Ah, life

So, Tuesday was my last official class day, and Monday, I go out into the real world, onto my externship.  I really can't wait, because it's a chance to put everything I have learned into real world applications.  I passed both of my classes with A's (whoo-hoo!).  Then, that evening (Tuesday) got a phone call from my brother that our Dad is in the hospital, and won't be going home, from the hospital he will be going to a nursing home, he needs full-time care.  So, I will be doing my externship (200 hours) as fast as I can, and getting my butt to South Dakota to check on him, and make sure he has all he needs, and we will try to figure out what to do with his house and all the stuff in it.  He has a lot of stuff, but it is all in a somewhat orderly fashion (I get the lots of stuff from him, but I definitely didn't get the orderly), it's just going to be time consuming, very.  I think though, that once he gets settled someplace permanently, he will do a lot better, and I won't worry, like I have been.  This, I really do believe is for the better for him.
     Onto the sewing/slash quilting front, my classmates and I had this quilt done for our instructor:

She put the top together, by hand, about 10 years ago, and never got the chance to quilt it.  It contains some of her dad's shirts in it.  She loves it.  

Here is a picture of the back, you can see the stipple quilting done.  A local long arm quilter by the name of Sally Cascario, did the quilting.  I have know her for several years through our guild, she does wonderful quilting.  

I had her do the binding too, and she did a great job, with a decorative stitch.  All in all a wonderful, warm, quilt.  I have also found a new design to use up those scrappy squares I have cut out! 










On the sewing front, I finally started a different dress design, and I will put the picture up later.  I actually accomplished a good buttonhole!  I have never, ever been able to do a good buttonhole, seriously, I always had to have my mom do them for me.  But, I pulled out my instruction manual, and my buttonhole foot, and it actually worked!  So, hopefully I will have a picture on my next blog post.

I do, however, have a picture of some of the quilting being done on this scrap strip quilt:

I have been quilting like crazy on this thing, and I am not even halfway done yet!  I think I will quilt the next quilt with a loop design that is fairly large in size next time! I have filled 7 bobbins 3 times already!

I found this great tutorial on a scrappy dresden plate, and now I can't remember the web address!  If anyone knows, could you let me know? I would love to put a link in, so others can do this too.  I love this block! 

And just for a little dose of cuteness, a great pic of my daughter and our little dog, Mr. Hiro:

He likes to climb up on anything and everything.  I had moved the dining chairs over, and he discovered to could go from the floor to the chair to the counter.  Then, he couldn't get down!  It's like having a toddler around, but we love him to pieces. 

Happy quilting,
Marianne

Tension Woes

Sometimes, the tension decides to go wacky on my machine.  Here is what I am dealing with:

See all the eyelashes?  I am adjusting, trying different threads, nothing is working!  I am going to lose my mind soon.  Ah well, I think by walking away, and taking a break will help more than anything.  Sometimes, it's the best thing. 
Happy quilting,
Marianne

So many quilt tops, so little time.

How long is too long for a quilt top to sit around waiting to be quilted, and then used?  I decided to go through my stack of quilt tops, and a few were surprising to me.
Take this one for example:

I made this one when we were still in New Mexico, and I was getting ready to move with the kids to Florida.  That was 14 years ago this June.  I think this quilt deserves to be quilted, don't you?  I saw the the picture on the cover of Quilt Magazine, and had to make it.  The petals are all three-dimensional, and I hand dyed the blue background fabric.  Even though my tastes have changed significantly since then, it will be quilted sometime this year, I swear it!

Then, there were more tops:

The Scrappy Double Wedding Ring. 

Another string pieced top (I do love doing these, they use up a lot of small pieces of fabric). 

What's really sad is I really don't remember making this quilt top.  I remember all the fabrics, just not the making of the top.  Does this mean my memory is going? 

This top is a compilation of blocks I won from the guild I used to belong to.  I love all the wild colors! 

A rose quilt top I made to make my daughter's heirloom quilt.  All of my kids get one, the boys already have theirs.  

I unearthed this one, all hand pieced and hand appliqued.  Yet another one that I don't remember making.  

The previous mystery quilt of Bonnie Hunter's.  Roll, Roll, cotton boll.  

I saw a picture of this quilt in a magazine, and had to make it.  It's just squares and triangles.  My mom has laid claim to it, no clue when it'll be quilted. 

And, finally, the most recent top.  I finished all but putting on the final binding yesterday.  Gotta love Miss Bonnie's patterns!









So, there are all but a couple of my tops waiting patiently to be quilted.  The others need repair, etc.  I challenge other quilters out there to pull out their old tops and show them off!  Dig them out of the closets, bottom of the drawer, etc.  I showed mine, now show me yours. :)

Been awhile.

I just realized last night that it had been at least 2-3 weeks since I last blogged! Sorry about that, it's just been crazy with school, and gearing up for finals, etc.  I only have 2 more class days, and then the final, and I am done.  All I have left to do will be a 40 hours week externship, and working on weekends.  Yep, for about a month, probably nothing will be heard from me.  In the immortal words of my instructor,"Prepare to have no life for a month". But time goes by quickly, too quickly sometimes, and I'll be back with more pictures of projects before I know it. In the meanwhile, here is a little something I have been working on, courtesy of Bonnie Hunter.  It's the spiderweb pattern, and I love it:                                                                      

I went ahead and used some scrappy reds instead of all one red. 

My nice stack of blocks. 

working on another block piece. Only 5 more block to go!

I am already planning my next project, and I haven't even finished with this one yet! I think my quilting mojo is back! I found a tutorial for a great Dresden plate that is strip pieced!  I can't wait to do it, another way to use up small scraps!
Oh, before I finish up, let me present:

BCC Medical Assistant Program graduates of Spring 2012!

Happy Quilting,
Marianne

Happy Dance!

It's done, it's done!  Yippee, after lots of stops and starts, quilt is done!

I love it! It was Bonnie Hunter's last mystery quilt , and I used a ton of scraps for it.  I can't believe I finally finished it! 

Here is the back of it, I used ugh fabric that I couldn't figure out what else to do with.  We all have some of that, don't we?










I'll tell ya though, this quilt was a pain towards the end. I was using this light gray thread to quilt it, I then ran out, and had to use a different thread brand for the bobbin thread ( I had enough for the top), and my tension went crazy! I was constantly breaking thread, but I was persistent, I only had 1 row left to go, I was not going to quit! So, I finally got it done, and I think I danced around the house, I was so happy!
On a second note, I took the machine off the frame, took off it's cover and it was ugly inside.  No loose threads or anything like that, but lots of lint.  Lots and lots of lint.  I used my little hand vac, and cleaned it out.  Mental note- after a quilt or two, I need to make sure I clean it out thoroughly.  I am very guilty of not doing that very often.  Now, I just need to run the machine, and make sure I have the tension fixed.  I would love to get another quilt on the frame soon.  Just not sure which one though, I have a whole stack. :).
Ah well, off to working with tension. 
Happy quilting,
Marianne

Back with pictures.

Yay, I am back to blogging, and with pictures, who would've thunk it? :).  I have been fairly busy sewing these dresses lately:

 Aren't they cute?  I am listing them on an Etsy shop, I'll post the link at a  later date.  This is a wonderful way to use up some of these fabrics I have been hoarding, correction, collecting.  I am also working on some bags from recycled items, and adding some embroidery into my projects.  And, speaking of embroidery.  I was at the local Hancock's fabric store yesterday, and spotted this, with a clearance tag on it:

 I have been wanting a machine that just does embroidery for a very long time.  I have been salivating over this every time I go into the store, but it just wasn't in the budget.  Well, they are no longer selling them at this store, so they really, really discounted it.  I got the last one that was in the box.  I am so, so happy.  I have already done 3 different designs on it.  Here is one of them:

It comes with 2 different size hoops that are a nice size, and it's very easy to use. That was one of the factors for getting this particular machine. 
Alas, my poor mystery quilt has been put on the back burner for a while:

I am about half done, but there is good news.  Next week is spring break, and the kids and I are off from class the entire week.  So, this quilt is getting done!  For an entire week, no getting up early, no homework, just free time, and I am going to enjoy it. 
Well, I hope every one has a great day, as for me I am going to do some napping (my allergies are going haywire, and I am going to take some meds), I have an interview for my PE site today, and then I will be sewing. 
Happy Quilting,
Marianne

What have I been up to?

So, what have I been up to?  School, school, and more school.  I have about 6 more weeks, then four weeks of my externship, and then I am done with this course! :).  Of course, now that I have discovered how much I love learning, I am going to continue on with college.  I am thinking about getting more into the administrative side of the medical field.  I seem to be gravitating that way.
I have also been sewing a lot, makingtoddler girls dresses, and my son's girlfriend has an Etsy shop, so they are getting posted for sale there.  I love making them, and I have a lot of scraps to use in my quilts! 
Alas, no pictures until I get my computer fixed though, no pictures of anything.  :(.  I've been keeping up with other's blogs, and living vicariously through them.  Hopefully, it won't be too much longer before I am back to blogging regularly! 
Happy quilting,
Marianne