Just Do It!

I have not abandoned my blog, just been so busy with life....not alotta quilting. My plan for the first part of the year was to really 'gear-up' for some serious production, since there are at least a dozen tops in waiting; and I don't know how many UFO's, kits, projects in mind..etc. But, the IRS wanted info and that little project took almost 8 weeks.....must discipline self to keep up with all that bookkeeping on a daily or weekly schedule. (DH is self employed & generates millions of receipts that someone has to record in order for that expensive business software to do it's magic!!!) Here it is May already and the routine has not worked out very well:( but, I did take 4 days this week to get it almost caught up - until the wrist and elbow are so cramped I had to stop).
Back to the business plan...so I started out by seriously organizing the studio, even went to The Container Store where a person with OCD could OD! I did not OD, thanks to the IRS! But, my brain is still processing all the possibilities.
 
I did manage to streamline; the studio is large by most standards but when you add a longarm frame, have weird floor issues (see photo) and are not the best at putting things away....well, you know!

• Prioritize my Projects and keep only fabrics for projects that I REALLY want to do...(I cannot in 4 lifetimes do them all so focus on the ones that are important and lead to where I want to specialize.) I did manage to let go of an assortment of flannels, about 10-12 yds total - donated to charity and a large box of various fabrics from burlap to heavy deco! Oh boy, I'm on a roll! 
• Organize fabrics - that's a mouth full! This is not something that can happen all at once in my world- it is way too big a project. I started by sorting my scraps of gorgeous decorator fabrics by color and texture. (my quilt cottons are already in process from plastic bins to shelves - either on a bolt or folded or in a scrap a bin: either by size, type or color. (i.e. special fabrics like hand dyed or designer collections don't go in the mix-they warrant a folded stack all their own) It is important that you remember I said this is all 'in-process'!
• I'm also letting go of 2 sewing machines - these are good old tried and true manual machines that I plan to sell for around $40-50 ea., unless someone who really shows an interest in sewing were to need a machine....it could be a gift!

 I have been invited to participate in a 'Christmas in July' Open House so so I must get busy working on crazy quilt Christmas decor items from the gorgeous decorator scraps provided by the ladies who are hosting the event. Oh yeah, my fabrics are all organized by color!
I also have a top on the longarm frame; the pattern is called 'fire escape' and another quilter would have likely just quilted allover flames (uggghhh) the thought makes me cringe since one of mine and DMIL's projects did burn just 2 wks after gifting to her brother and his wife. This one is for a nephew so I decided on meandering fall leaves, all freehand!

OK, I finally posted! Now I have to work on all this other stuff! If you're glad I'm back, please let me know! Comments are always exciting!
   

Merry Christmas from Nottville

Merry Christmas From Nottville!

Christmas Greetings to loved ones all across the country! We will be playing Santa in Alabama & Georgia this Christmas, because Jeff is working in Jackson, Mississippi (till the 29^th,) so logistics made this an easy decision. As a kid, every Christmas was a trek to AL & all these years later, going on that same Christmas trek, as a grandma! Oh what joy!!! We will have our family Christmas gathering at home on New Year’s Eve so; if you’re in the neighborhood….please join us!

Jeff continues to travel much of the time, contracting for various companies so we praise God daily for the work & for cell phones! It looks like we will be going to Billings, MT in the very near future so we are in for a winter adventure for sure. Our kids are all fine: Christopher, Renee & Gabriel are doing great in Chicago. They were here in May, along with Jeff’s folks, so we had a big feed here and really had a wonderful time.

                                                

Brandon has just completed Training with the TX Air Nat’l Guard and will be ‘launching’ very soon, we hope! Melissa is, as always, steady as a rock; working at Food Basket, taking classes at Lone Star College and will also be working as a lab assistant at the school, beginning in January.  My kids in Georgia are doing fine  and  we are planning on being there on Christmas morning when the 3 little girls wake. Pretty exciting stuff for this grand-ma!

Our life is blessed with so many material things, but praise God, I’ve lived long enough to realize the significance of things ‘unseen’. May your Christmas be blessed by Faith (Hebrews 11:1), Hope (Micah 7:7) & Love (1 John 4:10-12), Agape Love.

Jeff & Wanda Nott

Dec 22, 2010

All Stars & Psalms

Finally, here is the variation on Crystals All Stars quilt. Simply insert the Psalms rows (bordered to 12" wide altered w/2 4-patch blocks) and this baby is almost finished. I tried to quilt the wording on the panels but my machine left eyelashes on the back. Only did one, so must frog that and decide on weather to quilt or embroider over the words.....


Life has been so very full for the past few weeks, getting ready for MIL to arrive and our 'annual road trip'. This year was so full we actually combined my annual trip to visit relatives, young & old in Alabama & Georgia, with our annual trip. It was a great time, MIL getting to meet my family, folks I am always telling her about. We visited cemetaries, check out my grandparent's gravestones.....

 

Tommy was a cotton farmer and you can see the time period. Maggie gave birth to 18 children; 9 girls, 2 boys and 7 stillborn; Great stories there.

 We also hopped a few shops, one of my favorites is Qwiltz where I have been shopping since Robbie started out on Ebay, several years ago. They are now in their 2nd location where they are anticipating the opening of the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum in Carrollton, GA. very soon. Website is not up yet but I am following them on facebook. Lots of bargains were found on Friday at the Hwy 46 'never ending yard sale'. I picked up a JC Penney sewing machine with a box full of feet, for $8.00. Not as good as the deal we found last year, two machines for $7.00....yes, they both work. I love these old machines, so not disposable like the ones at WallyWorld.

Houseguest is gone, pets are past being mad because we left them for 8 days!, laundry is caught up, pot of soup is simering on the stove..... Really, it's seriously time for a nap.

Projects, the Process, All Stars & Butterflys....

I read on someone's blog that bloggers want to read more about the process, rather than the finished project. Here I try to provide some of both...

Projects:

For someone who's Mom always said 'you have a one track mind', I sure do have 'a lot of irons in the fire', so to speak. Road trip to see family all over the southeast coming up so several of the projects have to be finished, actually, some had to be started. Like the butterfly quilt for my sweet grand baby girl Sara Hope, who is one yr. old already!

The Process & the Butterfly's:  (finding a shortcut)

My first plan was to enlarge a paper pieced butterfly; copied, enlarged, traced, copied, ya ya ya! Pieced a few sections, decided this was not a good plan. OK, find a traditional butterfly template (with like 5 pieces of fabric for each) and various prints and solids to put them together, machine applique onto blocks, yes this will be much faster. So while I'm searching and auditioning fabrics I ran across this: 

Oh baby, now I'm cooking with Crisco! One piece per butterfly, cut them out in various square or rectangle pieces and applied steam a seam 2. I then applied them to various background neutral blocks (I bought the flat fold 102 yd. bundle from Marshall Dry Goods!). So here is how it is coming together on my design wall (really a 'big board' ironing surface, with a grid!)....If I was going to do this again I would have done the patchwork and then applied the butterfly's because orienting these properly 'after the fact' is a pain.  (Duh, you can iron right on your design wall! Is this the 'learning curve'? No, I don't do curves! Wanda, you are in the middle of a post here......)!

All Stars:

I really loved Crystal's All Star quilt that was featured on Moda Bake Shop recently and I thought it would be a great pattern for a 'clown quilt' I'm trying to work out in my brain. So then I was hit with news that requires a quick quilt. (Note* the word 'quick' is in my vocabulary but not my arthritic bones!, another relative term...) I'll try that All Stars pattern (since it is already printed and handy!) That top is finally done but you can't see it yet because I'm not finished with the second one (2nd one?)....There were a ton of scraps from trimming those several hundred little squares that were sewn on the diagonal, with those and more neutral backgrounds I can make a small quilt also! Sew them, trim them and I see pinwheels. Here they are, 2" and 4" pinwheels. I'll post pics of both Mommy & daughter 'Quick Quilts' when they are done. (If I have to write about the process, I expect you back to look at the product!) Yes, I like Crystal's pattern very much!

 
More on Process:
Just had to share this, these little girls denim skirts are too much fun. This one already has red thread and red rhinestone's on 1 pocket. I'm going to ruffle the bottom and add a heart applique since the back pockets have red metallic embroidered hearts. I'm listing these on Etsy along with a few quilts....check out my store there, WandaQuilts!

Glad you stopped by, going to finish the butterfly's!

This one is for Aunt Jimmie...

Two charm packs and some yardage...these Michael Miller fairy frost fabrics are too gorgeous! I want a bolt of every color, yeah...I know there are over 100. I cannot choose just one!!! I want to do another, with shadows!

In a 'bind'?

Isn't it great when you have completed several projects all at once? Sure, except 'finish' is a relative term in quilting.... We finish the blocks, finish the tops and even finish with the quilting but it still is not finished until it has the binding finished (and a label!!) I'm 3 quilts, 1 vest, 1 jacket behind on my binding, just from last week!  Labeling all of these at once will make it a quick project, (I print them on fabric treated with Bubble Jet Set) & may be able to do all of these on one sheet!
The first is a 'bolero jacket'; I've had this 'See & Sew (Butterick)' pattern (#5085) for almost 20 years and finally made one. It was a little tricky since the shoulder seams are offset to the front - (note to self - don't forget to mark the dots!) so when you are setting the gathered sleeve you put the gathers in the right place the first time. This is a size 12 and the shoulders are a little tight getting into it but it fits me nicely. I think it will fit my Aunt, if not, then its a good thing it fits me! The photo looks like one arm is longer than the other but it is just the way one of the sleeves is folded over.

This vest is so simple, if anyone out there has never made a garment, any vest is a great first sewing project. 4 seams and a finish-binding in this case! The crosshatching was not the best choice for quilting this but I had a quilt on the frame and this was quick and easy at my 'sit down' machine. had to Git 'er done!

The flip flop quilt is for my grand daughter. The scrappy one - I was very brave and used RED thread to quilt. Every mistake jumps out but I kept telling myself it is a scrappy utility quilt, it's OK. I'm happy with it and will likely make it my new traveler. The last one is going to to my neighbor, who is a Vietnam Vet suffering the effects of agent orange. I think it will qualify as a QOV but have to check with those folks to confirm and document - it has a plain muslin back and the QOV folks want printed backs.

For my regular followers, I wanted to follow up with you on the vintage selvage quilt. I inadvertently left it hanging out on the porch rail after day 2 of letting it 'air'. Well, it rained overnight so when I looked out that morning and saw it, I ran water in the tub and added a little soap; rolled the quilt up and transported to the tub, unrolled and pressed into the water. Repeat 4 TIMES and rinse, and then gently rolled and pressed the water out. placed dry towels under and over, press and switch towels. I threw the original ones in the dryer and switched them again until I had most of the water out, enough so I could carry it back out to the porch rail and  then before night fell, I threw it in the dryer on the 'low heat' and tumbled it for about 20-30 minutes. She is fresh as a daisy and back in the bowels of quilt storage, until I find that teddy bear pattern....Great, another project to add to the 'list'. Today I have a fairy frost fabric quilt to load on the longarm and do a panto on. 4 quilts, a vest and a jacket to bind....

I have Nott fallen off the face of the earth!

but it likely seems that way from my blog. I apologize to my follower's, you deserve better so I will try to get back in the groove! I've been on a couple of road trips w/DH, reclaimed my sewing room and gotten the longarm back up (cut her back to 8') and tackled the very long list of UFO's or WIP's, whatever you like to call them. I actually made a list which for some reason was so daunting, like the quilt police are going to penalize me? While making a list may not seem like such a big deal to you, mine is a spreadsheet, columns A - O and about 35 lines deep, Phases 1 -3; 1 is a kit or project in the planning stages; 2 is broken down into quilt tops/panels/paper piecing/hand projects/other projects; 3 is the longarming, binding and labeling (binding is broken down into cut/attach/finish). I had to do it this way, it was far to alarming to put each item in a single column, that is heart attack material! This makes me some special personality type but I don't know which, if you know please tell me, unless you see schizophrenic tendencies. I don't need to know about that. Anyway, it is working for me cause I have finished 5 tops that only needed assembling and/or borders, quilted 1 and almost finished another on the longarm and  decorated this little denim skirt.

Two of the quilts were flip flop quilts, one I satin stitched, the other I used a short stitch length and left them raw edge. I think it will be cool once it is washed. These will be on the quilt frame soon as they will be fun and easy background fill mostly. I anxious to put the ribbons on, branching out into a whole new area - embelishment, which reminds me of my dolly dresses panel and the clown quilt I need to start.....

The other 3 tops are approx queen size, one is a gift for a special aunt, (it is all fairy frost and I have heard longarmer's don't like it so we'll see, fairly soon as it is a P1 on the spreadsheet). I'll surely post a pic when it is done. Right now, I'm in wearables mode and going to finish that jacket I started last year....