Cascades is finished! I purchased this top as a quilt kit from another quilter at the Shipshewana quilt retreat in November 2019. The backing I purchased earlier this year — 9 yards of it because it’s that wonderful.
It’s Wednesday and the 1st of the month so this will be a 2 for 1 post – What I’m Working On and the Stash Report.
First up binding. On the machine is Sheryl. The binding is attached to 2 sides. Waiting in the wings are Monterrey Medallions and Cascades. The binding for the last two are sewn together and need pressing.
I’m also trying to decide what fabric to use in the Twirling Leaves class I’m taking later this month through the Gulf States Quilt Association. I plan to pull from my stash and am leaning towards batiks. The question is a light background or a dark background.
I’m leaning towards the purple.
add 37.615
used 33.33
The Stash Report
Fabric Added Since Last Report: 37.615 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 232.057 yards
Fabric Used Since Last Report: 33.33 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 180.469 yards
Net Fabric Stash: 51.588 yards
I suppose I should also report on my September goals and list my October goals, but I’ll save that for another post.
Cascades is a top!
It always amazes me how frequently I delay getting borders on a quilt, even when it is just “slab o’borders”. This quilt is 3rd in line to be quilted. I need to finish the quilt on the frame, then quilt my SILs Vintage Christmas Sampler, then I’ll be able to quilt this one. My deadline for this quilt is November 16th, so who knows what else may get worked in before then.
Saturday a new quilt shop opened in town called Delta Threadz. It’s their second location, the first is in Cleveland, Mississippi. I missed the grand opening Saturday, but ran over there yesterday for a few minutes. They are a Bernina Dealer, they don’t have a whole lot of fabric, but what they had was cute. My plan was to buy something, but I was given the hard sell on a sewing machine when I asked about repairing the little Bernette I picked up at an estate sale I left without buying anything. Later in the afternoon I ran over to Cotton Blossom which is about 1/2 mile further in the other direction from my house, simply because it’s been a while since I’ve been in there.
They had the new Tilda Christmas line by the front of the store. I love the soft colors and some of the fabrics could be used year round The price however, well, lets just say I won’t be buying any of that fabric anytime soon. I did find some red, white, and blue fabrics which spoke to me and picked up some half yard cuts — not that I need these at the moment.
Last week I discovered a slight warp in my quilt frame which brought my machine quilting to a halt. Not that this is great FMQ quilting, but see where the arrow is pointing…that’s where my machine was hanging up on the frame. Although I haven’t tested it yet since I had pulled the quilt off the frame, I think I’ve solved the mystery.
That red lever is supposed to be flipped up when I’m doing free motion quilting. When that lever is flipped up, the carriage does not rub the frame, so I’m 99% certain this will resolve my issues an the ‘warp’ is in tolerance.
Since I wasn’t on the long arm, piecing continued on Cascades. It’s now ready for borders. They didn’t get done as I went to a 2 day quilt retreat with Quilters By Heart’s Desire.
I was able to pack everything in the large Tutto case I purchased at the guild auction a few months ago. I’ve got my large Brother sewing machine, an electrical cord reel, power strip, phone charger, light, 2 spray bottles, mini iron, notions rollup bag, wool pressing mat, spinner cutting mat, assorted rulers (all smaller than 12″), Gypsy pop up bin, jelly roll, 16 napkins, and my main project “Sheryl”. There was room to spare. The only issue is loading it into my car. It gets hung up on the seats, but as I’m writing this, I think I’ll be able to put it in horizontally across the back of the car, then turn it so I can see out the back. I’ll try that when I go to the overnight retreat in September.
Sheryl was my main project. It’s a Villa Rosa pattern. As I had a layer cake, I decided to make it larger, using 40 squares. I precut my fabric so I was ready to sew once I got set up. Before I left for the evening I was able to layout the quilt to know what square went where. The next day I had the top put together. I was even able to start on some of the napkins I had with me.
I found this floral print with a black background in my stash, but I only have 4 yards. Then I realized the fabric is directional.
So, instead of running the seam across the width of the quilt, I need to run it vertically and need 20″ of length on each strip. Not perfect, but perfectly acceptable, I will extend each panel with the binding fabric, which is the lavender.
I did not work on the KTS Christmas Sampler so I have fallen behind. It’s one of my goals this month to keep up with this sampler. I’ll work on the sampler blocks while Sheryl is quilting, then when I put my customer quilt on the frame I’ll put the borders on Cascades. Once Cascades is getting quilted, I’ll rip out the quilting on the auction quilt so I can load it.
Wait — totally forgot. I’m expecting fabric on Tuesday or Wednesday for a quilt which needs to be done by August 15th! I guess I better get to it.
I took my Vintage Christmas Sampler down — not because it’s finished, but because I needed the space for Cascades. I finished the blocks and have started the assembly.
Meanwhile on the longarm, I’ve pulled the Auction Top off the frame. I was trying to do some free-motion quilting and ran into a spot that just drags really bad. I’ve known about this spot for a while, but since the robotics has no issues with it, I’ve not done anything about it.
It seems like there is a bulge in my frame. It also looks like I may have some thread in the wheels. Still have no idea what it’s not an issue for the robotics. Anyway, I’m getting a customer quilt tonight, so I don’t want to mess up the machine. Once it’s quilted I’ll look closer a the thread situation and re-load the quilt. I thought the MQA challenge ran through June, but found out this morning it goes through the end of July, so there’s still time for me to get it done.
Cascades has 2 different pieced blocks. I’ve finished the first block with the yellow/gold 4-patch chain and have started the 2nd block with the single yellow 4-patch. I fully expect to shuffle the blocks once I get them all made. I’d really like to finish the top this weekend, but I’ll need to do more work on it than I did last night. I’m not sure if it was the chiropractor visit, the run to Walmart for groceries or maybe adrenaline from the notification that my breakfast room table was arriving at 3 PM instead of Friday between 7 – 9 AM.
When I moved to Mississippi I didn’t bring a kitchen/dining table. We didn’t have a table in our breakfast room and the dining room table had seen better days. I started looking for tables then my sister offered me our parents dinning room furniture for my dining room. I still needed a table for the breakfast room. I stepped up my search at the beginning of the year and simply wasn’t finding anything in the stores. The Facebook algorithms sent me an ad for Contemporary Craftsman Furniture. Their flagship table The Concord was exactly what I was looking for. Pricy, but solid wood and like nothing I’ve seen. It’s traditional and yet contemporary at the same time with twist in the base. This table will last for generations.
I ordered the table once the kitchen construction was far enough along I could visualize the space. I picked my wood – Hard Maple – and my stain – Manchester, then waited for it to be built and delivered. I’m very happy with it. Now I need some custom placemats!
Yesterday I spent a couple of hours cutting the fabric for my latest quilt – Cascade. I purchased this kit from another quilter when I went to the Shipshewana Quilt Retreat in November 2019. It’s been sitting in my stash ever since. This year one of my goals is to make at least one kit from my stash and as it turns out it goes great with the backing fabric I bought earlier this year simply because I loved it. This quilt is destined for a relative.
All my 4-patches are made. Since everything was cut I couldn’t resist making one block before shutting down for the night. I have 11 more of these to make, then I’ll start on the alternate blocks.
This still leaves the following:
Previously completed
Here we are 1/2 way through the year and I have crossed off 1/2 of my quilting goals for the year. Normally I’d list out what I want to get done for the week, but given the nature of my quilting goals, I’m going to list it for the month.
Not pictured
In other news, a couple of shop sampled came home. They are laying on the take-up rail of the longarm. Double 4-Patch Table Runner & the Dragon quilt Emerald Reigns. I need to get a label on the dragon quilt and get it shipped off to the recipient.
July is looking to be busy from a quilting perspective.
Last Thursday morning my SIL and I headed off to the Kansas City metro area. The occasion? The start of Hunter Quilt Marts Customer Appreciation sale where everything in the store is 25% off. (I’m not sure is that is true for sewing machines and longarms). I was in need of quilt batting. I’m down to about 9 yards on my king roll and maybe 9 yards on my queen roll.
After 12 hours switching off the driving every few hours we arrived at my brother’s just outside of Ottawa (KS). We visited that evening and Friday morning. We then headed toward the city where I visited with a friend from my previous guild for a few minutes — she was holding some quilt books for me (will do a post on those books) and we did another small task that I cannot do here in Mississippi. Then we kept driving north to St Joseph (MO) where we visited with my sister who had quilts I had purchased from a guild members estate via proxy. We spent the night, heading to bed early so we could get to Hunters Quilt Mart in Centerview (MO).
The goal was to get there by 10:15 or so because we wanted to leave by Noon so we could get to another shop before they closed. We got there at 10:45. Oops.
We both had lists. Ruby started with her notions and notions she remembered from my list. I headed to the thread.
All of these are Glide 40wt thread which stitches beautifully with no tension issues. Cool Gray 7, Mercury, Biscotti, Magic Mint, Grape, Salmon, Strawberry Blonde, and Yellow Whisper. All of these are replacement cones except for Salmon and Yellow Whisper.
As for the notions, I picked up needles for the longarm, an 8″ rotating mat, a Hot Ruler, a tube of bobbins, 2 backlash springs for my bobbin case, a new ruler and small snips. The small snips were not on my list. They did not have the Brother bobbins for my sewing machine in stock, but now I know exactly what I’m looking for.
That just left backings – not that any of these quilts are finished (or started in some cases). At the top left is the backing for my Quartered Squared quilt which I haven’t started. In the middle is the backing for Cascade which clearly hasn’t been started. At the top right is the backing for my Rivanna which is my current leader/ender project. I have just over half of the HST made for it. That’s the left over FQs sitting on top of it. At the bottom is the backing for Star Studded, a BOM I started in 2019. It turns out I only have to made the center star and assemble it.
Although the batiks were calling to me, I remained strong and stopped shopping. We checked out, stopped by the batting and told them what we bought and headed to the car to unload it so we could load the batting. A Honda CRV has more cargo room than my Nissan Cube. The same amount of batting was brought home, but I had plenty of leg room this year and there were 2 us in the car!
Where we went next later this week.
