Finally Quilting!

I have been working so hard to finish this quilt.  I know I'll never undertake something this ambitious again.  I will make other quilts, I've just learned some lessons on this one.

The top finished, a backing pieced, batting purchased and a space cleared, (almost) big enough to lay them all out.

I pinned all the layers right to the carpet.  They could have been a little straighter, a second person would have been nice, to pull the layers tight.  I was trying to get a bunch of it done early in the morning, before little girls got up and wanted to walk all over it.

It didn't make much difference, I thought it'd take a couple of hours.  I started at 8:30 in the morning and didn't get done with the basting until 2:30 in the afternoon.  Wow, everything always takes much longer to do than I think it will in my head.

I started with outline quilting around all the basic shapes, bows, sashes, fans and now I'm 1/3 of the way done with the flowers and vines.

I'm giving myself plenty of time to design the more creative quilting.  When it's done, it'll be quilted on most every square inch.  How many square inches are in an 8 foot square?  Too many, I think.

I also made 6 more chocolate wool bunnies.  Here are 2 of them.  Time to get them listed, before the holiday gets too close.

My diet and exercise have fallen by the wayside.  I really am tired of the extra weight, just lazy.  I keep thinking, today's the day and then I don't follow through.  Maybe tomorrow's the day!

Rachel's Quilt- Pieced Back

When I measured the quilt top to buy fabric for the back, I was surprised that it was 8 feet square.  What the heck?!!!  I must have known this at some point, but like I said, this was started so many years ago.  With fabric 44" wide, 2 lengths would still be at least 9-10" too narrow.  I could get 3 more yards of white or take a different approach on the flip side.  The front is as old fashioned as can be, intended to resemble quilts from the 30's or 40's.  I decided to run 2 strips of pinwheels on the back, using all the left over fabrics.  The elaborate quilting will be most of the design on this side.

Some pinwheels started

More pinwheels with the rest pinned and marked for sewing.

Close ups of the strips.  Some had to be pieced to make enough pinwheels.

Old fashioned fabrics, semi-modern quilt?  Works for me.  Now I need to find a space big enough to lay it all out for basting   This is my biggest area and it had to be all gathered up at the edges to take the picture.

Bunnies for Easter baskets

Easter bunny time again.  This white chocolate bunny is sold and on to her new home.  She's made of felted wool sweater, cream on the front and soft pink on the back.

All hand embroidered to resemble a molded chocolate bunny with a yellow frosting eye.  The pattern came from a metal chocolate mold that I've had for many years.

I got a special order for 4 bunnies.  Here the pieces are cut out and pins mark the starting points for embroidering the lines.  Each one comes out a little different.

Because they're an order, I think I put more flowers on than I have before.  It's hard to stop embellishing.  On the mold, one side has flowers and the other has clover.  So, the boys face right and the girls face left.  What better way for them to be nose to nose?  Bunny smooches!

Front and back sewn together and the bottoms pinned in place.  The advantage of sewing with felt is tiny seam allowances.  There's no need to snip any curves or trim points.

Finished!  Ready to list and hope that the person who requested them loves the way they turned out.  I do.

Another cake from work on Sunday.  The little girl picked out all her own colors and flavors.  The only thing I would have done different is make the writing baby blue.  Yellow is never my choice to write on white, not enough contrast.

Weigh in Wednesday

Gahhh!  214, back to week 6.  8 pounds down or 10% there.

Well, I've been so bad, this is week 10 and I missed 7,8 and 9.  I spent 7 being bad and gaining weight and 8 and 9 being mostly good and losing it again.
Still no good plan for getting to the gym.  I'm on my feet all day at work so it isn't appealing at all right after and then I relax some at home and lose my drive to go then, too.  Time to man-up and just do it.  Besides, working out really keeps me on my diet.
On another note, I love my new haircut!  Too bad it spends so much of it's time under a hat at work.

This was a special order at work.  I thought it turned out pretty.  After I took the first picture, I decided to add the little flowers.  I really think the yellow centers, make the colors pop.  It's funny to me that people have to put so many names on a cake for the same person.  Couldn't you stick to one?  I'm sure they know who they are.  In that case, why not add Uncle, Cousin, Nephew, Brother and (giant leap) his Name?

I've been working on lots of crafts, Rachel's quilt top is completely done, the back is pieced and the batting is ready.  Pictures soon.

Weigh in Wednesday

I know, it's Thursday.  I worked yesterday and forgot to get to this.

214 pounds, 1 pound lost, 8 so far.  Slow, but going the right direction.  I don't think there's any difference in my pictures, yet.  If I keep losing 1 or 2 pounds each week, there's got to be a point that I can tell it in the pictures.  I'm looking forward to having less belly.

2 nights ago, we had homemade hummus on homemade flatbread.  Even though this little one likes hummus, it took awhile to talk her into trying what came out of the food processor.  Then we had to keep telling her to get her finger out of the bowl.

This is the first time I've made it myself.  Well, I had lots of help.  Her big sister was right with me the whole time.  I wish I'd had the camera out for that.  Next time.  She put most of the ingredients into the processor and ran it.  She added most of the bread ingredients to the mixing bowl and stirred and kneaded the bread.  I was so impressed that a 5 year old could be such a lot of help.  After the bread rested for awhile, I cut it into 8 pieces and rolled out the first bread.  She wanted to try, I thought I'd have a mangled bread to save, but she did it perfectly.  All I did was put the flour on the board and she rolled out all remaining 7 breads.

We ate the flatbread sandwiches with chicken, cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, lime, cilantro and spinach.  What a great dinner!

Finished Pillow Covers

I decided to work on two pillow covers at the same time.  It's a lot easier than making one after another.  I'll list one in my Etsy shop.

I sewed all the pieces to a 16 1/2 inch piece of muslin.  It helped stabilize the stretchiness of the wool and get it the right size.

I sewed some "fronds" with some dark purple iridescent glass beads.  Each one came out a little different.

 Finished front.

Finished back.  It has a really deep overlap, it might not need any buttons to stay closed.  Now where is that 16" pillow form?  The back is made from the leg of a cast-off pair of khakis, that's the bottom hem.  I love the worn in look of khakis, just about the time the rest wears out.

Weigh in Wednesday on Friday

 215, 2 more pounds lost, 7 altogether.  I usually have Wednesdays off.  This week I worked that day and it threw me off in getting my picture taken and posted.  This is really a rough looking picture of me.  It might be time to start wearing a little bit of make-up again.  I went years on end barely putting even lip gloss on.  I've never been one to think I couldn't leave the house without it.