North Pole Village I

I need a 12 step program...for quilters and/or embroiderers.  i have dozens of UFOs already...but does that deter me? oh no...let's start another. LOL 

Along with using up my old stash of fabric i have decided i need to use up my old stash of hundreds of spools of embroidery thread and use those embroidery designs that i keep buying. why are they so cute? i am weak. sigghhh!!  

Anyway, i started the North Pole Village I.....i say 1 because i believe there might be a 2 and possibly a 3. i have about 30 designs. check out http://www.designsbyjuju.com/   her stuff is soooo cute... sign up for her newsletter...she has awesome sales quite frequently. sales like buy 1 set ($20) and get 2 sets free; buy 2 sets and get 8 sets free. crazy, i know...that's why i have a couple hundred sets of her designs.  and once you are a regular customer you get free designs...can't beat that.  i have all the north pole applique village sets...3 so far....so decided to get busy and put a few million more stitches on the embroidery machine.

So far i have made 5 blocks in the last 2 days. i just let them stitch while i am quilting. i am good at multi-tasking. LOL

Here is the Pie Shop

And the Elf School

Someone's house in the Village

The Sweet Shop

And the Toy Store....my favorite so far. i just had to put Winnie the Pooh on the door.

I got 3 of them done today so perhaps i can do 3 more tomorrow.  who cares about those other 40 UFOs.....if i live long enough....they'll all get done.....some day. hahahahahahaha

I have a lot of Anita Goodesign embroidery CDs. i belonged to their club for 2 years and got 2 CDs every month. and both my sister and I spend a little money at the http://www.emblibrary.com/   online. they have some really cute stuff, too.

Do you have an embroidery machine? whose designs do you like best?

Quilt with Simply Ornate Template from QZ

Well, it is 4 hours later and i am done with my sister's French Braid quilt. actually, count a half hour break in there, too. so it went pretty quickly. i loaded the quilt sideways and took 3 passes...centering them on the middle of the rows as best i could.

That doesn't really show any quilting .... here's a closeup so you can see it better.

and the back shows it better still. i used gray thread and it shows better in real life. hahahaha

This pattern flows well and quilts up beautifully. i like it a lot.

My sister mainly hangs her quilts on her walls so i assume this one is headed for the beast. i will take it to her on Tuesday when i go to visit and help remove even more wallpaper from the beast.

You might want to check out Adam and Linda at http://www.quiltazoid.com/   they are awesome.

New QZ toys

Last night about 6pm....late for our UPS driver...i had kind of given up on him for the day....but he  brought  my newest package from the wonderful Quiltazoid people, Linda and Adam.

I got 2 new continuous templates....

Simply Ornate.....isn't that an oxymoron....how can you be simple and ornate at the same time...aren't those opposites? LOL   anyway...it is beautiful. i am using it on my sister's quilt today.

And Adam made me baby clamshells...just 2" wide. aren't they cute? i think they will be great for background fill for larger blocks.

I also got 6 new individual templates. Since i am doing donation quilts a lot these days i think i will try each one out on its own quilt top and see how many designs i can make with each template. should prove interesting.

Here is #6  Crosses

#8 Snowflakes

#18 Regal

#10 Ovals

and #16...it doesn't have a name. there are 4 designs for 12" blocks.

and the pinched square spiral. i really like square spirals so can hardly wait to try out this one, too.

And that is my loot for today. my dh says i now officially have more toys than he does....i say no way. his barn is larger than my studio. LOL

I am off to do a quilt with the simply ornate continuous template and will show you when it is finished.

Quitazoid Rocks!!

They're GRREAATTT!!!

Remember Tony the Tiger....from the Kellogg's folks?

I had 3 panels of Tony and decided to quilt one up yesterday while i waited anxiously for the UPS man to bring my new QZ toys...which he didn't do by the way. hopefully, today.

Anyway, Tony was fun to do...it only took a few hours. it was just a quick freehand job and will be a donation quilt. i just think some little kid will love it and make his mom crazy going around saying "they're ggrreeeaattt!!". LOL

What 1600 two inch blocks look like

i finally finished piecing the Tokyo Subway Map quilt top. when the directions said to cut 1600 two inch squares....i almost didn't do it. when you think of that many blocks your brain goes berserk and says 'no way'...'are you crazy'....well, i am a bit crazy so i didn't listen to my brain and just started cutting squares. i used my dyed fabrics for the subway lines. but when you break it down to 25 blocks it seems much more do-able. and they actually went quicker than i thought they would. once i got half way i was anxious to finish.

And i found some map fabric for the border. not a map of Tokyo or Japan but it will have to do.

here is a closer view of the border map fabric

and the lady who gave the pattern also gave us the words in Japanese to say "tokyo subway map".  how cool is that. she is going to give us the pattern to make the letters next month. i may have to try them myself though...i am anxious to get it done.

I think this was a very interesting quilt and i'm glad i got it pieced. i already know how i am going to quilt it. and i think i am going to piece the back with fabrics left over from the front, along with the japanese letters. i had fun with this one. if you want to make one go visit elizabeth's blog at http://www.ohfransson.com/

Be sure and send me a picture, too, if you make one.

Progress being made.

I have been working hard...outside at the farm and in the studio. and progress is being made. i finally, finally got all the tree branches and bark picked up and burned from the last tree that we had taken down. loaded, unloaded and stacked 2 truck loads yesterday. i am done with wood till next year. jim still has to cut up some huge trunks to get split...and he is working on them today...but my part is done. i am glad to see the end of that. we have been working on those 3 trees for several months.

In the studio i have made 5 or 6 row quilts. they go rather quickly and use up the stash. i finished my stained glass angel and got it quilted. and i only have 2 more blocks to do on the tokyo subway map quilt. i think progress would go much faster if i just worked on one thing at a time but it is not in my nature to do that. LOL  i have one of the Atomic Bloom blocks redone. i finally figured out what mistake i had made and had to take all 4 blocks apart again and redo them. i am going to put something else over that white circle with the pink dots. it doesn't have enough contrast. note to self....don't use white background fabrics for dots. LOL this quilt has lots and lots of small pieces but i am going to like it. i couldn't resist the smiley face in one circle.

And i have one of my quilts on the frame and should have it done today or tomorrow. it is a column quilt versus a row quilt. applique flowery vines and rectangles..kind of like a coin quilt. it is a UFO from a couple years back.

And my sister decided she needs to get all her designs embroidered up that she has been buying online. i get to do the big ones since her machine only does 4" designs. this week we are working on vintage signs. they are SOOO cute. so far i have done...

maple syrup..this one is 10"x6" and took 3.5 hours to stitch...wow

root beer

and eggs

Although in the pictures the background fabrics look different...they are all unbleached muslin. my camera skills are lacking.

I got an email yesterday that my latest Quiltazoid order will be here Tuesday.... woohoo!! ...another reason to get that quilt off the frame. play time will be here and i want to be ready. i still need to play with the Gingko template that i got from Circle Lord. it will work on my QZ and i need to play with it, also.

A friend of mine took me up on my offer to let her quilt on my longarm. she has come over two afternoons so far and quilted up pillow tops. she is so excited. she did say she thought it would be easier. i keep telling her she just needs practice. she hasn't hurt herself yet so that is good and she has two cute little pillowtops to show for her work so far.

Are you making progress on your projects? just a thought....Christmas will be here very shortly....just saying. LOL

Now...go quilt.

Row quilts

In the interest of using up this fabric stash i started making row quilts last week. they are quick and easy and use up fabric that might not be used elsewhere. they wound up as wide as the fabric...42-44" and about 60" long. kid size.

Here are some i did:

A beach scene with seagulls that had been in the stash for some time. i just did a quick large meander over it.

Some school house bears and then sports (for recess)...football and baseball.

I liked these chickens. top row is large pebbles...next row is straight vertical lines...chickens got "X"s.

These look like huge Hawaiian flowers. i used a pantograph on it that i got at the last show and never used before.

And some lighthouses and beach fabrics. might be seeing more of these...i still have lighthouse fabric. it got a large seashell panto.

And i finished up the last 10 pillowcases that i had cut out some time ago. i was cleaning a cabinet at the house and found a bag of them. Sheesh...i just hide stuff everywhere. LOL

OK...back to working on my quilt. have a lovely day

Stained Glass Angel top finished

i finally have the top of my stained glass angel finished. i thought i would go blind sewing down those black bias strips with invisible thread. (if is is 'invisible' ..... how come you can see it?)....just wondering. LOL

it may be a couple weeks before i get to quilt it though. i have one of my own on the frame now and then 3 more customers to get done before i can do one for me again. but i'll get there.

here she is.

and a closeup

After seeing all the choices of the other ladies i think i want to make another one and change a few things. it was rather fun. one that i saw had a lace overlay on the background piece...it was quite pretty. and some done in Christmas fabrics were awesome. everyone's was different and beautiful and all had a slightly different technique of doing things.

It's a lot of fun at show and tell.

October at the Butterfly House

While i was visiting my sister and my niece this weekend we went to the Butterfly House. we had never been there and it was amazing. October at the Butterfly House was Owl butterflies and orchids. there were orchids in the trees everywhere and Owl butterflies were in abundance.

There is a huge butterfly at the entrance and of course it was a Kodak moment....LOL  Jen always takes silly pictures. she was dressed for the Octoberfest...which was our next adventure....don't you love those combat boots. hahahaha  kids

Here are the owls and the orchids. the owl butterflies are pretty large...larger than those found in your backyard.

Here is what they look like when they open their wings....beautiful vivid blue. i finally caught one sitting still long enough for a pic.

There were lots of different colored orchids everywhere.

They like bananas...there were trays of them hanging around.

You had to watch where you walked...they landed on the ground, too.

There were black and white butterflies....and black and red butterflies and lots of other colors. the problem was catching one sitting so you could take a pic.

They have a great waterfall...and as you can imagine....it is warm and humid inside.

The owl butterflies like to congregate on the rock wall at the back of the waterfall...i wonder why.

Warning...next picture sexually explicit....LOL    we caught 2 butterflies mating. we watched a movie first...so we knew what they were doing. LOL

All that butterfly action makes you tired so you have to stop and rest for a bit.

And before we left we checked out the window with all the chrysallis hanging. i assume they take them off the trees and keep them in the window so folks can see the butterflies emerging. there were a couple in there that were in the process of coming out. Reminds me of bats hanging out in the caves.

We had a fun time and might have to check them out again some day. there was one little boy...about 4...that wasn't having such a good time. he was freaking out from the butterflies streaking around in front of him and around him. his dad was trying to console him and his mom just walked on ahead and pretended she didn't know him....he will probably be scarred for life and dream of killer butterflies. hahahahaha   poor little kid.

So, if you ever visit St. Louis check out the butterfly house and check out the action.

Stained Glass Angel

In our quilt class this week we are working on an angel made to look like stained glass. the original pattern was in Christmas fabrics but i didn't have any that i liked together so i improvised (as usual). Sometimes i actually DO follow a pattern...honest.

Here she is so far. not sure that plaid was a good choice. i like that better in person than in this picture.

and a closer view of her arm...which will be holding a snowflake. or she could be holding a flower, a bird, whatever.

I think it will be very nice when i get done putting all the black bias strips on it. that will be a few evenings work...it is pretty tedious.

Because it is a stained glass look it really shouldn't be quilted to death. i have fusible on the back of this part so it doesn't pucker when i sew down the bias strips. i guess i will just have to SID when quilting. I need more wall space in my studio to hang all these things up.

Quiltazoid play piece

Today i got out some plain fabric and played with the Quiltazoid. i haven't done it in a while and wanted to see what i could make.

Here is the whole piece. it's about 36x52...the back is the same as the binding. and the 'batting' is a microfleece blanket i found at a thrift store for 99 cents. it will be a donation quilt.

And here are the 'blocks'.
#1 dresden plate....of course, the frame in wonky. lesson learned...watch where you start and make the frame straight. ....  or not. hahahahah

#2  i was trying to stitch as i stepped and i didn't hold the stylus in place every time so i got a bit wonky here, too.   siiggghh!





#3  i think this one is my favorite but it kind of got cut off when i straightened up the side of the quilt before binding.

#4  i like the frame around this one. i went back to put in the middle after i had moved to another block. lesson learned...you can't go back and hit the middle again...even if it is marked.

#5  simple curved crosshatching

#6  this is kind of neat, too. kind of like ribbons

#7  stars and sun and moon and i think a lightning bolt. LOL

#8 wavy lines crossed over each other

#9  i like the frame around this one, too.  it looks like octupus holding hands. LOL

#10  just messing with circles

#11 and a feathered wreath

My favorite is #3...which is your favorite?

i ordered more toys from Quiltazoid yesterday....more individual templates...crosses; snowflakes; ovals; regal; pinched square spiral; and #16..which doesn't have a name but lookes like leaves...sort of.   and got the simply ornate continuous templates and a 2" clamshell. they should be here in 2 or 3 weeks....so i see another play day in my future. woohoo!!

tomorrow i am going to try a row quilt pieced and quilted on the longarm. Deb Levy showed us how to do this some time ago in a video on MQR. i better go do some things i learned.

And i am working on a stained glass angel from quilt class....i hope to show that to you in a few days. it's my first try at stained glass quilting.

OK...back to work.
later