Sunday, December 28, 2014

Staying Busy and the Trails my Mind takes me Down as I Do

I'm staying busy again.  I have deconstructed a pile of jeans and I've been working into cutting them into panels that will be sewn into a larger panel to cut my blocks.  I have almost become obsessed with denim.  I love working with it in my quilts.  Since I have let it be known that I've been doing quilts with denim I have family and friends that are donating to me.  I have one friend that will just leave me sacks of them at my back door.  It is like a little surprise when I find them. 

But I love how it fades.  Some denims fade differently than others so you get all the beautiful different shades of blue and blue is just such a comforting color.  As I am working with the denim I notice stains or fading.  For instance the knees always fade more than the rest of the jean.  Stains from dirt or grass are usually found on the front.  Sometimes I just run my hand across a faded denim and you can feel how the fabric has worn to a softness. 

As I am working with it my mind starts to wonder.  I wonder about what the person that wore these jeans did.  What kind of work did they do?  If I see an oil stain I wonder if it is from a teenage kid just learning to work on their first car.  I have a friend that has told me she has me a big sack of jeans and her family worked in concrete so I know there will be stains that will tell that story when I get them. 

I'm currently working on another quilt for one of my grandsons.  One of the first denim quilts I made was for another grandson and was made out of jeans from his mother, from me and from him.  But as I working on these quilts for my other grandsons I also think about the people these other jeans belonged to.  I hope as these boys sleep under these quilts that somehow that working and being good men will seep into them.  That somehow they will know they have a grandmother that loves them very much and that she put a lot of thought into these things as they were made.

Then my thoughts go to my own grandmother.  My quilting is so untraditional.  Machine quilting.  When I was growing up my grandmother lived probably within a quarter mile of our home and I remember walking to her home often during the summer months.  She had a wooden quilting frame that was attached to her ceiling with hooks and ropes and she would wind the rope around the ends of the wooden frame to lift it up to the ceiling when she was not quilting.  But many times it would be down and she would be quilting when I got there.  I would sit with her and she taught me how to hand quilt and make tiny stitches.  I really miss that.  Sometimes one or another of my Aunts would come in and sit and help and she had a friend, Ms. Ritter, who would sometimes walk all the way across town.  We would never know that she was coming until we would see her walking down the road.  Good times!

So yes I am loving working with the denim but after today I'm not so sure it is as much the denim as it is the quilting and all the wonderful thoughts that it provokes in me.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Christmas Gifts for Work Done and Delivered

I held off posting anything about these gifts because I didn't want to give the surprise away to the ladies I work with but their gift was a home movie night. My daughter and I found insulated bags with their initial on them that hold a six pack of drinks and I went to the computer and downloaded graphics of tickets and popcorn boxes and stuffed them with drinks, movie type candies and popcorn and enough $1s to rent a couple of redbox movies. They were all so sweet when they got them and made over them so much it made me feel so good.


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Idea for Another Quilt


Look at this cotton fabric I found at Wal-Mart.  I love these colors.  I only got 2 or 3 yards (my memory is so poor I can't even remember what I ask for as it has been a few weeks back).  But my thoughts are to scan the chickens and to look for cotton fabric to match them and applique them to a block.  I'm thinking maybe doing free motion in a chicken wire.  Maybe a black thread on a white back ground.  I'm not sure how I am going to incorporate this fabric into the whole layout but I'll have to figure out something.

This will be sometime down the road as I have three denim quilts that I have to work on.  Going to do one for my sister and two more grandchildren that need one.  

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Bacon and Boys

Bacon & Boys what can I say.  My boys love it.  They come to the skillet before it ever gets to their plate.  I have 4 grandsons and one great nephew and when they all come this is our go to breakfast.  And they carry off pieces and I let them.  Something I never would have allowed when my girls were coming up but that is just one of the special things I do with the grand babies.

Monday, November 24, 2014

Great News and Staying Busy

 Had some great news come in from my doctor regarding my last colonoscopy.  I have a really small ulcer possibly around the site where my colon was nicked during my kidney surgery but all of my biopsies came back clean.  How great is that! 

Early detection is key folks.  So please go have your test ran.

And I have been staying busy at my denim quilting.  I have been processing the old jeans and now I have a nice big box of denim material to work up.  I am so excited.  It does not take much to make me happy.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

From This to This

 From This....
To This....
Our baby girl is growing up.  Her leaving home is going to really wrench at my heart strings. 

Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly away home

Ladybug! Ladybug!  Fly Away Home

Ladybug!  Ladybug!
Fly away home.
Your house is on fire.
And your children all gone.
 
All except one,
And that's little Ann,
For she crept under
The frying pan.

 
We saw ladybugs everywhere we went yesterday.  Funny to see so late in winter.  And then when I got home my friends were all posting on Facebook about Ladybug infestations.  So apparently they were everywhere in our area yesterday.  We had a bit of a freeze last week so it was a little surprising to see.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Bursting Heart and Angel Quilt Finished



A couple of pictures of the Bursting Heart and Angel Quilt.  This one without the binding.
And this one of the final  finished quilt.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Bursting Heart and Angel Quilt Coming Along

Honestly, I don't think I have an original thought in my head.  But my...oh my...am I easily inspired.  I can look through Pinterest and my mind is in a whirl wind of frenzied ideas.  You saw from my last post Denim Angel Quilt Block Tutorial how I was inspired for the denim angels quilt block.
Well then I ran across this Bursting Heart Pillow tutorial over at the Blue Susan makes... blog.  And apparently I am not the only one inspired by others because she admits that her inspiration came from an Amy Butler's pattern Alchemy Sweet Slices Pillow.  So I had to try to adapt it to my beloved denim.  And this is what I came up with...


And I have incorporated it and the angels into this quilt that is slowly coming along.


I've also included a couple of my denim hearts and I may try to do a tutorial on those in the near future.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Denim Angel Quilt Block Tutorial

 I cannot take credit for this idea.  I found it on Pinterest and have to give Kudos where Kudos are due.  It started out as X-mas Ornament:Angels at the Selimut-ku blog.  But the denim colored blue angel from El Patchwork De Kris caught my eye and I thought that might make a quilt block.  And it did quite nicely.

I do machine quilting on a regular machine, so I always try to work with a 10-inch block.  It is limiting but just easier to maneuver around in the space on regular machine and so set about trying to increase the size of the angel to fit nicely on a 10-inch block.  So I started by trying to find something perfectly round in my kitchen to use for my circles and I came up with the bottom of a paper towel holder.  I think the top of a whipped cream container would have worked just as well. 



The diameter (measuring across from one side thru the center to the other) of the cut circle was 7 1/4 by 7 1/4.
Next I went to my Photoshop Elements and started with a new document with measurements of 5 1/4 and I chose a heart shape and stretched it to fit the measurements and printed.  I layered Wonder Under and my fabric that would be the wings and cut the heart out.
I cut circles from my denim to make my angels.  All of my denim is recycled and I tried to choose a denim that was faded a bit more than my denim blocks because I wanted that contrast in color.  I chose my 10-inch denim blocks that I had already premade and made sure that I chose blocks that had very little seam to them.  And sewed my circles with a over locking stitch right at the very edge leaving about an inch or two for turning.  Usually a seam is recommended and then you clip the seam to work around the circle but because I was working with denim and denim tends to fray I felt that close to the edge with the locking stitch was called for.  I turned my circles and just my closed scissors to help push the edges out.  I ironed the circle being sure to turn in the inch or so that was unsewn.  And went back to my machine to do a scalloped decorative stitch around the edge. 

When I was done the edges tended to want to curl up a bit probably because of the way that I had decided to do the over lock stitch but I was ok with it.  I just thought we would have a bit of a flirty angel.
Next I turned down the collar or what will make the little cape of the angel and ironed.  I was making 4 for the same quilt so I made sure that they were all the same.
This is where I started playing to decide if my colors were balanced and pleasing to me.  I called on my sister to help me decide which looked the best.
I folded down the collar leaving a bit of a space at the top for the head. 



 I created yoyos from different printed fabrics to see which I thought was most appealing. I tried them with the gathers turned up and with them turned down.

We tried them with little black eyes.


















We tried them with a rose embellishment.


















And with a button embellishment.

















With opposite printed fabrics for the face.

With a pink face.
And a white face.  This is the one that we finally settled on.  I like denim for the dress and I think it shows off the decorative stitch so much better than the others.















At this point I positioned everything on my block where I wanted it to be with the Wonder Under beneath the heart, moved the angel off the heart and ironed my heart to my denim 10-inch block.

I have not been turning the edges of my appliques down and I hope that I don't regret this after the wash but I think the wonder under will hold everything in place.  If you think you would rather turn your edges under just cut the heart a 1/4 inch larger and do that before you iron it in place.



Next I used a decorative blank stitch and stitched around the raw edge of the heart.
Next I moved the angel onto the block and centered and pinned it in place.

Next I opened the collar up so that I could see the crease.

And I sewed along the crease.  The contrasting color will not hurt here as the collar will fold back down and cover it.

Then I folded the collar back into place.
And then tacked the collar to secure.  Not to worry with my stitches because the button embellishment will hide any faults.

Next I tacked the button in place.

Then I used the same blanket stich to go around the head.

I love my denim angel block.  I think she is just gorgeous.  I hope the tutorial was useful.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Wonderful News!!!

Well I feel like I have just left everything hanging here...but really think I had a good reason.  I went for my kidney surgery but when they did it my colon was nicked and they had to call someone in to repair it.  So instead of just the robotic removal of half the kidney, which they did, I had to be opened up for that repair.  I got home and still was feeling terrible and about a week later woke to a pool of blood in my bed and had to go back to the emergency room to be opened up again and all the flood cleaned out and was sent back home with a wound vac.  I am finally off the vac but still have an open wound that has to be dressed every other day.

But the wonderful news is that when the pathology results came back on the kidney it was denign...woot woot!

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Lap Quilts Delivered


Two lap quilts made as gifts for friends...met one of my friends for dinner last night to deliver them.  The other friend doesn't know that it is coming...so it will be a nice surprise for her.







Monday, April 14, 2014

Life goes on

I am bound and determined that I am not going to let this get me down.  I have been working on two lap quilts and finished one for a friend today.  She has been the best.  She helps me in so many ways.  I am so very blessed.  Here are the pictures...but dang...I am going to have to stop being so lazy and break that camera out to get better photos...the I-phone just doesn't quite do it.




Thursday, April 10, 2014

Sometimes Things just do not Workout as we Planned

I've just recently found out that my kidney cancer has returned.  I have struggled with this since I found out almost two weeks ago and then finding out about a week ago that they are wanting to remove 1/2 my kidney.  But I have finally decide to go ahead with this surgery and have 1/2 half of the kidney removed on the 23rd.  Please pray for me.

Monday, March 24, 2014

Another Try

Ok, so I decided one more try at the stars and I am a little more pleased with this set than the last but I have decided they really just aren't my thing...I will use them in a quilt but so far all of my recycled jeans/denim quilts have all been put together in a mod podge way so hopefully they won't stand out like a sore thumb.

This time I started with a 12 1/2-inch square and when I trimmed they were at 10-inches but one of the points I think is too close to the edge and I'm concerned my sashing with probably cover a bit of it when I go to put my block together.  This time I did not stack and slash but used some lines on my ruler that I normally don't use for angles and tried to line the edge of each block at the same place to try to get the cuts to run across each block at the same place.  The blocks did come out some better but I don't know...doing this block just feels a bit stressful to me and I don't like that feeling when I am quilting...to me that is my relaxing time...and I guess I don't like thinking quite that hard... :-)

Here are my blocks....