Sewing Morning

I have really gotten into working on the knitted helmet liner caps, so have sort of taken a break from working on my quilts…gasp!

I completed one on Friday and started casting on stitches for the next one.     Last night I got the ribbing done and have started the main body.  I had intended to sew this morning, as we had company coming in the afternoon, but I decided that I should work on cleaning up some of the mini piles that have popped up instead.  I’m glad I did, but it sure wore me out!  I had to lay down and take a nap!  We haven’t seen them in several years, and it was sure a nice visit.  I did, however, completely fall off the diet wagon, and I am going to pay the piper in the morning!

As for my current quilting project, I need to “tighten up” some of the half square triangles on the quilt top I am currently working on, that I haven’t named yet, that I took the borders off of early last week.  That way I can put the black inner border back on, and I need to cut the replacement border fabric so I can finish it up.  I’d like to enter this one in the quilt show in Oregon in September.  As a featured guild, the Boise Basin Quilters can enter quilts for no fee, and I plan to take advantage of that!

Border Fabric - Update

I have decided to go with the new fabric for the borders, and make the black border skinnier.  So, the new inner border fabric is not getting used in this project.  My mom said it looked sort of brown and blah from a distance, and I have to say I agree with her.

So, last night I removed the borders, then cut the black inner border down 1/2”.  I then admitted that there is too much fabric in that border, it would not lay flat for anything and as I was trying to starch and press it out, it simply wrinkled on me.  That’s exactly what it would do if I tried to quilt it this way, so I decided to take them off too, and see what I can do about easing them back on and make them flat.  I think the fullness is coming from the bias edges of the half square triangles….bleh!

Now I’m back down to where I started on Saturday!  Will get the outer borders cut Thursday night and see how I can take in the fullness too, so I can get it finished this weekend.  We have company coming on Sunday, and I’m getting my hair done in the morning on Saturday.  With all of those distractions I’ll be lucky if I get anything else done!  DH invited me to go on a date tonight, so will be spending some quality time with him.  He’s such a sweetheart!

Border Fabric!

I went to the fabric store at lunch today to get more border fabric for a quilt I am finishing up.  I got over zealous and cut too many strips for the sides and now I only have one large piece for one of the borders.  Since it’s a busy, but large, print I don’t want a seam going down the middle of it, as it would be distracting.  So, off I went to get another 1/2 yard.  Of course I didn’t bring the quilt with me!

Well!  Not only did I find more of my border fabric, I found a different border, as well as a different inner border that I think will make this quilt look great!  I was ambivalent about the borders I was putting on, and now I am just EXCITED about getting home to see how this will look!  I will post photos of the before and after…because what this means is, all the work I put into getting the borders attached yesterday is going out the window!

I really think it’s going to look 100% better, though!

Once I see it tonight, I’ll put the fabric in the washer and get it ready to finish by this weekend.

Lone Star is finished!

This is the king sized customer Lone Star quilt that I’ve been working on.

I did mostly custom quilting in the middle. and a large overall meander on the border sections.  It has Hobbs Tuscany wool batting with Sew Fine on part of the top and all of the bottom, and a new-to-me shiny silver polyester thread called Hemmingworth Polyselect.  She wanted something that looks like fire and to accentuate the star and make it sort of “pop out”.

She didn't want to pay very much so we initially decided on an open "flame" design that would sort of outline each of the 8 petals, and a small stipple in the setting squares, but then the petal was so large that I couldn't reach the tip from the middle of the star to make a smooth motion to make the flame.  I also was worried about making the meandering small enough, consistently enough.

So, after beating my head on it for a couple of weeks, I called and asked her if I could just do what I wanted to do, without her knowing the design ahead of time, but still keeping her original idea in mind, if the price didn't change and she said yes.  So, now  it's finished and I’m really pleased with it!

She picked it up tonight and loves it!

4th of July

I wanted to share a new project that I started yesterday, that I thought was quite appropriate for the 4th of July celebrations.  What?  A new project without finishing the other one first?  That never happens! ;-)

You’ve seen me post about the organization called American Hero Quilts, who donate homemade quilts to wounded soldiers who come to Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma, WA.

Well, if quilting isn’t your thing, then I want to let you know about another opportunity to help.  The Yarn Shoppe, a local business here in the Boise area,  is working to make knitted “helmet liners” for The Idaho National Guard’s deployment early this fall.  According to their website:

We are continuing our call for knitters to help make helmet liners for the Idaho National Guard's deployment early this fall.  The 116th Brigade from Idaho , Montana , and Oregon is shipping out to Iraq in September.  There are about 1500 Idaho soldiers and 1200 from Montana and Oregon involved.   We are helping this effort by distributing patterns, discounting the wool yarn needed, and providing a drop off point for the helmets.

These caps are used to help keep the soldiers warm in the winter and can also be soaked with water to keep heads cooler in the summer under the military helmets.

These caps MUST be knitted from 100% wool for safety (acrylic yarns can melt in a fire or explosion) and MUST be in medium to dark earth tone colors (black, grey, browns, tans or greens).

I stopped by their store yesterday afternoon and got a new pair of circular knitting needles and two hanks of the approved wool blend yarn.  I started on the pattern last night after dinner and I completed the ribbing before the dogs started going crazy over the fireworks noise.   I’ve never knitted in the round before, which is what this pattern calls for, so I’m learning a new skill, too.

Fast knitters can probably complete a cap in 4 hours, and, depending on your gauge, one hank of yarn will make 2 caps.

Please consider making a helmet liner, or recruiting someone to do so.  Visit The Yarn Shoppe’s website to find out more information.

This is one small way to let those who give so much for our great country know we care and think about them daily.

Boise Basin Quilt Show

Well, I thought I had written about the upcoming Boise Basin Quilter’s quilt show…and, now that the event has come and gone this past weekend, I guess I can write a little something!

Not only was the show fun, I bought a ticket to hear the lecture by Marianne Fons, from Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting.  She was quite entertaining and I even got to get a picture taken with her beforehand.  I didn’t bring my own camera, as I didn’t realize there was going to be a Meet ‘n Greet, so someone else took the picture for me.  I’ll have to post it when I get it.

I had two quilts in the show and got some solid (+) Good ratings.  All constructive criticisms were in line with my own perceptions and expectations, which I think is a good thing because then I know I’m on the same track as the judges.  I am also very happy to be able to finally post a picture of the Happy Quilt!  Once I get a closeup of the quilting, I'll post a picture of that, too, as it turned out quite well and you can't see the variegated thread or the design in this photo.

One particularly nice comment that I just *have* to relay, though, was “outside edges impressively straight and square”.  Woo Hoo!

Now that the show is over I can concentrate on the lone star customer quilt that is still on the frame.  Almost done, but the free motion design in the star part is giving me a hard time, I can’t seem to get it right….and she wants it back!   Can’t say I blame her, I’ve had it quite awhile.

Not all has been procrastination, though.  My DH tore his rotator cuff in his left shoulder last week, I re-tweaked my back a bit over the weekend, and the dog went in for a cyst removal and major dental surgery.  So, it was a rough week.

Then the dog had to wake me up this morning at 2AM and I couldn’t get back to sleep.  So, I’ve been up since 2:30AM…and I’m going to bed now.

A Place for the Onions

I finally got my garden planted.  Not that I didn't have a few challenges along the way, however.  You see, here in Boise the weather has been very chilly, windy, and downright undesirable, as far as spring goes.  I am a fair weather gardner, however my procrastination has been rewarded!  Those serious gardeners, who actually planted when they were supposed to this spring, are re-planting, spending the same time in the nursery that I was looking for plants this weekend and not any further ahead then I am.  Whew, off the hook for this year!

Before I started on this journey though,  I confirmed with the local nursery that it wasn't too late to plant.  Mind you, I am planting in June, which is at least a month later than when I planted last year, and I really felt like I didn't get much produce at all last year; I didn't even can anything!  We have really missed the lack of canned goods, too, I can tell you.

So, radiating with the afterglow of a 50% off the edible plants sale, I started calling around for a rototilling service, as DH strained his ankle working last week.  I was lucky enough to find someone who would come on Saturday and he did a great job!  E-mail me if you would like his contact information, as I definitely recommend his services.

With the soil freshly tilled, I started my early-morning journey to planet the garden.  I bent over and reached for a T-shirt on a lower shelf and…CRACK…. I threw out my back.  All I could think of was “this is not how I planned to spend my day”.  DH to the rescue, as he offered to "help" me with the garden and ended up planting everything where I told him to plant it.  With the new space I had rototilled, I was able to make room for one more tomato plant and two cucumber plants for which DH pre-dug the holes.

Fast forward beyond two days of intense chiropractic care and I am now walking and being very careful of how I move, although that is fading fast.  I stopped at Lowe's tonight to get a sprinkler head replacement and came out with the additional items I needed for the garden, plus a pack of candy onions.  I have never grown onions before, so I'm interested to see how they turn out.  Because DH had helped me carefully lay out the other plants, I had to come up with a creative solution for planting the onions.  I ended up making a "corner L-bracket" configuration of the onions around a jalepeno pepper plant, which I think will work out just fine.

I decided that I should call my garden “The Salsa and Pickle Patch” because I have planted the majority of the ingredients for both salsa and pickles.  This year though, if the peppers don't grow I am giving up on them!