Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Ready To Give

Yes, yes, yes ... it is finished!!! Phew, happy to be done and just in time! The Big Project is over, done, finished and packed in my suitcase! Actually finished it yesterday and leave tomorrow to head up to wedding in the Hamptons.
I think the long hot summer and being cooped up so much has left me with a case of the blahs and dissatisfaction in everything. So I feel more critical than usual of my quilting but, this is personalized and original and pretty, I think!


The quilt is slightly smaller than I thought it would be however, it covered the top of my king bed and could be used as a topper. I believe they also have a guest queen and of course one can always curl up on a couch!


The center heart has 2 more hearts entwined within it. It also contains many personal fabric choices such as the NYC fabric and the one with surfboards. Fabrics throughout the quilt were picked with this couple in mind. Inside the entwined hearts I did a vine/leaf design with 8 small hearts in the center and 21 in each of the hearts.The entwined hearts are done in green and blue which was the color of the invite. I've also copied the invitation in fabric above the main heart.


I was not thrilled with my backing choice and of course with the fancy stitches, more of it shows (messy look) in back. But it's the back, right!? Very happy with the batik I used as the binding, both the color and feel of the fabric. Then when label time came (and I hate writing them) I wanted to attach it before the binding so I could avoid any hand sewing. Figured that out and wrote a personal message since I think about the people and the sentiments so much as I sew!


So that's it! I'm off to have a blast at the wedding. I will spend 3 days with 1 son (in the wedding) and my daughter up in NY. Then we go back to NJ for a day or 2 with my other son, daughter-in-law and 3 grandsons. Looking forward to doing and seeing all ! Need the short break from quilting then a fun small project! (Will miss hub and dogs, tho!!)

See you all next week and thanks for cheering me on through this project!!!

Ready T GO

Thursday, August 12, 2010

In Between

This is about what's going on in between quilting sessions with the Big Project. I now have six days to finish the BP! (Not loving all of it!)

Anyway, big surprise in the mail this week. A beautifully quilted postcard from blogger Jan in the UK! It was a welcome card to blogland! So nice of her, and so nicely done! I'm really so impressed with it, can't imagine doing this myself! Yea Jan!!! Thanks again!
My accomplishment for the week is a removal! My husband found a shirt he liked with a collar he didn't like. He likes button down collars or none at all. Gene Black showed on his blog how to remove a collar. We bought the shirt (a bargain, by the way) and I removed the collar. It was very easy and looks good! Happy ending! Thanks Gene!!!
Hoping that my next post is an ending of the BP!!!
Sherry

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Procrastinasion projects





Well .....as the wedding (for which I am making a quilt) approaches I have found many things to do!
Other than finish the quilt, known as 'The Big Project'!!
Today we drove to the nearest mall(45 mins. away) to do a little shopping. Hub was looking for a few shirts (very picky) we found 3, one I will remove collar and leave just the band(I hope) as per Gene Black's instruction. I found a dress I like for the wedding, although pant suit with sleeves to cover all or most of body would have been my 1st choice!! LOL Looked at some sheets, my favorite, most soft, comfy ones are thread bare in spots--Oh no! Didn't find sheets I loved, so the search goes on! Also stopped at the Joann store where I found a blue to use on the Big Project (I think)!
So I wound up doing a little quilting today, maybe a half hour. Ooops!

Yesterday I finished a small wall quilt for my den, a little smaller on wall than I thought it would be. I did need to get the basting pins out of this to use on the BP, so ultimately finishing is a least progress of some sort, eh!?

This was started in our small quilting group a while ago. Originally it was to be a runner, or two but, I just kept making the tulips! Then I thought the small quilt would look cute and came up with the corner design using paper piecing I made. I tried some different quilting than I usually do with my faithful machine. Haven't done much freehand quilting , usually use walking foot. Well anyway I probably took longer than I should have. I did get an hour or two of quilting on the BP done! A rough slow start but, good to actually start!!

Friday hub and I with Kiwi and Ziva, our 2 labs, did some errands and had lunch in another restaurant where they allow the dogs(out on a deck). People just love to see the dogs, they come over to pet them and to talk. I think the girls really like it (so do we) and the socialization is so good for them.
At home hub and I put up a new pot rack. We bought it last week after buying 2 new pans and thinking about how crowded and cluttered the cabinet (1 only) is getting. We've always wanted one and are very happy with the look and organization of things! Now we just need cooler weather to want to cook indoors!!
Unfortunately for me, I forgot to enter the GO giveaway for the second week in a row!!!! BooHoo! Not gonna win this way....better stay home on Fridays!!

So much for the weekend, nice and productive but the BP still looms large! Tomorrow is our little quilting group here at my house and I always look forward to seeing all. Don't know how far I'll get on this weeks project since I should work to finish BP only but, we'll see what happens!

Send me some finishing vibes quilters!!!! Thanks!