I Have a Little Wii Knee.... ;D

I am never going to get tired of that! never! I know it's totally stupid, but I cannot get over it.
Careful coz I am gonna try and teach it to your kids. :0

I finished my baby quilt, I just need to bind it and wash it, then it will be ready. I Mctavished the interior, left the center square unquilted, and quilted a feather wreath around the border.
I'm getting a bunch ready to put on my etsy. I got my samples back so those are gonna get washed and are going too.

see cute PIRATE DOGS!! How cute is that??
A few days ago we bought a Wii, my friends have them, I keep hearing about it and the lady in the Social Security Office waiting room raved about her Big Brain game and I wanted it for my mother. I have never had a game system before, ever. I always thought it was the sole dominion of boys, stoners or "dirty hairs". I don't have any kids, so I never really "got" the game thing.
Okay, I get it now!! omg! how fun is this?? We got Mario Cart and I am driving around a little track. I have been bowling, playing tennis, baseball.. fun Fun Fun! seriously Fun... but I have a little Wii Knee... So when you see me, be sure and ask me "hey Rachel howz your Wii knee?"
over at dioramarama she learned to longarm, and my friend Lori came over to quilt for charity on my Handi-Quilter Sweet 16.
I thought I would show you how I set it up so I can quit 2 tops on the same back and save time by basting onto my leader.
Let me say first that I use 108" wide backing whenever possible so that I baste that selvage edge to my leaders.
First I place sticky back velcro to my on my rollers- both types. I sew velcro onto my leaders. It comes as a set and I use it all. I have several sets of leaders, so I can baste several backs at one sitting.
I also have lots of small 60" single leaders to baste/pin tops to if I want. Mostly for charity I float the tops, for pay I pin, and for me I baste.
Here is a pic of the sewn velcro and the velcro on the roller.

here is a pic of basted edge:

I baste using the longest stitch on my machine. I pin from the center out in a few places and -ALWAYS- sew with the leader on the bottom from the edge! If you didn't want to baste this system works great for pinned backs too ... because you can pin anywhere.. and slap it on the rollers later.
I used to rent time on a longarm and wasted so much money "pinning on" to their leaders, and daydreaming about a better way to do it....
For passage, all our kits finish at 48"x 60" so I set up my backing like so:

I cut several backing and battings at once. After I quilt my 2 quilts I have some inches left over, not more than eight usually. I practice something I want to try in this space, sometimes it works sometimes it's sucky. Sometimes I don't practice and the "binders" use it for binding.
Here's a practice example: More here....
If I prepare the day before I can do 8-12 quilts in a day. I usually do 2-6 in a half day, so I can do other things. This weekend I did 4 quilts, and still played a ton! I love this system I hope if your a quilter, you will be inspired to do a little charity quilting for fun and for practice.

okay enough from me!
oh, yeah.. I have been looking around and if you like my blog, please add it to your list, I don't think I'm on any lists, I always look. or send me mail and tell me why. I bet it's coz I'm too new...
Quilters Rock!

I am the Karate Kid!

Well, as you know I got the new handles and have been practicing. Did you see Karate Kid?
Mr. Miyagi said "Wax on, right hand. Wax off, left hand. Wax on, wax off. Breathe in through nose, out the mouth. Wax on, wax off. Don't forget to breathe, very important."
That's is what I am doing! I spin the circle(wax on), then spin out(wax off), making sure that I have my hands correctly placed and I try to be "even". I have been doing practice on passage quilts, and trying to remember to breathe. wax on.
Today I realized my hands were very sore from holding the handles in a "death grip". Deep breath and relax - wax off.

The great thing about the handles is that I have the control knobs right done by the quilt top.
wax on - that gives me the ability to be more precise- wax off - I am hoping to learn to McTavish - wax on- now that my hands are closer to the needle-wax off .

My upper arms hurt, hands hurt, but these hours have been good learning, I feel much more balanced.wax on- wax off - remember to breathe.

We are no longer alone. When we first moved in, we had no neighbors- no one across the street- just one family behind us. They got divorced and moved out. We were alone. In the past few weeks 3 new families have moved in around us and behind us we got "intel interns". I have always been jealous of the ladies a street over- they all moved in around the same time, they all know each other, they are all blonde, they look so darn cozy.. .. hummph. Part of me is so excited to have neighbors... I hope they like me.
Quilters Rock!

makes me so crazy!!

I made mention on a couple of blogs - quilters gallery (see badge) and TallPrairieStudio - she is a great quilter and her blog is pretty awesome so go check it out. Check her out on flickr too. The talent is amazing! Hi Jackie! *frantic wave*

Below is a pictue of a quilt, I made it 2 years ago at a retreat with the BBClub. Since that time, our Queen has cut several dozen kits, quilters have generously donated time, assembled them, quilted them and bound them. The Patterns For Passage System is based on a 12" block and 6 inch borders. 12 blocks and borders make a 48x60" quilt everytime. Based on variations of the 9 patch or 4.5" thirds we have several kits we make, and people can sign them out at a local store, bring them back, and its a mitzvah all the way around. Who makes what and who quilts what gets pretty anonymous and I like that.
Back when we first started making kits we got in trouble for photcopying other peoples patterns and needed to make our own. Hence, the P4PSystem.

I love working Passage. I love making quilts for people I will never know. I love the people I have met, the friends I have made, and the skills I have learned. I never think of my enemies, but my "Frenemy" drives me insane! Every couple of months she pops up and wrecks havoc with sanity and my ego. I hate how easily I react!
Change of subject!!!
Tuesdays I go to Farmers Market! I like to get mini pies. they are called "All Mine". I also get vegetables and berries.

I am quilting a lot lately. I finished quilting The Calico Cat passage quilt and am doing practice on the left over backing. When I get it off the machine I will take pictures..

GIVE AWAY!! In honor of the quilting of the Rolling Pin tops this month... I am giving away a copy of the Rolling Pins Pattern. Leave a comment to be entered, it runs till Monday the 21st of July (10 days)

All About Eve!

All about Eve is on TCM tonight. I didn't "get" this movie till I was about 35. Its fricken Brilliant!
Miss Davis' gowns are by Edith Head and Marilyn Monroe is in it. So great!
I am quilting for Passage all week, quilts are due Friday. I'm feeling really good and connected to passage again.
While I am busy hit www.patchmenagerie.blogspot.com to see a tutorial I found. It is brilliant!
Did you see me listed over at whipup.net?? I was very excited! my Bali-PopTutorial got mentioned in "craftapoloza" with a photo! hooray!!
Feeling Bette Davis evil?? Have a glance at awfulplasticsurgery.com or PerezHilton.com
Feeling Eve evil try www.passiveaggressivenotes.com
Back to the movie!
Quilters Rock!

Getting Back to the Fun!

Jacquie won the Q-tools! Hurray and its in the mail!
Marsha got a couple of Fat Quarters from Batik Textiles!
and Michele got some Japanese charms and a pen.. hmm that sounds lame but they are cute!
That was my first give-away and it seems like I should have figured out that I need to post a lovely picture and story of give away and then people will comment. duh!
So after the holiday I will totally do another one, I need to learn how to blog it right! Practice.

I worked on my HST quilt top but I have lost all enthusiasm for it. I want to make another of this type! A 9Patch-Snowball!

This one I made for passage a couple of years ago and it was one of my first long arm attempts.
I made a couple actually, this one with a white background and finished edge points, this black one:

I didn't do the edge and I think it was much less interesting. I did another (no pic) that was calico background and I liked it a lot.

Heres one I did for my DH, this picture is cute but in real life it's lacking something. I think making the background a mid tone and using everything in the 9P/SBs was a mistake.
So I want to try this again...
I really should be quilting, but I am still not feeling it. Lately, I have been feeling that I have totally gotten lost in the "business" of quilting. I really like the "service" of quilting and only started the "business" to help me pay for the "service" part, now I feel like I spend so much less time on the "service" part. So I am refocusing! Service anyone?