What’s On My Design Wall – Monday

This is a week of quilting.  I have four quilts that need to be quilted over the next couple of days.  I have a very old Handiquilter and a Brother PQ 1500 that I use.  These are all quilts that will hang in the TWW booth at IQF in Long Beach in July.  The quilting is not the star of the show so I will just need to do some kind of overall meander or loopy loop. 

So…….what’s on my design wall?  Just one of the quilt tops and backing, that has been ironed and hung up there so one of the cats doesn’t sit on it. 

Here’s one of my three quilt loving cats.  This one is Lucy and she is the senior citizen of my cat brood.  I’m not sure exactly how old she is but we think she’s about 11 or 12.  She loves to be pet and will become anyone’s best friend if they’ll pet her.  Unfortunately, she shed’s something awful.  I am constantly picking up white fur all over the house.

Have a great week, you’ll find me in the garage quilting my little heart out.

Eat That Frog

So you don’t know what “Eat That Frog” means?  Well, you can just click on this and see a short clip on just what it means.  Once you’ve done that, come on back to see what my “Frog” is for the day.

For the last several weeks I’ve been looking at this:

and this:

and a close up of this:

Now these may not look like “Frogs” to you, but believe be these piles of quilts are definitely my current “Frog”. 

At the beginning of the month I gave a lecture and workshop at Orange Grove Quilters Guild.  In the process of organizing my lecture I pulled quilts from every corner of my house and my daughters house to show and talk about.  Every time I do that I swear I am going to go through the quilts and weed out some of them.  Many of these are very old and do not need to be in “my collection” any longer.  It’s time they find a new home and get donated to charity. 

So there you have it, that is my “Frog” for the day.  No more procrastinating (like updating my blog instead of organizing quilts), it’s time to tackle the piles of quilts.

Unfortunately I have another “Frog” just waiting until tomorrow and the next day, and the next day.  Oh well, one bite at a time.

Red Water Lilies???

This morning I completed yet one more quilt sample.  This one is made from the pattern “Magnolia Lane” and is made with this lovely Hoffman of California fabric.  We think it’s red water lilies but if anyone knows different, please drop me a note.  Here it is hanging on the fence in my front patio.

and a close up that better shows the fabric.

 

Marilyn and I met today to put some fabric in and pull some fabric out of storage for yet another quilt sample.  I’ll post a picture of those fabrics sometime over the next few days.  Plus I have to figure out what I’m going to do with the fabrics.  I have an idea on paper but now I have to figure out if it will work.

Of course we ended up shopping for backing for this quilt.  Here’s what I ended up with.

Kind of fun, don’t you think?

In the mean time, I now have four quilt tops all ready to quilt.  Quilting them is moving to the top of my priority list.  They need to be done before the International Quilt Festival, Long Beach, CA that’s being held in July. 

P.S.  The truth is I have way more than four quilt tops that need quilting but only four, as of right now, that need to be ready for IQF.  Someday I’ll get caught up.  NOT!

Another Sample Completed (well sort of)

Another day another sample.  Last night I finished adding the borders to a Devine Nine sample.  The focus fabric for this one is called “Eclectic” by Kings Road.  When the fabric arrived it spoke to me saying “make me into a Devine Nine”, so I did.  I’m usually not a fan of earth tones or fall fabrics but I really like this one.  It just may be a keeper. 

Here’s the top, hanging sideways on my front patio fence.

The binding is all made and waiting patiently for the quilting to be completed.  This is a coordinating fabric from the same Kings Road line.

Finally but not least, this is what I’m putting on the back.  It’s an Alexander Henry fabric (can’t you tell), called “simba”.  I might just like the back as well if not better than the front.

So now this goes in the pile, waiting to be quilted next week (unless a quilt fairy comes along and magically quilts all my tops).  A girl can dream!

Hugs,

What’s On My Design Wall – Monday

Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times encourages her Blog readers to post what’s on their design wall on Mondays. It really helps to track your achievements or sometimes lack of.  Thank you Judy for giving us this little push.

I actually got some things accomplished last week, and my design wall has actually changed.  Last week my design wall looked like this.  I finished the Magnolia Lane top and posted a picture of it on Saturday. 

This week I have a Devine Nine on my design wall.  Here’s a picture of the blocks.

This picture was taken before the blocks were sewn together.  I actually got that much done yesterday afternoon and will add the borders today.  It then will be added to the “needs to be quilted” pile for next week. 

Also on last weeks design wall was the red water lily fabric.  That is my next project.  Hopefully I’ll get the top made this week.  It’s going to be another “Magnolia Lane” sample. 

New Sample

I finally finished the top of my newest sample of my pattern “Magnolia Lane”.  This one is made with Wildwood fabric from Free Spirit. 

I really like this one and my husband even made a comment about how much he likes it.  It now need to be quilted and the binding done but I’ll save that for sometime over the next couple of weeks.  I have several samples that need to be quilted so I think I’ll plan a couple of days to have a quilting marathon on my good “old” Handiquilter.

 

So now it’s on to the next sample.  This time I’m making another pattern of mine called “Devine Nine”.  Here’s a picture of the fabrics I’ll be using.

This is a really quick quilt to make so hopefully I can get the top finished tomorrow and add it to the pile of tops to be quilted. 

Please visit the Two Wacky Women website to see all the patterns that are available.

Robin

Happy Father’s Day

In honor of Father’s Day I thought I’d share this YouTube video.  I fondly remember my Daddy tickling me unmercifully and I also remember the “Whisker Burns”.  Enjoy!

Robin

Elvis, Elvis, Elvis

For those of you that know my daughter, Shelli, you already know that she is a HUGE Elvis fan.  I’ve told you in the past about her addiction to “I Love Lucy” but trust me, she is just as passionate about Elvis. 

I few years ago I made her this quilt for her birthday. 

 

I always tell people that I love “quilt shop” quality fabric but sometimes you have to make an exception.  At the time I made this quilt the only place I could find this fabric was at good old Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart fabric or not it turned out to be a terrific quilt that she dearly loves.  Check out the borders, I out did myself.  Although it looks like a striped border it is actually 9 small borders, 4 colors plus a narrow black border between each color. 

There is a local Mexican Restaurant call Azteca also know as “The Elvis Bar”.  You just have to check out their website, you’ve never seen so much Elvis memorabilia, better yet if you live or are visiting Southern California you have to go and see for yourself.  For Shelli’s birthday this year she decided she wanted to celebrate it with not only her family but also Elvis.  Here’s a picture of her on her birthday with her beloved Elvis.

If your wondering what’s on his head, her birthday was last month and he was celebrating Cinco de Mayo as well as Shelli’s birthday.

 

What’s on My Design Wall

Unfortunately the only thing that has changed ion my design wall is the addition of fabric for another “Magnolia Lane” sample.

Last week I showed the one on the left.  Hopefully the top will get completed later today.  So that I can move on to the next one.

Isn’t this a great fabric.  It a Hoffman fabric and I think it’s red water lilies.  I think it’s going to make a wonderful “Magnolia Lane”.   If your interested in the pattern, please visit Two Wacky Women and check out the pattern section. 

Hugs!

Robin

Pay it Forward

I have agreed to play Pay it Forward with Meloney Funk of Mel’s quilting blog. Mel was needing some more to join hers so of course I did.

Now I need 3 people to join mine. The rules are as follows:( I copied them from Mel’s blog):

I must make and send a handmade item to the three people who join my PIF within 365 days;
In turn, the three people who join my PIF must also host their own PIF and ask three people to join and on and on;
There are no set times other than the gift must be made and sent within 365 days of hosting your PIF.
If you're interested in joining in, please tell me in a comment that you would like to join my PIF.

Just for the heck of it, I thought I’d share a picture of one of my three cats.  This is “Pepper”.  We got “Pepper” while attending one of my granddaughters soccer games.  Someone brought two little kittens with then and they were on their way to the Pound.  It was pretty much love at first sight.  The other kitten was a very handsome cat that I knew would easily find a home and then there was this not so great looking kitten that spent the whole time purring while I held her during the game.  That’s all it took for her to come home and the rest is history. 

Robin

Magical Slice and Dice Workshop

Yesterday was a fun filled day teaching a Magical Slice and Dice Workshop for Orange Grove Quilters Guild.  It was a full workshop and everyone made great head way towards completing all their blocks.

 

The workshop was held in the club house of a members mobile home park.  It is a fabulous room with a lot of space, a full kitchen, library.  This is the view from one end of the room.

And here’s the view from the other end.

New Batiks

New Batiks that arrived today. Aren't they gorgeous? Melinda, the one on the right in the bottom picture is lime green (or maybe kiwi).

A Day at Orange Grove Quilters Guild

On Wednesday I had the privilege of sharing my stories and quilts with the Orange Grove Quilters Guild in Garden Grove, California. OGQG is a wonderful guild that has a very active membership.

This is a picture of the 175 people in attendance taking a break right before I spoke. Thank you OGQG for a great day.

What's on My Design Wall

It's "What's on Your Design Wall" with Judy. Every Monday she highlights what you are working on. Check it out.

On Friday I posted a picture of what's on my design wall. I managed to get side tracked over the weekend but will get back to it later today. Needless to say my design wall looks exactly like it did at that time.

Stay tuned............

Time for a good giggle

Are women born this way?



You've got to just love it! Enjoy.......

Just What I Need - Another Shopping Bag

Isn't this the cutest fabric. It's an Alexander Henry (love his stuff) with a sewing motif. I added the red and white polka dot for the lining and red handles to complete the shopping bag.



So now it's time to get back to the quilt that is on the design wall.

Side Tracked Again

Well I'm suppose to be working on what's on my design wall (see the previous post) but once again I've gotten side tracked. What could this be? I'll finish it and post a picture tomorrow.

What's on My Design Wall

This is my newest sample of "Magnolia Lane". The picture shows it before the magic happens. Check back in the next couple of days to see how it changes and grows.

Sylvia's Bridal Sampler

This evening I decided to make another block from Sylvia's Bridal Sampler from Elm Creek Quilts. T his one is A1Mosaic. The book has you paper piecing this but that seemed like way too much trouble. I just measured the finished size of the square add 1/2" and cut the individual pieces. I cut the corner and side triangles larger than needed and then trimmed the block to a perfect 6 1/2".

Gift from Frances

Don't you just love it.
My friend Frances Moore gave this to me as a thank you gift. Two Wacky Women recently facilitated a machine quilting retreat for Frances and as a thank you, she made each of us this wonderful piece of art. It is a framed note card that she embellished, quilted and framed. I just love it.

To seem more of her work you can visit her Blog http://frantastic-stitchwitchery.blogspot.com/

Another Week - Another Sample

As many of you know my life seems to consist of one quilt sample after another. The good news is the sample's sell patterns and kits. The bad news is that once we've sold all the kits, it's time to make another sample. This week I am making a new "Magnolia Lane" quilt sample. The last two samples I made are sold out but fortunately we were able to order more of the fabric used in the original "Magnolia Lane" so I get to take it out of retirement and show it again. Here's a picture of the original one.

How it's time to start my forth sample. I am using the following fabrics.

Looks pretty fun doesn't it? This fabric is Wildwood for Free Spirit, Westminster Fibers, Sophie's Garden. The fabric is cut out and hopefully I'll start sewing on it later today. This kit is available now and the original Magnolia Lane will be available shortly. Just email me if your interested.