Hi Quilty Friends! I wasn't going to write a post today but it snowed...
...and I've added a new follow my blog subscription on the right hand side of this blog. Over the last few weeks I've had several request for a way to follow my blog. I was putting it off because...sigh...techy stuff can sometimes be a pain. Back in the day I would get excited for new technology but the older I get, the less I like change. So let's hope this new FOLLOW-IT thingy over in the sidebar works. To be honest I don't have a clue if it will send you a link to here or the Follow-it website.
I've also put the followers list back in the sidebar. It's a little bit farther down in the sidebar so no one will confused for the same thing. I'm not sure if it works either. So you have two options to follow me, if they work. If they don't work I'll have to try something else. My next blog post will be on Monday morning. I'm crossing my fingers that one or both of these work.
Thanks for hanging in there with me while I'll figure out the techy stuff. Here's some more snow pictures for those of you who love snow as much as I do. It was only one inch of snow. But one inch of snow is prettier than mud and brown grass. This was taken from the back porch.
I've put it off long enough. It's time to un-holiday the house. Decorating for Christmas only happens when we know we'll have guest during the holiday season. And it's very little decorating compared to most. This should only take 3 hours tops. What you see here is about 2 hours after I started bringing decor in from the rest of the house and have taken down most of the decorations in this bedroom.
This bedroom is where the grandkids sleep when visiting. The rest of the year it's pretty much a storage room and pantry. That's why you see a small freezer in the corner of the room.
After a few hours of cleaning up the holiday mess I started down a rabbit hole #1 of organizing other areas in the house. The first area was the closet in this room. The closet stores my finished quilts, 3 partially quilted quilts(in the pink, yellow and white bags) a few holiday decorations, a carpet steam cleaner, pillow forms and batting scraps. The picture below is my closet after cleaning and organizing.
The batting scraps and pillow forms are stored in vacuum sealed bags. I love the vacuum bags for batting and pillow forms. It condenses them down, making them easier to store. As you can see these bags are not holding a vacuum seal anymore. So I've tossed them onto the bed until I get new vacuum bags.
The larger bag in the picture above is one of two that is normally stored in the studio under my cutting table. This is rabbit hole #2. I came in here to get the bag of batting that I knew needed to be replaced and put it in the bedroom with the others. And just like that I was cleaning and sorting the cutting table cabinet.
Before I knew I had pulled everything out from under the table. It was a huge mess. I was in the zone and didn't think to take pictures. A small mess of fabric was the last thing to sort and put away. What is it?
Do you may remember last summers cleaning and organizing of the studio? I took down all the displayed quilts in the studio. The walls in here are pretty much bare now. The mess in the above picture was a fabric covered embroidery hoop I made years ago to hang a quilt on the wall.
It no longer suits my fancy and has been stored away since last summer. So I took it apart, pressed the fabrics and will add them to the scrap bins.
What a day! A simple plan to take down the Christmas decorations turned into an all project. By the time Mr. Podunk came home from work I was plum tuckered out. That's hillbilly for tired with an aching back. It was time to shut down the studio for the day and relax.
Hello Quilty Friends! It's time to spice up the studio. I can't take one more day of playing with denim and flannel. It's like I'm creating my very own gray cloud right here in the studio. We've had enough of that outside for the last few days. No sunshine, just gray clouds, muddy landscape and cold winds.
You would think my brightly decorated studio would be enough happy colors to keep me happy. Nope I need to play with bright fabrics. That's what feeds my soul during yukky cold winters here in Indiana.
The UFO drawer is full of sunshine. This one was right there on top waiting to brighten the day. The bright happy colors of my Sugar -N- Spice quilt turned Mud-day Monday into Merry Monday.
This was a kit purchased way back in 2014, from the LQS, Back Door Quilts. What drew me in and made the sale was those tiny yo-yo's. Seriously, too cute! The pattern instructions suggested the yo-yo's be hand sewn to the quilt. But I wanted to finish this in my lifetime so I decided to try invisible machine applique. The worse thing that could happen is having to rip out the stitches and do them by hand.
To accomplish the invisible stitch I used Superior Threads Mono Poly. This is the best of the Monofilament threads. I've used many different brands over the years and this one is the only one that passed all the tests. It works above and beyond what it claims. The biggest test was the melting. Most will either melt in the dryer or when ironed on a higher heat than suggested. Now let me say all irons and dryers are different, so you will want to do your own tests. My results were...I can dry them on a normal dryer setting and I can iron them on a cotton setting. I did not try steam because I never use steam when quilting.
Before stitching the yo-yo's to the block, I first stitch them together with a tiny zigzag stitch. So what do you think? Can you see the zigzag stitch between these two yo-yo's?
The stitch holes can be seen on the outer edge but I think once this quilt is washed and dried they will disappear. We will soon find out! Yep, as soon as this girl is quilted and bound I'll do an update to let you know. The needle holes have gone away on other quilts I've made so I'm pretty sure they will on the this one as well.
If you are interested in seeing how I sewed them, here's a short YouTube video I made at the time. You can see better if you click on the words YouTube, that will take you to the video on YT. Or it will go full screen if you click on the square in the bottom right corner.
If you are considering purchasing the pattern and making this quilt you need to know the original quilt was made with only two borders. A yellow inner border and a wider outer border. The outer border looks like two borders but it's a "cheater" print.
Here's my THREE borders and they aren't mitered as the original above. I think the quilt shop made the change to the pattern in the kit. I might have made the change and have forgotten.
Oh well, it's time to get back to my sun filled Studio and get busy!
Happy New Year Friends! Wishing you and your family a year filled with peace and unending joy.
Our New Years Eve was just another day. Mr. Podunk tinkered around out in the garage while watching football and I tinkered around in the house and did a little quilting. By 9pm I was plum tuckered out and headed to bed early. What better way to start the new year than with a good nights sleep and feeling great on the first day of the year.
Today's plan is another denim and flannel quilt. This one is for my son. He needs a quilt that can be tossed on the ground at concerts and camping.
By the looks of this bin of denim, there's enough for one more quilt. I may need a few more flannel shirts to add to the mix. I'm pretty sure I can find all the flannel needed in mine and Mr. Podunk's closets. We live in t-shirts, flannel shirts and blue jeans. Then at night flannel pajama bottoms.
That's a project for another day. Today I just want to sew and watch The Sound of Freedom on Amazon Prime.
