I have been wanting a particular thing to hang above my kitchen window. I have a very specifc idea what I want - a sign/wallhanging of some sort with roosters, Rise & Shine, that kind of thing. I have looked everywhere and can't find anything even remotely close to what I want. So, finally I decided I'd just make it. I can do that, for heaven's sake, I can sew !
So I thought I'd use my Electric Quilt 6 design software (yes, the one that was pretty spendy and has been used so little that I have to re-read the manual every time), Got myself comfy at the computer with all these ideas in my head and started "designing". Project name: Rooster wallhanging for kitchen.
Must have spent a good 3 hours that night designing it. Then, a couple hours another night revising, coloring blocks, rearranging etc etc. The third night of my design saga suddenly found me deciding I wanted to make a quilt to hang in the space above the stairs as you come down from the 2nd floor to the first. You know, that tall unused space that no one likes to paint. Husband even agreed a quilt would look great there. In so many words, he said "Go for it honey, that would look great there". Hmmm.....I guess he isn't thinking about how HE is going to have to hang it.
So, off to EQ6 I go!! Brought up my kitchen design and started revising. I can revise it since there weren't any roosters on it yet anyway. 3 hours later, for the most part, I have my design. Went to eat some dinner, something quick (actually a bowl of cereal).....yes, I could eat cereal pretty much anytime. So I'm standing there eating cereal looking at that space above the stairs. (yes, I was walking around while eating). Thoughts now racing thru my head as I stare at that space......run to kitchen, put cereal down, grab tape measure form drawer, run to stairs. Measure width. OH NO. Stairs width is 39". grrrrrrrrr....
My design measures 54" x54". Too big. Back to EQ6. Another couple hours later, I have got it done (the design). Looked in manual to see how to re-name the project. Then the dog comes in and needs to go out and then a few more distractions and finally, I go back to my computer.
Now I don't like it. Grrrrrrr......I have most likely spent close to 12 hours working on a design that in a blink of an eye, I decided I'm not going to use. Plus I basically designed over my rooster project.....So, back to square one on both. Grrrrrrr...................I think I'll go do some laundry........
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Thou Shalt Not Covet....... really?
I was raised Catholic, so I know all about the Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet is #10. The definition of covet is: to desire (what belongs to another). Well, the part "what belongs to another" is what gets me off the hook !!
For instance, I covet a longarm quilting machine. I don't want yours, or my neighbor's . I don't want to take stuff away from someone else - I just want one to call my very own. So even though I am coveting what you might have, I don't want to take yours!! So it's not the same, right?
We all covet stuff - we just don't call it "coveting". How did they ever come up with the word "covet" anyway? No one says " I sure do covet new wood floors in my kitchen". No, we say something more on the lines of "I want new wood floors" or "I wish I could afford new wood floors". It all means the same thing - you want something you can't have. Like I can't have a longarm quilting machine because that hefty price tag doesn't fit anywhere in my present (or future) budget. Unless I inherit a small fortune (not likely), win the lottery (even less likely) or one falls from the sky into my sewing room !! But if that happens, then I'll have to covet a larger sewing room (also not likely).
So go ahead and covet stuff ...or wish upon a star, it's pretty much all the same. Just don't take someone else's !!
For instance, I covet a longarm quilting machine. I don't want yours, or my neighbor's . I don't want to take stuff away from someone else - I just want one to call my very own. So even though I am coveting what you might have, I don't want to take yours!! So it's not the same, right?
We all covet stuff - we just don't call it "coveting". How did they ever come up with the word "covet" anyway? No one says " I sure do covet new wood floors in my kitchen". No, we say something more on the lines of "I want new wood floors" or "I wish I could afford new wood floors". It all means the same thing - you want something you can't have. Like I can't have a longarm quilting machine because that hefty price tag doesn't fit anywhere in my present (or future) budget. Unless I inherit a small fortune (not likely), win the lottery (even less likely) or one falls from the sky into my sewing room !! But if that happens, then I'll have to covet a larger sewing room (also not likely).
So go ahead and covet stuff ...or wish upon a star, it's pretty much all the same. Just don't take someone else's !!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Promoting my Etsy shop JTsAppliques today!
Check out this shop at http://www.jtsappliques.etsy.com/. I can make practically anything into an applique for you. Or pick from my selections and customize your colors. I'll be getting my Halloween listings up soon. That always starts my busy season. People seem to love bats, Trick or Trick, pumpkins etc, before moving right into the Christmas choices. I get lots of orders for names for Christmas stockings and have lots of fonts to choose from. If you want something I don't show, just let me know. I'll find it for you !!
Appliques are available on No-Sew backing (iron-on only) or on lightweight sewable backing (iron-on and sew edges). My lightweight backing can be sewn or quilted thru. Hurry up - GO LOOK !!
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
It is SO hot here....
I have lived in Minnesota since December 1985 and I can't recall a summer that has been as hot for as long as this one. The humidity is so bad the windows on the outside of the house are sweating in the morning. The temp today got to 97, but felt like 105 and the dewpoint yesterday broke records here. Dewpoints in the 70's are considered tropical - we were in the low 80's !! Just step outside and it's instant sweat ! UGH... Our weather guy tonight had a huge ice sculpture in the "Backyard" and he expected by the 10 o'clock news that it would be completely melted away.
The heat even shattered a window in our pickup truck - the back slider window of the cab. I felt for that poor guy that had to come out and replace it in this heat - he was probably was sweating buckets !
It's even too hot to get in our pool. I'd had to make an effort to take the pool cover off to get in. That's just too much work in this heat....... Of course, the corn in the field behind us loves this weather. Heat, rain, heat, rain, repeat. It's grown about 3 feet in the last 10 days.
Tomorrow is supposed to be much better, both for heat and humidity. But not before we get ugly storms tonight.....I'm just praying the power doesn't go off.
Geez, I'm sweating just writing about how hot it is.......I'm gonna go stand in front of the freezer door.
The heat even shattered a window in our pickup truck - the back slider window of the cab. I felt for that poor guy that had to come out and replace it in this heat - he was probably was sweating buckets !
It's even too hot to get in our pool. I'd had to make an effort to take the pool cover off to get in. That's just too much work in this heat....... Of course, the corn in the field behind us loves this weather. Heat, rain, heat, rain, repeat. It's grown about 3 feet in the last 10 days.
Tomorrow is supposed to be much better, both for heat and humidity. But not before we get ugly storms tonight.....I'm just praying the power doesn't go off.
Geez, I'm sweating just writing about how hot it is.......I'm gonna go stand in front of the freezer door.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
How I came to be a quilter.....
I found an awesome website thru the Etsy forums - http://www.quiltingboard.com/ and today someone started a topic about how you started quilting. I go back to about 1989, when I hand cut and hand sewed over 4,000 little hexagons to make a Grandma's Flower Garden quilt. I don't even remember what made me want to do this and I had zero quilting experience. I spent months putting this king-sized top together, then put it in a closet for awhile. Finally, my (former) Mother-in-law quilted it for me. She also hand quilted every bit of it, finishing it in 1991. It is pictured below (but on a queen size bed). I use it every night, it washes great and none of the stitching is coming out.
Never did another thing quilty, until around 2002, when my sister (from St Louis) and I decided to start getting together for a long weekend at least once a year and do a "project". One of these "projects" was to make a memory quilt. Needless to say, we did it, including pictures and quilted them. I was very pleased with how mine turned out, even though the "quilting" is all In The Ditch. What mattered most to me is that I did it all and I finished it. Pictured below too.
When I was a kid, I learned how to knit (don't remember how now). As a young woman I learned to crochet , sewed my daughter cute little dresses with matching bottoms until she told me, at age 3 or so, that I could stop because she wasn't going to wear them anymore because they had "baby" pants. End of clothes sewing. I made a few basic curtains, valances etc. Then I got hooked on cross stitch, which I loved and did until my eyes couldn't take it anymore. That's pretty much when I started sewing again and before I knew it, I had the quilting bug.
Now my stash rivals a quilt shop's stock, and I can't spend enough time in my sewing room. I discovered Etsy as a venue for selling and now have 2 shops. (see links above). The second came about because I can't throw even the smallest scrap of fabric away, and now I also sell iron-on appliques.
At least my sewing keeps my hand and mind busy. And that's especially important for these long Minnesota winters. That's my story of how I came to be a quilter.
Flower Garden quiltmade 1989-1991
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memory quilt, est. 2002
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Never did another thing quilty, until around 2002, when my sister (from St Louis) and I decided to start getting together for a long weekend at least once a year and do a "project". One of these "projects" was to make a memory quilt. Needless to say, we did it, including pictures and quilted them. I was very pleased with how mine turned out, even though the "quilting" is all In The Ditch. What mattered most to me is that I did it all and I finished it. Pictured below too.
When I was a kid, I learned how to knit (don't remember how now). As a young woman I learned to crochet , sewed my daughter cute little dresses with matching bottoms until she told me, at age 3 or so, that I could stop because she wasn't going to wear them anymore because they had "baby" pants. End of clothes sewing. I made a few basic curtains, valances etc. Then I got hooked on cross stitch, which I loved and did until my eyes couldn't take it anymore. That's pretty much when I started sewing again and before I knew it, I had the quilting bug.
Now my stash rivals a quilt shop's stock, and I can't spend enough time in my sewing room. I discovered Etsy as a venue for selling and now have 2 shops. (see links above). The second came about because I can't throw even the smallest scrap of fabric away, and now I also sell iron-on appliques.
At least my sewing keeps my hand and mind busy. And that's especially important for these long Minnesota winters. That's my story of how I came to be a quilter.
Flower Garden quiltmade 1989-1991
Monday, July 18, 2011
Are you a gardening wanna-be ?
So we never had a big garden until we moved to this house. Now we have this huge garden and we have had corn, carrots, peas, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, green peppers, strawberries, rasberries, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and I'm sure I'm forgetting something...
Lessons we have learned - today we learned our lettuce doesn't like 97 degree temps. We have learned the birds really like strawberries and rasberries. We learned we better pick cherry tomatoes before Belle comes over or no one gets any. We learned we aren't going to grow peas, green beans, corn, broccoli or cauliflower again. We learned what Creeping Charlie is.
We also learned a good tiller is well worth the money it cost. That whole day it took to put the chicken wire 12" underground was SO worth it. (no bunnies in our garden!) And that the birds don't like deer netting. And fresh zucchini makes the best zucchini bread. We learned we should plant more carrots because they were spectacular and everyone fought over them at dinner. Best of all, we learned there's nothing like homegrown veggies!
So next year, plan a garden. Start your plants under grow lights in March. Re-pot as needed as they grow. The stronger the plants are, the better off they will be in climates like Minnesota.
Gotta go water the garden !!
Lessons we have learned - today we learned our lettuce doesn't like 97 degree temps. We have learned the birds really like strawberries and rasberries. We learned we better pick cherry tomatoes before Belle comes over or no one gets any. We learned we aren't going to grow peas, green beans, corn, broccoli or cauliflower again. We learned what Creeping Charlie is.
We also learned a good tiller is well worth the money it cost. That whole day it took to put the chicken wire 12" underground was SO worth it. (no bunnies in our garden!) And that the birds don't like deer netting. And fresh zucchini makes the best zucchini bread. We learned we should plant more carrots because they were spectacular and everyone fought over them at dinner. Best of all, we learned there's nothing like homegrown veggies!
So next year, plan a garden. Start your plants under grow lights in March. Re-pot as needed as they grow. The stronger the plants are, the better off they will be in climates like Minnesota.
Gotta go water the garden !!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Promoting my first Etsy shop BellianStudio
Because I also have a full-time day job, I don't get to sew nearly as much as I would like. I have lots of works in progress, and Christmas in July is going on now too. Get 15% off any item in my shop thru July !!!
Custom orders are always welcome. I love applique and most of my items have it on them.
Check out this shop at http://www.bellianstudio.etsy.com/
Here are a few of my currently listed items.
I Chew Stuff pet placemat (featured in Etsy Treasury TODAY!!)
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