A great day

What a great day. A few of us quilters got together today for a quilters' gathering. We met at Cher's house. She was so gracious to invite us over for the morning and lunch. Cher showed us her beautiful quilts, we feasted our eyes on her stash, oh my, what a stash and we had show and tell with a few of our own projects. There were five of us, Cher, Holly, Patti, Michelle and myself. All I can say is: What a great day it was!

Here is my current project. I am using up left overs from the Colorado Beauty quilt I have been working on. I miscalculated and cut to many strip sets so I had to do something with the leftovers. This is what I have come up with so far. I have one more flower to make but have to wait until tomorrow when I finish my laundry. Why you may ask, well I used the dryer sheets to as the backing on my applique pieces and I need one more to finish the rest of the petals so I will wait until I finish my laundry tomorrow to do that. I have not measured the piece, so I don't know the dimensions yet and I am still thinking of a name for the piece. I saw the most beautiful applique today that I have ever seen in my life. Patti from Quilting is my Passion has to be the best appliquer (this is not a word but I am going to use it any way, I will just make it up for this post) on this planet. Her work is so precise, one would think it was painted on the piece. Mine, I can tell you right now will not be like that. I will be happy with however mine turns out but in the back of my mind aspire to someday be as good as Patti.

Have a good evening. Dot

Thread, thread, thread

My thread is here!!! Well. it was actually here early April but the Post Office did not notify me. I waited and waited and finally contacted APQS to see if it was sent, their response was it should have arrived here on April 4th. I went to the Post Office to inquire and sure enough it was sitting there and I was not notified. I am so happy I checked on it and they did not send it back. This is what 500.00 worth of thread looks like. I am very happy, especially with the thread color cards, now I will know exactly what I am looking at when I need to order more thread, or should I say a color I did not receive. Enjoy your week end. Dot

Prairie Dust

Here is a picture of the complete Prairie Dust top. It turned out nicely. I like it much better than I thought I would. I have not quilted it yet. I have three more quilts for Rosie to do than I will get to my tops.

I have been busy knitting and sewing. I was going to work on my SITP but I have misplaced my book in my messy (and I mean messy) sewing room. I will find it but not this week. I have to much going on to worry about that.

Not much else to write about. I just wanted to show the completed top. Off to lunch and sewing before I go back to work for the afternoon. I had an extra long lunch today so I came home to sew.

Dot

Busy, busy, busy

I spent yesterday doing errands and quilting on the quilts for Rosie. This is one of the quilts that was in the bunch I am working on. I have not seen this pattern before and I really liked it. It looks so old fashioned to me. I drew the pattern out and am going to try making a block to see how it works out.

Here is a photo of more of the quilt. I completed four quilts and have one loaded ready to go. I have four more in the box and will have all 12 done.

I went to the post office as part of my errands yesterday and they were having some sort of parade going on in the area so I was trapped there for awhile. Thank goodness there is a Jo Ann's by the post office. I went in to waste time and found this fabric for 1.50 a yard. It was on their clearance for 3.00 but then and additional 50% off. I will make really good backing. The original price was 8.99 so I think I got a good deal.

I am still working on the boring four patch. I have decided to call it Prairie Dust. It is coming along and growing on me, someone out there will be happy to have it. Well I best get busy. I have sewing and house chores to do today.

Good day to all. Dot

P.S. Colorado Avalanch made it into the next round for the Stanley Cup. YEAH!!!!! The only bad part is if the Red Wings get in today then I won't know who to root for. The delimas of a sport fan.

Another top started

Rantala Rags sweat shop is up and running again. My vacation is over and time to get going. Why you might ask am I saying this. Well, I found out my son reads my blog and he told me I need to slow down. He says I am like a sweat shop on my quilts. I disagree. I have fun and if my tops go together quickly so be it. I admit, I do not make very complicated patterns, I would loose interest to quickly. I have a top I have been working on, (on and off) for about three years now. Someday it will be done. It is many, many curved seams so I don't sew on it to much as the progress is slow.

This new top is boring. I did not choose my fabrics well, but I will finish it, and it will make a good charity quilt.

Well back to the sewing machine. Good evening to all. Dot

This and that

I was the lucky winner when Debi at Quilting with Debi had her birthday give away. Look at all the wonderful things I received. I knew about the bag but all the goodies inside. The patterns, the fabric, note cards and thread. What a booty.

We went to Colorado Springs over the week-end. This is a picture of the floor at baggage claim. I thought it was a great idea for a quilt. This is taken at the Denver Airport.

Here is the completed pinwheel mini quilt. I gave it to my DIL for her birthday gift. It certainly looks good in use.

We went shopping on Saturday. This cute little cut of fabric I bought at the Mill Store. What a great store. There was so much fabric to look at but I was really good and only purchased this 2 yard cut.

I wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, I have heard so much about it and wanted to see it for myself. I don't know if it was just this particular Hobby Lobby but I was not that impressed with it. I did purchase this rem of decor fabric, I plan to make a bag out of it. My carry on luggage bag I purchased way back in the early 90's is worn so I thought I would make a new one out of this. I hope it turns out nice.

We had a real nice time visiting with my son and DIL. The weather did not co-operate but that is alright. We were to go to a Rockies game on Thursday but it was cancelled due to a snow storm. It snowed on and off all week-end (except Sunday when we flew home) but we made the most of it anyway. We did a lot of just nothing and sleeping but had a good time. Very relaxing.

Well I best get going into my day. Many things to do to catch up on being away. Have a good day. Dot

Pinwheels

I was asked about the pinwheels. Yes I did replace each one of them. It wasn't as hard as it seems. I just ripped the seam out about and inch or two on each side , removed the pinwheel from the sashing, sewed in the new pinwheel and sewed the seams up again. It went rather smoothly without any hiccups. I do like the outcome immensely.

Well what do you do with the pinwheels you removed? This is what I did. I made a small quilt or a table topper, whatever one wants to use it for. As you can probably tell, the binding is sewn on but not sewn on the back. I plan to do that sometime this weekend.

I was also asked what type of batting is I was going to use the the original quilt top for a table cloth. I will use what I usually use, just 4 0z polyester batting. This seems to work well for me, I have not had any problems with it. Most of my quilts are given away and used for utility so to keep costs down this is what I use. If I know I am keeping it for myself or giving away to a special person or as a special gift I will use the more expensive batting but the less costly goes in the other quilts.

Have a great day. Dot

My fix

This is how I decided to fix my pinwheel problem. I made new pinwheels using different fabrics. I like it better also, the pinwheels are a bit more subdued. I don't know why but this quilt top does not photograph very well. It really is not as bright as it comes out in the photos.

I will add a three inch border in brown and be done. It will be a square quilt, about 61x61. I don't get to excited about square quilts but it will make a nice table cover.

Have a good evening. Dot

IDEAS????

This is the quilt top I have been working on. I don't have enough of the floral print to make pinwheels for the sides, any ideas on what to do would be greatly appreciated. Right now the top measures 48x58.5. I don't like how it doesn't look completed without sides completing the sashing around the Colorado Beauty blocks but am at a loss on what to put where the pinwheels should go. I will keep looking at it and dig thru my stash to see if I can find any fabric that might go along with this floral print. I just remembered I do have some purple thistle fabric that might work. I like how it is coming together. much different than I anticipated. Who knows what the final outcome will be. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE leave me any suggestions you might have.

Update

I have been asked to show the cup with a ruler by it so see the size. It is 7 inches tall. I have also placed a coffee mug and a to go cup next to it so you can compare. The other goodies are from last night. Our YA-YA group god together and we celebrated spring birthdays. Well my birthday is next month so I am part of the spring birthday celebration. I received a Sharon Schamber DVD on feathers, I haven't watched it yet but look forward to doing that. I also received a really nice Kleenex cover and magic wallet. Last but not least a yummy box of chocolates. The cup measures 10 inches across.

Here is closer look at the gifts.

Back to sewing. Dot

P.S. I have completed quilting 3 charity quilts today. I am very proud of myself for doing that. Now I am sewing on a quilt top I am making.

Coffee Anyone???

This is a very cute planter my husband brought home to me last night.

How long do you think it would take to drink this cup of coffee?

Off to quilting. Have a great day.

Dot

Just a post

Amy, at Calico Cat, asked for the recipe for Swiss steak. If you click on the picture it should enlarge so you can read it. This is good American food. It sticks to your ribs and fills you up. I have started another quilt, surprise surprise. I have decided to make one using my favorite block. I love this block, it is tedious, trimming all those HST's but it is such a nice block. I found the name of it on the internet, Colorado Beauty.

Well my son and daughter live in Colorado so I decided to make them a quilt for their front room using this block. It won't be very big, mostly a lap quilt but I like the color combination. I am using fabric I bought a few years ago so I only have what I have on hand. I don't know if this fabric is even produced anymore. If anyone out there recognizes it and knows please let me know.

Do you have a favorite block? I would like to know. Post a picture of it on your blog and let all of us know what your favorite block is.

Good day to all. Dot