Dexter's Quilt Part 3

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Tick Tock Gramma - Tick Tock!!!  About 3 weeks until Christmas!

Dexter's Quilt was supposed to be done for Dexter's BIRTH day which ended up being March 31st, 2014.  Yep...shooting for Christmas at this point...lol   Wish me luck... Plan B....1st Birthday :-)

Our sweet angel had a really REALLY rough time coming into this world. He suffered from a birth injury (HIE)  Here he is on Day 2.

We'll skip past the details of the 29 day NICU stay, the months and months of worry and concern over the milestones he needed to meet and just say that he is our little miracle.  Today, he is a happy, healthy, 8-month old STRONG, SMART baby!  :-)

Dexter's Quilt, by far, is the most fun I've ever had making a gift.  I need to finish the block border I'm making and sew the panels together still.   But omg...SO fun!

This was a very socially involved creation.  :-)  Very little was done at home in my studio.   Community sew days, Quilt Retreats and with visiting friends.   Every little critter provided fun and smiles hunting for the fabrics and watching them come alive.  :-)

Racoon

Hedgehog

Bear

Moose

Bunny Rabbit

SQUIRREL!!

Mouse

Owl

Super Smiley Sunshine!

Dancing Bird (needs his feet still)

Flying Bird!

Grrrr Tiger!

Happiest darn lion I've ever seen!

McCaw Bird!

Elephant

Monkey

Kangaroo & Joey

Zebra

Giraffe

Flying Fish!

Ribbit Frog!

Penguin

Quacky Duck

Alligator!  (Or Crocodile - I forget..)

Turtle

Beaver

Bird in flight!

Pig

Roooooster!

Cow with a barn

Hen (oops!  Also needs feet!)

Chick

Puppy Dog

Fuzzy Sheep!

Kitty Cat

So much fun!   I'm doing Bonnie Hunter's "Wonky Wishes" Stars in the border and making the centers all the animal fabrics so Mister Dexter can match em up!  

Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt

Yep!   Totally doing Bonnie Hunter's Mystery Quilt this year!   Are you?

Here's my color choices!    Haven't started sewing yet, but I plan to start cutting tonight!

Here's how to get to the Monday Link Up Post at Quiltville http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2014/12/mystery-monday-link-up-part-1.html 

Here's how to get back to "Design Wall Monday" at Patchwork Times
http://www.patchworktimes.com/2014/12/01/design-wall-december-1-2014/

New Interests take over! Vintage Sewing Machines!

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Yep - Blogging hasn't been at the top of my list for some time.  Then today - Epiphany! I should Blog!   Fellow Bloggers can relate I'm certain...  (giggle)

Just had to take a minute to share my latest addiction... Vintage Singer Sewing Machines!   Hope on over to our Facebook page to see our other acquisitions.  Click HERE

My First FINISHED Restoration Project!!! She's a Vintage Centennial 99 Singer Sewing Machine. I picked up the table, which just happened to have a "rusty old Singer" in it, for $10. I took the entire thing apart and cleaned\polished every single piece and put it back together. She sews like a dream!

I will NEVER be intimidated by "a little rust" ever again. I see everything in an entirely new perspective now. 

I'm 99.99999999999% certain this isn't the last you will hear about my VSM (Vintage Sewing Machine) adventure!!

Vintage Singer 201 - Royalty!

Saw a Garage Sale post (purely by accident, I wasn't looking, I swear), that listed tools, table saw, car stand, Sewing Machine... with a picture of an old barn\garage and the stuff hanging out in the yard. I called and asked about the machine. "Yep, still have it, old black one, in a table. The motor threw sparks at me when I plugged it in. But the machine looks good. You can have it for $30." I was already getting in my car while I was still on the phone... My heart skipped a beat when I saw her....omg...it's a 201.   I've been looking for one since this obsession began! 

I love the cabinet!!  Ooooh...drawers...Attachments! Manual! Score!

So shiny!! Bobbin cover - check! Spool pin - Check! Foot pedal -check! (wiping the drool from my chin)

Absolutely Stunning

BEFORE: Ewww... so much grease! Going to try my first rewire on this baby, the cords looked like they were chewed by critters! Might as well clean as I go.

Wow...she's a lot grimier than I thought she was when I started to open her up today..

O....M.....G !! Did NOT expect to find this when I opened up this shiny girl!! YUCK!

What's on your Design Wall - Dexter's Quilt Part 2

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I'm really happy about the progress on Dexter's Quilt!  I've already named it "Dexter's DANimals".  :-)  My son's name is Daniel so I think it's only fitting that my Grandson gets a slew of DANimals!  :-)  This is a really fun project.  Tedious.....VERY tedious..  But I love watching it grow.  It's like playing with legos.  

One of my primary goals is to reflect our family's sense of humor in the quilt.  My son gets a kick out of that silly song "What does the fox say?"  You can see\hear it here when they were live on Jimmy Fallon.  LOL. The official video is even more nuts.  You can see that one here.   I have written all the sounds they came up with for the animals and will embroider them above each animal.   I'm also hiding a fox in each scene (Forest, Jungle, Farm & Sea).   All the silly sounds they come up with for the fox will also be in the border.   Yeah....we're an interesting bunch.   "Welcome Dexter to our CRAZY family".  :-)

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And Check out other Design Walls at Patchwork Times! I'd wager they are a lot more normal than we are.

What's on your Design Wall? - Dexter's Quilt Part 1

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I'm getting really excited diving into what I'm calling "Dexter's Quilt".  A few weeks back I posted some fat quarters that I picked up in preparation for some of the pieces.  It's an exciting process for me because I've never worked with some of these tools!

Glue Sticks and Golf Tees!  

Betcha you didn't know those fall under "quilting notions" category did ya! Elmer's Glue goes on smooth, and it's washable, acid-free, photo-safe and non-toxic!  Golf Tees.... are, well...Golf Tees!   Smooth Smooth surface with a nice rounded tip!  And TOTALLY cheap!

So this project is made up of a kabillion pieces, all applique.  My friend Mary showed up for a QUILTING INTERVENTION when I was ready to start this project.  HAHAHA.  She quickly convinced me that my hand applique super powers would likely fizzle out relatively quickly and if I were lucky, I'd have Dexter's Quilt done by the time he's in college...   So I folded.   I am using Ricky Tims "Stable Stuff Poly" for my applique pieces.  GLUING my fabric to it and creating all of my pieces far far away from my sewing machine.  (Nice carry-along project if I must say).   

Mary ALSO convinced me to use YLI Invisible Thread and MACHINE applique my pieces. I picked the "smoke" color.

So far so good!   I have the first large block background created and am working on my applique shapes now!   I'm off on retreat with one of my BFF's on Thursday for 4 days.   Hoping to make substantial progress to share when I return!

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What's new wit ewe?

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So you might (or might not) be wondering what I've been up to!   Holidays are always such a crazy time aren't they?  Now we've moved gracefully into January.  Here in Rochester, January is a funny month.  We go from 50 degrees to 7....in a day.  So you really can't plan much.   I'm getting ready to head out in a few weeks on a "mid-winter" retreat and I've spent the last week or so trying to pull together my current projects and ascertain which one(s) I might bring with me.

My "Affairs of the Heart" Quilt is forever ongoing.  I don't think this one is going to come with me, but I have made progress!

My "Bloomin Steps" Jewel Box Quilt has come along VERY nicely.  The top is COMPLETE and I've been working on piecing the back.  I will be hand-basting this sucka.  No reason to take this one, it needs to be loaded up on a frame to baste and I'm DEFINITELY not carting the frame out there.

My Bonnie Hunter "Easy Street" top was finished almost a year ago and I haven't touched it.  Really need to move forward with my quilting plans for this one.   Perhaps I'll bring it with me to stare at it a bit...and see if something POPS into my head.

I've been dabbling with teaching Hand Embroidery to some of my guild members.  A dear friend of mine passed away in the Fall and my Hand Embroidery drive kinda dwindled with her.   But I should really get this going again.   Sue would want that.  :-)

I went BONKERS in September & October cutting scraps for a HUGE Halloween Scrap Quilt that I want to do.   I hauled SO much to the Fall Retreat with every intention on working on this the entire time.  For the life of me, I can't even remember now what I did work on at that retreat.  OH!  The Jewel Box Quilt.  I think I overshot on the estimate of how long it would take to get done!  HAHA.  (No one ever does this right?).  That weekend was very bitter sweet regardless.

This would be as easy as grabbing the tote that's all prepped to sew.   Yep.... I think I'll take this one along.

And ..... A NEW project...  We'll just call this "Dexter's Quilt".  :-)  I will be blessed with my FIRST Grandbaby somewhere around March 29th.  It took FOREVER to finally settle on what his quilt would be.  But I got it!!!  :-)   I'll just give you a peek at the few fabrics I picked up earlier today.  :-)

THAT one - is DEFINITELY going.  :-)  In fact, I think I'm going to stop blogging and get it started!  :-)

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