Another Productive Day

I had another very productive quilting day yesterday.  I finished quilting the 2nd habitat for humanity quilt.  I think it turned out very pretty.  Suzanne and mom both came back over yesterday and spent some time sewing.  Suzanne took the top off the zipper leaders, squared it up and sewed on the binding.  She is taking it with her out of town today and will whip the binding done during her trip. 

   Suzanne did a wonderful job putting the pieces of the donated top together so we could get it quilted.  Below is a close up of some of the quilting.  Thanks Suzanne for all your hard work getting this ready for quilting.

Someone will be a very happy recepient of this beautiful quilt at their Habitat for Humanity Home Dedication.

Roger and I found this sign while on our trip to Kansas.  It is so true of our cats and the one on the sign looks just like our "prissy" female cat whom we call "sissy".  Her real name is Cleopatra, but we call her sissy 99% of the time.

What a spoiled brat she that cat is.

I also pieced a miniture top yesterday. 

It was fun, now to get it quilted.  I have got to get busy and get something done that I can enter into the quilt show this year.

So my grand total for my 4 days off quilting was.......finished quilting my friendship star quilt, quilted 2 tops for mom, quilted 2 Habitat for Humanity tops, Helped mom finish piecing a top, quilted 5 extra fat quarters of material to be used to make items for the quilt show bazzaar and I pieced a miniature quilt top.  Boy that sounds like a wonderful few days of quilting!!

Today was another CRAZY day in the ER today.  It was very hard to go back to work after having so much fun in my studio over the past few days, I would have liked if I could have been home in my quilting studio instead.    Oh well, I guess I do have to pay for fabric addiction somehow.....he he he.
Happy Quilting Everyone,
Shelia

Lots of Buzzing In The Bee Hive

Last night we had lots of productive fun in the Bee Hive.  We had 3 peeps missing (Deb, Debbie & Sue), but one honoary peep was here, Mom.  Me, Susan and Suzanne worked on several of our Habitat Quilts. 
Suzanne dropped of the first top at lunch yesterday.  I added some borders, loaded and quilted it.  Here is the top coming out of the longarm. 

Notice again I did extra fabric on the sides to be used for projects.
We then moved on to the 2nd top Suzanne brought. She had already pieced the top together from donated parts.  We pieced the backing and loaded the machine.

This is going to be a beautiful quilt for someone in a new Habitat for Humanity home.  I can't wait for you to see the finished product.

While I was quilting some on the 2nd top, Suzanne was putting the binding on the first habitat quilt, but she had some unsolicited help.......WHISKERS!!  Now he is really a ham and thinks that you can't sew anything without his help.

"what you mean I'm not helping?"

Suzanne had wanted to learn how to load into the longarm using the zipper leaders.  She sewed the zippers on the backing and was able to get it loaded very quickly.
Suzanne also quilted some on the quilt last night.  Here she is taking a test drive on my longarm.  She is a natural at driving the machine and did a great job on the quilt.

We were able to get about 1/3 of the quilt done last night.  It was 12:30 a.m. before we realized it. 

While we were quilting Susan was cutting out pieces for an applique wallhanging.  She purchased the kit for a Fons & Porter pattern a couple of years ago and now is in the process of completing the project. Susan does such beautiful work I can't wait to see the finished project.

Mom worked finished piecing the top with oriental fabrics framed with black strips. 

She did a great job.  It will be the next top in the longarm.  Mom also worked on the binding for the two small quilts I quilted yesterday for her. 

In between working on these projects yesterday I was also piecing some blocks.  I hope to get them finished today and quilt some more on the habitat quilt.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND TO EVERYONE! I hope that you have a wonderful, safe weekend with family and friends.
Life is Good!

Happy Quilting,

Shelia

Automobile Mileage???

While running errands yesterday I happened to look down at the mileage on my odometer  while at a stop light.  This is what I saw.  (111,111) How amazing is that? 

Notice the temperature was also 92 degrees at 2:00 p.m..  YUCK!!!!  Looks like we are going to have another sweltering day today.  We sure could use a little rain to cool things off. 

It's just 5 1/2 weeks until our son Rance and his wife Olivia are coming to visit from Spokane Washington.  It's been a long time since we saw him and haven't seen Olivia since they were married.  We are really looking forward to their visit.

This evening some of the bee girls are coming and mom is also coming up to do some sewing and quilting.  It should be a great evening of laughter and fun.

Happy Quilting,

Shelia

Trying A New Layout For The Blog

I decided to try some new layouts on my blog to see how it would look.  Let me know what you think.
My lilies are blooming and they are gorgeous this year.  I think all the extra rain we got earlier this year has really given them the extra boost they needed.

Today Roger and I were able to run a lot of errands that we've been needing to do.  We started out at County Square picking up some forms for work.  We were out of committal forms and we seem to be using more and more of them lately.  We then went to PetsMart to pick up cat food, both cats were a little miffed that we had run out of their favorite canned food.....you noticed the word favorite, it's not that we were out of food....just their picky little favorite one!!  What spoiled little brats they are.
Our last stop was at Sam's Club.  Now mind you we only went there for Popcorn Oil............$349 later we were out.  Man I love and hate that place.
This evening I am quilting on two of my 74 year old mom's small tops she pieced and asked me to quilt for her.  I am so proud that at her age she is piecing quilts.  She really enjoys making scrap quilts.  She uses scrap blocks, strips etc. and just pieces and pieces.  I think I have several tops that she has pieced in my to be quilted stack.

This top is one she pieced for a friend of hers.  I'm quilting it with purple thread.  I think she will like what I've done.

This is a top that I started mom piecing this past weekend.  I had some happy blocks from an exchange and didn't know what to do with them.  Mom came up to sew and didn't have a new project started.  So while I finished the quilting on the star quilt she started adding black sashing strips to these blocks.  I really like how the black makes the blocks pop.

Better get back to quilting so I can finish her tops and get them back out of the machine.  Suzanne is suppose to bring me a Habitat for Humanity top tomorrow.  I promised to quilt one for the guild.  I plan on quilting on it tomorrow.  Some of the bee girls will be coming over again tomorrow night.
Until then......Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Waste Not Want Not

While I was finishing up the star quilt I used some of the extra space on the size and bottom of the backing & batting to quilt some more practice pieces and fabric that I can use to make zippered bags for our Quilt Show Boutique.  I thought why waste this extra backing and batting just being used to float the quilt.  So below are some of the extra pieces I quilted to use for this purpose.

This block was one I had in a box of orphaned blocks from years of doing block exchanges and block quest at our monthly meetings.  Alot of months I would make one to donate at the meetings and one as my practice block.  Now this block will become a quilted zipper bag for the Boutique.

This block below is one I may make into a small tote/gift bag.

And now...........the Friendship Star Quilt is coming out of the longarm.  At the bottom of the quilt...on the floor...you can see the two sections of extra fabric that I quilted to use in other projects. 

I really like the floating star look of this quilt.  I used scrap fabrics to make the stars and the borders.  The borders are make of 3 1/2 x 6 1/2 inch bricks which were cut from scrap fabrics in my stash.  I just pulled all of the blues I had from the box of already cut bricks and pieced the borders.  That made it very convenient to piece.  Now to get to work on the binding.  It's 96 degrees outside and muggy so I don't think I will be sitting underneath a quilt sewing down a binding today...maybe later.

Until later,

Happy Quilting Everyone!

Shelia

Anniversary Dinner

Last night Roger and I had dinner with a very dear couple, our friends Sid & Betty.  We were celebrating our 21st Wedding Anniversary and Sid's 72nd Birthday.  June 24th was obviously a very popular day.  It is hard to believe that we have already been married 21 years.  How does time move so fast.  Remember when you were young you would hear older people comment on how fast time passed.......I'm not admitting I'm old or anything close to that.......but time sure is passing fast!  I am so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life.  Thanks Roger for 21 beautiful years and I hope we have 50 more together! 
For our combined celebration we met Sid & Betty at Henry & Jean's Restaurant on Woodruff Road.  The food was wonderful. 

I had the filet with chunk crab meat, grilled shrimp and a champagne butter sauce, it was delightful.  Roger had the grilled ribeye with a smokey burbon sauce which he also said was wonderful.  I tried to get a picture of the entree but the lighting was too dim.  But I was able to get a picture of dessert.........We shared a gooey brownie with caramel and chocolate sauce topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.   Decadent and delicious.

Today we spent with family.  We all met at Aunt Elane's house for our family get together.  My dad is one of six children and all six are were there.  My Great-Aunt Nell was also there, but she wouldn't give her age......left us all guessing.  She is one of eight children and 5 are still living with 4 of them in their 90's.  Now that is making a statement!  So we just have to wonder how old she really is.  Who cares!!  She is still here and going strong.  That's some good genes on dad's side of the family.

Tomorrow I'll be spending some quilting time with mom.  Always enjoy the extra time we get to spend together.

Until later.......Happy Quilting,

Shelia