Helpers and Progress

I want to share one of my favorite quilts with you from one of my favorite blogs!  Have you checked out Podunk Pretties yet?  She is super talented and has lot of tutorials on her blog.  I really want to make her cherries on top quilt someday.  Here is the post with more pictures.

Isn't she very talented?!

Right now she is making a Podunk Posies quilt which is also on my to do list!

I have one row left to quilt on my scrappy trip around the world quilt.  I had to do laundry last night instead of finishing the quilting, so sad!    I was trying to thread my sewing machine and Oreo kept trying to catch the thread.

 I had a good motion going with my FMQ until Tiger decided to jump on the quilt and get all cuddly.

 Of course after I got rid of those two, here comes Pippi!

I still need to make my block for the Sew Sweet Bee this month, but with all of the doctor appointments and only three weeks of school left, I have not been able to concentrate on it and I do not want to mess it up.  My family doctor is in town, but the specialist and cat scans and ultra sounds, etc are an hour away in Springfield, which means an appointment will take all day!  I hope to finish my quilt tonight!

80's Flashback!

A friend ordered a baby shower cake for a couple of ladies at work.  I was not happy with how the colors or my writing turned out.  It does not seem to matter how long I practice, I cannot get a smooth top either.  Sigh.  At least the cake was good, I just used the recipe for a white cake out of my old Better Homes and Garden cookbook.

 We had 80's day at school.  I actually had teenagers tell me I looked awesome!  LOL

 I had a second grader who could not understand why I tore up a shirt.  I hope she does not go home and try to copy me!

I have a prayer request for ya'll.  They found a mass on or by my left ovary and a cyst on my right ovary.  They did a cat scan on Thursday and I meet with a specialty doctor on Wednesday in Springfield.  He is a gynecologist/oncologist/surgeon.  The mass is 5 1//2 inches x4x3 1/2.  If ya'll will please pray for me and the results I would appreciate it.  I'll be surprised if I do not have to have surgery to remove it.  I won't get any results from the cat scan (which cost more then what I make in two years at school!) Wednesday.

Did you grow up in the 80's?  I turned 16 in September of '89.

Missy

Threading my way to insanity!

I was trying to get my quilt finished yesterday when I ran out of thread on my bobbins and could not find anymore yellow thread.  The back of the quilt is yellow, so that is the color I'm using in my bobbins.

So I went in my sewing room and was trying to making button holes on my apron that I made like two years ago!  The sample run went great, but after about an hour of messing with it, and still no button holes on the apron, I gave up.  The good news is I found a spool of yellow thread by my closet, I'm sure my cats put it there.  I put my bobbin on my Janome to wind, and while it was winding I bent to pick up a bobbin that fell on the floor.  The thread decided to wind itself UNDER the bobbin and get stuck!

I got mad, left and came back later.  Somehow, my husband was able to pull the bobbin off so that I could unwind all of that thread.

It took forever!  I finally got one bobbin filled, that is all that was left on the spool.  It did not take long to run out of that bobbin!

Meanwhile, this is the mess that is still on my cutting table.

One thing that I really like about using my Singer 16 treadle, is that the bobbin casing is under the table which means I do not have to move my quilt to replace the bobbin!  Don't worry, as soon as I finish this quilt I'll give the machine a good cleaning and oiling!

Praise the Lord I was able to find yellow thread at Wal-mart today after work.  I am almost done with my humongous quilt!  Then I still need to bind it!

Have you had days like this?  LOL

Missy

Quilting Gloves

 Everybody has their own way of doing free motion quilting.  I like using my quilting gloves.  I won a set of these pads to also quilt with.

 I found it is easier to use the gloves and one of the pads,  I use the pad on the hand that is moving the quilt, so the hand using it depends on the direction I'm moving the quilt, whether it is to the right or to the left.

 If you notice in the pictures sometimes the pad is closer to the needle and sometimes farther away.

 My husband likes to take a lot of pictures and there were a whole lot more then I shared!

 I saw on someone else's blog that she cut the tips off of the gloves, so I tried it.  I really like having the flexibility of being able to grab thread, etc. without pulling off the gloves each time.

 Here is the pad I use.  They are called grip and stitch, you can find out more about them here:  

 I use the smaller one.

 For those of you who are not familier with quilting gloves, they have little nubs on the bottom to grip the quilt.

 I am just doing simple circles, they are not very consistent.

 Oreo says "please don't take my picture again!"

What is your preferred method of Free motion quilting?

Missy

Quilting!

I was not working on the quilting of my scrappy trip around the world quilt because I only have maybe 15 to 30 minutes a day sometimes to sew, after work.  I had my husband help me move my huge industrial Singer 16 treadle into the living room so I can work on it.  I did not have any time the last couple of weeks, but this week I have gotten a bit done on it.  I am almost half way through quilting my mammoth king size quilt!

 I'm just sewing a circle in each square and no, they are not all the same size!  LOL  I have found as I go they do get more uniform in size though.

There is a downside to having the treadle in the living room.  

Pippi and Muffin

 These pictures give you a good idea of the setup I have when I quilt.  I have two tv trays in the back, sometimes it will be an ironing board.

Oreo

 I also have a table to the side to catch the bulk of the quilt.

Oreo and Custard

Cupcake too!

 Here is another picture of my blocks, I make an extra one for a sampler quilt for myself!

I have also been watching the Great British Sewing Bee on Youtube and really do enjoy it.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrHuCQzoCnP_G5wbw_lAh1w

I like sewing clothes, I am just not very good at it and since I have gained weight I really have not had much of a desire to sew.  I'm hoping to lose some weight and then maybe start sewing clothes for myself again.

I'm hoping to have this quilt done by this weekend!

Missy

A little bit of this and that

I have not been doing much, but did get some accomplished this weekend.  I gave myself a manicure.  All I did was paint a dark purple stripe on the tip over the light purple.  It's easy as long as you do not worry about getting the lines straight!

I also finished last month's Sew Sweet Bee for Deborah and got it sent.  This is Lori Holt's flower box block.  I think that I really like this block but I have too many quilts to finish before starting a new one.

I have to share this picture of Custard being cute.  She sits with my husband all day while he works from home.

What have you been up to lately?

Missy