Stories from the Sewing Room

It's time to share your February progress.

This link up will remain open until February 28 at 11:55 pm EST.

My goal this month was to get Cupcake Crossing, AKA Nancy's Bonnie and Camille quilt, sewn into a quilt top. Here's how it looked at the beginning of the month:

I can't remember what I was thinking of for the backing. The pattern calls for 3.333 yards of backing. I bought three yards. This fabric is long out of print, so maybe this is all I could find, or I figured I'd just make it work. It's directional, so that makes things a bit more challenging.

I am committed to making a Frankenbatting. My batting scraps are out of control. For real, they are in bins and a laundry basket. The stack is taller than me by quite a bit. In fact, it's taller than the door. Here is my initial layout of batting. I needed a little more, so I switched out the skinny strip for a bigger one.

I made my Frankenbatting, pieced my backing, and opted to load the backing and quilt top sideways. Loading sideways meant that I had enough backing without needing to add additional scrap fabric to the top and bottom. I then rotated the quilt top to be in proper alignment with the directionality of the backing. I was originally planning to quilt with a Baptist Fan-type design, but because things are sideways, I needed to select a non-directional design. I chose Fizz, which I think works well in either direction.

Here is the quilted piece in the correct orientation for the directionality of the fabrics.

I attached the binding to the front of the quilt on Saturday. I'm so close to a full finish! It feels fantastic to have moved this project so far ahead. 

Now it's your turn to share your finish (or your progress if you didn't quite make it to the finish line).

Take a few minutes to visit others, offer encouragement, and make new friends!

This link up will remain open until 11:55 pm EST on February 28. Make sure you add a link to this OMG post so others can find the OMG link up from your blog--just paste this link into your post:  

Stories from the Sewing Room February One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up

Things continue to be wacky around here. Last week I left you with my daughter's car dying. She had a 2010 Prius and its battery gave out. It's still drivable on the engine and still getting over 40 mpg; it just sends out warning notices while driving. My son has been driving to school with it (yay for me not having to make the school run) and my husband was on the hunt for a newer Prius in her price range. After a few false starts he found one in my hometown via Facebook Marketplace. My in-laws went to look at it and put down a deposit until we can get up there this weekend. We've also sold her current car. So that's mostly sorted. 

Meanwhile, my son got a last-minute invitation (like due within 36 hours of receipt) to apply to a scholars program in the school he'll be attending next year. It involved writing yet another essay. He didn't want to do it, but I reminded him that one of my guild mates who used to work in the scholarship department told him that like 75% of people don't bother to apply for any scholarships because of the essays. It was painful, but he got it done and submitted before the deadline. The interview he had last week will be an unknown until at least April. I think that leaves us with one or two smaller, one-time scholarship applications to fill out. Hopefully we'll have a quiet month or so before everything starts picking up again.

I did not get my trip to Goose Pond to bird watch and see cranes and pelicans last weekend (no surprise there). I did manage to throw out my back by doing who knows what. Sitting can be painful, but walking helps and lying flat helps. I did get a bit of sewing done. My OMG for the month is to finish Nancy's Cupcake Crossing quilt. I have the center done. I have to piece the borders and then attach them.

I realized while sewing together the last row that one of these things was not like the others. 🤦🏻‍♀️ At least it was a pretty easy fix. 

I'm taking two half-day classes at IHQS and I have quite a bit of prep work for both of them. I also need to make a hanging sleeve and attach it to one of my entries, plus do all the paperwork for those. I have a week and a half to get the hanging sleeve and paperwork done and two weeks to get the prep for the class done. 

I've still been making progress on my selvedge rug. I'd estimate it to be 2/3 - 3/4 done right now. It's pretty hard on my hands. I can go for up to an hour before I have to stop. I'm looking forward to finishing it and moving back to regular yarn. This one isn't ending up to be as pretty as the first one I did back in 2020. BUT I love making something useful out of what most people would consider trash.

Here are last week's quilts. The first two belong to Stephanie. I quilted Lacey Loops on this one.

And Knit 1, Purl 2 on this one. I think you will be able to see this one at IHQS.

I got the binding onto Hannah's quilt and got both hers and Ben's shipped back.

I quilted Ansley Park 2 on Melissa's quilt. It doesn't show in this picture, but all the edges of the quilt were in the honeycomb shape.

Sara selected Splat for her quilt.

And Tina wanted Spring Thing. I used pink thread that blended with her inner border for the top and a more orangey-pink thread on the back.

I quilted Freehand Hearts and Loops (computerized despite the name) on Amber's quilt. I kind of wish I would have sized this one a bit smaller, but I think it's okay. It's a baby quilt.

That's quite a bit of work considering how chaotic life has felt lately.

In other news, I noticed my daffodils are starting to come up. I'm surprised anything survived in this soil after the porch repair.

And I spotted a Baltimore Oriole nest way, way up in the tulip poplar just beyond my property. I haven't seen an oriole nest since I was a kid. This first picture is one my son took. Besides the nest, you can clearly see that the blossoms are close to opening. Spring is coming!

This oddly artsy photo is one I took using his camera because he wasn't at home when I first  saw the nest. I didn't know that he had the camera set to take photos in black and white and I don't know why is has a ring around it. It kind of looks fake. 😆

I've seen a few yellow-rumped warblers and, though I couldn't see it, I heard a sand hill crane flying over yesterday. We have robins year-round. They are starting to be on the ground more. I think the squirrels were having a rough winter because they've stripped the bark right off several tree limbs in the woods.  

It's funny to think that in just a month or so, it will be time to start working in the vegetable garden.

I'll be back Sunday with the OMG finish link up.

Linking with Quiltery and Alycia Quilts.