Lee.. you will be missed

Lubov Landsberg - aka Lee

When I moved to Texas I found some wonderful women that got together twice a week to crochet and knit. These ladies welcomed me in with open arms and I looked forward to seeing them every week. One of these ladies was Lee. She was funny, crazy, an amazing knitter, caring, and beautiful. I personally loved that she didn't mind looking at all the pictures of my quilts (she especially liked the Lamb Blankie.) I am not in Texas anymore so I didn't get to see her recently but she made a lasting impression on me and I will miss her. I hope to get to meet up with all my yarn buddies when I take a trip to Texas this summer. I am so sad that Lee will not be there. I bet she's knitting with the best cashmere EVER right now though :).

Yee Haw! Introducing "Cowgirls"

The Cowgirl quilt is officially DONE! I broke down and bought a seam ripper at Walmart. I don't like it, it's huge and awkward, but I was desperate.

"Cowgirls," as I have named it (original I know) is not a complicated or intricately designed quilt. It's just squares, squares made from a fat quarter of cowgirl material, 4 shirts I bought at Goodwill (one of my favorite places to buy fabric disguised as 100% cotton shirts), and a pair of my old jeans that I machine embroidered little sunbonnet cowgirls onto. These simple little squares are bordered by some fabric I have had for years with cowgirls on it and then bound by some other fabric that I have had with horseshoes on it. It's backed with a striped soft cotton. Nothing really special or complex.... simple like a... well like I think a cowgirl would want it.

It is incredibly soft, even my old worn out jeans are. Of course I have finished it just in time for the warm weather so it might not get much use for a few months.

Here is my machine hard at work quilting. I used the feather stitch along the seams. I used a light pink in the bobbin thread and it compliments the striped backing fabric and brings it all together I think.

A couple of shots of the front and back. I hope to get one of it flat out but I need more room and better lighting. Look who decided to get some camera action... It's "Circle of Life" peeking in!

A closer look at an edge.

And one of my favorite features... a pocket, courtesy of the cotton shirt!

Now I have a blank planning board! Not for long!

Where are you Mr. Ripper?

There are a lot of important tools to a quilter. A good pair of scissors, a sharp rotary blade, a self-healing mat, good needles, pins, rulers, sewing machine, and last but not least.... a seam ripper. This little tool is the bane of every sewer's existence because you use it when you've screwed up. But without it where would we be? I'll tell you where I'd be... I'd be blogging about a seam ripper instead of FINISHING the last bit of my Cowgirl Quilt! I can't find it....anywhere! I think one of two things has happened. One, it has been stolen and it is screaming out in a muffled voice too tiny for me to hear. Scared and alone, without it's protective top (it's laying next to my sewing machine), wondering if it will ever come to my rescue again. Two, it is hiding on purpose to torture me. It knew I was finishing up my binding and I was bound to screw something up. It was laughing, tucked away in some nook as I practically destroyed my sewing room desperately looking for it. Could there be any other explanation? Well, till I either rescue or lure out the little tool I didn't miss till it was gone, my Cowgirl Quilt will be laying in a heap next to my sewing machine instead of on my couch...which is where it could have been in less than an hour!

See.. I was going along so well....

Then I realized I goofed... That needs to be inside the seam. Oops.

Upcoming

I worked three nights in a row, my house was a disaster so I spent today straightening up... needless to say I haven't done much in the area of creating (unless you count creating a mess, I do that a lot.)

Here are some "upcoming" things I will be working on after my cowgirl quilt is done.

1. This little blanket.

2. A very special quilt that I cannot post until it is given away this summer. I am going to be experimenting a great deal so it may not even come to reality.

3. More baby bibs and burp cloths.

4. "Caveman" quilt. This is one I am extremely excited about! I am designing this one from scratch, well except for the embroidered designs. I plan on blogging each step in the creation of this quilt. Lots of experimenting to get the ideas in my head to work in real life!

5. Making more tags for items I want to sell. I use scrapbook paper. I wish all scrapbook paper designs came in fabric too!

6. Books I plan on reading BEFORE this summer. HAHAHAHAHAHA..... Seriously, I will try!

7. Layer, quilt and bind the cross quilt.

8. Potholders!!

That enough? Should keep me busy for a little while.