Stars, Stripes and Fireworks Table Runner---almost!

Almost finished table runner. Click the picture to see larger image.

Some of you know that my plans to finish a table runner and a quilt this week were thwarted by 2 major events. First, our central air conditioning went out. We put in 2 small window units in the bedrooms and pretty much left the house for the weekend when we could. We've added a large unit downstairs and have one for the upstairs, but the landlord and my husband have been busy & that one is last priority....at least for them. LOL! I've worked slowly in there when it was late enough that the fan kept me from being too hot.

The next event was a sequel to an earlier event this year. THE REVENGE OF THE KIDNEY STONE! No sooner had I canceled an "extra" appointment we'd left open "Just in case" when I started having some signs that my last kidney stone was moving. On Sunday night I was in severe pain, but after taking Vicodin & waiting an hour, the pain settled & was gone all day Monday. Well, until about 11 p.m. I told the girls they had to get to bed so I could take the meds (I didn't want to be knocked out before they went to bed). Turns out I should have just taken the pills. Though, they didn't really do anything. By 1:30 a.m. I was in tears in the kitchen. The girls woke up and came to check on me. The beauty of having a take-charge (you can read that as bossy if you'd like!) kid is that in situations like this, she takes charge. She asked if I wanted her to get Daddy up. I cried, "No, just wait 5 more minutes to see if the medicine works." One more crying outburst was all it took for her to tell me she WAS waking up Daddy. We spent 2-4 in the ER.

Bottom line: I had a stent put in today & will have a shock treatment next week to break up the stone. Unfortunately, the ER people prescribed Motrin along with the hydrocodone (vicodin). I hadn't been using ibuprofen much after being told by 2 doctors to slow down on it. Then I took some. Thursday morning. The day I saw the dr. Turns out you can't have the shock treatment until you've been off ALL blood thinners for a week. Thus, the 2 procedures.

Closer look at front & stitching. Click the picture to enlarge.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Or the hot house in this case, I managed to piece and quilt the table runner. I have not bound it yet, so in the picture you see an unfinished product. I will be listing this on Etsy for $35 plus shipping. However, if you or someone you know would like this, I will sell it to you for $30 plus shipping. We can do basic priority or if you want it for the 4th & want to have me ship it faster we can do expedited shipping. It will be bound by the time I send it, of course! And any little bits of thread removed, of course. I typically prefer to show you a finished product, but thought I'd put this one out there for my readers before offering it to the Etsy crowd.

I used free motion quilting using some squiggles and wiggles in the striped areas. Then I used a meandering stitch and stars on the printed pieces. Straight stitching was used for the stripes. If you click the picture of the back (the solid red) you can probably see the design in the stitching better. Remember, this isn't finished so loose threads show up. The thread is ALL red. It just looks light because of the flash. The whitish that you see around the quilt is cotton batting. I like to use cotton batting on table runners so they can withstand the heat of hot dishes, working as a hot pad and table runner in one. This will be trimmed off and I will have red binding around the edges.

Finished this table runner will be just under 20" by 50".

If you are interested or know someone who is, let me know ASAP so I can hold it for you.

Thanks for dropping by!

Stars, Stripes and Bombs Bursting in Air!

I have had this patriotic fabric for YEARS. I got it when the girls were little enough to wear something made out of it. They are SO beyond those years. Of course, I would still totally wear something made out of a funky print! LOL!

This is the beginning of a table topper. I'll make one more square, then add a backing and quilt it. I'll bind it and list it on etsy. Hopefully can finish by Monday or Tuesday. I'm also going to make a patriotic rag quilt, so be on the lookout for that. If you'd like to visit my etsy shop to see what's in store, just click here: Lori's Etsy.

Our air conditioner is out (thankful to borrow 2 window units), so I am one hot mama wishing you a wonderful day!

NOTE: If you sew something with a one way design (notice the fireworks "spray" downward), be sure to have your fabric facing the right way. I discovered on my 2nd set of these that I'd turned one piece so the fireworks went sideways! Might be cool in real life, but not on fabric. LOL!

To Sash or not to Sash, that is the question.

I cut a bunch of charm squares (5" squares of fabric) using my nifty Sizzix 5" square cutter out of leftover fabrics I had in semi-coordinating colors. Bright colors. VERY BRIGHT. I'd thought I might list packs of charm squares for sale, but decided these weren't my best attempt at cutting them right. I hadn't ironed all the fabric, so some was wrinkled when I cut it, then when I ironed it after cutting, it was bigger than when wrinkled. Not good. Still, they were fine for me to use & adjust to the right size. Then I saw this video done with 10" squares. It's Suzanne McNeil from Design Originals. She has a very southern accent. Mine isn't that strong (if you haven't heard my voice). She sounds like someone's grandma or aunt. I'm sure she's "Aint Suzayn" to someone the way my mom is "Aint Jane" (Aunt Jan). LOL!

The light went off and I thought, "I could use 5" squares!" And so I did! This is what I came up with:

Here's another view of all 5 rows/columns in 2 pics. Sorry these are a tad blurry. My MIL has our camera as she just took it on her HONEYMOON!!!

 

This will need a border or two. But the question I'm stuck on is: does it need sashing? It's meant to be scrappy/eclectic. But, does it need something to break up the squares? If you aren't familiar with quilt terms sashing is a strip of fabric between fabric squares. Something like this borrowed from How to Quilt :

Here is the same type quilt without sashing:

Of course, with all crafts & art, 99% of the decision as to how to make things is opinion. Some people like sashing, some don't. Also, some people like brights, some don't. On our quilt shop hop, my friends Kathy, Danette & I discovered that we were all drawn to different types of fabric. K's & D's style is more similar in some areas than my style would be (they like the classic deep floral look), yet in other ways, K & I had very similar tastes (we both love batiks and rich jewel tones especially). Danette also likes polka dots!

Knowing that, I'd like to get opinions about my bright quilt as far as sashing or no sashing. IF you think I need sashing, do you think one solid color (and which one) or a more subtle print picking up the variety of colors? What color/type of border/s would you use?

Thanks!

What's going on here?

The past few weeks were consumed with getting ready for my Mother In Law's wedding.Yes, my MIL, age 75 married a wonderful 82 year old man! We lost my FIL in February of 2008 & this man lost his wife the following year. The couples knew each other through church and had played dominoes together. I'll have to share the long version later. I don't even have the pictures all uploaded to my computer, but I thought I'd share one picutre that is a crafty one.

Do you wonder what the guys are laughing at? Yeah, me, too.

Do you like how we all coordinated? That was only half planned. We knew MIL was wearing yellow. Natalie picked out her fabric first, before we even knew MIL was wearing yellow. I also knew what fabric I wanted. I love yellow & blue together. I guess it's the Swede in me. Bethany's was the next dress to purchase and low and behold we found a YELLOW dress that almost fit her! Finally, we decided Daddy needed a matching top. He'd never wear a yellow shirt (or pink for that matter, but that's a different issue), so when we saw this we knew it was perfect to match my dress. What we DIDN'T know was that MIL's husband would be wearing blue! How perfect is it that we tied it all together while they tied the knot? LOL!

Natalie's dress is made from a downloadable pattern by Sis Boom. I will post links to the pattern later. Mine is by Sew Serendipity. Of course, Bethany's dress wasn't usable "as is" as usual. I had to take it up a little, then I had to add straps. We bought ribbon, but it really wasn't the right shade. She looked at my fabric & I had almost the identical shade of yellow. What are the odds? I was happy b/c I wanted to make WIDE straps to cover more. She's so tiny that there isn't that much to cover, but still.

If you click on the picture it will enlarge it. Ignore the fact that nearly 13 years postpartum I look pregnant (um, yeah, it's really just fat, I promise). Check out Bethany's headband. I'll have to take a close up of it & upload that another time. We took a white plume feather and dyed it yellow. The liquid made the feathery parts all clump together. I used my heating tool to dry it out, then we had to use a comb and even an old toothbrush to try to unclump them. She attached it to a headband and added some ribbon and gems. THEN on the morning of the wedding it was falling apart! ACK! Superglue to the rescue! We're just glad it didn't end up stuck to her head---LOL! I actually made a headband, too, but we decided it was too clunky looking for me to wear. I'll wear it for some pictures some time, but I didn't want to be distracting with it on. You know, the canoe on the forehead syndrome or Skeeball game on top of your head at your cousin's wedding with people from all over the world watching. Just sayin'.

I have really narrow feet. Not as narrow as they used to be, but narrow. I found a pair of shoes at Payless the night before the wedding. I was amazed. I thought I'd have to go for white shoes, but found yellow! They are really pretty. The pair I thought I would get were outvoted by my daughters who said they looked like grandma shoes. Here is the funny part: when my folks got to the wedding, the first thing Natalie noticed were my mom's shoes. They were the SAME pair I almost got but in ivory! LOL! Phew, good thing I have young ladies to guide me. ha, ha.

When I get the rest of the pictures uploaded I'll share more & put links to the dress websites.

New items at Etsy!!!

I have finally updated my Etsy page! Check out my current listings & PLEASE pass along my website to anyone who might be interested! Thanks!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ChefMama