First Day by Myself

The grand kids are back in school. My hubby is finally back to work. What to do? 2 loads of laundry, pulled weeds in flower bed for 2 hours, made stew from leftover roast and veggies, traced applique patterns onto Wonder Under, sewed 1st block of Be Attitudes book today...then mowed yard this evening with Hubby...Busy day.

Back from vacation!!!

Cute huh?Hubby and I took the grand kids back to Waco a week ago last Friday...today is Sunday...Then we headed on to Plano for Quilt Plano 2014... Wow!!! A couple hundred quilts to see...and about 45 or so vendors...Did I have fun? Yep! Did I spend money? Yep! But not too much, because from the show in Plano, we drove a few miles north on Hwy 75 and visited Linda's Electric Quilters in McKinney! There's where I spent some money! Several circle rulers, a micro handle set, some cones of thread, and two rolls of batting later we left....poorer in money, and richer in tools of the trade, so to speak! I just happen to have a picture or two of a baptist fan pattern that  I  tried out on a Project Linus quilt kit I was given at the show to sew up the top and then quilt it.. I couldn't wait to try out those rulers! They are great... A little learning curve, but very doable! Then I had to try out the micro handles... They are totally awesome, folks, I kid you not!!! I used them to outline eagles in flight on a whole cloth couch quilt that has an outdoorsy scene all over it... I really loved using those handles! I was amazed how much easier it made everything, even the wind sweep quilting behind the eagles. Ok, I'm hooked on them!

Circle ruler work on Project Linus quilt. Next is pic of full quilt.

Cute huh? Bound and ready to go!

A close up....next a larger view.

This one isn't bound yet...

This is one was done a few weeks ago without the micro handles.

It's a Coca Cola retro design...

Having a Blast!

Ok, Enough already...

We're at the lake camping for a few days... It's so nice here, not too hot, especially for August!

We had sad news yesterday... One of our church members, Francis, was found dead in her home. She was, I believe, 50 or 52 years old, and a hopeless alcoholic.  She apparently hemorrhaged to death. It brought my brother, Don's, death to mind, as he died at 30 years old of alcoholism as well...drowned in his own fluid...too sad for words...both Don and Francis were wonderful and caring people that would give you the shirt off their back... this is two close deaths a week apart... aunt Lu, and Francis... Francis' twin sister had her body transported to Monahans for burial. We won't be having a service here.

SIL quilt...

DD pieced a jellyroll 1600 quilt for SIL....and I got to quilt it on Sadie!

I'd like to show some pics and talk about the parts and what I was trying to do.

I'll show the overall top, sans binding, so you can see the piecing.... DD did a great job!

This is laid out on a unmade bed, with light coming through the window on the left side. The side light helps make the quilting a little easier to see on the patterned fabric... The center is a loosely made variation of McTavishing... Not well done, but done. The first 2" border is plain feathers. The next wide dark blue strips on top and bottom have parts of scripture from Genesis one  about the creation of great whales and winged creatures.. And it was good... The outer border is wider than the 2" one and again has plain feathers.

This is what the center back looks like...

I love the back!!!

Next is a sample close up of the bottom scripture...

Notice the narrow rope type border with outline scrubbed and inside and outside fill...I really didn't like it without the extra embellishments... Very heavily quilted.

Next is a view of the side borders.

Notice the birds, fish and whales strips? 

Now look at the borders from the back.

Not too bad an overall effect,...I've got a lifetime of learning and practicing ahead of me....

Quilting!

Got quite a bit of quilting done on Richard's quilt today... And got to go to Walmart in Ballinger by myself this evening....picked up the bolt of muslin I had ordered a while back, and picked up a few embroidery patterns and some other material as well...good day!

What was I thinking?

Obviously, I wasn't! Hence, Cara is having a sleepover with Bethany tonight. Hmmm.... Face paint? Check.... Glitter tattoo kit? Check... Bungee cord in various colors and findings to make bracelets? Check... Chips? Check... Schwann's  breaded chicken fries? On their way...catsup and Ranch dressing? Check... Ice cream? Check...

Bet I'll work on my hexie quilt tonight...😜