Slow Progress, Adventures and Successes

This week I have been trying not to succumb to tiredness and lack of motivation. Not much success in that area. But I still made some progress. Last week's goals were:

1. Sew star points on the sashing
2. Work on assembling the start quilt top
3. Put borders on the Christmas Lemonade quilt - done
4. Make the back for the Christmas Lemonade Quilt - done
5. Get the Christmas Lemonade quilt on Millie 

So I decided to get the borders on the Christmas Lemonade Quilt first.  That way I could move it out of my way. I started sewing them onto the quilt on Tuesday but didn't finish until Saturday. Which is okay. I am quite proud of myself with these borders. For the first time I actually mitered the corners of a quilt border. I am so pleased with how they turned out. The red color seems to make the other colors pop.

I started out with a wide border to add a little more size to the quilt. It was too big for a throw and too small for a twin.  The borders made the size more bed worthy. Normally I would have sewed on the side borders trimmed them even with the top and then sewed on the top and bottom borders. This time I got bold. I had learned to sew mitered corners at a 4-H Master Sewers training. We had done them on aprons. (Which I still need to finish.) I applied the same principle to my quilt and it worked beautifully.  Even if it was a little more cumbersome.

I especially like how the seam all but disappears. It is so much less noticeable than the way I was doing it. I expect I will be mitering borders more often now.

I had enough fabric from the borders to make the back as well. Both top and back are pressed and ready to go on Millie.  I even made the binding and have it ready to go as well. Now I just need to quilt it and bind it.  I am not sure how I want to quilt it yet.  

I have found and purchased some digital quilting patterns to add to my Quilt Path. I think I will want to do one of those. They are edge to edge patterns. I down loaded them on my laptop. I will have to read up on how to transfer the patterns to Quilt Path. I am also considering doing a different pattern in the border than on the main quilt top. I am not sure I am ready to tackle that yet. But the wide border seems to beg for it's own pattern. 

I also need to read up on changing my hopping foot. This quilt top has some thick seams and I have been told that the scoop foot is better for quilting tops with thick seams. So before I start quilting this quilt I have some planning to do.

In the mean time this week I found and purchased some really cool digital quilting patterns that I will use on future quilts, as well as the Christmas Lemonade quilt. It has me excited to plan out those quilts.

Speaking of planning. A few weeks back my husband and son installed a outside antennae for TV.  With the installation of the new antennae, I was able to pick up a PBS station that has Fon's and Porter's Love of Quilting and Sewing with Nancy. It has been quite a while (3-4 years ago we gave up cable and satellite) since I had been able to watch these shows. I have missed them. It was good to be able to watch them again. Even better though was the sponsors section. They mentioned that Sew Blessed Quilting in Hahira GA was a sponsor.  I had no idea where Hahira was. But this was a Tallahassee station (WFSU) so I figured it couldn't be too far away.

This past week I did a search for them. Hahira, GA is about 50 miles from me. On Saturday Perigrine (my artistic but non quilting daughter) and I went on a road trip. We made it to Hahira and found Sew Blessed easily enough. But it was the wrong one. There are two stores, one dedicated to sewing for children, the other dedicated to quilting.  They are owned by the same people and we were happily directed to the other store but encouraged to look around there first.  It was a cute little store. 

We walked the block and a half to the other store and were pleased with what we found there. It isn't a big store but it does have a good bit of selection. They are a Handi -Quilter dealer and so have some accessories for long arming that I can use. They also had a good selection of quilting notions. I did keep to my resolution and not buy any fabric. But I did buy some bloc-loc rulers though. I have plans of doing some patterns with half square triangles

Another thing that we found in the store was a quilt that we liked. It was a basket lattice pattern. I asked for the pattern and the woman said they didn't have it but showed me where I could find it for free on line. I cam home and printed it out for future use. 

At both stores, we were up front about why we were there. We came to check them out. We didn't have plans to buy anything. You see there used to be a quilt shop in Moultrie, GA. I head about it shortly after I started working in Bainbridge. I was always going to go there but never seemed to find the time. Then they announced they would be closing. My daughters and I went and realized what we had been missing out on. I was not going to make that same mistake twice.  

The women in both Sew Blessed stores totally understood and really encouraged us to look around and sign up for the mailing lists. No pressure and a lot of time was spent getting to know us. It was a place where you felt wanted and not because you may spend money. It was the type of atmosphere that I want my store to be like some day.

They also made sure I knew about the quilt shop in Valdosta, GA. I had been there and it is a nice store. It is a little farther away than this one. It was not as welcoming as Sew Blessed but then I got there it was about 1/2 hour before closing. It may have been different if I had gotten there in the middle of the day.  The woman at Sew Blessed talked about some retreats and quilt shows that she had been too. She mentioned one store in Trenton, FL that I want to go to now. That will be a road trip for another day.  

To sum up this week.

Not as much progress as I would like but progress is progress.

Some successes - mitered borders, binding made, quilting patterns found.

Adventures - the quilt shop road trip.

All in all a good week.

How did yours go?

Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Some one once wrote ''the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" It was one of those weeks where it seems no matter what I planned to do, life gets in the way?  Last week I over planned hoping to to keep myself focused.  Of the eight goals I set I did manage to get three done. And I did get another one started.

1. Square up the star blocks - done on Tuesday night
2. Cut the sashing for the star quilt - done on Saturday evening
3. Sew star points on the sashing
4. Work on assembling the start quilt top
5. Find the fabric for the borders and back for the Christmas Lemonade quilt - done on Saturday afternoon
6. Put borders on the Christmas Lemonade quilt -started on Sunday afternoon but not finished
7. Make the back for the Christmas Lemonade Quilt
8. Get the Christmas Lemonade quilt on Millie

So what happened, You may ask. Even if you don't ask I am going to tell you. Awry! Things went awry!

Monday I had to get up early to take my husband to the airport before work. Of course since he was packing for the week we didn't get to bed on time. By the time I got home on Monday I was drop dead tired. I couldn't have worked on a quilt if I had the energy because my mind was not functioning at that point. I don't want to work on projects when I am that tired. It just ends up a disaster. So I looked a couple of quilt magazines and called it a night.

Tuesday night, I made up for lost time. I got all 20 start blocks squared up and trimmed down. They look really nice. I went to bed feeling pretty proud of myself. I was eager to get going on the sashing.

Wednesday night was church clean up, I normally wouldn't have gone after the long day I had, but I was supposed to meet with someone to do some planning. I stayed as long as I could but we didn't get around to the planning. So a bit a wasted night for me. Again I perused some quilt magazines before bed. Not sure that is such a good idea since it makes me want to plan more quilts. I have enough prepped and planned as it is.

Thursday, Miss Betty had been rushed to the hospital with chest pains. After work I picked up Perigrine and took her to stay with Mr. Terry (Betty's husband). I stayed and chatted with him for a while until we knew that Betty was okay and would be coming home that night. That pretty much shot my night. Betty and Terry are kind of adopted grandparents for my kids. Betty doesn't have any kids of her own. And well we take care of each other.

Friday, I was pretty tired and didn't feel like doing much of anything after work. I wasn't feeling all that well so I took a nap. That is never a good thing for making progress, in fact I find I less likely I to get things done if I nap. When I got up, I paid the bills and went through a bunch of papers, shredding those that needed shredding and filing the others. it made the studio neater but not much progress on the quilting goals.

Saturday, I cleaned the studio. I put things away and swept and dusted. I cleaned up Millie and my desk. I even did some mending that I had been putting off. It is always nicer to start work in a clean space. Oh and I went to breakfast with my son, which took a couple of hours. Totally worth it though.

On Saturday afternoon I debated on whether to cut the borders for the Christmas lemonade quilt or cut the sashing for the star quilt. I decided to cut the sashing. That way I could work on just a few pieces at a time during the week.

Sunday afternoon I decided to go ahead and cut the borders for the Christmas lemonade quilt.  I got the top out and was really pleased with myself. I had a note pinned to it with the dimensions of the quilt on it. I had already calculated how many strips to cut.  I am planning to miter the corners of the border. I got the strips for the borders cut and sewn together. I even took out the stitching if the angled seam didn't sit right "instead of making it work" That is not always something I've done in the past.

So I have done some of my goals but let's face it I need to do better.  So this week I will work on:

1. Sew star points on the sashing
2. Work on assembling the start quilt top
3. Put borders on the Christmas Lemonade quilt
4. Make the back for the Christmas Lemonade Quilt
5. Get the Christmas Lemonade quilt on Millie

Of course I am also trying to resist starting another quilt. I am eager to do the stack and flip quilt. Mostly because I think it will go fast. I do want to finish some projects though. I just can't seem to get enough time to do all that I want to do.  But then I don't know anyone who feels they have enough time to do all they want to do.  

I think I need to keep trying to do a little everyday instead of making big pushes on the weekends. If I have things ready on Sunday night then during the week I can sew a little every night. That way on the weekends I can try to do the cutting, layouts, and of course the quilting.  Hopefully I will get more accomplished this way. 

So tomorrow either I work on borders or the star points on the sashing. Then maybe by this weekend I will have a quilt on Millie and be laying out the star quilt.

Here's to the best laid plans. Hopefully the Mice and Men will stay out of my way.

Squaring Up Blocks

This week has been a bit of a stand still.  I started to square up the star blocks.  I know some people don't take the time to do this but I am not that great at piecing yet.  I feel it is better to square up the blocks a lose some size than have a wonky quilt top.  I started with 5 inch squares so theoretically the star block should be 14 inches before setting to finish at 13 1/2 inches. A good size block.

When I started squaring up the blocks, I started with the ones on top of the pile. So the last of the blocks that I pieced.  I set my ruler on them measured them out and basically they were coming up at 14 inches.  Oh a corner here and there wasn't quite at 14 inches but they were close, less than 1/16th of an inch off. I figured I could fudge that a little bit in the seam allowance.  I worked on a few blocks each night. After  three nights I got to the earlier blocks. Guess what! They were not that close. I had sections that were as much as 1/8th of an inch off. No way I could fudge that much on the seam allowance. There just wouldn't be enough seam to hold well. I don't want the seams to pull out with use. And truthfully there were a couple that were 3/16 ths of an inch off. So I need to go back and trim all of the blocks down.

So this week I will be trimming the blocks down to 13 1/2 inches. That gives me a good 1/4 inch seam allowance and a stronger quilt top. That means the finished size will be 13 inches. It still gives me a good sized quilt. At least trimming them down won't cut off any points or design features of the block. I will need to take more care on future blocks. One thing I am going to watch for is the size of my pre-cuts. I still think some of my problem has to do with the differing sizes of the pre-cuts and my yardage cuts. 

On the bright side, this week was our monthly Relief Society activity. We had a good time making Hershey Kiss Rose Buds and rubber stamping valentines.  It was a nice creative afternoon with other women.  I enjoy crafting and sewing with other women. I just wish they were more into quilting. I would love to get a group of women quilting each month. I guess I really need to find a guild to join. The problem is there aren't any closer than Tallahassee, FL and Havana, FL. That is 45 minutes to an hour away. To top it off, they generally meet on a week night. With my work schedule that is a difficult thing to keep up.  I guess I will just have to bite the bullet and plan to do it anyway. I could really use some experienced quilters advice now and again. As well as inspiration and encouragement. Hopefully we get a third supervisor at work so I can count on going to meetings.

So this week's plans:

1. Square up the star blocks
2. Cut the sashing for the star quilt
3. Sew star points on the sashing
4. Work on assembling the start quilt top
5. Find the fabric for the borders and back for the Christmas Lemonade quilt
6. Put borders on the Christmas Lemonade quilt
7. Make the back for the Christmas Lemonade Quilt
8. Get the Christmas Lemonade quilt on Millie

I know that sounds like a lot and truthfully it is. I am trying to have more things planned than I can do to keep me from procrastinating.  And I probably won't do them in the order listed. Sometimes I just have to do things that I am in the mood to do. I may not feel like cutting one day or piecing another day. One of the reasons I have more than one project going at a time is I need to work on something but am not in the mood to do what the current project needs done. 

Plus I really want to get a quilt on Millie and do some quilting. I find that I am getting eager to do some custom quilting instead of just Panto-graphs. I still need lot of work on Pantos but I want to do some ruler work and some custom work. I may be silly to move on before perfecting Pantos but if I don't I will get bored and that is never good.

How are your projects going? What are your plans for this week. Do you ever over plan?

Planning Week.

This week has not been very productive when it comes to getting projects done. I have 3 quilts in process and all are at a stage where I need to do cutting and/or trimming. The Star Quilt needs the blocks squared up and the sashing cut.  The Christmas Lemonade quilt needs the borders and backing cut. Since I decided to go back and add flying geese to the sides of my Irish chain quilt, I need to cut the fabric for those. 

The whole problem is that my cutting area is my dining room table. I don't have room in the studio to have a cutting table. My dining room is adjacent to my studio which makes it ideal for cutting. the table is "Pub" height so it is easy to cut on for long periods without hurting your back. But it is also a work space for meat processing or canning or anything related to kitchen work because it is also adjacent to the Kitchen. Open concept has it's advantages and disadvantages. 

Currently my daughter Perigrine is finishing up processing our last deer. It is mostly jerky and we have 3 dehydrators taking up the kitchen counters. The wrapping and running of the seal-a-meal is taking place on the dining room table. Plus cooking for the family and folding laundry, well it has pretty much kept my cutting space occupied. 

And if it wasn't daily life, it was Tatianna and her homework.  Tatianna studies at the table. Plus she has to build learning centers for her classes. So she is using her crafting talents to create them on my dining room table.  In other words life has gotten in the way of my quilting. I hate that. 

I told my girls if they didn't get the table cleared off soon I would be forced to start another quilt. It makes them crazy that I have so many UFO's. And don't get them started on the planned projects. There has been some minor improvement in the dining room but that was fleeting as project deadlines approached.

So other than a few quick stitch-up jobs I haven't done any sewing this week.  I did get the paperwork in my studio cleared up an filed away. It's nice to have the piles taken care of. (I should mention that I do all the bills, etc, at my computer station in the corner of my studio.) I got my shelves organized a bit better and I started the taxes which I always dread doing.  It's not like I haven't been productive.

I also went through a few quilt magazines. I am trying to decide which quilt I am going to do next. I am thinking about starting one of the layer cake quilts using a "cake mix". But that requires a cutting area, too.  I could do another baby quilt just using the 5 in charm packs. That requires fixing the design wall.  I guess I am being lazy. Hoping to get to my cutting surface back soon.

I did make some progress on one of my goals this week.  I am helping my friend Liz make a quilt for her daughter. She told me that she had some quilt/sewing stuff that was her grandmother's. Fabric and some blocks. She was hoping we could incorporate her grandmother's blocks into a picture quilt for her daughter. I spent the afternoon with Liz on Friday.  We had a wonderful girls day as she introduced me to her "Nonnie" (Nonnie has been gone for some time but I got to learn about her and who she was)

We opened the bin of stuff that had been in a shed for quite a few years. Liz was fearful that the fabric and blocks would be damaged. Thankfully they were fine. But what I thought would be some scraps and a few blocks (by Liz's description) turned out to be two quilt tops ready for quilting. We just need the backing and the batting. There were also 14 block that are about 18 inches square.

As we looked in to the box I could see the templates she used to cut the pieces. We also found some pillow cases that were cut up and scraps that were too big to throw away. All the sewing was done by hand. The stitches were so even and straight. Plus as we were looking at the quilts and blocks, Liz was remembering dresses and blouses that were made out of the different fabrics she had used.  Nonnie was "old school" using scraps and finding ways to use it up. I know Nonnie came from the era of "use up, wear it out, make it do, or do with out" but it is still amazing to see the work and scrimping done to make these quilts. I wonder how she would feel about the modern way of doing quilts. Would she find it extravagant? Buying fabric just for quilts. Would she see it as a waste? The cutting up yardage into quilt pieces.

I told Liz I would quilt these tops for her. We will do a wall hanging picture quilt for her daughter with pictures of her and her family. But these quilts need to be finished.  I am excited to finish these quilts for Nonnie. I am planning on doing a quilt label with Nonnie's picture on it. I just hope she doesn't feel like I am cheating by machine quilting them.  But I have the machine and it needs to be used and those quilts need to be done. I am sure she would much rather the quilts be on their beds rather than sitting in a bin in the shed.

What a find! It made my whole week! I think Liz is excited about it as well. Which makes it even more fun for me.

What excited you this week?