Monthly Archives: August 2009
A full day of quilting
Well I’m on a roll. Now that I replaced my broken walking foot, it was time to get to some machine quilting this weekend. Yesterday I layered and quilted a large lap quilt along with a tiny wallhanging which is just a single Moon Over the Mountain block I had left over, and also my mini quilt wallhanging for a swap. All three now just need the binding hand sewn down.
The today, bright and early, I went looking for more projects to quilt. Pulled out the apron swap blocks I had sewn into a top not too long ago, along with some siggy blocks. The siggy blocks have had a rough life. They were from a quilt retreat in 2005 and when I originally pieced the blocks together I dumped coffee or soda on them but didn’t notice. So then there was set in “brown” splot to get out. Soaking didn’t help so I ended up washing them. Which of course sort of skewed things out of shape a bit. So it got put aside probably never to see the light of day again. However, today I pulled it out and steamed the dickins out of it and it didn’t look too bad. So added a border around the edges, black with tiny bright hearts on it, to sort of rein it all in to size and I think it will look okay in the end. It will hang on my sewing room wall as a reminder of that trip when it’s done.
Here it is so far.
And that poor little lone block on on the design wall. Well I found it as I was going through UFO boxes. It’s a left over block from a project from friend Judy’s Nine Patch Extravaganza book – I made one too many blocks – so I think it will be come “something”. Maybe the center for a little wallhanging or perhaps a pillow center. I have to go digging in the stash because I think I still have more fabrics from the quilt that block was from that I can use with it.
Three other applique blocks, which were supposed to be used in one project, I decided I’d like better as three separate little wallhangings. Those three blocks are now quilted and just need their binding hand stitched too. So while watching a movie tonight I’ll have seven projects to work on bindings for, so that should keep me busy for a little while.
So for the stashbusting report – with all that quilting going on only 3 yards used this week – the larger projects I had previously pieced the backings for and counted them already so backings for those single block wallhangings and bindings really didnt’ amount to much. But I was at the fabric store this weekend but didn’t buy fabric so that’s miraculous.
Used this week: 3 yds; used Y-T-D: 182; purchased Y-T-D: 131. Net: 51 yds.
Mini quilt madness
Madness yes, because it’s been procrastination at it’s best. I’ve know for many weeks that I need to have a Mini quilt done for the summertime swap and I’ve spent much time thinking about it. Trying to decide what to make. The person I sent it to, who does not know it is coming from me (sort of like a secret pal thing not to be revealed until the wallhanging is received) did include a hint on what she likes but it’s still up to me decide if I go down that road or not. I’d come up with a plan and then a day or two later decide I didn’t like it. I actually started one project and no – it’s just not right for this – so it got put aside and will be completed some day (year?) down the road. No idea I came up with really excited me. But at last, I have a plan and I like this plan and will stick to it. So this weekend I will actually have to turn the plan into action.
While I generally hand applique, this project will be machine appliqued so as I was gathering supplies that I would need and picking out fabrics (still haven’t come to a final decision on the fabrics yet) I was looking for stabilizer to use when machine satin stitching. None to be found and I really don’t feel like making a stop this week at the fabric store (oh the horror – did I really say not wanting to stop at the fabric store???) but then I remembered those coffee filters. Yes, your average ruffly edged coffee filters you use in your kitchen. They make great stabilizer for applique, especially if you are working in smaller areas. Just iron them flat and place them under your fabric. They are easy to stitch on and they tear away so easily.
Now I knew somewhere I had a whole package of them (I now have a coffee maker that uses a different type of filter so knew I had leftovers from the last coffeemaker) but searched all the kitchen cabinets to no avail. Checked the laundry room where excess “stuff” seems to migrate. Nope not there. Wandered into the sewing room to see if I had anything else I could substitute as stabalizer and Eureka! I had actually stuck them in the sewing closet knowing I could use them for applique. I knew they were in a “safe” place, but sometimes those “safe places” are so safe that I never find back what I so carefully put away. 🙂 So my goal is get that mini wallhanging appliqued and quilted and bound this weekend so it can get out in the mail sooner rather than later.
It’s a pair! and Design Wall Monday?
Yes! a pair of socks!
Not perfectly matched since I really wasn’t going to try to get the color bands to match up perfect to each other – that would have been insane. And I like that they aren’t a perfect match. 🙂 And one of my nieces will think they’re the greatest gift.
And just to prove that I haven’t weakened in my vow to finish the mates to a pair or two of the 4 or 5 single socks I have, here’s a picture of my start on the next sock and it’s mate that is waiting for it to be finished.
So one pair down – four more “mates” to go…..
What’s on the design wall?? Well…….
Just some poor little left over scraps to say “hi”. 🙂 That Judy is a slave driver. I just last night finished the project that was on the design wall so haven’t had time to find a new one to stick up there yet. Oh yes, all there’s a whole lot of threads stuck to that wall as you can see in just the photo – trust me there’s many more — now where is that vacuum cleaner??? That’s why I don’t have a project up there – I have to clean it off first – yeah…. right… that’s it.
Not perfectly matched since I really wasn’t going to try to get the color bands to match up perfect to each other – that would have been insane. And I like that they aren’t a perfect match. 🙂 And one of my nieces will think they’re the greatest gift.
And just to prove that I haven’t weakened in my vow to finish the mates to a pair or two of the 4 or 5 single socks I have, here’s a picture of my start on the next sock and it’s mate that is waiting for it to be finished.
So one pair down – four more “mates” to go…..
What’s on the design wall?? Well…….
Just some poor little left over scraps to say “hi”. 🙂 That Judy is a slave driver. I just last night finished the project that was on the design wall so haven’t had time to find a new one to stick up there yet. Oh yes, all there’s a whole lot of threads stuck to that wall as you can see in just the photo – trust me there’s many more — now where is that vacuum cleaner??? That’s why I don’t have a project up there – I have to clean it off first – yeah…. right… that’s it.
Week 34 stashbusting
Sewing – a whole day spent sewing – does it get any better than that? I was up at 6:30 and in the sewing room soon after that and now it’s 6:30 p.m. and I think I’m done for today. But I did finish the top I was working on.
It’s not exactly up on the design wall straight but it’s up there. I had to put it up sideways to get it to fit. I’ve got enough fabrics left so I can make a matching pillowcase to go with it (great for storing the quilt in when not in use) and it will probably be a graduation quilt next spring.
So that project definitely helped my numbers out since it all came from the stash. Hmm.. the design wall is empty – well except for all those loose threads stuck to it. Will have to go see what project needs to go up there next.
Used this week 6.5 (plus 3 yds I forgot to add in last wk) so total 9.5
Used year to date: 179
Purchased year to date: 139 .
Now there’s some barbequed ribs and sauerkraut that’s been slow roasting in the oven and it’s smelling awfully good so better go make the rest of dinner to go with it cause its making me hungry.
Tonight I hope to finish off the sock I’ve been working on – not many rows left – and get started on another one to match one of those lone socks I’ve got.
A little cookin and a little quiltin
It was a little of everything kind of day here. I did some baking, some cooking and some quilting, ran to the grocery store, and spent part of the day sitting outside in the gorgeous weather, drinking coffee and flipping through quilt magazines.
Bread was made but hmmmm….it’s not necessarily a pretty site. I used a recipe that came with the mix master and it definitely needs more of a flour adjustment. The dough was supposed to be a bit sticky – and it was – so I made one plain loaf and spread melted butter, cinnamon sugar and raisins in side the other but ack! it really stuck to the counter as I was trying to roll it into shape. And I mean stuck – even with flour under it. Finally I managed to gather it all back up off the counter and smoosh it around so the goodies inside were actually ‘inside’ the loaf. It is not a ‘pretty’ loaf of bread but it is absolutely yummy.
Also made a peach & nectarine crisp – my favorite kind with the ‘crisp’ on both the top and bottom. and made homemade eggrolls for dinner. They are one of my favorite things but I hate making them so don’t do it very often but they were so good. They too don’t necessarily look pretty but yummmm. And they are even better as leftovers, the flavors come out even more.
I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve just been grabbing something to eat that’s quick so it was nice to actually cook something for a change. Tomorrow night it’s barbequed ribs.
On the sewing front I made some more progress on the blocks I was working on last weekend.
It still needs the top sashing added. Then it is supposed to get a scrappy squares border around it. However, since I used a jelly roll, don’t think I have enough scraps left so hopefully have enough to add it just to top and bottom. I’d like it a little longer before adding the final borders since it will probably be a graduation quilt to be used in a college dorm.
And yes, there was even a little knitting going on today now that I think of it. I’m down to the toe shaping on one sock – in the final stretch – and it will actually make a completed PAIR! and not just another single sock to add to the pile.
Gosh looking at all this – clearly I couldn’t pick one thing and stick to it today. 🙂 But I’ve just put on the coffee and it’s time to try that peach crisp.
I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve just been grabbing something to eat that’s quick so it was nice to actually cook something for a change. Tomorrow night it’s barbequed ribs.
On the sewing front I made some more progress on the blocks I was working on last weekend.
It still needs the top sashing added. Then it is supposed to get a scrappy squares border around it. However, since I used a jelly roll, don’t think I have enough scraps left so hopefully have enough to add it just to top and bottom. I’d like it a little longer before adding the final borders since it will probably be a graduation quilt to be used in a college dorm.
And yes, there was even a little knitting going on today now that I think of it. I’m down to the toe shaping on one sock – in the final stretch – and it will actually make a completed PAIR! and not just another single sock to add to the pile.
Gosh looking at all this – clearly I couldn’t pick one thing and stick to it today. 🙂 But I’ve just put on the coffee and it’s time to try that peach crisp.
Design Wall Monday
What’s on the design wall — well the blocks for these were on the wall last week and are now tops.
It’s just a strippy pattern I found in a quilt magazine I wanted to try – really quick and easy. The original pattern had strips of varying sizes but I had a jelly roll which worked out perfect for it. Needs sashing between those rows yet and thena couple borders added. Hmm. My electrical outlets are not at the top of the wall – I just noticed the photo is upside down. Oh well – doesn’t matter for the design.
And the big news – I finally got to pick some ripe tomatoes tonight!
Yellow pear tomatoes and one biggie. A few need to sit in the bowl a day or so and ripen just a bit more but the yellow ones are calling out to be put in a salad with mozarella and the big one is just calling out for a BLT I think … wonder if there’s any bacon in the freezer!
The two wineglass wallhangings were made for a swap at a quilt retreat in Texas a couple years ago and the Moon Over the Mountain block was also from a swap and is the most favorite out of all the ones I made – I love that background fabric – so I’m going to make a single little wallhanging out of that one. The border fabric/alternate blocks in the wineglass wallhangings has all kinds of wine implements on it – openers, corkscrews, corks. etc. Look for the wine glass EQ file to show up in the freebie downloads when I get a chance to load it. It’s a paperpieced pattern. Now on the design wall are these blocks.
It’s just a strippy pattern I found in a quilt magazine I wanted to try – really quick and easy. The original pattern had strips of varying sizes but I had a jelly roll which worked out perfect for it. Needs sashing between those rows yet and thena couple borders added. Hmm. My electrical outlets are not at the top of the wall – I just noticed the photo is upside down. Oh well – doesn’t matter for the design.
And the big news – I finally got to pick some ripe tomatoes tonight!
Yellow pear tomatoes and one biggie. A few need to sit in the bowl a day or so and ripen just a bit more but the yellow ones are calling out to be put in a salad with mozarella and the big one is just calling out for a BLT I think … wonder if there’s any bacon in the freezer!
Pickin Time
The garden pots are coming along nicely. This week I picked these:
They don’t look very big in the photo but that’s one whopping large basket I’ve got them in. They’re all about 4-5″ long so very nice sized. In addition to these I previously picked two that I gave to a friend that stopped by and two others I ate. I think the lighter green ones are from the “yellow” bell pepper plant so I’m going to let the rest of the ones still on that plant go to see if they ripen to yellow. But those pepper plants are still loaded with more than a dozen additional peppers and still blossoming.
My tomatoe plants are loaded but the weather just hasn’t been hot enough to ripen them quickly. Finally this weekend I saw this:
Yes, those are yellow pear tomatoes finally starting to turn yellow. I should be able to pick a couple for my dinner tomorrow night I think.
On the quilting front – Stashbusting report – I’ve used about 5 yds this week for a quilt back but need to officially add it to my report yet and no new fabric. Plus I’ve got a project I’ve been working on this weekend but will wait until the top is finished to tally that one.
I was greatly dismayed tho – I sewed the quilt backing for a lap quilt, pieced to sections of batting to use up some leftovers, and was ready to layer everything and discovered when I looked at the machine I do my machine quilting on that I must have knocked it against something when I put it in the closet because I had broken the walking foot. It was hooked onto the machine but the plastic where it screws on was snapped right off. I must have hit the edge of the fabric shelf I think. Well no machine quilting for me this weekend. I need to make a stop for a new foot one day this week. Couldn’t really decide what to work on after that but finally pulled out a jelly roll grouping and have been making blocks with that from a magazine pattern I wanted to try. The blocks are all done – very quick and easy. But it’s just been a lazy weekend and I just can’t get too enthused over anything so think I’ll go sit on the patio , have a cup of coffee, and try to figure out what kind of border I’m going to put on this project once I get the blocks all sashed.
They don’t look very big in the photo but that’s one whopping large basket I’ve got them in. They’re all about 4-5″ long so very nice sized. In addition to these I previously picked two that I gave to a friend that stopped by and two others I ate. I think the lighter green ones are from the “yellow” bell pepper plant so I’m going to let the rest of the ones still on that plant go to see if they ripen to yellow. But those pepper plants are still loaded with more than a dozen additional peppers and still blossoming.
My tomatoe plants are loaded but the weather just hasn’t been hot enough to ripen them quickly. Finally this weekend I saw this:
Yes, those are yellow pear tomatoes finally starting to turn yellow. I should be able to pick a couple for my dinner tomorrow night I think.
On the quilting front – Stashbusting report – I’ve used about 5 yds this week for a quilt back but need to officially add it to my report yet and no new fabric. Plus I’ve got a project I’ve been working on this weekend but will wait until the top is finished to tally that one.
I was greatly dismayed tho – I sewed the quilt backing for a lap quilt, pieced to sections of batting to use up some leftovers, and was ready to layer everything and discovered when I looked at the machine I do my machine quilting on that I must have knocked it against something when I put it in the closet because I had broken the walking foot. It was hooked onto the machine but the plastic where it screws on was snapped right off. I must have hit the edge of the fabric shelf I think. Well no machine quilting for me this weekend. I need to make a stop for a new foot one day this week. Couldn’t really decide what to work on after that but finally pulled out a jelly roll grouping and have been making blocks with that from a magazine pattern I wanted to try. The blocks are all done – very quick and easy. But it’s just been a lazy weekend and I just can’t get too enthused over anything so think I’ll go sit on the patio , have a cup of coffee, and try to figure out what kind of border I’m going to put on this project once I get the blocks all sashed.
Week 32 Stashbusting Report
Well I finally did a little catch up on my stash busting report since I haven’t updated it since Week 29. So this report covers weeks 30-32.
Fabric purchased 17 yds
Fabric used 11 yds
Year to date purchased 164.25
Year to date used 131.
Hmmm. well it could always be worse. 🙂
Saturday Sewing
Today is one of The Quilting Post’s (online group) PJ Party weekends. The second weekend of each month we try to get some dedicated sewing time and chat on line about our projects. I was a bit slow sewing today (but did manage to stay in my pjs till mid afternoon sewing) 🙂 but the slow down was mostly due to an interesting movie I was watching. Too much watching – not enough sewing. However, I did manage to get the rows finished and top sewn together from my Moon Over the Mountain swap blocks.
I’m going to call it “Once in a Blue Moon.” One of the blocks in the far right row that looks like it has a white moon (due to the lighting/flash in my sewing room) is actually the palest blue hand dyed moon – hence the name.
Now my dilemma is that I was originally thinking it would be one of the graduation quilts I’ll need next spring but it turned out a bit big for that since I’ve been making the nieces and nephews twin bed size quilts to use in their dorm as they head off to college. I’m going to have to throw it on my bed and see how large it really looks and try to decide if I want to make it larger with borders and if so, what the heck kind of borders I want to add. Right now it must measure about 77″ x 89″.
So one more baggie of swap blocks out of the UFO boxes. There’s just two blocks left over – one will be a lable on the back and the other was my favorite block I made and I’m going to make a little single wallhanging out of that.
Now to see what other trouble projects I can find to get into.
I’m going to call it “Once in a Blue Moon.” One of the blocks in the far right row that looks like it has a white moon (due to the lighting/flash in my sewing room) is actually the palest blue hand dyed moon – hence the name.
Now my dilemma is that I was originally thinking it would be one of the graduation quilts I’ll need next spring but it turned out a bit big for that since I’ve been making the nieces and nephews twin bed size quilts to use in their dorm as they head off to college. I’m going to have to throw it on my bed and see how large it really looks and try to decide if I want to make it larger with borders and if so, what the heck kind of borders I want to add. Right now it must measure about 77″ x 89″.
So one more baggie of swap blocks out of the UFO boxes. There’s just two blocks left over – one will be a lable on the back and the other was my favorite block I made and I’m going to make a little single wallhanging out of that.
Now to see what other trouble projects I can find to get into.
Justquiltin with Denise Russart 