I have been a bad blogger

So I don’t know what happened, but life got crazy. I’ve had no time to quilt it seems, and have been crazy. I don’t even know what I have been doing. I know I lost a few weeks in September due to losing my grandmother. I still miss her and I feel awful for my dad. He has tried calling her and doesn’t remember she is gone until he picks up the phone. 😦

Then we were working on finishing our basement. We hired a contractor to install a new wall, install all the stuff in the walls, and drywall. I have since then painted all the walls, installed all the finishes, installed the floor, and have painted the trim. I just need to finish installing the trim. Also, both my quilting rooms have been moved to the basement, all except parts of the longarm that we need help moving. I still need to install the trim and in the future I WILL have built ins on the whole wall with the windows. When it is done I will take another picture.

I took a class to make a tuffet. It matches my basement decor. The class was through my guild, Lighthouse Quilt Guild who I am not the historian of. The class was so much fun I took a second one home to make. I just have to convince my husband to do a math problem to assist me in what angle I need to cut the pieces in since I am changing the width. My first one has become the spot the cats must fight over. It even has loose threads as proof.

I also went to our Guild Winter Retreat! I love those women! I always have a blast, though I pushed it way too much this time. 7 hours of sleep all weekend is not enough. By Sunday I was so out of it I left a couple of items that a friend of mine kept for me. I was supposed to get them back, but our December guild meeting was cancelled due to a lot of snow. Here is what I made at the retreat.

The two finished quilts were UFOs that I obtained. The first one is nothing but triangles, sadly I didn’t realize this quilt would be nothing but points until I started stitching it. The white part was the only part already cut. I picked the colorful fabrics, cut those, and pieced them. I laid it all out Friday night and had to have it pieced by Saturday noon or I was going to lose my tables for lunch. Therefore 3 hours of sleep and I got it pieced. I just need to get fabric to border it.

The second one is November’s block of the month for Aurifil. All I have left is December.

The third one was some UFO I obtained. Most of them were full blocks purple and full blocks of stripes so I just made something up. I had to square a ton of them up, but I love the finish. This was so fun. I don’t know the original pattern and I think that makes it even better.

I also finished this for the Big Red Quilters Guild row by row challenge. I decided to do a Christmas row by row.

I also put together a center block for a round robbin which I just started and need to pass on. We were supposed to pass it on at our cancelled guild meeting. (See photo at the bottom of the post).

We also went to a bunch of College Football games. We supported 3 games this year! I have never been to more than 1 per season. It was so fun! Two were with my husband’s family and 1 was just with his aunt and uncle. He got tickets to the rivalry game for our anniversary and I got to choose who we invited.

I was looking through and have all sorts of other events I have been to, but I am going to stop there. That is most of my fall with quilting at least. I can’t wait to get done with the basement so I can get back at it!

Here is the round robbin photo. I still need to sew pieces down, but at least they are attached for now.

Other things we have been up to, my husband and I went on a trip up a few hours north in Michigan (a friend surprised us with a retreat), we visited my parents to borrow their miter saw and mom gave my husband copper mugs, I sold my car and got a new one (it has a back seat so it is a little more friendly to having a possible baby in the back seat), etc. And no I’m not pregnant, there are plans and I am a planner so I am ahead of the game.

Oh and did I mention I have a hernia? I didn’t cause it by carrying heavy items, it was a thin spot in intestinal lining. It is slowing me down a bit, though on moving my quilt rooms. It basically feels like I have a knot in my side. You know that pain you get in your side when you run and have a “stitch” in your side? That is what it feels like after about 3-4 hours of being up. Luckily, I lay down and all the pain goes away. I will find out what needs to be done on January 4. I’ve heard it is outpatient surgery. Okay, it was nice catching up. I missed ya’ll. I will try to get back on track to posting more.

Picking Up Speed

I have been so busy working on this …

The Great Wall of Jamandason (Jason, my fiancé and Amanda, me), that I have not been quilting enough, but yesterday I started to turn it around. It is amazing how your thinking changes when you take you hobby and turn it into a business. I kept thinking about how much time I was spending on things. I am glad some things will start going faster. An hour to load a quilt is just wwwaaayyyy too long.

But I did get a lot done. I totally re-read this book:
The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Machine Quilting by Linda V. Taylor (picture is backwards). I took all the goodies out of it that I need for now. It is a great book to get you thinking about all those business charges and expenses.

I also drew all 47 pictures in the Trillium House Designs Pocket Guide to Free hand Meanderings and 17 pictures out of the Textures and Fillers books.

After all that I got a new ‘practice’ quilt loaded, different thread on the machine, and new thread on the side to wind a bobbin. I am all ready to start quilting those pictures I drew now. I hope to start that tonight depending on what happens with my car.

Unfortunately my car was overheating and ended up at the dealership to get fixed. (Hopefully today)

Landscaping Break!

I haven’t been doing much in quilting because my fiance and I were working really hard on our landscaping! We now have the flower beds in, some plants in, and the sprayed grass down and watering, watering, watering! Next year we can add in our 40 foot long wall in front of the second tier behind the house, our patio, stairs down from our deck, and our river rock bed in the back of the house.

Stocking up

I’ve started to stock up on my quilt tops for when I finally buy my long-arm. As soon as I get Internet back at home I will post the tops I have done thus far.

Unfortunately, today while we were getting our yard ‘scraped’ to prepare it to actually grow grass, the cable line got severed. We bought a house a year ago that was brand new and are just now putting in the landscaping and the lawn. I am taking pictures of the process, but that will have to wait for another day too. You don’t realize how much you rely on something until you suddenly don’t have it… but I digress.

I have 4 bundles of quilt tops and backs ready and a fifth one on it’s way to being completely pieced. Thank goodness to a friend of mine who sent me a bunch of kits to finish. I’m not usually one to care for kits, but when you are learning how to long-arm, who cares as long as it is practice. PLUS it has made me branch out and try different traditional blocks and other techniques and wouldn’t have tried at the moment. Not to mention the money she is saving me by having all these kits available to piece. She is an absolute darling and a savior! XoXoX

Pictures to come!