Classic Meets Modern Quilt Along Block

I have not participated in many quilt along's but I really liked the idea of this one. Each month she will give a traditional block and we are to reinterpret it modern. Now... I'm not sure what modern quilting is to me yet, I've yet to define it and don't like most of the definitions I have seen. I do know that I LIKE modern quilts and my style lately tends to be a scrappy modern twist on traditional quilts. lol... hows that for a style!

I do like that we will be redesigning something traditional and that's what i like most about quilts...

Here is my polar bear claw block:

and here is a link to the quilt along if yall want to join in too!

I guess I am going to make a sampler quilt out of the 12 blocks I will end up with so I am going with the scraps from a solid quilt I have yet to finish. They are to me beachy colors and I like them (my husband hates them... oh well) The "inspiration" block was with 4 paws and a square in the center.


Other things I'm working on.... the quilt for the livestock show.... paper piecing and value... my lessons for January!!! I'm getting the hang of both and having a blast making the little blocks!

But... things just got interesting here in my little neck of the woods... or at least the dogs think so. I have the county clearing the ditches and a whole bunch of beeping trucks in the front of the house and out back I have about 10 weanling calfs making quick work on the hay bale.. problem is we don't have cows, we have horses... have to find out which neighbor is missing some cows before they eat all the horses hay! (and before these barking dogs wake up the sleeping grandbaby!)

My first Class!

I decided a present to myself would be the Color Play class on Craftsy. A few days after Christmas it went on sale and I just happened to have enough on my paypal to buy it!! woo hoo.

I am still taking the class. But the other morning I woke my husband up all excited and said "I GET IT" I have always picked my fabrics by what I think looks good. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I didn't know why when I had a fail. I was picking fabrics for a quilt and one of my choices wasn't working and I knew WHY it didn't work! I was so excited. (Ralph, not so excited... and was a little grumpy)

It starts off slow with making a color wheel yourself from paints.... I live in the sticks and to get these paints would require a trip to a major town at least 50 miles away... so I just watched that part and didn't make the color wheel. I may still someday when I get to town... but i did learn from watching that part. It has been a series of light bulbs going off in my head! So.. if your struggling with color I vote go for it! this is a good class.



I do have to say here... that If you click this link to buy the class I will receive financial gain. I have signed up to the affiliate program of Craftsy. Regardless, the above review is really my opinion. If you would like to sign up as an affiliate to Craftsy and receive commission on purchases from them, you can too! here is a link to sign up. You can choose what and how to advertise and you do get some pretty cool perks in the process. (perks worth the time to join!)

Meanwhile, I am still pulling fabrics for a value quilt... with my new knowledge.

Goals... why cant I stay focused???

I was looking through my blog for my wrap up of 2013 and i laughed at how many times i set goals... and ended up posting most of those to my unfinished pin board!!!

Once again Im going to try to set some goals... here goes... maybe prizes will motivate me.

I am going to join the Lovely Year of finishes. You post your goals at the begining of the month... and your finishes at the end of the month. Check it out if you need some motivation like I obviously do!!

My January goals....

For this I am just going to focus on one or two projects that NEED to be done... I do have a LIST of 10 things that i want done.....

What I need to get done are two tshirt quilts for a customer and a quilt for our county for the Houston Livestock and Rodeo 2014. 3 quilts... none of them started... but i have to have done by the end of the month.

The T-shirt quilts are concert t-shirts. Shouldn't be that hard. (this woman is a HUGE Bon Jovi  fan and I have enough concert shirts for 2 queen size quilts!)


For the quilt show... I cant use a quilt I have already made, since one of the rules is you have to use quilt store quality fabrics and honestly I do not even have a TOP that I can finish that isn't a mixture of quilt store fabric and upcycled fabric. So... a new quilt it is.

I of course plan on a scrap quilt... because that's what i make! I started by looking through quilt books, magazines and online. I had picked up a quilting book at Hastings about a month ago. Most of the quilts were dated as far as fabric because it was a 1980's book but there were a couple designs I liked in it. This was one of them. It used templates and I hate using templates, but it clearly can be paper pieced (and I am anxious to do more of that) so here we go... my paper piece template. (now what book? I searched my house for it today and I'm sure my grand-kids have taken it into their parents room which I refer to as the black hole. I don't know if I will ever see it again. I am certainly going to try)

Today I did a test block. I was going to do 8 1/2 in squares but I found I have very little scraps that big. So I drew up another that is a 6 1/2 inch (4 of them will give me a 12 1/2 in 4 pointed star) and I am going to use that instead. So... let me get a few blocks together and I will show ya what I'm shooting for! I still haven't decided on the size. I will probably do a bed size though, that's the other thing I tend to do!

The other thing I'm excited about is this is a value quilt. Lights, mediums and darks. I cant wait to play with scraps and really see if I get this concept... lol... so far my husband swears I don't.

Long Arm Table... for 25.00!!

Ralph and I stopped by my favorite Goodwill today. I haven't been in ages, its in a town about 40 miles away. I only found one shirt to upcycle... we paid for it but on the way out, there was a rack with a great vintage pillow case... I went back inside to buy it but couldn't figure out how much it was so went to the room where they keep their sheets.... and NO WAY!!! there it was... I knew looking at it it was a Grace Quilting Table... It was in pieces... but the sticker was only 24.99!!! I have fit it into my room but it is missing a piece (a pretty important piece) so I'm hoping they still stock them and that it doesn't cost too much!!

I don't have a picture yet cuz its still in pieces... but i will share when its totally assembled. We wrote down our goals the other day and a Grace Table and new machine was on the list. This is a Little Gracie (although i think it has the extensions to do King size quilts. Older model... but at least I will have something to get started on to see if its something i want to have!!

I do have to also apologize... I have been remiss in that I keep forgetting to blog about this:

Isn't it the cutest little zipper pouch???

It was essential when I was doing all those Christmas ornaments and the little flowers for a customer. It is my new hand sewing bag, has my needles, thread, scissors... and a bunch of buttons down there when i feel like throwing one on something.

It was made by Elizabeth from The College Seamstress who is a very talented young lady (I am totally impressed with her clothes making ability!!) She participated in Pay it Forward... she got a towel and potholder and the deal is she had to make three things to pay forward over the next year. What a cool idea! So... I quickly responded and got this. Now I have to make three things in the next year to pay forward... (still thinking about what to pay forward... but I'm excited about the prospect!)

So... Thank  you Elizabeth. It is sitting next to my computer right now, ready to throw my hand sewing projects in and grab as I go out the door.

End Of the Year Housekeeping

What haven't I finished... hmmm... My sister posted a pinterest board of all of her unfinished projects... It inspired me to post my own. My goal is to only have 10 projects roll over next year instead of 38! lol

My unfinished Projects Board 

My Sister Becki's Unfinished Project Board

I then thought... hmm... what did i finish? so i updated my 2013 finishes tab (look at the top of the page)

What are my goals for 2014

Ralph and I have been working on a bubble project. We both feel stuck and unable to move forward with our current situation... so we started with what we are doing now (for him horseshoeing, for me sewing) and we then drew a line, another bubble and what else we could do or want to do, adding bubbles out from our current situation... (for me, sell new fabric as well as upcycled, get a long arm machine, sell at trade days... and for him, start a horseshoeing school, train and start cutting or stock horse showing, breaking colts, ect)

We are still working on them but the plan is that we each are going to choose one of the where we could be and start DOING it. That is our goal for 2014!!

Sewing with Certainty - Free Motion Quilting

I priced getting my first quilts done by a local long arm quilter... yes it is "quilting with your checkbook!" and at the rate I was kicking out quilts it would have to be a BIG checkbook. (I started with a goal to make quilts for 16 of my family members!) I quickly decided that if I was going to quilt... I was going to have to learn how to quilt them on my home machine.

I am the queen of "straight line" quilting.... notice the quotation marks... there is really nothing straight about the lines I quilt as I'm cramming half of a king size quilt through the tiny neck of my machine... but if you squint your eyes when you look at them you can see where i intended for them to be straight..... my husband sees straight lines.... at least that is what he tells me.... and why I love him so much!!

I have tried FMQ with a free motion foot... I have not figured out the tension problems yet... it is still on my list of skills to master. But... for the most part I'm happy with my straight lines... so I'm not in that big of a hurry and may wait till I buy a better machine.

So... If you do not quilt your own quilts... here is my list of things i have learned along the way.

1. You don't need a walking foot...I'm sure it might make it easier... but since I don't have one... I don't know.

2. My first few quilts looked terrible... but i finally figured out that the basting of the quilt was my problem.

I baste my quilts on my hard surfaced floors. The first thing I do is tape the backing to the floor as tight as I can. Lay the batting down and smooth it out from the middle. Then lay the quilt top down and smooth it out from the middle. I start pinning in the center and smooth more out as I go. (I don't stretch it like the backing, just smooth) I try to figure out how Im going to quilt before I pin so that I can put my pins between where my lines will be. (I confess my quilt tops are rarely perfectly ironed when I pin them... so maybe I wouldn't have as much smoothing out to do if I did that... i just hate ironing big things!)

 Invest in good big safety pins for basting... and put them no more than 3-4 inches apart. I buy the bag from Walmart that are less than 6 bucks for 50 or 60 of them. I have two bags and usually can have one big quilt and one small quilt pinned at one time. I do use more than one bag on the queen and king size quilts.

I then trim any excess backing fabric and quilt batting to 4 inches. (if I have more than that I tend to get it folded over somehow and sew it to the back of the quilt.)

3. Take the time to roll up the excess quilt on each side and have support to the left of your chair for it to rest on. When I get lazy and don't roll up the excess or the shoving through side, i end up with wrinkles. I use a stack of tubs (2 large and one under bed is the right height for my desk) to rest it on.

3. Quilting lines.... I have drawn my lines on the quilt with tailors chalk once. (and my knees ache enough after pinning... I just don't want to stay down on the floor that much!) Usually I follow some pattern in the piecing and eyeball it.

I have three different MO's for my quilting....

first choice and easiest.... I quilt on both sides of my seams. I like the look it gives. (Christa suggested wavy lines across it and i may try that on a quilt soon)

second choice on small things like table runners -  the straight line or matchstick quilting... I think I mentioned in my last blog post this is therapeutic for me, sew a line, lift the foot swing it around, lift the needle, put the foot down, put the needle down... sew a straight line. do it again and again and again. Honestly my table runners use as much thread as i use on a throw or twin size quilt!!

third choice is diagonal lines. I eyeball these as well and sew from one corner of the block to the other... works best eyeballing if your squares are smaller than 6 inches!

and of course.... combining them...

Really it is not hard to quilt on your machine. Afraid to start with the big stuff... make a table runner!

I am linking up to Quilty Habit's Sewing with Certainty series

2013 looking back

sometimes you have to look back to see where you are going!

In January 2013 my husband and I sold our restaurant to his daughter. I was tired, it was doing ok, but not good and we were tired of fighting the fight.

Although we are both still helping her out by working there once in a while... i haven't regretted the decision, I think Ralph has... he keeps talking about opening another restaurant... I've been there done that and have no desire for a stick and brick store. I decided that i was going to find a way to make money doing something with sewing...he decided to grow his horseshoe business back to where it was. The first couple months were tough financially... but we soon got to where we were making more than we were at the restaurant....and we were both happier!

My first commissioned quilt

As if that wasn't a big enough change in life.... its been a rough year emotionally....

Two of Ralph's sons started doing hard core drugs. It nearly tore their families apart and destroyed their careers. Although neither of them are doing the drugs anymore... they are still struggling to put their lives back together. We have had custody of one of our grandchildren for most of the year... and a family of 5 moved in with us.... their struggles have also been our struggles...

I fell in love with straight line quilting on table toppers and runners... i think it is therapy for me.

At the end of July, shortly after our 1 year wedding anniversary, I wondered what else could go wrong! That is when everything pretty much fell apart. We had 5 children (or children in law) arrested, one of them twice; Ralph had a heart attack, i had my appendix out, a daughter in law was diagnosed end stage renal failure and one of the boys was hurt badly at work. If it wasn't for bad luck, we would have had no luck at all!

A quilt for a friend.

But... month by month things have been getting better. Ralph went back to work... I have found my peace with what i am doing... the kids cleaned themselves up and started doing the right things... our daughter in law is still sick, but we continue to buy her more time.... his son healed and is back to work... he has passed his drug tests and we no longer have custody of our grandson.....

A pile of UFO's I wanted to get thru this year... that are still UFOs!!

The remaining challenge is the family of 5 living with us... I love them with all my heart but i really really don't like living with them... I don't see an end in the near future so for now we are doing the best we can to cope.

Little Sophie... one of the three grandchildren still living with us. 

I honestly believe this has been the hardest year of my life.

But... i do have a wonderful husband and i love him more today than ever before. We have made it through these things together... and are still madly in love. I love that he supports my desire to work from home (even when i don't want to BE at home! lol) And the best thing... he makes me laugh... I worried a few times during this year if we had lost that ability... but we find it again... and we laugh and we get thru the mess....

I think this was last year...

I have high hopes for next year... and i know i will keep on sewing! Thank yall for reading during the past year...I have been pretty hit and miss as we went thru this. I know I have a few new readers after the giveaway too... thanks for joining. I will do my best to keep showing my works in 2014.