Blocking my Guild Challenge Quilt

Dear Readers,

If you are not from America, you may not realize that this is the biggest football day of the year for professional football.  I have been working on my Ultimate Guild Challenge magnolia quilt and keeping one eye on the game.  The game is also important as many of the most innovative ads of the year are aired during the game.  So with a daughter who is an art director for an ad firm, I like to watch those too.

When making a wall hanging or a quilt for a show, you may want to block your quilt to get it to hang really straight.  Life as a Quilter -- Julia Graber: Indecision–The Storm Within told me how she does hers.  I my method is pretty much the same.

First I lay out some scrap lumber or since I didn't have any around I used some poles from handles of yard tools to make the sides of the "pool."

before the water, you can tell it is a little ripply.

Then I put some heavy duty plastic to form the inside of the pool.  After I put the quilt in the center I pour a gallon, yes I typed gallon, of water over the quilt.  I squish the quilt in the water till it is all absorbed.  Then I try and make sure everything is nice and flat.  I then turned on the ceiling fan and another small fan and pointed it at the quilt in order to dry it out.  I expect it will be dry tomorrow.

after the water, smoother, but still wet.

I will let you know how it is looking.

On another note, my dad, Bob Turnage, did have his heart surgery and is doing well.  Thanks all who took time to pray for him.  I believe in the power of prayer and I know it made a difference.

Oh I almost for got to show you the light I bought on my trip to Ikea during Thanksgiving holidays.  It really helps if you are sewing at night.  Check out the difference.  It is a Jansjo.

ON

OFF

Sew long.

Terry

More Quilted Postcards

Dear Readers,

I have been working on my Magnolia Quilt for the challenge but am not quite ready to write about that yet.  I have to quilt the border, block it, bind it put an hanging sleeve on it, and then I will be done.  Unfortunately, I have not been feeling great so I have been having a hard time getting myself to work on it.  I hope I finish.  I am not happy with my quilting. But I will preserve.  I just hope, no one looks at the back.  There are 13 fractured magnolias on the front and I have quilted on all the white part, I really think the leaves need it to, but not sure there will be time for that.

I did a couple of post cards to help practice my free motion quilting, since I was using my small machine instead of the one I usually use and I wanted to make some for some friends of Celeste, that were having birthdays or just needed a little pick me up.  First I made one for Luke, the guy she has been seeing, for his birthday.  Hope his birthday was all he hopes for and for many more in the future. He works for Upslope.

Then I made one for Jenna, a friend of Celeste's from work, that I met during Thanksgiving and I learned she is a huge Bears fan.  She and I really hit it off.  She is very much like Celeste, and is smart, fun loving and so cute.

I want to do some writing on the magnolia quilt around on the black inner border, but I am scared.  Maybe tomorrow.

Sew long for tonight.

New Year!!

Dear Readers,

First let we wish each of you a heartfelt Happy New Year.  I hope 2015 will be more than you hope for!!

Still holding on to the no diet cokes...although I still want them every day.  Hopefully that will pass soon.  Trying to get some various soups in the freezer for January.  Made a 15 bean soup that was really good, a lentil soup and a chicken soup.  The second two were ok but not as good as the 15 bean.  Think I will do a vegetable soup today although if I do, I will have to go get more tupperware as I am running low.

On the quilt front I finished my siggy blocks for Possum Town Quilters 2 days ago and am working on sandwiching my magnolia quilt.  It needs to be done in January so I need to get the lead out on that.

Thought you would like to see my new deck chairs I got for my birthday in their new home. and the table and chairs that were a Christmas gift.  Now if I can make some progress inside....

My dad is in the hospital.  He went in before Christmas and is waiting on surgery.  They said he has A-fib and a valve that is not working right. So they are keeping him till they can replace the valve.  Supposed to be Monday.  Hope you will all say a prayer for him.  He is mighty wonderful.

Have a great day!

Giving up Diet Coke

Hey Readers,

During the Thanksgiving holidays I decided it was the perfect time to give up diet cokes.  I did pretty well over the holiday, but upon returning to work, it has been tough.  I am getting so little done during my planning period, and even if I get going in the afternoon, I feel as tho I am slugging through mud.  I am not trying to avoid caffeine, but am concerned with the artificial ingredients in our foods.  I have been moving toward eating more and more organic foods and fewer processed foods.  I have never been a big processed food eater, but as a single person more of those type products have crept into my diet.  It is just so easy for small amounts.

When Will, my son, came for my birthday, he brought a 6 pack of unsweet tea for my lunch box.  That has helped a bunch but I am still struggling.  I think I am past the worst of it…I even took the 16 or so diet cokes I had here over to the school to put in the faculty refrigerator, for whom ever wants them.

No change in weight or really how I feel, but I know it will be better for me.

It is a bad time of year to be short of energy.  But will continue to fight the good fight.

Thread Guide

Dear Readers,

Saturday we had our annual Possum Town Quilters Christmas Party.  It is always a really nice party with fellowship with my quilting sisters.  We do a pot luck, and play a couple of games and show any completed projects from that month.  

We exchange one small hand made object and one dirty santa gift.  I had covered another board, like I did for my ironing table for my dirty santa gift and made a thread guide for my handmade gift exchange.  

To make the thread guide, used to hold large thread cones or any other thread option that won't fit on the machine I looked on line and found some samples.  I came close to following this blogger's suggestion for making it.  I made a few adjustments.  I cut the board 4 x 4, just as she did.  I also used a skewer like she did for the spool holder.   I then spray painted it black.  It took about 3 coats.  The wood was a little rough on the bottom so I glued a piece of upholstery fabric to the bottom.   I drilled a second hole in the base for the coat hanger wire I was using to guide the thread.  I glued it in place and then twisted it just a little different front the blogger.  I put a loop right above the spool to make the thread come straight off the top and then a loop a couple of inches over that would be over the machine.  

Other than the time for the paint to dry between coats, it probably only takes about 20 minutes of work.

On my way home from Columbus, it was nearing sunset.  The sky reminded me of the of the skys in the mountains during Thanksgiving.  The picture doesn't do God's handiwork justice...but it made me think of the mountains, which made me think of my girl and her friends.  Good times.

Winona Quilt Show

Dear Readers,

This is about 3 weeks late, but I wanted to show you some photos of the Winona Quilt Show that was on November 9, 2013.  Lydia Chassinol, the state senator from Winona, wanted me to head up a quilt show in Winona as part of the heritage highway project.  She has been promoting Highway 82 as a heritage highway.  Cotesworth will be promoted as part of the heritage highway.

I gathered up a number of quilts from my friends in Columbus.  Special thanks to CC Coggins and Judy Stokes that were so generous with their quilts.  Lou Caffey of Winona also participated as several other Winona quilters and a few that showed antique family quilts.

The show was pulled together in about 2 weeks.  So there was not much time to promote it or get the word out.

I woke up in the middle of the night before the show, and thought, we don't even have a sign to put out front to let the public know we are having a show.

So I took the lower shelf off my planter table and covered it in white fabric and orphan quilt blocks and put it outside the church. Not great, but with short time frame, it will have to do.

 The quilt show was held at the Immanuel Episcopal Church on Summit Street in Winona.  It is a beautiful church that was built around 1901 and the windows came out of an older church.

 The plan was to hang the majority of the quilts on the pews and put a few on racks.

 The stained glassed windows in the church are really pretty.  They remind me of the stained glass in First Baptist Columbus.  The light coming through the glass was really pretty on the quilts.

 This is one of Judy Stokes quilts.  It was a leader- ender project to make spools.  She put her scrappy spools together in groups of 16 and sashed it.  Fabulous.

 These are some of Lou Caffey's quilts. The one in the background won second in the Pinebelt quilters Show.  Amazing work!!

Hope it helps Lydia get her dream of having highway 82 a heritage highway.

Live the day well.

New ironing table

Over the last couple of weekends I built an ironing table.

It all started at a PTQ guild meeting where they passed out directions for building an oversized ironing board cover.  I took the instructions down to the local hardware store, Homefront, here in Winona.  I asked them to cut the plywood into the sizes needed on the sheet 22 x 60 inches.  I have the tools to cut it myself, but I have trouble handling a full sheet of plywood on my own.

The plywood seemed rather rough, so I covered the back with contact paper and then covered the top with a layer of 100% cotton batting covered with silver ironing board fabric.  I staple gunned these down.

I did not put the pieces around the edge that would keep it from sliding off yet.  I wanted to see if I liked it before I put any more work into it.

I loved ironing out big pieces of fabric, but I thought that the space under the board was a complete waste, you could not even put storage containers under it as the ironing board legs were in the way.

So off to Lowes I go, I did not go to Homefront as I knew they did not have the wheels and the 2 x 2's that I wanted to use as legs and the ones I had them rip down from 2 x 4 were slightly different sizes and I just didn't want to try to accommodate that.   I bought 2 x 2's for the legs that I had decided to cut 33 inches long and wheels some with locks so if I want to rearrange I don't have to ask for help, 7/8 in by 48 in dowel rods to go between the legs on the ends to support the shelves and 1 x 4's to go around the top and and bottom to help keep every thing square and support the ironing table all the way around.  I bought the formica covered shelves for the storage.

While I was at the hardware store I ended up modifying my plan as the shelves did not come in 5 or 6 foot lengths.  I decided to make two carts, one 36 in long and one 22 inches long, so I cut 14 inches off of the small side shelves.  I also that that would give better support on the shelving so we would have less warping.  I also wanted more support for the table since you would put pressure in it when you are ironing.  So I added 2 x 2's between the  1 x 4's to support the table top.

lower end

I took the iron rack off of my ironing board and drilled holes in the side support boards to put it on  the end

upper end

The ironing board is not attached to the base.  I did screw two 2 x 2 boards to the base that fit in between the supports to keep it from shifting.  I wanted it removable to that when the ironing fabric needed to be replaced it could without having to remove screws.


I had some plywood left over so I went back to Lowes and bought two more 2 x 2 's, two more dowel rods,  more wheels and one more 1 x 4.  I put them together to be a potting bench for my workshop.

So no progress on the wall paper paste removal…sigh.  But happy about my new ironing table.