Cancelled appointment means more sewing!

Okay, in reality, I should be doing my taxes. ... and I will. Later. I have to prepare the itemized stuff anyway (the mileage for my doctor visits is deductible...really?).

So, since my portfolio appt is postponed for the 4th time, I'm gonna sew. I have four tops that I need to pin to batting, but two of the backs weren't big enough. I'll extend them, then roll them on pool noodles before sandwiching them. (I'll post photos of this procedure). I did get one quilt pinned, but the other three tops are just 'stuck' to the batting and folded.

I can't believe how long I've had these tops.... they are so old!!! Talk about oUFO' (OLD UnFinished Objects). Will be nice to have drawer space free again (where they lived).

Diamonds in the mud is from March 2010.

This should be a tablecloth, but I'm not sure if I want to make it into a lap quilt.

This was an experiment... (It's selvedge strips sewn onto one half of the floral square so it looks like a half square triangle.

These are only three of the four tops.

New photos!

Finally, a recent picture of me! I decided to let the gray come in, and I don't regret it. Maybe if I have to look for a job, I'll reconsider, but so far, so good. Maybe 'cause I don't have wrinkles yet, I am okay. But hey, I've been resisting the white hairs as they've been coming in since I was 25! (Thanks to my paternal gram...)

This is my selvedge quilt, up to the top stage.... at least the first one. I'm working on a pieced backing to put with it. I got the inspiration from Karen Griska's "Quilts from the Selvedge Edge", but I decided to not make small diamonds in the centers. Even after making the 16 foundation blocks, I still didn't like the 'large-ness' of the florals (foundation blocks). It wasn't until I found the sandy-colored border fabric, that I decided I loved it. The cornerstones were actual 'tests' of the selvedge process made out of 5" scrap foundation. I had to cut the borders (beige) in half so I could add the center diamonds in the borders.

This is the Bingo quilt, finally finished!! Mom added the gold binding (good job mom) and Julie helped hold it up for the photo. Not sure where this quilt will go, but it's ready for our charities. Laura M. quilted our 'angel wings' in the quilt. (Looks great, Laura!)

My grandson, Kai, finally let us finish 'buzzing' his hair!! I never saw a bot squiggle and squirm so much in a barber chair. Mom, Julie is relieved too! You are SO CUTE, Kai!!!!

Back to Blogging and quilting

Oh my Gosh, it's nice to be quilting again...

This was me at our last Peace by Piece Quilters meeting (I've since cut my hair VERY short!). We did get some great things accomplished. We got 4 quilts back from our quilter and have the bindings for all of them cut and in the process of being sewn on, then labeled. That should be done by next month. We checked out over 100 Christmas stockings that our ladies worked on at home (made some repairs), that are going to the troops, via Fran B in IL. We tried to plan our group's agenda for the next few months.

Mom got a chance to come up to my 'new sewing room' to play, too. I say 'new' because my design wall (behind mom) used to be laid up against a twin bed and box spring (Murphy-bed style), but now my little two-year old grandson, Kai, needed a "big-boy bed". (He was crawling out AND back in to the crib WAY too often!)

Here he is in his first real bed, though let me tell you, he STILL gets out of it and comes stomping upstairs to visit everyone a few times a night (He and his mom are in the basement).

On to quilting things..... Since I had to move things around in my sewing room to get Kai's bed out, I figured I had to clean it up major-ly before I could sew again, so I started moving furniture, had to go out and buy a plastic drawer set to put all the things that my Murphy-bed edge (on top) held. It was a great shelf while it lasted....

Here's the new shelves (already filled with UFOs and ophan blocks (in the upper three drawer section)... projects in the individual boxes...

The ironing board and cutting table have a window to the right of this picture (not sure how I like the placement of the table yet... we'll still see....

The sewing machine and design wall are easily accessible to each other and it feels like there's more room, even though you can't see it in these pictures.

So now that I've made the room neater, I've been playing with a new book I got recently... Quilts from the Selvedge Edge, by Karen Griska. Great selvedge quilts! I've been making them on the sly (before I got the book)... little 5" blocks. Some day I'll put those together and post a photo.

Here are my very neat selvedge (see I'm getting organized with everything!)

Of course, these are my selvedges when I'm using them....

Messy, huh?

Here's a take I put on one from her book. (I used very large florals and HATED the first 4 blocks I'd covered, but kept going.

I think I like it now. I've decided to call it Lisiere de Garden (Selvedged Garden). I've since put it together, but not finished yet.

Oh, and just some 'eye candy' .... one of the ladies (Dot G) in our quilting group, showed off her large queen-sized quilt at our meeting, that she had just finished! Beauty, eh?