The Week of Flimsies

I had a busy week in the sewing room this week - so busy I forgot to blog about it!  It all started when we spent last weekend up north visiting the kids and grandkids.  We drove all the way up to Puyallup,  WA to see one of our daughters compete in a weight lifting competition.  She was awesome, completing all 6 of her lifts in good form!  It was her first competition and I think she is hooked.  She said the adrenaline rush was fierce, when she went out on the platform the first time she definitely felt like she was in fight or flight mode and wanted to cry, but she was awesome!  We definitely saw her confidence level rise with each lift and really enjoyed seeing her do so well.  We spent the rest of the weekend in Portland, then drove home on Monday.

I knew I had a short, but busy week in front of me, so just got to it on Tuesday.  My friend who owns the local alteration shop that I help out for is going to be on vacation for the month of August, so she had passed a few gowns on to me that needed to be done before she left.  I spent a good part of my week doing that, but also went to work on some of those tops (flimsies) that I have been wanting to get done.

This one is made with leftovers from another top.  These half square triangles were too big to discard, and I ended up with a nicely sized top in the end:

I had already made all the blocks, so it was just a matter of adding the sashing and borders.

The next one was a cheater panel.  I had more panel than border print, so it's just been aging in the drawer.  When I pulled it out this time, I realized that I could cut a row of blocks off in each direction and use them for cornerstones.  I have three blocks leftover that could be pillows, or small quilts.

This one will also be a nice lap size quilt.  I love the colors in this one!

Another quilt made using a panel, but for this one I had planned 5 inch pieced blocks for cornerstones.  It was a lot of fun to make the small blocks and I have another lap size quilt top ready to be quilted:

Aren't the chickens fun?  I know someone is going to love this quilt!

It's time to set up the Christmas display at the quilt shop, so I have a couple of samples to put together.  This one is from my Jolie pattern.  I absolutely adore the truck fabric in this - we have a lot of red and gray prints this year in the shop.

This one will get quilted first, I have backing for it and want to take it in on Wednesday so we can start selling the fabric.  Last, but not least, I added the borders for my quilt for the Island Batik blog hop next month!  My quilt shows the Seashore line - here is a peak at the borders I used:

You can read more about the line here on Auribuzz (Aurifil Thread's Blog) as well as enter to win some of these gorgeous fabrics!  It's a lovely line and you will enjoy reading about Tammy's role in designing it and putting together an Aurifil Thread collection to go with it.  While you are there, make sure you read the whole week's worth of posts, as they all feature great giveaways and feature Island Batik and Aurifil thread collections.  Two of my favorite things in the whole world - and not just because I am an Island Batik Ambassador and receive free fabric.  It truly is awesome fabric that is a pleasure to work with!

That makes a total of 5 quilt tops ready to be quilted!  I need to pull together backs for 4 of them, so it might not happen this week, but I definitely know I'll be finishing lots of quilts in August.

Just a fun note - I entered 8 items in the County fair this year.  Five of them were Island Batik projects!  Those monthly challenges have not only been a lot of fun to do, but I am getting a nice pile of quilts out of it as well.  I am trying to finish up some of my older projects, but I sure do love creating something fresh and new, and these monthly challenges have inspired and stretched me.  I think that's why we quilters love the quilt-a-longs, challenges, and mystery quilts.  They give us opportunities to be creative and make quilts while being part of a community.

I hope you find a way to use your creativity today!

The Last Quilt of 2010?

I can't absolutely promise, but I think it quite likely that this will be the last quilt I finish in 2010. Next year I plan to be better about keeping track of how many quilts I actually finish in a year - I know there where quite a few this year, but I'm not sure if I can actually number them all. Maybe over the next couple of days I will see if I can backtrack and figure it out!

For the next couple of days I am going to spend some time cleaning up and organizing in my sewing room. I want to make a list of UFOs to finish, as well as a plan for working on some of the other projects that aren't even started yet, but I have purchased supplies for. I hope to be able to finish quite a few of these this year and clean out some breathing room in my space - I'm pretty tired of all the clutter and mess that I seem to deal with on a daily basis.

Back to the quilt - I think I am going to call it Dragonfly Dance. It is about 42 inches square and is made from the leftover pieces from another quilt. I actually had some good sized pieces of yardage, plenty to make this quilt top and have a bit of the bright green-blue left for my stash! I put the top together back in October, but hadn't found the right backing for it. I had in mind using some green or blue fabric, but wasn't having any luck finding what I had in mind. Tonight I felt like doing some simple quilting, so decided to look through my stash again and see what I might find, since organizing and clearing out the closet. I immediately spotted a tone on tone black print which was perfect. And there was plenty of it! So, a quick press, baste and I was in business quilting away. I even had a lovely green variegated thread that looks super on the top! Instant gratification, and one more off my list - definitely a pleasant evening!

Hopefully I can get a lot of cleaning done tomorrow, then I can do some more quilting - but at least I'm happy getting this one done!

In stitches,

Pamela

Another Rescued Project

As you know, I have a hard time resisting something for free. It's hard to turn someone down when they want to give you something for nothing - but I am learning! But this particular project was before those days, and it is one of many partially done projects that I am determined to finish, even if they didn't start in my own sewing room.

I had a set of six finished blocks, and a couple small pieces of yardage with a few strips thrown in for good measure. I decided the blocks just needed a simple setting with sashing, then bordered with the same brown. There was just enough of the yellow to make the binding. The leftover strips were enough to make hanging tags which I thought looked quite nice.

I thought all the hand-painted faces on the kitties were adorable, and I love that hungry looking one looking down at the mouse!

The bells were also on the package, so I added them with a touch of blue embroidery floss tied with a little bow. A couple of the cats had ears that were pressed down, but I pressed them back up because I liked them better that way. All in all a very cute quilt, and better a finished quilt than a baggie of bits and pieces!

Day by Day

I'm feeling better, and am getting back to normal! I've been busy and getting things done, including doing some cleaning out in my sewing room. I started to organize my UFO's (UnFinished Objects) and got to 9 before I gave up and started stashing them in drawers and bins! I do have a rather large basket of things I'd like to finish before year's end, so have my work cut out for me!

One bit of very good news is that I found all my small sewing scissors! I have been baffled by their disappearance, but had no clue as to where I had stashed them. I figured that they were in the bottom of my chair or something similar. I was looking for some red and green quilting thread to make yo-yos on Friday, and found them in my tin of quilting thread. I had done a demo at the quilt show in 2007 on hand quilting, and left them in the tin, and put the tin up on a decorative shelf a month later without looking inside. Was I ever happy to see them! Especially the one that goes around my neck - it's so handy to have to use when I'm hand quilting.

I suppose I don't have much else to add for now, but am excited to share my new projects as I finish them. Can I get 9 done before the end of the year? We shall see! Tomorrow I will post my list and I'll keep my progress updated.

Oh, I got a pattern written up for my journal covers and will have that listed in my Etsy shop soon! In the meantime, here are a couple that I did for my friend Patti: