Running through my head all week

This song has been running through my head all week:

I am so glad that our Father in heav'n
Tells of his love in the book he has giv'n:
Wonderful things in the Bible I see;
This is the dearest, that Jesus loves me.

I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves me, Jesus loves me,
I am so glad that Jesus loves me,
Jesus loves even me.

Though I forget him, and wander away,
Still he doth love me wherever I stray;
Back to his dear loving arms do I flee,
When I remember that Jesus loves me.

O if there's only one song I can sing,
When in his beauty I see the great King,
This shall my song in eternity be,
"O what a wonder that Jesus loves me."

Border Colors & Starting a Quilt Group

Do you have a favorite color to use for borders? I do. It seems like I use blue a lot. I guess for me blue is a "finishing" color. It mentally frames the quilt and says "the end". If my quilt has blue in it, I tend to use a blue for the border. The darker the better, staying within the color scheme of the quilt. The background of the border print in the Paddington quilt is blue.


The border for the tractor quilt is blue. The border for tilted animals is blue. My nephew's soccer quilt had a navy blue border.

And now the border for "boy oh boy" is blue. I started a piano key border, but it wasn't doing anything for me. I had yardage in a yellow, a mint green, and the blue. I didn't like the yellow a bit. I tried the green, but it didn't say "the end". So I tried the blue and it worked! It gave me the "edge" I was looking for.


And about starting a quilt group ... several ladies at church have commented on the quilts I've been working on/recently finished (most end for church babies). I'm thinking of seeing if anyone is interested in getting together once or twice a month to work on quilts - I can either supply directions/instruction or they can work independently. Any suggestions?

~QB29

Wasps!

Last summer I had a wasp nest on the back of my back steps leading to the kitchen. I killed it with lots of spray. This spring/summer, I paid very close attention and destroyed a couple of nests the first day or two they appeared. After the second (maybe third) destroy, I thought I had killed or scared off the wasp (back like in May). Boy was I wrong. I just noticed as I came in today that they are in my back light fixture over my back door!!!! I have no idea how long they've been there and may be tempted to sleep on the couch tonight, as my bedroom is above the backdoor. I'm terrified of the little things. I know they'll need to be professionally sprayed/checked since they're in the fixture and possibly have access into the house. I just called my LL, but had to leave a message on the office land.

I'm trying to think, does this qualify as an emergency to call her cell/house number? I don't believe I've ever been stung by a wasp, but was stung by a bee as a child (my mom said it was only bees that ever stung me). As far as I know, I'm not allergic, but two years ago I didn't think I was allergic to kiwi and ended up in the ER with my throat swelling shut. My roommate is mildly (but not life-threateningly) allergic. My next-door neighbor and best friend is highly allergic. These are townhouses and are owned/managed by the same people, so she is a concern of theirs too.

Even if I can get ahold of her tonight, I'm sure no one will be able to come until tomorrow sometime, which means time off work for me :-(. Any buzzing I hear, or imagine, tonight is going to freak me out!

~QB29

Update on the baby quilt

I have the top almost completely pieced. The center is done and the side borders are added. The bottom border is made while the top while still rests in pieces, lol. This is actually going to be a backing, not the front, of a quilt. I am using this panel:


As the front of the quilt. But I did not want to use just a plain backing - to me a quilt needs piecing to make it a quilt. (Whole cloth quilts NOT out of panels aside). The panel is only about 29" wide, so I'm adding a piano key style border on each side to bring it to within a couple of inches of the backing. The length is sufficient. The quilt should end up finishing around 38" x 42". I am wanting to do more of a custom-quilting on this rather than the all-over meander that I've been doing. I'll keep you posted :-D.

~QB29

Another Baby Quilt ...

Is on the design wall. Can you believe I went from this somewhat neatly ordered display of small squares, large squares, and rectangles ....



to this much better arrangement of small squares, rectangles, and large squares?....



in only a little bit? Okay, so, if you look closely, the blocks are not actually sewn together. I promise, I do have each of the three center columns sewn together now and am starting to sew the columns together to make the center. I wanted a pic before I started moving stuff to sew to make sure I didn't mess the layout out. (Yeah, really, you thought I couldn't?)

Gotta love this pattern. It's out of a magazine from a couple of years ago. We made it at my very first quilt camp (they gave us all the magazine!). The magazine is now lost in my shelf of magazines, but the pattern was easy to recreate. It's fresh in my mind because the pink baby quilt I just finished binding was the one I made at camp.

BTW - don't forgot about my 100th post giveway". Contest closes at the end of the month.

~QB29

Giveaway alert!

Don't forget about my 100th post giveaway!

And while you're at it, check out PS I Quilt's most totally awesome giveaway of a $50 gift certificate! It is a $50 gift certificate to The Fat Quarter Shop. Enjoy!

~QB29

Just Needs a Label...

Finished the binding on this tonight. Will make the label when I go upstairs and applique it tomorrow. I need to check on the shipping address, but should have it mailed out this week.


And yes, those are mitered corners and yes, they did come out very near to perfect. I was quite OCD about the stripes matching, lol.

~QB29

SBS Swap Layout

Here's my layout for my Pink/Brown SBS Blocks. I designed it at work, using excel, so coloring is very basic. Please don't laugh, lol. It at least gets me headed in the right direction.


Finished size should be about 90" X 105". Huge, I know, but I like it. Of course, by the time I finish sewing it, my plans may change, but we'll deal then. So here's the scoop:
Layout the 80 blocks in an 8 X 10 setting with 1" brown sashing and pink cornerstones. Add a cream border (1" - 2") to get both dimensions divisible by 5 - possibly using pink cornerstones again. Use the signature blocks and a variety of pink fabrics to make square-in-square blocks. (I think it will work right - 3.5" finished center to 5" block- anyone got the measurement handy?). I know that not everyone sent in signature blocks. The inner border accounts for 58 blocks. Then I plan on adding a 10" brown border, using the additional signature blocks/pink fabrics/square-in-a-square blocks for cornerstones. Binding will either be brown or pink. The brown is actually a dark, dark brown, but this was the closest I could approximate.

~QB29

Goals for week

1. Finish quilting Ian's Quilt
2. Bind/label Ian's Quilt - parents will be back in town coming weekend
3. Bind/label Bubby's Dino quilt
4. Cut sashing strips for Pink/Brown SBS blocks
5. Cut strips for Bonnie Hunter workshop
6. Cut fabric for baby Adam's quilt

~QB29

A Finish!

I stayed up to sew the label on. I finished binding it last night. It was the quilt I made at my very first Quilt Retreat - almost two years ago! I finished piecing it at retreat, but did not know how I wanted to quilt it. I ended up taking it to NC with me last summer to do at my aunt's. However, I ran out of time and it was one I had to leave there. She quilted it for me and got the leftovers all sent home. And there it sat, for several months, lol. I pulled it out for Peeps retreat, sewed the binding to the front, but never got it sewn to the back. Well, it's done now, labeled, and awaiting to meet its new owner. I left a message for my friend, so hopefully I'll be able to get together with her soon to gift it. It is for her daughter who will be two in the fall.

~QB29

Fun Saturday

Woo hoo! I had a very fun Saturday. I had Happy Scrappy BOM at Best Friends this morning with my mom. Then we picked up Jill and headed to The Fabric Shack. Thanks to construction, we had to take a detour and got turned the wrong way, but Jill saved the day and pointed out to us that we were headed AWAY from Waynesville. Once we got that figured out, we made it there in no time. Note to anyone visiting Waynesville in the next month or two - US73 is under construction. Check online for detours and/or bring a good map!

Before shopping we ate the Pie Place. No, it's not called the Pie Place, but Jill refers to it as that. Apparently they have really good pies, but we were too full to try any. I had a Turkey Bacon Club and french fries; it was delicious. I definitely recommend this place. I believe the correct name is The Village Family Restaurant, or something close.

At the Fabric Shack, I hit the sale carts hard. Let's just say it's a good thing that I'm not reporting my stash in and out. It would be horrible to have to admit how much I got. I also had ordered off their website, so I had an order waiting for me. I only purchased two yardages that were not on the sale carts. I wanted a backing for the baby quilt I pieced this week, as I really didn't like what I had planned. I got a blue with a small, colorful print to use. I also purchased a brown to use as the sashing for my SBS blocks.

Here's a Pic of Jill & Me while chit-chatting with my mom and cousin.


~QB29

I need a bigger design wall!

Okay folks, I got home from church tonight, and this was waiting on the table:
In it you ask? These ...
Yep, you counted right, that's 80 pink and brown SBS blocks from the recent swap. All are so beautiful - I wish I didn't have to work tomorrow so that I could stay home and go through them. I'm thinking a dark brown for the sashing. Anyone have any other suggestions? If I get a chance, I will be making 8 more so that the ones I sent in are included. Nearly every block has a 4" label that I will somehow use in the quilt.

To wet your appetite, here are some that caught me eye first:
What a beautiful bouquet.

I'm definitely a brights girl.

Isn't this pink scrumptious? I love the hearts.

Such precision!

Hopefully in the next week or so I'll get a spreadsheet of who sent me what so I can credit and thank everyone. Til then, enjoy these photos!

~QB29

Looking forward to the weekend!

Guess where I get to go? I'll give you a hint ... it's a shack. If you guessed Fabric Shack, you're a winner! No prize though - you'll need to wait until post #100 for that giveaway. The blogger count says this is #98 (Yeah, I know #93 was off by one b/c I had an unpublished, and now out-dated and deleted, post. So my count changed.)

And .... it looks like a friend gets to come with me :-D.

Tonight I've got church, but so wishing I could be home quilting. When you're in the mood to quilt, it's hard being away from the machine. Oh well, at least I have a baby quilt with me to work on binding before church starts.

~QB29

top is finished!

Top is all finished. I just need to baste (thank you, oh thank you, 505 :-D) and quilt and bind and label. The backing fabric is the print from which the animals are cut.

I have a primary colored variegated thread I'm planning on using to quilt it. I'm thinking of a basic meander just to get it done so I can gift it while the little guy is in town this week.

Not too sure about binding - there's not enough of the blue left, which doesn't really match the blue in the print (backing). Maybe red? I may have enough of the white w/ colored dots, but I don't want to do a white binding. I'll decide when it's quilted. Any suggestions?

I really do like how this pattern turned out. I may use the floral scraps that are left still to do something like this. I think it would be interesting.

~QB29

I have a design wall!

Look! I put up a design wall. It's just a simple flannel backed vinyl tablecloth. In the hour or so that I've had it, I can't believe I managed this long without one, lol. Here's a pic. You probably can't tell, but the inner border will be the white print that's in each of the blocks. I do have 2 of the strips up there. The outer border will be the blue that's in the blocks. I wanted to get this posted, but I'm heading back up to get the top finished. This is the "Ian" quilt I referenced earlier.

~QB29

Goals for Week

1. Cut strips for Bonnie Hunter workshops in August. Need a gazillion 2 1/2" strips. - half lights, half darks.
2. Piece Baby Ian's quilt.
3. Quilt Baby Ian's quilt. halfway there!
4. Bind/label Ian's quilt.
5. Gift Ian's Quilt. -- he and his mommy and daddy are in town this week visiting her parents. Getting it done this week saves me postage :-D.
6. Attack binding pile. got 1 done!

~QB29

Monday happenings ...

Allergies, gotta love 'em. I went for my weekly (okay, sometimes bi-weekly) shots today. I started a new vial and they bumped it from 1:5000 concentration to 1:1000 concentration. My arm said no. Normally I don't feel anything, but will often get splotchy, sometimes about the size of a fist, around the injection site. This is normal for me. I've done it the last 2 or 3 years of shots. Don't ask, my allergies stopped making sense a long time ago. Every now and then I will feel the splotchiness start to develop but pay it no mind.

The office wants you to wait 20 minutes to make sure no bad reaction will start - usually I wait 10 and then take off since my "normal" reaction has occurred (and is so normal, I don't show them anymore). Today, I felt pain, but didn't think anything of it. As I walked out of the office I glanced at the injection sites - I had a welt on each arm larger than a dime and the one was close to 1/2" thick. I immediately went back in and showed them. They measured, globbed anti-itch cream on me, told me to take an alavert (which I carry in my purse) and told me to advise them of how it progressed. So on my merry way to lunch I go, take the alavert, and smear some more anti-itch cream on by the time I get back to work.

Quitting time rolls along - my arm hurts. It doesn't just itch, the injection site hurts like someone punched me! The welt around the injection site has gone done, but there is a slightly raised area bigger than my first, which burns and hurts and is hard. So back to the Dr.'s I go. Good thing I can almost see their building from my office. The nurse sees me come back and starts toward me. I slightly lift up my sleeve and say "I've still got the reaction". The other two nurses in the area immediately come running. Apparently it was quite a reaction. I guess not many react that way. All 3 check it out, decide it's okay, measure, and tell me that my vial will definitely be diluted. I was advised to take a benedryl when I got home, but I didn't b/c I didn't want to sleep, lol. It's still slightly warm and tender, but the swelling has gone down completely and the color is almost back to normal.

FWIW, I only do this on one side. Only one injection sets it off - I get one in each arm. Yet the other one doesn't do it. I guess I just have to have trouble allergies.

~QB29

A finish!

I finished a baby quilt today. And just in time too. Her daddy and mommy are moving after next weekend to go serve the Lord in a church in Indiana. I'm right on schedule with it - she's going on 6 months old, lol.

The quilt is a scrappy disappearing nine patch. It's so scrappy the disappearing nine-patch really does disappear!. One day I decided I really was not the floral type person, so I dumped all my floral/pastels F.Q. in a box and started cutting squares. This is quilt #2 from round #1 of cutting - enough scraps remain to do at least 2 more baby quilts. The border is the same fabric that was used to back baby Wynter's quilt - told ya I liked it. It was also used to back quilt #1 from the scrappy disappearing nine-patches.

The close-up photo shows one of my favorite fabrics in the quilt. I just didn't think I would ever use it in anything else, so it ended up in the pile. It is the green rectangle with plum and purple and dark pink colored flowers.

Off to sew some more. I'm really loving not having to worry about school work :-). Freedom until August 24th when classes start back up.

~QB29

Post #93

Just thought I'd share ... I'm at post #93. Be on the lookout for post #100. Now that school's out for summer I should get around to posting quite a bit. And when I hit that #100, it'll be a good one.

~QB29

Giveaway Madness

Hi all,

Ryan from "I'm Just a Guy Who Quilts" is having a giveaway to celebrate his birthday. Stop by, check out the goods, and enter for yourselves! Here are some of the cool prizes he's got:

Plus he has one that is at least a complete surprise!

~QB29

Almost done

Last night was my last class for summer term. Our professor bought us pizza :-D. Both groups presented their projects. Surprisingly, ours actually worked. It was rough, but it worked :-D. I still have to write a paper for that class, but since grades aren't due until August he's letting us (all of us) turn it in next Friday instead of today when "Summer 1st 8 wk term" officially ends. Grades have not yet been posted for the other class yet, but I'm confident I got my A.

~QB29

daily giggle

So I ride up with a co-worker in the elevator today. She says, "It's a great day this morning. The garage didn't trap me in the house this morning."

*** her garage spring snapped night before last so yesterday she couldn't get out.

~QB29

July Block done!

You guessed it, I'm again avoiding my term paper. So here's what I sewed tonight - it's my July BOM and today is only the 4th! (Okay, I just looked at the clock at it's 12:13 AM on the 5th) Wow, I must be sick or something. June's was mailed July 1st and May's June 29th. Two pics to show - one of the FQ (actually FQ leftovers) that I used for my print and one of the block. I liked how it turned out. I'm interested to see what others do with the directions. They stated, "Use a medium print with a minimal amount of background that contrasts with the Moda Swirls Natural fabric. Think fruits, veggies, flowers, leaves, anything that reminds you of autumn." So does mine pass the test? I think so.

Okay - I'm in withdrawal

In case you haven't noticed, it's not been two weeks yet. It hasn't even been 1 week. I just couldn't take it. Not blogging is like not breathing. Don't live long without either, lol, unless you're at a quilt retreat that doesn't have internet, then you might survive not blogging :-D.

Okay, so the reason for this post: I'm caught up, at least until the July block is posted this week, on my BOM that I do. May blocks mailed out earlier this week and June blocks are set to be dropped off at the PO this afternoon.

Here are pics:
June 2009 - Ribbon Star

May 2009 - Calico Puzzle

~QB29