Pointless Quilter

I celebrated Christmas with my mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law, sister, brother-in-law, two nephews and one niece.  Getting gifts for most of these people wasn't that hard but two young teen boys was the hardest thing for me to shop for.  You don't want to just hand them cash or a gift card - you have to make it more exciting.  So this year I created a video game that I figured we could all have fun with.  I actually just created video game covers.  When I gave the boys the packages I explained to them that I wanted to get them a video game that this old girl could play and maybe actually win. I even made one for the xbox and one for the wii.  I thought it was funny and so did the adults - the boys just looked at me until they opened the boxes and found either a gift card or cash.  (They thought it was funny too I think although they pointed out all the typos which I believe I have corrected.)  We had a lot of fun opening presents on Christ...

Oh what fun we had tonight after dinner - we played Quelf.  If you need a fun and entertaining game for family and friends, I would recommend this game.  We all laughed so hard.  You have to do some silly things and answer some questions, or act out some pretty odd things.  It's a blast to play.  Here's a link about the game.   http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19370/quelf   Anyway, I took some video of some of the funnies - the best was my nephew Drew had to slow dance like he was at a prom with the person on his left which would be my other nephew Shane.  Here's the video.  It's shaky because I was laughing so hard. Here's Marcy giving herself a wedgie. And Claire training Beverly the dog. And then I come to my room to update blog with photos and check my emails and I won the November Free Motion Quilting challenge package.  If I'm reading it right, I get a packet of five Aurifil threads, some Machinger quilting ...

We had our Christmas with Kelly, Chad and Jack yesterday. This kid is full of energy but a good kid. He's also into Thomas the Tank Engine and assumed every gift we opened was Thomas. Heres a picture I was able to get with him and me but I only got it when he was in charge of the phone. Al and Jack played a lot of chase. He kept taking Al's socks and running with them knowing he'd be chased. Thanks for looking.   Posted with Blogsy

I'm doing Bonnie Hunters Easy Street Mystery and I have bee behind all four weeks but last night I finally caught up. If you want to play, here's a link to her blog mystery. Quiltville's Quips & Snips!!: Easy Street! The pink fabric looks really red in this picture but trust me it's true deep pink. I have been working on other projects but like most of us, they are gifts so we can't post until we give them to our loved ones. Thanks for looking and have a merry Christmas.   Posted with Blogsy

I got an email from a gentleman who works for Fons and Porter and asked if I would do a review of an e-book they have.  I of course said I would be happy to.  Not only did I get the free book, so do you!  Here's the link for the download.   Fons and Porter Log Cabin e-book What you will find when you download the book is the same type of instructions you get from their magazine.  Lots of detailed instructions, photos, tips and also samples of antique quilts related to the patterns and designer profiles. Each type of log cabin (traditional, courthouse steps and chevron) have detailed explanations of the block, different option for sizes, and different layouts.  (see sample of the traditional block) You also get the famous Fons and Porters tips and hints to make the blocks and quilts easier, some great quilting designs and ideas, and even some piped binding instructions. For a free book, you are getting a lot of good information and history on this...

  I finished the final month of the challenge which was taught by Patsy Thompson. I've watched several of her videos before but had never seen this lesson in mirroring the corners and centers. I only had a small section left on my quilt so I tried to make it look like a border. I hyper quilted too. Hard to tell but there is a dark purple with hyper quilting with a light purple. Here's the whole quilt finished. You can't see all the quilting in the black squares but it's all done in neon colors. I learned quite a bit. I've always machine quilted my own quilts but needed to learn some new all over designs and I've learned that you can always learn a new hint or tip and these tutorials didn't disappoint. In April I learned a new fill by Leah Day--the double stippling which I had never seen before. In June Cindy taught us to split the area in smaller sections and use different fills. Although I suck at it, I love Wendy Sheppard's August tutorial o...

In November Henry Glass Fabrics had a very merry holiday blog hop of which I followed and commented on a few and guess what? I won a gift from one of their designers blogs 'Little Quilts' Here's a link to their blog. Www.littlequilts.blogspot.com. And here's the packet of goodies. Then last night was our guilds Christmas party where we have baskets that are auctioned as well as a live auction of goodies. I put tickets in a few bags and my number was the first that was called and the last so I won two baskets. The funny thing about this basket is there were three things in it that I had put in the basket I made up for the auction. This basket was mostly food and I don't remember putting a ticket in it since I can't eat anything in it (I'm on weight Watchers). But it did have two cute Christmas wine glasses in it. The rack my dad made and three of his wooden trash cans went over well and helped boost the guilds budget a bit. Thanks dad. Everyone was...

For the last two years I have been following everyone who's done Bonnie Hunter's mystery and decided this year I was going to do it.  So she put clue one up last Friday and was able to finally start piecing yesterday.  I have 94 of 192 of these 4-patches done. If you are interested in participating or follow, here's a link to her blog - click on the Easy Street tab or heck, look around - she has so much information on her website and blog.  Her new book String Fling is fantastic too. I will be visiting my folks this weekend so I won't be getting a lot of sewing done and also I have a meeting Tuesday night and our guild Christmas party on Thursday so I'll have another busy week.  I'll be able to catch up on the weekend though. Thanks for looking.

I gave my mother-in-law this redwork kit and some white fabric and she got busy. About a week or so ago she brought me all the squares because I told her I'd put it together for her. With the help of my friend Janice who helped me piece at Party Party Party last week, I got the top done by Thanksgiving. I finished quilting it last night and the binding this morning. I had just practiced the swirl in the sashing thru the November Free Motion Quilting challenge. It was the perfect design for this piece. I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting up my scrap basket into the 5, 3.5 and 2 inch squares for Scrap Therapy. The first picture was taken on Friday afternoon. The second one just minutes ago.   My neck and back are aching but I have one more quilt to start machine quilting. So I better get busy. Thanks for looking.   Posted with Blogsy

Sara Vedeler was the teacher this month. She taught us how to do spirals in a row. I think I did okay. At the end (row on left near bottom) I didn't do the little line up before going down to the next spiral and I think I like that better. I have two more quilts pinned. One is a small redwork piece I put together for my mother-in-law and the second is a guild charity quilt that just needed quilting. Thanks for looking.   Posted with Blogsy

And my back is sore from carrying the boxes from the storage shed in the back of our property to the house and then back again. I had to do a little adjusting. I had to take the leaf out of the table, remove 2 chairs to make my main tree fit in the dining room. But this is what is in its normal spot. These boxes have been here for a few months. And the angel tree that is usually in my dining room next to the hutch is now in my sewing room. (Had to remove a chair here too.) And this is my view from my cutting table. I left about 6 boxes unpacked. I didn't take any dishes out, any of the big wooden pieces, my village and my snow globe collection. I'm not having any company this year so I didn't think I needed to do it all. Thanks for looking.   Posted with Blogsy

I call this Basement Blankie My sister Brenda redecorated her basement and sent me some of her extra fabric to make a quilt for her. Her fabric is the multi-color floral fabric and the green I used in the binding. I've wanted to make a chevron quilt for a while and the pieces of fabric she sent me this was the perfect pattern. It's not a bed quilt but a good sized lap quilt for her couch. I hope she likes it. I get a four day weekend for Thanksgiving. Tomorrow we go to my in-laws for dinner and my hubby's uncle Bill will also be there. It will be a quiet day. I'll also get my Christmas decoration boxes out and ready for Friday when I plan to holiday up the house. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks for looking.   Posted with Blogsy

So many ways to use Half-Square Triangles.  Earlier this year we each exchanged 20 HST to each other (13 of us participating so 260 HST to make) and we said they had to be scrappy.  We had until our Christmas party (today) to get at least the top done.  Here's what we got. Debbie Van Fossen's (she's still machine quilting) My quilt. Diane Mithcell - she make her own and didn't participate in the exchange Kathy Morrison (She's going to combine with last years'  hexagon's blocks in the borders.) Pam Larsen - she really had to pay attention tot he color of the HST's. Rita Buchler - she made two pillows with the leftover blocks Maxine Kroeber - she hand stitched all the flower blocks Elaine Berry - she said she might add more Janice Minyard - completed - quilting circles around with feather around the border. Deolinda Rhoads - was just looking for something to use her panel piece. My friend Anna finish...