Today is Suck it UP Day!!

I know...i've been absent for a couple weeks. i've been busy...just not anything blog-worthy busy.....quilting up some of my UFOs...quilting some customer quilts....and cutting and stacking wood.

But, today i finished up a customer quilt about 11:30 this morning and thought....gee, i have the day to myself....what to do. it was too hot to work outside. well, in looking at my design wall....i see the same quilt that has been hanging there for about 4 months. in fact, this quilt was started about this time in 2008. which isn't all that old for UFOs...but still....it hung on the design wall in 2009 for about 4 months. i got sick of looking at it and took it down and hid it away. LOL

Some time back i came across it again and got it out. Finished piecing all the blocks and got 2 of the corners constructed. then it hung on the design wall in 2010 for about 4 months. all the blocks were done....i just needed to put them together. Procrastination was my first, middle and last name on this quilt.

Today i decided i had looked at it long enough. it was either finish it up or throw it in the trash.

So, today was Suck It Up Day.....just get the damn thing finished. i was thinking i could get it all constructed in an hour or so. good thing i didn't know better at that time or it probably would now be in the trash. but, 4 hours later....and the top is all finished. not quilted, mind you,....but pieced. i even mitered the outside border....LOL....and i never do that.

Now, who knows when it will get quilted....but i won't concern myself with that right now. the point is that it is pieced.....i have binding for it.....and it is off my design wall and in the cabinet with it's 20 other pieced top cousins.

And yes, i know it hasn't been ironed, either and looks all wonky. but trust me, it will be just fine. it just has to perculate in the cabinet for a while. here's what it looks like. also, as i was taking the pics, i realized i don't have the blocks all in the same place. oh well, it is staying that way. it's better than the trash. if i didn't have the borders on it already, i would probably take those two right hand corners off and switch them to make it right. but done is good here.....some of those blocks had a zillion pieces.

Hopefully in a few months (or years) i will love it again and it will get quilted. then it will most likely become a donation.

But now i can hang something else on the design wall....and that is good.

It's all Marilea's fault!!

Today i bought fabric. that doesn't sound like such a BAD thing...does it?

Well, my quilt studio was overrun with fabric and this year's goal was to get rid of at least 100 yards of fabric....i intended to use it up to make quilts and donate them. well, once i got rid of 100 yards..you couldn't even tell a difference in the stash.

So i started GIVING it away.....i had 2 huge free giveaways and got rid of boxes and boxes of fabric that i no longer had an interest in. to date, i have busted 424 yards of fabric from my stash. now THAT.....i can notice. i am one happy camper.

I have not bought ANY new fabric this year.....at all......until TODAY.

Marilea had a yard sale ...... and sent me an email advising of same.......the email said older fabrics left on the bolt were going to be $1 a yard.  GASSSSPPP!!!   WHAT!!

Now what sane quilter would pass that up. actually i argued with myself overnight that i was supposed to be getting RID of fabric.....and that i had been good for 7 months and not bought any new fabric.     then that little devil on my shoulder said that i should be rewarded for being so good for that long. hahahahahahahaha

The sale started at 9am. i think i was there at 8:55. LOL    i didn't even  check out anything else...just went straight to the fabric table. i was looking for neutrals that would go with anything or something i really, really, really loved.

40 yards followed me home.  and then....a bit later in the day i even thought of going back.....but i thought that was just WRONG. LOL

I got 4 pieces on bolts...ranging from 4 yards (left) to 12 yards (right).

And then i picked up a few other pieces that were 2 - 3 yards each. and i found 2 different fat quarters (the blue ones) that had several the same so i got those, too.

Actually, i think i showed great restraint (for me)...i was prepared to spend twice that (or more). Now i better piece those tops faster and get back on track. i'm going to have to report my 40 yard purchase on the Stashbusters report on Monday and it is going to be embarassing.

But sometimes falling off the wagon is just plain fun.

Oh, and i got a quilt book, too.

I made a practice quilt

Have you ever made a 'practice' quilt? i got in a customer quilt that had an unbalanced setting and drawing it out to decide how to quilt it didn't work for me this time. so i decided to make a practice quilt just like it. it was just baby size so i figured it wouldn't take long. i got a piece of fabric and drew in the blocks and borders that she had...trying to be kind of accurate as far as size but i didn't worry too much about it.

I finished quilting it up last night and ran it through the washer to get out the marks i made. my first thought was to put a design in each block and crosshatch all the background. but i realized i would have to actually draw the crosshatch onto the quilt before i loaded it and i really didn't want to do that.

So i played with my practice quilt and figured it all out. here is how it turned out.....the good, the bad and the ugly.

It's just a pink floral fabric so it's a bit hard to see all the designs on the front. I got the bottom corner crosshatched and decided it needed to be smaller and contained in just that corner.

I tried different designs in the 12 log cabin blocks with the Quiltazoid to see which i liked best...these blocks are 8".  she wanted dense quilting so i wanted to fill the blocks as much as possible. i tried 3 different designs. i put freehand spirals in the space between the blocks and then decided that wouldn't work...too busy. so i will put straight lines there...like diamonds...2 or 3..about an inch apart ...with the smallest in the center till i fill the space up to the circular designs.

On the side and on the bottom are three 6 inch blocks. so i tried more circular designs there till i found one that worked well. i tried a different background design but didn't like it.

So then i decided to put radiating lines around them going out from the center....much better.

Here are a couple shots of the back that shows up better. i used a piece of felt for the back that i got at a yard sale somewhere. it quilted up fine and shows the stitches well but not sure how it will hold up in every day use.

So, for me, making a practice quilt really helped to decide how to quilt it. it's the first time i have done this. i have the real one on the frame now and have gotten the SID all done today plus the crosshatch in that bottom corner. still haven't decided if i should leave the feathers in the border or do something else but i have a couple days before i get there.

Sometimes you gotta step out of that box!

I got new Crocs

I NEEDED new Crocs...really, I did. the bottoms eventually wear out and they get slippery. i had to throw out 2 pair. so i decided to go online and see what they had.

I wound up with blue ones..

Orange ones....

Pink ones...

But the best by far....the coolest, brightest, most fun ones......are the YELLOW ones.....woohoo!!   i need rain and mud so i can go out and splash in the puddles like a 3 year old.

I wore them this morning when i was cutting poison oak from around the walnut tree. after all, i was in shorts and didn't want to get the vine on my legs right?  yeah, i know it was just an excuse to wear the cool yellow boots but i really do like them.

And, since i was gone for 4 or 5 days i missed doing my monthly Santa wallhanging for August. so i got that quilted up today. i already have September embroidered...just need to quilt him up.

I am embroidering alphabet blocks to make a quilt for a friend's little girl who will be 2 in October. today i got A through E finished. hopefully i will stay on task and finish them up.

Stay cool....have ice cream and ice tea.....works for me.

My weekend fun

I went to my sister's on wednesday and got home sunday. we had big fun.

We did thrift store shopping at our old haunts on wednesday. Horrors!!!!   our favorite St. Vincent de Paul thrift store is St. Louis was moving...waaay across town. bummer. we got there the last day but they were about all boxed up. in that same vicinity is also the Goodwill and Salvation Army. but St. Vincent had better furniture. sadly, we decided we would scratch that area from our thrift store map.

On thursday we went to a fabulous book sale at a school. i scored 9 quilt magazines and about 30 books. they had lots and lots of new hardback books. from $1 to $3.  i found about 6 of the Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb books...which i can never find anywhere. in these she writes in the future....like 2060. they are murder mysteries in the future...very cool.  and a couple dozen others that i liked. great sale...we spent 2.5 hours there.

On friday we decided to find other thrift stores in new areas. we went to St. Charles, Missouri and found the goodwill, salvation army and st. vincent de paul out there. the difference is like night and day. the stores were much cleaner and brighter and less 'junky'. no kids running around throwing stuff on the floors and a better class of merchandise. i came home with a few finds. my favorite from this trip was this vase.

Isn't it the greatest vase? it is very, very heavy. it didn't have a maker's mark or tag on it. i am thinking that someone made it themselves. it's about 14" tall. i like it a lot.

Here are a few other thrift store treasures i have found in the last few trips. i like to get unusual things to put in my studio. things that perhaps someone made and then got tired of or someone else threw out for whatever reason. i like the unusual.

Big Blue...also very heavy..

Someone's ceramic class vase..

And a very bright, colorful fish. i think this was probably manufactured somewhere but i like it. it is just so colorful and bright and makes me smile when i look at it.

On saturday we went out to the beast and did a few things...not much...it was hot. but we managed to put together a couple bookcases and put some books on them. measured for some tile and paint. and had lunch at our favorite mexican restaurant there. all in all a good day.

I took my sewing machine with me this weekend and finished piecing my selvage quilt top. it is 80"x100" and i am keeping it for me. hopefully it will get quilted before winter and go on my bed.  i have enough selvages to make dozens more.

and here's a closeup

Now that i'm back home i need to focus on my customer quilts that need to get done...there are 7 in line. and get more of mine done, too. will get started tomorrow.

Today was a total loss...i had to do the eye doctor thing and he dilated my eyes. that sort of ruins the whole day...can't do anything outside....couldn't do computer work...it hurt....a napped for a while and tried to read...that didn't work too well either. but i am almost back to normal (for me..LOL)...so tomorrow is back to work.

Have fun...stay cool...quilt on.

More quilts using the Quiltazoid patterns

The Quiltazoid continuous template patterns are so easy and quick to use that you have to be careful. you have to be careful not to zone out and just quilt off the top (not that i would actually do that you understand...LOL). but these tops each got quilted in mere hours. i am so in love with Quiltazoid. next week i am going to be ordering more templates.

Here is the Brain Tease pattern. it goes super fast. they are like giant "E"s..laying up and over...kind of reminds me of brickwork. i think i need a better picture of that back.  oops!

This one is the Maze. very cool and hypnotizing. quick and easy to do.

And i am getting tops quilted out of the cabinet at an alarming rate...yipee!!

On the un-quilting front....we are STILL working on demolishing the first tree that was taken down by the house. who knew it would take weeks to get rid of a tree. but it has been SO hot that we have not worked on it every day. but last night i had a huge pile in the large trailer again to be put through the chipper/shredder. dear hubby was inquiring when i would finish that up as he intended to add even more to the pile the next day. so, i got up from my sewing machine...where i was having a lovely time piecing selvage blocks....and went out to do my duty. siiggghh!!   it took me 3 hours to chip up all the trailer load and i got 3 more trash cans full of mulch. he is now...as we speak....out there filling up the trailer again.

When i put the mulch down for the last bed in front of the shed at the studio i injured my back....i expect from hauling trash cans of too heavy mulch. so i hobbled around for a few days with heating pads and ibuprofen. then the grass simply HAD to be mowed. so i thought i would do as much as i could. our ground is very uneven...due to creatures digging out there and men (no names mentioned) driving trucks over the grass. so i spent a couple hours bouncing around on the mower. and....when i got done.....my back didn't hurt. i believe i found a new home remedy..LOL....kind of like my own chiropractor. i guess the bouncing around got me all shifted back in place. amazing.    so 2 nights ago i mowed again with a sore back and came back a couple hours later a new woman. but i don't know what i will do in the winter when there is no grass to cut to cure my aching back.

I have gotten a couple customer quilts done this last week, too. and today am going to load another of mine to play with. it will be a baptist fan template. the Quiltazoid people say you can use other brands with their systems also, so i am putting that to the test. i'll let you know how it goes. then i have a lovely pink baby quilt for a customer to do.

On Wednesday i am off for a long weekend at my sister's. there is a huge book sale at the high school scheduled for thursday and thrift shopping for friday. on saturday we might go out to her house so i can check out her progress. she has had rocks delivered for her driveway and has been spreading. and i have more firewood to bring home from her place. I'll check back in with you next week.

Have a lovely weekend...try and stay cool....and happy quilting.

Lightning strikes

It has been a bit crazy here the last couple days. we had a huge thunder and lightning storm for over 5 hours on monday night. i was sitting in the living room and heard a loud POP and saw a bright white light outside the deck. i figured something very close got hit. that something was US. LOL

I looked out the deck doors and swore i could smell smoke but figured it was my imagination. but the next morning the barn doors would not open. the lightning took them out. they will be fixed tomorrow.

Then the internet wouldn't work. that wasn't a huge concern because when we gets LOTS of rain sometimes it is unworkable for a few hours. but apparantly the lightning got it, too. the phone company had to come out and replace parts and the router. there was a burned spot...so it got zapped.

And the studio got zapped, too. luckily i had the longarm unplugged. but when i came over the embroidery machine wouldn't work and both computers were out. plus some of the electric plugs wouldn't work. the good news is that it just tripped the breakers and didn't fry anything thank goodness. lightning is scary.

Today it seems like we are all operational once again. i hope it stays that way for a while. it is sad how much you miss the internet when you can't get there. i need to remember to unplug things when i leave at the end of the day....might need to write myself a note....a large note...and put it on the door. LOL

Hope you are safe from storms.