Thankful

I have such a blessed life and I try and be thankful every single day for all the bounty in my life.  Great children, loving and supportive partner, my family, my assistant, warm home, health, jobs, our great country, etc, etc.    My list of things to be thankful for can go on forever.  I love that we have one day to relax and just revel in our blessings and the only obligation is to be thankful.  

I'm also thankful for all my readers.  Finding a community of people to share my quilting journey with has also been a blessing in my life.  Thanks guys!  You really do rock!!    Even if it's not your Thanksgiving Day I hope you all have things to be thankful for today and can spend a moment to relax and enjoy. 

After the meal ..... Thanksgiving Dinner 2009

Sampler Quilt

I finished up the sampler quilt that I made this summer with Amy's quilt-a-long.  I worked on honing those ever useful quilting techniques of measuring, accurate 1/4" seams and trimming half square triangles with this quilt.    I always wanted a red and white quilt and now that I have one .... I want more! 

This is the first quilt I took to a long arm quilter to have professionally quilted.  It felt a little like cheating at first and I balked at spending money on it but I have to say that it came out beautifully and the cost really wasn't that much.  I found a great little shop right near my workplace and she was able to use the back I'd pieced and my batting and, most importantly, she didn't cringe or laugh at my points (or lack thereof).  I'd been pondering just how to quilt this and since I like to get old projects finished up before I start new ones it was really blocking me.  The back is kind of a mish-mash of my leftover pieces because I was desperately trying to just get enough together so I wouldn't have to buy any more fabric.  Sometimes I CAN be frugal ....

On to Christmas .....

Now I have to move the sewing machine and mat out of my "studio" and turn it back into the dining room for the holidays but that's OK.  I can still work on smaller projects and here are some felt mittens I'm working on for ornaments and gift tags.  These are fun to make up ahead of time and then embroider and finish while watching TV on the couch at night.

Happiness is .... a star quilt

I had a fun time making these stars and I'm pretty happy with the final product.  Kona ochre is my new favorite color and it made a  nice frame to this quilt ... don't cha think? 

I had a pleasant time with the hand sewing this week while watching Mad Men on Netflix.  I can't believe I haven't been watching that series!  I've got one more quilt to bind this weekend so I'm saving my discs for another hand sewing marathon.  Bring it on! 

I'll enjoy this quilt for a while but I made her for a special person in my life.  Can't wait to let her spread her cheer. 

Denyse Schmidt is so wise

Today was another quilt sandwiching day at the Bailey house!  I got a pretty cool back made this weekend and since I had another in my long line of dental appointments this morning I took the whole day off and did some pin basting.  Does anyone else find making a pieced back more work than making the quilt top?  I basically have NO plan for the back and at least with the front I'm working with small squares and I know what I'm doing.  I try to use up all the scrap pieces and leftovers but trying to fit everything together is like a puzzle.  Plus you're working with looooong and wide pieces of fabric.  But anyways, I digress, the back is done and the binding is made so all I have to do is quilt now.  Eep!  My most scariest part. 

I was trying to rush to finish up this quilt for Amy's quilt festival this weekend and it was making it too much like work.  Then I was an inactive (shy) participant in a live chat with Denyse Schmidt on Twitter Saturday.  One thing Denyse said really stood out because it's so true for me. "As soon as a deadline is attached, just assume that it introduces a level of stress and may take some of the enjoyment away."  

I decided right then to take the deadline out of the equation and just relax.  I'll be taking my time on the quilting because I've got a  more involved pattern in mind.  I'm actually looking forward to working on it a little bit each evening after dinner.  Quilting gets pretty monotonous so I may have a little wine and Pandora involved.  Ahhhh .... sounds much better than hurrying to get it done last week.

Here's a little hint of the back

I love you guys!! Seriously.

I've got to say thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you that took the time to send me some great tips for free motion quilting and to commiserate with me also.   I was getting so discouraged and felt like the lone quilter with no one to turn to and here all of you just spent your time and energy to connect with me.  Wow!  I feel like I'm really a part of community even though it's virtual.   Not only that but I received a great present from Julie just because she's nice and she wanted to spread her bounty.  Flora and Fauna!!!  That really knocked my socks off.

I was doing the happy dance when I saw these fat quarters! 

Things are turning around here.  I've got my teeth saga wrapping up soon, I'm finishing up a pretty cool quilt that I'm excited about, and I got all of you guys to help me out when I get in a jam.  Next weekend I'm heading to Boston to visit my honey so if anyone knows of any cool quilt or fabric shops in or around Boston let me know.  Maybe I could find something exciting for my first giveaway .....

A dark and grainy glimpse with my cell phone camera 

Quilt Festival

I just love Amy's Quilt Festival so much I decided that I'd showcase a quilt I made with The Amy herself!  This zig zag quilt was the second "real" quilt I ever made and I have a special affection for her. 

My first quilt was a hurry up and get going deal because I'd found the first Old Red Barn quilt-a-long already one week in the works.  I rushed to the fabric store and bought hurriedly and came home to start cutting.  I learned a tremendous amount from that first quilt, not only about sewing but also about the comradery and generosity of the virtual quilting community.

This zig zag quilt was the second one our group did and was led by Amy.  This time around I really took time to come up with a vision and carefully picked out the fabrics accordingly.  I'm sure the women at Joanne Fabrics thought I was having some sort of breakdown the way I wheeled the cart of fabric around the store putting some back, picking some up, putting some back, picking more up, etc.  I was still so new I hadn't even discovered on-line fabric stores yet.   Can you imagine!?

Lots of cutting and measuring for a newbie

I don't know if I had realized going in how many tiny half square triangles there would be to cut, sew, cut, trim and sew again if I would have jumped right into it.  This quilt-a-long happened during the humid months of summer and I was ready to call it quits many times.  I persevered and have been extremely proud of my second quilt of all times.  I love the turquoise and brown fabrics and the striped binding. 

What a great present ....

 This is also the first quilt I made on my new sewing machine that my oldest son bought me for my birthday.  He saw how much I enjoyed quilting and so generously wanted to get me a better machine. Lots of firsts associated with this quilt and she will always be one of my very favorites.

FMQ Failure. Is is me ... or is it my machine?

Let me start right off by saying it's probably me.  I  have tried free motion quilting many times and I just can't get my stitches to come out anything but too loose and large and sometimes loopy.  I've read and watched all sorts of tutorials and many times just started fresh with a whole new attitude.  But I just can't get it.  Here are the stitches from my latest attempt.

Wish I had practiced on a solid now ...

I've tried a million variations and combinations of settings not limited to the following:

-tension dial up
-tension dial down
-feed dogs up
-feed dogs down
-stitch length at every possible length (I only have slider bar so I can't set it to zero)
-cleaned machine
-new needle
-sewing fast and moving practice piece fast
-sewing slow and moving practice piece fast
-sewing fast and moving practice piece slow
-sewing slow and moving practice piece slow
-etc
-etc

I get the movement but my stitches are just way too loose to be quilting.  Even with washing and drying they don't tighten up enough to be quilting on a quilt.  You can almost take your fingernails and pull out the stitches.  I can do straight lines with my walking foot and am getting better with some practice. 

Here's my questions that I'm sending out into the blogosphere:

Can one of you come over to my house and try out my machine so I know if I should keep practicing or give it up?  Or .... Can I come over to your house and try it on your machine? 

OK ... I know this isn't possible unless one of you lives in Western New York (hint, hint).  This is just one of those times I wish I had a real, live quilting community near me.  I love the internet and my blogs but sometimes I just need ten minutes with a real, live person. 

Has anyone has gone from a basic machine to a higher end machine and what sort of differences did you notice when sewing?  And how did you buy one if you didn't live near a sewing machine dealer? 

I've had a rough couple of weeks having some extensive (and expensive) dental procedures that are kind of freaking me out.   Sewing in the evenings has been a pleasant way to take my mind off of my mouth.  So here's a little sneak peak at some of newest star blocks.  Hopefully these will be turned into a quilt in time for Amy's Fall Quilt Festival.