Hello... My Name Is...

Here it is with June 2/3 gone!  Where has the time gone?  It has been a few weeks since my last post and I have spent very little time in my sewing room. A very sad situation, indeed!

None the less, I will be in there soon... as soon as I finish a contract project I am working on for the Alumni office.  It is a tedious project, but in the end it really is something that I can appreciate after working in the Alumni office as part of my work experience and helping alum of Trinidad State reconnect with the college and classmates.

As the Farmer's market date approaches for me, July 5th, I have lots of projects that I would like to get done.  Some table runners, hot pads, cake/casserole carriers, car seat canopies are just a few things on the agenda for the sale. 

Hopefully this weekend I will have an opportunity to be re-introduced to my sweet Babylock Serenade...

"Hello, my name is Melva." 

www.quilterblogs.com

Happy Monday!

Three separate groups of guests and two weddings over the past two weeks was super fun, but it is time to get "back to work".

I am nearly done with the quilting of the "manly" Miami Dolphins quilt.  Then I will be ready for the binding.

We had some severe weather in the past week.  Last night was heavy rain (1-1/2" in less than an hour) and hail.  The hail was "super-sized pea" size, but not quite golf ball sized.  The water was running through the yard and left about a two foot drift of hail at the fence between our property and the neighbor.  We took a short walk after the storm to assess damage down the road.  One neighbor's basement was flooded with 14" of muddy, messy water.

So this morning before I head into my sewing room I am thankful that our basement is dry and that we don't have to deal with an insurance claim.  Happy Monday!

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A Beautiful Day for a Wedding

It was Saturday, May 31st... only 6 days ago.  It seems so long ago, yet not really.

Our baby girl, Heather, now 26 years old, was getting married. 

She was beautiful. 

 

She had taken care of and put into place all of the plans for the day.  It was beautiful... there are no other words for it.

 

 



 

 

 

And, of course, there was a quilt for them. :)

A closer look at the echo quilting on the quilt....

In the center of the back I piece in a pre-printed panel of a

vintage Marriage Certificate...

And of course, the "Blessed from above, made with love" label

that goes on every quilt.

 

 

Love is patient. Love is kind... Love never fails.

 

 www.quilterblogs.com



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!