Cowboy Quilt

Cowboy quilt

     I just finished this fun quilt.  I had bought a kit when we vacationed in Sisters, Oregon several years ago.  I cut it out at home and then took it to retreat to work on it.  I then decided to finish it rather than bringing it to retreat again.

Book used for the quilt

Photo of book sample

     This is the book cover and the show quilt from the the book.  I would never have chosen this quilt based on those photos.  Definitely not my colors.

Kit label

Quilt fabrics

     This is the label from the kit and a sampling of the fabrics.  Much more fun than the florals that were used in the book.

Front detail

Thangles

     To make the half square triangles I used Thangles.  The advantage was that I had to cut 4-1/2" strips instead of cutting 4-7/8" squares.  The bias sewing is done with the paper in place so no stretching of the fabric.

Quilt label

Quilt info label

     I digitized a couple of labels for the back.  The cowboy boot design is from Embroidery Library.  I label all my quilts now so when I am long gone my great grandchildren will know who made it:-)

Pieced back

Detail of fun quilting

     For the back I just used the leftover fabric from the kit and a couple of pieces from my stash of scraps, much cheaper than buying backing.  My friend Joni did the wonderful cowboy themed quilting.

     This quilt is supposedly for me but I have a feeling that my grandson will be using it more than me.

Tense Times

     Today's blog will be short.  I am having computer problems so I can't access my photos and on top of that I got a call from Lifeline that my mom has fallen.  I unfortunately have a client coming to the house in a little bit for a private lesson.  My daughter and her husband are on the way to my mom's right now after getting the key from me.  I hope everything is okay.

     On the bright side I did okay at my half marathon on Saturday evening.  Second in my age group, okay there were only three of us in my age group but I was only a minute and a half behind the first place person.  I had to stop during the run for a fallen runner.  As I was running around mile 6.5 I saw a group of people around someone that was passed out on the side.  I was planning on running past so as not to interfere with things or make too much of a crowd.

     However they were calling out for anyone that had water.  Very few people carry water in a race but I had a full bottle with me.  I couldn't pass them by.  I stopped so they could slowly pour the water over him to help cool him down.  Then they used my hat as a fan for a bit.  After the bottle was empty I chose to run on and make sure help was on its way.  There were several race volunteers coming against me as I was running to the next water stop and they could already see the people that were helping the man.

     Very frightening.  It was a very warm day and if you were not used to the heat and humidity it was bad.  My trainer had me backing off on my plan to do the race in under 2 hours.  She was concerned about the heat.  I ran it more conservatively and still finished at 2:05.2.

     Just heard from my daughter that my mom is okay.  She and her husband got her up and nothing seems broken.  This is getting to be a more regular occurrence.   I need to figure out with my mom what we are going to do.

Beginning Sewing July 2013

Nick and his bag and belt

    What started as a camp that I wasn't sure would even be a go finished as a full camp.  Nick here was the first to sign up for camp.  He had already taken some quilting lessons from a local quilt store, Quilt Play in Grayslake.  That is where they found my info.  He wanted to do more sewing and signed up for camp.

Kate and her bag and belt

     Next to join was Kate, the younger sister of on of my after school girls.  Her mom was hesitant about signing her up at first.  She wasn't sure she was ready for sewing but Kate really wanted to be doing what her big sister was doing.  Once mom signed her up, the camp was a go, much to the relief of Nick's dad.

Gabriela and her bag and belt

     It was pretty much going to be just the two of them until about two weeks before camp started,  Then Gabriela's mom found my info on St Mary's website where Gabriela was going to start in the fall. She called me up to learn more about the classes and then signed her daughter up.

Maggie and her bag and belt

     Last to join our group was Maggie.  Her mom had heard about me from a neighbor whose daughter is in my after school classes.  Maggie had recently gotten a sewing machine and was going off to college in the fall.  She had been doing lots of hand sewing but really wanted to learn machine sewing so she signed up also.

Nick and his shorts

     It was quite a diverse group ranging from entering 3rd grade to going off to college.  I haven't had a boy in any of my classes for a while so it was a nice change of pace to have Nick join us.  With his experience of already using a machine for his quilting he quickly made his bag, belt and a pair of shorts.  He also finished a pair of pajama pants, just having to put in the elastic because he forgot to buy some when he bought the fabric and thread.  He was so excited to be able to make a pair of 'Family Guy' pajama pants.  He said his next project is going to be a top that matches.

Kate and her skirt

     Kate finished her back slit denim skirt but for some reason did not buy fabric for another project.  She used her left over denim to make a pillow and a notions bag.  She will probably be joining her sister in after school classes in the fall.

Gabriela and her shorts

     Gabriela finished her shorts, even adding a pretty black and white ribbon to the front.  She then started on a pair of flannel pajama pants.  I helped a little with the cutting and some pinning so she would be at a point that she could easily finish them on her own at home.

Maggie and her pants

     Maggie made this awesome pair of plaid flannel pants.  I showed her how to match the plaid when laying out the fabric and then sewing together.  Unfortunately I didn't realize that it was an uneven plaid so the white parts match but not the other lines.  Not a bad lesson though to be learned and she was thrilled with them. She almost finished a boat neck blouse out of a cool planet fabric.

Nick and his pajama pants

     It was a busy, slightly stressful but definitely fun week with this group.  It was so nice to see them all talking during break time sharing stories of pets and school.

Summer Training

     I'm right in the middle of a beginning sewing camp this week.  Next week I will post photos about everything.  Last week I didn't have a camp so I was able to catch up on some work.

     Finally finished this T-shirt quilt for a friend's daughter.  My friend is an excellent quilter but was getting ready to sell their house and move long distance.  She just didn't have the time to do it and hired me.  Her daughter had arranged the columns she wanted.  I applied the interfacing to the t-shirts, cut them to exact size and then started adding the sashing.  The quilt finished about 100" long and 84 " wide.  

     At that point after putting on the borders I knew there was no way I could do even stitch in the ditch quilting on this.  It was much too big for my machine.  My friend is going to take it to another one of our friends that does long arm quilting and hire her for that part.  It was a lot of work but I think it turned out great.

     I am almost done with the wedding dress alterations.  Just the chiffon layer needs hemming and it is not being co-operative at all.

     This past weekend was a busy training weekend for my husband and I.  We started with a race on the morning of the Fourth.  On Saturday we both had long runs, mine was 14 miles.  Sunday was a 60 mile bike ride.  That is the longest ride I have done with only minimal stopping.  I was worn out by Sunday evening.  Not sure how well our half iron distance duathlon in November is going to go.

Three Rs Camp ReMake ReModel ReUse

 

Rebecca and her dress shirt skirt

     For the recycling sewing camp I had planned four projects for the girls to do.  The first was a skirt made from a man's dress shirt, next a tie made into a necklace, a t-shirt turned into a tote and lastly a bracelet from T-shirt material.

Lauren and her dress shirt skirt

     Well the girls were much quicker than I anticipated.  By the end of the first day they were nearly finished with the skirt that I had thought would take two days.  I guess all the problems I had when making it were solved when I was teaching them.  I changed a few things from making the skirt which I found on Pinterest.  That sped things up for them.

     Monday during class we came up with another project, turning a sweater into a pillow.  More shopping for the girls.

T-shirt tote bags

     Tuesday the girls finished their skirts, then they made their T-shirts into totes, and by the end of class they had also made their ties into necklaces.

Lauren and her tie necklace

Rebecca and her tie necklace

     Wednesday we started with the bracelets and then moved on to doing some embroidery on one of their projects.  Lauren chose to monogram her T-shirt tote because it was just a plain white shirt while Rebecca chose to embroider a butterfly on her skirt.

Embroidery, applique for Lauren's monogram and a butterfly for Rebecca' skirt

T-shirt bracelets

     

     By the end of Wednesday they had finished their bracelets and all the other projects I had originally planned.  I knew that the sweater pillows would probably not take very long so it was back to Pinterest to find another project.  I found a cute heart shaped pouch that I decided they would make from old jeans.  I had plenty of those and lots of zippers that a friend had given me so we were set for the last day of camp.

Sweater pillows

     Sure enough Lauren and Rebecca quickly finished their sweater pillows.  We then printed out the pattern for the pouches and by the end of the morning those were finished also.  Rebecca needed just a bit of help to get hers done on time.  The girls used the leftover fabric from the belt part of their skirt to line the pouches so another recycle project done.

Heart pouches

     Whew, six sewing projects in four days along with embroidery.  What a fun camp.  Next week is another beginning sewing camp.  It is now full, had two registrations in the past couple of weeks.  So happy to share my love of sewing with others.