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Archive for the tag “Christmas”

22 Jan 2013
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Are you like a crazy person?

I love the world of quilting.  I love to design, sew, and finish these wonderful projects.  I am especially fond of having a finished product to admire at the end of all my hard work.  The flurry of the holidays is long since passed for me and my time is starting to open back up ever so slightly.  If I am to be perfectly honest, I’ve noticed that something has been missing in my life, a certain lack that when I tried to pinpoint exactly what it was, I realized that I hadn’t created anything new at all for over two months.

 

Life

Does anyone else feel the same when life has “caught them up”?  Given the fact that the holidays are a busy time for both work and life in general, I sacrificed one of my passions to make room for others.  It’s the dance we do when a choice has to be made.

The Persian Plum that I started last year will be complete by next weekend and then it’s off to the quilters.  Between then and now, I have two flannel blankets that simply need to be bound and they will be complete as well.  I should have pictures up of those by tomorrow.

To everyone reading…  Thank you for all your wonderful comments, they mean a great deal to me and are very much appreciated.

Sew Happy!!

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13 Oct 2012
2 Comments

My Recent Troubles with the Christmas Quilts…

It’s been crazy with work lately…  Posting up what my projects are and what I’m currently doing has taken a back-seat to work, home, and sewing.  I knew this was going to be a beat-down that will continue through next week but am able today to give a brief account of what I’ve managed to eek out.

While working on the original Christmas quilt, I was showing Kay a video on more patterns with which to make quilts and found one on YouTube of one that to me looked perfect for another Christmas quilt.  It’s basically a Jelly Roll pattern for a quilt and since Kay had a Jelly Roll sitting around with nothing to do, she decided to attempt it.  While I, having a lot of extra Christmas fabric, decided to start on a second quilt without finishing my first!  I know everyone understands what spurs us on to do that…

So, I’m working furiously during my off time to get this new one completed and realized that I had not finished Teagan’s binding so I could send it out.  I stopped working on the new Christmas quilt and finished up Teagan’s.  With that accomplished, I pulled out both of the Christmas quilts and while looking at the first decided to incorporate some embroidery into the pattern.

 

As you can see I’ve become distracted and have lost focus… the only good news is that I AM progressing on getting these two quilts finished until…

While reading through a quilting magazine, I came across a really simple quilt pattern that I thought would be perfect to use with some flannel material.  You can already guess what I did, I stopped working on the Christmas quilts and am 2/3 the way through this new quilt.

Alas, I have no willpower when it comes to starting new projects while the old ones languish waiting to be finished.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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24 Sep 2012

Finished at the last gasp

Kay was getting a little upset as I started putting on the first of my planned borders for the Christmas quilt.  We had two hours before we needed to leave to get to Linda’s house clear across town and I was just starting to put the first of three borders on.  I really meant to do them the day before, but lacked the motivation.

Meanwhile, Kay had a lot to finish and DID do a lot of it the day before with only a little bit remaining on the day we needed to turn it over to the quilter Linda.

As I was sewing on the first border, I looked at the back and realized that a patch was all wonky!  That’s what I get for trying to go too fast… another ten minutes wasted.  I finally got on-track and managed to get all three borders sewn on in less than two hours.  The last border was the toughest and required the most amount of attention with all the seams it had.

We were talking to Linda after we had arrived and were discussing thread colors and quilt patterns and I looked down at the six piles of fabric, their backing, and the batting realizing that this represented six quilts (translated… a LOT of difficult work) and it honestly put me in awe of what we had accomplished.  Two of the quilts Kay had ear-marked for a firehouse, one of the large purple ones to our oldest daughter Amanda for her birthday, and the last three to keep.

As I mentioned before our daughter Samantha had a valid point that we can only use so many at a time.  I really do like having them around the house though… on the backs of our couches, on the bed, and in the closet.  I keep saying 10 more quilts should be sufficient, but don’t feel the slightest bit of bad when I make one for a relative and two for me.  It’s not like we’re charging anyone.

Anyway, I actually wrote all of this to say that by the time I’d finished the Christmas quilt we had to leave immediately.  Yes, I did finish all three borders.  With Kay’s help I had the backing sewn as well.  As we rushed them out to the car I realized that I hadn’t taken the photo of it yet.  Delaying our trip slightly more, I placed the last bundle in the back of the car and snapped a quick shot of all six bundles on their way to the quilters.

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18 Sep 2012
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Christmas is All Around

My wife Kay… (I just love talking about her if you haven’t noticed!) wanted to put in some volunteer hours creating some quilts for a local firehouse.  The firehouse would use the quilts by taking them out into the field and handing them out to victims that had the need.  As I was struggling with the motivation to finish my Christmas quilt, I kept looking over at the simple pattern that she was using to create the “firehouse” quilt.  I looked down at the fabric in my lap and thought… this would look really good in the pattern.

Staying on-track has never been my strong suit which has me literally dropping the fabric I was working on and pestering my wife for measurements.  “What was the width of those strips again Kay?”  She must have felt at the end of the day that she had been talking to a three-year-old.

For anyone who’d like to know the pattern, here’s the pattern I used:

You’ll need 1 1/4 yard of three fabrics

From three different fabrics cut 16 from each fabric (2 3/4″ strips)  Sew the three fabrics together with the neutral color in the middle (it will make it look better).  Cut the sewn strips to a length of 7 1/4″ and keep the end pieces that are left to be used on the border (the end pieces should measure over 6″.  See the picture above for piecing it together.

Take the end pieces that measure less than the 7 1/4″ and cut them down to 3 (2″ strips).  Incorporate these into one of the layers of your border.

I’ll post another photo once I get the borders sewn on.  This currently measures 54″ X 67.5″ without borders.

Posted in Daily, Quilt-a-long and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
22 Aug 2012
2 Comments

It’s Never Too Early to Start a Christmas Quilt

So I started last night thinking about the first Christmas quilt of the season.  What pattern to use though? Here is a quick preview of the fabric I’m going to be using.

 

Now, in my previous post I mentioned that it’s a good idea to have already picked a pattern out… and I did, I promise.  I may still actually use the pattern I picked in the end, but while playing around with the Electric Quilt software I came across a block that with a little embellishment would highlight the blue fabric like I wanted.

The next thing I knew I was designing an entire quilt around the block I created.  I have the look that I wanted but don’t yet know if I’ll change it in the end.  Here is the finished test block, I still don’t know if I want to fussy-cut the fabric… it just seems such a waste, but I may end up doing it in the end.

 

These squares will be 8″ when sewn together with a foursquare.  I should have some of the panels finished to show by the end of the week end.

Posted in Blogs, Daily, How to and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
14 Aug 2012
4 Comments

Learning and Loving are two of my favorite things

I was going through comments as I usually do, some black tea in hand (a Seattle blend that I’ve grown addicted to) and went to someone’s site {Stretchy Hannah}…  There are so many things that make me smile, but some can even light up my day all day long.  Though I love to quilt and enjoy blogging about that and other things I really don’t know if I’ve pulled back the curtain on who I am.

Not to be too awfully blunt, but… I’m not generally someone who shares much about myself.  My children and my wife are the only people who truly know my more hilarious traits.  Reading Hannah’s blog made me think about opening up a bit and sharing some of my crazy with other people…  blame Hannah!!

  1. My wonderful wife of 16 years who not only supports my craziness, but is my partner in most of my shenanigans!
  2. I’m a voracious reader, though at times I go through lulls.  Favorite book is “The Book of Flying” by Keith Miller followed closely by Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.
  3. I have not always been a cat person, but now live in a place where a grey cat named Oliver reigns.
  4. I’m fiercely protective of my younger brother who is in his mid-forties now, but will always remain 11 to me.  I can’t tell you how many fights I had growing up that were his fault.
  5. Christmas…  too much to even start a sub-list
  6. Snow and Winter should go together and I miss them both when Spring brings the thaw.
  7. I have traveled to many parts of the world because I love exploring other cultures and connecting with other people.  Luckily for me my wife shares this passion.
  8. I LOVE the color orange, and the fruit come to that… but Midnight Blue is my favorite color, like the color of the sky just after the sun has set.
  9. My favorite flower is the Daisy…  I could never feel too sad looking at such a happy flower.
  10. Texas will be in my heart no matter where I find myself on a map.
  11. I like watching French films, but my three favorite movies are:  Gattaca, V for Vendetta, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory.
  12. I love being in the woods and camping in a tent and whether I’m there or out on the ocean, those are the two places where I will always find my center.
  13. I have had a heart condition from the age of 19 that has put me in the hospital over five times that I never really talk to people about.
  14. I believe firmly that gingerbread cookies and pumpkin pie should be prepared all year long and not made for the Holidays alone.

When I was in kindergarten my school district was trying out a program for choir that put most of the boys in girls in a singing class.  I spent the rest of my school days in choir and even now, when I know my voice will go out of tune, love singing.  I walk down memory lane and think about all kinds of memories that I cherish of growing up and realize how lucky I am to have so very many of them.

I love Poetry, but rarely share it with others.  Here is one of the poems I wrote quite a while ago and I’ll close the post with this…

The dawn’s dewdrop
Has honeyed my tongue
With the sweet tastes
Of new beginnings.
From honeysuckle smell
To sweet apple blossoms
My senses are aroused
As the day grows long.
The trilling brook races
As onward go my thoughts.
In tortured patience I await
And Constance be my guide.
Unbridled and unbidden
My future so severe
Turns north from lands fall
I am sailing onward.
Past shores of knowledge
The new day has dawned
And I must away
The voyage never done

I hope you’ve enjoy a break away from the quilts that I make and to focus on a glimpse into the person behind the posts.

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