This has been an insanely busy week.  I don’t really like it when I don’t get to sew for two days running!

On Tuesday, Andrew had two appointments at the VA in Iron Mountain, which is 80 miles from here.  A long trip in the snow, and we had to be there at 7 AM!  The only upside is that they’re on central time, and we’re on eastern, so at least we didn’t have to leave until 6 AM.

We didn’t get back home til about 3:30 in the afternoon, which makes for a long day.

Our camper. We sure did have a lot of fun traveling around with it. But once we moved to Marquette, our traveling days were over!

Yesterday we hauled our camper down to Escanaba to the RV dealer, who was going to buy it.  We had a 30-foot long fifth wheel that had been sitting in our driveway for over a year.  We’d been trying to sell it all of last year, but with the economy so bad, there were no takers.

Of course, the camper was snowed in.  I mean SNOWED IN.  Andrew had backed it in from the street when we moved into this house back in October of 2008.  But there was no getting it out the way it came in, until spring!

Since waiting wasn’t an option, we wondered if we could get it out the driveway.  We hired the merry crew of snow shovelers who happened to show up on Monday to clear a path for Andrew to back the truck up to the camper.

Bright and early yesterday morning, we were out there, making our preparations.  I had to move a little more snow, but Andrew got the truck backed up, and we managed to get hitched up.  He was at a pretty sharp angle to the camper, so we weren’t sure this was going to work.

But it did!  We had to trim a few low-hanging branches off the big oak tree at the end of the driveway, and Andrew had to drive through a rather large snowbank, but he got the camper out of the driveway.  Somebody came walking down the street just in time to make sure the camper would fit under the overhead electrical wire that goes to the house, while I watched the back end, to make sure we wouldn’t hit anything with it.

Of course, that was only half the battle.  We still had to drive the thing 60 miles down to Escanaba.  The roads were snow-covered and slick, and poor Andrew was pretty stressed.  We found out later that two vehicles had slid off the road earlier in the morning.  One had flipped over, and the other went over a steep embankment, rolling at least once on the way down.  I’m glad we didn’t know that at the time!

We left just before 11AM and got to Escanaba around 12:30.  We left the camper at the RV place for them to inspect it, and went to have lunch.  After lunch, we picked up our check and headed home.  Of course, it was pushing 4 before we made it back home.  And we were both wiped out!

My intrepid fisherman and his little red boat

We didn’t get as much for the camper as we had hoped to, but at least it’s sold, and now Andrew can recycle that money into a bigger boat. He’s been going out fishing on Lake Superior in his little 12-foot boat for months. Now he can get a 20- or 22-footer, which will make me feel a little better about him being out there!

Today Andrew had another doctor’s appointment, but at least it was here in town.  I even managed to get some sewing in this morning!  I’ll get some quilt pix up tomorrow.

The beginning of my hand-dyed fabric collection!

Here are the fruits of my dyeing labors on Saturday!  It’s hard to see the yellow, but you can see a little mottling on the left.  The light blue and green are solid, and the dark blue and the fuschia are both mottled.  I’m really pleased with how well it came out.

I’m planning on trying my hand at batiking the yellow fabric with gel glue.  You paint your designs with the glue, and then dye the fabric again.  Then you wash the glue out, which leaves the designs in yellow.  I think I’m going to cut the yellow in two.  On one half I want to do spirals, and on the other little fish.  I think I’ll dye the spiral one orange or peach, and the fishy one green or blue.  But who knows what inspiration will strike down in my basement!

This fabric was white, with a white print. It's more purple than this. I wanted to show both sides of it.

The second picture is some white material that was printed with a white figure.  I never used it cuz I like colors, so I decided to try dyeing it.  Sorry the picture is blurry.  I turned off the flash so it wouldn’t wash out the color, but for some reason, turning off the flash makes it hard to take a clear picture.  It’s really a lot more purple than pink.  I really like how this came out.  I have lots more of this fabric, so it’ll be fun dyeing it different colors.

My first attempt at quilt-as-you-go!

The third picture shows another stashbuster I started working on yesterday.  This strippy baby quilt surprised me by coming out as a square!  I think it will finish around 40 inches on each side.  I didn’t really know where I was going with this design, but I’m pretty happy with it.

The center section (four strips) is sewed together.  I need to finish sewing the two triangular side pieces together.  I’m trimming the sides as I join the strips.  I’m not real happy with all the bias edges on the outside, but I stay-stitched them very carefully, which will hopefully keep them from stretching until I can do the quilting.

I’ll quilt the three sections individually, and then join them together, using the tutorial at Quilting Twin.

The next time I make this quilt, I’ll use a long strip instead of the squares, so there’ll be less sewing to do.  But I still have oodles of pink squares left, so I wanted to use a few up!  I  may modify the design so that it’s a rectangle, too.

Working out this design took a little time, but I think it will go a lot faster the next time I make it, especially if I’m not dealing with all those squares.

Fabric soaking in soda ash solution. A bucket of possibilities!

Played around with dyeing some fabric this afternoon.  Here’s a bunch of fabric soaking in the soda ash solution.  The white is the cotton I bought yesterday.  The tannish is some printed white cotton I had on hand.  I’m not much for using white, so it’s been sitting in my stash for several years.  Not any more!

Dyed fabric curing in zip-lock bags

The second photo shows a (hopefully) lime green and a bright blue.  They’re curing in zip bags, per the instructions at Fabric Dyeing 101 for dyeing solid-colored fabrics.

Fabric curing in cups. Cramming it into a cup causes a more mottled appearance.

The third picture is four pieces in cups.  The only one you can see is the yellow.  There is a blue-green, a berry red, and I think a dark purple (can’t remember!), along with the yellow.  The berry red is a piece of the printed fabric.  I’m curious to see how it turns out!

I plan to use the yellow piece to play around with making batik using gel glue.  Or I may try stitching a resist and overdyeing it.   I dyed it pale yellow so I could play around with it.  Just need to find some gel glue.  I expect they’ll have it at Target.

It’s a bit chilly in the basement, so I may let it cure for longer than the recommended 24 hours.  I’d bring it upstairs where it’s warmer, but my Molly Cat LOVES plastic bags.  If I’m silly enough to leave one where she can get at it, she drags it all over the house, after killing it thoroughly.  Better to leave my dye project in the basement where it’s safe from predatory kitties.

Dyeing fabric is so much fun that I may overdye some boring or outdated prints in my stash, and give them a new lease on life!

Barn Dance, finished!

Finally got around to taking some pictures yesterday.  Here’s my “Barn Dance” quilt hanging on the clothesline.  It was a bear to quilt, but it’s finished!  I have to say that I’m quite pleased with how it came out.

The next picture is of my “Rail Fence” quilt.  I like how the lights and darks zig across the surface.  It’s quite a lively quilt, with a lot of movement.  Not bad for just sitting down and sewing a pile of strips together!

I’ll get them packed up this weekend, and in the mail to the Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS on Monday.

Rail Fence Scrap Quilt

I went up to Alley Kat’s Quilt Shop yesterday.  All the fabrics were 30% off, including white PFD (prepared for dyeing) mercerized cotton.  Such a deal!  I got five yards for less than $18, including sales tax.   Ben Franklin is having a sale this weekend, too.  I have a 40% off coupon, so I think I’ll run over there this morning, and get another quilt batting.  With all the quilting I’m doing right now, it’s nice to be able to save a few bucks on batting.

Now that I have some white fabric to play with, I may do some dyeing today.  Fabric Dyeing 101 has lots of great tips for dyeing fabric.  I especially like her directions for making batik-like fabrics with gel glue.  I’ve dyed a lot of yarn, and even tried my hand at some socks last fall, but haven’t done any fabric yet.  Since I already have the pro mx dyes, soda ash, and everything else I need, I’m ready to go!

I also took a look at Fusing Fun!  Fast Fearless Art Quilts by Laura Wasilowski yesterday afternoon.  I am hooked!  What a fun book.  I even have an idea for my first fused quilt, once I get a few fabrics dyed.  I need to pick up some fusible web while I’m out today, too.  I have some Wonder Under around here someplace, but since I don’t want to tear into my closet, I’ll just buy some more and wait for it to surface, which it will, eventually.

Haven’t done any sewing the past couple of days, and don’t know if I’ll get any done today, but hopefully I’ll get back to it tomorrow for a bit.  Right now my brain is so full of stuff that I feel like I may explode.

Thill's Fish House, at the Lower Harbor in Marquette, MI

One last thing:  Marquette, MI,  my hometown, is one of the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Dozen Distinctive Destinations for 2010.  Here’s what it’s all about:  “Since 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Dozen Distinctive Destination program has recognized cities and towns that offer an authentic visitor experience by combining dynamic downtowns, cultural diversity, attractive architecture, cultural landscapes and a strong commitment to historic preservation, sustainability and revitalization. In each community, residents have joined together and taken action to protect their town’s character.”

Between now and February 28,  anyone over 18 can vote for their favorite, as often as they want.  Marquette is trailing behind Rockland, Maine, and we can’t let that happen!  So please click the link, register (they just want your name and email) and vote for Marquette, MI!  Vote early and vote often!

Yay, Andrew made it home safely last night, around 12:30.  He was tired, but wound up, so it took a little while for both of us to calm down enough to go to sleep!

So of course nobody was up early this morning.  I slept til eight, which is late for me.  I let Andrew sleep til 9:30 before I woke him up.  I hated to do it, but I know he would have trouble sleeping tonight if I let him go too much longer.

I did manage to get some laundry done, but other than that, the day was a wash.  And there’s nothing wrong with that, either.  It was nice to sit on the couch with my honey and look at the pictures he took in TN and just talk.

Mary from Making Scrap Quilts From Stash was nice enough to send me a link for Mile-A-Minute Quilts.  This sounds exactly like what I’m looking for.  The idea is that you piece a long strip about 20″ wide, and then machine quilt the strip.  Then you join the strips. The strips are much smaller and easier to handle than a full-size quilt.  Love it!

I was tempted to order it, since I can get it for less than $5, but shipping always adds up.  So I ordered it inter-library loan!

Speaking of which, the first three books I ordered last week came in yesterday.  Of course, I had to walk right down to the library to pick them up.  Liberated Quiltmaking, Liberated String Quilts, and Fusing Fun! Fast Fearless Art Quilts are MINE for the next three weeks!  And I also have Thinking Outside The Block by Sandi Cummings and Karen Flamme on order, along with Mile-A-Minute Quilts.

Liberated String Quilts is great!  I’ve already gleaned lots of ideas from this book.  I need to make a few notes so I can remember them later on. I can’t wait to get started on my next project now!

Just started looking at Liberated Quiltmaking this afternoon, but didn’t get too far before I  nodded off.  I’ll look at it some more tomorrow, but it looks it’s full of great ideas, too.

I was going to take some quilt pictures today, but just didn’t do it.  Oh well, tomorrow is another day, as Scarlett O’Hara says.  I need to walk up to the little quilt store in the Village tomorrow since they’re having a sale, so while I’m outside, I’ll pin the quilts to the line and snap away. I know, going into a fabric store when they’re having a sale is dangerous, but I’ve already decided the only thing I will buy is some Wonder Under and maybe a couple of yards of white material to dye.

Molly perched on the arm of the couch

I’ll close with this picture of Molly.  She was so funny last night.  While Andrew was gone,  I usually went to bed around 11:20, after watching the local news and weather.  Last night, of course, I was going to wait up for Andrew, so I didn’t go to bed like I usually do.  Poor Molly was just having a fit!  She started jumping up on the back of my recliner around 11:25 pm, and was obviously agitated over something.

I got up to see what her problem was, and she led me straight to the bedroom!  I told her we were going to stay up and wait for Daddy, but she wasn’t convinced.  She finally did settle into my lap for a bit before Andrew got home.  Poor kitty.

Moon peeking through the tree branches. Andrew took this one, don't know where or when.

My last post was about new beginnings.  Well, a new beginning is in progress around here.  No, I’m not pregnant!   I’m 55, and my baby days are through.  However, I’ve had an epiphany of sorts…

Machine quilting, at least with my current set-up, sucks!  No kidding, huh?  After spending three fun-filled days machine quilting “Barn Dance” and “Rail Fence,” change is definitely in the air.

First, crawling around on the floor pin-basting a quilt has got to be a recipe for a trip to the chiropractor.  When I’m done, either my knees hurt, or my back hurts,or my wrists hurt, or my neck hurts.  Or all of the above.  Plus I’m going to rip up that nasty old carpet next summer, and put in laminate flooring, so there won’t be anything to pin the quilts to in a few months.

Second, repeatedly horsing forty inches of quilt, batting, and backing through an eight-inch opening on a sewing machine  is REALLY not fun.  Also, it makes it very hard to have any semblance of control over the quilting, even if  your quilting is composed mostly of what is supposed to be reasonably straight lines.  I doubt my sewing machine enjoys this process much, either.  After all, this isn’t what she was built for.

Third, if my goal this year is stashbusting, I gotta get a lot faster at making these quilts.  Selling them is my eventual goal, but if they’re time sinks, making a living is impossible.

So, what are my options?  Investing in a machine quilting system?  I have considered this, but most of those systems are pretty pricey, and they’re geared towards people who want to do it as a business.

Paying someone to machine quilt donation quilts doesn’t seem too cost-effective, does it?

Soooo, what’s the answer?  Quilt-as-you-go, also known as QAYG.  This involves sewing the strips or pieces directly to the batting and backing that’s already cut into block-sized pieces.  I’ve tried this in the past, but having to join the blocks by hand is a long and time-consuming process.

I should have known that someone would come up with a way to join the blocks by machine.  Here is an excellent tutorial detailing how to do this.  Quick and easy!  I can’t wait to get started.

Most of the QAYG blocks I’ve seen involve strips.  This is good, but I want to do something different.  There will be a joining strip in between the blocks, so I need to take this into account and use it as a design feature.  I’ve been mulling this over, and I think I have come up with a design that will utilize some of the the nearly 200 four-inch squares I’ve got on hand.  I’m pretty excited to get started on this.

My fisherman is heading home today! I sure have missed my sweetie. (If you want to know, I think that's a king salmon on the left, a lake trout in the middle, and a coho salmon on the right.)

My big news is that my honey is on his way home today!  He may make it home tonight, if he feels up to driving through.  Today is a good travel day, as there’s nothing major on the radar between here and TN.

It’ll be good to have him home.  I’ve kept busy, so the week has passed reasonably quickly, but I’m ready for him to come home.

The beach is always changing...Waves take the old pebbles away and wash new ones up all the time.

Woo hoo, a new month, full of possibilities!  What new ideas will wash ashore this month?

Wishing I had my camera right now.  I decided I didn’t feel like machine quilting yesterday, so I started another AAQI quilt.  This one will be called “Fragments,” for the fragments of memory that float to the surface of the mind.

The fabric I’m using is recycled  from an old Sacred Threads coat I had bought at Goodwill.  When I was pulling it apart, there was unfaded fabric in the seam allowances.  So I’m trying to use the frayed edges, and take advantage of the contrast between the faded and unfaded parts of the fabrics.

Most of the quilt is made up of a piece of loosely woven material.  I cut holes in it randomly, and used reverse applique to sew down some spots of material to peek through the holes, which are the memories.  I’m leaving the edges of the holes to fray out.

I started quilting it last night.  But I’m not quite satisfied with it.  It needs a focal point of some kind.  Think I’ll pin it up to my foamboard today so I can look at it as I work today.  Wish I could put a picture up.  I was desperate enough to take a picture with a cell phone yesterday, but my TracPhone doesn’t have a camera on it!  Oh well, Andrew will be home in a few days, so I can show you then.

Water changes form, to ice, and back to water again in the spring. Recycling old clothes changes their form into something new.

Read a post the other day on recycling fabrics, and now I can’t find it!  It must have been a link from one of the blogs I check every day.  I’ve already been doing this for years, on and off.  My best find was an extra large ladies’ blouse for ten cents!  It was cotton (of course), fuschia with a black print, and there must have been two yards of fabric there.  Sweet!

I’ve cut up many men’s shirts, too, but unless it’s an extra large, it can be problematic because of the pockets on the front.  I suppose I could make a pocket quilt?  Hmm, have to think about that one.  Actually, the best garments to cut up are women’s jumpers and skirts, especially if you can get them on sale.  Goodwill is getting more expensive, which I don’t understand.  I mean, it’s used clothing, right?  There is a St. Vincent De Paul thrift store right up the street from me, and also a Salvation Army thrift store across town, and they’re more reasonably priced.

But right now I need to stay away from thrift stores and fabric stores.  Let’s see, in January I pieced four lap-sized quilts, and machine quilted a UFO, and three others.  Plus I made one AAQI quilt.  But I still haven’t made a noticeable dent in my stash!  There are lots of new beginnings just waiting here…

Found another quilt challenge.  This one is from Julie Bagamary, and it’s called More Blessed To Give.  She is challenging everyone to make one item a week to donate.  The best part about this one is that you don’t have to be a quilter.  No matter what you do, whether it’s knitting hats or crocheting blankets, or even making soap or jewelry, make one item a week to donate to a good cause.

Since I’ve been on a roll lately as far as stashbusting goes, I thought I would look for a local group here in the Upper Peninsula that might be able to use some quilts.  And I found the Marquette Women’s Center, a shelter for domestic violence victims.  I sent them an email this morning, and hope to hear back from them next week as to what size quilts would be best for them.  I have enough blocks on hand for probably two more lap or crib-sized quilts, so I can have a couple ready pretty quick.

I’ve  been working away on my Rail Fence quilt.  It may have looked easy, but I’ve had more trouble with this particular scrap quilt than I’ve had with any project in a long time.  Do you think I could keep my pattern straight?  Noooo-oooo.  I swear, I sewed things together backwards and upside-down, and I still think there’s a mistake in it someplace.

I pieced together a batting from leftover pieces that have been banging around in my closet forever.  That was a challenge, but I finally got it done.  Then when I started the machine quilting, I messed it up, and wound up having to pick out two LONG rows of stitches, diagonally across a 50″ by 60″ quilt!  Sigh.  At least they were long stitches.  I messed up on my second try, too, but this time I had enough sense to stop before I got too far.  More stitches to pick out.

The third time was the charm!  I think I may actually finish the quilting this morning, but I don’t want to be too sure of myself!  If I manage to finish it, then I’ll get a backing and batting together for my Barn Dance quilt, so I can get that one done as well.

Andrew is still in TN.  Now they’ve had an ice/snow storm down there.  Hope they still have power.  I haven’t heard from him since yesterday, so if he doesn’t call me, I’ll give him a buzz later to see how things are going there.

It’s been COLD here, in the single digits during the days, below zero at night.  I think the temperature might have struggled up to 11 degrees yesterday.  Since I was out of milk, bread, and half-and-half (essential to life around here), I got brave and bundled up in my long underwear and down coat (a Goodwill purchase in MN) and walked up to the store.  I have to say that the right clothes do make a difference!  The only part of me that got cold was my nose, and I pulled my scarf up to protect my face.

Molly looking cute

Still no camera, so I’ll close with this picture of Molly.  She loves to sit on the table and watch birds and squirrels out the back window.  She’s been a lot of company for me this week, although she thinks I should spend more time playing with her, and less time quilting!

The big news for today is that Brody made his appearance yesterday afternoon!  Sorry, don’t know what time he was born, but mommy and baby are both doing great.  Andrew had hoped to be there in time for the birth, but the trip took longer than he expected, and he wound up staying over in a motel north of Indianapolis.  I talked him into it, since I could tell how tired he was when he called from the road on Tuesday night.

And the quilts I sent along were a big success.  Nora was happily playing on hers when Andrew left for the hospital, and Elise, Brody’s two-year-old big sister, wrapped herself up in Brody’s quilt and in general acted cute.  So all the work last weekend to get those two quilts done was more than worth it!  I love knowing that they’ll be well used.

Can’t send any pictures of what I’m working on, since the camera is in TN!  But I’ve been working on a rail fence quilt.  Basically I sewed a dark and a light 2-1/2″ strip together, and cut them into 4-1/2″ squares.  Then I laid them out, alternating them, so that the dark/light was horizontal in the first block, and vertical in the second.  It’s pretty fast and easy.  I should finish piecing it this morning.  That will give me two more quilts to machine quilt, so I’ll work on coming up with backings for both quilts this afternoon.  Hopefully I’ll get them both quilted in the next couple of days.  After a trip though the washer and dryer, they’ll be on their way to the Hopes and Dreams ALS Quilt Challenge.

I’ve been looking through a couple of library books, Reverse Applique With No Brakez, by Jan Mullen, and Nature’s Studio, by Joan Colvin.  I’m intrigued with the idea of reverse applique, and I want to do something with it for my next AAQI quilt.  Jude Hill has some amazing ideas for reverse applique on her blog, what if.  So all these ideas are spinning around in my head right now…

I’ve also ordered some books interlibrary loan.  I can do it all online, which is very cool.  I have the original Liberated Quiltmaking and Liberated String Quilts, both by Gwen Marston,  and Fusing Fun! Fast Fearless Art Quilts, by Laura Wasilowski, on the way.  Don’t know when they’ll turn up since they’re all coming from libraries downstate, but that’s part of the fun.  It’ll be like Christmas when they do show up!

I’ll close with this video.  Nellie from Nellie’s Needles sent it to me cuz I have a kitty. It was so cute I just had to share it with you!  The scratched up bedframe and the kitty toys scattered hither and yon look a lot like it does around here!

Nora's Big Girl Quilt

While the Liberated Quilters have been having their virtual quilting  retreat yesterday and today, my own private retreat took  place over the weekend.  And it will continue this week, since my husband is headed for TN today.

I spent Saturday and Sunday basting and quilting and binding, and I have TWO quilts to show for it!  Here’s a picture of Nora’s big girl quilt.  I had to hang it sideways on the clothesline to keep it out of the snow.  (How many people do you know who wear snowshoes while taking pictures of their quilts?)  You can click on it for a close-up.

I wound up quilting it in a diagonal grid.  Since time was of the essence, I needed to something fast, and this worked out well.

Brody's quilt

Here’s the quilt for Andrew’s new grandson, whose name will be Brody.  I quilted it in a diagonal grid, too.  Not real original, but it looks good, and it’s finished!  This UFO had been banging around in my closet for a couple of years now, so I’m happy to have it done and on its way to its new home!

Andrew will be heading out shortly.  We’ve were concerned about the big snowstorm, but we think we have a route planned that misses most of it.  At least we put new tires on the truck last week, so that should help him if he does hit a lot of snow someplace.

Brody will hopefully be born tomorrow.  They’re inducing Jenny in the morning.  She wanted them to wait until Andrew was there, so that’s why he’s leaving today, even though the weather isn’t the best, instead of waiting til tomorrow.  So be sending good thoughts and wishes Jenny’s way!  And also for Andrew to have a safe trip.  (He has ankylosing spondylitis, and is a chronic pain patient, so these long trips are hard on him.)

My hubby will be gone for a week, so I intend to quilt my brains out!  The weather has turned off COLD, so I probably won’t be taking any real long hikes this week, unless I’m feeling especially brave.  The extent of my travels will probably be to walk up to the neighborhood grocery store for milk.  I stocked up on cat food and frozen dinners yesterday, so Molly and I are ready for our girls’ week together.

I want to quilt my Barn Dancing quilt, and get going on some more stashbusting quilts.  You’ll be happy to know that I actually went into a fabric store yesterday and didn’t buy anything but a quilt batting and a needle threader!  I practically had to cover my eyes and not look at anything in the store while I made a beeline to the batting area.  But I did it!  And I had a 30% off coupon, which made it even better!

Molly the watchcat

Molly was watching me out the window yesterday as I was taking pictures of the quilts.  She looked so cute that I couldn’t resist taking this picture!  Kinda makes up for when she gets up on the table and knocks everything in the floor!