Design Wall Monday

Welcome to all following links on Design Wall Monday!  Please browse around for a spell.  And if you are interested in a “Quilt Show” check out my archives for Dec. 09.  Each day of Dec. I featured one of my quilts, starting from the first ones all the way to show quilts.  ENJOY!  And do come visit again!

The One Block Wonder is coming along.  I have rearranged this about 10 times, but I am getting very close to what I want.  It is amazing how I notice things in this picture that need moving, but it does not show so much on the real thing.  I think the blocks with the mostly-white centers really “pop” too much, so I’ll have to figure out a way to de-emphasize them.  Hopefully I will get this sewn together soon and have it ready to quilt when IQ arrives….  19 more days!!

 

   

Veggie Tales quilts are done and almost ready to send to the twins… I just need to make labels for them.  I found the most PERFECT binding fabric… it is called “Freckles” by Free Spirit.  Of course, I forgot to take a picture of it when I was snapping the others.  It is a tiny, tiny pin-dot of about 8 different bright colors on a black background… WONDERFUL binding fabric.  It would also make a great background fabric for a colorful quilt.  I’m going to have to hunt down some more of this!

Both quilts were quilted using the Curlz panto.  I really considered custom quilting, but I kept reminding myself…

1.  These are USING quilts… they will be washed a gazillion times.

2.  I don’t have TIME for custom quilting right now because I am slower-than-slow at it.

I love these little quilts…. they are so bright and cheerful.  I know Kyleigh and Ryleigh will enjoy using them.

Be blessed in all you do today!!  I’m quilting like crazy on a super-king-size quilt.  Can I get it done before I need to leave for bowling this evening?  I’m challenging myself to do it.

Thanks for looking!  If you wish to see what others are us to, bee-bop on over to Judy’s Patchwork Times and follow the links.  I promise you will enjoy it!

KAT

Update… Lots going on!

WHEW!!  I’m taking a couple of deep cleansing breaths here, and sitting down just long enough to report in.  I feel oh-so-guilty when I look and realize that I have not blogged in quite a while.

GUSSIE UPDATE:  She is purring like a kitten.  I never did call the service line, because once I threatened she straightened up and stitched right (for a very brief time… like until about the time the service line would be CLOSED for the day!).  BUT I had finally realized that the whole issue was the rocking finger.  I tinkered with her, tiny adjustment at a time, until I finally found the spot she likes.  Result…. beautiful stitches, no loud clanking noises, and NO LOOPS!  I might need to check and see if DH can WELD the rocking finger in that position since it seems to want to undo itself on a regular basis.  But at least now I know I CAN DO IT!

QUILTING:  I’ve been very busy with customer quilts!  I’ve done 4 this week, and last night I quilted the Veggie Tales quilts for the twins.  Today I will get the bindings put on and probably hem them on the machine.  Then a H-U-G-E customer quilt will go in the machine.  I waited until I was SURE Gussie was fixed before even thinking about putting this one in.  Who wants to pick loops from the back of a king-size quilt?  NOT ME!!  I’ll drop off and pick up another load of quilts at quilt club next week.  I’m in a rush because….

IQ UPDATE:  More production issues have cropped up, but my IQ will arrive for installation on Sept. 25th!!  So I’m on a new count-down.  Plans are being made for painting and final cleaning the week before “she” gets here, so there will be no rest for me in the mean time.  OH… and we have company coming that weekend… but we will deal with that.  I usually clean house like a white tornado before company comes, but I have already started on the process because IQ was coming, so I am a step ahead of myself!  DH can be “host” instead of me because I will be learning how to use my new baby.  Can you tell I am excited?  I am SOOOO looking forward to having access to some new patterns, and the creativity I will have with IQ.

PEARS: … are everywhere.  They are just about to finish up and we are getting as many as possible dried in the food dehydrator.  I had never thought of doing that, but JUDY mentioned drying fruit and suggested pears were yummy.  Honestly, I don’t much care for regular pears.  They are the one fruit I just don’t particularly enjoy, but the dried ones are YUMMO!  It is a shame my dehydrator is so small.  Eight-ten pears at one time is all we can do.

OKRA:  It is coming out our ears!  And I am SOOOO thankful for the 2 1/2” of rain we got this morning.  That is the first measurable rain in a couple of MONTHS!  No kidding!  That should really revive the okra (which DH has been watering) and get it going some more.  We should have okra in abundance until cooler weather arrives, and that will probably be at least another month.

Got to run… DISH is coming to install tomorrow.  I figure I should at least wipe the months-old dust from the TVs and whatever they are sitting on!

Have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.  I’ll see you again next week.  And THIS time I will have something to show on Design Wall Monday!

KAT

WOO HOOO!

I am 99.9% CERTAIN that I have FIXED Gussie!!!  It was that  finicky little rocking finger in the bobbin area that wants to be at a CERTAIN  place at a CERTAIN time during the stitch.  I CERTAINLY have had “fun” with that little buddy!  You can be CERTAIN that from now on I will know how to work on that little sucker, because I have been adjusting and readjusting it for the last 3 days!!!

Thank YOU, Lord, for the wisdom to get it done!  I CERTAINLY did NOT want to make a trip to Missouri!!  Tomorrow’s plans…..

no-loop quilting!  YAHHH!!!!!

KAT

We Went, We Bowled…

And I won some MONEY!!   YAAAAA!  I won 2nd place in Women’s Singles Event!!!  That “do-over” helped salvage my hurt feelings over the poor bowling of the previous weekend.  DH also may be getting some money back on team event…. we will see how many places they pay.   We think his team is in about 6th place, and mine is in 7th.  We will see when the checks come out.

OTHER NEWS:  I HAD Gussie FIXED!  She was not leaving loops!  BUT she was very hard to move while quilting, so…. I tinkered with her just a little bit more, and now she is definitely NOT fixed and I can’t get her anywhere NEAR fixed.  I’m breaking down this morning and for the first time ever in the 6 years I have owned her, I am calling the Gammill tech hot-line.  I am DESPERATE!  If I don’t get her fixed this week, next week I am throwing her in the car and heading to West Plains, Missouri with her!  Enough is enough, Gussie Fay!  Play nice!  Hopefully Jearld at Gammill will have some good advice for me today and we can get this issue solved for good.  I am NOT looking forward to a 1000 mile round trip to the factory!!

OTHER OTHER NEWS:  The garden is pretty much gone, except for okra.  We have okra coming out our ears.  Remember that picture back a couple of months ago of our okra patch?  I think EVERY ONE of those little plants survived.  They are now tall as trees and producing a bumper crop.  They are the only thing that can survive our lack of rainfall.  What are we doing with it?  Freezing a little, eating a little, and giving away a LOT! 

Also on the agenda this week is picking some more muscadines.  DH picked about a half of a gallon last week.  We need a little more to make a batch of  muscadine jelly… YUMMO!

Got to run this morning… I apologize for no-picture blogging, but it is the best I can do right now.  “Hello, Gammill tech, are you there…. HELP!”

Be blessed today in all you do!!

KAT

Do-Over!

There are so many times I wish I had a “do-over”… when I do an “oops” on a sewing project, when that long cast while fishing lands in a bush instead of the water, when I burned or over-salted something I was cooking… the list could be endless.  I just found out I DO have a do-over in one instance.

Remember in my last post I was whining sharing about how we bowled poorly at Natchez… WE GET A DO-OVER!  Friends going to the tournament this weekend needed a substitute couple, and here we go again.  Perhaps we can improve our scores, but if not, we will still have a good visit with friends from our area.

SUBJECT CHANGE:  I thought I might get the twin’s quilts done this week… NOT!  (UPDATE:  They are home and doing well.)  I picked up 6 quilts in my rounds yesterday.  This is not complaining…. because it bring in $$$$ !  I’m in a time and money-gathering crunch before I have to pay for my IQ install, so that is a real blessing!!  That also means that you probably won’t be seeing many posts from me in the next 2 weeks.  Just know that I am doing well and busy as a worker bee, well, WORKING!

Somewhere in the midst of all this craziness I must find time to do a little painting in my quilting room.  I have a very long shelf that can’t be taken out (too long to turn the corner with the quilting machine in there) that really needs repainting.  Left-over peach paint from the hallway paint job several years ago will do nicely.  I also want to paint the chair and perhaps the table I will be using in there… We will see exactly how much gets done but the shelf MUST get painted before IQ arrives.  Once we get the install done I can not push the machine over to the other side of the room to work on the shelf.  Once IQ is set up and level (in a very un-level room) I am not moving that machine for anything!

Now I am “off to the races” today… quilting, laundry, etc.  Have a blessed day and rest-of-the-week, too.

KAT

Good Friends, Good Food,…

But STINKY bowling!!  We really enjoyed the visit with our AR and MS friends.  We also ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  BUT, we both bowled terribly.  I got my average only 2 of the 9 games… that is pretty stinky.  I did manage to pull out a 207 for one game yesterday, and then turned right around and bowled a 97 in the next game.  Bowling was invented to keep us humble… and it does that to me regularly, and ESPECIALLY when I go out of town to bowl!!  But yet we keep doing this…. does that make any sense? 

The fun of renewing friendships and catching up on what is new with them keeps us going out of town a couple of times a year for these tournaments, and we are looking at adding a 3rd one sometime in the spring of the year.

Today will be spent wrestling with Gussie.  She has decided to start throwing loops on the back of quilts again.  I think she is rebelling because she knows IQ is coming… she’s jealous.  I have picked 25 loops from the back of the latest quilt, and will open up the “guts” of Gussie again today.  UUGGGHH!  I tinker with her, she is better, and then back to the same old tricks.  I MUST get this issue solved before IQ gets here… the clock is ticking…  25 more days!!

Got to run…. lots to do today.  I am hoping to actually get the Veggie Tales quilts done this week and I will post pictures of them.

Have a blessed week, and may the Lord prosper everything you set your hands to!

KAT

Natchez, Here We Come!

It’s that time of year again… we will venture to Natchez, MS for the Grandma/Grandpa Bowling Tournament. I hope we bowl well, but if not we will still enjoy a good visit with our AR friends and also eat well. (Starting the low-carb thing again as soon as we return, so this is like a prisoner being offered a last meal.)

My design wall has NOT changed this week (so I won’t be posting on design wall Monday) because I have been busy quilting and cleaning the studio… there were dust/lint bunnies the size of small dogs in there! YUK! It is a much more pleasant work-place now that it is clean and more organized! I did some rearranging and moved the batting rack into the guest bedroom. In it's place I put a small table and chair so I will have a place to sit while IQ stitches and I lounge back and eat bon-bons. HAHA! I am on an IQ countdown… only 29 more days!!

The twins arrived safe and sound. They weighed 6-13, and 6-8… big girls for twins! I am pleased to introduce Ryleigh Jean and Kyleigh Lynn.

SOOOO, I hope you all have a great weekend! I’ll give a bowling report when we return.

KAT

Design Wall Monday

Aren’t these CUTE!!! They are for the twins my niece will deliver TOMORROW!! I would hurry and get them quilted, but since they are in Oklahoma, I don’t think they will exactly need to be snuggled in a quilt for a while… like maybe, FALL!

I LOVE Veggie-Tales, and these panels really caught my eye. I wanted something very bright and cheerful. These will be “using” quilts, and I think the twin girls will enjoy these funny and cute characters.

Hi, Larry the Cucumber… nice to see you again!

Bob the Tomato, don’t be so shy… show yourself!

And during the construction of these quilts there was a slight “oops” on my part. WHAT did THIS??

SURELY it was NOT ME! It MUST have been Panasonic’s fault (see below)!

I have NEVER left an iron sitting down on the ironing board in all of my fifty-plus years, but while working on this I was in a time crunch, and just walked away from the ironing board. Twenty minutes later I came back to the room to iron another seam and there was my iron sitting down. Yep, a great big scorch is left behind, but I am thankful that it does cut off automatically so at least I did not set something on fire!! SHEESH! I never cease to amaze myself at the ridiculous things I can do!

And also still on my design wall is the OB Wonder I showed last week. I’ve done some rearranging, but am still not completely satisfied with the look, so I will play with it some more.

Now you have read about my silliness and seen my project, so go to Judy’s blog and follow the links to other design walls. You will be amazed at what others are doing!

Have a blessed day, and please keep my niece and the twin girls in your prayers. They will arrive via C-section tomorrow.

KAT