Quilted Plum

Have you any woolies?

 First of all, let me apologize for missing my design wall Monday report. I am battling the shoulder/neck back ache thing again this week and it is taking the wind out my sails. My other excuse is that it was month end and my bookwork needed to be caught up. So today, I'll show you some of the things I've been working on this week. As I shared here I made a bunch of woolies at Christmas time and then I made some more in January. I had an order for a few more and while I'm at it I might as well make a few more-right? I need three joy's and here is what I'm working on.

 

I also made two sets of these. One of the sets I reduced in size and made them into little pillows instead of framing them. I really like them and I think they are going to live at my house! As you can no doubt see in the picture, the pillows are stuffed but not sewn closed yet. They look rather appropriate leaning up against my Scrabble board don't they!

 

 

 

And here is a peak a client quilt that I finished this week. I know this quilt looks gray here and it is actually shades of blue. I couldn't seem to get a picture that showed both the true color and the texture from the quilting so I opted for the picture with texture. Afterall, that's my part of the finished product! This one is done and on my frame now is a massive king sized quilt that I'll be working on for a few more days depending on how my shoulder is doing.

 Tracy

 

Design wall monday 1/24/11

So I'm back to blogging, trying to make a regular appearance. One of the things I like to do is share my design wall and link it to Judy Laquidera's Blog-Patchwork Times. Unfortunately, I don't have any thing that I can show today. I have been working on a couple projects that I have to keep to myself for now. One is yet another t-shirt quilt that I don't have permission to show and the other is the blockswapppers quilt that I talked about in several posts this past week. As I shared before, we try to keep them under wraps until we show them in our annual exhibit in August.

I realized that I never shared the pictures of last year's blockswappers quilts at our annual Woodcarvers and Quilt Expo that is held every August in Blue Earth, Minnesota. As I shared with you here,  last year's swap was positive/negative civil war blocks. So here they are-enjoy the show! Click on the picture to enlarge.

Mine, Irene, Linda, Cindy, Julie, Jude, Celie, Dorothy, Jolyn, Monica, Mike, Jan

 

I have no idea why these pictures are all over the place but I tried to put the names in the order they show up!

Have a great week-Tracy

 

Yesterdays Goals

Just a quick note and a couple pictures to report that I accomplished my quilting goals yesterday. Plus I not only mounted the next quilt but went ahead and quilted it.

It was a pretty simple allover quilting job for a client on an old "found" quilt. Sometimes its nice to just get it done, especially if I'm in the mood!

I also got to work on my blockswappers project for awhile. Now I am to a place where I have decide what to do with it next. I think I want it to grow but not sure how. Sorry to be so mysterious about this project! I can't show it until August.

No quilting today, except for meeting with a client about a t-shirt quilt that I will probably start on this weekend. Otherwise, it has been a bookwork day, Ugh!

Have a great weekend!

Tracy

My word for 2011

I have seen many places about people choosing a word for the new year. A word to inspire them, a word to try to live by all year. We are already 3 weeks into this new year but I don't think it is too late to choose my word. I actually have had it chosen for awhile but I just haven't really shared it with anyone.

Trust

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 

Proverbs 3:5-6

2010 was definitely a roller coaster of highs and lows for me. As I look back on it I feel rather ashamed to say that most of the time I think I was riding on the same roller coaster as God. He was always there with me and I knew He was always there. The problem was most the time I didn't have him riding in the same car with me. There I was riding in that front car with my arms up and part of the time I was screaming for joy because I was so excited for the the future. Part of the time I was screaming with sorrow and fear. Sometimes, I would turn back and wave to him. Other times I'd say a few words, likely more words when I was screaming with sorrow and fear, but also words when I was screaming for joy. Nothing too personal and little praise. I was more likely to take more time to talk to him when I wanted something.

My goal this year is take more time to TRUST and worship and praise and really get to know God- my Maker, my Saviour.

Amen

Tracy

 

Todays goals

Here is a quick pic of the quilt I'm working on today.

I hope to get this one finished this morning and then quilt a ribbon meander on a table runner. Both of them are Christmas/Winter projects for a client. With our frigid temperatures and wind chill advisories today, I guess they are fitting projects!

I have also been working on our current blockswappers project, mostly at home over the past weekend. I'm pretty excited about it, so it is requiring a bit of discipline not to work on it all the time! I have set a goal that I need to get these two client projects done and another quilt mounted on the machine before I can play. Sorry I can't share any pictures. We try to keep the blockswapper projects under wraps until we reveal them at the quilt expo in August. It really isn't like me to be working on a project that isn't due until August in January. Maybe it is because I have a hard time not sharing! I can tell you that the blocks we swapped this year are log cabins. We made a total of 48 log cabin blocks 7.5" in size. Each member got  4 of those blocks. This has always been one of my favorite quilt blocks because it is so versatile. It should make for a great exhibit at our annual Woodcarvers and Quilt Expo in Blue Earth, MN.

If I am going to get to play today, I need to go get my "work" done!

Tracy

Design Wall Monday 1-17-11

On my design wall are these wool appliques that I worked on over the weekend. I used a word program on my computer and just made the letters using different fonts. Before Christmas, I did dozens of Christmas related wool pictures (well mostly they are words in picture frames).

At first I was making them to be given just as gifts but ended up selling them to friends and making many more than planned(as in, I made around 40) They turned out to be very popular. I didn't mind because I really do enjoy making them.

I seem to be drawn to fabric related items when they are framed (or maybe I am just drawn to all fabric related items, ahem) As you can see by these, that I still have up on my mantel. They are still up for two reasons:

1. I haven't found a big enough plastic tote to store them in yet.

and

2. I really like them and wasn't quite ready to put them away for the year yet.

The two in the middle are the new ones.

 The "Believe" that Mr. Snowman is holding is another one that I did at Christmas time. It is the same size as the faith, hope, and love from above. One of the reasons that I got so to into making these is because I actually found frames that worked perfectly for this project. And they are cheap,like 3 bucks each! At first I was really hesitant to share where I had found them because I was afraid they were like so many things that you find at Walmart...here today, gone tomorrow. Okay, so I didn't want to mislead you or maybe I just wanted to save them all for me--selfish girl! I was just there last night and bought another dozen, so they keep replenishing their supply, so far.

Here a couple valentine pictures that I have also made lately. Just so you don't think I am totally obsessed with making these woolies.

For the final picture of

this rather picture heavy blog post will be of one of the quilts I have quilted for a client this year. I have longarm quilted 8 quilts for others so far this year.

Four of them

were queen size, the rest were throw size like this one. Just wanted you to know that even though I have been absent from the blogging world, I haven't been idle.

Thanks for the emails of concern about my absence from here. More on that another time.

Happy 2011!

Tracy

Outside my window....last Saturday

A Winter Wonderland?

Design Wall Monday 11-1-10

Nothing new on my design wall, but here is the wool project AI talked about last week. I haven't added any more holly to it yet. Here I have pinned a few pieces by the i and the T. If I decide to add them, I will also sew on a few more "berries". I'm still very tempted to just leave them off. I really don't think they would be missed!

I was also able to do a little machine quilting this week. I quilted two quilts. I have had to really back off because I continue to have a neck or shoulder or back problem. I have not really been able to pin it down. I just know if I do to much I have lots of discomfort in my neck and burning down my shoulder. It is really cutting into my productivity, very frustrating!

So enough of my little whine...This last weekend we had our little grand-dog because Emily had to works lots of hours and her fiance usually takes Mya but he was gone.

I took this picture of her when she was outside. If she was just a little closer to the horns, I think would look like the Grinch's dog. You know, when the Grinch dresses him up like a reindeer to "steal Christmas" from the who's of whoville! I always loved that story when I was a kid!  Yes, those are the horns from the Alaskan trip , that Mr. Plum went on in September. They stink, so we have them outside airing out. I hope it works. Mr. Plum scrubbed them and that didn't seem to do much. Anybody have any suggestions. I'm afraid they are destined for my wall and I don't want them to stink!!!

And finally the winner of the tea towel giveaway is Pam K. Thanks to everyone who commented both here and on facebook!

Trivia question: Anybody remember what the Grinch's dog's name is?

Tracy

edit: Sorry this post is showing up a day late. I was planning to publish it at home and it turns out I have no internet there!!! The repair people are suppose to come today.

 

Row, row, row your boat

Last weekend I shared a little bit about Mr. Plum's Alaskan moose hunt adventure. They were dropped into the wilderness by float plane. From there they had to portage their gear from the small lake where they were dropped to a river. It was about a half mile over the tundra. They would eventually have to float down this river about 30 miles where they wereto be pickedup in ten days. 

In this picture, Mr. Plum is pumping up the raft. The raft was provided by the outfitter. It was 12 feet long and weighed about 140 pounds. It also came with an alluminum rowing frame that weighed about 65 pounds. These had  be portaged along with all their other gear.

 

 

 

 

Here, Mr. Plum is "rowing" the boat.  You can see the rowing frame in this picture because they are on the way to fish nearby so they don't have it loaded with all their gear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is just a nice scenery picture with the empty raft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this last picture was taken with the raft clear full. The guys are on their way out. Their hunt is done and they are on their way to meet the plane. They shot one nice moose and are a bit dissappointed because they are coming out a few days early. It was unseasonably warm and the meat is getting a little ripe and they are worried about it.

 

 Mr. Plum did not get his moose, but had a great experience.

Design Wall Monday 10-25-10

I love the look of wool but have a tendency to collect wool more than actually use it in projects. So last week, I decided to make a a project that I have been thinking about for awhile. Then as I was preparing the letters, one turned into two. I cut out a couple letters and then didn't like the color or fabric that I had chosen next to another one. Rather than waste any of my wool I decided to make another wallhanging and use it as a gift. Here is one of them pictured with the book that I used. It was done as a wall quilt in cottons. The book is from Art to Heart called I Believe. It has lots of cute things that I would like to do out of wool.

This is how I plan to use mine. I just stuck it in the frame to see how it would look. Now I am over- analizing  and wondering if I need to add another smaller holly sprig next to the "I", or do I call it good and  attach it in the frame? What do you think?

I did the blanket stitch by machine so it went together fairly quickly and I am liking how it turned out.

 

 

  I'm having a little giveaway to reward those who are dropping by my blog after my month long absence. Just comment on this post either here or on facebook (or both!) to be entered into a drawing for these two tea towels. I will draw on November 1st and get them mailed to you the same day so you will have them before Thanksgiving!

Have a great day!

Tracy