2009 June

Archive for June, 2009

June 30th, 2009 | Author: Mary

These three made the cut and came home from B&N. You can probably guess by now that the Quilt it for Kids is for Mom!

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An outing

June 30th, 2009 | Author: Mary

What could be more perfect than an iced latte and a stack of books and
magazines to browse through?

I wonder how many will go home with me?

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Mom has made several quilts from this magazine that have been really cute ….including the trains and the rabbits posted yesterday and the baby carriage quilt that Mom has pinned and ready to quilt (sitting beside the stack of quilts from yesterday morning).

Back issues are available at the Fons & Porter site.

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Mom’s quilts (as requested)

June 29th, 2009 | Author: Mary

Not all of these were donated today but I went into Mom’s computer for photos of some of her recent quilts. She really makes cute quilts and as I told BJ, I claim credit for getting Mom interested and teaching her to quilt!

You’ll notice that she likes applique a lot more than I do and on these small quilts she pieces and quilts them herself on her Bernina. Her larger tops are sent to me for quilting although Deb does an occasional one for her too.

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Breakfast

June 29th, 2009 | Author: Mary

Mom and I are heading out to IHOP for breakfast and then over to Catholic Charities to take some quilts. I brought a couple with me to donate but Mom’s been really busy!

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Did I mention

June 28th, 2009 | Author: Mary

that one of the reasons for this trip was a dinner with friends from high school. I hate to actually call it a 30 year reunion because it makes me sound old but I had a great time seeing friends I hadn’t seen in years.

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Pressing

June 28th, 2009 | Author: Mary

I tend to do things in a certain way with my quilting but I’m usually open to learning (hence all the books). For years I always used steam to press but in the last 6-8 months I’ve been using a dry iron and am surprised how much better I like it.

During the piecing of the block I only press with the dry iron but once the block is finished, I give it a spritz of Mary Ellen’s Best Press and press.

Another tip I learned a couple years after I’d gotten my longarm was that I didn’t need to press my backs before loading them on the longarm. A little spritz of water after the back is loaded gets even the most stubborn wrinkles out.

So what tips for quilting do YOU have to share?

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Cancelled!

June 26th, 2009 | Author: Mary

I travel enough that I usually take delays and canceled flights in
stride……

I'm now heading to Norfolk via Detroit and my brother insists on
driving over to Norfolk to pick me up even though I'm getting in after
11pm. He's such a good brother!

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Delayed

June 26th, 2009 | Author: Mary

Hoping I don't miss my Atlanta connection! Too bad I didn't get
upgraded this flight like we did on the ones last week.

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Which would you pick?

June 25th, 2009 | Author: Mary

I was talking to Adam the other night and he mentioned again that he’d really like a quilt for his girlfriend so I told him I’d send an email with several tops that I already had pieced and they could choose one for me to finish for Lindsey.

So these were the 5 choices I sent ….. which one would you have chosen?

(Photos will enlarge if you click on them)

They surprised me by choosing the Hearts and Strings top inspired by this quilt by Sandy Bonsib so it’s on the design wall for me to measure and pick out a backing. Although I haven’t made any promises, the goal is to quilt it when I get back from this next trip and take it when we see them the last week of July.

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Contest winner

June 24th, 2009 | Author: Mary

I’ve assembled the links submitted into a list and posted it on the HeartStrings Blog and used a random number generator to pull a number for a prize. Gypsy Quilter is the winner which is kind of neat because she had sent the string tops in her link to me to be quilted and donated as Quilts of Valor. (Julia in NE helped with the quilting of these tops).

I also added the link to the list on the sidebar of the HeartStrings blog so it will be easy to find for anyone looking for some inspiration. Feel free to send me links as you come across other great string quilts and I’ll add them.

After my next trip, I’ll be looking through the list again myself to see if I can find inspiration for my next string quilt there — if I do, I’ll award another prize to the person submitting that link.

Thanks to everyone who shared their favorite String Quilts with me!

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Summer has arrived

June 23rd, 2009 | Author: Mary

It’s been in the 90′s the last couple days and I almost wish I was back at the beach where we had such nice breezes AND where I could just jump in the water if I got too hot.

However on the positive side, the grounds of our townhouse community are lush and green and gorgeous all without any effort on my part!

I’m puttering around with half square triangles and Pinwheel blocks and one by one, more blocks are making their way onto my design wall. I’m really liking this quilt!

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More books

June 22nd, 2009 | Author: Mary

I recently had questions from a new quilter asking about machine quilting, marking, etc and I thought I’d share these 4 quilting books from my collection. I have LOTS of books on quilting but these are probably the ones I’d recommend to a new quilter.

Heirloom Machine Quilting was my first book purchased that just dealt with quilting and it’s a great reference book.

I love all the books from the Rodale Successful Quilting Library and the Fast and Fun Machine Quilting has lots of good information and tips.

The Easy Machine Quilting book is from Rodale too and has step by step lessions and projects to machine quilt.

Dianne Gaudynski’s Guide to Machine Quilting also has basic quilting information and lots of great tips although from the cover you might think it was a book just for advanced quilters.

All the links but the one to the Successful Quilting Library will take you to an Amazon page where you can actually look inside the books.

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Vacation is great….but

June 21st, 2009 | Author: Mary

It’s nice to come home too. I miss Chesty when we’re gone and am always eager to get home and pick him up. Keith tossed him straight into the bathtub and he’s soft and cuddly!

I love being able to post photos and text directly from the iPhone while I’m gone, I enjoyed sharing my vacation photos and the beautiful sunsets almost made me wish I was living in Florida again. I have to remember we see some pretty spectacular sunsets here too — they’re just not outside my window every night although they used to be. One thing I miss about our apartment are the gorgeous sunsets over Loring Park. This first photo is from the deck we had there.

There are some spectacular sunsets on the Mississippi River too, I just have to be out walking to catch them. This was a photo from last summer taken from the Stone Arch Bridge.
I’ve started working my way through all my email, I read it on the iPhone while I was gone but didn’t sort or respond to much of it. I’m making my list of all the links people sent for string quilts and once I’m done, I’ll draw a name from those that submitted them for a prize.

If you had questions for me while I was gone, I’ll try to answer them if I have an email address to respond to….so many people still don’t have their email addresses enabled in their profiles.

I’m going to try and get some piecing done this week but I head out again on Friday for another long trip – a High School reunion dinner and a visit to Mom in Virginia and to Maryland from there for my brother’s wedding. It’s a busy summer so far.

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June 21st, 2009 | Author: Mary

Do you think Chesty will be glad to see us when we get home?

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