Finally done

I finally finished my quilt top and dropped it off at Piece by Piece to be machine quilted.  Since it took me so long to find a pattern that would showcase the yellow Hibiscus I am thrilled that it came out the way I envisioned it.  Chose a very nice medium green leafy pattern for the backing.  Now I need some patience to wait for it to be quilted and bound.  I really need this nice bright cheerful quilt to get through the remainder of this winter which  seems too long already.

Soon I will have to clean up the quilt room and make room for Heidi's puppies.  I think there is just enough time to do a few small projects.  We'll see.

A Slight Delay in Plans

 Have you ever heard "Be careful what you wish for"?

In my last post I wished for snow so I had some time to quilt.  Big mistake!  Now 3 weeks later I wish I hadn't written that and I now wish for Spring...way too much snow, cold & ice.

Shortly after cutting the pieces for my new quilt I experienced some back pain/spasms.  So I took off a little time.  Then 2 weeks ago I spent a Sunday piecing the cross strips...more back pain.  Now I'm working in small increments as it seems the pinning, sewing & pressing the quilt pieces are still aggravting the mid-lower back.

Pictured here is 2/3s of the quilt top.  The colors (wish my camera would capture them more accurately) have me wishing for an early Spring.  They really are quite cheerful while we are faced with a winter wonderland ;-( .  Will try the last 1/3 tomorrow as we are supposed to get more freezing rain and possibly some snow.  Then in a few days I will put on the borders of dark green or maybe the light green and more of the Hibiscus floral. 

Oh, yeah, I should tell you that the light blue in the photo is another quilt under the new quilt top.

To me much of quilting is all about the colors.   It took me months to find a pattern that would do justice to my wonderful Hibiscus flowers.  I'm so excited to watch it come together.

Reversible Wine Bags for GSP Rescue of PA

One dozen reversible wine bags finished today for GSP Rescue of PA.  Each reverses to the solid color of the handle.

Add 1 bottle of wine

  + a ribbon bow

          and GO !!

My New Toy & My Next Project

A few adjustments to the tension and my new toy, a Singer Featherweight sewing machine, is ready to play.  I tested a few pieces of fabric and am quite happy with the stitching.  For 74 years old, this little machine is amazingly quiet and smooth.  It reminds me so much of the Singer I learned to sew on.  It was a bigger machine, one of the first electrics made after the treadle machines were fazed out but it was built bery similar in style and it was black.  But that old machine was not friendly to velvet and velveteen...I got so mad at it one day that I went out and bought a 1965 Singer that I used for 20 years.

I have had that beautiful Hibiscus floral fabric for some time and I finally found a pattern that will set it off.  The coordinating greens and yellows (two of the yellows look faded in the photo, but they are actually equal to the third yellow - camera does funny things) will be used throughout the quilt.  I can't wait to start cutting and sewing as I have been wanting those Hisbiscus flowers on my bed.  I will be documenting my progress on this quilt.

Oh yeah, and I have to make one dozen reversible wine bags for GSP Rescue of PA in the next few weeks.  Busy - I may need some snow to keep me home.

JACKPOT

I am so excited. I just returned from an auction where I scored a 1936 Singer Featherweight sewing machine for less than 1/2 of what it would sell for retail. These machines weigh only about 11 lbs and are treasured by quilters. I am so lucky. Now I can take classes where I would have to provide my own sewing machine.

It's a Wrap...2010 that is.

Well here we are...another year just about gone.  It has been a year of a lot of change for us.  We have moved into Julia's old house (her new abode is attached), rented out our house in Exeter Twp to an awesome family, and finished all the remodeling of the old house.  We are very comfortable here.  I asked Lynn after he was here a few weeks did he want to stay or go back to our house.  His answer surprised me - he said he wanted to go back - then he qualified that with "to get the rest of my stuff".  Too funny. 

The photo is of my new quilt work space.  At the old house I used the dining room table for all of the sewing and the huge breakfast bar for all my cutting.  Plus my ironing board was in the kitchen in front of the stove so I had to remove it every time I needed to cook.   The new space works just great for me.  Each "table" can be folded down to the wall when not in use and there is more shelving to the left as well as a stationary table.  The taller table on the right is for cutting and layout and is set high enough for me to stand comfortably.  My ironing board is to the right of the high table.   I love the compactness of my workspace.  The shelving holds all my quilt books & magazines as well as all the tubs full of fabric or supplies.  Once I had it all planned out my wonderful contractor buddy was able to put together the drop tables and hang all the shelving.  He proved to me that the tables were strong enough by sitting on them...he weighs about 180 lbs.  That should be strong enough.  Once I had this wonderful work space I just had to get a new sewing machine as a Happy Birthday to me...I love my new Babylock Quest Plus.

I had to go to plan "B" for Lynn's Christmas quilt surprise.  I waited till he was in the kitchen making breakfast then laid his quilt top on his bed.  Once he returned to take a shower I knew he saw it when a very loud WHOA erupted from down the hall.  He loves it.  Now I need to find a machine quilter to finish it off.

Wishing you all a safe and Happy New Year.

FINALLY

This evening I finally finished the last border on Lynn's surprise quilt and now I can take it to the machine quilter for the next to  final step. 

I had some delays in the past few weeks as Lynn was around the house way too much.  On his last fishing trip 2 weeks ago I thought I had it made.  That was until I pulled out the red material I purchased for the final border, laid the edge of the quilt on it before cutting...and hated it.  Okay I thought, just go find another red fabric that has the right tone and a small, but not flowery, pattern on it.  It wasn't till yesterday afternoon that I was able to sneak in a visit to Hayloft Fabrics in Morgantown while I was supposedly running other errands.  It was only a slight detour from the other errands.

So today he left at 6:30 AM to hunt with a friend and I thought I had all day.  So I wasn't really Speedy Gonzalez.  I got the border cut, sewed two sides...and Lynn showed up around 11:00 AM.  The quilt was laying on the ironing board...WAH!  When he went looking for a drink I quick covered up the photo parts so that it looked like just a lot of different colored fabrics in the process of becoming "something".  We worked on the Christmas tree and some outside lighting before lunch.  He went out into our fields to hunt this evening till dark so I had enough time to add the final two border fabric strips....WHEW!

So now I need to invent some "errands" on Monday to visit the machine quilter.

A very pleasant surprise was the comments on the American Quilters Society on Lynn's quilt.  They requested photos of quilter's Christmas quilt projects so I sent one of Lynn's quilt that I had posted here.  The person monitoring their Facebook page commented "This is a great idea! Nicely done, too."   WOOHOO that made me great.