Needed a "Fix"

A few years ago our couch's upholstery was wearing thin on the seat cushions, but the rest of the couch remained in good condition... so I made some quilted "throws" for the cushions.  They have seen many hours of TV viewing and visiting with friends and family.  The convenient part is that if something gets spilled on them the go in the washing machine and then good as new.



However, I could stand it no longer... They either needed to be replaced or repaired.  With guests arriving tomorrow afternoon there was no time for replacing them. 

Here you can see a few wear spots... but trust me the part that I replaced was MUCH, MUCH worse.



So.... I pulled out some fabric, made a few measurements and the viola!

 

 

I put a piece the exact size needed (the purple), pinned it in place and stitched it down.  In about 1 hour of time they were good to go. Again!  Now, I do realize that in time I will need to replace them, but for now, good enough.

 

 

 

 

Time to Design for a Man

With the wedding dress done, it is now time to begin the next quilt.  This one will be a Father's day gift for a Miami Dolphin football fan. 

But there are a few things keeping me from actually getting started...

#1 - I am tired.  In fact, here I sit and it is nearly 10 a.m., and I haven't even headed to the shower. 

#2 - I need to order the computer printer fabric so that I can print the photos and logs that are to be included in the quilt.

#3 - And I think this is the biggest hurdle that I need to get over - I don't like to start a project knowing that I don't have a large block of time or days to work on it. It may sound crazy to some, neurotic to others and just plain silly to most.  But it is a real problem...  With family coming in next week and the wedding just 9 days away, I really could use the calming therapy that quilting offers me.

So, enough whining and procrastinating for now... I have a quilt layout/design to perfect and to get done.  Father's day will be here before I know it!

This was my initial design layout, but I will be changing the flying geese border to resemble something more of a football shape...  for now? I will be pulling fabric and cutting strips for the log cabin block.

The giver of this quilt when she saw this design said, "Oh, it's so cute!"  My response?  "It's for a man, it shouldn't be cute..."  thus the need for the football border.

So, off I go to find some masculine fabrics to use in the log cabins... so it isn't "cute".

Road Trip!

We recently made a quick trip to Wichita Falls, Texas...  That meant 7-1/2 hours in the car (each way).

For those of you that know me, that means that I had to have some sort of hand work project to pass the time.  This time I had a table runner that I hand quilted.

I have never done much hand quilting, in fact, now that I think about it, all of the hand sewing I have done in the way of quilts has been hand piecing and binding.  It really isn't much different... I think the "standard" is 12 stitches per inch.  I wasn't really counting or keeping track, but now that it is done - I ended up with 10 stitches per inch.  Not bad for my first try.

I do have a desire to do more, but it will be a whole cloth quilt - crib size.  No bigger, because that would be sheer craziness and torture to my fingers!  The actual amount of time quilting this table runner ended up being 8 hours.

 

 

With all of the hand sewing I have been doing of late (the wedding dress hem, the lace embellishment and this table runner) my fingers are a developing some callouses but they have been really dry.  Almost to the point of cracking.  Then I started using Burt's Bees beeswax lip balm on them.  What a difference that made.  They still are a bit sore, but soooooooooooo much softer.

 

Also to pass the time, we listened to "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" of the Chronicles of Narnia.  It was interesting.  We have both read the books before and the narration was easy to listen to, but we didn't have to listen so intently that we were worried that we might miss something.

 

When we started the trip we had snow on the ground...

 

 

 

And as we returned we some isolated showers in New Mexico...

 

 

 

And then more snow as we came down over Raton Pass.  Welcome home!

 

So... what do you do to pass time on a road trip?



 



She Liked it! She Really Liked it!

The day finally arrived when Heather came home to try on her wedding dress.

And she liked it! 

AND it looked beautiful on her.

 

Now for the finishing touches...  26 days to go!

 

 



And... We Have A Dress!

I am so excited I could just about burst!  We have a dress!

And it is ready for the fitting on Sunday!

 

 

It is so close to the picture of the dress that she wanted!  Yay!

I am fairly certain that she will like it...

It was good to work with mom so closely on the dress... while pinning one or the other of us would suddenly say "Ouch!" because a finger had been poked.  The other would say "Just don't bleed on the dress!"  Then we would laugh.

Good time and good memories.