Gobble Gobble!

Oh, please ... i can barely move at this point.  I didn't eat a LOT ... not really a whole lot ... just a bit of this and that and some more of that ... I am sooooo full!  

I moved away from the traditional turkey this year and did a roasted chicken with vegetables, but of course had to do the traditional side dishes ... home made cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing (i have the BEST crock pot dressing recipe!!), corn pudding, sweet potato casserole without those marshmellows thank you ... and the very healthy green beans ... and i haven't even gotten to the pumpkin or pecan pie.  Geez ... you'd think we were never going to cook for the rest of the year.  Why do we do this?  Well, as my husband says, "Because you like to do it!"  OK OK ... I do enjoy the cooking.  I spend so much time quilting that I seldom cook anymore, so when I get a chance I go for the gusto.  Here's wishing all a very thankful Thanksgiving!

I do have several quilts done but I won't post a picture until the customers see them first.  So hang in there ... one is a vintage quilt and I several more of those waiting for me.  These quilts are just so pretty!  And I'm learning that there really isn't anything new (pattern-wise) in piecing, just new ways to do it.

 

Here is my Christmas quilt that I did this fall.  Just in time, right??  And Larry made me a hanger to hang it on our wall.  I love this quilt.  It's Down Winterberry Lane by Whimsicals.  I pieced and quilted it, and did use some metallic threads for the first time.  And Max the Millennium LOVED those metallics!!  

It's a Great Day {wide grin ...}

I'm posting two quilts that I finished this week.  

This one is what I call Pam's Wonky Triangle Quilt and it is just way too cute!  The colors are so bright and the triangles are so off-plum ... love the whole quilt.  I did an Edge-2-Edge on this because it is so fun.  And I used a Magna-Glide thread which added some sheen and shine.

 

And the next quilt is my friend Patsy Ruth's quilt for her son Michael, who is ... wait for it ... a GEORGIA fan!  Can you tell?  Patsy did the 1600 inch jelly roll quilt for him and it looks wonderful!  And I love how that Circle Lord swirls design just softens up the quilt.  And she added a paisley binding which is so cool!  And as Patsy says, "Hunker down, hairy Dawgs!"  Good job, Patsy!  On the last pic, I pulled the back over to the front to show that GA Bulldog backing!  Woo Woo!

Flannel and Minkee

 This is Kathy's cutie-pie child's quilt that she pieced for a soon-to-be granddaughter!  It is sooooo cuddly!  And quilting the Minkee was a breeze.  The flower design shows up great on the Minkee back.  I loved quilting this quilt! 




I used Fil-Tec Magna-Glide thread both top and bottom and it just sinks so much into that Minkee leaving a wonderful design.  The Magna-Glide thread and Delights pre-wound bobbins are great.  I have never had an issue using this thread.  It's not for every quilt, but for those quilts that just cry out for some "zing!" - give it the Magna-Glide touch and glisten!

Dreaming of Space

Last night was guild night and it was my turn to 'showcase' a quilt.  As I told my guild, if there's one thing you need to know about me, it's that I'm almost as passionate about the space program as I am about quilting.  Pick me!  Pick me!  I'll go up in a heartbeat, no kidding!  In 2003 we lost Columbia as it was re-entering our atmosphere.  And in August 2005 space flight STS-114 celebrated our Return to Space.  I sat and watched as this marvelous space shuttle landed at Edwards Air Base.  And even more interesting was that it was piloted by our first female commander, Eileen Collins.  As she landed the big bird (perfectly!) I was putting in the last binding stitch on this quilt.  I immediately knew what this quilt was all about.  It's my Dreaming of Space quilt.  It is MY quilt ... and it's really the only quilt I own that I can truly say is mine.  

One of my guild sisters told me later that she believes that Eileen Collins is a quilter ... I'm gonna have to research that a bit!  Too cool!

The quilt was constructed of 4 different stratas, each containing 7 to 9 different color variances.  It took almost as much time to pick the fabric as it did to piece it!

Have to get back to the jacket construction now.  Later ... 

P.S.  See that stand which is displaying Dreaming of Space quilt?  It's a Savage Port-A-Stand ... I fell in love with it last night and ordered my own on Amazon today!  No more trying to figure out how to do away with pictures of "Quilts with Feet"!  And my quilt "handlers" get really really tired of me saying, "A bit higher ... no, that's too high ... now it's uneven..."  This will be so much better, don't you think?

Gotta start somewhere

I'm being encouraged to start a blog (thanks, Tina!  Coast-to-Coat wave!!) so here goes.

Daughter Emily is visiting and she fell in love with minkee at our LQS.  So she has been constructing "Mr. Minkee".  

As she says:  "I LOVE Mr. Minkee!!"

Now let's talk about Minkee fur!  Good grief!  We're breathing it, we're eating it!  It is EVERYWHERE!  Her last task will be taking the vacuum cleaner and sucking that fur up!  Minkee is not for the faint of heart or someone with OCD.  It will take weeks to get rid of the Minkee Mist around here.


We have had a great time quilting together so I'm guessing that this is as good a first blog as any.  Having someone to share your passion with is great!  What a tremendous gift she has given me by visiting this past week.


And while she is here we are finishing up her 2-Color quilt that she started piecing about 5 years ago.  She finally got the sashings and borders on and we put it on Max the Millennium machine.  We have swapped out doing the quilting but since she's so involved with Mr. Minkee I'll finish up quilting the Baptist Fans on it.  She did a great job!  Good going, kiddo!

The thing about the Baptist Fan design is that the 'fans' are truly directional.  They should be rounded at the top of the quilt, so if you have a directional top you need to be sure that the BF's are going in the right direction.  Emily's 2-Color quilt top is not directional; however, her BACKING is!  So we had to be careful that we loaded the backing backwards.  She has a beautiful toile back.  More pics later.