What I've Been Up To

I haven't been quilting in quite a few weeks. I've been working on trying to earn some money so I can go back to college.

I've been working on offers on this one site for not even 2 weeks and I've already made $42.60. Not bad for doing the site for 2 weeks. And since I stay at home with the little guy, this works great for me, because I can do an offer when he is taking a nap, or after he's gone to bed at night.

Check it out!

TreasureTrooper

I haven't been working on quilting much. Been working on TreasureTrooper. I make money by doing free offers online. There are times I've paid say $5 for shipping and handling but then made like $10 or $15, so a profit of $5 or $10 right there.

I've actually been paid a few times. I don't have all my checks scanned though.

July 13, 2006-$39.88
August 12, 2006-$48.11
Sept 12, 2006-$53.01
Oct 11, 2006-$26.60
Sept 24, 2007-$24.05

Fabric Stash

I'm definitely a lover of fabric. Although I don't have as much of a stash as I've seen some people have!

Between all my things of fabric I have 13 3/4 yards total. I told hubby that I could probably make a queen or king sized quilt from all the fabric I have.

Quilt Update

Finally done! I used tape to tape it to the wall for picture taking purposes.

Trying to do the rest of the binding wasn't very easy. I folded it over to the back and then flipped the fabric under itself. So that when I sewed through the top layer it went through all the layers and the edge of the binding on the back is a folded edge and not a raw edge. And the raw edges are tucked into the binding and are sewn through. The only real problems was when it came to the corners, I was trying to get it as least bulky as possible. Instead of doing a mitered border I just sewed the binding to the top and bottom, then to the sides, then folded it under just right and pinned it into place. But there was bulk in the corners that I had to figure out.

I'm planning on practicing mitering borders on a 4" square piece tomorrow hehe.

Just a quilt update. Haven't really been doing anything on this site in a bit but I still like to keep my quilting journal because I can see my progress as I go along :) Plus I can find other quilting friends!

I actually have the binding almost all the way on it. I'm still trying to do the one side of it. My thread got messed up on my machine when I did the last side (I think its because the bobbin isn't even) so I have to pull out some stitches and start on that side again.

I originally tried to do a mitered border but I didn't know you had to stop 1/4 inch from the edge, fold up the binding, fold it down, THEN turn the thing and start sewing from that new side! I had pinned it down all the way around the quilt (and had done the folding for the mitered corners) and then just sewed all the way around the quilt. It wasn't till I was done that I realized I'd messed it up. So I took it with me in the car to get some black fabric that I would then use for the binding instead of what I bought. And in the car I ripped out some of the stitches for the binding. Took me a bit but I finally got it undone. I'm just doing strips across the top and bottom, then the sides and I'll turn it under and tuck the ends in and use the machine to sew through the original seam from putting the binding onto the whole quilt.

Quilt Update

This is my mini quilt so far. It's not quite perfect but hey...now I can say I've done a mini quilt! It's something I've always wanted to do :)

Half of the 9 Patches Done!

Aren't they cute?

Still Not Done!

I'm surprised I'm not done with my mini quilt yet. I mean it is a whole 22 inches big. Or at least will be! I'm still working on the 9 patch blocks in it. That is all I have to do and then I can sew the top together! So I am pretty close to the top done phase!

Town Not Walking Friendly :(

Our little town is not walking friendly. See I live in a small town (actually a suburb of Fort Worth) and there is a main street that has quite a bit of stuff on it. And I live really close to that main street. That is where the grocery store is, the pharmacies, just about all the gas stations in the town. Plus if I want to take Alex to the park we have to cross that street and walk along it.

A few weeks back Alex and I walked to the one gas station near where we live. I pushed him in his stroller like I always do when we walk anywhere. The street that we live off of has no sidewalk (at least where I was walking) then the next street we walked has a sidewalk partway down on one side, then it ends, and the sidewalk pretty much starts on the other side of the street. So if you want to walk on the sidewalk all the way you have to cross the street halfway down the street to stay on the sidewalk.

And then you can only cross the main street from one side of this street. So instead of the shortest way being straight across the street you might have to make a U or C shape just to get to where you wanted to go because of not being able to cross from both sides of James St.

So Alex and I go to the gas station. I get a soda for me and a candy bar to split with him. We went and sat in front of this one building on their porch. We ate the candy bar and I talked to my mom for a little bit on my phone. Then we headed back.

I'm getting ready to cross the one street to head home and I have a walk signal. There is a woman in a mini van who I can tell is working on turning right. She is only looking left. I started walking cautiously (considering I did have a walk sign but I wasn't sure if she saw me or not) Sure enough she starts turning right and her passenger like points to us and I think is telling her to look out for us. Since I was watching her movements I stopped when I saw her going and we were safe. But if I hadn't taken note of where she was looking we may have been hit. She didn't try to come back and apologize or anything.

We made it safely home and I got onto our towns website and sent them an email about traffic issues. I said that the crossing signals are kind of far back from the road (try pulling a stroller 5 feet into some grass just to hit a button and pull the stroller back out of the grass to get to the crosswalk) And that there are no sidewalks along the main road. Which of course would be really helpful. They said that when they plan to enlarge the main road in 2010 they will be adding in sidewalks. Okay it is 2007 now...and we probably won't still be in this town in 2010. You'd think with a town this size, sidewalks would be a given. Considering there are like 2 main streets in this town.

Darnit!

I spent what felt like forever sewing these strips together to make a 9 patch block. When I got done I thought the middle stripped looked too narrow for what I figured it should measure. 1 inch strip....two strips sewn to it, one on each side, 1/4 seam allowance. Should measure 1/2 inch in the middle strip right? Nope...mine only measures 1/4!

And then I laid down the whole strip and measured the middle strip and it looked like it was only cut 3/4 of an inch. No clue how cause the rest of my strips are 1 inch!

Square Question

I have a pattern that tells me to cut out 2 3/8 squares then do the sandwich method (I think that is what it is called) to make the squares and they should end up as 2 inch squares.

Okay now correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't using a 1/4 inch seam make it so they are LESS than 2 inches square?

Quilt Update

Got one column of my quilt pieced together. And this is it. Doesn't look as bad as I thought it would actually :)

So Frustrating!

I can't figure out how exactly to get my blocks to line up perfectly! I tried pining in a way I thought would get them to line up right but nope.

I think if I want to do this quilt it is gonna take a bit of ripping :(

Sewing Table

I finally got a chance to clean up the dining room table and so I took some pictures of my sewing area.

The whole table


Left overs from my current project underneath the blue box


Pieces for current project in the shoebox with the ruler on top


I also cut Alex's hair last night and think he looks more grown up now than he did before!

Quilt

I don't really know what to put for my title LOL.

I pinned the first row of my quilt together last night. The first piece that I tried ended up a bit off. But I tried to line up the middle of the square with the seam on the strips and the only piece I did ended up really well. It's like a smidgen off, not like the first one I did! LOL.

And then while I was sewing it, Alex was standing by my side with a big grin and "yelling" at me. He kept getting excited when I'd start to sew on that piece LOL

Quilt Squares

Took a picture of each of my quilt squares. I pinned the first row together. I did a test sew because it is hard to tell where you have to line the stripes and squares up in order to get the seams to line up just right.

How to Quilt This?

I was thinking of just going up and down the rows. Another idea I'd had was to quilt the "towers" but that seems like it would be tons of quilting.

Quilt Pieces All Done!

Got all the individual pieces sewn together and ironed! Now to work on getting the rows together! I found a perfect square earlier while I was doing my ironing. Just have to scan it.

All the edges go together just right and it's like a perfect square. Some of my other pieces look like I need to trim a little bit here and there but not this square!

Quilt Pieces All Done!

Got all the individual pieces sewn together and ironed! Now to work on getting the rows together! I found a perfect square earlier while I was doing my ironing. Just have to scan it.

Update on Quilt!

I finally have everything sewn together for this quilt. I have the squares done and the strips done. I just need to sew everything into rows now!

Trip to the Country Quilt

I looked back in my posts and didn't find a picture of the trip to the country quilt completely finished! So I went outside and took a picture and here it is!

Sick

The whole family is sick. Eric, Alex and I. I worked on my quilt some earlier today. Not very many squares, just all the ones of one color. But it's slowly getting worked on! I want to do another one that I saw on somebody elses blog but I want to make it bigger than crib size I think. And I don't know how to enlarge it LOL

Thread Breaking

My thread has been breaking while sewing if I go fast. No clue why. I got the last of my rectangle strips sewn together though.

I still need to sew my squares together. I have to draw the diagonal lines to sew on before I can actually do some sewing.

I don't have as much time to sew as I used to. LOL. Now it's only during Alex's naptime or after he goes to bed.

Before I had him I could have sewn whenever I wanted or all day if I wanted to, but not now. Got a little one to take care of. :)

Been a while

I do have a bit of that quilt I started finished. Well it's still in pieces, none of the rows are together LOL.

I need to find my seam ripper because I accidentally sewed together pieces I shouldn't have. But looking for it will have to wait until Alex is in bed.

ETA-I looked around on the kitchen table (where I keep my sewing stuff) and no luck. Would suck if I'd lost it cause that'd be the 2nd one!

Gotta Get a Marker

I've gotta get a fabric marker to draw lines. I did have a light blue one somewhere, but well I don't think it will show up very well on my darker fabrics plus I can't find it. LOL.

I used pencil on the two yellow colors, but it won't show up on the rest of the fabrics. So gotta buy one of those marker things.

Need Quilting Help

So I was looking at the directions for cutting the black (magazine said to buy 1 3/4 yards black.

And then it wants me to cut 2 (3.5x87.5 strips), 2 (3.5x78.5 strips), 2 (3.5x75.5 strips) and 2 (3.5x66.5 strips)

Umm you can't do that with only 1 3/4 yards!!!!

And the only way I know how to cut like that is to cut across the fabric instead of from selvage to selvage which is weird to me. I always cut selvage to selvage, never along the length of the fabric. So why would we do it for this?

Quilting Update

Bought the fabric on 2-19
Started ironing on 2-20
Started cutting it on 2-21

Made first cutting oops on 2-21

I thought my medium yellow was actually my light yellow and cut it as my light yellow. Oops! I should be able to fix it though. And hopefully we won't have to make a run to the store for any more!

Last night we bought another lip ruler for me. The ones at WalMart didn't come in a long length (like 24 inches?) so the one I have is like 3x18 inches. I normally fold my fabric in 4 anyway so it still works for me.

I read somewhere that it talks about folding in half for a beginner quilter and I was thinking, do cutting boards come in that size? And the rulers?

New Quilt, Alex Update

So I picked a new quilt to make. I haven't finished Alex's winter quilt yet either. Bad mommy!

That's it. At first glance it looks really difficult but its not at all. You take a medium and dark strip, sew them together. Then for the square of it, you just overlay the correct colors on the corners and sew them on to make it into a bigger square and voila! That takes it from the square on point to a normal square that you can line up with the rectangles.

I love the 3D look of it too. They actually show an example of it in the magazine where it looks like a view of the downtown of a city.

Now my only problem...I was looking for my cutting stuff earlier. I found my rotary mat and the rotary cutter...but I can't find that clear thingy that you use to cut straight lines! Which means I can't do any cutting yet!

It might be in the closet with Alex's crib and that would be a pain because I'd have to get Eric to hold the crib up so I can get to the back of the closet.

Speaking of the crib, Alex is now in a toddler bed. :) The first night he like freaked out when we put him in it so we drove around until he fell asleep and put him in bed. He's done well ever since then. He seems to be getting better at actually staying in bed too and not falling out. If he fell out he'd just play in his room and eventually crash on his floor. LOL. It's definitely low enough for him to climb back in it. Heck he climbs onto the couch in his room!

He's 19.5 months old now. :) Sneaky little guy too at some times. We just one day didn't hear anything out of him and went and checked on him in his room and found him standing on his couch! And he kept doing it LOL. He doesn't know how to get back down though so we have to rescue him each time he climbs up there.

Question about Quilting

Okay the quilt I'm making for Alex will look like this.



Now if I wanted to quilt around the outside of each "diamond" that is in the quilt, what would be an easy way to do that? I don't have a longarm so it is harder for me to do nice designs when I quilt.

I think the way I did it last time is I went around the whole diamonds and just turned the quilt as I went and then when it got to where I couldn't go around each diamond anymore I just started doing the diagonal lines.

I want to quilt

I want to work on Alex's flannel quilt. It's my closest project to being done. The only problem is the dining room table is in Alex's room. When we put up the Christmas tree we moved the dining room table into Alex's room (after we took it apart) and by the time we put the Christmas tree in the box, Alex was already asleep so the dining room table is stuck in his room until he wakes up tomorrow.

I've been playing Everquest a bit lately. I'm kind of irritated with the game. See I haven't played since Dec 2005, and before that I had like 8/10 expansions. Now there are 12 expansions and the levels go to 75. Before then it was only 70. They changed the way that monsters con to you. Like white is the same level as you, then dark blue, then light blue, then green. Now it's white is the same level as you, then dark blue, then light blue, then green, then gray. Now you get experience for green when before you didn't. Like a monster I've heard to kill, which might have been dark blue a year ago is now light blue so its probably not as good experience. Since I haven't played in a while I have no clue where to take my character and level her up now. My enchanter was powerleveled up to 45. Higher level people took me on groups with them and I got experience that way, and I never had to cast spells, so now that I do need to cast spells I can't because I haven't built up my skills.

I started trying to knit something earlier. Just a simple washcloth. I want to work on my quilting darnit! But I can't do anything about it until tomorrow. :(

Still Here

I haven't written or read in quite a bit but I am still alive! I just lost my urge to quilt for a while there. And since the week or so before Christmas we had the tree up in the dining room so we had to take down the dining table, which is where I had my sewing machine which has meant no sewing even if I wanted to!

I know I have quite a few blogs on my list but I can't remember the site to read all the blogs in one place. :( I reformatted my computer and probably had it bookmarked and can't remember the URL now.

ETA-bloglines.com!! I found it! Did a google and looked at an article that had the url.