July 15, 2008

Well, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth!  I have been so busy with my new job!  It sure has been fun!  I feel stupid all over again!  I hate being in orientation.  I feel so dumb.  Anyways, I did get two quilts pieced……one is actually on the frame and I have absolutely no idea how to quilt it.  That is because I don’t quilt much.  My husband said “just do a pantograph on it!”  It is too pretty to do that to it!  When I have time, I will put a picture of it up.  Happy quilting!  Trish

May 14, 2008

Woo Hoo! I start my new job on Monday the 19th!  I have been a pediatric RN in the ICU at Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin for 8 years.  I am starting my new job in the Emergency room at St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee.  Back to adults! I have been an ICU nurse for 11 years and I need a change!  So this will be totally different!  Can’t wait! 

Trish

April 30, 2008

So here is my paramount star picture of my blue and white quilt and what I am trying to figure out what to quilt on it.  I want to do formal feathers in the blue squares (thats what that is in the top left hand corner!)  It isn’t easy drawing in paint!  I am trying to figure out which crosshatch to do in the blue triangle or the basket weave stencil in the right lower corner triangle (yes that’s what it is!) I was trying to upload a stencil picture to show you the stencil I was looking at but that wasn’t working….oh well.  By the time I get figured out what I want done on this thing I’ll be too old to quilt it!  I should just send it out to a really talented longarm quilter!  All I am doing is procrastinating!  Happy quilting    Trish

April 24, 2008

So I started off my evening playing or pounding as I call it when I do the Hanson finger exercises!  What a stress relief playing can be.  I forget how much I enjoy it, then the kids try and take over!  My five year old daughter wants to learn but only on the black keys!  Anyways,  I went to the Chicago Quilt Festival last week? and bought this little fish pattern……cute, hey?  You should have seen all of the cute hanging fish she had in her booth!  CUTE.  Not so cute when you are trying to make the FISH.  I guess that is why I am a quilter and not a sewer.  I sew straight seams well.  Not fish.  It still needs the fin on top.  Sara stuffed it, she sure liked that part!    I finally finished quilting my daughters flower quilt that she cut out and ironed on the fabric.  Now, I am not a creative type of quilter so my meandering around on  the quilt here is pretty sad!  I need some Suzanne Earley books!  So please don’t laugh at my attempt at freehanding around on this and my next quilt my sons quilt.  He picked out the fabrics, cut out the squares, sewed them all together (I did the outside border)  He is now 8 but was 7 when he started it.  It has been hanging around for awhile waiting for me to put it on the machine!So, like I said, don’t laugh!  This was my attempt to make it look like “flames”!  Pretty silly!  Happy quilting!  Trish

April 16, 2008

Wow, another quilt shop is closing here in Southeastern Wisconsin.   Calico Canvas and Colors has announced they are closing shop. Retiring!  They said there have been four quilt shops in southeastern WI that have closed this last year or past winter.  Wow.  A lot to do with internet sales.  Not as many people buying in the quilt shop.  Now that confuses me.  Why would I want to pay the same price for fabric and pay an additional shipping charge on top of that?  I like to feel and play with them lay the fabrics next to each other.  The computer never does the colors justice!  We don’t have many quilt shops left here in WI!  I am going to have to move!  Although, I don’t think my husband would like that very much!  he-he .  So of course I had to do some serious shopping and buy backing fabric for all of the quilts I have in progress!  $300+ later!  The whole store is 20% off!  How fun is that!  I keep telling myself to just buy what I need right now because I have to buy backing and you know how much at a time you have to buy for that.  Anyways, happy quilting.

Trish

March 31, 2008

Two post in one day!  I know this is a longarming ring and I haven’t done any on my gammil for……I can’t believe I am saying this…..over a year…so I thought I would at least post a few pictures of a quilt I had done for a friend of mine.  She had just brought it up recently because she had made it for her daughters wedding and she still has not put the binding on it and that was 2 years ago!  Anyways,  hopefully someday I will actually finish piecing one of the many projects I have started and put one of them on the frame and actually quilt it and the paramount star I just have to get the nerve up to quilt it since I really have done very few quilts.Enjoy!  Happy quilting, Trish

March 31, 2008

So while I am having fun piecing together one of my charm packs, I put my 5 year old daughter to work!I had her line up the pieces of the quilt block!  I told her that she had to match the above row  as far as direction of little squares and that two colors couldn’t be next to each other.  No two reds, no two greens, no two blacks.  She put them next to one another….row by row and I sewed them together as she went, row by row…and she helped me put this block together.  Hopefully someday I can get her to love quilting like I do!  She loves putting the colors together!

Slower than molasses!

Well, here is where I am.  I started this quilt so I could have something to work on during my paramount star (blue and white quilt) when I needed a break.  I also wanted a “quick” quilt so I could just throw it on the machine and quilt it up!  Yeah, not getting to far with that!  Now my paramount star is sitting while I am pondering about what to quilt on it……. which threads to use……..which batting…..etc.  I haven’t quilted for awhile so I think I am procrastinating, do ya think?  So I started another quilt so I could just quilt that one up “quick”I am using all Moda Snow Blooms fabric.  I love all of the rich colors.  Of course, then I found another project…. This is one of those wonderful bags/purses that I have been eyeing up!  Of course my husband thought it was the ugliest thing on the planet!Look at all of the wonderful warm colors!  It came as a kit from a quilt show.  Everything came in it,  the ruffles, the lining,  the pre-quilted cotton, nylon webbing!  You couldn’t ask for more!  (Except for another 24 more hours in a day!) I just couldn’t pass it up.  Ok, so now I better go and get something done!  Happy quilting!

Trish

I’m 21!

So my husband had these beautiful flowers sent to me.  They are my favorite color, PINK!  I love pink.  He is always sending me roses lately and they always die on me.  So I started hinting to the kids, tell daddy PINK, PINK carnations….. I LOVE pink carnations, they smell beautiful and they last forever.  At least I think they do… I like to kill things.So this is a quilt my very good friend made for me.  I am trying to get her to learn to quilt.  She is teaching her self!  A few weeks ago she had her needle in backwards and was breaking her needles every couple of minutes before she asked me to come over and help her.  I was amazed when she gave this to me.  This is her second little quilt.  You have to know that she just bought a sewing machine last year and really has no idea how to quilt!  It’s a little crooked but it’s the wonderful thoughtfulness that has gone into this and the time!  I just love it!  You should see the first one she made me!  It is so sad it made me cry but it was so touching because she tried so hard!  She threw out the first one she made and gave me the second one.                                                                                     So my next big thing is these cute little charm packets!  AREN’T they CUTE!  I just have to have them!  I don’t really know what I am going to do with them yet, but I just love the strawberry lemonade one.  The colors are just yummy!  They make you happy to just touch them!    The little green “sticks” of fabrics are my vine borders for the old fashioned charm quilt.  20 of them!  WOW.  That was fun.  Not done yet.  I’ll be there forever.  Happy quilting.  Trish

P.S.  Sorry about the order of the pics, they weren’t cooperating!

UFO is down! and many to go!

 I have made a major accomplishment this week in finishing the border of the quilt, and getting the top done. It sat for awhile because I couldn’t get the appliqued vine border to fit!  So I gave up on it and I decided to tackle it last week.  I was 1-2 inches too short after appliqueng the leaves and vines on because I am not very talented!  It did measure correctly before I got started (the white fabric border pieces)  So I added the blue border around the corner stars to add some length in the borders and that helped.  Now the fun part!  Coming up with the quilting design.  It has been so long since I have been on my gammil I will have to do some practicing on it before I do it!