Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

OK, so no chicken dinner, but I did win $10! Two of my quilting projects won 3rd place in the Wilson County Fair! I think that's huge considering all the quilts that were entered!

I am going to enter some of my quilts in a show in Granville, Tn at the end of this month. We'll see how that goes.

I can't believe it has been almost 3 months since my last post. I don't think I have sewn since then either. Hopefully there will be lots of posts coming up of all the new things I am making.

It shouldn't take 4 days to do one block....

It really shouldn't. But that is how long it took me to do this block.

Why? 2 jobs. 12+ hours of work 6 days a week. It is really cramping my quilting style! Maybe I'll find time to quilt one day soon!

2 blocks done!

Wow, all work and no quilting makes Suzanne an unhappy girl! I finally got 2 blocks done. One of which is "overdue." I got a reprieve since they didn't give me enough of a strip.

I felt like I was doing a chore though. I guess because I knew I didn't have time to just do what I wanted. I still have 2 more blocks to finish by the end of the month.

Well, here they are....

May Buck-a-Block (pastel)

April Block of the Month

I can see one glaring mistake in this one. Hopefully when combined with other blocks no one will notice.

Long Time No Write!

Wow! Has it really been almost a month since my last post??

To tell you the truth I haven't been doing a lot of sewing. Almost none! I got my Block of the Month for May only because they messed up in the amount they gave me on the last one. I am not sure I would have finished it if I had the right amount in the first place.

Reason? 2 jobs. One day job....one night job. I usually pull at least two 24+ hour days a week. So my sewing room sits stagnant. It's sad really. Sometimes I go in there and turn the light on and just look at it. Sigh.

So no pictures to show. No new project in the works. Nothing. Sigh.....yeah...sigh.

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.