Chatbug Karen

I have been mia on this blog because I have been quilting my aunt’s quilt. When my aunt sent me this quilt she asked if I would quilt like it was quilted in a magazine. I looked at the pattern and was in shell shock! LOL I cleaned my house, cleaned the car, basically did everything but get started on my aunt’s quilt. I was nervous. Finally, after hours of practice using a dry erase board and doodling on paper, I gave it a go. It has been a learning process. I am having fun!

I bit the bullet and quilted a quilt for someone other than my mom or myself. My cousin made this beautiful quilt and was brave enough to let a beginner longarm user have at it!

Picking out a quilt pattern is like picking out a diamond engagement ring, there are so many variations from which to choose. I have watched quilting videos and practiced on a dry erase board until I felt confident to put the stitches into the quilt. Big gulp!

I have this coffee table that drives me crazy. It has a glass top that is a pain to keep clean. I have made quilted table toppers for just about every season and needed one for Christmas. It saves my sanity by keeping the coffee table covered in a pretty quilt.

I found this fun pattern at the Moda Bake Shop.

I went to the Houston Quilt Festival a year ago. A year has already come and gone. At the festival, they had a shop hop where you go to different booths and purchase the quilt block kit from that particular booth. I purchased the 12 block offered and I got them all put together. This weekend, I put the blocks together and made this quilt.

I am quilting a friend’s quilt. I have it on the longarm and have chosen a pattern to put in the blocks. If I make a mistake, there will be threads to rip out. I hate ripping out! I have been practicing on a dry erase board and think I am ready to do the stitching on the longarm. Why don’t I just DO IT?
I am skeered!

I have been doing as many other projects as I can think of. I even washed out the refrigerator!

Just wanted to let my mom know that I found the scissors I had been looking for! Found them while cleaning out my sewing stuff while procrastinating.

It is a good idea to sort through one’s “stuff” once in a while to see what “stuff” one has! I saw a cute flag wall hanging and thought about buying the kit. I held off and it was a good thing I did. I had the kit in my stash of things to do. I put it together yesterday.

I have been watching videos online to learn new techniques for long arm quilting. I am learning how to avoid problems with tension and when my stitches try to grow eyelashes. Thank goodness for quilting buddies who guide me to great message boards where there is a wealth of information. I am always learning about new things.

While visiting a new quilt shop, my friend introduced me to penny rugs. I had never heard of a penny rug and was interested in the history of this fun craft.

Penny rugs, made in the 19th century, were made by using cast off and used woolen clothing that wasn’t large enough to cut into strips for hooking rugs to make rugs for beds and table coverings. Rarely were the rugs used on the floor. The term “penny rug” came from the use of coins as templates for varying sizes of circles that were cut from the fulled or felted wool of hats, and clothing. The concentric circles were stitched onto burlap or feed sacks. Wool was was an expensive and treasured fabric and was rarely used to back a project, hence the burlap backing.

Our local hardware has 3 in house dogs. They recently acquired an English bulldog named, Chloe. My husband decided she needed a Butler bulldog sweatshirt and volunteered me to make one for her. I made this Colts jacket first to make sure I could make one that fit.

Isn’t Chloe the most adorable dog?
Here she is in her Butler sweatshirt.

it is reversible! Christmas Chloe!

I cannot imagine how it would feel to have a quilt, that I poured my time and energy into making, stolen.

This award winning quilt, “Really ‘Wild’ Flowers! Second Season” went missing after the IQA Houston show. If you know anything about it use the “contact” link on
www.SharonLSchlotzhauer.com

I hope that this quilt was inadvertently wrapped up with another quilt and when that quilter opens up their package, they will find that this quilt was accidentally added to the package. I, along with other quilters, know how much effort goes into making a quilt. I have not made quilts for long but the few I have made, have my heart and soul in them. For those of you not familiar with quilts and their value, I give you this scenario. Imagine, taking your grandmother’s wedding ring, choosing to buy gold online and working with a jewelery designer to make specially designed pieces to give to your daughters. You know how this piece of jewelry could never be replaced. You put time and effort into having this piece designed with specific recipients in mind. The jewelry is stolen. I cannot imagine how distraught I would be.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that my fish wall hanging was included in an Etsy treasury.

A commenter posted this song, which shall be, forever embedded in my thoughts.

Home for Me! In Indiana
Back Home Again In Indiana, by Ballard MacDonald

Back home again in Indiana
And it seems that I can see
A gleaming candlelight
Still shining bright
Through the sycamores, for me

The new-mown hay
Sends all its fragrance
From the fields I used to roam
When I dream about the moonlight
On the Wabash
Then I long for my Indiana home.

This song gives me goosebumps, especially when sung by Jim Nabors. He sings this song each year before the start of the Indy 500. This arrangement would be awesome if it could be reworked with an audio mixer to tweak the missed audible dynamics. Oh well, it is what it is and with the combined excitement of the race, it is enjoyable.