Black/White Quilt Finish

A view of some of the machine quilting I did.......'simple'.

More machine quilting.......'simple'.

This quilt was hard to photograph.....it wants to look more grayish than a true Black....which is what I wanted from this quilt....MORE BLACK and 'simple'.

More machine quilting and a close up of some of the wonderful fabrics my no blogger friend Gail from Michigan sent to me. She has waited patiently to see how I used them. I chose 'simple' for this Black and White Challenge quilt I signed up for last year. We had a year to complete this

challenge and I just b-a-r-e-l-y made it. Thank you Jackie for setting up this challenge AND

THANK YOU AGAIN GAIL for all these great fabrics!!!

My 'simple' B/W quilt is about lap size.

Here is a view of the pieced back.

Where's The Red and Green...???

No Christmas projects or fabric flying around here today! I've got a 'challenge' deadline to meet......Maybe I'll j-u-s-t make it???

Soft Christmas Trees Link

I thought I needed to share the links to these cute little Christmas Trees that were sitting on my ironing board in a photo on my previous post....to share the info on how to make them again.....these were sewn up last Christmas! I had lots of emails asking about the pattern. So...if you want to make some yourself...here are the places to go to get the patterns and the 'how to'.......I hope you won't mind if I repeat this post from last Christmas!!

For this tiered tree you can click HERE or HERE. This will take you to the Whip Up Blog and The Small Object Blog. These are two great blogs with lots of ideas and tutorials!!! Nanette from Fredas Hive gave some of these away last year during her blog anniversary. When we all saw them we just went Ga Ga and had to make some too!!

I SO love this one.....well of course....it's Vintage Gingham!!! The tutorial on these last two stuffed trees can be found HERE.....at the Littlebirds Blog. I blew up the pattern to make some of them different sizes.....and as you can see...I made a little 'cap' for these using the top 'tier' of the previous tiered tree.....just a little something to make them different. These little trees have such possibilities. The sky is the limit on ways to decorate and adorn them!! I hope you can see I did a blanket stitch on this one to connect the bottom to the top.

These are just W-A-Y too cute......don't you agree???? Now go make some for yourself!!!

FRIDAY......

Now............if only I had a new ironing board cover and my window was clean....!!

Never Say 'NEVER'

I have always said I would NEVER own or do a machine quilted quilt......I am SOOOO a HAND QUILTED type of gal!! WELL...I guess I will have to eat my words. Here is my first officially completed MACHINE QUILTED quilt!!!

If you follow my blog you know this is one of two fall style quilts I have worked on....a His and Hers pair. This one is Mr. Brown Dirts and he LOVES it...so much so I really had to just rip it from his body to get some finished photos.....LOL....yes, I got this one finished just about the time to put it up ( fall colors and all ) and drag out the Christmas colors......Oh well.......

He has told me his favorite side is the back. I like it too.

For my first endeavor quilting on something this large I thought just sewing some straight lines would be good practice in learning to 'man handle' a quilt and my machine. I did cross hatch style squares in the middle.

I decided on lots of closer together straight stitching in the borders.... I.LIKE......I haven't washed it yet so it's not as 'crinkle-ee' as it could be.

I never wanted to do a quilt that looked like I had 'sewed' all over the top of it. I have seen some quilts that the first thing I noticed was the machine quilting....instead of the quilt as a whole.....this being my reason for NEVER wanting a machine quilted quilt. I knew I would
need to change my thinking on this as my pile of quilt TOPS was growing. SOOOO....this is what I did.......I put my STITCH LENGTH to 3.00....and lowered my bottom TENSION to 2.25....(trying to achieve that DIP and DOT look of HAND quilting). I used a CREAMY OFF WHITE THREAD instead of the stark white. This thread color just seemed to melt away and is hardly noticeable. I don't know if any of this is right or wrong, but it is just what I experimented with and what I decided was right for me.....MAYBE this machine quilting isn't so bad...I just might
do some more!!!

We'll talk about the ORDEAL I had with the batting on this at a later date and post!!!! Here is a HINT.....I wore a dust mask.............

Seam Ripper Tip/Trick/Tutorial

I guess I could say I didn't know any better, but I didn't know the proper way to use a seam ripper until I started blogging. I certainly don't remember who or where I learned this from out there in blogland....I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due, but learning this has saved me considerable time in ripping out my seams.....Heaven knows I do a fair amount of this. In this 'episode' of ripping I sewed one fabric to the wrong side.....anyway....you take your ripper and pluck through about every 5 to 8 stitches like shown.

Then you flip this over to the other side...grab the thread at the end on this side and pull gently and viola!!! Easy peasy!! I'm sure most of you already know this trick, but as I was ripping this out a moment ago I was thinking maybe there was someone else out there who didn't!

When I was growing up and learned to sew....this was our 'weapon' of choice for seam ripping!!!.....LOL....does anyone else remember this?

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Fat Quarters R Us

Look at these sweet little fat quarters in the making!! So white, soft and fluffy......waiting to be plucked and swept away. Wonderful colors and dyes await you my cuties!!

This is behind and to the south of my house. LOOKS LIKE SNOW doesn't it?? This is called 'dry land' cotton because it has not been watered except for what little dab of rain we have had. It was planted and then left on it's own. Most of our acreage is all irrigated except for this little area at the house. This is considered pretty good dry land cotton!! WAY TO GO MR. BROWN DIRT!!!

Here is where I walk everyday. It's a wonderful place to walk....seeing and appreciating Mr. Brown Dirt's hard work...feeling the cool nip in the air and enjoying the quiet!

NOTE : if you want to see how this is harvested go to my previous post HERE.

Have You Ever......?????

..............Have you ever started a new and different project and just DID NOT want to turn off your machine and go to bed???? Have you ever just gone ahead and stayed up all night??? My answer is YES....I have numerous times. That is how this new project made me feel!!
It had me up until 2 a.m....and had me WANTING to stay up all night. This is a quilt along I am following at Bumble Beans blog. Victoria came up with this Waverunner quilt design and has offered up a quilt along tutorial.....done at our own time and pace. Love This!!

My late night 'owlness' has been with me from w-a-y back when I was young. My creativeness started early at around the age of 10 with drawing/art and oil painting. As long as I can remember, if I was all engrossed with my art and painting, my mom never made me go to
bed.....if I was painting I could stay up all night. She never disturbed or interrupted my efforts. I know staying up late or the thought of even staying up all night may seem foreign to a lot of you, but it seems very normal to me.....LOL....of course, the older I get, the fewer and
farther between my late night ventures occur........So.....are there any more night owls out there???

edit note: just so you don't think I stay up late and sleep in late...it has never mattered how late I stay up.....I always wake up the same....I too am a morning person and love to rise and 'get to it'!!

It Only Took 23 yrs.....

..................YES YEAH.......it took 23 yrs. to finish this.........FINALLY!!!! 23 yrs. ago I didn't know how to make up and sew on a label........

It's a nice double bed size quilt.....you can read the story HERE about this 23 yr. wonder............

23 yrs. ago I didn't know how to cut and sew on binding.........I've been about the last 8 months searching for the right binding fabric......nothing looked right......until one day by accident I was digging through some of my older stash and dug out this vintage gingham from an estate sale....PERFECT! I did a little 'happy' dance that day!!

23 yrs. ago I didn't know how...or that you were supposed to hide your quilting knots....LOL...the whole back of this quilt is 'full' of these little knots......I LOVE IT!!

23 yrs. ago I didn't know ANYTHING about HAND QUILTING.....as is visible here with all the varying size stitches......LOVE THIS TOO!!

23 yrs. ago I didn't know that you should line up your seams 'a little' bit better than I did here......the pinky mauve and white strip shown to the left is one of many repair pieces I had to add before I could sew on the binding.....just CRAZY in LOVE over these tiny pieces!!

I LOVE THIS QUILT!!!!! It has MANY warts....flaws....and mistakes....AND was a nightmare to get finished because of all these issues.......but when I finally finished it.....I layed down on my couch and covered up with it......and you know.....I had the best feeling in the world!! This little quilt and I have traveled a lot of miles together ........I THINK IT IS MY FAVORITE!!!

JUST A NOTE.....I have finished some other projects since I started the above quilt.....but this is officially my VERY FIRST one I started.

Who's Fault Is This...????

Look at all this LOOT...!!! Someone gave me an excuse to go to the 'big' city to get all this stuff!!.....LOL......well, it's NOT stuff!!! It is MUST Haves!! Let's see....there is some new thread......new fabric......new machine embroidery designs (lower left) and must have
embroidery thread......11 yards of white flannel (finally) for my design board. I sure am tired of those 8 x 4 foot insulation foam boards
propped up in my kitchen. Ok, I see some tracing paper and mechanical pencils.....hand applique needles....AND who fault is it for my shopping trip to the city?????

LORI over at BEE IN MY BONNET BLOG!!!! Yes....she had this wonderful blogoversary giveaway and I won!!! Of course I thought I was probable going to receive ONE of her great hand applique patterns......BUT LOOK....she sent ALL of these!!! I was just amazed when I opened my package. These are HAND APPLIQUE patterns....and YES...I want to learn how to do this too!! I immediately opened one up and read the instructions and list of supplies I might need. So a quick trip to the big city was in order....I made a list and off I went.....let's just say....my list was long!! Thank you so much Lori!!! You will never know how much I love these patterns and appreciate your generosity!!! You must run over to her blog and she her other fantastic vintage thingies and creative patterns she is working on!!!

Adventures In Machine Quilting

Hot Pad front.......circles / bubbles / pebbles quilting

Hot Pad back.........


Placemat back........

Placemat front......Swirls / skwiggles / loopie loops

Placemat Front......meandering stipple/zig zags/ swirls

Placemat back.........

Love the black and white binding/edges......THANKS GAIL (no blog).....this project IS FROM some wonderful LOG CABIN batik SQUARES GAIL sent me ( see here)......I cut the length GAIL SENT into three pieces....I sewed up the BATIK STRIPS GAIL SENT to make up the back of these wonderful placemats!! These will certainly brighten up our dining!...LOL..I hope you don't think I messed them up too bad Gail! The ONLY THING I CONTRIBUTED to this project was the 'practice' machine quilting!! Oh.....what an adventure that was to figure out!! I started trying to learn the bubbles/pebbles about a month ago.....that was a hair puller but my FAVORITE!!! I finally took the BSR off and just free motioned the rest. I learned that using the BSR on Batik fabrics can be a little more difficult to machine quilt than maybe other fabrics! I can thank MAGNOLIA BAY for helping me figure that out!
My other help and inspiration for learning this machine quilting came from the wonderful ladies at these blogs...FREE MOTION QUILTING BLOG......CRAZY MOM QUILTS......and HANDMADE BY ALISSA BLOG. I am truly amazed at these girls talents and I thank them for being so generous with their videos and tutorials!!!!!
While learning to use my sewing machine to quilt was fast and a wonderful challenge and learning experience......I must say......I still love HAND QUILTING the best!!!!

Practice Makes Perfect

Practicing my machine quilting.............I changed my needle, adjusted my tension just a tad and put in regular quilting thread to practice with and I've had much better results using the BSR (bernina stitch regulator). Getting my hands and the speed moving at just the right cadence is better too....LOL....I feel as if it's like that old trick of trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time!

Practicing my machine embroidery..........oooohhhh.....I have sooo many cute designs to get to!! I'm not completely happy with the contrast on this one...but, hey.....that's what practice is for!!

Practicing on my new addiction......why.....it's Hexies of course!!............TIP: my joint at the top of my left index finger and my thumb began to ache while sewing my hexies....straining to keep the two pieces aligned and together.....so...I had an idea to use those same little hair clippees I use to hold down my quilt binding while I sew it on. Perfect!! Oh wow....now my hand can relax and the pressure on the joints is much better while I'm sewing them together.

I want to thank the bloggers in my previous post for playing along and sharing their quilt 'backs' with us. I wish there had been more participants.....I have seen a lot of lovely quilt backs out there!! So, if you have one you want to share....you still can....just go and add your link!!

Show Us Your Backs

......LOL......Not your bare backs but your QUILT BACKS!! I have been busy lately sewing and designing up several quilt backs for some finished tops. The above photo is one I just finished. I was trying to use up as many of the scraps I had left over from the top...yeah...I know... some of you are thinking...yep....those are crappy scraps all right....But Mr. Brown Dirt likes it and I do too! As I worked on these I began to think about some of the neat quilt backs I have seen all over blogland and how fun it would be to have a place to show off our 'backs'! I know the main focus is about the FRONT of a quilt, but I thought it would be fun to see if some of you have some unusual or creative backs you would like to share with everyone. So hey...find a photo or take a photo of your quilt backs...post them on your blog...put a link back to my blog...then come back here and play along and add your name and your blog link to Mr.Linky (((be sure to type your blog link using the http:// )))....and after you link....Please leave a comment!