Busy

I've been so busy the last two weeks that I haven't had a chance to rest. Not that it's a bad thing...I'm just ragged around the edges. :)

Here's what's taken up so much of my time recently: the New Orleans Civic Symphony had two concerts last week and the Tulane Symphony has a performance Thursday night. This means the hour drive to New Orleans for rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and performances. I also did a wedding gig in the French Quarter on Friday. I love it though. :)

I also finished the "Spring in the 70's" quilt. Though a friend told me I should call it "Psychotic 70's". lol. All that's left to do is wash the quilt to bring out the crinkly goodness and then gift it to the recipient. I'm not sure I want to gift it now though, I've secretly begun to love it. I might make myself one, but use vintage linens instead of the Kaffe Fassett.

If anyone is interested - each patch in the giant nine patch squares are 4" finished (so the nine patch blocks are 12" finished), the sashing is 2" finished, and the border is 6" finished. The finished quilt is 66"x80". It was a quick and easy quilt top to put together and I'm loving the results. :)

Quilting Frame

OK, Jim this post is just for you...because I love you like that!

This is my B-Line quilting frame. Bran bought it for me last year - and I LOVE it. My only complaint is that the throat of my machine is too small, so when I get to the bottom edge of the quilt the rows of free motion are much much more narrow than the top. (This isn't the fault of the frame though, it means I need to get a new sewing machine with a wider throat.) This really bothered me at first, but once the quilt is finished and washed it's much harder to see the little narrow rows.

There are three bars. One for all three layers of the quilt, one for the quilt top, and one for the quilt bottom. I actually got a 4th bar for "free" that's intended for the batting, but it's actually just as easy to let the batting sit in a pile on the floor.

All three layers of the quilt top (at the top of the quilt) are pin basted to a leader that is attached to the bar that sits within the machine's throat. Then the top is pin basted (at the bottom of the quilt) to a leader. And the quilt bottom (at the bottom of the quilt) is pin basted to another leader. This makes up all three bars. Using the bars you create tension on the quilt from top to bottom.

The clamps are used to create tension from side to side. No basting, pin or otherwise, is needed on the sides, though I find that a couple of pins on each side helps.

The sewing machine sits in what I call the cradle. The cradle is two parts. The top part sits on wheels and rails that run vertically and the bottom part sits on wheels and rails that run horizontally along the length of my dining room table.

You attach your sewing machine's foot pedal to the side and squeeze it with your hand to run the machine. This actually bothers my wrist quite a bit so I only do one or two passes at a time and rest. I could quilt an entire quilt top in a day if I really really really wanted too...but I usually spend 4-5 days working to give my hand and wrist a break. I think they sell some kind of button you could use instead of squeezing the foot pedal, but I'm cheap. lol.

You mentioned that you were doing some free motion without a frame. I actually liked doing it that way better, but I didn't like that my quilt back would shift around and I'd get these big folded pieced of back that I couldn't fix or "ease" in. I still do baby quilts without the frame though, but I spray baste baby quilts. The best piece of advice I got for quilting without the frame was to wear gardening gloves. The little stickiness on the finger pads of the gloves make manipulating the material around much easier. Oh, and another good tip was to increase the top thread tension as well.

Regardless, you should come visit me down here in the South and play with my toys!

Proof Positive

Proof positive that I actually got this quilt on the frame and it's being quilted. Yes, I actually got to the next step with this quilt instead of starting another project. :) I went to my local quilt shop on Wednesday and bought the backing and binding material. I always buy more than I need when I'm there, I'm sure I'm not the only one who does this... I got a layer cake and some other little goodies.

After I'm done quilting this quilt I've got four others that need to be quilted as well. I may just leave the sewing machine where it is and start quilting at least one more of those quilt tops that are sitting there waiting. But, I've got this Halloween quilt idea in my head...

Spring in the 70's

I've completed the quilt top I started this week. I'm kinda liking it! Bran loves it. It looks like a giant spring Easter egg from the 70's. OK, I've got to admit this quilt is growing on me, and it was super fast to piece! I'm thinking about trying to put together my own tutorial for the quilt top. Sounds like a lot of work though, lol. Actually, I think I could do it - it would be the figuring out the yardage that would be the hard part for me. I always just fly by the seat of my pants as far as purchasing my own fabrics and the one time I actually tried to figure yardage for a project I was short. Way short. lol. Maybe I'll give the tutorial a try after I've completed the quilt. Tomorrow I'm going to get this quilt top on the quilting frame and start quilting. I promise not to be distracted by new ideas or other UFOs...maybe. :)

More Quilting Fun

OK, so I haven't gotten any of my quilt tops on the quilting frame. Is anyone really surprised? And, is anyone surprised that I've started a new quilt top? I purchased this fabric months ago with a very special someone in mind. The fabric was calling my name. Screaming my name... telling me I HAD to start cutting and sewing. lol.

Here's the plan: giant nine patches of Kaffe Fassett sashed in off white. I've got 5 of the 20 blocks completed and by tomorrow night I should have all the blocks finished. The finished quilt will be around 60x80. I know it's pretty big, but I figure if you're gonna make a quilt you might as well be able to sleep under it. :)

Meanwhile...I'm working on the quilt I started with Jim back in November and have at least four completed quilt tops waiting to be quilted.

Evelyn Boyet's Photos

I'm scanning Mimi's photos a little at a time. Some of the photos may not be anything that anyone wants, but I'm not making that decision. The decision of what you'd like to have is entirely up to you.

Every one of the photos I've scanned are in a Collection on my Flickr account called "Evelyn Boyet's Photos". That collection is divided into 11 sets:

1. Family - any family members not covered by other sets
2. Evelyn and Charles - photos that contain either Evelyn or Charles
3. Charlotte - photos that contain Charlotte or her family
4. Ginger - photos that contain Ginger or her family
5. Diane - photos that contain Diane or her family
6. Lurtie - photos that contain Lurtie or the Percy family
7. Snapshots
8. Trips
9. Friends - photos of people other than family
10. Unidentified People - I apologize for not knowing everyone in the family and also of not always being able to distinguish between the three sisters when they're under the age of 20. Hopefully, with help, I can get these unidentified people sorted into their respective sets.
11. Evelyn Boyet's Photos - a set that includes every photo in the collection

As of March 23, 2010 I've scanned and uploaded 300 photos and I am nowhere close to finishing. I'll continue to update the Collection and sets as I scan and upload the photos.

Instructions for saving the files you want directly from Flickr:

• Go to my Flickr collection titled "Evelyn Boyet's Photos"
• Select the set you would like to view
• All the photos in the set will be displayed as a thumbnail. For a better viewing size of the photos in the set select "Detail" from the menu under the set title.

• Select the photo you'd like to download
• Select "All Sizes" from the menu above the photo

• Select the size you'd like to download from the available sizes
• Select "Download the [whatever] size"
• This will open a file download window, select "Save"
• Choose where you'd like the photo to be saved on your computer and click save

If you'd like a large group of photos, please let me know and I will burn you a disc (or discs) with the photos you'd like to have. Either let me know which entire set(s) you want or which individual photos by number. Please do not request this until the entire collection of photos have been scanned and uploaded.

Flickr Account Hijacked

My Flickr account has been hijacked! No no - it hasn't been hacked, it's been taken over by my husband's family. It's a good thing - for them, not so much for my photo stream. Bran's grandmother moved into an assisted living facility almost a year ago. The house she lived in she'd been in for 90 years. You read that right, 90 years. She grew up in the house, rented the house from her mother, and finally raised her own family in the house. It is beyond amazing to me that anyone would stay one exact location for that long. Talk about comfort zone.

When Bran and I were at her house helping, his aunt began pulling boxes and photo albums full of photos out. We agreed to scan the photos for the family. Little did I know what kind of work I was getting myself into. Anyone who thinks that Bran was going to scan the photos is kidding themselves - I'm the one who gets things done. lol. He's a good man, and he does plenty - and I mean PLENTY around here. (He vacuums, shampoos carpets, oils wood furniture! - I mean really he's a catch.) But he's not good with the long term projects. That's were I come in. I'm the queen of spending an hour a week on something until it's done.

So, slowly, the photos are being scanned. And, slowly, I'm uploading batches to my Flickr account. Sharing them there is really the easiest I think. Not everyone is going to want all the photos, and Flickr will allow family members to download the ones they want, or send them directly to be printed. In the meantime there are going to be big chunks of my husband's family in my photo stream.

Here's a cute snap from her set: Mimi at Disneyland 1970