New Year, New Quilt

Happy New Year. I hope everyone had a joyous holiday season.
My birthday is just six days a way and I found the most wonderful present for myself. I started giving my darling children hints. I have texted them pictures. Sent them e-mails. I am getting older and want to downsize. I do not need anymore electronics/DVD/knick knacks/kitchen gadgets/auto gizmos. I want an electic blade sharpener. I have spent hours reading articles and reviews on the internet about the sharpener. I keep my old blades in an jar. Why I could not tell you. I am hoping this will cut down on the number of blades I buy. Plus, I will have a fresh, new blade for each project.
My biggy for this month is that I am starting a mystery quilt with my friend JoAnna. I have cut the first set of strips and am mailing them to her today. I know what the quilt is but JoAnna does not. I think it should take us about three months to finish.
I bought Simplicity pattern 2274 (Bridesmaids duffle bags) at JoAnna's while it was on sale. I want to make one for my trip to Paducah in April. Any suggestions will be helpful. I may buy some fabric. I am trying to not buy fabric this year. Shop Home is my motto this year.
Happy quilting.
Jeri.

Halloween Pillowcases

I did not forget my promise to you but I was busy sewing and thought maybe you would forgive me this once.
I have been making pillowcases to sell at my job. I made 18 and sold them all. I was a little bit afraid that they would not sell. Wrong.
This one is my favorite. I love the black band at the top.

I had so much fun putting the colors together.

The pumpkins are cute.

More that I love.

Would I do it again? Yes.

And more goodies.

I am going to make two more for my daughter and her boyfriend this week. I will post them when I finish. I want to make her a bag but I do not think the material I ordered will get here in time. Something for next year.

I was out today shopping and went to my local quilt shop and got my free fat quarter. I am a Sew Special member. For being a member we get a discount off our fabric and a free fat quarter every month and an extra one on our birthday. This month I chose a black print for a quilt I plan to make early next year.

On the way home I decided to detour and go to my favorite thrift store. While I was there I found this honey for $15.

I have always wanted a beige/tan Singer every since I saw a friend of mine using one her mother gave her. There are no attachments or manuals. I will look on ebay and see what I can find. It is a Singer Model 237.

I have not tried sewing on it yet. The bobbin case is dirty and a little rusty. I will take it to the sewing machine shop near my job next week and get him to give her a good cleaning and a once over.
This weekend I am working on a Halloween wallhanging for my door.

Happy sewing.

jbj

Jacksonville Quilt Show

I am off to the Jacksonville Quilt Show. I love this show. It was the first real quilt show I ever went to. So, going is like a pilgrimage for me. It cleanses my soul. Calms my nerves. Gets my digestive fluids flowing (once again I have gone to far, but you get the meaning).
Ta-ta.
jbj

Halloween Log Cabin Mystery Quilt

I spent a little time this weekend making my blocks for the Halloween Log Cabin Mystery Quilt my quilt group is making. I plan on making three of the small hangings. One for my daughter, one to give away and one for myself. I am going to hang mine on my front door.
I went against my NO BUY rule and spent quite a bit of money to buy material to make Halloween pillowcases for the activities department to sell in their little shop. I will post pictures of them when I finish.
I also cut out the material for a tablecloth I am making for a friend. I felt quite queasy about cutting into someone else's material. Like I was going to make this major mistake. I think that is why I haven't finished it. So, the top will be finished by Wednesday. I am going to meet her at the Jacksonville quilt show this weekend and we will find some material for the back.
I haven't posted any pictures because my camera is on the blink. I am going to look around for a new one. But I will soon (if I have to borrow one).
Happy quilting.
jbj

Weekend Plans

The weekend is approaching and I will be having a sew-in on Saturday and maybe a little sewing on Sunday. I have to finish my block of the month blocks and get them mailed on Monday.
While reading Better Homes and Gardening's blog All People Quilt I came across two quilts I really like. The first is the Sickle Quilt and the second is an Amish Quilt called Plain Speaking.
I do not have any gray for the Sickle Quilt but I think I could make an exception to my no buy rule and buy some. I have all the material needed for the Plain Speaking quilt.
I will spend some of my time drafting a quilt pattern for the Plain Speaking quilt and dreaming about the Sickle quilt. I like my quilts to be bed size so the center square in a square will be quite big. But I like it.
I also plan on woking on the border of my Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll. I have the pieces cut out, I just have to sew them together. I also have to trim it before adding the borders.
Have a happy weekend.
Jeri

Happy Labor Day

It has been soooooo long since I last blogged. But I have not forgotten you. I just could not seem to find the time to blog. But I am going to. I know I have said this over and over. But this time I promise (My Quilter's Oath) to blog at least once a month until I am too old and senile to blog anymore. Until my fingers are so arthritic I cannot hold a needle to sew on binding. Until I have forgotten what a quarter inch seam is. Until seeing a quilt with flying geese anywhere on it does not make my heart beat just a little faster. Until the smell of fabric no longer makes me smile. Until my car no longer knows the way to the quilt store by itself.
You get the picture.
Anyway, I sew one hour a day. My progress may be a little slow but I do get there. Right now I am working on Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll. It is coming along nicely.
Happy Labor Day.
jbj

My No Buy Diet

Being on this no buy diet is slowly sucking the life out of me. Really. There are so many things I want to buy. I may have to break down and buy Weeks Ringle (I love that name) and Bill Kerr's book, Quilts Made Modern. I love the quilt on the cover. I have started a wish list for when I do start spending again. You should see my list. It is about five pages long and written on both sides. OMG, I feel greedy. But I am going to be on this fabrics/notions/books/magazine diet for the rest of the year. I may extend it until next year if I find that I still have a lot of UFOs. You should see me somedays when I have to drive pass a quilt shop. It would make you want to throw me a fat quarter. I have almost ran off the road trying to drive with tears in my eyes. I know it would be simpler to go the long way home but this is the long way home. Seriously, I have made progress in my quilting. AND I am so proud of myself for not buying fabric to stash away. Just keep sewing and quilting. Jeri

It's February

How time flies when you are having fun. And I am having fun finishing the quilts I started. I haven't starting quilting the Spiderweb quilt but I did finish the back for the Scrappy Bargello by Bonnie Hunter. I am now using a stencil and pounce to mark the quilting lines. I wanted to buy a new stencil or pantograph (Bayside quilting had free shipping last week and I really wanted to buy their Lime Tree pantograph, it is oh so pretty) but this is my year to use what I have and finish what I started (I have to keep telling myself that as it is so easy to forget). So, my stencil is a heart meander I have had for some time.
As for my leader-ender quilt, also Bonnie Hunter's Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll, I have completed the strip squares and triangles. This week I am making the 600 red and light half square triangles. I went to JoAnn's to buy the angle ruler she uses but talked myself out of it (use what you have rule). Soooo, this weekend I am cutting 300 2 1/2 squares in red and lights. All next week I will sew them together between my February Quilt.
My February quilt is my Cat Quilt. I have all the cats made. Plus the border is made. All I have to do is put it together. I have not chosen a back yet, but I have enough 5 and 6 yard pieces to make a back.
This week I hope to get a lot of sewing in. Next weekend I hope to quilt the Scrappy Bargello.
I will be on the road again with the West Palm Beach Quilters. We are heading for the Suwannee
River quilt show on March 12. I plan on having a great time as my friend JoAnna will be joining us for the first time. Hope to see you there.
Jeri

Spiderweb Quilt Progress

I finally finished the Spiderweb quilt top. Next weekend I will start quilting it. I could not decide if I wanted lime green or the blue I had bought for the borders. I decided to go with the blue and I am really happy with it. This quilt is going to be a little bit bright.
Please forgive my photography. I have never been able to take good photos.

I also completed the 60 string blocks for Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Roll, Roll, Cotton Roll. I need to square them up and cut them in half. Since I have the instructions I may just skip to the last step and sew them together and then start on the 600 red triangles. So, my next leader-ender project is the 600 red triangles. I have not decided what color green I want to use. There are so many greens on the market. Also, my pinks are not girlie pink. They are a more subdued pink. Okay, flat pink.

The next quilt I am going to finish is the cat quilt. I need to finish up all my quilts I started over the last two-three years. This may turn into a never ending New Year's Resolution.

Happy quilting.

Jeri

Spiderweb Quilt Progress

I did not think I would get this far after getting into putting it all together. Matching the hexagon centers were a little much. I have one left that I am not really happy with but I can only do as much as I can do. I took it out twice and I do not feel good about taking it out a third time.
I went to the quilt shop to get my free fat quarter this month and saw this blue color on the sale wall. Plus, it was end of the month sale and I got an additional off.

While I was there I asked Theresa, the shop owner, about border ideas. She suggested a black border to frame it and then the blue and maybe another black border.

I did like that suggestion as it toned the blue down a little. I put what my quilt group refers to as a thread catcher on the edges. When I attach the border I will have an half inch border showing.

I am thinking that I will make the blue border 3-inches wide and then make a wide binding on the front and the back. I read somewhere about making wide bindings. I will google it later today.

I think I am going to like this quilt.

Jeri

Spiderweb Quilt

I cannot believe how cold it is this year. I have always said we have four seasons in Florida-hot, hotter, hotter-hotter, and hottest. Never have I experienced it being this cold for this long. We usually have a few cold days in the winter, but nothing like this. I feels good to sleep under a quilt.
One of my recycled New Year's resolutions is to finish some of my quilts this year. I know you are wondering what is a recycled New Year's resolution. Well, it is the same resolutions I had last year and did not make good on them. My intentions were good, but willpower was a little lacking.
This year I am going to finish off the quilts I started over the last three years.
I decided to start with the Spiderweb Quilt I was making for my daughter. So I pulled out the stack of triangles.
While I was looking at them I wondered why I had put them aside. It was the way I was taught to do it. In the class we were taught to put them together to make a larger triangle. For some reason this did not work out well for me. So I took two triangles and put them together to make a square. I made four squares.

I took the four squares and made two strips.

I took the two strips and made one larger square. Which I like.

This weekend I plan on putting all my squares together. I do have some triangles put together that I need to take out. I want to have my quilt top done by Sunday evening. That does not include the borders (I have not decided what I am going to use for the borders).

I also want to make Bonnie's quilt Roll Roll, Cotton Roll. Since I am not crazy about the light strips I plan on doing that step first. I have went through my stash and found all the light I could. I have cut a large bag full and plan doing it as a leader-ender project. I have this bad habit of doing what I do not like first and the fun comes later. Silly I know but that is just being jeri.

I forgot to blog on my Clamshell progress. I did not make much progress in December. The holidays made everything rush-rush-rush. Now that I am back to sewing I hope to make some progress this month.
Until we chat again.

Jeri

New Name

I never cared for the name of my blog and wanted to change it for the longest. So, I decided to change my name to My Quilt Too. I like that. It has a nice ring to it.
I plan on spending the month updating my blog with a new header and more stuff.
I spent a lot of time with my clamshells this month. I have all 405 of them ironed and stitched. I bought some fabric glue (recommended by the ladies on the bus trip to Houston) and I plan on putting them together in November.
I was cleaning out some old boxes in my garage and found a box with three different blocks in them. I will post pictures this weekend. I have no idea what I had planned on doing with them.
Until I post again or read your blog, happy quilting.
Jeri

Clamshells on the road to Texas

I am leaving for the quilt show in Houston, Texas on Tuesday. I am excited and afraid at the same time. I want to have a good time but I am a little afraid I will be overhelmed by everything and mortgage the house while I am there. So, I have asked a few of my non-quilting friends to call me daily and say, "You don't need that". I hope it works.
When I get back I am going to the World Quilt Show in West Palm Beach, Fl. Last year I went for three days, was a white glove lady, took three classes and shopped until my purse ran dry. I did not buy a lot but I went to a lot of demos, test drove a lot of long arms, made a wish list a mile long and went home a tired, happy lady. This year I am only going for one day, Saturday, with my friend JoAnna. I want to enjoy the quilts more and spend less.
This is the third trip I have taken with the ladies from West Palm Beach. Last year I went with them to Lancaster. In September I went with them to the quilt show in Jacksonville, Fl. Now I am going with them to Houston, Texas.
I decided to work on my Clamshell Quilt on the road to Texas. I have 200 lights and 205 different color clamshells.

My goal is to have the top edge of all 405 clamshells basted down by the time I get back. I have basted some of them. Since I will not have an iron of the bus I plan to finger baste them and sew them down. I had planned to work on my T-shirt quilt but I could not get it together. Nothing seemed to work for me. I wouldn't or couldn't find the right stencils. I could never decide what color thread to buy. The back wasn't ready (yes it is) or the patches were in the wrong place (no they are not). I had more excuses than Carter has liver pills. So, while I was pondering over the little things, time slipped by and I missed getting everything together. This year I plan to do better.

Happy quilting,

Jeri

Another Month of Clamshelling

I cannot believe this is the end of another month. How time flies. And so much sewing to do.
I have set goals for myself in making my clamshell quilt. So far I have met my deadlines. This month I cut out and gathered the top edge of 200 light clamshells.
I need to clarify something. I did not gather a finished edge. I gathered the unfinished edge so I could iron it down and turn it under. I tried gluing one of them and I did not like it. So I decided to gather it again instead of gluing. I know it is a lot of work but I do not mind.

My goal for October is to cut out 200 clamshells in different colors. I hope not to have any color duplicated. I also hope to have them gathered (this may go into November as I have to finish the ironing process with the lights).

Above is some of the colors I want to look at before I cut.
Happy quilting.

Jeri

Clamshell Update

For some reason I cannot not get my pictures to upload on the computer. I will try to fix it myself this weekend and load them up for you to see.
However, I have made some progress. I was blog browsing and stumbled upon Brown Dirt Cottage blog. I noted that she was using muslin for her light blocks. I liked it. So I said to myself, "Self, you can make all your light blocks one color instead of trying to find several different lights." Since I had a credit at my local quilt shop I went there (drove like an maniac) and bought not one, but three yards of an off yellowish cream color. Then I went shopping at my other favorite quilt place (my sewing room) and found over fifty different dark colors to start my journey.
I cut out a few of the darks and ironed the tops down. This weekend I will glue them down.
I have a four day weekend this week-Friday thru Monday-I plan to do a little quilting on my HQ 16. Which brings a question to mind I have meaning to ask. I have a HQ 16 and one of the banquet tables but I want one of the newer tables-the Studio frame. Does anyone have a Studio frame and how do you like it?
Happy quilting until we meet again.
Jeri

Clamshell Pattern

I wanted you to see the clamshell pattern I decided to use. I will add a quarter inch seam allowance.
I made a few extra copies and taped them together to see how it would fit/look. I like it. The first pattern I found did not fit together well.

I found this pattern in Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, June 2005. The article is "Sashiko by Machine". I enlarged the pattern 225%. That made it 4 1/2 inches across finished. My first try at enlarging it made it 5 inches across which is a little to much for me.

Another thing I like about the pattern is that it has a line at the top for placement. That made it easy to line the pattern up. How I will use the line in the quilting I do not know yet. But I like the ease of using it to fit the pattern together.

I wasn't going to make a plastic template but I have since changed my mind. I still plan to use the freezer paper but the template may come in handy. Who knows.

Happy quilting.

Jeri

The Clamshell Club

I joined the Clamshell Club. I do not have any pictures this week but I will have next week.
So, what have I done? I went to the library and found a pattern. I enlarged it to be approx. 4.5 inches at the widest point. I took an afternoon to learn the different types of applique. I have not really appliqued anything even thought I took a class. Connecting Threads has a nice tutorial on applique. I decided to use freezer paper. I have some mylar template plastic that I have used in the past and was going to use that but the freezer paper is my choice. So, this is my to-do list:
Copy of pattern-done
Make a master copy of the pattern (4 clamshells will fit on a sheet of paper)-done
Cut my freezer paper to fit my copier-to do
Make 25 copies to start-to do
Will have photos before the week is over. I plan to start with the light colors. The word here is PLAN (which always go astray).
Happy quilting.
Jeri

So Long

I never meant to be away this long but I have a job that keeps me busy. I am trying to use my time wisely and I hope to be able to sew some and blog more.
I have missed you.
Jeri

Design Wall Monday

On February6 I went to West Palm Beach and took a class on making a spiderweb quilt. I spent the night at my friend Liz's house (she also took the class). It was a fantastic class. I stepped out of my box and used bright (as bright as I could handle) colors. One thing I did do was add a one inch strip to outline my spiderweb. I have made several more triangles but I still have a few more to go. I would make this quilt again.
With the scraps I have left over I want to make a string quilt and donate it.

I finished all the cats for my cat quilt. The strips along the right hand side of the photo is my borders. The pattern call for trianges on the corners of the squares but I really did not like that. Tuesday when I go to my crafting group I will lay all the cats out on the floor and arrange them.

I made some extra cats for the back.
I saw this quilt at work and thought you would like to see it. I wanted to get a photo of the quilt with the squares on the top side but she had made her bed up this way. I will try to get a better photo but I hope you can see what I loved about this quilt from these two photos.

This is a closer view of the blocks. All the different colors just make this a beautiful quilt.

It was a long week at work. I got the job as the Discharge Planner. There is so much to remember/learn about Medicare/Medicaid/HMO/Private pay insurances.

Happy quilting.

Jeri

Help Along the Way

They have a job opening at my job for a Discharge Planner. It would entail getting the residents ready to go home after rehab has been completed. You would work closely with the doctors, other facilities (long term care or ALF), ordering any equipment they may need, and home health care. The Discharge Planner also tries to help solve any foreseeable problems that the family may have at home. There are other duties I know but this is the jest of the job. I am interested in the job but I am a little reluctant to apply. Two other floor nurses have applied and I already have a nice job. I like what I do-no, I enjoy what I do. Some days the hours are long but I am single and I only need to leave on time on Tuesday. So, to me changing would be no big deal. I just would like to try this job. Am I making any sense?
After work today I went to have the oil changed in my car and was reading in the waiting room when I came across this quote by Muhammad Ali:

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

Your fellow quilter,

Jeri