The Birthday Winners...

And the winners are...

Me and My Stitches who said "Happy Birthday! My wish for you is a very productive quilting year with your stitching and blogging friends (old & new!). Hope you have a great day!"

And...

Linda C who said "Happy belated birthday! My birthday was late dec, so we are both capricorns, the nicest of people!!! LOL"

 

I will keep their presents a surprise for when they receive them! Be sure to send me your addresses girls!

All of the wishes were so wonderful...as I read through them all, it was so nice to see that I have gotten to know most of you a little bit and some a bit more over the past few months since I have started blogging. How nice to have friends near and far who share the same joy of quilting that I do! Looking forward to another great year and getting to know you all a bit better!!

 

I was away helping my daughter and her husband move into their new home in Georgia last week. I was born in Georgia and it brought back many memories to go back...just driving on the highways brought back many memories of my brother and I giggling in the old car we had. We sang silly songs constantly while on road trips, giggling all the while! Who remembers the song..."Ooooohhhhh eeeee, ooo aaa aaaa, ting tang Wally Wally bing bang...ting tang ooo aaa aaa ting tang Wally Wally bing bang!" We sang that for hours on our way to camp or go to my Memaw's house. Now I will add to those memories of GA and think of the nice week we had moving the kids into their first home. We painted and painted, organized and painted some more! We left them settled in the main rooms ready to start their new adventure. Here's a few pics of the house since I didn't get any sewing done to report on!

The living room...very elegant with a steel grey/ brown wall and tan walls.

The kitchen wall ( this paint was already there !) that we put together as a buffet area for decor and serving food at a party. It looks a bit bright in the picture and it is in person as well, but it's a very cheerful color! It grew on us more each day.

Me and my daughter,

And the happy owners of the house!

This is a panoramic picture taken with an iPhone of Savannah Rapids Park. It is a beautiful place they can bike and walk. We spent about an hour there and it was so beautiful! The water was ocean blue in some areas!

Thanks for stopping by and again, thanks for all the nice birthday wishes,

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

Happy Birthday To Me!

Let's Party 'Cause It's My Birthday!

Leave me a wish and I'll draw a name for a Birthday Present for one lucky quilter in a few days! Better do it soon...I'm really old now and might forget! Tee Hee!

Take care,

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

And Here Is The Housewarming Quilt!

 

My bed, Their quilt! It's ready for the movers to pack it up tomorrow! Fits my bed well, so it should fit theirs also. They have modern furniture so the style will match better.

Here's a close up view of a few of the accent stripes. This was such an easy quilt to make...6" strips, 3 widths wide for king size...wack 4 strips off at the angle shown below, sew 'em together quick and quilt! Voila' a modern styled quilt for Dear Daughter and Son In Law!

Take care,

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

Don't Cha Hate It When This Happens???

I am on my last 5" of stitching binding and I need new thread! It's amazing how often this happens isn't it! My 16 year old has been sewing lately and she is noticing this happens to her too. She has been giggling with me about it as she runs out of bobbin with a few inches to go. She also used a whole spool of odd colored thread and had about 4" left when she finished her project! Lucky Katie!

The good news is...I am just about done with this KING sized binding!! Yippee!

May your thread never run out...

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

More On Binding My Way...

I had quite a few questions as I replied to comments on the binding post yesterday, so I will try my best to explain how I do bindings for you today.

First, cut 1 3/4" strips. This can be done on the straight of grain or on the bias. I prefer bias strips, but forgot to take a picture that way! The quilt I am binding now is done with strips cut on the grain as shown because I was short on fabric.

Then sew the strips you just cut together lengthwise. You can see my seam here.

Then press the whole length of the long strip you now have. I sometimes will fold off center just a bit if my batting is thicker or will poof up a bit after it is washed. You can see the wrong side of the fabric peeking out in the picture below. I will also do this if I want a bit larger than my normal quarter inch binding. If this is the case my seam allowance needs to be a bit larger than a quarter inch also! By pressing off center a bit, basically I am giving myself a wider folded strip.

Then, lay the binding, open side to the edge of the quilt edge. Stitch 1/4" away from the edge, about where the scissor point is laying. I usually use a walking foot to prevent wavy edges, although I am not sure it helps me at times.

After the binding is sewn on all around the quilt, fold the binding to the back side and clip in place, covering the stitch line.

 

See how I am barely covering the stitches from where the binding was sewn on.

Then, when you stitch the binding down, hold in place as if it were appliqué. The clip will assist in making this easier. When you reach the clip, move it forward a few inches.

Now does this make more sense?

 

Posted with Blogsy

Pin Keep Swap!

This looked like such fun, I couldn't resist joining in! There's room for more if you want to join in too!

Ravenwood Whimzies is hosting this fun swap...check it out by clicking HERE!

Yesterday at the Appliqué Group, one of the girls brought her collection of pin cushions! It was wonderful to see all of her goodies. She brought at least 50 to show us...antiques, newly made, gifts from friends. She has quite a collection! When we went to lunch afterwards, she shared two of them as a little gift for me. So special! As she builds her collection in front of me, I have wanted to start my own collection. No time though! Each pin cushion I make seems to be gifted to someone when I need a little gift. So, with her gift to me, along with Michelle's gift of the pin cushion and bunny scissors a month or so ago, my collection has officially begun! I think as I make a pin cushion in the future, I will make two if possible...one for me and one for a future gift! That's the plan anyway...we'll see how well I actually do! Haha!

These are the two pin cushions she gave to me yesterday. She made the wool pin keep and the other is an antique. Thanks Julee!

 

And thanks again Michelle! My collection is on it's way!

Take care,

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

Binding Time!

The quilting is done and now I am binding DD and SIL's new quilt! The good news is that it will be done in time for the movers to pack it up and take it to Georgia to their new home. The bad news is that it is over 400" of binding! Ha Ha! Ginger feels the same way I do about binding!

She is snuggling up to it this morning. Last night she was laying on the part that was at my feet while I stitched one side of binding down. I had to keep moving her as I adjusted the quilt to get to the next part for stitching. I guess she is making sure to get the snuggles in before the quilt goes to it's new home. Funny how pets love to snuggle on quilts!

She had a good report on her broken leg last week! It is healing well. She now has freedom to walk slowly on the wood floor and have freedom throughout the main floor of the house. No big flight of steps allowed yet, but she got a little energetic and ran up and down when we weren't looking! So now we are doing the baby gate thing for a few more weeks while we build her strength back with daily walks. She is still limping a bit at times and I hope that will go away soon. I hate that she is hurting even a bit when she walks!

How do you like to make a binding? I cut bias strips 1 3/4" wide, sew the strips together and then press the long length in half. Actually I offset this seam a bit as you can see in the picture below. It is offset about a scant 1/8". I use a walking foot and a 1/4" seam when stitching on the folded binding.

Using this method gives me a nice small binding. I like to use one goodie clip as a pin to hold the folded edge in place a bit as I stitch up to it. I only use one clip because it is easier to handle one as you move it along the binding. Using more clips ahead of my stitching does not do me any good because I am placing the binding in it's exact place one stitch at a time. I usually place the clip about 4" ahead of my stitching and work up to it as shown in this picture below. The clip helps me get the folded edge in the approximate location needed and reduces the pull the binding makes with the double layer as it is folded to the back. Make sense?

Have a great day and take care ! I will show a picture of the quilt on a bed when the binding is done... Until then...

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

Wools and Cottons...MMM Good!

Sometimes there isn't much better than wools and cottons. Looks luscious!

Can you believe these are cotton backgrounds? They look just like a man's suit or pants made from wool. The fat quarters I purchased are from the collection called Princeton from Northcott. Looks just like wool until you get up close. Feels a good as any other Northcott...like butter! Hee Hee!

 

This is my new Little Woolie I'm Workin' on. If it looks familiar, it's a take off from the Prim Pineapple Welcome Punchneedle mini quilt. A few stores have requested wool projects that look like the punched quilts. I love to appliqué with wool...it's soooo addicting because it's so simple!!

Take care,

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy

What a DOLL!

 

Miss Mckenna looked adorable in her new smocked dress and bubble shirt I made her. It was such fun to meet her...she's a little doll as you can see...we are so blessed to have her in our family! She was all smiles the few days we saw her. Not a tear or cry from her, so she is a very happy and content babe.

Here's the little Uggs I made for her! They were a bit small, so I will save these for the next baby that comes my way and make her a larger pair this week. They were so quick and easy to stitch up it won't be a problem to whip up another pair!

 

I started on DD and SIL's quilt for their new home. It is a modern style with a touch of country, very simple large stripes. We saw it offered in a linen magazine, but it wasn't offered in King size...so, what a quilter to do? Make it of course!

Here it is all layed out on the floor and ready for sewing. It only took me a few hours to stitch those stripes together and I will start quilting it tomorrow I hope! Here's the picture of what we are imititating from TheCompanyStore.com

 

I hope it turns out just as beautiful as this one is. We used solids, quilter's linen and quilter's suede fabrics to add a bit of interest instead of all solids. I am trying to decide if I use warm and natural batting if I should also use a fluffy poly to give it the loft shown in the pic above. If you have any advice on this, I'll take it!

Take care and Happy New Year!

Missie

 

Posted with Blogsy