Weekend Update

Another hot one. I managed to get the grass cut, but it was so dry, I almost hated to cut it. I managed to stay indoors most of the time, which meant plenty of time for sewing (and cutting). The dogs have been begging to go outside and play ball.

Reba brought her ball in, and she keeps following me around with it hoping I’ll have a change of heart. 

I have cut more 5” squares. I filled one box and started another one.

I went ahead and cut some white 5” squares so I can start a new quilt with all these leftovers. While I was digging for scraps I could cut up, I found two fat quarter bundles I got from the clearance bin at JoAnn’s. They are quite pretty.

I found some Villa Rosa patterns that use 12 fat quarters, and ended up pulling two more aqua colored fqs from my stash. I found a yard of black I can use for the contrast color. Once I decide which pattern to use, I will get these cut up and kitted. There are some retreats coming up soon, and if I decide to go on one, I want to have some projects kitted up to take with me. Of course, I have two unfinished kits left from my cruise which I need to finish. 

I worked some more on the blocks someone gave me for a baby quilt. I have them redone so they are (mostly) the same size. I didn’t spend a lot of time on accuracy—just trying to make them useable. I got two rows together.

I hope to be finished with it soon.

The technician is coming today to work on my quilt machine. It’s not broken; just routine maintenance. I put a lot of hours on it in a year’s time, so I think it’s worth the investment of having someone go over it and do any needed adjustments. 

Progress!

It's been a busy week around here--I have been working mostly on customer quilts. This is the latest one:

It's quilted with a silver-gray thread in the Surf design. Quite a few of my customers use panels, and although I typically don't, they sure do make some pretty quilts. I think I don't use them very much because I enjoy piecing so much. I also don't have good ideas about how to really showcase the panel the way this lady did.

I got the three table runners bound.

That was one of my weekly goals, and I like the way they turned out, so that's a win.

As soon as I have some free time on the quilting machine, I want to make a few more with matching placemats. I'm thinking about just quilting an entire yard of fabric, and then cutting the runner and mats from that. It's a vague plan at this time, but it shouldn't be hard.

Progress has also been made with scrap cutting. When I was at Target this week, I picked up some of these plastic boxes.

They are only $3.00, and work perfectly for 10" squares.

I haven't cut that many 10" squares, but I have almost filled up one of the smaller boxes with 5" squares, so it will be time soon to work on some charm square projects.

I would love to be done with this scrap trimming, but I don't think it ever really ends. 

Mid Week and I’m Tired!

I think the heat has me more tired than I should be. Not sleepy, just lazy and unenergetic. I go to Cardio-rehab on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and that’s not helping either. I really wish I could do a different schedule, but I have to go when they have a doctor available, and apparently they only work three days a week. I went to Target Tuesday morning after rehab and bought myself a present. 

I haven’t had a hot air popper since college, and this one is on sale for $19.99. I’m generally reluctant to buy appliances that take up room on the counters, but this one is fairly small and I think I can find room in a cabinet. Just look at this beautiful bowl of popcorn.

It’s more than I can eat, but I put some in a ziploc. I’ll see if it’s still good tomorrow or not. I put a couple of pumps of spray butter and some Tony Chachere on the portion I did eat. I’m happy with it.

After my trip to Target, I got this one done:

While I was working on it, I opened a box I had gotten with 108” fabric bolts, and notice this one goes really well with the quilt.

I’m really not wanting to add another border, so I will keep it in mind for the binding. And, of course the backing.

I never did get yesterday’s post linked to the host’s blog. She hadn’t made a new post for several days, and there was nothing for the To-Do List Tuesday. I hope everything is okay with her. I wonder if I should email her?

To-Do-List Tuesday 7-25-23

If you look at my last week's to do list, my week wasn't very successful:

1) Trim and bind the July UFO quilt. Trimmed, but not bound.

2) Make a couple of potholders. I gave up on this one when a friend gifted me a whole stack of potholders she made. I still may try to finish the two I had cut out.

3) Two Water Color blocks.  Ughhhh....I can't seem to make any progress on this one. There are so many triangles and flying geese that need to be trimmed.

4) Keep working on Plan B quilt. Not much progress---although I did get quite a few of the 2" strips cut, and I need those to make this quilt.

5) Finish piecing the baby quilt someone gave me blocks for. Slight delay on this one, I started putting the blocks together and figured out they are not all the same size. I took apart the ones that are the most "off" and will need to remake them.

6) Finish piecing top with flower swap blocks. Another slight delay.....I started putting them together and found a couple that were sewn with about 1/16" seam allowances. I need to remake those blocks before proceeding.

Well, you can see that I had some issues and prework to deal with. And, of course there was vacation bible school and a day trip out of town, so I won't beat myself up for not getting anything finished. I'll just make a new list and try again this week.

1) Bind the three table runners I quilted.

2) Finish two pot holders. If I don't need them, I can donate them to the Sampler Store at the September quilt show.

3) Two Water Color Blocks. Yes, I want to keep trying to make some progress on this one.

4) Keep cutting up strips and squares for a couple of future quilt projects.

5) Finish piecing the baby quilt once I get the block sizes all the same.

6) Finish piecing top with flower swap blocks.

7) Bind July UFO quilt.

I hope everyone else had better luck than I did! I am linking this post to Quilt Schmilt. Enjoy your week and stay out of the heat!

Weekend Update

I can’t say I got a lot done—Sunday afternoon was mainly spent in the recliner with my feet up looking at quilt books or Pinterest. I picked up Mexican food after church and took it over to the Dornberg Hospice Center so I could eat lunch with a friend. Her husband is there now, and I’m sure it has to be exhausting for her. I went back in the evening with more food. It’s all just a waiting game right now. Life is hard for all of us sometimes.

This one got finished and was sent home Saturday:

I like the way it turned out; I should have gotten a closeup of the quilt pattern. It is seashells, and turned out really nice.

I cut a couple of pieces of fabric to make some pot holders, and then a friend showed up with a gift for me.

It’s a whole stack of pot holders—about ten of them. Haha. I don’t know if I really need to finish my goal of making pot holders or not. I have plenty now.

I also got three table runners quilted.

I loaded them all together, each one butted up under the next. I still need to get them bound. Hopefully this week. 

What I'm Working On

I've been on a mission to trim up some of the leftover fabrics into useable sizes. The urge to do that kind of waxes and wanes around here, but when the mess starts taking over the cutting tables, it's time. The sizes I concentrate on depends somewhat on what I want to make. This time, I know I am going to need 2" and 1.5" strips for a couple of projects. 

The 1.5" strips are getting thrown into an empty cat food bucket.

Two inch and 2.5" are getting put into plastic bags. I am finding some bigger pieces of scraps that I can get a 10" or 5" square out of. I have quite a few patterns that use the 5" size, so I have cut a pretty good stack of those.

I got this book Tuesday from the library, and I found a couple of cute ones in here. They are super small, but with enough charm squares, they can definitely be made bigger. 

There are some really cute ones:

I really dislike how time consuming all this cutting is, but I really like having the precut components ready to use. I moved a cutting table into the big room where the quilt machine lives, so I can cut scraps while I am longarming. This one is on the frame right now:

I love the flip flops. I hope to get finished with it today and get it back to its owner. 

Thursday I took my stepdad to Lake Jackson. It was tiring, but otherwise not a bad trip. I managed to make a stop at Kroger's and at Luby's. We were back by around 6pm. I have to say I slept like a rock! LOL. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 7-18-23

I had posts written for Sunday and Monday, but they didn't get posted, and I don't know where I saved them--or if I saved them. Well, too late to worry about it now. It's Tuesday and time to see what happened with the weekly to-do list.

1) Get table runner sewn. Yes. It was a fun one to do and went pretty fast.

2) Make two Water Color blocks. Didn't happen. I sewed enough flying geese for several blocks, but they still need to be trimmed before I can start putting blocks together.

3) Figure out a border (or not) for Scrappy Celebration. No. I still haven't decided.

4) Find my insulbrite and make a couple of pot holders. I found it, but I still need to do some cutting and sewing.

5) Start on the Plan B quilt. Yes. This is where most of my spare time went. I got twelve of the A blocks pieced.

6) Quilt July UFO quilt. Done. I still need to trim it before I take pictures.

I guess that's not too bad as far as progress goes. I don't know how long it will take me to decide on the Scrappy Celebration borders. I keep thinking the right decision will come to me. We'll see. For this week, I have a few things to finish.

1) Trim and bind the July UFO quilt.

2) Make a couple of potholders. 

3) Two Water Color blocks.

4) Keep working on Plan B quilt.

5) Finish piecing the baby quilt someone gave me blocks for.

6) Finish piecing top with flower swap blocks.

That's probably more than enough. We are doing Vacation Bible School this week at church. We have it in the evenings, but I am cooking today, so I will have to be there early. I am going to go to Sam's later and get the stuff I need for the meal. Thursday is another trip to Lake Jackson for stepdad's doctor appointment, so that's two days with no sewing. Life happens as they say. 

Enjoy your week and happy sewing! I am linking to Quilt Schmilt.

What I'm Working On

There's no shortage of projects here...I can always find lots of things to work on. It's just finding the time and motivation. I got the binding on this one:

I don't know why I didn't put this one on the to-do list, but apparently it got forgotten. That's okay, it's done now. 

Yesterday morning, I had to fix food for a funeral at church, but I didn't stay any longer that I had to. It was one of those restless days when I have a hard time sticking to any one thing. I had a customer quilt to get finished, which I did once I got back to my shop. I'll have a picture hopefully tomorrow. I dug around in the sewing room, and found the blocks from the last swap I did.

I found five more that didn't have the centers appliqued yet, so I did that.

Once I got those done, I counted and had 16 blocks. The blocks are around 9", so I think I need a few more. I got my box of 5" squares and found enough that would work together to make four more blocks. I got them snowballed and will get them put into blocks tomorrow.

I'm really anxious to get these done and get the sashing on. I have green polka dot fabric I want to use for the sashing and probably the border too. I think it's going to be cute. My plan is to donate it to Mid-Coast Family Services once it's quilted and bound.

Moving Along

Happy Thursday everyone! I have been busy with paperwork--not my favorite thing to do. I managed to squeeze in some time for fun and got the Belle Ami table runner put together.

A friend had made me one from the same pattern and given it to me to quilt. I pulled it out so I can hopefully quilt both of these at the same time.

The one I made is a couple of strips longer. I think I may try to find a third one to put with these when I get them loaded on the quilt machine. Anyway, that's one thing checked off the to-do list. My neck and shoulders were hurting, so I didn't get a lot done, but I did load my July UFO quilt. 

One think I am having trouble with right now is backing up my phone photos to Google. I have apparently used all my available storage. There are some options, such as paying for more storage, or deleting some of the photos I don't want to keep. I am trying to figure out if I already have a photo on my blog can I keep it there and delete it from Google. I may have to do some experimenting and see how that works out, because I sure don't know the answer. If you know, please leave a comment and let me know how that works!

Wednesday

   

There’s not much to report today. I spent the morning yesterday at church. We got 140 comforters packed up and ready to deliver. We still have more to tag and fold. I took a picture of one I wouldn’t mind making.

We get donated tops sometimes. We put an appropriate backing with them and tie them. This one was so striking. 

I had a lot of things I needed to work on after lunch, but I ended up driving down to the bay.

The beach is my happy place—the place I can go to de-stress. I only spent about an hour, and then I was ready to go home. I worked a little on trimming triangles.

I still have quite a few to do, but I got tired of it pretty quickly. I have started using the Clearly Perfect triangle trimmer, and it seems to be the easiest way to get these done.

If you haven’t tried these, i recommend them. I prefer them to bloc lok or the other tools.

To-Do-List Tuesday 7-11-23

Another week gone! I think we are about half way through the year, although I'm not sure how that could be possible.

In spite of the time passing so fast, I have made reasonably good progress on finishing the things on my list. Last week's list:

1) Figure out some borders for Scrappy Celebration and get them put on. I think I know what I want to do, but I had a moment of indecision, and now I am stalled (again!).

2) Get the Summer Scrap Challenge quilt put together. Yes. This one moves to the "to-be quilted" list.

3) Finish the Oklahoma quilt. Yes. Another finish.

It's a little small, so I am thinking about a border or two.

4) Two more Water Colors blocks. I'm still trimming triangles and flying geese, so no blocks were made this last week.

5) Cut out a table runner. Yes. Now to get it sewn together and quilted!

Some of my choices for this week are obvious, but there are a couple of other things I want to do as well.

1) Get table runner sewn.

2) Make two Water Color blocks.

3) Figure out a border (or not) for Scrappy Celebration.

4) Find my insulbrite and make a couple of pot holders.

5) Start on the Plan B quilt.

6) Quilt July UFO quilt.

I have so many things going through my mine right now that I want to work on, but I'm just going to leave it alone and go with these six. That's probably more than I can get done anyway. It's okay.....I'll be happy if I finish just one or two.

Today I am linking to Quilt Schmilt. I have to be at church this morning to start boxing up the comforters we have been making for the dialysis and cancer centers. I don't know when we will get to deliver them as we need to fold them and pin bookmarkers to them before they are boxed so that will take a little time. The bookmarks are inspirational quotes on laminated cardstock. We punch a hole in the top and run a ribbon through them. On the back is the church name and address. Anyway, I hope everyone has a great week and happy sewing!

Weekend Update

 Maybe I’d better start with Friday. I did the shop hop/poker run. I went to Ganado first, then came back to the Victoria store. I really wasn’t in the mood to buy anything—although I did buy a yard of solid yellow. I was wanting to cut this table runner

and I have the jelly roll I want to use, as well as some green background, but I really wanted the light yellow like the pattern picture.

I met Betty for lunch and we drove to Yorktown for the final stop. I didn’t end up with a good poker hand. ☹️ I had two kings, a queen, a four and a two, so I’m not expecting to win. Unless I win for worst hand.

On Saturday I got my Summer Scrap Challenge together. 

The picture doesn’t really do injustice…..I really like it. Of course, I can’t leave well enough alone, so I added a couple of borders to it.

I’m quite pleased with it and anxious to get it quilted. 

I also got my table runner cut out, so that’s another goal checked off. I hope to get some done on it this week.

Is new project has been calling my name for a while, but I keep hoping to get other projects finished before I start something new. Since I got my Summer Scrap Challenge done, I have decided to go ahead and get started on the new one. It’s one of the quilts in this book:

There are actually quite a few quilts in this book that I would like to make, but this one is my favorite.

I spent Sunday afternoon cutting some 2” strips, so this one will be started soon. 

A Few Finishes

I got busy yesterday and did some trimming of completed quilts. I have a tendency to put it off, and then do several at once. I know I have some customers who want to pick up their quilts this week, so I thought I'd better get it done. This one has one of the poufy polyester battings:

It's not something I usually use, but this particular customer has brought me that kind before, and it actually quilts up well. I have heard of some longarmers refusing to use it, but I'm not sure why that is. I generally use whatever they bring me.

This is an almost twin to one I pieced:

It's the Trip Around the Countryside from the last shop hop. Mine hasn't been quilted yet because I decided I want borders, and that is turning out to be a challenge. This lady didn't put borders, and it looks great without them, so I might need to rethink my original plan. 😕

This one is a panel. I quilted it with the Calm Waters design in a variegated green.

It will make a great quilt for someone who likes to fish.

I am pretty exited about this one:

The lady who did the fish panel also pieced this one and gave it to me to quilt and donate to charity. It is the right size for a QOV quilt, and I used the patriotic backing, but I keep thinking about how much a little boy would love this. It's made of super hero fabric.

So for now, I'm not sure where it will be donated. If I get any communications about QOV I will pass it one, but if not, it may go to Midcoast Family Services. I need to get busy and get a binding on it, and I have a few more donation tops I want to get quilted. I like to have some on hand that are done and ready to go.