To-Do List Tuesday 7-12-22

It wasn’t a bad week for goals.

I got my customer quilts finished and delivered. I posted about it here. I also got the two pillowcases made for my charity quilts. That post is here. 

Goal number 3 was to get my shop cleaned up. Oh my gosh, what a lot of mess to deal with. Here’s what my work room looked like:

I got the main room and the bathroom clean, and then I tackled this disaster. It took a few hours of putting stuff away before I could vacuum and dust, but I got it looking decent.

The cutting mats were still a little damp….I misted them with water and used the scrubby thing to clean them off. I can see a few more things I need to put away, but at least I don’t feel like crying when I walk into the room.

Goal 4 was to work on the Chevron quilt if I had any free time. I didn’t have much, but I got four rows done.

I’m counting that as a win!

For this week, my goals are:

Number 1 - work on charity quilts. Midcoast Family Services needs children’s quilt with matching pillowcases. I would like to get at least four quilted, bound, and pillowcases done.

Number 2 - work on the Chevron quilt.

Number 3 - get a QOV quilt pieced. There are approved requests for three more quilts that I will need to get done. I have an idea what I want to do; just need to find time to squeeze it in.

I’m liking this post to TexasQuiltGal.

Free Quilt Pattern

 

This is a cute one that I would personally make from scraps. The pattern is here. I kept reading the instructions to see if there would be a way to use some of the precut squares and strips I already have, and I think it could be modified to work. I will be keeping this one bookmarked for future charity quilts.

One Goal Done

 I got both of my customer quilts quilted, trimmed, and delivered. One was a quilt from the April shop hop. I bought the same kit, but mine isn’t quilted yet. LOL.

I used the Dancing Butterflies pattern.

I’ve used it before and really like it.

I can’t get a good picture of the second one.

It had ripples because of the way it was hanging, and that made it look like the piecing was crooked. I know it wasn’t crooked because I kept it even when I quilted it.

You can see my line markers in the picture above.

Anyway, they are both done, and I am ready to make some progress on the charity quilts. I went through the bag Janice returned to me, and there was some reject fabric in there she said she couldn’t do anything with.

Not very inspiring. I did cull two pieces that are really shear and almost feel like nylon.

We are working with donated fabrics, and I understand it’s not everyone’s taste, but those two shouldn’t have made the cut to begin with. I really didn’t want to pay quilt shop prices to find something to go with the seven I deemed good enough to use, so I went to Walmart. I got several pieces there that I can add to the mix and hopefully get seven more quilts made. 

Some are two yard cuts since I can use the same colors in more than one quilt and also make pillow cases. They were $4.44 per yard, and the quality is actually not bad. In fact, they are a lot better quality than the ones I got from Joann’s. Speaking of that, I found some of the black and white dot at Walmart so I can proceed with the top I cut out a couple of days ago.

I will do that one first since the rest of it is already cut, and then I’ll go from there. I will be busy for a little while with all of these.

Customer Quilts

Yes, that’s about all I’ve been working on this week. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, though. I only have a few more to do.

If you do your own quilting, you probably already know this, but I am going to post it for those that may not know. If you have seams on the outer border of your quilt, they need to be backstitched. This is what happens if you don’t:

The stretching that happens when the top is loaded on the frame plus the weight of the sew head will most likely cause your seams to open up. I caught this one in time and was able to fix it, but not all longarmers will fix it for you. 

I probably also need to post something about how to measure your borders; I will do that one day.

It hasn’t been a very good day—lots of challenges. I buy fabric by the bolt at a discounted price to use on the backs of my charity quilts. This is annoying as heck:

A seam about two yards into the bolt. I had about 14” of waste on this one. I guess it’s not really wasted as I will cut the seam out and put the other 13” in my scrap boxes. 

Then I was cutting out another 3-yard quilt and decided I couldn’t use the black fabric.

Yes, the fold line is faded. Actually, I prewashed this fabric, and it looks like the whole thing is faded. I bought it at Joann’s, and I noticed their fabric quality was not what it once was. I don’t want to pay quilt shop prices for charity quilts, but I can’t deal with this cheap quality. I think I paid either $6.99 or $7.99 for this one, and it’s just not worth it. I can’t imagine how they will stay in business with yucky fabric like this. This one is going in the trash, and I will try to find something else. 

Md-Week Progress

I have been working on charity projects mostly, although I did get a customer quilt loaded. Unfortunately, I found a small hole in it and had to take a picture and text it to her to see how she wants me to proceed. In the meantime, I got the binding sewn on the second charity quilt.

These are all the three-yard quilt patterns, and you end up with enough leftover fabric for a single-fold binding. I am not a fan of that type of binding, especially not for a quilt that will potentially get a lot of use, so I use the excess backing fabric to make a double-fold binding. I sew them by machine, and I am getting lots of good practice! That is my way of trying to see the bright side since I don’t like binding. I used the pieces that were left from the three primary fabrics to make a pillowcase cuff and a little flange.

I had the red and white print fabric in my stash; in fact, the selvage said 2010, so I’m glad to use it up. I think it turned out pretty cute.

I found enough leftovers from the first one to make a pillow case for it as well.

The main piece (the blue) was leftover from the back and binding. I have been serging the seams instead of doing the French seams because it so much faster. Unfortunately, I broke both needles when I was going really fast across a thick seam and had to pretty much take the serger apart to find one of the broken needle tips. Then I had to work on readjusting all the tensions…..anyway, it took a little time, but it is working great now. I just need to clean and oil everything before I do another one. 

I have three more of these three yard quilts in the stack to quilt, but I’m thinking it may be next week before I can get time to quilt them. I also sent about six kits home with Janice, and I’ll be getting those back pretty soon and will need to get them quilted and bound.

To-Do List Tuesday 7-5-22

I've gotten so much done since last Tuesday, but most of it wasn't on my list. Isn't that the way it so often goes....

I did get Shout It Out done though, and it was number one on my list.

 I'm pretty happy with it, and I bought enough of the purple grunge to do the binding once it is quilted. 

My number 2 and 3 projects didn't get much love; I worked on the sashing on the Color Collage quilt for about an hour on Sunday, and I didn't work on the Chevron quilt at all. 

I am so busy with quilting, and I unfortunately can't quilt and piece at the same time, so something gets neglected. I am going to try and be more realistic this week.

Number 1 - finish two customer quilts. They need to be returned on Friday evening, so it's a have to do.

Number 2- make pillowcases for the two charity quilts I did last week.

Number 3 - clean my shop. I've been in such a hurry to get things moved along, other things have just been dumped. My cutting table and ironing table both have junk piled everywhere. That's not the way I want to work, so it will have to get cleaned. There is also thread and batting fiber all over the floors. <Sigh>.

Number 4 - if there is any spare time, I will work on piecing the Chevron quilt. 

We are going to make a trip to the recycle place and the bank today, and also we plan to see a movie, so no to-do list projects today. 

What is on your list this week? I am linking to TexasQuiltGal.

Fourth of July

 

I’m so thankful for the freedoms we have in this country and for the brave men and women who fought for those freedoms. 

Today I will be at the Veteran’s  picnic at the Patriot’s Park to award two quilts of valor. I don’t know too many details; I have been working with the VFW and the DAV to get this done…..more details to come. I just know it will be an honor to present the quilts.