Thursday, February 28, 2013

Crazy Jane CHart Progress

Still playing with my Dear Jane Chart.  I think I'm just about recovered from this cold because I am really antsy to go dig into my sewing room and sew, sew, sew!!!  In the meantime, I've finished taking new pictures and adding to my chart.  I am just about at the halfway point - so I am organizing my goals to get this baby finished up.  I'm going to do 4 center blocks and 1 triangle a week. This should get the top close to finished by the end of July.  That gives me August to quilt it and I can enter it in my Guild show in September!  I'm sitting down tonight and planning out my blocks for the week - can't wait to see my chart fill up - it will be exciting.

Monday, February 25, 2013

My Crazy Jane Chart

This is what I've managed to accomplish today - figuring out how to get my blocks into the chart on my Dear Jane Software and figuring out how to post it on my blog.  A+ for the day!  Still not feeling great, but at least I'm coping.  Hope to be back to normal soon...

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Bollywood Bliss - Daisy Garland Sample

If you follow me on facebook, you will recognize this quilt, I've been posting as I work on it and about the challenges I've had working on it.  One of the challenges that I didn't post about was the fact that in between the time that I cut the fabrics for this quilt and the time I started working on it, I totally forgot what fabrics I intended to use where in the quilt!  The border, background and star points were easy, but then I had two shades of green and a yellow that I really didn't remember what my plan was for placement!  I ended up leaving the yellow out entirely because I didn't like it, and used the softer green in the chains, and the bright green as the inner border.  Another thing that I didn't do was to write down what the fabrics were.  And since I ended up using almost every inch of fabric I had, it was a bit of a challenge to figure out when I was finished!  Luckily I had a couple of small scraps of selvage with just enough writing to jog my memory - Bollywood Bliss by Quilt Poetry.  They are from the Pink Sari colorway.  The background fabric is Quilters Sateen in White.  It's lovely!  (A little hard to photograph, though.)  I also used the green clocks from Hideaway - one of my favorites in the quilt shop right now.

Check out the binding - I decided to go with a two color binding because I didn't have enough of either one on hand to bind the quilt.  Plus it was a fun technique to learn!  Well, I didn't quite have enough of the green anyway, so ended up going back to Threads That Bind for a 2 inch strip to finish up.  I got the tutorial from this blog post - 52Quilts.  Next time I will alter the measurements a bit because the binding was a little wider than I really like, but it was really easy and looks fabulous!

I was inspired by those pretty swirly vines in the border for the quilting - looked though my copy of Doodle Quilting by Cheryl Malkowski and found just the idea I needed for the quilting in the background and narrow green border - she calls this design C's or Scrolls (page 14).  I left mine pretty open, next time I think I will I will try to quilt them a little more densely.

On the border I quilted Teardrop 123's + Finger Feathers + Echoing from page 73.  The busy fabric in the border hides the quilting, but that's ok - it made it easy to practice this design without it having to be perfect. Though it would have been easier as an overall design because the border is only 5 inches wide so made it a challenge to keep the design flowing!

I made this a new sample for Threads that Bind to sell my Daisy Garland Pattern.  It's fun to see how different a pattern can look in different fabrics!  I'm blessed with a good vision for that, but I know that many people like to make a quilt just like the one they see, so I'm happy to be able to provide a new inspiration for them.  This pattern uses some fun quick piecing techniques, so is great for beginners or anyone who doesn't like to have to cut out dozens of little pieces and sew them together (me!)

This quilt measures 48 inches square.  Makes a great wall hanging, but would also be a good Baby Quilt or small Lap quilt.


Saturday, February 23, 2013

This post brought to you by...

Kleenex and 7-up. Hopefully I will be back to quilting next week. In the meantime I'm learning Instagram and pinning! Join me if you like, just look for PamelaQuilts!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Quilting Distractions

I am a very distracted quilter - always working on more projects that I can deal with!  This week I finished quilting a project that's been basted for a while -

Pieced a top and started quilting a shop sample -

Cut lots of batting scraps and flannel up to make my first rag quilt (and a bag full of squares to make more!)
And finished 5 Quilted journals with birds-
Not bad for a week's worth of sewing!

Sunday, February 10, 2013

F2 - Kaleidoscope

Yahoo, I've brought out the Dear Jane bin again and the craziness shall start anew.  I actually purchased the Dear Jane software for my birthday present to myself, but haven't taken the time to load it or work with it.  It's definitely not EQ7, but it's easier than having to draw out the blocks, then having to print them.  This was as simple as finding the block and choosing to print it as paper piecing templates.  (Well, I did have to figure out where and how, but it probably would have taken me just as long to work with it in EQ7 or hand draw everything out) 

This block probably took me about an hour to put together.  Love how crisp the paper piecing makes the points!  Maybe this is the year that my Crazy Jane quilt gets finished.  I actually saw a fabulous machine quilted version that has me on the fence about my original plan of hand quilting this baby!  Well, I have a feeling that I've got plenty of time to decide ;)

I hope to get my chart done this week with all my blocks in it.  First I have to figure out where I put all my previous pictures.....when I upgraded I put all my pictures on flash drives so I wouldn't risk losing them, but I'm not sure which one the DJ pictures ended up on!  I know they are safe though, and I guess it's time to go through my pictures and sort them a bit.  Too many projects, too little time!

Friday, February 08, 2013

Cozy...

I'm cozy in my recliner tonight, snuggling under my special quilt. I'm glad I'm not back east in the snow and hoping DD1 won't have too many problems dealing with it!  When I talked to her earlier she had gone to bed as the electricity was out.  Luckily she has some cozy quilts to snuggle in also.

My cozy quilt was made by my sister.  She and decided we would participate in a mystery project and make a quilt for each other.  It was a lot of fun!  I really love my quilt - she did part of the handquilting on it and sent it to me to finish.  So it has both of our stitches in it, which I really treasure.  It always makes me smile when I use it.

  Not too much quoting done this week, but I did finish a top for a sample for the LQS I work at.  It is batiks (sorry for the overly bright photo - I took this on a very cloudy day and my phone couldn't cope with the combination of bright batiks and grey sky)  It was a fun, quick project - the pattern is Blueberry Hill.  Very fast and easy to make.  Lots of fun!   



 
Tomorrow I think I will finish my cleaning of the sewing room and work on my Dear Jane.  Oh, and I have a big bunch of Selvage Bins to finish up, too!  I was using up some of my selvages I cut from the Reunion strips I made into this quilt:
 
 
I think they will be super cute!  I had a lot of fun making this quilt, I used my facebook page fans to bounce ideas off of, and it was almost like having sewing buddies right there in my room with me :)  I do love the internet! 
 
Stay warm, and have a good weekend!  If you haven't, go like my facebook page and join in my sewing this weekend - I would love to see you there!



Sunday, February 03, 2013

Happily Ever After

As part of a team challenge I made this treasury. I forgot how much fun you can have on Etsy searching up items for a theme! This was inspired by the Dragon. Can you believe it is made using a shoe? It is so cool! Click on it for a closer look, you won't be disappointed.

Saturday, February 02, 2013

The pain of upgrading...

Well, I think I may just survive the pain and panic of upgrading my computer to Windows 8.  I was devastated that it removed all of my programs.  Little by little I am getting back to normal, but it is not fun at all.  Today I added Picassa, and re-installed EQ7.  Oh, horrors, the display on my monitor made all the blocks look lopsided.  So I spent 2 hours googling, downloading, installing, updating, more googling....and finally got the proper driver so that I could actually use the program and have all my blocks look square.  WHEW!

So, for your enjoyment, my first EQ7 Quilt for the year!  Butterflies in Bloom:

 
Now off to the couch for some non computer entertainment!  I'm sick of looking at this screen and ready to stick my nose in a book.

Friday, February 01, 2013

Awards are Fun!

It's always fun to be honored in a special way, and I always enjoy an award - guess it's the Leo in me (not that I am into all that astrology stuff, but it's a good excuse, right?).  I was nominated for this by my sweet daughter Tracy.  It's always hard to describe her position in the family because she was the baby for 7 years until her little sister was born.  So she is my first youngest daughter....that doesn't make sense probably, but that's how I think of her!  She has a cute blog - Newlywed Diaries and passed this honor on to me, so now I have to figure out who I get to pass it on to!
The Rules:

Thank the person who nominated you and link your post to their blog.

List 11 facts about yourself then answer the 11 questions given to you.

Create 11 more questions for your 9 nominees, all of whom have 200 or less followers.

Comment on their blogs informing them of the Liebster Award nomination.
 
 
 
Ok, Number one, check.
 
Number two, 11 facts about me:  I love blue and yellow, I eat chocolate almost every day, I love walking outdoors, I am not a huge fan of housework.  I have repaired every major appliance in my house, I have a bad habit of locking my keys in the car, I still have the first sewing machine I ever owned, I love the smell of Caramel Pecan candles.  I love to read, would secretly like to be on "The Amazing Race", and my favorite dinner is Pizza.
 

1.  Tattoos? Have or want?   No, Thank You!
2.  Boys with blonde hair and blue eyes or dark hair and brown eyes?  Boys?  Like grandsons? 
3.  Stripes or Florals?  Both.  Together!
4.  What is your dream vacation?  Paris, of course...
5.  What is your biggest social networking obsession?  (Oh instagram).  My business page for Facebook.  Too much fun picking everyone's brain for ideas on what I'm working on!
6.  Why do you blog?  To have a record of what I'm working on, and to share with others.  It's like my online quilting diary.
7.  Flats or heels?  Or chucks?  Flats.
8.  Tell me about your family!  Large - 5 wonderful, unique daughters, one great husband who puts up with all the feminine craziness.  An old dog and a young cat.  Lots of fun!
9.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where and why?  I love it here, close to the Ocean.  But I miss the mountains sometimes. 
10.  What is your all time favorite song?  I really don't do favorites - I really love a lot of the songs from the 70's, nothing like singing along with all the songs you learned listening to the radio as a teen!
11.  Sun or Snow?!  Sun.  I'd rather be warm!
 
 
Ok, 11 questions from me (this is not going to be easy....)
 
1.  Your least favorite household chore?
2.  Night Owl or Early Bird?
3.  What did you have for dinner last night?
4.  Do you enjoy finishing projects more or starting them?
5.  How many pets do you have?
6.  Do you like noise, or quiet when you are alone?
7.  Best vacation ever?
8.  Organized or Messy?
9.  First Car?
10.  Favorite snack?
11.  Last book you read?
 
I would like to nominate -
Maggie (Magpie Quilts)
Maria (Patchwork Mill
Patti (Treasure Barn)
Mrs. Hearts (BusyHandsQuilting)
 
Ok, now I'm officially tired!  Nighty-night, time to get some rest.