LULU RIDES!!

Louise loves to ride the Mule. She usually rides in the back, but when the ride was over on this particular day, it was not enough for her, so she got up on the front seat and would not get down. She stayed there for about 30 minutes while I worked in the yard and then she got down. How about those back feet and all that loose skin. Tougue is about 12 inches long! LOL

Love that LULU--

The Iris Bed

Years ago, my mother in law told me a story about a circular Iris flower bed in the back yard of the old homestead that has been in the family for over 100 years. My husbands grandmother had wanted a bed and one of her five sons had made one for her. He lined the bed with petrofied wood. The wood stones had almost sunk completely into the ground when she was telling me the story. This son was killed in the 1930's in a shooting accident (?). The bed was more precious to his mother in later years.

I decided that I would redo the bed. I dug out all the rock and fixed them back the way they were originally and cleaned out all the weeds. The Iris never bloomed.

Last year when I cleaned the bed, I transfered some of the bulbs into my yard. I guess thinning them out was just what they needed as both beds are blooming this year. The rain and wind last night did a number on them so I am glad I took the picture yesterday. I thought you would enjoy seeing the flowers and hearing the story behind them. Later--

Texas Dept. of Agriculture Block Challenge

These beautiful fabrics are included in my packet for the 2008 Texas Department of Agriculture Quilt Block Challenge. This year's theme is "Toast a Rising Star" and will honor Texas as 5th in the nation in wine production. I am now drafting the pattern for my block. I will post the results sometime in May. I cannot decide on two ideas--hhhmmmmm--I wonder if I can submit two blocks???

Applique Block Roll Up Tote

One more project finished. This is my first try at getting it right, so, of course there are things I will do different "next time". It did turn out pretty good. I used upholstery material. Two large squares, right sides together, sew, and turn. Stitch up the opening then on to covering a length of outdoor faucet insulator. You know, the stuff made of styrofoam? That is what I used for the side cylinder.
I covered the cylinder leaving about 3 inches of fabric to attach to the large square. To cover the ends I cut circles, stuffed it under the fabric covering the cylinder and then slip-stitched it in place.This photo is just to show you placement of the ties on the outside of the large square. I placed some applique in the Roll up and pinned the ties in several different places until I found a placement that worked.

I think I will try making one more. I will use this one for smaller blocks and make a larger one for my 24 inch blocks. The 24" blocks hang out of this one.

10,000 VISITORS!!

WOW! Just a little over a year and almost 10000 visitors. I am amazed. If you visit my blog, be sure to check and see if you are the 10000 visitor. Comment that and send me your snail mail address and I will send you a giant bag of scraps--yea--that's what I said. I have good ones!!

Thanks for visiting!!

My YOYO Puppy Dog

The purchase of a YOYO maker a few weeks ago has led to this darling little Puppy Dog. It takes 82 large YOYOs. I made these while watching TV. It takes approximately 5 minutes to make 1 yoyo. I will cut the string longer next one I make and purchase a long doll needle. You must string the yoyos and then go back through them. If you don't have enough string, it is not easy to do. I stretched the seam on one side of the head so the nose seam is crooked--solved that one--just cut the felt nose BIGGER and cover it up!! Perfect for friends new little ones.

Robin Pandolph's Bloom Journal

I finally finished my Bloom Journal from the class on the Wacky Cruise. Robin's applique method has it's good points, but overall I am not really happy with the "neatness of it's look. I did get some pretty skinny stuff lookin pretty good!! LOL And my bee became a butterfly! Imagine that.

APPLIQUE,--Well, Sue, IT WORKED!

I finished my machine stitching on this applique block. If you remember, this one is the one where pieces are backed with freezer paper. I was worried about taking the paper out. The paper provided stableization as I stitched. The pieces stayed in place (they were glued with Roxanne's)
but all the time I was stitching I was wondering if I would ever get the cotton-pickin paper out (remember I am from the south-LOL)!

Well, the stitching ended and the cutting began. Remember that the background fabric had to be cut away before the paper could be rem0ved. I found the most success with samll embroidery scissor, actually the ones I used are curved manicure scissors. Some of the ring had to be cut away also under the flowers. I didn't realize that I would be able to cut away sections of the ring. I was thinking that I would have to take the ring paper off then the flower paper and I couldn't imagine how that would happen. You can see in this picture where some of the paper is removed and some is not.
When I had cut all the background away behind each piece I took a spray bottle of water and wet each piece thoroughly. They need to be fairly WET! Five minutes and the paper could be removed easily. I was prepared to use tweezers as Sue Nickols suggests in her book on Machine Applique. I did not have a problem. A few seam allowances tried to sneak in in the ring under the flowers (the double layers), but I tugged gently with my fingers and they came right out. I was worried about fading, but the red did not fade at all. I did NOT prewash the fabric either. I never do as I love the wrinkled look of old quilts that happens when you wash. If any fabric would fade, it would certainly be the red. Guess I had some good luck in that area.


Here is the finished block with all the paper removed. I pressed the block dry being careful not to get too hot and melt the nylon invisible thread. I like blogging about methods I try as it helps me remember what worked for me and what does not. I hope you have enjoyed seeing the results of this applique freezer paper method. I think Sue is right--it works pretty good. I certainly like the ease of preparing the pieces with a glue stick. Also the way the pieces are stabelized as you stitch them down. Since the paper comes out fairly easy, I guess that makes this method a winner.

GREAT DAY TODAY!!! It was rainy and I got to sew and quilt and work with my fabrics. I love days like that! I hope your day was just as nice. ON TO THE NEXT BLOCK!