Snowflakes on a quilt

I’ve stayed away from the computer this past 2 weeks because of hand pain. The joints flared up again at work on Friday 2 weeks ago, but seem to be better now. Typing wasn’t good for me.

I did manage to cut some paper snowflakes on wash-away paper by YLI. I sprayed them with Sulky 2000 basting spray & stuck them to the back of the quilt-top.

I put a heavy, sparkly metallic thread in the bobbin, & stitched over the snowflake designs.

This is how it looks from the front of the quilt. I tore away most of the paper after stitching, what little bits are left will be on the inside, & will dissolve with a spritz of water.

I started quilting this quilt, & found I was having issues with getting a smooth curve line because of my table on my machine catching on my zipper where I have the quilt attached to the rollers.

See, down there, where the gap in the Chartreuse plastic is, it catches.

I had bought this Sew-slip II mat for my Bernina, but decided to give it a try in Lily.

It really helped! Problem solved! Now I think I’ll buy another mat for the Bernina, so I can just leave this one in place!

We had out traditional Thanksgiving day feast at the Meyn’s house as always. The bird was beautiful. Mindy has it down to a science now.

Here’s wishing you all a happy & safe holiday season, no matter what your place in the world, or your belief system. PEACE!

 

A New Quilt Shop

 

Today after a really FUN meeting at ALCQ (check it out, the program was great)., I went to the new quilt shop in town.

A new quilt shop is open here in Anchorage. It’s the Quilt Zone, & is owned by Diana Bradley. I checked it out today . I liked the open airy feel of the place. The fabric selections was very nice.

In the back will be set up for classes. Tables are on order. I’m looking forward to playing here!

One thing I bought was these soft little blankets of fuzzy fabric, that I just blanket stitched the edges & packaged them up with fleece pajamas & little animals for the local Salvation Army angel tree.

At home, this week, we took down our 2 living room lantern shaped chandeliers,

& replaced them with these flush to the ceiling lights. Now our really tall friends won’t bang their heads!

Fiberactions - Transformation

For the Fiberactions challenge word, “Transformation”, I decided I wanted to do something that’s been in my head for several years.  I wanted to make a quilt with Northern Lights, that actually lights up when plugged in.  I started with a regular 16 x 20 inch canvas, and painted the back side of it black, with streaks of pearlescent paints on top. I bought a 5 foot length of Elwire light, a thin flexible neon light, & stitched it on the the back side surface of the canvas, punching a hole through to push the plug through to the other side.  In the lower right hand corner you can see the transformer tucked in place. The dots are crystals glued on between the light. I had already made the quilt to go over this, & after experimenting with different layers of sheer fabrics to diffuse the light, I settled on a sheer silk chiffon, gathered & stapled in place over the lights. 

I next stapled the quilt over the lights, then finished the back by hand sewing it in place. Below is the picture of the back pinned on ready for the hand sewing. To the right is how it looks in the dark, with the light inside on.

Pink Feather Tree & a longarm tip

 

I actually bought this tree to go on our table at  our Christmas quilt guild meeting, as it goes with the other things we are putting on the table.   I also think it goes nicely in my little upstairs bathroom, fondly called the “old bird bath”. I have it decorated in birds & cats. I’m not worried about Broc getting at it, because he has never gotten up on this little dresser where I’ve put it. He isn’t fond of the “Bird bathroom”.

 

Whenever he curls up like this in his bed,

He reminds me of this little tin I bought over 20 years ago.

Longarm tip for the day: I was having trouble with my thread breaking frequently, especially when I got going fast. I realized the thread was rubbing & catching on the 2 little screw heads for the needle & the thread guide. I placed a piece of painter’s tape over the heads, & it worked wonders! No more catching & breaking. I wish I would’ve figured this out 2 years ago!

Embossing Fabric

 

Every year my Calendar Girls group decorates a table at our ALCQ Quilt guild Christmas party. This year we are doing a calendar theme. Each place setting will be a different holiday. I know I had some shamrock fabric for St. Patty’s day, but either gave it away, or just can’t find it. So this is my solution. I took the green fabric with tiny gold dots,

carved my own shamrock rubber stamp, then used Aleen’s “It’s OK To Wash it” glue, & stamped on the fabric.

Sprinkled on embossing powder…shaking the excess off, on to a sheet that can be used to poor it back into its container.

Using a heat gun, I melted the embossing powder.

Now I have shamrock fabric!

I also just HAD to have this crazy pink feathered tree today! I bought it at Michael’s.

Calendar girls meeting

We had Calendar Girls today at Carol Wight Jones’ house. Rena brought this piece she just made for the show & tell.

Below is a close-up of my next Fiberactions challenge piece. I finished it today while at Carol’s house. You will have to check back on Monday to see the whole thing. That’s the reveal day.  It was a really fun piece to do.

 

Blogger: Dashboard

SNOW, snow ,snow….

 

I got up this morning & turned on the coffee, then sat down in the living room & turned on the TV, waiting for the coffee to be ready. Hmmm, no TV picture, so I looked out the window.

The satellite dish was almost completely obstructed, maybe that has something to do with it. I drank my coffee & watched a program I had recorded on the DVR. Then got dressed up & took my camera & broom & cleared the branches from in front of the dish.  I did it mostly one handed, which was a bit awkward, but the left hand still hurts, & can’t grasp much. The right shoulder hitch is better today though, so that’s progress in the right direction!

Thanks for all who commented on my strange ailment. I think it’s going away inch by inch.

All we need are some Christmas lights, & we’ll be ready for our Christmas card picture.

The snow on the railing is about 14 inches deep.  What’s funny is the weather was predicted for,” a few snow flurries with now accumulation.” HA! I just hope it doesn’t turn warm & melt. I like a good safe layer of snow  for insulation!

What’s wrong with me? Ideas anyone?

Snow is falling & my back yard looks like I should be decorating for Christmas.

Friday morning I woke up aching in all of my joints. I took my usual Ibuprofen, & went to work, thinking it would be better once the med kicked in. It didn’t. It got progressively worse throughout the day. By 330, I was having difficulty walking because of my feet ankles & right knee hurting so much. I finally gave in & asked to go home. M arms & shoulders & hands & wrists were also very painful. Even turning the turn signal on in my car was difficult. I felt more like 96 than my actual 56. What is wrong with me? At first I thought I was coming down with the flu, because joint pain is usually my first symptom, but it doesn’t seem to be the flu.
I went to bed at 8 pm on Friday & slept until 1030 Sat. morning. A very strange thing for me to do. Yesterday I was still hurting in my wrists & hands, & my feet & ankles, but otherwise things seemed better. I could not have typed at all yesterday, or stood any length of time. Today the pain is almost gone in my right hand, but the left is still very stiff, my feet are much better & my right shoulder has a new hitch in it…..geeezsh! What next!?!
I only ran a mild fever on Friday evening with all of this, & I’m wondering if this could be some sort of weird autoimmune response to something. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone out there?
Today I managed to draw & cut out of Freezer paper a few more images to iron on to Cyndi’s quilt. Holding the paper with my left hand was awkward, & I dropped the scissors several times, but managed to not drop the iron at all! Here are a squid & a duck that Cyndi wanted on the quilt.