Some cool new coming your way!

Good morning,
This is just a quick post to let you know about a couple of things I have in the works, stay tuned for more information later this weekend...

But for now a quick preview...

First off, Oh my gosh I have reached 10,000 hits on my blog!!! Holy smoly I never in my life thought I would see that many hits on my counter, especially since I have only been blogging for year now, and only seriously since last May or so! And I did not think to put a counter on till October!!! So that is 10,000 visits since October!!! I feel loved! LOL.

So to celebrate Ten Thousand, I am going to be doing another (smaller) give away, I will be posting the information on that soon, probably Monday as I want to get pictures of what I am giving away!

I will also be posting about a deal I have in the works with Sue from Suzy Q Quilter and Doodling Designs. (http://www.doodlingdesigns.com/order.html )I am in the process of setting up a lending library for the wonderful templates I was telling you all about last week. If you can not wait till Monday to find out more, Email me @ pamperedginny@aol.com and I will tell you all about it! (yes this is a different email than I normally use) I will be using this for the lending library just to make things easier for me.

So, be sure to stop in on Monday to hear about all of the fun coming up!
Till then, have a wonderful weekend!
Ginny

Oh my aching back!

Like the title says Oh my aching back!!!

For the last couple of years we have played with the idea of putting in a vegetable garden, we had one years ago but it went bye bye when we put in the hot tub (oh am I glad we have that hot tub)

So we finally did it we built a smallish raised bed and I will get to grow fresh veggies again!

It took us a little bit to remove all of the sod, we had cut and rolled about 100 square feet of sod!

Here is Morgen hard at work, as we dumped the dirt, she leveled in and raked it out, you can see how nice the added soil is, our soil here is mostly sand so the added compost is much needed. Stuart, Torrie and I shoveled and hauled 8 thousand pounds (4 yards) of dirt in about an hour and a half. Yep I am a bit sore, but not as bad as I had feared, as you can see I am really super fit and trim, I do heavy lifting all the time NOT!!! I do give credit to that hot tub, we soaked for a bit last night before bed.I got up this morning and planted, I have a small herb garden in one corner, corn in another 16 stalks if they all come up, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, peppers (they do great here because of the heat) garlic and onions. That was all I could fit into my little space. Oh and location, right in front of my sewing room, so when I look out the window I will look right on to my little garden!!!

I will post pictures as it grows! (assuming it actually grows)

Well, that's it for now, not a stitch sewn, but a lot sown LOL, Oh I kill my self I am so funny!

Take care and hope you all had a wonderful weekend, I am off for another soak in the tub!

Ginny

Fabric Wrap Tutorial

Good Morning,

Recently I posted on a Yahoo group on how I store and organize my fabric. Well, I have gotten a couple of emails asking for more details. That led to an offer to do a quick photo tutorial on how I wrap and mark my fabric for storage. So, here is is...

Things you will need:

Cutting mat to measure the fabric before I wrap it.

Fabric of course

A 6" acrylic ruler
(OK so mine is a 5" ruler, I use a 5" for my wraps because my shelves are exactly 12" wide and if I use a 6" I can not fit a double stack of fabric on the shelves. I suggest a 6" because that is what most people have, I have not idea where I got the 5" wide ruler, I have NEVER been able to find another!)

Pins, Pen and Paper to mark fabric size once you are all wrapped up, or you can just do like I do and count folds.

Step 1, measure length of fabric, this was 2 yards.


Step 2 take folded fabric (like it came off the bolt) and fold length wise one more time fold to selvage you should end up with a long narrow piece of fabric that measures approximately 11" x length of fabric in my case 2 yards.


It should look like this, I lay it out across the table if it is just me, if Torrie is helping she holds it taught on the other end. When working with long pieces of fabric 6 more yards, I highly recommend a second person to help it makes a huge difference on how easy the material wraps.



Now we wrap, place your ruler on the end of the fabric nice and straight.



Make your first fold over the ruler.



And wrap, wrap, wrap, I like a nice tight wrap.

This is what it should look like when you are done wrapping.


And this is what it looks like from the end. I actually don't mark the yardage I find it easier to put the wrapped fabric on the shelf with this end out, then if I need to know how much is there I just count the layers and calculate out the amount.

The ruler just slides right out!

And you have one nice and neat bundle of fabric!
Now if you want write the yardage and pin it in place.

And this is what it looks like when you are done. Each opening measures 12" x 12" I have nothing smaller than 1 yard on these shelves and in some cases as much as 15 yards of fabric, although they are at the bottom and you can not see this in this picture, they tend to take up a lot of room. You can see what I mean about double stacking the fabric. And yes this is my entire stash minus the Minkee, the flannel and my fat quarters, they are folded and stored in plastic tubs on another shelf next to this one. Well, I hope you all found this helpful. Please feel free to ask any questions.

Have a great day!

Ginny

Oddles of Quilts to Share!

Good Afternoon,

While I wait for Nikki over at Blah Blah Blah Blog http://nikkicrumpet.blogspot.com/ to get done with her visit with her friend... and post her next I Wish Wednesday... which by the way is the funniest thing in the world and always makes me laugh. (warning, Nikki's blog tends to be rather "adult" in nature, you may not want you kids looking over your shoulder when you first go there)

I thought I would share a little of what I have been finishing. After extensive playing around with my new templates, tons of quilting and experimenting I have some finished quilts to share.

Now three of the four quilts are really small baby quilts, they only measure 45 x 45 inches. I am not sure what I will do with them now that they are done, I will probably put two of the three in my Etsy shop and try to sell them, I was very pleased with how they turned out. If they do not sell, then eventually I will then donate them to a children's group, either Project Linus, or since Torrie was talking about sewing for Blankets of Love again this summer we may just hold on to them until she decides where the Blankets of Love will be going this year. And like I told her Hurricane season is not to far off....

So with out further ado, my newest creations.... I will try to keep the descriptives down as there are a ton of pictures LOL.

This one is just a simple dragon and flames.

A close up of the quilting, there are spirals in the dragon blocks, and 8 pointed stars in the triangle blocks.And this is a shot of the back, I used the dragon fabric on the back since it was so cut up on the front, makes it a fun little quilt.This one is one of my favorites, I am not a horse person, but I like it. It turned out really nice.If you look closely you can see each of the triangle blocks are quilted with stars, and where the points meet (and they lined up beautifully on this one) I put a cute little white ribbon 5 pointed "snowflake" since the horses are in a winter sceneAnd this is the back, a similar fabric, same maker same horses, just not the same scene as the front. Morgen laughed at the green horses, the white horses, actually look green on the fabric.This quilt is my absolute favorite! It is so soft, I used Minkee for the pink triangles and I have to say, this was the first time I have ever sew and quilted on Minkee, I will be doing many more of these! It was not easy to sew as it slides, but it quilted like a dream! (I did notice the picture is a bit dark, this is a bright baby pink)Here is a close up of the quilting, I used my new hearts template and the spiral, did I mention that I love them!!!! I also hand stitched tiny satin rose buds in the center of each heart and on each corner of the quilt! I took this for show and tell last night to quilt group, there is a lady who brings her now 10 month old baby, the baby loved this quilt, rubbed it with her fingers then started playing with the rose buds, it was so cute!This last quilt is a bit of a sampler, I had some left over blocks from when I did a quilt for my niece this last Christmas, so I made a smaller version of her quilt, (I just loved the colors and pattern) So, I got to play a bit, I used various designs from the different templates on the boarders, and I used the long 4' leave pattern on the body of the quilt, so it looks like I have vines climbing the rails. On the side boarders I played a little bit, I practiced long rows of hooky feathers.... still need more practice, but getting better.

And on this side I played with the Clam shell template I got from Doodling Designs. Again, I still need to practice, but this is the first time I have had clam shells actually look OK! And since this was just a practice piece, I am happy with it.So that's it, I am back to purse making later this week, working on a custom back pack for a friend, and then I think I am going to do a couple of Yin Yang bags.

Till then, I need to go check in on my poor lonely Bags n Rags blog, I have been terribly neglectful of it lately.

Have a wonderful day,

Ginny

Poppin in to clear up some confusion.

Good evening,
Well, after receiving a couple of emails asking for more details about the quilting templates that I got from Sue at http://www.doodlingdesigns.com/order.html I thought I would explain them a little better. These wonderful templates are made for use with a long arm quilting machine and frame, the easiest way to explain is in pictures...
Now for those of us who are just hobby quilters, a long arm is pretty much a dream, so I have a short arm machine (9" throat = 4-5" of quilting room) on an old Grace frame. Here are a few pictures of my machine and frame....

I do love my machine, but really want that 15" Bailey's I was talking about in my last post! Oh and I should mention, I do not have a stitch regulator on my machine, just the handi controls.

This is just another shot of my machine, you can see the template on the table, part way under the carriage. You can also see the stylus that you use to trace the template, you simply drop the stylus into the groove and follow the lines!Here is a closer look at the stylus in the groove.And one more while I was actually quilting with it. you may notice the grid on the table, I marked that out in 1 inch increments so I could line up the template, so make sure it was square on the quilt. for the quilt I was working on in these photos, I simply placed the needle in the center of the block I was working on, lined up the template under the stylus, squared it up, and away I go, it took me about 2 hours to do this quilt, I am doing two different repeating patterns, with many starts and stops. But got done fairly quickly.This is a long shot of my frame, you can see the quilt I am working on is not super big, since my frame can handle up to queen size. Before I got my frame it would take me forever to get the darn quilts quilted as I had to baste and sew them at the dining room table I HATED the quilting process... now I LOVE it!!!Anyhow, so that is how you use the templates, If you have a table top machine, then these are not for you, but if you have a frame, and even a short arm like mine (or a long arm) Please check out Sue's site, these really are nice and she has a pretty good selection, and I was amazed at how fast she ships out, now granted, she lives just one state away from me, but I ordered a whole set of templates, and no joke they were here in less than two days!!!!

Oh and I will be posting pictures of the ones that come today, I got 3 of the 4' templates and another 2 footer too!

Well, that's all for tonight, I hope I was able to clear up some confusion.

Nighty Night all,

Ginny

Oh My Gosh! Look what I got from Sue!

Oh My Gosh!!! Look at what I got in the mail!!!!!!

What you may wonder are you looking at?

These are my new Quilting Templates!!!!!!

I use these when I am too lazy to free motion quilt!

And they are wonderful! I have a very short arm machine, and these come in both large and small sizes!

I have searched and searched, and quilting templates for us hobby quilters with short arm machines are few and far between and Very spendy! These, are NOT!

Sue and Art at Suzy Q Quilter http://www.suzyqquilter.com/ or to get to the templates check out http://www.doodlingdesigns.com/order.html

They have a very wide variety of templates ranging from small (4") to large 10" for those of you with the big machines! Plus they have 2" and 4" long templates too!!!

Did I mention they are wonderful! These are just a few of the ones that I got in the mail the other day! I have several more that I picked up at the quilt show for my birthday that I did not photograph because I was to darn lazy to go get from my room!!! But if you all want to see them I will share, mostly hearts and stars!
So, who are Art and Sue? What is Suzy Q Quilter??? Well, meet Art and Sue...
Now, let me tell you a little about Art and Sue, first of all, they are two of the nicest people I have ever met in the quilting world, and as we all now how nice quilters tend to be that say a LOT!

Sue is the kind of lady that you can't help but smile when you are around her, you just get the feeling that if she lived down the street you would be very good friends!

And Art, well Art reminds me a LOT of my darling hubby, very much the same personality, outgoing when needs be, but you just know he would rather be in his shop engineering or making something!

So that is a quick glimpse at Art and Sue, Why you may as am I telling you about these two wonderful folks? Well, like I said, Art and Sue make and sell Suzy Q quilt frames. Now for those of you who are professional long arm quilters, this will mean nothing to you, but for those of you who are hobby quilters like me, I am very impressed and interested in this frame, it is well built, has a lot of the options that we look for in a hobby frame, (I love the easy lift for the take up rail). Now I don't own a Suzy Q frame yet, But, when I save the money to purchase a longer arm quilting machine you can bet the Suzy Q in the frame I will be putting in on!

I do encourage you if you are a hobby quilter like me, want to quilt but just cannot see spending 7 to 10 thousand or more on a quilting machine and frame, Check out Sue's web site http://www.suzyqquilter.com/

Not only do they have their quilt frames for sale, the are also authorized dealers of the Bailey's Home Quilter, the Baileys is a very nice 15" machine, that is made just for us the hobby quilters, they have recently added a stitch regulator, so you can get the machine with the regulator or with out! And check out the package deal they offer.

The 15" Bailey (non regulated) and their 104" frame, for $3350.00!!!! ( a stitch regulator adds about another $700 to the price)

Oh yea, I am all about saving cash!!! Plus like I said before, two of the nicest folks in the quilting world, boy if you have a question or a problem they are right on it!

OK so back to the templates, I have been quilting up a storm ever since I got them, Check out this little Gem....

I made up a couple of small baby size quilts, the block are only 4.5" square, so pretty small, but I did manage to quilt each one. This block got a nice little spiral, quick and easy!
This one got a series of 8 pointed stars, let me tell you stars.. I have never been able to quilt stars! and look at this... How awesome is that!

So, whether you are interested in a home quilting system that can't be beat, or in just adding some templates to your existing system, stop by and say Hi to Sue and Art, place an order, or look for them at some of the west coast quilting shows, they do travel the circuit, Tell them that Ginny sent you! And if you do see them at a show, check out the Bailey's, great machine, great frame, great people!

Happy quilting to all,

Ginny

I have been a Bad Blogger

OK OK so I am sorry I admit it I have been a bad blogger!!!

I have been so busy over the last couple of weeks that I have barely had time to breathe but I am here now and have tons to share!

First of all, my birthday give aways were a blast, thank you all who participated!

I did have a wonderful birthday, spent the day (two actually) shopping with Morgen, she got me at least 50 fat quarters, all of them wonderful!

I had a very nice dinner with Morgen and Hubby, at one of the nicest places in town, with a steak to die for. My only compliant about dinner was when they tried to wedge my fat back side into the little chair with wooden arms, OUCH, I ask to be moved to a booth, there was no way I could manage a couple of house with those arms digging into my thighs!

I took a ton of photos of the most beautiful quilts, we have a lot of very talented quilters in our area.

I will post a slide show at the bottom of this post, look for the picture of Torrie's Bento Box quilt, with the huge ribbon, Yep, she won first place in the juniors division!

And I got to spend time with Art and Sue from the Suzy Q Quilt Frames booth, stay tuned because I will be doing an entire post about Art and Sue, two of the nicest folks in the quilting world!

So, I did not take pictures of all of the quilting goodness that Morgen got me, I will just say that I am now a Fat Quarter Queen, I spent almost the entire week I had off from work in my sewing room, no not quilting, but cleaning and putting things in order and folding fabric, my poor little room had gotten to be quite the mess, so yes mom I cleaned my room!

I am happy it did though, I managed to dig out my quilt frame and play with some of the templates that I got for myself on my birthday, I will talk a bit more about those in my Suzy Q post!

So since I know you guys are just dying to see, here are some of the pictures from the show....

Well, I hope you enjoyed the quilts as much as I did, I promise to be a better blogger this next week!
Till then, have a great day,
Ginny

Another winner... and Cool Pictures of Torrie with a Dolphin!!!

Oh my gosh!!! I have so much to share today, but the best things are coming at you first!!!

We have been getting daily emails from Torrie, she is really enjoying herself in Mexico, the emails are short but sweet, they all are sunburned even with gobs of sunscreen. She says the people keep trying to get them to buy Iguanas and the coolest bit of the whole trip, swimming with the dolphins!

She looks like she is having fun here, so are the girls she is with. From left to right, Torrie, Bergan and Berit.

I have to say, how cool is this picture! She sent Morgen an email that said the dolphin actually kissed her! LOL now I can call her fish lips!

I know this is a trip that she will never forget, I mean how could you! I still miss her a ton and look forward to her coming home. I am glad that they have Internet access so we at least get the emails. Boy is sending her on a week long trip to Mexico is this bad, I am not sure how I will survive college!

OK so, now on to my second bit of cool news, I held all of the birthday drawings and have mailed out the packages, so Missy and Thearica, your big heavy boxes of birthday goodies are on their way!

I also got a nifty birthday gift. Bill and the wonderful folks at USA Sharpeners send me a nice birthday present. I was pleasantly surprised! They sent me a rotary sharpener, a needle sharpener, a spare sent of grinding disks and a lanyard for the needle sharpener!

Thank you Bill for your generosity, you have an amazing product and an amazing company!

So, I do strongly encourage you all, please support these wonderful folks, if you have not done so, check out their website and their product, and save your self tons of money by not purchasing new blades for you rotary cutter, but sharpen your old ones back to new! The web site for the rotary blade sharpener is http://www.usasharpeners.com/

So now for the cool part, since Bill sent me another rotary sharpener and really how many does a girl need, and since I already have one, I have decided to give the other away. Now before you think I am nuts, or just nice, I should let you know that I a keeping the needle sharpener and the spare set of grinding disks. Those are Mine,all Mine!!! LOL

So I think what I will do, is simply draw another name from the birthday entries. Or should I have you all comment here. oh that would take forever, nope just going to draw a name, So here goes.....

The winner is........ Wendi

I will email Wendi to let her know that she is the proud new owner of a rotary sharpener, Hmmm and I think I will purchase another peacock basket to go with it!!!!

Congratulations Wendi!

So that is all for now, I still need to show all of the pictures from my birthday... Look for that later to day!

Till then,

Have a great day

Ginny