FNSI progress

I was able to get the top pieced and a picture taken before it got too dark and the rain started.



Now to make the quilt sandwich and get it quilted. I was going to do straight lines like in the inspiration quilt but have decided that is going to take too long so stippling it will be.

Praise - College Girl has another week of her senior year behind her.

Prayers - for College Girl's guy, who is on the road (in traffic) on his way to visit with her for the weekend.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

I think I forgot how to blog. It has been THAT long that I have forgotten how to add a button or a code. I'm not sure if this means I should give it up altogether or blog more often to keep my skills somewhat sharp.

Here is my entry for Amy's Quilt Festival, found at;

http://amyscreativeside.com/2010/10/29/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2010/

I named this quilt Nicey Jane Goes to College. This was College Girl's junior year quilt. She asked me to make this one full sized. That was a LOT of fabric to deal with and lots of weight to move around for the stippling done in the center portion. The borders were done with straight lines which then intersected at the corners in a grid pattern.

By the time I got the quilt finished, washed and dried I wanted to get a picture and pack it up and send it off with hubby in the morning. The light was AWFUL for taking pictures by the time hubby got home to hold it up for me. So much yellower in the photo. Soooooooooooooooo, it is what it is.

I'm going to visit College Girl this weekend and see her first apartment! I'll see if I can get better pictures of the quilt 'in action'.

The pattern used was Yellow Brick Road by Atkinson Design.

Praise - that I live in a country where we can enjoy the FREEDOM to vote!

Prayers - for my two children that are away at college as well as our other friends who are also away at school. For their protection, health, stamina and most importantly for their witness to those around them.

Birdie Progress

As far as I'm concerned the Friday Night Sew-In hasn't even started yet but I got busy with the quilting of the Birdie 9 Patch Quilt.

Quilt sandwich;(very messy if I do say so myself. No clue why it looks so rumpled).


Stippling away;


I was pretty happy how the process was going today;


All done with the quilting!


THEN I realized I forgot all about putting the cute flower appliques on it. Oh well, not happening now. I'll get the edges trimmed and set this aside for tonight.

Choices for tonight - quilt the Modern Irish Chain or piece another baby quilt. I think I will do the baby quilt. I need a break after the stippling else I get sore shoulders. I'll take a picture of my fabric and post in a bit.

Sweet news!!! Hubby just called and said he isn't hungry for dinner as they had a big lunch at work during their moving process!! Happy dancing here, oh yeah. Let the Friday Night Sew-In begin! I'm going to tell my son he can fend for himself in the kitchen.

Praise - my morning and early afternoon of continuous interruptions for whatever reason ended and my quilting session went smoothly. I was getting pretty frustrated at all the delays in my day (in His time, I've got to remember that!)

Prayers - That College Girl would have a great time at the concert tonight and for safety there and back.

Oh yeah

Time for the;


at Handmade by Heidi. Go on over and sign up and join us!

I'll probably be stippling. I might be piecing a new baby quilt. I'll decide after I see how my morning goes.

More posts to follow - hopefully with PICTURES!

4/11 Lazy Day

Good day at Sunday school and church, hubby and I grabbed some lunch on the way home at the little podunk grocery store/deli and then I vegged. I read blogs. I read email. I surfed the internet. I felt so sleepy and almost gave in to a nap but I resisted. Chatted with Rene for awhile and then decided I needed to get my sewing in for the day.

I had just a few more strips to quilt and then the stippling on the borders;


Got it all done and I am clipping threads now. Tomorrow I will trim the edges and make the binding. I'd love to get the binding sewn to the front of the quilt too. We shall see how it goes. I'm pretty excited to be this far along. I hope that I can get a good picture tomorrow along with the measurements.

Praise - for college girl's report of her recent quiz and her weekend.

Prayers - for college girl's roomie situation for the next school year. It isn't going according to her plan but we know that God has it all under control and has a plan.

4/10 Great progress today

I got up fairly early for a Saturday, especially since I stayed up late last night and I got right to work on the quilt. Sewed on the borders, pieced the backing, laid the backing out and the batting. I just gotta say - I LOVE THE PERSON WHO INVENTED SPRAY BASTING!!! Genius! My son hates when I use it but he wasn't home today - bonus! My hubby was sitting right by the table I was using and I suggest that he leave but he was busy working on something. He got a call a few minutes later and had to leave the house - bonus!! Weird as this may sound, I actually like the smell of the spray. I also like magic markers, old time mimeograph ink and Staz-On ink. Not that I sniff the stuff but I don't have to open all the windows and doors when I use it.
Not a great picture but it is all I have. I tried to hand the flimsy on my clothesline since it was a beautiful day but there was too much of a breeze and I could not get a picture. I tried hanging it over the deck railing and it kept blowing off.


I am ALMOST done with the middle section quilting (but I had to stop to do this post before the day was over). I am going to stipple in the outer border tomorrow and get to work on the binding.


If I can get the binding applied and have that to do while watching a show in the evenings then I can get back to my Verna quilt or the Blush table runner. It is supposed to rain all week and that is perfect weather for quilting.

Praise - hubby and I have come to an agreement on the real estate deal that we can have peace about. Thank you Lord for that!

Prayers - for the other party in the real estate deal, that they can make a decision and we can all move on - one way or another (Still this won't be until near the end of the week).

BSR Blast!

That was the name of the class I took last Wednesday at the closest Bernina dealer. Closest being a relative term and all. For some reason I didn't sleep well the night before the class and the thought of a 1.5 hour drive down and back was not appealing to me when I got out of bed in the morning. I had been looking forward to the day, taking the class, shopping at Costco, going to find something to wear to the wedding, going to JoAnn's to get some Warm & White. I knew I was going to be driving home pretty late in the day by the time I got all that done. It is a long, monotonous and dangerous drive when you are alert. My hubby had the day off and was still in bed and I asked him if he wanted to go with me. He said well if you want me to drive you I will. Awwwwwwwwww. We were on the road about 20 minutes later. We had such a great day together, we talked all the way down and even had some time to sit and pray together before I went in for the class. To save time I gave him the Costco list, the JoAnn's list with explicit directions on where the batting is in the store and handed over the most important coupon.

There were six students in the BSR class which was being taught by the Bernina expert/certified technician. First of all, she talks way too fast. I realize when someone is familiar with everything on the machine they might assume everyone else is up to speed with them. I just felt there was not time to listen to her instructions, write down notes and look at the machine and samples at the same time. I asked her to repeat a few things and she did, but she gave me a funny look each time. I know I was not the only one that she was leaving in the dust but no one else spoke up. She kept urging us to come take more classes and such. Yeah I would do that if it was not a 3 hour round trip!

This is the baby we were all interested in using;


I think 4 or 5 in the class were classified as BSR virgins, but that didn't slow her down at all. She gave us quilt sandwiches made with muslin and instructed us to make some different patterns on it. Every single BSR in the class was making these HUGE skipped stitches. The teacher was flabbergasted! She had us change settings, no difference. She decided it was the cheap muslin that was the problem and then encouraged everyone to use the fabric we brought. My machine was still skipping. She sat at my machine and tried this and that. To tell you the truth I was so glad that it was doing this for her! At least I knew it wasn't operator error now. She sent me over to her machine to practice making free motion roses while she helped some others and fiddled with my machine. I think the class finished although no one made the project because we all ended up using our fabric for the practicing! That was fine with me because I didn't want a tea cozy anyway. It was determined ahead of time that we would have to finish the project at home but there was no instruction for that at all, just a little piece of paper handed out. The instructor then took my machine to the back room and updated the BSR. She said it showed ZERO hours. Huh, wonder what happened to the 5 hours that I stippled on my quilt along quilt. She said my machine had 20 hours of sewing (in a year's time???) and 200 hours of stand-by time. That just blew me away. I don't even see how that is possible. I don't leave my machine on or plugged in even if I leave the room (read back to last August and the lightning strike story if you need to ;) )so just the time it is on while getting ready to sew or jumping over to iron seams - 200 hours??

After she updated the BSR it worked perfectly. So right there, that was worth the trip and the price of the class. What I didn't understand is why it would not work to the standard of an UN-updated BSR. It was basically new out of the box. Makes no sense to me. I gave this information so that anyone having trouble using their BSR might see if it is due for an update. I wouldn't let this information discourage you from getting a BSR, I know that if they are working properly they are a pretty amazing little tool. I can't wait to get some time to play with mine again and try some of the free motion techniques we practiced.

Before I left the classroom I got to chatting with the lady across from me. Turns out she taught at the same elementary school I attended from K-5th grade! She was just starting there as a 1st grade teacher when I was in the 5th grade. I had to ask her about my favorite teacher of all time - Mr. Peterson. Of course she knew him and she said if she could find out anything about him she would email me. Who would have thought I would meet a teacher from southern CA in a quilting class in north Idaho close to 42 years later!

Hubby and I backtracked to Costco to have lunch. I'm a cheap date, what can I say, and I LOVE hot dogs! Then we stopped at the mall and I found a dress to wear to the wedding and a couple of tops. We chatted all the way home and had a lovely day together (even if JoAnn's was out of Warm & White).

Praise - I thank God for giving me the hubby that He did. I'm so thankful that we both became believers at the same time and that we have so many memories to share.

Prayers - For our time with family this coming weekend. That we would be good witnesses to those around us. That our words and actions would point to Christ.

6 months behind us

Happy July! Hard to believe that 6 months of 2009 are already behind us. I have fallen behind on so many goals. Remember my pattern challenge? I think about it often and wonder if I could ever catch up at this point. Remember my reading challenge? HAH! Not even started! I have just not been in a reading mood. I haven't sewn everyday so far this year but I am pretty happy with how productive I have been in that department. How are you doing with your goals for 2009?

Do you realize there are 177 days until Christmas? Are you already working on gifts that you want to make? Have you already started your shopping? As a family we usually decide what we are going to do for Christmas somewhere between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Yeah, I know. Even if I start talking about it in September we just keep pushing back the decision.

It is almost 2 a.m. so no pictures to post tonight. I just wanted to give an update on my quilt along quilt and my BSR stippling problem. I tried to find solutions online, I put in a new needle, I rethreaded the machine, I changed bobbins, I threaded the bobbins differently, I changed the speed and stitch length and I UNPICKED 4 more times!!!! :( I used a sample piece and finally got the stitch to look great, no skipping, no LONG stitches so I would move to the quilt and it would skip. Do you know how frustrated I was?? I usually give up but I kept at it, sample great, quilt terrible, unpick, start over. I just do NOT understand what the problem is. Finally I took the BSR off of the machine, tucked it back into the foam in the little tin box and put it on the shelf and then attached the darning foot again. I tried a little sample piece and it was great, moved to the quilt and it worked perfectly. I stippled for about 3 hours and now I can call it DONE! Well at least the quilting is done, next step binding.

Praise - I didn't lose my temper when being frustrated over and over again with the BSR. This is a huge improvement for me!

Prayers - for three of my young friends that are in foreign countries on mission trips, two in Mexico and one in Chile (and feeling a twinge of homesickness). I pray for their health and safety but mostly for their witness to those they come in contact with and that all they do would glorify God.

Quilt Sandwich

On Tuesday I tackled the sandwich making. I had never done a quilt this large with this method. The wood floor was a great surface to tape to but it was insanely hard on my knees! It is Saturday night now and my knees are Still bruised! I wasn't even on them for very long since I used the spray baste method, and I did put in a few pins. I was almost finished when my hubby suggested that I use his volleyball knee pads. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Next time I will start out with those.

So here is the gadget that I was all excited about getting with my Bernina last summer, the stitch regulator. I tried it out and really didn't get it so I put it away. After doing some more research on it (nothing helpful from Bernina!)I decided to give it another try. I needed to get a mirror to get it plugged in, although I could feel the place it needed to be plugged I could not for the life of me get it positioned correctly until I had the mirror.

Here are some of the resulting stitches done with it! I was pretty pleased, although it is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination and I still have long stitches in places and lots of beeping by the BSR. I stippled for about 5 hours last night! FIVE hours! The kids had friends over and were playing games and I was just in here sewing away listening to them have fun. I got 4 out of the 7 columns of the quilt along quilt done. When I finally walked away from the quilt it was almost like I just got off of a boat. I was swaying and a little woozy. It might have had something to do with the fact that it was 2:15 A.M. too.


So this morning I came down to fill up a few bobbins and get back to work and nothing would work correctly! I was getting tons of long stitches which made me think that the bobbin was empty. I would cut my top thread and go to look and nope, that was not the case. I have no idea what was different this morning from last night. Now I wish I would have just gone a few more hours last night and finished it. I started on a block today and no matter what I did I was not happy. I finally picked all of that out (which takes WAY longer than putting the stitches in, in case you were wondering).

One thing I experienced with the BSR last night, that I did not experience with the Pinwheel Baby Quilt that was also spray basted but used the darning foot, was a gumming up of the works. The BSR would get this gummed on layer of 'lint', for lack of a better word, stuck to the bottom of the foot and sometimes on the needle. I'm wondering tonight if that is part of the problem with the long stitches today. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?

On Thursday night I decided to look up the closest Bernina dealer's website and they have a BSR class coming up on the 8th. It will require a one and a half hour drive to get there and a shuffling of cars so that everyone can get to work yet I can have a car all day. Hubby thought it would be great for me to attend the class so that I get the most out of that feature. I'm excited about it too (except for the part about hauling my machine and such). I'm thinking now of leaving the quilt along quilt to finish once I have taken the class but then I don't want to be dissatisfied with the portion I have finished already. There is NO WAY I would unpick all of that. NO.WAY.

Praise - Hubby heard back on his interview and he did not get the position. Although we are both sad about that we know that it is all part of God's plan and we just need to continue trusting in Him. We have been able to host two young men from Chile this weekend and feel we have made two new friends.

Prayers - There is someone interested in the house that we have for sale. They are going to look at it again on Monday and we are hoping that it will meet their needs and that they will be making an offer on it sometime this coming week.

Pinwheel Baby Quilt - Update

The Moda Bakeshop Pinwheel Baby Quilt is FINISHED!!!

Here are some pictures of the progress - bad photo taken when all the stippling was finished;


The binding sewn on - another first for me (so much in one week!). I printed out and used Heather Bailey's tutorial for sewing the binding on. Thanks Heather!


the binding all sewn on by hand now and you didn't even hear any whining about that beforehand! No one was home to help me get a better picture though;


The quilt has been washed and dried now and it is all crinkly and wrinkly now. Mmmmmm. I will get a picture taken of it tomorrow. By the time it was out of the dryer I would have had to use flash and I don't think that would have been the best lighting. I'm REALLY happy with it though. I did NOT make a label. Bad me. I thought about it but I really just wanted to be done. So I can regret that after I hand it over to baby Jack on Friday.

Now a question for you. I am considering a clear acrylic extension table for my sewing machine because when working on this small quilt I really put a lot of pressure on the plastic table shown on my machine. It just isn't very strong and I really don't think it is going to last. While talking to my hubby about the acrylic table it came up that maybe dropping the machine down into my existing table might be the way to go. Hubby has a friend with the right tool to use and some expertise in this area so he could help or advise. I looked around online at sewing cabinets and they don't seem to fit tightly around the machine like the acrylic table does but would that matter? I am thinking it would not be an issue but am I missing something??? Give me some feedback here! The sooner the better :D If hubby is going to do this I would love for him to do it before I start quilting the Red Barn Quiltalong quilt.


Praise - College girl is DONE with her first year of college!! WOO HOO!!!

Prayers - that college girl would get a good night's sleep and feel better tomorrow and that she would have no problems packing up all of her stuff. For the kids in our Truth Project group, that each of them would continuously strive to honor Him with their lives.

Update with PICTURES

I went to bed way too late. I was wound up from my stippling, afraid I would not set the alarm right, not sure we were leaving enough time to get to the testing site. I tossed and turned. I woke up before my 5:40 alarm. But prayers were answered and God saw us safely to and from the testing site. My son said it all went well and he felt really good about how he did. Thank you for any prayers said on his behalf. I am so tired now though and I dont' trust myself to work on the quilt. I do have pictures to share though!

First of all a couple of close up shots of my first attempt at stippling a quilt. Now don't enlarge the image and get out your magnifying glasses. I TOLD you it was not great and you don't have to point out my flaws. Just look at the good parts. :D




Then here are a couple of pictures of my son's Cakeball Birthday Cake. That is a dinner plate it is on.




I need to make a graduation card, get the ingredients out for Caesar salad (church picnic/potluck tomorrow after church) and get ready for bed. If I can make it until 9 I will be doing good.

Tomorrow when we get home from the church picnic hopefully the guys will be full up and not need another meal. I hope to be well rested and ready to finish the stippling on the baby quilt. If I get that done then I want to finish sewing my strips together for the Quilt Along quilt. I am hoping not to fall behind with that so that means I need to finish the strips, iron them all and then cut the blocks. I love having a plan all laid out. What do your Sunday plans look like??

Praise - we had safe travel and my son was happy with how he did on the SAT. Praise that it is behind him!

Prayers - college girl is on the home stretch - just a few more papers, another test, a couple days of classes and then the packing. Praying that she would keep her priorities straight and not sweat the small stuff.

Groundbreaking News!!!

Okay here's the deal, I MUST GET TO BED RIGHT NOW! I am taking my son to take his SAT tomorrow. We have to leave the house at 6:30 AM! It will take us about an hour to get to the test site. Living in PODUNK and that is what you get, BUT I just had to share the news and will post pictures later, maybe when we get home from the testing. I stippled my first quilt!!! OH YES I DID! The Pinwheel Baby quilt mentioned a few posts down. I was stalling and today my son said JUST DO IT! So I did. It isn't perfect and it isn't 100% beautiful but I just kept telling myself three things. Only GOD is perfect, only God is 100% beautiful and the baby isn't going to be pointing out my mistakes (at least for a few years). I have only done the center portion. I will do the outside borders tomorrow evening if I am not too tired.
I am excited about it! That has to be a good sign!
Okay, night all.

Praise - I bit the bullet and tried something new and it wasn't a disaster. :D I'm so thankful for my sewing machine and this hobby and all the help I get from other bloggers.

Prayers - for safe travel to and from the testing site. That my son would do his best and that he would have clear thinking and good concentration.