Domino Block and border test

Good Evening Ladies
How was your Tuesday?  I had another good day today.  Must be on a roll, hopefully it keeps going.

I purchased a new office chair for my new sewing studio about a month ago.  I put on the arms without realizing that the chair might not fit under my table with them on.  Yep that happened.  I finally got around to taking off the arms.  Boy does it take some getting used to - to sit on the chair without it taking off behind me.  I almost ended up on the floor twice today.  LOL  It probably doesn't help that hubby purchased (what he calls) Racing Wheels for the chair.  We bought special castors that won't wreck the new laminate flooring.

Here is another block in the quilts that I'm making for my great-nephew twin boys. The name of the block is "Domino"

When trying to decide on how big of a border to put on a quilt, I like to take pictures.  Its helps looking at the pictures.  Have you done something like this?  Do you have another way to figure out what size of borders to put on?

These were two of the options for my quilts.  I ended up doing 3.5" or 3" finished.

Notice the cornerstones?  I fussy cut those cute little critters.  As soon as I saw the fabric, I knew I had to put them as cornerstones.

Have a great Quilty evening.
Heading to bed
Vicky K

Border Error

Good Morning Everyone!  Hope your weekend was wonderful.  Mine was great.  Last night my SIL hosted a BBQ and we had perfect weather for it.  I spent the rest of the day cleaning and playing on computer.  What did you do?

Have you ever sewed the joining seams the wrong way for borders?  I did and I didn't catch it until all 8 seams were finished.  I have made the mistake a few times, but I always catch it after the first seam.  Not this time.  Had to rip out lots, good thing, the boarder was only 1.5 inches wide.  :)

Here are some pictures to show you what I mean:

And you can bet I didn't make the same mistake with the outside 3.5 inch borders.  LOL

Hope you have a wonderful Monday!
Vicky K

Mother's Day and new site

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope everyone is enjoying the day.  I've had a really good day so far and am sure the rest of the day will be just as nice.  I was able to sleep in till 8:30.  I woke up in a good mood and it feels like its been forever since I have.  Hubby is gone all day to update the newest house so we can have 2 legal suites.  So I thought today would be the perfect time to clean the house.  Its always easier when he's not home LOL.  I picked up my little guys room while he was eating breakfast.  What a reaction when he noticed his clean room.  It was priceless.  He didn't know how it happened :).  I'm taking a break from cleaning to catch up on my blog and other blogs I have found recently.

Have you heard of Quilting Gallery?  I have seen the button on quilting blogs for a while, but never really had the time to check out the website.  I still haven't had the time to see all the ins but it looks like a great website.  Hope to check it out fully in the next little while.

 

I've taken some new pictures.  Hope to get them uploaded soon.

Have a great quilty day!

Vicky K

Retreat Works

Good Morning
I've had a pretty successful morning so far.  Its feeling really nice since I've been sick for the last 2 weeks.  I had a sinus infection that hit me hard.  My teeth hurt like the dickens, fever ever 2 days, achy, clammy and so on.  I thought I had a cold and you're not supposed to go to the doctor for a  cold.  But last Wednesday, I couldn't stand it anymore and finally went to the doctors.  I had to wait for almost 2 hours to see the doctor for 10 minutes.  My poor house and family.  I could only get the energy to do one thing daily, either dishes, vacuuming, cleaning up after kids, make supper.  So my house has suffered greatly.  We also got possession of a rental house on May 1, and hubby is obsessed with doing the necessary renovations to make it contain a separate legal suite.  So he was too busy to help with the house and kids.  But I'm on the UPSIDE!! 
We are going to Mexico in June and I would love to lose some weight before we go.  This morning I started an exercise routine.  I'm hoping that doing the program will help with my energy and motivation around the house LOL.  I'm a terrible housekeeper and an awesome procrastinator.

Sorry for the ramblings.  Back to Quilting:

Two weeks ago I went on retreat for 4 days.  I brought 5 projects to work on.  The first project I worked on was 2 quilts for my nieces newborn twin boys.  She fell in love with the panel  Forest Friends from Northcott.

Northcott's website lists all the store that purchased their fabrics and has a download for EQ7 for their fabrics.  I downloaded the fabrics into my EQ7 and played around to come up with a quilt.  Well I actually came up with 4 different quilts.  I couldn't decide what to make so I printed all of them with the fabric requirements to take to the store with me.  I found a store, Snow Goose Quilting that purchased all or most of the fabrics in the line.  I had the ladies at the store help me decide which one to make.  I will post a picture of the quilts when I finished but here is a little sneak peak.

The pile on the left is my yardage for the quilts and the pieces on top are for the quilts too.

 Here is a picture of one of the blocks I came up with.

I really hope that she will like the quilts.  The fabric and backing is flannel.  Ohhh so soft.

Do you have EQ7 or a program like it?  Do you like coming up with your own quilts.  I would love to know and see some that you have done.

Hope you are having a great Monday!!
Vicky K

The Cutting Gizmo

I love notions and here is one that I use quite a bit.  Its called

The Cutting Gizmo

It has a blade in the middle at the top.  

When I'm finished chain piecing, I just place 

the little bit of thread between the pieces 

on the blade and it cuts the thread.

Here is a picture of the thread hanging on the blade.

This stack of chain pieces took me less

 than a minute to cut apart using 

The Cutting Gizmo

 

Last year at retreat, I brought the Gizmo, which my friends tried out.  I think at least 2 out of 3 bought it after.  It works that good.  There are replacement blades when it dulls.  I didn't have any blades with me at this retreat but we were playing around with it to see what kind of blades it takes.  I just pushed the blade over enough to get a sharper edge.  I could probably get at least 3 full uses out of the blade doing that going the other way too.  I love when notions have a double use or you can get extra uses out of them.

Have you tried The Gizmo?  If so, what is your opinion?

Hope you have a wonderful Quilty weekend!

Vicky K

Small Blog Meet

Lily's Quilts is hosting two linky parties this month.  One is Fresh Sewing Day and the other is Small Blog Meet.  In her post, there is an amazing quilt that she'll be creating a pattern for and a sew-a-long.  You should check it out.

I'm linking to the Small Blog Meet.  My goal this year is to be a consistent online participant.  I haven't been as successful as I had hoped but am thinking the more people that follow me, the more incentive I have to post.  And if I have to do more posting, I have to do more creating.  LOL  I would love to put more hours into my quilting and to get back to some card making but there always seem to be some reason (excuse) for me not to head downstairs.

Back to the linky party- I have to play with Blogger to remember how I put a button in my post.  Here's looking to success!!

I did it!  I did it!  Woo Hoo!!!

 Hope you are having a Wonderful Crafty Weekend!

Vicky K

Ruler Hanger

I'm pretty excited about my ruler hanger.  But, boy, did I have a heck of a time putting it up.  I tried for at least 1/2 an hour.  And the first thing that hubby says when I'm proudly showing it to him - "Its crooked".  The stinker.  LOL

I love that my rulers are off the floor, off my desk and are clearly visible.  I had the rings in my stash but I'll replace them with S rings - when I can find them.  I have a lot more rulers to add to the bar.

Hope you are having a great quilty weekend!
Vicky K