Thursday, January 29, 2015

Quilt Market Question

Since we have moved to MO we are only about four hours from Paducah, KY.  My husband said we can go to Quilt Market this year!  I have a question though.  From blogs I have read it sounds like it is on for vendors and people who are "in the business".  Is this correct or is it for anyone?  Is it at the museum?  Is it just a big quilt show?  How much does it cost to get in?  Any information would be appreciated!
Thanks!
Missy!

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Log Cabin Blocks and a Tip

 I've been working on my scrappy log cabin quilt along blocks.  I finished 11 this past week to bring up my total to 26.  Oreo is a sweety and posed perfectly for me.
 This is my first time making log cabin blocks, I'm sure most of you already know this tip.  At first I was worried about getting the pattern messed up, until I realized the new strip was always sewn by the short strip.  Do you see them on the bottom of both these blocks?
I need to remember to let ya'll know the measurements I am using on these blocks.

My blocks are 10 1/2 inches, making the finished blocks 10 inches.  I was thinking of making 36 blocks, making 6 across and 6 down.  making my quilt 60 inches by 60 inches.  Is that a good size for a quilt?  I was also thinking of adding like a 5 inch border making the quilt 64 1/2 inches.  Do I need more blocks, or is that a good size?  

Thanks!
Missy

Saturday, January 24, 2015

This and That

Wanna hear something funny I did?  When I first set up my quilt on the treadle, I put my slipmat under the quilt where it goes on top of the machine.  The only thing though is, I forget to tape it down.

I'm not sure if you can see it in the picture below, but I actually sewed the slipmat to my quilt!
 I had to seam rip out all of my stitches, and then I used painter's tape to tape it down to the bed of my machine.  Boy did I feel stupid!  Of course this was a couple of weeks ago but since I did not have my my laptop I could not download any pictures to show you!
 It's called a Supreme Slider.  I know there is a lot of discussion about feed dogs, and some people say you don't need to drop them, but I prefer to.  However, I can't drop the feed dogs on my treadle so I have to cover them.
I had to share this picture of Oreo overseeing my cutting.

It is so nice not to be on a deadline to get my quilt quilted.  I am taking my time and working on my log cabin blocks when I am in the living room with my husband.

Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

Friday, January 16, 2015

Quilty math - yuck!

 I have found that I get more quilting done when I set a hand crank up in the living room.  It allows me to sit down for ten or 15 minutes to sew while hanging out with my husband.  I set up my ironing board made from a tv tray on one side and another tv tray on the other side to hold my strips.  It's super warm when the fireplace is going in the evenings.
I ran out of 7 1/2 inch neutral strips while I was sewing, which means I have three more finished blocks and several 6 1/6 blocks that need more strips to make 10 1/2 inch blocks.

Cupcake wanting attention while I'm taking pictures.
That brings me to ten finished blocks out of 36.
Custard wanted her picture taken.

That means I had to count how many strips I had cut of each size and color then figure out how many of each I still needed keeping in mind the half finished blocks.

At least that part is done and ready for quilting.
Our last dress up day at school was yesterday, today is just wearing school colors.
I was a butterfly princess, LOL

 I don't know why I didn't wear my hair up on the sides to show off the swirlies I drew on my eyes.  LOL
 All day the kids kept asking me if I knew there was glitter in my hair and on my face.  LOL
 Not to mention I kept bonking the kids with my wings.  LOL

It was a lot of fun!  I love dress up days!

Remember, God never said we could not have fun as long as we follow the Bible, there is lots of fun things to do!  Do something to make yourself smile today!

Missy

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Log Cabin Blocks

I have joined the log cabin quilt along on Instagram.  I've never made one before!
I have made seven blocks so far.  I am half way done with eight more.
It was really funny because I had been sewing these in the living room.  My husband walked in the next day when I was taking this picture and asked me where these blocks came from, even though he had watched me make them!  LOL
Today at school was Wacky Wednesday.  I had fun dressing up for it!



I love dress days, do you like to dress up for things?

Missy

Monday, January 12, 2015

Manor House block

 I am doing the Sew Sweet Bee again this year.  Amy from A Quilting Sheep, http://www.aquiltingsheep.com/, has this month and she chose manor houses from https://bloominworkshop.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/random-sampler-qal-manor-house/

I don't think the big polka dots match very well.  I decided to make an orange and yellow house.

I have to admit that the directions for the roof was kind of confusing when I ended up with this.  I had to iron it and then trim it to the right size.  I thought that fabric looked kind of like tiles and would make a good roof fabric.

I had to share Custard who got to the cat bed on the sewing table first.  She gets all twisted in there and it is hard to find her head.  LOL


There is no school today because of ice, so I am going to spend the day in the sewing room working on my quilt.  It is Spirit week at school, they have their hoopcoming for basketball this week so I hope the kids don't miss anymore days, they have spent a lot of time on their outfits.  Tomorrow is western day, I was going to wear my husband's red flannel shirt, but instead I am going to wear my t-shirt with cats that are wearing cowboy hats and boots.  Of course, I'll also wear my TX earrings.

What are you doing today?

Missy

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Still Treadling Along!

I do not seem to be making progress on the quilting, but I'm steadily treadling along. I have seven of my two inch rows quilted.   I won't get my laptop back until tomorrow, so I am still using my tablet to blog, hence all of my pictures are from my phone.  I hope you don't mind some cute cats on quilt pics!
Cupcake lounging on the quilt.
 I have a table set up beside me to help support the weight of the quilt, I use a sewing machine cabinet on the other side.

The cat bed set up on my cutting table beside my treadle.
 One thing I really like about my industrial sewing machine is the big space I have on the cabinet top.
Oreo lounging on my quilting.

Last week? I shared  a cute snowman wall hanging I had gotten at an auction.  I also got a vintage cake carrier.  I love the colors, yellow and little star bursts.  The lid does not fit it very well though which I do not understand since they are the exact same color and style.
I decided the best use for it would be to hold fabric.
Pippi has found another use for my sewing machine.
Have a great weekend ya'll

Missy

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Treadling along!

 I've been getting in a few minutes of quilting a day.  Today I got about an hour in.  I am wanting to get done by the end of January, so I picked a quick and simple quilt design.  I am doing a circle loopy in each square.  Since a few of my blocks do not line up I could not do the cross hatch I wanted to do.
I am watching Petticoat Junction on youtube while I quilt.
 I was a able to fit all 108 inches of my quilt in the throat space!  Perfect!  Some people call it harp space, I prefer throat, what do you call it?
 I have the quilt in my lap and spread all over the place while I quilt.  As soon as I open the sewing room door Muffin jumps right up on the quilt.
 He just loves my quilts.
We might have a snow day from school next week, if we do I'll spend the whole day quilting!
Have you stayed inside from the weather quilting?

Missy

Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Quilting!

I have my quilt ready to be quilted.  Pippi is doing quality control.  A friend is fixing my laptop so I am not able to download pictures from my camera.  I am so excited to learn that I can easily upload pictures from my camera onto blogger, while on my tablet!  I'm sure ya'll already knew that but I am not very tech savvy.  So, for now, I can only share phone pictures with ya'll.  I am still learning how to use my tablet, it was a Christmas present.
Back to my quilt.  I wanted to do a cross hatch, but my blocks are not perfectly lined up, so that would not work.  I also thought about baptist fans, but that is too much work on a king size quilt, with all of the tracing (I've never done baptist fans before).  The final idea is a loopy circle in each square.  What do you think?  
Some people asked me what I would be quilting it on, I'll be using my Industrial Singer  16 treadle from 1892.   An industrial treadle has a bigger throat space then a normal machine which makes it perfect for quilting.  This is the largest quilt I have quilted so we will see how it works.

I did get sidetracked with my new jigsaw puzzle.  It has a red eye 66 treadle and a black and white cat.  I have a red eye and a black and white cat!  I need to glue the puzzle and get it framed to hang in my sewing room!

Here is my random cat pic of the day.  Muffin likes to crawl into my warm spot when I get out of bed in the mornings.  LOL
Have a great day ya'll!

Missy

Saturday, January 3, 2015

It's basted!

I'm calling this quilt the monster, because it is so cotton picking heavy and big! I had to move furniture out of my living room to lay it down and get it basted.  I spray basted it and my husband had to help me.  Since the furniture was already moved (and the carpet was sticky now) my sweet husband shampooed the carpet for me!
Furniture had to be moved up against the wall and into the dining room.  The cats really liked having the green chair on it's side.  Yes, I know it needs to be sewn but I do not have the proper needle to do it.

I had to redo the back because of all of the wrinkles.  Do you think it would work better next time if I lay the batting down first and then put the backing on and let it dry before I do the top?
You have no idea how hard it was to get the whole quilt in one picture.
I like to pin baste the outside edges after spray basting just in case I missed a spot.  I also ran out of spray while doing the top and had to send my husband to Walmart, he's such a sweetie!
I need to decide on a color for the binding, I'm thinking one of these blues.  Which would you choose?
My husband says the last one on the right.
I should get it loaded on my treadle tomorrow.  I had to clean my house today, I have company coming over tomorrow.  Then I got distracted by a puzzle, it has Singer Red Eye 66 and a cat on it!
Back to work on Monday, I'm hoping it does not take long to get this quilted!

Missy

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Finished top!

I finished the top on my Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt!  I started it in January 2013!  Here is my first post with my first blocks.  I am super thrilled that I finished it on the last day of 2014!  My goal is to finish the quilting by the end of January.  It's going to be tough because I have a teacher's meeting tomorrow and school starts back up on Monday so time is going to be tight.  I hope that by getting the back pieced and the sandwich bated today and getting it loaded on my treadle to quilt, that I will be able to finish it.
I had the blocks laid out on the floor, not only did the cats "attack" them, but they also pulled kindling out of the firewood basket and leave it on the blocks!
 Pippi was sitting on the rows while I was trying to sew them together, so I told her she needed to move.
 She moved here.
 I put a cat bed down for her and she right to sleep out of my way.
 Until later in the day when the other cats joined her in the sewing room.  Sigh.
Does anyone else have a problem with seams coming undone?  I decided to go ahead and sew around the edge so I did not have to worry about it.  When I first started sewing these blocks I was new to using a hand crank and some of my stitches were too loose.
I wanted to hurry and get this post written and did not want to wait to move things on the floor to lay the top done, so I hope these pictures will do for now.  Please excuse the lump at the bottom of the picture.  Cupcake is attacking the lump who is Oreo.


Not all of my squares I lined up since I used so many different machines and not all of my seam allowances were the same.  I have since learned how to solve that problem.
If my calculations are right it is 108 by 108.  I have nine blocks across and down and they are 12 in finished.

Here is the tutorial for this quilt.

Have a happy new year!

Missy