MLQS and the BAB BOM'ers

So tonight I was going through my emails, mainly my Yahoo group emails since that are the majority of what I get lol, and the BAB group has decided to start the monthly BOMs again!  I'm so excited!  This was just what the doctor ordered as I immediately grabbed my laptop and ran to the "sewing room" (okay so it's my dining room lol) and began looking for fabrics.  The group is also in the process of putting together a Military Love Quilt so are looking for block 'volunteers'.  So what did I do?  I grabbed some red, white, and blue fabric and pressed them, cut them, and sewed them all together into a gorgeous Arrowhead block:

I so enjoyed getting in there and sewing again!  Thank you so much to Barb for the offer of the monthly patterns/tutorials and suggestions in the first place!  :)  I will make the majority of the blocks in RWB fabs for the MLQS but may also do them in my own fabrics as well.  Christmas is coming upon us quickly ya know?

It is off to the bedroom for me now.  Another day at work tomorrow and possibly another BOM tomorrow evening since I have TONS and TONS of BOM patterns in a huge 5" binder LOL.  Until next time...keep sailing along...

Kerensa

Shop Hoppin' Away

Well, I have done nothing quilty at all this weekend as I had hoped other than browse 160 online fabric shops while doing the Fabshophop for the month of June.  I have found SO many beautiful fabrics and patterns. :)

Yesterday I took my son to Kohl's to get him some new clothing as he just started his first job and needed something a little more professional.  My daughter went with us and I got her some new shorts and tanks for summer.  The three of us had a blast while the hubby stayed home and enjoyed the quiet (lucky him) lol.  All the running around yesterday wore me out so I have been recouping ever since.  I really miss being young and able to function on 2 hours of sleep!

So it's back to work tomorrow.  I have 2 weeks left in my current position and then I will be moving to a new department and supervising a new team.  I am really excited about the change and am looking forward to learning more about the business.  My hours will change from 7-4 (actually 6:30-4) to 8-5 so will have to get used to hanging around the house an extra hour and a half lol.  Maybe I can use that time to get some simple strip sewing in as I plan on beginning my TATW quilt.  Although, I fell in love with Moda Fabrics' Dragonfly Summer by Holly Taylor, so may have to buy enough to make the TATW quilt with it.

Kerensa

Going back in time

So I had to sew a pair of my son's jeans today where he ripped out the seam and afterward, I was cleaning up and found my old quilt journal.  I took a couple photos from that journal to show some of the quilts I no longer have. I miss being able to quilt every day...
This is the first quilt I made.  The pattern is the 2004 Summer Mystery from the Beginners and Beyond quilt group on Yahoo groups.  I made A LOT of mistakes (just look closely at my "border/binding in one" lol) 

close up 

Yikes, I forgot how bad it really was LOL.

This next one was another Beginners and Beyond (BAB)quilt, the 2004 NYE Mystery quilt.  I decided to get brave and made a King size and named it Big Red, did all the piecing myself, and a wonderful friend, Jean Madan, graciously quilted it on her long arm and put the binding on for me.  I love it and still use it to this day, which you can tell if you look close enough you see where the seams are coming out...

 

close up

This quilt pattern was from an online quilt group and I can't remember which one (sorry) in 2004 or 2005.  It was VERY easy to make and the fabrics went so well together.  I do not know where this wall hanging ended up.  I called it... Rose's Rails



I so enjoyed making this next wall hanging.  It was my first time using paper piecing.  This was a quilt challenge done in the SFQ (Smoker Friendly Quilters) Yahoo group (which I seriously miss since I withdrew from it when I became too busy to quilt and now can't find it anymore).  I think I offered the wall hanging to the winner of the contest but I really can't remember since this was back in 2005.  This wallhanging was called Geese in the Iris Patch...wish the photo was better to show the bright lime green and purple with lime green polka dots (you can see my black and bold blocks behind it on the wall lol)

This quilt coming up was a group project.  The SFQ group got together and we made string blocks and then shipped them out and got back more from those in the group participating so that we had a wide array of fabrics.  I put the top together and shipped it off to Kim D. who quilted it for me, although I think she hated (not literally) me for a bit because of the flannel fabric for the backing, plus the thick foundation blocks, I wanted her to use and it kept breaking her needles lol.  She did an awesome job and I gave it to my son who still uses it to this day...

This final quilt is one I made from another mystery for my daughter.  We picked out the fabric together.  I called it Demented Starfish.  The red fabric has sparkles in it lol.  Although it is a twin size she likes it hanging on the wall so I could only get 1/2 of it in the picture.

And now...for my WIP's or UFO's...In the SFQ group, we did a lot of block swaps where we would make blocks and would then swap them out with each other.  I so enjoyed doing this. I just don't have the time now. :(

These are the black and bold blocks that I am still trying to figure out what kind of sashing to use.

These are my orange and black blocks, again trying to figure out sashing so I can make it twin-sized...If I remember correctly (and it has been a long time for this old brain lol) I think these were the birthday blocks we did.

And my purple and green blocks... 

The last project was an applique wall hanging that my mom made on her embroidery machine and I did the quilting and binding...Halloween style

front

and back

I really need to learn to do binding the right way.  It always looks great on the front but looks more like a 1/2" border on the back.  Anyone wanna teach me? *VBG*  I also really, really want to learn to hand quilt but trying to teach myself with tutorials online just doesn't work for me.  I need someone there to show me and tell me as I do it myself.

Well, that is all the photos I have for today.  I have many more WIPs but too tired to pull them out, take photos, upload them, and put them in here.  lol, I'll leave it for when I complete them. :)  Until next time...Happy quilting.

Kerensa

Here I go again...

So I just finished registering for the Fall 2011 semester at UWF online!  I'm totally excited and nervous at the same time.  The classes I registered for are Personal Computer Applications, Java Programming, Information Sources for Business Decisions, and Introduction to Philosophy.  I really wanted to take Intro to Religions but it was not available.  I am hoping they will offer Modern Astronomy for my non-lab science class but it wasn't available for the Fall. :(  I am all set up on what I need to take.  I really only have a couple general studies courses to take toward my Bachelor's degree: English Comp II, Pre-Calc Algebra, Elements of Statistics, Intro to Philosophy, and the Modern Astronomy class.  The rest of the courses I have to take are all core courses. VERY EXCITED!!!!

Kerensa

Procrastination and rambling thoughts

So there were "ifs and's or buts" seeing as how I still have not begun working on my table runner.  I really have been busy with other things; chief among them being I have submitted my application for admittance to UWF (University of West Florida) for a Bachelor's Degree in Interdisciplinary Information Technology: Networking and Telecommunications.  All classes will be taken online, which will keep me pretty busy, but I'm excited as well.  I have a lot of experience taking online classes since my AA in Business Management was all completed online with the University of Phoenix.  My transcripts have been received so I am just waiting on the acceptance (fingers crossed).  The only thing that may hold me back is that in the state of Florida, it is a requirement that every Undergraduate have 2 years of foreign language, which I do not have.  I will have to take a foreign language locally but I'm hoping UWF will allow me to begin classes while taking the language courses at my local college.
I have also spent more than a few hours today searching quilt patterns for ideas and ran across a site I had long forgotten about Quiltville by Bonnie K. Hunter and her gorgeous version of the Dear Jane quilt in pink with storm at sea sashing.  I now know what quilt I want to make using controlled fabric colors (yes, I am afraid of the stash of scraps I have accumulated lol).  I'm very excited to start thinking about and planning my own version. Check out Bonnie's version: In the Pink (Dear Jane at Sea).  I much prefer the quilt with the storm at sea sashing.  It is just beautiful!

I  have also been reading a lot more lately, something I have truly missed.  At one point in my life that is all I did, work and read.  I was never seen without a book in my hand. With all the hectic issues going on in my life the last 10 years or so it is rare to see me reading.  Usually, it is Stephen King, Anne Rice, Dean Koontz, and Bentley Little books, but thanks to my romance-a-holic mother purchasing a "new age" romance series written by Melissa Mayhue I have been speed reading through her Daughters of the Glen series and am currently reading Highlanders Curse the eighth book in the series and thoroughly enjoying them.  If you are into romance, hunky Scotland Highlanders, and "fae magic" please check out this series, I promise you will love the characters and storylines.

Think I will get offline for a while and spend some quality time with the fam.  Thanks to Netflix we have "You Again" waiting to be watched.  I heard it was a really cute and funny movie.  Anything with Betty White, Sigourney Weaver, and Jamie Lee Curtis in it has to be funny. :)  Until next time.  

Kerensa 



Finally, I quilted something! :)

It sure has been a while since I posted on my blog.  I haven't had much time lately, not to mention not much energy to do more than sit on my couch and watch TV shows that I recorded on the DVR.  But today I had promised myself that I would finally make a water bottle huggie.  I like taking ice water bottles to bed for when I get thirsty at night but can't keep them in the bed because it gets the sheets wet.  However, the cozie, or huggie as it were, keeps the ice cold longer and soaks up the condensation.  I also wanted to make an eyeglass case for my daughter's glasses that she rarely wears now since she has contacts.  So I pulled out some fabric and went to work.

Gorgeous fabric isn't it? :)  I didn't take step-by-step photos because this was a trial for me.  The end result:

I love them!  A few places I could have done a bit better such as the circle at the bottom of the huggie was a tad bit bigger than 4" but since I didn't have a protractor I went through the house and measured different circular items until I found my round coasters that were about 4".  The next purchase is a protractor for those round quilting pieces. lol  So enough for tonight now that it's 11 PM.  Tomorrow I WILL begin working on my table runner, no ifs and's or butts.  ^_^ 

Kerensa

My new project...batik table runner coming up

So it has been exactly 3 months since I created this blog and what have I done with it?  Nothing... absolutely nothing.  :(  I have been trying really hard to get out of this funk I am in and get back to my quilting but the funk just won't go away.  I'm so tired after work every day that I don't want to do anything but sit on my bum when I get home and weekends are reserved for grocery shopping and catching up on my favorite TV shows.  But I WILL start quilting again.  I picked up a cute table runner pattern and some batik fabrics to make it while I was at Jo Ann's Fabrics with Mom yesterday:

My house has a lot of green, tan, and brown so I thought these three fabrics would work really well in the runner when I put it on the coffee table. My plan is to make it this coming weekend.  It has been about 5 years since I have quilted anything so rather than pull out some of my UFOs and get those completed, I decided to make something from beginning to end, that wouldn't take too long, to get me back in the swing of things.  Once I get warmed back up then I really need to get those UFOs completed.

Until next time...

Kerensa