Tuesday With the Girls

I worked for the last three days but today I had fun sewing with the Tuesday Girls, plus one! Yes, my niece is back with me as her cousin has to work. I finished and delivered a play mat to a friend for her grand babies. I quilted it myself on my Juki with red thread and lots of lines. She loves it.

Play Mat August 2013

Back of play mat

My niece wanted to make a boxy bag for herself and a friend. Hers are the ones on the left and mine is the turquoise one. Surprised? The tiny one is there just to show size. That one is mine too!

Boxy Bags  August 2013

We arrived at the store this morning later than usual because we had a hard time getting ourselves going, the car loaded, drinks together etc. I found this wonderful project bag laying on my table with my thread inside. I absolutely LOVE it! All I did was loan a friend some thread. The colors are me and I heard Vic had something to do with the fabric choice. You are such a good fabric picker outer! Thank you Joyce. What a treasure. Is there anything else you want to borrow?!!!

Project bag from Joyce

What a fun day... until next time, have a happy! 

Tuesday with the Girls

I worked a long time yesterday on my sewing projects but I never took out my sewing machine! I did get one of the girls to sew a couple of seams towards the end of the evening because I saw a hourglass quilt and wanted to try it out. I made my first quarter square triangle blocks! Well, she and I made it.

First quarter square triangles  March 2013

They are so fun. It is just like Christmas when you open them up and the points meet! I have found a few more fabrics I am going to add to give me more placement options. I can also see this quilt in my bright scraps.

Going to our sewing group and not taking out my machine, what a concept. One of the other girls does it regularly! At least she comes and has a great time visiting. I go back on Thursday so no worries, I will get my sewing done. 

Bernie is sick, cracked her hook so there is no sewing on her until she gets a new one. Juki is at the store because she hates to be loaded in and out of the trunk more than once a week. Sometime she doesn't mind twice a week but three times, she just won't tolerate it.

I continue to work on my PhD (projects half done) so you should too!

Little Stuff that Makes You Smile

These are so much fun. I need these instant gratification projects between my larger ones. The directions for these little treasures are here. When you make one, go to her flickr group and add your photo. 

Earbud cases  April 2012

I made this zipper bag for Carolyn for pitching in and helping me with my charity quilts. These are some scraps she gave me from a quilt she was making at the time. I learned how to put the fabric on the ends of the zipper so it lays nice. While quilting this I found some interesting scraps and had a wonderful idea. That project is not finished yet but will be soon. I love it when one idea leads to another.


I had so much fun on my Juki I think I will start quilting my zipper bags. Well some of them at least.

Carolyn's zipper bag  April 2012

Have a wonderful weekend.

Fruits of My Labor

I have been working really hard on these quilts. All of these fabrics came from my stash with the exception of the purple and the coral. My friend Carolyn helped me out by making the guitar quilt top. I spent all day Friday quilting it on my Juki. I was very pleased with the outcome. It was pretty hard at first and I realized the table was too high. Lucky me, it was one of those tables that was adjustable and once lowered it made quilting much, much easier.

Charity quilts April 2012

The ones on the right are ready for the binding to be finished by hand. The one with the coral lines still has to be sandwiched and quilted. Amazing what can be accomplished when I'm under pressure! I looked for the top I was going to quilt out of my finished tops to add to make it four but I think I gave it away. It is not in my pile. This may be all I do for now. I will be lucky to get these finished.

Have a happy . . .   

Fear of the Unknown

You know how you put off things that you have never done before because you are imagining your task to be harder than it really is? I have never quilted a large quilt on my Juki before. I have committed four quilts to charity so I finished the top to the first one on Tuesday. As it turned out it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I spray basted it because I have a fear of tucks while quilting. It was a simple design of straight lines but there were no tucks or puckers!

Quilting on the Juki  April 2012

It took me all morning to get the backing ready, cut the batting, layer it and get it spray basted. Now all I have to do is trim and bind it with the purple. They all have to be done and mailed by the end of May. One down 3 to go! I work best under pressure.

Charity quilt #1  April 2012

Here is what I was doing while I was working up the courage to quilt.

Earbud holders  March 2012

They are so fun. Some turned out rounder than others. They can be used as coin purses that can be attached to anything because of the key ring on the end.

I Needed A Change

A couple of days ago I could feel the quilt tops pile getting bigger and bigger. My Dad bought me a Juki last year so I figured I would oil that baby up and jump right in. The last time I tried to use it the tension wasn't right, so I have been a little reluctant to jump back in again. Yesterday when I sat down to test the tension it was beautiful. I decided to quilt my Jolt banner piece that I started 3 years ago. I am still working on it but I have a question. 


Question  When quilting a piece like this, do I use a rust colored and purple thread in areas that aren't black and white? 

I don't have very much experience quilting but it sure is fun when the tension is right. I am also working on the Kona solids challenge due this month at the MQG meeting. I need to make a final decision for my Block Party block too since I've already lost a month. Lots to do and plenty of time to do it in. Back to the Juki.


Any ideas on the quilting thread would be helpful.


Happy sewing, quilting or whatever you're doing.