Wow!!

First of all, it's been two weeks since I last posted.  WOW!! I've been busy, but not really too busy that I couldn't and shouldn't have taken a few minutes to post something here. Even if it was for no other reason than to tell you that I am still alive and kicking, I should have posted. Oh well. here it it today. Better late then never, right?

So, what have I been doing? Here's a partial rundown, in no particular order.

Jack and I made a trip south to see Bobby and his bride Mana. That was fun, and as an added bonus, Ann and Claire went with us. We all spent the night at Nikki's house and then spent the next day with Mom, Terri and her family. Since Bobby and Mana were only in for a couple of days, a bunch of the family came to visit as well so we saw a lot of the family. YEAH!!

We had Lynn's bridal shower last weekend and that was fun. Ann, Claire and Nikki did a ton of work to get ready for it. Thanks Ladies! You all are so talented and you rock! Of course since Nikki and Zach were here, so were the kids. Now I don't know how it happened, but I didn't get any pictures of the girls! Here's a couple of Ronan though. Here he is, just chilling out. I see that I have to get another outlet safety plug. WOW! I wonder how long that's been missing.

Ronan had a good time with Grandpa Jack. He enjoyed sitting at the radio desk and listening to the morse code and thinking about all the trouble he's going to get in to some day when he tries to "help" Grandpa work on some of the equipment.  :-)



 I've spent a bit of time canning lately. Lynn brought over a bunch of green beans, tomatoes, peppers and beets. We froze the green beans and pepers, canned some yummy salsa, and pickled and canned the beets. YUMMY!! (Of course I didn't take a picture of the produce until just this was left. DUHH)

Gretchen and I completed the mailing for the fourth annual Bras for a Cause. We are aiming at receiving 75 entries this year. Here's a link to the information and entry form. Be sure to look at the previous years' entries by clicking on the photo gallery. It's quite entertaining.  :-)

http://www.girlsnightoutcharity.com/entertainment.htm

There is NO entry fee this year! E-mail me or call the number of the papers if you have questions.

On the quilting front, I've been busy. I'm finalizing my Fall classes, getting the descriptions and samples ready, so be on the lookout for that very soon. I'm putting the final touches on the paper piecing workshop that I'm holding this weekend, and I have to spend a bit of time tomorrow or Wednesday making sure everything is in order for that.

I finished Sadie's chenille quilt and of course don't have pictures yet. I love how it turned out! :-) I finished the Down the Rabbit Hole quilt that I tested for Angela at Cut to Pieces.  It might be a bit hard to tell, but the fabrics are Halloween-realted from my stash. I would hate to venture a guess as to how old these are. Again, I love how this turned out!

I am adding my final border to the Gateway to Paradise quilt and I have finished two Easy Striped Table Runners. I'll post pictures in the next couple of days.

I've been binding the qult samples Kare has been making. I have eight completely done right now, with two more ready for the machine stitching. Have I ever mentioned that I love to do binding? Well, you might think I'm nuts, but I do!



And today, I had the pleasure of joining Kare at Checker where we learned a lot and chatted with Judy Niemeyer, Karen Montgomery, the Teacher's Pet Kathy Brown, the Swirly Girls Susan and Christine, Penny Haren, and Daniela Stout. (What a bunch of talented people!) It was also fun to see some people I haven't seen in  while like Karen Conley, Sandy and Keith of Quilts and Kreations, Lisa and Tammy of The Quilt Foundry, and Linda and Brenda fromTennessee Quilts. I had a really fun day!

Ok, now I have to get busy adding those borders...

Chenille

As I stated in my last post, I've been on a bit of a chenille run lately. I really find these to be easy projects, but they aren't cheap. They use a lot of fabric because you have multiple layers. I often use flannel or homespuns, but as you can tell from the last one, I also use regular cotton prints.  The prints don't always "rag out" like flannel or homespuns, but I still like them.

You do have to be careful when choosing fabrics though. If the backside of the fabric (flannel included), is mostly white, that will rear it's ugly head in the final product. I try to make sure the print is bold and large, and that having white show through won't destroy the final look.

Here's the homespun chenille I made for Lynn a couple of weeks ago. She only wanted a small lap quilt for when she rides in a car with air conditioning. Her legs and feet get cold and this is perfect. I started with layers of fabric that measured 1 1/2 yards by the width of fabric. (That's about 54" x 44.") After it's quilted, trimmed and washed, it does shrink up, but it's still a good size for her. Unfortunately I didn't measure this before I gave it to her. DUHHHH  It looks really small in the photo, but that because she took this picture with her phone and e-mailed it to me. That also explains why it doesn't look anything like the purple and tan that is really is.

One way that I can make these so quickly is because I use electric scissors to cut the channels.

You can't believe how this speeds up things. And, it is so much easier on your muscles!

Here are the two, ready for the washer. Stay tuned for pictures of the finished projects.





Design Wall Monday & More

I haven't posted in a while, but that sure doesn't mean I haven't been busy. I have lots of different things on the design wall today so let's take a look.

Here's the back to a chenille blanket that is ready for cutting the channels. I picked up the fabric for this Saturday afternoon and my plan is to have this in the washer this evening. YEAH!! I think that's a pretty darn good turn-around time for fabric.  :-)

I decided to make the back a bit interesting so I pieced it using a strip of the fabric from the front and the pink fabric that will be used for the binding. I like how it turned out and I know you can't really tell in the picture, but I like what the diagonal quilting lines does to this.

Actually, I'm making a small version of this blanket also, as these are a gift for a very special young girl. She and her baby doll will have matching quilts! Happy birthday Sadie Jane!!  :-)

Here's a close up of the doll chenille. You can probably see the quilting lines better if you click on the picture to enlarge it. I simply used the edge of my walking foot as my guide for keeping the stitching lines straight. It sure does eliminate a lot of time marking lines.  

It's funny but I seem to go in spurts when it comes to making chenille blankets. I hadn't made any for a few years and them I made a couple last year, along with a few chenille rugs; and this is the fourth one I've made already this year. Go figure!

Chenille Update: They are in the dryer as I type this! I also forgot to tell you that the print fabric is a Riley Blake Design - Enchanted Gardent by Samantha Walker. It is so fun!!

I still have the Gateway to Paradise on the wall, but all of the blocks are sewn together and I'm ready for borders. I have the first narrow black border ready to go. See it to the left of the quilt? I hope to get to this yet today, but well see.

I just finished an embroidery order for the Remembrance Center and that is the second one this week. I like to stay near the machine when it's running, so I'm working on the binding for Kare's quilting samples. Don't you love multi-tasking?

This past Friday, Lynn and I spent a little bit of time (less than 2 hours) freezing some crock pot dinners. We put together 9 meals each and now we're ready for some of those busy days ahead when we know we'll be getting home late and just not have enough time (or energy), to fix a decent meal. YUMMY!!

Oh yea, I picked up the fabric I need for my Totally Groovy Quilt Along Saturday and I'm really excited to get working on that! I'll keep you posted on that progress.

Check out what other quilters have on their design walls today.

Go to Judy L's Patchwork Times.

Yeah, I Won!!

I received an e-mail this evening informing me that I won a Groove Quilt Pattern! YEAH!!!

Here's what Danny over at Mommy For Reals ( http://mommyforreals.blogspot.com/2012/07/mazes-birthday-and-giveaway-winner.html )wrote:

                 Hi Joanne!
                         You have won the Groove quilt pattern from Mommy For Reals.

She wrote some other stuff, but this is what's important. :-)

In case you didn't see it earlier, I am participating the the Totally Groovy Quilt Along, hosted by Alyssa at Pile O' Fabric.  I fell in love with quilt when I first saw it and I'm really excited to be participating in the Quilt Along.

Stay tuned for updates on my progress....