Mother’s Day 2020 – Lots of Progress to Share!

I hope if you are a mom of human or pet… you are celebrating!!!

If you are a dude I hope you make the mom in your life feel special!

It has been a crazy week full here at Daisy Meadows!!!  Come on in and relax and read and see what I have been up to 🙂

Four years ago this week my honey finished building, staining and sealing my Hinterberg quilt frame (built from a kit we got at Hinterberg dot com… you can call them too… based in the USA).

This picture is at our home in Florida 4 years ago!!!

Now this week in our North Carolina home…

 I rolled the quilt in the frame and started working my way from the right side over to the left side now in the wide sashing ….

That frame is probably even better than when it was brand new as it still had to be broken in a bit then 🙂  I love this frame and all the love that went into making it for me… like we enjoy seeing quilts we have made wrapping our loved ones too!

Here is a photo that came across my vision this week so I saved it to share with y’all!
My first quilt… machine pieces and hand quilted with the guidance only my bestie Connie could give!!!

 We no longer have that bed … or mattress set! lol  But we do sleep under a hand quilted quilt always.  This quilt I use on my feet now.. and I have used some of it for pillows too 🙂

Last week I got this cool red work panel in the mail… I found it on eBay … it is made by Marcus Brothers…

 I am planning to cut each square I use in this wall hanging for our kitchen … but first I will redwork them all!  Starting with this percolating coffee pot here…

 I found some vanilla fabric in my stash with no selvage but 100% cotton and a nice weave for stitching through… to use as a stabilizer and to hide any dark red that may show through each block…

 See now how opaque the background is and how nice the coffee pot shows off…

 The thread was a welcomed gift from my BFF Jannessa… I am sew blessed with 2 of the bestest friends a girl can imagine!!!!  This is DMC 498 …

(you can see that I didn’t have that stabilizing fabric in the photo above!)

 And here is how far I got this week since just starting mid week or so…

Linking this post to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky HERE <<<<

Speaking of great friends… I have yet another great friend who remembered me for Mother’s Day….

 Yes… Holli Jo sent me a seam ripper made by her cousin’s family and picked out to be similar to hers with the North Carolina flower… dogwood… on the handle.  Isn’t this amazing artwork to make a seam ripper from such?  HERE IS A LINK to her Etsy shop too if you are interested in adding something like this to your sewing notions… it is SHARP too!  The link will open in a new window too so you don’t lose your place here 😀

When I saw it come out of the package I knew it was from Holli Jo… I am sew blessed Y’all!  Her cousin included a sweet note in the well packed gift and a sweet little bag to hold them both 😀  I felt so special to receive this item!!!

Then I have been doing some piecing on some flying geese for a future quilt and also turning a quilt kit that was just started to cut and not finished… into a 62″ x 18″ table runner for my kitchen….

Above is my ideas … I have gotten farther but you’ll have to come back next week to see the flimsy I will hand off to Jannessa for fmq… my honey loves her fmq-ing on our bar table runner because drinks don’t tip easily and it stays nice and flat because she is GREAT with her fmq!!!!

Look at this quilt that inspired my friend Connie… I love it so thought I would share it here…

And here inspiring me… is a Gerber Daisy we picked up when we lucked out and found a little place open selling flowers… we got some cheddary orange colored flowers for around our flag pole… we got a pot for the Daisy and when the freezes are over and they are planted I will share a photo with you >>> Yes it froze the last 2 nights below 30 degrees here!!! CRAZINESS!!!!  And our sweet Molly … freshly brushed … she loves looking pretty!!!

Here is a meme I found… PLEASE when you can’t social distance… WEAR A MASK!!!

 So what is the joy in the story you are now living??? What is a new normal thing you have learned to love that you didn’t initially…

I have learned to love being alone with my honey and our pooch… she is a joy and he is a hoot… I am definitely more blessed than I realized to be quarantined with the crew I am with!!!

I have had to learn to balance time that I listen to news though.. my honey needs more news info than I can deal with so headphones are a blessing at times!

Hope to hear from you below in the comments…

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Sew Much Hand Quilting Fun ~ Ellie’s Quilt Reveal and Connie’s Swoon too!

Happy Sunday Y’all!  And Happy Father’s Day to you that have a Father in the House too ❤

Here is sweet Molly, who just turned 1 year old!!!, modeling my new fave spot to be in when I am NOT hand quilting at my frame 🙂  We also found this fun fern when shopping for just $5!!!  what a deal !!

In my view has been this most interesting flowering bush… it is a hydrangea in pink, blue and purple with a bit a white even all in one bush!!!!

 How does that happen when the color of the flowers is due to the acid in the soil… or so I thought… maybe a hybrid??  But it didn’t come up last year …. hmmmm!

Then next to the front door we have this mammoth hosta plant that dies back each winter and comes back stronger and more brilliant the following year!!!

 This year our neighbor (who harvested the strawberries from our garden space) says we will have some Muscadine Grapes to make jam with… he says he will teach me 😀

 We have 3 or 4 peach trees all FULL of peaches…

 And a GRAND old Willow that needs a good trim down low but has been here longer than we have been inhabiting this land I think… or so we are told that !

 We celebrated Flag Day this past Friday here in the US…  in keeping with that we had found this cool heart shaped flag theme wall hanging that found a home under a flag that adorns our wall….

 I haven’t been spending too much time at the sewing machine this week but Thursday was …

And here is a photo I sent to my bestie … she works full time plus some… I have all day to stitch by hand or machine… she doesn’t…

So where have I been spending my time???  Well Ellie and her parents got her quilt… waiting patiently for a picture of her with her quilt and afghan…

These are both hand done… the quilt I designed just for little Elliana… it is machine applique for durability… but all hand quilted including the binding 😀

The afghan was a gift to little Ellie from my bestie Connie!  See she included a label she had made too ❤

I enjoyed making that collage… but lets take a closer look at the quilt I spent so much time on in recent times…

I started working on this quilt March 15, 2019… I completed and mailed it on June 8, 2019… just shy of 3 months of work!  🙂  It finished at about 50″ x 60″.  It is all cotton and soft and snuggly after washing and drying as seen in these photos 🙂

To the left you can see how I added the label and framed it in the corner of the quilt… right bottom is my fave spot for a label … 

Here is the fabric marker I used for the label…

 I got this in a 2 pack on Amazon.

Here you can see all the cool texture the hand quilting created on the back side.

It was loved upon receiving it and they called to gush over how happy they were with not just the quilt but also the afghan too… the afghan is about 36″ square and perfect for discreet breastfeeding or bundling up in the car seat too ❤

With that mailed off I spent a few days catching up on housework and doing a bit of piecing with Julius my new to me 301 vintage Singer.  Soon this empty frame was calling me back though 🙂

 Here is the backing fabric I pressed completely … it is a wideback fabric designed by Lori Holt and it divine for stitching.. not as heavy as some widebacks I have used !!!  She got this at Fabric . com I think and it was definitely worth it… I will ponder my next quilt backing purchase better after feeling this AND quilting it too!!!

Soon I had my Hinterberg quilt frame loaded with the backing in the front 2 rollers…

 And after a nice overnight break from frustration during loading the top and batting… I remember what I had forgotten to do … and woke up and loaded it all by myself 🙂

I made this spammed photo for sharing on facebook 🙂  And to help me remember when I started this project.

 The pattern is called “Swoon” and these are the original 24″ finished size… they now have other sizes available… my bestie pieces so perfectly it is such a pleasure to stitch on her piecing.

When she came early in the spring to drop off the quilt top and backing and batting… we premarked most of it using the blue water soluble markers we had on hand… but since that time I have found a different brand that I get quickly from Amazon… a link to Amazon USA site is HERE!

They are quite affordable at $15 for 10 markers and each one lasts a good amount of time… even if they are small in size they hold a good bit of very water soluble ink!

Soon… after several on phone consultations and several photos exchanged … I had this photo that we both liked…

 Then this much…

 And finally made it to the sashing 😀

 Today I am working on finishing the second swoon block quilting…

 And here is a view from above for you all to enjoy 🙂

I am linking this hand quilting extravaganza post to:
Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday group HERE
and to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE

But most excited for my latest group to join that only requires hand quilting progress to post every 3 weeks!

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

I did a quiz on facebook this week and got this result… I found it fun and humorous 🙂

I am complex, quirky, imaginative and experimental… all very true about me 🙂

 Here is a photo I took in my front yard of me… and a black and white of my darling daughter and her man…

Here is a cool old Singer we sold this week too…

I hope you enjoyed this long winded post and I hope you will visit all the links… and enjoy the hand done creativity each shares!!! 

Have a blessed week ahead… it is just 2 more weekends before it is JULY !!!
CRAZY HOW TIME FLIES!!!!  So don’t waste a MINUTE of it ….

Binding My Finish!!

I can’t believe what a week we have here in North Carolina… it was warm… now it is cold again!!!  So I stayed busy and decided it was time to empty the frame and yesterday I got to this!!

 I started the week looking at this…12 columns to stitch and the center would be done!!  Linking my progress on this project to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy’s Quilts in Canada where she is stitching away in the cold weather they are getting HERE!

Soon enough I was on to this and chipping away at the finish!!!

At finally it was time to trim the quilt, decide on the binding, figure it and cut it and make it one long piece… then to sit down at Cleo and give her a chance to sing as she sewed down the binding 🙂

 My favorite accouterments for binding…

 And getting it started with a tan 50 wt Aurifil thread 🙂

Soon I had made my way around the first corner and down a bit and got a picture… I am sure not all my corners will miter so nicely but this one turned out nice I think… as did my label 😀

Linking all this to the Peacock Party Wendy is having HERE!

Also this week was continue to remove and replace the bottom outer border on this quilt flimsy… it is next to go in the frame….

Here is a close up of what a properly pinned border left me with… you see I placed this length of fabric border on here in a rush and measured down the center but somehow miss-measured the borders when I cut them… AND they are also set in place with miters too! lol  I can’t make this redo job easy on myself now can I!

Anyway this was taken off the bottom.. so I decided I best check the top better too so I pressed it and sure enough it waved back at me … so I took it off in the photo above you see a bit less left but still quite a chunk of fabric was removed as I removed and replaced these borders.

I will share my plan for hand quilting this wall hanging next week 🙂

My honey has been busy working on tiling this tile we have in our kitchen in 4 separate areas…

That fruit tile is Italian maybe in the bottom left???  Well didn’t suit our river mountain home anyway so in his stash my honey found and figured how to utilize some tile left over from our Florida home… that is  the bottom right.  Then properly grouted is the top photo… the glass tiles really took on a deeper color once grouted 😀  

Does he get to count this as hand work for these to linky parties this week???

The background tile was roughed up as it is very shiny and white… next week I will share a photo of our kitchen with all 4 areas fixed to forever hide this fruit that just didn’t go with wood cabinets and all… I am excited to see it all grouted myself !!!

We got a little Singer Sew handy #20 Sewing Machine in Case this week… it sold within 5 minutes on Facebook too ❤  So nice to see this go to a home where it will be enjoyed.. and it works too !!

Today our sweet pup Molly is 8 months old!!!  Hard to believe !!! 

We teamed up and gave her a haircut and bath this week (the middle shot on the right above was before her haircut and bath).  She needed both!!!  She sure enjoys me taking quilts off the frame… she jumps right on them so it was good she was all clean!!! lol  She likes playing with sticks and wood outside, playing fetch though is still a favorite!  And she will do anything for a treat!

Last week I said I was going to keep the same closing until we got fresh flowers… well I found this quote this week (thanks to Bonnie Hunter) and investigated and found this… we live in the mountains with water beside and behind us so what could be better!!!  I quote by Jack Kerouac for you from me will be my closing until we get some fresh flowers and some new inspiration this year!!!

 

So take time to evaluate how much you are in love with every bit of your life I pray!  Life is short and we need to make changes as needed to be all we can be…

The Lazy Daisy and Sewing Adventures too !

While Spring on the calendar started a while ago… it is just now springing up here in the mountains of North Carolina! 

So Happy Spring Y’all!

Here is a view of our pond and the back of our home on a panoramic shot…

The building on the far left is our pump house… then those big trees across the pond are Bradford Pears that have bloomed and now turned green 😀 … the grist mill or water wheel with house is next then my honey has his “mancave”… a 500 sq ft building for all his woodworking and home reno stuff to be stored… plus stuff for the garden and plantings all over this property… finally is a greenhouse and outdoor storage from the mancave.. and the Valley River is viewed on the far right… it is a busy stream that never dries up… we are thinking that is the difference between a creek and river! lol

In our pond (about 1/4 acre large) we have rainbow trout, bass and crappie in there… we realized this week when feeding the fish… there is a nursery where the active grown fish don’t go and it is overseen by a grandma fish who is quite large (over 2 feet long!!!)  The fish we feed are from 1 foot to 20″ long themselves… and they all look quite healthy.. we have yet to find one floating!!!  But it is all a learning experience…

Above is a video of feeding time on the hascienda!  Enjoy 🙂

Onto sewing adventures… first are the curtains I made for the bedroom…

 they are 2 layered and have raw edged covered with binding….

I copied them from the curtains left in the sun room portion of our living room…

But using fabrics from my stash that would coordinate with quilts we have and that I will be making… my goal is to have a quilt to change to for each season 😀  We shall see how long that takes!!! lol

Now that you have seen the sunroom curtains… look at the new leaders I have for my quilt frame…

They are olive green and off white stripes running the length of the poles… I have directions on how much to cut them for proper use… I had a wider fabric than typical quilting cotton so I got to adjust these a bit which I like… makes it easier to load and unload when done!

Someone had asked about my quilt frame on Facebook… it is a Hinterberg wood frame with 3 metal poles.. a 3 pole frame is the easiest and most user friendly to use for hand quilting.  The front pole holds backing  layer of your quilt sandwich… then the top and batting layers get attached to the 3rd pole and pulled taute once the bottom of these 2 layers is attached with heavy straight pins to the backing… This picture may make more sense than my explanation

So if have a 3 pole frame of any brand… try this way of loading … I get great tension with no issues 😀  And there is no pin basting with this hand quilting frame… BUT I have used this frame to load a quilt for machine quilting too to pin baste for that… it is so much nicer than crawling on the floor… small quilts can be taped to a countertop to pin baste… but large quilts twin or bigger… you need a way to baste or a frame like this to not need to pin baste.

Now to my sewing room reno… I have a few craft boxes to unload still but all the sewing room boxes are unloaded and my room is full of fun!!!!  Here is a peek in the door just off the living room now…

 And here is a panoramic view showing 3 sides of my sewing room…

My cutting table is waiting for a large cutting mat… my cutting mats are all gouged up… I had replaced my Olfa cutting mats with Fiskars only to realize the quality was NOT the same… so I have an Olfa 24 x 36 on order now to fit my cutting table and get it in order…

Above the cutting table is my ruler holder my honey made me several years ago from plywood… it works sooo good!  Next to the right is the closet I will show you in depth below in pictures… it holds all my fabric and notions and batting and stores my scraps and books… LOVE THIS CLOSET!!!

next is the window with a great view of the river and my honey’s man cave… with pics of all my friends with friendships to span a lifetime! 🙂  To the right of the window is a chest I want replaced in the near future that holds my hand quilting marking pens/pencils/chalks… and threads specific to hand quilting as well… plus a few patterns and some glue baste I may use in the never future! lol.

Around from that is Zena my Singer 401a and the Quilt frame my honey made… it has a vintage chair for it now where in the old place it had a stool I couldn’t stand so we left it behind for someone else to enjoy… then my one and only Ott light that I simply move to my sewing spot of the moment… right now I am working on Gloria my Singer 301a… making apple core table topper!!!

Now don’t miss my “k” thread and bobbin holder and the organizer shelf below it… to the right will be my design wall… more on that when we make it but Zena has the flannel for it on her cabinet!!! lol

Above is my closet in snipet shots for you to enjoy… the top right is the next big quilt to go in the frame… for our bed!  My sewing room sign that hangs over the door to this room… and sooo much other fun stuff… we spent under $200 on all the wood and screws for this closet reno … and boy was it worth it.. ALL my stuff is in one room now!!!  Except my hand quilting frames of course! 😀

And now to my darling new project… a string of apple cores !!!

These are about 4″ finished size…

 These are waiting to be joined up… I do a few at a time as it is fun but a bit tedious too!

 I am using THIS tutorial for machine piecing my apple cores… she is a bit hard to listen to BUT WORTH THE LISTEN!!!  If you are interested in trying this project grab a charm pack or some 5″ blocks and a template and lay it out first 😀

Have you seen a corkscrew willow?  Or have you seen a conehead evergreen like the one to the right???  I love this home!!! ❤

 And of course my honey is enjoying the first mow on his completely renovated John Deere… had a deck painting, new blades, spindles, oil, spark plugs, air filter, seat, and leveled… it is now mowing so nice and making a sweet fresh cut grass smell in our home 😀

Now that it is raining he is focusing on painting…

the bottom half of the wall was a pastel green that belongs in a baby room or something… that was the color of our walls all over.. now we have a nice linen color covering them.  A little yellow a little peach and a very light color called Malted Milk and totally elegant with the white chair rail… here is a photo of the wall with the white touched up and all the wall painted and cut in 😀

Well I think this is quite long enough for now… if you would like pointers on making a apple core by machine just ask and I will post more on this next week when HOPEFULLY I will have a finish to share with you all as well!

Have a happy Sunday all and remember….

Hand Quilting… A finish and a beginning too!

Happy Sunday Y’all!

From near the most famous beach….

to the serenity we found on that beach over the last few weeks…

Now to play catch up with you all… I have been slow stitching quite a bit since we last visited on my blog…. And to link to my favorite Sunday blog linky too.. Right HERE!  Click that HERE link to see what Kathy is up to and what others who link are up to on this fine day wherever you are!!!

I reached the last row of hexi flowers in this Hollyhock Garden Quilt 🙂

 And just after celebrating my 51st birthday reached the LAST Hexi Flower stitching !!!

 Then I marked all the top border row….

 And big stitched it….

 I had several requests for a photo once off the frame and trimmed (before binding) so I obliged…

 And here you can see the quilting a bit more….

While completing this quilt my honey and I had a welcomed visitor though as well!!!  My bestie and quilting mentor Connie!!!!

This year she flew down from Tennessee for her yearly week visit.  It was so good to see her and with all that has been happening in our lives here a welcomed relief to have someone to visit with that truly understands things we are dealing with presently.

The 3 of us all have July birthdays… Connie’s is July 3, mine is July 4, and Rick’s is July 20 🙂  Happy Birthday to us!!!

My honey and I had done a bit of clean up and straightening in prep for her visit… here are a couple shots of her room she took upon arrival here…

We enjoyed preparing this space
for her and she enjoyed it too!
She also spent time in the living room
using the recliner my knees won’t help
me get out of so I rarely use anymore!

Daisy even hung out with her 😀

We also took photos … some posed…

 And some unexpected! lol

Once we delivered her back to the airport it was time to get the binding on the quilt… and get it ready for the home I had decided through prayer… this Hollyhock Garden Quilt should be destined for…

 Here is the label and the beginning of the binding started being sewn down… I add the twill tape labels to all my quilts… I get them from an Etsy shop…

 And here is the whole quilt after binding and washing and drying 😀

 Here is a collage I made of the finish!!!  I love the backing for this quilt almost as much as the front!

And Monday it will go into the mail for the lucky recipient .. my dear friend Brandy… a nurse who I trained to the PICU I worked in and who continues to serve others her nursing career.  She loves to read so I hope to find a pic some day of her snuggled in this quilt reading a good book. ❤

While finishing the slow stitching on this quilt… I finished the fast stitching of the outer borders on this quilt for my son and his new bride…

It is named Amethyst Stars Quilt …my own design from a quilt called Morning Star I found on the internet.

I used my stash and a layer cake of “country” colored fabrics to make this quilt… as well as some donations from Connie… in fact the outer border is the end of the green fabric I backed and bordered my very first quilt with.. it has now been retired do to overuse and it is needing repairs! lol  But the fabric is even better looking on this quilt!!!

Would y’all be interested in a tutorial on how to do a nice n easy mitered corner on outer borders of a quilt??  Leave me a comment about it if you would… I took pics to do the tutorial but until now I haven’t had the time! lol  Now I am ready IF there is interest!!!

The backing is a rusty brown and dark brown mix of paisley prints… very modern country in how it looks and may become the binding as well!  Here it is now on my frame… my honey helped me with that job and we got it on there yesterday… Saturday morning….

You can see the nice Hinterberg frame my honey fashioned for me from a kit we bought directly from the company here in the USA… I use a gooseneck lamp that had a torchier on it but that was long ago removed as I only need the gooseneck and love how functional it is… I left on the light for this pic so you could see how nice and bright a white daylight bulb is… they come 4 or 5 in a pack at Lowes or Home Depot… a hardware store that carries a large selection of flourescent bulbs 😉

I use a rolling chair with arms… and a rolling table and all this moves as I need it to to get to what I am quilting… by hand 😀

Check out that “relax” sign on the upper right of the picture… that was my birthday present from my bestie Connie last year… this year I got…

 <<>>

She found the funniest card with 2 nurses on it to give me this year… so fun!!! and on the right is a pin that I added a heavy duty magnet to so it can hang on the refrigerator… along with this cute vintage card that came from the maker of this vintage quilt piece that is embellished with the saysing “Ever day is a Blessing”!  LOVE IT!  My honey gifted me with a matching tea pitcher and iced tea glass… I drink iced tea (diet that is) about 50% of the day or more… between bouts of water and coffee… and we use reusable cups/glasses for most of that … so a very practical gift and a card that made me cry he found it quick he said but it was perfect for the LOVE we share with each other!!

Suffice it to say the crazy busy week we had when Connie was here was over much too fast… we didn’t even get our birthday lunch in at our fave restaurant because life was so busy when she was here… but next year she hopes to stay a bit longer… maybe that will work out too!!!

So I have shared my finish and my beginning… I did a little piecing on a project yesterday and the day before also… but now am stumped… so off to Connie I mail it to get finished….

To the left is the beginning… & to the right is the final layout.  Below is my version of a checkerboard dresden layout… with inspiration from MSQC and
Jenny Doan.  But just using the scraps from the quilt I made for Connie’s room to make this pattern work!

But how do I get the backing and batting on this without zig zagging each top of each dresden piece!!!

So Connie has a couple ideas… and I got ink refills for my printer and printed off some pics from our visit to send to her along with some requested private pics too ❤

Here is a collage I made of her time here!

And here is the stencil I will be marking today….

Along the bottom wide border of the Amethyst Stars quilt… currently I am doing the supportive stitching in the ditch… so that this fun stitching will show up nice!  More on that next week I am hoping!!!!

Have a blessed week and thanks for stopping by y’all!!!
And PLEASE in this time of strife all over the place make time to….

So much to share from this week! My frame is LOADED!!!!

So happy to be here to share with you all this week… I want to start out with happy wishes to all my Mom readers…

Seems this may be an international holiday too!  Canada, Australia and the US all celebrate today!

I am linking this post to my Canadian bloggy friend Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching HERE <<<
     PLEASE take a look at her awesome blocks she is constructing presently and showing off progress on her blog today 🙂  I really am enjoying watching this project come to life!!!

I have an updated pic of my grandkids to share on this day also!!!!

Here is Kaydence at 11 months old… her mother is in the background too 🙂

Aren’t they both just beauties!!!??  She is an awesome mom and DIL also!

Kaydence turns 1 year old on the last day of May !!!!  She lives in Tennessee where we are all from… so I doubt I will be seeing her before she turns one… but I love finding shots of her!!! lol

And here is a cool shot I found from March 2016 of CJ with his dad… my oldest son DL 😀

CJ will be 2 years old on June 6… so less than a month! 🙂  I am very excited about this as he lives near me and I may be seeing him around then also!  They will honor him on this birthday with his first HAIRCUT! lol

And here he is playing with the little wagon in our Florida room 🙂  xxoo

As for me??!!!  I have been sooo busy!

First some update shots of Brandi’s Starlight ~ Starbright Quilt I am working on in my PVC frame 🙂  Last week I was almost 1/2 way through the 4th block of 9 on this quilt…

and I shared the photo above as my progress to be… well by Tuesday I had moved the quilt in the frame…

Today I took this shot…

I have taken off some time from hand quilting this to work on finalizing my Spiral Log Cabin Flimsy and get it ready for hand quilting…

Here is the whole framed up part for you to see on this 4th block progress…

So if you can tell I am in the bottom left hand corner presently… and should make it about halfway across today… as this quilt will now be my focus… my daughter’s 18th birthday is end of July and I want this done when she returns from a summertime trip she is taking! 🙂

These blocks are each 28″ so it is hard to get bored or tired of this quilting… if you love hand quilting… and taking time to share pics with you helps me chart my progress too!  Halfway through the 5th block will be halfway… I am anxious to see that come about sooner than later! 🙂

So what has been keeping me away from quilting on Starlight ~ Starbright??

First I cut and shared my starting progress on a flying geese border for this quilt center to get adorned with…

 Here were my flying geese in production…

 I used the Easy Angle ruler and Companion angle ruler to cut these and all turned out PERFECT!!!!

 Above are the 40 flying geese I needed… and below is how I set them on this quilt center…

 Then I used the “neutral fabric” from the flying geeese and cut borders for the quilt… this took a couple days as it went on fairly easy but lots of seams for sure to mind while sewing….

I must say I love the end wall hanging for our living room though!!!

And this flimsy will be the first to adorn my newly finished Hinterberg Hand Quilting Frame my honey & I finished this week!!!!

Last week I shared the frame shots while it was being made… but this week I am sharing it adorned with the flimsy above!!!

First though… I want to share the quilting frame in place… it is 10 feet long and that can be a no go for some quilters as space is an issue for something this long… but check it out!!!

Here you can see our living room… I am standing in the dining room/kitchen area to get this shot…

 And can you see the frame peeking out over our mussed up sofa?? lol

 Here it is!!!  Waiting on the poles to come on payday! lol

 And with the metal poles in place (it is electrical conduit… very stiff and unbending really!)

Here is a shot from the day after the leader fabric arrived and was washed, dried, ironed, torn to length for a nice square piece of fabric… then divided per the directions that came with the frame into 3 pieces….

 I chose a horizontal stripe fabric as a suggestion from a bloggy friend with a similar style frame… she said hers came with it and it helps her pin it straight… I am sooo HAPPY I DID THIS also!!!!

I also marked the center of the fabric “leaders” on each pole with a permanent marker to mark the centerpoint… you use this to mount everything and not have it cattiwaumpus on there! lol

 Finally… after several tries and then a good nights sleep and a good pressing of my flimsy and this was ready to go back on the frame without any wrinkles or lack of tension… it just flowed on when I was fresh and took my time! lol

So remember this if you try something new like this… try it really when you are at your most astute…

I do want to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT in this post to my friend Wendy!  Find her blog here where she is currently showing her BOM for May.. a very cool block… including directions for assembly of this “Puss in the corner” block! >>>>> HERE <<<<<<

You see this frame wouldn’t have been on my radar and I would have still been using a hoop only for these bigger quilts had it not been for her encouragement and the way she is soooo versatile with her frame too!  She has a Hinterberg frame built from a kit like mine is… and the company just recently had some kits made up for sale… I got this one just about 6 weeks ago and look at me now!

Wendy has encouraged me and my honey along in this process and shared pics and info about her frame and how she uses it best with all she has learned over the years… I am blessed to call her my friend for sure!!!

And before I let you go… check out what my daughter found last week at a neighborhood yard sale!!!!

 this little foot stool fits neatly under the chair it now sits at… but isn’t this doxie life like on the tapestry!!!!  I fell in love.. now this shot was taken after a good washing (years of dirt on this one when it was brought into the house!) and it had dried overnight.

But check out Daisy now next to that doxie foot stool!

 I thought she was looking like a model sitting next to her likeness!  We showed it to her and she barked at it! lol  Wonder what dogs really think.. how they interpret what they see with lack of some colours??!!

Enough pondering with you for today I think.. Have a blessed Mother’s Day wherever you are and remember no matter what…

Sunny Sunday to You!

I am so excited it is time to share at Kathy’s Quilts … Slow Sunday Stitchin Linky!  Link is at the end of this post for you to see what other’s are linking up!

I have had a week full of fun stuff but am most excited about my Slow Stitching progress…

Check this out… I am now 1/3 of the way done with this quilt here in this shot!  Look at a close up of how my first corner came out too!!!

I am so happy with how all this is working out on my new PVC frame too… here is a shot AFTER I moved the quilt to start the next block…

I really love this set up out here in my Florida room ( screened and windowed covered porch) 🙂

The parrots over my frame are colorful and a fun addition to having to stare at a wall when I am pondering this quilt.. I am happy I got them to keep me company when I quilt early in the morning ! 🙂

So a BIG birthday is coming up for me in July… my 50th.. and I decided after having this PVC frame that a regular quilting frame that is about 10 feet long is really what I want to quilt big quilts on in the future… I have the wholecloth that is only 1/4 done and needs finishing and we desperately need a new bed quilt after that!  So we bought a kit from Hinterberg frames.  I contacted them by the phone number on their website and their customer service is wonderful via phone and email!

Here is the naked wood my honey is using to assemble this kit with… this is just being held up in this first shot… to give you an idea what it will look like!

 Here are some of the specialty parts that come with the kit all stained “gunstock” color…

 Here is all the wood pieces cut except the long 10 FOOT tressle piece! lol

The gears came in the kit but added a fun contrast above we thought.. my honey actually posed this shot for me and I took it! lol

So that is what I will be doing on July 4, 2016… quilting at my new frame… if not before!!!!!

I have also gotten my Spiral Log Cabin quilt sewn together and planning the innermost border to bring it up to size for a pieced inner border..

I really love this project.. it is challenging me in some ways and confirming that I am “getting it ” at other times! 🙂  I like that!  I miss the challenges nursing kept in my life… I am finally to a place in quilting where I am challenging myself and pushing my own borders!   Do you ever take on a project knowing it will stretch your comfort zone??

Also this week….

My grandson CJ came over to play!

Isn’t he a cutie!!! He is so fun to be with too.. he is not a fussy kid at all! 🙂

I completed my BOM for Wehago Designs…

I liked this so much I chatted with my honey and we decided the pattern would be very similar for our next bed quilt… you see our current bed quilt we sleep under ever since I made it almost 5 years ago as my first quilt!!!  It needs some minor repair and a new binding and to be hung on a quilt rack for a rest… I need another to rotate with it once it is fixed… so here is my idea…

I will use more of a slate grey instead of her mushroom grey.. I will use her same white and scrappy appearance in blues… mainly medium and dark blues so it will hold up to being close to the steel grey I plan to use for it that I found in my stash… I bought it for another quilt that hasn’t gotten made yet and is a bit dark for it… I will use this for this project and be happier I think!

So I am now collecting 5″ squares of medium and dark blue prints.. I will buy the white fabric next month… and then all I need is the stars to align and my other projects get finished as I wait for it to rain blue fabrics my way! lol  I did pull some from my 5″ square box.. I am recruiting friends to send me some blues from their own stash too in 5″ squares or larger is my request!  We shall see.. I hope to spend my 50th birthday this year at my frame and piecing this when taking breaks!  lol!!!!

Other exciting stuff that happened this week…

My winnings I like to call blog candy… lol…  from the blog giveaway came in….

Here is the lovely fabric by my fave Cotton + Steel (via the UK sender)

And a very cool UK mag…

There was more but it is getting regifted so you can see it once it is rehomed 🙂  Overall I am overjoyed though!!!

I did get this green charm pack this week…

 42 shades of GREEEN!!!!  This was a stellar sale at Fat Quarter Shop.. the charm pack was $.68 and shipping was $2.50!!!  Came in 3 days too!!!

If I could only find one of these in BLUES would be PERFECT huh!!!! lol

Speaking of Perfection… Pat and Robin loved the gifts I made them and featured last week!

And what is next???

I got a fun word panel I saw someone on my facebook groups shared and fell in love as a wedding gift for my son and his new wife… did I tell you my oldest is now a married man??? Love his choice in wives too! 🙂  So I am making them a cute panel adorned with scrappy charms… with a modern edge.. or so I am hoping…

She loves modern… I am hoping she loves this and he loves it enough to display it in their home.. I am planning to give them a walmart card to buy a curtain rod or some sort of decorative rod to hang it by… that matches their style….

Would love feedback if you are so inclined!!!!

Have a blessed week ya’ll… I plan to keep on trucking and catch you next Sunday.. unless I get a wild hair and decide to post before then of course! lol

HERE is the link to Kathy’s Linky Party today… come check it out now!!! 🙂

Remember… no matter how bumpy the road may get…

P. S.  It is NOT Sunny in this area of Florida today.. so I made my own with this post… sorry so long but it felt good to catch up 🙂