Quilt Journal

I have begun a quilt journal, a pictorial & written account of the quilts I make, starting today, which happens to be my birthday. I don't know how it will turn out, but I plan to write something about every quilted project I make from now on, possibly the unquilted ones too, along with photos & samples of the fabrics in each project. I saw the quilt journal of another quilter the other day & thought I should make one also. I've done several quilts in the past that should have been chronicled somehow. Better late than never. I bought a cheap photo journal at Big Lots (A local store) last night & put the first entry in it today. I may have to get a better quality photo notebook or tape the pages shut in the current one. Its not too sticky. We'll see how it goes.

I'm working on a prototype of the Easter banner project that a local church asked my guild to make. I'll post the whole project, photos & all, once its finished. That will be a whole post in itself, possible multiple posts.

As far as my birthday today, its usually a non-event. I got a new cake pan, the old one rusted out, a new pasta cooker & my hubby made muffins for my breakfast today. They were pretty good. I've had a quiet day, the kind I prefer, so its been a better birthday than some I've had in the past (spending the whole day at the hospital with my brother and grandson one year). The weather's turned off cooler too, which was nice. I guess fall is here now. Gotta go, . . . later.

Playtime on the 830,

Here are photos of an experiment I made on the new 830 sewing machine. I used decorative stitches with a circular attachment that makes the fabric travel in circles instead of in a straight line. I then embroidered my initial in the center. The first two pictures are of the front of the project & the detail of the decorative stitches used. The second set is the back of the little pillow project. I used a quilting design that came with the machine & embroidered an initial in the center. I falling in love with this machine I think. After attending a seminar last week, where I've learned all kinds of things, I'm excited to push this machine to its limits creatively. I plan to make larger versions of this pillow too. Who knows what I'll come up with next. Stay tuned to see . . .

Bernina Event Today

Just a quick note here. I'm attending a local Bernina event today. A company rep is doing a seminar on embroidery. The seminar last all day & I hope its worth what I paid for it. I'll let you know how it goes.

later . . .

Kitchen Witch 2- Basic Cooking

This is the second in the Kitchen Witch series called "Basic Cooking". The piece is not yet finished. I still have some journaling to do, the quilt & bind it. I thought I'd put it up anyway. Let me know what you think. I'll repost when the piece is finished.

Life as it is, In September 2010

My life is finally settling down somewhat & the roughness is smoothing out. I'm still involved in the series of classes on my new Bernina 830 sewing/embroidery machine. That thing does amazing things. I haven't figured out if it does dishes or not (lol), but at the price it costs, it should. Anyway, I'm working on a group of tiny Halloween treat bags for my granddaughter's class. I finished the Christmas stockings & sent them to school. That was after I accidently made 12 fronts instead of 6 fronts & 6 backs. I forgot to turn the backs to the side that would match up correctly before I stitched on the patches. Duh!! I'm still working on the Kitchen Witch series. I'm on #2, the Basic Cook. I have most of the pieces fused on at this point. I still have the embroidery, the quilting & the finishing yet to do. I'll post the piece as soon as it's finished.
You'll notice a different look to the blog. I thought the old design was plain boring, so I changed it. Let me know what you think. There's always room for improvement. That's all for now, gotta go get ready for class. Stay tuned . . .

Tree and other things

The guy finally finished the tree. It took 14.5 hours to complete the job. That didn't include cutting the thing up, my husband is doing that. That tree was a monster. I'm sure the man is happy he's done with it.

I've also began embroidery with my new Bernina 830. I'm making Christmas stockings for the new kids & assistants in my granddaughter's special education class. I've made 4 of 6 names for the stockings. Now, I just have to make the stockings themselves. I lost the original pattern & had to buy one. I won't lose it- I hope. Anyway, since I have too many scraps, I'm considering doing this batch as crazy patch & I'll use many of the decorative stitches on the new 830. I'm taking classes to learn how to properly use it & they're fun. I'm learning a lot. The 830, in function, is similar to my 165, but it does things in different ways. I'll learn it soon enough.

I'm also happy its Friday. This past week has been a bear. I'm ready for a quiet, clam weekend. Now, let's see if that actually happens. . .

Trees Not Coming Down

Yesterday we had this huge tree taken down from behind my house. It was rotten in the middle & if the wind got up or lightning struck it, it would fall on the house. It took 8 1/2 hours , 5 chain saws, and 6 men to bring it down. The poor guy who took the job lost $$, but vowed to keep at it until the tree came down. We couldn't park in the driveway in case the tree fell in that direction so we parked on the narrow street, the neighbors were all watching & several of them were parked on the street as well. At one point the street was blocked for safety reasons if the tree fell & there was a possibility that when it fell it would take out a light pole & fire hydrant with it. That didn't happen, fortunately. By 8 pm last night, all went well & the tree finally came down. We counted rings inside the trunk & determined that the tree was over 200 years old. I hated to lose the only shade in the back yard, but the tree was just too dangerous to leave there. With that fiasco over, my husband joked "what can we do to top that this weekend?" I replied "nothing, I need a quiet weekend." You understand that this week was one of those where everything went wrong? Here's hoping that the weekend & week ahead are quiet & uneventful. I need the rest.