More Circles That Sizzle!

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Barb

A few weeks ago I had another class making the Sizzling Circles quilt.  I’ve been so busy lately that I totally forgot about those pictures!  I must admit, I can’t remember the names of all the gals in the class.  So I’ll just give them all new names….  and hope they don’t mind too much if they are reading my blog.  I knew that all of you would really want to see the pictures.  And the ladies aren’t in the pictures anyway – just the circles.  So away we go with the pics.
 

Here are “Patsy’s” Pink circles.  But if we look at the other side of the circles, maybe her name is “Greta”.  The blocks are very cute no matter what her name is. 

This is “Sammie” because her circles are very scrappy.  OK.  I didn’t say the names were going to be good.  Work with me here, people!

“Yolanda” carefully sews on the drawn line on her yellow circles.  Sorry about that color there.  Kind of hard to read, isn’t it?  But you get the idea.

Aren’t these nice?

“Betsy” did these cool black and white circles.  And I would have made the word white……. well, white.  But then you wouldn’t have been able to read it at all, now would you?

This quilt is going to be very classy, don’t you think?  “Betsy” did a good job with pretty black and white circles.

And these are “Gracie’s”….well…. Aunt Grace circles.  I get the prize for original names today.  Hey, be nice!  It’s been a long, busy week.  (For you non-quilters out there:  Aunt Grace is a fabric line of 1930’s reproduction prints.  Like the fabrics above that “Gracie” used.)
 

And finally “Bronwyn’s” brown circles.  And don’t give me any grief……

Here are “Sammie’s” scrappy circles all sewn together.  Aren’t the colors fabulous?  This quilt is going to be a show-stopper for sure.

And “Sammie” was also wearing this:

What a fabulous necklace!  There was a story involved, but I’m sorry.  I’ve slept too many nights since I took this picture to remember it.  Perhaps “Sammie” or her friend, “Betsy” can enlighten us with a comment?  Because I would love to hear the story again!  And the necklace was so cool that I just had to show it to you.  Story or no story.

And now goodbye forever.  After this crazy blog, I’ll be lucky if any of you ever return to read it again.  Please come back.  I’d really miss you if you left forever.  I promise to remember your name next time.

Love,
“Babs”

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Boo and The Bag

Posted on August 25, 2010 by Barb

The embroidery machine is getting a workout this week.  This time it’s a gym bag.  For Seth’s brother, Isaac.  I think the towels were a hit.  They were a pretty big hit on the blog.  And I made you all think about your embroidery machines, didn’t I?  Did you drag yours out and embroider some towels?

This time there was a major problem.  The thread ran out halfway through the last letter of the name.  Horrors!  You know the problem, right?  Isaac needed his bag for school on Monday.  And if I removed it from the hoop to let him take it so he could bring it back again after I bought the thread on Monday, there would be absolutely no way I could line it up exactly right to finish out that letter.   Of course this happened after hours on Sunday night.  No running to the store for a new spool of thread to finish that night. 

I wish I had taken a picture so you could have seen just how close to the end I was when the thread ran out.  But close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, right?  And I was too busy fretting over solving the problem to even consider pictures!  Thankfully, I convinced Isaac and his Dad that the best option was leaving the bag with me.

And didn’t it turn out great?  You can’t tell at all that half the “r” has new thread.  Thank goodness the color matched exactly too!  And Dear Hubby really saved the day.  He went to two stores looking for thread for me, empty spool in hand, while I was at work on Monday.  What a guy!  He is definitely a keeper.

Then before Isaac could come and pick up the bag, Boo decided it needed some exploring.

Hmmmm.  Smells like this boy might have a dog or somethin’…..  And you know what that means.

It is now imperative that Boo gets a little cat smell on the bag before Isaac takes it home.

This is just downright cozy!

Do you suppose if I ignore her, she’ll leave with the camera?

Maybe if I just gaze at the birds out the window?

Well, that didn’t seem to work.  Wonder how many pictures she’s going to take anyway?  I took 54, by the way.  In case you were wondering.  I’ll try not to make you look at them all.

Mom, really.  Don’t you have quilts to make?  Some binding to do maybe?  A blog to write?  Can’t a poor cat just get some cat smell on dog boy’s gym bag in peace?

Oh, I give up.  Maybe if I just go to sleep she’ll go away.

Isn’t he cute when he’s sleeping?  Makes me want to kiss him on the nose.  It’s an awfully cute nose.

And then Boo decided to just curl up and make himself invisible.

See how he can hide in plain sight?

Except if you are very patient…….

….. and perhaps call his name softly a few times…… Boo……oh, Booooooo…..

….. wait for it……..

……..the twitching tail gives him away every time.

Wonder if Isaac’s dog, Jonas, wanted to smell the bag for a long time when he got home.  You do still have Jonas, right Isaac?  I’d sure be disappointed if Boo wasted all that energy getting cat smell on the bag for nothing.  Yeah, right.  Lots of energy wasted.  Tail twitching is an aerobic sport after all.  And napping.  What Boo does best.

And I will be enjoying a Starbucks’ Cinnamon Dulce Latte real soon with the gift card Isaac brought me when he picked up the bag.  Thanks, Gaylene!

Hugs,
Barb

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The Ladies of Dear Jane

Posted on August 24, 2010 by Barb

I’ve shared with you previously about my Dear Jane group (on May 25 and June 28 specifically if you want to look back at those), but mostly I have just shared the quilt blocks and not the ladies.  Today I thought it was high time you saw the smiling faces of my Dear Jane group.  You should have seen them straighten up and fluff out their hair when they heard it was going to be faces in the pictures this month!  They were excited to become famous on my blog.  Famous being a very relative term, of course.
 

Libby is not actually a part of the DJ group, but she works at the shop with me on Mondays and she showed up in the classroom first thing to show off her T-shirt to the gals.  For those of you non-quilters out there, I’ll save you from scratching your heads and doing word searches on the internet.  Betweens are tiny little hand quilting needles!  Very tiny.  They are not even an inch long.  I know that because I got one out to measure so I could report that very important information to you.  Not very threatening unless you were going to stick someone in the eye with them.  Thus beware is about as relative a term as famous is in this blog.

Sheri showed us her blocks one at a time – as a fashion accessory.  She had completed quite a few since the last time we got together and she showed us every one while we all oooed and aaahhed.  Here’s another one:

Sheri’s blocks are all black and white and red with a little orange thrown in here and there.  My friend, Linda, just cringed at just the word orange.  JoAnne apparently cringes at orange too because Sheri was taunting her with the orange blocks.   I think they are spectacular!  I can’t wait to see this quilt when it’s finished.  Then I’m going to sneak it home with me in my bag.  I’ll wait until it’s all completed before I steal it from her.

Aren’t these just great?  These are just the blocks she finished in the last 2 months.  I need to take lessons in “How to Get Things Done” from Sheri.  Or maybe I need to quit doing so many other things and just work on my Dear Jane quilt for awhile.  Yeah, like that’s going to happen.  Don’t hold your breath.  (All the DJ gals and the rest of my friends are laughing right now.)

Charlotte had great news about a great gift from her sister.  Or maybe it was a not-so-great gift.  Great.  Not-so-great.  She was a bit conflicted.  We all thought it was great!  Her sister purchased DJ blocks from a block-of-the-month program and decided not to make the quilt so she gave all the blocks to Charlotte!  Who was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the project.  Praise the Lord she has a support group.  DJ requires a support group, you know.  Hang in there, Charlotte!  We’ll all help.  Help is a good thing.

JoAnne wore all of her latest red, white and blue blocks on her shirt as her fashion accessory for the day.  Aren’t they the best?  JoAnne has completed 5,623 DJ quilts.  She’s so addicted she just can’t stop making these little blocks!

Charlene had sewn four rows all together since the last time we saw her.  We all admired the fabulous choice she made for the tiny little cornerstone blocks in the sashing.  There are 13 rows total in this quilt so she’s well on her way to getting the quilt completed.  We all just want to go to the Quilt Corral at Mistletoe Ranch in South Dakota.  We’re sure it’s much cooler there than the 107 degrees that it was here in Texas yesterday.  And a quilt corral at a ranch sounds good to me anyway.  Let’s go!

Jane had pictures to show everyone this month….. of her new grandbaby!  Her DJ quilt is in her lap.  She’s working on the tiny inner border (it finishes at 1/4 inch.)  That means she has all the blocks sewn together.  Go Jane!  Denise is looking at the baby book that Jane brought to share.  What a cutie!  His name is Knox.   I should have taken a picture of his picture so I could show you.  Maybe next time.

Denise is working on triangles for the border of her DJ quilt.  She has all the blocks done and is closing in on finishing all the triangles too.  She got advice from everyone on appliquéing tiny little triangles on the block she’s working on.  We can’t wait to see this completed triangle next month!

Deb has been working on some hand embroidered blocks this month (not DJ.)  As you discovered in previous posts about Dear Jane, you apparently do not have to be working on Dear Jane to be a part of this group.  And this embroidery was fabulous!  We can’t wait to see this completed quilt soon too.  Deb keeps us all laughing in the group.  She really tells it like it is!

Jackie had two quilts to show us that she just got back from Libby, who did the quilting for her.  I didn’t get a pic of the second one because I got distracted.  But it’s the red & white one in the bag on the table.  They were great!

Linda shows off her cute little pin cushion (I think it’s a lamb?) scissor fob, as she works on her latest DJ block.  Everyone admired the cute little pin cushion.  I love her shirt – “When life gives you scraps…… make quilts!”

Sandi didn’t work on her DJ blocks at all.  I think she’s afraid to finish her quilt (she’s really close) for fear we’ll kick her out of the group or something.  Of course, you could say I have that same fear if you look at how much I get done on my quilt each month.  Maybe we should go to therapy together, Sandi, to overcome our fears?  Wait.  This group is our therapy!  I blame our friend, Suz.  She gave Sandi an assignment for their Bee this month.  And she was dutifully cutting out pretty blue squares to complete that assignment.  It’s all your fault, Suz!  If Sandi doesn’t complete her DJ quilt we’re blaming you!  It’s always nice to have someone else to blame, right Sandi?

Now if I can just figure out some way to blame Suz for the lack of progress on my DJ quilt.

Happy quilting,
Barb

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JSS Food, Friends & Fun #983

Posted on August 22, 2010 by Barb

Yep!  That’s what we’re all about.  Food, Friends and Fun.  We know all about eating in this quilting Bee of mine.  And this time we have a guest photographer!  Your humble blogger actually left her camera at home at the recent guild meeting <gasp!>  What was I thinking?  So guest photographer, Pam, stepped up to the challenge with pics of the day.  Yeah, Pam!
 

Pam also wins the prize for “Most Food Consumed at Lunch” as you can tell by this picture of her and her food.  Smothered in cheese and tomatoes chicken, fries and a big salad to keep it all healthy.  I think the fries were just in case it was getting too healthy to be considered a JSS lunch.

Here’s a better picture of just the chicken plate.  Because I just knew you needed to see it up close and personal.  And I didn’t even have to coach Pam on the food pics.  Looks yummy enough to eat, doesn’t it?  And I’m sure you’re reading this before breakfast.  Notice the extra plate under the plate of food.  I think Pam was supposed to share her lunch.

Here’s the whole gang, included Su & Dwayne on the left, who were the guest speakers at our guild meeting that day.  And just in case you can’t make out who’s at the far end of the table, Pam got some up close pics of just about everyone.

Nancy & Linda…..

Peggy……

Tracie & Kay…….

Sally…….

….and yours truly.  What a smiling bunch of ladies!  And one gentleman, who refused to look at the camera (see pic above.)

In attendance, but missing from pics:  Sue & Betty.  How did you miss them, Pam?  We’ll have to take two extra pics of them at the next JSS gathering.

And in case you needed to see more food before breakfast…..

 

Here’s a cheeseburger and more of those yummy fries…..

…. and this was dessert.  A chocolate/banana $1 milkshake.  YUM!  And it was mine….. all mine.  Well, I did share it with Pam and Sue.  At least they got a little, bitty taste.  And please remember to blame the guest photographer for the out of focus picture.  I refuse to take the blame for that one.  I have to take the blame for enough of those all by myself.

Photography classes, anyone?

Hugs,
Barb

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College Bound

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Barb

OK – how many of you out there bought a fancy schmancy embroidery attachment for your sewing machine early in your quilting life?  Come on.  I know I’m not the only one.  Raise your hands.  Come on, come on.  OK.  I see that hand.  And another.  Now here’s the million dollar question.  How often do you actually use that fancy schmancy attachment and really embroider something with it?

I must admit….. for me it is seldom used.  Too much quilting going on to drag out anything to embroider.  Now I did use it a bunch when it was new.   But once the newness wore off, into the case it went.  And now it seldom makes an appearance in the sewing room.  Except for the occasional project for a friend who calls, it mostly gathers dust.

So I am always pleased with a call from a friend for something they want to have embroidered.  It’s usually a monogram that they need.  That personal touch for a gift.  And I actually love doing these little projects when called upon.  Gives me an excuse to use that multiple thousand dollar attachment that I just had to have.  Such was the case a few weeks ago when a dear friend asked me about monogramming some towels for her son who was heading off to college.  I told her I’d be happy to do them and would make time as long as there weren’t 100 towels.  Smart friend that she is, she replied that there were just 99.  Cute.

Didn’t they turn out great?  If my name was Seth, I’d be tempted to keep them.  They are really nice, thick, thirsty towels too.  And he won’t have to worry about anyone trying to steal them in the dorm.  At least if they do, the whole world will know who they really belong to, now won’t they?  I hope he doesn’t get to his dorm this weekend only to discover his roommate’s name is Seth.  Could be problematic.  But the best part?  I emailed this picture to my friend after I finished.  She replied quickly that they were awesome and that Seth loved them.  Music to my ears.

So how about you?  Do you actually use your embroidery attachment very often?  Am I the only quilter around that thought I had to have one?  I must admit it was really pretty nice to just sit and watch the machine stitch yesterday.  Load a new towel in the hoop, press start and watch again.  Cool.  And Boo didn’t even help.

Tomorrow?  Back to quilting.  And the embroidery attachment is a dust collector again until the next friend calls.

Happy stitching,
Barb

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