Stories from the Sewing Room

As promised, I've been taking it really easy over the past week. My goal this week is to quilt four quilts. I have quilted two quilts so far, both for Annie. 

The first is a t-shirt quilt, quilted with Diagonal Plaid, which is my pattern of choice for t-shirt quilts.

The second is a modified version of Bonnie Hunter's Good Fortune. I quilted this with Raindrops on Water.

I'm currently working on ideas for custom quilting a baby quilt that has lots of machine embroidered blocks. It is a challenging one, for sure, as I cannot stitch through the embroideries and they are all different shapes and alignments and stuff.

I'll also be dusting off my embroidery machine to add a monogram to a set of pajamas. This will involve removing the pocket, stitching, and then reattaching the pocket. 

I feel like I've done very little except spend money! I needed some background fabric for a project (below), so I had my husband take me to a shop that I hadn't been to before. They have ALL the Konas! Whoa! I also purchased a backing fabric for that project and a few impulse purchases as well. I then stopped by JoAnn to pick up some 108" wide muslin to make a hanging sleeve for my 365 Challenge. That's this month's OMG, so I really need to get a move on. I'm hoping to finish binding Frolic, add a hanging sleeve, and enter that one in the show as well.

Here's the upcoming project. As part of my spending spree, I ordered lots of new colors of quilting thread, some of which are for this.

You may recall that I wasn't entirely sold on the fabric I had as my dark fabric for Denise's Flower Patch SAL. I found an Island Batik Foundations blue the I liked the look of, so I ordered some from Hancock's of Paducah. I also purchased some backing fabric for a donation quilt and then some other random sale stuff to get up to the free shipping threshold. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that, right? I'd rather pay for extra fabric than shipping. Anyway, back to my preparations for the SAL. 

Since the Flower Patch SAL is a paper piecing project, I ordered some of the paper that Bonnie Hunter recommends, which is a ream of newsprint from Amazon. It was packaged in a plastic shipping bag, and this is how it looked when I opened the shipping bag. Nice job, Amazon. Not. What a mess. I needed it right away though, so I am using it as is rather than waiting to return it and start again. Plus, it would cost more in time and environmental harm to return it than use it as is.

Okay, so here are my final fabric selections for the SAL. I really like how the IB Foundations navy looks with the other two blues from the IB Starry Night line that I had previously purchased. I'm using Kona White for the background (it's on the bottom of the picture). I had the two red fabrics in my stash already. One is a batik and one is Kona or similar.

Here is part of my first block in progress. If you haven't tried Denise's method of paper piecing using strips, you really should. It is so easy! I found that the newspaper print paper was very easy to stitch through and even easier to remove. The only thing I didn't like is that it is harder to see through than the white copy paper. The ease of removing the foundations makes up for its lack of opacity. Sorry for all the dark and yellowish pictures. It's been dark, gloomy, and rainy. Plus, I sewed this block in the evening while my husband was nice enough to take over the dinner prep so I could sew.

Hmm...something isn't quite right here. Oops! 😬

Here is my completed first block. 

My husband surprised me with a new-to-us computer for my sewing room. I'd been using our original Mac, which is over 10 years old, no longer able to be updated, and getting really slow. Here's my new 2015 model, which is so fast compared to the old one, straight from the IU Surplus Store. We find all sorts of crazy stuff there. I'm digging this screen saver. We did have to buy a new keyboard since my old one had a broken wire. I was also treated to a new mouse (he found an open-box special). I think these together cost almost as much as the computer! 😳 I'm feeling pretty spoiled.

And finally, we have ordered the carpet for the basement. We went with the color I liked two weeks ago when we brought home the first samples. It took another two hour round trip to the carpet store to pick up another color sample for my husband to be convinced that the one I liked the very first day was the correct one. 😏 We have an install date set for the end of October.

The basement has been in progress for, like, seven years. It seems weird to think that the house is now nearly complete. I guess it's time to start refreshing things upstairs? Maybe finish the rest of the landscape? The next big project will be to build a separate garage/workshop on the edge of the new property.

I'm still waiting for the apples I like to be ready for harvest from the orchard. Maybe they'll be ready this weekend?

Have a great week. Wish me luck on the custom quilt.

Linking with For the Love of Geese and My Quilt Infatuation.

I was feeling pretty recharged after my forced four day break, so I went a little crazy with the quilting this week.  I completed seven quilts.

The first one belongs to Georgia. Quilted with Soho.

Terry's second quilt, quilted with Ruby Queen.

Toni's memory quilt, quilted with Tractors.

Toni's next memory quilt, quilted with In the Swirls.

Toni's final memory quilt, also quilted with In the Swirls.

I am taking the rest of the week off and I'll start again next week.

I'm thinking about seeing if the apples I like are ready for picking and maybe making applesauce this weekend.

I've been working on a few personal projects too. I made another improv unit. I have another one planned that I'm hoping to work on today. I have to phone the school transportation department first. 😒 I haven't had much success in my prior attempts this week.

Be sure to stop by My Quilt Infatuation to see lots of fun, scrappy improv mini quilts on the blog hop celebrating Kelly's new book. 

I had to laugh at how incredibly wonky this little piece is.  Good thing trimming is an easy fix, particularly since I don't have to hit any certain size. Looks like I need to clean my cutting mat too.

I completed September's clue for the Meadow Mist Macaron Mystery.

I also got September's #Trending block complete. This sloth is now hanging on my woefully bare design wall.

The first clue for Denise's Flower Patch SAL is live. Find the details at For the Love of Geese. Here is my initial fabric pull for this project. All three are from the Starry Night line by Island Batik. I'm not totally sold on how the navy I selected looks with the other two, so I ordered a navy from their foundations line and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. I am using Kona White (not pictured) for the background. 

Meanwhile, the larger quilt guild I belong to is having a quilt show next month. There will be raffle baskets available. I decided to donate a basket and wanted a home products with quilt blocks on them theme, which ended up being way harder to find items for than I expected. I put my talented husband to work and here are my donations. I found the puzzle on Zulily. The notecards on the lower left are from Bluegrass Papercrafts on Etsy. They are really nice. The cocktail napkins are from my IKEA stash.

The tote bag, tumbler, and coasters are from Amazon. I had to buy a giant pack of the cork coasters (30!), so my husband has been making all sorts of custom coasters with his Laser Pecker. We have so much fun making fun of the name of his laser. Junior high jokes abound. 😄 This top set is mine. The ones on the bottom are the set for the basket. All the rest he made are not pictured. Yup, he's used the whole giant package and ordered a second package already.

He is also the operator of our vinyl cutting machine. I selected some quilt blocks and he cut and applied the vinyl decals to the tote bag and the tumbler to match my vision. I helped with the tote bag since I have the giant Cricut iron in my sewing room. I bought it because I thought it would make ironing large pieces of fabric easier, but we've only used it for vinyl so far.

I think we've selected the carpet we want for the basement, but we haven't agreed on which color yet. The product we selected is Mohawk Air.o. It has a built in felt backing pad and is applied using a double sided tape instead of the nailer strips. It's supposed to be VOC-free, good for placing over in-floor radiant heat (which we have), and is hypoallergenic and recyclable.The man came to measure the day after we visited the store. If we make our color decision, it sounds like the carpet could be installed within two weeks if it's an in-stock color! 

I'll be working on improv units, maybe making some applesauce, and making and attaching a 90" hanging sleeve for my quilt entry this week. And starting the Flower Patch SAL if my fabric comes. Have a nice week!

Linking with For the Love of Geese and My Quilt Infatuation and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.