pieceful kwilter: September 2009

homemade batting bar

it is said that necessity is the mother of invention. well, i necessarily wanted a batting bar. i was getting tired of stepping on it and having to pick transfer threads from the carpet cause they shadowed through a quilt top.

so i got online (the best research resource ever!) and wasn't too happy with the examples i was finding. i needed something more heavy duty cause i quilt heavy duty :) i talked to my friend bonnie (my other best research resource) and she sent me pictures of her homemade batting bar, which i liked, but not what i had in mind. so about a month ago i had one of those sit-up-in-bed-at-three-in-the-morning epiphanies.

this what i came up with. ( i feel so smart- this came outta MY head. scary) it's 'removable' and basically out of the way....i can still change bobbins, clean the bobbin area, and sit down to quilt. the clothesline hooks make it adjustable up and down, so i can move it for variable thicknesses of batting.

here's the materials list if you LA and want one. if you have a lighter duty frame, just use a wooden closet rod with eye screws in the ends. be aware that the wooden closet rod will eventually bow in the middle though.

all it is : (i got everything at HomeDepot except the rigid conduit)

(2) clothesline hooks 3/8" x 7 1/4"

(1) 10ft stick of 2" schedule 40 PVC pipe

(2) 10ft sticks of 1 1/4" rigid conduit (they need to be threaded on the ends- that is important!)

(1) 1 1/4" rigid connector

(10 ft) of the hook part of industrial sticky back 1 1/2" wide velcro (i used the soft part to replace what is in my brake, well, one day i will)

note! you'll want to connect the two sticks of rigid, THEN cut it to length.

if you buy the conduit, costs around $65. it took me and davis around 30 minutes to put everything together.

now i have to include this little disclaimer: this solved an issue for ME, but also created some 'now i have to figure out how to move around it'. but i'm okay with it...i made it for me and i thought i would share. if you are so inspired by mine to make one for you and it's completely different than mine- kudos.

the batting edge is 'stuck' in the hook part of the velcro, which is stuck to the PVC pipe. then you carefully roll the batting onto the PVC pipe. the rigid acts as the axle. now, to get the batting fluff outta the velcro- i'll figure that out when i get there. bonnie says a toothpick ran down the length does the trick, and i've learned she's pretty reliable when it comes to these things :)

if you want more details or have any questions, email me....

fall swap blocks done!

i got all the blocks finished for the fall block swap i participated in from the APQS forum- just in time for fall.

i finished sewing the 8 log cabin blocks today. i didn't want to do another sashed and corner- stoned top, so i branched out on this one. i was scared that the green would stick out, but i choose greens with a lot of grey tones. it came out just like i imagined it in my head (that's been happening alot lately) so now all i have to do is sew the blocks together and get a border on it...then quilt it...

i'm really liking it so far....i just wish it wasn't square. i'm not a fan of square quilts *shrug* oh well.

i love this picture

someone emailed me this a while back. it's called "god's smile"

you have to click on it for the big picture for the full effect.

long distance ribbon surprise!

remember the houses quilt? well, linda emailed me- she entered it into the jacksonville FL show and it received a judge's recognition ribbon. AND was held for the machine quilting ribbon!

good job linda! congrats!

more info and pictures: click here

i have a friend on the APQS forum that ribboned in this show also! congrats to dell!

wow!

WOW!

my 5000th guest will be passing through really soon.

right now, it's at 4,997!

thanks to all my faithful followers and readers. you make blogging so much fun!

i hope that i in return make it fun for you and you'll continue to read about me and davis, the pets, quilting, and the occassional odd thing.

frame friday #4

i'm almost done with this one...should look familiar to someone *grin*....i hope no details show...

last flood pics

here are the last of the flood pictures, i promise. these are, i think, the most impactful of how much water we really were dealing with and how much rain came down.

this is noonday creek. it's a large-ish creek that runs through a big chunk of cobb county. i want to say it empties into the chattahoochee river. ? this was taken tuesday evening after the water went down, but keep in mind the creek is still swollen. see the arrow? that is an exhaust pipe for something...

okay, same spot on monday evening when the worsest had passed....see the arrow here? that's the same exhaust pipe from the picture above...my house is about 1/4 of a mile to the left....that's ALOT of water to accumulate in only 12 hours...

flood 'fun'

here's some pictures of monday evening when the waters stopped rising and started to go down.

just for reference- davis is 6 ft 2 inches....and the water is just below his waist.

lucky was totally having a blast. he lives to play in the water. so when our backyard turned into a big puddle, he thought he'd died and gone to heaven.

(the chain link fence is 4ft)

barney actually played in the water too. before, he wouldn't even walk on wet grass. course he'll do anything for a tennis ball. i know- i'm a bad mother...but hey, i got the result i wanted....

tomorrow i'll post pics of noonday creek (the biggest creek down the field from us): before and after.

'the' bunny

here's a picture of the bunny we rescued off the top of a fence post in our back yard during the flooding. she was covered in ants. they were climbing on her to escape the water. i got a towel, dried her off, killed the ants, and snuggled her into lucy's cat crate to recoup that night.

later that night though, i realized she still had ants on her. closer inspection, they were in her ears. i got what i could out and crossed my fingers. i thought all was fine, she ate some lettuce and drunk some water. despite my best intentions, she didn't make it.

i also got the neighbor's boxer out of his backyard. she looked panicked and was extremely excited to be on dry land. her dad got her later monday evening when he finally got home from work.

where the wild things are

there's a monster under my frame!

nevermind, it's just barney.
peek-a-boo, i see you noodle dog!

i like it....

check out this blog entry by Christine Kane. it's amazing how things just pop into your life when you need them...

CLICK HERE

i think we all could use this!

i like the SWSWSWSW concept...

rain rain go AWAY!

davis has a little saying he says: win yur skert, say yur skert. (translation: when you're scared, say you're scared)

well, i'm skert. and getting nervous...

if you've watched the news, the southeast is getting TONS of rain! last night my area got 10-12 inches- overnight! my machine is in the basement, and we live on the edge of a flood plain. the little itty bitty wet weather creek (and i mean little- a better description would be the trickle creek) in the field behind the house banked yesterday and i'm close to lake front property.

i have no phone and with the thunder and lightening, i don't dare turn on Nemo. oh, speaking of thunder: it's not like you get a clap and a minute or two later you get another. NOPE- it's a constant rumble....constant. you know the ones that makes the house vibrate. that starts messing with your head...and adding fuel to the nervousness fire

lucky's a mess. i had to give him a puppy prozac (i'm thinking i might try one). he hates storms and we've had one for a solid week now. i looked at the weather channels site- it's going to do this for the remainer of this week...*sarcasm* yah!

it's funny how atlanta is getting weird weather lately....last year the severe drought, now all this rain. let's not forget the tornado that went through downtown recently...i hate to think about this winter....*knock on wood* no blizzards please! *sigh* it raining so hard, it pushed the spouts off the gutters....

it hasn't been this bad since hurricane dennis moved though...i'd almost say this is worse. see, i didn't have nemo sitting in the basement then....if you could see me you'd wonder if i'd flipped my lid. i'm running around the sewing room checking the carpet around the edges of the room. i'm ready to start carrying stuff upstairs if i feel even the slightest dampness...i have a mental list of what goes first...hey, all's not lost. davis got the boat back this weekend...*grin*

i'm going to try to relax with some fabric therapy-i might try to piece the log cabin blocks for my fall block swap.

bye bye til 2011!

going

done!

this whole process took approximately 30 volunteers about an hour. don't believe me, look at the pictures closely....some people are not blurry, some are moving so fast they blurred in the picture....this was a process that was fascinating to watch.

well, the 12th biannual ECQG 2009 'Georgia Celebrates Quilts' show has officially been added to the record books. *sigh* now i'll give myself a week's break, take a breath, and start preparing for the 13th show in 2011! whoo! lucky number 13! hey, that gives me a quilt idea....uh oh! :)

score!

this what i bought at the show: (don't tell davis :) )

i found two books that i've been looking for. every show in the left back corner room there are two vendors- one has just about every quilt book known to man, the other is a lady with very good (reasonably priced) vintage textiles. i ALWAYS hit this vendor first. so i got the books from the guy, and the lime green fabric on the left- tha't a feed sack- $4. see what i mean....i also found some thimbles from the vintage lady- $1 each. the gold one on the end has a little girl in a swing in it and she actually moves....now i need a new display case for my thimbles. mine is offically full. the wooden spools are for a idea i have, i'll post the finished project when i'm done.

i got a felted wool pincushion (my eyeball is on it's way to CA so i needed another). some fabric. only a little cause i'm running out of places to put it. the stack of fabric is fat quarters from my favorite LQS Intown quilters. have you noticed i like lime green...see the one thimble with the flowers on it (second from the left)? well, the flowers are lime green...

i also have a bid on a silent auction item. if i win i'll share pictures of that....

turtle quilt

this is laura's turtle quilt. she took the 'stars around the garden' pattern and modified it to include the turtle that is painted as a mural in her son's room.

this was the LAST quilt i quilted for the show, and i'll explain why i didn't blog about it before the show (as i normally do)

#1. i was sick as a dog working on this one (the quilt didn't make me sick- i had an ear infection remember?)

#2 as pertinent to the stereotype, i put the last stitch in the label sunday night. we had to drop them off for the show monday morning. better late than never.

#3. it is an orginal design (modified) and i wanted permission before posting.

laura was a good sport about it all too. you see, she didn't get to see it finished/quilted til she walked the show floor. *laugh* thank goodness she trusts me.... :)

ribbons

i thought i'd show a picture of the ribbons. they are hand made/pieced by someone, one at a time...

i saw the 'quilter's choice' ribbon today. it was awarded to 'flip flop paper piecing' (the little wall hanging with all those bitty pieces) the ribbon was a beautiful sunflower...

in case you missed it, all the ribbons are flowers....(not that i think y'all are daft, i just noticed it today....)

quilt show #3 various pictures

i'll post more tomorrow, i'm tired! if you're in the north atlanta, GA area this weekend stop on by....i'll be floating around (still on cloud nine)

Best of Show 'metropolitan garden' hand appliqued/hand quilted baltimore garden

show floor
there's around 300 of them down there....

jan's quilt

me with alberta's

me and karen (she's a buddy) with her baskets (by the way i have quilted close to 20 of these, and i have three more in the closet) she's the only one i could get to enter one....everyone else gave theirs away [as wedding presents] *wink* maybe one of the three in the closet will be in the 2011 show...wouldn't that be a riot!

Quilt show post #2

these are the quilts i liked.

(if one of these quilts is yours and you don't want it here, email me and i'll remove it -OR- if one is your quilt and i can put your name with it, let me know:

half_square @hotmail. com *remove the spaces*)

flip-flop paper piecing. this is a miniature quilt. measuring LESS than 24" on one side....let me tell you this was a quilt to behold....there are some tinny tiny itty bitty pieces in there...