It's been busy for me since Kevin the Quilter left. Kevin left on Saturday afternoon, and we drove towards Texas on Wednesday. Luckily, as we drove thru Oklahoma that evening, we only got in the edges of the storms that were going thru the area, not in the middle of the bad storms.
We went to Texas to celebrate hubby's mother's 80th Birthday. All her kids, grandkids and her 2 great grandbaby's were all there. I didn't take but a few photos while I was there.
We are lucky in the fact that my mother lives 4 blocks from hubby's parents. We got to see my family, too.
It was a great trip (and very rushed) other than my oldest son and I getting food poisoning the last night in Texas. Poor hubby had to drive almost the whole way home himself (1200 miles), since Christopher and I were too sick to help drive.
As soon as we got back, our oldest son finished packing up his stuff and hauled it to a storage room. Our oldest son then flew off to Alaska to spend the summer with our youngest son and his family, to help with their side business.
Since we were traveling, and packing (and recovering from being sick) not a lot of stitching went on the last half of May. My RSC19 May/orange blocks were not even started. I DID get some machine quilting done on the String Star wall hanging before we left for Texas.
Linda at Art in Search blog mentioned a way to make sure your quilts lay flat when they are done. You use 1/4" twill tape along the edges before you stitch on the binding. This will keep you from 'stretching' the binding too tight and making the sides of the quilt wave. I decided to try this.
It worked great! Thanks Linda! My wall hanging lays flat.
I took some up close photos of my machine quilting. I used the walking foot. I'm not any good at free motion.
Of course, no quilt is finished until the label is attached. I'm not good at attaching labels, but, I found the perfect one for this quilt. Kevin taught the class, and Kevin loves his chickens, so, when I saw this label, I knew it was 'the one' for this quilt.
Two other ladies from the class also had their String Star quilts finished for Show-N-Tell last night at quilt guild (several ladies were out of town). What a fun class!
We went to Texas to celebrate hubby's mother's 80th Birthday. All her kids, grandkids and her 2 great grandbaby's were all there. I didn't take but a few photos while I was there.
 |
| our granddaughter and my hubby |
We are lucky in the fact that my mother lives 4 blocks from hubby's parents. We got to see my family, too.
 |
| my son, my mother and my granddaughter |
It was a great trip (and very rushed) other than my oldest son and I getting food poisoning the last night in Texas. Poor hubby had to drive almost the whole way home himself (1200 miles), since Christopher and I were too sick to help drive.
As soon as we got back, our oldest son finished packing up his stuff and hauled it to a storage room. Our oldest son then flew off to Alaska to spend the summer with our youngest son and his family, to help with their side business.
Since we were traveling, and packing (and recovering from being sick) not a lot of stitching went on the last half of May. My RSC19 May/orange blocks were not even started. I DID get some machine quilting done on the String Star wall hanging before we left for Texas.
Linda at Art in Search blog mentioned a way to make sure your quilts lay flat when they are done. You use 1/4" twill tape along the edges before you stitch on the binding. This will keep you from 'stretching' the binding too tight and making the sides of the quilt wave. I decided to try this.
 |
| stitching 1/4" twill tape on the edges of the quilt |
It worked great! Thanks Linda! My wall hanging lays flat.
 |
| finished String Star quilt |
I took some up close photos of my machine quilting. I used the walking foot. I'm not any good at free motion.
Of course, no quilt is finished until the label is attached. I'm not good at attaching labels, but, I found the perfect one for this quilt. Kevin taught the class, and Kevin loves his chickens, so, when I saw this label, I knew it was 'the one' for this quilt.
 |
| Rooster quilt label |
Two other ladies from the class also had their String Star quilts finished for Show-N-Tell last night at quilt guild (several ladies were out of town). What a fun class!
Great finish....love the cute label. Lots of great stitching too. Glad the trip was good , but sorry to hear about the food poisoning. That is rough to get past.
ReplyDeleteYou and your hubby must have been High School Sweethearts. Love that you can visit both sides with one long trip. Ours are all over - even some in the UK!
ReplyDeleteGot your star all done already... grass does not grow on you!
Hugs
Great tip about the twill tape! I'm going to remember this one.
ReplyDeleteWow, food poisoning. Ugly stuff. Had it once at one of those taste of the town restaurant events. Never again. I did find the twill tape works. I got the tip from David Taylor at his lecture at Quilt Festival. I found a source to buy it in bulk pretty cheap. I don't have waves in the edges of the quilt when I use it properly (all parallel sides cut exactly the same measurement). Glad you got to meet up with family who lives so far.
ReplyDeleteAwe your grand daughter is so very cute. Food poisoning....yikes. What fun to spend time with the family all together. Your quilt looks gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWow, you never stop, running from one thing to the next. The pictures are lovely. I hope before the month is out I will have some family time to share.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you find time to work on quilts. The quilting of that star is terrific.
I'm glad you are feeling better and had such a good visit with family. That is a brilliant idea about the twill tape, and your little quilt (and label) are so cute!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry you got food poisoning, been there done that and it is NO FUN! Your string star is gorgeous, the more I see straight line quilting the more in love with it I am!
ReplyDeletesorry about the food poisoning. Your quilt looks great. I have looked at mine a couple of times I am not use to not stitching the edges before quilting. I like how you quilted yours then I can stitch the edges. Have not touched the other class project.
ReplyDeleteWe had one particular drive in OK when we saw MULTIPLE tornadoes dropping in the distance. Not too terrifying for a KS girl but still a sight to see! Other than getting sick, sounds like a great trip and wonderful to catch up with family! I'm with Kevin--I'm in on the chickens as well. Great quilting!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, LOVE your Rainbow String Star!!! Thanks for passing along the twill tape tip. Say THAT five times, fast!
ReplyDeleteWow you packed a lot into May!!! The straight quilting added dimension to the string star for sure. Labels are another fun area to experiemnent and have some fun... Often hidden from view... but can add a real element of surprise to a quilt! When I have time I love to play with them. I'll share a few in August.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about the sickness. Your quilt is so pretty!
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl, your string star is gorgeous! I love those colours and the background. Thanks for sharing with us the tip for the binding. I'll have to give that a try. Hope you're recovering well - what a rough way to finish the trip! Thanks so much for linking up to Free Motion Mavericks.
ReplyDeleteHello Cheryl, Love the photo of your husband and granddaughter! It sounds like a great get together for your family. I'm gasping at the distance your husband had to drive. If we go 150 miles we are halfway across the country and thinking about an overnight stop.
ReplyDeleteThank you for linking to the 300 week linky!
Love, Muv