Showing posts with label #getyourquiltywishesgranted4. Show all posts

Postcard from Sweden Mini Finish

My last week has been fairly stressful--the last bit of preparation for the FLL tournament this Saturday, elections, well...actually that's about it.  Things are falling into place nicely for the tournament.  I had some issues with getting the t-shirts printed.  I think everything is under control there, finally, at the last minute.  Elections.  Not a super great day to be a Hoosier, not that I ever fully feel like a Hoosier, nor do I think I ever will feel like one.  I'm always a bit embarrassed to say that I live here.  Well, on the bright side, the political ads are over for a bit. Just think of all the good that could be done with that money instead of spending it on advertising that no one likes.  Do these ads even influence any voters?  I only ever hear complaints about the commercials.

 On to much happier things.  Last week I was ready to re-quilt my Postcard mini.  I got the quilting done on Halloween and even started binding it.  I finished it totally on November 1.  I decided to use clear thread on the top and a gray on the back (which is gray).  I quilted in the ditch horizontally and vertically and also did the diagonals.  Because I had many attempts at the quilting, I had a lot of needle holes to address.  I ran the finished mini through the steam cycle on my dryer.  That took care of the holes and also made the quilt shrink a bit out of square.  I went with it, happy to have it finished.  Even though it is now a bit wonky, I still am pleased with it.  It's around 18 x 22.
(c) A. Hammond

Last week Monday my guild got together to make a charity fundraising quilt.  We made some improv-like Christmas tree blocks based on a tutorial available from Amy Smart.  Improv is NOT my thing.  I am a math major and a type-A.  I like my things even and as perfect as possible.  I like preciseness and improv is not that.  I went along and tried to contribute a few blocks.  I then got the job of attaching the vertical white borders and the outside borders, along with quilting it.  The quilt top in progress and some fabrics for borders and backing made its way to me on Friday.  I worked on the borders and quilted it Friday and Saturday before passing it along to another member for binding.  Since this required a quick turn around, I chose to do an all-over loopy meander. It is 40 x 60.


Can you find my seam join?  I was pretty proud of it!  LOL

Because this week wasn't stressful enough, the power cord that runs my stitch regulation decided it would be a good time to develop a wire break.  I would be quilting along and my machine would just stop mid-stitch.  We found a similar cord on Amazon that I hope will do the trick.  It arrived yesterday and I haven't had time yet to try it out for compatibility yet.

 Kim of Maggie Magpie Studio sent me a bunch of Bonnie & Camille's April Showers scraps as part of #getyourquiltywishesgranted4.  I feel very thankful for her generosity.  Look at all this beautifulness!  My plan is to make a king size granny square quilt for my bed using these plus the jelly roll and a few other scraps I've managed to buy.

I really have felt the need lately to work on getting more UFOs finished.  I started an EPP mini back in 2015 when Fat Quarter Shop did a quilt-along.  I was new to EPP then, but got it all stitched together well enough.  Then I had to stitch it down to the background and there it has sat, in progress, for almost three years!  I picked it up again this past week to try to finish stitching it down.  I'm getting closer; more than half way.  I just have the top six diamonds left to sew down.  Have I mentioned how much I dislike appliqué?  To clarify, I love how it looks and HATE doing hand sewing of it.  I cannot figure out a good way to get a nice point on the ends.
Let's see.  I finished both pairs of pajama pants I was working on for my kids last week.  No pictures though.  I have almost one side of the Tula quilt binding sewn down.  No progress made on any cross stitch.  I've been focusing on sewing down the EPP and alternating that with binding. Sunday my husband and I will try to get everything in my sewing room ready for my father in law to come in and work.  We have a bit of floor leveling left to do, a bit of drywall patching and then painting in the closets, and painting the window frame if there's enough time. I cannot wait to see my cabinets in there!

 Last Friday, after several days of heavy rain, I looked out into my garden to see an obscene display of stinkhorn fungus.  So gross.  They smell terrible. The only way to remove them is to remove all the soil and mulch around them.  Not worth the effort since they are, um, erect, for a day or two, spew seed, then become flaccid and wither away.  They are sort of funny in a juvenile sort of way.

I have four pink flamingos protecting day lilies in my lower garden.  Lately I've been finding them off their posts in the morning.  At first we thought it was due to high winds, but now I am convinced the deer are pushing them over in an attempt to get to the lily leaves.  Evidence--lots of deer footprints and chewed off leaves.  I did, however, find that one of my flamingoes was host to a monarch.  My picture is rather blurry, but maybe you can see the empty cocoon?  It's circled below.

Well, I guess that's it for this week.  I need to get going on cleaning since we have a dinner guest tonight.  And I have a few more FLL paperwork things to get done.  Until next week.

Update 5/13/21:  Linking with For the Love of Geese.
Posted by at 1 comment
Labels: , , , , , , , , , ,

Working in Fits & Starts

I seem to have started a bunch of stuff in the last week and made little progress on anything.

 I did get the binding attached to the front of the Tula quilt, but haven't started sewing it to the back yet.

I removed (again--third? fourth? time) the quilting from my mini Postcard quilt.  I will need to press it again and try quilting it again now that my sewing machine is working better.
I started a simple cross stitch and found out I didn't have enough of the main color, so had to pause and go buy a skein of floss.  And haven't gotten back to it since.
My son outgrew his favorite pajama pants.  Luckily I had anticipated this and bought more of the same fabric.  I made it up to the hem and stalled out.  I also have had a huge chunk of flannel hanging around for years to make my daughter a nightgown.  It never got made--I think one of the pattern pieces had gotten lost--and I decided to just make her some flannel pants too.  So after the hem, that will be my next project.
I'm planning to quilt my Coral Queen of the Seas quilt next.  It's a pretty big quilt.  I decided to go with a pantograph on it.  I consulted with my daughter on which pattern to use.  We selected one called Outside In.  Before I can begin that, though, I will be quilting our guild's charity quilt.  I think I'm receiving the top Friday, so maybe next week I can start Coral at long last.

 I have sent out most of my #GetYourQuiltyWishesGranted4 packages.  The thread I sent has been received and acknowledged, the patterns I sent have been received, the first set of blocks are in transit, and I need to mail the other set of blocks today.  I also volunteered to send someone a good bit of yardage, but they never responded.  😕  

 I have received my first two packages in return, selvedges.  I want to knit a selvedge rug as seen at crazy mom quilt's blog.  I've been saving my selvedges forever and they just don't accumulate as fast as you would expect.  So anyway, I got some and one had the sweetest note with it.  Her mom died recently and she'd inherited fabric from her and sent me some of the selvedges her mom had saved.  I'm expecting two more packages in today's mail.  It is so fun to see what people send.
Right now it looks like my sewing room cabinet installation will be the week of Thanksgiving.

 We have a week and a half left before our FLL competition.

 I read this really interesting article yesterday about the costs of pattern producing and blogging and thought I would share.  There's a lot to think about, whether you are a pattern producer or a pattern consumer.

 Also, now that we're definitely in fall, I love throwing something in the crock pot and having it be ready for dinner.  (Actually I always love throwing something in the crock pot.)  Here is one of my current favorite recipes, Rustic Chicken Slow Cooker Stew.  It's really simple and filling and tasty.  I buy a package of chicken tenderloins and it works great.
Posted by at No comments
Labels: , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)