Subee Sews Quilts

Blue and white Spiral Log Cabin

2012-01-27T17:10:00.000-05:00

I cannot thank Elaine Adair (elaineadairpieces.blogspot.com) enough for her fantastic instructions to make Log Cabin blocks. I have been going crazy making blocks.
I stepped away from my usual color pallet to make this birthday quilt for Granddaughter Arika. I have always wanted to set one of these Log Cabins in a spiral. Then of course I ended up making two more rows of blocks thinking I needed the design to wind out a bit further. And of course now I think I need more blocks. But enough is enough. This would be a never ending spiral if I continued.

I have a bit of a manic type of collection of plastic containers for storing my fabrics and projects.
The urge does not stop in the sewing room. This is just one cupboard of staples that I store in pink Tupperware. There are a couple other colors in here but mostly the pink containers. Some are real deep/long and some are squatty to fit boxes behind them. As I said this is just one cupboard. The smaller empty containers for leftovers are in a large cabinet. And they are to the point of all falling out when the door gets opened. It is time for a purge in that cupboard.

I keep my pans on the wall for connivance. And that is also a good way to make sure they are clean when they get washed. I cannot bear to see a dirty pan on the wall.

My lucky kitties got a new drinking fountain today. The old one was years old and the pump was just not able to keep the water moving anymore. And besides, it was a lavender plastic thing and I was at my wit's end trying to keep it clean. This one is stainless steel. It can go in the dishwasher too! The kitties are not too sure of it yet. DH says the water is too vigorous. But I would have to disassemble it to move the pump setting. I am going to just leave it for now. They will eventually get thirsty enough to try it. There is no splashing of the water. This one holds a gallon of water too!

XOXOXO Subee

For every shape there is a plastic container made for them...

2012-01-25T22:47:00.000-05:00

I should have bought stock in plastic containers years ago. Sadly I am now retired and $$$ is tight. Yet I continue to find the PERFECT containers for cut units.
Below are 1 1/2" Companion Angle triangles. They fit so perfectly in these smaller bins. Then these little bins can be carried and/or stored in larger project containers.

I was on a 1 1/2" cutting binge and quickly filled this smallish container with neutrals and some grays.

This container size has been a staple in my cutting room. It is the same size as the one with the 1 1/2" strips. These are 2 1/2" squares. Some are really golden oldies. This size used to be my favorite size unit. Then I decided I really prefer smaller blocks and moved on. Yet these 2 1/2" squares are still handy to have and to use. I did have to add more neutrals as that section was sadly depleted over time. The only complaint I have with this container is that if it falls the latch WILL come open.

I always label the container. These are removable stickers if I need to repurpose the container.

Aren't they cute?????

There is a method to my madness. I get so much sewing done because I try to not make a move that is not efficient. For example, pressing should be done in "lots" to make the best use of my time.

I do not move the iron across the units. I lift it and move to the next area. Up and down, up and down and soon my little pieces are all crisp and straight.

I love scrappy but my eye wanted a little more control in my pink stars. So before assembling I did a bit of sorting. And since I had kept like with like it was a simple step to do.

Not all the stars are pictured here. I finished them up this morning but this picture was taken yesterday.
I really like the subtle ones but DH says they should not be used as they are too subtle. We will wait until there is more of the quilt on the wall before I decide if they stay or go.

I could not resist making ONE little gray star.

Here is my first cabinet (I have two of these). I really like to use magnets and magnetic baskets on these cabinets. I have scissors hanging on the sides and more baskets to catch stray fabric pieces.

Here is the top drawer. All neutrals...all stuffed to the gills. But all of them are in my Scrap User System in one size or another. I do try to be fair and when I get them out to cut I will cut some of all the sizes I use. I will come in here on a cold snowy day and fire up the iron and go through the entire drawer. Such satisfaction. Life is good!

Drawer #2 has blues on the left and greens on the right. But somehow they seem to migrate together at times. It depends on what I am searching for. A bluish green or a greenish blue??????

Drawer #3 is a special drawer. It has the CHOCOLATE there on the left and some special cat fabric. I have TWO huge containers of cat fabric. I cannot get to them because they are on the bottom of a stack of containers. This was the first type of fabric I ever started collecting. And I am ashamed to say that the last time I was in the attic I found a medium sized container full of more quilting fabric. Why was it up there? There is cat fabric in it too. I left it up there. I have enough to play with down here thank you!

And here is the bottom drawer. Bolts of fabric fit in these drawers as if they were designed for them. Precious old fabric in here. See the neutral with the deep pink stripe?? I have had that forever! I am slowly using up my stash. I sure cannot take it with me when I go.
And a whole bolt of that clear stuff for embroidery machines. It is all sealed up but I do wonder if it has a shelf life. It dissolves away in water. Oh! I think it is called Solvy!

I swapped out the washed batik swap this last week. It only took me a couple hours to count, sort, swap, package and then put them in tote bags for the trip to the PO. They love me there. Job Security!

I bought 4 of these totes in the clearance aisle at Walmart one year. Only a $1 each! They are beach totes but work great for lugging parcels or groceries.

I hope you are all having a great day!
XOXOOXO Subee

Birds in the Air units. Pinks VS Neutrals?

2012-01-21T13:08:00.000-05:00

Dilema...do I like the pink ones better than the neutral ones? I made 100 of each and still have not made a dent in my bonus triangle collection.

I am thinking I like the pink ones better. But I will never know until I get some of those little Ohio stars made. I had some sliver trimming to do last night and now am ready to make some gray stars.

I received my newest book from Judy Laquidara.

Talk about Border Options!

Great book Judy!

My MaggieMae just loves Nat Geo and Nat Geo Wild TV channels. And last night Macy was watching Bug Wars with fascination. I just wonder what goes through their furry little minds. And I also wonder what they dream about. Their little feet twitch and their mouths move. Eating birdies?

My newest collection start. Stripes! I think they will make great binding options.

And yes, I have fabric stacked EVERYWHERE!

Freehand Baptist Fans by Bonnie Hunter

2012-01-18T17:31:00.001-05:00

Below is a full view of my quilt I just finished.

Below is Hubby's quilt that started the whole thing!

EDIT: And he now sets a $$$ amount before we get inside the LQS! Guess he learned!
You all know I am a faithful fan of the illustrious Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville fame. This quilt has taken me over a year to hand quilt using Bonnie Hunter's technique.
You can see it here:
http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2010/05/questions-on-fans.html

This quilt has some history. Both have threads tied to my husband. The fabrics were a gift from my DH as a birthday present a few years ago. Little did he know that when he offered to cover any purchase I wanted to make at my LQS (Quilt of Many Colors in Leo, Indiana) as a birthday present that he was going to suffer sticker shock at the cash register. And oh the clerk was clever. She gave him a tour of the old converted home to LQS with a scrapbook album to look at too. All the while I was picking FQ's. I ended up with 37 drop dead gorgeous golds and light browns in Civil War fabrics. He then said he should get a quilt from his investment. So I made him a great Shaded 9-patch and gifted him with it. Everytime I saw him with it I had quilt envy. So...I made myself one too. And decided afterwards that is deserved to be hand quilted with Bonnie Hunter's Freehand Baptist Fans.
That was over a year ago. I finally finished it this last weekend. I LOVE IT! But then I loved it before it was born too!

So, I need another hand quilting project. Nevermind that I have three different Hexie projects going. And a container of Yo-yos that need to become something. My hand sewing time is very limited. I used to be able to sit in my great recliner for hours on end and quilt, quilt, crochet, and quilt the day away. But anymore my back has issues sitting that way anymore. I can handle maybe an hour now. And I am miserable long before that hour goes by. Sigh! But I can sit at the sewing machine for hours. Go figure!

So here is my Kona Snow BowTie with the corner triangles added finally. I woke up at 4:00 a.m. one morning and decided to mark and thread baste this little quilt. It is 36" square. This is my first time marking a quilting design with a small lead pencil. By the time I had finished marking all 4 quadrants I was getting pretty good at tracing.

And saying a prayer that the marks will be covered by the quilting thread. And it is! Totally covered! I am so pleased. So today after helping out a fellow quilt friend by cutting out her entire quilt for her, I gave myself an hour in the "chair" and started quilting away. I am loving the results. The Kona fabric is also the back. And the ease that thread goes through Kona fabric is great. And I am sampling one of the Quilters' Dream Orient batting. It is silk and bamboo. It seems to have a lovely drape to it. It feels silky yet strong and the needle glides through it like hot butter. When I figure out a better way to get a photo of the quilting I will post about it again.
To my faithful followers, thanks so very much. I really appreciate your comments. I feel such positive vibes from all of you. I could not live without my blog now. Who 'wuda thunk?

XOXOXOX Subee

Help choosing colors

2012-01-15T11:40:00.000-05:00

Some of my quilting buddies have a mental block when it comes to deciding on colors for their quilts.
One simple way, I have explained to them, is to look at yarns with multiple colors. The decisions have already been made for you. All you have to do is match your fabrics to the yarn colors.
See below:

This is my third batch of Log Cabin blocks I have made. The last two batches were in black/white.

This quilt will be for one of my Grand daughters. I have two with March birthdays. One of them is on my birthday and the other is on my brother's birthday. March is a busy month here in our family.

I keep detailed notes. But then I have to re-read the notes and seem to not understand what I have written. What I am attempting to do is to quantify the amount of fabric needed. Be it strips or yardage.

Here are two rounds done. I am loving the blue and white combination. It looks so fresh and clean and so totally different from my preferred color pallet.

On the wall and obviously the last round fabric has not been pressed yet.

And when I tire of sewing in the living room I can move to the cutting room and make some more gray paper string blocks. The grays that are out now are soooo beautiful! I want them all!!

Once again, cutting for scrappy can also be controlled by keeping like cuts together.

I made 100 Birds in the Air units with pink wings. These are the same units but using neutral wings.

They are much more subtle in color but I am sure they will look great in whatever I end up piecing.
I have decided to just make lots of pink units and then see what comes of them. No plans just units.

Snow and I am keeping my critters fed well. The green feeder on the right is squirrel proof. So I add the really expensive seed to that one. The other feeders are easy for the squirrels to rob. I also give them raw peanuts and peanut butter sandwiches. No they are not spoiled at all!

Snow for Indiana!!

2012-01-11T14:05:00.000-05:00

Yea! Finally some snow is forecast for us here in Indiana. I am a winter lover. I am positive that my love for cold weather came about because I spent 31 years in a HOT, dirty and noisy factory. I do not like to sweat. And doing a man's job made me sweat like a man and then the grit just sticks to you. Yuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So after my interview. Yes I said interview...with a newspaper here in Fort Wayne Indiana. All about me! Quilting and songwriting. I was so worried about the interview but that was not necessary. The journalist was pleasant and a music lover. James and I played and sang her a song and she was won over.
So as I said, after the interview I made a quick stop at the Co-Op and bought 40 lbs. of birdseed and 25 lbs. of black oil sunflower seeds. Then a stop at the drugstore to fill my perscription. And another stop at the grocery to "top off" our food supplies here in Subeesews' Land.
I love being snowbound. I do not mind cooking if we are home alone together. The grocery was swamped. That always happens when the forecast calls for snow. Hubby moved his truck all the way behind the garage and I parked way over at the side of our driveway so he will have a clear shot at the driveway with the snow blower. The snow blower has not been needed yet this year. The only time it was on was when DH brought it out of the back shed to the front of the garage before Thanksgiving.
Come on snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
XOXOXOXOX Subee

My Quilt Guild's Mystery

2012-01-10T19:04:00.000-05:00

I am also working on another Mystery quilt being run by a member of my quilt guild.
The designer is Marti Mitchell who also has all those blunt cornered templates. I happened to have the "Peaky and Spike" templates and those were needed for another part of this mystery. I know I bought them many many years ago because of a TV quilt show I had watched.

I was so reluctant to even start this mystery because it did look very complicated. And also I wanted to devote all my sewing time to Our Bonnie's Orca Bay Mystery. But that one is done now so.....

The best way to overcome reluctance is to use fabric you LOVE! I have been saving these salmon pink and brown fabrics for my next life I guess. So I dived in and I am loving the piecing experience.

But these blocks are so big...15 1/2"!!! Compared to what I usually sew on these feel like tanks. But what was really neat (and I do not have a separate picture of them) is that there are "Birds in the Air" units in this block.
My mind is thinking...ok I have the 100 border units done in pinks for my second Orca Bay quilt. And I still have a bagillion more HST in pinks. I could make some of these larger blocks in my more favorite size! And maybe the Orca Bay in pink/gray will actually become a different quilt but using Our Bonnie's units. I was also thinking that I could do two borders of those cute units. I am thinking this is how Our Bonnie Hunter works. She makes lots of units and when she gets a decent amount she designs a quilt with them. There is a method to her madness!!!

So this is clue#3 that I received last night. Fun little units and the block is a variation of a Corn and Beans block. Marti Mitchell calls it a Bean Counter Star. OK...cute name.

Still saving my dog ears...took a container full of sewn units last night to the meeting and got all the ears trimmed with plenty of time leftover for visiting. And of course laughed at for saving them.

None of these pinks made it into my Scrap User System. I do not want to not have enough for this quilt if I go harvesting. I still have lots of variety going on. And when this one gets done I will then work them into my Scrap User System.

Bow Tie quilts in progress

2012-01-09T14:09:00.000-05:00

Yes, you are ready the title correctly. Quilts...plural...three in fact.

This Kona Snow Bow Tie quilt was made entirely from a charm pack that was gifted to me by Tazzie. She is a quilt designer from Australia. I won a Mug Rug from her blog and she also sent other goodies. I can see this put on point with Kona Snow large triangles. Then I picture beautiful hand quilting in those as yet attached triangles. I bought a very fine point lead pencil. I have such issues with marking quilting lines. That is why I mostly quilt straight line quilting on my DSM.

Here is the basket that the Kona Snow Bow Tie was born from. These fabrics are more diverse. I can say probably anything goes for this one. The cutting is done. The little squares are sitting on top of the larger squares. The Kona Snow squares are simply stacked there too. This set up is more Leader Ender friendly than my Cheddar Bow Tie project.

And here is the Cheddar Bow Tie quilt. It is not sewn together. It is still a work in progress.

This was the basket that I said was dusty on top. Shamefully, I had not used it as a Leader/Ender.

I have the little colored squares on top of the two cheddar squares. The larger colored squares are directly underneath each cheddar square.

The biggest reason I do not Leader Ender the Cheddar Bow Tie quilt is this spool of thread that matches the cheddar so well. The OCD me insists on using this thread on nothing else. Thus it is not a Leader Ender. The Kona Snow one is. Go Figure!

This is my TV setup. I am now joining my DH in his familyroom and can still keep my hands busy. I found this pink cutting mat in the scrapbook section of a Walmart. I liked the color. That was the only reason I bought it. But after trying it I really like the features it has. 2" square markings all over the mat. Easy to lay a bonus triangle unit on it after trimming the dogears off. If it needs any other trimming I lay it to one side until I get a few and then clean them up.

Macy watching TV. Nat Geo Wild of course!

Pinks found...well they were NOT lost...really!

2012-01-07T16:59:00.001-05:00

I am a pink color lover. To me it is the most perfect color in the world. And I also wear a lot of pink. Pink looks good with my gray hair and blue eyes. I seem to sew with the colors I do wear.

How about you all?

These HST were saved from two pink Smokey Mountain Star quilts I had made in 2009. I double sewed the corner triangles and saved them all. I dated the container...11-26-2009!!!!

I so enjoyed making those "Birds in the Air" border units from Our Bonnie Hunter's Orca Bay Mystery. I knew I had these lovely units and set about cutting HST to add to these pinks!

I cannot believe how fast these units are made. I do not want to make too many because I have lots more fabric to cut. I want a good variety in these.

I went through and straightened my drawers of strips into color groups as Our Bonnie did hers. I have lots of pink 2 1/2" strips....

More found units. But these are not pressed and trimmed yet. But they are pinks and creams too! But I do not remember what quilt I made that these units were sewn from.

I dragged all this from under the quilt frame. These have not seen the light of day for a very long time.

I was in a pink 2 1/2" swap last year. I found them! They have not been rotated into my cut HST yet. They also need a good pressing before I cut. I plan on cutting a square from each one...then using the Easy Angle ruler I will cut HST in the 2 1/2" size...not needed right now but why not cut them now as opposed to later??
Then I will cut a pair of 2" HST from them too. I did a few to see if the system was workable...of course it is.
But DH gets lonely when I am in the cutting room. And the cats complain at the door. My cats do not like closed doors. They must think they are missing something.

Leftovers from GD's birthday quilt last year. All pinks...but nothing is precut in this container. I will set it aside and get in there later.

I have been very lucky in ways I can store my fabrics. My dear departed father-in-law gifted me with these two LARGE metal pattern drawer units. They are the kind that hold patterns in stores.
Did I want them???
Of course...
I rearranged the whole room in order to get them in.
They take up a lot of room but they also hold so much.

So this is the pink drawer. Plus I have a set of Fossile Fern FQ's there in the center. I must use them for something soon. They keep calling to me "Use me!" everytime I open this drawer.

Here are some grays and pink 2" HST cut. Yes, more containers. These hold this 2" size so nicely and they also then fit inside a larger plastic container.

Lots more HST not pressed or trimmed. Looks like a good TV watching project.

I also store pressed FQ's on hangers. This is so handy and easy to harvest fabric strips from them without removing the hanger at all.

Pretty pinks!

See? Hanger is still on. There are 25 fabrics on this hanger. I just cut 12 or 13 layers at a time.

I know that sounds like a deep layer. But with a fresh blade and good control of the rulers I always do many layers at a time.

Remember when Our Bonnie posted making all that red string Piano Key Border? I had to try it. So I did just a couple pages and look what I acheived in just sampling that technique! Only a sample...

I like these little hinged boxes. They are deep and hold 2" units. They also fit inside larger plastic containers with ease.
I know, containers in containers in containers in containers...remember?... OCD me!
I should really start buying stock in plastic containers!

Orca Bay is DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2012-01-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

Oh My Goodness!!! I have surpassed myself! Every quilt I make from OUR BONNIE'S imagination makes me a better piecer.
Gives me discipline and freedom at the same time.
I cannot thank you enough Bonnie Hunter (http://www.quiltville.com).
My creative life is so much richer having found you.

Thank you... thank you... thank you!!!!

And another reason to be incredulous, 54 degrees in January???

I simply had to take the chance and lay this on the driveway. It sure brought out the neighbors.

Every single border fit PERFECTLY! There are no ripples or puddles in this whole quilt. I want to enter it in a contest. I have never entered a quilt in a contest before. That means it needs a good longarmer to do it justice.

I LOVE IT!

Orca Bay top assembled w/o borders

2012-01-05T16:29:00.000-05:00

Whew! Done! A labor of love for sure. It is so beautiful!

I began the morning with a clean machine, new needle and many bobbins wound. Though I only needed two to finish this assembly.

Sections are all pressed and ready to be added together. I know they are still in rows but the rows are deeper and seemed to be very manageable. You HAVE to keep the strings on the underside when sewing. Let the feed dogs do their job of easing any fullness in. Pins are your friend with string blocks!

Florabunda by Bonnie Hunter on my chair. I sit on it everyday!

A couple of sections added together. I moved my big board out to the livingroom. It does take up lots of room but it is perfect for row assembly. No stretching alowed!!!!!

A few more rows. It is getting heavier and I am so pleased to be this far already!

I have a few leftovers. I will make a small quilt for my precious kitties.

OR...for the back of the quilt??

I am ready for the border assembly. But my back is aching and I need to feed the man who lives here. And the QST sitting there for the two sections in the border are too large. I just used 2 1/2" strips to cut the QST's. I can cut the units down easier than cutting 2" strips from blacks and neutrals.

My KINDLE cover came today. It is exactly what I wanted.

Gray...hand hold strap...lightweight

And when folded shut there is an elastic strap to keep it closed. It is slim and will allow this to fit in my purse.
Now that I am looking at it I am concerned with the bottom edge of the Kindle. The button and cord access are totally exposed....it is such a struggle to be OCD.
Little things...little things...little things...
XOXOXOXOXOXO Subee

My worst enemy is ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2012-01-04T14:48:00.000-05:00

I get ahead of myself...then I drag myself down.

I do not remember which clue the 3 1/2" string blocks were. And I love making string blocks.

So today I was up early planning on getting the entire Orca Bay quilt assembled. I was chugging along. Everything is fitting and I have the assembly clear in my brain. But for some reason I was short of the blue string blocks. Hummmmm...what is up???
I open the PENCIL BOX that has the gray string blocks and had originally housed the blue strings. And there I solved my problem. I had a post it note attached to the lid showing I had only made 48 blocks NOT the required 72. ( and only 36 of the gray are made )

OK...now I know why the blocks are short. But then I am wondering why I did not make the required amount. Thinking back to the early days of the Orca Bay Mystery were also the days of my DH's kidney surgery. I must have thought to make a much smaller quilt than the original size. Less pressure on me at the time I guess. I did have the papers already cut though! HA!

So here they are...all done and trimmed. Just need to remove the papers.
But having to stop and make string blocks stopped my assembly buzzzzzzzzzzzz....

The basket still had all the blue strings and the cut papers. Oh well...my needle was getting dull anyway. I used it up making some more string blocks. I always clean the lint after every two bobbins. And using black thread makes a black "mist" in the machine. If you keep your machine clean it works so much better. I usually take the Janome 6600P in twice a year for some R&R. But it has been over a year since I have taken it to the shop. I am afraid if I go there I will come home with a new sewing machine. HA! They love me there!
XOXOXOOX Subee

Orca Bay-got it now!

2012-01-03T15:16:00.001-05:00

I have it now! I have been able to wrap my head around this process now. But I want to break it down to more production type sewing. You know, making lots of the same units at the same time. But of course, there needs to be a final inspection before jumping in with both feet!

I took everything down. Aren't these stars just so precious?

I am using a tray to lay out the block unit assemblies. I am carefully watching the photos and the clue#7 instructions. One of the pictures is upside down as Bonnie explained to us.

Started throwing those units up on the wall. I am 5'6" tall. Design wall is at the top of the wall against the ceiling. I need a two step small ladder to reach the uppermost rows. I have two ladders. One at each end so all I have to do is walk over and up the second ladder. After a while I can reach the wall easily.

I am loving the colors of this mystery. Our Bonnie sure knows what she is doing!

All pressed and ready for assembly.

This is how I started my morning.

This is the side table of my sewing area. Rolling drawers below.

And here is my set-up. I take up the entire livingroom.
Today is sunny but very cold. 19 and a light wind. BRRRRRRRRRRRR! Another perfect day for sewing.

Actually I prefer a more cloudy day as the sunlight sometimes flashes off cars driving by or the reflection from the neighbor's house. It hits me in the eyes when I don't expect it and I get blinded. So cloudy days are my favorite sewing days. A candle lit and something simmering on the stove. UMMMMMMMM!!!
XOXOXOXO Subee

Orca Bay Mystery SOLVED!

2012-01-02T10:27:00.002-05:00

I see my error...I started with a dark star not a light star. DH pointed it out. Geezzz...he is so tall he can adjust my design wall with ease. But he tends to drop blocks behind the desk...not good!

Nothing is sewn together yet.
I just slapped some up onto the design wall to see if I get the same effect as Our Bonnie did.
I am not sure which way my tiny blue strings are supposed to be.

So they are every which way right now.

It is a perfect day for sewing.
We are under a Winter Storm Watch but are only getting some light snow right now.

I have 16 bean soup simmering.
This is another one of those "comfort" foods.
It feeds the sense of smell and taste!

I can see that I am going to be climbing up and down the ladder for a good long while.

But that is OK. The finished quilt will be soooooo worth it!

My small container of Dogears was so full that all the little ears were bouncing out yesterday.

So I had to dump it into the larger container...

Starting over....New Year...new Dogears.

Orca Bay Mystery Clue #7 progress

2011-12-30T14:53:00.001-05:00

I am loving the look of these Sunset/Sunset colored Flying Geese units. But I am not loving all the bulk of the seams. I have not pressed them yet. I may have to "whack" 'em with a piece of wood to get them flatter. I am honestly not sure if I am going to continue making these units. As you can see, I have not cut all the string blocks in half yet. I may end up doing my own thing with these units.

Update: I missed a step...did not use the Companion Angle ruler to trim the string blocks. Once I did that the units are much more to my liking and I am plugging away now a much happier quilter!

But then again...I may just plow on ahead...bulky seams be dammed.

I made many more "Birds in the Air" units than Our Bonnie originally told us to make. I am glad I did since she asked us to make 4 more units this morning. I am so there already.
Are you ready for the next photo?
Hold on to your hat....

I am an OCD gal. I have a large mason jar with nearly every "dogear" I have ever trimmed off a unit in my entire quilting life. This small container is stuffed full of the dogears from this project only.
I know.
I am odd.
My guild members laugh at me and tell me to get a life. But I love the look of that mason jar with the colored bands that are a history of my quilt life. I did meet another quilter in blogland who has "SEVERAL" jars full of her own dogear trimmings. I am not alone in this obsession.

I spent the rainy morning in the cutting room. I have a drawer of 3 1/2" strips precut. One side of the drawer is colors and the the other is neutrals All I had to do was pull all the neutrals out and give them a nice press with my Reliable Digital Velocity iron.
( I love this iron. It is heavy but does the job so nicely )

And since I wanted to be efficient, I cut into all the strips in that drawer. I have many more than I need for this mystery. (both quilts of course)
But I figured that I might as well cut extra and I am sure I will use them somewhere.
They do not fit in the pencil case. In fact this picture was taken only halfway through the cutting process. I have twice as many done now. I may skip the first part of clue#7 and work on the other section instead. That will take the pile down a bit. HA!

Just a picture I failed to post while making the Quarter Square units. I saw on the Yahoo group that a quilter had squared up her units by only trimming on two sides. Not centering the ruler and trimming on all four sides. Been there...done that. I feel for her. Even with the EZ rulers there were a few that were oversized here in Subeesew's world. I did trim all four sides by centering the ruler. That must have been caused by the strip width. Some were a thread or two over the cutting line. I figure that bigger is better sometimes. It is so much easier to trim units to size.
Some of my strips that I received in the last red and black/white swap were cut too small. They were not a true 2 1/2" cut strip. That is just the difference between quilter's rulers and cutting methods. I think their rulers must have slipped while they were cutting. I spread my fingers wide and brace the ruler to the table with my little finger. I push it right up against the ruler and I "walk" my hand up the length of the cut. And some quilters use their cutting mats as the cutting guide. I never do that. Yet some of my guild members use the cutting board lines. It works great for them as all their strips match. But to try and add them to another quilter's stack is really a bother. Oh well...not a big deal. I noticed this when we were cutting up kits to sew on Project Linus quilts. Our guild made 100 quilts in the last year alone for this worthy project.

Here is a peek under my cutting table. In each drawer is a basket that can be removed without distrubing the strips. These get filled as I work. The strips do not stay in these drawers very long. I have larger containers for the strip sizes all sorted by size and color. Of course...OCD Me!

And while I was sitting on the floor I took a picture of some of my shelving and fabric bolts. I can get down on the floor just fine. It is getting up that I have issues with. It is a bummer to get old. My head is still young!
And yes, there are rulers hanging from the ceiling of the room. They are very handy.

I love my Digital Velocity iron. It is made by Reliable. It has a removable filter that gets nasty leak causing minerals before they enter the steam chamber. I get a nice steam facial when I use this iron. I only use it for fabric prep not during piecing. It is way too big and heavy for that.

And this is a closet in the cutting room. I cannot get into the closet. Those are empty hangers. And the stuff way in the back of the closet is Cross Stitch supplies and yarns. The big clear container is stuffed with BATIKS! I love BATIKS!

Orca Bay Mystery Clue #6 progress

2011-12-23T13:25:00.000-05:00

My Ohio Stars need pressed, but aren't they pretty? I love making these stars.

Did anyone else feel when cutting 2 1/2" squares that they were ginormous? After working with 1 1/2" and 2" pieces these 2 1/2" feel like cutting a napkin instead of a glass coaster!!!!!

I am nearly done with my clue #5. But Our Bonnie did give us permission to move ahead if we wished to. So I did.
Something else I had not shared with you Blogger friends: I was not able to find my gray Clue#1. I did not want to fess-up to misplacing them. My head has been so messed up this year.
But!!!! I found them!
They were with the black clue#1's! Whew!!!!
(http://www.quiltville.com)
Orca Bay Mystery is the name of what we ( a few thousand ) are working on. HA!

Hubby is doing so much better. The pill for restless leg seems to be helping him get a FULL night's sleep. We are on day/night #3 of sleeping. He almost seems his normal self again. Only now he complains of a headache at bedtime. I do not know if that is pill related or just his body's way of telling him it is time for bed.
I cannot thank all of you enough for the great advice and support during this trying time.

Wrapping it up in Indiana

2011-12-20T22:44:00.000-05:00

I had different plans for today. I finished all my shopping yesterday and needed to go buy wrapping paper. We woke up to snow with slick roads.

I decided to strip the bed and do all the other laundry and put my purchases into their respective boxes and/or plastic containers.
Yes, I give gifts in plastic containers too. The stack on the right side is full of small gifts that still are welcomed. Hair brushes, toothbrushes, toothpaste,hand sanitizer,barrettes and bobby pins, socks...you know lots of little things.

Half way through laundry and luckily after finishing boxing, Hubby announced we needed to visit the ER. His blood pressure was 90/60 and his hands and feet were tingling. Despite three different sleep perscriptions, he has not been able to sleep since his surgery. It has been really rough on him. And rough on me too. I have no trouble sleeping until he taps me on the shoulder every few hours to wake me to tell me he cannot sleep. All night long. So I am tired too.

6 hours later and after finally talking to a great ER doctor who LISTENED to James' symptoms we came back home to worried kitties because they had played in the Christmas wrappings. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

His BP was fine after we got to the hospital. They did blood tests and a thyroid panel. He is all within the normal range. He mentioned to this doctor that he has "restless leg syndrome". She said she had it too and takes a certain medication for it. Well...she wrote the script...we went to a 24 hour CVS and he got his new meds and I bought some wrapping paper. I knew I did not have enough.

Here I sit on the computer. Hoping that the new sleeping med will help my DH sleep. He is in a freshly washed bed...I love fresh sheets. They are all straight and tucked in. I will stay up as long as I can so I do not distrub him. I may just stay up all night and perhaps sew a bit. As we waited at the ER I worked on and nearly finished my hand quilted Freehand Baptist project that has taken me a year. It was really a large quilt to be done this way but I do love this process. Of course the process is by Our Bonnie Hunter!

The great thing about this process is that as you finish you go round and round FASTER because you start on the outside and work your way in. Since it is done that way I had the binding already sewn on too.
Check out her process at http://www.quiltville.com Freehand Baptist Fans.

Orca Bay Mystery Clue #5 progress

2011-12-18T21:58:00.000-05:00

I am very happy with my decision to limit my outer triangles to more of a tone on tone black. It seems to frame the unit nicely.

And of course the OCD Me, is controlling how many of which ones I am using on each set of HST which are all sorted by their own combinations. I am pointing the non-dogear end towards the middle so I can have sets with each fabric playing along on the left and the right side of the units.

I have half of these sewn already.

And panic time. I had made a large purchase last March towards Christmas presents for this year. Fast forward to Hubby's surgery and my mind thinking I had MOST of my shopping already done.

I went through that box today and I NEED to go shopping tomorrow. I am not even 1/4 of the way done. I was sure misremembering what I had bought ahead of time.
I have never been this behind before even when I was working. Since I HATE to shop (except for fabric of course) I had always broken it up into small segments and usually had my wrapping done before Thanksgiving.
Oh well...tomorrow I will shop 'til I drop!

Chicken and noodles for the soul.

2011-12-17T12:37:00.000-05:00

I posted a good while back about my disappointment with Cuisinart's warranty of my entire pan set.

So, I bought myself a new chicken & noodles pan. What is good about this pan is:

Stainless steel good heavy pan
no coatings to wear off/out
glass lid to see cooking progress
2 inserts to steam veggies or whatever

It is so simple to make your own chicken stock. A good clean whole chicken, an onion, a few carrots and a lot of celery stalks with leaves attached. Boil for a few hours then cool and remove all of the contents. I run them through a mesh colander to remove any stray bones or entrails that may break off during the cooking process.

And then you have gallons of homemade chicken stock. I add the dark meat back to some broth and make the chicken & noodles. The white meat gets shredded and used for whatever. And the house smells sooooooo good while this is cooking. It is comforting to my soul.

I cut up only 6 different blacks for Orca Bay's clue #5. Some of my blacks (well really most of them) had too much white going on. I think restricting my fabric choices here will give me the desired effect that Our Bonnie Hunter (http://www.quiltville.com) is going for.
There is a great Azeala Trail black and a Fossil Fern black and a batik black.

OK....go ahead and laugh. Here is another pencil box full of my black HST. Love these pencil boxes.

I have been "Kindled"!

2011-12-16T04:25:00.000-05:00

Look out world! This old quilter is now a new owner of a Kindle Touch 3G! Of course I was a bit apprehensive before it arrived. I know I pestered Our Bonnie Hunter and other users of this amazing device concerning using the download feature.

I was worried for nothing! We are not wireless here. Yet the Kindle was able to find and use a signal. I have books on it already!

I should have bought a cover and the AC adapter. But until I do one of those pencil boxes I have fit the Kindle perfectly. Now the kitties cannot walk on it and read something they should not. HA!

It is 4:00 a.m. here in Indiana.
I am waiting for clue #5 for the Orca Bay Mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter. (http://www.quiltville.com)

In the pink for Orca Bay Mystery

2011-12-14T07:26:00.000-05:00

Pink, gray and brown are my favorite colors. But if it would come down to me nailing just ONE favorite color it would have to be pink.
The block below is my favorite block. But then each of the other 63 blocks are equally as beautiful.

I guess I would have to say that as I trim each block it then becomes my favorite until I pull the next one from the pile.

Sigh! What memories race through my head looking at these fabrics. I made two Pink Smokey Mountain Stars (pattern from Bonnie Hunter at: www.quiltville.com).

One went to a Grand daughter and the second one stayed here with me. I hand quilted that one.
When you go to her blogsite make sure you click on the Orca Bay Mystery tab for some beautiful examples of the quilts being made from the mystery.

I love the process of sewing strings. I know I call it mindless sewing but there is a bit of "art" connected with choosing what strip to lay next to another strip. Some of the beautiful pink string blocks I have seen on the Mr Linky thingie have been very pastel. I tried to copy that but my pinks are more in the medium to hot pink range. I just decided that my blocks will be a reflection of my own stash not a copy of someone else's.
And to keep thing straight, I use a strip in a couple blocks and then it get puts aside and I grab another string. I have yet to dive into the already used pile. I have lots of pinks!

When I went on a gathering mission for pinks I actually had to go through 4 LARGE plastic containers and three drawers to glean out all the pinks. And I am not using any wider than 1 1/2" strips. And even that size seems a bit clunky. The tiny basket on the left has my leftover 2 1/2" squares from the Smokey Mountain quilts. That makes it so handy to just whack them into triangles and add to the corners of the string blocks.

Here is our Macy Gray. Her eyes are so deep blue they are almost Indigo colored. I know the breeder called me after we had her for a few years and wondered if her eyes had stayed as deep blue as they hoped. They are. Macy is an Oriental Shorthair. She has a wedge shaped head. And she is so unusual looking that either you love her or you think she is deformed. She never stops talking and has many tricks in her portfolio. If you read up on the breed it says they love being clowns for their humans. Guess they are the only cats in the world that do not mind being laughed at!

Orca Bay Clue #4 Red Strings done!

2011-12-12T12:38:00.000-05:00

I LOVE making string blocks. And the fact that Our Bonnie has us making string blocks in color families just pleases my OCD me to a tee!

I believe I have mentioned before that if you are using telephone book pages that there is no need to count them. They are already numbered. So I did the math and have two sets of 64 pages all cut and clipped together. My red strings are finished. I am still doing the trimming but the sewing is done.

I even saved the 3+" strip that was cut away from the phone book pages. I have in mind to do some piano key type sewing on them with the leftover strips. But after getting the string blocks all sewn DH says he needs me near him. He is lonely in the family room. I sew in the living room. He has never "needed" my presence before. He has never even asked me to ever spend time with him. We are neither of us very social creatures. And we have always had a very comfortable relationship. He has his own TV and computer and so do I. I am hoping as he gains strength and his pain level decreases that he will need me less and less. Yet part of me revels in the fact that we are a strong loving couple.

Baskets and containers. I love them and to make sure I only use a red once it will either get used up in several blocks on only a hunk will get cut off and then it is put into another basket. That tells me not to pick a string from that basket until I get through all the other strings.
I swear those strings multiply during the night. As you can see I do lots of blocks at the same time. Once they start to fall off the back of the table into "kitty fur never-never land", I clip them apart and continue sewing.

Some I have trimmed the first way Our Bonnie instructed. And some I have trimmed the second way that she thought of in the middle of the night.
I dream sewing too. I so understand where she is coming from. Having a nice sewing area to go to at 3:00 a.m. is such a pleasure. I no longer have time schedules to meet or places to be. Who needs sleep? I will sleep tomorrow night if I get tired.

I have a small tip to share with you bloggers.

I use a piece of cotton batting to rub the strings and debris from the cuting board.

It works great!

Cream and Black Treasures found

2011-12-09T22:22:00.000-05:00

I confess. I am a bit of a hoarder. Well, maybe more than just a bit of a hoarder.

I am not as bad as that show about hoarders. I do not save garbage or newspapers but I do save fabric.

I do have paths through the two spare bedrooms I have occupied/taken over for fabric storage. It is an adventure when I go looking for something I KNOW I have.

I have not been able to find a fabric that has books on shelves. Nice warm wood tones with leather bound books set in wide stripes down the length of the fabric. I know I bought a large quantity of it. I have not been able to find it for a long long time. I hid it well.

And to get to anything I need to move containers. Lots of containers...I confess I am a fabricholic.
It is time to use these creams and blacks.
I have been saving them for the future.
The future is now.

I have 20 of these large blocks. They are a bit larger than 12 1/2".

The fabric is a creamy off white with quilts and quilters pictured doing what quilters do with quilts!
They are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

The background on this toile is black. Once again quilters and quilts.
How lucky was I to have bought this so many, many years ago???
It looks like I have 3 or 4 yards of this one.

Another toile with more quilters. The background is creamy off white. The print is not the same as the toille with the black background. There is maybe 2 yards of this one.

As I kept digging deeper into this container that has not seen the light of day for many years, I was finding fabric I had totally forgotten about. This was one of the first color combinations I started collecting long before I was even making quilts. I knew that someday I would want to. And I really like cream/black much more than white/black.

A completed quilt top. Why was it in there? I know why. I was sewing but not quilting yet. I guess I loved 9-patches even way back then. Since I am so much more skilled now I can see a great pieced border for the simple center of this quilt top. But my points were sharp and clear.
When was this made???

The infamous 56 qt. container of treasures. I even have some blacks with shades of tan or taupe with matching solids saved with them. Man oh man I am soooo excited with this find!

Sample fabrics with cardboard headers. My Dear Jane, which will be more of a Baby Jane, is done with fabrics from this card sample. I do have all of the paper pieced blocks made. (62 blocks) But I am afraid to attempt the applique blocks. I have bought silk thread, applique needles, a light box and tons of freezer paper. I have the equiptment but not the skills. The sample is unrolled on the left and there is another one with the stars all rolled up on the right. I made a promise to myself to not mess with these last two sample cards until my Dear Jane is done. I am using Ecology cloth muslin as the background on my Dear Jane. I love this muslin. It has great body and a good thread count.

Feathers....aren't they gorgeous? I have 2 yards of this fabric.

Here is what I "gleaned" from that 56 qt. container. The very bottom wavy cream fabric I did buy in Shipshewanna 2 years ago. It was not in the container. But it is now! The rest are very old. I am thinking maybe 10 years old!!!!!!!

All of these are pressed and cut and sewn into my second set of clue#3 of the Orca Bay mystery being masterminded by Our Bonnie Hunter of www.quiltville.com

I am well on my way to finishing my red string blocks. I am using all swapped fabric from the quiltvilleswap on Yahoo. I am even trying to keep each packaged strips together in the blocks being made. I have cut some of the strips into thirds...real skinny...and some of them into triangles for the corners.

Darn. I took the picture too soon. I have them trimmed down to 3 1/2" now with their little flat tops. They are so cute!
I think these are fabrics from Jeane A. who was in the swap with a bunch more of us.

Details...I write all this down in a logbook. I also include weather and what I am cooking for special dinners for DH.

We saw the surgeon today and he said we/DH is one of the few lucky ones who get renal cancer. He said he does not get enough patients with great news like this. DH is still a bit down. I guess facing immediate mortality has taken it's toll on my happy go lucky man. We are working on getting his joy of living back. I tried to get him to trim dogears tonight...he is just not interested. And I have to admit that I would freak out if he trimmed too much. HA! OCD again.
XOXOXOXO Subee

Second set of Orca Bay clue #2-gray strings

2011-12-07T13:02:00.000-05:00

There are a few of us making more than one Orca Bay Mystery quilt.
Yes we are gluttons for punishment.
Yes we love piecing tiny units.
Yes we love Bonnie Hunter's Mysteries.
Yes we do count how many pieces are in each quilt. But I am not telling.
(I was yelled at once on the Yahoo site for perhaps scaring away potential participants.)
Won't happen again.

I cannot believe that my tiny pile of gray strings made 36 string blocks and there are still more strings left to use. And I had thought that I had cut generous sizes on the strings but most blocks have 10 or more strings in them. They look pretty but the paper removal is a bit more intense.

So here is one of my ever handy pencil cases with my string blocks all ready for sewing. The paper is all removed. They did not even need any pressing after sewing as I pressed my strings FIRST!

And I have my very own copy of Volume #4 Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks. WHOOT!

I swapped out the 2 1/2" red and black strip Quiltvilleswap at Yahoo swap yesterday. Here is one third of the swapping area with the parcels just assigned to their respective baskets.
Nothing has been opened or counted yet.

This is the second third of the packages getting their assigned basket.

And here is the final third of the u-shaped area. My swap basket is on the chair. If any of you are counting the baskets you will be coming up short of the 24 total. This is because some swappers participated in both swaps and some did not. The only really tricky part is when some swappers do not send in 10 sets. I had two swappers with 5 sets and one with 6 sets. But I got it all figured out.

This shows that now I have gone through all 24 parcels. I have counted their sets and removed the shipping packages to the bottom of the baskets. I keep them this way because some swappers do not have their names on their individual packages.

I also have "start" and "stop" papers. This keeps me on track in case of an interruption. Life does tend to get in the way sometimes. In 90 minutes I had both swaps completed. But then it took another hour or so to re-count and pack up the precious strings for mailing back.

To the left are all the different sized containers that the swaps came to me in. They are trash now. In the center are the empty baskets. They have done their job and are heading back to the closet. On the right are two VERY HEAVY STUFFED totes with all 24 packages ready for the post office.

I lugged them in there yesterday announcing myself that I was helping with the Postal Clerk's job security. I had the same sweet Postal Clerk who is sharp as a nail. She and I get on very well. She knows that I pack carefully and that I will help with any issues she has with the packages. One of the swappers sent fabric from Sweden. So there was an export form to fill out. (I did that at home as I keep mailing supplies for this very reason!)

The register tape was a mile long. I am going to hang onto it and maybe use it for some string piecing for a border or something. (Just for memories!)

I took hubby along but he waited in the truck. It was his first day out of the house getting some air from his kidney removal surgery last Tuesday. I think getting some fresh air did him good as he actually went for a walk around the block today. Healing takes time and it is the little things that are obstacles to overcome.

Orca Bay Mystery Clue #3

2011-12-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

I did try the Inklingo method but went back to my Trusty EZ Angle ruler to complete this grouping of HST. I am so comfortable with this ruler now. At first I had the same issues I have been reading about on the quiltvillechat at Yahoo. I can only say "keep trying the ruler" because the results seem perfect every time now. No sliver trimming is needed. No marking on the wrong side of the light squares. And only one set of dogears to trim.

Our Bonnie did have a great tip about lining up the edge of the ruler with the strip edge. She said no fabric should be extending past the ruler. She is right on with that tip. If your fabric hangs out a bit it will make the HST's seam a bit thicker than you want/need it to be.
I made 480. I did not mean to go over what we needed. (350) But then again one never knows how large I will want my final quilt to be.

They are now all nestled in their own little basket. All safe from the "Magnet" kitty named MaggieMae. She is called a Magnet because all my fabric pieces seem to be attracted to her fur as she waddles by. She cannot help it. She is long overdue for her trim but she is not tangling at all and seems to really enjoy the brushing time. Last night I brushed every single bit of her backwards. It was so funny looking. She looked like she had been electrified. I should have taken a picture of her. She was looking like a punk rocker!

I am now ready to make my gray/neutral combination for clue#3. But tonight is our guild's Christmas party. I need to wash my hair. And that is a day long event. My hair is below my waist and very thick. Takes forever to wash and dry it. Then I have the fuzzies around my face to deal with. My hair always looks better the day after I wash it. Should have done it yesterday. Sigh!

Fabric log roll

2011-12-04T16:13:00.000-05:00

I have mentioned this before that I periodically go through my fabric bolts and tear off a one yard chunk. I did that with the log roll below. There are 56 neutrals in this roll. I was doing a neutral swap over at the 1 1/2" Postagestampquilt swap location. We ended up only swapping 25 fabrics instead of 50 but that made no difference to me.

I swapped two sets then! HA!

I am in LOVE with neutrals. I have always bought them before deeper colored fabrics.

And this is my own invention. I have browns stored this way too.
I have my batiks rolled this way by color. Makes it so easy to just grab a bunch of same color fabrics.

This roll was one yard chunks at one time. They are all pressed and starched then one strip in many sizes were cut from each one. Not one fabric at a time either. Maybe 6-8 fabrics...that means 12-16 layers. You need strong arms and a sharp blade to do this.

Anyway, after doing the harvesting, I rolled them all up together (keeping the cut ends as even as I could) tied them up with some of those great Moda ribbons, and put them into a plastic container. The last time I harvested fabric from this container was early last Spring 2010.

Here is the roll before unrolling. It is a beautiful sight and it is also quite heavy. Sigh!
Did I tell you I love fabric???? Like you couldn't guess.
They are all nice and flat with no wrinkles or puckers.

I did not need to iron a single one of these as I took a few at a time from the unrolled log, cut them and stacked them to the other end of the table. Once again I did not need to iron them at all!!!! And yes, I do love to iron. Last night I went through all my shirtings prints and pressed and rolled them up after cutting 2" strips from them. They are all sewn now into Clue#3 of the Orca Bay Mystery from Our Bonnie Hunter of http://www.quiltville.com.
Just need to press and de-ear the little puppies.
I also found some treasures in the bottom of a 56 qt. container that held nearly all my black and gray collection. I will share them with you in another post. I was so surprised at what I found...

Here is the fabric log all re-rolled and trussed up. And I also was very generous when I straightened the ends. I could have "sliver" trimmed and had even edges but I wanted some more neutral strings.

Now I have another nice container of 2" neutral strips and the beginnings of another bag of neutral strings. I do not know why but I have many containers with 2 1/2" strips sorted by color family. And the same amount of 1 1/2" strips stored the same way. But my 2" size only has the one drawer under the cutting table. Do I use them up as I cut them? I must because that bin is always in need of more fabric...you know like sourdough starter...have to feed the dough!

INKLINGO vs EZ-ANGLE

2011-12-03T11:27:00.000-05:00

I bought the Inklingo programs in June of 2009. I know the date precisely as Linda Franz had autographed my copies of Shape Collection #1 and #2.
I also remember an e-mail she had sent me in which she said that her husband loves customers like me. I think I had told her I wanted ALL of the collections. But could only afford two.
I bought these when I had Windows XP. BUT...I had never even opened the plastic wrap on the CD's.
I am so bad.
So now my OS is Windows 7. When I put the CD in the drawer my computer said there was a compatibility issue but there was a fix for it. So I let the machine waltz me through the steps and then I was able to access the CD. It was easy to follow the instructions. So all of you should have no trouble doing this step if needed.

Above are the results of this morning's play session.
Can you tell the Inklingo from the EZ Angle HST?
There are many ways to get to a finished product. You just need to find what is easiest for you. And also what will give you good results.
Timewise there seemed really no difference in making these units. I made 48 with Inklingo and 48 with EZ Angle. It is now 11:00 a.m. I started at 8:00 a.m. but I am also doing laundry and waiting on my DH hand and foot during his recovery from the recent surgery. He is doing much better everyday.

I did make a bit of a boo-boo when choosing the color to print on the back of my neutral. It was too light and I had trouble seeing on the first page I sewed. So above I took a pencil and traced the lines a bit darker for me to see. I sewed the entire sheet without breaking a thread. That means continous sewing. (what we love to do) I also decided I prefer cutting the HST out with the scissors rather than the rotary cutter. But then again that could be the too faint lines with the first sheet.
I also had fears of paper jams. The first sheet went through great. The second one did not. But I was able to retrieve it and start from the other end and it printed fine. I have a Lexmark Pro 205. Linda says she prefers her Cannon printer to her Lexmark for fabric printing.

This fabric is by MODA. It is part of the new collection called Etchings. It is a yummy neutral with grays. I am in love with it! I have been on a "no buy" to use up my stash but when I saw this collection I shouted out loud! I must have this!!!!! So I bought 9 yards.

Too much organization?

2011-12-02T10:13:00.001-05:00

To those who care: I now know where my HST's are. In a moment of generosity (that was regretted as soon as the container left my hands to hers) I gave them to a old/new friend. Old friend because I knew her 30+ years ago and a new friend because she has been gone from my life that long. I also gifted her with all the leftover spirals from the Carolina Christmas Mystery. Those I did not regret...the HST's I do.
At least now I know my memory is fading...HA!
I am doing a little pressing and a little cutting.
FYI you can get 15 pair HST from a 22" X 2" strip.
XOXOXO Subee

Orca Bay clue#3 has been posted. Wow! I know I have these units already made!

Those of you who know me through the internet have praised me for being organized.

Yet there are times when I am my worst enemy when it comes to keeping spare units.

Below is just an example of how I save the waste triangles by doing the double sewing technique.
They are pressed,labeled and de-eared and ready to be used. I made two Smokey Mountain Stars in pinks and these are my leftovers. Maybe 400 units???
They are saved in really nice plastic containers. Also I save the strawberry/salad containers from the store. Some are even in baggies...labeled of course.
Too many different types of containers makes for a storing nightmare. It is best to find a size that works and buy scads of them.
If you have them around they will get used.
If they are the same they stack better.

My quandry is that I KNOW I have more than enough HST in black/neutral combination. I just cannot find them! I have spent more time searching for them than it would have taken me to press and cut what I need!
ARGGGGG!!!!
This is one reason I do not like cleaning my sewing/cutting area. I am sure I have tucked that container inside a larger plastic container that may be in an even larger plastic container.
See my problem?

I know they are somewhere in this house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The squirrel is not too obvious in this picture but the kitties are really enjoying the show!

Bad news turns into good news

2011-12-01T13:41:00.000-05:00

I wanted to let all of you know that my dear Hubby is doing fine.

The bad news is that he had to have his entire left kidney removed due to a large tumor.

The good news is that the pathology has come back and all the lymph nodes and surrounding organs are cancer free.

I slept up there for two nights. Let me tell you that a recliner is not a bed and my back and neck are killing me.

Yet we are both so grateful that we are home today and that he did very well with the surgery. Many people live with only one kidney. And there will be no chemo or radiation to go though.

It feels so great to just be home again....

Orca Bay Clue #2-blue strings

2011-11-27T14:32:00.000-05:00

I had so much fun sorting my strings. I was amazed that I had so many blue strings. And I did not even open my Pineapple block container that has a few pounds of strings!
These blocks are so tiny and sweet!
I press my strings before sewing them to the foundation paper. Then a good finger pressing is all that is needed before trimming. The paper is still on these blocks.

My Sony Wega TV died last week. It did not go quietly. It was very scary. I am glad I was in the room when it happened. Electricity and I do not mix well. I have a very healthy respect for it's dangers.

Hubby did some searching for me and he found a 46" Sony Bravia LCD on clearance! I went and bought it immediately. Not only is it 10" larger than the old TV. It is 30 pounds lighter and is nearly totally flat. It fits so nice on my corner stand.
There is now a ledge for my TV watching MaggieMae to sit on. She used to have to watch it from the end table.

She knows there will be a flash and always shuts her eyes. Smart kitty!

She is watching her favorite channel. Animal planet of course. I also have a DVD called "A Cat Sitter". All kinds of little creatures making small sounds and moving around so she can chase them across the screen. The only issue I have is that her little body does block the remote control's signal.
My cats are not spoiled at all! HA!

I love sewing with Presencia thread. I use 50 weight on top and the 60 weight for bobbins. I have matching colors in both weights. They do make a 40 weight but I am in love with King Tut for the top quilting thread. I have emptied one of the 50 weight cones. That is a lot of thread! This thread is 100% cotton and there is almost no lint.
I had been using SO FINE! by John Flynn for bobbin threads. But I have been having issues with it. It sews wonderfully and is great for piecing until I noticed that if I use a good hot iron (and who doesn't) it MELTS AWAY! It is a polyester thread. The seams then open like a zipper. So I will only use it for quilting now not for piecing. Bummer!

I have all my reds cut up for the Quiltvilleswap exchange. I could not resist making a few red string blocks. But then I decided I had better stop making them as we do not know the size for the Orca Bay red string blocks yet!

Orca Bay progress

2011-11-21T14:27:00.000-05:00

My Orca Bay units from clue#1 are all done and counted out.
As usual I made way too many. But I also slipped in some grays and neutrals.
I am playing with the idea of making a second quilt using pinks/grays.

All ready for sewing...remember I said I was done and I am all finished.

Why I bought/buy bolts of fabric

2011-11-20T05:40:00.000-05:00

My precious DH and my first Greatgrandson, Drew. Music is in their blood!

A blogger friend had asked me where and why I bought bolts of fabric. I sent her an e-mail. She wrote back that I should make a blog of my e-mail. So I did a copy and paste and the e-mail is below.

"Then I found an EBay seller that sold bolts of fabric. (they are gone now) Granted they were old lines of fabric. But 1st quality...starting bid was always $24.95 for 15-20 yard bolts. I could not stop! But some bolts I just had to have and spent maybe $70 for a bolt. But that was still cheaper than stores. I was working. I had a Union job that paid very well. I spent it on fabric for retirement time. I made many BORING quilts and never made a dent in my bolts!

I am not stretching the truth when I say I have over 300 bolts of fabric in this house. Ask my husband. Ask the UPS man who thought I was hiding my fabric obsession from DH. That is a funny story! Ask Bonnie Hunter. She has been to my home. She has seen it. She says quilters tend to fill up all available space. This was after I told her I needed a bigger house.

Then I discovered scrap quilting and never looked back. I have gone through each bolt I own twice now, ripping off a yard hunk. Then I cut them into Bonnie’s Scrap User System.

I also inherited my sister-in-laws stash of fabric when she passed away. She bought fabric but never sewed anything. She was buying ahead too. Lots of 70’s calicos....some were only 36” wide. And that type of fabric was not what I had been collecting.

I bought Jinny Beyer, Fossil Fern, all kinds of batiks and cat fabric of course. So her fabric filled in a missing spot in my collections. Then I went nuts for 30’s fabric and bought 200 1/2 yd. cuts. (Ebay again)

Then I discovered fabric samples with cardboard headers....perfect for scrap quilting. I had bagillions of those too but have cut most of them up in to the SU System. You can still get those...sometimes I buy fabric scraps by the pound too. But I generate so many scraps myself that that is kinda silly.

I have sold lots of fabric and sewing machines on E-Bay. But that takes so much work. I guess if I were less of a sewer and more of an entrepreneur I could open an EBay store or even sell from my home like a garage sale that would never stop. HA!"

My cutting is all done for clue#1. I have them all in little baskets waiting for sewing. Another sleepless night. I got up at 2:00 a.m. Nice and quiet house and I am content for a while.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Orca Bay beginnings

2011-11-19T15:25:00.000-05:00

I love mysteries. I love mystery quilts even more. And to try to explain that to someone who has never done a mystery is hard. They have trouble "jumping" in and trusting the designer to lead them down a successful path to a great quilt!
We all know that Our Bonnie Hunter (http://www.quiltville.com)
is a quilt designer we can trust to take us beyond our own boundries and give us so much quality sewing time.
I have been making a huge effort to not be stingy with myself when I even out fabric edges. That way I can generate more strings for me! And I throw them into this lovely basket. It does fill up fast too!

You need to make saving scraps easy to do for yourself. I love containers and baskets and use them to help me keep things organized.
I went through all the bolts of neutrals on the cutting table. I cut 8 11/2" strips from each one. Way more than what I need for Orca Bay. I am on a Log Cabin block marathon too. This is the size strips I am using for the Log Cabin blocks. And since that last post of the black/white Log Cabin blocks I have made I want to make another quilt with another color family. Have not decided what color yet, so I am just cutting to feed the bins.

This container is FULL! WHOOOHOOOO!

This is the leftover from the Log Cabin quilt. They play right in to Bonnie's color scheme!

XOXOOXOXOX Subee

Pressing issues-Rebuilt Log Cabin blocks

2011-11-14T11:07:00.000-05:00

I love pressing. I love ironing. I must own 10 irons. Most are still in their boxes...I do not want to be without an iron if one were to die. I have three ironing boards too. OCD...remember?

I know the importance of pressing as you sew. Rule of thumb is never cross a seam with another seam until that previous seam is pressed. I finger press. I have good strong nails. It is ALMOST as good as pressing with an iron. It works for most blocks. It has almost always worked for me.

But unfortunately not for the blocks shown below.

And the first 16 blocks (right block) were sewn on another sewing machine. Says something for seam allowances that can vary from machine to machine although they are both Janomes. And I do feel I know what I am doing!!!!!!
At least those 16 blocks are exactly to same size. That was one manic day of sewing.

The next 38 blocks were sewn on my main machine. That took 2 days. And I also pressed each log as I went around. The ironing board is sooooo handy in this room. I had the first 16 blocks on the design wall and as I added more and more rows I realized that my next 38 were going to be bigger than the first 16.
ARGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I threw caution to the wind and decided to use my blogging friend's,

http://www.ElaineAdairpieces.blogspot.com

Rebuilt Log Cabin technique to resew those first 16 blocks.

I cautiously cut one block. See below

And I loved the effect. Sorry, the next photo is out of order and I did not feel like moving them around. I wanted to get this post made so I could get back to sewing today.

Here they are in their glory...still untrimmed but ready for assembly.

We had our first bit of snow last Thursday afternoon.

It came down hard and fluffy and then melted away.

If you click on the photo you can see the flakes.

I LOVE SNOW!

XOOXOXO Subee

This my 300th post!!!!!!!

Learning to love Cheddar

2011-11-13T17:27:00.000-05:00

I have always loved Laurel Burch fabrics. I have oddles of the ORIGINAL fabrics from long ago. When she passed away I even sold some of my collection on E-Bay. There was an insane demand for the older fabrics then.

Now there still seems to be an abundance of Laurel Burch fabrics being produced. I have not bought any. I still have lots to use up.

I was sharing a bit of this cat face fabric with a friend and I tossed the bolt on top of my shelf of bolts. It landed near my bolt of Cheddar. And I was so intrigued that I made this small baby quilt with my newest love, cheddar, and some of Laurel Burch fabrics. It looks very nice in person. I do not know if you can see how nice they play together.

I have my third Great Grandson. Theo was born early and is at the NICU but is doing great and will be home much sooner than we thought. I have given two afghans and several small quilts to his Mommie to take up to the hospital. This one is next to go up there.

I love getting packages in the mail. Not all of them are internet purchases. This package is one from one of the Yahoo groups I host. She wins the "First to arrive" prize!

I simply HAD to go to my LQS and stock up on Fat Quarters. Buy ten get 2 free works for me. Check out my red inventory now! WHOOHOOO!
And I also hit the clearance rack and bought that great looking green. It is so nice.

And I bought a new book entitled The Civil War Sewing Circle authored by Katheen Tracy.
I also took my Smith Mountain Morning quilt to be displayed on their walls. Sigh! I will miss it while it is gone.....but if I can help Bonnie's sale of her books anyway I can, I will do it!

Zoey's birthday quilt is done!

2011-11-02T14:33:00.000-04:00

I love using Minkee as a backing on a quilt. And my Grand daughters all request at least one Minkee quilt a year. I try to oblige if I have the right color on hand. My GD Zoey loves purple. I made her a fun 9-patch purple cat quilt and the Minkee I had goes perfect with it!
I just did simple straight line quilting on the quilt. And the back is so yummy I just want to pet it!
And I also made three Project Linus quilts exactly like Zoey's quilt. They will be turned in next Monday at Quilt Club meeting. I used up lots of fabric. And that was my goal! Shop the stash!

I found another use for those pencil boxes. My bolts tend to slide/lean when I remove one for cutting. Then I had a lightbulb moment and slid an empty box to hold the place on the shelf. It worked great!

And here is just one view of my fabric cutting room. My wonderful DH made me shelving that spans the entire room . And this is just one view of the cutting room. I will take some more pics soon.
I am so amped up waiting for the first cutting/sewing clue from Our Bonnie Hunter. Once again she is generously doing another Mystery Quilt for her fans. The title is Orca Bay. You can see it at her blogspot. (http://www.quiltville.com)
Colors are reds, blues,blacks and neutrals.
So, I added a quick swap to the Yahoo group "quiltvilleswap". I am doing a washed fabric black/white swap due on December 1st. I am thinking these swappers could all use some reds too if they are planning on doing Bonnie's Mystery.
I am crossing my fingers here in beautiful Indiana!!!!

Slow progress...

2011-10-28T15:05:00.000-04:00

I love all aspects of quilting with the single exception of row assembly. I have a wonderful design wall. The ironing board is handy. I have the assembly pattern to look at. But grrrrrrrrrrr!!!! I find this step so unfullfilling. Why? I do not know.
Below is my progress today. Not too much to show for all the work I feel I have done.

On the left side is my tiny BowTie with Kona Snow as the background. The "ties" are made from a charm pack that Tazzie sent to me. I am thinking of setting it on point. I did enjoy sewing this one together. Go figure......

Working on Jamestown Landing

2011-10-21T15:12:00.001-04:00

I love back to school time. Even better is Clearance BTS sales!
I bought 10 of these cute little pink pencil boxes.
They fit my 1 1/2" squares as well as these 2 1/2" HST for Bonnie Hunter's Jamestown Landing quilt that was in the Australian magazine.
It only took a few hours of cutting to give me way more than what I needed to begin sewing. I had cut the 2 1/2" strips when that magazine first came out. I slipped them into a big baggies and saved them for the next quilt. I had even done the math to figure how many strips I needed to get the 840 units I needed. I added a few more for mistakes and ended up with this lovely container full of units!

And then I surprised myself. I was all ready to dig through the swap fabrics from Smith Mountain Morning. When I opened that large container I found my results from the Leader/Ender cutting I had mentioned a few posts back. They were all ready for me! WHOOOHOOOO!

I am so very lucky that I am detail oriented. It makes scrap sewing so much easier!!!!

Here I am all ready to sew. The picture for oggling at, full containers of units and a rainy cool day for watching the squirrels and chipmunks fight over the birdfeeder. They are so funny. The cats just watch the birds and squirrels. But when the chipmunks come to the feeder my cats go crazy! Guess they must look tastey!

Since I am OCD about being an organized quilter, I have a small basket behind the machine to catch the HST. I clip between "like" fabrics. Some of the blues had only 4 cuts. But some also had 10 or more. I want them to be scattered in the quilt, so if I keep track of them now, I can be sure that they stay scattered when I begin the row assembly.
I already have the string blocks made. And the ladies from my guild have donated more phone books to my collection. I remove the spine and cut them down to the best size depending on the original size of the phonebook page. And remember...they are already numbered so you will know how many pages you have! WHOOOHOOOO!!!!!!

And here is my sweet Pearl relaxing in her custom made Michael Miller fabric catbed. She did have her paw stretched out before I went for the camera. Of course she then moved. Her eyes are the palest blue and I swear she has eyelashes. Ole' bedroom eye Pearl. Hubby calls her "Pick on me Pearl". Macy runs her off. Just because...Macy is (at times) a big bully!

Facebook Quilt World Mystery quilt

2011-10-11T14:37:00.000-04:00

This was a mystery from Facebook a few weeks ago. Since I had re-discovered my extensive stash of batik fabrics, I felt this would work well for them.
I used the EZ Angle ruler to cut the patches from 2 1/2" and 4 1/2" strips. I ended up having two cutting sessions. I did not double the amount stated in the instructions. They were using the "sew across a square twice" method. So, after a false start I was on my way to making this beauty.
I did not like how the design was just cut off, so I added/extended the pattern into the border and then added another strip of the taupe batik to call this done!

It is so hard to quilt with kitties. If any of you do have cats, you know how they NEED to lay on whatever you are sewing on. MaggieMae was just telling me how lovely her fur looks with the batiks! HA!

I used leftover strips as short as 6" to make the multicolored binding. I totally lucked out that not one seam hit a turned corner! I just did straight line quilting around each patch and extending out into the border.
I used Quilter's Dream Green as the batting. It has a nice firm feel and lays so nice.

My niece is getting married this weekend. (Oct.16) So, I started her quilt two days ago. Not one to wait until the last minute. But I was also waiting for her to decide on her colors. All I need is to do a couple small borders and then quilt it. I still have three days!

One of my favorite bloggers, Elaine Adair, turned me on to the 45 degree Kaleidoscope Wedge ruler by Marilyn Doheny. Between the two of us we have made many, many quilts with this ruler. Each one is unique and a work of art. I love how the circles move...first a dark circle and then you see a light circle! Too Cool!

I love "Back to school" time. I picked up several of these pencil boxes. These are 1 1/2" squares for my current Postage Stamp Swap that I hostess over on Yahoo. They fit perfectly. There are 50 different fabrics in this sweet little pink box.

And here are my packages all sorted, sealed and ready for the Post Office. The PO clerks are always so nice. This is job security for them!

Smith Mountain Morning -all done!

2011-09-29T07:45:00.000-04:00

Well...all done but the quilting. I am in awe of how easily this went together.
Bonnie Hunter's patterns all seem to have lots of pieces. Yet, they all fit together flawlessly!
Here it is on my familyroom floor:

And here it is on my queen size bed.
Those rust fabrics still scream out at me but they are like a cheery on a sundae per one of my commentors.
So true...

And I am still working on a mystery quilt from Quilt World on Facebook. I decided that since I unearthed all those batiks that I need to use them. It is rainy and cool here in Indiana. A perfect day for sewing. A better day for hand quilting but Pearl has taken over the recliner for now.

I threw them all up on the design wall. What a difference from what was on there all last week. I bounce between styles of quilts. I like them all!!!!!

Not sewn yet and I still have more blocks to make. My OCD of "matchie-matchie" is terribly challenged with this quilt. I just have to pick up a random HST and use it. Only rule is none of the same fabrics in a block. So far it has worked for me.

Random Act of Kindness

2011-09-25T13:57:00.000-04:00

Quilters are the most generous and kind people in the whole world.
Thanks Quilter Jeanne!!!!!!!
I was the recipient of the most unexpected gift. This came from California from Quilter Jeanne who is a member of Quiltville but did not join in the swap. Her timing was perfect and I was able to add some of my new fabric to the last blocks I was working on.
I plan on framing the Diane Phalen card. It is soooo beautiful. The title is "AMISH SPRING". And we have many Amish living close here. Even the big stores here have places for the buggies to park. I envy them their simple lives but I still really like having electricity.

I have all my blocks made. My design wall is not big enough to hold the entire quilt. I am so totally in love with this quilt and the color scheme. Bonnie Hunter totally rocks!!!!!!

That one piece of rust fabric still shouts out to me but I am going to leave it in. That is what Our Bonnie would do!!!!!

Leader and Ender cutting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-09-22T17:29:00.000-04:00

I love the EZ rulers. I have ALL of them. (of course!) I think it was Bonnie Hunter who showed this little cutting trick to avoid throwing away a perfectly good slice of fabric. When I use the Companion Angle ruler I prep the strip by using the Easy Angle ruler to make the first cut. That way I have a perfectly useable HST and the angle is all set up for the Companion Angle.
So...as I was cutting my QST for Smith Mountain Morning I was also cutting my HST for Jamestown Landing. Too cool...Leader and Ender cutting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have all my Brown Stars done for Smith Montain Morning.

And I worked most of the day (plus doing LOADS of laundry) and have my QST all done for Smith Mountain Morning. Did I tell you I love the Easy Angle rulers? All the units went together so smoothly. They are all the same size and I love the blue/brown combination. Thanks again to all the Yahoo Swappers.
Without them I would never have this great variation of fabrics in this and future quilts!

Aren't they precious? Another little tip...I always make a few more of whatever I am working on. That way I do have some leeway if I do not like a certain color combination. Like that rust color...I am not sure it plays nice. We will see when I get closer to final assembly.
And check out my nice new, clean and smooth ironing board cover.

I was able to cut all my logs today too.

And I cut all my muslin 1 1/2" squares. I have the first brown logs on my QST's. I will sew all the squares to the blue logs tomorow in a Mindless Sewing Marathon.
My favorite way to sew.
I do need to slip in to see my doctor to get stitches removed. I had a small surgery on my forehead. (along my hairline...boy! does Prell shampoo ever sting!)
No appointment needed to remove stitches.

I pre-ordered another new book from another of my favorite quilt designers, Judy Martin. And it came this week and is autographed!!!!She is as friendly and easy to contact as our Bonnie. I have made several of her quilts and the pictures are posted on her website. (www.judymartin.com)

SSM Blue stars

2011-09-20T11:02:00.000-04:00

I left out the pinwheel centers in the Smith Mountain Morning pattern. I am ready to start the Brown Stars now. The fabrics were all from the Yahoo group Quiltvilleswap. Thanks swappers for the great fabrics!
I do not know if I am going to follow the rest of the pattern or not. I love the way the illusion of circles is there with only straight line piecing!

Below is my Winter sewing machine set-up. I can see the birdfeeders and the street.

HELLO WORLD!

Smith Mountain Morning Star points

2011-09-19T18:10:00.001-04:00

I must apologize for retreating from all of you again.
I lost my oldest cat last week (September 10th) and on top of all the other deaths this year I feel "dumped on".
Hopefully I am back and will be better everyday!
I need all of you!

I have all the star points sewn. But only got one picture to the camera. I also have all the corners made. After all the sewing I moved my sewing machine around to face the picture window. The summer sun is just too bright for my eyes. The angle of the sun I guess. I have been so very sensitive to light for the last few months. I rarely get headaches. But now I seem to get them when I get a flash of light from a reflection outside or even from my monitor. Guess I need to get a checkup...

The Yahoo group "quiltvilleswap" has all been returned to the swappers. A few have posted that their packages arrived today! Hurray!!!
Now I need to decide what these swappers want to swap next...any ideas?

I made myself a new ironing board cover. I get so excited and pleased by the smallest things. I could not wait to try it out. So I had to get up after going to bed and pressed some quilt units. Aren't I silly?

Here is Bonnie Hunter's BowTie pattern done with Kona Snow as the background. The Cheddar one is coming along fine too.
How many quilts do I have going right now?

Cheddar BowTie (L&E)
Kona Snow BowTie (L&E)
A Face Book mystery all in Batiks (ready for assembly)
Smith Mountain Morning (still assembling units)
Jamestown Landing (all string blocks are made)
and I need to make and gift 5 quilts in the next 2 months and what I am working on is NOT them!

So...how long do you think this 5000 yard spool of thread will last? I have been using it off and on for a year. I use it for paper-piecing. I use a 90/14 needle for PP and the thread flows through it great. It is a little coarse for my 80/12 piecing needles that I use all the time.

Memories...this was made for our Camp Mack retreat 2 years ago by Teri F. Our Bonnie Hunter was attending and teaching. What great memories...

My oldest (and newly rediscovered) friend Victoria has in her possession a Crazy Quilt with the date of 1752. She calls it her "Susie Quilt". The fabrics are all very fragile. She is hoping to sell it.
Any ideas on what she should ask? It is a large twin size. There are no bad smells. But it is fragile.

Victoria's hand...a very talented hand too!

Kona snow Bowties and Batik bonanza

2011-08-30T20:01:00.001-04:00

In addition to making the Cheddar Bow Tie quilt ala' Bonnie Hunter, I decided to also make a more traditional one with Kona Snow. I dug into my "charm" collection to begin this quilt. One 5" square is more than enough to make a Bow Tie unit with a nice rectangle left over. I will use the leftovers as a Piano Key border. WhoooHOOO!

We swapped out all our old hollow wood doors inside the house to white 6 panel solid doors. What a difference it makes. Anyway...I had to move a large stack of plastic containers to allow DH to get to hinges. I came across 4 huge bags of Batik scraps. All wrinkled and smushed and unusable.

I started pressing and sorting by size yesterday. The above is just the beginning. I soon had to switch to a larger plastic container to hold all the scraps. The teeny ones are in the small container for string piecing.

Here is the end result. All pressed and sorted...but not sorted by color yet. But all pressed.

I am in Batik heaven...what to make ...what to make...

Batik envy anyone???

I wore out my poor old ironing board cover. Sigh! I am so hard on irons and covers.

I bet this weighs 20#'s...all deliciously clean and straight and all the same fabrics together. I am thinking of taking them all out and do a color sort while I am in the obsessive mood. There are times that being OCD is a blessing. This is one of those times......

Any suggestions? I have an urge to just make some Peaky and Spike units and some 4-patches and some HST and some Pinwheels and some Ohio Stars....

Am I going crazy????

BTW...I am almost done with the repair of the Butteryfly quilt. Just a tiny bit of hand quilting. I am so very proud of getting it actually repaired when I had been dreading even starting the fix.

I am going to a Kaye England lecture this Friday. She is such an awesome speaker. Some of the LQS's are doing a Shop Hop that involves NO driving. All 20 shops will be under one roof. We can just go to booth to booth. I have been saving some money...It will be all gone before the end of the hop.

I am taking my old/new friend Victoria to meet Kaye. She is a tailor who has been bitten by the quilting bug via me!!!!!!!!! We have been apart for 30 years. We cannot remember why we stopped seeing each other. I guess life got in our way. We are tight again. I do love her so very much. It is like looking in a mirror sometimes. We are both Pisces...we are both the same age...we both played violin in school...we both crochet...we both sew clothes...we both love Laurel Burch designs...we both love cats.

There is a whole lot more of what we both have...but what we both have right now is each other!

I love you Victoria!

Paper Piecing butterfly blocks

2011-08-25T18:22:00.000-04:00

I am still working on the Butterfly quilt. I have replaced nearly all the sashings and border fabrics. I did this by stitching fabric directly over the old fabric. The quilt already was heavy. (111X103) It is a big quilt. Now with double the fabric it is HUMOGEOUS! Or at least feels like it as I wrestle it through the machine.

I am also adding lots more quilting. I had hand quilted this quilt and left lots of bare areas. The hand quilting is still strong. But I will be adding much more quilting to keep it lasting another 10+ years!

I love my Janome6600P. I work it to death and it has never failed me. I have considered the new Horizon 7700. But the chatter about weird glitches on this new machine has made me wait.

I have been digging through some very old fabric. I found all the butterfly fabric that I used in the original quilt. I did have to buy a couple yards from my favorite E-Bay seller: Morningdove. Her shipping prices are the best around and she ships so fast. I swear she must make a late night run to the post office when I order. 2 days tops and I have my purchase!

All new borders in Kona Snow and all new sashings sewn down. Today I cut off the old binding...it was shredded and thread worn. I added new binding and am now ready to tackle the embroidered blocks. I may hand quilt them. Just so I can cuddle under this quilt one more time!

Look at this beautiful bunch of swap fabrics!

This is just one swappers contribution.

Quilt repair!

2011-08-15T23:07:00.000-04:00

This quilt was the second large quilt I have ever made. It lives on my daughter's King size bed. Each of those paper-pieced butterflies were tiny works of art. I dug into my precious Jinny Beyer pallet collection to piece these. I also used some fabrics from my deceased sister-in-law. My oldest daughter loved her Auntie Margie very much. Using some of these fabrics made this quilt special for both of us.

I have learned the value of good quality fabric the hard way. The end result is fabric disintergrating before your eyes! Much to my daughter's dismay the quilt started falling apart.

If I had quilted it heavier I think it would have been in better shape. But with small children hurling and assorted kittens and puppies, this quilt has seen a lot of washing.

My goodness my hand looks old! Yikes when did that happen??????? Anyway, the seam is still there but the fabric isn't! DH said I should applique something over these large areas. The backing fabric has large realistic butterflies. And I know I have a piece of it SOMEWHERE in my vast stash. I have never appliqued before. But I guess this is the way to learn...

I have been keeping this repair project at the end of my list of things to do. I was dreading the close examination that was going to be needed to fix this quilt. This morning I simply replaced to inner borders by sewing some on my GOOD quality Kona Snow over the poor worn out white butterfly fabric that was too thin and fragile from the beginning. It had just turned to dust practically in my hands. The angst I felt was silly. It took all day, but now the large areas are totally fixed. And it was easy!!!! I am also going to add LOTS more quilting before I return the quilt to my daughter.

See the two fresh new inner borders? Boy do I ever love working with this Kona Snow.

Here is the report from the neutral string block event. I have 185 all made. I took them to club tonight and worked on tearing off the paper. I think I disturb some of the quilters with the paper rustling. So tonight I sat at a back table so I would not disturb their delicate constitutions.

I just had to buy this. I LOVE titanium sewing machine needles. They last a very long time and I feel they are worth the extra cost. I buy them by the 100's on a Yahoo group called "needlecoop".

So I figured that a Fiskar titanium rotary cutter blade should last the same way. We will see. I will put her to work as soon as this blade in my old favorite Fiskar cutter wears out. I am a good rotary cutter wielder/driver. I keep the blade clean of fuzz and rarely nick any ruler edges. I make them last a long time.

I do not miss work since retiring but I do miss the good ole' Tool & Die men. They kept my blades (and their wives' blades) sharpened. Sometimes too sharp! Once the resharpened blade that I used for the first time completely cut through a cutting mat. And I just happened to have the mat on my new oak dining room table. Talk about regret!!!!!!!

A "DUH!" moment...

2011-08-10T15:20:00.000-04:00

I have 72 4 1/2" neutral string blocks made. I decided to just cut the remainder papers needed so I would "know" when I was done. But who wants to count phonebook pages? Then I had a "duh!" moment...the pages are numbered! WHOOOHOOO! I ended up using every single page in that phone book. I have 10 extra pages left over. How satisfying to have an empty phonebook cover!

Have any of you ever used an entire phonebook up? I am sure Bonnie has. Hummmm.....makes me wonder if she ever takes pages from phonebooks in her motel rooms. HA! We will have to ask her!!!!!

The fabric in the background is scraps waiting to become strings and corner triangles.

A few hours later and I have:

A bagillion strings and corner finishing triangles cut and another BIG stack of 2 1/2" strips cut for the HST in Jamestown Landing. I still need to use the Easy Angle on those strips. But right now I am in string piecing mode. These 4 1/2" string blocks finish so fast compared to the 8 1/2" neutral string blocks I made over 200+ of! I made 36 yesterday. All trimmed and the paper torn off!

Tomorrow I need to grocery shop then will spend the rest of the day sewing! WHOOOHOOOO!

We have been getting small tomatoes and cherry tomatoes for weeks now. We are finally getting the large meaty ones. Oh they taste soooo good. I told DH that he needs to write down what kind they are and buy them again. Despite the terrible heat and NO RAIN for the last month the tomatoes are doing fine. DH keeps them watered and they do not get the hot afternoon sun.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!

My Pet Beds and MUSIC!

2011-08-06T15:09:00.001-04:00

http://jimmohr.blogspot.com/2011/08/don-ross-crazy-gnarls-barkley.html

These were all made by me, Subee. 100% machine wash and dry.

Made with quality quilt fabrics, batting, fleece and polyester fiberfill.

Basket Cats/camel fleece

20"

Basket Cats pad

18"

Black-white dog/black fleece

20"

Cougar/camel fleece

20"

Gray dog/gray fleece

20"

Kitty City/brown fleece

20"

Kitty City dk pawprint/brown fleece

20"

City Kitty lt pawprint/camel fleece

20"

Gray dog/lt gray fleece

20"

Red dog/red pawprint fleece

20"

Red dog/black fleece

20"

Smokey kitties/black fleece

20"

Hunting dogs/camel fleece

20"

Yellow pawprint/black fleece

20"

I am asking $30 + FREE shipping for these beds. Leave me a comment and/or an e-mail and I will e-mail you in return.

WHOOOHOOO!

None of these have been "test driven" by my cats.

I did not allow them to try much to their chagrin!

Grandma's Bricks & Stepping Stones

2011-08-01T13:47:00.001-04:00

Grandma Iole's shirts have produced another quilt. I harvested enough "bricks" to make Bonnie Hunter's Bricks and Stepping Stones pattern on http://www.quiltville.com/

It is one of her free patterns. She is the most generous designer!

I still need to decide on border fabric. I will leave it up on the wall for awhile.

Everyone has been complaining that I have had nothing on my design wall for weeks.

That is so true. I have been making pet beds. I plan on listing them on E-Bay soon.

My Floribunda is now my sewing chair cover. I get to touch it everyday! WHOOHOOO! Those are all my 4-patches for the B&SS. I watched the Brickyard 400 and make all the units!

This is the cat bed I mailed to Bonnie last week. She said she got it but has not said if Chloe or Emmy Lou like it. I can barely get a bed through the machine before the kitties are trying to test drive them!

I have gone through four 5# boxes of polyester batting. I used up every single piece of leftover batting that I have been saving. I also made a severe dent in my fleece supply too. The fabrics above are from the "Kitty City" line. I have a bolt of each of these fabrics. I will not be able to use them in my next life. I need to use them up NOW! And that meant crawling around in the attic above my cutting room.

It is HOT up there!

One super special and LARGE dog bed for my DD Lisa's precious dog. She asked for one for her neighbor who has been so nice to GD Arika during her recovery from losing her father. Lisa loved the bed so much I made her one too. I channel quilted the bottom layer. There are 3 layers of batting, a cotton backing and white fleece. My Janome 6600P just performed like a champ. She never bogged down. I did this all without marking...just eyeballed it!

This bed is 93" in circumfrence. I do not want to make too many of these unless I can get my money's worth back. The beds are totally machine wash and dry. They are so comfy!

Just ask MaggieMae. She is so much happier without all that fur. She got her Lion Cut last Thursday. The groomer says she is an angel. I am so glad. I do not want to stress either of them! HA!

Macy trying out a STACK of beds. See what I mean? They test drive them all unless I get them in to the plastic bags as soon as I get them done!

Baby is in the bed and Bess is on the wood. They are half sisters. (same feral mother) Baby is short haired and Bess is long haired. Their marks are all mirror imaged too. Says something for genetics!

I decided to just straight line quilt this little beauty and mounted it on the wall at the doorway. Once the air gets shut off the passerbys will be able to see the quilt. Just 9-patches and hourglass blocks. So simple!

I have started my Cheddar Bow Ties. My goal is to not repeat any fabric.

I will now use them as Leaders and Enders. But I could not resist making just a few to see if I liked the process and the color. Cheddar is brand new to my stash. But I did buy 8+ yards. Anyone need some????

Spoiled rotten kitties

2011-07-24T11:39:00.000-04:00

In our home we have 5 spoiled rotten kitties. But the spoiling is different for each cat. Well...each cat DEMANDS a different type of attention.

Our "Alpha" cat is Macy Gray. She is an Oriental Shorthair in Tortie coloring. Macy rules the house. Macy rules the other cats. Macy rules the humans. Case in point: belly rubs (see below photo).

When she first arrived her belly was not a place she wanted touched at all. Then on my BD one year she ate a piece of ribbon. She ended up having surgery to remove the ribbon. She actually gave up on living. She has no tolerance for pain. She was not drinking water so every other day she had subcutaneous fluid pumped under her skin. That seemed very cruel to me but the vet said it was necessary. The vet sent her home to die with us but.....Hubby and I force fed her (water and canned cat food in a syringe) for days on end until she finally rallied around and decided to live.

The scar on her belly is very bumpy. And she now needs it rubbed nightly. Not a gentle tickle rub but a hands on heavy, deep down tissue rub. She will assume the position and complain until the human hand and arm appear to render aid.

And below is my Baby Sugar. Bottlefed....spoiled rotten...but does not demand a thing. All she wants is to "see" her human and maybe simply touch us with her paw. This Baby weighs 22#'s. Baby and Macy grew up together and used to be great pals. I had them Spayed at the same time, same cage. They came home enemies and still are. Baby is the one who changed.

Cuisinart Pans are NOT warranteed as advertized! They lie!

2011-07-23T17:21:00.000-04:00

A few years ago my great Hubby bought me some pans I had wanted for a long while. I love them so much that I then purchased ALL the extra pans to complete my set. This was not cheap. I bought 6 and 8 quart stock pots too. My speciality is homemade chicken and noodles and I used those pans at least once a week during the cooler months.

Fast forward...I noticed that they are all suddenly letting go of their Teflon surfaces. Every single pan!

Hubby stepped in and did the following: (read his blog)

http://jimmohr.blogspot.com/2011/07/cuisinart-denies-lifetime-warranty.html

I bought a few CHEAP new pans since mine were ALL gone for over a month!

I did not ever use metal utensils in my pans. I do not use a high heat when I cook. I am a simmerer...love slow cooked foods. They never went in the oven.

The RA people at Cuisinart said I had ABUSED the pans and that voided the Warranty! Geezzzz....the Teflon all started peeling all at once. I bought the pans all at once...go figure. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I assumed it was a bad batch and that all my pans were going to be replaced. NOT!

So world, there you have it.

And I also took my old stainless pans from storage. I bought them in 1967 for my hope chest. They are great HEAVY pans but they are not non-stick. They come clean with SOS pads. But I hate the feeling of those pads on my hands. I know...wear gloves...not for me. The gloves feel gross too! I am glad I still have those heavy weight pans. BUT...they do not have a hole in the handle to hang on my wall. That is a great way to not use up cupboard space. They are Aristocraft pans. I bought them from a door to door salesman when I was 17 years young.

A gift of strings!

2011-07-18T14:57:00.000-04:00

Last Monday night was our regular sew and gab get together for the guild. Our regular meetings are suspended for the Summer yet we all still come every Monday night.
We had a special table/room set aside for the book planning committee. I am the new editor for the club book. As I was walking in there was a whole table of scraps for FREE. But I had to go to the other meeting. Sigh...I forgot about them.
After our meeting there were only 5 bags of strip scraps left. No one wanted them! I got them all.

I am still suffering a bit of depression. I have never been depressed before. It knocks you down and it is so hard to get back to normal. Within a month's time I lost my Pain Management Doctor, my GC's Grandfather, my ex-son-in law, my ex's wife (younger than me) and my daughter's friend who was her neighbor ( Melanoma he was only 38). Too many deaths...too much pain...I am full. No more...

String piecing was all I was able to wrap my head around. No thinking...just endless sewing.
Two of the baggies had neutrals. Did I tell you these scraps were all sorted by color too? I guess they did not sell at a garage sale so they were donated to us. And $5 a bag seemed way too expensive to me.

I made forty-two 4 1/2" neutral squares from two gallon baggies of neutral strings.

OCD me was in heaven. Press a strip...lay it in a pile of like lengths. Too perfect!

I needed this therapy!

The end result of a week's worth of sewing these strings:
23 dark 4 1/2" string blocks
42 light 4 1/2" string blocks
24 dark 8 1/2" string blocks
All saved from the garbage...free to me...except for my time and thread!

I am betting that Our Bonnie Hunter will soon give us a pattern for dark 4 1/2" string squares.
I think I have her system figured out. I already save my scraps with her Scrap Users System.
She has got to just make a bagillion units of whatever she feels like making.
Then moves on to another units.
Then designs a quilt with all those labor intensive steps.
I am going to follow my hunch and just start making tons of units...all kinds of units!!!!

FLORIBUNDA quilt is finished!

2011-06-30T07:28:00.000-04:00

I have to admit that I did try to do the "blog thingie" when it started on Bonnie Hunter's blog.
(http://www.quiltville.com/)
But...I never made it past her newest creation/idea/quilt design.
Her name for the quilt is Floribunda. She said it was a place for those florals we all have in our stash!
I had been cleaning up my cutting area and came across this Michael Miller fabic with cats in tones of grays, blacks and browns. And I had a black/gray/brown floral that had all the colors in it. They screamed "We belong together"! So I used a precious pale gray fabric as a background for the Floribunda block. The quilt just seemed to sew itself. Honest I was only going to make a tiny one for the kitties to lay on. Then I made more blocks and it kept growing until I knew I needed to stop or I would not be able to quilt it myself. I have way to many quilts waiting to be quilted.

It finishes to a comfortable 52 X70. Perfect to drape over a chair or to throw over my lap.

I am a glutton for punishment. I love straight line quilting. So I cross-hatched the entire body of the quilt. I did no marking. I simply went from one corner to the other crossways and then moved one square over and repeated. Then I went the other way diagonally and voila' it is all quilted!

I did not cross-hatch the border. I just did one diagonal line throughout. This picture does not show it as I had not started it yet. I have the binding all on and just need to hand sew it down. My favorite part of quilting. It is also the saddest part of quilting. I get to say goodbye to my quilt.
I dedicated this quilt to my Pain Management doctor. He perished in a plane crash last weekend. I am so sad for his family but also so sad for me. He has kept me going after my back surgery. I do not know what I am going to do..........

Postage Stamp Swap and how I do it!

2011-06-22T17:03:00.000-04:00

I am a hostess on a Yahoo group called Postage Stamp Quilts. There were 18 participants and all of them sent in 25 packs of 50 different fabrics. This makes it a bit tricky swapping. I have developed my own system. And I am sure that out there someone else has the same thing going. It only makes sense.

Everyone gets their own little basket. The return envelope is on the bottom.

Their baggies of squares have been counted to verify 25 sent.

Another view...they kinda look like Easter Baskets.

But I feel like I am distributing Halloween candy when I pass out the squares.

As I go across the rows I lay one page that says START in the first basket in row #1.
I pick up their baggie and start counting as I place a package in each basket. Remember there are less than 25 of us swapping but we each have 25 packages. As I come back to the START basket, I skip that basket and continue across the rows until I run out of squares. The STOP paper goes in that basket where I ran out.
I move to the next basket in Row #1 and move the START paper to that basket. Now as I go around I will have one package on the stop paper as I finish with the second baggie. I continue this way until all the baskets are done.
I then count each basket to be sure they have 25, open their big baggie, seal it up, drop it in the return envelope and stack those into a larger plastic crate.

Now all I need to do is make sure there is postage, their address and mine and then seal up the envelopes.

Ready for the post office!

WHOOHOOO!

I love EZ rulers!

2011-06-19T14:17:00.000-04:00

From one 3 1/2" square I can get two side triangles using my Tri-Recs ruler set. I was just trying the ruler out to see how I like cutting and/or sewing these units. There is a tiny notch you MUST cut. It tells you where to line up the side triangles PERFECTLY!

I used the Tri-recs tool for this unit. But...............................................................

I found that I have two sets of these triangles! Boy oh boy! I must have not been able to find the original set and bought another set. Anyone else ever done that? I have also bought the same fabric more than once!!!!!

When I went to Kaye England's Quilting College in Indianapolis I bought her entire set of rulers. It was for a good cause and I do like the lines on them. This set is like my Tri-Recs set but it makes an inch bigger blocks. And I am sure that SOMEWHERE I have a set by Fons and Porter.

LIFE IS GOOD!

I heard from the book winner, Laura. She is so pleased to have an autographed copy.

She also was blessed to have some one on one time with Bonnie.

(She helped her load her car after a show.)

She said she was tongue tied like meeting a "rock star". I so understand how she feels.

But Our Bonnie may be rock star famous but there are no "put on airs" with this wonderful woman.

She is as down to earth and friendly as your next door neighbor.

I sure wish I lived next door.

Hey Bonnie! I will do your housework for you if we lived closer!!!! HA!

New Haven Quilt Show 2011

2011-06-13T14:32:00.000-04:00

I love pictures of my work. I love pictures of animals. I hate pictures of me!

Gladys and I highjacked a gentleman at the show. He took a picture of both of us!

My Pineapple quilt is behind us. I am not giving you a good view of this quilt as Bonnie Hunter has one scheduled for another of her great books. I do not want to give the pattern away!

I sewed on this for months and all 4 days at the Shipshewanna Quilt Retreat last Summer.
My Janome 6600P has a built in thread cutter that is almost a MUST HAVE for paper-piecing.
It was quilted with feathers by Mary Flynn of Quilt Hollow. Beautiful quilting as always!

Coming up, the next photo has my Crabapple quilt from Bonnie's book entitled:
Adventures with Leaders & Enders.
I recommend this book to anyone who feels their stash controls them. Bonnie's methods of organization and sewing two quilts at the same time has made me a much faster sewer. No thread gets wasted and I am in heaven with scrappiness coming out of my sewing machine!

I won no prizes. But it was rewarding to see my quilt mingling with other great quilts.
Mary Flynn of Quilt Hollow also quilted this quilt. And the label on the back is the block Bonnie made for the instructions in the book. She sent me her block! WhoooHooo! It makes a great label.

This pattern is called Radio Flyer. It is in a Carrie Nelson quilt book entitled "Miss Rosie's Quilt Collection". I bought the book long ago. I bought it specifically for this pattern. The photo shows how it looks in Pinks and Browns. I want to make this too! I wish there were more of me so I could sew 24 hours a day!

A very simple block and it makes a fabulous quilt. Love the colors.

Here is a closeup of a Pink and Brown Pineapple! This is exactly what I plan on making as my next paper-pieced project. I talked to the quilter who made this. She did not use paper-piecing.

I love Pink and Brown!

Winner of Bonnie's book is: Laura

2011-06-12T12:57:00.000-04:00

June 10, 2011 4:40 PM

Laura said...

I did it! Your blog is the first one I am "officially" following now!

I'm not sure what it means exactly,

but here I am!

Anyone who can quilt like you and loves squirrels, too, is my kind of person.

:-) Thank you for the giveaway fun! Laura

I am really enjoying that fact that Laura is new to blogging and has won this great book!
Laura, I am e-mailing you for your snail address!

And thanks to all who entered. Youe comments were all so sweet!
XOXOXOXO Subee

Colored string blocks

2011-06-11T16:16:00.000-04:00

After making 200+ neutral string blocks I attacked the colored string bag.
These are much more fun even though the strings are more narrow. Some blocks have 17 strips!
Thanks to Our Bonnie Hunter for teaching us this technique!

I rescued these strings from being given away. Actually it was an accidental rescue. I forgot to take them to the quilt guild's final meeting. I have been gifting these to an Ohio member who gives them to someone in her other quilt guild.

It was a true walk down memory lane playing with these fabrics again. Check out way in the background...my MaggieMae sleeping so soundly she did not even hear the camera.

I swear the strings multiply every time I did into the bag. I am saving the "crumbs" from the string blocks piecing. I cannot bear to throw anything away. I can give them away but not toss them away!

AWESOME GIVEAWAY- Bonnie's book (autographed!)

2011-06-07T12:40:00.002-04:00

What could be a better giveaway for Bonnie Hunter's fans

than an autographed copy of her book entitled

"Adventures with Leaders & Enders"?

Entry #1: So leave me a comment on this blog and I will use a True Random Number Generator to select the lucky winner.
(I do not have the widget TRNG yet on my blog. Hubby will have to help me.)

Entry #2: Leave me another comment saying you have linked your blog to this blog entry and you will get another entry.

Do not leave me a comment stating both. There will be one entry per comment. WHOOHOOO!!!!
Deadline for signups will be Sunday June 12 at 12:00 noon EST.

I lucked out at the Shipshewanna Indiana retreat and bought myself a second copy of her book.

I knew it would become a great gift for someone!

Table of contents per requests!

My Gerber daisies in this gorgeous pink tulip teacup planter.

They must have had me in mind when they made this container. Too perfect!!!!!

XOXOXOXOXOO Subee

More strings and strings and strings

2011-06-06T15:21:00.000-04:00

If I get 3 more followers (that will make 200) I am going to have a super-duper givaway!!!!
It looks like I am nearly there!

Yesterday was my 19th wedding anniversary. It is so mind blowing to see that time has passed so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that we met and fell in love. We were fast friends for many years before the "love" grew.
This is my second marriage and his first. He is a great guy and so very talented. He bought me these daisies. MaggieMae thinks they are very interesting!

I LOVE PINK!

It is pretty warm and humid here in Northeast Indiana. In fact it is so warm that Fluffy has been laying on the concrete to chow down on her peanuts. She is such a sweetheart. She is Stubbie's last Spring litter offspring. The only thing I do not like about her is that she climbs the front door. She has also taught two other of this year youngin's (both males) to come and eat from our hands. Hubby calls one Chip as he is missing a wedge shape from his tail. Guess the other one's name will be Dale.

I listed on E-Bay a set of 12- 8 1/2" neutral string pieced blocks. I have 22 watchers and two bidders. So I listed two more sets of 12 today. WHOOOHOOOO! I also sold 60 blocks to a swapper in California. I am a string piecing machine!!! So, today I made 12 more blocks. Gotta keep my supply fresh! I so love making these blocks. Thanks Bonnie!!!!!!
Click on the photo to see that I do use pins to keep everything flat and straight. I do not press the blocks with the paper on. BUT I do press the fabrics really well before I begin sewing. Then the final pressing is not even necessary. This is pure assembly-line piecing.
My factory experience sure does make me efficient!!!!

Here is a peek at my work area. I trim down the wider strips. 2 1/4" are the widest I use. The narrowest are only 3/4". The variety is so appealing to me. Making 12 at a time allows me to use up an entire strip without worrying that it will get repeated in the same block.

A gift from Australia (Tazzie)

2011-06-04T17:26:00.002-04:00

I was chosen in a drawing from Tazzie's blog. http://tazziequilts.blogspot.com/
I won her "Orphan" block. It is drop dead gorgeous.

Thanks Tazzie!!!!!!

It is all quilted and bound. It will make a great coffee mug rug....but it is too beautiful to endanger that way. I will use it for one of my statues or bowls to sit on.
She also sent me a pack of 5" fabric squares called Mother Goose and Friends. I have not seen this fabric grouping before. It is way cool. I must use it as an I-Spy type quilt for a baby.

My left hand here to let you see how TINY this block is and how teeny, tiny the pieces are. I do not know if she paper-pieced this block or not. If I were to try one I would use paper-piecing.

On the wall but the coloring/lighting is a bit off. The other photos show the true colors.

I have been on a pink craze. I found this PINK flashlight. Isn't it too cute?
And another bonus is that it glows in the dark.

I am still stitching away on my Tumbler quilts. I needed to cut more 2" patches and I really like how this patch has the moon centered. This fabric goes WAY BACK! One of my first stash purchases and there are only tiny pieces left as I had fussy cut patches when I used the fabric. Sadly I do not even remember the quilt I made with it. I am sure it was a baby quilt for one of the grand daughters.

I have been really stitching away on neutral string blocks ala' Bonnie Hunter style. I actually made 36 blocks in two days. I have used up all my partial bobbins. Very frugal of me!!!!
I did list 12 neutral string blocks on EBAY yesterday. Hopefully they will sell and I will list more!
Item# is: 170650081003

Along came a Tumbler template

2011-05-27T16:07:00.001-04:00

I know you all are an animal lovers and I need to share some sad news with you.

My Husband found Stubbie dead on the road just a moment ago. So sad. We wrapped her up and taped her into a box for burial. I wondered why I had not seen her this morning. There was not a mark on her...she was just dead. I kept her alive through three winters. She had no tail to wrap herself up to keep warm. So I am positive that my intense feeding of her kept her alive.
And today is my daughter’s BD.
I am so sad!
XOXOXO Subee
I cut way too many patches for my token Tumbler quilt. I only wanted to "try" one to see if I liked making it. I made one in a lap size that I will hand quilt with Bonnie Hunter's method of Freehand Baptist Fans. I cannot wait to cuddle under this quilt. I will use Quilters' Dream Wool batting.

Every little patch of fabric sings to me. I do not want any of them to get away or not to be in this quilt. As I said I cut way too many patches. I believe I have enough to make three quilts. Geeezzzzz!
I also cut 2" tumbler patches as I was cutting. This will make a nice tiny quilt for the kitties.

This was the first cutting board turntable I ever bought.

It is PERFECT to trim these patches from 4" & 2" squares.

It really turns way too easy...could be dangerous.

Which is why I had it under a tool caddy in the cutting room.

It allowed the caddy to spin. I use an Olfa spinning square mat now for different cuts.

But this one is too perfect for one patch trimmings.

I am glad I had it.

I am glad I am a Gadget Girl!!!!!

Progress on the first Tumbler quilt on the design wall.

Organization is always VERY important to me when I start a project. I have lots of little baskets and leftover plastic containers from veggie/fruit purchases. When I dove into that great box of 2000 4" squares I found they were sorted into color families already! So I only took a few from each grouping. That way the colors would be spread evenly throughout the quilt.

Look what I found in the box! So this tells me the box was my 2000 year purchase. I also have another one that I think I bought in 1998. I have not broken the seal on that one yet!

I keep things even in my mind and on my sewing table. The pattern needs a row of each starting with a dark and a light. So I count out the # of rows I want to start off with and alternate the fabrics.

This is one of my Mother's glass bowls.

I use them to collect small trimmings when rotary cutting.

Keeping my work area clean is VERY important to this quilter.

I have carpet underfoot. Need to be careful!

I finally satisfied my Spring Cleaning Urge. I moved out all the sewing furniture. I washed the windows and the curtains. Then I turned my sewing area towards the TV and away from the window. With the summer sun coming in (someday! we have had the wettest April on record) I needed to keep the sunlight from my eyes. It feels almost as if I have more room this way. I have turned it this direction before but I had never moved the big lateral file cabinet to the side of my machine. It fits there so perfect. Hubby says there feels as if there is more room to walk. But it is not so because my rug does not fit on the floor. It is only narrower by 1". But it seems bigger somehow.

I put that cover on for the picture. Since I sew everyday it is never covered!

My second set of 60 String Blocks.

I did join in the swap at Quiltville.

I also am going to try to sell some on E-Bay.

I sew 10 at a time. And I do pin. It keeps the strips flat after just finger pressing.

The new telephone books arrived this month.

I never thought I would be so excited over having old ones to cut up!

That must have been what drove me to make more string blocks.

MaggieMae always walks over my sewing. No respect!

I also call her "Magnet" because fabric patches stick to her!

She is such a good girl though.

I wash her eyes everyday.

She just sits on the toilet and lets me wash her face...purring the entire time.

And I have finally found a brush that she actually likes me to use.

It does not really get the tangles very well but I am trying to keep her tanglefree until we do the summer cut again. It is called a Lion Cut. Makes her look soooo cute!

One of the first fledglings this Spring. A sweet little female.

A BlueJay got too close and the entire flock drove it away.

Nature is so wonderful to watch.

Just Stringing along

2011-05-16T15:52:00.000-04:00

I made my 60 blocks for Roll, Roll Cotton Boll long ago. I still have not assembled the quilt. I want to do things a bit differently then the way Bonnie Hunter designed the quilt. I love it and all but my blocks look too Christmasy.
Anyway, over on the Quiltvilleswap group there is a swap going on for string blocks. Today I am just limp with pain. The meds are not working as they have. I am afraid I will need some stronger meds. So I wanted to sew but my brain is fuzzy. Why not make some string blocks.? Then if I get enough done I will sign up for that swap too. I actually made 14 blocks without breaking into a sweat. I used up several almost gone bobbins. Great way to be frugal and have fun sewing!

I need to check the swap to see if we are to trim these or not....

I won a copy of the 100 Blocks Volume 3 during the quilt blog. So cool! And there even was a card in the envelope saying I was a winner. I have been so very lucky lately.

I quilted this for a friend/student of mine. It turned out so nice and sweet. Jan is really getting the hang of quilting. She has the "quiltbug" sooooo bad! I enjoy helping her along on the learning journey.

Another Kaleidoscope quilt!

2011-05-09T16:21:00.000-04:00

I have Elaine Adair to thank for an addiction to this great ruler that makes this pattern so fun and easy. I no longer know how many quilts I have made from this pattern. It never gets old as each is unique.
I love the optical illusion it creates. It almost makes me feel I have had one Margarita too many!

The ruler is called a "45 degree Kaleidoscope Wedge Ruler" by Marilyn Doheny.
http://www.dohenybooks.com/

My goal is to have this done by June 13th. I want to give this to my great son-in-law, Kevin. He looks so nice in green and I thought I might as well make him a green quilt for his birthday!

Decisions, decisions! Four fabrics or five fabrics. I opted for the four fabric design and will put the sample block on the back al'a Bonnie Hunter style!

I thought I should add a picture of the ruler. Such a great tool for this gadget girl.
At least this is one gadget I do use!

I am still working on the "Different Box of Crayons" quilt. I have three more borders to add and the quilt is now too big for me to machine quilt even without the borders added. I have to work on multiple items. I wish I could clone me and work on everything at once!

Even Hubby likes the way the design flows out from the center. I can only say "wow" I made this and I love this quilt! Grand daughter AnnaMarie will love this I am sure!

I guess you cannot see much of anything of the Oriental quilt in this picture. I was just beginning to add the binding. I accordion fold my binding and lay it on the machine bed. It stays straight and helps the process. It took 4 of us at guild to hold the quilt up. I wish I had a picture of that so you could see more. When I give this to Laura I will be sure to get a good photo.

Scrappy Mountains quilt progress

2011-04-30T14:46:00.000-04:00

I am always amazed and pleased with Bonnie Hunter's patterns. I have only been working on this for two days and have half the quilt top together already. I could not resist taking a photo of course!

And preparation always makes a task easier. I love these little baskets. The pieces fit perfectly. With this pattern you do need to stay organized to make the process fun instead of work.

These fabrics all came from Iole's cotton summer shirts. Hubby says it looks real old fashioned as in any fabric will do. I told him that was the whole idea!

I sadly had to remove the Different Box of Crayons quilt from the design wall to place these blocks up. The quilt is sooooo beautiful. But I did need to get Lisa's quilt finished before the other. That is a matter of whose BD falls first.

A Different Box of Crayons

2011-04-26T17:09:00.000-04:00

I was looking through a quilting magazine (American Patchwork & Quilting June 2010) a year ago and came across this pattern with the option of ordering the kit to exactly replicate the quilt. Since it was in pinks with a bit of brown I fell in love with it! I ordered the kit and the designer, Lynn Schmitt Cibulka, communicated with me before and after the kit arrived.
I also made another pattern from this magazine. Remember the Odds & Ends (designed by Jill Reid)I posted about eons ago? This magazine was a very pleasant read and sewing adventure.

Here is a photo of the kit. I just love the name she uses.

A Different Box of Crayons.

Too clever!

After a few days of sewing I now have the center part made using my own fabrics to see if I even liked the pattern. I fussy cut the strips too! I like the effect! (I love it and can see several more quilts using this pattern) So I have the kit to use (will be MINE) and I want to do it all in scraps too. Hubby even liked this so far. He is not fond of pinks. He likes the graphic way the blocks meet. I have all of the outer blocks made already. And here they are:

PINK AND ROSE FABRIC! My grand daughter AnnaMarie is going to love, love , love this quilt. Red is her favorite color. She even has red carpet in her bedroom.

Slow and steady was the sewing process. I am so glad that Lynn had us making the largest amount block first because I may have stopped after I finished the middle part. But why stop now since I have the blocks all made?
After my marathon sewing spree last week finishing the Project Linus quilts and the other two small projects I made some little cup mats from a pillow panel. The one panel was a misprint and I took some colored pens and tried to fix the yellow tabby who was blue! Anyway it is now a cup mat and is ready to be abused!

Aren't they sweet?

I felt the need to finally cut into Iole's shirts. Her spirit came and talked to me at 3:30 a.m. A pleasant visit and she wanted me to stop delaying using the shirts. SO I got up and cut into those shirts. I have enough cut now to make the larger version. I did a few blocks to test the process. I should have known that Bonnie Hunter's designs are so simple to sew and the graphics are wonderful.
I have all the triangles sewn and just need to square them to 8" and slice them up. I have been sewing in two rooms practically at the same time.

I love quilting!

I made chicken and noodles for one part of our first Easter dinner in Grandma's old home that is now my daughter's home. Memories were welcomed and it was great to be cooking in Iole's kitchen and also using some of her pans and recipies.
In my pan above there are two whole (Amish)chickens, an entire stalk of celery, a large onion and some garlic cloves. This boiled for 5 or 6 hours and then I had a wonderful pot of pure chicken stock.

Sorry about the darkness of this photo. I bought this on E-Bay. It is an egg cup. I am planning on making myself a small pincushion. Any advice on this project for me? I think I will need a hot glue gun and some wool batting....I haven't a clue...sigh! Perhaps it will come to me in a dream.

Back from retreat and a SPIDER story!

2011-04-20T17:20:00.000-04:00

Quilt panels are so easy to use. I love them!

After a short visit to my brother's house last week, I really enjoyed loving on his 4 male cats. One of them looks like the black/white tuxedo cat on this quilt panel. I had two of these panels (45"X36") and today one is all quilted and bound. So this will be going to Alan and his wife Sue as a "just because" gift. That is the one I took the photo of. I salvaged some wool battings and pieced enough for both of these quilts. The Quilters' Dream Wool batting is unreal! I LOVE IT! I even used some precious fabric for the backings on these two quilts. And one will be for me. Well...for the kitties as they love the wool batting too!
I felt like Bonnie Hunter. Use it up!

And I did. Used up saved fabrics...pieced wool battings...and used some green fabric for bindings that would have never made it in to a quilt because it was a polished type cotton. The color matched so well you would have thought I planned it that way!

Our guild has been on a Project Linus quilt making spree. We had a three day retreat last week at Bear Creek Farms in Bryant, Indiana. I made 6 quilt tops and quilted them on Monday and Tuesday. Each one has pieced batting. I am so glad I have been a "saver" of batting pieces. They are all done and ready for giving. But some of the ladies were on "overdrive". Two of them actually made 10 different quilts and had them all quilted too after the weekend was over. As I was leaving they were both going to make just one more apiece to have 12 done! All of us were working on charity projects. I did take a personal project but it never even made it out of my truck. They are some great ladies! Our goal is to have 100 done to present to the Project Linus charity this June. We are VERY close to having that many done.

Here are all six of the finished quilts. They are on top of my "tumbler" storage that went with me to the retreat but never made it out of the back of my truck. And next to the container is another container that did make it in to the room but never was opened. It will be a pink/red quilt for Grand Daughter AnnaMarie. I have plenty of time. Her birthday is in August.

Do any of you have a fear of bugs?????? The first night at the cabins at Bear Creek, I was reading in bed and saw some movement between the beds near my slippers on the floor. As I watched there was a Wolf spider the size of a dog (well not quite that big maybe 3" across) crawling across the floor, heading to the bed I was in! They are terrible looking...hairy...dark brown camo colored with wicked red eyes. I managed to not scream too loud and picked up one of my slippers and pounded the #$%& out of it. Squished it all over...juicey...gross but DEAD. Then I was not able to relax. If there was one there were more I was sure. These cabins are very rustic...no phones...long way to walk to find anyone to complain to...seclusion...darn. So every few minutes I got up and stomped my feet around the room to keep the spiders in hiding. I did leave the dead spider body on a kleenex on the floor between the beds. When I returned to my room later the next day, the bed was made and the trash was taken out BUT THE SPIDER WAS STILL THERE ON THE FLOOR AS I LEFT IT! I was a bit angry then. So I spent another night of not sleeping and continued to stomp around the room. All the ladies were laughing at me. I really did not feel too bad with no sleep for two nights. I slept like a baby when I got home though. I am sure I snored through the entire night! And I did not leave a tip for the sweet faced Amish girl who cleaned the rooms. Why did she not pick up that spider and then sweep the room to remove any more of them? Could she have been more frightened than me? NOT!

Lake Cabin top completed! And new Cherry Blossom bobbins for Janome sewing machines!!!

2011-04-11T17:00:00.000-04:00

I fixed the sashing that was missing a star leg. Much better to my eye. I added a small black border then searched my stash and used a nice brown that has some rose tones. This quilt looks as if it could be for a man or a woman.
The pattern is in a new book by Kim Brackett called "Stash Basket Sensations". This was another quilt made and quilted by Mary Flynn of Quilt Hollow that was in this newest book.

I have the backing all made for the Oriental quilt. And the batting will be here Fed EX tomorrow afternoon. I am in love with all the types of Quilters' Dream battings. I ordered a package deal of 5 King Size battings (122X122) from my favorite batting seller:
http://www.quilternatives.com/

Always free shipping and the costs are VERY competitive. I am rapidly using up my Queen size roll of Quilters' Dream Select cotton batting and then I plan on buying a roll of the wool! LOVE IT!!!!! But I do not enough room to store the new roll until I use up the others. I have 4 rolls in my utility room...my house is soooooo small. I wish I could just add a few feet to every room!

The Deer quilt came back to me on Friday. I included sewing the binding on in my charge for making this quilt. That is all done and Gladys picked the quilt up this morning. Gladys is concerned with a small oil/grease stain on the back of the quilt. There must have been a machine issue as the stitching was all messed up too. So I resewed some of the quilting and marked the stain with a pin so Gladys can find it again. Her Hubby says he has some type of cleaner that will remove the stain. Gladys and her Hubby are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend. WOW! 50 years!

This weekend I am going to Bear Creek Farms for a three day retreat. The food is amazing (Amish) and we have little log cabin rooms. SO cute. Little wooden front porches for each cabin. Lots of outside walking to the rooms. And we are expecting rain for the weekend. That makes a bit of a hardship but so worth the peace and quiet.
I am gathering up all my totes and am TRYING to decide what I will work on this weekend. We will be making some more quilts for Project Linus but that will not take up the entire weekend.
Decisions decisions! I will bring too much stuff I am sure. I will get to see how pleasant it will be to carry my new QDC3160 Janome sewing machine.
And oh! I bought the cutest PINK bobbins in a Cherry Blossom case. They are made of a different material. Supposed to absorb bouncing better. They work fine in my 6600P. So, I assume they will be fine for my new machine. And they are PINK!

Here is the link: http://www.sewvacdirect.com/janome-cherryblossombobbins.html

WHOOOHOOO!

Lake Cabin quilt progress

2011-04-03T14:11:00.001-04:00

You are all so clever! Yes...a star is missing one leg. I must fix this. So I am working on it right now! I have also added a narrow black border and am deciding on the final border fabric.

No rhyme or reason to the photos today watchers. I am whipped and yet very pleased with my sewing. I had to get away from the monster Oriental quilt. I worked on Lake Cabin from Kim Bracett's Scrap-Basket Sensations. This was another quilt that Mary Flynn made and quilted for Kim's book. I went totally scrappy with this one.

I also decided I wanted the Friendship Stars on each sashing instead of how Mary and Kim had it. I saw after I did that that the dark legs of the block sorta diminish the effect. But I am still happy.

I love keeping things organized while sewing. It really makes a difference to the total outcome and whether I can ENJOY the sewing process.

Isn't this a great quilt?

And I have bonus triangles. I made some Broken Dishes blocks from the leftovers. They will work in to my Neutral quilt I have blooming in my head. I was going to make 4 1/2" blocks. But these ended up being 3 1/2". too small? Maybe and maybe not...we will see....

Can you find my error?

Hubby found it right off. I have not decided if I am going to fix it or not.

My tame tailless squirrel, Stubbie.

2011-03-28T14:00:00.000-04:00

This is "Stubbie". I did not name her, the neighbor girls did. But the name has stuck to her for three years now. When she first appeared there were two squirrel babies that had no tails. I thought a critter had bitten them off. Sadly, her brother did not survive the first winter. But my Stubbie has made it through three winters! She must have some genetic defect because she and her other babies have each given birth to fluffy tailed and deformed tailed youngin's. Stubbie is tame...real tame. And so is one of last Spring's litter (a fluffy tailed one who had two deformed babies and one normal). Stubbie and Fluffy each take peanuts from our hands. But the fluffy one actually climbs the front door as if she is asking and has tried to climb my leg! NOT ALLOWED!!!!!! Their nails are so sharp. Fluffy has two "rat tailed" babies that made it through the winter (one did not). Honest, their tails are rat skinny with little tiny hairs on them. They are NOT tamed yet. They are both males and have been "mating" each other for the last few weeks. SO funny to watch...they take turns. HONEST!
I have read that squirrels live 3 years or so. I am so glad that Stubbie made it through the winter. I am determined to help her make it through another season. She looks like a little rabbit when she is on the ground.

I mixed some cotton yarn and some nylon tulle and made a small scrubbie in my kitchen colors.

Really hard to keep under control when cutting. I started using flower head pins to stablize the tulle to cut the remaider. That worked best. Then I made two regular scrubbies out of only tulle. Much better but boy! is that stuff hard on your hands!

I am designing my own quilt for Daughter #2. She loves Oriental fabric and had decorated her bedroom with this theme. And since she has a new King size bed she deserves a new quilt.
The above photo was last week's sewing...no side panels on yet.

Side panels added and the flimsy is now 84X88. Now to decide on some borders.

I bought more fabric. This has Kois on it and she loves fish!

Blessings from the Hollow completed

2011-03-24T11:12:00.000-04:00

My Blessings from the Hollow is complete. I did alter the pattern a bit to make it my own. And with my TALL Hubby's help I have an outside picture of the quilt.

I love these colors.

I bought the border fabric at a LQS.

It matches in color and theme perfectly.

But the sad part is this newer LQS is closing in April.

One of our rare sunny and warm March days. The daylight shows the colors so precisely! But there was a bit of a breeze! But then it is March!

My big board that was made by a great guy in the Tool Room at work. He was making his wife and another Millwright's wife one of these boards and surprized me with one too! I sure do miss those great Millwrights. But I do not miss work! I have been lazy and had left two layers of old covers on the board. This time I patiently removed all the old layers and added:

....Navy Pintuck heavy duty material. I had bought an entire bolt when I first was setting up my quilt frame. I used this to make my leaders for the poles. Now I have some nice straight lines for pressing. And I hope this material holds up better than the sheets I had been using. The sheets worked fine but after a few months of heavy pressing the fabric started to get brittle.

And this was my own creation. Now granted it is not exactly precise. But when "rough" measuring a length of fabric, it works great! I just lay a ruler down and make the marks. My big board variation is larger than the Big Board that came out years ago. Mine is 24" X 66".

Blessings and Chipmunks are awake!

2011-03-15T17:34:00.000-04:00

Hubby suggested and I totally agreed that we wanted sashings bewteen the blocks.

Now all we/I need to do is select a border fabric to call this quilt done. I really enjoyed making these blocks. The quilt is called Blessings from the Hollow by Mary Flynn.

It is in a newest book from Kim Brackett called Scrap Basket Sensations.

The instructions were clear and consise. I am ready to tackle another pattern in the book.

Organization is the key to success to piecing. Being a control freak this helps me keep things straight. I went through all the steps at the same time for each fabric set. I double sewed all the folded corners and have a nice little basket full of 2" half square triangles. Before I knew it I was ready to assemble all the blocks. The pattern was really a pleasure to piece.

I added this GREEN pincushion to my newest sewing machine.

The cushion hangs on the extra thread spool pin.

Sheila ( the machine's name) sewed all 26 of my guild's block swap blocks.

We went through 3 bobbins and she did not have a problem at all.

The sewing machine store owner finally called me and they are ordering the new part anyway.

I bought myself a new purse. I also bought a Laurel Burch tote bag.

I cannot believe that I forgot to snap a picture of it!

Hubby took me shopping to a new quilt store (Quilts and Friends in Roanoke, Indiana) on my BD.

The store has a "Man Cave" for the hubbies.

I spent a blissful couple hours shopping without worring about him being bored!

And the store was to die for! Even I was on sensory overload!

I ended up spending all my BD monies on fabric for daughter #2's BD quilt.

Her BD is in May and she loves Oriental.

I bought some great Oriental fabrics. I am going to do some abstract piecing with big hunks of the fabric. Then will added pieced blocks around the larger hunks. It will be like working with panels.

THE CHIPMUNKS ARE AWAKE!!!!!!

This is the first chipmunk I have seen this Spring.

The cats are on "high alert". They are used to the birds and the squirrels.

But these chipmunks bring out the hunting urge in even the most laid back of my kitties!

The chipmunk is there but I wanted to show you the kitties watching.

All five of them were there but I was not able ( or fast enough ) to get them in the picture.

We have had rainy weather but it is warming up.

I hate the time change.