Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Jewel Box finished

 So glad this is out of the closet and finished!  I am going to keep the simple border, just so all the piecing does not ravel.  Lots of little pieces in this one, I love using up part of my tiny pieces!  It is now big enough to cover a person up, not so small as before.
 I am making a few Honey Bee blocks.  I have twelve of them planned.  These are made from my nine patch swap blocks that I participated in a couple years ago.
A favorite block!  Of course...it is pink!!


Have a great day, everyone!!

Julie

Monday, February 25, 2013

Total Immersion...

 Good Monday to all of you!  I am off work today, and have hit the ground running.  Below is my little Jewel Box top I made last year...and did not like. It has been languishing in the closet, waiting for a chance to be finished. It cried out to me this week!   So, I took the borders off and I am making the quilt twice as big!
 The borders came off quickly, using the rotary cutter as a seam ripper...but I had to be really careful not to cut the fabric.
 These blocks are four inches finished, so the little four patches use one inch finished pieces. I love this!  I can see so many scraps from so many quilts in this quilt.  Hundreds of different fabrics!
 A quilt explosion!!  I am in the process of trimming and binding all these quilts, for patient quilts.  Rosie the poodle is helping me with this process.  I am so delighted to be making some finishing progress!!
 More plaid string blocks...
 More Jewel Box blocks...lots more!!  Four inch finished.  All from the 1.5 and 2.5 inch scraps bins.  By the way, I have been cutting, and cutting, and cutting out quilts...at least four are all cut out now.  That is what I have been working on in insomnia nights!
 A beautiful rose from my husband, from Valentine's day...love it dear!  Thank you so much!!  Isn't it pretty??
And this...

You know, when we have a code, it involves using a crash cart.  We run and get the crash cart, and crack the seal...this is the seal.  Seems like this little piece gets thrown to the floor in all the trauma of the code...and usually I end up picking them up for some reason.  Such a little piece of plastic, but so symbolic of a person's life...or death.  This code was successful!!  Hurrah!!

A lady's daughter came screeching out of a patient room, yelling, "This is an emergency!"  I went tearing down there, ready to code the patient or whatever...and the patient said..."well, I may have to use the bedpan."  Sigh...after a week of drama....sigh!!


Hope each of you has a great day today!

Julie

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Good morning!

 Good morning to everyone!  February is purple month, at least in the Rainbow Challenge!!  I am continuing to make baskets to add to my basket stash...perhaps I will have enough for a big quilt someday!   I am linking to So Scrappy for Angela's rainbow challenge, using a different color scraps each month to make...something!!   Lots of marvelous ideas there.   Thank you for being a marvelous hostess!

 February in the cardiac nursing world where I live is "Go Red" for heart health...woman's heart health month.
 More Garden blocks!  This is a block of the month I am doing through a local quilt shop, the Cabbage Rose.  These are laser cut pieces, already backed with fusible web...how spoiled is that?  I love it...the fun is all there, and very little prep work.  Just fun sewing...Yahoo!
Plugging away at the plaids!  I am kind of at a stop, until I cut some more plaid strings, which I can do, just haven't yet!!


I am planning laundry, cleaning, laundry, straightening, laundry,  and a little more sewing before preparing dinner tonight.  Later I might do some more laundry. Hehe...maybe the laundry pile is kind of high around here, LOL!   I was on at work for a six day stretch again, maybe I should rethink that? I was just totally wiped out last night!!  Am I getting too old for six 13-14 hours days in a row in charge?  So glad for some rest days...


You, each of you...I wish you a really good day with lots of happiness!



Julie

Monday, February 11, 2013

hand quilting

 I really love hand quilting, but reserved it for only those times when I am traveling and need something to do with my hands...until now! I need to hand quilt at home too, with Kathy's encouragement!  I find it so relaxing and fun, so why should I only do it so rarely?  Above is my plaid churn dash quilt, and I have started the hand quilting on it.  The edge is done, and as the plaids are ravelly, I went ahead and bound it.  Kind of putting the cart before the horse, but in this case, it worked for me just perfectly.  I am hand quilted around each triangle and in the sashing, and will do the blocks last.
 Details, details!  I do something I bet would drive most of you nutty...I clip all my threads at the last, all at once.  Do any of you do this? My home-ec teacher would cringe!  but it is the best use of my time, and all the threads get thrown away in a wad, instead of floating around and getting individually stuck around the vacuum beater bar...
 Another little table runner I hand quilted this week.  Scraps, as usual!  I marked with blue wash out marker, and it came out just fine.  Black thread shows up well on this runner.
Ready to be bound!!

Thanks for looking at my hand quilting!!  And double thanks for telling me what a LOW VOLUME QUILT is!!!  I am intrigued!

Julie

Friday, February 8, 2013

A question...

HI everyone...

What is a low volume quilt that everyone is talking about?  It means to me that you use low loft batting!  but that is not right, is it?  so...what IS IT!!?

Thank you!!

Julie

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Finishing...

 Thank each of you for helping me with this border!!  I decided you were right, it should be simple, but scrappy...so I used the same pieces as my sashing and added to the sides...and that was enough!  It seemed finished to me.
 Here it is, all done and ready for quilting!  scrappy binding is all ready too.  Yahoo!
 I finished this little quilt, for a friend.
 Also this little one too come into being, from the scrap bin, for Valentine's day.
And I am plugging away at my plaid rail fence too.  These blocks finish at 4 inches, so I need a whole bunch of them still.



Hope each of you has a great day!  Not feeling too great today, but I hope to be all better soon...I think dear husband shared his cold with me!


Julie

Monday, February 4, 2013

Crumby progress!

 Well, how did that happen?  This picture is super sized!  Anyway, I am making some progress on the crumby quilt.  I am at a total loss for borders...this will a hospital bed/patient quilt sized quilt.  I did not make much of a dent in the crumb pile!!  Oh well, I will soldier on!  Do you have an idea for a border?  Help!!
 Another shot...
 And since I could not figure out the borders for the first quilt, I worked on this border, for the basket quilt.  It is prettier in person...looks rather dark in the pictures.
 Rosie the quilting model is displayed at no extra charge to you!!  She is such a wonderful sweetheart, I am just in love with this little stray darling doggie!!
And...cheesecake!  A little brownish...and cracked!  I will have to have another go at this one...but it will taste good, at least I hope so!  I used low fat cheese and splenda instead of sugar, so maybe that is why it cracked.  It seems wonderful on the inside...will try again!!


Have a great day, all!!

Julie

Hexies, rainbow quilts and plaids!

Good morning to all!!!  Above is a hexagon, for English paper piecing.  My kitten Lucky has discovered them, and decided that they are great...