Everything Except Sewing

 That's not quite true.....I did get this very large quilt on the frame yesterday.

I had a hard time deciding on thread. I finally decided on a silver gray. It was the safe choice although not very exciting. 

Baseball season is in full swing (pun intended, haha). 

He looks so little out there on the mound, but he played well. He was awarded the game ball at the end of the game.

He was pretty happy about it! 

The movie about Abraham was good, but man it was slow. It was a full two hours and could probably have been about an hour. I found myself getting sleepy in some places. 

I belong to a Facebook group for the APQS sew alongs. The current one started in March, but I opted not to join in.

The quilt is on the cover of this issue, and participants are starting to post their finished tops. Some are even posting finished quilts. They are so pretty, and if you guessed that I caved and decided to do it, you would be right. I pulled out some fat quarters that should work, but I haven’t started cutting yet. I was hoping to get the borders on the Trip Around the Countryside quilt first, but I am struggling with how I want to do the borders. Also, I’m not completely sold on the border fabric I bought for it. I may have to just bite the bullet and figure out how to make it work.

I lost a lot of time yesterday dealing with garage doors. The one on the side where I park was messed up. The shaft on one of the wheels that rides inside the mounted tracks had popped loose, and that was allowing the door to flex quite a bit. All the flexing dented the door so much I’ve been reluctant to use it. The technician was able to get the wheel back in the track and get the dents somewhat straightened out, but it is still a little jerky going up and down. I think I’ll have to replace it at some point. He said the cost would be around $2000, and of course, I would have to pay someone to paint it to match the other one. I’m going to give myself a little time to think about it, but I’m pretty sure I know what I need to do. I just need to put some money aside for it. 

To-Do-List Tuesday 4-3-23

Here we are in April already, and it's time to review my progress on last week's list. 

1) Finish three customer quilts. Two are small, but the third requires binding and a pillowcase. I did, but there was such a rush on two of them, I failed to get any pictures. There are pictures of the third one in my March 31st post.

2) Go to the quilt show in Cuero. Yes, and posted about it on April 1st.

3) Order thread before the price goes up. Check

4) Order black batting for a quilt a customer is bringing soon. Fail; I need to do that today.

5) Work on Trip Around the Countryside. I think I have five more rows to add, but I'm not sure I will get all of them done. Any progress will be fine with me. I did get all the rows attached. I just need to think about a border.

6) Cut out some more key fobs. I probably won't get them sewn, but I would like to have about 10 more cut and fused. Yes, I'm still fusing.

It's time to think about what I want to do this week......lots of decisions. Here's what comes to mind:

1) Continue working on the Planters quilt. I would like to get it all together if possilbe.

2) Work on my APQS UFO Challenges for April.

3) There is always a steady trickle of customer quilts here; three more completed and out the door is a good goal.

4) Work on cutting and kitting some projects I want to take on my cruise/retreat.

5) Keep working on key fobs.

That's enough for now.....I still have a couple of projects I want to start on, but I need to get number 1 and 2 well underway before I do that. Still, it's always a temptation.

I am linking this post to Quilt Schmilt. I hope you have a good week where ever you are reading this. Today I'm going with friends to see the Abraham movie. It's about the bible story of Abraham being called by God to Mount Moriah. I think we will enjoy it.

Weekend Update

It was a good weekend! My grandson had a piano recital Saturday morning—his first one! 

Doesn’t he look grown up in his church clothes? In the afternoon I had a cookie decorating class. My daughter signed both of us up for the class. The cookies were already baked and all the icing was prepared, although we were given the recipes for both.

I enjoyed the class, but I wasn’t very good at the decorating. I’m sure it takes practice.

I haven’t eaten the cookies yet—I’m not too much on sweets, and there is a lot of icing involved in these.

I was able to get all the rows put onto my Trip Around the Countryside quilt. I will take a picture after it is ironed. I also worked on the quilt I’m making from the Villa Rosa pattern. 

I have quite a few of these made….I still need to add the light green background strips, and the. I can start putting them together. I’m not sure light green is the right choice for the background, but that’s what I bought, and I have already cut all the strips. 

Cuero Quilt Show

One of the best things about having a blog is being able to document all the quilt inspiration I find. It’s not likely I will make them, but I can always dream. The Cuero show was really small this year. It’s nice that it was low-key, but there weren’t many quilts. I’m not a member of that guild so I don’t know why there were so few entries. 

You can possibly see how much empty space there was in the building. Here’s the view looking toward the vendor area:

Here are some of the quilts….not all of them, but there weren’t many more.

This was a Turning Twenty pattern made from small panel prints.

I think this one was my favorite. I love the bright colors.

A Villa Rosa pattern; I think I have this one.

This one was made from the husband’s shirts….I will eventually do one with Bill’s shirts….when I am able.

So there were maybe a total of 30-40 quilts and not many vendors. All in all, though, it was a nice day. I met Janice there, and we had a hamburger lunch. I was back in Victoria early and was able to cut out the jelly roll quilt I posted about yesterday.

What I’m Working On

I feel like I’ve been pulled in a lot of different directions at once. There’s a pretty good reason I feel that way, I think. I have been trying to get as much done as I can at my shop—I have a couple of new customers, and I don’t want to get behind—but there are other appointments and commitments that I keep having to leave and take care of. In all honesty, some are optional….like an invitation to lunch. Haha. 

I got Karen’s breast cancer quilt done and had a good amount of fabric left from the back and the binding. I texted her to ask if she wanted me to make a pillowcase from the leftover fabric. She was happy for me to do that, and I didn’t mind.

Today is the Cuero quilt show, and I needed to get Janice’s quilt trimmed so I could take it to the show with me. 

I added the closeup to show the variegated thread I used. I hope she likes it! I’m also taking scissors and a knife with me to get sharpened. The scissor sharpening man will be at the show. 

I finished a couple of other quilts that were picked up Wednesday night after church.  I made an attempt to work on a couple of my projects. I have been busy cutting and fusing key fobs.

They aren’t near finished. I get tired of them and can only do so much at a time. I did find a jelly roll and some yardage I forgot I had.

It’s the Walkabout fabric line from Moda from a few years ago. It was a quick trip to the quilt shop to get a pattern and some background fabric.

I’m happy to report this is all I bought while i was there! I got the background fabric all cut, but I ran out of time before I got all the jelly roll strips cut. Maybe this afternoon if I get back early from Cuero.

To-Do-List Tuesday 3-28-23

Hello! It's time for another to-do list Tuesday check in. I had a good week, and knocked out a lot of my items.

1) Bind March UFO quilt. Yes, and I am so happy with it.

2) Finish 10 key fobs. Done. 

3) Piece a charity quilt. Also done.

4) Add some rows to the shop hop quilt. Well, I only added two rows, but I am going to count that as a success.

5) Make some blocks for Facebook block swap. Done and ready to mail.

I'm happy with my progress and have some ideas about what I want to get accomplished this next week. 

1) Finish three customer quilts. Two are small, but the third requires binding and a pillowcase.

2) Go to the quilt show in Cuero.

3) Order thread before the price goes up.

4) Order black batting for a quilt a customer is bringing soon.

5) Work on Trip Around the Countryside. I think I have five more rows to add, but I'm not sure I will get all of them done. Any progress will be fine with me. 

6) Cut out some more key fobs. I probably won't get them sewn, but I would like to have about 10 more cut and fused.

That's enough, and it should be doable. I am thinking I want to start a new project, and I also want to start cutting up some of the kits I want to take on my cruise. I still have a few months to do it, but I don't want it to fall off my radar. 

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

Hello Monday

 I really have nothing new to post. 

I have been a little more introspective than usual….normally I just go non-stop until I drop, but I spent most of the day (Sunday) in a thinking mood. I also decided I may be exhausted, and took an hour-long nap. I’m not usually a napped, but I’m tired of falling asleep at 10pm on the couch. We’ll see how long it lasts. 

I stopped at Walmart after church to get some coleslaw mix, and of course I made a pass through the fabric department. They had some bolts marked down to $2.50/yard and I bought a few pieces for our church service group.

We generally use 1.5 yard pieces for our comforters. I didn’t buy a lot, but every little bit helps. We rely mostly on donations, and I will donate these, although I think I will keep some of the green to use for sashing on my swap blocks. If I ever get enough of them, I hope to have a twin-sized donation quilt. 

Tonight I hope to work on my Trip Around the Countryside quilt. I have been neglecting it a little, but there’s plenty of time to get it finished. If I don’t make any progress tonight, I can always work on it tomorrow after I come back from my exercise class.