I got a wee bit of time in yesterday on my Tree Everlasting quilt. All my pieces are cut!
I layered the white and red when I ran them through the die cutter so they would be all ready to pick up and sew.
No lining up of pieces required! Gotta love a luscious stack of triangles.
I even got a few pieced.
I am going to love this quilt. Not sure why I waited so long!
I am linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.
I finished quilting the Farmer’s Wife quilt yesterday. I think the farmer’s wife had PMS. The quilting did NOT turn out like I wanted. I used a new thread so I had to fiddle with tension, I quilted a wrinkle into the batting, my feathers are organic (code for unruly and too fat). I am just not happy with the quilting job I did. It looks much better in pictures than in person. Here are some in process shots.
The quilting is finished and it is off the frame. I hope to get the binding on before work today.
In other news, no school again here today. The roof of our local K-Mart collapsed due to the snow. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Here is the view out my back door.
Someone is trying to stay warm in the subzero temps.
And the other grand dog also loves her bed.
Stay warm folks!
Linking up with Connie at:
What a great day to be inside! All the schools were listed closed last night. I stayed in my pjs all morning yesterday, took a shower, and put clean pjs on! I didn’t get as much done as I should have but I did get the borders on my Farmer’s Wife quilt and get it loaded on the frame for quilting.
Now I have to figure out what thread to use.
This is Premo-Soft from Fil-Tec. I also have to figure our how to quilt it.
I also changed my mind on the red and white quilt. I decided to make a Tree Everlasting quilt. This is a very old pattern and has been on my to do list for years.
I think it will be really fun to quilt. I got my fabrics ready to cut.
Well, the red anyway. I am trying to scrounge up enough of the same white without going to the store. This is Mr. wonderful clearing the driveway the first time today.
He has done it two more times since. Poor little white dog could get lost in this!
I am thankful that I don’t have to work today. Be careful out there if you have to go!
I am linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday and Marelize at Stitch by Stitch for Anything Goes Monday.
Our church services were cancelled this morning due to the weather so we are staying put! Perhaps the Farmer’s Wife will find some borders today. Daughter #2 made it back safely to Arizona before the storm hit. She sent me these pictures.
Apparently the bed I made for the grand dog was a hit!
I saw this verse this morning:
Her family has warm clothing, and so she doesn’t worry when it snows. Proverbs 31:21
Stay warm and safe!
It has been a glorious week with Daughter #2 but alas, she flies back to Arizona today. Sniff, sniff…
I did get a bit of sewing done in odd moments this week.
I got my Farmers Wife blocks together. I decided not to add anymore blocks after all. Now I am auditioning borders.
I am also starting to think about a red and white quilt.
I am thinking about using this 6″ 60 degree diamond die.
The piecing would be simple but I think the quilting would be fun. It would become another QOV.
Here is a pic of Daughter #2 and me on her last day here.
I miss her already! I am so proud of my airman!
Good morning! This week with Daughter #2 home is flying by at lightening speed! This is what I have sewn this week:
She actually ranked up a while ago but brought a couple uniform pieces home this week and asked if I could put on her new patches. It costs $5 on base to get this done. Of course I jumped at the chance to help her out! I also whipped up a rice bag for her.
I have made these for years and my girls love them. Just a couple minutes in the microwave and they stay warm for quite a while. I cut a piece of flannel about 10 ” x 12″ and sew three sides up. Then I fill as much as I want with rice, tuck in the exposed end and sew closed by machine. I do reinforce the seams.
Back to work this morning. Can’t wait until 1:00 when I can come home and spend the rest of the day with my girls!
I am linking up with Kelly for:
One of the reasons I keep a blog is to record projects and finishes for my own purposes. It really is a bit of a quilting diary for me and I can go back and see what I started, finished, what worked and what didn’t. So this may be boring to some but this post is about statistics for me.
Blog
I started blogging again in early 2013 after a break of more than a year.
Visitors from 80 different countries
Over 50,000 visits during the year
I have posted 524 times total and averaged about 5 posts per week this year
My most popular post this year regarded making my own version of “Red Snappers” for easy loading of quilts into my long arm frame. The post is here.
Books
I work as a reference librarian so it is no surprise that I love to read. I read 94 books this past year. Listening to audio books is a great motivator to keep sewing when I might otherwise quit for the day.
Knitting
Not gonna lie, my knitting output stunk this year. I made three pair of baby socks and two pair of adult socks. I made a few dishcloths. I bought more yarn than I used.
Quilting
Quilts of Valor ~Â 13 plus one Coast Guard quilt for my brother
Quilts Beyond Borders ~ quilted 17 tops and made 3 additional complete quilts
Comfort Quilts for local shelter ~ 3 completed
Bed quilts ~Â 5 bed quilts, the largest was king sized
Large nap quilts ~ 7, not counting QOVs
Baby Quilts ~ 4
Minis and smalls ~ 16
I sold two sewing machines this year and bought my HQ Avante mid-arm quilting machine. It has been a fabulous learning experience. I have become comfortable with pantographs and am learning to use rulers and templates. I took two Craftsy classes.
Last Christmas, Mr. Wonderful bought me my Accuquilt Studio die cutter and it has made a HUGE difference in how much I accomplish. I often stalled out on a project when I had cutting to do but no longer. I LOVE cutting scraps up into neat little perfectly cut piles. Sick, I know.
I participated in a charm square swap, two block swaps, and two individual swaps. I won three blog give-aways!
Moving ahead in 2014
Knitting
I want to knit more socks but I am not buying any more yarn! I am going to try again to knit 6 pair of socks this year.
Books
My goal for the year is 100 books. However, I want to spend a lot more time on one book I have read through many times, the Bible. It is the bread of life and has all the knowledge that I really need contained within its pages.
Service Quilts
I hate the term charity quilts and someone suggested to me the term service quilts, I like that. I think this is the year I will volunteer to quilt QOVs for others. I will plan to make 6 completely on my own and I hope to quilt 12 for others.
I will quilt 10 tops for Quilts Beyond Borders. This is less than last year but my passion is QOV and will focus more time there.
Small Quilt Talk Group
I will continue with this group and hope to complete the 12 monthly challenges.
Blog
I will continue to blog roughly 5 times per week. Blogging from my phone is so quick and easy! People ask me how I get so much done. I am a list maker and a blog is like a visible list of ongoing projects and keeps me motivated to get things done and move on to the next project. I love blogging and the interaction with my readers. Thank you to each and every one of you that read my ramblings and comment on my postings! Responding to comments is taking an increasingly large amount of time and I am rethinking how I can respond and connect with my friends out there. What do you all think about my responding in the comments section rather than e-mail? I also plan to work on improving my picture skills this year! (cue the Hallelujah chorus!)
Personal Quilts
I received an entry for a local quilt show and with all my finishes last year, I am struggling to find anything I can enter because they are all long gone. My entry is due Monday so my first goal for the new year is to find 5 quilts to enter and get that mailed off.
Next short term goal, my library branch is hosting the holiday staff lunch this year and my supervisor asked if we could decorate with some of my quilts. I have decided to pull out all my red and white quilts and may try to make one or two more. This is two weeks away so I need to get going on this.
I need to sit down and create a UFO list. I am considering participating in a “Finish A Long” somewhere as motivation to get some long standing projects finished. I really want to get some of my own projects done this year. Here is a short list of quilting UFOÂ priorities:
I will create a more complete list next week. Not much time for lists with Daughter #2 home. I am spending EVERY minute she is awake with her!
Learning
I am not sure learning is a goal because the kind of things I want to learn may not be measurable.
So much to do and so little time! I hope to make the most of my days in 2014!
Even though my goals list is not complete, I am linking up with Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Goals 2014.
I became involved with Quilts Beyond Borders last year. I made several quilts for them and quilted many more tops. It is a great group and gave me an opportunity to practice quilting on something that would be useful.
Here are the quilts I completed for QBB this year:
I am not sure I got all of these and a couple of those shown above that were made completely by me went to our local women’s shelter.
This is another organization that I hope to continue to partner with in the coming year. You can find out more about QBB here.
Early last year, I joined the Small Quilt Talk (SQT) group on Yahoo, hosted by Kathy Tracy. She has written several delightful books of small quilts and uses one of her patterns each month as a challenge. I joined in February but went back and completed a quilt for January. The only month I missed was June; it was applique!
These are out of order but here they are anyway!
I did two of the challenge quilts for this month. Here is the second:
This next one I made for my SQT swap partner:
The next one was made for my Secret Santa Swap partner:
This next one was my least favorite. Not because of the pattern, I just didn’t care for the colors I chose.
I will try to keep up with this years challenges as well. I really enjoyed being part of this group. The one change I am considering, I am thinking I will make all my SQT challenges this year with vintage fabric. I have quite a stash and this would be a fun way to use it.
My goal for this year was to complete 12 QOVs. I made 13 plus a quilt for my brother to honor his service in the Coast Guard.
I made two like this in January:
This one was made for the HMQS Quilting Treasures QOV challenge and was awarded to a vet after the show:
This mini was for a QOV friend:
This was the Coast Guard quilt made for my brother:
One goal for 2014, learn to take better pictures!
