Finding My Quilt Rhythm

Whew!  It's been a long time since I've been able to sit at the machine and cutting board and enjoy making a quilt.  I started on a new one, Flight of Swallows.  Yes, I know, I've got a glorious amount of piecing potential already started, but, like I like to tell people, it won't go bad on the shelf and someday, I might get to them.  

Ahem, one of my favorite things to make are half square triangles and my preferred method is using a grid on fabric.  Working on the wrong side of the fabric and increasing the size of the block by 1/8 inch, I drew 2 7/8th inches squares then drew my cutting line, along which I sew my 1/4 inch seam.  Keep your needle down and pivot and the corners.  

This is how my husband and I spend some evenings, me at the machine and him on the PC with his trusty Law and Order on TV....Aaaaahhhh, I'm feeling simply quilty, right now, at least.  

Happy Quilting!

Superb Acting in new James Bond

C rating for the new 007 flick, Quantum of Solace.  

The classic beginning credits was really sad.  Done by Jack White, who I really like and Alicia Keys.  What was the thinking on that?  It seemed they were battling for more air time singing their own style...yuk.  Poor editing for stunts, jerky camera, cheap editing during some stunts.  Every time the actors were speaking their lines, it was really good.  Great evil guy-eating an apple before the climax, awesome.  

Watch Casino Royal for a refresher before you go.  I was a bit lost on some things because I hand not seen it in 2 years.  Daniel Craig is a great actor, and the Dame, Judi Dench, always holds her own, even the bond girl was firing, no pun intended, on all cylinders.  Gottta Go!

Get Your Kids into Sewing Here.

This is the freshest hippest website for sewing I've seen:

Thread Bangers

Do a Little James Bond this weekend

Quantum of Solace

The Crew Won!

For the first time ever, the Columbus Crew won the Eastern Regional Championships for the Major League Soccer franchise.  I wish I could have been there, the stadium was electric with anticipation as the clock counted down for the Columbus win over Chicago 2/1.  The beauty of the gaudy HD TV's is that you can really be brought close to the action-almost like being there, without the beer.  

If you've never been to a professional soccer game, you must get to one.  The fans are some of the most engaged I've seen-jumping and drumming and painted their teams colors.  Save for a college playoff game, these fans are really enjoying themselves.

Soccer comes on Thursday nights around here on ESPN, channel 30.  

Come on America!

Quilters are great people

At my last meeting of the wonderful minds of the brilliant quilters in Northeast Quilting Friends Quilt Guild, someone brought this little ditty in.  Generally speaking, you'll not find a kinder more giving group of people that quilters.  Young or old, they are worth their weight in the finest quilters cotton available.  

Being that we are in Kentucky, one of the local quilt shops, The Gathering Room, revolved a fundraising idea around horses.  The funds are for Rosehaven, a transitional home for women to break the cycle of abuse.  Our quilt group, has in the past held 2 raffles for quilts with 100% of the money going to Rosehaven, I think we made about $3,000.00 total.  I dare say that this idea for a calendar, with men and women wrapped in quilts, will far surpass that amount.  

This the only man, yes, peaking out of the stud barn.  These are a couple of the brave women will to Bare to Care as the slogan goes and show off some nice quilts in the process.  Good for you gals!

Backwards Quilting...Adding the Quilt Borders First...hmmm

If you are not following a pattern, that closely, it makes sense to work within the borders of the projected finished quilt.  That way you have the outline and then you can fill in the middle.  Especially if you have a specific bed or wall hanging area you want to complete.  Food for thought...smile.   The thing you have to understand is you might have to cut somethings off to make them fit.  That's okay, you can use them elsewhere.  Like all things engineering, quilting has a certain method to it's madness.  You have a pattern, you cut the pieces you sew the blocks, attach in rows and then add the borders.  That's not how I'm doing my work on this particular pattern.  It's quilt is based on Karen Witt's pattern, Tillie's Mosaic.  If any of you have attempted any of Karen's patterns, you probably have discovered they are challenging, and I have to say, I like a good sewing/quilting brain stretch, every now and then.  It makes me appreciate the simple things like real patterns that you cut out and you get what you want.  If you buy the pattern, you'll notice it's unfinished on the front, so, I'm not without some leading indicators that, maybe this ain't the easiest thing to finish.  

The pattern as it is, makes a quilt about 60 inches square.  I wanted this for a king size bed quilt. So rather than lay it all out on paper, and I'm sure you can find a hexagon grid somewhere on the internet, I chose to begin making the hex blocks and then laying it out on the bed.  Next I cut my outer borders to fit my bed, thus, you can see by the pics the fill in areas that are yet to be complete.  Believe it or not, I find this to be an easier method for me.  

A quick note, DD #2 was home and she made a purse.  This is from a free tutorial on the internet, with very complete directions and easy to make.  This is Chelsea's second purse and as you can see she's embellished it with flower buttons...so cute!