Geocaching Wall Hanging

Dave saw a quilt at a Geocaching event that made him want one of his own. We didnt get the quilt because we were out bid at the silent auction. 

so this adventure started with a trip to the fabric store. With Dave. and he bought fabric. 

I also used Heat n Bond fusible stuff for the first time. 

I printed the designs on a number of pages to get the right size.

The applique is in 3 stages in the above picture. the satellite is cut out and ready to fuse.
the man is cut out but the backing needs to be removed and the symbol needs to be put on the fabric yet.
They were printed in reverse then I used a bit of glue tape from my scrapbooking stuff to glue it to the back of the Heat n Bond. Then I cut them out. That way i didnt have to cut them out multiple times!

all fused on, I then used my machines blanket stitch to sew them down. 

Next up was basting then quilting. I used straight lines and stopped and started at the appliqued stuff. 

Which I talked about over here

I then put on some hanging tabs and there we go! all done and ready to use. 

The sad face is because I told him to lift it up over his face for some shots :)

I think he is happy!

Labeled and signed (didnt get one of the signed part. oh well)

 

The pixilated areas are 2 different codes. One is a trackable number and one is an opencaching.us cache number for a moving cache. In order to log the cache  people need to sign it so the back has a spot for people to sign it. 

Sue's memory quilt

A member of my church approached me to see if I would make her a quilt from her Daddys PJ pants.

He had passed away and she wanted something to remember him by.

So we decided that we would do a string quilt from them.

After the blocks were made we had to try out some ideas.

 apparently Zeke had to try it out a different way.

I got the quilt back from the quilters and laid it out on the bed in Zekes room. 

 love the quilting

Signed 

 The label (washed 3 times and the label looks well loved)

 Apparently my kids ensure that the quilts are Pre-cuddled.

My friend was emotional over this so this is the only kind of shot I could get :) 

oh and this is the quilt I have washed it 3 times and the Colour Catchers were still bright pink. 

the progression is visible - they do get lighter. 

hiding threads in a quilt

I started hiding my threads because i didnt want to have some ugly knots of thread from my machine on my quilt tops.

 I posted a picture that showed all my threads showing in a quilt block on G+

I got some questions about what happened. 

So here we go.

I start by pulling up the bobbin thread to the top

 I then take both threads and put them on a needle

 I put the needle close to the fabric and wrap the thread around it ~4 times. I then pull the needle though fabric right at the spot between the two threads

you can see the knot here:

 I pop it though the fabric and then make another knot at the surface of the fabric , cut the thread,

 and use the needle to pop it back though the fabric by going one layer down and hooking on the thread and pulling. I sometimes need to help it out with my thumb nail.

 and done!

I double it up so that there is less of a chance of them pulling back through again.

I adapted this from Leah Day http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-to-hide-your-quilting-threads.html because i didnt have a cheater needle 

some fun fabric buys

I was on my way to Asheville and stopped by Carolina Foam Fabric and Home Decor in Black Mountain, NC. 

it was a good stop (except for my wallet! lol)

I bought some fabric for me and some for the guilds charity project. 

They make quilts for a child advocacy center. The children get a physical exam when they arrive. 

The child gets to choose a quilt rather than a paper cover to use and then they get to take it home.  

Here are some of my finds. 

table runner maybe? I have someone in mind for this.

 these will make some good quilts

 I like the soft pink owls

these two are for but i dont know what to do with them yet

ok- its upside down and french but i know someone who would like this

fun ones!

TV time

I have a rule that Zeke can't watch TV except for just before nap time or just before bed. And he knows the rule.

Daddy will often watch TV out of those times if he is around.

So today Zeke sidded up to Dave and asked if he could watch TV. Specifically asked him "are you ready to watch more Top Gear, daddy?"

I head and asked him "when are you allowed to watch tv"

His response?  "when daddy is here"










Bwahahaha!  That made laugh.  A lot.