UFO Finished!

This spring has really been different for me.  Unexpectedly, I took a break from teaching!  I have taught crazy quilting from my home for 15 years and I am used to 4- 6 wonderful ladies coming over to take classes from me every week.  I have used the time off to work on a project that has become near and dear to my heart and I am very excited about.  When I am not working on that, I am finishing up UFO's.  It has been a wonderful feeling to finish some of the projects around here.  My heart feels freer and lighter just getting them done.  The daffodil block above is a class I taught about 3 years ago.  My two youngest children were still small at the time, so it was all I could do to get the projects ready for a class.  Totally finishing them with the back, binding etc...was impossible!  I just love the spring feel to this block!

I am also piecing some blocks for the next MCC sale.  I forgot to take a picture of the first block I passed out.  It was a basic black on black block with nothing on it yet.  I pieced the second block today.  The silk ribbon embroidery in the middle was a class I taught last year and I just decided that I would put it in this block for MCC. 

Well I better get back to finishing UFO's!

Talk to you later,

Invisible Thread

Recently I decided to try piecing with clear monofilament thread just to see what it was like.  At first it was NO FUN at all!  But I didn't give up and I came up with some solutions to all of the problems I was having.  I thought I would share my tips with you so that you could give it a try.  First problem, I was using the wrong needle in my machine, so I changed to a #90 top stitch needle.  I had my tension wrong, so I moved my tension to 2.

After I made those two changes I was still having limited success.  Today I knew that I had alot of sewing to do with the clear thread, so I had to fix the final problem.  The thread keep winding on the spool holder and then it would break.  So......
     

...I took a glass and put my spool of thread in it.  My thought was that at least it wouldn't wrap around the spool holder.  I put it on top of my machine and started sewing but the placement was wrong. 

Then I put the glass behind my machine, lining it up behind where the spool holder is.

Here is a side view....

And wouldn't you know it...it WORKED!  I was so excited, I could happily sew away with really no problems at all.  Well I better go finish all that sewing that I have to do....


Talk to you later!

A Day to Remember

For those of you who regularly read my blog, you know that myself and six other wonderful ladies make crazy quilts for the Mennonite relief sale held every year at the Kansas State Fairgrounds.  We always go to see them auction off our items, plus the sale is just plain fun to go to!  On two occasions, members of our group have bought the quilt we made.  This year the sale happened to fall on the day when Kansas was at risk of having very severe weather.  When you live in Kansas, you kind of become used to the fact that there might be a tornado(be that good or bad!).  We headed to the sale early in the morning, knowing that the predicted storms were to arrive in the evening.  For the last two years the quilts at the sale have not done as well as they have in the past and I would attribute that to the economy.  Well, this year, despite the weather, there was a full house at the auction and quilts went for exceptional prices!  Our 12 small wall hangings were auctioned off separately for a total of $1610!  We were very pleased with that!.
The Valentine block pictured above did the best by coming in at $210.

The November block came in at $175, not bad for a 12 inch square crazy quilt block!

This whole cloth beauty went for an astounding $8,100!  It was beautiful and all hand quilted.

After our items were auctioned off we left to head home before the storm.  Later in the day around 100 tornado's were reported in Kansas.

Unfortunately a tornado did hit Wichita(where I live) and this is an aerial view of the Oaklawn area that the tornado hit.  This is what the MCC sale that we had attended just that morning was started for.  They bring relief to areas hit by natural disasters.  It is for that reason that myself and 6 other talented ladies choose to use our time, talents and money to make crazy quilts for the sale.  This time the disaster hit very close to home....

Talk to you later,

Easter Dresses

When I first started teaching classes, I taught all kinds of needlework.  I would try to have a variety of classes: tatting, smocking, crazy quilting.  I just loved making little smocked dresses!  This was when I was still having children and I had hopes of having a girl.  But I have 4 boys!  The dress pictured above is made of silk dupioni, it was so fun to make!

This is the first little dress I made.  It is made out of a sweet pink batiste fabric.

I just loved doing the shadow embroidery on the hem.

This is a sweet dress that I made in a bigger size just because I loved the pink tulip fabric.  This Easter weekend just reminded me of the sweet smocked dresses I used to make.  I'll just save them and maybe I'll have a granddaughter someday!

Talk to you later,

MCC Update

Every year I make a calendar of the MCC blocks we donate to the sale.  I am in the process of editing the photos for the calendar and I thought you would enjoy seeing a couple of them I haven't posted yet.  This one is for June(if you can't tell!).

For August we did an ocean theme.  All twelve of the blocks are hanging up in the lobby of our church just to get some interest in them.  They are all due March 26 and the sale is April 13 & 14. 

Have a great day and I'll talk to you later!

Sewing Periodic Table

Many of you may not know, but in reality, I am a true science geek!  I have a degree in both Chemistry and Biology.  I don't really know how I ended up a crazy quilter...but I did! 

The other day I ran across a very cute sewing blog that I could relate to so well....she is a microbiologist!  Yes...another science person who has crossed over.  Crossed over to what, I don't know, but I love it!  For those of you very familiar with chemistry, there is a periodic table of elements that lists the of characteristics of all elements known to man.  When she posted this periodic table of sewing elements, well, it just tickled me!

Talk to you later,

Invitations are out!

Invitations for the Victorian Stitchery Retreat have gone out!  This year we mailed out over 200 invitations, so it took awhile!  Thank you Dixie for your help!  If you don't get one in the next few days and would like one, please let me know.

Now for an MCC update!  Here is the block we did for March....I love the embroidered daffodil in the corner!

Here is December....You may remember the tree tutorial I did in December.  It is in the upper right hand corner of this block.

And here is February...very sweet with all its pink and red.

Talk to you later,