| Last Updated: 05/03/03 |
GREETINGS!!!!....
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Nite-Nite Express: Well, I finally finished this one. This was more of a challenge than I thought it was going to be. My #3 grandson is crazy over trains. He's 3 yrs old. And what a Grandma like me won't do for just a little kiss & hug!! His birthday is today, April 30, and I can't wait to give him his train quilt. This started when I decided to make him a train quilt. So looking at what is available out there, all I could find was either appliqué, or appliqué, or something ugly. Therefore, the only solution was to design it myself.
Sat down with my big quad-ruled sketch pad and EQ4, and VOILA! That was the easy part. All the written instructions and illustrations can make a person cross-eyed a little. Anyway, proceeded with the piecing. Just piecing along, minding my own business, progressing on schedule, when late one night.....Mr. Skunk paid a visit to our house. Mr. Skunk and our Black Lab tangled and spun around in the flower bed (which I had just seeded) in front of the workshop. This caused a stink. Literally. So there was a slight delay of about a week or two for any work getting done in the shop. Anyway, it got finished in spite of Ol' Stinky.
My good friend, Regina Mann, machine quilted it for me last weekend. She quilted a "meandering" type of pattern all over and in the sashing she wrote in big cursive writing "ChooChooChooChoo......" all across each one. Then on the passenger cars she wrote in quilting, "Union Pacific Railroad" . She's so artistic, that's why I asked her to do it for me. She can't say no anyway. She'll laugh when she reads this.
If I hadn't been pressed for time, I think this pattern would look good with some extra things added to it. Why not add some items on top of the flat cars, such as circus animals, or some kind of cargo. One could make the box car doors open, too. Put a lot of faces in the windows of the passenger cars. I did manage to put in a couple of fussy cuts here and there. I used a fabric that had children playing on a playground and fussy cut the "engineers" and a couple of passengers. And of course, they resemble #3 grandson and his little brother. There's a couple of pictures of the blocks on the gallery page. Go see.
Frosty Update: I know, I know, not that cat again. Just have to share a couple of recent pictures. It's a miracle this cat is so healthy and prosperous, considering his beginnings. He's in his kitten stage when he gets into EVERYTHING and only knows how to run and stop, run and stop. No in between. Drives the dog crazy. Drives me crazy! But he's soooo cute. Look: (Note the tip of his tail has not grown back like a lizard's does, ha!)
Site seeing,
anyone?
Boy, I've got a lot of links this time. More for you
to do, right? I hope you'll find these interesting.
>First of all, did you know there is an end to the internet? All things have to stop somewhere don't they? Here's one edge of it:
http://www.webnme.com/endoftheinternet.html
>Just about all of us have seen the commercials for the cute little sewing machines, called the "Sewing Genie". Well here's one review of it:
http://www.quiltersreview.com/article.asp?article=/review/product/020401_a.asp
I have to add a few things. I just recently acquired this little jewel. This is not a toy for kids. For one thing, it can be dangerous in that it has an on/off button. Which means it sews UNTIL you hit the button again to stop it. Consequently, if you don't use the foot pedal attachment, you could accidentally run over a finger or two before you realized you needed to hit the button to stop it. This happened to a friend of mine. Also, it has NO BACKSTITCH. Also, it has NO STITCH LENGTH ADJUSTMENT. You get one stitch length and it is big. Not suitable for taking to quilting classes, because IMO the stitch length is not suitable for piecing. And it is a little noisy. Other than that, it's ok for periodic mending of workclothes or such minor repairs. Think I'll give mine to my daughter-in-law just for that purpose.
>Here's a link to an unusual quilt for you to look at. See what you think. I'm undecided myself. At first, I thought I was impressed, but after a bit I thought it was somewhat morbid. Form your own opinion:
http://personalpages.tds.net/~ljarvis/Ground_Zero_Quilt/ground_zero_quilt.html
>Oh, now, here's a good one to use for your tag lines on email, or homepages or just for fun:
http://www.internetbumperstickers.com/front.html
>Last month we had a link to find out which Muppet you are. Well this month it's the Simpsons! You answer the questions, and they tell you which Simpson you are. I am Lisa. But a lot of other gals I talked to said they were Lisa, too. Maybe it's rigged. Ha.
http://www.vista-ray.com/~matt/simpsons/
>And last, but not least, this takes the proverbial cake. This is for all you crazy quilt lovers out there. Let the page load a while and be sure to scroll all the way down it. Also, click at the bottom on "horse, of course" and see more. Incredible.
http://www.flynnquilt.com/gallery.html
What's New?
Let's see, the Nite-Nite Express pattern, the Nite-Nite Baby 
Express
and Wall Hanging pattern---Oh Yes--Nine Patch Wonders! This is great for
you 9 patch quilt lovers out there. It's basically a "cookbook"
for different sets and block requirements for 9 different quilt tops.
Using dark and light scraps, you make a colorful quilt from several basic 9
patch blocks. The "recipes" tell you how many of each color to
cut, how many blocks you'll need, and how to assemble the rows. You can
buy the pattern of nine or get the pattern free on the Block of the Month
page. This is the free BOM project starting this month!
Say---How
do ya' like the fancy new logo? Maybe you didn't see it on the index
page. Here it is: Isn't it purdy? You'll be seeing a lot of it
on new patterns and BOM pages from now on.
Don't forget Granny's Tip of the Month for May!
May you always have a quilt in the hoop, I try to.
Cya,
Claudia
April 30, 2002
ARCHIVES:
August,
2001- Premiere Issue: Explanation of Website Categories, Picture
of Author
September, 200l - Eden
Mennonite Sewing Society, Oklahoma MCC Relief Sale Link, New House Hunting
Pattern, New Ozark Mountain Night Pattern, Call for Guest Gallery
October, 2001 - Plett's Plot,
Sewing Society Follow Up, New Quilter's Alphabet Pattern, New My Stars &
Bars Pattern, Free Block of the Month Project - House Hunting
November, 2001 - HenryCat, My
Stars & Bars Free Block of the Month, New Easy Eights Pattern, Granny's Tip
of the Month
December, 2001 - MCC Relief
Sale, Enid, Oklahoma; Quilter's Corner, Auction Bay, Featured Quilt, Other
Quilts, 10,000 Villages, Twilling, Finished Simply Amish Quilt, Free Block of
the Month - Easy 8's, New Heart Trio Pattern - Appliqué
January, 2002 - New Year's
Resolution; Website Reviews: Bead Creative, Quilting with a Passion,
Webshots, Lancaster Gen. Store, others; Quilters Mall Crawl; Free Block of the
Month - Calendar Blocks
February, 2002 - Grandma's
Buttons Lap Quilt, weather box, Quilt University.Com, Fran Iverson Gonzalez,
Hawaiian Ice Breaker, Paypal Added, Connecting Threads, New Pattern - Proud
Mamas, Free Block of the Month - Heart Trio Table Runner
March, 2002 - Twilling Quilt
Update, Quilt Car, Worm Song, Alex Anderson's Chat Room, Out with Henry, In
with Frosty, Free Block of the Month - Simple Scrappy Pleasures.
April, 2002 - Finished
Shadow Quilt Top, Yoyo Site, equiltessence.com, Snoopy Dance, What Muppet
are You?, Free Block of the Month - Proud Mamas, In the Works - Train Quilt
& 9-Patch Wonders
(Copyright © 2001, 2002 Claudia E. Plett, all rights reserved)
home........free
BOM.......tip of the month.........patterns........misc
4 sale........
long
arm patterns........links........order
form........ask
granny........gallery
