Oh My Dog! (12/08)

My sweet Archer, who passed away from diabetes and congestive heart failure back in December, loved blankies … especially little quilts that his Mommy made for him.  I had made him a new one using Moda’s Oh My Dog! line, but he passed away so unexpectedly I didn’t have a chance to get it quilted before he died. 

And here’s a close-up of the one of the little doggies in the fabric.  To me they look like little dachshunds!

A Simpler Time …

While straightening up the office this afternoon I came across this fun old picture of our first apartment in Tiffin, Ohio … What fun to think back to that simpler time!

Toby’s condition …

If you’ve watched the photos in my little photo gallery (over to the left of these daily posts), you’ll see that Toby is the black & white dachshund.  We’ve been able to stretch out the pain killers to every 3 hours on Sunday and yesterday.  Today we’re hoping to stretch that out to about 3½ hour intervals!  He’s still getting the muscle relaxers 3 times a day, the anti-inflammatory twice a day (2 each time), the nerve medicine 4 times a day, and the increased level of Pepcid to help protect his tummy. 

Not Your Grandmother’s Turtle (12/06)

My maternal grandmother is a turtle collector.  Well, not the real ones, but every other kind … plastic, rubber, cloth, etc. etc. etc.  Her latest acquisition is a 2 foot tall figure that “watches over” her front garden bed.  The neighbor kids, thinking it was real, even asked if they could bring a camera and have their pictures taken with it.  So when it came time for me to make a gift for grandma for her birthday in December of 2006, I found a fun block on the internet called “Not Your Mother’s Turtle”.  This is my look back project of the day.  Considering the recipient, I took the liberty of changing the name of the block for this one item to “Not Your GRANDmother’s Turtle”.  You can’t really see it in the picture (you can barely see it on the fabric itself), but I did use one of the pre-set stitches on my Bernina to create two circles to act as the eyes of the turtle.

What a cute video …

What a cute little video that everyone has been passing around.  http://b-quilts.com/blog/?p=798

Nickel Pinwheels (10/28/08)

Maybe now that my computer situation is on its’ way to being under control, I can start posting my daily pictures of quilts that I’ve made.  So today’s look back in time is to my Nickel Pinwheel quilt that I did back in October of ‘08.  This is just the top, it has not been quilted yet.  This larger-than-lap sized quilt was done in 1930’s nickels that I had been collecting.  Outside of the pinwheels I added a white border, with a blue border and an additional white border to finish it off.

Files, Files and More Files …

I finished transferring the files from the old hard drive to the new.  So today I spent the entire day checking everything, and backing up stuff that hadn’t been backed up.  B-O-R-I-N-G, but necessary.

Putting Humpty Back Together Again …

 

Friday night and ALL DAY Saturday were spent transferring my files off of the old hard drive over to the new hard drive that the tech. guy installed Thursday.   The good news is that I was able to retrieve just about all of my files.  The bad news is that I lost ALL of my email and entire address/contact book from Outlook and all of my AOL stuff (which was a ton of stuff).  Uggh!

Toby had a fairly comfortable day yesterday until we hit about 6:30 p.m., and then he was suffering a lot.  :(

Total Hard Drive Failure

 

It’s never a good thing to get the “blue screen of death” … but that’s what happened a couple of days ago.  So my main computer has been out of service for the last few days.  The tech. guy installed my new hard drive yesterday afternoon, and last night and today I’ve started slowly but surely putting “Humpty back together again”.

Toby is still in incredible pain … He’s now on a cocktail of Tramadol, Pepcid, Methocarbomol and Prednisone. 

Nell's Flower Shop Yo-Yo Pillow (2/7/09)

This afternoon's look back project is my Nell's Flower Shop Yo-Yo Pillow that I did back in February of '09.  It uses Moda's Nell's Flower Shop line.  I had a package of charm squares and a yard of one of the brown fabrics - so I used the charm squares to make yo-yo's and made a nice little pillow.  The base of the pillow was quilted in brown #100 silk using a meandering stipple all-over design before I applied the yo-yo's.

Morning Glory Dresden Plate

Again on this one I don't have an exact date (uggh!).  I think it is from 2008, and it still isn't quilted (uggh!  uggh!).  I used an older line from Moda called Morning Glory, which I had picked up from a quilt shop, in Columbus, a few years ago.  Then a couple of years ago I was lucky enough to find some additional fat quarters to match the wovens that I already had.   Mix in some nice quality cream-colored fabric and a desire to learn how to do a Dresden Plate quilt ... and voila!   I should have smoothed it out on the design wall a little more before taking the picture though!  It is hard to see in the picture (because it blends in with the white design wall), but there's a cream-colored border OUTSIDE of the checkerboard border.  So this piece actually has three borders ... 1. Cream,  2.  Checkerboard,  3.  Cream.  While this is a lap quilt in terms of size, it will actually be hanging on one of the walls in our master bedroom when I get this quilted.

Postage Stamp Quilt - Update

Okay, had to do a little work on this one ... When I got done with the main body of the quilt, I added a 2½" cream border.  Then I added a 5" blue border - but I really didn't like it at all.  But I didn't want to just start chopping things ... so I gave it a couple of days to be up on the design wall (to stare at it).  Eventually I decided that the wide borders just didn't look right.  So I chopped them down to the same width as the cream borders.  I think I like it a lot better now! 

Moonlit Pumpkins (10/2006)

This morning I'm looking back to a pair of pillows that I did in October of 2006. 

Here's a closer look at the quilting ... a basic zig-zag stitch horizontally and vertically across the seams.

One group of fabrics - two quilts

Today I'm looking back to a pair of quilts that I made in November of 2008.   Both are made with the Miss Jump's Scrapbag line from Moda.  The first is an original design that I've been calling a "16-patch twister".

The second quilt, a basic rail fence design, was made with the leftovers.

Spring Magic ...

Here's a wall hanging that I started tonight.  It uses a pack of charm squares from Moda's Spring Magic line, and a couple of white fat quarters.  Think I should have alternating rows point down?

March Table Topper (4/24/06)

My look back for today is to a wall hanging that I finished in April of 2006.  This was a kit, but I can't remember if it was from Glass Thimble (Columbus, OH) or from a small shop that was up in Medina, Ohio.  Both shops were carrying the table topper kits at that time.  Obviously it was all done in greens for St. Patrick's Day ... and when done, I chose to quilt it with green #100 silk.

One Star, One Nation (6/15/2010)

Just finished this little miniature kit last night.  I got the kit for this little flag (and the adorable little hanger), from Red Rooster (Dublin, Ohio) a couple of years ago.  It measures roughly 6½" x 9½".

Madeira Log Cabin (8/11/08)

My look back quilt for today is a log cabin quilt top that I finished on 8/11/08.  After taking the pictures, I realized that I was just a few inches away from making this a queen-sized quilt -- so I added some borders to it.  (haven't taken more pictures yet)  Ironically it will be the only quilt that I've made to actually be on our bed. 

Miniature Log Cabin (7/15/05)

My look back today is to a small log cabin wall hanging that I did in July of '05.  It was a miniature kit that I purchased at a shop in Mansfield (OH) called Quilt Connection, which is no longer around unfortunately.

Le Jardin (1/30/06)

Today I'm looking back to a fun Moda kit that I finished back in January of '06.  This quilt is called Le Jardin.  It was one of the first quilts that I quilted on the HQ-16.   In terms of size, it's about a twin.

Kasuri Hexagon Stars ...

For some reason I don't have an exact date on this one, but it's today's look back project.  I think I did it in late '08 or early '09.  I had gotten the fat quarter bundle at a shop in Mt. Vernon (OH) - it has an Asian feel to it.  Because of that, I wanted to use the fabric for a quilt that was more geometric in nature.  The templates for this are just one of those basic little template packs that you can get at JoAnn Fabrics in the quilting section.  It really was very simple to piece.

Postage Stamp Quilt - Update

I got 16 more blocks done for my postage stamp quilt .... It really is SO easy, and moves along fairly quickly.  Of course I'm using a strip-piecing method - I'm not sitting there stitching together a gazillion little 1½" squares of fabric.  From one Honey Bun and a couple of yards of cream fabric, I got 32 blocks, each 8" (finished).  I will probably leave off two of the blocks and just do a 5x6 block layout for the lap quilt.  Here's where it's at right now ...

Savings Report ...

Here's my savings report for today ...

Meijer (1) ... 33%
Meijer (2) ... 41%
Walgreens ... 50%

Combined that's $191.56 worth of stuff for $112.05. 

Woo Hoo!!  Love The Grocery Game!

Harvest Home

I'm not sure when I completed this quilt - but it was pretty early on in my quilting experience.  The main body of the quilt was done using nickel squares from Moda's Harvest Home collection.  The borders are each a slightly different color - although each one is gold.  I did some pretty ambitious quilting in the borders for this being such an early piece.  The quilting in the main body of the quilt is all just stitch-in-the-ditch.  I hadn't learned how to do traditional quilt binding yet at that point, so I turned over the edges of this quilt and stitched them down.

The Goose Is Loose (8/3/08)

My look back today is to a quilt top called The Goose Is Loose, which I finished on 8/3/08.  The pattern came from a magazine, and I originally started this project in a completely different color palette.  I had gone with a floral fabric for the background with teal blues and soft greens.  The "geese" were going to be all one color - a teal-ish blue in a bit darker shade than in the background fabric.  But I was a beginner quilter at that point, and my points didn't always match up, and things got a little wonky in some places.  So that project had gotten put in the closet ... waiting for another day to be finished. 

In the meantime I acquired a bundle of fat quarters in an overdyed fabric line, from a quilt show.  I combined that with some classic Amish black fabric as a background and I started over. 

Postage Stamp Quilt

Here's the postage stamp lap quilt that I'm working on currently ... It uses the Beach House line from Moda and some cream fabric.

Gingersnaps Quilt and Pillow (9/2006)

I did this quilt called Gingersnaps back in September of 2006.   I neglected to take any pictures of the finished quilt unfortunately.  Later that month, I used the leftovers from the kit to make a coordinating pillow.

Here's how it looked as it was on the design wall midway through the construction process.

What a weekend ...

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were a little crazy around here ... On Friday, I had to take our Toby over to the vet's office because he was yipping and yelping in pain when he did certain things.  For me and my husband, this meant one thing - and one thing only -- a back problem.  We've had five dachshunds now - and we've gone down the back surgery route with both Callie Sue (twice) and Ezri (three times).  And with Ezri she technically needed to have had a neck surgery too - but we opted to treat that medically rather than surgically.  After several courses of a heavy-hitting cocktail of anti-inflammatories, pain killers and muscle relaxers, we avoided that neck surgery.  But just a few weeks ago her neck problem flared up again, and we had to make the awful decision to put her down. 

And now, here we are dealing with the same thing with Toby.  Toby has never had any medical problems (a good thing), and is very close to target weight for a doxie (another good thing).  So we're hopeful that the bulging disc will respond to treatment.

On Saturday I was out running around trying to buy a couple items for my Mom for her birthday on Sunday.  I splurged while I was out and got myself a new pair of slippers for my anniversary.  My husband and I got married on my Mom's birthday.  So my Mom is a year closer to retirement and me and my husband marked our 18th. anniversary!!  We had a nice family gathering over at Mom's house on Sunday to celebrate with my sister and her husband and their new baby coming to town for the day, and my Grandma driving over too.   We were there for the majority of the afternoon and evening.  

While I was out on Saturday I was dodging the thunderstorms all afternoon.  And finally I got caught in one of the downpours while leaving Walmart.  I looked like a drowned rat when I finally got everything loaded into the car.

Garden Sunrise (8/14/05)

What can I say about Garden Sunrise?  This is one WILD piece ... certainly the most wild piece that I had done up to that time.  This was done fairly early on in my quilting experience, back in August of '05, and was from a kit that I purchased at a large quilt expo.  The kit came from the QuiltTrends booth, they have a shop in Columbus, Ohio, that I would later visit and eventually purchase my HQ-16 from.  They like modern quilt concepts there at that store - and this kit is no exception.  I was just learning to do freemotion meandering patterns, and I decided to use a variegated thread and make some swirling motifs in the quilting designs.   I was pretty uncomfortable with the use of the variegated thread at that time - afraid that it might show up too much.  Of course now I look at it and give myself a pat on the back for having the guts to use it when I was such a novice at machine quilting.

You'll see that my motion was a little herky-jerky in some places.  But I give myself a lot of credit for pushing forward and trying something new at that point.  The stitching was done on my Bernina Aurora 440, before I got my HQ-16.

Savings Report ...

Today's savings report is FANTABULOUS!!!  I pulled a whopping 62 CENTS out of my change purse for a little over $17.00 worth of stuff at CVS!!   And I got a $1.00 ECB to use the next time!

Legacy Purse (6/2/10)

I decided to use the leftover scraps from the Pineapple Sundae quilt to make a quick little purse/tote.  I sewed several of the 1½" strips together and then quilted the fabric with #100 brown silk.  I used that fabric to make the body of the purse.  The quilt and the purse used Moda's Legacy line.

Garden Magic (3/30/05)

My look back project for today is a small wall hanging that I did back in March of '05.  The project was a kit from Connecting Threads catalog, back when they were still selling a lot of Moda fabrics in kits.  (Wish they still were!)  I really encourage newbie quilters to do small projects ... they really do help you build confidence.  And with their small size, you have less money invested in each one (so you can do more), and you can get each project accomplished more quickly, and not get bored with the piece or feel overwhelmed.  Is it perfect?  No, not at all.  But I learned some new lessons, and gained experience and confidence!

Recess ...

Since I had a little extra time this evening, I decided to go ahead and put together the main body of this 1930's quilt that had been setting in a basket on my sewing table for the past few months.

Pineapple Sundae

I finished the Pineapple Sundae quilt top this evening during the Indians game.  I had been wanting to do a pineapple log cabin quilt for a long-long-long time, and bought this kit during a special.  Of course the latest Keespsake Quilting catalog arrived in the mail today and the Pineapple Sundae kit has been moved to their clearance section, and marked down from $139.99 to $89.99 - wow!  I remember getting it for a good price - but not from Keepsake Quilting.   I'm happy with the way it turned out.  Now I have to figure out how to quilt it.

Fruit Cocktail (7/25/05)

I learned a lot of lessons from this wall hanging that I completed back in July of '05.  This was pretty early on in my quilting, and wasn't confident at all with my thread choices when it came to my quilting.  I ended up using pink thread to do a freemotion pattern called "Ricky Doodles" (according to Ricky Tims) or a version of "headbands" (according to Diane Gaudynski).  My favorite name for the pattern is called "peacock feathers", and it's really the first freemotion motif that I became comfortable with.  As for the wall hanging itself, this was a small wall hanging kit available through Connecting Threads when they were offering Moda stuff (before they radically changed their catalog offerings).

And here's a close up of the stitching.