WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATION OF FABRIC FUSIBLES?

 

You all know that I use Steam a Seam like no ones business.  I haven't really given much thought to anything else.

I went and purchased some Heat Bond the other day and felt like I was cheating....had to look over my shoulder to make sure Steam A seam didn't see me .....

Here is a little video about Heat n' Bond.  I learned from this that I purchased the wrong Heat Bond...I need the Heat n' Bond light.





I also learned a few other useful tips. 

Then there is Misty Fuse, I am not familiar with this at all but I am going to find out.

So what are my expectations of a fusible?

1. Easy  application
2. No gumming of needle (which I learned from the video that the UltraHold Heat n'bond is not for my type of applique because it will gum)
3. Lasting adhesive, which means that when you are busy machine appliqueing the other  pieces do not come up.
4. Easy peeling of paper after applying fusible to applique piece.

I did notice in the video that she draws her design on her fusible after it is applied to the fabric.  I draw my design on the Steam A Seam before with a #2 pencil.  This will not vanish with the iron so you will still have your design lines to cut out.

I was going to use this Heat n' bond to let you know how I like it but as I said, I chose the wrong one.  Next time I should do my homework first before just grabbing.  I am sure my Steam a Seam is thinking "Serves her right!"

HOW MANY OF YOU LIKE PREP WORK?

Sometimes I think I actually like prep work but it seems that it takes so much longer than actually doing the project.

I have prepped some more of those snap bag and key fobs to match....  Do you like prep work?

  I had actually made six snap bags and fobs to match and a friend wanted them.

 My sister Jeanette took seven of the first batch.

  Hummmmmmm I see a pattern here? (no pun on the pattern)

A while back I made six of these runners, I got them ready to quilt yesterday.

New Tree of Life taking shape.....remember...this is not finished, it is in a rough form....and probably will not look like this when I actually get urrrrrr done...if I ever get urrrr done.

Also....the colors are so different than what you are seeing here.  I also think it is a good idea to take a picture of the projects you are working on because I can see here that I need to change some things up....nothing is ironed down....the tree base is the only thing that is attached so far.

 

 

Just on a second note...  Sew Cal is doing a designer showcase and today she has showcased me.

 

I am excited but embarrassed too....so if you want to hop on over there and check out her post, please do.  I am looking forward to other designers that she showcases in the future.

 

I need my husband...he is my advisor when it comes to projects like the Tree of Life.....I think he should quilt his job and just be here when I need him......what do ya think?   How dare he try to put more fabric in my bins, needles in my pincushions and most importantly food on the table.

 

MEASURING TAPE SNAP BAGS

Once again......

Barb is doing things that she has no business doing....

Not doing what I should be doing.  (you can find the pattern here)

I guess in my defense.... sometimes a gal just has to take a break from the have toosssss.

to the want tooooooossss

. and I wanted to.

and....I had fun....

and...I couldn't just make one.

. I have actually made eleven of these....

Aren't they Purdy????

I only quilted one.

I found that they were just as nice without the quilting.

They close with a measuring tape.....I love these and they are sooooooo fast.

Jean was making these over at her blog

and she did say that she couldn't stop making the.....I understand...I understand.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?????

I haven't been up to too much this week, mostly goofing.

I did get this laundry bag done for a little friend that just graduated high school and going off to college. I have enclosed a roll of quarters with it.

I have made two of my sons a laundry bag (not quite as nice, theirs have no pockets or lettering) and they still use them.

  One has had his for over eight years and he still brings it home with laundry in it.

Then I made one for another gal and she just loves it and says all of her friends want one...so I figured this would be a nice graduation present.

Getting ready to play.

I have not played on my mid arm in a real real long time.....and it is so fun.

Occasionally it goes off its rollers....my son David told me a while back to keep the table clean and not let anything get under it and I would not have this problem.

So.....I cleared everything off and once again...off its rollers.

  My husband comes to the rescue and said.... You know Barb...if you keep your table clean things will not get under the rollers...

What...this is the first I heard this....HA!!!!

 

Truly, I did think I had it all cleared off...

ARE YOU A LIST MAKER?

I WANT TO KNOW HOW MANY OF YOU ARE LIST MAKERS?


I think I have mentioned before that my husband is a list maker. He will make list for camping, grocery store, list of things he wants to achieve. List on when he retires.


  He will make me list for the grocery store and I don't know what it is but more often than not, I forget the list...OOOOOPPSSS


I do believe that he has me trained.....I have to mentally remember to go by the kitchen counter before I go out the door and retrieve the list.  Then I stop at the counter and go..."What am I here for"...ha!!


 I AM NOT A LIST MAKER.


  I DO NOT PIN

  Too much structure for me....

Now that being said. I did pin the other day when my pillow case would not turn out and......


I MADE A LIST

I am gulping right now....yes...a list!! ME...pen on paper list.

What was this list you ask? (I am laughing right now because I can't find it....)

Okay...found it...(I mean all that work to be lost among my sewing mess (creativity).

Okay...the list is a list of things I want to accomplish in my sewing room. So many times I say, I am going to do this...and this...and finish this...

A few days go by and THIS has been forgotten.

So I wrote it down.

  I just thought there would be a few things.....

OH MY gosh...

I started hyperventilating.....the list kept growing and growing....so I stopped.

  I have nine items on one side and three on the other under patterns....

I don't like knowing there is that much to do but I don't want to forget either.

  I need to finish some things before I start another....don't you think?

Many of you make list, I see them on your blogs and you go and mark through them when you are done...I am sure that feels good.....but for me a list is a hill to climb.

If I went around my room, that list would continue to grow until it chokes me.

 Does anyone else feel this way?

I think I will keep my list and maybe add to it but for today, I am going to put it back under some papers so it will stop taunting me. Maybe I will just pull it out every once in a while to keep me


focused but not to the weirding out point.

I hate a post without pictures    CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES RUNNER

 awesome awesome fabrics.....

WHAT'S FOR SUPPER GRANDMA?

Pillowcase sausage sandwich!!!

Pillowcases with French Seams....

Actually, I have a pot of beans in the crockpot with some ham pieces....ummmm ummmmmmm stinking good!!!

SNACK SACKS!

Have any of you heard of "Snack Sacks?"

It is a project in a brown paper bag, it comes with everything including the backing to make this 14" X 20" project. The picture is a sample but not the actual fabric in the kit. Isn't it the cutest thing?

I keep thinking, what will they come up with next.

What a novel idea!!!

Well....my sister Jeanette is giving away one of these Snack Sacks on her blog, she is also selling the kits for 12.00 in her store.

FROM DRAB TO FAB!!!! (First three comments get pattern free)

This idea came to me the other day while I was doing dishes.

I hate this corner of my cabinet...so lifeless. Don't you agree????


Went and got my new favorite color.



So it went from that.... to this....

I had actually wanted to make it bigger and I should have used paper or a different piece of fabric...but hey, I can adapt.

Matches my new dishes.  One of my sons sent me a gift card to Amazon and so I purchased these dishes.  He thought it was odd that I would buy dishes....I love love love them.

Feeling better now.

If you would like this pattern, just leave a comment, I will give the first three it free.

FAILURE!!!

When most of us blog, we try to show our best selves...

the wonderful things we create and accomplish.

More often than not we will now show the disappointments,

 the blunders,

 the failures.


Today I am going to show you a failure.


This is the quilt I have been working on for some time.


  This is the quilt that I had to go back to the store 3 times for more fabric.


This is the quilt that I broke my hopping foot on.


This is the quit that I took great pride in the quilting.


This is the quilt that was meant for someone else.





My husband loves this quilt and several times he has said he wanted it.  Guess what...it is his now...HA!!!!!  He has a birthday in a month.  Well....here he goes...it is his.

Trust me, the colors are vibrant, it looks fabulous on the bed....but it ripples. 
It will not lay flat on the floor.  I can not in all honesty take money for something that is less than what it should be.

I washed it twice and it just got worse.  I ironed it...sprayed starch it.  It is three in the morning and I

am so disappointed and will now have to go to my friend and say I can not give it to them.

So....I have decided to stick to  my abilities.....I am no longer going to do custom orders, especially ones I have to make the pattern for.  If I happen to make a larger quilt and decide to sell it, that is one thing.  I will stick to my smaller quilts and designing for now.

Maybe there is a lesson here...maybe we all look good on the outside but sometimes we have ripples, we try all we can to iron them out and sometimes they just won't iron out.
WE have to accept ourselves for who we are and just do the best we can and try to forgive ourselves for sometimes being less than what we want to be.

There are things about myself I don't like and try as I may....I just can't iron it out....so I just deal with it..... 
like I am having to deal with this.

I HAVE CLOSED THE COMMENTS FOR THIS POST, THIS IS ONE POST THAT DOESN'T NEED REMARKS....THANKS FOR COMING BY AND PUTTING UP WITH MY FRUSTRATION....TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY!!!!

WHAT I HAVE NOTICED!!!

One thing I have noticed is that less and less people are blogging or not quite as often.


. Less and less are reading blogs.


I think it is because of the way we have to read blogs.

I know a few that have become frustrated with blogger and just give up.

  I know that myself, I get very frustrated with reading because sometimes I can not comment.
  I have bloglovin coming to my Hotmail every day and I do try at times to go and read but when wanting to comment....well...very frustrating.

  Then the word verifications is extremely frustrating, if I have to do it more than once, I am gone.

Personally, I have not been reading or blogging as much so when I do want to go and catch up it becomes very frustrating.

  I do lurk, scan and will pop in every once in a while.

That being said....I am creating a blog list to the side. I took down all of the buttons and tried loading them on my blog list.

You will see that some of you are not on there....sorry about that, this is very time consuming....I will put your name on as you pop up in my comment list or as I stroll by....


You have not been forgotten!!!

SCORE!!!!

I did get a new hopping foot...haven't used it yet.

So our church was having a Antie's Attic....

where everyone brings items from their home they no longer want....and then you take freely from the items that have been brought.


I took three large boxes of items and said...I will not bring anything home!

I had it all planned out in my mind..

.bring home nothing...

don't even look.

So....I take my boxes....

heard some ladies talking and I said...

.I am only bringing not taking (kinda smugly if you ask me)....

Chin held high....eyes to the wall.... repeating over and over....

I see nothing...I bring home nothing...


but.... oh yes...

there is always a but...

I saw these out of the corner of my eye.....why didn't I keep  my eyes higher up???

and these

even more flannel

 

 

I circle the table.....walk away....

 

kept looking over at them.

 

They called to me....I even think by name....

 

I even said...does anyone want these fabrics?  Truly, trying to be fair and not take it all.

 

well....the little voice in side, you know that devil on the shoulder...said pooey with all of this

 

I am taking it all!!!!  

 

 

SCORE!!!!!

FREE MOTION QUILTING AND USING MY REGULAR FOOT ON MY PFAFF THAT HAS DUAL FEED

I have had several request for a post, people wondering what I am up too... So here goes..... As you know I am doing a king size quilt for a customer. Here is some of the quilting I have done.


I used my regular foot (dual feed) for the circles and hook and then just stippled around it.

Here I see that I need to go slower when I am in the other loop.

Some of you have seen this....I used my regular foot (actually my applique foot).  Took a long time but was well worth it.

I tried fixing the tension but I think maybe I am going a little too fast in the loop....but you won't see me taking this out.

Here I just did some swirls....boy I love to swirl.  This is the outer border (whohoooooo at the home stretch)

 

 

You all know I have a need for speed when it comes to quilting. 

 

 As you can see, there are places that I need to slow down.  If I was driving a car I would be arrested but......

in my quest for speed I broke my hoping foot....the plastic loop at the bottom....twice I ran over that puppy when it came loose.  I suppose the vibration from the machine loosened the screw.  Pooey.

 

I know I have a darning foot somewhere....but where????  I have my "Big Foot" but it is too high up.  So I am going to play with it to see if I can adjust it to where it will work.

 

Yes, this is the same quilt I ran out of fabric on.......  I was for sure I would be at the binding stage today but as usual I underestimate my time and issues happen.

 

Maybe tonight I can work on it some more and maybe acquire a foot somewhere???  Going to be gone a good portion of the day so...all of you out there

 

have fun and don't try to make any records speeding!

HAS THIS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?????

I am wondering if any of you have been quilting along

singing a song,(things are going good)

sewing to the music of your favorite machine, (enjoying the moment)

when.......

when.....

you are at the home stretch.....

your project is almost done....

and....

and....

YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH FABRIC TO FINISH!!!!!

My goal today was to finish this king size quilt I am working on...

.I made such headway but....well...

you all know,

 when I went to talley up the fabric for the remaining border....................

NOT ENOUGH

Lucky for the family I was in an easy mood today ....

no stomping my feet,

 no back going out from throwing a fit....

Yes, I handled it well.  I wore my big girls panties today!!

My son and I went around and hunted down the fabric, only took two stores...

so all is not lost...sheweeeeee

So...while I waited (for the rush hour to be over)

I finished this!!

and made this:

I received this in the mail from Rhonda from Ravelly....thanks sooooo much, I love love love it!!!