Wanna Be A Cowboy Quilt - Quilted

I finished the quilting on the Wanna Be A Cowboy Quilt Tuesday night. I'm loving how it turned out. I used a fairly tight meader and random stars wherever they fell. I sped up the quilting machine a bit, so I could go faster and it worked great. I'm loving this machine and all I can do with it.

I used a pink/brown verigated King Tut, which worked awesome, with pink Bottomline in the bobbin.

The pink is the rolled up backing on the frame. You can't even see the pink bobbin thread. I'm so excited to have this quilt, quilted. After I get the binding on, I'll probably take it to work and keep it there to look at for a while.

I'm off to finish the shop hop this afternoon! Anyone wanna take bets on if I buy more Wanna Be a Cowboy fabric?? I'm hoping to find the 4.5" 60 degree Creative Grids Strip On Ruler.

A Gift from EM Celebrates!

Easter weekend I answered a question on Em Celebrates blog, so I won a little prize. The card is a musical card which was fun to open. She included a half yard cut of this purple fabric. I'll definately be finding a special place to use this one. Thanks Em!

Ez Bob

Several comments on my shop hopping post asked about the EZ Bob. It's a neat little tool that doesn't sell itself, but once you've seen it work, you have to have one! It's similar to thick plexiglass in appearance.

It has a little tab on it that slides down onto the hook of the metal bobbin case. It attaches there and stays on as the bobbin case is moved to the machine.

While I was quilting this tablerunner this weekend, I ran out of bobbin thread and had to wind a new bobbin. I attached the EZ Bob to pull it out of the machine by just sliding it in and pulling it out. It's about 6.5" long, so it goes into the bobbin case area easier than my hands do.

Then I filled my bobbin and am putting it back into place.

Once it's in, you twist it to the right angle and it comes right off.

Then I touched the bobbin case to make sure it was securely in position.

I just love how much easier it is to remove/install the bobbin with this handy little tool. It's called the EZ Bob, Handy Helpers from Golden Threads.

Sunday Sewing

Today I got lots of sewing done! I felt so productive after feeling like I haven't done anything all month. I finished the backing for this tablerunner and quilted it up. I put the binding on and started hand sewing the binding down while I was watching Amazing Race tonight.

I put on the final round of the Wanna Be a Cowboy quilt. I took my mom's advice and kept the browns together like a traditional log cabin. Then I put the strip on as the inner border on the top and bottom and then the center fabric is also the top and bottom border.

This is the bottom of the quilt. It ended up about 59"x79" which I think is a good size for a twin bed for my amazing niece. She's getting ready to go to a twin bed, so by the time her birthday rolls around in June I'll have this ready for her. I'm hoping to get a pillowcase made to go with it.

Here's a diagonal vision to show the top and bottom are the only sides with borders. I really love how quick and easy the pattern was, so I'm going to make a baby quilt out of the same fabrics.

I got the backing pieced and hopefully I can load it on the frame tomorrow night. I love how it turned out!
While I did spend a majority of the day quilting, I also spent several hours studying and doing my discussion posting for my graduate class. Usually I tend to leave the studying till the end of the day, but today I did it while Paul was napping, so I got lots done and rewarded myself with sewing after I was done.
Several have asked about the EZ Bob and while I was quilting today I took a few pictures to show how to use it, so I hope to do a post showing how it works tomorrow. Anyone with a Bernina or a frame machine with a metal bobbin case would love the EZ Bob.

Shop Hopping with Mom

This morning mom called me a crazy fool. I wanted to meet at 7AM to go shop hopping. We met and headed off on our journey. Neither mom nor I are morning people, so to leave my house before 6:30 AM on a Saturday, when I normally don't get up until then during the week was a challenge. For a day of fun, I can do anything! We started with breakfast at Mc D's and were on our way. I figured it would take two hours to get to our first destination, Nuts & Bolts Quilt shop in Edgemont, SD. It's in the far south western corner of the state. We only needed an hour & a half, so we used our extra time for planning strategy and figuring out the Wanna be a cowboy quilt.
Nuts & Bolts opened at 9AM and we weren't the first shop hoppers in the door even!

All their books, except Eleanor Burns and Nancy Halvorsen were 40% off, so I found a bargello book with the heart bargello in it. It's one of the quilts on my bucket list, so I'd like to learn how to do it. My favorite book was the shop hop journal. They only had one, but it's just so awesome I can't wait to start filling it out. I figured I'll do my 2010 shops in it. I'd love to find more like it, what a novel idea. I also picked up a spool of pink/white verigated Aurifil thread. I'd been kicking myself for not picking it up in Aug. when we were there. I've made two pink/white quilts since then.

These are the pages of the journal. I just think it's the neatest idea!
 
Then we headed to the east, to Hot Springs, SD where we went to HeartSongs Quilts. It's always been one of my favorite shops since they have unique fabrics.
Nothing was catching my attention there today, but suddenly the Winding Ways fabric,  an old stand by favorite that was on sale, jumped off the shelves at me. I used this fabric, that I picked up the last time we were there in Aug., as a book cover for a special book, but now I have enough to make a binder cover for my course materials.  If I'm in graduate school, I better have a fun binder to keep me motivated!

From Hot Springs, we headed to Custer, SD to The Quilt Shop. I found this fun cat print that just called my name. My MIL has a cat and she wants a quilt for Merry, so I told her when something strikes me, I'd be motivated to make her one. This fabric just hopped off the shelf at me! I'm going to pair it with some pink and purple and it will be a fun quilt.

Mom and I also got half yard cuts of this sewing motif fabric. I have some already and mom has several sewing fabrics. We found a pattern that calls for 10 fat quarters, so hopefully soon we'll be making sewing quilts. I also got this little Mighty Bright light. It's about 1"x1.5", so very tiny but very bright.

Then we headed north to Hill City, SD where we stopped at Quilt Corral. Since mom and I both worked at Quilt Corral Too, when it was in Rapid City, we know all the girls who work at the shop. It was fun to see the girls and give everyone a hug. It was Strip Club day, so most of the girls were working. I found a couple bright pinks that found their way home. They were both on sale. I can see the one on the right as part of a purse. The one on the left might just make it into Merry's quilt.

We had lunch at Alpine Inn in Hill City, which was a nice treat. I failed to remember the camera from Custer to Hill City, so no location pictures.
Then we headed up through Deadwood and into Spearfish to Dakota Quilt Company. When I lived in Buffalo, this was the closest quilt shop and I went there a lot, but they've changed their fabric style and I haven't been back in almost 2 years... they still had my old name in the computer.

I found one of my favorite fabric purchases of the day there. They had the Wanna Be a Cowboy line with the brown stars and the pink stripe! I'm so excited to be able to use the stripe in my quilt now. They also had the Creative Grids rulers that I LOVE! I had seen the 2.5x6.5" before and really wanted it, but this one has their company logo on it, so I'll always remember where I got it. Such a great momento from our trip. 

The other few fun things I picked up were a Handy Helper to put my bobbins in my quilting machine. Mom has one and I've been looking for one ever since I got my machine. We got a free measuring tape emery board at the Hot Springs shop. I picked up a new package of 100 paper piecing pieces at the Quilt Connection, our last stop of the day. We skidded in just 10 minutes before they were to close. I haven't finished my tablerunner, but I'm thinking of starting a new handwork project that I can take with me when I'm sitting at drs. offices.

Mom and I had an awesome time on the shop hop and hope to be able to finish up the rest of the shops, I think about 5 more later this week. We hit 6 of the shops today. We would be all done, but Good Friday we were snowed out. Tomorrow I hope to do a bit of quilting, but I have a paper or two to work on for my class, so some sewing, but lots of studying to do!

Wanna Be A Cowboy Quilt

Last night I stopped and picked up a couple more pieces of fabric to add to the Wanna Be A Cowboy quilt so I could get it to twin size. I put the final two rounds on it and this is originally what it was supposed to look like.

This was originally to be the top and bottom borders. There are no side borders, just a thin strip and then a widered scalloped top.

But the more I looked at it, I like this combination better. When I cut it out I wasn't really thinking and it was quite some time after I had bought the fabric and I bought more than I needed, so I had trouble remember where it was supposed to go in order. So maybe this would be better, but I still needed it bigger. I'm increasing it from 41"x59" to twin size.

So I picked up a couple more fabrics that I hadn't seen before, and more of the red paisley and red flowers, thinking I could add another two to four rounds. The top fabric is the backing, but have plenty, so I could put it in another row on the front.

So I layed it out to see how it would look. What do you think? I'm not crazy about it and I would like to change it up somehow but I'm not sure. I was originally thinking I would just add an 8.5" round, 9.5" round, 10.5" round, and 11.5" round, but then I got to figuring it in my head and it's going to be like 80" wide which is way too wide for a twin quilt. I was hoping to get it about 72"x85-90". My other thought was to do 4 additional rounds, but keep them all at 7.5". What order would you put the additional 4 rounds in? or would you just do two rounds? Which fabrics would you use?

I really would like some opinions since I'm struggling with this quilt.
I have a feeling I'll be doing a baby quilt just like this with the leftovers since I love this fabric so much.

Live Meeting & Sewing

Tonight was the first live meeting of my first graduate class. It was interesting and the hour and a half class went by really quickly. There are three live sessions in the 11 week class, so not too often. I love the comfort of laying in bed and listening to the class online. No hard desk for me! I have 5 research papers to do during the term too. I've gotta get back in the groove with my APA usage. I have the APA nazi as an instructor or so he says. I'm excited to be working on my Masters in Management degree, but I know it's going to take away some of my sewing time.
After class I finished up the tablerunner I was working on Friday. I got it all put together into a top, so I can quilt it after I pick up some thread. I'm not quite sure I like it as it's really long. It's very different than most of the runners I have made. It's made with the Essence line of fabric from Moda.

Then I started on a fun quilt I've been looking forward to making for the past month or so. It's a large log cabin, so I put the first 4 rows on it. I love how it's turning out, but I need to make it bigger. I'm thinking I will have to get a couple other pieces to make it a little bigger before I put on the top and bottom borders.

I layed out the next two "logs" but it's going to be turned into a twin, so i think if I buy two more fabrics I'll be able to make it big enough. The center is the top border.

Good Friday Project

Good Friday was a holiday at work, so I had big plans of going on the shop hop in the hills. Mom and I were going to head up to the Northern Hills and visit the shops up there. We woke to lots of snow and it was worse in the higher hills, so I went back to sleep. After doing housework and laundry, I headed to my sewing studio. I worked on this "Owlivia" stuffed animal for a store sample. It was fun to make, but I don't care for the eyes. I don't like how they are just frayed with batting behind them.  I also worked on a tablerunner, but didn't get it all together. The pattern is from the Moda Bake Shop and it's made out of the Moda Frolic by Sandy Gervais line. She is my favorite designer for Moda.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was spent at my parents. After 7AM church we took pictures out on the swing. Don't let the short sleeves fool you, it was 36 degrees! The snow is almost gone, but there are still piles in some places. We spent the day at my brother & sister-in-law's house. We got to watch my niece hunt for Easter eggs which was lots of fun. It was a nice relaxing weekend and hopefully we'll get back in a few weeks again.

March Quilting Accomplishments

March was an extremely productive month for me. I feel like I accomplished a lot, even though it didn't feel like it sometimes. I made lots of progress on finishing up some lingering UFO's that have been hanging out for the past year. I figure if I finish a UFO a month, I'm farther ahead then when I started.

March Goals & Accomplishments!

2 Thangles BOM blocks - DONE! I have a total of 4 of the 12 done, so I'm feeling good about doing 2 per month unless the mood strikes and I may do more.

6 Snowball Blocks (Quilt Along) - DONE! About 3-5 months more and I should have a good sized quilt for my niece for Christmas. I'm loving making these blocks. My brother & sis-in-law informed me on Sat. that she is almost ready to be in a twin bed, so I'll have to start making her bigger quilts. She's started to put words together into sentences, so it's fun to listen to her. Luckily we get to see her quite a few weekends in April, including this weekend again.

Paul's Wolf Applique - Although I didn't finish this, I got it out, traced out the pattern and started cutting out the pieces. I told him I'd be lucky to finish it by our anniversary. It's got a ton of tiny pieces to be cut out, but it feels great to have actually pulled it out to work on it. Some work on it is better than none.
Quilt Club Sandwiches Tablerunner - DONE! I had 6 for this class and it was an interesting mix of ladies. About half got done with the top. We had one finger cut with the rotary cutter, but that was the worst mishap. My mom and quilty friend Darlene took this class, so they were the rowdy ladies of the bunch!

Quilt Siggy Tops - Small & Large  2 DONE! I finally finished the quilting and binding on both of my quilt retreat siggy quilts. I love how they turned out and I'm so glad to have them completely finished.

Sweet Escape Tablerunner DONE! This class is coming up April 6th at The Sewing Center. It's a quick little tablerunner using a charm pack and a bit of yardage. I finished it fairly early in the month, so it's been a sample for a while. There's still room to sign up if you're interested.

Other Quilting Accomplishments:
Quilted and bound Objects of Desire #2 Tablerunner and finished the binding on O of D tablerunner #1

Attended the Wall Quilt Guild Banquet with my mom. We each won fun prizes and enjoyed visiting with old quilting friends.
Made a Pink Snowball 9 Patch Quilt for my online quilting friend Colleen & her new daughter, Annaliese. I love surprising friends with quilts when they least expect it and I think I really surprised her. Quilters are always so appreciative of quilts.

Made 3 Block Butlers for my mom &  two quilting friends, now I need to pick up flannel and make one for myself. They turned out really cute and used up some sewing themed fabric that I had in my stash.

Quilted Mom's Western Boots Quilt
This one has been hanging out since October waiting to be quilted, so I'm glad to finally have it done.

Made & taught a Rick Rack Road Class to Jenn & a few of her friends. It was a fun night and I've seen a few of the finished runners. They all look great.

Made a Fabric Bowl for St. Patty's Day


Made Paul's 5 Yard Quilt for his birthday. Even though I worked on it for the past two weeks, he still didn't realize I was making him a quilt for his birthday yesterday. The binding was put on tonight, so I just have to do the hand work now.

Hosted Girls Night Out at TSC, where I worked on a new tablerunner from the Essence line. I got all 12 blocks made. I cut out a baby quilt for my niece, but now I have to make it into a twin sized quilt. Luckily it's a large log cabin, so I should be able to make it bigger fairly easily.

My stash is going down this year. I've bought 3 yards, received 28 yards, and used 65.5 yards, for a net used of 34.5 yards. I'm doing really well with finishing up my UFO's too. I've completed 8 UFO's and worked on 2 others. I quilted 105 hours in March, which makes for the largest number of hours per month so far.

Other happenings this month included:

Paul's Large Mouth Bass coming back from the taxidermist.

Butchering with the family.
Checking out my Great-Grandma's quilts that were saved from my Grandma's house.

Goals for April

Finish Essence Tablerunner

6 Snowball 9 Patch Blocks

2 Thangles Blocks

Pink Cowgirl Quilt

Purple Snowball Quilt

I'm hoping to start on a quilt for my cousin's wedding. I have the majority of the fabric already bought and the t-shirts, but I need to come up with a plan and get started on it since the wedding is coming up.

We'll be travelling a couple of the weekends in April, so I won't get a whole lot done on the weekends. Mom and I are going on a shop hop, so I'm hoping to get a few new finds to bring home.