And I was doing so well!

my colours for Metro Rings

I managed to stay healthy all winter and then WHAM!!!A dilly of a head cold took over. I would just like that jack hammer in my head to stop. But the show must go on and so it did. Yesterday I was the teacher of another curved ruler class at our guild called Metro Rings. We have bought the ruler and we are making good use of it at our guild. How many times do you buy a ruler for a class and never use it again. We are trying to avoid it with this one. Although I must say the Sew Kind of Wonderful company is staying on top of their patterns. I am not sure this is a good thing or not. From the time I bought my ruler and pattern(within the last two years) till now....they have added lines to the ruler and have added measurements to the patterns to make them easier. This is a good thing, don't get me wrong but as a teacher working from her pattern...it can be a bit frustrating.
Regardless my 7 students did very well and by the end of the day many had 4 full blocks done. They were well on their way and could finish the others at home.

upper left that edge has been rolled.

embroidery up close-amazing

From machine work to hand work. The hand quilting is coming along on this quilt. I have rolled it once already. To put this in perspective...the side of the quilt I rolled is almost 9 feet long and I reached out almost 12". All done in less than 4 days. Not sure I can keep up this pace and I know once I get to the embroidery it will slow down for sure.
This is going to be a few months project so I will slowly add details about it as I go. You can look back a few posts here so see where I started

Today I am hoping to put a few stitches in the quilt and join everyone who pops over to Kathy's blog for slow stitching Sunday. Other than that the house needs a vacuuming and laundry is being done. That is about all the energy I have.

Once upon a time....

not a great pic but trust me there will be more

.....there was a quilt that had been stored away for many years. The lady who owns it decided it needed to be finished and looked into getting it quilted. She contacted a friend of mine who has a long arm machine. My friend, after seeing the quilt commented that she thought it should be hand quilted, but the owner didn't know anyone who did that...but my friend did!!! So one day the lady took the quilt to my friend's house, They took photos and emailed them to me. While I was looking at them, we were talking over the phone too. I asked questions, they asked questions and answers were discussed. After a few days, the lady said "yes", she would like me to do the quilting.

After much pondering, delaying, procrastinating and some special order of a batting, I have begun!!!

close up of the side.edge 

This past week the silk batting that I am going to use came in at my little quilt store and yesterday I started marking up the quilt top. It is an embroidered top so I will be doing some outlining but mostly it will be cross hatching on the whole top. There is also a large pillow sham type piece that is to be quilted at the same time. I am using plain white cotton on the back.

This will be my project for the next few months, so this is just the start of many blog posts about it.

In the sewing room things are piling up too. I have been trying to get projects finished and out the door. I have a pile of charity quilts that need to go to guild to be distributed, a couple of quilts that are in various stages of completion  and then there is all the work I have been doing for my class on Saturday.
OMG...could this girl have any more on her plate....I think I need a platter or a large tray!!!!
Popping in to see what everyone is up to over at Kathy's blog and her slow stitching day. I have been up since 6am cooking breakfast at our carnival, so this evening will be a lazy one.

Hurry up and wait!

Metro Rings

That seems to be the theme of the week. Hurry get all that snow cleaned up before more falls! Hurry get your pieces and steps ready for your class so you know what you are teaching...and wait for the classs day to arrive! Hurry and get that quilt marked but the special batting isn't in yet. Oh well 2 out of three ain't bad...haven't marked the quilt yet.

edit pic to less blurry

In a couple weeks I will be teaching another class using the Sew Kind of Wonderful curved ruler. We will be making Metro Rings. It is similar looking to the double wedding ring. So I am trying to get three jobs done in one quilt. Teach the class, make a quilt big enough for my bed and use a colour scheme that I have wanted to try for awhile. If the first few blocks are any indication...I am well on my way!
This week I have also been putting the final embroidery stitches in my snowman quilt. I have to "fly stitch" on all the seam lines between the blocks. I thought this was crazy but it really does add something to the overall effect.                                                    

brighter pic on the snowy background

dark pic shows hearts

Also this week I finished this baby quilt. I had done some machine quilting on it but wanted to add the hearts with hand quilting. It becomes another quilt for my charity pile which is growing!
While DH and the pooch are away for the weekend I have lots of quiet time to get things done so I better get at it or they will be home before I know it!
I will be joining my friend Kathy and doing some slow stitching later today. I should have something to do while watching QuiltCam with Bonnie Hunter which is later this afternoon.
Have a great week everyone!

UFO day

It continues to be winter here with more snow falling and freezing rain threatening tonight.That's okay because I have lots to do and keep me busy.
Yesterday we had a UFO day at our guild. Seven ladies came out in the beautiful snowy weather and we worked on projects of our own. I took a couple thinking I would get at least one done and work on the second but maybe a little too much chatting was happening.

my winter wonderland

I got my embroidered blocks together and also sewed together the outer borders which are patchwork blocks. The rest had to wait till I got home because I needed an inner border which I neglected to take with me. So last night that was sewn on. Now I have a bit more embroidery to do on the seam lines of the blocks and then I can finish putting this top together.
I want to hand quilt it so it is going to go on the waiting list for a bit.

So my list of things to do is growing even though I am getting quilts finished.

 Yesterday I was reminded(not that I forgot) that a class that I am teaching is coming up at the end of the month. Hmmm....think I should maybe work on my sample and block steps. Guess that will happen later this week.
Enjoy your mid week!

February Snow

snowing heavier than it looks

Yup the groundhog may have seen his shadow but tell Mother Nature that...we are in the middle of a snow storm. I actually don't mind it..it looks so pretty and peaceful outside while I am inside sewing and quilting away!
I have had a productive week too. The baby quilt from my last post (you can see it here) is finished and I was able to move onto something else. Another baby quilt. This was a panel that I added one outside border to. I quilted it yesterday and the binding is complete too but I want to do some hand quilting of the hearts on it. That hand quilting will be practice for a bigger job that I am hoping to have set up this week.

not a great pic but shows the quilting

I have been working on finishing up other projects too. The embroidery is all done. Now to square the blocks to the proper sizes and get the top together. I finished the patchwork pieced blocks 2 Fall retreats ago. This has been a work in progress for sure. It actually might get done this winter!?!!

Belle approved, still need trimming

I will be joining my friend Kathy and doing some slow stitching later today. Check out her blog and see what she and others are up to today. Always fun to check in with everyone and get inspired to get to work.
There is going to be some shoveling in my day at some point too. Do I do some now and some later or just leave it and let DH and his tractor go to work! Hmm decisions, decisions!!!