Sewing with Granddaughters

This has been a hectic week as my two granddaughters came for a visit. They wanted to sew pillows for their rooms this year so I helped them make 4 patch pillows. They thought it was fun to use my new sewing machine and did a nice job getting them pieced. I also let them stitch their names on the backs of their pillows and they told me that was the Coolest! Have put a photo of them with their pillows below but blurred their faces. Just don't like to put them on the Internet for anyone to see but you can see the pillows they made.

Besides the girls staying from last Sunday until Saturday afternoon we had a cousin and his 5 yr. old son come on Thursday and leave this morning, the girls parents came Friday and left on Saturday and our other daughter and her sons came on Saturday and left this morning. Whew!!!!

I can say I am tired of company and tired of cooking. Have been wanting to sit down at my own machine and play this week but just couldn't. Seems like when ever I started doing something the girls would run in and call - - - Graaaaa....maaaaa! They brought their bicycles and did a lot of riding around the yard but poor #2 fell so many times on the rocks and scraped her knees 3 or 4 times. She is tough and didn't cry but it sure looked like those bloody knees hurt to me.

We packed in a lot of things this week, went to the library twice to check out books, went swimming, went 4-wheeling, etc., etc. I think I went to bed earlier this week than I have in a long time.

Hopefully in my next post I will have something to say about some project that I am working on but think this afternoon I may take a nap!

Lynn

Applique leaves and berries

I finally finished stitching the appliqued leaves and berries to this mystery quilt I started last fall when it was a project for our guild. Had one circle of leaves already done but had put it away for a while to do something else I guess. Pulled it out a few days before I went to Lincoln to get my new machine and started preparing the pieces I needed to finish it. Had all the parts glue sticked (is that a word?) down in readiness when I got the new 730 up and running.

I was rather slow getting all the pieces stitched down as I kept getting sidetracked with something new to learn or find out about the machine. Today I was determined to finish it and get the borders on it. I really don't like the way it turned out as the applique leaves are too much the same as the printed green fabric and don't show up as much as I want - just looks way to busy. When I chose those fabrics I just used what I had in my stash since I live about an hour away from the nearest fabric shop. I had already done the one set of leaves, etc and had to cover a hole I had accidentally poked into the light background so I couldn't take it off and start over. At one time I thought I might applique a vine around the outside edge but am not going to spend the time doing that now.

What I am planning now is to machine quilt the vine using the BSR. I love playing with it and can't wait to quilt an actual quilt with it. I don't have backing for this quilt yet so it will have to wait.

I started this blog the other day and got interrupted and never got back to finish it until now and it is Saturday night already. Don't know how Blogger will post this if it will post it for today or the 5th.

Let me see - what have I done since I finished the quilt....I have done some gardening, cleaning, cooking and laundry for starters. I am working on some coiled mats right now too. Will post photos later as they are gifts.

I did get my class assignments for QuiltNebraska and I was so pleased to get an applique class by Aie Rossmann. It was my most wanted class so was thrilled.

There were not enough sign up for the lecture I was going to do at convention so they had to cancel it. That is ok as I know those things happen. I did get to sign up for a class/lecture in that spot so that is a bright spot. I will be listening to Becky Goldsmith during that time slot and got another lecture by Marsha McCloskey.

I always enjoy QuiltNebraska so much each year and I would hate to miss it now. I have quilt friends that I only see once a year at QNE so look forward to wonderful catching up sessions. I have the same roommates each year and we have roomed together for years and years. I knew one of them from my high school days but met the other two through the Nebraska State Quilt Guild and we have all become good friends.

Another nice thing about QNE is that it moves around the state. Chadron is a favorite of mine - I love the Sand Hills. The college works hard to make the quilters stay comfortable and the town of Chadron is very welcoming.

Guess I had better post this as I am rambling and it is getting late.....

Lynn

New Bernina 730

Well I got my new baby home yesterday and sat down and played for a while. I quit after several hours and tried to read through the manual but got overloaded with all the new stuff to learn. Some is just like the 150 but there is a lot of new stuff to learn. I think the classes for the machine will be well worth the drive to Lincoln. They don't offer them again until September but by then maybe I will be a little more familiar with the machine. Think that helps me anyway to not have everything new to learn at one time.

As soon as I post this I want to sit down and do some machine applique I have been preparing the last few days. The quilt will be way too busy but have already appliqued one motif on so felt I needed to do the rest too. Not sure what I will do with it when it is done. It was a mystery quilt our guild did this past year - will post photos when I get the applique finished.

With smiles on my face....Lynn

All Ready for New Machine

Today is B-Day (the day I bring my new Bernina home) and I am so excited. I am going to Lincoln to pick up my 730 machine and bring my new baby home. A quilting friend is going with me so we can talk quilting on the way up and back and that will surely make the time go faster and make it a pleasant way to travel too.

I have been working on getting some machine applique ready to stitch the last few days. It is the appliqued mystery quilt we had for our guild. It is way to busy looking and the applique doesn't add anything to the quilt but am going to finish it anyway but not sure what I will do with it when I get it done. It will be a good practice piece for the new machine. Think I will layer some other small quilts that are in my UFO box and practice quilting on them.

Got the sewing table cleaned off and ready to drop the new machine in as soon as I get home today. I know I will want to sew right away so got my yard mowed on Sunday, and cleaned up the house and did laundry yesterday too so won't have any of those nagging chores keeping me from my sewing.

I told my DH today feels like Christmas morning when I was a kid.

Happy quilting.

Lynn