Making progress

Here is the progress on the baby blanket. If you would want to quilt along so far I have cast on 123 stitches and knitted 12 rows. Yes, you knit all the rows - no purling to this point yet. My next row will be the first row of the pattern. I will share that on Monday. I am using a 4-ply worsted weight yarn. The pattern calls for 12 ozs., but I have some big fat skeins of vintage Red Heart yarn that are 8 oz. I may be able to get two blankets out of three skeins.


My plans this weekend depend on the weather. We have received 3 -4 inches of snow so far and all the schools are closed. Tonight my nephew's band is participating in a battle of the bands being held at a local high school. I don't know if they will pospone it or not since the snow is still falling and the roads are not so good. I have a haircut appointment tomorrow morning and it just depends on the amount of snow as to whether I can make it or not. My car can only handle about 5 to 6 inches of snow. I would like to get the yellow zig zag quilt quilted and the binding on Stage 11. I think I will just play it by ear this weekend!

And the winners are ... (yes, I am a day late!)

And the winners are zizzybob and Vicki W. zizzybob e-mail me your adddress and which piece you would like - the hand dyed purple, gold, and lilac or the african fabric piece. Vicki e-mail me your address too. Congratulations to the winners and thank you everyone for your participation.

This piece is Stage 6. It is the largest one I have done to date. It is 59" wide and 46" high. It is made with my hand dyes and I splatter painted it.

I did manage to get the stitches cast on and a few rows knitted for the next baby blanket. Let's see how much I get done on this that otherwise my hands would be doing nothing.

A few more things done

Here is the back and front of the second giveaway piece. It needed binding so that's one more thing done since the drawing is tomorrow. You can still leave a comment until midnight tonight. It is not a perfect rectangle. I like the more organic edges that are not straight - a little wonky. I forgot to measure it, but it is about 9" x 12".

The binding is now ready for the yellow zig zag quilt. I had this cute polka dot in my stash and I thought I was perfect. The backing is in the dryer so I am going to try and get it ready tonight after work.

Today at lunch I will finish the edging on the knitted baby blanket. That will be four done. I have three to giveaway and I am trying to find a local charity that would want them. I need to get another one started so I can knit at lunch time and while watching the Olympics.

I must say that I have been getting more done since I started this blog. I now think about it all the time and what am I going to post the next day. Sitting around doing nothing but watching TV would not seem like a very interesting post!

Working on another UFO

Last night I was watching the Olympics and my hands were idle. Donk! (my hand hits the side of my head) I could be finishing up the crochet edge on that baby blanket! So I got it off the shelf and started. The yarn I am using came from a man at work last year. His mother died and she crocheted (I hope that is spelled right - it just looks funny). He found a bunch of yarn and asked me if I would be interested. I told him I would like the light colors for giveaway baby blankets. He was delighted that I would use the yarn for giveaway/charity blankets because that is what his mother did. The pattern I use came from my late grandmother who was a fantastic knitter. She won a ribbon for Best of Show at the Illinois State Fair for an afghan that was knitted and embroidered. This was a simple blanket that she could whip up so fast. My mother also knitted and she also used this pattern. I do not have a daughter to pass this on to and I don't think my son is interested in learning how to knit, but I have never asked. Hum, maybe I will at least ask!

So anyway, I have two blankets just sitting waiting to be blocked and a third one that needs the crochet edge added. The orginal blanket pattern calls for a knotted fringe, but the fringe looks sad after the blanket is washed a few times. I had a book with all kinds of crochet edging so I just figured out something that would work. I am not a crocheter and my technique is probably incorrect, but I works for me. I think I have enough yarn for three or four more blankets, so I think I will get those needles out and start cranking out those blankets!

Successful weekend!

I got another UFO done! This quilt has eight different floral prints in it. I did vary the quilting in the green inner floral border. I stippled it in soft green thread. The rest of the quilt is quilted in off white. The size is 80" wide and 89" long. The back is a white on white piece that I hand dyed a green to match the green in the inner border. I did not have a pattern for this. I just cut the center rectangle and just worked my way out from there. I don't really like square quilts so I made some of the borders on the top and bottom wider to get some length to the piece.


Here are the yellow and white strips from Friday's post turned into a top. This weeks goal it to get the back pieced and get it pin basted for quilting.

I also got the four pair of C's pants hemmed. We met up for dinner so I could give her the pants and my fortune cookies said "Set high goals". Maybe that means all the time and not just when I feel like it? This is going to take some serious thought!

The weekend is fast approaching!

I can't believe it is Friday already. This week has gone by quick! I have several things lined up for the weekend. I want to finish quilting the floral quilt I showed the other day, I have four pairs of pants to hem for a cousin, and I want to get the strips pictured here pieced into a zig zag quilt. The some of the strips are sewn together and others are not that far. The baby this quilt is for is not due until June, but so far this year I have done really well getting baby quilts done before their born! So far I am two for two!

Last time I saw the weather it looks like no snow for the weekend which of course means no shoveling - yeah! Have a great weekend everyone!

The "Boss" quilt

The quality of the picture is not good. It is a picture of a picture. Again, I did not have a digital camera until 2009 and this was taken about 4 years ago.

Now the story - my brother was on tour with Bruce Springsteen. This was the Pete Seeger Sessions Band Tour. My brother called me and needed a lighting mask - a curtain - and needed it fast! So I gathered the materials for two 20' long x 2' high masks with velco along the top. He was home to get the masks before they were off to Europe the first time. I even make some nifty bags to keep them in.

I decided I needed to make a quilt for Bruce so I got started sewing. All the fabrics had a musical theme to them except one and it was of faces of a crowd that looked like an audience. The blocks were 14 or 15 inches square. I spent about 45 hours quilting this. It was quilted heavily - every 1/8". Once the tour came back to the states and they performed close to where I live, I got to go and see my lighting masks. I gave my brother the quilt. The tour went back to Europe on a charter plan with 48 seats that turn in to bed so everybody could sleep. When the tour was done in Europe they were flying back to the states, the quilt was presented to Bruce as a thank you gift for a great tour. Before lights out one of the band members - not my brother - tucked him in with the quilt. My brother said that Bruce appreciates hand made things.

So anyway that's the story. I have a few more encounters with rock stars and my quilts - stay tuned!

This is Stage 4 the other was 5.

So much for my memory! I got the number mixed up, but not the story. This piece is made with both hand dyed and hand painted. It is 24.5" x 26" wide. The rectangle is inserted. I used that technique for another quilt for a rock star, but I don't have a digital picture of it. I will take a picture of a picture tonight and post tomorrow. Hint - it was my brother's "Boss" at the time. I also quilted this one a little different.

Spent time shoveling again - we received another 4 inches - and watching the Olympics. I tape the broadcast from 8:30 to 12 and watch it the next evening. They sure have a lot of commercials! With taping (yes, I love my VCR!) I can fast forward thru them, but my evenings are gone and I am not getting much of anything else done.

Don't forget to leave a comment if you want to be included in the giveaway. I will announce the winners on Friday's post.

Olympics and quilting

I spent most of the weekend watching the Olympics and sewing. First, my heart goes out to the family of Nodar, from the Republic of Georgia, who was killed in his practice run.

Congratulations to Apolo and J.R. for silver and bronze! I get so nervous watching these guys skate!

I finished K's quilt - here is a full shot and a detail. Now the UFO's . I finished quilting Stage #11. I will post a picture after I get it bound. I finish the binding on the Layers quilt #5. You can really see the shadow of the piecing on the back. Hum? I not sure if I am digging that. Then I got stated again quilting on another UFO - a large floral quilt. So I would say I am happy with the amount I got done.

Sorry for the layout of the pictures. If anyone can tell me how to get them to post where I want them rather than always at the top, please let me know.

Happy V day and TGIF!

The plows came yesterday so instead of shoveling snow I made cookies for my co-workers. My plans for the weekend are hand sewing the binding on the quilt for K's daughter while I get my oil changed tomorrow, watching Project Runway that I taped last night, and working on a couple of UFOs. I will let you know Monday how I did!

Stage 4

This is a small piece - I left the measurements at the house - approx. 12" x 14". I esp. like the ghost strip and the introduction of black. I made this one at the same time I made a piece for Robin of simplyrobin. At the time she was having trouble getting nice corners when binding her pieces so I sent her a small quilt with each corner at a different stage of completion. I like orange, blue, and black combination so much, I made Stage 4 for myself.
The snow has finally let up. Tuesday thru Wednesday we received an additional 5 inches which is not bad compared to what the East coast is getting, but with my car I almost got stuck this morning. The road out of the cul-de-sac has not been plowed since Sunday and with the drifting it is getting kind of deep. I have an Eclipse - not what you would say is a car that was built to handle snow over 6". Unless the city plows there is no way I can make it up the road to get to the house. Hopefully my phone call to the city this morning will result in a plowed road.

Holy snow Batman!!

The picture is kind of dark, but it is dark at 6:30 in the morning! I was out shoveling again and thought I would show the snow in front of my house. We got 12" this past weekend and another 3-4" from yesterday and overnight. All this shoveling is getting to be like work! I know there are so many places that recieved so much more snow so I do feel lucky. I use to live in northern Indiana so to me this really is not a lot of snow, but then I didn't have to drive to work - I was just a kid!

Stage 3 36" x 41"

This piece was a departure in color for me. I also played around with the quilting. Some of the insert pieces were quilted across the width rather than the length. This piece was also splatter painted. I just thought it was lacking something so I took it out into the backyard and started flinging paint. I also did this on Stage 6 stay tuned!

I added the sizes of the previous Stage pieces so you would have an idea of the sizes.

Snow and Stage 2 36.5" x 39.5"

What a snowy weekend! I woke up Saturday morning to a foot of snow. I spent about an hour and 15 minutes clearing the driveway even though I knew I was not leaving the house. My car would not make it thru that much snow. At least it was sunny both Saturday and Sunday! The plow showed up 2:30 p.m. on Sunday and did a great job clearing the cul-de-sac. I still didn't leave the house.

It was a good weekend to stay inside and quilt. I finished quilting and machine sewed the binding on the scrap quilt for K's daughter's baby. I will post a picture as soon as I get the hand sewing on the binding done. I also got a non-quilting UFO done - replacing a zipper in a sweatshirt jacket and darning a couple of holes in the jacket.

I am posting a picture of Stage 2. Again I had dyed the fabrics and improvisationaly piece. I usually don't have much of a plan. I just think about the major cuts I am going to make and then dive right in.

Have a great Monday!

Stage 1 27.5" x38"

This is the first of many posts showing the series I have been working on. The name of the series is Stage which is taken from my greatest influence on my work which is professional bicycle racing. I am totally hooked on the sport. To watch these men climb a mountain on a bicyle in sometimes the worst weather is something to see. All the pieces in this series are made from my hand dyes except for some kona black. They are improvisationally pieced and free motion machine quilted.
This series will be hung in the local library as soon as I get them prepared for hanging. I have a couple more pieces to create also.

This and that

Here are pictures of the two giveaway items. I need to bind the african fabric piece yet.

Did you see the Grammy's? Bon Jovi was great, but then I saw my Ricky! Yes, Ricky Martin. I have not seen him in such a long time. He has a quilt I made for him in 2000. Saw him in concert in Columbus, Ohio. No, I did not get to meet him - bummer.

I have to get some baseboard and door trim install this evening, because my brother needs his nail gun back. Between May and early September last year I demolished both of my bathrooms and I am still working on the punch list and finishes. The foyer outside the lower level bathroom had a lot of work done since we moved one wall to make the bathroom a little bigger. So the existing trim and baseboard was torn out - it was water damaged anyway - and now I need to install the new. I will post a picture of where I am right now and what it looks like after I get the trim installed.

Here we go! and a giveaway

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am finally joining the blog world. My blog name "The Quilt Lady" came from Richie Sambora. My brother's late friend, D, was tour manager for Bon Jovi for the Bounce tour. I got to go to several concerts and made a quilt for each one of the band members. D said Richie wanted to meet me in person to thank me for his quilt and the name on the ticket envelop was "the quilt lady". Here is a picture of a picture (I did not have a digital camera then) of that meeting. I am the short one with the curly hair. The other woman was a friend of mine and was in shock that she got to meet her favorite member of the band. We had no idea that we were going to meet Richie, David, or Hugh until we picked up the tickets.

I have a feeling that my pictures are not going to be in any particular order - please be patience while I try and figure how all this works!

This weekend I quilted a baby quilt for K who is expecting her first grandchild. K and I put the top together and pin basted it. K is going to hand stitch the binding. I decided to take the leftovers and make another baby quilt so I have something to take to the shower. (Ok, we are going to try to insert pictures of the quilts - wish me luck!)

My goal with this blog is to use it as a way of making myself accountable. I have some UFO's I need to get done (although I did get 15 done with Jacquie's challenge last Nov/Dec). I have been invited to have an exhibit at a local library and I have just not made it a priority - I need to though.

With all that said, I will be looking forward to comments and any help learning how to use this media. I decided to have a giveaway to celebrate this new adventure. I have two small pieces - one with my hand dyes (purple, lavender, and gold) and the other made from african fabrics. I will draw names on Feb. 24 including anyone who leaves me a comment on this post.