Stories from the Sewing Room

Man, have I been chasing squirrels this past week! I've gotten quite a bit done, but maybe not what I should be doing.

I really wanted to work on that Rosewood Star mini I mentioned last week. I had been continually shifting this kit out of the way for about a year--I'd had it either in my book/pattern cabinet, or sitting right in front of it and I was tired of moving it around every time I got into my cabinet. So I made it start to finish this past week! 

Pattern is called Rosewood Star by Primrose Cottage Quilts. Fabrics are Lori Holt and quilting design is Elkweed.

Another squirrel--while arranging my fabrics for the Tall Tales blocks, I kept moving this orphan block around and finally moved it out onto the design wall. This one has a bit of a backstory. Years ago I won a baggie stuffed full of tiny Bonnie & Camille scraps from Shaunna @sunshinequiltstudio on Instagram and I made this block around then. The pattern I used can be found here. 

And here is my second block in progress. 😁 I think I can get several more from what's left.

I have actually made some Tall Tales blocks too. I'm on track to finish all 16 for this month's goals. They look really skewed in this picture. No idea how I managed that. LOL

I mentioned a baby quilt I tested last week. I am able to share my finished quilt with you now. The pattern is called Jungle Brigade by Yellow Umbrella Quilts. 

Lots of quilting for others has been happening too. This one belongs to Jae and is quilted with Sprawl.

Three baby quilts for Sara. The first one is quilted with Malachite.

The next two are quilted with Soho.

One for Pat, quilted with Cloud Nine Petite. I also bound this one.

Another for Pat, quilted with Twist Tie. Also bound this one. This is just the cutest fabric!

One more for Pat, quilted with Basketweave, and again, I bound it too.

Finally, one for Sonja, quilted with Diagonal Plaid. I'll be quilting another just like it today.

I did a little tinkering on the longarm that required the whole family over the weekend. I had been using Leader Grips for years--pretty much since I started using a longarm. On the Juki I used the Grips on all three leaders. On the APQS I used them on two. My hand strength is declining in my middle age and I wanted to give Sew Tites a try. They arrived on Friday. 

After looking at the pretty inexpert channels I'd sewn in to the leaders when I first got the machine, I decided to rip them out and start fresh with channels that would fit the Sew Tites metal bars better. I used Shelly's video as a guide. My husband and I discussed what would be the best way to sew the new channels and we decided to remove the leaders from the rollers. I'm not sure this was the best idea, but we got it done. It did take us two attempts on each leader to get them taped back on correctly. The kids helped too. 

I've now quilted four quilts using the Sew Tites and so far I am in love. I purchased eight packs of five based on Shelly's recommendation. I could use one more package since I have openings at the end of each leader that don't have bars in them. I also found out that my leaders are different widths than Shelly's (makes sense, she has a Gammill and I have an APQS), and my leaders are different widths from each other as well!!

That's about it in my sewing world. My husband tore apart my daughter's car, so we've been driving her to and from work until he finishes doing whatever it is he is doing to it. We also had some lawnmower issues. That is torn apart too. The grass is getting pretty long! The vegetable garden looks the same as last week. The strawberries are winding down. Here's my indoor garden. This time we are growing herbs. Dill seems like a bit of an odd choice for a tabletop garden. 🤷🏻‍♀️

My house is pretty much a wreck. We have way too many things going on in here. We are either in the middle of projects or have things ripped apart to get rid of excess stuff. The only really clean spaces are the downstairs bathroom, the laundry room, and my sewing room. I'm hoping to get it a bit more under control this month. Maybe some year I'll finally have it all together. 

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