Friday, October 31, 2014

Block of the Month!

Just got time to put together my 1st block of the month from Sew Sweet Simplicity. The sidebar on the right will take you to the site. I was a little intimidated by the small pieces and HSTs and flying geese. Definitely not a beginner block, but not rocket science either. I didn't get all my points 'spot on' but they are much better than I was afraid they'd be. The author has a few cool tricks up her sleeve that make it much easier to get the best possible results...

Gardening...

Last Saturday I planted a row of garlic... Today, Halloween, I planted a row of bunching onions, giant spinach and white turnips....and Marvin and I put the frost sensitive plants either under the carport or in the greenhouse. Marvin has spent parts of several days getting the greenhouse re-skinned and ready for winter... It looks like a whole different place... He also wired some light fixtures on the out side of the  greenhouse and up under the patio so I can see Lil Bit in the dark better when I take her out to potty early in the morning and after dark at night..,. I picked up a jogger's clip-on flashing red light so I can see her better too... Sunday the time changes and I want to be ready... She is doing extremely well with her house breaking...amazingly so! We picked up a handlebar basket for Lil Bit to ride in when we ride our bicycles, so I put it on the bike and we made a maiden voyage to Sonic for an ice cream cone... she loved riding in the basket, don't you think?


Friday, October 24, 2014

Sweatshirt jacket Day 1



Ok, and here we go! Your sweatshirt HAS to be a drop sleeve type, NOT a raglan.. sorry, didn't think to mention this yesterday... My bad...
A drop sleeve looks like this.
A little closer view...
Now, grab your seam ripper... Put a movie on the tv...
Sit back and take your sweatshirt completely 
apart at all seams... Don't fret... We'll get it back together.
30 minutes later... Only the bottom ribbing seam unsewn. 
Yep, this is gonna take awhile...
Ok, so that took 85 minutes, total.... Exactly the time it
Took to watch Pierce Brosnan in Live Wire!
This is what we need...two sleeves, the front/back piece, 
and the bottom ribbing.
Now, carefully cut along the side folds of the body to
Make it into a front and back, like this.
Set aside the ribbing, sleeves, and back. It's time to cut
The front straight down the middle...I like to measure 
and mark with chalk to make sure this cut is centered
In the front...
Sorry about the feet! ;)
Now mark the back the same way. But do Not cut!
Take the center back material in a piece just big enough
 To cover the center of this back piece. How wide? About 
 wide enough to span the neck width plus 1-1/2" on each 
side. Fold it lengthwise and cut on an angle from top right 
corner down to 2" from the center fold like this...
Open the folded piece and pin centered to the back.
I next cut a few 1-1/2" strips of black for trim.
Press strips right side out the length of the WOF and 
place with raw edges together on center fabric edge.
Now cut your next length of material, single width, 5"
 at top and 2" at bottom...place it right side down 
matching edges...pin and sew a 1/4" seam. Flip out and press.
Like so... now continue across both sides of back until it's
Covered... Looking good so far!

Puppy play break!
Back to work! Once the back is fully covered, stay stitch
1/8" around to secure edges..Now trim along the edge 
of the sweat shirt...
Not bad, eh?
Now to do the same to the front...
Next...sew your shoulder front seams to the shoulder 
back seams. Zig zag or serge to finish the seams.
Now, find the middle of your sleeve cap and pin it to 
shoulder seam.
Pin edges of sleeve cap to underarm edges and all in 
between. Sew with sleeve portion on bottom, easing 
in fullness as you go.
Serge or zig zag seam. Repeat for other sleeve.
Now it's time to make our cuffs for the sleeves.
Sew varied widths of strips together to make a 
rectangle20-22" long by the width of the bottom edge
 of the sleeve. Cut it into 2 rectangles 10-12" long by 
width if cuff edge of sleeve. In my case, 8-1/2"...
Now sew them onto end of sleeve...
If strip is wide, trim even with edge of sleeve. Don't
 taper the cuff. It will be turned under later making a tube.
Turn sleeve cuff back onto itself and hand stitch the edge 
Turned under 1/4".
Turn jacket right side out and flip cuff up and out.
The cuff length is now adjustable to fit the wearer...
Now for the collar. Take the bottom ribbing.

Sew 1-1/2" strip to neck seam to turn under and hand 
stitch Down.
Sew 2  1-1/2" binding strips together on short end.
Sew onto edge of front, across bottom and back up other
Front edge. 
Turn under to back and hand stitch down...
TaDa!!!
                                       




















Thursday, October 23, 2014

Another jacket underway...

A few years ago, I made half a dozen sweat shirt jackets... My darling little granddaughter was the recipient of one. Since that time she wore that jacket to shreds. Every time I saw her, she had on that jacket. I love the fact that she practically lived in that jacket until it not only was worn out, it was too small for her to get into anymore. So, today when I went to Wally World for groceries, I found a raspberry pink sweatshirt and some fabric to make her another one... Thought I'd keep a record of what is involved in making it... I may have to make another one some day, and need this to remind me how to go about it!
This is what I'm starting out with...
I also will pull black from my stash for the binding and edging strips...
I'm hoping to get to work on it tomorrow... I'll let you know what I get done.




Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Latest quilt top...

I have lots to talk about tonight. The best is that a just 
a moment ago, I finished the top for my DIL's birthday...
 Which is Christmas Day! I had to let some seams join 
in order to get the colors spread out the way I wanted 
them... It's a Disappearing 9 Patch to fit a Queen sized 
bed.
Now, to get these Christmas wall hangings off Sadie 
and get the 9 patch quilt on her and going!
They are fun, but time consuming...
Hubster and I went garage sale-ing Saturday and I 
nabbed 6 good pair of jeans in sizes I could wear this 
winter with only a little length taken off...at $1.00 a pair! 
I was on cloud nine the whole time I was re-hemming 
those pants! 
I also came across this little girl that needed a 
new home...




She's a early eighties model and only needed a tweak 
or two plus a drop of oil... She hemmed those jeans 
just fine! Such a good girl!
Speaking of good girls, Lil Bit is a very good girl!
She's sleeping right now. If she was awake, I wouldn't 
be able to get a good picture because she's so hyper!



Saturday, October 11, 2014

New Bag!

The Quilt Shop in Ballinger, Texas had a class today to make My Paris Traveler's Bag designed by Joanna Figuerroa for Fig Tree Quilts. I have to say up front that this is not a project for the faint of heart! But I was very pleased with my results. We started at 9am and I left for home around 5pm... Along hard day of fun and work.
I think it turned out pretty cute! Now I think these would make great gifts for any one that travels at all! They are nice, big, roomy and sturdy with a zipper top closure and large side pockets. I know mine will get plenty of use! The only real problem I had was getting my machine to sew through all the layers in places, so my next one will have thin batting rather than thick- even though I like the look of the thick batting... Wish me luck to get some more made soon for some special people!

Friday, October 10, 2014

I did it! Yay!

I'm so happy! I've been trying for hours to put a badge on my side bar to Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt that is supposed to begin toward the end of this month! And it's there and actually works!!! Yep, I'm all in on this one. It will be my first mystery quilt...ever! She pulled colors from the Grand Hotel on an island she visited back in May! I love the colors! If you'd like to join us on this mystery journey, just click the pink geranium badge in the sidebar and it will take you there... I love all things quilty and Bonnie's scrappy style fits me to a 'T'!!! You don't have to pay for the pattern or block kits, it's simply a mystery quilt with weekly instructions. I'll be posting my progress as we go along... I've picked my colors already using my existing stash for about 98% of it and picked up about 3 fat quarters last night at Walmart while getting groceries, just to round out one of the colors a little better... So if you're up for some fun, click the badge and join us!

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Best of Show...

I'm excited to say that my Be Attitudes quilt won Best of Show in Quilting!!! Oh, and the pink outfit Lil Bit wore to the dog show that same day received a Blue ribbon as well! I would have blogged about it all before now but I was in Waco with my grand kids 3 days while Mom and Dad were both out of town working! So while the kids were in school, I put together the center of a quilt top in the same color way and pattern that I fell in love with at the quilt show last weekend. It's black, white, grey, and red in a disappearing nine patch pattern. I'll put another pic up when I get the borders on...
Cool, eh?
And Lil Bit's newspaper picture...She's a celebrity! Who'd a thunk it?
Oh, and the Best of Show quilt? This is it!



Monday, October 6, 2014

Aww... Puppy power!


I didn't plan to bring a puppy home- Really, I just went to Quilting group last Tuesday with no thought of acquiring another dog! Sometimes these things just happen! My friend Shawna had gotten a puppy at the Abilene shelter for her niece a few days before and wouldn't you know, in the meantime, the niece got another dog. Now my friend already has 3 tiny dogs in her house and was lamenting that she hated to do it, but she guessed she'd have to take the sweet pup back to the pound... I asked what kind of dog this pup was, and she said, "Chihuahua." Dern, I thought, that's what I was afraid of... When she ran to the house to get the pup for me to meet, there wasn't even a doubt that I would be taking said pup home. When I saw her, I knew she was perfect! I've had three other chihuahuas in the past and loved them all dearly. Tomorrow will be a week since I adopted Lil Bit, and I can truly say she is wonderful! She is 4 months old, black with white tips to her toes on all four legs and white hair included on her chest swirls... She loves to play fetch, and tries very hard to please. She's only had 1 accident in the house since I got her, and that was on her first day. I pretty much keep her leash tethered to a belt loop on my jeans or in my arms or on my lap most of the time. She is Soo black until she doesn't photograph well but I'll share one 
She's asleep in my lap at the fairgrounds. It's very hard work entertaining!