Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all!  The fun has begun at our house.  DD 1 and friend are home for a few days.  We wrapped a few presents today and baked cut out sugar cookies.  DH joined in the frosting and decorating too.  We had a lot of fun.  Of course, we are missing DD 2 and her new husband, who were unable to make the trip home.

I bought myself a Christmas present on the Craftsy site.  They are having a BIG sale on classes.  I bought Leah Day's class.    She posted on facebook that you could get the class for $19.99 if you used her special link.   I'm such a sucker for a bargain.  I like the idea of being able to watch the videos any time and having access to them always.  I really want to work on my Free Motion skills and I hope this will motivate me to do it.

 I also purchased the knitting socks class.  I've always wanted to learn to knit socks.  I ordered yarn too.  There are some wonderful classes on their site.  I'll see how I like this way of learning.

So 2013 will have some new things for me to look forward to.  I hope you all enjoy your holidays with family and friends.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

I've been FMQ on my practice pad.  We are doing "wiggles".  I think this is going to take some practice.  When I started out today I could tell right away something didn't feel right.  I forgot to put on the Supreme Slider.  It sure makes a difference on the smoothness of my curves.  I need to practice stopping and starting and staying in my U shaped area between my hands.  I'm going along so well and then the next thing I know I'm going too fast and my hands are in the wrong place and my arms are stretched out--causing not as much control, so not as smooth curves and even shapes.  As they say:  practice, practice, and practice some more.  If I'm not willing to put in the time, I'm never going to be happy with the results.

I got my practice quilt pieced today.  I used some of my "vintage" fabric. 

My 1.5 inch strips are 2.5, because they were already cut and left over from a long time ago.  They are little monkeys.  I thought I might need some smiling faces looking at me while I FMQ.  How can you resist a smile like that?  I didn't want to cut an inch off them, so I'll just have wider strips to quilt.

I used just plain yellow on the back.  It is the same fabric as the 3 inch strips on the front.  I used an 80/20 Hobbs batting.  I use spray adhesive on my quilts with good results.  I don't use alot.  I use enough to anchor it and then pin.  My knees don't kneel at all anymore, so I usually use the bed for the anchoring process.  I then take the quilt to the dining room table and pin it.  I use my cutting mat to protect my table. 

 The biggest quilt I've ever made was 60" x 60".  It is still waiting to be quilted.  It is a Kim Diehl appliqued quilt and took me a long time to do.  I hope I can figure out how to quilt it someday and do a good job.   I think my pinwheel and jelly roll quilts will be larger than that by the time I do borders on them.  I'm slowly stretching my boundaries. 

When I was working I felt like I wanted to make mostly smaller things, so at least I could finish something.  I think baby quilts are my favorite to make.

It rained 1.3 Thursday night, so yesterday we made a trip to Pierre for farm supplies and groceries.  We ate lunch with Michelle, so she could see Rocco and vice versa.  We took lunch to her apartment.  She had to work 2-10, so it was a quick stop to see her.   The Walmart in Pierre is one of the few in South Dakota that still sells fabric.  I picked out some flannel for baby blankets.

                          

I thought these were so pretty--soft colors.  One nephew is having a boy in November and a nephew on my side is having a girl in December.  I'm not sure what I'm doing with them yet.  I had planned to make receiving blankets, but when I saw the 9 patches or 4 patches I thought this might be good practice fabric for FMQ.  

I better get off the computer and get back to my quilting.  Have a great week-end.  Hugs.............

Free Motion Quilting

I finally got some time yesterday to start my free motion quilt along.  It's really hard for me to pick out fabric to practice on, but I finally decided on a piece I thought I could spare from my stash.  I decided these will be cat quilts, so it isn't really wasting my precious fabric.  I'm also choosing fabric I bought that probably isn't the best quality.  

I did some lines, zig zags and loops.  My tension was fine.  I really just need to practice, practice and practice.

I spent some time going through my books and pulling out the machine quilting ones.  I really like this  book the best of them all.

I did find the Kathy Sandbach book I have too.   And of course, I found some other ones too.  I'm great at buying and reading books.  I think it's one way of procrastinating--I'm good at that too.   This free motion along is going to help.  I had fun yesterday and that's what I need to do--stop putting it off and jump into it and "have fun" with it.

I used the Supreme Slider yesterday.  I bought this from Leah Day when she had it on sale.  ( I love her blog.)  I really liked how it worked.  I have done free motion on  my smaller quilts, placemats and table runners.  I think this is really going to help.  The practice piece really slide through so easily.  I don't think my arms will get so tired on a bigger quilt.

It is a sheet of plastic that lays on your machine bed.  It sticks on there.  It's very slippery and the material doesn't drag at all as you move it across.  I really love my stitch regulator on my Bernina.   

I'm looking forward to doing the work to finally start being a free motion quilter. I have a pinwheel quilt and a jelly roll quilt that will need to be quilted. I'm actually getting excited about that instead of nervous. 

It was a rainy day today.  It only rained .40, but took all day to do it.  DH was in the house, so I didn't get any sewing done.  It was a lazy rainy day. He doesn't get those very often, so we took advantage of it.  There were things that could have been done, but sometime you need a mental health day.   I baked some zucchini bread.  We spent some time on the internet looking at companies that build buildings.   DH is dreaming of a new shop.  He wanted to check out some different sites and plans. 

It's raining out again.   The sunflowers have needed rain--I hope it's not too late to make a difference.   It has been cold at night, but not freezing yet.  I hope it holds off for a while, so I can keep picking tomatoes and cucumbers.  They are such a treat. 

 It's getting late and I'm off to bed..............................

My favorite kind of roll

I received my favorite kind of roll in the mail yesterday--A Jelly Roll.  I won a Hello Betty by Chloe's Closet jelly roll from Scott at Blue Nickel Studios.  Scott designed Block # 12  for the Jelly Roll Quilt Along put together by Konda of Moose on the Porch Quilts.  I really enjoyed this quilt along.  I have all 12 blocks completed.  It's the sashing and sandwiching that is next on the menu--but now I'm trying to get baby quilts completed for new babies.  Thanks so much Scott for the jelly roll.  It will be put to good use.  If you have time, check out Scott's website.  There are lots of things to look at over there.

The silage cutting is complete at our place.  I wish I could have gotten more photos of the tractor packing the pile and the pile before we covered it up, but it just didn't work out to do that.  This is a picture of the big pile after we covered it with a 75' x 150' plastic tarp to protect it from the weather.  The large bales are holding the plastic down so this tarp that costs $515.00 won't blow away in the SD wind. 

We are glad to have this part of harvest completed.  This will provide lots of good nutrition for the cattle this winter.  DH will need to help the cousins with their chopping, but they are wetter down at their place, so it will probably be next week before they start there. 

I thought you needed some kitten pictures today.  They are growing like babies do--quickly.  Peanut has not weaned them yet and she is on constant guard to make sure all is going well for them.   They and the bigger kittens seem to be making friends, so everyone can eat together at the communal dining area.

I took Rocco to the vet yesterday and had the two stitches in the corner of his eye removed.  His eye is very blood shot and not focusing correctly.  Dr. Dave said to give it time and continue with the medications.  DH

continues to have a hard time with the whole experience.  I'm about ready to take him in to Dr. Dave and have him put to sleep.  (please pardon my sic humor, but I've about had it with him).  I had forgotten how DH was when the kids were sick or hurt--he just doesn't do very well in those situations.  I continue to pray and believe for the best outcome.  It does no good reminding him that it could have been so much worse.  I guess opposites do attract---glass half full people and glass almost empty people.  We will all survive with time.  Thanks for letting me vent!

Have you been freehand maching quilting?  I plan to get started with practicing this afternoon.  I've really enjoyed all of Christina's posts.  I was so surprised to read about Kathy Sandbach's diagnosis of dementia, so sad.  I happen to have her book and plan to pull it out and review it. 

I'll show you my progress later.........................

Giveaway and Free Motion Quilt Along

Christina is having a wonderful giveaway and a quilt along.  I said no more quilt alongs until I get my pinwheel and jelly roll quilts done.  This quilt along is just what I need to get the courage to quilt them.  Check out Christina's blog, she's a new one for me.