The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

This post is not for the faint of heart!  It has the good the bad and the ugly all rolled into one post!  This is the label I ended up putting on the Ugly Quilt.  I know many of you loved the quilt  and so did my DD, for which I am grateful but since that is what I have called it all along, that is its name.  Can you see the kitty I inked into the label?  I bought a metal stencil while in Paducah and a brush and I used the ink from my friend, Yuki (miss no blog).  I also put my pinwheel stamp on it but it doesn't show up quite as well.  Can you find it?  That is the stamp Miss No Blog made for me out of stone.  She is so talented!
OK, um, you had the good and the ugly and now for the bad.  Please excuse my chubby legs but here is a photo of my bruise (as taken by my friend while in the bathroom at work) Gads!  It sure is BIG!!  The bruise I mean.  It is healing slowly and this is after a whole week!!  It looked much worse but I didn't want to show you that.  
I hope none of you were trying to eat!  The other bruises are getting better too and the skin between my 2 toes that was torn is healing too.  I can walk a lot better now too.

I have my boss's wedding tomorrow so I am busy with that.  I hope to do a little sewing in the am.  Father's day on Sunday.  Wish your daddy a happy day.  I know I will be calling mine to wish him a good day.  I asked DD1 to make him a good dinner.  I would say take him out but he ate out almost every day since my mom died 7 years ago and now that she is living with him, he eats a lot better.  So it would be better for her to cook a dinner for him.

Am I crazy??

Wait...don't answer that!  So here is the situation.  I got a phone call from someone "in the know" at the church where I run the quilt group for the CL's.  He told me that there is a new RCIA (adult education) person coming on board and that she is going to be taking over all of the space we are currently using.  ARRRGH!!  So this necessitates moving the sewing machines, and accumulated "stuff" somewhere.  I am not certain if we will even have  a place to store anything or to quilt.  I am not certain when this will be revealed to me either.  So I have decided we will get rid of as much as possible to be ready to move or totally abandon our storage area.  The possibility exists that we may have no where to quilt any more.  But we might.  

Here in lies the source of my feeling like a crazy woman today.  Some of the CL's belong to another group that meets in the morning at the Cherry Hill Village Theater.  They call themselves the "Cherry Hill Quilters".  There was a rumor that this group wanted to start up an evening group.  Do you see where I am going with this?  Wit for it...wait for it...Yes, I called the CHVT yesterday and got the name of the person in charge of the am group and volunteered to be in charge of an evening group!  (I have not had the nerve to tell DH yet!)  The CL's quilt on Wed evenings which we were changing to Tues beginning in Sept, the CHQ evening group would begin in the fall and meet on Wed evenings (which is why I changed our night to Tues when I put in the space request recently).  Yes, I know, I certainly don't have enough to do in my life, right?  Well, what's done is done!  With the new group all I need to do is make sure that as people join they pay the $20 and are registered with the township.  No group projects, no teaching, like in the CL group.  This could, potentially, free me up a little more to work on my own stuff.  If both groups continue to exist it will be a little more stressful.  I may have to consider switching to just one of the groups.  I don't know what to do if that happens.  I don't want to abandon the CL's but it really would be great to not have to spearhead everything!  I think I will put the choices into God's hands (obviously I'm being lead down another path by a power greater than mine anyway) and it will be less stressful if I let Him make the choices for me, right?

I just had to share with you all.  If you have any ideas or suggestions they would be appreciated.

On another note.  I am helping Robin get ready to host the wedding reception at her home on Sat so I am busy  with that right now too.  She asked me to come over and help her decorate on Sat am before the wedding, so DH and I will probably go and help out with that.  I am making another garter for Karen as the other one I made she doesn't want to throw.  I am using the cheater garter ribbon from JAF.  Got enough to make one for the other Brazilian in the lab that is getting married in Dec too while I was at it.  I will take a photo when they are done.  I am also going to try to get a photo of that nasty bruise on my thigh today so you can all see how HUGE it is (ok, no laughing at the fat on my legs though, ok?)

More later!! 

Quilted Purse Tutorial Part 3

Cut 2 strips of fabric.  One is 3" X WOF, One is 1.5" X WOF.  These will be your handle and button loop.  I made mine out of the same fabric as the binding.  Trim off the salvages of both strips.  From the 1.5" strip, cut two 6" pieces.
For both the handle and the loop you will need to press in half lengthwise and press in half again so it looks like this.
Fold so the raw edges are in the center of the inside of the strip and top stitch along the outside folded edge, making sure to fold under at both ends.  

The ends should look like this.

These are your finished handles and loops.
Make a knot on each end of the piece you will use for the handle.  Bring up the sides around the end of the handle.
Sew the bag closed around the handle, your knot should be on the outside of the bag (my hand is over the inside of the bag.)
It should look like this!
Here is the bag with both sides finished.

Isn't it cute?  See the inside of the outside of the purse?

This is what the inside center of the bag will look like.
Now for the loop.  You will need to choose a button and that will determine the size of the loop you will need.  It should close the bag and fit around the button.  I realized that using a button with a shank meant I needed to put the button lower on the purse.  When the loop goes around the shank it can pull up and then your bag will not be closed properly.
Once you determine the size loop you will need, sew it by hand to the point of the bag.  Do this on each side.
Determine proper button placement so bag will close and sew on the button.  Close the button and enjoy the purse!
You could, of course, put pockets inside and also a snap or velcro closure, if desired.  I left mine open.  You can make a larger purse by starting with a larger square, but your sewing measurements would need to be worked out accordingly.  Please let me know if any of you choose to make one of these little bags!  

Quilted Purse Tutorial part 2

If you are making a purse these are the next steps.  Cut your quilted fabric into an 18 inch square.

I had you cut binding at 2.5".  You will need to join your 2 strips and then press in half, just like binding on a quilt.
Attach your binding to your square, just like you do your quilts.  I machine stitch mine on one side and hand turn and sew it to the other side.
Now you will need to fold your square in half to make a triangle.  It is important to note the side you have on the outside just now because once you sew and turn it, this will be your inside!  So you will need to make a design decision about that now.
The next step is to measure over from the bottom point 81/4" and up 7".  I marked mine with tape next to my ruler.  You will stitch on the side where the ruler is (you can see I marked it on the tape!)
You will mark and sew on both sides the same way.
Here comes the fun part!  Turn the points back on themselves as shown here.  Here goes the first one!
It should look like this with the first point turned.
Now do the same for the second side.  Your bag should look like this now.
At this point you will need to hand stitch around the bag along the binding.
I take a few extra stitches where the corner of the binding attaches to the bag.  It should end up along the crease on the bottom of the bag.
I will post the next steps soon!  Let me know what you all think so far, easy, right?

My Name

I saw this on someone else's blog and thought it was interesting.  It pretty much describes me quite well!  Go and check out what your name's hidden meaning is!

I will post about the purse later today.

You are influential and persuasive. You tend to have a lot of power over people.

Generally, you use your powers for good. You excel at solving other people's problems.

Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest.



You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.

You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.

You have the classic "Type A" personality.



You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated.

You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want.

You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!



You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone.

You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together.

At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.



You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow.

You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily.

Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

My Weekend, Quilted purse supply list

Ah yes, the weekend. Mine began on Friday when I didn't go to work. My body felt like someone had beat me up. I'm feeling much better today though. Anyway, I did a lot of cleaning and some errands (forgot to get the oil changed though) and finished this Hunter star that I began at Paducah with Jan Krentz as my teacher. It will be called Star of the Sea (if you zoom up close you will be able to see the fish in the border).

I made the back and the binding. I also made the binding for my sister's quilt. I finished the chicken purse too. I spent a LOT of time reading my book, Dragonfly in Amber. It is a second in a series and I am addicted to them. I am going to see if Liz can get the next one on audible books for me so I can put it on DH's iPod so I can listen AND quilt at the same time, thus solving my problem of time to read and sew!! Quite clever, that Liz!

We had to go to the graduation party for my niece and it was out of town so that took up much of Saturday. It was OK but kind of warm. My SIL and BIL have moved to CA and near my friend Natalie. My SIL invited me to visit so maybe I will and then visit Natalie too! Speaking of Natalie, she had very nice things to say about me today. I got her to go and visit a quilt shop near her and her most recent post tells all about it. Go check it out!

I made a tutorial about how to make the quilted purse I showed you but I took a LOT of pictures (like 41, can you say over achiever??) so I am not sure how to post them all. It is way too many for one post. I thought about trying to put them on Flicker and then let you go and visit but I don't know if I can put the directions with it there. I am leaning toward doing several posts and I am fairly certain that is what I am going to do. I really like the purse and think it is pretty easy to make so I wanted to share it with you. If you are interested I will tell you what to get and we can start with it tomorrow after you gather your supplies.

So here is the supply list: (This will make 2 purses, reverse of each other)

1 Yd of 2 coordinating pieces of fabric

-Cut one 22" piece of each yard of fabric, WOF
-Cut 2-2.5" strips of each fabric and join them (this will be the binding)
-Cut one 3" piece from each fabric, WOF
-Cut one 1.5" piece from each fabric, WOF
-Cut one 22" X WOF piece of batting

If you prefer you can buy your fabric already quilted. This way gives you more choices as you will sandwich your 2-22" pieces with batting and quilt as desired. For the chicken one I just did diagonal lines and it was fine. On the one in the pictures, I had Liz practice on it for me! Your choice.

Of course, Jack was "helping". He is lying on the squares with the binding sewn on, oh but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself!
Let me know if you are joining me in making this cute little quilted purse! Hope your weekend was swell!

TUQ-In all it's glory!

I know you have all been dying to see this finished so ta-da!  Here is The Ugly Quilt in all it's glory!  Liz did a great joy on the quilting.  She used orange thread and a wild paisley pattern.  I do like the quilting.

Now here is the quilt all finished.  the blue in this picture is not accurate, it is really more aqua than baby blue.  Can you see that some of my helpers were shorter than some of the other ones? 
I have to tell you all that I had a bout with sleep walking last night and fell down the stairs from my 2nd floor to the bottom of the stairs!  I have huge bruises and I lost some skin between 2 toes but otherwise I am ok.  It was very scary and I am thankful that I did not break anything.  I did scare the heck out of my DH, and it was pretty embarassing but I guess I will live.  I have been having very vivid dreams lately too and this usually goes hand in hand with my sleepwalking.  I haven't done any sleepwalking in a long time.  Maybe I will have to put the baby gate up so I can't make it downstairs in the night again, huh?

The Ugly Quilt and the Adorable Cat

Any of you that read this blog regularly know that I have 5 cats.  I love my cats, but the BEST sleeper, by far is Captain Jack.  I was watching the Red Wings game last night and decided I really needed to finish sewing the binding down by hand.  I put the quilt on my lap when my DS decided to let Jack in the house.  He thought that the cat would go and snuggle with him.  Oh contrair!  Little did my DS know, but Jack and I do this snuggle by the quilt thing almost every night!  As soon as he saw the quilt, BAM, he was there helping...I mean sleeping and purring, very loudly while I sewed.  Isn't he the cutest cat you have ever seen?  (Besides Jasper, right Jeanne?)  Oh, and Mrs. G. I bet even Haines would like him!

So you can see a little of the orange thread on the blue-green flannel back.  I really like how it came out.  DD2 is bugging the heck out of me to get it finished and sent her way.  I plan to sew on the label tonight as well as the label on the U of M one (and *no* it is still not finished, w/o the label).
You can see a bit of the quilting and the colors (ugh) in this photo too (of course you have to get by Mr. Adorable to do so).  I will try to get some pictures of it in all it's quilty goodness soon.

Have a good evening!!

The weekend

It was a glorious weekend!  DD2 was home from college and we had a blast!  I miss her so much.  She insisted on my chicken pot pie for dinner on Friday night, so I had it ready for her when she arrived.  She needed a few clothes so we went shopping and then ate at our new favorite place, Chopstick House.  It was awesome.  I even bought a few things for myself.  We came home and took a nap and then went back out and bought plants for us to plant our gardens.  Ever since she was young she wanted her "own" garden.  I dug up a spot and she had been tending her own garden ever since.  First she weeded her garden, then she planted the annuals, Impatients do so well around the border of her garden because of all the shade.  Each year we add a perennial.  Her favorites are lilies.  She has a few now so we added a Fox Glove.  I remember them from my grandmother's garden.  She told me that the spots were from the bees walking into the flower with muddy feet!  So here is a photo or 2 of her garden! (I planted the pots)


Now in case you didn't think that I did anything, quilty, I did dig out TUQ to put the binding on, as she wanted to take it with her.  I had to move the UT quilt to get to TUQ and Mosen liked it just fine as it gave him a great place to sleep.  I need to put a sleeve on the UT quilt which is why it is even out in the first place!  Isn't he cute?  I had both Aiden and Hallie "helping" me with my binding this weekend too.  I should be able to finish it tonight while watching the Red Wings play.
Now, I found this interesting item on the web too.  It is a site that has blogs about quilts all in one spot arranged by state and country.  My blog was there!!  Maybe yours will be too.  Go and check it out, Quilting Bloggers.  Let me know if you are there too.

This and That

I am very tired today.  I stayed up until midnight to finish sewing the binding on the U of M quilt for my friends that are getting married June 14th.  I showed you a picture of the quilt in the past but here it is again.


 I gave Liz my sister's quilt today and we are still trying to decide what kind of quilting to do on it.  I want block work in the white blocks and I think chains of flowers and dragonflies going through the purple irish chain blocks. 

Liz and I went out for lunch today and that was fun.  We spent the whole time talking about the quilt I want to do for DS's lacrosse coach for next year.  Do you remember the little lacrosse guy I had Liz embroider for me?  
I am considering using him to make a quilt for the coach for next year when DS is a sr on the team.  I think I will have the outline behind the boy of the number of each senior and the boy will have his number where the "S" is.  I will then put their last name under that.  I think I can have Liz embroider the names and number for the rest of the team around the border of said quilt.  Liz thought we should stitch some up and see how we like them, which is probably a good idea.  She also told me we might be able to put "him" on a sweatshirt and use that for a fundraiser for the team.  I think that would be neat too!  She really is a "whiz".  It is so fun when ever we get together as our ideas flow fast and furiously!!  Good thing she doesn't live too close to me or neither one of us would get anything done except for the designing stuff!  

DD#2 is coming home tonight and the bowling fun-draiser for lax is tonight.  DD#2's birthday is on Sat and she will be spending it with my dad and sister.  She is living with them and she called me the other night to tell me that grandpa was so excited that he remembered her favorite place to eat so he is taking her out for dinner.  It is good for him and for her.  

Have a great weekend.  I suspect I may get pressured to finish the binding on TUQ this weekend so DD can take it back to college with her, but we'll see.  She asks about it every time she calls home.  I hope you all have a productive weekend.

Recycled Fabric Swap

Just a quick note to let you know that if you are interested in a recycled fabric swap please visit this link: http://www.embtreasures.com/fabricswap.htm
There are several type of swaps you can choose from but the deadline to sign up (via email) is May 30th, only 2 more days, so spread the word! It will be fun to see how many places this can travel and what kind of fabric you will end up trading!!

It is being hosted by Serena at Embroidery Treasures. She is also having a give away so go and check out her blog. Lots of great "stuff" over there!

Go on...hurry up, you know you want to join in on all the fun!!

Faith and Scratch

I don't know how many of you know Faith over at Nutbud Quilter but this is her dog Scratch. Scratch had a badly broken leg and the vet had to do an operation to pin it back together again. At the last visit her bones were not healing properly and the vet suggested amputation of her leg.  I know this was not a decision that Faith entered into lightly.  With the surgery and then the amputation it was very expensive for her too.  The vet does charity work but does ask for a donation.  Faith and her SO, Jim are musicians (I think Jim has another job as well) but Faith is deaf and is on disability so money is tight for them.

Here is Scratch after her amputation.  According to Faith she is getting up and hobbling around but is still in quite a bit of pain (the amputation was very recent).
Faith is a fabulous hand quilter, you should go and check out her work on her blog.  She is looking for a quit top to hand quilt to try to then sell to raise money to help pay for Scratch's surgery.  If anyone has a top they would be willing to donate please email me privately.  If any of you are interested in making an out right donation to the vet to help her out I can facilitate that too.  Again, please email me.  This is the type of top she is looking for.  I guess something scrappy and old fashioned looking.

I know that money is tight for everyone but if you can find it in your heart to help I know it would be appreciated more than you can possibly imagine.

Now a note on how my evening went!  Our lacrosse banquet was last night.  I had to speak and welcome everyone and then do my "thank-you's" to the people that have been so supportive to me through out the year.  I got flowers for a few folks and they turned out so beautifuly!  An orange rose, magenta carnations, Asltromeria, baby's breath and white daisies.  (I should have picked up an additional one for myself!)  I was very nervous in front of everyone but I was told that it went well.  My DS earned his varsity letter so he was pretty happy about that!  

I have quilting with the CL's tonight so more later.

XXOO

More from that Posie Patch

After my partying last three days, I decided I needed to get some stuff finished and off my to do list. On that list were making throw pillows for my sister to match her quilt with the left over blocks I had. Here is the back, notice the piping around the edge? That was not fun to figure out!

This is the front of the same pillow with the pillow form inserted! TA-DA!Not bad for a first timer, eh? I made 2 of these one with purple piping and one with pink. Since this was the second one, I liked it much better!
I *still* had more of that darned flowered fabric left so ...pillowcases. Two of them. I think I will give her the quilt for her birthday and the accessories for Christmas, what do you think? She is very difficult to buy things for so this will allow me to spread it all out!
Remember I told you that the CL's taught me how to make a purse? Well, here it is. This is not finished. I need to sew a loop on to that point and a button under it for the closure. I also need to sew on a handle (the directions they gave me, bless their hearts, didn't have the directions for a handle!) But, I know they know how to do it because they showed me one that was finished. Like the chickens, Natalie?
As you can see here both "points" of the triangle make outside flaps for storage and this is what the inside looks like. It is SOOOOOO easy to make this. They used pre-quilted fabric (which is pretty expensive) I quilted this myself! Let me know what you think!
I told the CL's that I would make these vinyl screen bags for our craft show so I tried the pattern that I had been given. They were pretty simple to make but the directions were not that great so I had to rip out a lot. Here are the 2 I finished making today. All from clearance fabric!

They are quite large, think 16X18" but I really like them. They took me about an hour to make each one. Now I have to figure out how much to charge for the show. The screen is kind of expensive about $4 per bag. It takes about 1/3 of a yard of fabric and then thread. Any suggestions? What would you be willing to pay?

So this is how I spent my Sunday. Oh yes, I forgot to tell you that Chris' sister, Julie, came over this am and took us out for breakfast. More partying, but more my speed, lol!

We have the lacrosse banquet tonight. I will most likely tell you all about it tomorrow. Have a good evening!

And the Party Continues!

Just when you thought the o2 old geezers couldn't party for one more day (remember this is day 3 of the celebration) you were wrong! Our friends, Mary and Craig invited us to go to a Tiger's baseball game at Comerica Park. It was a beautiful day for a baseball game. We ate at Cheli's (owned by the Red Wing Chris Chelios) This was the view of Comerica Park from the roof top of Cheli's. It really is spectacular. The town was hoppin' because there was a Tiger's game and the first game of the Stanley Cup playoffs going on Sat night.
This is the front entrance to the stadium. Look at all those stone tigers!
They even dressed the BIG tiger in a Red Wings jersey. It was really cool!
Here is a picture of the screen showing one of the 2 home runs Ordoniez (not sure if I spelled this correctly, let me know Jeanne) scored. The Tigers won against the Minnesota Twins 19-3. It was a great game. I am not that much of a baseball gal but I really enjoyed myself. Mary and Craig are such fun to be around and would not let us pay for hardly anything since it was Chris' birthday. Thanks, guys, you're the BEST!!
There were fireworks after the game and on our way out the tigers heads all around the stadium had baseballs in their mouths and they all lit up! It was awesome!!

A fun time was had by all. I forgot to tell you that I had quilting with the CL's all day prior to going to the game. They taught me how to make a quilted purse in about an hour. I will share that with you later. Maybe even step by step if anyone is interested? But for now just the finished product. We got home late from the game and went right to bed. I am getting way too old to stay out late!