All Blogging on hold

I guess I don't know what I am doing. To think someone would be interested is only my wish. I have been a loner all my life and now I guess I am still a loner. Thanks to Wanda and Amy they are the only commentors on my blog as of late. I will be here off and on, but I quit trying to make things interesting for others. Take care Chris

Quilting with Turkey Red

Turkey Red is a color of thread used for Quilting this scrap quilt. My Grandmother back in the 30's talked about her neighbor had a new stove with Turkey Red handles. She was so envious of this neighbor. It was the first colorfast thread ever made in the USA. I have about half of it quilted. These were orphaned blocks and I added to them for a couch throw. Another project out of the sewing room soon. It is 70X80 so a good sized piece. Wish I had about ten More done in the sewing room. I could walk through it then. LOL I would only start about 12 more then. Chris

Second Post for the Day

This is the second post for today. I think things are going better here since the storm has moved on. The wind is still up and will be for the next two days. The leaves will be falling quickly here.

Looking for fabric to finish something else I found the scrappy blocks my Mom started for a cover for my freezer. There were 16 blocks that were started. They are the 4 odd sized blocks on the center of the quilt blocks. I decided to add fabric to the outside of this block and make a real scrappy couch throw. I think a couple borders and I will be ready to quilt the top. Chris

Bad weather

This is the weather map for our area. I am about where the Rt 88 sign is below Madison Wisconsin. We are getting gusts of 55 miles per hour. Plus a downpour of rain and thunder and lightening happening.

No sleeping in this morning with all of this going on. We are to recieve winds up to 60-80 MPH during the rest of the day also. I think we will be in for the day. I drive a van so the risk of driving in the high winds isn't good either. Stay dry and out of danger. Chris

Out of commission for a couple days

Yesterday I was out in the garage and tried to help my husband by moving some stuff on the floor of the garage. We were getting some firewood delivered for the fireplace and the stuff to be moved won. I ended up on the floor on my knees and as I was falling hit the end of the riding lawnmower and a bucket. The bucket had stakes in it for the garden and all I could see was the stakes coming at my face. I pushed the bucket away with my left hand and it is all bruised and the knees hurt like a son of a gun. Both arms are scraped up and I hit something with my stomach. My ankles hurt and I am in so much discomfort walking right now I am only moving when I have to. Nothing is broken but my pride. I will heal. I was on the floor before I knew it and Jeff just yelled. He didn't see what happened and he didn't know what to do. I got up and finally moved the stuff but I was moving slow. Oh Well now I don't have to do anything special today. I vacuumed yesterday so that is done for a couple days. Maybe I will put on a pot of soup and let it cook all day and enjoy the TV for a change. Take Care Chris

Been busy

So what have I been doing ? Well I have been trying for a couple years to get my husband to try and paint my door pulls and hinges in my house. The picture below shows the gaudy brass pulls which I just hate. In my bathroom I asked to do one small amount of change to see how we like it and whether it will hold up under use. I have like 42 handles and 60 hinges in my house that are all the same. So we primed, painted and polyurethaned the hinges and pulls and we are going to see how they hold up before doing them all. We thought since this bathroom is away from the others it would be cheaper to paint this and if it doesn't work we are not out a lot of money to replace them. I like the look. I decorate basically country and the shinny brass didn't cut it.

Here is the look on the oak cabinets I like it better. So time will tell if it holds up or not. I hope so. The new pulls I priced would be over $500. Yikessssss!

Back to the blocks I have been doing for the Sampler quilt. This is the center medallion. It is applique and I think I am going to do a turned applique with freezer paper and glue stick method. I think hand appliqueing it down also. Today I have to stop and clean my house or the health department is going to show up and shut me down. Not really I just need to do it. It is so dry out when the wind comes up and they are in the field picking corn the dust is really thick and it shows up in my house.
Off to get dust rag. Chris

Block #5

Making progress. This is the next block in the Sampler quilt. This one is called Clay's Choice.Here are the sections sewn together. Had to watch which way the HST were going. I had to stop and rip out or "Frog Stitch" one of them.

Here is the pressed block. Looks good to me.

The points match which is pretty good for me. Sometimes I have to try twice to get it right.

This is a kit as I have mentioned before and must be die cut. Some of the edges are frayed and others just are destorted a little. But it is turning out pretty good. Chris

Block #4

Here is the new block. I can see after making this one that the hand quilting would be really nice looking with this quilt. The Rail Fence parts were easy to do, but putting the Triangles on the ends prove difficult if you don't match the centers on the Rail Fence and the Triangles.

Here is the finished block. As you can see with larger areas of plain areas the hand quilting would accent the quilt. Have to think this over.

Tomorrow there will be another one. I am down to 5 blocks from finishing the Christmas gift for my son. Then assembling the top. Maybe today. Yesterday they said only 71 days meaning 70 days today until Christmas. That is carry. Chris

Block #3

Well here is the start of the next block. There are four rows of mini blocks or half square triangles in this block so I stitched them together in chain piecing. After stitching them I pressed to the darker side on each of the HST.

Set the blocks in the rows into which they were sewn and ready to be assembled. Here each row is assembled and ready for pressing again. No wonder my electric bill is high. I have the iron on for days at my house.

I placed the pressed rows together to see that I have the right order to the block.

This is the finished block after sewing the rows together and the pressing is done. It was tricky to get everything going in the right direction, but the block is very colorful.

I am getting anxious to see the finished quilt now. The colors are bright and it will make a nice throw. Off to the sewing room to see what the next one is. Chris

Block Number 2

Here are the pieces already to be pressed. Already thinking about how this one is going to be quilted. This is a Sampler quilt the potential for different quilting with each block is making my mind wander.

This is the center pieced part of the block. The color stand out and are drawing you to the center of the block. Color and Value play a big role in the overall look of the quilt. This is the finished look of the second block. This reminds me of a signature or album block. It is called Cobblestone block.

You will have to check in tomorrow for the next block. Slowly this will come together and be a quilt. Chris

New Blocks

Here is the start of a new quilt. Yes I started another one. Shame on me. LOL. This is a kit that was given to me. Here are the colors of the quilt shown in this picture. This is the first block I constructed and this is two parts of the block laying beside each other.

This is the finished block. This quilt is a sampler quilt with a medallion in the middle of a vase with appliqued flowers I pressed the middle seams opposing and the center turned out great.

This is the back of the piece with the seams all pressed to the side.

As you can see the opposing seams make for a better seam when sewing two sections together.

I haven't ever made a sampler quilt before so this should be fun to make. More to come stay tuned. Chris

Cold Day

We hit 32*F this morning. Windchill is about 28*F. I knew it was coming, but not ready for it. The sewing room is screaming at me. I really need to get more sewing done. Granddaughter is growing and she needs shirts. She isn't a little girl anymore and she doesn't want big girl looks. She is a tween and some of the things that for her are to old for her age. Garment sewing is where I began sewing. Many of you started with quilting and that is a fine, but I have the garment background and it makes you look at sewing different. We learned a 5/8inch seam allowance and you learned a 1/4inch seam allowance. We open the seams to press and you press to the side. In looking for fabric for her tops I ran across a lot of flannel. Guess I need to make pj bottoms and also some flannel rag quilts. Well I am off to the sewing room to see what kind of trouble I can get into. I will give you a sneak peak tomorrow. Chris

Been a cut up again

I have been working on the quilt for my son's Christmas present. I have all but 20 blocks made. I need enough for two more rows. I am down to cutting just enough pieces to finish the top. Variety at this point is important to finish the row. I sew a few and press a few to make sure I have enough to get the rows done without repeats.

This quilt has 120 9.75 inch blocks in it. He wants it more like a bedspread than a quilt. so it is longer to go over the pillow when the bed is made. I have to piece the backing on the back of the quilt. I have several pieces all in the same color value of a cranberry so it will be pieced to make it big enough. The weather has been beautiful but warm. I think we are in to be fooled over the Winter and have lots of snow. Another reason to get this quilt done for warmth. Chris

First Hard Frost

This is a Christmas gift for my son. My design wall is the bed. These are just the blocks laying on the bed for now. I am not sure how many more blocks I need. He wants a good drop on all sides and also a cover for the pillow. Basically he wants a bedspread size. He has a queens sizes bed.

Fall is in the air. We don't have the colored leaves as of yet, but the weather report says they are on their way. 4:45 am and they say it is 34*F for our town. It is still dark out here so can't tell about the frost. We have had it a couple mornings but it only lasted for about an hour. I like Spring and Fall but not Winter and not the heat and humidity of July and August. This is the latest scrap project. I have a semi solid dirty looking tea dyed muslin only it isn't muslin. I have another quilt in progress of this pattern. It is almost done. I am going to just outline quilt this one. He has a dog and she is on the bed and it will be in the wash alot. Bashful has long hair and I don't think the free motion quilting is as masculine. I really need to get this started so I can have it done well in advance of the holidays. Other things to do. Chris