We are still wrapping things up around here. Life is still in holiday mode. Joey's friend hit the road this morning headed back to Indy, and Marcy will fly back tomorrow. I think at that point, we will get back into our routine. The decorations are all put away and the returns were completed yesterday. I have always waited until everyone is back at work and school to deal with the returns that need to be dealt with.

I have managed to get some stitching done during the holidays. Here's a picture of some paper piecing ornaments that I did. There was one of a Christmas tree but I gave it away in an ornament swap. I thought it was really cool, I used some glittery fabric for the green of the tree and the background was white glittery fabric that gave it a snowy feeling. I placed these on my cutting mat so you could see how small they are, they were easier that I thought they would have been.

I managed to finally finish this one. It is the first set of blocks that I completed when I started quilting. The blocks were made during a techniques class about 3 years ago. I just love the backing fabric on this quilt.  I did use Warm and Natural's Soft and Bright.  It is a poly batting, but I think it makes a warmer quilt.  This poly batting is different from the old stuff.  It has a softer feel to it, and quilting it was easy.

The batting is thicker and gives more dept to the quilting. Here's a close up of the quilting on the borders....

And I also had the pleasure of working with this beautiful quilt......

I love the orange centers with the blue as the main focus of color! This quilt was made by Sue for her daughter Sara that currently lives in Indy.  Sue's selection of fabrics were wonderful!  They were just fun and happy colors!  As always, I've posted a couple more pictures at the other blog, click here.

Marcy and I have had a joint project and she's made a couple of cute wallets, along with about a dozen tissue holders.  She's spent a few hours at the sewing machine so I've got more pictures to share very soon.

Thanks for checking on me,

hugs,

joanne

love to hear what you've got to say.............

Bad, bad, border!!! A post quilters can appreciate

This is one of the  many nightmares of every quilter.  The wavy, untamed, lumpy, too big border.  As a quilter I deal with them the best I can.  I push, I ease, I steam, I finagle the material as best I can to keep from getting those folds and pleats in the borders.  But....I can only do so much.  Here are a few pictures of my daughters quilt where she did not put the border on correctly.  Funny story...by the time it came to putting the borders on, she was OVER the quilt.  She no longer "liked" the quilt, so "loving" the quilt was completely out of the question.  She just wanted it done! 

Here's the quilt...you have seen it before.....(it's the split 9 patch)

This is just after the first row has been quilted....you can see I'm already in for a long road ahead.

The other side of the quilt isn't much better...like I said she was "over it" and does not want to become the Princess of Blocks. (She calls me the Queen of Blocks)

If you notice in the picture above the pink border is not lined up straight with the bar on the machine.  That's because I had already been working with the extra fabric from the beginning.  When I attempt to straighten the quilt, this is what it looks like.....can you say "forever waves of grain?" and I'm not talking about wheat like the song.

As we progress this is the way tucks and folds look due to too much fabric.

some bad and some not so bad.....

I can tell from this picture that the borders are going to give me problems.  Check out the bellowing, balloon like border on the right side of the quilt.  Yep, serious trouble.

Here's a view of some of the tucks and folds that MUST be done to keep the quilt somewhat on line.  If I didn't I would end up with massive amounts of fabric at the end.  When the borders are this bad, a quilter has no option but to tuck and fold......

Approaching the end of the quilt with all of the tucks, folds, pleats and stretching the top that I've done.  Here is what the last row looks like....

There's still more tucks to come. If you notice the pink has different waves than the final border, this makes tucks in the pink and not the print.

Can you say ruffle??

The good news is the quilt is finished and because she knows (and loves) the quilter she didn't have to pay to have this quilt finished.  She has had the quilt with her at school for the last couple of years and loves it.  It's done...her friends are amazed that she made it.  A well seasoned quilter might have a different opinion, but for her it's good enough, it's done, it's not a show quilt.  It's a quilt that she grabs to snuggle up while watching TV in her room and for her that's good enough. (All pictures used with permission, not that she actually had a choice.)

Borders are an important part of the quilt.  It's not as easy as just sewing them on.  I didn't know this when I first began quilting, but now I know.  If you have any questions about the "correct" way to apply a border, do some research, ask questions.  It does make a difference.

Thanks for checking on me,

hugs,

joanne

love to hear what you've got to say......

New Blog and things....

I've added a new blog to my  list of things to do.  Ha!!  Like I didn't have enough!  You can visit it here, and I've named it:

Insanely Cheap Quilting

This blog will contain (at least this is the plan for now) only pictures of the quilts as I finish them.  After several request to see pictures of finished quilts from potential new friends (others call them customers) I decided to put them all in one spot. I copied them from this blog, so at this time you can't click on the pic for a larger picture.  I will try to replace as many as possible so we can all get a closer look. 

I was sooooooooo lucky to get my sweet (most of the time) daughter home on Saturday from Indy.  She had an amazing run of good luck.  Long story short - left late, stood up brother for breakfast, cried, wallet left at school, cried, Evan took over, cried, met Evan's roommate at DQ with wallet, flew to airport (in a car) arrived 45 minutes before takeoff (before checking in), cried, got to front of line, held up airplane, got on plane, taxied over Philly, deverted to Manchester, NH, her final destination.  She was the only one on the plane that was happy to go to Manchester.  Talk about luck!!

We decorated the two trees, fire in fireplace, and had eggnog.  What a great weekend we all had.  It's good to have most of the kids home for Christmas and that's all I wanted for Christmas this year, was for us to be together.

House that we have been trying to get, listed to go on the auction block today, cancelled on Friday.  This morning I've got to try to find the details, wish me luck.  We've been trying to get this house since last spring.  Keep your fingers crossed that all will fall into place for us.  Without this place I'm not sure what we are going to do.

Okay, if I don't post anymore before Christmas, I am wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!  I hope you get to spend time with your families and loved ones, that is the true meaning of the season!

Thanks for checking on me,
hugs,
joanne

love to hear what you've got to say..............