New toy

Just look what came home with me today - a Janome Horizon 7700:

I haven't sewn a stich on it yet, reads the manual and will watch the instruction DVD in just a while. But it does look fancy, doesn't it? Can hardly wait to try it out, but it's so different from the Janome 6600MC so I think I better learn a bit first. One thing that really bothers me is - where do you put larger spools of thread???

Winter struck again yesterday and it was chaos everywhere - there wasn't a single bus in traffic anywhere in the Stockholm area and the commuter trains was at least one hour late. In these circumstances I had to go and pick up the big car from it's beauty treatment out in the near countryside. But - I managed and got home in one piece. Today it look like this:

The kids have gone down town on their own for the very first time. Sam is going to ask around for a PRAO place (heaven knows what that is in English) and brought John with him. Ack how fast they grow up LOL.

Now DVD time.

What to do?

Now that the DWR is finished and left in my MIL's care, I am (as always) at loss what to do. I know, I know - I ought to sit down and finish the cover for the headboard of our bed, but honestly, I'm not really up to it. New placemats (here you can hear me giggle maniacally...you can never in your wildest dreams imagine what the automatic spellcheck came up with instead of placemats? Placentas!!!!!)
Booring! Try to understand the pattern and instruction for that smallish cosmetics bag? My brain feel fried at the moment :-( New covers for the pillows we have in the sofa? Hmmmmm, might sink my teeth into some of the blocks in the Japanese Block Design book. The last fabrics I ordered are quite Asian decorative. But right now I think I need some Treo for the pain in my head.

Outside it's snowing again....gahhhh and here I was hoping for spring;-) I have driven my car up to the garage that will give it some cosmetic surgery and went back home on the commuter train. The dogs are so happy I'm back again (usually never leave them home alone twice in a day), that they are snuggled up close to me on the bed:-)

Finished DWR

I swear, this is the last time I'm ever going to be sewing under duress and stress....as the spouse of one of the more heavy duty PLs in his field, I ought to have had a better project plan LOL. I don't know about you, but for me there is never enough of the right fabric in my stash or it might be missing completely. This time I had to order backing from TOB and that Fusions for the border from Hancocks of Paducah.  Plus add the fact that I do suck at the actual quilting. I do have been getting better at sandwiching, but I doubt very much I ever manage to get to Huston standard when it comes to quilting in this lifetime.

This quilt is appr. 120cm wide and 230cm long and wringing it through the Janome 6600 is such a drag that I once again question my sanity when it comes to these matters LOL. Oh my how I long for a state of the art long arm quilt machine - one where you set the measurements and quiltdesigns in some nifty computerprogram, transfer it all to the LA and then set it at go.......If there ever is such a magic machine, they surely don't sell theme here in Sweden , the market is just to small :-(

But here it is, my latest creation - the DWR for my darling MIL

Friday I had to take the day of from work , so I had two days for sewing like crazy. I do not know why, but the blue borders lengthwise came out all wobbly, so when I added the binding it all came out of a skew. So off with it and think long and hard and came up with folding the backing over the front and it did help. I did had enough time at home to finish the top and bottom bindings, so I brought needle and thread and completed it all at my MILs. Arwen my sweetie, just had to check it out and give her approval LOL.


Now if a quilter looked at this bedspread close up she/he would faint cause the seamstressship ain't that good in the inserts and borders - but the actual ringed top is very ok. My MIL just called and told me that she had put it on her bed and it is so beautiful - like a jewel :-D And was so in awe for all the time and effort I have put in to it and then - it's all worth it.

I have no clue on what project to start on next, except for a small padded drawstring bag for a part of the DHs helmet cam. But today I' just going to take it easy and maybe, just maybe clean up my sewing stuff.

It's a beautiful winter day here in Sweden :-)

Wolfie

New arrivals

While I shopped fabric for borders and backing for the DWR, I couldn't help but to buy some other bits of fabrics as well. A stash can never get to large IMHO .

As with many of my purchases, they are bought just cause I like them, not that I have any particular project in mind. But I'm pretty sure they will find their proper place one of these days.

DWR part V - need more help help help help he......

I think I must be more confused than ever since I posted this on my NP blog...

Well now it's in it's right place and this is it:
I have finished piecing the DWR top, all them little melon wedges and centre pieces sewn together. I can't remember that I ever pinned and ripped seams apart as much as I have done the last week. And even after all that ripping and re-sewing, what did I find when I put the top up on the wall??? Two pieces of the four diamonds (the multicolored bits) are puckered, some sewn wrinkles and need to be re-done.

But now I really need some help from those of you who have done DWR quilts and didn't make a scalloped edge. This is what my top looks like so far:

And in the green frame the multicolored "diamonds", along the edges only three parts of one since that's the way the pattern/rings comes together. I have added one diamond to see if the edge can be evened out, but no such luck.

The thing is that I want to add a border of the Robert Kaufman fusion fabric that is on it's way from California and I can't for the life of my understand how I'm going to fit that in with the scalloped edge? I mean, there is no seam allowance that can be used for applique (horror among horrors, imagine appliqueing all them borders into the Kaufman fabric) and I can't cut the borders cause then the rings would be amputated :-(

So my dear follow quilters - how is this solved? Anyone who experienced this? Anyone who knows of a web source that describe how you work this out? All in all - HEEEELLLPPPPPP.

I need to get this quilt done with within the next two weeks, since I want to be able to give it to my wonderful MIL as my "house warming" gift to her the second next Saturday.

Believe it or not, but it's raining outside. Sam braved the elements (hip deep snow and rain) and went out to the RV and fetched all ACDC cds which he now have copied to his cellphone. He's now sitting at the dining rooms table doing schoolwork, singing along in his own hard rocking world LOL.

Secrets

I don't know about you, but for me there are some secrets I find it darned hard no to tell. Or more correctly, there are coming events that there is no need talking about in advance, in case they don't come through. And I have such a secret, a very humonguos large one that make want to jump up and down and scream "know what!!"and I can't tell a single soul. Not eve the DH who I normally tell most my secrets too;-P Not that anyone told me not to spill the beans, this secret is mine and mine alone and if it goes through, I'm going over different scenarios in my head on how to spring it to the family. And they are the only ones I can tell when time comes.....Cryptic, yup more than anyone ever could imagine and I swear, my mind spins. As fast as the wheels on the little Honda when driven through large piles of slush in our neibourhood.

"Steer Woolfie, steer"was all I could think, but when you go downhill you have to use the breaks - don't you?? Ack, my poor easily scared driving soul - my heart went not only into double gear, but surely thirdly and even more. But I did manage to get home without getting stuck or sliding of the street. Never thought it was possible, but holy cow how much I miss the large car that is in the shop for some beauty treatment. Hmm, well at least restoration, me and that car had an encounter with one of the pillars in the garage at work some weeks before Christmas. A garage that I and many with me wonder what kind of stupid architect has designed.  9 stories high where the enter and exit ramps are the same and the bends between every 1/2 floors are tighter than a hen's patootie and I'm not the first nor will be the last, who's car got scraped.

Fed up with cooking the same food every two weeks or so, I found some new recipes so today we are having homemade goulash soup, which take like forever to make but it probably will be delish. I do need to sew some on the DWR, but honestly I think I need to rest a bit before I have to help Sam with his homework. What evil minded teacher gives out homework on the first day after Christmas leave one might wonder? The kids need time to adjust to reality if you ask me LOL.

DWR part IV - need help

This is not the finished quilt , it's just the left row that is assembled, the rest are pieced pieces LOL pinned to my very rudimentary design wall. After putting it up there I realized that I had used the wrong melon wedges for the right side of the circles, so there I was again working with my trusted friend Mr Ripper;-)

After finishing that first row, I realized yet one more thing - the half bits of the inner pieces (of-white ones) I had cut to fit into the place where the red arrows are, don't fit when the blocks are turned this way (according to the description I had) and not the way I had pinned them at first. No matter how I turn these bits or the inner pieces, the simply don't fit.

The thing is - I do not want a scalloped edge but a blue border from Kaufman Fusions, because I think it' a nicer finishing touch than scallops. Oh don't get me wrong, I do love scallops in their right places, but IMHO they don't fit in with this scheme.

So dear sweet readers - do you have any idea on what shape of white  I can use to make the edges even?? I thought about getting some white paper underneath and outline, but somewhere in the back of me head a nagging voice say "you can bet your sweet patootie that your edges aren't even. Hmmmmm I might have to outline each and everyone of these???? Thank heave my MIL isn't moving until in 3 weeks:-D