This weekend

We got a fence built!  It's not the prettiest fence.....that would have cost us around $800.  Not going there.  The fence we have was hard work, but it works and that's all I care about.  :-)
It's so nice to stand on the porch and let the dogs go potty (especially in the rain!  LOL). 
The dogs love it too!  They had a blast running around - Evan ran so hard, he was choking and coughing! What a character.  The down side is, they both got filthy -- the upside was - I have a grooming table now that is perfect for them - and I left it out on my porch so that I can dry them off when they are wet, and I can comb the crap out of Evans loooooonnnnnnnnngggggggg fur!  Hehe.

I made my Easter cards - I am not sending to everyone in the world.  I used to do that, but most of the people I used to write to and send my hand-made with love cards to, don't even acknowledge that I'm even alive.  Whatever.

Anywho, I have to get back upstairs and do some more sewing. Lots of good shows on tonight so I'll be watching those and flipping around!

Quilting

Ok, so, I still have tons to learn.  My quilting is not very good - well, my SEWING isn't very good.  Lets start there!  Sigh.........
Here are my placemats.  I did the two on the right first.  They were downstairs. I have no idea how the two on the left came out with the stripes going the oppostie way.  What the heck?

Ok, so, it adds a little interest anyway................

Here is the hot pad to match.  It also is not my best work.  It was night time and I wanted this project done.  Why I do that to myself, God only knows..............

First time using insulbrite - I also used an extra piece of insul-brite and an extra piece of batting.  No heat should get thru this baby! 

New fabric!

Ok, I'm addicted. I saw this batik fabric and I LOVE it and it was calling my name.  I wish I could have afforded to get 6 yards of it!
I also saw the pattern I'm going to use for it.  I can hardly wait to get started!  I have so many other blocks I HAVE to make first tho.  Ok, so here it is.
This is beautiful and the picture does not do it justice.

This is the other fabric I bought with it - but come to find out, I like some fabric I have here even better!  LOL  That's ok - this fabric will go somewhere, some time.  ha ha

OK, so, these colors don't really show that well.  The left is purple, the center green, and the right is more pink than it really looks.  But they'll work.

This is the applique sheet I'm going to use.  I can hardly wait - but I have to download the instructions - I was so busy trying to make sure I knew how the pattern worked. that I forgot to ask how the applique stuff works!  Duh.

So, you take this petal looking pattern, and you cut each one in half, and use it to make petals.  You cut a 8" square of background fabric, and then put the fabric you want to use for the petals (the first fabric in my pics) and you attach it to the triangle.  Its complicated - but simple.  Too hard to explain.  Anyway, I can hardly wait!  Hehe.

So, can you see the words around the fabric?  It's pretty cool - I didn't realize this had those words till I got home and looked at it.   Here are some close ups.

So, how cool is that?  There are more but I don't want to smother the post with pics.  And, it's late, so I gotta get to bed and dream of my new quilt!  :-)

This is the Irish Poster Quilt, finally done!  :-)  I learned a lot of lessons from it and I hopefully will not make the same mistakes next time.
The full poster.

Below are close up versions.  Instead of making the coins out of fabric, I found plastic coins and drilled holes in them, then sewed them on by hand.

Can you see the free motion quilting?  Its really my first attempt.

I hope you enjoyed viewing my poster quilt.

My quilting adventures (and lessons)

Ok, so I got in a hurry to finish my Irish quilt (Patricl Lose pattern).  I was so happy and enjoying the adventure of my newly found ability to do free motion quilting (fmq) that I was busy as a beaver and very focused on getting done.  I was switching out thread so I could match the fabrics, and going strong...............only to realize right near the end (last thing I was fmq-ing) that I had changed all the bobbins to match the top thread - WRONG.  I should have had the bobbin be only green all the way thru.  DUH!  Where was my brain???  The back looks really bad.  Not only because of the different color threads...............but.............I had used the spray adhesive on the backing and the top, and I thought I'd smoothed everything out.  NOT.  There is a long piece where its folded over - just a bit but it looks terrible.  If it weren't a wall hanging and it was a quilt, I'd be really messed up cuz I'd HAVE to remove all those stitches!  Yikes.  So from now on I have to be VERY careful. 

But its almost done - just gotta put a hanging sleeve and a label on it. Then it'll be done.  I need to hand stitch the hanging sleeve on and its ready to go but I'm just too pooped tonight.  So that'll be tomorrow's project.  I hope to get that done, and also get the strips cut to make the place mats for my MIL.  I think the fabric is so cheerful!  :-)  I can hardly wait to work on it.  Finally found a pattern that I like too.  Its perfect for what I want to do and the fabric I got, I think.  I hope.  I hope I have enough to make them 4, but if not, I'll make 2 and make matching pot holders or a hot pad for the table.

Tuesday is the strips class.  :->  I get to use my Moda fabric strips and the backing and the Insul - Brite for the first time.  Yehaw!  I have to work on getting everything together that I need for Tues (another project for tomorrow).

After the strips class, and the place mats are done, I have to work on my blocks for the guild, and my BOM for the forum.  I think I'll pop over there now since I haven't been there in awhile!

TDI volunteering

Today I took Evan to the library for the "Reading to the dogs" day.  Second Saturday of each month at Culpeper County Library.  It was sweet.  There was one little girl there with her younger sister.  They gravitated toward the dog next to me, Beauty.  She's more settled than Evan is.  Evan was really more hyper than I'd have liked.  Anway, the little girl wasn't reading.  Betty Ann asked her why, and she said something but I couldn't hear her.  After a few minutes, I told her, go get a book because Evan hasn't ever done this before, and he needs someone to read to him.  Well, don'tcha know, she did. :-)  I told her even if she didn't want to read, if she would just show him the pictures.  When she got the book and sat down, I had evan on the floor and was holding him in a sit position.  He was looking all over the place and watching everything but she opened the book and I started reading the first page --- then she read the rest of the book!  I told her thank you and told her she did a really great job.  She was sweet.  Then another little girl came along and fell in love with Evan.  I picked him up and she read to us. Funny enough, she read a book about art.  Nice!  She was very good, and read the book well.  She spent the rest of the time (about a half hour??) petting Evan.  I think it might have gotten to him a little bit because she was vigorously scratching his head, which he likes, but then he acted like he had enough.  I told her to scratch his back instead.  He liked that. :-) 

Tony came and got him from me and brought him home.  I went to the 145 Art Studio to make sure Jinnie's and my names were on the list for Tuesday.  Mine was, but had her add Jinnie's for Tues too.  Also found out where we can park on Tues. 

Then I went on to the meeting at Ledos.  I wasn't that late, that was good.  One of the co-directors mentioned that if anyone wanted to be the new director, that she wouldn't mind.  It happened that we were parked next to each other in the parking lot, and we were the last ones out of the restaurant along with Margo.  When we went to the trucks I asked her about it.  I told her that maybe I wasn't ready to take on the entire thing right now, and she said that in Dec things would change for her at work (more work) so she'd probably need to give it up then.  I told her, if she had anything that she wanted me to do meantime so that I could get an idea of what it consisted of, I'd do it for her.  She said ok and would keep me in mind.  I don't want to jump in cuz I'm not even sure that Evan is liking the volunteering right now.....so I'm going to have to continue to go to the Baptist home and the retirement home at least a couple of times a month to get him used to it again - when we originially started he was so excited to do it.  Now, it doesn't seem he's as excited. Or, is it me?

Another note about this is that Jane Waylan saw us and said that she has had another request from someone in Warrenton (?) that is interested in getting into the hospital to train, so she will set it up for both of us to go the same time.  Maybe that will entice her to do it sooner rather than later......which is the feeling I got when I went into the office that day.

I also sent a resignation letter to Liz Hanson because I'm not going to volunteer at the hospital anymore.  If I'm going to do volunteering, I'm going to do it with my dog.  Thats where my interest really lies.  I am not that excited about the hospital anyway.

So this coming week, I have to find a copy of the paperwork that got sent to TDI and if I didn't keep a copy (which I don't think I did - bummer) then maybe they will send me a copy.  I'm hoping.  Or I'll have the vet clinic fill out another one.

I may also try to work with Gabbi on training.  I know there's no way we'd be ready for a test in April which is when the next one is.

One more thing I found interesting was that Margot, Betty Ann, and Jane were talking about starting their own place - a Doggie Day Care, training, and something else place.  That would be interesting to be in on.  I guess maybe if I want to get more engrossed in this whole thing, that maybe I'll have to really start getting more involved with the local stuff and get going on all this doggie stuff. 

Off to make a list of what I need to do for next week.  And a separate post about my quilting adventures.

Quilting

So, I found a new fabric store yesterday, up in Manassas.  Its the Old Town Needleworks shop.  Its stock full of fabric, and yarn, and other needleworking stuff.  The fabrics were awesome and wonderful.  I got some fabric to make springtime placemats - hopefully the pattern I'm going to use will be pretty.  I don't know yet....thinking I might have to change my mind about what I was going to do.  I have to decide.
Anyway, here is the fabric - some of the colors aren't great so I have to retake a couple but I'll take pics when the placemats are finished. 

 

This is the main fabric.  The other colors I chose were tone on tone orange, a tone on tone green, and a lilac, which all match the colors in this pattern perfectly.  Very bright and cheerful. :-)

I will surely be going back to THAT shop!  And the people were really sweet too.  I don't get that so much in the shops around here.  It's a good thing that shop is pretty far away -  I could see me going in every day to gawk at all the pretty fabrics!

Today I need to finish my Irish wall hanging.  I have the top done but have to satin stitch around the applique, add a few things, put the backing and batting on, and the binding.  I also want to figure out what pattern to do for the placemats (thinking at this point they may just be strips).

The sun is shining and its windy out but its supposed to warm up a little later.

Jenns bd is tomorrow.  I know she doesn't feel good and that sucks for her.

My foot is killing me - good reason to go sew.  Hehe

Off to take a shower and get fixed up even if we aren't going anywhere. 

Tony took the blankets off the horses and they all look good. I think Blaze may have lost a tad bit of weight and that's a good thing.  Blue is handsome and beautiful and Bridget, well, is Bridget.  Silly girl.

More quilting

So yesterday I posted pics of some of the blocks I'd done.  Well, my block for the guild was wrong.  I took it apart (just the four sections) and after printing off the picture of what it was supposed to look like, I got it!  Whew.  So here it is.

 

Paper piecing is not my favorite thing to do.  I do have to admit however, that I like the perfect points.  I just feel like its a bit of a waste of fabric....but that's cuz I've had to search hi and lo for fabric I like.....and have spent a lot of money on fabric.

I also got my bingo block done but hadn't taken pics.  So here it is.

 

I tried to start my Patrick Lose St. Pats day wall hanging, but I don't have the background fabric I need!  Oye.  Blue.  A nice, bright blue that looks like the sky after a rain that will have a rainbow in it.  Finding solid cotton is almost impossible!  Strange.  I think I'll go shopping tomorrow.  I stayed in the house all day today.  And I'm bored to tears.  Its terrible.  I should get a job! 

Oh, this isn't a quilting picture, but I could NOT resist.  Leo is sunning himself on the window sill perch.  He hasn't sat up there for quite awhile.  He looks SO comfy.  LOL

 

Man, don't you wish YOU were napping in the sun like that?  I do!  :-)