Quilter's Camera

I'm excited!  My online quilting friend Bonnie, who encouraged me to even start a blog, is now sharing with me her knowledge on how to make a camera system for under the longarm.  It's used to see your stitches under the quilt while you are quilting.  That way you can see if your stitches are not good before you get done, and then find out they are bad and have to rip out.  I hate ripping out!!  Nothing worse than quilting along thinking it looks great, then rolling the quilt forward and finding nasty little nests of thread on the back!!  This camera system will let me see the stitching as I go.  Bonnie has the whole set up shown on her blog.  Ya'll should check it out.  http://www.bloomingquilts.com/  I'll post pictures when I get it set up.  I ordered all the parts tonight. 

I've been trying to work on the baby quilt an hour or so everyday when I get home from work.  I didn't get anything done Saturday because of the basketball game, and I missed Sunday, so I could go to church.  Hopefully, I'll get some done when I get home this morning.  I'm more than half done, so I might could get it done by Wednesday, and then get the next one loaded.  The next one is a Texas Tech T-shirt quilt and the customer needs it done by the end of the week, because she is giving it to her son when they go to see him next week.  YIKES!  Deadlines make me nervous! 

  Ya'll have a blessed day!

No new quilty news today.

 

Well, I have no new quilty news today.  For any of you that don't know, I am a hugh Texas Tech fan, and basketball is my sport.  It's been a very painful year for my teams:(  The women started off with a bang, and then just started losing when we got to conference games.  They mostly lose by just a couple of points.  But, a few times it's like they forgot to show up at the game.  They played Baylor (the number one team in the nation) both times closer than anyone else has done, and then they turn around and lose the next game to someone they should beat. 

Then, the men's team has a new coach, coach Gillispie, and he's good, but he has a very young, and mostly short, team to work with.  They have been coming along though, and today, they almost beat Texas, but lost in overtime.  It was heartbreaking for them.  I so wanted them to get a win.  They need a confidence boost.  But, they did play soooo much better than they have been, so I am still proud of the growth they have shown this season. 

Anyway, I got up early to go to the men's game, and it went into overtime, so I barely got home in time to get dressed and get to work on time.  No time on the long arm at all. 

Here's hoping my RAIDERS do better next year, and ya'll have a blessed day!

The Jamestown Block of the Month

 This is the Block of the Month that our local Bernina club did for the 2011 year.  I finally completed it, and took it to club meeting for show and tell.  Don't you love it?  Show and tell again.  Just like when we were kids:)  Anyway, we have so many members that we have 4 different meeting times.  So, Vicki (our Bernina store owner) asked if she could keep it and show it to the other meeting groups.  Since I'm trying to get the word out that I quilt for the public, I thought that was a fine idea.  Well, anyway, I got 2 calls from it, and now have 3 quilts in line to be done!!  So, here are a few pictures of it.  I could post more, but I won't bore you too much. HaHa.

The closest I have to the full quilt.  I don't really have a place to photograph the whole thing. 

So, that's it.  I just kinda doodled all over it, but those ladies just love the feathers!   Now, I just have to get that baby quilt finished, and then on to the 3 quilts.  Work sure gets in the way of my quilting fun:)

Ya'll have a blessed day, and I'll be back later!

The Aquarium

2 of my grandsons looking in the shark tank.

Well, I'm back home in Texas.  We weathered some pretty bad winds driving home, and my arms are still fatigued from driving in it, but it's nice to be home.  We took the kids to the aquarium on Saturday and they had a blast.  I thought they would get bored quickly, but they didn't.  In fact, they didn't want to leave when we were ready.  I didn't have my camera, so these pictures were taken with my phone.  Not the greatest, but you can get the idea. 

Toxic Jelly fish.  Very pretty but very deadly.

My oldest grandson being some kind of super hero :)

  The Nemo Tank:)  There are literally 100's of clown fish in this one tank.

Spending time with Grandkids

I got to my daughter's house about 8:30 last night.  The boys had stayed up to see me, so they were a little bit hyped up.  They were so excited to see me and their aunt and uncle and cousin, it was a little bit crazy here for a while.  The TV was on, and all they were talking about was Whitney Houston.  That's a really sad thing, but let it rest already! 

I guess we are going to the aquarium today.  They are sitting here telling me all about the sharks and sting rays.  They went there a couple of weeks ago, and they are still excited about it.  I guess I'll have some pictures of fish to post tomorrow:)

I got the Jamestown quilt finished, but did not get the baby quilt done in time, so I guess I'll give it to her after the shower.  Oh, well, I'm not gonna be at the shower anyway, so she won't know the difference. 

Well, I'll be back with fish stories tomorrow!  Have a blessed day!

Handpainted fabric

At Christmas time, I had all my kids and grandkids at the house, so I got the bright idea that I would let the grandkids all paint some fabric for me.  They had a blast!  I also had their parents paint a piece.  It's actually funny to watch the difference in kids and adults when you tell them to paint anything they want.  The kids just started painting.  Mixing colors, exclaiming " Gammie, I had blue on my brush and when I put it in the yellow paint, it turned green!"  Then you have the adults, very carefully planning what they will paint, and meticulously cleaning the brush between colors.  I had fun just watching.  Then, when everyone was done, I took all their little cups of leftover paints, and painted a piece myself.  I called it " leftovers" :)  The kids loved it.  It has some interesting variations of brown on it.  I'll have to dig it out and post a picture of it. 

In the meantime, here are some photos of the kids having fun.

Someday, I'll have a quilt made out of these beautiful one of a kind fabrics, and the kids will have it to remember this very special Christmas we all shared together.

Have a blessed day!

Last day of this rotation!

Tonight is the last night of my 7 day rotation!  Yeah!!  Then I am off for 7 days.  That's the best part about my night shift.  I get 7 days off to do as I please.  I can go see my grandkids in Oklahoma and not have to use my vacation time.  So, that's where I am headed this Friday.  We are having a birthday party for grandson number 3.  He just turned 3, but he had to wait for Gammie to get off to have his party.  He doesn't seem to mind.  (HaHa.  We'll see how that goes in a few years when he is old enough to understand what's going on.)  We are having his party at one of those jump places.  They are great!  They organize everything, keep everything on time, and you don't even have to do any clean up after the party is over!  And the kids love it!  They completely wear themselves out. 

As far as the quilting goes, I got very little done.  I quilted feathers on one border of the Jamestown quilt.  It turned out pretty good, but I stayed up until 9 working on it, so of course I overslept, and had to rush to get to work on time.  This morning I hope to turn the quilt and get one of the side borders done. 

Feathers probably weren't the best choice for the border since it is a busy fabric, but I started it, and didn't want to rip it out, so they stay :)

Everybody keep safe and hope your day is blessed!

It's Winter in Lubbock!

Well, we finally got a little bit of winter here in Lubbock.  I think the weather man said about 4 inches of snow accumulation.  That's quite a bit for us!  And it actually stuck to the ground.  It will probably be gone by tomorrow afternoon, but for now it's pretty.  Not much fun to drive in though, because we don't get enough for people to learn how to drive in it.  I get off at 6AM though, so I'll get home before the morning traffic gets going.  That's a relief.  People are crazy around here on icy roads.

I am almost finished with my BOM quilt, and that's good, because I need to get it off the long arm. I have a baby quilt that I have to have ready for the shower this Sunday.  Here are a few shots from the BOM.

 

It's kind of hard to get good pictures while it's still on the long arm.  I'll post more after it's done. 

Here is a picture of the baby quilt I made.  The pattern is adapted from one I found in a McCall's quilt magazine.  I'll have to get the exact information later. 

It's really a lot cuter in person.  The blocks are 15 inches finished, so with the borders it measures about 60" x 45".  I'll post finished picures after it's quilted.  The baby's name is going to be Lucy, and they  are doing the room all in pink.  Shabby chic pink?  So these fabrics just reminded me of the "I Love Lucy" era, and I just couldn't resist:).  I might quilt some hearts in the snow ball blocks? 

Well, I guess that's all for today.  Everybody have a safe a blessed day! 

Friend's are the best helpers in the world!

So, it's taken a few days to figure it out, and thanks to a friend that is much more computer savey than I (thanks Kelsey), we are slowly getting my blog page to look like I think I want it.  Changes are inevitable though, cause that's just how my brain works:)  I like one design today, then tomorrow, a completely different design catches my eye.  Maybe that's why I have so many projects in the works at the same time.  The quilt that is my current background was peiced by another friend of mine Ann T., and she generously allowed me to quilt it, and gave me permission to post it.  You can't really see it on here, but it's quilted with great big freehand flowers and leaves.

So, a few of the ladies I meet with at the Bernina store decided we would start a quilt from a book they found.  I can't remember the name of it right now, but I'll cite it later.  Anyway, it is for "master quilters" which I have decided I am not!  It will be 140 - six inch blocks when we finish.  Some are paper pieced, some are pieced using templates, and some are just plain ole peiced.  I have decided I do not like templates!  I have completed 4 blocks so far.  Here they are in all there glory:

Notice I already have one block slightly bigger than the others.  I can trim it, but then I lose my quarter inch border.  I can remake it, but I don't know if I have the patience for that.....I think I'll take a wait and see approach.  Maybe I can fudge the sashing and it won't be noticable.  That's my "master quilter" voice talking.  Ha-Ha

Well, that's enough for today.  Ya'll have a great day, and I'll be back later!

Today's the day!

I've been going back and forth about starting a blog.  I read blogs from others,  and keep thinking this is something I need to do, but then the "computer and electronics" fear sets in, and I freeze up.  Today, I received a message, from a fellow quilter, encouraging me to go ahead and give a try.  So, here I am on day one of my blog.

I am a quilter.  It's not what I do for a living YET, but I love piecing quilts, and then putting them on the long arm, and quilting them into beautiful quilts.  I do quilt for the public, and have a fairly good business started, but I'm far from being able to quit the day job:)

So, ya'll bare with me.  I finally started, but figuring out how to do everything on this blog is going to be slow going.  Thanks for sharing some of your day with me. 

Have a blessed day, and I'll be back later.