Spinning Star

Today I finished quilting and on putting the borders on my Spinning Star wall hanging that I started at the April Retreat. This quilt was quite a hit at the quilting retreat. It seems like the further away you get, the more it really plays with your head and eyes. It's quite a unique sensation. I bought some beautiful hand-dyed fabrics while on the retreat that I used for the borders. Warning: I don't recommend staring at this quilt for very long.

Bluebird Quilt Finished

Well, today was a very busy day. My oldest daughter and her 2 kids got in around midnight last night for a funeral here in town, and I stayed up waiting for them, so we all slept in till around 9:30 this morning. They she and the kids and me and Ginger headed out to the farmer's market in town, to a quilt store, to Gray's Lake for a walk, and to Waterworks park Arboretum to see all the beautiful blooming trees. It finally looks like spring is here! Yeahhhhhhh! About time. Here's a couple photos of the Arboretum.

Then we went to lunch at Village Inn and left Ginger in her crate in the car. She just slept while we were gone and is doing well with not messing her crate and going to the bathroom on command. Then we visited a couple older friends who wanted to see her, made a run to the office to make a dropoff, and then home. We were all tuckered out and in total Ginger was out for 5 hours. Both of us simply had to take a nap after all that.

Blue Bird Quilt

Last night I finished my Blue Bird quilt that I showed the top in my post called "St. Louis trip - Spring 2009". I probably should call this my learning quilt since it was made using 3 different techniques I'd never tried before. First was the hand applique, second was the freehand machine quilting I did to hold the layers together, and then lastly was the thread painting I did to the bird to make it look like shiny feathers on the bird. I am very happy with it even though there are lots of tiny mistakes in it that a real quilter would see, because it represents trying 3 new techniques and taking a step in learning to do them well. Obviously I still have a lot to learn, but the learning can be so much fun.

Here are some photos and comments:

The first photo shows the bird's wings and how I machine quilted them.

The second photo shows the stippeling I did around the flowers. I had a hard time with my machine because apparently my needles were too large and the thread too fine to fill in the needle holes. But hey, you get 2' away from it and you can't tell at all. So all I have to do is hang it somewhre over a large piece of furniture that will block anyone from getting too close to it. Right? Sounds like a good solution to me.
The third photo shows the bird's body that I filled in with thread painting. Thread painting is simply using the sewing machine needle to go back and forth over the piece until it is thick enough to color it in. It really is fun to do and it makes my bird look like it has real shinny feathers.

All in all, I really enjoyed making this wall hanging and will definitely try each of these techniques again in the future. Today I bought a couple tools that will make it better on the next try I hope. First was a plastic sheet that attaches to the surface of the sewing machine to make it easier to move the fabric when you are freehand quilting or thread painting. It takes a lot of the drag out of pushing the quilt around under the foot. The second purchase was some smaller needles. I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Have a great weekend! Here's the final photo.

Update on Ginger Belle's Busy Day

Ginger and I had a fun day of shopping (at Pet Smart), visiting (Charlie and I's office staff), and the vet today. Ginger rode in her collapsible carrier and loved it. She wasn't too fond of one of the clerks at Pet Smart though. She growled and started barking at her when she got loud and came towards us too quickly. I couldn't tell if she was protecting me or feeling threatened herself. As soon as the lady backed away, she stopped. Other people the rest of the day held her and she snuggled up in their arms like they were long lost friends. The vet gave her a clean bill of health in all ways and didn't want to let go of her. When we got home, she took a nap and started playing with all her new toys we got at Pet Smart. I can't quite tell which is her favorite yet, but I think it's a toss up between her blue stuffed dachshund and her ball. She's not crying near as much tonight when I leave her alone in the crate because she has the toys to occupy her attention. Hopefully, that will help when it's time for me to go to bed tonight. I'm hoping I've worn her out enough today that she will sleep soundly all night.

Other firsts today for her was walking on a leash. She follows me very well... but there is one small problem... she wants to walk between my legs rather than to the side of me. I could easily step on her if I didn't hold my arm out straight on a very short leash so she can't quite get between the legs. We did a few training runs in the driveway and up and down the porch tonight. She seems to be learning things very quickly, so that makes me happy of course. I made her a little quilted monogramed coat to wear outside this morning. She loves it as you can tell in this photo.

My New Babies

Hi Everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote but life has been very busy for me the past few weeks. I've been out of town 3 times, once to visit family, once to attend a quilting retreat in Southern Missouri, and once to pick up my first (of 2) adopted miniature dachshunds. And on top of all of the traveling and the new puppy, I've had a bunch of health issues and undergone a number of tests and doctor appointments.

Here is a photo of my newest baby, Ginger Belle. She is a red and black long hair miniature dachshund with a really loving personality. She loves to sit on my lap while I am at the computer and she watches the screen till she falls asleep.

Her first night here she was very quiet and slept in a cardboard box at the side of my bed. I just put my arm down into the box, she'd lick it a few times, and curl up and go to sleep. But last night wasn't quite so easy. She just wasn't happy until I let her up in bed with me. I finally did because instead of licking my fingers when I dropped my hand over the side of the bed, she decided to make her point stronger, by nipping my fingers, and those baby teeth are sharp. I figured if I wanted to have any fingers left to quilt with, I better cater to her. After a couple of hours I put her in her crate in my sewing room and she FINALLY went to sleep. She then woke up when Charlie got up, so I went and got her and brought her back to bed with me and slept until 7:30. Yesterday I bought some puppy pads and she is using those to potty on so far. The weather has been too wet and cold to take her outside right now. I'm hoping to have some time today or tomorrow to make her a quilted coat to wear when she goes outside. She and I are visiting my office today and the vet for a check up.

When we went to get her, they had another long haired mini dachshund available for a good price so we put $100 down for them to hold her for us too. She is only 4 weeks old right now, so we don't actually get to pick her up until the end of May. Here is her photo.

She is a piebald cream and chocolate long haired little girl and we haven't named her yet. I'm hoping to get Ginger well on her way to being house broken and sleeping through the nights by the time we go get this little jewel.

I will try to get back on here soon and tell you all about the quilting retreat I went to in Conway, Missouri. It was a lot of fun and my two sisters (also quilt lovers) went with me, making it extra special. I got so many projects done and took a class and taught a demo on how to put together my little sewing caddy pins. I also won several nice prizes, a sewing tote bad, 25 quilted blocks ready to make into a pillow, blanket, pot holder, or something else, a landscape quilt book, and a quilt. There was one lady there who just gave away a ton of quilting things that she no longer needed or wanted, so we all really enjoyed that too. The food was absolutely wonderful, and the ladies were all so fun and helpful if you had a question about how to do something. It was one of the most fun things I've ever done before. Next time I write I will show you some of my projects.

Quilting Retreat/Panda Quilt

Well, I actually started the process of packing for the quilting retreat next week. I had to organize my things so my sewing stuff is all together in certain bags and my clothing, bedding, and personal grooming products are all in different bags, because the two things are located in 2 different buildings. I also have to have my name on everything. Needless to say, with packing so many things, it is taking me awhile to get everything labeled too.

Today I counted my kits that I'm taking to work on, and I have 12 ready to start sewing. I'm sure I will not get all of them done, but I assue you I will make a valiant effort. The hardest part is going to be deciding what to do first... such a nice problem to have. Tonight I'm going to work on the blue bird appliqued top and do the sandwiching of layers and get that all pinned together and ready to quilt, so that will be one more.

This little panda quilt is one I did a few years ago for a friend who collected pandas for her hobby. It is all paper pieced and was pretty easy and very cute I think. It was a kit I purchased somewhere (I don't remember where I got it). Enjoy!