To-Do-List Tuesday 10-31-23

Happy Tuesday and Happy Halloween! Another month is in the rearview mirror, and it's time to move on. Last week's list was pretty much of a flop, but I'm ready to get re-motivated and see what the new month brings.

1) Make some serious headway on the Star of Bethlehem quilt. Not really serious headway, but I did a couple of rows.

2) Finish the borders on the two kid's charity quilts. No.

3) Get the Nona quilt put together. Yes! This is the one thing I finished!

Does it need a border? Hmmm, I don’t know. It’s around 50” x 60” right now, but I have plenty of the gold left.

4) Work on my thread shelves. No.

5) Start sewing on the next Lickety Split quilt. Yes, I started.

6) Repair the seams on the vintage log cabin. Another No. Sigh.

I know I will be in Houston all day Friday for Quilt Festival, but other than that, the week is pretty open. I think I can get more done than last week. Here's the list.

1) Star of Bethlehem quilt.
2) Finish the borders on two kid's charity quilts.

3) Work on Lickety Split quilt.

4) Repair the seams on vintage quilt. 

5) Make a table runner with the Christmas charm pack I bought last week.

I'm not sure what is happening with the To-Do-List Tuesday link-ups. There hasn't been any activity at the host blog for a little while. Consequently, I don't really have a place to link this post, but I decided to continue doing my weekly lists as it helps a mostly unfocused person like me stay on track with what I need to be working on. Anyway, have a great day and a great week wherever you are reading this!

Weekend Update

First of all, let me say there wasn’t much sewing happening at my house. I have a customer quilt that I started quilting, and I wasn’t happy with it, and I’m ripping out the quilting. It is taking forever! Other than that, one grandson had an awards ceremony Friday, and his mom was out of town, so I was recruited to go.

Oh, he’s a cutie. The award was for character. 

His dad wasn’t sure if he could attend, but he ended up being there after all.

Kathryn’s volleyball team is in playoffs right now, so that’s another thing to attend.

Here’s four generations all together. You can see we are getting progressively taller with each generation. Kathryn is 6’, and Julia is 5’10”.

Sunday was another potluck at church. I know—all we do is eat! 

It was reformation Sunday, and everyone was wearing red. There was a lot of food, but we had a good turnout, so there weren’t a ton of leftovers. I fixed enchilada meatballs and a pumpkin cake. 

I did have some cake leftover, but I managed to give it away before I left so I didn’t have to bring any home.

I worked in the yard when I got home. I’m not quite through with it, but it can wait until I have more energy. I also finished piecing the Nona quilt. I’ll try to get a picture of it tomorrow.

Getting Crafty

I had a day when I just didn't feel like sewing or quilting, but I needed something to work on (something besides laundry and cleaning). I ended up doing a little craft project.....nothing stressful or high-level. Just fun and easy. 

I used a pre-quilted placemat to make a little stationery folio.

I folded the bottom 1/3 of the placemat up and stitched each of the outside edges closed. Then I stitched a vertical seam in the middle and 3 inches from each edge. That's it! I folded it on each of the vertical seams and steamed it a little. Then on the outside, I sewed shank buttons.

I used a small pony tail elastic tied in the middle to wrap around the buttons and hold the folio closed. Here's what it looks like when it's folded up and closed:

I had a small stack of the postcards that were left over from the quilt show, and I cut them apart.

I glued the top portion to a piece of construction paper and glued both pieces to some folded cardstock. The glossy photo was not sticking too well, so I ended up topping stitch it all together with a decorative stitch.

I really like the decorative stitching--I think it added a nice touch! I have some blank envelopes that I think came from Dollar Tree or Dollar General, and I added the same decorative stitch to the envelope flap so that it looks like a set.

If you don't have the blank cards and envelopes on hand you can order them from Amazon for $6.99.

https://www.amazon.com/Envelopes-Invitation-Cardstock-Greeting-Occasions/dp/B0B5RBFL7S/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1LU8MAVFV5P3H&keywords=blank+cards+and+envelopes+4x6&qid=1698431881&sprefix=blank+car%2Caps%2C146&sr=8-5

It was a fun project, and since I already had the placemat on hand, it was essentially free! Now I just need to figure out who I can send a card to!

What I'm Working On

I've been busy working on quilt guild stuff--paperwork and making contact with presenters for next year's programs. Wow, it's hard to get in touch with people. I did talk to the lady who is going to do the January program, and she has returned her contract to me with a supply list, so we are ready to go on that one. She sent me this picture that I can share with everyone at the meeting tomorrow: 

I think it's super cute. I hope everyone else thinks so too. It's made off of this Edyta Sitar pattern:

There should be a lot of color options for making this.

Other than that, I started putting together the commission quilt I committed to.

I think the fabrics are going to be an issue. I am doing my best with pressing them; being careful not to use too much heat since I don't know the fiber content. I sure don't want to scorch the fabric or permanently distort it. I'm pretty sure I will need to use some kind of a border so I can stabilize it properly before I quilt it. I was hoping to keep the vintage vibe, but the owner has no pre-conceived notions of how she wants it to look, so it's all on me.

I found this charm pack at the quilt shop:

The fabrics are so pretty. They only had one left (figures), so I am thinking table runner. I have Christmas ones already, but I can probably find a use for another one--maybe even a gift.

Today is our guild meeting, and I need to see how many people want to make the jacket so the instructor can order enough patterns. She said we will need to make the stars ahead of time, so I'm going to try and collect the money early and get the patterns so I can distribute them to those that want to participate. Wish me luck on all that. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 10-24-23

Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone has been buzzing through their lists and getting lots of good stuff done! I was a little distracted all week, but my list helps me re-focus when I need to. Here's the progress:

1) Get charity quilts put together and get the borders done. Almost complete. I got two completely done (except for quilting), and the other two just need borders.

2) Cut out another charity quilt from the Lickety Split pattern. 

Done. I got it all cut out and ready to stitch.

3) Put the borders on the two vintage quilts. No. Not done. I will need to make the necessary repairs first.

4) Start working on a quilt a lady wants me to make from some vintage blocks made by her late mother. Yes. I got the green squares cut, and I got the pieced squares pressed flat (or as flat as I can get them).

I'm having to be careful as I don't think the fabrics are 100% cotton, and the green ones in particular are stretchy.

All in all, I'm happy with what I got done. There is always more to do, and more 

lists to get made. Here's the lineup for this week:

1) Make some serious headway on the Star of Bethlehem quilt.

2) Finish the borders on the two kid's charity quilts.

3) Get the Nona quilt put together.

4) Work on my thread shelves.

5) Start sewing on the next Lickety Split quilt.

6) Repair the seams on the vintage log cabin.

This should give me plenty to choose from. I hope everyone has a good week! Thanks for visiting! I am linking this post to Quilt Schmilt. 

Some Sunday Sewing

 

I was actually planning to work on the yard after church. I have finally gotten the back looking decent and thought I could get something done with the front. By the time I got home it was windy and sprinkling rain. Okay. Change of plans. I was doing some scrolling on my iPad and found a quilt pattern I wanted to try. It’s called  Nona quilt.

It’s a goofy name, but I like the quilt. I especially like it in the red and blue pictured. Apparently, it was a recent quilt along on the Bernina blog. Here’s the pattern. For the quilt along, she used a different color way.

It’s nice, although I prefer the red and blue. It’s such a clean, country look. I didn’t have any red and blue on hand, or at least, not enough to do the entire quilt. No quilt shops are open on Sunday, but Walmart is. I was able to find a couple of things there I could use. I finished all 30 blocks.

Last night, I started sewing them all together and got about halfway done.

And of course, Reba photobombed the picture.

She’s got her ball on her mouth, as usual. I have no clue why she’s so obsessed with picture taking. 

I should be able to get the quilt top done this week. It’s really quick and easy.

Grandkids and Sewing

My Saturday was spent at soccer games and a piano recital. It was the fall Halloween recital, and the kids could dress in costumes. My grandson was dressed as Naruto.

If you know who Naruto is, you are ahead of me.

I’m not sure if this link is shareable or not. https://www.facebook.com/8322908/videos/pcb.10125025949807854/857069715942988?__cft__%5B0%5D=AZVkkO2DrWpEaah6ywE_aiN0fhegrTLubm0Ap_LDM8fPFjOozmdMfaebhzEW7q59DFLLxx2ukMYvJhMwDv7ZX7CHZ_PnzQaIJP88O7k08t1zjYl4J_IbU2WIRSG9U8cRCIM&__tn__=*bH-R

The granddaughters had homecoming. Serenity’s was actually last weekend. She’s a freshman.

I’m not sure where they went to take pictures, but I like the background.

Kathryn is a junior.

I think she is wearing eyelashes. Oh well, I guess I would have been too at that age. 

Other than that, I did laundry and yard work and still had time for a little sewing. I got these other two charity quilts I had cut out stitched together.

They still need borders, but I got tired of working on them and said “Good enough for now”. The first one is the dinosaur print I have been using. I still have another yard left, so I can make a couple of pillowcases to match the quilts.

Vintages Blocks and Quilts

A few weeks ago, someone brought me some blocks her mom had made back in the 60's. There are 18 of these blocks.

They are sewn by hand, and I don't think a single one is square, and they aren't quite the same size, although they seem to be around 15".

She also had several yards of a coordinating fabric

and asked me how big a quilt I could make with the 18 blocks and the extra fabric. Hmmmm. Not very big unless I use a really wide sashing and really wide borders. I found some handwritten notes in the bag and still couldn't figure it out.

How could she plan on getting a 76" x 90" quilt from 18 blocks? Finally, today it hit me. She was planning on using that coordinating fabric for alternate blocks. I sketched it out on paper, and sure enough, I can get a pretty big quilt if I do it that way. I'm actually pretty relieved to have figured it out, and I have started cutting the out the green squares so I can start piecing everything together. There may be a few tucks here and there to get those pieced squares (which I now know are Star of Bethlehem, according to the notes) to fit.

I originally had plans to work on this one:

I had figured out what I wanted for the border and took it to the ironing board to see if I could steam some of the fullness out of it. It is also hand stitched.

Unfortunately, some of the stitches have popped loose on the ends of the rows, and I will have to do some repairs before I can add a border.

Some of the fabrics are a loose weave, and it looks like the knots at the end of the stitching have popped loose. It looks to me like it has been laundered, which could also be part of the problem. I haven't decided if I want to do the repairs by hand or by machine, so this one is back on the UFO pile. 

A New Project

I feel like I am on the verge of starting a new project....in spite of my resolve about finishing up all the UFO's. In all fairness, I have been making pretty good progress on UFO's (yes, that's how you justify things!)

I was trying to find some six-inch blocks to finish up some of my charity quilts, and when I decided to look for blocks on Quilter's Cache, I found this:

I think it is so pretty. If I calculated correctly, this one is around 75" square and could easily be made larger by adding a border. In fact, I think it would look great with a border from a blue and yellow print.

I have a lot of blue and yellow fabric, and I noticed when I was at the church auction, the larger quilts (queen-sized) bring a lot more money. That would give me until next year to piece it and get it quilted, so I'm pretty sure it will happen. 

Now that I look at this picture again, I am realizing it's a lot like one I already made. 

It's a little different, but definitely the same style. I guess I like this style.