Took dollars - not quarters...

Just dropped Ronnie's Roadies off at the spin and dry - decided paying them 18 bucks to wash and dry it for me was better that sitting there watching it go round and round - round and round - ya know like the wheels on the bus.


Will be ready at 4 pm today and delivery will be made tomorrow!!  


Now off to my next quilting adventure!!


Well...gotta get thru the beach towel, t-shirt embroidery adventure first.  I am doing alphabet embroidery applique and the machine is jamming - can't figure out why - changed needles twice, made sure the bobbin area is lint free, changed bobbins twice  - put on some of the embroidery backing what-cha-ma-call-it, used different thread - three times.  SO....I am going to spin a new bobbin and try a different towel to see if it is possibly the towel - it is a large bath towel (small kids) and a little loopy.
Don't want to have to bring out  Mom's hammer - will not be pretty...I have her aim..hey - maybe that is why I hit my target shooting...


This is April's - it came out pretty well - except for the "R" it jammed then too and I got it a little out of whack when I took it off the machine.

How many quarters does it take...

Yippee - Ronnie's Roadies if finished!!!   It is SO big!!  This is the second largest quilt I have ever made - David's Chemoflague still holds the record - don't even ask me the size - that's math!!


The next step is to head over to the laundromat and run it thru the spin and dry!!  You know nothing gets out of my sewing room without Chewie, BeeBee and Tallulah love all over it.  There is so much black, all they had to do was walk into the room and POOF - hair in the air and right on the black fabric it landed!!

The Atlanta Shop Hop 2012 was this past weekend!!! Visited all 10 shops in two days - drove 235 around this city!! 

One of the quilt shops was in a feed and seed store.  We pulled in and just like everyone else, got out of the car wondering if we had the right place.  Being near a dirt road should have been a clue.

I think I was more excited about it being a feed/seed store or what we called a CO-OP than looking at the fabric (if you can imagine that...)  The guy that was running the place took over from his dad.  When I found out they had hoop cheese, I really took a step back in time and yes - I bought some - it was as tasty as I remembered.  I can picture my mom slicing some and pulling off the red rind so she could make cheese toast...Ohhhh it was nice to go back for a moment - have not had a chance to make any cheese toast because *somebody* counter surfed and chewed up the loaf of bread while we were gone.  All that was left was soggy stuff in a plastic wrapper.

This was a pattern at the first shop we stopped at Saturday morning - from a book called Claire's Cats Volume One - BeeBee could have posed for every block - however...they were out of the book!! Figures...

 Our Second stop was my favorite place - A Scarlet Thread!!  I took the magnolia quilt fabrics with me and matched them up to these beautiful batiks.  They also had 108" fabric on clearance - of course I bought some - that size fabric is expensive and rarely on clearance.

Putting the pieces of the magnolia on the foundation fabric.  Something really funny happened but I am not about to admit what I did.  Let's just say....mirror image...and reading is 
FUN-DA-MENTAL

I found this pattern at a quilt store in Mableton - it was an awesome store  - the name of the pattern is Josephine's Knot - of course I almost cried and there was no question as to whether or not I was going to buy it - Josephine is my mom's name.  I was looking at it last night and EUREKA...the magnolia block would fit right in the middle!!  So...I have my quilt top for the Mississippi Society of Georgia figured out - now I have more time to stress over getting the bias binding made and put on..  HA HA HA  (premade bias binding is - drum roll please $1.40 a YARD!!)  I almost fainted.

BeeBee getting her morning time outside and being nosy when I was taking pictures of the quilt.

Amazon Fairy and why I still hate math

The t-shirt quilt has been cut off the frame

 The binding has been cut, pieces sewn together and ironed

The binding has been pinned onto the quilt - that is a big heavy heap of quilt!!  Next step is to sew the binding on!! 

 The Amazon Fairy bought me a new book - curves of course - with a twist though - the patterns show how to sew bias binding (fabric is cut so it stretches) onto the circles for contrast - I want to do the cover quilt in blue.

The other package contains plastic tubes and covers that are officially sold as chip clips.  I was playing with a long arm machine at the sewing show and noticed them.  The lady selling the machine explained them to me and how they hold a quilt on to the leaders without pinning.  Of course I had to try them (yes - SUCKER is still tatooed onto my forehead).  Pinning the quilt to the frame is what I like the least about quilting and I tend to really rip my hands on them as I smooth the quilt down.  So....as I read the blogs, someone made mention that a company called Chip-n-Seal made them.  This lady talked about how they are held together with screws or dowels and gee - they were only $90 - wow what a deal....

Cheapo me went on a chip-n-seal hunt and found them on Amazon - package of 10 large 15 bucks - free shipping - no tax.  Made by the same company but they are white - not red as the ones the "other" company was selling.  They are about 12 inches long takes 8 from end to end, dowels are pennies at the big box home improvement store.  

 This is how they go on - I'm sure they will work great!!

Why I still hate math....Hellooooooo....there are THREE leaders - one for the top and bottom of the backing and one the quilt top!! 

I only bought ONE package....DUH.....Guess the big brown Amazon Fairy truck will stopping by again soon.  I'd rather spend $30 than $90 anyday!!

Where NOT to put a wound bobbin

I was winding some bobbins and thought I drop one onto the rod to stack them up NEVER thinking that the tail might get caught up in the thread while the second one was zipping along.  Amazingly, I was able to get this mess untangled and finish the bobbin.  I have gone thru three full bobbins tonight and this is a sign to go watch the hunks on NCIS...I'm about a 1/4 of the way through!!  

After the quilting part is done, I'll make the binding, sew it on, then iron it down.  Once that is done, I'll settle in my recliner and start picking out movies. A quilt this size will take at least 4-5 movies to get the binding pinned and sewn down.  I do this part by hand.

Tune in tomorrow....I should be over half way thru with the quilting part!!

Ronnie's Roadies Rolled and RRRReady...

Ronnie's Roadies is Rolled on and Ready to go.


Had to go back out to the deck - not enough floor space in the house anymore to lay out a quilt this big.  

 Rolled onto the frame.

 Long story short - I am freehanding the quilting.  On a side note, no more buying chalk in a can or chalk in a pounce what-cha-ma-call-it either.  I will keep my self imposed title of Stippling Queen - no templates needed.  (I am going to shuck the title SUCKER!!)
I only got as far as the green block just past the dogs when the bobbin ran out.  I think this will be a 6 bobbin quilt.  The polyester clear thread is doing great.  I put in one of the needles for fine threads and it has only broken once but I know why so all is ok.  Sooo....before I quilt anymore, going to take the time to spin some bobbins so I can do a quick change when the thread runs out.

 Considering that this is how my morning started - I got a lot done today.  Sad thing is...the cup had a top on it that would close...AAAGGHHH!!  

Excuse me...no Excuse ME - JIMMIE!!! - KEITH!!!!

I was zeroing in on a booth at the Sewing Expo Saturday and as I stepped into it I bumped into someone.  I said - oh excuse me, they said excuse me too.  We both looked up and started laughing - JIMMIE.....KEITH....It was one of my quilting buddies!!  We have gone to the show a couple of times together.  I got to meet his friend Tina - who is now my new friend.  She was so excited to meet me, Keith had just told her he wished he had called me and wondered if I was at the show.  We spent the rest of the afternoon together.  Had a WONDERFUL time.  Tina is a new quilter and Keith and I had a great time showing her stuff.  Well, I had a great time telling her about all the useless crap I've bought and how I've learned a lot.  I even owned up to my fetish for acrylic rulers and how I have SUCKER tatooed on my forehead!!  I have been invited to Montana and believe me, the first chance I get, I'm headed to the wide open space of Montana.  You know my daddy changed my name from Jimmie Lynn to Jimmie Go because all I ever wanted to do was GO GO GO!!!   Alas, we didn't win anything - dammit.   I really wanted a new machine.  Notice I said want - not need.  Next time, I am going to hold my ticket until about an hour before the drawing and put it in.  Since I get there when the show opens, mine is usually buried at the bottom and I don't think the guy's arm is long enough to get there.
I did get some good stuff - 3 different sized needles for my Tin Lizzie, polyester clear thread for the t-shirt quilt, fat quarters for the magnolia quilt, applique embroidery alphabet, the laybryinth quilt pattern - the next one I want to make - gee aren't most of the quilts I'm going to make the "next" one!!


In hindsight - I should have gotten the 1 inch letters instead of the 4 inch...oh well.

 I really like this quilt - I am going to make it in a queen using batiks.

This is the quilt displayed in the booth where I bought the pattern.

Needles for my longarm quilting machine.  Three different sizes.  I put them with the other needles I had.  The batiks tend to dull needles quickly so I like to keep a good supply on hand.

I found some polyester clear thread.  It is made just for quilting.  The other crap I bought was nylon which stretched and broke!!  However, this was SEVEN dollars a spool!! OUCH - it had better work!!

Why are you leaving me....I can't even look at you...Tallulah was very unhappy when she realized that I was not taking her. 

 Entrance to the Expo - wall to wall stuff ready to ooohhh and aaaahhh over.

 This quilt turned out to belong to someone Keith knew - from NEW YORK!!  It is of all things x-ray images of the guy's cat.  He had them printed onto fabric and  made a memory quilt (his cat died).  I want to do this someday with Rebecca's Famous Fashion Girl drawings.  This was not a full blown quilt but just a block.

This is the Stained Glass Magnolia pattern I am going to make for the Mississippi Society of Georgia's Mississippi in the Park picnic in June.  Note - it has 81 pieces!  It is 16 x 29 inches in size.  I am going to make this the center piece of the quilt and have not decided yet what the rest will be.  Circles??  

This is the pattern drawn out on the foundation fabric.  I also had to draw it out on the fusible web.  I did two - one to practice on and one for the quilt.  The test one was drawn with different color highlighters.  The one on the left was drawn with a green highlighter.  This is the foundation fabric.  I was almost sure I had given all of my muslin away (I am really bad about giving stuff away) but alas, I opened one of my baskets and there it was - all nicely rolled up waiting to but cut and used.)

This is the fat quarter fabric I got for the quilt.  I have cut out all of the pieces - twice.  All but the background pieces are ironed on. I am still trying to decide if I want to use both sides of the peachy fabric.  It is batik and on the other side it has gold dots.  I will try using both sides in the dry run and make my decision then.

 This is the fabric right side up.

I have finished the quilt top for Rick and Cheryl's t-shirt quilt!!  It turned out really  nice.  Thought I'd take it out on my nice big new deck to take a picture.  I am going to put a skinny - maybe 1.5 inch border on the top and the bottom and let the sides stay with the black border.  Once the borders are on, I will measure, cut and sew the backing together.  Next stop will be rolling them both onto the frame.  I also get to try the new stippling template I just bought.  I am going to use the pounce (powered chalk) because....I learned my lesson with the "chalk in a can" on my Santa quilt last Christmas.  

 This is the back - it looks like a blank page!!

I hope to have it rolled onto the frame by tomorrow afternoon.  It will probably take the rest of the week to quilt it - should be finished by next Sunday if I work on it every evening. 


Time to hit the hay - I think somebody breathed on me at the Expo yesterday, I have felt awful all day.  Loving this time change though - more daylight in the evening after I get home.  

A ghost lives in my machine...

Double trouble....peanut M&Ms in an empty Talenti gelato Cappuccino container...

I'm making great progress on the t-shirt quilt.  I stared at it long enough to finally see that the missing piece was sashing with color to define the rows!!  I chose a very pretty three toned green that fits really well with the overall color of the quilt.

This is the first two rows.  The top row only appears to be upside down but when put on the bed - it will be in the right direction. 

Three rows sewn together. 

 Of course Miss Nosy had to come check everything out.  Since Chewie is hurt, he is not mobile enough to make his normal rounds so he sends a scout out that reports back to him what is happening upstairs.

Two rows ready to put together.  I sew the blocks together one at a time because I have to measure the border (black sashing) for each pice individually so I can be sure they fit properly  I think for the first row, I ripped out as much as I sewed!!  

The quilt is currently 106 inches long, I have not measured across yet but once the last three rows are together, it should be just right maybe even a smidgen larger than the king sized batting but I have plenty batting scraps that will take up the slack. 

 These are the small pieces I cut from various shirts - didn't want to waste any of the designs.   I decided to go ahead and put them all randomly into one block.

 This is the inside border sashing fabric.

Quad trouble, chips, peanut m&ms, talenti, and to top it off a DIET Pepsi...hey - gotta watch the sugar...Had to do something while I was staring at the wall...

Miss Nosy decided to hang out and watch for a while.   I love it when she gives me that what - am I in your way look....

Saw this at Hobby Lobby when I picked up the green fabric.  I really really like this.  On sale for 50% off - she would be a great companion with my half guy...I may get her yet.  People were staring because I kept picking her up and turning her around.  She is almost as tall as me..the more I look at it, the more I think it would look fabulous in my sewing room!!  She is a lot prettier than the burlap one I want.  I'd name her Stella...

This is Janice's 1/2 man - I have one like it but do not have a picture of him yet.  And yes...I am going to put pants on the poor guy.

Tallulah actually sniffed his butt when I brought him home.  Bloomingdales is closing and they were selling them.  Don't y'all think these two would be a cute couple...Say yes, I want to go buy the the gal in the little black dress and dream of how much fun I had in my 20s....

Tacky tacky tacky...I have burned thru several yards of black sashing and needed more.  You'd think if the store is going to mark fabric up TWO DOLLARS a yard, they would put up a NEW sign, not tape a 7 over the 5 - yes I pulled it off because I saw right away the 7 was taped on.  tsk tsk tsk.  Shame on you Hancock Fabrics, not the first time I've caught them doing this.  Guess they learned this from Target.

Now, about my ghost.  I sure hope the video comes thru.

I was ironing a seam and heard a noise.  The kind of noise that makes you stop and ask yourself do I really want to look.  I turned around and MY MACHINE was sewing on it's own.  The only way I could get it to stop was to turn it off.

Gotta go - MY CAR IS HOME!!!  Oh - Ray is home too...