Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I'm just playing around ....!

Last week, life was just crazy busy. My niece was over for the week, which meant I had 2 (two) pre-teens in the house. Need I say more.....?!?!?! lol

So while I was chauffeur to soccer camp and the pool supervisor, I did manage to get some hand embroidery done on the Blue Bird quilt. Excuse the presentation. I don't want to iron them until I'm ready to cut to size and piece the quilt.

I've been working on the more detailed blocks first. I have about 10 (ten) blocks to go, but they are less detailed and should be a breeze to complete.

On the long arm front!

I didn't have as much of a chance to play with Penelope while my niece was here. Thursday, I had the morning to my self, as Stephen chauffeured the girls to their soccer camp. I played around with some free form. I am much more comfortable in front of the machine than I am in the back. So, I'm using the charity quilts that I have acquired to practice panthos. Loops are so much easier for me then curves and points. In due time, I'm sure I'll become a pro at it. Until then, practice, practice is what I need to do.

I'm slowly becoming comfortable with Penelope. There's so much to think about! Within time, it will all be second nature for me. I'm certainly enjoying playing and learning about her.

Thank you for stopping by. I do hope you are all enjoying your summer. Here in Upstate New York, we're having a wet summer. It has been raining quite a bit. I'm hardly in my pool, which is so unusual for me.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Up and running...........!

Yesterday, Stephen and I did the last bit that was required to get my new toy running. I'm just so excited!

I stayed up late watching, for the third time, the DVD that came with the machine, you know, making sure I was doing things right! It can be so intimidating! lol

I still have a bit of tweaking left to do. I find that it's not as smooth as I would like it to be. I imagine that it will take a bit of time before I'm comfortable with it. So much to learn! I do want to thank Vicki from Field Trips in Fiber for all of her help. She's been such a sweetheart, answering all of my questions and what not! Thanks for being there Vicki!

I've been thinking of a name for my new toy, Penelope. I don't know why, but I just love that name.

On the quilting front........!

I bought this book, Companions by Whimsicals, a couple of years ago at The Quilted Crow. They had the trunk show on display and I just fell in love with the Market Day quilt. I find that her quilts are just the right amount of folk art for my taste.

I have had the fabric set aside for the project for quite some time and frankly, I was tired of working off the UFO list. There's only so much a quilting girl can take! Time for a new project!

This is the center block of Market Day. It's machine appliqued.

As much as I love hand applique, I've got to say that doing it by machine relieves me of the stress of having too many hand projects hanging around. It's a wonderful feeling to get something done!

Well, I'm off to play with Penelope! Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day everyone!

Friday, July 18, 2008

It's here.......................!

WOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

It has finally arrived! I'm so excited!

Unfortunately, I won't be able to set it up till at least after the weekend. We're expecting company and we need the bed that's presently in the room my new toy will be! Hey, maybe I can convince our guests to sleep in the garage! ROFLOL

Oh well, not a big deal! It will allow me some time to watch the DVD and peruse the assembling instructions.

Gosh, I feel like a little kid! lol

My friend Jennifer is coming over tonight. She says that she just wants to touch the boxes! lol

Of course, I had to peak inside to get the instructions. Oh okay, so I wanted to see what was in all those boxes. lol I found lots of little extra, like a couple of panthogram, thread samples and post it notes! Bonus!

Oh.. I can't wait to set it up! Oh I'm so excited and I just can't hide it .....................................! Wooooooooooowhoooooooooooo!

Thanks for participating in my excitement! Hugs!

Sunday, July 13, 2008

I say Hello and you say goodbye.....!

Just as my friend Connie is saying goodbye to her longarm, I'll be welcoming mine into my home. The shipping date has been confirmed, Tuesday July 15, as originally stipulated. I'm sure you can imagine, I have been hustling and bustling to get the house ready. In other words, I have been cleaning my butt off! My home is slowly starting to look presentable.

The room is coming together nicely. Here is the finished window seat.

Gosh, what a difference the renovations make. Before, I just wanted to get out of bed and out of the room. Now I can just sit for hours, reading, relaxed or just being there. I find it so welcoming.

I'm glad that it is finally done. There's nothing worse than sleeping in a room you cannot stand being in! lol

Stephen is presently building the bedroom and closet doors. They will all be painted white.

He finds that the room is noisy without the carpet. Of course he's not looking to put down more carpet! lol His priority is finishing the entrance door! lol

I think it might be the mini hallway that intensifies the noise. Of course, I'm not bothered by the noise at all. I'm just enjoying being in a beautiful relaxing room with functional windows. For some strange reason, all the windows were painted shut. Between brown floors and painted shut windows, you've got to wonder, what where these people thinking? lol

Saturday was spent cleaning the house, washing windows, curtains, fixtures and floors. It so needed it! Boring, but certain rewarding when you're finished and find yourself in a sparkling room. ;o)

The last bit of renovations we wanted to do, if you want to call it that, is paint the kitchen. I have decided on a Pottery Barn colour Wedgwood grey by Benjamin Moore. It goes well against the black granite counters and stainless steel.

Here you have a sample of what the colour looks like. It really is pretty and I certainly do not think the photo does it justice.

The ceiling has been painted, and all the trims are done, it's a matter of getting the walls done. I'll be doing that this week. I'm in the "gotta get the house done" mode.

The last room for me to tackle is the one that will have the longarm. Major spring cleaning needs to be done. Sigh! Then, the house will be totally clean!

I did do a bit of quilting. I decided to do a small version of Cheese and Crackers. It was great way for me to get rid of my scraps. I barely had enough. As least the background fabric is all used up! lol

I'm a bit behind on blog reading. Just so much to do! Today is filled with more cleaning, windows, but it's raining. What a blessing! ;o)

Have a great day everyone and thank you for stopping by!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Another one off the list..... and the beat goes on!

Yep, I've completed another flimsy, my UFO list is slowly going down. But first, my story! ;o)

Back in 2004, I made lap quits for all of my nieces and nephew on my husband's side. Alex's was called The 5th Dimension.

Alex is our daughter's age and he loves anything having to do with science fiction. I chose funky fabrics for this quilt and Stephen drew the machine quilting designs. I used glow in the dark thread. It really was a fun quilt to work on.

Now, Alex loved his quilt! The glow in the dark thread was a huge hit! A couple of years ago, he asked if I would make him another quilt. I was touched! We talked a bit about what he would like and I came up with Alex's pond.

This is Alex's Pond. The pattern is from Atkinson Designs called Cheese & crackers. Of course, my version is modified.

I wanted the quilt to reflect what one could find in a pond, which includes penguins! lol I had a great time shopping for theme fabrics to complete the quilts. It actually took me quite some time to accumulate an assortment of fabrics. Back when I was shopping, I had a difficult time finding theme fabrics, now, as Murphy's law would have it, it's everywhere! lol

I have the machine quilting designs all planned out and yes, I will be using glow in the dark threads. I really cannot wait to get to the machine quilting. It will be so much fun! I do have the perfect backing for it and will show you once I've done the machine quilting. It's SO Alex! lol

Speaking of machine quilting, I'm still waiting for my new toy to arrive. I did lose my studio space for quilt photography! Yea, we've moved back into our bedroom! lol

Yesterday, as a birthday present, I took my friend Jennifer on a fabric shop hop in Vermont. I had my camera with me and was ready to give you a tour of the shops but we ran into some problems.

The first shop we headed for was called Maplewood Quilts in Northfield, a 2 (two) hour drive away. We arrived at the shop all excited only to find it was closed for vacation. Hum... So we had lunch in a cute cafe and headed out to our second destination Northland Quilts in South Barre.

I was really looking forward to seeing this shop. As we headed closer and closer, turning into dirt roads, I was getting all excited at the possibilities. No sooner had we pulled into the drive way and out of the car, the owner comes out on the porch (the shop is attached to the house) and yells "I'm closed, I only open on Thursday!". I'm sure she must have seen my New York license plate. So I reply "Oh, I didn't see that on the website. I don't think I'll have a chance to be back again in the area" to which she replied "it's okay, I'm closing anyway". So that was that. Off we went to our third destination Cabin Fever Quilts in Waistfield.

We're driving along on these beautiful winding country roads admiring the view and finally we pulled up to our third shop and what do think? Yep, you guessed it CLOSED! By now it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon and we are in stitches!

Our last 2 (two) shops, which I was pretty certain would be open, was Sew Many Treasures and Yankee Pride. Jennifer did some major damage! Myself, I was good! lol

After much fabric fondling, we headed towards downtown Burlington for some dinner! All and all it was a good day! Vermont is certainly scenic! ;o)

Thanks for stopping by! I enjoy your company! Have a great day everyone!
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...