Predicted Week

I can't believe how fast this week went by.  It just doesn't seem like it's been seven days.  As I predicted I didn't get much quilting done.  I did kind of get back in the swing of being the Mom though.  Let me explain. 

Since we have lived here in Georgia, my kids have gotten home before me. Hence they have been responsible for dinner and cleaning. But the kids are all grown up now.  Perigrine, the youngest, has been home the most and therefore responsible for keeping the house clean and doing the cooking.  I have been spoiled. 

Monday, Perigrine left for Nevada to help her older sister get ready for the baby.  That has resulted in me losing my live in housekeeper.  While I have two other grown kids living here, one is working 10 hour days, having to commute an hour each way, and the other is working while going to school full time even during the summer session.  So Mom has to step up and start doing the cooking and cleaning.  Well, at least the daily stuff. Which has seriously cut into my sewing time. In fact, it looks like I am going to have to do the dishes before I go to bed tonight. 

I did manage to sew a little on Monday and a little today.  But I still need to make some time to sew everyday.  This may be a little easier with Kim out of town. If Kim is not home, then on the nights I can't get to sleep, I can stay up and sew.  Or if I wake up in the middle of the night and can't back to sleep,  I can sew until I am tired again.  Which is probably how the next two weeks is going to go. Especially since it is getting really hot and humid here in the south. This Yankee still hasn't adapted after 9 years.

As  said I did get to work a little bit on the ribbon dance quilt. But I only got 6 more blocks done, which certainly is not much in the way of progress.  I am now at 30 out of 48 blocks. Only 18 more to go.

I did find and buy the fabric for the back. So now I have everything I need to complete the quilt. Once I get the blocks done, I can get the borders on it. Then it will be time to put it on Millie.  I am thinking of using a fairy panto on this one. I found one a couple of months ago on the Intelligent Quilting site. Since I have 7 granddaughters and another on the way I thought it would be a good one to have.

But first I have to get the blocks done. I am hoping to do a few a every night.  Hopefully, I will really put a dent in the project this week.  I would like to have it on Millie by the beginning of July.  I would really like to get this first quilt to the point of stitching down the binding before I leave for Chicago on July 8th. I could then work on the binding in the evenings in my hotel room. I know I am such a party gal.

I wonder if there are any really good quilt shops near where I am going to be. I guess I should look that up before I go.  I will be in Elgin IL and then Rosemont, IL.  I wonder if I would be that into visiting quilt shops if there were a decent one near by. 

I have to admit I took Mom's Crafts and Fabrics for granted when I lived in Delta, Utah. Check out their Facebook page here.  If you are a quilter and traveling near Delta, UT, it is worth the trip to Mom's.  At least it was when I lived there. She had a wonderful selection and it was well organized.  Plus the classes were really reasonable. I know there are kits available for at least some of the quilts on display.

Oh well I have kind of rambled this week but it has been one of those unfocused rambling weeks.  How are you projects coming along?


 

Lack of Focus, Mechanical Troubles and New Progress

I finally finished quilting the Christmas Lemonade quilt.  It is off Millie and ready to be finished. I really did enjoy manually quilting the border. I need a lot more practice with that particular skill but it did get easier the more I did it. Of course it was not without Mishap.  I had used batting that was too big. It was a batt that I had cut too small for the braid quilt. Well when I put it on Millie, it was too wide for the backing. So I folded it under to get the side clamps on. When I quilted the border, I quilted the excess batting into a section of the design. I wasn't thinking about the excess batt being in the way.  That lack of focus created a mess. This picture was taken after I cut most of the excess off.

Once I got most of the batting cut away, I needed to cut it closer to the stitches. Fortunately, I have a pair of applique scissors. I trimmed the excess batting as close to the stitches as I could. Some of the batting just rubbed loose at this point but some stayed put.


 I then used a clean scrubbing sponge to wear away the batting that was left. It just started to pull apart.  But I did accidentally tear out some stitches.  I had to thread my sewing machine with red thread and re stitch the section of design that came loose. Luckily for me it was all straight lines.

I have kind of set it aside for now.  Mostly because I am procrastinating.  I don't know why but I didn't bury the thread ends as I went. Now I have to spread the quilt out and start burying them.  I should have just done it as I was quilting. It also needs trimmed before I can put the binding on.  My dining room table is currently being used to rebuild the electrical harness for my son's project car. I just need to nag him a little more to clear it off. Then I can spread out the quilt.

Another reason for setting it aside is I need to work on the granddaughters quilt. Winry will be here in just 2 short weeks. I know I won't have the quilt made by the time she gets here but I am hoping to get it done before I go out to visit. Not sure when that will be yet but probably early fall. And I can't take a quilt to Winry if I haven't made one for Viri. Since they will be sharing a bedroom, I wanted the quilts to match yet still be different. Pink for Viri and Purple for Winry. Both are being made with 1930's prints and both will be the Ribbon Dance pattern.

Last week I said I had all the half square triangles for Winry's quilt done. This week I have managed to get half of the 48 blocks sewn. That is despite tension problems with my sewing machine. When I started to sew the blocks together and I was having all sorts of tension issues. Plus the machine was making a loud clacking sound. I hate to say it but I think my little helper amde some adjustments to my machine when I wasn't looking.  The machine ran fine without the bobbin and needle. I took the bobbin holder out, then cleaned and oiled the machine. After I got that done I tried sewing again. Still the loud noise and tension issues.  I ended up tightening the top tension all the way up and loosening the bottom tension all the way down. The stitches were better but the noise remained. The next day I played around with it some more. I switched out the bobbin and the needle. The clacking was better. I tried to adjust the tension again and was able to get it back to a more normal range. I will need to take it in soon and get a tune up done on it but for now I am able to sew. 

This is a picture of two blocks sewn together. I am really pleased with how it is coming together. I am hoping that I will get the remaining blocks sewn this week.   

It would be great if I could have the top done by next week.  I am just not too sure of how much time I will have this week.  My boss will be in North Carolina so I will probably need to work longer than 8 hours.  Also my husband is home this week but only for five days.  I will probably spend most of my time at home with him instead of sewing.  Especially since we will probably only have about 7 days together for the next 3 weeks. Priorities!!!

Plus even if I get the top done this week, I need to get fabric for the back.  I thought I had it covered but didn't realize just how much I really need. I bought 4 yards of pink fabric and 4 yards of purple fabric that was on sale.  I thought I had enough for the backs. Turns out I really need 7 1/2 yards of each. I forgot about the borders. Problem is, I bought it as a store that I probably won't be able to get back too any time soon. So I will have to buy backing fabric again.  So much for not adding to my stash.  At least the fabrics are solids and colors that I will use.  But money is a little tight and I wish I hadn't spent it on fabric that I can't use to finish the project. I will have to do some online shopping for backing fabric.

All in all a pretty good week. Progress made on two quilts. Mechanical issues that came up were dealt with. (I am pretty proud that I can do that). Lack of focus created an issue that made me think out of the box and helped me to use my problem skills.

What did you get done this week?

Progress and Courage

This week wasn't bad.  Actually it wasn't bad at all. I was able to keep my hours at work down a bit. Of course it helped it that I had two 3 day weekends in a row.  But I am still working on leaving at 3:00 to 3:30.  

Then even though the grand-kids were over several days, I was able to get the studio cleaned up a bit.  I have gone through several piles and sorted out paperwork and put a lot of things away.  I really need to spend a few hours a week on paper work.  I probably should plan on organizing the shelves in the studio a few hours each week as well. I did manage to find the binding I made for the Christmas Lemonade quilt. 

Progress - I finally got all the half square triangle blocks for the first Ribbon Dance quilt squared up. At least as square as I can make them. I did learn a little more about using pre-cuts. One, when they are different sizes center the smaller square on the larger square and cut by the smaller square. Two, pre-cuts by the same company are more likely to be the same size. In other words, two Moda charm packs are more likely to match up than a Moda and a Benartex. Third if the charm pack isn't square don't plan on using it for 5 inch squares.

That being said I am looking forward to actually sewing the squares into blocks.  I hope to start that this week. A little each evening would be good.

Courage - Well I did it, I started manually quilting on Millie. At first it didn't go very well.  I had left the Hartley Fence on and that was giving me problems. I took it off and still it seem that I was having to fight the machine. I was ready to give up. The stars looked so bad. I was feeling pretty discouraged

Then last night I realized why it was so hard. I had not dis-engaged the clamps on the drive belts. Today, I tried again and it went so much better. I am feeling much more confident about using Millie without the computer. 

Oh don't get me wrong, I am far from good yet. But I am pleased.  It is a learning process and I feel like I am learning.  I will get better the more I do it. Like all things that are worth doing, it is going to take some practice. 

This will be a quilt that we have out at Christmas time, the grand kids can snuggle under it for Christmas stories. Since it is for our own use, I am not ripping out the mistakes.  They will be there to remind me of where I started. IN the mean time I am about half way done with the borders. I will be finishing up this quilt quite soon.

So I got brave and tackled something new and I pushed forward on the current project.  It feels like a pretty good week to me. How did yours go?