Hurt Ankle

Have had to take a break from quilting for a while; I did something to my ankle a few weeks ago, and using the sewing machine or the frame seems to exacerbate the pain. I have to wear this ridiculous Frankenstein boot all the time -- it's a real pain!

I generally enjoy the quilting board that I frequent, because on the whole, the members tend to be nicer than on most other forums. Maybe because it's composed mostly of women, or maybe because they all tend to be older, I dunno. That generational shift towards them being older, though, means that some of them have no clue about netiquette, which is frustrating sometimes.

Charity Quilt

I finished piecing the top of my first quilts for kids project last night. The colors our amazingly ugly -- hopefully the kid who gets it will be colorblind ;)

Going to practice my chosen pantograph (little kitty feet, since the fabric has cats all over it) for a few days, and then go ahead and quilt it.

Oooookay...

I've always been intrigued by the block lotto that is run at thathomesite.com in the quilting forum, but I've never done it because most of the blocks are beyond my beginner skills. (The idea is that everyone sends in one block of the same type, and then a winner is selected to receive all the blocks -- theoretically enough to make a quilt). So I said to myself, "Hey, why don't you start one at that other quilting forum that you're a member of? One that is composed of easier blocks." I proposed the idea to the moderator, and got told no because the idea "gave her the creeps" and because it's a form of "gambling." Say what now? No money is exchanged, and I'm not exactly certain how this is any different from a raffle (which maybe some people object to because it's gambling?? I've never heard of such a thing). This is seriously bizarre...

Quilts for Kids

So my husband said he wanted to try making a quilt, because he saw how much fun I was having. I suggested that he make a Downy quilt -- it's a charity where you can donate quilts for kids that are in the hospital. You can even contact them and ask for a "kit", whereby they send you the fabric necessary for the quilt. You just provide the batting and the time and effort.

So he made his first quilt top -- he did an excellent job at it, considering it's his first. I'm making him practice his machine quilting now before he's allowed to actually quilt it. His first testing efforts were...interesting. I would expect a video gamer to have better hand-eye coordination ;)

Borders...

I've been making some progress, slowly but surely. Have started working on my second border, which is small strips of all the yellows. It's going to take a while, but I think it will look pretty good. I hope.

Slacker!

I'm so bad -- I haven't worked on my quilt at all for over a week. I've been totally obsessed with watching Doctor Who in the evenings, that I just haven't done much of anything else (and for those not in the know, it's an awesome British sci-fi show). I really have to get something done this weekend.

I spent yesterday searching around online for a local source of quilt backing (i.e. fabric that is 108" wide), and finally found a store that says they carry several bolts of it. Thank goodness...for my first quilt, I ordered some backing from an online store, and was not very happy with it -- it was supposed to be white on white, but it really looked more like white on slightly off-white, and wasn't quite what I wanted (but I used it anyway). Having a place to go where I can look at the fabric and touch it -- much nicer!

I realized that I never posted a picture of my completed quilt, so here it is:


I'm really quite happy with it. It turned out so well, considering it was my first effort. The actual quilting isn't anything to be super-excited about it, but it does what it's supposed to do. Still can't believe I managed to get my blocks to line up so well -- that's what using a ton of pins will do for you!

I've been working on a project for someone from quiltingboard.com -- she originally wanted her site to be fixed so that the paypal links would work, but I suggested to her that I could set up an actual webstore -- it would be a lot easier for her to add/update/delete products, and the overall appearance would be a lot more professional. And she'll be giving me fabric in return for doing the work. My stash will grow, by gosh!

I think this is an awesome way to grow my stash, in general -- I'm going to put up a posting on the quiltingboard.com forums offering to do web work for fabric. I'm curious to see what kind of response I'm going to get.