Jack-In-The-Box Quilted

A while back, Kris (Quilted Simple) made a Vintage Sheet Quilt! I fell in love with it! 99% of the time I use sheets for backings on my quilts and I love the feel of older sheets. So I instantly knew that I wanted to make one. I started buying up vintage sheets at the thrift store. I have a few but Kris sent me several pieces of hers to give me a better selection! I can't wait to make it!

I got Richard up for work this morning at 4:30am, got him off to work and cleaned the house up real quick and did some laundry before having to get the boys up for school. Got them on their way and started quilting! :)

This quilt is called "Jack-In-The-Box" I really like this pattern, I had a lot of fun making this one.
I used a pantograph called "Ice In The Stream" I really like the design but it sure was a lot of quilting. It is hard to see in the photo but the quilting is less than an inch apart!!! It is a lot like stippling but it has a flatter design to it.

I finished the binding on Hunter's Vintage Planes quilt, so now I have 3 more quilts that need binding. I will work on them as I get time. Not sure which quilt top that I will quilt next. And actually it may be a few days before I can get back to the frame. 70 more quilt tops to go!!!!!!!

Kristie

A Great Weekend Comes To An End!

My friend Lisa, and her family came down to visit from PA! It was the first time that we had met in person. We talk daily on the phone or over the computer so I was excited for her visit! The funny thing is, my oldest son, Andrew said "Mom, you really are not that interesting so I don't know why someone would want to drive down from PA to meet you" Anyway, we had a wonderful time and so did the rest of the family. Our hubbys even have a lot in common!

We went through all of my quilts that I had stacked up, all of my quilt tops, and played with my fabric. Oh we also looked through some books, sewed a little and just had a great time!

They left this morning and we slept in! :) After I got up I worked on quilting some quilts! The first one is Vintage Planes. I made this one for Hunter, he just loves old planes and military stuff. Nothing fancy, I just added borders on the plane fabric. I really didn't want to cut the plane fabric up. I just did a simple stipple and it turned out nicely. I still need to do the binding so I will work on that through the week! He loves it!
I also quilted this crib quilt! It is a simple "Bow Tie" pattern. I quilted it with a "Pinetree" pantograph. I also need to do the binding on this one!

So 2 more down and 71 more to go!!!! :)

Kristie

Miniature Booty Swap!

I joined the Miniature Booty Swap a few months back. The theme this time was KITCHEN! I received mine from LIZ. She did a wonderful job! Thank you so much, Liz! So here is all of my goodies!

This is the wallhanging for my kitchen done in chickens! She did a very nice job! She told me that she is publishing this pattern, she designed it herself!
Now this is some of the goodies, but I have to say that Lisa and I ate the chocolates! :) The recipe is already put away also. Giggle, I didn't even know that the cup had goodies in it until last night. I opened it up and found more things! :)

She also made this beautiful kitchen towel! It is the cutest!!! I would love to make some of these, they would make wonderful gifts!

Thanks so very much, I just love everything! Be sure to check out her blog, she is soooo funny!

Kristie

Ready for a Quilting Friend's Visit!

I am so excited, my good friend, Lisa (Miniature Quilter)and her family will be coming down from PA tomorrow! They will be staying for 4 days at the lake cabins about 10 minutes from here! I think our hubbys plan on doing some fishing! Seems like our hubbys have a lot in common too! She has 3 boys and I have 2!

We met through an online swap and have talked every since, talk almost daily on the phone and find that we have a lot in common!

I think on Saturday we are going to the flea market where they sell fabric! I think mom is going with us, so it should be lots of fun! So expect lots of photos of our fun! Probably will not get to sew together but I think we are going to dig through my quilts and fabric! My boys are very excited too!

My oldest son, Andrew really loves farm life! I am proud of both of my boys! Anyway, Andrew bought an incubator a few weeks ago. He works around doing odd jobs to support his chicken and Beagle habit! hehehehe! He put 36 eggs in the incubator and they are due to hatch out actually tomorrow. Lots of times there will be several eggs that don't hatch but by this being his first time using the incubator he didn't know if he would hatch any. So far we have 2 1/2 that have hatched. I say 2 1/2 because one of them is half out of the egg right now. The boys got to wittness the first one hatching from the egg and they were soooooooo excited. Here are a couple of videos that I took of the process.....


In this first video, the chick is not out of the egg but you can hear it chirp!




Last weekend we were trying to disk the garden up a little better. This is the first year that we have had the garden in that spot so the ground really needs a lot of work there. He was using the disks and chipped one on a bunch of rocks! So he stopped the tractor, got the hoe and started digging out the rocks. You all know how much I love my husband and I also love his little bald spot! Hehehehe! I started recording and I just had to tease him about it. So he just called it his "solar panel" hehehe!


Well, I am off to bed.....got to get ready for the big day tomorrow. Actually they will not be here until about 3pm or so and they will be going straight to the cabin to get settled in!
Kristie

65+ Quilts In One Room!

What do you do with 65+ finished quilts in a 12x14 ft bedroom?? I don't have a clue either! :) Well....I am having company in a few days. I good online friend, Lisa and her family are coming for a visit from PA. They will be staying at the lake cabins just about 10 minutes away! So I have been cleaning! :)

My bedroom is VERY small and this where we sleep and also where I have to keep most of my quilting stuff! Today, I folded and restacked 65 quilts in front of the double windows. Not really anything else that I could do with them. And this doesn't count the 2 quilts that are on my bed now and the few others scattered throughout the house! Needless to say this room is very cramped! I love antiques so this room also includes antique bed, dresser and wardrobe and more!

This is a photo of the doors on the antique wardrobe open. This is my 73 quilt tops, that need to be quilted. The ones in the bags are the ones that already have the backing and batting with them and ready to quilt. The small door there has the other tops that have backings but doesn't have the batting. And the large door, under the bags, are the other quilt tops that do not have backing or batting ready for them yet!

Here is a photo that was take in the middle of the mess! This is some to the quilts thrown on the bed before I refolded and stacked them back.
Giggle.....Lisa, if you want to look through these quilts, you will have to fold and stack them back!!! I'm tired of messing with them! :) Just playing!

Anyway, I still am not finished with that room. I still have to try to do something with the closet and some fabric! Don't think that I will have everything that I want to have done before Thursday, but I don't think she is coming down to see how I clean house anyway! :) We will have lots of fun playing with quilty things.

I am feeling a lot better today! Thank the Lord. Almost back to normal.....fat and lazy! hehehe!

Kristie

1 Down, 73 More Quilt Tops To Go!!!

I received a nice little "pick-me-up" from my Secret Sister! One of the Yahoo Groups that I belong to we have Secret Sisters and we send things about every other month. I don't know who she is but I want to tell her Thank You! A set of beautiful Tea Towels and a wonderful assortment of teas! Thank you so much!
Thanks for all the wonderful emails, prayers and well wishes! I am feeling much better! Still weak but that will go away soon, I hope! I have a doctors appointment Tuesday for testing on my kidneys. Don't think there is any damage but they just want to make sure!

Anyway, I finally got to try out my quilter! :) I must say that I love it! I did get this top quilted! It took me a while because I kept having to sit down and rest, just no energy really. Although it is not perfect, it is my first and I'm sure I will get better with time and practice.

I really wanted to learn to use a pantograph so this is what I did. I know I can stipple freehand from the front but I thought the best way to learn to use a pantograph was to start simple. So I used a pantograph with a simple stipple design. I worked out just fine. Most of it is evenly spaced with really only one row that is off a little in the spacing. But with it being my first, I am happy with it!!!!! So 1 down and 73 more to go!!!!!

The pattern is called "Bouncing Betty" I made two of these in the same pattern, one is scrappy and the other is green and coral. I still need to do the binding on it, I will add a simple white binding.
I did load another top on the frame but only did one row of quilting on it so far. Hopefully, I can finish it up later in the week. It is a quilt for Hunter, with vintage airplanes on it. I am using the same pantograph on it, just for more practice.
Kristie

Surgery Didn't Go As Planned! :(

I'm finally back posting! Thank you all so much for your Prayers and many emails. Surgery did not go as planned! :( I will not go into all the boring details, so I will try to cut this short.

I was at the hospital for my surgery and as you know that ask you a million questions. So I tell them that I am allergic to aspirin and that I can not take morphine. I was given morphine several years ago when I had another surgery and it has no effect on my system. So in other words, my body has a high tolerance for pain medication and most things do not work. I have my surgery and all goes well with that part. They broke my nose in 3 places, inserted a plastic piece down the center of my nose, cut out bone and cartilage, and fix my sinuses! The surgery is over and I start to wake up and I am screaming and pulling my hair out!!!! The pain medication that they give me has no effect on me at all. They strap me down to the bed so that I can not hurt myself and give me several other things, finally they get the pain, my blood pressure and heart rate under control. They debated on keeping me overnight but my vitals continued to stay good so they sent me home. I get home, take my pain medication and my antibiotics and sleep most of the time. So you think after a day or so you should be getting better after all it was a simple surgery right? NOPE! I collapse!!!! Of course with all the work on my nose, I can't breathe through it and then I just could not breathe at all. My mouth had blisters in it too, so I thought that was odd. Anyway, I collapse, I'm rushed to the ER and they admit me! Come to find out I am allergic to the antibiotic!!!!! My throat had swollen together and I could not get enough oxygen so I collapse and they said that my kidneys had started to shut down! I noticed that I had not been going to the bathroom as much and when I did I just could not urinate other than drip! Gross, I know but that is what happened. Anyway, they give me lots of medications and IV's, do tons of tests on my kidneys and heart. Got all that out of my system and they let me go home the next day. I don't even remember coming home that is how out of it that I was.

Things are better now, still weak but a lot better than I was! Thank you all for your prayers and concern. I'm sorry that I did not email you all back, but I was not on the computer. I remember a few times that Andrew would read my email and tell me.
Kristie

Tomorrow Is Surgery Day! :(

I probably will not post for a few days, I am having nose surgery tomorrow. :( Nothing major, just fixing some old breaks and sinuses. The surgeon said that he would be rebreaking my nose, cutting out some bone, cartlidge and tissue. One side is completely closed off and the other side only has about 50% opening. My nose is straight enough, the mess is on the inside. Also having my sinuses done while they are in there.

Like I said, it is nothing major, but I'm sure I will be uncomfortable for a few days. So I will post if I feel like it, if not, I will be back on here in a few days.....
Kristie

My Quilting Frame Is FINISHED!

Hehehehe! It's official, I'm a real COWGIRL! :) Here is our new bull! Richard and the boys picked him up this afternoon. He is a beefalo, half beef and half buffalo. Anyway, they get him home and get him out of the trailer. Got him in the lot were we are going to keep him and the dogs got after him......long story short, he got loose! Jumped the logs and through the barbed wire and through the woods he went! Richard and Andrew chased him for a few miles on foot through the woods! Finally back here within sight so I went to help them then. Let's just say we fought all over this farm with this little bull. He only weighs about 350lbs but he is just EVIL! Got one lasso around his back foot and another around his neck. Pulled the truck and trailer up to where we had him, took forever to get him in the trailer. We all have rope burns and blisters everywhere. Cuts and scraps too, like I said he went through the woods and acres of blackberry vines, but he is finally put up for the night. Giggle, we just left him in the trailer for the night, put him some food and water in there and will deal with him tomorrow! :)

Richard finished my frame this morning! :) I am one happy girl! I still need to stain some of the wood but I will get that in a few days. I just love it! It is a very sturdy 12 ft frame! I can also use a larger machine than the one that I have but this will probably be the only one that I ever buy. My machine is a 13" Bailey. I really like is so far.

I attached my handles to the back because I wanted to learn how to use a pantograph. My other set of handles for the front should be delivered any day. Anyway, I loaded some fabric on to practice with. Had trouble the first thing! Took me about 2 hours to figure out what was wrong....a wonderful lady called me from the Bailey Yahoo Group and helped me. I knew it had to be something simple because I had just bought the machine and it sewed great until today. The problem was.....I HAD THE THREAD WRONG! There is another thing by the needle that the thread needed to go through and it DOES NOT show that part in the manual! So she told me that, I redid the thread and it works perfect!!!! I am so happy with my machine and frame! I plan on practicing a lot more then I will start on my 70+ tops!

Now I will leave you with another silly Donkey photo!

I think I am going on to bed, my backing is starting to hurt from being jerked around by that bull.

Kristie

Now I can start!

I am just so excited! My baby was delivered yesterday evening!! It is a Bailey Home Quilter! I just can't tell you how long that I have wanted one of these. I didn't realize that it would be delivered yesterday until about 2 hours before it got here. I was pacing the floors! :) By the time that Richard got home and I was showing him everything about it, I was all teary-eyed!


I don't have it on the frame yet, but should within the next couple of days. My frame is not done yet, because I didn't actually expect the machine for another week or so.

I did play around with it while I had it sitting on the table. It sews great! Didn't even have to adjust anything, just threaded it up and started sewing! I could go ahead and quilt a quilt on it while I have it on the table but I will probably just wait until my frame is done.

Now maybe I can get these 70+ tops quilted! :)
Kristie