled into our rooms, we took a leisurely stroll over to The Hofbraukeller Restaurant Und Biergarten and enjoyed a delicious German meal and tasty beer.


Isn't this such a beautiful place to enjoy your breakfast...it's the hotel garden.

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Old Fribourg

On Wednesday we went to the old part of Fribourg (which originally was walled in) and walked along the Sarine River (the dividing line of French and German speaking Swiss) crossing Fribourg's last remaining wooden covered bridge.

We walked up and down many narrow, steep streets and saw many beautiful Renaissance fountains and buildings...it was definitely stepping back in time.

Unfortunately, the good pictures are on my camera and I don't have a way yet to get them to my Picasa web album...should be able to do that after we get back from Rome on Wednesday.

We had dinner that evening at Molino's, a lovely Italian restaurant. I did snap a photo of dessert at Sucre Sale (there should be a thingy over both E's but I can't get the French keyboard to work in Blogger) which was just down the street from Molino's.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Mexican Food Swiss Style

I was prepared for the different ethnic foods to taste possibly unusual here. While we were sitting at the gate in Atlanta, we were talking to a lovely Mother and her two kids and getting a wealth of information that she had gathered in the three years that the family has lived in Switzerland.

She said had related that you may be eating a taco but it was not going to taste like a taco because they will use different spices.

Sure enough, the kids wanted to take us to their favorite Mexican restaurant . If I would have walked in with my eyes closed and kept them closed until my first bite...I would have sworn that I was having Indian food...very good Indian Vegetable Fajitas.

Please forgive the quality of the picture.

Friday, August 10, 2012

I Love Switzerland!!!!!!

Third attempt to post this...now back from Munich.

Here's the post that I thought I was posting two days ago...it ended up on the blog that I do for my guild...just to jet lagged!

As I sit under the apple tree in the kids yard, I'm serenaded by cow bells...love that sound!

That's me yesterday, again under the apple tree, taking a cat nap for about 30 minutes (after being up for 30+ hours). Took a walk in the canton forest behind the house before the nap, went out to eat, took another walk in the canton forest after the nap.

After being up for about 37 hour...I had to sleep.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

An Ah-ha, Aahh, Or A Plain Old Duh Momment


So I was straightening up the kitchen today so as to not be embarrassed when my friend Gail comes over, while we are in Switzerland, to take care of Reggie. She's an extreme neat nick and I know she would never think less of me for not being as tidy as she is, but I still feel compelled to step it up in the cleaning department.

Anyway, I took some extra can goods down to the basement to put with the rest of the can goods and I noticed that a couple of the cans were upside down. I was going to put them upright when it dawned on me that I could actually tell what was in the cans! I started flipping the other cans over and OMG!, what a difference. Notice the cans on a back row where you can only see the work "Geat" with not a clue as to what's in the cans.   Aa-ha....aahh.....DUUHH!!!!

Next, I had to get my camera's data cards full of videos and photos cleaned up and ready for some major picture taking while we're in Europe. That took several hours and it feels good to have that taken care of.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Wisconsin Camping

I arrived in Wisconsin early Friday evening and headed straight to Jelly Stone in Caledonia. My son and his family we already there and the camper was all set up. It's not my idea of camping but it's great if you have kids camping with you.

In the picture, you see Cindy Bear at our camping neighbors site delivering milk and cookies. DIL didn't make those arrangements...fortunately the grand kids were at the playground or holy hell would have been raised.

Friday was hot and humid, but Saturday was extremely comfortable due to a breeze blowing in off Lake Michigan .

I've been at my daughters new house since Sunday...it's very peaceful here.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Happy 4th of July Everyone!


Hope everyone has a safe and fun filled 4th celebration!


On Friday morning, bright and early, it's off to Wisconsin for me! 





Sunday, June 24, 2012

Self Questions That Begin With "Why"

Like...Why is the one picture in my last post looking like its being stretched on the bias? Or my big "Why" for this afternoon....Why did I wait so long to change the blade on my rotary cutter?  Its like cutting "butta"...I'm having to really lighten up on the pressure!  DUUHHH!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Road Trip To Hiawassee

Evening at the Boat House Yacht Club...look to the left...look to the right .

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Are There Any Quilt Guilds In Switzerland?

It would really be so much fun to visit a guild while I'm there next month!  Anyone in Blogland know of any? How About Rome and Munich?


Time to start prepping the hexies so I'll have some hand work to do on the 9 hour flight.  I wonder if I'll meet some other quilters on the plane.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Scrap Shopping


It was time to replenish the scrap pile for the Pineapple blocks, so I headed down to Jasper. The Quilt Shop On Main has a scrap tub, which the owner had just loaded up with big pieces of batik scraps ....they're mine now.

It was all I could do (after several attempts) to get the bags zipped! When I got home I weighed the bags and some how I managed to get exactly 11 1/8 ounces in each bag.

There's at least $50 worth of fabric in the bags...all for a mere $6.



Sunday, June 10, 2012

Switzerland Here We Come!!!


It's official....Sweetie and I are going to Switzerland in early August for two weeks...(squealing big time!!)

So far the plans include a boat trip across Lake Geneva to France, a flight to Germany to the town that has the castle that the Disney castle was modeled after, and a flight to Rome...(more squealing).

More on the trip later, I'm too excited right now!


 


To calm myself, I am doing some piecing...12 (of 72) 16.5" Pineapple blocks are done and five more are started.  Notice how I have strategically placed the fabric to try and hid the rattiness of my ironing board cover.

SQUEAL!!!!!! 


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Pineapple Progress

Pineapple Work Station

More 2.5" strips have been cut and added to the pile.  I mix them up real good (will post a picture of my new process later), stack them up and deal them out to several blocks and then sew.  My one rule is that I can't use the same fabric twice in a block.

I was using a large metal wastebasket and mixing them and pulling out strips randomly (without looking) as I sewed.  It didn't take me long to realize that the strips were fraying badly and I was spending too much time trimming off the frayed strings.  All that tumbling and digging around was just to much for the strips!

Right now, I'm working on six blocks at a time...dealing out the strips, sewing a round on each one, pressing all, and then trimming all...much less up and down, wasting time and motion.

Monday, June 4, 2012

My Guild Demonstrations


Last month for my guild, I gave a demonstration on Gyleen X. Fitzgerald's Pineapple Block and the tweaks that I've added to the technique.

I also demonstrated the Eight Point Star Block that I was at Squash House Quilts blog....and of course the tweaks that I made to the technique...wasn't in love with the bonus block.  I also re sized the block to 12.5 inches from 9.5 inches.

To aid in the demonstrations, I used one of several 18" pizza boxes that I got from Charlie's Italian Restaurant here in Ellijay....if you're ever up, down, or over in Ellijay, stop in, the foods great!

The fireplace is done (Sweetie did a wonderful job on it...we love having fires out on the backporch) and our company is gone so I've been spending more time in the quilt shop!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Rocky To The Rescue Again

I was playing around with orange peel quilting and I like it. Since I'm not the best at drawing smooth curved lines, I used a disc to mark my lines. And since this was a small piece, I thought I would see how tight a curve I could sew with the feed dogs up.

The quilt sandwich actually is upside-down.....the narrow blades were done first and they do give a different effect than the wider blades.

I've been doodling on paper for practce and will take the leap soon, trying it out on fabric without marking.

Rocky had to lend a hand (or a face) to get the best shot. This post was started on my iPhone, saved, and completed on Kindle Fire...l won't do that again!

P.S.
I actually have to go back to iPhone to straighten out the spacing in the post.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Why I Do The Georgia Stomp!

Yes, I do the Georgia Stomp before I put on a pair of work gloves that have been laying around for even a short time. If my gloves have a bit of moisture in them I'll let them dry, then stomp and ziplock bag them.

And this is why!!! It's the biggest one I've seen so far and there's a never ending supply of smaller ones.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Happy Earth Day!

We were suppose to do clean up along our roads in our section of the development yesterday, but it was rainy in the morning, so we did it today around noon. All the better because I had already decided to go to my first Property Owners board meeting Saturday morning.

Wouldn't want to make a steady diet of them, but it was interesting even though a topic I am interested in wasn't discussed like I thought it would be, only a schedule of presentations to roll out the info was given.

Don't know for sure if I like the tree colors better in the Spring or the Fall.

Sad to say, but in the three trees in the fore ground, the one on the right (an Oak) is officially dead...no leaves this year. I'm pretty sure the root system was probably affected too much when the driveway was put in.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Blogging By Firelight

Sweetie is in the process of putting a fireplace on the back porch and it's far enough along that we can enjoy a roaring fire!

Love blogging by firelight on my Kindle Fire!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Quilting With Nature

Inserting pictures is a bit goofy with mobile blogging....at times I'm not sure what order that the pictures are going to fall in place...even when you retake them, trying to reorder them.

Anyway, it's such a glorious day that I had to open the big door even if only for a little while...pollen count was near 10,000 this past week! The white specs in the woods are the Dogwoods in bloom...love those little trees!

Also, meet Sophie, the newest addition to the quilt shop. A few weeks ago one of the ladies at my quilt guild asked if anyone wanted her. My hand shot up in the air immediately! She's modeling the quilted wrap/poncho that is in a redesign phase.

Friday, March 16, 2012

New Fabric Cutting Aide...It Was Free!

My 16.5" ruler wanted to slide even though it's a "non-slip" ruler and Rocky is a big help!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Quilting Home Decor

Some home decor that we put up a few weeks ago. Sweetie made the frames for me....I'll change them out at different times of the year. A great use for those slightly undersized blocks.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

iPhone Blogging

My son gave me an iPhone for Christmas and I thought I would give blogging a whirl...using Blogger app.

Reggie and I took a walk a few weeks ago...this is a little stream not too far from the house.

I'm curious as to how it will look!