Quilt Finish ~ Moda Love ~ Quilt Mojo Talk

 Another quicky finish...and let me tell you, these last few UFO quicky quilts have turned on the quilty mojo! I'M BACK!  It's been a long time since I was this excited about quilting.  Sure, the love of quilting has always been in my heart, but it was lacking the excitement over these last few years.  This burst of excitement has me questioning my next step.  Do I continue on with finishing the UFO's or let my creativity run wild?

  Being fickle and jumping from project to project is what created the many UFO's.  If I stop finishing UFO's will the excitement fade or grow?   I fear making the wrong decision and losing this feeling of excitement.  

I need to just take a deep breath and talk about the Moda Love quilt.  

Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out..NOPE...I need to share some crazy thoughts I have on My Quilty Mojo.  

Maybe the Moda Love pattern is the reason for my newfound excitement/love?  Has it cast a love spell on me?  You know, big companies pay big money to scientist who know how control our purchases.  All I need to say...tobacco and food companies.  Seriously, how many times have we plowed throw a whole row/bag of Oreo cookies?  That is how they were designed.  Scientist know the perfect combination to make us want more.  How many times have you ate a dozen eggs and felt like you wanted more?  For me the answer is never.  But Oreos, I could eat the whole bag, feel like crap and still want more, they are addictive! 

So, Is there something about this pattern that makes me want to make more?  It has gone viral a couple of times over the years.  HAHA!  Oh, I don't really believe in casting spells, but I do believe in good marketing and the power of suggestion.

Now here's something to think about.  Tell me what you think in the comments.  A quilty friend of mine once told me.... she believed fabric manufacturers put pheromones in fabric because every time she walked in a quilt shop she felt the same feeling she had when she was young and in love.  

It's the same for me!  How about you, do you get that giddy young girl feeling in a quilt shop?  Uncontrollable urges to buy fabric you don't need.  Maybe you don't want to leave the shop and can't wait until your next visit?  SEE!  Pheromones! HAHA!  

So, my point is maybe, and that's a big maybe, my excitement and mojo is in overdrive because I've been spending more time in my studio around pheromone filled fabrics.  It could also be it's spring and sunny outside or maybe the moon is in the right phase. HAHA!

Really, I don't know and I don't care why the excitement is back.  But it's fun to think about it being something other than me being bat crap crazy. 

  

Oh by the way...this quilt was 100% ruler work, binding was machine stitched to the front and handstitched to the back.  The home printed label is off center because I add my labels before quilted so they can never be removed.  If you want to know more about the fabrics and pattern click here.

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Let's Quilt Another UFO

 This week's two small finishes lit a quilt finishing fire in the Podunk Sewing Room.  Might as well feed the flames by pulling a small quilt top from the stash. 

The quilt top is the small version of the Moda Love quilt pattern.  My original plan was to use the blue floral print for the binding and the two orange/peach fabrics for the backing.  

But in the spirit of quick and easy I'd rather not stitch together the two orange fabrics.  So, it was time to dig through the fabric stash for piece of fabric large enough for the backing.  As quickly as the stash cabinet door opened, I saw the perfect print for the backing.

The overage of this fabric from quilting on the frame can also be used for the binding.

Another quick dig, this time in the batting scraps, produced a piece of 80/20 batting perfect for this project.  Then in no time I had the label printed and ready to go.  My goodness, I'm impressed with how fast all this came together.  Not one hiccup in the plan!  Oh, what a beautiful day!  

See you soon with another finish!

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Two UFO Quilt Projects Finished

Why do I feel like I've accomplished some great feat when finishing an old project?  Those of you who know me, you know. I'm about as fickle and squirrelly as they come.  So, finishing these two small projects is huge accomplishment.

  Over 10 yrs ago I made this bunny block.  It was one block of a block of the month.  It was the only block I finished.   So, in order to finish this project, the block patterns were kept, and the fabrics were added to my scrap stash.  The fabrics could have been used to make this block bigger but my goal was for a quick and easy finish.  For the quilting an easy crosshatching was marked on the background fabric.

A quick label was designed, printed and sewn to the back of the block before quilting.

Background fabrics from the other blocks in the BOM were used to make an envelope style closure for the pillow.  Sadly, I made the mistake of sewing the binding to the front of the pillow instead of the back.  No worries.  I glue basted the binding to the back making sure to cover the binding stitching.

By glueing the binding to the back, I could stitch from the front and also catch the binding on the back.  

It turned out great! And here's where I add one of my favorite quilting quotes.

"The true measure of a quilter is not how perfect the quilt but how well they hide their mistakes."

Over the years I've had some comments about how binding doesn't belong on pillows.  My sewing room, my rules...I deleted those rude comments. HAHA!  I like binding on pillows.  It adds color and allows them to be used for wall hangings, table toppers or like this one, a candle mat. 

My next finish is The End Of Chaos quilt.  If you're interested in its history, you can find it here.  

This one was quilted on the frame with simple straight lines and free motion continuous curves in the nine patch blocks.  I've fallen in love with this little quilt even though it is way out of my typical color pallet and quilting style.  

There's a lot of memories in each square of fabric. She may not be the prettiest quilt I've ever made but she has a story to tell

.  To keep things easy, I considered throwing the remaining scraps in the scrap bins.  But I knew the only way to give the story an ending was to use them on the back of the quilt.

Another quilt label was printed on my inkjet printer and added to the back before quilting.  

Four quilts made from the same batch of "ugly" scraps.  The first three quilts were gifted and loved.  This one will stay with me, at least for now.  Maybe it too will find a new home...someday.

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New Project Inspired By A Rabbit

Springtime is a busy time.  Pulling weeds, planting flowers and vegetables is in full swing.  Spring is my favorite time of year.  The dull brown winter landscape fades away with the glorious colored spring flowers.  With the fresh foliage comes critters of all kinds to feast at the buffet.  While drinking my morning cup coffee and enjoying the morning sun coming through window, I spied this cute little guy making his way towards my flowerbed off my front porch.

 This must be the little fella who found my pink tulips to be so yummy he ate them all before they could bloom.  It was disappointing but he has to eat.  So, next year the pink tulips will be off the menu and protected by a fence.  This mischievous little fella made me smile with his little nose twitching.  I'm pretty sure he was sniffing out more of my delicious flowers for his all you can eat buffet.  Eat all you want Mr. Rabbit because I'm in no mood to close down the buffet.  This week's yardwork used muscles I forgot I had, and I need a little sit-down time, but your presence has inspired me to work on a UFO.  

All that is needed to finish the block is a few inches of hand stitched applique.  

Within minutes he was finished and ready to become a pillow.  A quick dig though the batting scraps and I found a piece of 100%  cotton batting that fit perfectly. 

In the UFO box was enough fabric to make the envelope closure pillow back.  

However, there isn't enough of any one darker fabric to use as the binding/faux piping, there's enough for the cream background fabric but I would prefer color.  This was good time to switch projects so I can think over my options.

So, it was back the quilting my Chaos quilt that is on the frame.  It's been neglected this week due to the yardwork.  I'm hoping for a next Friday finish.  If it would rain, I would be forced to finish it sooner...come on rain! HAHA!

Just a little heads up....the rest of this post is non quilting things.  

First topic is the circle cropped picture above. 

 Vicki in MN left a comment wanting to know what program I use for circle cropping.  I've used PhotoscapeX pro for about 10yrs.   It has a lot of great features, and it was reasonable priced at the time.  I think it now might be a free download.   It was fairly easy to learn how to use all the features by watching YouTube videos. 

Second topic is my girl Khaleesi.  

We are still battling the Perianal Fistulas.  It's an autoimmune disease that some dog owners have put in remission.  Right now, her treatment plan is topical antibiotics, and a very expense immunosuppressant medication called cyclosporine.  Cyclosporine without GoodRX it's almost $700 a month.  With the GoodRX coupon it's still $198 a month.  The topical antibiotic is $59 with GoodRX coupon and so far we are still using the first tube.  We also give her over the counter pro and prebiotics, $75 a month.  A supplement, $40 a month, to keep her urinary track in good health since she also suffered from chronic urinary tract infections.

Two weeks ago we started a laser light therapy once a week.  It too is costly. $75 every week without a discount, $55 a week with a discount that we get from our membership with Thrive Pet Healthcare.  The Healthcare plan is only $15 a month but it saves us much more than it costs.  No office visit charges, reduced yearly exams, vaccines and with most procedures.

Our thought is to throw every treatment we can at this horribly painful disease and put her into remission.  So far it's looking very promising.

She's doing well and doesn't struggle to poo anymore.  Every time she poo's we clean her bum.  In the beginning of this horrible diagnosis cleaning her bum was painful for her.  Now that it's healing, she doesn't try to bite me when cleaning her bum.

My girl went through hell before coming to live with us.  If your new to my blog, she's a rescue dog and was alone in a cage for 23 hours a day for the first year of her life.  She had almost no human contact.  And when she did it was not good.  Her owner sent her to an abusive K9 training program where she was beat and shocked.

 When she came to live with us, we were given the cage she lived in because it was her safe place.  The cage was left open, she was free to leave anytime night or day but didn't.  She would only come out to go the door to let me know she needed to potty.

She would come out, go to the door, we would let her out and she would come back in and go back to the cage on her own.   On day 10 she finally came out with her tail tucked and head down she made it across the room to the nice comfy dog bed I had waiting for her since day one.  She sat there for about 15 seconds and ran back into the cage, terrified of what was to come.  I'm sure she was confused when I praised and loved on her for being so brave.

She made great progress after learning we were not going to hurt her, only love her.  After a few months of her rarely using the cage for comfort and safety we removed the horrible prison cage from our home.  We also hired a professional dog trainer to help us and her deal with her anxiety issues without medication.

It's been baby steps for 6 yrs.  It took about 2 months for us to gain her trust and for her to untuck the tail.   Her tail hasn't stopped wagging since.  She still has some odd behaviors and is easily startled but she for the most part she's just a happy dog.

Thanks to all of you for your love, support and prayers for my girl over the years. 

 

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