Friday Finishes and Project Progress

It's been a busy week, I kind of took a blogging break and have been concentrating on getting some work done in my sewing room.  I've made steady progress on my deadlines and feel good that I'll have things done when they need to be finished.  Here is a picture of our big finish for the week:

Yes - we got the last bit of the laminate laid in the dining room!  I am so delighted with how it looks - now we just have to decide on how we want to do the baseboards.  I'm leaning toward staining them to match the wood, but painting isn't off the table yet.  I thinking a sage green for the walls would be a nice change from the yellow (which isn't as bright as it looks here).  Deciding on paint is harder than choosing fabric for a quilt for me.  Paint seems much more permanent.

The lap quilt using the rest of my Whimsical and Wonky blocks is put together and basted for quilting!

I've got more than half of my black and white blocks done for the Black and White Blog Hop coming up shortly! 

I finally hand stitched the label on my Sew Many Colors mini quilt - I'm adding sleeves and labels to all the mini quilts I have displayed in my sewing room.

And have a big pile of blocks from the French Blue line to sew together for the Island Batik Getaway Blog hop.

It's been a productive week!  Tomorrow I plan on working on my idea for the Project Quilting Challenge.  I didn't want to leave it until Saturday this week, but that's how it worked out.  I am looking forward to some fun sewing, though, so I will just enjoy the process and not think about it being last minute (as usual!).

Linking up with Busy Hands Quilts for Finished or Not Friday

Hustling and Bustling

The first part of this week was taken up by some rather interesting, but not very blog-worthy projects, but nevertheless I shall tell you about them!  Monday and Tuesday were spent working on a VERY large cushion for a bay window.  Large as in over 108 inches long and 31 inches wide.  Needing about 16 yards of cording, plus a 3 1/4 yard zipper installed.  Yikes!

I decided to try out using Aurifil 28 wt thread for the upholstery and it worked wonderfully!  It was just as strong as the upholstery thread I have used in the past, and is a lot easier to use on my machine, with little adjustment needed for the tension.

I hemmed some pants for my neighbor using this thread - it makes such a lovely topstitch!  I also used the same spool for the bustles on three wedding dresses yesterday.

This is not the finished bustle, just a trial pinning.  I ended up doing a simpler bustle that looks very elegant on this dress.  I sew grosgrain ribbon loops and ties to make a french bustle, and the 28 wt thread is great for hand sewing - I love the way it doesn't seem to tangle and snarl, it pulls through the fabric very smoothly.  I plan to try some hand quilting with this thread soon - I have a feeling it will be awesome...  Back to the dress - here is how the finished bustle looks:

 Isn't this a pretty back?

The other two dresses were bustled on the outside, and both had a sheer layer to be dealt with as well.  For those, I usually tack the sheer layer to the dress in a few spots to help keep the sheer layer from puddling on the floor.  This one already had a lace overlay and a corset back, so I added a button to hold the bustle up with.  The ribbon loop has a small button at the back to make it secure.  Up goes the train for dancing and moving around with ease!

The last dress already had a button back, so I just reinforced the bottom button and used that for the train:

Three brides will be ready for their big day in August!

Today I plan to work on the baby clothes project, plus do the cutting for a couple of the projects on my long list.  I am inspired to cut that thing down to size in record time!  We are having a get-together for the ladies of our church this weekend to work on our craft projects, so I will have some quilt kits ready for sewing.  Last time we did this I got several tops done, so I want to be ready to have a productive day.

Hope you are making some progress on your projects as well - let's clear out the old and get ready for some new ones!

Fall Decor from the Quiltsy Team

Fall is my favorite season, and I always enjoy getting out my seasonal decorations. I have several quilts that I look forward to displaying and using during these months. I now live on the Oregon coast, where the autumn is not quite as colorful, and they bring the colors of fall into my house bringing back fond memories of the fall season where I grew up. Quilts help me mark the change of season, and nothing is more warming than a cozy lap quilt on a rainy fall evening!

In my home we enjoy fall quilts as wall hangings, table toppers, and potholders. They are made in warm shades of brown, orange, and gold with accents of green and purple. I have a small quilt that hangs on the door of the coat closet, and it is a delightful small thing that makes me smile every time I walk by. For me, nothing says fall like a lovely quilt!

These two collages show some of the fine quilted items made in fall colors that you will find on Etsy. Any of these would bring a warm, homey feeling to your fall home decor.

Featured quilters include: lmkquilts, cachecreekquilts, whimbrella, jensport, quiltedhearts5, quilties, terryaskeartquilts, quiltsewpieceful, quiltingfrenzy, quiltlover, and quiltpetaler.

For more items by our team, search Quiltsy Team on Etsy - you're sure to find many lovely items that would look great in your home!