the mister has had an even busier week than i have. besides working on his tractor, he's been working on my sewing studio and it is looking so awesome! he put two more outlets in so that i don't have to use long extension cords and then he finished the ceiling. what a difference! it is fun to finally be able to hang my wall decorations and make this my room my own. i have 3 design walls. one for current projects, one for something i need to finish or am stuck on and one of them is exclusively for my machine quilting samples that I've done whenever I've taken a class or two or three. i want to add and update my machine quilting wall. i actually use this wall regularly as a reference whenever I'm ready to quilt something. when I take a quilting class i use plain muslin. when i quilt a design i write right on the muslin things like where to start a design, the name of it and what it might be especially good to be used for. also, the kind of thread i might use for a certain design and any other tidbits the quilting teacher gives out. my favorite class was a two day class with harriet hargraves. she was so good! the most important piece of information that i learned was that when you want to make a sharp corner (say to make a square), hesitate for a second before you turn the corner. by doing that you don't round your corner but make a nice sharp angle. such a simple thing, but i didn't know it and have used it a million times since then! i rarely come away from a class without learning some little thing that proves invaluable to my quilt making and quilting. i think that's why i love to take classes. that and hanging around other quilters for a day! i have signed up for 3 of leah day's machine quilting classes on craftsy. i like her and think i can learn some new things from her. I've decided that I'm going to try to set aside at least one morning a week that will be dedicated to one of the classes I've signed up for on the craftsy site. while listening to my podcasts, I've noticed that I'm not the only one who keeps signing up for classes and then not taking them! one of my 2014 goals is to take the classes I've paid for! craftsy has done an amazing job with their site and their business. I've noticed that online classes are popping up everywhere now but so far craftsy's classes and Missouri star quilt company's tutorials have been my number one choices.
because the mister was working on my ceiling all week i didn't get a chance to work that much on my modern style quilt back. the courthouse steps will be going across the top and the friendship stars will be going along one side of the backing. honestly, i think when I'm done i might end up liking the back more than the front! my thoughts are that i can make this reversible so that i can "change up" the room every once in a while by simply flipping the quilt over. we'll see how that turns out! this week i hope to finally get that back done and with the mister's help i can sandwich it and then quilt it on my wonderful hq16. I've had that machine for 6 or 7 years now and i still love it! when i get this done i'll only have one more large ufo to complete. of course i have 2 smaller 1930s quilts i need to do but after these giants they will seem like a baby quilts!
i think I've mentioned how much i love my dump! it sounds funny but I'm serious. we have to do some serious recycling in our town and everything is marked so that you know where to put things. its always neat and clean and the men that work there are watchful and very helpful. at this dump there is a set of shelves set up out of the way that people can put good useable things that they just don't want anymore and don't want to throw away. today i went down there to fill my buckets up with the rich loam that they compost (its free for the taking) and lo and behold someone had left a box of material on the shelves! it looked like the real thing and not replicas and as i went through the box i found a half made quilt. it was cut out and stitched by hand. it has some stains on it but i think i can clean it up and for my camping project, i will work on it. there was also a 1934 singer sewing machine book, with a quarter inch foot and a light bulb! these 1930 or 40s prints were on the top of the pile! it also had some of the cocheco mill girls prints. I'm sure they are the original because i have the set of the replicas. this mill is in my hometown and my neighbors and their parents worked there making this material! I feel sure that this material is the real deal. it was made between 1881-85. i am having fun just going through this box and deciding what I'm going to do with it! thanks to whoever left it there!
here is our wonderful nora jean helping me out like she always does.i was working on the things in this box and she decided to remind me that it was time to take a break and give her a nice "brushy". we had VERY good news from her doctor. her blood work came out NORMAL. what a nice mother's day gift she gave me! you can tell she's feeling better and she's gained back the 3.5 pounds she lost. she looks great! she'll be on her medication and b12 shots for a while but it sure has been worth it. we weren't ready to lose our helper cat!
a new podcast has appeared and its awesome! its called sewingmompodcast.com and you can find it on iTunes. laura is interesting, funny and she loves quilting and sewing. she has 6 kids of her own and is caring for two young foster kids. I've listened to and enjoyed all of her episodes and hope she'll podcast for a long time. maybe i'll start a podcast. I've been thinking about it for quite a while. I'm not sure I'm technologically ready!
today I'm grateful for chip's mom who is healthy and happy at the age of 93. our grandchildren lost 3 great grandmothers in the past year so we especially cherish my mil. I'm also grateful for our sons who will , I'm sure, buy me nice presents! actually, i'll get to spend the day with them and that in itself is a great present and one I'm so looking forward to!
. happy mother's day. nancyb
Hi Nancy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your kind words about the podcast! So glad you are enjoying it :) I love the pictures of Nora Jean on your blog. My favorite is the one where she is sitting on top of your Janome. Love it!!
May I ask about the quilt you have pictures with the flowers on your Mother's Day blog post? Can you tell me where I can find this pattern? It's absolutely gorgeous but simple enough that maybe it's something I could actually do from start to finish!
You should definitely start a podcast, there aren't enough sewing and quilting ones out there to keep all of us sewers and quilters busy :)
Laura