Happy July 4th

We've had a quiet 4th which has been kind of nice.  DH reminded me with all his travelling he was home 5 days in June.  Wow!  I didn't realize that.

 I've cleaned a little and worked in the yard until I started hearing thunder in the distance.  We are supposed to get pop up storms.  Hope it doesn't ruin the fireworks shows tonight.  There are several shows in town but we are staying home.  I used to love going to those but I don't care for the crowds or traffic anymore.  Is that a sign of getting old???

I finished one of my scrappy flags.  Boy, I did NOT enjoy doing it.  This was hard for me with all the wavy lines.  I was planning to make two of them but I'll have to think about that one.  It's all hand pieced and hand quilted.  When I got ready to do all the sides I realized it wasn't square.  It was really slanted and I tried to square it up some but it's not completely square.  Oh well, I guess that gives it more of a wavy feeling.  :)  Here is the one I finished.

First...all pinned and ready for hand quilting.  This is my least favorite part.  On a large quilt it takes soooo long!

Here it is completed.  The finished size is 13 5/8"  by 21" according to the magazine.   Mine is 12 3/4" by

19 3/4".  I guess it's a tad smaller since I had to square it up.

I like the fabric I found for the back at Hobby Lobby.  I thought it was perfect.  Too bad it won't be showing.

This pattern was in McCall's Quilting magazine, May/June 2011.  The pattern is by Carol Bader.

Annie's Birthday Month

Annie will be 1 yr. old this month!  I've enjoyed her so much and she's been great company for me when DH travels.  She's as sweet as she can be though sometimes a little stinker but how can you be mad at that sweet face.

She's always my computer buddy.....

my sewing buddy.....

and my shower buddy.  She always lays like this and falls asleep while I shower.  Maybe the sound of the water is soothing.....hmmmm.

Sometimes she likes to do her Ragdoll flop in the middle of the kitchen floor while I'm cooking.

I'm definitely never alone with her around. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE

30's Quilt

I just love 30's inspired fabric.  I think the prints and colors are so  cheery and I especially  love the conversational prints.  This is a quilt I'm enjoying though it has a lot of applique.  I enjoy handwork, that's my favorite thing to do rather than sit in front of a sewing machine, but it is very slow go for me. 

I've taken a break from it and started another project but will soon return.  I have a few more rows to finish before I can do the next step.

The quilt design is from Darlene Zimmerman.  I found it in the magazine "American Patchwork and Quilting"

Feb. 2011. 

The original has the 30's green but I like the cheery yellow best.

I Love Spray Paint!

Spray paint is magical (if that is a word).  With little effort you can completely change the look of something and see immediate results.  Here I had some old metal plant stands and basket that badly needed  some TLC.  They had rusted pretty bad from the weather.

But with the magic of spray paint they have been given a new lease on life.  I bought a paint primer and a  paint with a rust inhibitor so I hope it helps.  I never like the prep work before painting but I sure like the results!

By the way, the black wasn't a flat black nor shiny, just right.  The brown was a texturized paint that gave it a stone look.  I really liked it but it was sure hard to push the button on it!  I had to use two hands to push it down.  Also there is a little whitish place on the brown scroll part.  That's because I got impatient and picked it up to look at it.  Sigh.....I'll fix it later.  It has primer under it so it should be OK.  I'll just turn it so as not to see it.

Ipad Sewing Project

I saw a quilted bag for an ipad on a blog and decided to try to make it for mine.  I have a cover for it but I would like to have a little protection to pack it when travelling....not far, just in the car.    I had some cute fabric I decided would make a fun bag so here is what I did this afternoon.


I quilted simple rows first.  Here is one panel with and one without quilting.

 This is my blue cover which I really love but not enough protection from being bumped around and my finished bag.

I thought this lining would be happy looking.

See how nice and snug it fits.

TA DA!

I'm not real happy with my velcro closing.  I'd feel better with a more heavy duty velcro, mine is more of a light duty kind.  I used what I had on hand and I think I will do it over again later.  Otherwise I'm pleased with it.

My thanks to  www.oneshabbychick.typepad.com/   for the great tutorial.

OOPS!

Now what was I saying about perfectionism.....I posted two pics of the same block.  My third block is really much better!  Here it is...

Whew!  Glad that's over. 

Now I'm going to go play with my ipad. :)

Perfectionism is highly overrated (in my opinion)

I've been doing some applique with 30's fabric and it's been fun.  I'm too impatient to do the steps suggested so I'm needle turning which is much faster but not as accurate.  But it's my quilt and I'm having fun so the "quilt police" will just have to live with it.  :) 

My first attempts weren't too good but it's getting better.....

First try....

Obviously the points are supposed to meet in the center and obviously they don't!

Second try....

Third try...I'm getting there...almost

Looking much better but could still use some work.

I've decided I've been too much of a perfectionist and I'm going to relax a little and enjoy the process of quilting and other things.  Perfectionism can be paralyzing and nothing gets accomplished. 

I will put all these imperfect blocks in my quilt along with the others that are looking better.  It will be a fun quilt that I will enjoy looking at.  Thank goodness it's not a gift though!  :)