Batting in the Belfry

UFOs for 2012

2012-01-02T12:44:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year!

I just finished updating my UFO list. I started with 42 items last year and took 16 off the list. Fourteen were finished and two simply removed. Not too shabby. Here's what's left. When you also consider that I also worked on 9 of these, but didn't finish them; that's a lot of sewing. I know this is going to be a busy year with a move in the works, but my goal is to at least cut this list in half again. Good luck with your lists!

Grandmother's Flower Garden

Applique stars

Chez Moi quilt 2

Fabric roses

Subway quilt

Le Jardin BOM

Squares quilt for LR

Glorified nine-patch hanging

Fassett snowballs

Tiny 4 patches

Silk scarf

Cross-stitch alphabet sampler

Vintage Valentine BOM

Buzzin' along applique

Sunbonnet sue cheryl

Small art quilt

Stone lark quilt

Black and pink 4 patch

Hummingbird applique

Honeybee blocks

Rise and shine quilt

Canterbury bells applique

Hawaiian appliques

Peppermint pinwheels

Tangerine tropicale

A new adventure

2011-12-07T19:17:00.001-06:00

We are embarking on a new adventure....well...at least dipping our toes in the water. We're starting to kinda, maybe, sorta....shop for a house. In the actual "shopping for a loan" and "going out and looking at them in person" sorta way, and not just reading the ads in the paper and watching House Hunters.

See we're tired of dealing with unreasonable landlords. I won't go into specifics 'cause this is the internet, and the internet is forever, and whatever you put out here will boomerang around and come back to bite you in the you-know-what.

So the loan meeting was today, and dear god, do they like their paper. We hit probably 6 open house this past weekend which includes a cute, but way outta date bungalow, a cape cod or two, a ranch or two, and a really modern split level. I don't really like splits, but I'm keeping an open mind.

The bungalow (above) I threw in even though it needs a gut rehab because it's a damn good price in a really damn good neighborhood. Which makes me wonder what else is wrong with it. Mr Belfry said, "We should take a look. Even if it needs work, we could redo it and make it ours." My head flipped around so fast I thought I was Linda Blair. Wait. What? Are you feeling ok, dear? What happened to "move-in ready" and "totally rehabbed"? His comment was that we've lived in plenty of places with really awful kitchens. He could put up with it til we could redo it. Which is true. Very true. Actually every place we've lived has had a dreadful kitchen. This kitchen had gold wallpaper on the ceiling and vintage 1940s cabinets...so pretty awful. Huh. You think you know someone. Guess that's what keeps marriage interesting. We figure we'd have to sink more than 100K into it to make it liveable. Hmmm...that's more of a project than we want.

This little cape cod has more space than you would think. No formal dining room though, and access to transportation is almost non-existant. It's still on the list.

This house is a side split. Good space, but more stairs than we want. The owner also has a strong propensity to put mothballs everywhere. Whew!

This house is also a side split, but in a completely different way. This one is the top of our list currently, but it's over-priced for the neighborhood. We're guessing the price will drop in the next couple of months. Or maybe something else will come available.

So that's where we are. Hopefully we'll have something in place in the next 6-8 months. If not we'll be looking at a different rental. Either way theres a new address in our future.

Ann

2011-12-03T09:45:00.001-06:00

Finally I get to mark some more things off the list! I had 4 finishes this month.

To start with, I finally finished Elise's quilt. This is a top that her great aunt made and she inherited. I believe it was made in the early 40s. Not being a quilter, she asked if I would finish it for her. Originally I had planned to hand quilt it, but life and other projects got in the way. I had it all marked and started quilting it. Eventually it got to the point where I couldn't even look at it anymore, so I put it away.

I pulled it out this year because of Judy's challenge and contacted her to see if it would be alright to machine quilt it. She was receptive, so I quilted it in a sort of scallop pattern. It came through beautifully. Then....I had to get the marking lines for the hand quilting out. With sheer terror, I put it in the washing machine on the hand wash cycle. Quilt did fine, but the markings didn't come out completely. I bumped it up to permanent press and ran it through again. It took 4 wash cycles, but the markings came out. I actually finished the quilting in September, but didn't have time to do the binding til November. Having this quilt off my list is a huge weight lifted. She seems thrilled when I gave it to her.

My second finish is the Amish Baskets quilt. Ever get bit by a bug and just decide you HAVE to make a certain quilt? Yea, I got a basket bug. This predates Elise's quilt. I'm guessing I started these blocks in 2003 or 4. It was one of my early attempts at hand piecing. My seam allowance was....all over the place.

They weren't all the same size, and with hand piecing you can't trim the blocks down. So, I just slapped them together, did a pillowcase turn on the edge and did a little ditch quilting. Don't know what I'm going to do with it now, but it's off the list. I didn't even chop off most of the points.

Finish Number three is the Halloween tablerunner. This is a pattern of my own design. I wanted something that looked seasonal without having all the cartoon-y Halloween prints. No there's nothing wrong with those. That was just my challenge to myself. I free-motion quilted it in a viney kind of pattern. It was fun to do. The before picture is a couple of posts back. Here is the after:

And here are a couple of detail shots:

And last but not least is Chez Moi 1. This one was already marked as finished, and listed as my finish for Feb. or March. I had it ready to go to the long armer, but my gal was closing shop. My mom found someone near her who's fantastic, and I sent this top to her kind of as a trial. I figured it was just for our bed. If it wasn't ideal, no one else would see it. However, they did a fantastic job. The thread choice works great, and it's not something I would have considered. It's turquoise, lime and purple. I got the binding done over the long holiday weekend.

I've been looking over the rest of my UFO list. I'm not quite where I wanted to be at this point, but I sure have made a good dent in the list. I'll have at least one more for December. Good thing Judy is having this challenge for next year.

Ann

October UFO

2011-11-02T20:46:00.005-05:00

I don't know where September went, and I can't believe it's November already. I got one project mostly done in Sept. It still needs binding, so you'll get to see it this month. I think I have a half dozen UFOs almost done. I've also been doing a lot of knitting, which doesn't help my UFO list at all. That's another post though.

I did get a finish for October while I was on vacation. And here it is. I call it "The Pillow of a Thousand Leaves":

And here it is flat without the pillow form:

Here's what I started with. This is wool pieces hand appliqued on a coarse silk background. The pattern is from Little Pieces by Joan. I did a pumpkin pillow of hers earlier.

And this is what I wanted to finish in October, but it's only half quilted. More pictures coming.

And this is one photo from our vacation. That's a separate post too. It's not a bad picture considering I couldn't stop laughing.

More later,

Ann

August UFO done! and preview on Sept.

2011-09-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

And here it is! The quilted square is one I made at a class about ...oh...7 or 8 years ago. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with it at the time, so into the pile it went. Here's a detail shot:

And the back.
Yes I realize this is not the most difficult of projects, but it was unfinished. It also gave me time to get a head start on my Fassett snowballs quilt for September. I also finished my Chez Moi 2 quilt top.

Here's what I started with on the Fassett snowballs. A pile of fabrics and partly cut pieces. This was from the Kaffe Fassett class I took at the quilt festival a couple of years ago. As UFOs go, this one isn't that old.

I didn't want to make the full queen size quilt. I'm just doing a lap/throw size. It still takes 320 small squares for the corners.

Here's the first couple of rows:

Here's a couple more. I've got the blocks assembled for the fifth row, and that will put me at the halfway point. My goal is to have the top done this weekend.

Stay tuned!

ann

Kitchen chairs

2011-08-24T08:00:00.001-05:00

In other news, I have projects that are UFOs, but are not quilting projects. The first is recovering my kitchen chairs.

This has been an ordeal? headache? trial? something for a couple of reasons. First off, Mr. Belfry didn't like my fabric choice. How anyone couldn't like Amy Butler's Soul Blossoms, I'll never know. This wasn't the first fabric; this was actually the third, but it was the first one I liked with the chairs. The first two were remnants I picked up that looked terrible with the finish.

The second fabric was ok. He liked it better than the first, but it didn't really do anything. This is a laminated cotton from the Nicey Jane line.

Then in a fit of pique while at JoAnn's I bought the third fabric. I told him I was using one of the three, whether he liked it or not. The third one, of course, is polka dots. He laughed and said go for it. (It actually looks really nice).

It isn't a coated fabric like I wanted, so I guess I'll scotchgard it. My MIL originally covered the seats in upholstery fabric for car seats. It's lasted almost 40 years, so you can't fault her choice. Actually the fabric is ok except for the front corners. It was the foam that had disintegrated and needed to be replaced most of all.

The other reason this project has dragged on is mechanical difficulties. First, I couldn't get staples for my stapler. Then my electric drill wouldn't hold a charge anymore (It is almost 10 years old). So, I replaced both of those. That took three trips to the hardware store. The other factor is the chairs are a little over engineered. I had to take out 12 screws to get the seats off. Four of them had to be done manually since I don't have an extension for my new drill. I did learn that if you are taking apart a piece of wooden furniture, if you leave it long enough the parts will change shape and it will not be fun to get the holes to match up again.

Here's the after pic: Not to shabby!

Not bad for my first solo upholstery job. At least the fabric is straight.

June, better late than never

2011-08-21T12:34:00.001-05:00

If you're considering starting a blog, one factor to consider before sharing it with your family is that it makes it very hard to talk about Christmas or birthday presents. There's also a good chance that you'll get asked why you haven't put up any photos recently. I have been sewing though.

I missed the deadline for the June UFO. I did finish it except for the binding by the end of the July 4th weekend. This quilt was originally intended to be a Christmas gift. But now I'm not sure. I'm still weighing if it will go with the intended recipient's house or not. hmmm.....

It started out as a pile of partly pieced strips:

I did a pseudo-quilt as you go technique, then came back and did a decorative stitch on each strip. I think I saw something similar in a catalog that inspired me. It's about 40x60".

I also finished up this one in May:

This was my #6 nephew's graduation quilt. The pattern is Tennessee Waltz. It's been done for awhile. All it needed was a label. I also wanted to get it shipped so he would see it before the rest of the world. Detail shot:

Additionally, I got the binding on two quilts to send to Japan. They're nothing fancy, but they'll keep someone warm. These are going to Quilts 4 Japan.

Other sewing:

I finished all my subway blocks and the top. Next up is quilting.

I've been working on my Chez Moi 2 quilt blocks for the past several months and completed that top, too.

I've working on the Glorified nine-patch blocks.

And I made a pillow for a retirement gift for a co-worker:

I've also started and finished my UFO for August. I learned last month. Do the UFO first, then catch up on other stuff. :) You'll have to wait to see that one.

July UFO

2011-08-12T19:03:00.005-05:00

Greetings Blogland!

Last week while I was traveling for a conference with Mr. Belfry, I got through my entire binding pile. Six days in an air-conditioned hotel room. 5 quilts bound. Bliss. Granted, none of them were huge, but they would have had to wait til the cooler fall weather arrived to work on them at home. I've never had a binding pile before. Usually I do the binding as soon as I finish the quilt. I guess that means the challenge is working because I'm finishing things, and the list is getting shorter.

So not only did I finish my June UFO (better late than never), but I also finished my July UFO. And here it is:

This is another quilt I started just to play with a charm pack. I made up a bunch of squares then set them aside. The fabric is Oz by Sanae for Moda.

I had a few fat quarters to try and figure out a border, but nothing really worked. So, I decided to forgo the border and just finish it. It's around 25x30 inches and quilted in the ditch.

My August UFO is a really, really easy one. I think I put it on the list here, so I'd have a chance to catch up. I am behind where I wanted to be, but I'm still working through the piles very well.

Just a stone's throw...

2011-06-02T21:29:00.004-05:00

What I did on my summer vacation...or rather Memorial day weekend. I helped my sister turn that pile of limestone into part of a flower bed. I say part because we all had to quit when our backs were done in.

Exhibit A: The limestone. Did I mention she got it for free? Neat huh?

Exhibit B: existing flower box/planter with rotting timbers. They were practically mulch when we removed them. Mulch with nails and rusty spikes.

And another side:

And the front side:

Exhibit C: After the timbers were out, we (mostly sis) dug a trench for the new stones.

Trench side 2:

Exhibit D: The first layer! Woo Hoo!

We got all the way around. Did I mention that each stone weighed 40-70 pounds and took two of us to move? Not a single one wobbles.

It only took us 4 hours.

And that was the end of that.

Eventually it will be 4-5 layers tall. That's as far as we got before I flew home. My back wasn't sorry to leave. ;)

Whoosh!

2011-06-02T21:12:00.004-05:00

That's the sound that May made as it flew by me. I must have blinked or something or they cut days out of the month. I did, however, get a UFO finished. It was a flimsy and I got it quilted and bound just under the wire.

Here's the before:

Here it is quilted:

Here is the finished and bound quilt:

Here's a closeup of the border and binding. I chose a fun plaid for the binding:

Here is the back. It's a really vibrant batik print in orange and aqua:

I also got two quilts for Japan quilted and the bindings sewn to the top. Those just need the hand sewing now. I also finished the last 5 of the 25 subway blocks. I'll do a separate post on that one. Not a bad month, I suppose.

Ta.

April UFO finish

2011-05-01T10:15:00.003-05:00

Here's my UFO finish for April. This is an original pattern I call Licorice Sticks. Yet again, another quilt that got set aside before the borders were added. In this case it was a combination of getting distracted by the next project, and being unsure what I wanted to do/what I had enough fabric for to finish the top. My goal for this was to finish the top this month. I squeaked in under the deadline and finished up last night.

Here's the before.

And here's the after. I added two simple borders and called it a day. Sorry about the daylight shot. Not used to having that around here.

Here's a detail shot to give you a better idea on colors. I used a Bali pop roll in Mocha Mint.

Yay! Done and ready for quilting. The backing and binding are also finished. And hey, guess what? The binding is dots!

I'll be quilting this one at mom's next weekend so this will be completely finished soon. I'll have to look at my list and see what I picked to work on in May. I get a pic up soon.

Made just for me

2011-04-30T10:58:00.005-05:00

Picture from Allpeoplequilt.com

I have found the perfect quilting challenge for me. Per. Fect. When they were thinking this up, they thought of me. Let's do a challenge for Ann, oh and whomever else wants to participate. American Patchwork and Quilting is sponsoring a Polka dot challenge. Make any quilt that has appeared in their Quilts and More publication with at least 50% polka dot fabric. Pffft 50%. HA! Go big or go home I say.

As you might have guessed, I like polka dots. I blame it on my mother for decorating my childhood bedroom in nothing but pin size polka dot fabrics in yellow, orange and lime green. OK, a) it was the 70s and b) I loved it. It was sure cheery. I have to admit I'm a polka dot purist. I don't care if they're in rows or scattered randomly, tiny or big, or overlapping, but they must be dots. Squares, hearts or flowers don't count. I'll make an exception for ovals, but that's it. Do I still buy squares, hearts and flowers? Sure! They're just not polka dots.

I've narrowed it down to three projects. No, I mean I have enough fabric for three projects, except for a couple of specific pieces for backgrounds that will arrive this weekend. Hee hee! I'm giddy just thinking about it. I'm going to try and use up every polka dot fabric i have, you know, so I can buy more. I even found a neat pattern to use that precious japanese polka dot fabric I've been treasuring for a special moment. (It's the light green one with the big white dots below.)

Special shout out to my peeps at The Fabric Shack. I placed an order for 23 different pieces of fabric about 10 pm on Thursday. I already got the shipping notification in my inbox before 9 am the very next morning. Way to swing those scissors! Edited to add: The box arrived on my doorstep on Saturday morning. And they include treats!

This should give me the energy to push through a couple of lingering projects and the remaining quilts for Japan. I have to get the final borders on my April UFO for Judy's challenge (today, eek!). Stay tuned for a post on that one. I've got to put the binding on my nephew's graduation quilt. I'll post on that one after he receives it. I have one Japan quilt quilted and three more tops to go.

Then, EEEE, DOTS!

ann

UFO finish for March and looking for a long-armer

2011-03-31T22:22:00.006-05:00

Hi Everyone,

The best laid plans do seem to get derailed. I did finish a UFO this month, but I didn't get everything done I wanted to. That's ok, though. After the earthquake in Japan, I set aside my projects to make quilts to donate. Go here for details. I'll post pics when they're done. So far I have 3 tops done and two more cut out.

Here's what I wanted to finish:

I have made great progress. In this picture, only one basket is appliqued. So far I've gotten everything you see here plus almost all the stems done. I've got a couple more stems and enough leaves to make my own tree, then I get to do the fun stuff....the flowers.

I also wanted to get another row of my Subway quilt done. This also did not happen. I've got one more block almost together. That's ok though. No deadline on this. I would like to get it off my design wall to make room for other things though.

Here is what I did finish to the flimsy stage: [before]

I think the original pattern was called Scotch Granny which doesn't fit on mine, so I need to come up with a better name. I've been calling it Chez Moi after the fabric designers. Maybe that will stick. The pattern called for plain borders. I had a bunch of bits leftover from the block construction that I sewed into pinwheels.

The book suggested making these into another smaller quilt. I decided to use them for the borders instead. This took a lot of figuring to make them come out right and I had to add some strips to fudge it a bit.

All in all, I'm really happy with it. I also pieced the backing complete with racing stripe, as Mr. Belfry calls it, because as we all know, 42" is the new 45".

AND I finished the binding too. Yay me.

Now I just need to find a long-armer to quilt it. My gal is hanging up her needles this spring. Anyone have a quilter to recommend or not recommend?

Oh, I almost forgot. I finished the Tennessee Waltz quilt this month too. It is currently at my soon-to-be-retired quilter's. No pictures here of that one. So I do have two finishes for the month. I'm not pleased with the piecing on that one, but I'm hoping the quilting will hide it. A guy going by on a bus wouldn't notice it.

Happy Spring!

Not bad for three days of work

2011-02-27T11:15:00.003-06:00

I just finished this lovely baby quilt last night. Rail fence has to been one of my favorite patterns. I made this for some friends who are expecting a new arrival any day now. This is made from Kate Spain's new Central Park line. It's such a delightful, springy line and a much needed visual break from the three days of snow we've had. I'm actually looking forward to mud.

I pieced in a section on the back both to stretch the fabric, but also to bring in more of the yellow from the front. I quilted it in straight lines. Not to exciting, I know, but it will hold together. I hope they like it.

February UFO finishes

2011-02-19T12:19:00.006-06:00

Hi All,

Here's my February finish for Judy's challenge. I quilted and bound my Amy Butler pinwheels quilt. I used a fusible batting which works great for quilts of this size (36ish x 45ish), and I quilted it in random straight lines. I hate marking quilts. It's time consuming and I'm not very good at it. Usually the end result doesn't look much like what I marked either. This was a lot of fun to do and I just kept going til I ran out of thread.

Here's a detail pic.

And here's after washing.

And the back:

I also crossed the squares table runner off the list.

I decided I didn't want to finish the whole thing. It was another test project, so I just finished it up as a table mat. It has gone to live in my laundry room under my bucket of detergent.

My other goals for February are to finish the Tennessee Waltz quilt top and get it ready for quilting and to make 5 more Subway blocks. I'm close on the Tennessee Waltz. I just need to do the borders. You don't get to see pictures until after the recipient sees it, sorry. I've got three of my Subway blocks done, but I ran out of white squares, so I need to cut more of those. It should be no problem to finish those up this week and next. I've also got a baby quilt and Christmas presents on the to-do list too. Whew! Well, that will certainly keep me off the streets for the foreseeable future.

Ta!

Ann

UFO Challenge Month 2

2011-02-04T21:01:00.004-06:00

Here's the next project I've chosen for the UFO challenge. Yes, I know I'm marching to my own drummer here. This is another quilt like the last one in that I got the top finished and set it aside. It just needs quilting and binding.

Here's a couple of detail shots. I bought one of those Lil' Twister templates and a charm pack of Amy Butler fabrics, and was just playing around. I had a blast playing with it, and it deserves to be finished.

I'm also going to cross this one off this month too. This is listed as the squares table runner. Only...I don't want to finish it. The sashing is tedious, and the fabrics were leftovers from another project. I was just playing around with my Accuquilt GO! cutting squares. Well...that part was fun. So, I'm going to finish what's together as a table mat and call it a day. It's about 16" square. I've already dispersed the rest of the project into the scrap pile, the stash closet, or the trash.

I'm also working on two other long term projects this month. One is Tennessee Waltz. That one's a gift, so I won't be putting pictures up. My goal is to have the top finished this month.

My other project is my Subway quilt (pattern from Elizabeth Hartman at Oh Fransson!). For Judy and Chris, here's how it looks with the second row finished. I've put a couple of chunks together....partly so it would take up less room. I'm done with the dark green squares now. I really like how the blue and orange lines look next to one another. Hmm...maybe I'll make a blue and orange quilt. No...must...focus.

I'm still looking through all the UFO finish posts. Way to go people! More than a hundred UFOs finished!

Keep warm!

Ann

Obligatory Blizzard post

2011-02-02T17:23:00.007-06:00

Snow-mageddon. Snowpocalypse. SNO-MG. Yea, that pretty much says it.

The snow started on Tuesday around 2 pm. It quit this morning around 11:30 am. Overnight we had thundersnow and 60-70 mph gusts. Our house shakes when it blows that hard. Very hard to sleep between that and the roaring wind. We finished up with 25". Parts of the driveway and yard had drift of 6-7'. We chopped down the drifts with a shovel, then the snowblower removed the snow. Rinse repeat. Why would we do it that way? This is why:

This is the driveway before we started. Most of it was 2-3 feet deep with a couple of 4' spots.

This is the middle section of the driveway and the part that was blocked from the wind. It's about 2' deep.

This is the front walk during shoveling:

This is the public sidewalk. Yes it's under there. That stone wall is about 3 1/2' tall. The whole sidewalk in both directions is drifted in.

This is the biggest drift over the driveway coming in at nearly 5'.

The big drift with snowblower.

We took a break at that point to warm up and get something to eat. We had been shoveling for over 4 hours. Past the big drift was another 2' deep section, then the rest of the driveway was 5' deep all the way to the end. I looked out the window when i heard the snow-blower start up again and saw this:

Thank you so much, city employee, whoever you are. He was going along our street and clearing out the end of everyone's driveways. His 10 minutes probably saved us another 2 hours with shovels and the snowblower. If he had gotten out, I would have kissed him.

Right now I'm going to go take the world's hottest shower and hope I can move my arms tomorrow. I've pulled out my next UFO, so stay tuned for that post.

Ta!

First UFO finish!

2011-01-08T20:09:00.009-06:00

Yay! I have my first finish for 2011. Here's the table runner in its completed state. I quilted it in the ditch and did an outline/echo pattern in the border. Nothing too exciting, but part of the reason this project got set aside was that I wasn't sure how to quilt it. Rather than over-think it, I just did something.

I originally estimated it would take me two total hours to complete. Ha! It took 2 1/2 to quilt and sew on the binding and another two to hand sew it down. So now I will take my estimates for future projects and double them.

Below is my secondary project for the month. My goal is to finish 6 blocks. I did blocks 5 and 6 this weekend, and need to complete #7-10. It takes about an hour to do a block or about 5 hours per row. I'm hoping to do a row a month for the next 4 months, then put the top together and quilt it. Of course, I realized this evening that it will finish at around 80" square which will take awhile to do.

This is why I never participate in the design wall Mondays. This project and all its pieces have been up since I started it and will probably hang out here til it's finished leaving me to rely on my design table and design floor for other projects.

Good luck on your UFOs.

First UFO

2011-01-02T13:10:00.003-06:00

Here's the first project I've chosen to work on for Judy's challenge. This is a table runner made from the leftovers of a Portobello market layer cake. I had just gotten my new Accuquilt Go! cutter and went to town cutting triangles. Since it was just a sample/test project, I set it aside and moved on to something else. It just needs quilting and binding at this point. I dug it out last night, ironed it, and basted it with fusible batting. It looked like it had been tied in knots and stuffed under a pile of bricks when I found it.

Yes, this is a pretty simple project, but I chose it for a few reasons. First it will be a quick finish. I can knock this one out of the ballpark for an easy win and get the year off to a good start. It will also allow me time to work on some of the more time-consuming UFOs for the rest of the month. Some of them will take longer than one month to finish. When I get this finished, it will go in my Etsy shop which is also one of my goals. A two-fer!

I've been ready everyone's UFO and new years resolution posts. Here's a great one you should all go look at from Wedding Dress Blues. I believe fabric is cheaper than therapy! Yes indeed the world does need more happy people.

Hope your 2011 is off to a good start.

Ann

UFO Challenge...Gulp!

2010-12-29T14:31:00.005-06:00

First let me distract you with a pretty picture!

This is a pattern I've designed. I'm calling it Piet's Garden right now, but that might change. It is also the newest entry on my UFO list.

I'm writing this post to list out my UFOs and join Judy's challenge. Go here. She's having everyone list 12 and commit to finishing them this year. I've never done a challenge like this before, and I have a lot of projects, so I'm going to list all of them and pick one each month. This way I'll have enough variety and not feel constrained. I relied on an older list for the projects that are "in storage", but since I haven't touched most of them I'll assume they are still there. :) The elves never seem to come in the night and finish things for me. The list also includes a few non- or not-quite-quilting projects, like cross stitch and some silk ribbon things. OK...deep breath. Here goes:

Grandmother's Flower Garden
applique stars
Tennessee Waltz
Snowball/9-patch
Chez Moi quilt 1
Chez Moi quilt 2
Fabric roses
Subway quilt
Licorice quilt
Strippy quilt
Piet's garden
Elise's quilt
quilted pillow cover
Le Jardin BOM
squares quilt for LR
Portobello market runner
Glorified nine-patch hanging
Oz pinwheels
Fassett snowballs
squares table runner
tiny 4 patches
silk scarf
Cross-stitch alphabet sampler
Amy butler pinwheels
Vintage Valentine BOM
wool baskets pillow
Buzzin' along applique
Sunbonnet sue cheryl
small art quilt
stone lark quilt
Black and pink 4 patch
Black and orange runner
hummingbird applique
honeybee blocks
Rise and shine quilt
Canterbury bells applique
Floribunda hangings
Hawaiian appliques
peppermint pinwheels
Amish baskets
tangerine tropicale

My version of Carolina Christmas

2010-12-29T13:53:00.009-06:00

Thanks for listening to me rant on my previous post. All the important stuff got done, even though my dining room looks like Santa's workshop exploded in it. Just my usual Christmas meltdown.

I finished the binding on the quilt from two posts ago. (note to self: go take a picture.)

I also finished my Carolina Fall quilt. I'm really happy with it, but those triangles nearly kicked my you-know-what. I had a few issues when I got done. I used a hand-dyed fabric on the border. It bled when I washed it. (yes, I pre-washed it) If you squint at the picture, some of the background fabric looks a little....dingy. If you're feeling less charitable it looks minty. My advice to you: If you're going to use hand-dyed fabrics, know your source. Wash them first and use a dye catcher or synthrapol when you wash the quilt. This is the second time I've used fabric from this dyer and the second quilt I've had very nearly ruined because of it. Despite, the....minty-ness, which I am still getting over, I'm pleased with how it turned out. I didn't clip off any points on the triangles, and I came up with a clever way to fix the border when I ran short of fabric. (note to self: don't measure when tired)

This is also the first quilt I have made for my husband and I to actually sleep under. And, no the one on the couch doesn't count.

I also finished this wool applique throw pillow which looks really great on the Fall quilt above. This was a really fun kit I got from Bits and Pieces by Joan at her booth at International Quilt Festival a couple of years ago. Go look at her site. She has tons of stinkin' cute stuff. www.bitsandpiecesbyjoan.com

Alright. back to work on my UFO list.

Ann

Highway to ....Christmas

2010-12-18T13:35:00.003-06:00

Does anyone else out there think Christmas isn't any fun anymore? I feel like I've been run over by a big red and green semi-truck. I'm roadkill on the Christmas highway.

The final straw was last weekend. I went out into the world where, you know, there are people, and all of them were shopping. Yes, I knew what I was getting into. I had girded myself for the 3 stops I had to make, including driving out to one store almost an hour away. All of this in a miserable, cold rain. Store One went fine. The returns were fine. Not too crowded. Found what I needed and got out. Store number two. Sigh, didn't have half of what I needed which didn't surprise me, but did have the stuff I needed for Christmas specifically. Fine. That's what the internet was made for. Store number three. This is the one that did me in.

I was looking for ties. I am the only person on the planet (besides my sister) whose father actually asked for ties for Christmas. So while I'm shuffling through the display, this horde of children (is 3 a horde? whatever) goes tearing by playing keep away with a basketball from one of the toy displays. Gee, you must be very proud of your future NBA stars, lady. Rolls eyes. I dodge the basketball game and go back to the clearance section, where I find the lady with tuberculosis or the plague or something coughing all over everything and not covering her mouth. Sigh. Really? You couldn't at least bring cough drops? Better yet, stay home!

In order to protect myself from Ebola or the black death or whatever, I give up on clearance in disgust and go back to the seasonal displays because at this point I've given up on even wrapping gifts. They're all going in bags. And I find the basketball game has devolved into the World Wrestling Federation, right in the middle of the store. All the while I'm listening to, "It's the Most Wonderful time of the year! It's the Hap!-Happiest season of all!" over the loud speakers. Really, Bing? I'm pretty sure the only reason he could ever sing that song is that he never had to do any Christmas shopping himself. Right then, I forgave the woman for her children's behavior because I know she must feel as defeated as I do. This act, if you know me well at all, is enough to nominate me for sainthood.

And quilting? None to speak of. Which is probably part of the reason I'm so cranky. I finished making two items for Christmas, which for obvious reasons I'm not posting pictures of given that 2 of the 4 people who read this blog are on my gift-giving list. I will present you with a picture of the tie I'm NOT giving my dad for Christmas. Yes, I bought myself a tie, to cut up into little pieces. And yes, I realize it works out to like $80 a yard for the fabric. I don't care.

So, any suggestions on how to recover your Christmas mojo?

Ok, thanks for listening to me rant. Back to quilting next time. I promise. I'm thinking of doing Judy L's UFO challenge next year. We'll see how embarrassing the list is.

Ann

A little more Bliss

2010-10-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

While I was in Iowa last week, I quilted this quilt. This is "A little more Bliss" from a Charlotte Angotti workshop I took last spring. I've talked about her classes before. This is my third Angotti quilt. I chose a different option for the border than what she was offering. I really like this turquoise-y blue. Here's a detail shot.

I used a loopy pattern using Superior Threads' Karnak. It's a variegated thread with turquoise, tan and dark brown in it. It worked wonderfully. I finished making the binding last night, and I'll finish sewing it down, hopefully tomorrow.

I realized something looking at my UFO list this week. I can complete 12 large projects in a good year. I define that as anything 40x60 or larger. It doesn't include bags, scarves, craft projects, knitting, crochet, or clothing. I have about 2 and a half years worth of UFOs at the moment on the list, and I know it's not up to date. I'm very good at starting projects. I get excited about some new pattern or fabric line and start something, then get excited about the next new thing and lay that project aside. I guess the first step is recognizing you have a problem...

Hi, my name is Ann and I'm a fabric-aholic.

Quilt show goodies

2010-10-16T12:26:00.005-05:00

Hey All,

Mom and I went to the AQS show in Des Moines last week. It was really nice. Saw lots of great quilts. I, of course, didn't take any pictures. Sigh. Stupid me. But it was a wonderful day...almost 90 degrees which is unheard of in Iowa in October.

We also made two more stops. Creekside quilting and the Textile Shop. The first is one of the nicest quilt shops I have been in. If you are ever passing through the Des Moines ares, make this shop one of your "must-sees." It's 5 minutes or so north of the interstate. The second shop is a home decorator remnant shop another 2 minutes north of Creekside. Very nicely displayed fabrics and great prices.

Now I know you all want to see the haul. Ok, here's what I came home with.

The bundle is fat eighths of Maison de Garance, the new line by French General. I just love their stuff. I may have to decorate a whole bedroom just with their fabrics. The blues are half yards of Rural Jardin. The round dealy is a frosted donut from Superior Threads. I love their products. I picked this up to use for hand applique. I often take applique projects with me when I travel (not that I work on them) and this will be better than carrying half my thread collection in a ziploc bag. Plus, most of my thread is packaged up with one project or another which means I can never find the color I need when I'm working on somthing else.

Right now on the design wall is Blocks 1 and 2 of Oh, Fransson's Subway quilt. They're turning out quite nicely.

The background really is white, but it's pretty washed out here. I'm still learning the new camera.

That's all for now.

Ann

Some days everything comes together perfectly, other days....not so much.

2010-10-03T11:00:00.007-05:00

Hey everyone,

Here's something I made this summer for my sister. I had so much fun doing it, and everything just worked. Considering I wasn't using a pattern and just made it up as I went along, that's pretty impressive. This is the front of the bag, oh, and these are the last of the cell phone pictures. Got a new camera before our vacation. I used a bunch of Art Gallery fabrics, one Michael Miller, and one really old Jinny Beyer that just worked in well.

This is the bag with the flap open. The inside panel there has a couple of pockets.

This is the back of the bag, complete with a pocket big enough for a paperback book. I also made a book cover with a beaded bookmark, but I didn't get a picture of that.

Now for the ugly. I'm of the opinion that most clothing pattern designers have never seen an actual human being. Maybe they were locked in caves in the 30s and forced to design patterns all these years. Maybe they're aliens with odd proportions 'cause the measurements on the patterns don't match up with any human I know. What I do know for sure, is that I am talented enough to read a clothing pattern, reproduce it in fabric, and wind up with something that I can't wear. As if 10 years of 4H sewing didn't prove that already. Sigh. Yes, people, I took measurements before I bought the pattern; yes I tried it on at various stages; yes I changed seam allowances and pleats. What I was trying to make was a wrap-around dress to use as a swimsuit coverup when we went to Florida last month. And this is what I got. It's a fair approximation of the pattern, and pretty cute, despite the shapelessness hanging on a wooden hanger. It simply doesn't fit. I think I'll boycott any patterns that don't include elastic or drawstrings.

I did learn two things from this project: Don't set in sleeves when you're tired and eyelet is really a b!@*h to rip seams out on.

Here's what I am working on. These are the fabrics I've pulled together for Oh Fransson's Tokyo subway quilt-along. You can find it here. I've got blocks one and two done.

That's all for now.

Ann

A self-professed band geek.

2010-09-04T11:25:00.005-05:00

I absolutely love this time of year. Not because of the weather or the trees changing colors or the hordes of students about to descend like a plague of locusts. I like this time of year on a college campus about three weeks before classes start because of band camp. The marching band is back and they're practicing. Right now it's just the drum line. They're working their butts off learning their parts before the rest of the band comes back. If the drumline is tight, the rest of the band learns quicker. They were outside last Friday practicing in sections. I went out on my break and listened to them for a bit. When I left work THREE HOURS LATER they were still outside practicing. Yesterday morning they had all the sections together marching around campus. I went out and followed them around for a few minutes. Yes, I'm a band stalker. Hey it's my coffee break!

If you don't think marching band kids work hard, you're outta your mind. And the drumline works harder than any section. Why? Because they never stop playing. They play the cadence that everyone marches to, then everybody plays a song, then back to the cadence. Imagine going for a walk. Now imagine you're wearing a backpack with 40 pounds of rocks in it on your front. Now imagine your carrying a can of soup (1/2 pound) in each hand and clapping them together the entire time. Now imagine every 5 minutes you have to insert dance steps. Now imagine doing that for two to three hours while dodging potholes and horse manure. That's what marching in a parade as a percussionist is like.

Honestly I always wanted to play drums. My last year of high school I got to play bells for marching band. It was a blast, despite having to carry the extra weight. The entire rest of my musical career I was stuck with the sliver-suckers. I got to march in an honor band for the Cotton Bowl Parade one year, and let me tell you that was extra hard work. We practiced for two days learning our songs in July. Then we had 6 hours of practice on a 90 degree day in August, THEN marched in a two hour parade the same day. We lost 20% of the band to heat exhaustion. A good chunk of that was the flag section because they practiced all day in the sun, but we took my sister to the ER on the way home too. (I think the directors learned something that day, and they didn't have a repeat the next time.) The Cotton Bowl parade itself was over New Year's, so we practiced for two days outdoors in 20 degree weather in Iowa in December. Dallas weather was a treat after that.

I just can't help tapping my feet when I hear them go by. Remember the next time you see a parade or a halftime show, think about the band for just a second before you go get your popcorn refill. Those musicians spent just as much time practicing as the football team did. They're learning formations too, and working just as hard.

Go Band!

Ann

photo courtesy of Northwestern University Archives

Back from Florida

2010-08-26T21:16:00.007-05:00

Hi Everyone!

Sorry to drop off the face of the earth. We're back from our well deserved vacation in the Florida Keys. Here's some pix to tide you over til I get back to our regularly scheduled sewing posts. Next time I'll update you on the Drama of the Dress and my suspicions that pattern designers hate me. In good news though, we got a new digital camera, so hopefully no more mediocre pictures like the last post.

First picture: This is out on the boat around sunset on the bay side of the Keys. The water is as flat as glass. It was just dreamy.

Here is one of the residents at The Key West Butterfly Conservatory. It's a fantastic place to visit with dozens of varieties of butterflies.

This is another of the very friendly natives. His name happens to be Tanner. You can meet him and his family at The Dolphin Research Center in Marathon Florida. The dolphins all seem to be such happy creatures you can't help, but smile at them. They recently had two dolphin calves which are doing well. You can tell how successful a program or zoo is if their animals are healthy enough to reproduce.

This was shot on our way out to Looe Key for a snorkeling trip. Yes, the water was that turquoise. It was gorgeous. It was crystal clear to a depth of almost 50 feet and as warm as bath water.

Here's one of the natives we saw on our last day at the Everglades National Park. Don't worry. We were up on a walkway well away from any closer introductions.

Talk to you soon!

Ann

Yarn days - anyone interested in a pattern?

2010-07-18T12:14:00.006-05:00

Hey all,

First off, apologies for the crummy pix. The camera is on the fritz, so these are taken with my cell phone. While I was on my blogging hiatus, I was playing with yarn. I finished this:

... Yes, i can tell you're scratching your heads. I did finish making a piece out of this yarn, but it didn't turn out the way I wanted, so I took it apart and started over. This is take 2. It's supposed to be a wrap, but it came out more like a scarf. But taking it apart gave me something to do while I was at jury duty.

This scarf/necklet turned out just right though.

Would anyone be interested in the pattern or a tutorial for this? I made notes while I was going, and I can post them here if there's interest. I made this up in a couple of hours. very fast, very fun. Just leave a comment.

Ann

You might need sunglasses...

2010-06-20T11:55:00.006-05:00

Hello? Anyone there?

I'm still here. Just haven't had much to talk about. I finished my Carolina Fall (nee Christmas) quilt. It will go off to the quilter this week. I'll put up a picture when it gets back.

The other project (sigh) hit a snag. I wadded it up in a ball and threw it in a corner. I hiss at it when I walk by. We still haven't made up yet. My advice to you...If you're making a quilt with two alternating blocks, make the more complicated one first. I made the easy ones (snowballs) first. The pieced blocks didn't come out quite the right size and the two blocks don't match up. The odds of this happening increase exponentially if you only have just enough fabric to make them.

So, I switched and worked on a couple of easier projects. First off an Amy Butler whirlygig quilt. This was just for fun, and it had the added bonus of using up some of those yards of turquoise I ordered. There's a line of templates to make the block without having to cut wedges. I put this together in a couple of afternoons. And, look! I even mitered the corners. I suppose I could have matched the stripes, but oh well.

Ok, Sunglasses time....

The other quilt I pulled out and finished just yesterday was my Good Gyrations quilt. This is from a class I took from Cara Gulati (www.doodlepress.com). I chose a more extreme color combination, shall we say?

This too, will head to the quilter's this week. This was a really fun pattern to do. Definitely one I would make again.

So, a question for everyone, assuming there's an everyone out there, and you even made it this far...Is there anyone out there actually reading my blog? And if you're related to me, you don't count. If you wouldn't mind, leave a comment. Just a "Hi, I read your blog" is fine. I haven't gotten all those fancy counter things to work yet. I'll have to get my people on that.

Talk to you soon. Sooner than last time, I promise.

Ann

I was going to call this post, "The world's slowest quilter"

2010-04-26T10:33:00.002-05:00

...but I realized I can't. I'm slowest when it involved cutting. I've been working on my Carolina Fall quilt. I finished Step 4 earlier this week.

I got to the end of sewing pairs of blocks and realized I was 3 triangles short (sigh), but I cut them out anyway to finish this step. Even though it was around midnight.

Then I moved on to Step 5. I had no reason to believe that it would go any quicker than the previous steps, but it didn't involve cutting soo....

Bam! After sewing just on Friday and Saturday, I flew through Step 5 and am now halfway through Step 6. If I get some good sewing time in today, I should have all the blocks done and the top pieced minus borders.

I realized this quilt is a little like making a suit jacket. When you make a jacket, you do a lot of structural sewing, top stitching, seam finishing etc. You spend a lot of time sewing, but it doesn't look like you're getting anywhere; there's nothing that actually resembles a jacket. Then all of a sudden you finish three seams and everything comes together and you have a jacket. That's how this feels to me.

The best part of this quilt is that it's made entirely out of stash. The bad news it that the pile of oranges doesn't seem any smaller. Hmmm....I wonder if it's breeding in there.

Later!

Chicago quilt festival Day 3

2010-04-25T10:18:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone!

My third class at the Chicago quilt festival was by Charlotte Angotti. This year's mystery quilt was called Bliss and it's in dreamy shades of sea and sand. It finishes around 70" square. I didn't purchase her border print. It just didn't do anything for me, so I'll need to find something else. Sewing went quite well til the end of the afternoon. There are two blocks and I switched pieces between them. Ugh. Got them ripped apart, but not sewn back together.

If you ever have a chance to take a mystery class from Charlotte, I really recommend it. Yes, they're expensive because you buy the kit. The class fee for this was $165, but if I were to buy the fabrics for the class I would spend that anyway. She uses blocks and colors in ways that really stretch my skills. I can't wait to get this one done.

Ta!

Chicago quilt festival Day 2

2010-04-20T20:12:00.017-05:00

Day two dawned bright and early. I was way tired from covering the entire show on Thursday night, and, of course, having to carry all my purchases. :) The class on Friday was Floral Snowball taught by Kaffe Fassett and Liza Prior Lucy. I have a ton of pictures, so be warned. Here's the project we were working on:

First off, we cut squares. Almost everybody had different color schemes. It was fascinating to see what everyone brought. We did that til noon, then we chose the color that would make the snowball block. Just look what everyone came up with.

This lovely specimen below is mine. I probably won't make it bed-sized, but it is fun fabric. I'm planning to use the fabric on the top right as the border. To make it queen size you need 600 some small squares. That's more cutting than i want to do.

A good portion of my fabrics came from Glorious Color which is run by Liza. I ordered on a Wednesday and received my fabric on Saturday. Fabulous service. There's also a neat feature on their website, "created by a math geek out of Berkeley" according to Liza. It's color ribbons. Click on a ribbon and it shows you what fabrics are in that range. Really fantastic for matching fabrics. Go check it out.

I'll update as I work on the quilt, but it's not the top of the list right now. Fun fabrics though. Anyway it was a great class. More later

Chicago quilt festival Day 1

2010-04-18T10:22:00.005-05:00

Hey All,

Sorry it's been so long since the last post. I'm still on my quest to clean closets and making good progress. I also finished my taxes! Hooray! Since I just finished 2008's in October, getting 2009's in without filing an extension feels really great.

I've been attending the International Quilt Festival in Chicago the last three days. I had some fabulous classes, bought too much fabric, and chatted with many wonderful people. The sad part is that the Festival won't be back next year. After 8 years in Chicago, they're moving to Cincinnati. :( Have to save up to go to Long Beach instead. :)

This year the show felt a lot like their heart just wasn't in it. There were half the quilt show entries there were last year, and about a quarter of the display was antique quilts from their collections which I do love looking at. None of the new quilts really grabbed me. So no pictures there. The vendor area seemed about the same size, but everyone was more spread out. That meant there were fewer vendors, but it was easier to browse.

My first class was Wednesday and it was Glorified Nine Patch taught by John Flynn. This is a 9 patch with curved piecing.

One of the best things about John's classes is that the kits are pre-cut by laser. They are accurate to 1/100th of an inch. Therefore if the pieces don't match up it's your own dang fault. The picture is the sample he brought. My kit is batiks with a light background. There were also kits with a black background.

It was a surprisingly easy block to do, but I'm not overly intimidated by curves. My first block was kind of a mess so I'll take it apart. All the rest I finished laid perfectly flat. /smug

Here's a photo of John ironing. He says he doesn't do shirts, only flat things.

John and his daughter Kate also provide a laser cutting service. You send them your fabric and a pattern and they'll cut it for you. I've had two cut and it's so nice. It's also very reasonable. Cutting isn't my favorite part and quite frankly, I'm not very good at it. It's so nice to open a box and just start sewing. My two kits were $50-60 each. They have a month lead time, so plan ahead. They also cut all the kits for Charlotte Angotti's classes. I took that on Saturday, so you'll have to wait to hear about that. Go check out their website at www.flynnquilt.com. They also have pre-made kits for many of their patterns.

Stay tuned for day 2.

Road trip, Part II

2010-03-21T11:25:00.008-05:00

My last stop for the day, well other than dinner, was Bloomington's newest yarn shop In a Yarn Basket. (www.inayarnbasket.com). They are about 10-15 minutes south of downtown in a shopping center on the west side of Walnut. I didn't take a picture of their sign, but it has a really cute chicken on it.

They have a terrific selection of colors and styles of yarn and many fiber blends. They're really nicely arranged, too. All the wools are together; all the cottons are together. The colors are also laid out well too. Each section looks like a rainbow. These two photos are of the main room. There's also a room to the back that has more yarn and functions as a classroom.

I really liked the way they had their patterns displayed. They were in sheet protectors in pockets on the wall facing out. It was very easy to browse. Much nicer than putting them all in 3-ring binders. I'm not going to pick up a binder and page through it especially an overstuffed one, though I do understand that it's easier space-wise. The eye buys, and it worked here.

Here's what I picked up.

I found a couple of patterns that look easy enough for me. Yes, I'm pushing past just doing scarves and other flat items and trying something that requires fitting and gauge, and even (gasp) sleeves. I'm starting with the shell, so sleeves will come along later. The yarn is a very nice cotton that will be perfect for summer.

Now lest you think I'm just burying myself in yarn, I did finish two projects from the yarn I got two weeks ago. I've also started the third one. However I can't find any of my needlepoint needles to weave the ends in, and you don't get picture til they are completely finished. I know I have a half dozen or more of the things, so I refuse to buy any more. It means I need to sort through my knitting box and drawers and project bags which is on the list of things to do anyway.

That's the fun part of the trip. The less fun part was driving back yesterday. It was 70 and sunny when we left and 35 and snowing when we got home. Ick. I don't think it froze enough to zap any shoots or tree buds up here at least.

I hope it isn't snowing where you are and that you, too, got to fondle some fabric for National Quilting Day.

Ta!

Road trip, Or What I Did for National Quilting Day. Part I

2010-03-21T09:59:00.017-05:00

Mr. Belfry was travelling for work this weekend. I tagged along to play tourist. Our destination: Bloomington, Indiana. I had hoped spring would be further along there, but alas their winter has been much like our own. These are all of the daffodils I saw. All 6 of them or so. If I'd realized sooner that the Indiana quilt show was earlier in March, I would have pressed to go that weekend instead. However it was spring break while we were there. There is no better time to visit a college town than during breaks or summers.

The trees were just starting to bud and it was wonderfully warm and sunny.

The university does do some wonderful landscaping though, so I did get to see a little spring color.

Of course the color you're all really interested in seeing was indoors. :) My first stop was Yarns Unlimited in Fountain Square Mall on the south side of the square. (www.yarnsunlimited.com)

They have a really nice selection of wools and wool blends. They had some great shop samples of felted bags. I always enjoy seeing their selection of specialty yarns, too. They've recently (like in the last few years) added fibers that are locally dyed. Go look at their website for better pictures and a class schedule. The people in the shop are very friendly and willing to help with any project you have questions on. And, of course, I just love a shop that understands that you need to touch every skein in the store before you make up your mind.

They've also rearranged extensively since I was there last. There seems to be a lot fewer weaving supplies and the rest of the yarn has expanded into that space. Everything is better organized and easier to browse. It seems more airy.

I came home with these two skeins:

The one on the left is a hand-dyed rayon blend. The one on the right is a hand-spun silk by Tilli Thomas. It's more dark pink than red. Both of these will become scarves or neck-wraps of some kind.

Stop number 2 for the day was Bloomington's newest quilt shop, Shiisa quilts. They're a little tricky to find if you aren't used to navigating in an area that's not laid out on a grid system. Check Google maps or mapquest before you go. It's well worth the time.

You can see the shopping center from the main highway down and on the west-side. Inside was a wonderful selection of fabrics. It was just a riot of color.

They had a nice selection of Moda and Westminster fabrics (among others), a good selection of notions and thread, and a nicely displayed selection of books. They had a lot of small kits made up and many display samples. They also had some non-traditional quilting fabrics, silks and kimono remnants and some ethnic fabrics. Everything was nicely arranged and not over-stuffed. There was an ok selection of pre-cut rolls, but they added some of their own pre-cuts to the menu, both charm size and rolls.

I purchased most of the fabrics I need for my K. Fassett class next month, plus a charm pack of Oz by Sanae. I also found a really neat pale orange fabric from an Australian designer I've never heard of that I think will go nicely with the Fassett fabrics.

That's all for part I. I found a new yarn shop that I'll tell you about in the next post.

Stay tuned!

A new recycling container!

2010-03-14T11:54:00.004-05:00

Here's my new fun project I mentioned yesterday. I saw a cute container based on a berry basket on whipup.net. I thought I could do the same thing only based on a larger container. This is modeled after a small paper shopping bag, 10 1/2 x 8 x 4 ". Here's the top view:

I used an old pair of blue jeans. It took all of one leg and a bit of the other. I lined it with the leftovers from binding this quilt. I miscalculated on how much lining I would need to square up the bottom. I guess I could have cut it off, but I liked how it looked when I folded it over, and it added stability. The front, back and bottom have timtex in them. The sides have no interfacing. I made them as flaps, then folded them around and tacked them in place. I tried to do it on the machine, but I could not contort the thing around enough to get it under the needle.

Then the front needed something else....hmmm...how about this:

Mr. Belfry and I both thought it was too pretty for a recycling container, but that's what it will be for now.

The four patches from yesterday are mostly done. I've got the center ones for the blocks done, and all the pairs sewn for the corners. I'd like to get those done today. It might be sunny enough to go for a walk though. Have to take advantage of the decent weather.

Ta for now.

Danger Will Robinson!

2010-03-13T16:13:00.003-06:00

Hi! /waves

Welcome to all the new visitors from quilterblogs.com. Howdy!

so...yeah...I've kind of been absent for a week or so. I have been quilting. Honest! But it's the project I can't take picture of just yet. I got the snowball blocks done though. I'm working on the four patches today. It's such wonderful, mindless sewing for a dreary rainy day.

I also finally finished Carolina Fall Step 3. Yes I'm the slowest quilter on the planet. That's the picture above. It's 196 of the diamond units. It also resulted in almost 400 of these:

Yes, it took longer to sew everything, but I have a pattern in mind for these leftover bits.

The other reason I don't have much progress to show is that I dropped of my Linus quilts last weekend. My closest drop-off is at a yarn store. Let's just say I walked in with a bag and walked out with a different bag. I'll have pix when those items are done.

Stick around tomorrow. I've got a fun quickie project I finished up for the house!

Off to get the hairs trimmed.

A Finish! Garden Party

2010-02-28T11:22:00.004-06:00

Hi!

Here's the finished quilt I promised you yesterday. This is from the mystery class I took last spring with Charlotte Angotti. It was such a fun pattern to sew that I've already got fabric to make a second one in another color way. Each block has like eleventeen pieces in it.

Yesterday wasn't the best light for taking pictures. I dragged this one down to the beach and climbed up the life guard towers to get the picture. The snow drift wasn't very level so the quilt looks pretty crooked. I suppose I could have spent more time looking for a spot, but it was doing this yesterday:

The wind was blowing in off the lake around 30 mph which is no picnic. It was almost above freezing though. Warm days here are very gloomy. The snow melts and puts a lot of humidity in the air. A beautiful sunny day is almost always below freezing.

I finished cutting all my 2 1/2" squares last night, so Carolina Fall step 3 will hopefully be finished today. I'm also halfway through a stack of 30 snowball blocks. I'm still waiting on one turquoise fabric to finish cutting those squares, then that project can move forward.

Those are the highlights for now. Have a great rest of the weekend.

Yay! Finally some sewing...too bad it's not for me.

2010-02-27T10:32:00.002-06:00

Hi,

Finally some sewing to show. Ok, I'll have another picture tomorrow because I did get a binding finished up, but for today I have these blocks. They're 6" blocks. Do they look familiar yet? No? Keep looking, I'll wait. /insert Jeopardy theme.

Yes, they're blocks from the Olde Hickory pattern. I showed my recently finished nephew quilt off at the quilt group a few months ago, and they loved it. They decided to use the pattern to make a quilt for Quilts of Valor (www.qov.org). We're making it in red, white and blue. I think it will look really nice.

In other news, I made a quilt label this week and got it sewed on. Yes, I know very exciting. This is another quilt for the same group. It's going to a silent auction fundraiser next week. I'll try to get a picture then. It's the last project the group did while I was the chair.

I'm also finishing up step 3 of Carolina Fall. Unfortunately, I'm to the part that calls for cutting 600 two inch squares. I've gotten about a third of them done. I also cut about 200 rectangles for the same step this week. It's a little tedious.

So, I've been pretty busy, but not much worth taking pictures of. I will get a picture of my completed quilt, Garden Party, today.

Stay tuned.

International traveller

2010-02-20T10:12:00.005-06:00

Greetings,

Another slow week here and not a lot of quilting going on. Sigh. Most of the fabric order came in except for one solid that's backordered still. sigh. Of course that's the one I really want. So the project waiting on the turquoise has ground to a halt. I have been fondling the fabric from the new French General line, Rural Jardin. Absolutely delightful prints. Can't wait to get some more at the quilt show in April.

The quilt above is another oldie. It was a kit that came from Keepsake Quilting. Great catalog. When it came, though, I worked on it for awhile, then I kind of lost my excitement for it and it sat in a closet for 100 years. Part of the reason is because it's a paper piecing pattern. While I love the results of paper piecing, I really hate pulling all the paper off. Really hate it. I finally pulled it back out and finished it in 2006 for a silent auction fundraiser for a women's group I belong to. As I recall it did quite well. The purchaser sent it to a friend in Germany as a birthday present. So this is my international traveller. Here's a detail shot.

That's all for now. Later! A

No quilting going on here

2010-02-14T11:32:00.002-06:00

Sorry. No pictures this time. I've done very little quilting in the last week or so. I started working on a stack of blocks last week and had to tear the first one apart four times. I took that as a sign to come back to it later. Thanks to the Olympics, I've had some to do some handwork. I'm finishing the binding on the Garden Party quilt. Pictures when it's done. And I'm still working on my Le Jardin blocks. I realize how out of practice I am on my hand applique.

I received my class confirmation for the International Quilt Festival recently. I'm taking three all-day classes from Charlotte Angotti, John Flynn and Kaffee Fassett. Should be really exciting. The materials are provided for the first two classes, but I need to buy fabric for the Fassett class. I can't decide what colors to make it. I've still got almost two months though.

Other than that I've been spending most of my free time job-hunting. My goal is to have a different job by April 1st. So far I'm not having much luck, but I'll keep you posted.

Until next time...

When buying fabric is annoying....

2010-02-06T10:39:00.005-06:00

Bet you didn't think that was possible, eh? I'm doing a lot of cutting right now. If I have a quilt cut out I'm more apt to sit down and sew a few blocks when I get home from work. I'm working on the quilts on the cover of the book shown above. The one on the right is called Scotch Granny. I'm using the first Chez Moi line by Moda fabrics that came out about 5 years ago maybe. I bought a whole tower of fat quarters because I loved the line so much. I have all of those cut...144 6" squares. I also have all the squares cut that are the little red triangles in their version. 144 of those. The problem is that little tan stripe in all the blocks. I need 144 of those too. It takes 2 1/2 yards of fabric. I know, sounds like a lot, but you get two blocks out of it.

Anyway, I'm using a turquoise fabric. I pulled it out last night to iron it. Somehow I had the fabric stored with part of it exposed to direct sunlight. Normally a few faded spots wouldn't bother me. I had this stupid fabric folded so there is a line going from selvedge to selvedge every 12" or so along the entire 2+ yards. There's also a fade line running through the center intersecting all the other lines. /growl Of course, since this fabric (the first metro blue line by Michele D'Amore) is almost five years old too, it's out of print.

Now, I have two choices. Get in the car and drive about 45 minutes each way to the nearest quilt shop and find a substitute or hit the web and find a replacement. If I spent enough time, I could probably find the same fabric, but I opted to try something I could get more of if I needed it. The disadvantage to shopping on the web is that the colors are really hard to match. So I found the four best likely candidates and ordered enough of all of them. Sigh. Yes 10 yards of fabric, 7 1/2 yards or so won't get used for this project. Good thing I like turquoise. I suppose I could have ordered one, waited til it arrived, checked it for a color match, then ordered another one. Again, it's a time factor. Though I think one fabric is backordered anyway. This way I can pick the best and toss the other three into the stash. Of course, the really bad part is all the other stuff I ordered to make the shipping worthwhile. hee.

So what's the fate of the faded fabric? I'm going to cut it up and put the unfaded parts together and toss the faded bits in the scrap pile. They all look fine, just not right next to each other. I'm sure I'll have a charity project where a soft pale turquoise will look nice.

In unrelated news, I'm up to 22 minutes on the Behemoth. It doesn't sound like much, but the first few days after my back got better, I could only do about 2 minutes. No, it's not a hard machine to use. I'm just that out of shape. The fun part is it gives me an excuse to download what Mr. Belfry calls obnoxious dance music from iTunes.

First finishes - 2010

2010-01-31T12:50:00.008-06:00

I finished two quilts this weekend! Yay! I can cross them off the list. The first one was a mystery quilt project from the Stashbusters quilt list. Sandra Wucher designed it.

There's supposed to be a secondary pattern and my fabric choices didn't accomplish that, but that's the challenge of a mystery quilt. Mom did the quilting as a practice piece for another project. It is definitely a cheery quilt.

The next quilt I finished will go up for sale in my Etsy shop when I finished getting it configured.

This quilt is a rail fence type pattern with the blocks set on point. It is shades of turquoise, teal, brown, tan and green. I started with a set of 2.5" strips and just started sewing. This one I quilted myself and it turned out quite nicely.

There's a pillow that goes with it, too, because I wanted to use up every last bit of the fabric. I'll let you know when it's available and where to go.

Cobblestones and Bricks

2010-01-30T10:49:00.004-06:00

Here's another of my niece/nephew quilts. Number 4 of 8. This one has actually been done for awhile so I can't really call it a completion for 2009, though I did just get the label on it. Sorry for the lackluster photo. The quilt is black and white...no pink at all. It's an issue with the camera flash and poor lighting. The pattern came from http://quilting.about.com/. There are lots of free patterns available there. The whole thing is made with 2 1/2" strips so it would be very jelly roll friendly. I had a lot of fun picking out fabrics for this. There are probably 30 or 40 different fabrics in it.

The world's ugliest baby quilt

2010-01-24T11:24:00.004-06:00

Have you ever made a quilt that you just hated everything about it? This is one of those for me. I made it to order for a client who wanted pink, brown and purple. I had a devil of a time finding fabrics that go together. Most of the pinks that go with brown are of a slightly orangier tone like the reproduction fabrics. Baby pinks are truer pinks. Plus, because I was on a budget I was limited to the selections at my JoAnn's. Now the pink and brown prints go pretty well together, and the pink and purple prints work too. When you mixed them up....well...it's not my favorite quilt ever (Sorry, P.).

I cut the squares using my Accuquilt GO! which took a couple of hours at the most. The pattern is a Disappearing Nine Patch which went together quickly. I tried machine quilting three large flowers like the one print, then did a loose stipple around them. I think my machine hated the quilt too, because I fought with the bobbins the entire time. I picked out dozens of rats' nests. I fully anticipate that the quilting will all come out after it's been washed three times.

The only good thing about this quilt is that I finished it on time. I was so glad to see it go I didn't even insure it when I shipped it.

The Behemoth

2010-01-24T11:01:00.002-06:00

So, I mentioned yesterday we were shopping for an exercise machine. Yesterday was shopping trip number two. We chose the Schwinn 420 elliptical machine, now affectionately called, the Behemoth.

The folks at the store helped us get it in the car, but we had to unload it at this end. The Behemoth weighs 160 lbs. in the box. We managed to slide it up the stairs with Mr. Belfry pushing and me pulling. That was a workout right there. There's a reason we need exercise equipment. I'm still sore today.

Oh, did I mention we had to assemble it too? I think the best test for how strong your marriage is, is to assemble a complicated piece of furniture or machinery. We did quite well I thought. The sales guy said it takes their staff a little over an hour to assemble it. It took us about three. We got to the end of the directions and had two screws and one part left over. Never a good sign. The screws, we discovered, went to an accessory we didn't have. whew! The extra part, however, was supposed to be put on in step three. sigh. Alright, off come the arms, disconnect the peddles, take off the console, unhook 5 screws for the stem....and we couldn't get the electronics disconnected. I think the two parts snap together permanently. The extra piece is a plastic cover, probably to keep dust or debris out of the wheel mechanism, so we cut it apart and wrapped it around the stem. Problem more or less solved. I do need to figure out a way to close up the cut though.

Then it was time to move it. Once you got it out of the box and assembled, the weight was only reduced by like 2 pounds. The Behemoth is also about 5 feet long. We discovered that we wouldn't be able to make the last corner to put it in the back bedroom. So for now, it's living in our bedroom, which doesn't make me very happy, but it is the next best choice. The machine also looked a lot smaller in the store compared to the treadmills, recumbent bikes, and larger ellipticals.

I'll let you know how it goes, but I think for now I'm going to have another cup of coffee.

2010 Goals

2010-01-23T13:05:00.002-06:00

Goals

I break my goals down into monthly segments. I won't bore you with a list of those, though I'm sure you're all losing sleep over the state of my coat closet. I do have quilty goals though. My list for January includes three:

Finish cutting out the next nephew's quilt. - DONE! This is the last picture I'll be putting up of the nephew quilt, by the way, at least until it's finished and gifted.

Complete Step 2 of Carolina Christmas. - DONE! Look at those points! Aren't they sweet!

Finish Le Jardin Block 1. - getting there. I still have another week to finish that one.

I've never been a Trimmer, the kind of person who trims up blocks at each step, but I do want to move my piecing to a higher level. Plus I've been truly inspired by Nicole over at Sister's Choice Quilts (http://sisterschoice.typepad.com). Look through her blog. It's just full of eye candy. Her piecing is so precise. She's also a Trimmer. I thought it was time to dip my tool in that pool and give it a try, and I'll be danged if it didn't make a difference. I trimmed the half square triangles (the green one with the white one in the lower right hand corner of the block). Last night I sewed the large green triangles on, and I didn't lop off a single point on the small green triangle. Not. A. Single. One. /pats back. Now I noticed when I was ironing that I sewed about three of the large triangles on reversed, but I'm not going to rip them out. /smirk My perfectionism has limits. I'm more of a good-enough-ist.

I'm going to trim them again this afternoon when we get back from errands. We're getting an exercise machine. I hope to locate the quilt shop in that area too, so it will be worthwhile.

more tomorrow.

2010 Finally!

2010-01-16T11:30:00.006-06:00

I've been reading a lot of blogs where people are expressing great relief at 2009 being done. Me too! The Year of Suck is over! We pause now for the marching band to play a celebratory toon. Whew!

So, Resolutions? Anyone out there make them? I don't. Resolutions always seem wishy-washy to me. "Achieve world peace. Save the chipmunks. Lose weight." I set goals and create habits. Goals are concrete, something you can sink your teeth into. Habits are ways of changing your behavior. To start with, I am working on three habits for the year:

Do something creative everyday.
Try a new recipe every week.
Deal with the mail and 4 additional pieces of paper everyday.

I want to be in the habit of doing something artistic or creative everyday. This could be working on a project, sketching ideas, researching a technique, or just picking up a piece of fabric and making a plan for it. My tendency has been to leave all my creativity til I have a free weekend, then sewing for 10 hours straight. While it is fun to do that, it means I create in fits and starts and only after everything else is finished. I want creativity to be a priority in my life. Then there's also the day I spent 10 hours ironing blocks. I spent the next day with an ice pack or heating pad on my frozen up shoulder. Not fun. By doing something everyday, I avoid damaging parts from over-use.

Habit 2 is to try a new recipe every week. Mr. Belfry and I want to try to eat healthier and try new foods. We also want to use all the cookbooks and cooking magazines we have. So far we've made a couple of really good soups. As we try them, I write the recipe on the calendar, so we'll have a record at the end of the year.

I tried something like this five or six years ago. I wanted to bake a new type of cookie every week. It went really well for about 6 weeks. I found lots of great recipes. The drawback is that most cookie recipes make at least 2 dozen, if not more, cookies. I can't eat a dozen cookies....well...ok...I can eat a dozen cookies in a week. I need to not eat them for my health.

The last habit is to try to tame the paper tiger. I don't know about you all, but I swear the stuff breeds when I'm not looking. I have worked to reduce the amount of crap coming into the house, and it is paying off. I sort the mail as soon as I bring it into the house, usually standing over the recycling bin. Then I go to the shredder if needed. Bills go in their place. After that I look for 4 pieces of paper lying around. This could be anything, a magazine, a torn out article, an old bill, a printout. I pick up and deal with 4 additional items. You would not believe how fast that will improve your home. That's 28 items in a week. Right now, I will admit, a lot of it is getting dumped in the "to file" bin, so I'll have to handle it again, but at least it isn't strewn about the house. My plan is to start scanning stuff into the computer and getting rid of the paper entirely. I'm tired of moving it, we're out of room to store it, and 90% of it we'll never need again.

The pic above is in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. You can just see a tinge of purple where the wildflowers are blooming. This is from the summer of 2008.

That's all for today. Time to go pick a new recipe!

The Holiday we spent shoveling

2010-01-09T17:18:00.000-06:00

This year we travelled to Iowa for the holidays. You might have heard already that they got some snow. We got three white christmases worth of snow or about 25" not counting the freezing rain that also fell. I had my fingers crossed the whole time that we wouldn't lose power. Thankfully we didn't, but it flickered really badly when the wind came up. Auntie and Uncle did lose power, and then their generator went out. They had several really miserable days in a row. We did put Christmas off til the Sunday after, and that worked out well.

This time of year is hard on the cows as well as the farmers. They had to shovel out all the feed bunks before they could feed the cattle. Imagine if you had to shovel 300-400 feet of sidewalk every morning by hand. That's what they have to do. After they get all that done, they then have to check all the water and make sure it's open so the cattle can drink. This is all assuming that the tractor will start in the first place. You also have to plow the driveways while your doing all of this too. I really feel for everyone who works outdoors this time of year. All that snow is pretty to look at, but the temperatures are so hard on people.

Candy bar quilts

2010-01-09T08:04:00.002-06:00

Greetings! When my sister and I were little and allowed to go to the grocery store with Mom, when we got to the checkout line we always asked for a treat. If we were good, or less obnoxious than usual, we could pick out one item from the candy display. It was always such a hard choice. The candy bar to eat on the way home? Or the pack of gum that might last a few days? Or if it was hot, we sometimes split a soda from the machine out front. Real soda. That cost 50 cents and came in a glass bottle. We had to agree on whether we wanted grape or orange.

I've carried this concept of treats into adulthood. When I go to the grocery store, I usually pick out my treat first to satisfy my inner child. That way I can talk her out of things by reminding her that there's a donut or other treat waiting, so maybe you should put the pop tarts and ice cream back.

I also like candy bar quilts. Tiny, inexpensive kits that you can make up in an afternoon or evening. When I go to the big quilt shows....or the small ones for that matter, I'm always on the lookout for these little instant gratification projects. The flag quilt above is from Country Threads (www.countrythreads.com). They have some of the best little quilt kits available. I've made three of their kits. For some reason however, I can't find one of them. Sigh. Time to do some more sorting. :)

Anyway, this little flag is 10x12". The darkest color is navy. I quilted the light stripes and around the star. It was quick and easy and I finished it in a couple of hours. Sometimes I like having a quick, almost instant finish, especially when I'm up to my eyeballs in more involved projects that seem to go on forever. It's a good way to keep your quilt mojo humming.

Parade of Quilts 2009 - Jacob's Ladder

2009-12-17T19:55:00.006-06:00

Hey All!

Now that Christmas is over and all the boxes arrived at their intended destinations, I can show some more quilts. This one is a Jacob's ladder. It's about 55x70. Pretty standard pattern in pink, burgundy and green. I sent it out for Deb to quilt and yet again, it looks great. No close-ups on the quilting though, sorry.

This is from a mystery class I took at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago from Charlotte Angotti. For her classes, you show up with a pair of scissors and sew all day. You get to find out what you're making about 3 pm in the afternoon. All the pieces are pre-cut by laser by flynnquilts.com. They are perfectly accurate. Charlotte has excellent fabric choices. They blend beautifully. She doesn't teach the class so much as she stands in front of the group and tells stories. I would also recommend taking a good seam ripper. Sometimes there are lots of fussy pieces and it's easy to get a triangle flipped around and sewn to the wrong side of a square.

I finished this quilt for my SIL for Christmas. She loves pink and rose and burgundy. And teal which this quilt doesn't have, but I hit most of the right ones. Now this is second-hand information, but it's a good story. When SIL#1 opened it, SIL #2 insisted that it must be for her and the box was mislabeled. However, I did label the quilt for its intended recipient. That put an end to the argument, but probably not the coveting. Ah! It's so gratifying when people fight over your quilts.

Moral of the story: Always label your quilts! It will head off fisticuffs between relatives.

Ta!

Squeeee! Le Jardin Block 1 arrives

2009-12-17T19:43:00.004-06:00

Have you seen the latest design from Anne Sutton? This is Le Jardin, her latest block of the month featuing Rouenneries fabrics from Moda. It's just scrumptious. I love the fabrics and I adore the bunnies. Here Baltimore Bunnies pattern is also on the list of quilts to make before I die. I ordered mine from Shabby Fabrics, and I think they still have some spots open if you hurry.

Ok, I'm going to put this in writing. I, hereby, commit to keeping up with this block of the month. I will finish each block before the next one arrives. You all see that. I have witnesses. And I'm gonna get started....just as soon as I wrap the rest of the Christmas presents. sigh.

Carolina Fall from Bonnie Hunter

2009-12-11T20:01:00.006-06:00

Hi there. Here's one of my current projects. I've joined in on Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas mystery. (http://Quiltville.com/) So far I'm through step 1, so I'm not really setting the world on fire. I've wanted to make a fall quilt for a long time, and I've been collecting fabrics forever. When I started pulling the fabrics together I realized quite how many fall fabrics I had. It was a landslide of orange. I'm doing green and orange and gold as the main colors with off-white as the background. So far it's been fun. I'm taking a little more care than I usually do and making sure everything measures right.

Have you ever bought a piece of fabric and held on to it for a long time, afraid to use it up? I'm sure most quilters have. I realized that if I'm making a quilt for myself and use that special fabric, I still have the fabric. The one thing that does change is that you can't really use it for anything else after that. So, if you're hoarding a piece of fabric, is it because you don't know what to do with it or you're afraid of using it up or worried about limiting the possibilities for that piece? Of course, sometimes you just have to wait for the right circumstance to come along. The fabric I'm going to use for the borders on the fall quilt has been patiently waiting for its day to come. I guess it's a late bloomer.

I did go ahead and get the EZ angle ruler that Bonnie recommended. I don't usually go for the specialty rulers since it seems you usually need a Ph.D. in physics to understand them. In this case, however, Bonnie has put together really great instructions on how to use it...with pictures! I'd go read the pattern just for that info.

Well, anyway. That's one of the 6 or so projects floating around the studio right now. I'll update as I move along.

Parade of Quilts 2009 - Olde Hickory

2009-12-11T19:58:00.008-06:00

Yay! UPS finally came through and delivered the box of presents (late). I can talk about those quilts now. This is another quilt in my niece/nephew series. I decided it would be nice if I made all my nieces and nephews quilts when they graduated high school. My SIL has 8 children. Yes, I think she's out of her mind, and yes, I have told her that on more than one occasion. And, yes, I'm a little out of my mind too. If I could go back in time and give my younger self a stern talking to, I would. This is number....[counts on fingers]...five. I'm on the downward slope. Yes! My guidelines were, "dark colors, not girly."

This pattern is Olde Hickory by Cottage Creek Quilts. The first two quilts I made I hand-quilted. They turned out rather nicely. Then reality set in on quilt three. I hated the quilting pattern I chose. It was torture to do, so I ripped it all out (about 25% of the top) and sent it out to be long-armed. Since then, I've been sending my larger quilts to Deb at Special Stitches (www.specialstitches.com) for quilting. Here's a detail shot of this quilt. She chose a variegated thread that just looks fabulous. The borders really sing with this thread. It looks even better in person, trust me.

Parade of Quilts 2009 - Posh

2009-12-11T19:24:00.006-06:00

Here's another quilt from this year. This pattern is from Blue Underground and called Post Tot. (Ignore the green and white jewel box quilt) This is the throw size. The turquoise is from Oriental Odyssey by Ro Gregg. It has a lovely spray of metallic gold all over which the gold center squares pick up. The gold and red fabrics are from Kaffe Fasset. I quilted it in somewhat parallel lines that are kinda, sorta about 1" apart. Straight and even isn't my strongest skill. The next time I make this I will choose a different quilting pattern, but it turned out ok.

This quilt was a retirement gift for a co-worker. She had been at our organization for almost 25 years. Originally I started out making her a tablerunner...I'm not sure where the switch happened. After I gave it to her, she said she was hoping she'd get something quilty from me. That's always a nice feeling. She and I didn't always see eye to eye, and I will freely admit there were days I could have cheerfully strangled her, but it was very sad to come in after her last day and realize she wasn't coming back.

This is another brick in the wall of the Year of Suck. The circumstances that led to her leaving are still very much in place which makes going to work not much fun. Sadly, there doesn't appear to be anything I can do to change the situation except leave.

Anybody need a quilter/pattern tester/designer/general help? I'm available.

Parade of Quilts 2009 - Summer in the City

2009-12-08T18:38:00.006-06:00

Hey all! Here's another quilt I made this year. I started the blocks about a year ago. I'm good at blocks. Then they sat. Mama Belfry helped me get the top put together and figure out the setting triangles. This is from a very fun line by Moda's Urban Chix called Summer in the City. I started with two packs of charm squares and added off-white. The block is a traditional one called puss in the corners. Here's a detail shot:

I really like the cheery striped binding. I quilted it myself on Mama Belfry's Handi-quilter frame. She uses her Janome with it. The guest room has a twin size bed, but I was using queen-size covers folded in half. That's ok for November, but not in July. I thought the line was really cute and needed a quilt for the guest room. Dear MIL comes and visits during summers, so she spends her "summers in the city."

Bye!

Parade of quilts 2009 - Sunshine quilt

2009-12-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

You know, there is just nothing better than a cup of coffee that's at the perfect temperature. Weekends are the only time I get to savor my coffee and drink it out of a real cup. Every other day I'm charging out the door with a travel mug. Oh sure, it gets the job done, but it isn't the same.

So, as I am enjoying my lovely coffee in a real mug, I thought I'd start to document some of my finishes from this year. Above you'll see a quilt I finished in February or March for Mama Belfry. It doesn't have a name, but it's sort of the love child of a rail fence block and an hour glass block. I kind of made it up as I went along. I used a jelly roll and layer cake from April Cornell's Sunshine line. It's a throw/scant twin size. I stitched in the ditch along the diagonals.

Now, why I made the quilt. You see, 2009 has been the Year of Suck. No, I'm not going to go into it all, because this isn't a whiny post. This is a quilty post. The Year of Suck started out with Mama Belfry having to have surgery for a very yucky disease. Fortunately I was able to take off work and be there for it and her recovery. I wanted to make a quilt for her so she could have a warm hug whenever she needed it, and I could preserve a few scraps of my sanity doing something while I was 400 miles away. Sis and I chatted and decided while pink was traditional for quilt-making for this situation, that wasn't going to happen. With lots of snorting and eye-rolling, there was unanimous agreement that a pink quilt was unacceptable since almost everything at Mama Belfry's house is blue or green. In fact I think she's allergic to purple even.

Does anyone else out there memorize fabric lines? Maybe it's just me. Ok, so I knew this line would be perfect for her and set out to find it, which led me to eBay. Got the fabric in a timely fashion and got going. One of the prints is a fantastic, adorable blue/green paisley on a white background with a few dabs of yellow. One problem with remembering fabric lines is I'm always surprised when I can't find them...even several years after they were printed. I think fabric should be available for at least 5 years after its release. humph. Anyway, after much searching, (my google-fu is strong!) I located enough yardage to do the background. Finished up the quilt, delivered it to Mama Belfry, she loved it.

Are you ready for the punchline? OK a little background. Mama Belfry makes most of her own tablecloths especially for the porch table which is an odd shape. She usually uses a block with a diagonal seam so she can use half blocks to make the shape right. Then she quilts it to a piece of flannel or fleece so she doesn't have to use a pad underneath. Often she'll add a ruffle around the edge or something. Now these aren't quilts per se as there are usually some exposed seams.

So, I went to deliver the quilt and then we were sitting on the porch eating dinner and I realized the tablecloth used the same paisley fabric in the blocks as the backing on the quilt I made. /headslap. No wonder that fabric reminded me of her. Strange how our brains pick up on small details like that.

Anyhoo, that's my first finish for 2009.

Ever feel like you've got batting in the belfry?

2009-12-04T23:10:00.001-06:00

Hmmm....So this is a blog, eh? /kicks the walls Doesn't look like much. Oh well, a can of paint can work wonders. Maybe a little trim? Guess I've got my work cut out for me. /rolls up sleeves

If you've wandered by this little corner of the intertubes, welcome to Batting in the Belfry. This is my venue to share my quilts and their stories and anything else I feel like talking about. Just to warn you all, I play World of Warcraft too, so that might sneak in here occasionally. That's where the "/" business comes from, by the way. It's how most commands start, but also all the emotes. For instance, /bonk issues an emote that says, "[your name] bonks [other person] on the head, Doh!" Of course most WoW player/authors use it as I did in the first paragraph. SEE! There you go! You learned something new today! Grammar of the intertubes. heh.

Ok, let's see if I can stick a picture in here too. Might as well go for broke.... And there it is. Woot! Ok, you are looking at a picture of one of the coolest birds ever. It is a Red-Legged Seriema. It stands about 36" tall and is native to Brazil. I got to see one this summer. This is a picture off the web as I didn't get the camera out fast enough and sorry, /cringe, I didn't write down who took the picture. So it isn't mine, but it is a nifty shot. Way to go, whoever you are.

Alrighty, let's see if I can publish this puppy.

edit: Ok, I went back and found the original post. The glorious seriema picture can be found at