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Monday, September 30, 2013

Trip to Keepsake Quilting

I know many quilters have trouble waiting to receive that little Keepsake Quilting catalog in the mail. I know I always look forward to it. But an even bigger treat is to actually go to the physical store in Center Harbor, NH. WOW!


We got there early on Friday morning and the parking lot was already getting full.
Row upon row of fabric!

Christmas Fabric

Notions

Look at the selection of Kona Cotton Solids!!!! (My personal favorite)

This is the entrance into the SALE section.

A wall of remnants
My stack of goodies being cut. Most of them from the Sale section.
Needless to say, I'm back home from my trip. Way too much fun, too little time to visit!

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

WIPping On Some Binding

Oh yes, it's WIP Wednesday and I'm still working on my Layers quilt. At least this week I'm done with the quilting and working on the binding. I'm planning on a Faux Piped Binding with scrappy orange outer binding and navy piping.

The front

The back

Miles of binding to make!
I may be a bit quiet for the next few days, I'm off to visit my friend Kate in New Hampshire.

Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (4)
Express Your Love
Layers quilt
Grandma's Quilt
Charming Squares Quilt
 
New projects: (0)

Finished (0)


I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!


Color Me Quilty!
Pat

Sunday, September 22, 2013

My Layers Quilt is FINALLY Quilted!!!!

After stitching miles and miles and miles of Aurifil thread into my Layers quilt, I have finally finished quilting my Layers quilt. I'm pretty happy with it, if I do say so myself. It has been fun to read peoples reactions to it as the quilt progressed. Comments started off (after seeing just the blocks)  "gee, that's interesting" to finishing up the border quilting "stunning". Thank you for all that have commented, I've enjoyed each and every one of them.

I know these aren't the best pictures, but it is very rainy and overcast today. I put it in front of my living room windows and this is the best I could get - this thing is BIG!




Of course I still have to trim and bind this baby. I'm crossing my fingers that I can get that done this week, before I leave for New Hampshire.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Friday, September 20, 2013

FMQ Friday

I can see the light at the end of this row. I have the top border of my Layers quilt outline quilted and one section done. Only four more sections to fill-in quilt.



I wish I had more time to work on this. My husband and I are trying to get a rental house we own ready to sell. LOTS of painting, YUCK!  The rainbow at the end of that tunnel is my up-coming trip to New Hampshire and a visit to Keepsake Quilting.  My goal is to have all of the quilting done before I go to NH and the house all painted, fingers crossed. I better shut-up and keep quilting! ;)

I'm linking up to day with Leah Day for FMQ Friday!


Free Motion Quilting Friday
Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

WIP Wednesday

Guess What???? Yup, still quilting my Layers quilt. Three of the four borders are now quilted, just have to quilt the top border.

Last night I finished up the bottom border.


I actually had to pick out about a 1/3 of the area that has the swirls in it. I messed up and started stippling in that area. I hate picking out FMQ.


Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (4)
Express Your Love
Layers quilt
Grandma's Quilt
Charming Squares Quilt
 
New projects: (0)

Finished (0)


I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!

Color Me Quilty!
Pat

Friday, September 13, 2013

FMQ Friday

I haven't had a ton of time to quilt this week, but I had an hour or so last night and I continued on with my Layers quilt.  I got 3 more border "sections" done, although I did have a bit of tuck problem.




Dreaded tucks! I'm not going to try and take them out. I may stitch over them a bit to hide them.

There was actually a huge tuck along the edge of the sashing section. I just stitched it down. I don't think it looks too bad.

I think that these tucks will actually be cut off when I trim the quilt.
I feel better now that Leah has basically said this is how she deals with them. I really don't think that they will show that much once the quilt is washed.

I'm linking up to day with Leah Day for FMQ Friday!  (Thank you Leah! I hope you realize how much you help, not only learning to FMQ, but with your honesty and open vulnerability. You are truly one of my heroes.)




Free Motion Quilting Friday
Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

WIP Wednesday

I haven't had much time to quilt this week, I've been busy canning and freezing stuff for this winter. Gosh, I sound so domestic, but I think you would laugh if you really knew me, at least I'm sure my mom would be laughing.

Last night I did get a little more work done on my Layers quilt. I got the bottom edge marked and stitched with the outline of the layers.


I have to say, it's a long way across this quilt and it's only queen sized. I really want to do a king next, YIKES!

Here are this week's stats:
In-process: (4)
Express Your Love
Layers quilt
Grandma's Quilt
Charming Squares Quilt
 
New projects: (0)

Finished (0)


I'm linking up with  Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday!




Color Me Quilty!
Pat

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild's First Project Completed

The Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild was started last November and our first project was to take a famous painting and cut up a poster of it and distribute it to guild members to recreate it as a quilt block.  I have blogged about this in the post here, here and here and I thought I should show you the finished project because it turned out MAGNIFICENT! I couldn't be prouder of my fellow guild members.


The project was led (and pieced) by Terri Fendya.  The blocks were made by participating guild members.

These were my two blocks. Can you find them in the quilt?



The quilt was quilted by Kim Michaels and trimmed and bound by Cheryl Moore.

The Ithaca Modern Quilt Guild might be less than a year, but the members already have a very special place in my heart.

I'm linking up with A Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday and Free Motion by the River for Linky Tuesday to show off this very cool quilt.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Monday, September 9, 2013

Preserving In the Finger Lakes

Fall is here in the Finger Lakes and it's abundant. Tomatoes, basil, peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, the list goes on. But with Fall comes the knowledge that winter is just around the corner, even if it's supposed to be 90 degrees (F) tomorrow. So I spent the weekend canning and freezing a small part of the summer's bounty.

I had trouble with the six quart jars of pureed tomatoes, only 3 sealed properly. It looks like too much head space in the jars, which wasn't there when I filled them. Air pockets maybe???   All of the pint jars of salsa sealed fine.

Small baggies filled with roasted red peppers ready for the freezer.


5 Frozen ice cube trays filled with pesto, ready to be dumped into a large plastic baggie.

The easiest, best soup in a crockpot - Chicken Tortilla


 Recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup

Large crockpot
2 cans Rotelle tomatoes (they have chiles in them)
1 large can puréed tomatoes (1 qt of home canned tomatoes)
1 can black beans
1 can corn
1 can creamed corn
1 quart of chicken stock (I use homemade, but a box of good chicken stock with work just fine)
3 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper to taste

Small crockpot
1 can Rotelle tomatoes (they have chiles in them)
1 can puréed tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can corn or creamed corn
3/4 box of chicken stock
2 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves
Salt and pepper to taste

Dump everything into the crockpot. Cook on low 8-9 hrs or high for 5-7. Remove chicken and shred using 2 forks. Put back in soup. Good by itself or serve with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheddar cheese and/or sour cream.

Freezes beautifully


Color Me Canning!

Pat




Friday, September 6, 2013

FMQ Friday


Last night I was able to FMQ two of the three border panels on the right side of my Layers quilt. Even though I'm already two weeks late on this wedding quilt, I'm quite pleased with my progress. I can almost see the end in sight. Of course you know I'm going to do something labor intensive for the binding.



I just ordered more thread. I'm psyched that Hawthorne Threads is now carrying Aurifil. They are located in Albany, NY, so it gets here really quick. 

I'm linking up to day with Leah Day for FMQ Friday!



Free Motion Quilting Friday
Color Me Quilty!

Pat

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Cocktail Party, Wedding and A Quilt

As most of you know who have been following my progress on my Layers quilt, it is a wedding quilt for my stepdaughter. So I thought that along with an update on my progress, I would show you some of the pictures from the festivities.

The Friday Night Cocktail Party at our house.

I had more pictures here, since it was at my house.  There were a lot of kids, so we even had a special table of food just for them.
 The Wedding - it was a second marriage for both, each have 2 kids. The ceremony was really special and truly incorporated all of the children.
The wedding was held at a local winery. It was a spectacular day.
So that was almost two weeks ago. I did show them the quilt last weekend, they liked it. I feel bad that I don't have it finished, but I am stitching like mad.

I have all the borders on and all of the straight line stitching complete. Last night I finished FMQ one of the sides.




Humphrey was overseeing this process.
I'm glad I decided to quilt the snot out of the borders. I think it keeps the theme of the quilt going.

Color Me Quilty!

Pat