Pucker up Baby

I am now "one" with my people, yes – that’s right, I’ve joined a quilt guild!  This group meets once a month, and at each meeting there’s a guest speaker – for my first guild experience Jenny Doan "charmed" the guest spot!  After the speaker, snack and short meeting, most line up for show-n-tell.  For each item a guild member shows, they get a little ribbon which pins to their name badge – I call this “Badge Bling”.  There are some women who have so much Badge Bling the badge necklace has to be cutting into the back of their necks.  Talk about Bling over-acheivers, these women must sew from dusk-til-dawn.  I know what you’re thinking “she’s got Bling envy”….well, you’re right, I do!

The Guild is a big supporter of making Linus quilts, so I decide to whip together a Linus quilt to earn my first ribbon.  Couldn’t I just take a quilt I’ve already made?  I could if any of the really nice quilts had the binding on them!  So, I pick a super easy pattern, whip it together and start quilting.  I had 4 days before the next guild meeting and needed to get cracking.  I checked the backing after 4 rows of quilting and everything looked fine and dandy.  I’m guessing the moment I stopped checking the back is when it all went downhill…..I zipped through the toddler sized quilt and was immediately deflated when I looked at the backing.  Pucker City.  Puckered beyond belief - so bad I’ll have to rip it all out.  Argh!  So, I went empty handed to the guild meeting and left bling free.   

Cute, right?

Pucker City 

 

My spiffy new Guild Badge, Blingless....

It should be a happy birthday!

I’m seeing pink and brown in my sleep!  I’ve had the pedal to the metal for 3 weeks trying to complete this quilt.  The worst thing that can happen is if my quilter Gail says she doesn’t have time to quilt before the Christmas holidays.  Surely, she won’t turn me down, right?  I’ll be reduced to tears, I’m not beyond crying and begging!

This quilt is a mini of my queen sized quilt.  Even though my MIL ooh’d and ahh’d over my queen, I think she’ll love this one just as much.  Thinking about making a paper pieced bird for the quilt label.  I’m the worst at adding quilt labels, so it’ll be a snazzy move on my part if I can get bird whipped up.  Stay tuned, I’ll post a quilted, labeled, binded up quilt pic before Jen’s Christmas eve birthday.

Sassy Witches!

For me, Halloween is right up there with celebrating Christmas. I’ve got 4 little grands, and each and every year I beg them to dress as Dalmatian puppies so I can be Cruella De Vil – yet they flatly refuse.  My oldest grand isn’t trick or treating this year and I’m seeing visions of my ultimate Halloween slipping away.  Let me just say, I’ve attended countless “Grandparents” days at school, I’ve played endless games of “go fish”, I’ve even had to crawl to the top of the PlayPlace at McDonald’s to rescue a grand who freaked out and couldn’t find her way back down.  So, I’ve decided to play dirty next year – if I have to blackmail, bribe or payoff, I’m going to be Cruella and those grands will be Dalmatians! 

 

 

Muh-ha-ha-ha!

 

 

A-dor-a-ble!  I picked up these little sweeties at our Auxiliary Sale here at work.  I couldn’t resist.  So detailed, I love their shoes!

 

One Lucky M-I-L

I’m moving right along with my Mother-In-Law’s Birthday gift.  I anticipate having the throw complete by this weekend.  The sooner the better since I’m not doing the quilting myself.  My M-I-L (Jen) was born on December 24th, so in all the chaos of the holidays her birthday is always lumped in with Christmas.  This year all the “kids” will give her the usual “lawn service for a year” gift certificate, but I’ll have a bonus birthday gift of her favorite quilt.  It might be Jen’s birthday, but I’m quite excited about it.

Be careful what you brag about

It all started several years ago (ok, like 5- it was 2008) when I participated in a Bonnie Hunter (Quiltville) Mystery.  Bonnie revealed The Carolina Crossroads mystery (if memory serves) clues/block instructions about every Friday – with a new clue following for about 6-8 weeks.  It took about a nano-second for me to choose my colors – I’d been dreaming of a pink and brown quilt for quite some time.  With fabric pulled from my stash, new needle in my machine, and my first clue printed – I was geared up and ready to stitch up a storm.  Being a full time working girl, I decided my weekends were committed to “the mystery”.  I know what you’re thinking – so why is she telling us about this now…...?  Well, each little 9 patch finishes 3 inches, a finished block is 9 inches – that said, I got sick of those little goobers real quick.  For years, I’d take it out and work on it a little, then shove it back in the closet.  Last spring my Missouri Milestone (renamed) was finally ready for the machine quilter!  Yeah, I know – a lot of nerve to call myself a quilter!

 

 

Oh, but it doesn’t end there…..once I had the Missouri Milestone back in my hot little hands, I had to brag about it.  Show the pink and brown wonder to anyone who would look at it.  Not in my wildest dreams did I think my Mother-in-law would go completely crazy over it, but she did.  So much so, that every time I see her see talks about it.  Ok, I get it – she wants it.  But I can’t bring myself to hand it over it her.  It’s my first itty bitty pieced project.  I’ve loved it, hated it, called it the foulest of foul names, loved it again – I just can’t let it go. 

 

 

Soooo, over the weekend I started a throw sized quilt for my MIL.  Yeah, I need my head examined – I’d rather endure those tiny dang pieces again than loosen the grip holding on to my queen size lovely.  

 

 

 

Maybe because of the guilt pressure of wanting it done by Christmas, it’s coming along a lot quicker than my first quilt.

 

  

Let the applique begin

Fourteen leaves, that’s what I accomplished this weekend - which means I have another one hundred and thirty-something to go.  Hmm.  Obviously, no one will accuse me of being a speed demon with a needle.   If I keep at this pace, I should finish in about 10 weeks….Errr. 

 

When I wasn’t burning up thread with my advanced applique skills, I puttered around in the backyard with two of my grands.  We spotted a couple of hummingbirds (which were too quick for a photo opp) and quite a few butterflies. The kiddies are always so impressed with the few butterflies they see – I didn’t think it necessary to tell them, with the fortune I’ve spent on butterfly attractants (bushes, flowers, etc), we should see zillions of the beautiful goobers!   

 

First year having the mammoth sunflowers – love them!

Leaf and let leaf.....

I’m slightly ashamed to say I pieced this New Dresden Plate quilt last January/February.  Only recently, I’ve finished making all the leaves to applique on the vine.  I’m telling you, it’s this bum arm of mine!  Ok, so the fracture happened 2 months ago – but I plan to milk this thing for as long as I can.  Especially when the Hubs wants me to straighten up my side of the garage.....oh, ahwee, I sure wish I could, but I'm in a lot of pain today..... 

 

 

 

I can’t explain why it happens, but normally the quilts I make for others turn out super cute, and by the time I'm ready to hand over I wish I was keeping for myself.  From the beginning this project was all mine, and I have to admit I’m somewhat giddy that I’ll have cute wallhanging for the guest bedroom.  I’m loving the colors and how it’s turning out.