El Campo Casual Quilters

Quirky Quilters:

I had a fabulous quilty day today.  The first Wednesday of every month is the meeting of the El Campo Casual Quilters guild I joined this year.  Our project for today was a tote bag taught by Renee Beery our president.

We had homework to do before the meeting today.  Those of you who know me well, know that I procrastinated and waited until the last minute to start.  I started yesterday.  I had to sew 70 charms (5-inch squares) together, put pellon on the back.  The directions said fusible webbing so I used Heat N Bond Lite, which was all I had in my stash.  It was sticky and was difficult to move through my sewing machine so I had to put the paper back on to quilt.  It worked great, but now I have the time-consuming task of removing the papers between the quilted squares before I can put the bag together.

At the meeting I got my pockets sewed on the lining and the straps sewed on the bag.  Everyone else completed their bag except for the top stitching.  I will finish mine tomorrow.  I will read the directions more carefully.

outside of my bag - work in progress

Quilt Happy,
just J

Granddaughters are a Joy

Quirky Quilters,

We had a wonderful surprise yesterday when our two granddaughters stopped by with our daughter.  Meagan is a toddler while Rebekka is attending college.  I showed off my latest projects while waiting for Grandpa to come back with barbecue for a family dinner.  The girls and our son are my best fans.

Meagan was the first in the family to get a quilt, just the day after her birth.  The quilt started out as a Strip Club Project from Quilters Emporium.  The pattern was Picture Frames from Cozy Quilt Designs, designed by Daniela Stout.  I dutifully made all the blocks and put them on my design wall.  I hated it.  I kept rearranging them and staring at it from across the room.  I just couldn't fix it.  Three months later my friend came by and said "that is the ugliest quilt I've ever seen."  It was just too busy with the fabrics that came with it.  So I separated the two types of blocks, added sashing and borders and ended up with two beautiful baby quilts. 

Meagan's quilt

Back of Meagan's quilt

Meagan with big sister Rebekka

2nd quilt for Sydney, a friend's new baby

Sydney with her quilt

Stay tuned tomorrow for the story of Rebekka's quilt.

just J

UFO Pajama Party

Saturday I attended the UFO Pajama party at Quilter's Emporium.  I stayed up until 2 the night before cutting my strips so I could work on the placemats I'm making for Christmas and birthday gifts.  I was lucky to quilt with two of my quilting friends who I hadn't seen since the last UFO party months ago.  I finished one set of 6 placemats and started two strips on six other Christmas placemats.  My two friends were working on a 6 month mystery quilt from Quilter's Emporium.  I sewed until midnight then drove to a nearby hotel for the night.  I always sleep good in that hotel.  Hubby and I hit the road for home around 8:00.

Sunday, I unloaded the shopping from the car, had a restroom break,  took my vitamins, then I was ready to speed off to my friend Ginni's house for our joint quilt project.  It's so much more fun sewing with a friend.  I'm a former Yankee autumn leaf expert and she is the Queen of Quilting Bling so we had some discussions about fabrics for the leaves.  We both think it will turn out beautiful anyway. This is my first time to use Thangles for 1/2 square triangles.  I think next time I will cut the strips just a little wider than the instructions call for to allow for possible sliding of the paper.

International Intrigue Mystery Quilt

I can't wait to have three days of school off for Thanksgiving.  I should be able to get a lot of quilting (or organize my sewing room) done.  Ginni and I will get together one day too while my husband is driving the band to the playoff game.  My class and I will be making posters for two of the players tomorrow.  Last week we wrote them cards of encouragement.

I did finish a mystery quilt this summer.  I did it in red, black and white batiks.  I can't wait to get it quilted, although I haven't decided what to do with it yet.

Back to Work

The first day back at work after the holiday went pretty smooth.  I took short little walks and refilled my water cup between classes.  I ate a healthy turkey sub lunch from Subway and didn't even take a taste of the coke my husband brought.  Yes, my wonderful husband brings me lunch nearly every day (if he's not playing golf).  After school I walked for 20 minutes around the halls.

Tonight I had hoped to finish my quilting project.  Unfortunately, I sewed the last 2 sides of the last border on without first sewing the strip to the pieced border.  I know what I'll be doing during lunch tomorrow....... the ever loved task of ripping.

I used up 4 yards of fabric from my stash in this project, but I got in an online order of fabric today.  Does it count tht I ordered it in 2010?

After work I spent a couple hours looking at all the new BOM's for 2011.  I like going to the Golden Thimble newsletter because she has all the BOMs neatl organized in a linked table.  If you haven't seen it, try it out at http://www.thegoldenthimble.com/  

She also has a new BOM herself that will combine piecing, applique, and embroidery.

Stash Report 2011

• Yardage purchased this week - 0 yds
• Yardage purchased year to date - 0 yds
• Yardage used this week - 0 yds
• Yardage used year to date - 0 yds
• UFOs completed this year (goal 22) - 0
• Charity quilts completed (goal 12) - 0

I haven't done any quilting yet in 2011 but am on my way to my quilting room now to start working on one UFO.  I spent yesterday in my home office/guest bedroom.  After our summer painting project I have a lot to organize in there before my step-daughter and son-in-law come the end of this month.  They are coming to run in the Houston Marathon.