Happy Thanksgiving!

First of all--I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving and eats lots of delicious food. Second, I'm getting close to finishing another One-Block Wonder, so look for pictures soon. Lastly, we're having an open house on Friday for people to come and start their hoffman challenge quilts--I intend to bake mini-muffins and have the coffee on all day, so I hope my local readers will stop by at least.
I intended to take some pictures for you this morning, but our hot water heater decided to be naughty--so I spent the morning tinkering with that instead. Nothing like a cold shower in November in Montana. Brisk.
That being said, I did get a picture this weekend that exemplifies happiness.
I mean, really, could any animal on the planet be more content? We came into the living (aka sewing) room on Sunday, and there was Elli, fully enjoying her rights to the "scratching post". She slept like that for hours, occasionally her tail would come to life, but she was obviously just in a state of pure bliss. She loves that couch, I don't know what she'd do if she wasn't allowed on it, probably kill us in our sleep. Elli is super thankful this holiday season, that her new owners have a piece of crap $30 couch they brought from North Carolina as a scratching post.
Happy Thanksgiving again! Wishing you all the Elli-esque happiness you see above :)

Minkee...

Oooh la la, for those of you who have never heard, or more importantly felt, minkee blankee, you must do this sometime soon. It's necessary for your well-being.
Minkee is 100% polyester and is super super soft furry stuff, it's 60" wide so it's great for backs since its so cuddly. Anyway below is the quilt I'm quilting on the long-arm and since its mine, I feel free to actually experiment with some intricate, complex patterns...unfortunately I couldn't find a good way to mark this quilt so I'm doing it all free form so it's pretty special in some places, but I feel the overall effect of this block pattern is pleasing.
I'm using Brytes thread to quilt it in several different colors including Sunflower and Hot Pants. Anyway, another of Minkee's fantastic features is the way quilting textures show up on it. For example, the back of this Minkee-fied quilt looks awesome compared to the front, and just awesome in general if I do say so myself. Pardon the picture, I was squatting around under my longarm to take it.

I love it! Anyway, just it was worth seeing how awesome quilting can look on minkee because I know a lot of quilters are wary of how it will quilt: and now you know--beautifully!
Happy quilting!

Machine quilting...

I had a machine quilting class last night that was quite fun. To prepare for class, I made a "Waffle Time" table runner because the center is nice and open for quilting.
Instead of just quilting it, I did some "faux" bobbin quilting, using Ricky Tims' Razzle Dazzle. I used the color "Gold Crown" though I kind of wish I'd done Ruby Slippers now, oh well, what can you do? And don't say the dirty R-word, because I don't do that unless my life or livelihood depends on it.
You can see the gold stitching above. I only did this on the top because then I could draw the design on a stabilizer, I prefer Rinsaway (which I have in the shop), also known as Ricky Tims' Stable Stuff. It's mostly water soluble, so you don't have to tear it away. It turns into a spider web of polyester inside your quilt once it gets washed. It's super easy to trace on and works great for bobbinwork (since you're upside down anyway) and also for marking. Ricky Tims' (Ricky is my go-to source for all things quilting) Grand Finale DVD is the best resource on the market for bobbinwork, machine quilting, binding entirely by machine, marking, machine trapunto, etc...I love Ricky, he's my quilting hero. He also teaches you how to mark your quilt using water soluble thread, which is also, incidentally, an excellent way to practice your design. I also did this on my table topper...below is a picture of some of the water soluble stitching, and the back of the top, where I had my Rinsaway with the design drawn on it (you can also print on rinsaway).
Watersoluble stitching on the front of the quilt, that I can now follow with my actual quilting thread, now that I'm all practiced up. And then, what the back of the top, not the back of the quilt, looks like:
There you can see more of the overall design. A note about watersoluble thread: if it's on the top, it better be on the bottom. You never want to mix it with other thread because when you get it wet, half your stitch dissolves, and voila, your stitching is no longer stitching, it's just a piece of thread floating and being sad :(
So, that was fun and I'll definitely post pictures once I finish it up.
Happy quilting (and now happy marking!)!

No time to sew :(

Well dear quilters, I wish I had something to report, but I don't. I've been working late all week, so there hasn't been any time to quilt. Hopefully on Tuesday I'll have something to report. I've got one of my quilts on ol' Millie and I've planned some pretty ornate quilting which I have yet to do on the longarm (I've done some on my home machine and George), so that will be an interesting experience.
I can use some feedback though...I've been reading extensively on marking quilts, and I haven't really found a good answer for marking busy prints that have a lot of color...any of you out there have a fantastic idea? Ricky Tims' watersoluble thread method is pretty good, but requires more planning than I put into this one. Huurruumph. I'm stumped. Please post any quilt marking tips you have!
Happy weekend quilting!

Well, here is the polar bear that I've been working on...I've got his face done, I just need to do the stitching, but I won't do that until I've finished the entire top. Pardon the weird triangle on his neck...I'm changing that fabric but I didn't have the fabric with me when I was finishing this. So, tonight I'll fix his neck fur.
Anyway, I like how he's going. I plan to have him standing in water (as the real bear this bear is based on was) with my photos blended into the landscape.
Anyway, this has been all consuming, and very very time consuming! But I really like how he's turning out.
Happy Quilting!!

Web site stuff...

Hello dear readers, I just wanted to let you all know that if you haven't signed up for my e-newsletter, I hope you will soon. Just go to www.ltquilts.com and click on Register to Win and enter your name and email address. It's the best way to keep abreast of fun happenings in the store and online.
AND
I also thought I'd give my readers a heads up about our pre-holiday sale: Nov. 10th-14th, we're giving 15% off ALL fabric (except the stuff already on sale) as our way of thanking you for being such great customers so I hope you'll take advantage of that. It's online and in the shop. It's a great way to get going on Christmas presents, finish projects, or get fabric for quilts you've been thinking about doing!
Happy quilting!

Quilting...

Well, I had time to quilt another of my quilts which is so much more fun than quilting someone else's quilt. I've had lots of people renting and learning to do their own, and for those of you who haven't done so, I hope you will. I'm trying to work toward everyone quilting their own rather than quilting any myself. I'll have a heart attack at 30 at the stress rate I'm going.
Anyway enough complaining, here's the pictures:
I did loopdeloos and spider webs all over this quilt with a heavy variegated yellow thread. It was quite fun to do the spider webs. I did them really fast, so they're a little sloppy, but to be honest, I like them that way...maybe they look more natural that way. Anyway, here's one that shows up less because it's not on the brown border:

I've also been busily cutting out lots of tiny pieces for my polar bear quilt, but the good news is that while it won't be done on Tuesday, I'll definitely have pictures.
Happy quilting!

Hope you all voted...

Because, as a wise woman I know said, "If you don't vote, you don't have bitching rights." Anyway, regardless of how the chips fall, I think we'll all be glad when the thing is over. So until Friday, I'm going back to Decision '08.
Happy quilting without all the election babble from here on out!