Finished

This block seemed to take forever. I'm so glad that I changed the blocks from the cream background to the prints. I'm happy the way it turned out. Well I was finishing these up I was thinking "What next"?

So I thought that it is time to quilt one of my tops. I don't have time in my life to hand quilt so I love this new trend of machine quilting. I will be using my favorite tool, the walking foot. So I tried to take some pictures as I was using my other favorite invention, 505, spray basting.

This is much faster then having to hand baste the layers together and much easier on the knees. Don't think it would work for hand quilting. This is for you Karyn.

Take your backing, right side down and lay it on the floor and tape it down so that it is quite taut. Take your batting and lay it on top, it's like spreading out pizza dough, I find it easier to have a helper to spread it out evenly. Then lay the quilt top on the top, centered, and make sure that everything is smooth.

Now get that helper to help you peel back half of the top two layers carefully. With the 505 spray, spray the backing (wrong side) not the batting because it will just soak in and not be as affective. Keep that helper around to help pull the batting back into place and make sure it is very smooth. Do that by smoothing out with your hands and walking around on your knees.


Next spray the back of the quilt top with 505 and then pull back over the batting and smooth out once again. When you are done with that side you repeat the same order with the other side. So you are only working with half of the quilt at one time. Much more managable. It is not an instead bond so you have time if you need to make some adjustments. The hardest part for me is finding enough floor space. This is only a single, doubles are really hard.

Now it's ready for the walking foot! I'm using a very simple design. Keep you in touch.

Have a great day.

Blocks are done

This special cake was made for Darren's (boyfriend) 50th birthday. He is a firefighter and I thought this would be perfect. He really enjoyed it.

I felt that I would never get these blocks done. Now I'm ready to put the sashing on and cornerstones. That will go much quicker. I spent an hour today cleaning up my sewing room and I noticed that I have A LOT of fabric to use up. The true sign of a quilter!!!

Would anyone be able to tell me how to but these pictures in the order I want them. The second picture I pick I want it to go under the first but it alway goes on top of the first picture. Can you please help?

Have a great day. Happy quilting.

Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday and I had a great day. I had the day off work and did all the things I love to do. I started it off by sleeping in and then taking Sam for a long walk. I spent the afternoon sewing and I feel that I'm not getting very far very fast with these new blocks. My sewing machine is working better. Apparently I can't use a size 70 needle anymore. After 6 years of using a 70 I can't anymore, I find that wierd.

My girls and boyfriend bought me a Wii fitness and sport, so we had some fun with that too. It was a great day.

I also had today off and did some more sewing and I still feel that I'm not getting very far with these blocks.

Hope to post the finished blocks soon. Have a great day

FRUSTRATED

I'm having trouble with my sewing machine again. This time my thread is breaking every 5 minutes. I haven't had time to take it back to get looked at again. I miss being able to sew for hours with a good movie. I have been working on my hand applique blocks, they don't sew up as fast and you don't get instant results.

Have a great day.

New Blocks

These are the new blocks. I thought the other ones were boring. So that picture of chain sewing down a few is now getting picked out. So much for saving time!!!! It will take longer this way but I'll be much happier with it. The ones I have done with the cream I think I'll put them in the back some how. This is my first applique block, I can't figure out how to rotate it. I'm on piece 12 of 60 on block two.

Have a great day!!!

Their back

My machines are home. They couldn't find anything wrong with them so I guess they just needed a good cleaning.

I have been working on my hand applique quilt and I take it back that my goal is one a week. There are up to 60 little pieces in each block so I think it will be more like a month for each block.

I'm going on a little holiday for the week-end. When I get back it's back to work on my latest project which I have changed my mind on how I'm putting it together. So stay in touch and I'll let you know on Monday.

Have a great week-end

ELNA'S

Very sad day for me in my sewing room tonight. My NEW Elna has not been working well the last couple of days. It has been skipping stitches so I thought well it's getting fixed I'll get my 26 year old Elna out, well it's skipping stitches too but worse then the new one. I have done a lot of sewing on this old one. So I guess they are both going in to get fixed.

I guess I'm forced to work on my hand stitching projects. All true quilters have one of those on the go that sit in the corner for times like this.

So my goals are to pull that project out of the dust tomorrow and get one block a week done. It's a beautiful quilt and I hope this motivates me to get it finished.

Great night at the Olympics, 4 more metals :)

Have a great day!!!!