Back to running again

I was doing so good running between 2 and 3 miles everyday, then I pulled something and fell out of the routine. Well that was in April and I have long since healed, but wow it is easy to find excuses not to run. To just be lazy and flabby ! ! ! So I did my "virgin run", no pun intended, on Tuesday and didn't even fall over dead and was able to get out of bed without any problems yesterday. So off I went again this morning. My 7 year old English Setter, Jesse, ran the total 3 miles with me. My cocker spaniel wouldn't go this morning.
I started quilting the "one block wonder" today. Tiger Woods is golfing in Flint today so I am watching that as I quilt and post.
Yesterday my good friend Judy and I went into Traverse City to just bum around and shop. It isn't very often we get a chance to just go without an agenda. She owns and operates a Bed and Breakfast so usually whenever we go shopping it is for lots of groceries and necessities. We went to the bras shop and got fitted and all of that fun stuff, then shoe shopping and I picked up a great pair of Merrell's and they were on SALE ! ! ! !. I absolutely love Merrell shoes. Then lunch was in order so we went to Poppycock's and had an awesome bowl of tomato soup with spinach. Great stuff. We also decided a "treat" was in order so we visited our favorite place, Culver's for their strawberry smoothie, absolutely to die for. We then tried the Goodwill and found a few treasures. So overall it was a very fun day. Got home and made BLT's with in season tomatoes, YUM, and farm grown green peppers, cucumbers and radish. I love the farmers market....Great summer dinner.
I am still working on the borders for the blue and brown quilt. I have 2 on and can't seem to decide on the 3rd one. It is on the design wall and will speak to me soon, I am certain, NOT....

That's news or lack there of.....

2 quilts made in 2009

This is the "Links" pattern by Dereck C. Lockwood # 137. It is an awesome quilt and very striking. You really do have to "enjoy" unsewing with this pattern. I believe you unsew the strips more than you sew them together and that is the pattern not errors. Still a great quilt to make.















This is a "Thimbleberries" Quilt Club 2006 Vintage Stitches. I am redesigning the borders on this one as I mentioned in my last post. As I am sure you will agree, the current borders do absolutely nothing for the beautiful quilt top. I will post a picture with the new border when it is finished. This was a fun quilt to make. Almost every block is a different patter. My mother, which is 85 and in an assisted living facility, did all of the embroidery. She did an awesome job. This will be a great keepsake for some lucky memeber of our family. We used the Aunt Martha Northwoods Lodge #3999 iron on transfers to embroider on.

Some of my quilting stories

Well here it goes. I have been toying with the idea of starting a blog for quite some time and have decided that today is the day ! ! !
Currently I am putting the borders on my variation of "Sophie's Choice". The original pattern is in July 2009 issue of The Quilter Magazine. I was in JoAnn Fabrics, my favorite store, about three weeks aago nd went totally CRAZY with the brown and teal selection they had. I bought 10 different styles and numerous yards of each. So, needless to say, I needed to find a quilt pattern to put it to work. Not that I don't have many yards of fabric in my "stash" that has been waiting for years to get into a quilt. When I saw Sophie's Choice it totally fit the for the fabric I purchased. I added a center star to give it more definition, in my opinion. It was great fun to construct and it was my first time redesigning, for lack of a better word, a quilt pattern. I have always followed quilt patterns to the letter. Putting some of my own ideas into it was great fun but extremely time consuming. I am now in the process of designing a new border for another quilt top. I have many unfinished projects that will get done someday. Wishful thinking, maybe.

I have been quilting since 2000 and have probably completed over 30 bed quilts, 25 wall hangings and 10 purses. I have lost count over the years. Another reason I decided to start this blog is to document them for myself, friends and family and hopefully for the enjoyment of whoever reads my blog.

I absolutely love my Janome Memory Craft 6500 sewing machine. I recently was given a demonstraton on the 11000, I believe it was. The Janome embroidery and sewing machine combination. It is an absolutely wonderful machine and priced right with the economy the way it is, but I couldn't part with my 6500. It has been a work horse. I do all of my own machine quilting and love the extra throat space to aid in that. I have quilting 3 king size quilts with it and so many queen quilts that I have lost count.

I, along with my quilt group, just finished making the "One Block Wonder". That is great fun, but I feel that you must have to try many diferent fabrics to get it work to the best of its ability. My first try looks like it belongs on "Laugh In", for those of you who remember that show. It really does need a "Lava Lamp" next to it. Was still lots of fun to make though. It will probably end up in the tote of "what in the world to do with this?????" Maybe my 5 year old granddaughter will like it. She loves everything I make for her.

Well I am off to get this border finished on the "Sophie's Choice" quilt top.

Thanks for reading. Till the next entry. Happy Quilting and God Bless.

Marlene