WWQP Bulletin Board

De agony of de feet

2010-03-14T14:46:00.002-05:00

Greetings from where Spring is hiding out.
I finished the 15K yesterday, had a great time. This is the first time I have walked the entire way. Another GF had hurt her knee and couldn't run any, so we walked it together. I was just a bit slower than last year when I did run/walk it. Last year was 2:31.00 this year 2:40.55.
Lots of bands and neighbors out. Some even handing out beer--yuck. But some really like the stuff, and 2 girls in front of me at the 7 mile mark were drinking some.
The funny of the day was a band at almost the finish line, when you come down off the big bridge, they were playing " Running on Empty". Very fitting.

Yes, I did take a brief nap on Friday, on the couch. About 30 min.

This afternoon I took a long one, about 2 hrs. Was still tired out from yesterday, and then the blasted time change. Feeling human now. DH is teaching a Dave Ramsey class from 5 to 7 at our church, so I'm going soon.
My big decision of the week is, what type of mulch to buy. I'm leaning towards pine straw, but think it might get blown away in the wind. Also remember the chiggers that can invade it, and certainly don't want that. Second choice would be pine bark. Thankfully DH has a big pick-up truck, just right for hauling this kind of stuff. The front yard alone would be about 60 bags, or about 3 or 4 big bales. Too bad the grands are not here to help. I would pay well.

Going to walk the little terriers, and hope they can get along while we are gone.
Sara in Sunny Fla.

Quilt Show Season

2010-03-14T14:36:00.004-05:00

It is quilt show season and I wanted to share some info about ours - If you google New Ulm Journal and then Sunday Lifestyle section you will find a great article on our show scheduled for March 26 and 27. Or try: http://www.nujournal.com/page/category.detail/nav/5005/Sunday-Lifestyle-Feature.html. The Lifestyle section is the whole front page of one of the sections of the Sunday paper so we are very happy we were able to get the space! If anyone is close, you should come see us. Hope everyone is enjoying the Almost Spring weather. Joleen in MN

OOOPS

2010-03-04T21:11:00.001-05:00

My post today was intended for the chat page. I tried to delete it but when I check back it's still there. Oh well, it will make more sense if you read it in the context of the chat page.

Jane

NY BEAUTY PAPER PIECE

2010-03-04T10:41:00.002-05:00

Judy, you have done something spectacular. I don't think you want the quilting to overwhelm the incredible piecing so opt for conservative. JMHO. As a native of NY I've been disappointed in the past with the state block but you've shown me what can be done with it. For now, however, I'll stick with Carolina Lilly.

Re: paper piecing. I've not enjoyed it the few times I've done it because of the hassle of removing the paper. Just yesterday I tried something new. Using Lightweight Stitch & Tear Pellum I traced the paper piece pattern onto it and then used the pellum for piecing. Haven't removed the pellum as this block is for a block drawing at a conference I'm attending next weekend and they asked that the pellum be left for obvious reasons. The idea is not original with me as it was included with the directions for the block. The lucky winner will have everything the same size with 90* in each corner. The outer edges of this block are bias so that's another good reason to leave the pellum on until the quilt is put together.

I think that somewhere in my vast collection of impulsively purchased stuff there is such a thing as wash away stabilizer for embroidery so why not use that? Just thinking in print as opposed to out loud. When I finished the easy block yesterday I suddenly remembered all those pretty paper piecing patterns I bought ten years ago and are in the back of a drawer somewhere. Hmmm. I'm inspired but have to finish the wedding quilt first. I'll never do another king sized quilt again. I'm bored with it.

Jane in STILL AND FOREVER SNOWY NC-----ARRRGH

PS spell check doesn't like pellum and offers no alternative, ignorant jerks.

OOPS

2010-02-26T09:09:00.000-05:00

So sorry, that should be "such as".
Sara who didn't proof read.

My question

2010-02-26T09:03:00.002-05:00

First-Judy, your New York beautie is wonderful. I've often wondered about the Hoffman Challenge, but never got up the nerve to enter it.
OK-I've been making a vew quilts for the Quilts of Valor program over the last few years. Mostly easy, quick, suck as chinese coin or just strips. All have been red, white and blue.
Now our guild wants to make some to give as a group thing.
What would be quick and easy? A simple 9 patch? Something more involved?
These will go to the wounded men and women who are air lifted to Germany, then come back to the US. I'm at a loss for something that would keep my interest, but also be easy.
--Judy--I think the board has been 'down" for 5 days or so, but people must be quilting or watching the olympics.
Sara in Fla.

Very Scrappy New York Beauty Wallhanging

2010-02-26T08:28:00.002-05:00

It has been two weeks since any postings on the BB so I'll jump in and show you what I've been working on just to see if anyone is still reading our BB. Once I have sandwiched and quilted this top it will be my entry for the 2010 Hoffman Challenge.

The strip of light aqua print you see on the far right edge of the photo is the HC theme fabric for this year ... it is called "Treasures of the East". I'm calling my entry "Buried Treasure" because there are nine pieces of the Challenge fabric mixed in with 171 other fabrics to create this 37" x 37" wall hanging. The pattern is Karen K. Stone's "Lady Liberty Goes to Hawaii", copyright 1996, before Karen started making her really fancy paper piecing patterns. I reduced the size of Karen's patterns on a copy machine to meet the size requirements for the Hoffman Challenge which made piecing the arcs a bit of a headache. I'm going to use gold metallic thread for quilting this thing once I figure out how to quilt it.

Any suggestions on how to quilt it would be very welcome .... if there are still any BBers reading our Bulletin Board, that is. Should I use an overall design or focus on each segment of the arc patterns?

Judy in Ohio

Question

2010-02-13T20:32:00.002-05:00

I have made my first t-shirt quilt for DD. My question is: Did I see somewhere that people have used fleece or something similar to back these quilts so that batting is not needed? It just seems that with t-shirt material for the quilt top I need something other than a cotton for the backing. Thoughts, please.

Jean in VT

All's quiet on the quilt front....

2010-02-04T12:19:00.002-05:00

Not too many posts over the last few days/weeks. Everybody must be tucked away in their sewing rooms trying to ignore the weather and the resultant February cabin fever. Since Jane mentioned their quilt show, I thought I should mention ours as well since many of you are close enough to come. Our guild, Prairie Piecemakers, is holding their show on Friday and Saturday, March 26th and 27th at the former Middle School in New Ulm. We will be hanging quilts along all the corridors on the main floor, from the balcony in the auditorium, and around the perimeter of the stage. We will have vendors in the middle of the stage (ten of them including a long arm) as well as a Quilter's Cafe, lots and lots of doorprizes, a kids display and a Quilts of Valor display. We will be "naming" all of the corridors so people can find their way around the school and don't miss anything--Batting Blvd., Quilt Sandwich Drive, Drunkard's Path, etc. We have a great committe for the show and it really seems to be falling into place. Hopefully by the end of March the big snow pile in the parking lot of the school will be almost gone, we won't have sleet and freezing rain like we have today, and we'll have gorgeous spring weather.... Joleen in MN

QUILT SHOW

2010-01-31T20:23:00.002-05:00

For all the details on my guild's show in August go to www.smokymtnquilters.org . Rules, categories and entry form is there. There is also a Facebook presence on www.facebook.com. I think you have to be a member on Facebook to reach it. It's listed under the guild's name, Smoky Mountain Quilters. As of this evening the guild web page has more information than the Facebook page. We want exhibitors from far and wide.

Jane

Just checking

2010-01-29T00:12:00.002-05:00

No posts here for several days, and I understand that some people can't access the page at all.

I've completed 15 of the 20 tops I'm making for the Project Linus Haiti quilts and will get to doing the MQing next week. This is a good stash buster and I haven't had to buy even one FQ for the entire project.

Kathi

QUILT SHOW

2010-01-23T10:54:00.002-05:00

We are hoping for lots of entries from far and wide so please check out www.smokymtnquilters.org . Entry information will be posted soon - I hope. Will let you know. Mark your calendars for NC Quilt Symposium in 2012 at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee where I live. There will be nationally known teachers, a show and all kinds of related activities. My guild is sponsoring that year. Steering committee is just getting cranked up. Unlike most of the guild members I live within 15 or 20 minutes of the campus. All housing and meals will be on campus and is included in the registration. The Mountain Heritage Center on campus has a wonderful collection of quilts and there are already arrangements being made to have exhibits linked to the symposium. Hope to meet a lot of you there. I'm not sure what the dates are but it's on the web site I think. It's early summer or late spring. There is a Facebook site as well.

Jane

Chat board OK today

2010-01-17T11:09:00.002-05:00

Jane--I couln't get on yesterday, but it's OK today. Some days it works, some days it doesn't.
Just like machines!
Sara in Fla.

ERIC

2010-01-17T09:27:00.001-05:00

I've lost Eric's address. Has anyone notified him that the chat page is inaccessible?

Jane

BLESS ME QUILTERS

2010-01-16T12:08:00.002-05:00

For I have sinned. As the owner of three sewing machines I should be satisfied, right? Of course there is the little Janome Jem for taking to classes, retreats etc. Great machine. My beloved Featherweight seems to have migrated to Los Angeles with one of my daughters. She should realize she and her sister would have bone to school naked were it not for that old pal of mine. It made my maternity clothes too. Then, the incident which motivated me to let go of said machine, I purchased a Viking 980 sometime around ’81. It was the first of the computerized home machines on the market. Well, there were some problems with it mostly because I bought it at a bargain place, Cloth World, and when I realized it needed a lot of adjusting they weren’t carrying them and so weren’t servicing them. That was a learning experience, or should have been. I wasn’t using it a whole lot, just some clothing for myself and working off work stress or rather, replacing one stress for another. After a decade a legitimate quilt shop opened not too far away and I took my first patch work lesson (that was the day after I retired!), got the machine adjusted and had to pay for what should have been the free class for new owners. It was then I found out I didn’t even have it threaded properly. When I tried to machine quilt with it I just couldn’t handle the quilt through the small work service so about 5.5 years ago when Juki came out with it’s first domestic machine with a wider bed made just for quilting with a high speed straight stitch. At the word of a member of my guild who was in love with hers, I ordered one on line as there were no dealers closer than Atlanta. Please refer to the aforementioned shoulda been learning experience The automatic threader has never worked and when I talked to the new dealer in Asheville recently he says none of them work. Recently I made Christmas stockings for the new step grands and pieced and quilted two sides of each but decided the seams joining them needed to be overcast so had to set up the Jem or Viking in another room and spent a fair amount of time running between two rooms. It was then I got to thinking about the fact that had I waited about 6 months I could have had a machine that does it all that has a wider bed. I’ve been on something of a spending mood lately which is rare for me. Well, you guessed it. I just dropped into one the quilt shops in Franklin and came out having ordered a Janome 6600. I played with the demo after I watched the guy who waited on me (he and wife are guild members) and it is wonderful. The dealer is 34 miles away and she’s in it for the long term and offers a year’s free membership in the Janome club and on site authorized maintenance. The whole seduction took about an hour. Now I can’t wait for the machine to arrive and, with a discount as a member of the guild and state sales tax I am very close to $2000 poorer. I’ll be 73 in March and by golly I want what I want NOW!

Anybody want to buy a Viking 980 or a Juki almost new? Even more important, anybody willing to support me when the money runs out?

Better get out and have my hike with my hairy roommate (a Springer spaniel which is about as old but slightly less decrepit than I) before the predicted rain.

Jane

I've posted this on the chat page but can't access it by any route I know of. There's a poltergeist on the chat page.

Thread

2010-01-14T18:49:00.002-05:00

I recently ordered thread from C.T. and just finished a Project Linus quilt and am very satisfied.
A number of people in this group have been using this thread for a while and highly recommend it. I did not notice any additional lint in my machine after this project.
Keep on quilting, Phyllis in Minnesota

Thread

2010-01-14T17:18:00.002-05:00

Another question. Has anyone used the less expensive thread from Connecting Threads? It is supposed to be 100% combed cotton, comes in many collors, and is only $1.99 per spool.
Also comes in larger sizes.
Thanks,
Sara in Fla.

West Mi reporting

2010-01-12T11:47:00.002-05:00

I see a new thread of what we accomplished last year. I looked over
my list and I guess I did quite well. I quilted around 30 things. Pieced
things that are not yet quilted. Knitted 30 hats. I feel like I'm in a
quilting slump right now. Having a hard time making myself go to
the sewing room. When it's forced I don't do my best work.
Some sunshine would be nice. Guess I'd better count my blessings
that it isn't snowing. We are supposed to get a January thaw by
the end of the week. I see they had a big sink hole in FrostProof
FL yesterday. Hope it wasn't where we are supposed to go.
Hugs, Mayme

Questions

2010-01-09T15:08:00.002-05:00

Has anyone made any of the Mary Lou Weidman "Everyday Angels" or "Making Memories" quilts?
While clean up and out I found the 2 books I bought in 1998, and wanted to start a new wallhanging. I was thinking of the Everyday angels in extraordinary quilts ideas.
Would welcome input.
Sara in the frozen Florida

2009 -- it's a wrap!

2010-01-04T00:04:00.002-05:00

at first i could only think of one quilt made this year, a double wedding ring done in black and white for my son's wedding in june. surely my year had been more productive than that! and then i started looking at pictures i'd taken that are on the computer and felt so much better. i made a compass quilt for my new granddaughter, the raffle quilt for our guild (members made the blocks and i made spacer blocks and put them together), two tree skirts for wedding gifts, quilted 5 comfort quilts and 2 home of the brave quilts. and also did a BOM at a local quilt shop, but it is still only a top. and this was the year i went back to my "roots" and did some sewing -- my dress for the wedding, lots of baby bibs and sheets, pillow cases and matching sweats for my son's family. whew! and i had been feeling so much like i hadn't accomplished much this year because the brain just didn't kick into gear.

my new year's resolution is to visit this site more frequently. when we changed formats i just got out of the habit and it seems i only think to come here when i have a question. it's nice to once again see the familiar names posting and catch up on everyone. this was the first site i became aware of "way back when we got the internet." so happy new year and may this one be better than the last in more ways than we can count.

dutchrose ---{-@

2009 accompllishments

2010-01-03T20:48:00.003-05:00

So my sewing room is finally in good order - got new carpet this fall and was forced to totally clean out. Gave away tons of fabric - home dec, garment, etc. - and kept just the quilting fabric. It's all been "touched", refolded, restacked, and straightened. And my tools have be reorganized too. Can't wait to get back into the swing after the holidays! NancyH

Fixed my bleeding quilt!

2010-01-03T20:38:00.002-05:00

Just want to thank everyone who made suggestions to my post a month or so ago about my quilt that bled red when I washed it in the bathtub. I finally got around to tackling it again and this time I washed it in the machine, warm water with Biz and no detergent, delicate cycle, rinsed twice. Then I washed it again in cold water with my usual Cheer, delicate cycle, rinsed twice. Hung it outside on a line in the sun for about 5 hours. It was almost dry, but not quite, so I put it in the dryer for about 40 minutes with 2 tennis balls to keep it moving. Lo and behold, the dye came out of the cream colored background in the stars - they are no longer pink! The only change that all that washing did is that one of the reds that I used faded just a bit but it was a tad lighter by design than the other red anyway - and that particular fabric was not "quilt-shop quality", which was kind of an eye-opener. THANK YOU!!! to Sue in Germany, Judy in Ar, Judy in Ohio, Laura in IA, Linda the Serial Quilter, Jill from Portland, and Jane in NC! You are all special in my book! NancyH

Finished projects for 2009

2010-01-03T19:00:00.002-05:00

Gosh, I think I finished some--The only ones I know of are the Quilts of Valor, 3 I think. They were lap size. I did finish up my DD's full size one, the one with the scalloped borders. It turned out well. She is getting lots of use out of it.
Other than that I made 7 bags with corn and cloves in them & sent to my niece who is a nurse midwife in N.C. She planed to give some to her patients at Christmas.
Right now I'm in the middle of setting up the new room. The company has all come and gone, and my room is back to me. Tomorrow I'm planing to go through all the quilt books and mags. pitch some, recycle some to others, and take the rest in the new room.
I repossessed the antique wardrobe that was my grandfather's. DD had it and didn't want to take it with her, she had not taken good care of it at all. It needed some TLC, and polish. Think it will be perfect to put FQ's in the drawers, and hanging fabric or quilt tops in the other side. Right now it is in the room's closet, but I might move it out and install more shelves there.
I have no plans yet for quilts for 2010. I do have the pattern for a "Quilt Diva" walk hanging- something for the door, that I want to do. Have a baby quilt that I need to bind.
That's all my brain can think of now.
Sara in Fla.

Alive and Kicking in Iowa

2010-01-02T21:09:00.003-05:00

I won't beat any quilting records here in reporting my 2009 sewing projects.

My lone project for 2009 was to finish up a scrap quilt from shirt fabrics. I had basted it and had begun hand quilting it in 2008. Then in January 2009 I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Only 20,000 ladies in the United States get nominated for this "honor" each year and I'm one of them. Whoopie!

Surgery in January. Again in February. Last chemo session was in July. Now finishing with a clinical trial drug every three weeks and feeling well, although some blood tests are a bit iffy.

Early on I tried working on this quilt but neuropathy or numbness in my hands from the chemo made it an unhappy task. After I finished chemo, the numbness gradually went away and I picked up my thimble and needle and thread and finished the quilt. I posted about it in November. You can read about my sole 2009 quilt (with pics) by clicking here.

I've been blogging pretty heavy this year so you can read about what's been happening in my life by clicking here.

In regards to other sewing areas I did some knitting and made myself several knit caps (I needed them to cover my bare head when that dastardly chemo took my hair!) and also some fingerless gloves which I love very much.

All in all, 2009 was not exactly a productive year for me in terms of sewing. I follow blogs by various quilters and enjoy seeing what they are creating, so I hope some of the old BBers (old in terms of long-time members...not holding anyone's age against them...heh-heh) will post their 2009 projects and let us see what they've been doing in the sewing world.

Best to all of you this New Year 2010. May we all enjoy peace, good health, love and family.

JudyPete
aka WhiteStone

Projects, Past and Future ...

2010-01-01T21:35:00.003-05:00

First off, everyone should read Pirate's reply to the post by Judy in Ar that is prompting replies. Pirate is gonna make the rest of us look like sloths but that's okay, we love her anyway. :-)

I discovered a book called "Quilts From the Selvage Edge" and became enchanted with the idea of making tote bags with panels made from selvages. Some people actually make quilts out of selvage panels but I'm too wimpy for that ... just made plenty of tote bags. It was fifteen at last count before I decided to give myself a breather. If you google the book's title you'll find a website and you'll find there's a woman who has made a dress out of selvages. Now that's really crazy!

I had some shelves built for my sewing room and bought some fabric organizing "boards" made of plastic and spent many weeks sorting and organizing my fabrics on to these boards. This ate into my sewing time but now when I want to find something it is as if I am in my own little mini quilt shop where all of my fabrics are in plain view. Here's my Webshots link and if you go to the album that says "Quiltmaking Room" you can see my shelves.

http://community.webshots.com/user/judykquilts

Made some purses out of jeans as gifts for the women I work with.

Made my first official UFO, a large wallhanging that gave me "quilter's elbow" when I tried to machine quilt it with a very large motif that strained my left elbow with all of the hauling and shoving on my mid-arm machine. Some day I might unstitch what I've done and send it off to a long arm but probably not. It's more than half done and I'd probably wreck my wrist with unstitching. The woes of too many birthdays are not pretty.

Right now I am working on the 2010 Hoffman Challenge .... something I'm calling "Buried Treasure".

I've finished a piece called 'Which One's the Magic Button?" that I will be sending off to Australia pretty soon for an international challenge that a friend in Bunbury, Australia dares me to enter. Although I don't know why I call her a friend .... I hand tied over 270 buttons on the doggoned thing.

Judy in Ohio