It's snowin!

A cold gray day in Kentucky can only be made better by the snow. The faeries seem almost melancholy about it. Thankfully we can stay inside and visit blog land and see all our friends and what they are up to.

Rotary cutting wheel flat tire...

One of our gals in our quilt group went dumpster diving-not really, she was visiting an interior design shop when they were about to discard their sample books/swatches. It turned out to be a bonanza for us. Thanks to their generosity, we were able to get new free fabric to make tote bags, for about 12 people. You have to remove all the stickers and staples from the fabric, because, a rotary cutting wheel running over a staple, will cause, what I call a flat on the wheel. You know, an annoying nick that you notice when you think you've got this nice long strip cut, and you go to pull it away and you end up pulling your nicely matched up 8 layers of material away from their neat edge and you want to scream....at least, I do.

The rotary cutting wheel is the greatest tool for quilters and has done more to speed up the process of making a quilt than any other tool. If you are new to quilting, by all means, you must invest in one of these wheels, you will also need a special self healing mat and a clear plastic 6 inch wide by 24 inch long ruler.

A quilter's work is never done...

I've listed my new Quilter's Queue-as if I needed any more reminders of the scads of projects I've only partially completed. I've seen thermometers and graphs and all kinds of things indicating the various stages of completion of quilts/projects, and I think I don't need any more pressure. So, I've listed not even half of what I intend to complete...soon...yes...soon, yes.

Some of the quilts in the queue really excite me to think about working on them. You know, like when you first got into quilting, and you had 3 new ideas in your head, before you were half finished with the first one you were working on. Oh well, how do I choose which to queue up next? Most completed-assuming easiest/quickest to finish? My daughter Chelsea's quilt-strike while the iron is hot and she's still motivated to work on it. I don' know, just like fabric in the store that yells my name to buy it, one of these quilts will be irresistible to me when I'm ready to queue the next one up.

Blogging is so addicting and takes so much time, if you want to add all the little extras that peak the interest of readers. We want to tweak them enough so that maybe you will leave a comment, which in the end, is what we all want-isn't it? I don't know, I like to think I'm making a permanent record/quilting journal to be around to maybe inspire or educate a future/active quilter. Then I read a blog about the fee you will sooner or later have to pay for these blogs. I wonder when that will kick in? I don't remember reading anywhere in Blogspot about a fee, but, I hope somehow I will be able to figure out how to move my blog to another service without paying a fee! I bet it's going to be like a credit card-you shift all the debt/blog to an new card, staying one jump ahead of the dreaded date the interest free use date is ending. Luckily I've never fallen into that financial abyss, but, it could happen in the blog world. If it does, we must all promise to keep each other apprised of the least fee to be paid or the new blog service, accepting fee free hosting...until next month...smile.

Finished Quilts

So far this year, I've completed 2 quilts. One is a baby quilt, I think I'll call it Rian's Camo Quilt, it's about 45 inches by 45 Inches. The front is camouflage fabric with hearts. The back is pieced from the stash, using animal print I already had. The quilt is machine pieced with the Puss in the Corner block: 6 inch center with 2 inch strips and squares; with 8 inch plain blocks. This quilt was quick and fun to make.




The second is Country at Heart, it's a wall hanging that is in my sewing room. It is an old pattern that uses Steam a Seam "2" Lite as a fusible web. It also has a lot of old buttons and beads. I'm very interested in working with embelisments.

A view from my window in winter

Oh the joys of living in the country are many, quiet streams bubbling, birds chirping, the occasional deer traipsing through the yard. But, a green balloon in the snow is not a common site. And though my husband thought me quite odd to be so fixed on such an unusual sight, I just knew it might make and interesting photo. Hope you like it too.

OK Go - Here It Goes Again

Here's motivation for the Treadmill...

Exercise/movie time

You have spoken, and I know it's true, sometimes the only exercise quilter's get is up and down from the ironing board. But, this has to stop and we need more working out-maybe with irons in our hands as weights. I don't know, but the quilter's spread is not from a quilt/bed spread she'sjust finished making.

My only sugggestion for a tip here is what works for me, and I'm really no skinny mini, just a happy, healthy woman from Kentucky. I love to watch movies and the only way I can not feel guilty about watching those movies, because you know my house really does need cleaning, is to exercise while I watch movies. We bought a treadmill and it's in the basement in front of the TV where I watch my movies. Quick movie review: Watch On a Clear Day-a film rated pg 13.

Work Station and Lighting

Make your sewing work station an "L" shape. Your sewing machine should be in front of you and lower your ironing board to the level of your seated position so you can just swing around to iron and back to sew, if need be. This will save a lot of time.

Also, make sure you have adequate lighting while you sew. They make wonderful sun like bulbs, that not only give off clear light, it's the full spectrum light of the sun, so you can see the real colors, instead of having to go outside to judge the true color of the fabrics in your quilt.