Maybe Today…

December 3, 2015 1:46 pm ⋅ Pam

Maybe tonight I’ll get to sew.

Since I took the Hardware Panel quilt off the long arm Saturday, I haven’t even turned on the sewing machine.

Sunday was our 30th wedding anniversary, so we went out to dinner.
Monday I ran around after work to see if I could find a backing for the Black and Bright quilt that I liked and was willing to pay for. I object to paying LQS prices at chain stores. When I got home there were some computer classes I had to finish.
Tuesday more running around after work looking for the backing, grocery shopping and a stop at the library.
Wednesday I thought I’d be smart and run to the LQS during lunch. Score! A fabric on clearance that will work. Sure I’ll have to piece it (2 seams) but it’s a better option than trying to stretch the fabric I originally had picked out. The green is nearly a perfect match in color to the sashing in the quilt top.

But still no quilting after work. Some computer work came in that had to be done – but I did flip through the library books looking for quilting ideas. I have no idea on how I’m going to quilt the quilt. I’ve got until the 19th to figure it out.

Posted in: Uncategorized

What’s On My Design Wall

November 30, 2015 12:09 am ⋅ Pam

This morning I have a little bit of several things in the works. I started Allietare, the Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt — because clearly I don’t have anything to work on — 😉 Although I had all of clue 1 cut out, I only got 1/3 of them made since I got a chance to use the long arm.

This is the Hardware quilt which I quilted on Saturday. It still needs binding which is on my list for this week.

The Red Disappearing 9-Patch is maybe 1/3 quilted – I set it aside – I thought briefly – to work on Allietare and I haven’t gotten back to it. It too is also on my list for this week.

Hopefully I can get these two quilts finished up by midweek so I have plenty of time to finish up the rest of the Crazy Challenge II quilts.

I’m linking up with Patchwork Times for the Design Wall Monday post and Quiltville for the Allietare link-up.

Posted in: Allietare, Challenges, designwall, DP9

Stash Report

November 29, 2015 7:58 am ⋅ Pam

The LQS has an awesome sale going on. Even so I wasn’t going to buy anything any — but they have select wide backings on sale for $5.95. I needed one more backing for the Challenge Quilt II quilts. The plan was to create a pieced backing from shirtings. But for $12, I could save myself a lot of time — and I had access to the long arm Saturday. So, I bought 2 yards of this fabric. The report will show 4-1/2 yards as I converted the measurement to 45″ equivalent.

The quilt still needs binding, but it’s quilted, excess batting/backing is trimmed, and the threads are trimmed.

This week I also got around to making the pillowcases for Nifty Thrifty and the Green Disappearing 9-Patch quilts — I opted to split the green “yardage” – I think I had 15″, so these pillowcases have a narrower cuff than I normally use.

The report:

Fabric Added Since Last Report 4.5 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 206.59 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 5.517 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 149.71 yards

INCREASE in Stash to Date: 56.88 yards

See how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Orange Crush – The Blog Post

November 26, 2015 3:56 pm ⋅ Pam

The time change and weather has not bode well for getting good pictures outside. I’ve put off this post waiting for a good picture, but have decided if I don’t record details now, I’ll forget them.

My Orange Crush was started April 1, 2008 — well at least that’s when the first clue was released. I finished up the top 7 months later on November 4, 2008. The quilt top needed to age – waiting for the perfect occasion to gift it. I quilted it on October 26, 2015 using Superior’s So Fine! #722 “Crikey!” in the top and pre-wound SuperBobs in white for the bobbin. The quilting pattern is Curley-Q, a pantograph by Aimee Mahan. The batting is Hobb’s Tuscany 100% Bleached cotton. Finally I bound it using Susie’s Magic Binding. After washing the quilt measures…well shoot, I don’t have that information in the spreadsheet. I’ll have to come back and add it before it is gifted.

This was an October 31, 2015 finish – pulling it out of the washing machine that morning in time to be included in the November UFO Parade Aunt Marti’s 52 Quilts. It was also counted as a finish for the UFO Busting Report sponsored by Vicki over at Field Trips in Fiber. It is one of my finishes for the 2015 Finish Along off my 4th Quarter List and finally it is one of the Crazy Challenge II quilts.

I didn’t mention it, but the backing is the same Kansas City Chiefs fabric that I used for the pillowcase.

Posted in: Challenges, Finish-A-Long - 2015, Out of the Blue, UFO Busting - 2015, UFO Parade - 2015

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 7

November 24, 2015 9:51 pm ⋅ Pam

Last month I said that on Tuesdays until Thanksgiving I am working on my Sew Scrappy quilt as part of Jo’s “finish a UFO before Bonnie’s mystery quilt starts challenge”. Sew Scrappy is from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts. I don’t think I have any Bonnie Hunter quilts in pieces, but I want/need to finish this one and I’ve been stalling for 3 years. Monday I got it washed and hung to take a picture. These days it is too late to take pictures outside after work, so I hung it on my shelves. It has also been delivered.

The quilt measures 69″ x 83″ after washing. All of the fabric is Kansas Troubles, including those really light pieces. As I was working on the quilt, I’d pick up a light piece then go check the selvage to make sure it really was KT fabric.

The batting is Hobb’s 100% Cotton Tuscany and I used Cairo-quilt in Military Gold thread in both the top and the bottom. It blends so well, I had a hard time telling where I had quilted! There was one spot that I added a bit of quilting to after I got home.

The quilting was done free-hand – just a loopy flower that I do. The picture above is before I washed the quilt, the one below, after.

This quilt will link up with Jo’s Country Junction, Aunt Marti’s UFO Parade, the UFO Busting – 2015 over at Field Trips in Fiber, the 4th Quarter Finish Along (list is here) and of course my Crazy Challenge II.

I nearly forgot. Yes, there is a pillowcase to go with it.

Posted in: designwall, Finish-A-Long - 2015, goals, Sew Scrappy, UFO Busting - 2015, UFO Parade - 2015, UFOs

Stash Report

November 22, 2015 1:54 pm ⋅ Pam

It’s been two weeks since my last stash report — not because I’m hiding “purchases” or have nothing to report as “used”, but rather due to lack of time for blogging. I’ve recently started doing some computer work for a LQS and it happened to correspond to a busy time at work. So any spare time goes to quilting instead of blogging.

So, in the last two weeks, I was given a 3 1/2 yard piece of fabric to use as part of the backing of a quilt, a 2 yard piece of fabric to use for the binding of the same quilt – with the stipulation I return what I didn’t need and finally I was give this really cool mini charm pack.

I think there are 85 solid color fabrics in this collection. I have no idea what I’m going to do with them — yet.

As for the fabric I used…I finished the Sew Scrappy Quilt top, made the backing, quilted it, got it bound and made a pillowcase. The extra fabric is set aside to be returned.

The numbers.

Fabric Added Since Last Report 5.869 yards
Fabric Added to Date: 202.09 yards

Fabric Used Since Last Report: 17.845 yards
Fabric Used to Date: 144.193 yards

INCREASE in Stash to Date: 57.897 yards

See how others are doing over at Patchwork Times.

As soon as I get the label on the quilt, I’ll get it washed and get a picture of it.

Posted in: Stash Busting Report

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 6

November 18, 2015 12:15 am ⋅ Pam

Well, the end is truly near. The binding is attached and I’ve started to stitch it down. Since I’m finishing it by machine, it won’t take long — but I got a late start last night. It’s the middle of open enrollment at work and since I was out on vacation last week, I didn’t start to look at the options until last night. There’s more personal computer work on the horizon for tonight, but I expect I’ll finish the binding. Then it will be time to trim the threads, label and check for spots that need more quilting.

See how others are doing on their project over at Jo’s Country Junction.

Posted in: Challenges, goals, UFOs

What’s On My Design Wall

November 16, 2015 1:24 pm ⋅ Pam

I am happy to report that Sew Scrappy is quilted! It’s amazing what can get done if you stay focused. I found out Tuesday or Wednesday that I would be able to use the longarm Saturday afternoon, so I scrambled to finish up the quilt top — then changed my mind about simply binding it, opting for a 3 1/2″ red border. Then the challenge was to get a backing ready.

I cut 9″ squares from my FQ (they had already been chopped into) and used a length of fabric given to me by a friend. But changing horses in the middle of the stream, I decided I needed a bit of the backing fabric for a matching pillowcase, so I pulled the blue fabric in to get the backing large enough.

Here’s a look at the quilting from the back.

Now to get the binding on the quilt.

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Challenges, designwall, Sew Scrappy

Sew Scrappy Challenge Quilt – Week 5

November 11, 2015 1:01 am ⋅ Pam

As it turns out, I’ve been puttering on this quilt now for a little over a week. (I’m now stalling on a different project.) The blocks were finished up over the weekend, so all that is left is to sew them together. The plan is to go borderless and bind in red.

These days I sew my quilt tops into quarters so there is only one long seam. As soon as I get these pinned blocks sewn, they’ll be attached to the top section.

It will be a bit more than half the quilt, as there are only 10 rows. The last 4 are up on my design wall.

I’m off from work this week, so I should be able to focus and knock this out, but all those things which get put off while I’m working are taking up my day, so I’m not getting much more time to quilt than I do when I’m working.

Hop over to Jo’s Country Junction to see how other’s are doing with their challenge quilts.

Posted in: Challenges, goals

What’s On My Design Wall

November 9, 2015 8:16 am ⋅ Pam

Sew Scrappy, from Evelyn Sloppy’s book 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts is what I’ve been working on the past couple of days. What can I say? I really didn’t want to swap out my walking foot again. I still have a few of the really light lights clumped together, but I don’t know that I’m going to worry about trying to spread them out. It looks much better than it did last week.

I hope to get the top together today or tomorrow, then it will be back to the Green & Cream Swap blocks. Although something was said about cleaning the front gutters…

See what others are working on over at Patchwork Times.

Posted in: Challenges, designwall, Sew Scrappy