CRISPY QUILTS

Oh Look Another Post From Crispy LOL

2012-01-19T16:19:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately not a quilty one. I'm still knitting.....well I should say that I was doing massive unknitting. I showed the scarf I was working on in my last post.

I had gotten half of it done, started the second half and decided that I didn't like the edges.....they were too tight (just knitted/purled the first stitch), so I tore the whole thing apart.....480 yards worth :0)
If nothing else I'm tenacious when learning a new craft LOL.

So now I've started a small sample of the pattern.

First I tried slipping the first stitch purl wise and always knitting the last stitch regardless if it was a knit or purl row. It made icky bumps that looked like they strangled the stitches and tended to make the edge tight again. So on the second repeat of the pattern I slipped the first stitch and knitted or purled the last stitch. It worked out great. Here's the difference:

Sorry the photo was a little blurry but my camera battery was dying so I didn't have time to play. Anyhoo, the plan is to finish this repeat, do the edge treatment and then washing and blocking the sample. I want to find out how well it will hold a block. I'm using Stroll yarn from Knit Picks which is 75% superwash merino wool and 25% nylon. I'm hoping it will block well so that the pattern shows off. I also purchased some green yarn that will be used in the final scarf. I'll show a picture once I get a good start on it.

Some day I will get back to quilting......in around 345 days LOL.

Crispy

Oh, I forgot to tell you, the best part about working full time is I have dropped 30 pounds.....who had time to eat working the hours I was (no I wasn't skipping meals, just not eating so much at each meal) LOL. I could stand to loose another 60 but I'm not going to worry about that right now :0)

I'm BAAAAACK....Well Sort Of

2012-01-05T15:39:00.003-06:00

First and foremost, I want to thank all my blogging buddies who have e-mailed, sending their love and concern because I haven't blogged in 4 months. I also want to apologize for not answering said e-mails. I have been working 6 days a week and lots of overtime and after yakking with customers all day, I literally have run out of words. Even Bob asks why I'm so quite (never thought he would miss all my jabbering LOL). Finally the Holiday season has passed, I'm working less hours and only 5 days a week!! I don't know how people work full time and have kids and quilt and maintain their blogs too....I must be getting old LOL. I've rarely been on the computer except for about a half an hour before work so I can read the blogs that I follow. Even that has become more skimming than reading. As for quilting.....that is not happening at all.

I have been knitting, which is more portable, but haven't really gotten a lot done on that either.

I made one whole pair of socks (I was really proud of myself for actually matching the stripes):

Started an experimental pair of UGLY socks using left over yarn. I'm testing different methods of short row heels and trying to learn how to get the best fit:

I started a pretty scarf, called Spring Leaves, for my DDIL and have really been struggling with it, both in dropping stitches (life lines have become my best friend) and color. I really really wanted to find a bright green superwash Merino for this project but it seems no one makes bright colors for fingering weight yarn, so settled for the gold....which wasn't as bright as I thought it would be. I've been tempted to purchase 100% wool and start this over. My DIL is a red head and a bright green would look so pretty.....I just might have to make a purchase today :0)

I finished Saige's Christmas Stocking and it came out really cute (was actually mailed in time for Christmas LOL). She LOVED it :0)

My Dear Blogger Buddy Barb sent me this adorable Santa ornament for Christmas.....I just LOVE him, THANK YOU BARB!!

I have also been doing a lot of reading. I stumbled across a new to me author Anita Shreve and have read all of her books. There is something about her writing style that really appeals to me. I also bought myself a Kindle Touch (should have forked over the extra $50 for the Fire but will just have to save my pennies and get a tablet soon). I really love having the Touch though, much nicer than lugging books around.

As you can see I have a new header picture of Saigey. I really LOVE this picture....Mommy got a new camera and is taking great photos :0). I was going to use Saige's school picture, it's so cute!! How did the photographer get her to pose like that? Anyway, it's a picture of a picture and is a bit fuzzy but adorable:

The count down has officially started to retirement....363 more days Whoo Hoo!! Maybe by then I will get the urge to quilt again. In the mean time I will knit, continue reading (not skimming, now that I'm not working so much) your blogs and hopefully comment once in a while too. As for my blog....I doubt I will be posting much as I don't get much done to show, but don't worry, all is good with me :0)

Crispy

PS - Hmmmmm seems I haven't totally lost my ability to jabber LOL. I Love you guys!!

Knitting and Christmas

2011-09-06T12:07:00.000-05:00

I have been working quite a bit between finishing off my time at the part time job and going through orientation at Walmart so I really haven't gotten much of anything done. I did transform Bob's chair and have gotten rid of that old sheet :0)

This is before and after pictures: (I hadn't pinned down the new covers at this point)

Bob is very pleased with the end result and I will be happy not having to wash the arms of his chair :0)

It looks like I won't be getting back to quilting for a while yet. 35 years ago, I made my son a Christmas Stocking from a felt stocking kit. He still uses it every year and of course I don't have a picture of his as I have given the kids a lot of my old photos. I have had a special request to make one for Saige, "Like Daddy's". So this is what I will be working on every chance I get:

I don't know how long this will take me to finish, I'm just hoping it will be done before Christmas LOL.

I have also started knitting another pair of socks and am attempting to make two at a time.....so far so good except I have to tear what little I have done apart so that the stripes will coordinate between the two socks. I will be taking this project with me to work to keep my hands busy during breaks and lunch. I'll show a picture after I make a little progress.

Today is my last day at my old job and will be working full time at Walmart starting Thursday (I gave myself a day off between the two). I hope that I can get back to my blog and blogging on a regular basis soon. I may be slacking in commenting and sending e-mails too, but please bear with me :0)

Hope you all had a lovely long weekend!

Crispy

Knitters ROCK!!

2011-08-31T06:31:00.001-05:00

As you know I have been knitting a lot lately. As part of my obsession I found this video while reading older forum postings on Ravelry. Enjoy :0)

Crispy

PS This was performed at the 2011 Sock Summit (Something like this should be organized at Paducha or Sisters or Houston to show the world that quilters ROCK too LOL)

I'm Still Knitting.......

2011-08-25T16:12:00.003-05:00

I'm still in my quilting funk, though I do think about quilting all the time and love coming to see what you are all up to. I've even put away the cross stitching. The only thing that is holding my interest right now is knitting. I feel guilty about not quilting, so I don't post to my blog as often as I should. I even thought about starting a knitting blog, but that's not going to happen. You all will just have to put up with my sporadic posts that have nothing to do with quilting LOL.

Well there is a little news on the quilting front. I won a jelly roll of neutrals from my buddy Pat at Silver Thimble Talk

Aren't they pretty? Cut by Pat's own little ol' hands :0) Thank you soooo much Pat. I'm mulling over what to make with them....maybe a 9 patch quilt?

As for knitting, I've been making dish cloths:

Love the colors in this one:

This one I tried my first cables and since it was ending up too narrow, I tore it all apart after I took the picture. I'll make another after I figure out how to get it come out square:

I know that I have mentioned this before, but my Bob is a slob!!! When he eats at the table, he knows perfectly well how to use a napkin, but once he's snacking in his recliner he forgets. Ever since I bought new recliners last winter, his has been covered with a sheet....not very pretty. I decided to knit arm covers that I can just toss into the washer. I just finished the first arm and this is the pattern (it's actually a dark navy blue):

He's really happy about this, as he's sick of fiddling with the sheet LOL. (oops the picture is upside down but you get the idea)

Oh, a couple more things.....

I changed the look of my blog....in case you didn't notice LOL. I'm not so sure I like the color scheme and may mess with it tomorrow. It was time for a change :0)

Also, I have taken a full time position at Wally World, so if you think I don't blog enough now, it's bound to get worse. I don't know how you gals, who work full time and take care of your families AND get quilting done, do it. I'm sure I will eventually work into a good routine. Hopefully this will be going on for only a year or so. With the current economy, I feel the need to pad the ol' retirement fund a bit before I quit working for good.

Well, that's it for me. I'll try to be back as soon as I have something to show. In the mean time, I'll keep hanging out at your blogs :0)

Crispy

Where Has Time Gone????

2011-08-13T11:59:00.000-05:00

Good grief where has the last 2 weeks gone?? The last of my visitors left on the 4th and I have been dabbling in many projects.

This is where I stack stuff I'm working on:

As you can see there is quite a variety.

Down on the bottom is the latest Stars & Sprigs block which is incomplete. I took this apart 3 times and decided that I'm not really interested in using brights for this project. Good thing I haven't gotten very far with it.

I have now come up with a new idea.....using nothing but solids and embroidery embellishments. I am in the process of adding solids to my stash and when I feel I have enough I'll pick up this project again.

While I was digging around in my closet, I found a cross stitch project I won from my friend Myra.

She decided she would never complete it and had a drawing. This project is many years old and the thread dye lots have changed so I spent a week taking it apart. This will more than likely be my next cross stitch project after I finish this one:

I have gotten the detail stitching done on the upper section and started on the next section. This project has a long ways to go but is a fun pick up/put down thing to grab once in a while. Here's a picture of it so far:

I've also been knitting. I used up the last of the baby yarn I had on hand and made these little premie hats:

I purchased a book of 400 knitting stitches and picked some of the patterns that would work with these little hats. It was fun knitting something different with each one. Since I'm all out of baby yarn, I decided to start using up the cotton yarns and make some dish cloths. This is the first one:

So you can see that I have been keeping my hands busy as well as playing different games on the computer LOL. I just might drag out those last two block for the Aunt Millie since I have all my brights pulled out.....or not :0)

Crispy

Virtural Summer Fair

2011-07-29T13:09:00.000-05:00

Annemarie at Gen X Quilters is putting on a Virtual Summer Fair. You can enter a quilt and a recipe. It's fun to have an on line fair to participate in as our State Fair was cancelled this year due to the wide spread flooding in my state.

THE QUILT

My quilt submission is my Row By Row Robin which was made with a forum group I once belonged to. Instead of putting it together in the traditional row by row method, I hopped onto my trusty EQ and designed this layout instead:

Here is the back:

The quilt is about 50% hand pieced (I unfortunately had to unsew and remake some blocks) and is hand quilted. This is the first quilt in 20 years of quilting that I have kept :0)

THE RECIPE

This is our favorite summer recipe. It's a recipe from the Sargento Cheese folks:

3 T olive oil divided
1 lb large shrimp deveined (or chicken breast)
2 small zucchini, sliced 1/4" thick (we know what a 1/4" is)
3 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 c frozen peas (or broccoli, or fresh spinach)
1 T chopped fresh basil or 1 t dried
4 oz egg and 4 oz spinach fettuccine, cooked al dente
1 1/2 c Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Get your fettuccine started before stir frying!!

In large skillet, heat 1 T oil over medium-high heat. Add shrimp(chicken) and garlic; stir fry 3 minutes or until cooked through. Remove from skillet; set aside. Add 1 T oil and zucchini (and any other vegie you want) to skillet; stir fry until crisp tender. Add tomatoes, frozen peas (or fresh spinache) and basil; stir fry 1 minute. Return shrimp to skillet; stir fry 1 minute. Drain fettuccine; toss with remaining 1 T oil and 1 c parmesan cheese. Top with shrimp mixture; sprinkle remain cheese on top and serve.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It's like eating a warm fresh salad :0)

Run on over and enter your favorite quilt and recipe :0)

Crispy

A Sprig and A Star

2011-07-25T07:17:00.000-05:00

I have managed to get a tiny bit of stitching in between all the hours I am working and have two blocks finished.

Here is the progression of the first sprig block:

I had started with using a blue fabric for the last bit but decided it was too much blue:

Then tried a bit of orange, I liked that much better:

However, I felt the block was a little unbalanced with that one piece of orange so I embroidered some orange bits on the other buds:

I was excited about trying out a "new to me" method of doing a no knot start on the embroidery that my friend Pauline demonstrated on her blog and used two strands of floss, however, I felt it was heavier looking than I wanted, so picked it out and used just one strand. So this is the final block (a lot of goofing around for just one little block LOL):

It's not a HUGE difference but just right :0)

I did get a star block done too:

I will be making a sprig block and then a star block from the same fabrics. I also realized that there are only 20 sprig patterns and the quilt takes 40 so I may be designing some new sprig patterns instead of doing repeats or at least that is the plan right now and is subject to change LOL.

The next sprig block is drafted into EQ and will be printed out this morning and the fabrics will be selected. Two more days of work and I will have 5 off.....lots of stitching is going to happen then Woo Hoo!!

Crispy

A New Adventure Begins.....

2011-07-15T14:24:00.000-05:00

I just got through cutting out the pieces for my first Stars and Sprigs applique block Woo Hoo!!!

Yesterday, I cut apart the HUGE pattern of the applique blocks and drew the Star block in EQ.....I'm putting a 9 patch in each of my stars instead of having that big empty space:

I also drew up the applique block in EQ. I prefer making my stems as one piece when possible. I don't care for the lumpiness of having stems under other stems and I get to avoid making yards and yards of bias stems :0) Also, I can print right onto freezer paper for my templates. This is what the original block looked like:

This is my EQ drawing:

For those of you who do not use your EQ7 very much, the Brush Stroke tool is wonderful for drawing stems. You can make them any width you need, has several options for the ends and change the contour of the stem...making them wide at one end and narrow at the other or both ends or not. A wonderful tool to use when drawing applique.

I will be working the next 10 out of 11 days so it may take me a while to get the first block done but will be back to show you when I have time :0)

Crispy

A Finish and Kids

2011-07-10T10:20:00.001-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I posted last. It's been rather hectic around here. Lord only knows when I'll have time to post again.....

THE INVASION OF THE TEENAGERS

Here are the kids arriving at the airport:

I couldn't get a better picture as they burst through the doors for hugs :0) Connor is waving, then comes Lexie and Peyton. I found out the day before I picked them up that Peyton was bringing a friend with her.....the more the merrier!! My tiny house is overflowing!! We won't even talk about the mountain of dishes each day (I don't have a dish washer), wet towels, ruined cutting mat, broken dishes, the constant running washer & dryer and a grocery bill that must be putting a dent in the national debt.....it's so much fun having them here....really LOL. I'll post other pictures later.

A FINISH

I finally get to cross something off my Goals list. I finished the Wonky House quilt:

Here are the last 3 blocks, I hope you can see them, it shows better in person:

This one has a Gnome and a Flamingo...had to have one with lawn art:

This one has laundry on the line....the idea came to me when the girls were hanging up their bathing suits and towels on the line after being at the community pool :0)

The last block I knew I wanted a big tree with a swing. I was having a hard time coming up with something to put on the left and didn't know who I wanted on the swing. I drug out a bunch of books that are not quilting related but had lots of great "country" type paintings for inspiration. I settled on an abandoned wheel barrow full of carrots and a bunny taking a break on the swing. The trees are just branches with puffs of leaves....I wish I had saved the drawing so you could see it better. Anyway, here's the block:

I had also drug out some coloring books that I bought for applique and the girls decided that they needed to do some coloring. They may be almost 14 but there are still little girls in there, Peyton(L) Lexie(R):

Well I hear the hoard stirring. Time to go make breakfast...gotta have a nice Sunday breakfast....usually they are on their own for breakfast and lunch.

You all have a lovely day and I'll try to post again soon :0)

Crispy

A Wonderful Gift and Other Things

2011-06-24T15:36:00.000-05:00

A WONDERFUL GIFT:

I went to the post office this afternoon, expecting the end of the month bills and nestled amoungst them was a package all the way from Western Australia. My dear friend Joan at Leschenault was making some really cute finger pin cushions and when I commented on them she asked me to pick one. Well I didn't just get one but TWO!!

I was doing some applique a week or so ago and thought how wonderful it would be to have one of these for those tiny applique pins. I can hardly wait to try them out :0)

Now that wasn't the only thing in the package. For those of you who do not follow Joan you are missing out on some truly amazing original quilting designs!! She sent me this mug rug:

At first glance you think, "Gee, What pretty fabric!" This is not store bought fabric friends, this is a Zen Doodle drawn by Joan!! Gosh, I wish I had a tenth of her drawing talent. I am truly honored to now own one of her pieces. Oh, notice the little Lady Bug in the lower left feather? That little lady bug is in all of her quilting designs. It's fun to look at her latest creations and try to find it :0) If only I could get her to sell her designs.......LOL.

Thank you Joan, I will cherish these and you forever and that Bob of mine better not be putting his pop can on that mug rug!!!!

OTHER THINGS:

I have been a real slacker on the quilting front lately. I still have two sides of the border quilting and those 3 house blocks to quilt on the Wonky House. I really haven't many excuses for not quilting other than giving the house a really good cleaning in anticipation of my 13yo niece and 17yo nephew's visit. They are flying out from Seattle and will be here on the 3rd. They were going to come by train but Amtrak has shut down due to the flooding from eastern Montana all the way across northern North Dakota. Lord only knows how many years it will take them to fix the damage to the tracks. Anyhoo, Peyton will stay until the 19th and if Connor can find a summer job here, he will stay until September:

P is going to be really mad at me for showing her picture and to make it even worse I called her P LOL. She has her braces off now and, if I can, I'll post a picture of her new beautiful smile.....she likes to dodge the camera but I'll have her captive for a couple of weeks >:0{ bwahaha!! Bob is really excited.....P likes to bake so she will keep him well supplied with cookies and brownies. I'm hoping that Connor can find a job, it's impossible for him to find one in Seattle. With a little job experience, he will have a better chance to find one this fall.

I did do something a little bit quilt related yesterday. I drafted all the blocks from The Farmer's Wife Sampler book into an EQ project file. In the process, I eliminated all of the extra lines. For example, Block #64 is constructed of all HSTs:

I changed some of the HSTs into triangles:

This changes the piecing order, from how it's done in the book, to constructing the block from the center on out....like a square in a square block but I'll have less seams to deal with. Also, I can print the entire block onto freezer paper, which is my prefered method.

ONE MORE THING:

I want to thank you for writing to make sure we are safe from the flooding out here. Our little town is far from any of the flooding. My heart breaks for the folks in Minot (100 miles north of us). One quarter or more of the city will be hit by the flooding. The dikes are 2-3 feet lower than the expected flood waters, that will hit on Sunday and there is no way they will get them high enough in time. Please keep sending up your prayers for all the people hit by this tragedy in both Minot & Bismarck.

Crispy

More Hand Quilting And A New Book

2011-06-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

I've hit a creative wall on the last 3 house blocks on the Wonky quilt. I know what elements I want to add, I just can't seem to get a combination that works for me. So while I mull them over in my head I decided to work on the border. I hopped onto EQ to figure out the spacing for those house shapes I mentioned a couple of posts ago, but the math was just too much for this old head, so decided on wavy lines. I was sure this would be much easier....NOT LOL. I just couldn't get a good flow around the corners, the main reason being the template was not symetrical. So after drawing and then spritzing the lines off I decided to go with this:

Instead of trying to make it flow around the corners, I just stopped them at the corner and put a swirl in:

Not the best design as far as making it flow but I'm tired of messing with it and it will just have to do :0)

Friends and Bloggers can be a bad influence on me. I had bought the Sylvia's Sampler book, sight unseen and really regretted the purchase, thus I gave it away. I have known about this book for a long time but have resisted buying it because I had never seen the book in person:

I have seen this project on many blogs but when my long time on-line friend Karen started working on this project I was very tempted to buy it, again. THEN I went to my friend Rita's and she was showing the book to her sister. I could hardly wait to get my hands on it to see what it looked like. That did it, I ordered the book. Now I have no idea when I'll start this project, as I want to do the Stars & Sprigs quilt next....but at least I own the book :0)

Do you ever buy a book or pattern and then regret the purchase?

Crispy

Another House Block Done

2011-06-10T14:35:00.001-05:00

I was hanging out with a friend yesterday and managed to get another house block done:

When I got home I spritzed the block to get the blue pen out and you couldn't even tell the bird on the left was a bird. I guess it was too small with too much detail so I picked out the quilting and put a more basic shape in. Looks a lot more like a bird now LOL.

When Bob saw the revision he said that the cat was rather large. I explained that it was a Maine Coon cat just like my friend Cathi's cat Smudge :0) Click on Cathi's name and watch the video of Smudge drinking water, it really cracked me up LOL.

Finally I will have a couple of days, with nothing planned, so I can get a secret project finished and into the mail. Once it's received I will show a picture.

Several had asked how I like having high speed internet....all I can say is "Why the heck did I wait for so long!!!" LOL. The best part is being able to watch videos....the worse part is I don't get my housework done. With the dial up I would get chores done while the blogs would load. Oh well, it will get done eventually :0)

Crispy

You All Were Right....

2011-06-07T11:18:00.000-05:00

I'm leaving the Wonky House quilting alone. This morning I spritzed the spirals to get rid of the blue pen lines and that made all the difference. The quilting on the house block shows much better:

Thank you all for making me see reason LOL. I have too many other projects I want to do, to be spending extra time on this project :0)

In the shower this morning I thought of the quilting motif for the border. Do you remember drawing this shape in elementary school? The idea is to see if you can draw it without lifting your pencil:

This will be perfect for hand quilting, not having to travel the needle to different areas is a bonus :0)

Crispy

Slow Progress And A Squishy

2011-06-06T11:42:00.001-05:00

I've gotten one house block completed:

You know how hind sight is....well I certainly wish I had thought this all out better in the first place. I really should have embroidered the quilting motif or at the very least used different colors of quilting thread so that the pattern shows up better. As much as I love the swirls, they kinda over power the project and I think I will pick out the quilting and redo it in different colored quilting thread. Nothing like making more work for myself LOL. I have a little quilty thing I need to do and have put this aside for a couple of days. That's ok, as I will need to make sure I have a better variety of thread and I can pick it up when I'm in town on Thursday.

I was at the Post Office today mailing some packages and was happy to see that my order from my friend Terri at From Here to Quilternity has arrived. Terri has such wonderful service and if you are into bright fabrics this is the place to go. These were the things I HAD to have :0)

Some of it will be for my Aunt Millie and the Stars & Sprigs projects, some of it was just because I wanted it. Nothin' makes a gal happier than a squishy in the mail.

Well, I guess I better get back to work, just home on my lunch break. You all have a great day!!

Crispy

Step One Done.....

2011-06-03T09:42:00.000-05:00

I finished up the out line and in the ditch stitching on the Wonky Houses quilt, I'm soooo in love with the swirls!!

Here are a few of the houses. The other two don't have details on them yet and I haven't decided if I will add any more to these three:
Excuse the random thread. I decided I liked the circle without additional quilting, so also excuse the blue line that wasn't quilted:

I might add something to the poofy part above the door:

I was going to follow the vertical lines in the roof but felt they really didn't need to be done, quilted the horizontal lines and let the fabric do the rest:

Pam from Mama Spark's World, who is the designer of these cute houses, and I were exchanging e-mails the other day when I asked her what was her inspiration for the houses. She explained that there was a fabric exchange with her guild and she decided to make houses. She ironed fabric to fusible, started to cut, switched parts around and then added cute rick rack and such. You can see her adorable creation here and also download the patterns, just leave her a note to thank her :0)

She likened the process to making your own color forms and playing with them and mentioned that it would be a fun project to do with Saige. Something I will definitely do when Saige gets beyond the Happy Face stage of her drawing abilities LOL. Now this all got me to thinking.....wouldn't it be fun to ask some little kids to draw what they think would look good on these blocks? Well, I could have done that if I knew any little kids, and school is out, so I can't ask the teacher if I could have the kids help me. So this morning I printed out one of the blocks and started drawing simple designs that are far from professional (actually this all my drawing capabilities allow LOL). This is what I came up with and I think it fits the wonkiness of the blocks:

I haven't even touched the Stars & Sprigs because I am having so much fun with this quilt :o)

Crispy

Making Some Quilting Progress!!

2011-05-29T11:56:00.002-05:00

I have the Wonky House quilt into the hoop and have started the hand quilting. I'm happy to report that I'm not sick of hand quilting (I was afraid the NYB ruined my favorite quilting process). I haven't decided how I want to quilt the house blocks so am just doing the outline and in the ditch parts for now:

I was happy to find a piece of Moda Marble in my stash for the backing. I was going to use the left over fat quarters from the line of fabric I used for the houses but wasn't excited about piecing the back and having those extra seams to quilt through. Good thing I went shopping in my stash :0)

I have a scrapbooking template that I used for the swirl in the 9 patch squares (no I don't scrapbook, I just thought the shapes on the template would be great for quilting). I love the movement it gives these blocks:

The backing fabric for the Stars & Sprigs is in the dryer and I hope to get one sprig and one star block started today and maybe even finished tomorrow.

It sure is wonderful being excited about quilting again!!

There are so many awful weather related things going on in the world. Please add the folks in Bismarck that are being flooded out due to record releases of water from the dams to your prayers. This will be the worse flooding in history for Bismarck and could possible last well into July. I am thankful that I will be high and dry in my little town, but I was shocked to see how high the Missouri River is right now let alone after the bigger water releases.

Thank You,

Crispy

I'm Such A Good Shopper.....

2011-05-27T16:47:00.002-05:00

I ran into town this morning to see if I could find background fabric for my Stars & Sprigs quilt and actually found the perfect one at the first shop I went too!! You can click on the picture to see it better but the color is pretty true...maybe a little creamier but not much. You will notice that a few bright fats ended up coming home with me too :0)

I also picked up some batting for the Wonky House quilt as none of my scrap batting pieces were big enough and I didn't feel like sewing batting together. Now I need to figure out the backing and get it sandwiched tonight.

I've been thinking about how I will hand quilt this piece. I think the house blocks need some trees and fences and flowers. We'll see what I end up doing....

Crispy - who is really impressed that I posted two days in a row....but don't get used to it LOL.

A This, That and The Other Thing Type Post....

2011-05-26T15:57:00.001-05:00

So I guess you all have been wondering what I have been up to lately, besides traveling to Seattle and working 6 days straight. Here is what I have been doing and what I plan on doing and what has changed as of today.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING.....

On my trip to Seattle I took that dang blasted NYB quilt with me to work on. I didn't put a single stitch into it, though it served nicely as a blankie on the train. Instead I knitted during my whole trip. I made a pretty pair of socks for my sister, which I forgot to take a picture of, but they came out so pretty and she really loves them. I also taught myself how to knit continental style, which is holding the yarn in my left hand. This took me 3 days to conquer and now I can do it without any thought. I made all these little preemie hats to donate to the local hospital. They are so soft and sweet :0)

WHAT I PLAN ON DOING.....

Though the knitting has been a lot of fun and I will probably always have something on the needles, I find that my fingers are itching to get back into quilting. I have finally figured out what has been killing my quilting mojo, it's that the dang blasted NYB quilt. I have given myself permission to shove it back into the closet with the Dear Jane, both of which will not be seeing the light of day until next winter (or even longer) and work on something else. The first something else will be to hand quilt the Wonky House quilt:

I'm in the mood for something more light hearted than that dang blasted NYB and this will fit the bill nicely.

I'm also going shopping this week for back ground fabric so I can start the Stars and Sprigs quilt:

I'm going to do this in all brights and have a fine collection to start with, though I may have to pick up more IF I "accidentally" find something new :0) This project has both applique and hand piecing so it should keep me motivated for a long time!

WHAT HAS CHANGED AS OF TODAY....

I have finally taken a small step into the 21st century and upgraded to broadband internet today WHOO HOO!! As of Saturday, May 28th, I will be shutting down my Net Zero account, so please change my e-mail address to:

crispybrin[at]westriv[dot]com

Next step will be to upgrade my cable so I can have a DVR and maybe even someday soon I'll actually get a cell phone LOL.

ONE MORE THING.....

I have to show you what I received in the mail the other day. Many of you know Betsy at Quilting Fiesta. Well, she won the Roseville Album pattern in my giveaway and as a thank you she sent me these lovely gifts. First this pretty towel which I promptly hung on my antique gas stove:

She also sent me this cute tote pattern:

I was so happy that she won the pattern as she told me that she has been coveting it for a year. It's always nice to know something is really needed :0)

Well, I guess that's all I have to report on right now. I'll be back if I find something irresistable at the quilt shops :0)

Crispy

It's All About Saigey

2011-05-23T11:16:00.000-05:00

Here are some pictures I took of Saigey while I was in Seattle...feel free to mosey along as this post is mostly for family. I'll blog about other stuff in a couple of days :0) I really need to keep my camera set on the "children" setting. So many pictures came out blurry.....bummer!!

Here are pictures taken at the Little Gym that Saigey goes to each Friday:

There is lots of jumping...

Climbing....

Balancing on the balance beam and grinning at Gramma....

Dangling..... She always let go with her hands at the wrong time and would land right on her head. Good thing there was lots of padding LOL

All worn out from chasing bubbles.....I see she missed a couple right behind her.

On her birthday she opened her gifts from Gramma. She's so funny, she has to open one package at a time, play with it and then open the next one.
As soon as she opened the doll quilt, she ran into her room and got Baby all covered up....

She then wheeled the bed out to the living room....

Then set up Baby on the floor....

She finally opened the package with the onesies for Baby and Daddy helped get Baby changed into her new duds....

Then she had to get the hat that Gramma made put on.....I didn't get a picture of Baby all dressed up as Saige tore off to her bedroom again :0)

The day of her birthday dawned dark and VERY rainy....not surprising for Seattle. I didn't get many pictures as the kids were all outside of the covered picnic area playing in the mud puddles and Gramma wasn't dressed for getting drenched LOL. I loved this picture of Saigey carrying in all the balloons....

Needless to say, she had a wonderful time and was exhausted later in the evening....Daddy makes a good leaning post....

She finally grabbed Baby, a pillow and a blanket and sacked out on the floor....

My BIL brought these adorable Lady Bug umbrellas for all the little kids. Saigey had to bring her's to day care the next day....

All in all I had a wonderful trip, except for the 7 hour delay of my train in Minot ND due to the flooding in the eastern side of the state and having to be bussed from Spokane WA to Seattle because the train had to head back east to try to get back on schedule.

I can hardly wait to go back again in October/November. I love and miss my family so.

Crispy

There are things that I don't say.....

2011-04-29T17:12:00.001-05:00

My blogger buddy Pam posted a link to the Stitched In Color blog posting. I found it really interesting reading most of the comments....there are over 400 of them but are fun to read. I got to wondering if any of the commenter actually put their feelings on their blogs and decided to do it on mine, so here goes:

* I don't like cutesy fabrics nor do I own any civil war fabrics. I have seen lovely quilts made with these, they just aren't my cuppa tea.

* Just because I make all my quilts by hand does NOT make me better than anyone else. The first quilt I ever made was a Dresden Plate and it made sense to me to just mark my lines to sew it together and applique them onto the background. I found that I loved the process so much, it's the only way I will make a quilt.

* I really hate blogs that have music on them. Thankfully I have slow dial up so I know which blogs that I have to read and comment on quickly, before the player loads.

* It always makes me sad when someone comments on my blog and they are a "no-reply commenter" and I can't send them a thank you or especially answer a question.

* I will never do another swap because I always end up with crap I can't use without taking it all apart and remaking it.

* Most Mystery quilts are ugly and I always feel so bad for the participants who wasted time & fabric on them. I guess that's why they are a mystery...

* Bob and I are not married but we have been happily living in sin for over 34 years.

* I'm a smoker and I HATE that about myself!!

* I'm counting the months (19) until I retire and can quilt/knit/cross stitch/embroider full time!

* I love it when people post great videos they find on YouTube like my friend Cathi did. Let's see if I can get it to load up:

I'm working the next 4 days then heading off to Seattle, so this will be my last post for a couple of weeks. Catch ya'll later :0)

Crispy

A Win and Some Doll Hats

2011-04-26T09:52:00.001-05:00

A WIN

A while back I won a drawing at my friend Lena's blog. She was giving away some cute little makeup bags and this is the one that I won:

I will be taking this with me on the train next week and will hold my hand quilting supplies.

Now I must have been VERY good as she sent me some other wonderful things. First is this adorable fabric basket:

It is now sitting next to may chair holding all my sewing supplies:

I did have a basket there but it was too big and my yarn kept snagging it so this is going to work MUCH better. I can also balance my knitting chart against it too :0)

She also sent me a beautiful mug rug. The flower in the corner is what I call the "Lena Flower", a flower she designed and uses occasionally in her various projects.....love the embroidered bee too :0) Also, she included one of her Christmas Elves wall hangings. Isn't he wonderful?

Thank you Lena, my dear friend. I have been truly blessed having you in my life :0)

SOME DOLL HATS

After finding out that the doll hat I made for Saigey's doll was a little bit small, I made some adjustments, bought some pastel yarn and made a couple new ones:

I really love how these turned out. The pattern is from Carrisaknits. I changed the pattern a little. She had only one row of hearts and diamonds but I added more since there was plenty of room to do it and it made the knitting more interesting. I'm sure these will fit much better.

Well, I better quit typing....this has become a very long post LOL.

Have a lovely day :0)

Crispy

A "Little" Knitting and Some Quilting

2011-04-21T14:36:00.000-05:00

For Saige's birthday I wanted to make some knitted hats for her doll but wasn't sure about size. I knitted up a quick hat (pattern from Carissaknits) using smaller thread and needles as a test and sent it with Saige's Easter package:

I'll make the appropriate adjustments as my DIL said it was a tish small and make some more. I also plan on using all of my left over yarns to make preemie hats for the local hospital. I've also been informed that the socks I made for Saige were a big hit too and she has been practicing twirling on the hardwood floors so she can show me when I get there LOL.

I've been hand quilting on the NYB too and have gotten another 3 blocks done and the next one started (still a long way to go yet):

I did get a little distracted by starting another pair of socks so I'm not hand quilting as much as I planned on and now I have a few little hats to make. I am taking the NYB with me to Seattle so it will get worked on while I'm hanging out with the family.

I've also been re-evaluating some of my patterns and have decided to have a give away. It's about time!!! I haven't had one of those before. I'll post the give away on Saturday so stay tuned :0)

Crispy

Hold Onto Your Hats.......Crispy Has A Finish!!!!

2011-04-15T14:45:00.000-05:00

Yep, I have a finish....boy it's been such a long time since I have been able to say that. Granted it's not an old UFO....it's just Saigey's doll quilt (finished measurements 15x21"):

The quilt is much brighter than it appears in this picture.

I love the fabric I put on the back. I was cutting up the left over fabric and was going to toss the scraps of cotton batting but decided to make a little pillow to go with the quilt:

The lavendar binding doesn't do much for the back but was the best choice for the front. I tried several pinks and then a darker purple but the lavendar made the front so much brighter.

I was planning on hand quilting on the NYB again but we got 9"s of snow last night and had to move that HEAVY wet stuff, which didn't do my shoulder much good. I had put all the snow shovels away last week except one that I kept by the back door. I'm so glad I kept that one out. We now have 3 shovels by the back door and they will stay there until June (we did have snow on June 6th 2009). So instead of doing more hand quilting I took up my knitting needles and am making little caps for Saige's dolly. I picked up a couple of onesies for dolly too. I sure hope Saige doesn't mind that her birthday presents will all used by dolly LOL.

You all have a wonderful weekend :0)

Crispy

The Doll Quilt & E-Mail Woes.....Again

2011-04-07T12:47:00.000-05:00

I have made some progress on the Doll Quilt. I have the rest of today (after being good and doing some housework around here) and Friday & Saturday available to get the top finished and start quilting it:

As I was stitching down the circles (which I should have made a tish smaller) I noticed that the seams would be in my way when I start hand quilting this piece. In order to reduce the bulk, I trimmed back the top seams only. This is called Grading The Seam and is an old tailors trick.

I look forward to getting the top together. I'm hoping I will have enough time to make a second doll quilt before I leave for Seattle on May 4th. If not, that's ok, I'll just make some more to send as Christmas presents :0)

E-MAIL WOES

Yesterday in the early morning hours, I read all your blog posts and left my usual comments. When I checked my e-mail after I got home yesterday, I didn't have a single e-mail. Normally, when I comment on your blogs, you graciously respond. I have a feeling that any responses you sent to me bounced back to you. IF you still have those bounced mails would you please forward them to abuse@support.netzero.net. I did mention to them that I would be happy to send them copies of the bounced e-mails IF I WAS GETTING ANY E-MAILS...sheesh!!

I hope to get my provider updated to high speed soon so I quit having these issues with Netzero blocking all my mail. I haven't read your blogs yet and will head over shortly to do so. If your response to me bounces, again, please forward the whole mail to the above address.

Thank you for your help with this @%%&^&$%#@@$*(()% provider I'm using :0)

Crispy

Doll Quilt and A Virgin Cut

2011-03-31T14:53:00.000-05:00

I have finally gotten all 282 pieces for the doll quilt cut out and have started to piece it together....by hand :0) It took quite a while to get those little 1" squares cut out since I raided every bit of purple I own and fussy cutted where I could. I don't have that much purple so the fabrics will get repeated, but as I cut them out, I tossed them into a paper sack and am using whatever I draw out, as long as no two pieces are together. Two blocks done, except for appliquing the circles down:

See that little square in the lower left? This is the first time I have cut into this fabric. Cathi and I were talking about owning fabric we have never cut into. I have these 3 pieces from Rose & Hubble's London Collection that I purchased maybe 15 years ago:

You would have to feel these to believe them. They are thin and silky and just luscious to run your hands over. I don't know why I have never used them other than they are so very thin and I'm sure they will wear out much faster than any other fabric. I'm going to have to think of some wall hangings to make with them.

Do you have fabrics that you have never cut into because you just CAN'T? I would love to see them :0)

Crispy

Doll Quilt Disaster, Hand Quilting the NYB and A Little About Socks

2011-03-28T10:30:00.000-05:00

THE GREAT DOLL QUILT DISASTER

I've never admitted having a great memory, it's usually the size of a gnat's, but boy was it bad remembering what it was like working with that Polish Apple fabric!!! I'm surprised that I continued quilting after I made our bed size quilt from this stuff 20 years ago LOL. After spending a chunk of Saturday and a bigger chunk of Sunday cutting out freezer paper templates and fabric for these 2" blocks, I finally settled down for some lovely hand piecing.....yeah right! After struggling to get the first block made I gave up on hand piecing. I thought "Hey, I could do this on my sewing machine, after all I already have all the sewing lines drawn. How easy it would be, just follow the lines!!".....yeah right again. Here is one of the blocks. I didn't even care that my center wasn't perfect, Saigey would never notice LOL (Oh, don't worry about the edges not lining up, when hand piecing, I don't sweat the 1/4" seam allowance rule, besides I was following my sewing lines....insert eye roll here):

Actually, of the 8 blocks I made, some of the centers came out perfect. However, when I went to sew them to the solid squares there was a bit of a difference in size of blocks:

Yes, I know I could have squared things up but when I hand piece I never have this problem and thus feel it is time wasted having to do this process. So I'm back to the drawing board on the first doll quilt. I've changed my mind on the design and will be using the good quality COTTON scraps to make the next one. I'll show a picture in a couple of days :0)

HAND QUILTING THE NYB

Working on the NYB in short spurts during the day has actually started to show some progress. I almost have the 4 center blocks done. This is a slow process and will take me forever to finish but it's wonderful to be able to do my favorite part of the quilting:

The quilting isn't perfect with all those seams I have to stitch next to and in some cases through, but I don't care. Though it's a pretty quilt, I'm tired of looking at it and just want to get 'er done!!

A LITTLE ABOUT SOCKS

I finished the socks for my niece. This was a very easy pattern to follow with lovely results. I should be getting them in the mail to her this week:

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I tried a different method for turning the heel on a sock. I have found that I like the fit of the Short Row Heels more than the standard method of picking up gussets. These were "practice the technique" socks I made and the one on the left is the one with a standard heel (it's also a bit big). The one on the right is a perfect fitting sock with the Short Row Heel.

Ignoring the bad fit of the left sock, you can see that the right sock has a nicer look to it IMHO. For those of you that knit, you might want to try this method, just click on the link above and scroll down to the two videos on Short Row Heels. Michelle has lots of other wonderful knitting videos on her site too.

I will always have socks on my needles, in fact I started a plain pair for the "Master of the House" (cracks me up when he says this ROFL). They are a great pick up and put down project when I just have a few minutes to kill.

Well, I'm off to draft up my new idea on the doll quilt, so I know how many pieces I have to cut out.....again...... :0)

Crispy

Another Win, A Plan For A Doll Quilt and Spring In ND

2011-03-24T14:55:00.000-05:00

ANOTHER WIN

I very rarely participate in giveaways in Blogland but boy have I been on a lucky streak with them lately (3 out of 4)!! Cindy at Sew Cindy had another of her one day giveaways and I won these great little Zip-It Bags:

Look at the pretty lining fabric:

The larger one is already holding some of my new knitting tools :0) Cindy has these great little one day giveaways every now and again, so go on over and hang out. Besides, she is one of my favorite blogger buddies :0)

A PLAN FOR A DOLL QUILT

Many of my bloggy buddies have been worried about my lack of quilting lately LOL. I do think about quilting all the time, even though I have been mostly knitting lately (hmmmm maybe that's why I have to do so much ripping out). I am bound and determined to get my hand quilting UFOs caught up before working on applique projects, but my shoulder is not allowing me to hand quilt for hours on end. Carrie at A Passion For Applique has had a very busy schedule lately and has started to set a timer for 30 minutes a day dedicated to quilting. I'm going to follow her example and do hand quilting for short periods each day. I should be making some progress this way.

I have been thinking about a couple of doll quilts for Saigey's birthday in May and have finally hit on a plan. I bought these fabrics many many many years ago and are called Polished Apple which is a cotton/poly blend fabric.

I used them when I made the Ugly Quilt back in my first year of quilting, before I knew that I should be using cotton fabrics. I do remember that I didn't have any problem hand sewing with them. I'm thinking 1 or 2" pinwheel blocks alternated with solid blocks and another doing little 4 patches. I'm also going to quilt them on my little featherweight. If I mess up, Saigey will never notice LOL. I plan on starting these tomorrow :0)

SPRING IN NORTH DAKOTA

I have really loved seeing all the flowers blooming across the US. We don't get to see flowers this early in the Spring. We were seeing the snow starting to melt and I saw my first Robin on Saturday. The customers were coming in smiling because the sun has been shining and they are hearing Meadowlarks in the pastures. Then we got hammered with another blizard.

Bob's little car was outside for only the first couple hours of the storm and all the grass, that was beginning to show around the edges, is now under 8-12"s of snow.

This is the first time we have seen icycles on the tree. It looks really pretty in the sun :o)

They keep saying that Spring is coming soon but I'm not buying into it yet!!

Crispy

It's A Sad Sad Thing When.....

2011-03-18T14:48:00.000-05:00

You go to town, go to every LQS and fabric store in town and come home with NOTHING!!!! Granted, I did have specific fabrics that I wanted to purchase. I was looking for architectural/landscape type fabrics for the All Around The Town (Sue Garmon) pattern, but to not have ANY fabric jump into my arms is WRONG!!

My town is seriously lacking in the types of fabrics I was looking for too. So as I was doing the grocery shopping, I got to thinking that maybe I would do it all in bright Kaffe, Mably type fabrics. A fun idea, but it would be hard to add the little extras I want to do and have them show up on the quilt with all that busy fabric.

On the long drive home, it popped into my head that I have almost every color of solid fabric. I could use those and then embroider and embellish to my hearts desire. I haven't embroidered in years but I do have a great book of stitches that would work great for the idea that is brewing in my head.

Whew, at least I have come up with a solid idea for this project (no pun intended). However, I'm seriously thinking I'm in need of help. To not buy a single piece of fabric, I gotta be really sick in the head!!! :0{

Crispy

A Bit Of Reorganizing

2011-03-12T12:15:00.000-06:00

I know I haven't posted in a while but it has been crazy busy around here lately and I haven't had much to show. I did get the other sock for my niece finished and started another pair. The current socks are my first adventure into following a knitting chart and it was fun to make. I'm not happy with how it fits and the way the pattern had the heel constructed was a bit yucky but it's for me so I don't really care.

My new needles came while making the above sock and I could hardly wait to try them out. The method used is called Magic Loop which requires circular needles with a long cable. I wish I had known about this method right off. It's much nicer using one circular needle instead of 4 double pointed needles. I'm working on the mate for the above sock right now. I also am making the heel using a method called a Short Heel. Connie told me about this method and gave me a link to videos at Michelle's knitting site, KnitPurlHunter.com, of course I had to try it. I'm not far enough along on this sock to decide if it's the way I want to do heels from now on but it sure is much easier than picking up gussets.

As for the reorganizing, I purchased one of those plastic containers that fits under the bed for all my fat quarters. I have LOTS of fat quarters and I don't even have them all in the container yet as I have my Kaffee & Mably type fabrics set aside for the Aunt Millie and the Kim McLean projects. That stack sitting on top are 7" squares of Hoffman Watercolor batiks and will reside in the closet with the rest of my batiks. Those are being held separate for a Patricia Campbell Jacobean project I'm bound and determined to make some day. It sure is nice to be able to see all the fat quarters at a glance instead of taking out 10 stacks of them to find the "perfect" fabric.

I also found some scraps that need to be put in the scrap bucket. I was quite surprised, this container wasn't even messy, so I could quickly add the new scraps. Looking at the well organized fabrics in this bucket has gotten me thinking of making some doll quilts for Saigey. Her birthday is coming up in May......

Today I will iron the stack of washed fabric that has been sitting on the guest bed for ages and get those put away. Then I will organize the fabrics I pulled that will go with the Around the Town pattern I won. I don't have many landscape type fabrics so I will have to be on the look out for some more. I also need to organize the fabrics for Kim McLean's Lollipop Trees pattern and get those put away too.

I think I'm starting to get in the mood for some quilting. I would love to do some hand quilting but my shoulder still won't allow it right now. Maybe I'll get on EQ and design those doll quilts.....but first to deal with the snow drifts from yesterday....Bummer!!

Crispy

A Major Win!!!!

2011-03-01T15:41:00.000-06:00

No I didn't win a "Leg Lamp" like the one in my side bar...thank goodness LOL. What I did win was a fantastic pattern!!

My friend Teresa has been working on this pattern for ages and I immediately fell in love with it. However, the price tag was keeping me from ordering it. Teresa decided that since she was finished with her creation she would have a give-away and I WON!!! Woo Hoo!!!

Run, don't walk over to Teresa's blog to see what she did with this wonderful pattern. This gal has a WONDERFUL imagination and always makes me smile at every visit. While you are there, check out her Civil War Bride quilt pictures in her side bar too. Lots of changes made to make it hers.

Thank you sooooo much Teresa!! I'm going to have so much fun with this long term project (I even started tracing the first block onto freezer paper last night) :0)

Crispy

Knitting and Wait For It............

2011-02-26T11:37:00.001-06:00

I finished one sock for my niece Peyton:

I'm debating on waiting for some different type of needles to make the second one or I just may go ahead and make the second one then start a new pair when the new needles get here. It all depends on......Wait For It......

In my last post I mentioned that I had put the cross stitch project away and put my NYB back into the hoop. I haven't shown the pretty backing fabric I'm using, I really love it:

I only have 3 blocks hand quilted on it. I really did try to put some stitches into it but I messed up my shoulder during the "winter thaw" by shoveling snow and chipping away at the ice that always happens during the thaw. Reaching under my 12" hoop hurts so I put it back into the drawer for now. So what I decided to do.....Wait For It.....

Remember the Wonky House/9 Patch projects that I combined?

Well, it's been hanging on my design wall for ages and the more I looked at it the more I didn't like it. I've been mulling over this project, in my head, for a while and decided to take off the 9 patches. So what have I been doing?.....Wait For It......

I've been hand piecing!!!!! Yep, back to some quilting and I'm having a wonderful time of it. So what am I working on?......Wait For It.....
..........
..........
..........
..........
..........
..........

A new and improved Wonky House project! I like this so much more:

I was so out of practice on quilting procedures that I forgot to lay fabric next to the project, when auditioning border fabrics, BEFORE I whacked up a bunch of Pink fabric that I thought would look good....it didn't. I'm in the process of sewing the border strips together and should have the borders on by the end of the day. Another hand quilting project to put in the growing pile.

What will I work on next......Wait For It..... :o)

Crispy

Yes I'm Still Around....

2011-02-17T15:17:00.001-06:00

I'm still playing with knitting socks. I just realized that I'm not only a Slow Quilter but even a SlowER Knitter. It's been a whole month since my short lesson with my niece Denise and I haven't gone a day without the needles in my hands and what do I have to show for this endeavor? One completed pair of socks (see previous post) and one and one half pair of socks for my grand daughter. In the mean time, I have knitted and tore apart 3 socks and have spent hours reading lessons and viewing videos on the internet.

So here is the one sock I have finished for Saigey. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any proper measurements, so it won't fit her until she's 6 or 7 (she's almost 3) but I'm really pleased with the final results:

One of the things that I have learned is there's an easy side of a sock when picking up the gusset stitches for attaching the heel flap to the side of the sock and knitting decreases for the instep. This is the easy side and it turned out perfectly:

The other side is much harder to pick up great gusset stitches, the proper leaning decrease stitches for the instep, that look as nice as the easy side, and closing up that gusset hole:

I have really improved since the green socks and have stumbled onto how to eliminate the ladder in the stitches that shows up when knitting with 3 or 4 double pointed needles (it was as simple as holding my needle in the right position). I know, I really shouldn't be so OCD about knitting socks perfectly, especially for a child, but I can't help myself LOL. So after I finish this current pair of socks, I will be starting another pair. I also need to stop by my LKS (local knit shop) and see if she can give me some pointers and hopefully sign up for a class or two :0)

On the quilting front, well not much is happening BUT I did put the NYB back into the hoop and it's now by my chair. Who knows, I might even get some stitches into it soon.....shocker!!!!

Crispy

Now There Are Two....

2011-02-04T14:49:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm still not quilting but I did have a finish. I finally quit fooling around with that second sock and finished it up.

I have improved how I handled some of the bad areas. Here they are side by side, the original sock on top:

I changed a few other things that weren't so obvious and I have a few more things I want to try on the next pair. Yep, I bought more yarn and am going to be making a couple more pair of socks.

I would also like to thank you knitters out there who have give me so many encouraging words on my first attempt and for all the suggestions. I would love to hear how you handle the gussets. Do you pick up both loops or just the front one? On the second sock, I picked up the front loop and did a kbl which really improved the look. I think I will try this by going through both loops on the next one. There are a couple more ways of decreasing that I will be trying too. Again I would appreciate hearing how you have conquered some of the more challenging parts of knitting a sock :0)

While I was waiting for the opportunity to buy more yarn and for those moments when I got frustrated with the second sock, I worked on some cross stitching. I had taken this project with me when I went to Seattle and it never got put away so was easy to just pick up now and again. It went from this:

To this:

So it went from 1/3rd done to 1/2 way done. It will be put away to wait for the next trip to Seattle in May. If I put it away, it will force me to pick up the NYB and finish hand quilting on it :0)

So for you non-knitters who follow my blog, the next few posts will probably be knitting related but quilting IS still my first love and I will eventually get back to it.....I promise LOL.

Crispy

One Done, One To Go....

2011-01-29T15:55:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm done with the one sock and I'm still not happy with it but I'm not taking it apart again. This is a picture of the "bad" side and why I'm not happy:

See how that one area looks like alligator teeth?

It also happened by the toe:

I believe this is because of the type of stitch used to do the decreases. Also, the larger hole happened when when picking up loops to knit down the heel flap. I'll work more on these two areas on the next sock. My niece told me there are many different ways to do increases and decreases and I think I've found a site that will help me with that area and mentally I have a solution to that large hole...we'll see if I actually found a solution.

This is a picture of the same area on the other side of the sock using a different decrease stitch....so much nicer looking:

I still had that bigger hole on this side too.

I am much happier with the even stitches I managed on this sock so that is a good thing and I actually have learned a lot.....I just didn't execute it all very well LOL.

So I'm off to start the second sock to see if I have things worked out right in my head. Of course with my memory, I may totally forget everything I learned LOL.

Crispy

The Enablers......

2011-01-27T16:50:00.001-06:00

I haven't been doing much in quilting lately because of a group of Enablers. First there was Terri, she was making so many lovely knitted socks and I was lucky to be the recipient of a pair.

They are so warm and toasty in this cold part of the US I live in.

Then there is Helen (no blog), who is Nanci's private quilting teacher. She sent me a sock pattern that her family has been making for years. Thank you again Helen for sending me a pattern that isn't too difficult for this old brain to wrap it's self around and for all the support!! :o)

Finally there is my niece Denise (just a family blog), who had offered to re-teach me to knit (it's been 35 years since I have picked up knitting needles). We made a date to meet at her mom's (my sister) house for a lesson while I was in Seattle. This private lesson grew to include my sister, my niece Peyton (who I had gone out to see) and my DIL Melody. My sweet niece gave me a ball of sock yarn and a set of needles and got me started, in between teaching every one else and refereeing the many fights that broke out between her two little ones (3yo & 18mo) and Saigey (2.5yo).

So between Monday of last week and last Monday, I got one sock made.

15 minutes after this picture was taken, I totally tore the sock apart and started over. I can hear my niece Peyton gasping, as she witnessed me tearing this sock apart many many times while we were staying with my sister and she felt I should have been upset restarting all those times.....naw, I wanted to do it right. Last night I started knitting it back up and have the leg part done so far :0) Oh, I should say that I got stuck on the heel turning part while I was on the train ride home and found a young lady who was knitting and she helped me through that part. Gotta love traveling on a train!!

I've also been working on that cross stitch project that I took with me to Seattle. This is where my sister and I became enablers. Peyton just couldn't get the hang of knitting so we suggested cross stitch. My sis brought out a HUGE box of cross stitch kits, Peyton selected one and I got her started. So far she says that she is having fun working on it even though she has had to unstitch some areas.....part of the learning process kiddo.

Anyway, I should be working on that NYB wall hanging and I have quilted a little bit of it, but I don't want to!! LOL I knew if I learned to knit again I would get distracted. It's ok, I haven't lost my love of quilting and have been thinking of some changes to the Wonky House project I want to do but first I MUST perfect that knitting thing :0)

I was a bad gramma and didn't take any pictures of my Saigey (didn't have my camera when I was staying with them) but I did get this adorable picture of Denise, her husband Brett and little Emma, who was watching (and drooling on) a movie on her mom's phone.

I'll show a picture of the completed socks as soon as they are finished :0)

Crispy

PS - Sorry I have been slow in responding to e-mails. I worked the next 4 days after I got home and yesterday was chore day and this morning was for shopping, balancing the check book and doing our income taxes. The next 3 days are for knitting and getting back to my usual computer routine :0)

NYB Ready For Hand Quilting

2011-01-08T17:24:00.000-06:00

I finished sewing on the border and have the sandwich all pin basted. The border fabric looks darker than it really is. It's a dark brown background with medium brown swirls and looks really nice in person:

The backing fabric is a dark gold. I'll show all that when it's all quilted up. I cut the border at 6 inches but the scrap piece of batting may shift enough when I quilt the center that I may have to trim the border back a bit. We'll see how it goes :0)

I am going to be missing from blog land for a couple of weeks. I'm leaving for Seattle on Monday at the request of my 13yo niece. There has been some drama in her family and she would like me to be there for a little while. There isn't a whole lot I can do for her except to show my support.

Of course while I'm there I will be seeing a lot of these two lovely girls:

And then there is the goofy side that is always brought out by my son (mama is so proud LOL).

I don't know how often I will be on the internet but I'll try to get caught up once in a while :0)

Oh, my new header picture is Saige's Santa picture. All she asked for Christmas was candy and if you look closely, it looks like she was munching on some chocolate LOL.

Crispy

In Limbo.....

2011-01-05T13:59:00.001-06:00

I have the NYB blocks sewn together but I'm stalled on it until Friday when I make my weekly trip to town. I don't often buy large pieces of fabric and I have nothing that will work for the border. In sewing this top together I was reminded of my least favorite part of quilting. Normally I sew the top together as I finish the blocks, as I hate to sew long seams. Since I didn't know how I was going to set these blocks I had to leave it for last. It took me 3 days to sew those 25 blocks into a top, most of which was just plain procrastination LOL.

Yesterday I wandered around my mess in the guest bedroom looking for something to work on for a couple of days and then pulled some books off the shelf looking for some inspiration and couldn't settle on a thing. I even contemplated ironing the stack of fabrics I recently washed and that didn't even appeal. Usually when I can't settle on something quilty I resort to cross stitching. I found this project buried in the bottom of a drawer:

I knew I had this LONG term project laying around but had forgotten where I hid it :0) So I'll put a few stitches into this until I can get the borders onto the NYB. Oh, the best part of pulling this project out is I found my second pair of 4" Gingher embroidery scissors that I thought my house ate!!

Back in the days when I hung out on the About.com quilting forum, Sophie ran a monthly Block Lotto. Each month Sophie would tell us what block/fabrics to use and based on the number of blocks made, would have several winners. I didn't always join in but it was fun to see what was being made and who won. Sophie has been running this for around 9 years and finally moved it into the blogging world. This month they are working on a wonky coin type quilt. Go on over and join the fun....I won't be participating this month so it will increase your chances AND newbies tend to be amoung the winners :0)

Well, I guess I'll go add the Block Lotto logo to my side bar and get those goals for 2011 listed on my blog......

Crispy

A Year in Retrospect 2010 - Just Links, No Photos

2010-12-31T14:53:00.000-06:00

A few of the blogs I follow had postings of what was accomplished in 2010. I thought it would be fun to go through my posts this year and see what I had played with and even, in a few instances, actually completed.

AUNT MILLIES GARDEN - I only have 2 more blocks on this one to do and then the border.
DEAR JANE/DUTCH TREAT/QUILTED DIAMONDS PROJECT - I don't know what I'm going to do with this one but it's not going to get much bigger.
THE BALTIMORE - One of the few finishes :0)
TEA WALLETS - I actually got out the ol' sewing machine and made something!!
HUG BLOCKS - I contributed to a good cause with a couple of blocks and 18 yards of backing fabric. I really need to work on this, there are other causes that need help too.
CHRISTMAS TOPPER - A forgotten and then found and then actually finished project.
9 PATCHES - A "that sounds like fun" project that really didn't get very far but was put to good use on my Wonky House project below.
HAND PIECING WITH CRISPY - This was a biggie!! I was so excited to finally launch my hand piecing blog. It amazes me that over 3000 people have gone to check it out. I still need to add that NYB bonus block. I'll get that done in 2011 :0)
ROW ROBIN QUILT - Another finish!! Goodness that makes 2 BIG projects that got finished this year!!
WONKY HOUSES - I figured out what to do with some houses from Mama Spark's, My Neighborhood BOM and use up those 9 patches too. Still need to put a border on it and then quilt it. A project for 2011. I also have a new plan for making these cute little house. I'm not sure when I will get started on it but I hope some time in 2011 :0)
NEW YORK BEAUTY BOM - You all know about this one. I'm going to continue with this project until it all done :0)

Gee, I guess I did quite a bit of quilting this year. Of course catching up on many UFO's makes it look much better than it actually was....no start to finish in 2010 for me LOL.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for hanging out at my blog. It still amazes me that so many come to visit :0) I wish for you all a Happy, Healthy and Quilty NEW YEAR!!

Crispy

Last Block Is Done!!!

2010-12-30T15:20:00.000-06:00

I finished up the last block this afternoon....Woo Hoo!!

I've been playing with the layout of the blocks for the last hour or so. This is what the designer envisioned:

Of course the values for the blocks are different than what she used but there were a few things I didn't care for. The blocks were all pointing to the outside in the four corners and I felt they needed to point in to keep the eye towards the other blocks. There were "floating" blocks in the upper left and lower right, diagonal to the corner blocks. In the opposite corners the design looked chopped off because of the corner blocks being turned away. Anyway, this is what I ended up with:

Here they are side by side....her's on the left, mine on the right:

Am I completely happy with this project....no, but I am satisfied. I've learned that in order to really pull off a great NYB quilt you need to know your placement and values before you start constructing the blocks.

Now to start sewing the blocks into a top. I'll be putting a plain border around it. I thought about something more fancy, but I'll just keep it simple and get 'er done :0)

Crispy

Second To The Last Block

2010-12-27T11:53:00.000-06:00

I've finished the latest block. Again nothing exciting happened while sewing it up so I'll just show it to you:

I've been thinking about my goals for 2011. It seemed to really keep me on track, for the most part, listing my goals last year. I have only 4 UFO's left so they will have priority. Actually, the NYB project is a WIP, but I'll put it on my list next week, just in case I get distracted with something new :0) I still have the Dear Jane to quilt as well as the Mini and the Wonky House wall hangings. As soon as I'm done with those I'll go back to my Aunt Millie's Garden quilt. I've been dying to get back to applique. Who knows what other project I'll get started on in 2011.

Do you plan on listing goals this year?

Crispy

Latest NYB Block and Two To Go!!

2010-12-26T10:22:00.000-06:00

I finished this block last night. Using the same weight fabrics, I ended up with nice smooth spikes in that top row. There were 44 pieces in that row and this proves that using the proper fabrics makes for good results :0)

I have the next block all cut out and have started sewing it together. I should have it done tonight or in the morning and then I'll show it to you.

While I was printing out the current block I decided to look at the last block. I really didn't care for the geese type row. I've changed this type of row on every block I've made from this BOM. They just look too chunky to me:

On the other blocks I have changed, I always changed the geese from 6 of them to 7. On this particular block it didn't help the "feel" of the block. So I changed it to this:

These are not going to be the fabrics I will use and I'm thinking of changing the bottom row of spikes back to the skinnier ones on the original block. Hmmmm, maybe I'll go do that right now :0)

I hope you all had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. Bob and I had a very quite day and it was wonderful.

Crispy

Newest NYB, A Gift and a Christmas Celebration....

2010-12-23T16:17:00.000-06:00

NEWEST NYB

I finished this block on Tuesday and had no issues with it so I'll just show the picture :0)

The next one will take a couple of days to sew up as it has 62 pieces.

A GIFT

I received a wonderful gift from my long time on-line friend Myra. Myra mostly spends her time cross stitching wonderful little projects but took a break to make up some cute little pouches. I was lucky enough to receive one:

Look at this cute little zipper fob!!

Thank you so much Myra!! I just love it!!

A CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

Last night we were again invited to attend the Christmas program at the little Sims Lutheran Church. This church is 106 years old and is one of those well loved churches you see out on the prairie (please excuse any fuzzy pictures as they were mostly taken in the dark):

Last year the program was called Christmas in Hawaii Brought To You By Don Ho Ho Ho so I was really excited to see what Terry and Sherry came up with this year. All Terry would tell me is that we needed to bring a flash light (which we really didn't need) and the title of the programs was:

Around last Easter we had a horrible snow storm that snapped telephone poles like toothpicks and crumbled the huge metal power towers like so many collapsed erector sets. For those of us that have Montana/Dakota Utilities, we were without power for 3 days in 35 degree weather. For those with Mor/Gran/Sioux it was at least 20 days before they got power back. All during the program there were songs and jokes and poems about being without power, mixed in with the Christmas carols and scriptures. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. This is Terry and Sherry (on the left and center, sorry I don't know the other lady's name). These two ladies are SOOO talented as are most people in their small community:

All three have such beautiful voices! They should audition for The Sing Off program, they are that good.

Anyway, the lights were kept off during the entire program except when there were glitches in the flow and Terry would ask God to turn them on for a moment LOL. The best part of any Christmas program is the children. They graced us with 2 beautiful songs and the little dark haired girl in the center memorized and told us the story of baby Jesus. Aren't they adorable?

I have been so busy the last few days and nights that I got woefully behind in my blog reading. I hope to be all caught up today. While the blogs are loading on my slow dial-up I'm doing the dusting, vacuuming and mopping. You never know who will pop in with a plate of cookies the next two days :0)

You all have a Wonderful Holiday Season!!

Crispy

Another Done....4 To Go

2010-12-20T09:58:00.000-06:00

This block took me several days to get finished. Not that it was difficult, I was just too dang busy. I even went a whole day without taking a single stitch!!!! This almost never happens to me LOL. So, here's the block:

My friend Linda asked me to show the back of a block to demonstrate how I can keep my points so sharp after the block is pressed:

I cover a lot of pressing information in my Hand Piecing blog. The Flying Geese type shapes, in the top section of the block, was easy, as I was able to press each of the geese with the side seams going away from the gold fabric and away from the point. However, there is another way to press the seams if you have to press towards the point. You can read about it here. What I didn't talk about in my Hand Piecing blog is that sometimes I will have half of a seam going one way and the other half going the other way, so I can achieve a swirl. I did this between the swirls under the geese. You can do this if the space between junctions is wide enough.

I always try to get the junctions of several seams to swirl. This really reduces the bulk in corners. I talked about this here (scroll down past the piecing part) and here. Oh, here too.

This is one of the reasons I love to hand piece. I can make the seams go in whatever direction I want, even after the block is all sewn up. It does seem that I'm a bit fussy but after 20 years of hand piecing, the pressing rarely takes much thought.

Crispy

The Problem Block

2010-12-17T14:44:00.000-06:00

Last night I finished up the latest NYB block:

It is a very lovely block. I love the fabrics I used and there lies the problem. I had selected the fabrics for this block quite a while ago and scanned them into EQ, so I wouldn't forget what fabrics I wanted to use. While looking for the correct fabric, I found the dark brown swirly fabric in the stash and used it, instead of what I had previously selected.

When making small (7 inch) intricate blocks, it is very important to use fabrics of the same weight, especially when lots of bias edges are involved. I know this, however, I loved that swirly brown fabric so much I went ahead and used it. It has a very meaty texture to it and feels close to twice as thick as the light colored fabric. What happens when you "AGAIN" don't listen to that inner voice? You end up with stretched out bias fabric...aka....Poofy Parts:

Am I going to redo this block? No Way!! I will hope that the quilting will help it lie down better. I really have to start listening to that nagging voice in my head, it knows what it's talking about :0)

On to the next block, with proper fabrics.....

Crispy

Another NYB Block Done

2010-12-16T14:47:00.000-06:00

Before I show the next NYB block I have to show you the lovely gift I received in the mail yesterday. Cindy knows that I don't decorate for Christmas and she sent me this beautiful book mark. I always have a book handy and it is now marking my spot. Thank you Cindy, it's absolutely beautiful!!!!

Here is the latest NYB block that I completed last night:

I'm currently working on the next block and it's a doozy. It has really thin pointy bits which are always a challenge. Here is a picture of one of the spikes that is on either end of the block. It's so thin that in order to cut it out, I have to be very careful and make sure the printed line is included to the point.

Here it is next to my size 12 between needle:

When I have a point this thin I always put a line exactly at the tip. This lets me know where the point ends.

I then trace on my sewing lines.

I always sew just slightly above the drawn line and with the line at the tip, I know when I have to start sewing towards the point. I'll show you the end results tomorrow :0)

Crispy

New York Beauty Redone

2010-12-13T13:32:00.000-06:00

I've gotten the replacement New York Beauty block sewn up and I'm MUCH happier with it:

For those that couldn't see the difference between the two blocks here they are side by side. I didn't mind that the original (on the left) was twisted it's just that none of the other blocks were like this and it just looked wrong:

I need to answer a couple of questions. First, several asked if I paper pieced these blocks....nope. I'm a hand piecer through and through. I've only paper pieced one block in my 20 years of quilting and that was the purple block I showed when I was goofing around with machine quilting.

Jo asked how long it takes me to sew a block. The current block has 43 pieces and LOTS of pointy bits so took me 4 1/2 hours to sew up (I kept track as I was sewing it). This does not count the prep time for cutting out the template pieces, ironing them to the fabric, tracing around the templates and then cutting them apart, which took a little over an hour. So each block takes me between 4-6 hours to make. I know you machine piecers can do this much quicker but I don't care how long something takes. I love to just sit back and enjoy the process. A friend once asked me why I don't sell my quilts. Really, would you want to pay for my time to hand piece and hand quilt a quilt? Besides, I get much more pleasure giving them away :0)

Crispy

Another New York Beauty Block

2010-12-12T13:54:00.001-06:00

I just put the last stitch into the latest NYB block and I really hate it. When I printed out the block for templates I had qualms about it but thought it would end up ok. I should have gone with my first instinct and fixed it. The whole block is out of balance and tends to twist to one side. It's just yucky IMHO and I'm sorry I wasted the hours to sew it up:

Soooo, I got onto my trusty EQ and made a few changes (this is not the first time I have changed her designs). Here is the new and improved block (not sewn up yet, just an EQ version of it):

The fabrics are the same but my cheapy scanner doesn't do a good job of recreating them.

Now I'm off to sew up another block. Next time I'll listen to that little voice in my head, not the one I carry on conversations with.....the other one :o)

Crispy

Switching Gears Again....

2010-12-10T17:02:00.001-06:00

Yesterday I was to meet up with my sewing group and really didn't have anything planned to work on. I decided that I would see where I stood on the New York Beauty project that was being done by a now defunct Yahoo Group. I had drafted all the blocks into EQ and had actually selected and scanned the fabric for several of the unfinished blocks. Sooooo, I decided to pull all the fabrics out of the closet:

There are well over 200 pieces of fabric to choose from. Most of these were used in my Dear Jane. I had used a different fabric in each block. It took me almost an hour to find the particular fabrics I had selected for the next two blocks. While at group, I got one cut out and partially completed. I finished it up this morning:

This is what the project looks like so far. I have 8 more blocks to complete:

This is not the final lay out, I'll probably rearrange things when the blocks are all done.

After I got home yesterday evening I finished putting the 9 patches around my Mama Sparks, My Neighborhood BOM aka Wonky House project. It's going to stew on the wall for a little while as I have a couple of ideas for borders and need to work them out on EQ. It's a really long wall hanging but will fit perfectly on a narrow wall in my house.

I received a couple of lovely gifts from my quilting buddies: Jean made us all a pretty needle case for when we work on applique. It even has two toothpicks that go on the side (she promised she didn't lick them LOL). Alice bought us all a wonderful retractable scissor holder. I use these all the time when I'm sewing and this one has not been off my shirt all day except to take the picture (it's back on my shirt again). Thank you again my dear friends :0)

I've spent today cleaning the house up and shoveling out the guest bedroom so I can move that pile of fabric off the couch. I had enough new fabrics to run a load of wash (nothing I hadn't showed already) and the buzzer just went off on the dryer. I see lots of lovely hours folding fabric....heaven :0)

You all have a lovely evening,

Crispy

I'm Not Worthy!!

2010-12-08T13:23:00.000-06:00

I mentioned to a few people that I was going to try my hand at machine quilting some mug rugs. I don't own a fancy machine, just a little featherweight and I asked a few questions of Karen who had recently used hers to quilt a couple of mug rugs. I also remember that I had seen a program on setting the stitch to zero and covering the feed dogs. I couldn't figure out what to cover the feed dogs with so didn't do that. Anyway, this is my machine quilting adventure...

I had enough presence of mind to grab a couple of orphan blocks to practice with. First I tried this paper pieced block with Quilter's Dream Request cotton batting:

I had a heck of a time trying to get the tension right and never did succeed. Some of the stitches were ok on top but not on the bottom and some looked more like one long straight line of thread with the bobbin thread on top.

Another thing I didn't like was how wavy the piece looked.

Next I grabbed this block and used some Fairfield Low Loft Poly bat.

I was able to get the tension set pretty well while doing some really lousy in the ditch stitching. Feeling especially brave I decided to try some free motion quilting. Like I said I didn't cover my feed dogs so I had to battle their little dance. I should have changed the foot to something other than my quarter inch foot but though I have every foot, they didn't make a darning foot for those old Singers (man did they ever make some evil medieval looking feet for those machines!!). I also learned that this whole machine quilting thing is MUCH harder than you all make it look. This was my first attempt:

Hey, did you know that you don't get much chance to really think about what you are doing so you better be good at doodling or you end up with a WIDE variety of stitch lengths? I guess that's what they invented Stitch Regulators for LOL. So I doodled in a couple of other squares and the last one I did came out pretty good, in an amateurish way:

My conclusion is I had better stick to what I do well and that's hand quilting. I will never be good at that machine thing, not without many many hours of practice and I have too many projects I can make progress with instead of doing the same thing over and over in order to get mediocre at something new.

In closing I would like you to visualize an old chubby lady kneeling on the floor bowing down at your feet and shouting I'm Not Worthy!! I'm Not Worthy!! You machine quilters ROCK!!!! (Would someone please give me a hand back up? Down is easy, up, not so much LOL)

Crispy

PS - To scrub, from your brain, the horrible machine quilting you witnessed on this blog post, please run over to Janet's or Joan's blogs and see how it really should be done :0)

A Ta Da Moment and A Question.....

2010-12-03T17:13:00.001-06:00

My Row Robin quilt is DONE!!!! Here it is fresh out of the dryer. You can click on this photo to get a closer look:

Here is the cable pattern on the border. I think it really adds a lot to the quilting, it's not clickable :0)

I'm just showing the quilting, as I showed the front on my last post. This quilt is far from perfect but I LOVE it!! I also get to cross off another project from my 2010 Goal list :0)

Now for the question:

Many of you are hooked on making Mug Rugs and I think they are just wonderful! This would be a quick gift idea for Christmas but I'm not sure what size I should make it. I would think that it would be bigger than a standard coaster. Jocelyn was showing her's with room for cookies. Lena showed one the other day on her blog too. I know I have seen lots of these in blogland but I don't think anyone mentioned size. Thanks in advance for any recommendations. I should mention that I don't need a pattern as I have a couple of ideas already brewing (pun intended LOL).

Oh, I almost forgot....I have a new friend that just started her own blog. Pop on over and say hello to Paula at Born 2 Quilt.

Now to go snuggle under my finished quilt and sew up some 9 patches :0)

Crispy

A Very Good Weekend...

2010-11-29T10:41:00.003-06:00

I have finished the quilting on the Row Robin!!!! Woo Hoo!!!! I managed to get the excess backing and batting trimmed off and now it's ready for the binding.

This is the fabric I will be using in the binding. I fell in love with this fabric and bought it with no particular project in mind. When the Quilting Passion forum started the Row Robin I knew I had to use it as my main focal fabric. By using it in the binding, I think it will make a perfect finish :0)

I will sew the binding on during my next days off (wed-fri). In the mean time, I'm sewing together the rest of the 9 patches for the Wonky House project. I took it with me on my trip but never touched it but I'm close to being done...

I'm procrastinating about starting to hand quilt on the Dear Jane, it's just not screaming at me yet. Besides, I still have to buy the backing fabric. I'll get to it pretty soon but I think I'm in the hand piecing mood right now :0). Maybe I'll finish those New York Beauty blocks too. I've finished too many UFO's and feel the need to make more to replace them LOL.

It's been snowy and cold here but thanks to my friend Terri's lovely gift, my toes are staying nice and warm:

While in Seattle I spent one afternoon with my niece who makes beautiful knitted projects, including socks. She has offered to re-teach me to knit. I didn't have time to take her up on it on this last trip but I will be making extra time to be with her in May. After finding out how warm home made socks are, I believe you will eventually be seeing socks on my blog too. I had to laugh when Denise took me to see her stash...I think she could almost open her own yarn shop LOL. Reminds me of many a quilter's stash LOL.

Well, I better get ready for work. You all have a lovely week!

Crispy

The Dancer......

2010-11-26T16:31:00.000-06:00

Sorry it took so long to finally do a post. Between work, shoveling snow and Thanksgiving I opted for just sitting and quilting for a couple of days :0)

My vacation was wonderful. My little grandaughter Saige is perfect and soooo much fun!! She loves to tease, just like her daddy did when he was little. More than anything, she loves to dance. She has this ratty looking tutu that she wears all the time and dances up a storm. Now you would think that she would dance to lovely ballads but no, she insists on dancing to Smash Mouth LOL. Here are several pics of her dancing (I apologize for picture quality, it was hard getting the camera out and set and catch her in the act LOL):

Of course you have to take a break once in a while to check out what's on TV:

Why do kids have to have their noses on the TV to watch it?

Now she wasn't always smiling. I had to take a picture of this pitifully sad face ROFL (Oops sorry Gramma shouldn't laugh):

Saige is only 2 1/2 and is a very tall little girl. Daddy calls her "Midget" and next to daddy and mommy she is very little, as they are both very tall. You can see what a big girl she is, as she is snuggled up with Daddy:

Of course she is brilliant and decided to be potty trained while I was there. She only had one accident and woke up dry most mornings. Mommy is VERY happy that it went so smoothly (so was the day care lady) LOL.

I have to tell you one story....while we were driving to the big family get together Saige kept saying "Mommy you are so nice and soft." She said this at least 4 times and mommy loved it. Then she said "Daddy, you are so......(insert a long pause)". Then she blurted "Hey Guys, look at this!!" and put her fingers in the corners of her mouth and made a face. I guess she couldn't think of what to call Daddy...certainly not soft like Mommy LOL.

I can hardly wait to go back in May when she turns 3.

On the quilting front....I'm almost done with the Row Robin. I have maybe 4 more hoop fulls left to do. I'll show a picture of the finished project in a few days Woo Hoo!!

Crispy

Turning A Corner

2010-10-31T16:41:00.000-05:00

I first measured how large of a square I would need for the corner. This was 6 inches, 4 inches for the width of the border, plus 2 inches which was the width of the two smaller inside border strips. I then drew up the square in EQ and printed it off onto freezer paper. The little 2" block in the corner represents the 2 smaller borders. You will see where this comes into play a little later in this post.

Line up left dots of the cable pattern to edge of square. I put a faint T on the top of the cable pattern so that I can be sure I have the template always in the same direction:

Using a pencil, mark the dots beyond diagonal line:

Connect the dots only to the first dot beyond diagonal line:

Erase everything to the right of diagonal line:

Line up the right side dots to the right edge of block:

Mark the dots but just a dot past the diagonal line, I put an x instead of a dot to distinguish it from the other dots:

Connect the dots and end each line by matching up with the lines on the left. At this point you can smooth out the curves and make any other adjustments you want. I thought about smoothing out the cables on the lower half but I kinda like how it makes a 3D bend so I left it:

Cut the small square out and a wedge from corner for lining up with mitered seam. By cutting out the square and a bit from the bottom, positioning the template is very easy:

Transfer the pattern to the quilt and connect the dots:

Ta Da, the corner is ready for quilting. The quilting of the border is going very quickly. I'm hoping I will be very close to being finished with this by the time I get home from Seattle....we'll see :0)

Crispy

Still Stuck At Home But Still Making Progress

2010-10-28T15:21:00.001-05:00

By now I should have been in Seattle hanging out with the family, but Mother Nature decided to throw a bit of snow our way instead. Now living in North Dakota a little snow is no big deal, but when it's combined with 50mph winds, that takes visibility down to zero and travel is not safe. We have to travel 130 miles to the train station (260 round trip for Bob) and after seeing the 8-9 inches of snow being forecasted I changed my train ticket to next Wednesday. I'm bummed that I have to wait an extra week but I'm lucky to work at a place that changing my vacation times makes no difference, so I still get my 2 weeks of family time.

So since I'm still at home, I have the opportunity to get the cable pattern drawn onto the Row Robin quilt. I just got the last cable drawn on and now need to work out how I'll handle the corners. I thought I would show you the process of drawing the cable pattern:

First I put the quilt into the hoop and make sure the top and back are nice and smooth:

Then I put my handy dandy board on the inside of the hoop. I showed this cool piece of wood Bob cut me, for both of my hoops before when I was quilting on the Baltimore. It's great as a portable table for drawing lines:

I forgot to show that I then position the stencil and use my white pen to mark the dots. Oh, I always start in the middle and work towards the corners. Here is a picture of the dots. They are kinda hard to see, aren't they.

The fabric I used for the border has pale spots so visualizing the correct white dots was a bit of a challenge at first. Once I got my eyes adjusted to the busyness of the design it was simple enough to connect the dots:

After the pattern is drawn, I put in a row of pins to hold everything in place (I'm a pin baster):

Next I line up a ruler to the edge of the next block (it's lined up at the 3" mark), and then line my stencil up with the ruler. The edges of the stencil are one inch from the edge of the design to make alignment easier:

As you can see, the dots didn't line up perfectly with the previous lines:

It's no problem, you just extend the line and it doesn't even show:

When quilting, the size of the blocks will vary due to the amount of stitching put in each block. The variation in size isn't huge so a little shortening or lengthening of the lines has no effect.

I'm going to show the process I'll go through, to come up with a corner design, within the next day or so. It will be so nice having the pattern all ready to be stitched while I'm on the train next week. Oh Yes, I'll be traveling for sure, it's suppose to be sunny and warm all next week :0)

Crispy

Still Making Progress....

2010-10-21T14:38:00.000-05:00

I only have 4 more blocks to quilt on the Row Robin so I decided that I would go ahead and sew on the pink extender strips around the outside of the quilt and draw up a cable pattern for the widest border. While I was in town last week, I looked high and low for a ready made stencil and couldn't find anything close to what I wanted. I know how to draw a cable pattern....I was just being lazy.

So I hopped onto EQ7 this morning and drew up the pattern. It's not perfect, I got bored fiddling with it, but once I start stitching it will look just fine:

I printed it off onto freezer paper, then ironed the pattern to two more sheets of freezer paper. This makes the stencil nice and stiff, stiffer than the store bought ones. I then trimmed it down so that the stencil is the same width as the border (4 inches):

Then I rummaged around in the back of the closet to pull out my high tech hole making tools. A very tiny crochet hook and a size 2 knitting needle:

I used the crochet hook to make a starter hole then enlarged it with the knitting needle. I know, a hole punch would be easier but I don't have one :0) The holes are now big enough for my white pen to make dots. Once the dots are made, it's simple to just connect them:

I haven't decided how I'm going to extend the cable out to the corners, but that's easy enough to do when the time comes.

If I have a chance, before I leave for Seattle next Wednesday, I'll post how easy it is to transfer my homemade stencil onto the quilt. If I can figure out how to download pictures to my DIL's computer, I'll post about it next week. By then I should know what I'll do in the corners.

Crispy

Doin' The Snoopy Happy Dance....

2010-10-15T16:02:00.000-05:00

Looky what came in the mail on Wednesday :0)

Lollypop Trees:

Roseville Album:

Stars and Sprigs:

I have been waiting months for the Stars & Sprigs pattern to be released so I could purchase all three Kim McLean patterns.....saving on postage by waiting. I don't know when I will start any of these projects as I'm still in UFO mode but at least I now own them.

Most appliquers are making these lovely patterns using Kaffe, Jacobs, Mably type fabrics but only one of these patterns will be made with those types of fabrics. It's a toss up between the Stars & Sprigs or Roseville Album and will be settled on at a later date, though I have a couple of ideas brewing for the Stars & Sprigs pattern. The Lollypop trees I have a specific plan for....to be revealed when I get around to starting it....gotta keep you all coming back ya know LOL. Besides, I have to start collecting the specific fabrics I want to use.

For those of you who are interested in these patterns can purchase them by heading over to Glorious Color. There is also a blog Glorious Applique specifically set up for those that are working on these beauties, as well as some of Kim's other designs.

You all have a lovely weekend :0)

Crispy

Orphan Blocks

2010-10-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

After my last post about the Drunkard's Path blocks, Christine asked what I was going to do with the two blocks I made. I told her that I have a big baggie stuffed with "What the heck will I do with these?" type blocks. I put them up on my design wall to see what is in that baggie:

Some of these blocks you will recognize. There are left over blocks from the Row Robin quilt....there should be 5 other blocks from that project...wonder what I did with them? Anyway, the one block, in the different colorway, is the one I made when I tested out paper piecing. There are blocks used when I was teaching hand piecing (the yellow & blue blocks on the bottom and the LeMoyne star above them) and the ones that I made when I was writting up the Hand Piecing blog. There are Dutch Treat blocks in two colorways, I never had a plan for those, just something to keep my hands busy. My avatar block is there and the pretty apple block from the pattern that Jo shared with me. A couple of block lotto blocks that didn't make the cut and a hug block that didn't measure up either. There are a couple of incompleted blocks and a couple of blocks I made up to test a new-to-me white or cream fabric for backgrounds.

Now that they are up on the wall, I see that there isn't enough of them to make a quilt, so I'll just stuff them back into the baggie until I have enough of them. Oh yes, this bag will get added to, I have been doing a lot more testing on blocks instead of just moving on. I have a baggie that is getting filled with failed pieces from applique too, mostly leaves and circles.

These are not all the blocks in that bag, I do have some Quilted Diamonds, New York Beauty and applique blocks that do have a purpose....all of which have not been thought about in a LONG time. I'll get back to them when the mood strikes :0).

Do you save your orphan blocks?

Crispy

You Asked For It....You Got It

2010-10-03T16:27:00.002-05:00

What commercial was that from???? Oh well, I'll think of it around 3 am tonight LOL.

I decided to go ahead and start on the tutorial for hand piecing a curved block and stitched up a couple of Drunkard's Path blocks. One at 6 inches and one at 3 inches.

I then took around 20 pictures of the process and actually got it all typed up into the Hand Piecing blog. Soooo, those of you who wanted to know how to hand piece a curved block, it's all ready. Just click on the Hand Piecing With Crispy logo on the left, and then click on the Curved Piecing - Drunkard's Path link at the bottom of the tutorial pages list.

Once you do one or two of these blocks, you will no longer have any problems with sewing curves......really :0)

Oops, forgot to add, I will add the info for stitching a New York Beauty block in a couple of weeks. I have my long stretch of hours at work coming up. Again, I will let you know when it's available :0)

Crispy

What I Have Been Playing With....

2010-10-02T12:53:00.001-05:00

The main thing I have been working on, for the last couple of days, is the My Neighborhood BOM. I've cut down all the 9 patches and besides making them fit with the houses, it also brought them down to a better scale.

I've been sewing together the 9 patches that have the background fabric already cut out. The rest, 26 of them, will be worked on while I'm with my sewing group. I'm hoping to have this little project ready to take with me at the end of the month, when I take the train back to Seattle. A nice size project for hand quilting :0)

I have also been working on the Row Robin. Here are the last two blocks that I will be showing. The next picture you will see of this project is after I get the last 24 blocks quilted. This is one of my favorite blocks. It was paper pieced but the gal who made them did not trim the seam allowances and almost hit the edge of the fabric in some spots. I took them all apart and remade them. Can't have all that bulk when you are hand quilting!!

This is the block that I made for myself and all the other participants in my group. It's a pattern designed by Marcia at Quilter's Cache and is called Best Friends. I hand pieced them for the participants but it's also the only block I have ever paper pieced. I wanted to see if I could actually do it....I did, but it took a LOT of ripping out LOL.

As soon as I get done with the last 6 9 patches I have preped, I'm going to do up a tutorial on curved hand piecing. I will be adding this tutorial to my Hand Piecing blog. I don't know why I didn't think of curved piecing when I put the blog together but with a little nudge from Janet, I will correct my omission :0). I'm thinking of doing a Drunkards Path block and then adding a simple New York Beauty block as a bonus, like these:

I'll let you know when the blog has been updated.

Well, I better get back to those 9 patches. Oh, I did get all my windows washed so that chore is done until next spring :0)

Crispy

Incorporating Two Projects

2010-09-30T14:44:00.001-05:00

After I took the Aunt Millie blocks off the design wall, I still had a few barely started projects on there. One is the Tisket Tasket blocks which I will work on every now and again....still have 10 of those yet to do. I also have 5 cute little wonky house blocks that Pam at Mama Spark's World designed. I love these little blocks but I don't like the background fabric I used and I have a different plan for the quilt brewing so I decided to use these 5 blocks for a wall hanging:

Also on the wall are a bunch of those little 9 patches that I work on occasionally:

So, why not combine these two:

There is a slight problem, the house blocks are 8 1/2" and the 9 patches are 3 1/2" so working out the math (a major struggle for me), I decided to trim all the 9 patches to 2 1/2". They will look a bit odd for a 9 patch but I think it will work out just fine. I haven't decided if I'll put another border on or not, but I'll figure that out when the top is complete.

I should mention that the patterns for the houses are still available by clicking on the Mama Spark's - My Neighborhood BOM icon in my left side bar. The blocks work up really quickly if you do needle turn applique and even faster if you use a fusible/machine method.

I've been busy with other things too. I'll let you know what they are on my next post :0)

Crispy

The Fix Is In !!

2010-09-24T15:11:00.000-05:00

Well after a little bit of drizzle this morning, the sun came out and I decided to go check out the quilt shop, so I could get a fabric fix. I was going to bring my camera, but forgot. No big deal as this is a really small shop, with only 2 walls of fabric....well actually 3 but I don't even look at flannels and a little divider of fabrics. I did, however, managed to find something to buy :0)

The brown and red fabrics I bought just because I liked them. The blue and yellow will work in my Aunt Millie. The white solid is a brand I have never tried before. It's by P&B and I bought a half yard to test it for hand piecing and hand quilting.

Normally, this little bit of fabric will put a smile on my face for the rest of the the day, but as I was standing waiting for my fabric to be cut, I noticed a little stand that had charm packs in it. I didn't find any that I couldn't live without but down on the bottom, buried under some other charms, I founds these two fat quarter bundles:

The taller one is 37 fat quarters of Phillip Jacobs fabrics:

The other stack is 30 fat quarters of Brandon Mably fabrics:

Now my justification for buying these was the fact that I got 67 fat quarters for around $1.58 each, including tax and I didn't have to pay shipping charges. Such a great buy!! Oh, this bit of justification worked beautifully on Bob too LOL. These will be put in reserve for the 3 Kim McLean patterns I will be buying soon. If you aren't familiar with Kim's patterns, you can see them being made on the Glorious Applique blog and order them from Liza at Glorious Color. I will be ordering Lollypop Trees, Roseville Album and the Stars and Sprigs patterns.

I haven't done a lick of quilting today so I better go get caught up with e-mails and blogs.

You all have a nice day!! I know I will, as I pet all my new fabrics WOO HOO!!

Crispy

More Row Robin Blocks and Other Things

2010-09-23T14:49:00.000-05:00

More Row Robin Blocks

These first two are the same block but with different use of color but were quilted the same way:

Here is a Monkey Wrench block:

Other Things #1

My new friend Liz from Quilterie did a post today about all the thimbles she uses and I thought I would show what I use:

The metal one is just a cheapie brand that I use on my pointing finger for hand quilting. The leather one I use on my thumb when I hand piece. Liz is a new blogger and is such a sweetie. Pop on over and welcome her to the wonderful world of blogging :0)

Other Things #2

Did you notice that Blogger is changing things again? The new preview is MUCH better than the old one. The LINK button works the same as the old world with a chain symbol and I don't know why they felt the need to change it but as long as it works I'm OK with it. The one thing they changed, that I don't care for, is they took the spell check button off the tool bar when in Edit HTML. I always type up my blogs in the Edit mode because I often add HTML to links and such. I guess I can click over to compose, to run spell check, I'm just being lazy :0)

Other Things #3

It's still raining here, I don't think it's stopped all day. Great hand quilting weather but I'm hoping for a couple hour break in the rain tomorrow. There is a quilt shop about 40 miles north of me that I've been wanting to check out. I have money burning a hole in my pocket....not much mind you....but enough to buy some little bit of fabric. This girl needs a fabric fix!!

Well, back to quilting, you all have a lovely evening :0)

Crispy

Quilting On The Row Robin

2010-09-22T15:41:00.003-05:00

Many asked how I was going to quilt my Row Robin quilt so I thought I would do a few posts of how I'm handling the quilting. There is nothing fancy, no feathers and such, but it's making a nice texture on the back :0). Oh, I should mention, that this is actually a purple and white quilt. For some reason purple always comes out blue and browns will often come out purple.....I think my camera is confused.

This is one of the blocks and it's quilting:

This is two blocks. I placed them like this on all four sides of the quilt. Also the quilting:

The quilting stitches aren't perfect but I don't mind. This quilt is for me to snuggle under this winter while I'm stitching away on various projects. I have the next 3 days off with no plans so I hope to get plenty of quilting done. Well, I do plan on washing windows but I'm hoping for 3 days of rain so I don't have to do it....so far so good today :0)

33 blocks to go....

Crispy

A Finished Aunt Millie Block And Mail Call

2010-09-16T14:55:00.005-05:00

Aunt Millie

Here is a picture of my latest Aunt Millie block:

I only have two more blocks to make but I'm putting my Aunt Millie away for a while. The weather is cooling rapidly here in North Dakota with highs in the 50's and I have been bitten by the hand quilting bug again. When I was laid up with my knee I attempted to do some hand quilting and hated every moment of it, it was just to darn hot to be covered up with a quilt. Now that I'm chilly in the mornings, being snuggled under a quilt is a wonderful idea. I'll be working on my Row Robin quilt.....here is a picture, in case you have forgotten which one of my many projects it is:

I have 41 more blocks to quilt and then the border. I'm hoping to have this quilt done before the end of the year, probably sooner. If I'm still in the hand quilting mood after this is done, I will start on my Dear Jane, 11 years of it lying around is long enough :0)

If the applique bug bites me, I'll probably work on the My Neighborhood blocks (click on the logo in my left side bar to get to the patterns) that my friend Pam designed or one of the other 10 Tisket Tasket blocks waiting to be made. Oh, speaking of Pam, she has been selected as one of the finalists in McCall's Quilt Design Star search. She has designed the prettiest aqua and green star quilt and needs us all to vote. Go on over to her blog (she's a fun blogger), click on the link and go vote :0)

Mail Call

First off I had no idea there was a Grandparent's Day but evidently Saige knows this and sent me some pictures, one while she was camping....she was resting up from playing in the dirt all day....and one taken while visiting the fountain at the Seattle Center. I don't know where she gets this goony smile but I wouldn't be surprised if it was from my son, it does look a bit familiar LOL. She was also sweet and sent me a new drawing for the fridge:

I LOVE this kind of mail :0)

I also received a pair of serrated edged scissors from my new friend Mary Lou at Cheaper Than Therapy Quilting.

I haven't had a chance to test drive them yet but I'm sooooo excited to have them to play with :0) THANK YOU Mary Lou, you are such a sweetie!!! Mary Lou is a new blogger so pop on over and say hello :0)

Well, off to do some quilting. I may not be posting all that much, not that I post a lot anyway, but I'll be back when I have something to jabber about :0)

Crispy

Scissors

2010-09-08T07:48:00.003-05:00

My friend Karen did a post about all the scissors she uses for quilting and I thought I would do one too.

These are all my scissors:

The first thing you will notice that most of my scissors are small. Since I make all of my quilts by hand little scissors are perfect.
1 - These pair are my exception and are Fiskar's Razor Sharp scissors. I use these to cut large chunks of fabric and for cutting big pieces of freezer paper. They are VERY sharp and you would never want to touch the edges (voice of experience here LOL).
2 - These have a blade that curves up and are perfect for cutting close to the top of a quilt to snip threads when hand quilting, embroidery or cross stitching.
3 - I ~~stole~~ rescued these scissors from Bob's tool chest. I don't know where he got them but they are perfect for when I have to do some unsewing. The sharp points make it easy to just snip thread and not fabric.
4 - These little snips I received as a gift from my SIS group friend Jean. They too have a blade that curve up and are used when hand quilting for snipping threads.
5 - These are Gingher 4" embroidery scissors. I use these when I'm doing applique. They are nice and sharp and make cutting out fabric shapes very smooth and easy.
6 - These little scissors I use when I'm hand piecing. They are perfect for snipping off dog ears and threads. I keep them on a clip-on, retractable scissor holder for easy access while stitching. I can't tell you how many times I have left the house with them still clipped onto my shirt LOL.
7 - These are a cheap pair of scissors and the only ones that Bob is allowed to touch besides some REALLY cheap ones in the garage and in the junk drawer. I use these for cutting out freezer paper and mylar plastic templates.

I also have a small pair of orange handled fiskars in my featherweight case that I use when I sew on bindings (the only thing I sew with my sewing machine).

So that is all of my scissors.....what kind of scissors do you use?

Crispy

An Accomplishment And The Current Aunt Millie

2010-09-06T09:53:00.005-05:00

An Accomplishment

See this little circle?

A while back, my friend Julia (no blog,) who is one of the moderators on the Yahoo Hand Piecing forum and is an excellent appliquer, told us that she was challenged to needle turn a 1/8th inch circle. I have thought about trying this for a long time and decided to give it a try. My first attempt wasn't very good as I trimmed the seam allowance too small so it frayed too much. The second attempt worked much better and using just a toothpick for the turning was a good idea. I know it's not absolutely perfect but at 1/8th inch it looks pretty darn good LOL. Also, I didn't bother matching the thread to the fabric but the point was to see if I could even do it and the Aurifil thread is the thinnest I have. Here is the proof that it is 1/8th inch:

Oh, I should mention that I started with a 5/32nd inch circle. I figured that with turning under the drawn line and the bulk of the fabrics, it would shrink up to the right size. This was really a fun experiment but I think that it would not hold up to laundering, so any bird eyes I do, will probably be embroidered.

The Current Aunt Millie

I've started stitching my current Aunt Millie and as usual I've been doing some unsewing. I purposely went on a hunt for some gold fabric and found the perfect piece. However, once I started sewing, it turned out to be "not so perfect", as this fuzzy picture shows.

This is what I ended up using instead. I think the purple works much better. When it came to do the center circle, my first impulse was to use a red and fussy cut one out but it was too dark. I also tried a blue with light dots but it didn't work either. So I decided to try to find an aqua that would go with the block. I happened to have a charm pack (don't know the name of the pack) with several aquas and finally found one that I really liked. So this is what I ended up making:

It's a very rainy dark Labor Day so I'll be spending it stitching away. First I have to make a potato salad, one of Bob's favorite foods, to go with the ham for supper. He was hoping to eat some for breakfast, as I get much earlier than he does, and was very disappointed it wasn't put together yet, poor poor man LOL.

You all have a lovely day,

Crispy

A Giveaway, A Gift, Aunt Millie And A Tutorial

2010-09-02T16:02:00.009-05:00

Giveaway

My friend Lena at LekaQuilt is having a giveaway!! She's giving away these cute little bags. I know they are cute because I won one from her before :0) Since I won one I will not be entering this giveaway (one more chance for you to win). This ends on September 14th so head on over and sign up!!

A Gift

Last week, I was reading my friend Terri's blog, Quilternity's Place, and she was showing another pair of beautiful socks she had knitted. I asked her how many pair she had made so far and guess what....she sent me a pair!! They are soooo pretty and VERY warm. I can hardly wait for cold weather so I can wear them :0) Thank You Terri!!

Aunt Millie Block

Here is my finished current Aunt Millie block. I was going to do a post with just the partial block but was very close to being done so put this post on hold until after I vacuumed and finished the block :0) Hardly any unsewing was done with this block, except on two of the flowers. I had sewn the pink and the stem "off the block" and then did the next one "on the block" and liked the way it lay much more. So I unsewed the bottom of the pink strip and then resewed it through to the back. Anyhoo, another done and only 3 more to go Woo Hoo!!

Oh, one thing I did different on this block is that I put a line of basting down the folds, only to the point that they wouldn't interfere with the applique. I was getting tired of having my folds relaxing so I couldn't line up my overlay. This worked VERY well.

Tutorial

This block had narrow points so I had to trim the seam allowance. This is how I do this:

I sew up to the point, trim off the dog ear and then remove the next two pins.

Open the applique gently and trim the seam allowance, which was just sewed down, to a scant 1/8th inch.

No need to trim the whole seam, just trim to where the leaf gets wide enough for the seam allowances.

How I turn the point is shown in the Points On Leaves tutorial. By trimming the seam allowance, it makes a much smoother, less bulky point.

Off to figure out what I'm going to do for the next block :0)

Crispy

Aunt Millie Is Done...And Other Stuff

2010-08-24T18:18:00.004-05:00

AUNT MILLIE

Woo Hoo, got the last stitch on that Aunt Millie done last night!! Here is the finished block:

Here are all the blocks together....so far:

OTHER STUFF #1

I can hardly wait until I can start the next one. Unfortunately, it will have to be on hold for a few days as I sprained my knee at work and spent the morning at the walk-in clinic. I should say hobble-in clinic as I wasn't walking very good LOL. The dr told me to stay flat on my back with my leg elevated and NO WALKING, SQUATING, KNEELING or STANDING!! This is going to be tough as I rarely sit for more than a 1/2 hour at a time. I guess I'll drag out that row robin quilt and do some hand quilting while I'm laid up.

OTHER STUFF #2

I had to buy some more freezer paper (my favorite template material) and I noticed that they now advertise using freezer paper for applique. I wonder if they hired a quilter to design the new boxes??? At least they didn't raise the price now that they know quilters are using it.....

OTHER STUFF #3

Have you noticed the new comment spam filter that Google has added to our blogs? Go to your dashboard and you will see "Comments" down by the New Post button. If you click on it, you will see how many comments you have on your blog (I have 3900, not bad for a year and a half). Click on the spam tab and you will see if you have any spam comments and you can delete them and probably report them too. I'm not sure about that as I didn't have any spam ones.

OTHER STUFF #4

I haven't been over to my handpiecing blog in quite a while and was very surprised that I have had 842 people check it out. I have the counter set to not record any repeat views and am very happy that there are so many people out in blogland that are interested in hand piecing. I wonder if anyone has actually made that practice block.....

OTHER STUFF #5

My blogger buddy Barb at Fun with Barb and Mary, has posted a tutorial on how she makes circles for needle turn applique. Go check it out. I'm going to try her method next time I make circles :0)

Well I better get off the computer and go lay back down....BORING!!!

You all have a lovely week :0)

Crispy

One Way To Do Applique Circles

2010-08-22T11:45:00.002-05:00

I was asked how I get nice round circles. This is a tutorial on how I handle little circles when doing needle turn applique. On larger circles I just sew them down but I hate hassling with the little ones so use this method:

First I determine the size circle needed. I made the circle 7/16ths instead of the 1/2 inch. You can get these wonderful circle templates from any office supply store and come in LOTS of sizes.

I cut one circle out of heat resistant mylar template plastic. Use a small scissor to cut them out and make sure it's round. You can use a finger nail file to get the little pokies off but I don't bother, I fix that as I sew them down.

I then use the green circle template and draw the circles onto the back of the fabric, making sure I have plenty of space around each one.

I cut them apart and then fold over one edge to make sure that my seam allowance is no larger than half as wide as the circle.

Baste around the circle as close to the edge as you can without having the thread fraying the edge. Make sure the tails to the thread are on the right side of the circle.

Now place the mylar template in the center of the circle.

Hold the template with the point of your scissors or your finger tip and gently pull both of the gathering threads. You are not trying to close the circle completely at this point.

DO NOT pull the gathering threads in opposite directions. This will make your thread tear the edge of the circle.

Make single knot in the gathering threads

Now go ahead and tighten up the fabric around the template.

Spritz the back of the circle with water....yes water. No need for starch or sizing as a good cotton fabric has a wonderful memory.

Now iron it dry on both sides

Gently open up the circle by the single knot

Open it enough to slip the template out

Lay the circle back down and gently draw the circle closed again. Pat it with your finger to make it lie flat.

Give it another press

Tie a second knot in the gathering threads. This will make sure your circle holds it's shape. I like to make a whole bunch of circles at one time and then toss them into a baggie.

Trim off the gathering threads

A nice little circle

The act of pinning on the circle will make it a little wonky, but that is easily fixed when stitching. I remove the pin when I have at least a quarter of the circle stitched down.

I start with the roundest edge first. I also use my thumbnail to help locate any points, bumps or flat spots.

I sew one stitch at a time. After the stitch is made, I move the fabric to position for the next stitch. By doing this I can see what corrections are coming up. Uh Oh, a BIG bump is coming up!!

Just slip your needle under the circle and gently pull down so the edge is round. If you have a point showing on the edge it's because the fabric folded underneath. Just take your needle and redistribute the fabric to both the right and left. (Sorry no picture of a point....I didn't have any. THAT hardly ever happens LOL).

A nice little circle sewn down :0)

Next time I sew a larger circle down, I'll try to remember to do a tutorial on it.

Crispy

Still Going In Circles.....

2010-08-19T14:25:00.003-05:00

First off I would like to thank all of you that sent me the bounced e-mails. It appears that all is well now, thank goodness!!

I mentioned the other day that while in town I was going to go on the hunt for some mauve fabric. Well I really didn't have any luck. I found one piece that was close in tone but it just wasn't the right color once I put it with the flower (the picture makes it look red but it's not). I also found a green with mauve polka dots and thought maybe that would work....nope. I did manage to have a couple of other fabrics jump into my arms (love it when fabric does that). These will be used in other Aunt Millie's blocks and had nothing to do with my quest, but I brought them home anyways :0)

I had a couple of ladies say that they liked the black and so did I, in principle, but couldn't figure out how to make it work. It dawned on me, in the shower this morning, that I should just make the circles smaller. This picture shows the smaller black circles on one flower and the failure of the green fabric as an alternative:

This picture shows how much larger the original circles were, which made them a bit overpowering. Also, the new mauvish fabric on the other flower which is ok, but I like the black better.

So this is what the flower will look like.

I am now a happy camper and I won't be blabbing about this dumb block for a while, well one more time when it's all done :0)

Crispy

E-Mail Issues and More About The Process

2010-08-17T12:15:00.001-05:00

E-MAIL ISSUES

I was notified today that some of the comments made to my blog recently are bouncing back to the sender. I have also posted comments to other's blogs that have bounced back to me. I have sent a message to the Net Zero techies and also went to blogger to see if anyone else is having this issue. I haven't heard back from NZ yet but blogger is releasing a new Spam filter to the comment sections of blogs. Some of you may already have this feature and some of you do not have it yet (me being one without). These bouncing e-mails may have something to do with Google's new feature and hopefully all will settle down. Just so you know, if I receive a comment in my inbox, I always respond, so if you don't get a response from me it probably bounced. The same goes with me visiting your blog, 99% of the time I will comment.

MORE ABOUT THE PROCESS

I have been doing some more unsewing....well until I got enough brain cells working and just cut circles to see how they would look instead of sewing them on LOL. I have been trying to figure out what fabric to use for the circles around the flower. The pattern has 7 of them but I cut it back to 5 since I used black in the bottom. Anyway, I noticed that there was a very little bit of mauve in the fabric and it worked well for the center circle of the flower. Here is what I tried out:

Black........nope too much black!!

Blue and pink......looks good in a close up but you back away and the points of the flowers fade away into the background.

Green......nope, the circles just fade away and why do the work if they don't show up? I thought about orange or yellow but there is enough of those colors already.

Mauve......perfect!! The circles show and the points don't fade out, however, I only have a 5" piece of this fabric. After an exhaustive search, this fabric is not available anywhere!! I'm going to town with Bob tomorrow, so while he's at his doctor appointment I'll hit JoAnn's, Hancocks and Hobby Lobby to see if I can match the color closely. If I can't find anything there, I'll have to drag Bob to the 4 LQS' in town.....poor poor man LOL.

So I guess I was wrong, this block may take me two weeks to finish, with all the unsewing I've done. Oh well, I'm enjoying it :0)

Crispy

Air Traffic, Traffic Jam, SIS and Aunt Millie

2010-08-13T14:45:00.003-05:00

AIR TRAFFIC

Living out in the country, you see things that city folks almost never experience. Every spring I hear the whomp of helicopter blades. It's a little red helicopter spraying the fields south of town. I've never been able to catch a picture of him. Last week I was coming home from town and noticed a small yellow plane coming up and going down along the horizon and knew that a field was being sprayed. I was cursing my luck because I didn't have my camera with me and he made one pass towards the tree line next to a farm house and I swear he trimmed a couple of leaves as he was pulling up......VERY exciting!! Wednesday I was out in the back yard and heard the roar of a small airplane. I saw this same plane just west of town and figured he was spraying the sunflower fields to the north and west of us. The sound of the plane got closer and closer and ZOOOMMM he buzzed right over my head, not much higher than the trees. I ran into the house and grabbed my camera. Here he is, circling around for another pass to the north:

I tried 6 different times to catch him coming over my next door neighbor's house but he was just too quick for me. This is the best I could do. My neighbor's roof is just out of frame on the bottom.

I just love stuff like this LOL.

TRAFFIC JAMS

Now city dwellers are VERY familiar with traffic jams but not like this one. Yesterday I was heading down old Hiway 10 into town to meet up with the SIS group and got stuck in a major taffic jam. It's grain harvest time and convoys of combines and tractor and trucks and swathers and bailers and other farm equipment take to the roads to get to all the different fields. If you have never seen a combine they are HUGE and take up most of a two lane road. They are very courteous and pull over so you can pass but this section of road didn't have enough shoulder for them to do it. Sorry the picture is so blurry, the sun was in my face and I was driving 5 mph but you get the idea:

SIS GROUP

I finally made it to Jean's house and we settle down for some visiting and sewing. First on Jean and Rita's agenda was putting labels with all the pillowcases being made by quilters in our area. There have been well over 200 pillowcases donated and man were there some pretty ones!! Here are Jean and Rita working away on the 110 cases that Rita brought along:

It didn't take them long to get that chore done and settle down to sewing. Jean was working on her wooly project, Rita was sewing another DJ block and I brought along my Aunt Millie to work on:

I did get my four flowers pieced and then just sat there listening to Jean's and Rita's stories.....they always have so much to gab about.....I Love It :0)

AUNT MILLIE

On Monday I showed you how that white backed black fabric didn't work out too well and that I was taking it apart. As I was taking it apart I decided to change what colors I was using for the stem and leaves. The block on the right was my original plan, the one on the left is what I changed it too. The blue leaves really perked the block up so I guess it was good that I had to do some unsewing :0)

So that is how my last week or so has progressed. Well not much progress but that's ok :0)

Crispy

Uh Oh I Was Afraid Of This.....

2010-08-09T12:13:00.003-05:00

I was picking out the black fabric for my current Aunt Millie block and I grabbed this fabric. It has a much meater feel to it and has that almost white back to it.

I should have gone with my first instinct and grabbed a different one. When you do needle turn, you grab just the littlest bit of fabric for each stitch and this has caused the white back to show through.

I see some major unsewing this evening.....oh well, live and learn LOL.

Crispy

Another Aunt Millies Is Done

2010-08-08T10:41:00.004-05:00

Goodness, I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I last posted!! I guess I was VERY slow on getting this Aunt Millie block done.

I've started the next block, which is this pattern:

I made one block from some Kaffe prints but it didn't do a thing for me. I don't know why, the colors are nice but I guess it didn't read bright enough:

So I grabbed some other fabrics and I like this much more.

This pattern is fairly easy so it shouldn't take me 2 weeks to get it done.

I guess this will be a short post....very unusal for me....but I lead such a boring life LOL.

Have a lovely Sunday :0)

Crispy

One Quarter of Current Aunt Millie Block

2010-07-25T18:30:00.000-05:00

AUNT MILLIE

So I'm stitching away on leaves last night and not liking what I'm seeing at all. I think this fabric is just not the right color. It might have helped if I made sure all of the leaves were on the lighter stripes, but I don't think so:

So this morning I picked apart the leaves and took the block into the bedroom to pick a different fabric. It was a toss up between a florescent green or polka dots...Polka dots make me smile everytime:

The fabric is a little light but the dots are the right colors....I'm not sure if I'm 100 percent happy, but I think these lighter leaves brighted up the rest of the block. We'll call 'er good for now :0)

DELAYED TUTORIAL

I mentioned a couple of posts ago that I was going to do a tutorial on the zig zag tops from the last block. I was editing the photos and decided that I needed to do a tutorial using a predominately one color fabric so I could match the thread to the fabric. Don't you find it hard to work with multi-colored fabrics and finding a thread that works for all of it? The fabric went from light to black and I used a grey which worked for the most part, except the black. Hey, have you ever used a Micron pen to color your thread when it shows? I did that with the previous block, worked like a charm :0). Anyway, when I have time, I'll put together a tutorial that is more visually pleasing....at least to me LOL.

AN AMAZING WIN

Also, in that same post I mentioned getting a super fantastic e-mail from a long time on-line friend, Gail. Gail and I met on the About.com quilting forum...in the Hand Piecing folder. A group of hand piecers would get together and recreate blocks that were found on the internet, books, floor tiles, where ever. Gail came up with the 7 pointed star, the inspiration being from Native American Quilts, and Becky and I drafted it up on EQ. I really struggled with this block and Becky gave one wonderful suggestion and I finally pulled it off:

As far as I know Gail was the only one that actually made a quilt with the lone star version of the block. She teamed up with Ronda (who is an extrodinary quilter) and their creation is called "Star Berries". They won Best In Show at the AQS show in Knoxville Tennesee!!!! Click on Star Berries and it will take you to the list of winners, click on Star Berries and a picture of the quilt will pop up. This is NOT a good picture of the quilt but if you subscribe to "The Quilt Show", Ronda is taping a show with Alex and Ricky and the quilt will be shown then. I don't know when the show will be broadcast but keep your eyes open :o) I'm soooo excited for my friend, she's an outstanding quilt designer and everything she puts her hands to comes out amazing!! I know that the quilt has been entered in several shows so it may even show up in your area. I must admit, I'm tickled that I had a small part in this LOL.

Well, I guess I'm all caught up with the goings on around here, except I whipped Bob at golf today WOO HOO!!! LOL

Crispy

Flowers Are Ready and A Little More About The Process

2010-07-23T13:52:00.004-05:00

FLOWERS ARE READY

Yesterday Rita, Alice and I met for our bi-monthly SIS group meeting. Jean is in Minot at the State Fair selling her wares and was unable to join us. I brought my flowers along to finish up. It's so much fun coming to the SIS group with a little bag of stitching....no lugging heavy machines and totes. Anyway, I got all my flowers pieced and then yesterday evening I decided on the centers and started making little circles. I just finished them up:

The centers aren't sewn down yet, I'll do that after the flower is stitched to the background. I have the first stem pinned down and ready to stitch. I see a very enjoyable evening ahead of me :0)

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE PROCESS

In my last post several ladies asked how I managed to envision the flowers from the striped fabric and how I made the flowers. This is how I came up with the idea....

When I was going through my fabrics, trying to decide on which to use, I realized that many of the fabrics I have purchased for this project are directional. I felt that having the pattern in the flowers all going in one direction didn't make sense. Nature paints each of it's petals individually. When I saw the bright stripes I knew that I had come up with the solution. Since the folksy type flowers would not divide equally, I got onto EQ and changed the flower.

Here's how I constructed the flowers: (Sorry I don't have photos of all the steps)

I printed out two of the flower patterns onto freezer paper, one I cut apart for the template pieces. The 6 templates for each flower were lined up along the stripe pattern of the fabric:

I traced around each template, cut them apart and sewed them together. Here's the back of one of the flowers (looks cool on the back too). I pressed the seam open because it will cause less bulk when needle turned. Pieced shapes like this are VERY easy to needle turn, the sharp inny points are already turned under for you:

The other freezer paper flower was cut into the flower shape, with the center hole cut out (I'll show why I did that on a later post). I centered this template onto the front of the pieced flower so I could draw my needle turn lines:

Once the lines are drawn I cut the seam allowance down. Actually after it's pieced it looks like a sextagon but you will have to picture that in your head LOL.

So that was my whole thought process :0)

Crispy

A New Aunt Millie Started and A Pie

2010-07-21T13:56:00.002-05:00

AUNT MILLIE

Yesterday, before work I got to thinking about my next Aunt Millie block. This is the pattern I am working on:

These are a couple of the fabrics I was considering for the flowers and just could not make up my mind:

Then I got to thinking of using a different fabric for each flower but couldn't come up with 16 different ones that I liked together....decisions decisions....
As I was stacking the fabric back up I saw this fabric:

And the wheels started turning. I hopped onto EQ, drew up a new flower for the block, so the flowers will now be shaped like this....it's ok to make changes, right?

So after work yesterday and this morning, I started making my new flowers:

I haven't decided on stem, leaf or center of flower fabrics yet, but that's the easy part....I think. I'm going to be much happier with my new flower than using the pattern ones, besides these flowers will tie well with this block.

EASY PEASY LEMON PIE

This pile of fluff is the easiest lemon pie recipe ever invented. I am no baker!! I would rather make a 7 course dinner than bake a batch of cookies. I often ask my blogger buddies to adopt me so I can have fresh baked bread....no takers yet LOL. One of my neighbors brought me a piece of this yummy pie and kindly shared the recipe. I've been passing it on to all the ladies who come into the store and now we can hardly keep pink lemonade in the freezer at work. Yep lemonade, here's the recipe: Oh, this is not a low calorie pie and it makes 2 10 inch pies, I'll put the ingredients for 1 pie in parentheses:

Pink Lemonade Pie

2 10" graham cracker pie crust (1 10" crust)
2 14oz cans of condensed milk (1 can)
2 12oz containers cool whip or 3 8 oz cool whip (1 1/2 8 oz containers)
1 12oz can Pink Lemonade thawed or 1 1/2 8oz cans (1 1/4c lemonade)

Wisk condensed milk and lemonade until blended
Fold in the Cool Whip until smooth
Pour into pie shells and refriderate until set

Told ya, VERY easy and a BIG crowd pleaser....not that Bob wants me to share them with anyone (he doesn't know I'm giving one to the neighbor LOL).

Off to draw up my overlays and pick some leaf fabric. Have a lovely day.

Crispy

Aunt Millie Is Done and A New To Me Blog

2010-07-17T07:22:00.005-05:00

Yesterday I worked on finishing the Aunt Millie block. While I was stitching the last flower I took pictures to do a tutorial on how I approach those multiple points (to be posted another day). I also took pictures of my original thought for the center and what I ended up with (see below). As I took breaks from stitching, I would periodically check my e-mails and I received a WONDERFUL e-mail from a long time on-line friend (to be posted another day). I even had plans on sharing a yummy and VERY easy lemon pie recipe (to be posted another day). So all pictures taken, all plans laid for a REALLY long post.....and my cord to the computer for downloading pictures wasn't working.....ARGHHHH!!!!

I recently loaded an upgrade of Norton to my computer which came with my NetZero disk. I figured why not, it was free. Well, this crappy program wouldn't let me even sign on to the computer. After much research I fixed that, then it decided that my camera download program was a virus and stopped it from working and I couldn't figure that one out. To make a long long long long story short, I tried a restore (didn't work) and then undid the restore (didn't work) and then deleted Norton (didn't work). However after all my researching and googling, I found I could just plug my memory card into the slot in the computer...TA DA pictures!! Since it was 1am, I figured I'd just go to bed :0)

AUNT MILLIE

So, here are the pictures of the Aunt Millie block:

As I was stitching the last circle to the last flower section I was thinking I would use the red polka dot fabric for the large center circle and use the stem fabric as the smaller circle.

It's ok, but just really didn't do it for me.

In my basket, next to my chair, I had a circle that I fussy cut for a large center circle on one of the other Aunt Millie blocks. It didn't work for the block I was working on at the time but it worked very nicely for this block:

I think this center makes the colors of the flower pop much better.

Here is a picture of the 6 completed blocks....half way done!!

I have to work the next 4 days so I'll just work on some 9 patches and get the next blocks templates and overlay drawn up. I think I know what fabrics I'll be using....

NEW TO ME BLOG

A lovely lady commented on my blog and since I didn't know her I wandered on over to her blog Rambling Riley's Rumbling. Riley does beautiful needle turn applique and writes lots of rambling thoughts. Hop on over and say hello, it's a lovely place to hang out :0)

Crispy

Hand Piecing With Crispy

2010-07-10T06:29:00.004-05:00

As promised, I am officially launching my hand piecing tutorial which is located at Hand Piecing With Crispy. You can also click on the icon in the left sidebar.

I have worked on this for months and months writing up each step and then rewriting and rewriting some more (I think the rewrites took longer than the original write ups and I'm pretty darn sure you will still find a typing or grammatical error LOL) and taking 174 photos of all the steps for my version of hand piecing.

Any feed back would be greatly appreciated. I will gradually add a Frequently Asked Questions section...if needed.

I hope you all take a moment and take a peek at this new site.

Crispy

Sis Group Day!!

2010-07-09T14:10:00.003-05:00

Yesterday Rita, Jean and Alice came on over to my neck of the woods for a day of sewing at the Golf Course. I actually remembered to bring my camera but the only pictures I took were of the projects everyone was working on. The club house has LOTS of windows so it is a nice place to stitch but the skeeters were really annoying!!!

Anyhoo, here is what everyone was working on:

Alice was working on her Tisket Tasket block. She is fairly new to needle turn applique and I think she is doing a beautiful job. I love the fabric in the basket!!

Jean brought her woolly project. Isn't this a beautiful pattern? She says that there will be more leaves inside the circles. The gold fabric is from a wool coat she found at the Salvation Army store or one of the other charity places. She has collected LOTS of wool and is currently working on a way to sell most of it off. We were suggesting opening an EBay account or trying an Esty shop. I'll let you know what she decides to do....I do like to enable :0)

Rita was working on her Dear Jane blocks. She showed us all of the blocks she has gotten done since our last get together. She forgot the siggy blocks she is swapping but you can view the blocks and the siggies on her blog.

I worked on my Aunt Millie block. This is a picture of what the block looked like before we started actually sewing.

And this is how much I actually got done. Pretty good, I think, I don't always get much sewing done at these get togethers LOL.

I haven't been doing much sewing lately. Julia, a friend from the Yahoo Hand Piecing group, sent me an e-mail asking if I was working on a hand piecing tutorial. I have been working on one but have been too busy to play with it the last couple of months. Her e-mail put a little fire under me and I found that I really didn't have much more to do on it, so I have put my head down and it should be available by tomorrow :0) One of the hold ups was how to make a PDF file available for everyone to download (you can't link to a PDF file on a blog). There are several options but I thought I would give Google Sites a try. They have free web sites and they are really easy to use....well easy for what I needed a web page for :0) Anyhoo, I stitched up my last demonstration today and need to type it up on the Hand Piecing blog. I'll do one more read through (I think there are about 25 posts), do a little rewriting and I'll post on this blog when it's ready to access (check back tomorrow) :0)

Crispy

Free Photo Sites and A New Aunt Millie

2010-07-04T13:33:00.005-05:00

In my last post I mentioned that I have been having a hard time getting Picnik to open and I still can't get it to work. Ever since Google bought the site I've had problems. My wonderful blogger buddies have suggested many sites to try out and here is my review of them:

Sophie Suggested GIMP, this site looked really interesting but Sophie said there is a big learning curve....not something that I want to do.....I just want to resize and tweak my pictures so I didn't download this one. Thank you for the suggestion though Sophie :0)
Nanci and Janet suggested Picasa, Janet even mentioned it was a no brainer...right up MY alley LOL. So I downloaded it and played with it a bit today. For editing it is very nice but what I didn't like was that my photos have to be in a folder before I can even access them. When I do photos for my blog, I don't put them in folders when I download them from my camera, they just sit there in My Pictures. Also to save the changes I have to export them which creates another folder. Picasa is just to folder heavy for my methods.
Carrie suggested just using Windows Photo Gallery. I'm so observant, I never noticed the "Fix" button on that screen. The only down side is it's very limited on the tweaking capabilities and no re-sizing.
Ronda suggested Photo Pos Pro. This looked very promising so I downloaded it...which took over 2 hours with my slow dial-up LOL. Everything downloaded just fine but when I opened the program it said that I wasn't online (which I was). So I dug around their site and found it had to do with firewalls. Made the necessary changes on my firewalls and it still didn't work. I dug deeper into the site and it said I had to download something else which would fix this but then I would have to down load the program again....nope didn't do it. Again thank you for the suggestion Ronda :0)
Jo says she has been using Irfanview for several years and really liked it. So I downloaded one more program....to my surprise it downloaded very quickly :0). I played with it this morning and I'm really liking it. The only downside is when you try to sharpen a picture....it doesn't have a slide bar and doesn't do a really good job of it, but I'll work around that. So the winner is Irfanview....it's a sweet little program. Bless you Jo LOL!!
I REALLY miss Picnik and maybe some day I can get it to upload on my computer. Until then I'll play with Irfanview.

Ok, enough about photo editing sites (though if anyone has a favorite site, not listed above, please let me know).

I have the first flower done on my next Aunt Millie block. When I was looking for the "perfect" fabric I would use for this block I was having a really hard time deciding. I had seen this fabric in my stack but it really didn't grab me until I opened up the fat quarter and then it SCREAMED at me. I LOVE this fabric and wish I had a lot more of it but I don't have the name of it on the selvage....oh well, I don't need more fabric LOL. The fabrics for the leaves and stems were easy to pick out but while I was stitching I kept thinking of what I would use for the circles and this morning it popped into my head....the Red with black Polka Dots....perfect. I love it when things finally drop into place. So here is the new Aunt Millie block:

Isn't it a ZINGER?!?!?!? I really am going to love this block :0)

Well, off to the golf course, you all have a wonderful 4th and hug a soldier or veteran, I've hugged 3 different ones today...so far.

Crispy

5 Done....7 To Go

2010-07-01T11:41:00.003-05:00

I finished up that Aunt Millie block yesterday....Ta Da!!

I'm not overly excited with the middle...I like the concept but I needed to have more of the striped areas instead of just a little bit. Bob thinks the middle circle needs to be bigger too and I agree. I'll fix it later...or not LOL.

So that makes 5 done:

I have the templates all cut out and the overlay done for the next block. I even have the fabric picked out but haven't tested it yet to see if I'll really like it or not, so I won't show pictures until I can get one flower done.

Sorry the pictures aren't that great. I've been having a heck of a time getting Picnik to load so I can edit my pictures. I think I need to invest in PhotoShop or something. I almost bought PhotoShop at Walmart this morning but decided to wait until I could shop around for the best price. It's a good thing I didn't buy it. After I loaded my car with the groceries, I turned the key and nothing happened. My battery was dead dead dead!! I was so surprised because the car has been starting right up. So the money I saved by not buying the software, I invested in a new battery....plus $40 more LOL. Oh well, at least I was at Walmart and they could fix it right away.

Well off to work, where I hope I have a very quite day, with no surprises.

Crispy

More Aunt Millie

2010-06-28T08:57:00.003-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I would show how I trim away the excess fabrics while appliqueing the latest block. So here goes:

Normally I would not start appliqueing so close to a point, but I wanted to stitch down the top of the green piece so I could trim the excess fabric away. I started a couple of stitches from where the blue part of the flower goes under the green.

I gently lift the green fabric to expose the turn under so I know how much to trim of the excess fabric.

This is always the scary part....what if I accidentally cut the wrong thing or trim away too much of the excess!!! So I take a deep breath and trim very very carefully with a pair of really sharp scissors:

I trim the excess close to the turn under, a little extra isn't a bad thing, however, when there are deep V's, like in the middle of the stem, I always leave plenty at the point. If there is too much, I'll trim it when I get to that area.

So that's how I handle those situations. I only have two more flowers to sew on and need to figure out what I want to do for the center, but I'm working extra days this week, as Bob is taking some time off and I have to fill in for him. It's a good thing, he's getting many things crossed out on the Honey Do list :0)

Off to sew a little before I have to go to work. You all have a lovely day!!

Crispy

An Older Quilt And SIS Group

2010-06-24T17:48:00.003-05:00

When I was transfering all of my photos out of Flickr and Web Shots into Picasa I came across the quilt I made for my niece Denise's wedding back in 2001. She picked out the colors and I picked out the design. I cut all the white pieces and sat at the sign in table to make sure that everyone signed, what a chore that was LOL. I even sent out squares and pens for those who could not attend the wedding. Denise still uses this quilt during the winter months.

Here is close up of one of the blocks:

The SIS group met up at Rita's today and as usual there was more gabbing than actual sewing and of course, I forgot my camera again LOL. I did manage to get 4 9 patches sewn.

Rita was working on a Dear Jane triangle, Jean was appliqueing some hearts and Alice was working on a Tisket Tasket block. After we ate lunch Jean ran out and picked up Agnes, who will be celebrating her 91st birthday soon and she was stitching up some more pillow cases. The next meeting, on the 8th, will be held at my local golf course.

Well, I guess I better get some stitching done. I did manage to get another small flower sewn onto the Aunt Millie, yesterday :0)

Crispy

Aunt Millie Progress

2010-06-22T09:57:00.004-05:00

I've been making slow progress on my Aunt Millie.....a stitch here and there but I have 3 of the flowers done:

I actually finished this flower while I was waiting for some photos to upload, amazing what you can get done with slow dial-up LOL.

When I sewed on the first flower, I started with the blue, sewed it to the background then the yellow, red and finally the green stem. As I added each piece I struggled to trim the excess fabric under each consecutive piece. I like to cut my pieces with plenty of excess fabric so I don't end up with very little fabric to attach the next piece to.

On the little flower I decided to sew the blue, yellow and red pieces off the block and then attach that unit onto the background before adding the stem. This worked MUCH better for getting rid of the extra bulk, as I am not cutting away the background on this project. Here are a couple of pictures from the second big flower.
The completed unit:

The back: This shows that I have easy access to the excess fabric, so the trimming job is much tidier.

Within the next couple of days I'll show how I trim under the green stem (I forgot to take pictures when I made the last flower).

Crispy

This, That and The Other Thing

2010-06-19T12:17:00.005-05:00

THIS
I spent most of yesterday fiddling around with fabric. I did get these 9 patches done:

Then I went through the two pizza boxes and pulled out enough 2" squares to do 160 more patches. I have all the left over squares combined into one pizza box (need to pick up a tote I think). There are 6 layers of squares.

There were some fabrics that had only one or two squares so I stuck those in a ziplock bag. I have no idea why I cut those triangles so I stuck them in the baggy too. I'll just toss those in the scrap bin.

I hung all the completed 9 patches on my design wall. Hmmmm not very many of them, but I'll be adding to them every now and again. This will be a good project to take when the SIS group gets together on the 24th.

THAT
So now all that mess is straightened up, I was looking at my design wall trying to decide what to work on next. Aunt Millie won the toss :0) I am going to remake the block that I had tossed (then dug out and sent to Terri) and got all the pieces cut out last night. I managed to get a few stitches in before my eyes wouldn't stay open any longer.

I'm really excited to get back to this project. I was shocked to find I haven't done a thing on it since December or January!

THE OTHER THING
I also received this lovely squishy from one of my blogger buddies in return for a favor that took all of about 2 seconds to do. I can't say who it was from or why, as it is her secret mission I performed, but I do want to publicly thank you Ms. Skallywag :0)

I played with EQ7 for a bit yesterday and managed to make a big mess in the guest bedroom again. I guess I'll "maybe" clean that tomorrow :0)

OOPS, I forgot to mention, I will be changing my e-mail address in the next few days. As you reply to my blog you will see the new address. Yahoo is letting too much spam through so it's time for a change.

Crispy

Play Time!!!

2010-06-17T16:59:00.003-05:00

Woo Hoo, I'm uploaded and running strong!! I drew a few blocks, clicked on the stuff I normally use and will explore the new stuff over the next few days. I find that many of the features are the same as EQ6, so it's like using an old friend, even down to the fact that they didn't fix the refresh issue when clicking between the Pick and Shape tools in Easy Draw, but I know how to fix that. It's nice that I no longer have to have the older versions of EQ on my computer, it sure freed up some space!!

I've been pretty busy since Tuesday afternoon, but whenever I had a few minutes, I did manage to stitch up a few more 9 patches.

I also started picking through those pizza boxes of 2" squares. The blocks in the top row are from the box. It's much quicker prepping the 2" squares than I thought it would be. I'm not bothering using a rotary cutter to take off the extra 1/2", I'm just using a pair of scissors. Awww the joy of hand piecing where I don't have to worry about that perfect 1/4 seam allowance.

Well, off to sew a few more patches and then think about what else I want to sew on over the next few days :0)

Crispy

A Word Of Caution....

2010-06-15T11:03:00.003-05:00

Yesterday, I mentioned my great idea about printing my 1" squares directly onto my fabric. My friend Cathi who is a long time user of the Inklingo sent me an e-mail saying I should test the ink from my computer before I make a bunch of 9 patches and find that the black ink will run. So I figured I better test this out....

I took two of the squares, the first one I just spritzed with water and it ran like crazy!! The second one I ironed with steam and then spritzed it with water. It also ran but I washed it with soap and water and it all came out. Here is a picture of the front of the fabric.

IMHO, this washes out much nicer than my, some times, heavy handed pencil lines and I am satisfied with the results. However, if you try doing this be sure to test on your fabric :0)

Not much sewing to be happening around here the next few days, MY EQ7 IS FINALLY HERE!!!

Today....it's off to work...bummer LOL

Crispy

One Thought Leads To Another.....

2010-06-14T11:51:00.005-05:00

While reading Teresa's blog this morning she mentioned how she was using up some 2 inch scraps as leaders and enders while putting together her Liberated Ladies top. This got me thinking about all those stupid 2 inch squares that I collected for a Water Color Quilt, which will NEVER be made. See these pizza boxes at the top of my closet? They are full of 2" squares and strips:

So I thought why the heck am I cutting up larger pieces of fabric to make 9 patches when I have a bazillion 2" squares I could use? I'm sticking with my initial 1" square size so will have to trim them, but that's no big deal.

Now this got me to thinking that since I'm using the same background fabric for all of these 9 patches, why not print the sewing lines onto the fabric instead of ironing on freezer paper templates, drawing my lines and then cutting it apart.

I started up my EQ6 (hopefully for the last time; EQ7 should be here this afternoon) and drew up a block giving me a 5 x 7 grid of 1" blocks and also includes my seam allowance and cutting lines. The following is certainly not a new concept, as you who own Inklingo know, but I never seem to think of applying this principle to my sewing. This is the block I drew up:

I cut an 11" strip of back ground fabric:

Then cut it into 8.5 x 11" pieces. I started the measurement at the salvage end, opened the last bit by the fold and trimmed it to 8.5 x 11". I ended up with 5 pieces, enough for 175 background squares :0)

Next I cut an 8.5x11" piece of freezer paper:

Using a dry iron, I ironed the fabric, right side against the plastic side of the freezer paper:

I ran this through my printer and it comes out looking like this:

All I had to do is peel off the freezer paper and cut them apart....easy peasy!!

I wish I could think of some way to print my sewing lines on those 2" squares....

Crispy

More 9 Patches and A Dear Jane Block

2010-06-13T09:17:00.003-05:00

Goodness these 9 patches are addicting!! I got these done on Friday morning:

And these were sewn last night:

Between Friday Morning, working Saturday and stitching up the last set of 9 patches I decided to do the Dear Jane block, to go with my last Dutch Treat block:

I need to rethink this project. I'm using 7" charms of Hoffman Watercolor batiks and since I'm making these blocks at 6" it's, at times, very hard to squeeze all the templates onto that 7" square and still have a decent seam allowance. Sometimes, like with this block, I only have 1/8" seam allowance:

I believe that I will make one more Dutch Treat/Dear Jane set and then when I get my EQ7 on Monday, I will figure out how to incorporate the Quilted Diamond blocks. This project was originally going to be much larger, but I'm just not happy having to sew with those tiny seam allowances. Wall hangings are good though :0)

Do you ever change your mind like this?

Crispy

More 9 Patches, A Review and A New Blog

2010-06-11T12:35:00.004-05:00

MORE 9 PATCHES
I finished 4 more 9 patches last night:

and have 4 more ready to sew up :0)

A REVIEW
I've mentioned several times that I use Crayola Washable Fine Tip Markers to mark the lines on my quilts when I'm doing hand quilting:

They wash out wonderfully when I'm done. Last night as I was drawing my sewing lines for the 9 patches I thought maybe I would try using these. However, I've never tested these pens to see what happens if you iron the lines. I grabbed a scrap piece of fabric, drew heavy black and red lines and then ironed the piece well with a HOT dry iron.

I rinsed the piece with hot water and most of the lines disappeard. I then scrubbed it with soap and warm water, twice. Not all of the ink came out:

I will continue using these pens for drawing my quilting lines but not for anything that gets ironed!!! As I always say, ALWAYS test on your fabric before you use ANY pen, even your tried and true ones :0)

A NEW (TO ME) BLOG
Ronda from Momma Made This commented on a recent blog post so I had to run over and check out her blog. I was VERY pleased with what I saw. She has another blog but recently decided that she needed a separate one for quilting. As I was trolling through her blog, I came across badge:

This badge and what it means to Ronda, is exactly what I feel about quilting. Click on the badge and read what she had to say. I'm adding this to my side bar :0) Oh, she loves hand work too!!

Off to stitch up those 9 patches and then make more or maybe a Dutch Treat block or something quilty :0)

Crispy

9 Patches, Purchases And A Boo Boo

2010-06-10T17:55:00.003-05:00

9 PATCHES
Yesterday, I was working on another Dutch Treat block but managed to goof it up, it would have ended up being white and red instead of red and white, so into the trash it went :0).

Since my brain was obviously on vacation yesterday, I decided a little mindless sewing of 9 patches was in order. I got these 6 little blocks done:

I was thinking of using a white muslin as the background (ho hummmm) but have had this purple and white fabric around for a LONG time. Now seemed like a good time to use some of it up (I have lots of it).

PURCHASES
I also recieved a flyer, from one of my favorite LQS', that they were have a bargain basement sale, and since I HAD to go into town today, to do the weekly shopping, I HAD to pop in to see what was available. I picked up a yard of 3 fabrics (the rest of the fabrics I already had or didn't appeal to me, thus a small purchase). The two darker ones are Japanese fabrics Daiwabo and Serenity (I think that is the name of the line). These will go with a secret project I've been collecting fabric for, as well as the gold fabric. Since I was in town anyways, I also stopped at my other favorite LQS and picked up a couple of fat quarters for my Aunt Millie. Joy, the owner, was busily ordering new fabrics....I wonder what she is going to get in.....:

A BOO BOO
Aside from the Boo Boo I made yesterday, Bob also made a Boo Boo on his car last night (he's ok, just mad). He had gone to town to play Texas Hold 'em and for some dumb reason he decided to come home via the back roads. This is NOT a good decision at midnight, in the country. He can now say he has "Gotten His Deer". Luckily he hit it just right so that it trashed the front quarter panel, ripped off the side mirror, flipped over the car, got up and ran off. Bob drives a tiny Chevy Metro (you know the tiny cars that you think you can just pick up and put in the back of your mini van) and was really really lucky the deer flipped over the car. So he is now on the look out for some replacement parts, thank goodness he once did auto body work and can fix this himself:

I think I will now go and do some more mindless sewing :0)

Crispy

A Dutch Treat Block And Other Stuff

2010-06-09T08:11:00.004-05:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I have picked up my Dear Jane/Dutch Treat/Quilted Diamond project again. I had prepped 3 blocks to take with me on my last two trips to Seattle and got nothing done with them. I completed this one yesterday:

I'm making these blocks at 6 inches so they are MUCH earier to sew than the beautiful 4 inch ones that my friend Mary is making.

My embroidery skills are extremely rusty but I purchased this book several years ago and it has come in very handy. I can never remember how to start a stem stitch....

So many beautiful stitches in this book and excellent instructions!!

Of course I have become distracted by a 9 patch project that Yvette and her friend are making. I have no idea how many I will make and I'm pretty darn sure I won't be making one a day but what a wonderful way to use up those little scraps. Mine will be 3 inches finished....I love little blocks and they are a snap to do by hand. I never got lured into the One Flower Wednesday project hosted by Karen or the Klosjes craze but there is something about a 9 patch that I just can't ignore :0) I drew up this block in EQ6, enough template pieces for 4-9 patch blocks at a time, maybe I'll get started on them today....

I'm hoping that this will be last block I draw up using EQ6....I'm breathlessly awaiting for EQ7 to arrive at my door!!!! After it arrives, there will be no sewing at my house, only lovely hours of designing :o)

Crispy

It's Finished....Woo Hoo!!!

2010-06-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Well, actually I finished this on Monday, but had to head to work. I did get the this Christmas Topper lined out on my 2010 Goal list....this is a VERY good thing LOL.

Anyhoo, here is the front (I know, you've seen this lots of times):

Here is the back:

I had some 1" bias strips in my cedar trunk (I can't remember why I cut these strips, but there is a LOT of them) and the fabric is the same as was used in the green squares so I used it to bind the quilt. I figure since it's a wall hanging, there is no need to worry about the binding wearing out too soon. Besides, it's bias strips and they hold up much better. The only time I use my sewing machine is to put bindings on and I didn't check my tension until I was all done. The tension was HORRIBLE but again, it's a wall hanging and should hold up ok so I didn't fix it.

The quilting looks great, from a distance, but it certainly is not my best work. It looks more like Morse Code....lots of dots and dashes LOL.

Hmmmm, seems like this piece was kinda slap dashed together, but I still like it :0)

So now I'm working on a few of the Dutch Treat blocks that I have had prepped for ages and then I will do the Dear Jane blocks in the same fabrics. It will be nice to have these few blocks done and on the wall. After that I think I'll get back into my Aunt Millie project.....unless I get distracted with something else :0)

Crispy

Gelly Roll Pens

2010-06-06T18:59:00.003-05:00

In my last post I showed the mess I made trying to fix my drawing mistake and mentioned that I use a white Gelly Roll Pen to draw my lines. I had several people ask about this and decided to do a little review on it.

This is the pen that I use:

I know that there are several brands of Gelly Roll type pens but this is the only one I have ever used. They can be found at crafting stores, usually with the scrapbooking stuff.

I use these pens for drawing quilting lines and for drawing my sewing lines on dark fabrics. I HIGHLY recommend that you ALWAYS test this pen on a scrap piece of fabric before you use it. Also, if you want to use it to draw sewing lines for hand piecing, check to make sure it doesn't leak all the way through the fabric. This can happen on thinner fabrics or if you go back and forth to draw the line. Once you hit this ink with an iron it becomes PERMANENT!!! This ink does not rinse out, you must put it in a regular cycle, in your washer, with detergent. Now, with all the warnings being said, I have never had the marks not come out, but have had to use a spot treatment to get the marks out of one fabric, but it did eventually come out.

For this review, I took a piece of black Kaufman Kona and scribbled heavily on it:

I then tossed it into the wash with my regular laundry and it comes out looking like this:

Normally I do not scribble to draw my lines. These pens flow very smoothly and you do not need to go back and forth.

I finished quilting the Christmas Topper last night and got it bound this afternoon. This is what that messy area on my quilt looked like:

Here is the same area after I put it through the washer:

As you can see it all came out.

Now I'm going to go draw some more lines with my white Gelly Roll pen, quilt up this small area, toss it in the washer again AND THEN I can cross it out on my 2010 Goal list.....Woo Hoo!!

Crispy

I'm Taking The Pledge Too

2010-06-05T07:05:00.001-05:00

I actually have done some quilting lately. I mentioned that I was taking the Christmas Topper with me to work on while I was in Seattle. On the train ride out, I drew all my quilting lines. It's a rather bumpy ride but I adjusted things as I was sewing. I actually got quite a bit of the quilting done while in Seattle and on the train rides.

Here is the back of the quilt so far....well as of Wednesday night:

A few days ago I read a post by Julie at Quilter Behind The Barn Door and she mentioned going to a blog that stressed showing how your thought process worked, while creating a quilt. I really enjoyed reading Julie's posting and headed over to Rossie's site to find out about the pledge. This really piqued my interest and I'm going to do my best to talk about my projects in this way. I have added the Pledge Button on my side bar to remind me of this.

HOWEVER, this post leans more towards what happens when you DON'T think about what you are doing while creating a quilt :0)

Usually I plan out the quilting designs before I actually draw them but changed my mind in one area. It was no big deal as the changes were easy to see.

Before I left for Seattle, I just didn't have time to decide on what design I would put in the inner and outer borders and decided I would just leave that until the rest of the quilt was quilted. I finished up the rest of the quilting Wednesday night and went on the hunt for a 2" border design. I had seen, someplace in blogland, a rope border that I liked but didn't really think a rope was the right choice. I found this border in one of my many quilting pattern books "It's Not a Quilt Until It's Quilted" by Shirley Thompson.

This ribbon motif is much better for a quilt I call the Chrismas Topper.

Thursday I was invited over to my SIS buddy Rita's house for a sewing day and brought this quilt along to draw on the border design. The inner border was a snap and was traced on in no time at all. HOWEVER, the outer border didn't go so smoothly:

I failed to take a really good look at the design and to get it into my head that the designs point in opposite directions, thus should meet nicely in the middle....like this:

After Rita and I got through laughing at my misguided attempts at "fixing" things, I have decided that I will just ignore this area for now. I'll baste it really well, finish quilting in the "good" areas, bind it and then wash out all the extra lines and redraw them properly. I need to wash the quilt as I use a white Gelly Roll pen to draw quilting lines but basting it down well should keep this smallish area stable until I can do things properly.

Ya gotta love those learning experiences LOL.

Crispy

My Time In Seattle

2010-06-02T21:52:00.004-05:00

I've been so dang busy since I got home that I haven't had time to post pictures from my trip to Seattle or about all the other stuff I have been up to. I'll start with Seattle and work through the rest in the next couple of days.

I was picked up in the morning by Sam, dropped off at the house and he headed to work. When he came home with Saige I went outside to greet them and I hear him ask her who was on the porch. I hear this little voice say "It's Gramma!!" The second best word in the English language "Gramma" (Momma is the first).

Friday, Melody, Saige and I went to Carkeek Park and played on the swings:

Then went down the slide:

Then threw rocks into the water:

Saturday night we celebrated Melody's birthday by going down to the Seattle waterfront to a restaurant named The Crab Pot. You order a bucket of seafood and they dump it on the table, hand you a bib and napkins and you dig in. I was in seafood heaven, clams, muscles, king crab, dungeness crab, shrimp (I would have preferred that they took the faces off the shrimp):0)!!

Sunday was Saige's second birthday party!!
Here is Gramma (me) and Saige:

Here are pictures of the Party Girl:

Needless to say she had a wonderful time.
Remember when I was making Emma's Quilt? Here is little Emma now, she just turned one in April.

The next few days I just hung out at the house and got to do a lot of babysitting. Saigey and I had a blast. I was too busy running races down the hall and playing ball and such to take any pictures LOL. I had to show this picture. Daddy is NOT good at making pony tails, as you can see Saige was REALLY happy with the results LOL.

The day I was leaving, we went to the zoo:

We had a little picnic and Saige was listening to what Daddy was saying:

He's so funny!!

I'm really missing my beautiful family!! I hope to return in late October/early November.

Oh, I must post a gratuitous Penguin picture for Pat LOL.

Sorry this post was so picture heavy, trust me this was just the tip of the iceberg LOL.

Crispy

Going West

2010-05-12T04:55:00.002-05:00

By the time you read this I'll be on my way to Seattle to hang with the family and to celebrate Saige's second birthday.

I'm going to have her make me some pancakes :0)

And eat some of Sam's fish he better have saved me some :0)

After eating pancakes and fish, I'm going to spend lots of lovely hours with my family...they are such a fun group of people!!

I'll catch up with you all on Thursday :0)

Crispy

A New Orphan Block

2010-05-07T16:43:00.003-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that I had found a missing piece to a block I was working on. I finished it up just a few minutes ago.

Back

This version of a LeMoyne Star was going to be my focus for the hand piecing instructions I am writing up but decided that it would be a bit over the top for a beginner.

I drafted up a VERY simple and to be honest a VERY ugly block for learning to hand piece.

I did take some pictures while piecing the LeMoyne Star block that won't be addressed while making the ugly block....like how to do a "Y" seam and some pressing tips, so you will eventually see more of this block.

Anyhoo, this is another block to add to my stack of Orphan Blocks.

I'm off to get some hand quilting done, enjoy your weekend :0)

Crispy