Cowboy quilt continued...new pics!!

I really have to stop working so late....or is it early? Since I'm in central time, it's officially late! :) lol...it would be 1 am, and I'm just now posting pics of this quilt. I have to admit I am growing very fond of this quilt, and it's a good thing, given that it will be on my bed when it's finished up. Right now, the pics are taken on our king-sized bed...and it covers the entire top of it, and laps over the edges just a little bit.....so I am going to have to figure out which borders/additions I want to add the most. I don't think I'm going to get to add everything I wanted...boo hoo! :)

I have it laying on my bed right now, waiting for my darling Wes to go and look at it...he has to admire my work!! I had to work today, and all I could think of was this quilt all day long. I work out of home, so it took a tremendous amount of concentration and self control to keep working instead of just walking out of the office and heading for the sewing machine! :) While I love working out of home, doing medical editing, this is definitely one of the challenges...lol. Plus, it is Sunday and I really don't like to work week-ends....but I do...had to compromise to get to work out of home again, and let me tell y'all....it's soooo worth it!! :)

My husband is watching Major Payne AGAIN today...lol...and I have to say it is a funny movie, but the most politcally incorrect movie I have seen in forever... I can see why Wes likes it, though...it's a right-up-his-alley tough-guy movie. Gotta love those tough guys.....

Oh, well, back to the quilt. I'm thinking I will add another piano key border as the next step...and then maybe a border of the chocolate brown I am using to pull it all together, since I've been using that consistently, and I have yards and yards of it...I should easily be able to back this quilt in that, also, which is wonderful. I could probably even make some valences for my bedroom to go over the blinds...that'd be cool!! :) Shesh, I'm planning a ton of work for myself!! :) LOL...and I love it.

We're going on a well-deserved visit to see the kiddos and grandbabies tomorrow, and I can hardly wait....probably why I'm still so wide-awake right now. My daughter and son-in-law are moving into a "real" house with a "real" backyard for the kiddos to play in, and we're taking them their puppy we picked up last Tuesday. She's a black and white shih tzu that is almost 8 weeks old now, she's so tiny and such a cutie pie.... It should be a fun trip! :)

Take care and we'll chat again soon....

quiltingcheri

Cowboy quilt for my husband....

The next border is added....and I do believe it is livening up this quilt a little bit...lol. I was struggling just a bit to decide what colors to add that I actually wanted in the master bedroom, since that's where this quilt will go. I have enough fabric to probably do 3 of these, no kidding...and I just might. I also have a bunch of pillow panels to make pillows to put on the bed, that will exactly match the quilt. My poor cowboy husband has to put up with me decorating with pillows and girlie things, the least I can do is decorate with themes he likes...he's a keeper! :)

I have so many ideas that I want to add onto this quilt, I just don't know if I'll get it all in one quilt....it's likely to be more huge than I want even for a king-sized bed..lol. The good news is that I do want it big...lol..... I commented one time to a co-worker when I worked at Tyson that all of my quilts end up huge, at least over-sized queen size....she quickly told me that when it comes to quilts, bigger is definitely better!! I have to say I agree with her reasoning....a quilt that's too small for a bed is not a good thing....is there really too big? Hmmmm, I'll let you know when I actually get to quilting this if it's too big...but I think I will know well ahead of that, while still sewing borders on...lol. When it takes me 1 hour to sew a side on, I'll know it might just be a little bit bigger than I want, what do you think? lol!

Well, that's it for tonight....it's getting late, and while the music is good, I think I'll sign off..... (I have YouTube playing in the background, my C-O-U-N-T-R-Y playlist...I think it has 90 songs or so on it...lol). Have a great day/evening/weekend!

Till we chat again,
quiltingcheri

Cowboy themed quilt started

Well, I finally got a new quilt started for the master bedroom....it has taken me FOREVER to start this one. I wanted it to be just perfect, had tons of fabrics that are pretty well coordinated, but just couldn't decide how I wanted to make it. The fabric is so gorgeous, I didn't want to blow it! :( I like it so far, that's a cheater panel in the center, I did NOT make that, but I love the way it looks so far.



Here's a pic for you to see:

And another......

And a side view......

I pulled a bunch of fabrics that will coordinate this quilt well out of my stash this weekend (I have so many cowboy themed fabrics, it's a fettish of mine, I guess).....and showed them to my husband with my plans for the quilt. Wes actually got excited and told me how well he thinks this quilt is going to look. That's awesome for the cowboy I married....he usually just "tolerates" my quilt chatter....although he is amazingly supportive.

We're thinking about buying a Gammill, did I tell y'all that? We have been toying with the idea for quite some time, and now, since the commercial poultry farm is becoming a fact (rather than a BIG dream), we should have the funds to pay for it. It won't happen anytime in the REAL near future, but Wes is plotting and planning....with his pages and pages of numbers and how he's going to successfully run our farm (he's an awesome businessman!!).....so I am finally a believer that it's going to happen.

I have always been a believer in God...well it seems like always (LOL)....and I am a very firm believer in my husband's various abilities.....but this dream was one of those that I wanted in the worst way, so I didn't want to get my hopes up too high....guess I can reach for that mountaintop, and I'm just bubbling..... God is so good to bless us in ways that leave us in awe....and this is another one of those moments.

Till we chat again,

quiltingcheri

Birthdays....lots of them!!

Today is my darling husband, Wes', birthday. We have had a stay-at-home day, which was wonderful. The grown-up kiddos, Amanda and David, just called and wished him a happy b-day....which is wonderful. All I need now is for them to move here and come to visit everyday, then the world would be a perfect place. Guess I'll have to wait a little while longer on that one...lol...

We have a lot of birthdays in the month of June....2 grandbabies...Matthew turned 1 on the 14th; Kayleigh turned 1 on the 15th....Wes is today (6/20)...my b-day is tomorrow (6/21)....and in about 2 weeks, our youngest child, Cody has a birthday on 7/2. I didn't make any cake today, but I did make brownies. I thought we would save the cake for Cody's birthday in a couple of weeks, otherwise, with all of these b-days, we get SICK of cake! :) lol.....

I have to work tomorrow on my b-day, but I think when I get the chance (if the workload is low) or when the day is over, I will go ahead and start the new quilt for my bedroom. Since I work out of home, I don't usually mind working....but I'm ready for a break. I've been wanting to make it forever and it's way past time. I have a baby quilt to make for Matthew, Kayleigh's baby quilt to quilt (already pieced that one)....and a new baby quilt to make for Ewan Michael....goody, I love to make baby quilts. If I didn't think about them for so long, they'd be done WAY ahead of when I finally get them done.....oh, well, I'm a quilter, I'm supposed to be late finishing up the quilt. It's a personalized gift, I get longer, right?!!? lol...

Well, I don't have any wonderful insights today, I'm just tired and ready to sleep, so I guess this will be it for tonight......

Till we chat again,
quiltingcheri

Yesterday Was a GREAT day....

I got my roosting robin done!! What a fun, fun quilt. I am so happy with it. It surprised me how fast and easy it was, having never done anything like this before. I'm still not sure my quiltmaking abilities are good enough for a round robin....lots of mistakes in this quilt, lemme tell ya......but I did have a blast. I found myself thinking a lot about this quilt, which was a huge part of the thrill. I don't think this will deter me from making up quilt kits and blocks of the month (BOMs), because I still love those....and I don't think it will stop ANY of the mindless quilting I do, since that seems to be my big stress reducer....but it has added a new dimension and certainly stretched me well beyond comfort....a really good thing, I think!

That wasn't the biggest thing that happened yesterday, though, just the icing on the cake. We *finally* got the formal approval to put up commercial chicken houses here. We have been working diligently on this for more than 3 years, with a lot of "no's" under our belts....when we were ready to bite the bullet and buy another farm, voila! an integrator comes in and will put commercial poultry houses right where we wanted them in the first place, is that just amazing. It's one of those "wow" moments that God surprises us all with....and puts the "awe" in awesome. The wheel is rolling now, and I will have to keep y'all updated on the progress of these houses from pasture land to commercial poultry operation. I don't think I have ever seen Wes more thrilled.

It's funny, he never answers the telephone. This morning, in his wonderful good mood...he was awakened from sleep (expecting a call from the dirt-work guy who is coming over today)....the phone rings, Wes JUMPS out of bed to answer it (which he NEVER does) and it was a telephone soliciter with the wrong number. He very politely told her she had the wrong number and hung up.....and then turned to me and laughed about it. Apparently, she had a lovely accent, probably a Georgia accent from his joking demonstration......and he was thrilled to be awakened....thrilled for her to have the wrong number.....and happy to share the whole thing with me with a positive twist. Just happy...this is so awesome, and just what he needed.

I also got a telephone call from my daughter, who took darling granddaughter Kayleigh into the doctor for her 1 year examination...which turned out wonderfully. They have been telling me that Kayleigh is a "porker" because she loves to eat, a great thing with a baby in my book, by the way, a good indication that she's healthy. As it turns out, Kayleigh weighs 19 lbs and is 26-27 inches tall now. I quickly told Amanda that 19 lbs at 1 year is definitely NOT porker level, she's perfect! Do I sound like a grammy or what? lol..... Amanda is a very blessed mom, she has 2 beautiful children who are happy, healthy and a blast to be around....guess that makes me a very blessed grammy! :) I am hoping with this new commerical poultry business we will have a lot more $$ and I can do a lot more traveling to see grandbabies. It is still my dream, of course, to have them living here, visiting everyday......but until and unless that happens, I will just have to visit a lot more often than we have been. We do have a fun visit planned in a couple of weeks.

Well, that's all for now....

quiltingcheri

Quilts as Therapy?

Yes, there are more quilt tops I actually need to quilt. Do you see a pattern of procrastination with the quilting process here? There's a really good reason for this....my husband is planning on buying a Gammill longarm quilter for me....and I'm really excited about it. I have no reason not to quilt now, too, though....I do have a Juki and a Grace frame....but alas, I haven't yet! :)

This quilt is one of my all-time favorites. I thought about making a red, white and black quilt for the longest time before I actually did it....just couldn't come up with anything that "grabbed" me enough...lol. I could have done the typical Turning 20 and it would have been cute.....or I could have done the Yellow Brick Road, and I would have loved it.....but I wanted something just a little bit more intricate. I went to a LQS when we lived in northwestern Illinois, and I saw the quilt, right there, hanging on the wall....and wouldn't you just know it, they were having a class. The sample quilt was done in Civil War repros...which I really like, but didn't care for in this particular quilt...lol....but I was sure it would work for what I had in mind. I signed up for the class (which was a total blast) and bought my fabrics. Once again, what I planned to be a small quilt turned out BIG....that seems to be a pattern with me, too. I don't know why!! :) I went back 3 times to buy more fabrics for this quilt, because I wanted to make it bigger and bigger....when I got it done....I bought more red, white and black to make another one! :) I call this organized crazy quilting, and it's an awesome pattern.

I think this is the pattern (hope I can put this on here, I'm not sure!):

http://store.starwoodpatterncompany.com/cgi/display.cgi?item_num=TKQ003

I know this is is the designer of the pattern....I bought almost all of the patterns because I love them so much! The one I did is a freezer paper stack and whack type quilt, very easy, very quick and very fun!! I love the way it turned out. What do you think??

This quilt is a mindless project I started when my husband and I were planning our move to Missouri. All of my immediate family (including my 2 adult children) lives in Illinois...and I was having some trouble adjusting to the thought of moving so far away. I had seen my children almost every day of their lives, even after they moved out of my house......and my daughter had a baby...my first grandchild, Robbie. I knew I used quilting as therapy, so I went into the quilting room and pulled purple charms and fabrics from my stash, my daughter's favorite color....and just randomly sewed them together....with one exception. I used one "charm" (had yards and yards of the fabric) throughout the quilt consistently....all the rest were hap-hazardly placed. I don't know if I will ever use this quilt, but I probably will finish it up one day.

I have been swapping fabric "charms" with friends for years and years. I have quite a "stash" of charms...lol. I hadn't used them much, other than occasionally cutting them out for dresden plates.....or hexagons for GFG quilts. This was a day I actually began using those charms. I don't think I've done another "charm" quilt since this one.....at least not yet....and I suppose that's a good thing....lol!

This is my "original" therapy quilt. I had several charms cut (for swaps) I was involved in with friends, and these were the fabrics that I had purchased. Whenever I did swaps, I made it a practice to buy a yard or even 2 yards of the fabric, and cut it all up into the swap size, whether 5 inch squares, 6 inch squares or even 6.5 inch squares....so I always had TONS leftover. I didn't know why I did that, other than to build up my charm "stash" I suppose. I had these fabrics sitting on my cutting board, having just swapped pastels with one of the Yahoo groups I'm involved in.....when I got the call from my mom.... My cousin, Norman, who is 11 months older than I am (and I'm not THAT old), died of a heart attack, in his early 40's. I went through quite a myriad of emotions....first shock, then grief....and then the part that surprised even me, a reality check. This cousin is ONLY 11 months older than I am, and I am too young to die! I just randomly started sewing blocks together....I don't even remember starting the quilt....I didn't plan it with my conscious mind, I was sewing strips of 6.5 inch charms together, with absolutely no plans whatsoever.

While I sewed, I remembered all of the good times...and the bad times.... When we were children, my uncle, his wife, and their 2 children (my cousins) lived only about 1-1/2 blocks away from us....and we spent a lot of time together...going to school, playing...and even going on vacations together. We were together for every holiday as a family. This was a very close relationship...almost like a brother during those years. Well, time has a way of changing things...and as we all grew up, we grew apart. Norm began semi-truck driving....and ended up living in Michigan. I was still in Illinois then.....and we didn't really have any contact. When the call came in that he had died, I grieved for him....but also for all of the missed time. He had 2 beautiful little girls that I didn't even know! I had 3 children that he didn't know! That's almost a crime, how did we let that happen?

By the time I left for the funeral, I had the strips all sewn together, and there was a definite pattern to it......guess it was a subconscious thing, because I was most definitely NOT planning a quilt, I was working through a lot of emotion. When we got back from the funeral, I did put the quilt together, but stopped at midpoint. I finished it up after we moved to Missouri, in fact, just last year, several years later. This is another one that I will probably finish. My daughter wants this quilt in the worst way......but I'm still hanging onto it for now....lol....

And last, but definitely not least is my SunBonnet Sue quilt....and it's a cheater quilt! :) Yep, quilter's cheat sometimes...lol. I bought this as a kit, pieces all cut out for me, at a fabric store. I have always adored SunBonnet Sue....but for some unknown reason, I never put it together. Probably afraid of the BIG A word....applique!! :) Toto, we're not in Kansas, anymore....lol....I would have to applique (!!???!!!) this quilt to finish it up. Well.....here I was in Missouri....yep, it's another therapy quilt with a twist....I also wanted to learn to applique. I finally had the bug. My daughter, son-in-law and their little one moved to Missouri when we did, which was a huge blessing. Unfortunately, things didn't work out for them here and they moved back to Illinois. That was really, really hard on me. I understood it was something they needed to do.....but I was being selfish....I needed them here. Couldn't change anything, though.....so I started a quilt. Go figure! :) I really didn't want to cut anything out, definitely wasn't in the mood for that.....was doing a bit of crying off and on, feeling pretty sorry for myself......so I decided that I needed a distraction, and applique could be just that distraction. I went digging and found my SBS (SunBonnet Sue) quilt kit, all pre-cut. I got it out and decided that if other quilters could machine applique, so could I! I played with the stitches on my little Janome MC4800 quilting/sewing machine until I found the blanket stitch. I didn't know what it was called, but I knew what I wanted the blocks to look like.....so off I went....venturing into the world of applique.

Guess what? I love it! :) The fabric in this kit most definitely isn't the best.....the applique on this quilt is most definitely NOT the best.....but it was fun, I did it...and I actually like it. It also isn't quilted!! :) Yep, a definite pattern.

Well, I enjoyed this trip down memory lane. I feel like I could teach a class on the benefits of quilting as therapy....and I've saved my husband thousands of dollars in therapist bills....plus I have some lovely quilts....who could ask for more?

Until next time,

Quiltingcheri

Furbabies

I haven't told you about our furbabies, how terrible of me!! We are the proud puppy-parents to 3 darling little shih tzus who live indoors with us, and terrorize (I mean romp and play) in our house! LOL. We have Mugsy (aka Chewbaca)--top pic, who is a gorgeous little man and a total snuggle bunny. He thinks that like revolves around sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating.....and occasionally playing. Petting is a big part of his day! :) We also have Amber--top pic who is a gorgeous white with amber spots, thus her name. She is our sweetheart of the bunch....she loves to be involved in anything we are doing...she is happiest when she is "helping" around the house (aka getting under our feet)...lol. The youngest and wildest is Jewel--bottom pic, who is also a little lady. She is simply gorgeous....she's brindle like Mugsy (who is brindle all over with a black mask)....but she also has golden tones and clear silver/gray. Miss Jewel thinks the world revolves around her...she is all that and she knows it! She insists on being petted...she insists on doing things HER way.....and lucky for her, she's just adorable and gets by with it.

We also raise/breed/train Australian shepherds....and that's a story all in itself. They are full of energy 24/7, ready to play ball, frisbee, soccer (yes, we have one little lady who can play soccer, and is amazingly good at it), herding, running, jumping....anything active. I often wonder how I manage to keep a few pounds more than I want on me...oh, wait, I know, I don't spend enough time with the doggies. I need to remedy that! :) LOL.... I will post some pics of them later for you to see, too......

And...yes, there's more....we have an indoor African Gray parrot, a Congo, named Delilah. She's spoiled rotten (like all of the other furbabies at our house, they're family)...talks not-stop, makes every noise/sound imaginable....talks nonstop. She can imitate the alarm clock perfectly, and loves to do that in the middle of the night....she does a great imitation of the beep of the microwave. She can say "hello" exactly like me....yes, her tone is amazing....and she does this every time she hears the telephone ring. She whistles the tune to Adams Family theme song, theme song from Mayberry RFD (for any of y'all who are old enough to remember this)....as well as many, many others. Just a pure joy to have around.....

More later!! ......................quiltingcheri

My First Blog

Welcome to my little Quilting Around the Corner blog:

Hi! I'm so glad you found my blog (whether I lead you here or not). As you can see above, I'm working on a roosting robin quilt right now for a yahoo group that I am a member of. I had never ventured into the wonderful world of roosting robins or round robins before, and this has been a thrill, to say the least. It's funny, I've been almost afraid to add each row, fearing I will "ruin" the quilt...lol...and with each addition, it keeps working. The quilt is taking on a whole new personality with each row, if that makes sense. I will try to remember to post the pics as I've gone along (yes, I actually remembered, with a little help from my friends, to take pics with most of the steps). It's not done, yet....still more to do, so I'm sure you'll be seeing this little darling coming back again and again until I finally finish her up.

I have some other quilt tops (that I still need to quilt, shame on me!)....here are some of them:

This is Kayleigh's quilt. Kayleigh is my darling granddaughter, who will be 1 this week. I'm a bit slow with getting her quilt done, but it turned out pretty cute...what do you think?

And I have a pretty little Dresden plate quilt that I started in a class several years ago....lol. It's a myriad of errors. I started it out in 30's reproduction fabrics (my all-time favorites!!)....and I wanted a pale yellow background, so I bought the fabric and got going on the quilt. It was a fun, fun, fun class....in fact, I had so much fun during (and after) the class, that I continued to make more and more....and more and more of the dresden plates. When I got to the point of appliquing them all down (yes, I didn't hand piece them, terrible, I know).....I didn't have enough of my pale yellow fabric. Crossroads time! Did I want to make a small quilt or did I want to make a big, bed-sized quilt? Well, bed-sized quilt won out...but what was I going to do about the fabric, I could NOT find a match, trust me, I tried.... So I though and thought about it, took it to a variety of quilt stores, fabric stores, you name it. I finally found the gorgeous yellow and blue floral fabric that I decided would finish it off well...and why not, I added some blue. I didn't count, didn't figure the layout, just went for it....and it all worked out... It took a while to get it placed to sew together, but here's the end results, and I'm pretty pleased....just wish I could take credit! :) LOL....

And of course, there are more!! This quilt was a BOM (block of the month) quilt that Joann's Fabric store did a few years ago....I recently *finally* did it.....and I swear I will never buy another BOM...lol...yea, right, so I'm kidding. Of course I will buy TONS of BOM's, I love them!! LOL...... There are more mistakes in this quilt than you can even count, so no quilt police allowed!! :)

Well, that's it for today.....chat later!! .....................quiltingcheri