The butterflies are done

Yeah, it only took a little more than a year but finally, I finished the butterfly wallhanging for Greg and Vanessa that was promised to them last Christmas.  By last, I don’t mean the one last week, I mean the one in 2007.

I did Diane-shiko in the background as well as some fill between the leaves.  It took me forever but I really liked the way it turned out.  Once all the quilting was completed, I added beads and crystals.  My biggest mistake was adding the border and binding before doing the background quilting.  I’ll know better next time.  As I said, this took forever but it took quite a while for the piece to talk to me.  I think Greg and Vanessa were pleased with the final product.

I also made a microwave heat pack for Su for Christmas.  It was very easy thanks to the tutorial on Carla’s blog.  The photo isn’t very good but you get the idea. The fabric is a nice flannel with angels that I have been hording for many years because I was waiting for the perfect reason to us it.  What more perfect project could there have been?

I also finished another small bag made with Christmas fabric.  So, I actually finished three projects in the last month.  Wow, that’s gotta be a new record. I continue to work on the oriental flower as well as the blooming 9-patch.

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Measure twice, cut once

Finally some time at home! It has been cloudy, damp and raining for the last couple of days. I woke up this morning to lots of sun, for a change, and lots of wind, again. Shortly after starting my day, the power went out. Yuck! It was a little after 8:00. Since I couldn’t do some of the things on my list…laundry, ironing, sewing, I decided to start cutting the fabrics for my blooming 9-patch. Oh my gosh, I didn’t know what I was getting into. That was this morning and at 6:00 PM I’m still cutting. My back is killing me but I hate to stop until I’m finished, which is only a few more triangles.

I did stop for lunch and dinner, put some clothes in the washing machine once the power returned (about 11:00 AM) had a cup of coffee and read for a few minutes. Wendy came by tonight and we put the sandwich together for the baby quilt she has sewn. She did a great job piecing the top.

Last night Bill and I went to Dan’s grandparent’s for dinner. We were invited in order to celebrate Wendy’s 28th birthday, which is Friday, April 4. Bill made a cake that we took along. The meal was very good and we enjoyed visiting.
Last Sunday I got off work at 7:00 AM and went to Walmart in order to purchase a Wii game for Dan. That was his gift for Wendy but they were going snowboarding and he couldn’t figure out how to get it without her knowing. I was the first car in the lot and went to stand by the door at 7:30 after another woman parked and got in line. There were four of us when the doors opened at 8:00. They had only received 7 games so I was glad I got there early and came home with a game for Dan.

I finished my “More Leftovers” wallhanging. I spent a long time doing the quilting, mostly because I took out all of the quilting I had done in the printed areas. It didn’t really fit the space and after spending some time looking at it, I knew it had to come out.

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My new toy

Yesterday I decided to break down and finally purchase a new Janome MC6600P machine. I have been wanting it for a couple of years but last year the money necessary for the purchase was used to replace the AC in my FL condo. Since the government is being so kind and sending me $600 to stimulate the economy, I did just that! Although my plan was to go to the shop and just look, again, Bill talked me into buying it Now! I think that was fortunate…I was told that the price is going up within the next couple of months, possibly as much as 20%. I also looked at the Nolting Fun Quilter on a New Joy frame. The machine and the frame are both metal which is an advantage as opposed to the plastic frames I have seen. It’s a starting point and I will continue to do research. The Machine Quilting Show is next month and there should be a number of dealers there with demos and other information.

I’m really excited. I know it’s not the longarm machine I want to own at some point but it does have a larger throat and that should make some of my quilting easier. It was so many features that I wasn’t even aware of that it was even more exciting than I anticipated. All I wanted to do last night was sit home and play with my new toy. Alas, I had agreed to cover one of my coworkers for the night shift. All I had time to do was drop off the machine at home and get ready for work. It was a 14 hour shift which ended with a fire in an abandoned 4 story mill building that came in at 0500. Luckily it was spotted early and we were able to extinguish it within an hour or so.

Today was Bill’s 59th birthday, mine is right around the corner. He wasn’t feeling that well and I didn’t get released from work until 0900. We met at AJ’s for coffee, went back to his place where he opened a couple of gifts and we watched a movie, Happy Feet. It was a Netflix rental, animated musical with an imbedded story about diversity as well as environmental protection. We had dinner at Mike’s Clam Shack so we could say hi to Jenna.

It has been pouring rain most of the afternoon and is forecast to last into the early morning hours. Thankfully it is not snow. We stopped by Wendy’s to feed the dogs and let them out. I also wanted to check the driveway and be sure I wasn’t going to have trouble getting in later. I’m spending the night sitting with the “grand dogs” as Wendy and Dan went snowboarding. They are so good when W&D aren’t here, especially Ginger, the problem “child”.

I finished the binding on my granddaughter’s quilt. I think it came out well and I’m really happy with it. I have also decided to order a blooming 9-patch kit from The Cotton Club. It is called Goldsun and includes blues, pale pinks and rust. That will probably be my first project on the new machine.

Other notes from this past week: Wendy and I had lunch together on Thursday at Back Street. She got off early because she already had 40 hours in and they aren’t allowed overtime. It’s always nice when we can spend some time together, just the two of us.

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