the last time...

fair warning- wednesday is the last day to download my BOM directions for this month...and since we are all adults, this will be the last time i post a reminder at the end of the month....pesky how that happens- the month sneeking up and ending without so much as a warning    :)

link over there --->

i saw this picture somewhere on the web. it's how i felt this weekend when i went to fill up. that's the one thing about working at home, it takes months to use a tank of gas so the price of is always a bit of a shock....

i should get out more often

just keep swimming...

it's been a awhile...*wave* i'm still here...happily stitchin' along

i've been reading so many friend's blogs, but blogger won't let me comment...i want to tell robin that her iphone cover (like mine) looks awesome and she's right- it leaves no doubt who it belongs too...

i saw some cute as hell gorilla fabric on a Linda's blog and had to *gasp* email her to get the info for ordering...

i should be a mr. grumpy gills and have a post giveaway....*mu ha ha ha* just kidding, but i am looking forward to the geeks getting this all whole comment sign-in thing working...

(did i just share an earworm? just keep swimming, just keep swimming..what do we do? we swim swim swim.....es-ca-pee)

and now for your quilty viewing pleasure-



melanie's table runner....

i like it! a short break from show quilting

have a fun and safe memorial day extended weeked! we'll be grilling vension!!! *yum*

kichen sink is a flimsy!

i finished sewing my kitchen sink flimsy. i did decide to use the leftover sawtooth border pieces i rejected (twice, in two different colors) from another quilt. what else would i use them for?

....i just realized that the top border is 'off'  how did that happen? *shrug* oh well- it's a finished flimsy in my book

it's H.U.G.E. it measures 97 x 109...i had to hang it from the deck to take it's picture.

i'm putting a lime green 108"wide solid backer fabric and i'm playing with ideas on how to quilt it and what thread color to use....i've ordered batting, just waiting for it to ship.

i <3 it!

i found this faux marbled fabric for binding. it reminds me of the inside of an old leather bound book.

my cover came...

...finally!  thought i would never get here. it looks really good. my favorite feature is that it is very thin and barely there. the color resolution from my photo to the transfer is spot on. i LUV it! now i can carry my Squilt with me where ever i choose to go :)

if you want your own, go here, and use the coupon code CM05-AR20 and receive 20% off. i'm not affiliated in anyway- just sharing.

i have been quilting, but like i mentioned before, they are mostly show quilts and i don't share those pictures til after the show (in september)...

here is madeline's cute little fall quilt. i adore the applique along the bottom.

i quilted a swirly 'wind' E2E design in the leaf blocks, CCed the HST border with a brassy yellow thread. i changed to a dark grey and SID the applique and meandered behind it. (could i fit any more acronyms in that sentence??)

it turned out great!

...and they lived happily ever after

remember the baby squirrel saga?

i have an epilogue. the rehabilitator emailed me to ask if i would be willing to let her release them in our backyard. *shrug* sure, why not...they were 'mine' to start with. she also had two other rescued squirrels that came along too.

her husband screwed a nesting box high up in a tree and opened the hole and we sat back and watched them run around exploring all the tree tops. it was cute...i know, i ustah hate squirrels in my backyard, but these are my squirrels...that perspective changes things (funny how that happens, huh? life lesson..?...)



 

anywhoo- here's two- one in the feed box (i put out food til they find their own natural resources) and if you look, there's another on the ground.

so now i have four new neighbors...and all the distraction that comes with them :)

kitchen sink quilt

a long time ago, i saw Victoria's kitchen sink quilt on her blog and got to thinking that i had quite a stack of orphan blocks, tidbits, and left overs from all my quilts..what a genius way to use them! the idea got stuck in the back of my mind and i got tired it it peeking out every once in a while and politely asking, "do i get to be a quilt yet?"

tilt your head to the left :)



davis went fishing this morning with a friend so i took the opportunity to seclude myself in my sewing room to have a go at my version of V's kitchen sink quilt.

i went about mine a bit different. see, i have a problem with just 'whacking & sewing'. my anal retentive side won't let that happen....so i decided to make blocks. i went through my stack and realized i had a bunch of 12" blocks, so i just took all the tidbits and sewing them into 12" blocks. i had 3 large blocks, so i made them into 24" blocks. i have the equaliant of 56 blocks, so i'm using a 7 x 8 layout. i have some rejected borders that i might add once i get the 'blocks' sewn together.  notice the kichen sink block in the bottom right hand corner....i made it using the same technique as when i make quilt labels.

the sad thing is i have enough to make another quilt....

my swap came!

i received my mini from Victoria's Something From Nothing Swap yesterday! i knew it was something really special when i opened the mailbox and didn't recognize the return address....plus it was squishy :) click the link and go look at all the quilt love!

thank you to margaret in NY- i love it. it will fit in just fine around here. now i need to go find it a home...

i'm still waiting for my ipod cover...i got an email telling me it shipped last week *fingers crossed* maybe today

labels

i really do try to make labels for all my quilts, but sometimes the excitement of getting one done gets in the way and the task is forgotten. (i tend to not label my 'utilitarian' quilts)

i include all the simple info on my labels: name of the quilt, my name (designed/pieced/quilted by me), and the month and year it was completed as well as my town. i have a 'notebook' where i keep all the nitty gritty details. i tend to get a little fancy-pancy with them....

the quilt show is this september, so i worked on some labels today. excuse the roughness- this is what they look like before i applique them to the back.  i'll include the link if i have one to go look at the quilt...

the label for the S quilt...i'm not overly happy with it and am seriously thinking about redoing it. the barb wire didn't turn out as good as it did in my head *shrug* it's not as uneven as it looks. it's curling up on the one edge. yeah- i'm redoing it- i don't like it at all...

i think i might try to have it look like a sign over the driveway of a ranch and put the info under it...i like that idea better! hindsight is 20/20

footnotes. i LOVE the feet...

block head...i love the face....and my favorite color- lime green!

remember my light switch??? that was the inspiration for this label...

slice if life (scroll down- it's the quilt at the end)

here's a quick how-i-do-this explanation:
i draw out the label on paper to get it 'perfect'. i iron freezer paper to the back of a piece of Kona Cotton white, then trace my drawing onto the fabric. the freezer paper helps stabilize the fabric. then i color the image. (you don't have to be 'artsy' to add a cute drawing to your label- you can use clip art to find an image.) i use a bunch of different coloring things- crayons, oil pastels, sharpies, fabric markers....what ever it takes to get the look i want. then i heat set with a dry iron. the light pencil mark you see is the edge i needle turn to when i applique it down. here's my smarty-pants moment- i found out that rounded edges, ovals and circles are better then squares....the corners are easier cause there are none!  :) i wash the quilt before i attach the label. past experience has taught me that the shrinkage of the quilt will distort the label to the point of being unreadable- it gets really poofy. i'll discreetly add the quilt size (in inches) later. that way i don't have to measure it every time. i write my name directly on the backing fabric before i sew on the label...if i'm worried that the backing fabric will shadow through the label, i add a layer of a lightweight, fusible interfacing.

 label your quilts....i dunno 'bout you, but my brain's getting full and it's getting harder to remember all the details...i had to use my blog to go look up the completion months...

long over due post

i was scrolling through google reader this morning and saw Jackie's post about her quilt and how she ordered a custom phone cover using a picture of her quilt....i instantly wanted my own- like right now!  i'm a super sucker for personalizing my stuff....

so i thought about it and decided that if i was going to personalize my ipod, what better quilt than my very favorite quilt! so i hung it to take a proper photo for the image for my cover...

so which quilt did i choose....simple, my Sblock quilt y'all help me make! and then i remember that i haven't posted about it since i quilted it and finished it (it's my No1 snuggle quilt- picture linus and his blanket) bad blogger...in my defense, i was wanting to pose it outside and we have had some very windy weather, so i decided to just do it in the house....


there it is in all it's quilted glory. all occupants of the house have been instructed that if we have to flee the house in an emergency, someone better have this cluched to their chest  :)

i also rememeber hinting around at the fabric i used for the back...

check it out....yup-i put it on the back!!! i am guarenteed that i will never have to worry about it being 'borrowed' being the only girl in the house *smirk*

i used hot pink thread and used my signatue quilting design i call cotton candy to quilt it. i used Dream Cotton's Dream Green recycled poly batting. let me tell you- that batting washes beautifully. it is every bit as snuggly as washed cotton batting, if not better.


is it totally wierd that i keep it cold in the house so that i have an excuse to use my quilt more....


i finally came up with a name for the quilt....

Lazy S Ranch

very appropriate i think *grin*

attachments

you will read occasionally that LAers form attachments to customer quilts for whatever reason.

this is one of those quilts for me.

to me, the quilting is perfect for the quilt and fits the theme.

i have taken measurements and plan on making a similar one for myself so that i can quilt it exactly like this and keep it for myself :)

i particularly love how the pointy loop looks in the piano key border. i have already added it to my mental library....

my swap quilt for the 12x12 something from nothing swap made it to my partner, Mary. she really liked it.


(yes, i hand quilted it)

another one goes home

melanie picked up her quilt this weekend.

i love the colors. she said it was a turning 20 where you cut the blocks in half and sew them back together.

it is a graduation present for a neice.

had to share this picture. i ran out of bobbins with about three inches of quilting left to do...the bobbin game is one i play with myself. i make as many bobbins as i think i need to quilt a quilt, then i get to see if i am close to having as many as i need. hey- gotta keep myself on my toes...

woot woot!

Ding Dong! Bin Laden's dead.

Wake up you sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the psychopath is dead. He's gone where the goblins go,
Below - below - below. Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong' the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
Osama Bin Laden is dead!

i'm watching Celebrity Apprentice and i see the ticker across the bottom that the President will be addressing the nation soon....uh oh....i immediately thought about Libia....but nooooo, SOoo much better! the only way it could be better news is if they captured him instead of killing him!! i am still waiting to hear what the president says


SWEET!