Shifting Gears

Ugh, it looks like I'm going to have to shift gears on the little quilt for Bea :( These little blocks are just taking way to long and I'm so crunched for time that I can spend at the sewing machine right now. I think what I am going to do is make a sampler, this way I can cut out a couple of blocks and take them to work to hand sew together. I already have a few ready to go for tonight at work and I'll show pic's in the morning when I get home. I have Grandmother's Flower Garden, a Fan block and a Lemoyne Star ready to go for tonight :) I should be able to get all three done tonight if my client stays asleep .

Swap Quilts :)

Here is the wonderful little mini quilt that I recived in the November Swap Til' You Drop. This one was made by Michelle and I just love it !!

Here is a close up of the other November mini quilt. I adore this one, how much better can you get than orange and black ??

Here they are up on the wall. I had to start on the next wall as I ran out of room on my first quilt wall. I really need to repaint my walls but I don't see that happening anytime soon. Maybe this summer if I don't have to take summer classes. I think I want to redo it in a nice pale blue :)

This is the mini quilt that I made for Michelle. She should be reciving it any day now. I had forgotten to take a pic of the other mini quilt that I made for this month's swap so I will have to wait to snag a picture when it gets posted to the group.

Thinking Out Loud

Feel free to skip this post as I'm kinda trying to get my thoughts in order.

Fine Arts
1. Assignment 8 -- Due Dec 3rd
2. Assignment 9 -- Due Dec 10th
3. Test -- Due Dec 3rd
4. Finials -- Due Dec 10th

Computer
1. Assignment 18 -- Due DEc 3rd
2. Web Pages Ass. -- Due Dec 10
3. Test -- Due Dec 5th
4. D.B. -- Due Dec 1st
5. D.B. -- Due Dec 5th
6. Finials -- Due Dec 12th(?)
---------------------------------
The Web document
The web document you create will actually consist of three separate documents:

1. Your home page, which must contain your name, at least two paragraphs of your choosing (describing something about yourself, your goals, hobbies, etc.), your email address, etc., and the date of last modification of the page. Include at least one graphic on your home page. Save this file as index.

2. Your resume, which must include the standard items found in a resume: Career Objective, Education, Employment or Experience, and Activities. If you don't have a prepared resume, do an Internet search for sample resumes so you can see what a good resume looks like. You may also visit the Career Planning and Placement Center located in the Student Union. If you do not feel comfortable putting your "real" telephone number, address, etc. then use a fictitious one. It is important that you know how to prepare a resume. Save this file as resume.

3. Your "Fun Stuff" document, may be a document about you, your interests, your pet, or anything that you feel would be fun for someone to view. This page should be colorful and fun! Use your imagination but do NOT make it all pictures. Save this file as funstuff

Oh how I wish that my blog counted for this assignment!

Elements
You must include the following elements somewhere in one of your documents unless specified in a particular area:
· at least one bulleted list of items (minimum 3 items) in the resume document
· some text that is bolded (can be one or more words)
· some text that is underlined (can be one or more words but hyper links are not counted)
· some text that is in color (can be one or more words)
· a phrase that is blinking or an animated gif (a little picture that moves or dances)
· at least 2 horizontal lines
· at least two graphics, may be a photo that you have scanned in or some clipart that you have copied off the web. You may not use any graphic/clipart that is copyrighted. Before you use a graphic, check the bottom of the document to see if it is copyrighted. Some people don't mind you using a graphic as long as you credit them as the source. Strictly adhere to this policy--always credit your source when asked to do so.
· a background that is different from the gray default background

Tips on style
Write short, concise text
Do not capitalize entire words or sentences
Check spelling and grammar!!
Use special formatting (bold, blink, etc.) but don't overdo it
Think CONTRAST--Use dark printing on light background
Or light printing on dark background
Don't make your text too small! It's too hard to read.
You may include music, but don't overdo it.
Try to come up with a theme that ties your documents together.

Links
You are to add hyperlinks to your three Web documents so that these documents are a coherent Web site ).
You must have, as a minimum, the following links in your Web documents:
A link from your home page to your resume
A link from your home page to Fun Stuff
At least one link from your home page to some external Web document
Links from the resume and Fun Stuff Back to your home page
At least one bookmark (target, anchor) in your home page that allows you to jump to another part of the home page. This link should be labeled "Return to Top of Page" and should be located at the bottom of your home page. If the user clicks on it, it will return you back to the top of your home page.
Include an email link to your active email account that can be used
Each link will be worth 3 points, for a total of 18 points for Links .

How to turn in your Home Page
1. All of your documents, graphics, etc. for the web page should be saved in a folder name Lastname WebPage on your hard drive or a disk (floppy or flash drive). You are to zip the files in the WebPage folder and email it to your Instructor as an attachment. (Zipping files was discussed in Chapter 15).

Another Wonderful Mini

This wonderful little mini was made for me by Sewwonderful on the Swap Til' You Drop flickr group. I love it, black & orange are my 2 favorite colours ! I will be showing the 2 that I made for this month soon, just a bit of binding to sew down before I can mail them out.
Yeah I've got the house to myself for a little while today. The kids are at school and the Hubby just went to go help a buddy of his brick a house. This is such a rare treat that I don't know what to do with myself LOL - I have a test today so I think I'll get that done fist thing and then sew the rest of the day - well at least untill noon then I have to sleep for a bit before I go to work tonight.

Oh Holee :)

The first block of your little quiltie is finished though I'm having a hard time getting the colours to look right. I hope they look better on your computer then they do on mine ! This little block was a pain to put together, I had issues with the dragonfly's body being big enough to see LOL :) I saw more of my seam ripper this morning then I have in a month. Well I am off to go work on your quiltie some more, I have a million more blocks to make. If your wondering this little block measures 3 in.

Isis's Quilt

Well the top is done and quilted :) I finished up the last little bit of quilting on it today, I even got around to making the binding. Tomorrow I will sew the binding to the quilt and start hand stitching it down. She is going to be so happy - she's been waiting on me to finish this off for quite awhile now and I figured I had better get my butt in gear before she outgrows the darn thing LOL :)

Here you can see a close up of it. It looks so much better in person. As soon as I get it finished off it will be put back to go under the tree for Christmas. Christmas is going to be very slim this year so I hope that I can get a quilt finished for each of the kids as their big gift. In a couple of days I'll be pulling out Cheyenne's Sampler quilt and finishing that off. The string quilt will go to Wade and the Orphan Block Quilt will go to Phoenix. I don't know what else I'll give the kids this year but I'll figure something out :)

Here you can see the binding, I didn't have enough of one fabric so I made it scrappy. I hope it looks alright on the quilt, I didn't have any of the fabrics that I used in the top available so I just used some that I thought would look good with it. Well I have a bunch of homework to do and it's all due by the morning so I guess I better go get it done and quit playing on the computer.

Wonderful Mini's

I wanted to show ya'll some of the amazing mini's from the october swap that our flicker swap group is producing :) I love the different little quilts that the amazing people create ! It should be interesting to see what is made for the November swap.

I need help --- please

I am working on stitching up some gifts for some very special blogging buddies and I need some more idea's. So far I have pincushions sewn up but what else should I add? Do you have some favorite gifts that you stitch up for quilting friends ? What would you like to recive ?

A wonderful Mail Day :)

I recived the Swap in a bag from Bea yesterday !! Look at how sweet she it, she sent the goodies in a potholder and an ovenmitt :) Oh I can't wait to start playing with them !! Thank you Bea :)

I also recived my Oct mini quilt from the flickr swap group. Oh it is just way to sweet and below you can see that I added it to my mini wall. This little quilt makes me smile every time I walk into my bedroom :) Thank you so much Sawyer'sNana!!!!

And finially here is a pic of my finished ALQS 2 swap quilt that I made for Tracy - she's recived it already :) Have a wonderful day everyone and thanks for dropping by to visit my blog :)

Another EBay Win :c)

Well since I have nothing quiltie that I can share at the moment with ya'll because both of the mini's I'm working on are secret swap quilties I figured I'd share my 2 recent EBay wins. Both of these were won for .99 each. Very good deals, I think I'm on a bird kick here lately LOL :) I can't wait untill these arrive so I can get started on them !

My Quilt Wall - Well Almost

Well this is my sad little quilt wall LOL - now do ya'll see why I envy the one from the post below. However I still have a couple more to add to it and of course there should be 3 more swap quilts to add to it by the end of this month. The green diamond crazy quilt was a mini that I bought off of EBay a few months ago - I had to have it, it was made by a 84 yr old woman. The basket mini is one that I made back in '98 and the 4 patch is one that I made in '99. When I fill up this wall I'll start on the one beside it.

Oh the Envy !!

I came across this photo while googling antique doll and mini quilts this morning. Oh I have the worst case of envy lol, I wish my mini wall looked like this :) As soon as I find the cord to the camera I'll post a photo of what my mini wall looks like. I finished the binding on my ALQS 2 quilt this morning so now all I have left is the label, I'll be posting a photo of that also.It came out so cute that as soon as I get the binding stitched down on my Chinese coins mini quilt I'll be making a twin of it for my wall :)

Fabrics and goodies

Well I skipped going to sleep this morning and put together the items for the swap bag mini challenge. However I still need to cut down some of the fabric pieces, I need to find a bigger baggie also. I think I need to go to the store and pick up a box of gallon sized baggies.Now however I do need to go to sleep because I'm about to nod off at the keyboard.

Some free Prim Patterns

Well hunting around blogland this morning I found a wonderful new blog that offers some wonderful free patterns. My computer has been smoking this morning printing off the patterns to add to my folder. The blog is a wonderful read so grab a cup of coffee and have a read

http://birdinthehandprimitives-robin.blogspot.com/

A New Respect

I have a totaly newfound respect for those quilters who are so talented that they can hand quilt ! I am having a heck of a time learning how to do this :( My poor Sunbonnet Sam quilt is suffering dearly from my attempts to learn how to hand quilt and my November mini is also suffering . Ugg I love how hand quilting looks but I may just give it up after these two projects are done. I can load my needle with the stitches to save my life , all I can manage to do is a stab stitch and it never looks nice on the back.

Well enough moaning and groaning I have some wonderful news my ALQS 2 quilt arrives today in the mail !! Oh it's so pretty, I had fallen in love with it when I had seen it on the group blog and I can't belive that it's mine :) :) It is from Debbie in Canada - here is a link to her blog

http://www.makinquilts.blogspot.com/

The photo is from the group blog, as soon as I get a minute I'll post some photo's of it and the wonderful extras that Debbie sent !

Swap Bag Partner Assigned

Partners for the Swap Bag Mini Quilt Swap were assigned yesterday and I think I have the most wonderful partner :) Her name is Bea and we have exchanged a couple of e-mail. Oh I am so happy, Bea is just the sweetest lady ! This is going to be so much fun, I don't think I could have been assigned a better partner !!! The photo above is a pic of the fabrics that Bea is sending to me to make her a mini with. It's out of my normal colour scheme but I have a few ideas floating around in my head. I'll pull out my sketch pad while my client is taking his nap and try to put on paper what is floating around in my head. I think that it will lean more towards the art quilt side than the traditional side though.

Ton of Homework,A Ebay Win & A Head Cold

I have been hunting this book for ages and I was able to get it at a steal today for 1.04 :) I fell in love with the quilt that I had seen worked up as a shop BOM several years ago and at the time I just didn't have the $$ to play along. The two hand dyes below were bought for .99 each. I have plans for the orange one to go into a fall pumpkin wallhanging that I am planning on.

I have come down with a very yucky head cold and I really don't have time to be sick right now as I am slammed with homework !! Why can't I ever come down sick on the weeks where there is hardly no homework ?? Well guess I better get cracking as I have to have it all finished up and turned in by Friday :(

Mini Quilt Swap

Just a quick note to let you all know of a mini quilt swap that is starting up over on Tracy's blog From my Scrapbag. It looks like it will be a ton of fun the link to the blog is in my side bar. Hurry on over if you would like to join as signups end here shortly.

More Free Redwork

While at work last night I relized that I really needed something portable to take to work with me to keep my hands busy. I think I have decided on a redwork quilt for next Halloween. Here is a cute pattern that I came across while surfing. There is also a boy in a Dracula costume on this site too :)

http://www.quixoticpixels.com/blog/2008/08/free-halloween-embroidery-designs/

I love the Fall

There is nothing that I enjoy more in the Fall then sitting in front of a nice warm fire on a chilly night ! I thought I would share a few photo's of the fire that we had last night. The kids had a blast roasting hotdogs and marshmellows.

Antique Quilts

While cruising Ebay this morning I ran across 3 wonderful Antique Quilts. Being broke I decided that since I can't own them I will reproduce them in miniature. This first one is from the 30's/40's, I love the combo of pink and brown. I think I will redo this one in Civil war era fabrics.

I have no clue when this one was made as it didn't say in the auction. I love the pattern of the blocks, it one I have never seen before - does anyone out there in blogland know what it is called??? I think the border fabric makes the quilt look a little busy so I'll change it to a soild.

This one is from the 40's . I though it was so pretty :) I have a ton of blue fabric that would go wonderfully into a repo of this quilt. I need to get some red soild before I can start it though. Keep an eye on the blog over the next couple of weeks as I'll be posting some more mini quilt tutorials on these quilts as I make them :) Have a great day !!

Fall Mini Unveil

My partner for the November Swap has recived her mini so now I can show you a pic of it. This pattern is called Hard Times and can be found at the OhSewHitty blog in my side bar.It was really fast and easy to do :)

Come Make a Mini With Me

Are ya'll ready to have some fun with me today ? Ok, step 1 - if your like me you have a bin of 2 inch strips ( if not you'll need to cut a bunch) Here I randomly pair 2 in strips from my Civil War collection and sewed them together.


Step 2 - press them open , pressing towards the darker of the two fabrics.



Step 3 - Sub cut you strip sets into 2 inch slices and pair them as these will be little four patches.




Step 4 - chain piece all your little 4 patch units :)






Step 5 - Press all your 4 patches open

Step 6 - Pick out 2 colours of fabric and cut 6 3 7/8 squares from Each fabric. Now sub cut these squares on the diagonal .

Step 7 - Pair 1 of Each fabric and sew together, press open and cut off the little bunny ears :)

Step 8 - Layout as seen above. Be careful of how you place the 1/2 squares otherwise it won't look right :)

Step 9 - Sew together in rows and you have a wonderful little mini quilt. Now you can add boders to this to make it a bit larger if you like but me I like it this way so tomorow I will be quilting it and adding the binding :) Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and please if you make one comment on this post with a link to the picture as I'd love to see yours !!

Redwork Love

While I was surfing the net this morning I ran across a few free Redwork Snowmen that I thought I would share with ya'll. Check back in tonight or early tommorow morning as I am planning to post a Mini Quilt tutorial that i think you might enjoy. It's pretty simple , you should be able to finish the top in about 4 hours or so and it would make a wonderful gift for Christmas ;) To find the above pattern go here :

http://members.tripod.com/~fvqg/01archiv/0111.htm

You can find this pattern here :

http://www.lastingtreasure.com/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=80

This is just so cute, I love snowmen :) To get this pattern go here :

http://www.stitchingcow.com/freebies/free-redwork-pattern