To-Do-List Tuesday 2-28-23

I had a pretty full list last week, but I purposely worded it so I didn't have to finish much. I used words like "work on" and "start piecing" so it was pretty easy to be successful. How did I do? 

1) Put the borders on the Cheaper by the Dozen quilt. Yay me! I hadn't worked on it at all (as usual), and I made myself just sit down at the machine and get it done yesterday afternoon.

I like the spring look of the colors.....it was a beautiful sunny day, and the sunlight was coming through the blinds, but I didn't care. I'm just happy to get it off the list. I am officially changing the name……I didn’t end up using the Cheaper by the Dozen pattern. The name of the fabric line is Sun Valley, so I’m just going to call it that.

2) Finish piecing commission quilt. I did! 

3) Work on border workshop quilt. A little bit....no pictures yet, but I am still working on the pinwheel border.

4) Start piecing temperature quilt. Yes! I got January done. 

5) RSC/Stashbuster blocks. I did four blocks. I had hoped for more, but that's okay.

I am so happy with my progress; I am ready to get started on a new list. Here it is:

1) Quilt and bind commission quilt. This is a have-to-do, no negotiation on this.

2) Quilt three customer quilts.

3) Make two pillowcases for my bed.

4) Continue working on border workshop quilt. I think it is actually called Borders Galore. I need to start referring to it as that. 

5) Finish February goal quilt. This may not happen; it depends on how much time I have.

I am linking this post to Quilt Schmilt. Have a good week everyone.

Part Two

I was finally able to download the rest of the pictures…..as I said yesterday, I didn’t take pictures of everything that was on display. Anyway, here is the remainder of the ones I did take.

I really don’t have a good grasp of what quilts were winners. I do know it was a judged show, but there weren’t ribbons or anything; at least not that I noticed. Tomorrow is to-do-list Tuesday, but I will try and show pictures maybe Wednesday or Thursday of what I bought. I know, I know, I wasn’t going to buy anything, but I kind of got caught up in the excitement. 

Calhoun County Quilt Show

I know I keep calling it the Port Lavaca quilt show, but it is the Calhoun County quilt  guild which includes Port Lavaca, but a few more small towns as well.

The highlight of the show for me was the presentation William Reue did. He is a fabric designer for Free Spirit, and also a Port Lavaca native. He had a very informative talk about how he turns his architecture background into fabric designs.

There were lots of nice quilts and about eight vendors, so it was a nice show. I didn’t take a lot of pictures; just my favorites. I am happy to share them here.

These are taking a little long to upload. I’ll add the rest tomorrow.

I was hoping to do some sewing last night but all I did was cut a few strips. I’m just not feeling it right now. I may have been too tired from cleaning house and doing laundry. 

Moving Along

Spring fever is still hanging around. I have had some brief spurts of productivity followed by intervals of not wanting to do much of anything. I did some work on the pinwheel border for my border quilt. I also decided I didn't like the way the previous border "turned the corner", 

and I snowballed the corners with more navy.

Just a small change, but I like it so much better. 

I found some large squares in my stash that I think were originally in a bunch of fabric I bought at the thrift store. There were nine of the 14" ones, and five 9" ones. I sewed the 14" ones into a top.

The sashing is some lavender that was left over backing from the keyhole quilt I did last month. I am trying to incorporate the 9" pieces into a border for the top and bottom to add to the length, and then I will add more of the lavender around the entire perimeter. It will be a basically no-cost charity quilt, and some more stuff is out of the stash. Win-win.

My February quilt goal was put on the frame, and I got the last row quilted yesterday!

I had a goal to get it trimmed and get the binding made, but that will have to wait for another day. Today I will go to Port Lavaca for their quilt show. It will put me a little behind on the quilts I need to get done, but I am really looking forward to getting out and about for the day. Maybe tomorrow I will have some nice pictures to share.

One Done

This one was on last week’s to-do list. The tops was made in the 70’s, and I quilted and bound it. I delivered it to the church today since the owner (Marilyn) is in my sewing group. 

It’s about 80” x 104”. I can’t remember exactly. Marilyn’s mom sewed all her clothes, and this quilt is made from the scraps. The fabrics are really heavy—the backing fabric was also heavy—sort of a twill weave.

Marilyn has had the top and backing pieces in a box in her closet for all these years, and she decided it might not survive the next generation if it wasn’t quilted. In other words, the kids would find a box of unquilted fabrics in the closet after she is gone and throw it away. I hope she will be happy with the way this turned out.

I personally think it is hard to predict what our kids will value when we are gone. I know mine are much more likely to dispose of things than I am, and they don’t like a lot of things cluttering up their home. 

Today I will be back in my shop after a brief break (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday). I need to get some work done on the commission quilt I have, and there a couple of people who want to drop off things for me to quilt. I’m sure there are other thing I need to get done, but I can’t remember what they are.

To-Do-List Tuesday 2-21-23

It’s been a week. I think I have pre-spring fever; I have been so exhausted, I took another nap yesterday. That’s two days on a row! I had a doctor appointment yesterday morning, and I have gained a little weight which does not make me happy. I have also had some numbness/tingling in my arms which I am pretty sure is a pinched nerve. I need to go for a cervical X-ray later this week. 

How did I do on my to-do list? Some successes and some fails. Here’s the list:

1) Put the borders on the Cheaper by the Dozen quilt. Oh, my. This is getting ridiculous, but I didn’t work on it at all.

2) Finish binding on customer quilt. Yes, but I forgot to take a picture. It hasn’t been picked up yet, so I will get a picture tomorrow.

3) Finish the piecing on commission quilt. I worked on it, but I didn’t finish.

4) Continue working on borders quilt. I did okay with this one.

So what’s on the list for this week? Hmmmm…I haven’t given this much thought, but I have a few things from last week I need to continue on.

1) Put the borders on the Cheaper by the Dozen quilt.

2) Finish piecing commission quilt.

3) Work on border workshop quilt. 

4) Start piecing temperature quilt.

5) RSC/Stashbuster blocks.

My church group meets today—we will pin quilts from 9-11, then go out to lunch at the Sky Restaurant. It’s our 100 year anniversary, and we are being recognized with a luncheon. I’ll find time one day this week to get the X-rays on my neck. Other than that, I should have time to get some things done. I’m linking this post to Quilt Schmilt.

A New Week

Happy Monday!

Can you believe it’s a new week already? The days just seem to evaporate. I have a doctor appointment this morning, but it’s not until 9, so I still have time for my 7am exercise class and a quick shower….I hope. 

I took a little nap yesterday afternoon which I almost never do, but I was so tired. I slept about an hour before the dogs woke me up. I finally made it to the sewing room and got two more borders added to this one:

Next will be another spacer border, and then all those pinwheels I made at the beginning of this journey.

Most likely, more will have to be made as I have increased some of the border widths. I think I’ve made about 40, so a few more is not a big deal. I am not going to be through with this project any time soon, but I am determined to make some progress each week. I can’t really work on it daily, but weekly is doable. Of course, it takes up time when I should be cleaning my house. That is quickly becoming a priority so I need to quit ignoring it in favor of things I’d rather do.

Weekend Update

I have been working on a few things, but now it’s Sunday, and another week is winding down. I ironed a whole pile of scrap fabric yesterday in preparation of getting it cut down into usable pieces, but never got finished with it.

The pile is still on the end of the ironing table. I really need to deal with all of it. I did find a small stack of squares that I think I can work into a small quilt, but I forgot to take a picture. 

A few quilts did get finished this week. This one is super cute.

This was another one for the quilt show next weekend:

It is made with the half-hexi template I used for this one:

It’s always fascinating to me how fabric selection totally changes a quilt. I was really intrigued by Jimmy Lou’s backing fabric.

It’s a Moda fabric from the same line, but it is 60” wide. I didn’t know such a thing was available. 

This one was made by a customer for her boss who has breast cancer.

The best part? It is only the second quilt she has made, and it was so well done. When I got to the end, it was perfectly straight and square. Hahaha, my own quilts aren’t always square, and I’ve done lots and lots of them. I was quite impressed with her abilities. She said she worked really hard on it.

Other than that, the weather is crazy. It was in the thirties Thursday and Friday night, and it should get into the seventies today. I was cutting up some veggies for soup yesterday and cut the middle finger on my left hand pretty badly. I thought for a minute I would need to go and get a stitch, but I finally got the bleeding stopped. A few days earlier (when working on the hexi quilt), I managed to quilt through the pinky finger of my left hand. Lucky for me I didn’t get any blood on the quilt. The needle went through the skin beside the nail, and that is a tender spot. Needless to say, my left hand has taken a beating the last few days. I need to be more careful I think.