The applique is finished. It really didn’t take much time, so I don’t know why this project got set aside 3 years ago. Now I’m off to work on the sashings.
I’m on a Roll
This is Block 4 from Dancing Flowers. Now I’ve got to back up and prep the applique for Block 3. Click HERE to see the other blocks I have done.
May’s Quilting Goals
It’s time to figure out what I want to accomplish this month. Again there’s probably too much on my list, but at least I know I’ll have one thing crossed off at the end of the month. I finished the pillowcase to go with the 4-Patch Strippy this morning!
- Keep up with the SBS BOW & make a few extra blocks
- Work on Scrap Basket – specifically blues and neutrals
- Complete the Carolina Christmas Top
- Finish Dancing Flowers
- Ship out 2 baby quilts
- Resume hand quilting on the Double Wedding Ring
- Make 4-patch pillow case – DONE!
April Recap
I had a lengthy list of goals for April. Didn’t do to well on them.
* Finish and Quilt Stripy 4-Patch Top – DONE
* Enter a quilt in the guild quilt show – Two quilts entered
* Complete the Carolina Christmas Top – Part 5 completed
* Finish and Quilt Dancing Flowers – ripped out what I did get done
* Resume hand quilting on the Double Wedding Ring – nothing
* Keep up with the Sylvia Bridal Sampler BOW – nothing
* Keep Scraps Cut Up and Make Progress on the Scrap Basket – did pull the blue scraps
Sewing the hanging sleeves took much longer than I expected. I also cut the fabric for Texas Braid, made dozens of pocket tissues covers and a few pincushions.
I’m still deciding on what I want to get done in May.
This is Sad…
I have things I want to finish with self-imposed deadlines of next month. What am I doing? Cleaning my sewing room and digging through my scrap basket for blue and light scraps. However, now that I’ve found all the blue and light scraps (need them for a workshop next month), I think I will go make myself make a pillow case. At least I haven’t started a new quilt…yet.
QA Wednesday on Friday
I have no idea why I didn’t get this posted Wednesday.
Last week two goals:
- Finish sewing on the hanging sleeve for Music Lessons
- Stuff pin cushions
Both were done by Thursday evening! I also finished Part 5 of Carolina Christmas.
Yesterday I outlined a few little (and not so little) things that I want to get done. So my goal for this week is to make progress on at least two of these tasks.
Check out Bari’s and others’ lists of weekly goals over My Crazy Quilting Life.
So Many Little Things to Finish….
How hard is it to make a pillow case and attach a label to a quilt?
Sew blocks into a quilt top?
Do some simple machine applique and finish a small quilt ?
Catch up on my Sylvia Bridal Sampler Blocks? (not pictured)
Pick one of my Bonnie Hunter designed quilts and quilt it? – OK, this one is tougher
Several of these things have self-imposed deadlines — Dancing Flowers preferably by mid-May, but at least by mid-June. Quilt one of the Bonnie Hunter quilt tops and complete Carolina Christmas and Oklahoma Backroad tops by mid-May. Keeping up with the SBS is simply prudent since I have less than 50 blocks done. The pillowcase and label need to be done so I can put up the rest of the fabric.
I could easily do one or more of these over the next few days, but I’m sitting here contemplating starting something new. Why is it I can’t finish a project before starting a new one?
Update — before I left this evening for the concert, I got the label on the quilt. I also discovered the baby due in May arrived today!
My Favorite Quilting Notion — Today
My favorite quilting notion varies by what I’m working on. The current favorite is this seam ripper.
Yesterday I pulled out Dancing Flowers to finish up. Applique is not my favorite, but darn it I want to finish this wall hanging. Just two more blocks. Besides that, I finally decided on and bought sashing fabric for this and the coordinating king size quilt, so I need to get the top done, so I can pull a backing so my numbers don’t look so bad Sunday. But I digress.
I’m using invisible thread on top, black in the bobbin. I’ve set my machine to a blind stitch at .03 length and 1.0 width – in other words tiny. Instead of placing all my pieces on the background to verify they are in the right place, I started with the stems. I thought they might be a tiny bit high on the background, but I wasn’t worried. It wasn’t until I had two stems, two leaves and one of the two part flowers on the background that I admitted defeat and knew I had to rip it all out.
Tiny stitches. Invisible and black thread on a black background. Ugh.
But this wonderful seam ripper came to the rescue. I was able to slide the blade between the pieces and the background to slice the thread where it bit into the piece. Had the whole block ripped out in no time. I still have to pull the bits and pieces of thread from the background, but that won’t take long. Then when I do this block again, I’ll verify ALL of the pieces before I start sewing.
What’s on My Design Wall
My design wall is still not back up on the wall from last week’s retreat. For that matter, I’m having difficult moving around in my sewing room. Stuff is piled up every where. It has not, however prevented me from basic piecing. All of my Carolina Christmas blocks are done.
Last week I picked up several books from the library (I love my library — ‘quilting’ returns 1746 listings) including Saving the Scraps – Great Quilts from Small Bits by Gayle Bong. I think there are 4 quilts that I would like to make in this book, so I think I’ll be buying it for my personal library. The block pictured above is 1/4 of a block for Fractured Diamonds.
Having made one unit, it going to go into my orphan quilt block box (which is almost as stuffed as the sting box). I don’t really want to start a new quilt right now — too many quilts waiting for me to complete.
See if anyone has started something new or if they are working on their UFOs by checking out the links at Patchwork Times.
Carolina Christmas – Part 5
I’m still plugging away on my Carolina Christmas. I’ve just finished piecing the last of the Fox and Geese blocks.
