Mixin away....

My mixer came UPS last evening!! YAY!! I had it unpacked immediately. and I got her going this morning. Here's a picture of her. I think she needs a name, lol. The grey actually looks better than the yellow would have. 

I looked through the cookbook that came with it, and decided to make a chocolate cake. This is the first cake I have ever made from scratch. Really! It was fun.

Here it is out of the oven. Smell it?? I bought frosting though. Maybe next time I will make my own. My next baking attempt will be biscuits . Dave makes really good sausage gravy. YUM.

Finished up a quilt I made a few years ago. It was a one day mystery and was made with fake curves and rick rack. I don't really need it, so it's going to the Guardian ad Litem office for some child. Better there than the pile.

The thermometer in the back of our house reads 103 right now.

Later,
WilmaNC

We're having a heat wave....

Is it as hot where you are? We have been sweltering here with the high temperatures and the humidity. Though today is supposed to only have a high of 79, by the weekend we're going to 98!!! Yuk. And my son is going to be here for a visit. We will definitely be going up on the parkway to get some cooler temps, and do some hiking.

I had decided to do another BOM/mystery quilt. Haven't done one in a while, but this one sounded intriguing, so thought I would give it a try. I made the first block, and it was not a fun one. Difficult to sew together, and the seam allowances at the edges are not quite 1/4". The block is pretty, so I will hang in there and see what comes next installment. Here is my block. Click on the button above if you want to check it out.

The lap quilt client really loved her quilt. I have been paid and my mixer is ordered and has been shipped. Alas, I didn't get the yellow one as I found a deal with more attachments, but not in yellow. So I got grey. When it gets here I will show you a picture, and I will bake you something good. :)

Later,
WilmaNC

Onwards and Upwards

The lap quilted quilt is on it's way to Denver. And the check is on it's way to me!!! I have my mixer all picked out. Here's what I want:

Majestic yellow. Can't wait!!

Yesterday I changed gears and made some things for the shop. Last check was for kleenex holders and an apple, so I made more.

I love the shirts. They make me laugh. I got the pattern at Heirloom Creations, $1.99 instant download, can't beat that. These are the easiest holders I have made so far. I'm thinking about making some girly ones today.

The rectangular ones are just like those easy coasters. The buttons make them look cute.

The apples are made from an old quilt that I had used until it started falling apart. My sister, Patty, had given me one for a gift years ago, and also the pattern. They are just too cute.

So, back to sewing, or computer rooting, whichever I feel like today. Or maybe reading, or watching a movie....Ahhh, the joys of retirement, lol.

Later,
wilmaNC

Lap Quilting done!!!

I finished the client quilt last evening. I am very pleased that it is finished, and that it came out really nice. I had visions of washing the quilt and having it come out in shreds, but it is warm and snuggly.

I hadn't hand quilted this much in a long time, so my fingers will take a little time to heal, as well as all the other pokes I got from from pins as I was wrestling with it. I started out keeping track of my time, but it took so long, and I picked it up every time I sat down, so it was difficult. I do know that I spent AT LEAST 60 hours on it. Without further ado...

I couldn't get a good picture of it all because I couldn't get far enough away. It's pretty big. The pillow cover is on the couch.

There were little blue marks left over from when the owner did the blocks in 1978, and when I wet them, they didn't come out, and I got worried. But after washing it, they were all removed, except for faint lines on the light part of the pillow cover .

Now on to my next project. And also to getting paid and buying my new mixer!!!!

edit: (While looking at the picture, I noticed that I missed an area to quilt, right above the house. I'm fixing that right now!!!! It will only take a little bit, hope my fingers don't yell too much, lol. )


Later,
WilmaNC

Lap Quilting Update

I am making good headway on the lap quilting job. Lots of hand work. I think I have about 40 hours in on it already. 

I am in the process of connecting all the blocks. This is how is begins. The backing pieces and the batting are folded back and the block edges are sewn. The brown checked fabric frays easily, so I'm taking a half inch seam allowance to make sure it doesn't fray apart. Then I lay it flat with the seam open, trim the batting so it butts together, then fold one side of the backing and hand sew it down like a binding. Not hard but very labor intensive.

Here is a group of 6 put together. I'm doing them in sections for better handling, but the last seam is going to be fun, lol.

Because of the mitered corners on the borders, at each intersect there are 8 seam lines meeting. It kind of comes up like a teepee.

So, I am quilting a circle in that area, then quilting a quarter inch from both sides of the connecting seams to maybe give it more stability, and fill in some blank areas.

You can see that after the blocks are connected that the areas near the seams are puffy. We can't have that!! So that's why I'm doing the quilting there.

Oh, and this block was one she sent that is to be made into a pillow cover. I'm saving it til last as I need to layer and quilt it too. It will be a nice ending to this project.

Hopefully next time I post, all of the blocks will be connected. I think I will bind it before I do the remainder of the quilting. That way I won't have to worry about any fraying. I am going to do a 1/2" binding, which I have never done, bit I think it will look nice.

Later,
WilmaNC