Raffle Quilt Done

I finished the raffle quilt yesterday.  Someone else has to bind it, so these pictures are from when the quilt was hot off the machine.

Lousy pictures…. and I hadnt even been drinking.  Oh, I dont drink.  I must have had tremors or something.  Sorry.

And here’s the back.  I like it!

The technical part:  Quilter’s Dream Puff batting, So Fine thread, all work done freehand…except for the vein of the feathers in the setting triangles, that was done with a ruler.

Raffle Quilt

Every year our group (The Undercover Gals) makes a quilt for the church to raffle off.    I always get the honor of quilting it.

This is what I am doing this week.

I made enough progress Sunday and Monday that I am taking today off to join the group for some more sewing.

Ornaments 2

Quite a few of the gals helped put these together today at our party.  All of the ones in the first picture are made with a picture of Timmy, MJ’s son who was killed in a car accident.  She was really touched that we made them for her and her family.

The ones in this second picture are mine.  One is of Timmy, the red one was made from a picture of fireworks.  I like how it spins.

And the last picture:  Timmy ornament in middle.

On the left is one made from a picture of boats.  One on the right is made from a picture of a dahlia.  It spins nicely too.

Ornaments

I wasn’t too energetic today, so decided to make some Christmas tree ornaments.  I used the computer software Kaleidoscope Kreator, as well as their CD for projects.  I bought the software 2 years ago, but just bought the project CD in Houston.  They had some ornaments there that were gorgeous, and of course that meant Sammi and I were game for buying!  (doesn’t take alot for us)

The reason I had to do these today is that my son posted new Christmas pictures of the kids and his wife.  Is this a great one or what??

William looks SO much like his Daddy did when he was that age.  He has grown so much!

So here is what I did today.

I have more printed, ready to cut, glue and glitter.  The cutting takes awhile.  I figure that will be a fun little project to take along with me to our Undercover Gals Christmas party tomorrow.  I printed 12 for the family of the young man that was killed in a car accident several months ago.  Both his Mom and his sister (the gal that cleans for me) are in the quilting group and can help with the project.  Two of the aunts come too, so they may just get recruited.

These really work better for pictures that are not of people.  I have a couple printed that are from photos of fireworks and flowers that are much more attractive.  I may post them tomorrow if I get them done.

Sammi….. if you decide to make any of these… make sure you print in landscape mode, not portrait.  Don’t know why it matters, but otherwise you cant get it all on one sheet.

The Christmas quilt countdown:  less than half a quilt left to do.  Steve will finish it tomorrow.

Farewell Friend

It is Thankful Thursday again….. and I am happy to say that I have been blessed with friends.  I am particularly thankful for my Undercover Gals quilting friends this day.

Charlotte was one of our group members.  I went to her funeral today.  Her sister is also a member and a very good friend.  The funeral was very nice, but sad….. as they all are I suppose.

Charlotte was spunky, a character.  Funny, fun to be with, always speaking her mind.  She was hard of hearing, but still didnt miss much.  I loved that you always knew where you stood with her.  And that she shared her knowledge and skills with those around her.  She was very generous with her time, talent and even her fabric.

What really “got me” was seeing her slippers in the casket.  That did me in.  I hadnt seen Charlotte since our retreat in October.  She only was able to come for about an hour to see what we were doing, and came in her slippers.  She wore her slippers most everywhere.  Sometimes she even wore them to WalMart.  They just sort of symbolized to me her “who cares what others think, lets get goin’ with what’s important here” kind of attitude.  I loved that about her.

So we said farewell to Charlotte today.  I am thankful I had a chance to know her, and will miss her.

Home again

My quilting retreat with the Undercover Gals was great. We had a busy, productive, happy time. We ate alot, sewed non-stop, and slept very little.

Here is what it looks like there:

A cabin. Anyone remember that Girl Scout song “Little Cabin in the Woods”? Yep, we sang it…. arent you glad you werent there?

And the view from our front porch, and out the window. I saw this splendid view the whole time I was there.

2 nites ago, a fabulous sunset.

Same sunset, different view. Neil….. remember when “the woods were on fire.??” That darn Bobby….. I still get the giggles when I think of that evening.

I would share pictures of what I did, but I didnt take any. Maybe if I get unpacked in the next few days I will post some pictures of my project that I am working on. I got all the prep work done, and most of the grunt work sewing done. Now is the fun part of putting it all together. I have just enough together to know I am going to like it.

Off to my own bed. The top bunk of the cabin was ok, but it sure is easier to climb my steps to my bedroom than to climb the ladder on the bunks!

Reading and Other Stuff

I finished But Inside I’m Screaming by Elizabeth Flock last week.  I still haven’t decided how much I liked it.   It is a story of a young news anchor who is severely depressed and ends up in a mental institution for a time.  Having experienced depression in the past, I found that it truly captured the essence of depression…. which was depressing!  But it was also insightful, funny, sad, and elightening.  There were several profound statements sprinkled in, but many more just so so pages.  I guess it was good enough to finish, but not good enough  to get excited about.

Then I started A Thousand Splendid Suns.  Oh my!  I just can’t seem to put it down for long.  I have gotten very little done this week because I have read almost half the book.  I bought it thinking I should read it just because it is a best seller and so popular.  (similar to why we watch the Steelers….. sorry all you huge Steelers fans!….. you know, just to be able to know what the buzz is about)  I never really thought I would get into the story because it is in Afghanistan and I know so little about that country.  I am learning alot.  And loving the book.  If you have read the book, don’t spoil the ending for me please!

We went to the bookstore again today.  I went to pick up a book that Chet had recommended and I ordered several weeks ago.  Why is it impossible to walk in, get ONE book and walk out?  I was glad Steve was with me to carry the very heavy bag out!

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Quilting…… I have done very little.  My class is way frustrating to me.  I finally had to put some stuff away and will go back to it later.

I am getting projects ready to take with me to a quilting retreat Oct22-25 at Pymatuning with the Undercover Gals (my sewing group).  3 cabins, 6 women in each cabin. (if you are interested, scroll down on that link and click on the 360 views, kinda fun)  Lots of sewing, eating, sharing and very little sleep.  I really should finish some UFO’s, but will probably concentrate on my new piecing project.

Then I come home for several days to recover, repack and go to Houston.  I can hardly wait.  I am going to Quilt Festival to shop for a longarm machine of my own.  Yes, I use Steve’s.  But that means I can only quilt when we don’t have client work to do.  And I want to quilt more often.  Space is a problem, which means I will either quilt in the kitchen or we will add on again to make a bigger studio.  Getting a contractor here to assess the situation is a different frustrating story…..

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Sun Dying

Today was great!  I was in charge of the sun dying at our Undercover Gals quilt group.  We have done this about 3 years in a row now.  It is always so much fun for everyone, that nobody wants to miss it.

This year we invited another quilting group called Bethel Homemakers.  My friend Barb also came from about an hour south of us.  She is very involved in 4H, Homemakers, and a quilting group from Slippery Rock University.   Everybody brought a dish to share for a potluck lunch too. (YUM!!)

We were delighted that a few of our members that had been ill this spring were able to join us too.  One chose not to participate, and the other brought her daughter and grandkids to dye her share of fabric.

Our group bought the Pebeo Setacolor Transparent paint from   http://www.dharmatrading.com/  I highly reccomend them!  We also bought 2 full bolts of muslin to cut up and divide equally among our members.  The visitors had to bring their own fabric and they also gave us a donation to help pay for the dye.  (ok, I know it is technically paint, but I still call it a dye sometimes)

Some different things that we used to lay on top of the wet, newly colored fabric:  coins, rice, salt, lima beans, oyster crackers, leaves, flowers, grass, stones, lifesavers.  Where ever you put an object down, it remains light.  The area around it turns darker in the sun.  How fun is that??  I prefer to not use all that stuff, and just let the crinkles in the fabric be interesting.

Every year we make a quilt for the church to pay our “rent” for using the social hall all year.  Next year the quilt will be made of these fabrics.

Here are some pictures from today:

There is a great set of directions/tutorial at the Dharma website if you want more info on how to do this kind of dying.  We used a whole little jar in 3 or 4 cups of water.  We diluted the dye MUCH more than recommended.  That was done on purpose, as we were trying to make a little stretch a long way.  And they wanted pastels.

Thanks for looking.  And if you do anything similar, let me know!