After 6 years...

 I'm so excited!!!  I finally loaded my Courthouse Steps on the longarm!!!

 I snapped this quick pic of it as I was loading it on the longarm.  She's a big one.  I'll have to check again but I think it measures something like 92x100...maybe even larger.  LOL!  It is made with 6" blocks and each strip finishes at 3/4" wide.  There are 224 blocks in this quilt. 

 Now here's the bad news...LOL!  I am quilting it using a panto called, "Lot's of Leaves"  This panto is very dense and measures 15" wide so there is a lot of quilting in this.  So much so that I run out of bobbin before I even get to the other end of the quilt.  Anyway...I got one pass with the longarm quilted and then I broke a needle at the very end of that first row.  Now everything is all out of whack!  :(  Skipping and bad stitches.  :(  So now I will have to probably reset the timing on it.  Oh well, I will probably do that today after Church. 

 Before I loaded my Courthouse Steps on the longarm yesterday morning, I finished up this customer quilt.  The pic is a little dark but it was before daylight and the lighting was not that good.  You know me...I don't sleep a lot, just a little here and there.

 This quilt was hand pieced by a childhood friend of my brother's.  Actually he lived about a mile away from us when we were growing up.  I've quilted several of his quilts.  I don't think you can go wrong with a bow tie.  It is one of my favorite traditional blocks.

I need to get the binding sewn on this bow tie quilt and also the purple I-spy quilt that I did the other day.  Don't know if I mentioned it or not but the purple one is sold as soon as I get the binding done.  

Coming up this week...Hunter has an orthodontist appointment on Monday.  Thursday is payday so I will run errands and grocery shop that day.  Also I need to get my Courthouse Steps off the longarm and load on some customer quilts.  I have two more that will be dropped off sometime this week but I also have several here that I need to do as well.  I have 5 king size tops from one lady that need quilted.  I also have 2 t-shirt quilts that need pieced and quilted for customers.  I need to make 2 Cross Memory quilts for a couple of people.  Of course, all of that is not going to get done this week but at least over the next few months.  Oh and my SIL has 4 or 5 quilt tops that need quilted.  Not sure when she will be ready for me to quilt them but I already have them on the list to do.  Hmmm...it seems like I am forgetting a few.  LOL!

Log Cabin top completed.....almost!

Sorry that I haven't posted for a little while for those of you that emailed me to make sure things were okay. I have just been really stressed and restless lately that is why I had not posted. If you remember in my last post my machine had broke and I had sent it off to be fixed. Well, I am still without my quilting machine!!! I spoke with them this morning and hopefully it will only be a few more days. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I also did NOT get the loaner/demo machine that I was promised. Anyway, this has had me so stressed out. I've even cried but found that crying just doesn't help matters any does it?

On to other matters....I got all of my log cabin blocks sewn together!!!! All 168 of them!! Now I am just trying to figure out the border fabric for it. I want to use something from my small stash for the border and not buy anything extra for it. I hung it on the stairway wall so that I could get a better look at it once it was all sewn together. It finished pretty big. I did a rough measure of it and it is somewhere around 86 x 102 without borders. I love big quilts. When I do sew the border on, I don't plan on a very wide border. The blocks measure around 7 inches. When I started this quilt, in my mind I planned on a green border but this is the only green that I have enough of and I'm thinking that the design may to big for these blocks.

The red that I plan on doing the small inner border in, is the same red that is used in the block centers. Then I found this blue fabric. What do you think of it? Would it look better than the green?
I have plenty of both of them. My other Civil War yardage just would not work for this quilt. I have some purple that looks way too busy for this and then most of the other ones, I don't have enough of them for the border. So this is where I'm at right now. Waiting for my machine to be fixed and trying to decide on border fabric. After I get the borders sewn on, this quilt will have right at 2200 pieces in it.

Please help me decide on the border fabric. I do value your opinion. Oh and I haven't even decided on a name for this quilt either. In the last post, I asked which fabric to use for my spiderweb blocks and I loved reading the comments on it. I do think I have decided to go with the RED. I am still working on those blocks. Hopefully soon I will have that top ready to show you.
Kristie

Cutting into fabrics and a WIN!!

I think this is going to be a good day! Or at least, I hope so! The hay is done for a while anyway....maybe next week sometime. It has been so hot here and now it is pouring rain!!!! We so needed it! The weatherman is saying that we should have rain on and off for the next few days! And since the hay is done right now we can REST!!!

First off, I won a giveaway!! I was soooo happy, I never win anything! And the best part of it was, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted to win it! My friend, Janet of Rogue Quilter was having a giveaway of a pattern, ruler set (needed for the pattern) and some homemade soap and I won! She had shown the pattern on her blog before and I just fell in love with it. You know how so many of the patterns seem to look alike or they just don't really catch your eye, well this one was different. I had planned on ordering it when I got a few extra dollars, but now I don't have to. :) She took a photo of the store sample and that is the photo that caught my eye, click here to see how pretty it is. If you like scrap quilts, you will love this one! She is actually making hers as a leader/ender project. I think I will start cutting some pieces for mine as I cut other projects and put them aside. Oh, while you are over on Janet's blog, check out the quilt on her blog header, another leader/ender project, I love it!

Today since it is raining and my legs are killing me because I have been on them so much this week. I plan on kicking back and cutting more strips for my Courthouse Steps. I only need a zillion more blocks! LOL!

Do you ever find it hard to cut into your fat quarters and yardage?? I certainly do! I always cut my scraps first and sometimes it just makes me sick to my stomach to cut into anything else, but I guess we have to from time to time. When I run out of scraps or can't find anything in them that suits me I start with the fat quarters first. As most of you know, I am in love with Civil War Repro fabrics and I am just now getting my stash built...if only I could win the lottery! LOL! Anyway...I am sitting here this morning debating on cutting into these. First I will start with these scraps, actually I have another pile of them but I didn't get a photo of them... Oh and before you say anything....I know not all of the fabrics in the following photos are Repro fabrics but they still blend well with them. :)

These are what I am dreading cutting....my fat quarters and 1/2 to 1 yard cuts. I counted and there are 79 fat quarters here...I wish there were 790! LOL! Here are a few yardage pieces that I save and use for borders. I think I have more that is already boxed up and moved in the other house.
I've had these two for a few years now. I guess I am lazy, these are to be used for the borders for my Civil War Love Letters quilt. I have all 121 blocks paper pieced, sashed and sewn into a top now I only need to add borders. I'm sure you are wondering why I haven't done that yet??? Well....silly me left all of the papers on the 121 blocks and sewed the top together and now it is a little overwhelming trying to take them off...In other news....Hunter is on his 3rd day of 4th grade and hates it!!! I really dreaded waking him up this morning because I knew the mood that he would be in!! I just hope he learns to deal with it better. He is a wonderful student he just doesn't want to be away from home.

And...Andrew!!! Andrew, Andrew, Andrew!!!! I love him with all of my heart, a very good kid, never in trouble or anything like that, just a little mouthy but I guess that is a teenage thing. As most of you know he is 18 now and off to college in a few weeks and like any mother that just worries me sick! But what does he come home with the other night????? A BIG HONKING TATTOO!!!!! I know it is not the end of the world but I just never imagined Andrew getting one!!! I know millions of people have them, Richard even has on on his back from years ago and my sister has 2 on her back but I just didn't want my boys to have them, I guess that is a "mom thing" anyway it is on his upper arm shoulder area and will be under his shirt sleeve and it is a HUGE bull that is inked red. Oh well....I guess life goes on, not like I can do anything about it now.

I'm off to do some laundry and start cutting strips!!!
Kristie