Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Button, Button, Who Has The Button??

I found these darling buttons by Jennifer Jangles and have been trying to think what to do with them
Well, as I have continued on my cleaning gig, I found this old 5" charm and thought, hmmmm!!
Then I went through my 1930's fabrics and found this fun piece
and decided that with a little batting and some walnut shells
I could make a little giftie for one of my friends
It was quick, easy and fun to make!!

Thank you Jennifer, for your darling buttons!!

Monday, May 30, 2011

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. 

There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day.

There is also evidence that organized women's groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, "Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping" by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication "To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead" (Source: Duke University's Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it's difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day.

It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860's tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. 

It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.

May we not only remember all those that died for us while protecting us and our country and and our freedom, but may we also have a prayer in our hearts for all those brave soldiers that are currently defending our freedom all over the world on this very day!!!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY!!!

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, there is always lots and lots to do on a holiday weekend and so what are all of you going to do?

I am going to spend time with family and friends, I am going to mow the lawn, do some quilting and spend lots and lots of time with my "other" best friend:


HAVE A SUPER WONDERFUL MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND!!!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Monday, May 23, 2011

New Progress on My Kool Kaleidoscope Quilt

I had a chance over the weekend to work on my Kool Kaleidoscope.  If you remember, this was my first round:


Now, this is the strata for round 2:


I chose a couple of the same fabrics from the first strata to give the piece some consistency.  I had a couple of problems with this strata though.  Even though I do not stretch the fabric as I sew the strips together, I ended up with a curved strata when all the pieces were sewn together.  Actually, as I added each strip, the curve got curvier and curvier.  I don't remember this being a problem the first time around.

I did hear somewhere that if I sew one strip on from one end and then start the next strip from the other end, I will not have this curing problem.  Does anyone know if this is true??

The second problem was self inflicted and is a major no-no.  I cut out the first two pie-shaped pieces and could not get the rows to match up when I laid them on top of each other (fabric front facing) to click the seams together.  Then I realized that the orange dot fabric on the one strata was wider than the orange dot on the second strata!!  Oh No!!!  I am not sure how I managed that because I THOUGHT I had followed Ricky's directions on cutting.  Guess not.  So, I had to unpick the one row, cut the 1/4" off it, sew it together and start again.

Thankfully, I found the problem out before I cut more than two pieces - otherwise I would not have had enough fabric left to make the 6 pie-shaped pieces!!!

So, even though I do not have a design wall in place to give you the perfect look, here is the results of the first two sections:


I am not thrilled with the two reds that touch each other on the outside side of the purple piece, but I am hoping that after it is sewn together the reds will not touch each other.  Also, I am going to try sewing one row from one end and then sewing the next row from the opposite end!!  I'll let you know if it works better!!

I am going to get my design wall in place this week so that the next row will fit in the picture!!  :--))

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Boy, Is This Ever Fun!!!

Since school ended I have had the time to start going through boxes and as you saw a few days ago, I found some Nearly Insane blocks that I had not seen in several years.  Well, my friend Regena, was asking me to write up the instructions on an afghan pattern that I have been using for years and so I found one of the afghans I started several several of years ago so I could figure out the pattern.


Its not a difficult pattern, in fact so easy that I just do it.  But in order to write something up for Regena, I felt I needed to look at the first two rows as that is where one has to start right in order to stay right on pattern.

Now that I have found this afghan, its a perfect project to finish while my Dad and I watch the Rockies baseball games.  I love finding all these UFOs!!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Darling Patterns from The Raspberry Rabbits

Look what I got in the mail today!!


Shell always send a little chocolate goodie with her packages but this time she also sent me a Pigma Micron pen in a rusty RED!!!

If you want to see the Noelle's Bunnies quilt completed you can click here to see how Shell finished hers.  And if you want to see how Shell finished her Little House No. 1 quilt, you can click here.  Plus while you are over at The Raspberry Rabbits, check out her newest bunny family member, Lady Hannah Goldenhare!!  She is a beauty!!

Thank you for your very fun patterns, Shell, and the extra goodies!!

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Anyone Working on the Nearly Insane Quilt

by Liz Lois??

Today, I was going through some old boxes of fabric looking for something specific and I ran across the three blocks that I made several years ago from Liz Lois' Nearly Insane Quilt.

When I first learned to quilt about 7 years ago, I learned paper-piecing!!  My friend, Sue Baddley at Summit Creek Quilts loves to paper-piece and she was my first teacher.  This is the first block I ever pieced - Block #13 in the Nearly Insane Quilt:


For the next block I did - Block #34, and chose some brighter colors.  This was the beginning on my journey to the fun bright colors I so love even today.


So, then the third block - Block #40, continued with bright colors.


After seeing these fun blocks, I want to make more!!  Do I dare start a new project??  But wait, is this really a new project or just a very old UFO that is dying to be completed??  Hmmmmmmm!!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Charity Book Bags Finished

and in the mail.  When my friend, Regena and I were on our road trip to the Northwest, we were in the local quilt shop, Boardwalk Quilts, at Long Beach, Washington and there was a request for, I think, 210 book bags for local kids.  Regena said, "look Kris, you can make some of these!!!"  Well, hoo, hoo, I was able to get 6 bags done so they could be mailed and get there by the deadline this coming Saturday!!  I think they turned out pretty cute!!

Monday, May 16, 2011

What a Wonderful Road Trip!!

Yesterday I started with a show-and-tell and then the battery died.  So now I am home on my desktop and so on with the show!!

As we travelled from the airport to the Long Beach Peninsula, we saw this wonderful old covered bridge!!

 All it needed to be perfect is to have a quilt painted on it's side!!

 And we saw lots of moss on everything - including a few of the locals, I think!!!  Coming from the desert, this was really cool!!

So many of the things we saw were so inspiring and and so much fun!!

 This little guy sits in the front yard of one of the fantastic homes up in Oysterville (at the top end of the peninsula).

Can't go on a road trip without hitting the local quilt shops.  I found this darling fabric (plus a large flat rate box full of wonderful fabric that went home through the mail) at the local shop in Long Beach.

The Shop is Boardwalk Quilts and the owner, Teri, has the shop packed with bright colored fabrics.  I was told by several of the quilt shop owners that the bright colors sell the best because there is so much overcast and rain in that area - especially through the winter months.

I also joined this very fun BOM from Boardwalk Quilts, all done in batiks.

 Lots of fun, funky plants EVERYWHERE!!!

We took one day and travelled down through the Oregon Coast down as far as Cannon Beach.  Great little town with a super quilt shop called Center Diamond Fabrics.  I think was the owner who assisted me in buying this darling little bunny below.  She told me the block (about 6" square) was cut from a piece of fabric that was made in Japan and that the fabric is no longer being made so this little piece is a treasure.

Center Diamond Fabric also carried lots of bright colors and it seemed like a lot of the shops along the Coast carried a broad selection of batiks and Asian-inspired prints like the one below.


The tulips were all in bloom all over the Peninsula and down the Coast but these were my most favorite!! (Click on the picture to get a really good look)

On our last full day (Monday), I went as a guest to the local quilt guild and enjoyed myself thoroughly.   In fact, I joined the guild and their BOM.  We also went down to Ilwaco, a small town just south of Long Beach and Seaview and went to Jelly Bean Fabrics.  Well, the owner, Andi Maroncelli, a young (and I do mean young) gal is just a delightful and charming addition to the quilting world!!  Her shop is full of bright and unusual fabrics that one will not find in many other shops.  The batik below is one she designed and chose the colors for!!  Can't wait to see what I do with this great piece - I splurged and bought a full yard!!  Hoo! Hoo!

And how is this for creative inspiration??

We ended up the trip by visiting Cape Disappointment and checking out this amazing lighthouse (that is still working).  Look, I got a bird in the picture - pretty cool, huh!! 

 And the surf and sea below it.

 Our final stop Monday night was to the Realtor to write up an offer on a 5.48 acre of raw land

 that sits on the bay side of the peninsula

 and a bit north of the town of Long Beach!!

Now we just have to wait to see if the owner accepts our offer, counter-offers or does nothing because he is insulted with our offer!!  :-))  Here's hoping!!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Big Project Completed!!

Every year the Dear Jane group has a Siggie Swap about this time of year.  I signed up for the first time this year and I have been working diligently on them since I returned from my road trip.  Well, I finished all 60 of them tonight and they will be put in the mail first thing Monday morning!!  I really like how they turned out!!  I hope my fellow swappers will enjoy them too!!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Oh My, I Have Been Gone for a Long Time

with good reason!!  My best friend, Regena and I have been on a road trip to the Northwest!!
Regena left Colorado and I left St. George last Thursday, May 5th.  We both flew to Portland, OR where we rented a car and headed toward the coast and up into Washington state to the Long Beach Pennisula.

I am on my way home and I am in the Portland airport waiting for my flight.  The battery on my lap top is dying so you will have to wait until tomorrow morning to see all the wonderful things we saw!!  Until then!!

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

School is Out for the Summer

Many of you know I have gone back to school to work on a degree in Visual Technologies, a degree that will allow me to build out websites.  This semester I took a web design class and I have had sooooooo much fun!!  I thought I would share one of the websites I am playing with and let you see how much fun I have been having all semester!!

And now that school is out for summer, my dearest friend and I are leaving for a road trip this coming Thursday to the beach and then upon return from the trip, I am hoping to quilt, quilt, quilt!!  Hoo! Hoo!

Monday, May 2, 2011

Grand Quilter Hobby 1200

I bought this gorgeous sewing machine
about three years ago  along with the quilting frame
so I could learn to quilt larger quilts.  Well, I have never really had any room to put up the quilting frame and after spending a day with my friend Sue over at Summit Creek Quilts, I have decided that being a machine quilter is not my cup of tea.

Just recently, I heard that one could use this machine without putting it on the frame and so, on Saturday, I pulled it out of the box for the very first time to see if I could, in fact, use it alone.  I think that I can but I thought I would put a call out to the quilting community and see if anyone has this machine and uses it without the frame.

Also, I purchased the Automatic Stitch Regular and wondered if I could use it on the machine without the frame.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!