Way to go my son Steve!!

To make a long story short, we were not going to do the play our homeschool drama club puts on every year...we opted out this year to play catch up on things. Well, one of the members has left the play. It is nice role that had to be filled, and my son Steve auditioned for the part tonight...and he got it!!!!! I'm so proud of him! They said they did not think that he could get the singing part because they thought it was out of his range. He did a fantastic job and well the rest is history. They are already into over 2 months worth of practices and off book so....that means Steve has to memorize really fast! The play is in May.
Way to go Steve!!

Latest quilt

Last week I was able to cut all the fabrics into the sizes/pieces/units that I need. On Saturday I took the medium and light 1 1/2inch strips (8 of each), made 8 strip sets and then cut them into 1 1/2inch subunits. Next, I made the subunits into 4 patches....I have 128-4patch units.
Next, I used my Easy Angle ruler and cut my 2 1/2inch strips into 2 1/2inch hst (half square triangles)....I used light and dark fabrics...and I will have to go down to my sewing room to see just how many of those little buggers I cut up...lets just say A LOT! I will post this information tomorrow or maybe later on today when I come up for air! LOL
The hst units, I took them with me somewhere and pinned all day!! I mean that, there are a lot of them. Oh yes, I pinned them at the guild meeting and at homeschool co-op day. I was able to piece one basket of the hst units, I still have another basket to sew. That is today's project. Honestly, I can sew those this morning...it is going to be the ironing of these babies that is going to take forever!! I will set up my iron by my tv so that I won't be so darn bored!
Once those hst units are completed I can move on to the other units. These are 9-patches. I have made them from all darks! The measurements for the strips are 2 1/2inches, so if you wish to cut some and try to follow along with me, go ahead! This part you can figure out....9-patches are easy. And I don't remember how many of each for this, so I will get the information and post either this afternoon or tomorrow.
I can't post any pictures at the moment, my camera battery is charging. Hopefully it will not take long and I can upload some pics.
That is all for now!
Happy sewing!

National Quilting Day...are you quilting?

Today is National Quilting Day....I read that from Judy L.'s blog of Patchwork Times. So, today I am quilting!
Here is my list of to do's for today:
1-finish 9 fans on longarm machine
2-iron Ashley and Greg's quilt pieces and get to work on it
3-before working on Ashley and Greg's quilt, make one block from Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt
4-eat lunch? sometimes I like to just bring munchies down to my sewing room, then I don't have to stop and I'm more productive
5-Get samples ready for shop classes!! I keep forgetting to do this!

Last night's 50-60's talent show was fantastic! Those kids are so talented!!
OH, Chris's doctor appt went wonderful! His A1c level is 6.1. His doctor gave him a smiley face and really spent a lot of time talking with Chris about becoming a pediatric endocronologist! I hope Chris sticks with this! The doctor perked up when Chris said he is going to go into the medical field and become an endocronologist. And I can't forget that Chris's results came back for his celiac test and he was originally at 90trig. and it has come down to 20!! That is amazing! Way to go Chris!!

and my son Joe. He was so happy up there playing that guitar last night for the show!! And being Laura's helper! He loves to serve and be a part of things. I so enjoyed seeing him smile! Way to go son! I need to get some pictures of him and the other boys. Since my old computer died so did all my pictures!
Happy Sewing!!!

It's Friday!! And the weather is ....

It's Friday and the weather is...not snowing! LOVE IT! This time of year is when all northerners (Michiganders in general) look forward to spring. We are all thankful for rain! lol...we don't have to shovel rain!

Look! someone cleaned up her sewing room! LOL I even vacuumed!
I just could not stand the mess any longer. I need to learn to put things away or at least make nicer looking piles! LOL
So today I'm going to sew on the longarm machine for a bit. See the fan quilt. I'm almost finished with it.

Presently, I'm filling in the white area of the quilt. The borders are finished. Once I finish the white area, I'm going to go draw/stitch cherry blossoms or dogwood blossoms in the fans...I think....we will see which ones look better..I will try it out on paper first.

I'm also working on another client's quilt. It was her first time working with bias and well lets just say she had lots of fullness in her quilt. I had to take the quilt apart...with her permission of course. I thought it was only in the outer border, the fullness, but as I took it apart I had to go all the way to the center.  So, for those of you who don't know how to work with bias, please follow the author's instructions...don't stretch it out, measure, measure and measure....I'm not saying that my client did not do that....just giving a little tip! I'm not posting a picture of her quilt, that would not be very nice of me. She has worked hard on her quilt and it is a king size..that is all the needs to be said. And when it is put back together and quilted she will be very proud of her work! No one has to know more than that.

At lunch time Chris and I will be heading to Royal Oak Beaumont hospital. He has his appt. today with his endocronologist. Type 1 diabetes. My son, Chris, has a good handle on his diabetes...it is the celiac that is getting to him.
Tonight my guys and their band McPeakeLee are playing at a fund raiser for our drama club. It is 50's-60's night. I so love hearing them play!! These are some very very talented kids!
Yesterday I was chatting with our oldest, Kate. Kate is 24 almost 25 and she is so pretty! I miss her! She lives in NY. I was so hoping that she was heading over for a visit, but money and time are an issue. We just miss her! Sending love your way sweetie!
Well everyone, hope you are having a wonderful day!

Happy Sewing!

Designs in my head!!

OH my goodness do I ever have too many designs in my head this morning. I think it is because I actually had a good night's sleep! Yesterday warmed up nicely here in Michigan. When my husband arrived home around 5pm, very unusual by the way for him to get home that early, we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood! Oh it was so nice breathing fresh air!! Today the temps are going close to 60! WOOOHOO!!
Fabrics arrvied yesterday from FP...man did they send a lot! I was not expecting that ! Thank you! It was wonderful touching the fabrics!!
Last night I spent the evening pinning hst (half square triangle) units together. I think there are over 500! The pile just did not seem to ever disappear, but I did reach the end. After I finished pinning those units I continued on with ripping stitches from a quilt top that I don't like the quilting on....can't give a customer a quilt back that I am not happy with. I just don't like the way it turned out. It is not a large quilt, so that makes it nice, and hopefully I will be able to finish ripping out the border stitches while watching tv tonight.

Look at this messy sewing room! I can't believe how messy I can get a room in just a few short minutes...then afterwards, just walk away from it! LOL Someone needs to get on my case and make me clean it up. See the sewing machine on the table? My husband likes to sew on occasion, that is the machine he uses. Ok these tables are just way too messy, I really have to go clean up my room!
I'm considering hosting an ongoing summer "learn how to quilt class" for young girls. I already teach about 10 girls in our homeschool group on Wednesday at our co-op which is held at my church. The girls want to continue this over the summer. I just can't do it for free, it takes a lot of time. Any of my readers...if you have any suggestions for pricing let me know....btw, those tables would be cleared for the girls to come and sew. I think I could fit 4 at a time comfortably.

I'm making another double dutch quilt. I want to submit this one to a magazine. It is very simple and easy, as a matter of fact I have the instructions here on my blog in an earlier post. I think these fabrics are adorable! Makes for a cute little girls quilt....now to find that little girl....lol...I have boys...all big boys...and Kate, well she is 24 almost 25!! Ahhhh! our oldest is almost 25...oh my...ok, let's NOT think about this.
Today I am joining a friend at Olive Garden for lunch. I am so glad she invited me to lunch today. I know that I need to stay home and work, but at the same time I need the friendship/bonding..you know what I mean.
Well everyone, happy sewing and have a beautiful day!

POWER Cutting and Sewing!

phew! I've been power cutting fabric all morning!! And then I sat down to power sew!!

all strips sets sewn, ready for ironing



Pretty colors!! I love the cornflower
blue background with the
dark brown fabric...
just another strip set....

cutting this 2.5" set into half sq.
triangles, using the Easy Angle
Ruler



more 2.5" strip sets....this is the
background fabric














After I cut all these strips, I sat for some serious power sewing. I have a lot of strip sets to make so I finished that first. The pictures that I have not posted are the over 500 triangles that I cut this morning too.
I will piece those triangles this afternoon....I'm thinking of posting this quilt as a mystery quilt. I have the instructions from another quilter, but I can't for the life of me figure out where I got the pattern from. It came from the internet as a free pattern, so I'm not going to take credit for it. Just come along with me and enjoy the process of making this quilt.
If you do want to sew along with me, drop me a comment and I will send the info.
You can make this scrappy or controled. I believe my yardage for the background fabric was close to 3yards. My little bit of extra that I have left over is going into my Farmer's Wife quilt and Civil War block of the week by Barbara Brackmann. I'm also going to begin the Nearly Insane quilt....that will be in the summer....
My colors for my neices quilt: pear green, sage green, cornflower blue, medium to dark brown...I used a crackle fabric for the brown. If you wish to make this scrappy gather your fabrics now, get the pressed and ready to go. I can tell you that the sage green and light colored fabric were cut in 1.5" strip wof. You need to make 8 strip sets of these two colors. These are going to be made into 4patches. If you are a quilter, you already know how to do this. Cut the segments into 1.5" segments, then sew them into a 4-patch making sure the same colors are diagonal of each other...

Now, onto the other quilt that I am making....here are the colors/fabrics for this one:

My favorite are the two blues, and the cream fabric with the little red roses. Don't know if you can see the little blue accent in the cream fabric...but man do I love these...more to come...

And last the creams to go along with all the autumn colors .....I know I should be thinking spring....but this is not for me. I think I'm going to be making the quilt Hidden Spools by Bonnie Hunter from http://www.quiltville.com/ If you are interested in the pattern click on the link and scroll down...her patterns are listed on the right side bar in alphabetical order.

That is all for now...I must get moving off the computer!! Happy sewing everyone!!

Good day yesterday!!

Yesterday was a fabulous day for me! I heard from FP, so I have my contract for my quilt to go in the magazine!! WOOHOO!! I'm working on several other designs that I am going to be submitting to QW magazine....lol...I could not go to sleep last night because I had a quilt design in my head! I did not want to get out of my warm bed either to write my idea down .... I would have woke up my husband too.
I spoke with my dad yesterday. We don't talk very often, but it felt good to hear his voice. Long story behind our relationship...got a minute?
Shall I begin at birth? lol..seriously, I'm adopted. I was given up at birth. My biological parents were young teenagers. Life was not great for them at home and it would not have been good for either of them to have the responsibility of raising a child, they were not ready. I was adopted when I was 2 days old. Raised by a wonderful family! I had 2 sisters waiting at home for me...you know how sisters can be...they are little mommas! We moved a lot when I was growing up, from coast to coast basically. I went to lots of schools, my dad was in the Navy. Mom stayed home, sometimes she worked, but mostly stayed at home. Anyway, mom died when I was 15 and dad basically took off before I graduated high school. My sisters were there to help me and we stuck together as a family as best as we could...life happens and you must continue on, you must pursue to survive.
At 19 years of age I decided it was time for me to find out who I came from. And I did. I found my biological mom. I look just like her!! Honestly, that was scarey. Growing up adopted, I always wondered who I looked like, who was I like, who did I take after...why am I the way I am....????? Curiousity takes over and I have a determination that can be absolutely annoying sometimes. When I set my mind to something I don't give up!
Several years later I decided it was time to pursue finding my biological dad. Finding mom was not hard, just scarey...the unknown...you don't know if they (the biological parents) want you...rejection was in the back of my mind. By the way, she greeted me with a big hug and tears!! She did not want to let go. She spent 2 weeks with me.
Back to finding my dad. He was not as easy to convince that he was my dad. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I am a determined individual, and I was determined I was going to get to at least hear his voice!! And I did. You would not believe what I did to find him!!  That is another post that would take lots of room...but honey, I found him!! I will never forget that phone call either. WOW, emotions coming back
So, present day...yesterday, I called him, my dad. He was on my mind and figured I needed to see how he was doing...actually I did not call him, I texted him...then he called me! lol...and said, "Why don't you just call me?" Honestly, it is the whole rejection thing that creeps into my head. I can't explain why I feel that way on my blog, that would not be nice to others that might be involved....I will keep it to myself...you don't need to let the entire world know everything, right?
It felt wonderful hearing his voice yesterday. I was on cloud 9 after that! And to top things off he called me 2x! I think that was my clue that I need to contact him more, there is not going to be any rejection. I need to let my guard down.
So my dad is telling me about how our family line is filled with creativity. It is???? Why did you not tell me this before? For years and I do mean years I've wondered where I got the love for singing from, playing an instrument (which I gave up on early because of moving too much), drawing (the longarm quilt machine), piecing quilts...sewing in general....oh my goodness!! The pieces of the puzzle are being found! I can put more of who I am and where I came from together!!! He told me that his mother loved music, was a great pianist (played by ear, self taught), loved to sing...and acting runs in the family...So, not only did I get my creativity from my mom's side (her grandmother was a quilter) but it also comes from the McKnight side...my dad's mom. WOW What a lot of information to absorb! My boys love to play their instruments: guitars, drums, keyboard.....acting! they love acting...me not so much acting...I panic can't do it! lol
Also, yesterday I had emailed my pastor about something that had been bugging for a long time....I hate when I don't let people know how I feel or what's bugging me...but he really gave me some great compliments! Thanks Pastor! You are a great man!
Time to get moving....even though we got snow last night, I'm gonna be happy!
Happy sewing!

Quilt Journaling

I've got an idea that I might start a new project....this can get me into trouble, but it might be worth it. Quilts have played a roll in US history. I'm thinking of beginning my own quilting journal of historical blocks and keeping them in a notebook....then we will see what happens with all these quilt blocks...ugh...there might be a lot of them. I want to begin when we declared our independence from Britian and take it from there. I don't know how it is going to happen, don't know the layout....but I'm going to take my time and enjoy the journey.
in the words of Abby Galey..."just saying"....I will post pictures as the blocks come together.....later everyone....