Labor Day Weekend

The first two rows of my Michigan Row by Row quilt are completed except for adding sashing between the rows and then some decorative buttons after it's assembled and quilted.  I didn't think I'd really get into doing these row by rows, but I'm finding it kind of fun.
The idea behind the Row by Row is to collect (free) patterns or purchase kits from at least 8 different quilt shops that are participating in the Row by Row.  I think I have 9 now, but there are a couple that I'm not crazy about and am hoping to be able to get my hands on a couple others that I really like ( like the Mackinaw Bridge for one).
I'm sure I won't get mine done in time to be the first submitted to any of the quilt shops ( fat quarter packs and a gift certificate, I think, are the prizes for being first in each of participating quilt shops), but that's ok - I'm having fun anyway... maybe if they do this again next year, I'll get started earlier and give the rest a run for their fat quarters lol.
Now that these two are done, I'm devoting the rest of the weekend to getting back to working on my TQS (The Quilt Show) A to Z Ewe and Me block of the month quilt... I'm wayyyy behind ( like 4 months - it'll be 5 tomorrow since it's a new month) and I really want to get caught up - it's really a cute pattern.

These are my Jan-April blocks.

I also have another BOM (block of the month) that I need to get back to working on, too, but it's going to have to wait until probably Jan; it's time to start sewing on Christmas gifts.... first one up will be the table runner that my oldest daughter HINTED for.  I told her that I don't do curves (which is true) so it should really throw her off and she won't suspect that she's getting it :).

No guarantees she'll get it this Christmas - it may be next year or the one after... I wasn't kidding when I said that I don't do curves so this may take longer than it should.  Why couldn't she have spotted it months ago???  :)  Right now, I'm just hoping that the pattern arrives ( from Canada) before next week's Cal-Co quilt show so that I can start shopping for the fabrics I'll be needing for it.  If it doesn't, I'll just go down to Sweet Bee's here in town and let my fingers do the walking over her gorgeous batiks while trying not to drool on them too much. :)
Ok, enough stalling, I need to do a little cleaning in my sewing room tonight so that I'll be ready to get back to my A to Zs tomorrow morning.

DONE FINALLY

Well, at least the top is... of course, it still needs to be sandwiched and quilted, but that will have to wait until I find backing fabrics for both sizes.

I have been focusing on getting this top done since this past Saturday.  That day, I worked in my sewing room for 8 1/2 hours and almost as long on Monday... this was just piecing and attaching the border.  Because this top is larger than the pattern called for, it took some fussing to get the borders to fit...  the length wasn't too bad -

- I simply added a straight bar of the color.  The shorter sides were a little more difficult - and, looking back now, I could have done a better job.

What I ended up doing was simply laying out the two lengths for each side and then sewing them together where they met & cutting off the excess.  I think I could have made another block to bridge the gap between the two lengths if I had stopped and thought about it.

As I am adding one of the long borders, I noticed that something didn't seem right... OOPS!  I missed adding an inner border!!  There's only scraps of the background fabric left so if I had tried to go back and add the missing border, it would have involved lots of piecing.  At this point, I just wanted this quilt top to be done and over with - I've only been working on it since January - time to call it done.  I don't think most people will even notice it, especially once I quilt it.

It is what it is - DONE!

Last week, I went on my second row-by-row road trip with my cousin, Cathy, and our quilt guild friend, Joyce.  This time, Vicki was able to join us.  We hit six shops this time ( only three the week before).  I was not only collecting the free patterns for the row-by-row quilt that's currently going on in several states across the nation, I was purchasing fabric for next year's AQS group challenge.

I can't remember if I've mentioned it in previous posts or not.  Our guild decided to use letters as our theme this time around.  A small baggie with all the letters of the alphabet was passed around to the members to draw from.  We can use the letter itself or we can do something related to the letter ( i.e. A could be an apple, accordian or acorn for example).  I drew the letter 'U' and wasn't sure what I could do with it at first... immediate thoughts were Umbrella and Unicorn... thought about unique but couldn't figure out how to use that in a quilted wall hanging (size is to be 36" wide by 48" tall).

Once I started thinking about unicorn, The Unicorn Song by the Irish Rovers started running through my head - CONSTANTLY!!   I've gotten the pattern worked out in my head for the most part... thought about using the unicorn for the center of the quilt and then printing the names of the other animals (green alligators, long necked geese, humpty backed camels, etc) scattered throughout the background (sky) - changed my mind on the animal names.  I think I'll only include a couple of the other animals .. like the alligators, but then I'm going to try and make the camels and maybe a cat or a rat out of clouds ( you know how you can look at clouds and see different shapes in them? - that's what I'm talking about).  I'm also planning on including a panda bear in a patch of bamboo in memory of Joan Mason, a fellow guild member who recently passed away.

Anyway, I was able to find and purchase most of the fabrics that I'll be needing for the Unicorn quilt while out of the roadtrip.  I still need something for the unicorn itself - silk has been suggested but I'll have to wait and see.  I want something that's a little shiney but not TOO shiney and it has to be easy to work with - I don't want to have to use fusible (  i.e. Heat n Bond) and I don't want something that's so sheer that it will need lining to prevent the background from showing through.

I've purchased some heat set crystals for the rain... but they are round and I wasn't sure they were what I want so I went on Amazon.com and found some teardrop shaped crystals.  I couldn't tell from the pic whether they have holes in them so that they can be sewn on or if they will need to be glued on.  Heck, I'm not even sure they're going to be the right size - will find out when they arrive either today or tomorrow.

I'm also collecting yarns for the unicorn's mane & tail.... I want bright and colorful.  So far, I have eyelash yarn in hot pink and deep purple (found in clearance sale).  I'd like some yarn with 'knots' in it and maybe some with sequins or something similar.  I don't want to have to buy skeins of each - would LIKE to find people to donate a length of their scrap yarns.

Still need to find a fabric for the alligators, too.

Small top done -

Finished the hand stitching on the smaller Dragonfly Dancing quilt top last night... didn't take quite as long as I'd thought it would.   I was down to only a couple blocks left of the hand sewing when Buddy got ahold of the spool of thread... arghhhh!!  what a mess!!!!

this was after I tried to clean it up a bit.  

 The scarey thing is that there was a needle stuck in the spool when Buddy pilfered it, but I couldn't find it when I managed to get the spool back from him.  I'm seriously hoping that it's found and that he didn't swallow it.

Here's the small top.....

I should have smoothed it out a little more, but I didn't and it is what it is :).  There isn't enough left of the background fabric to finish the larger quilt - there are only a very small handful of scraps left, so I'll have to use another fabric for the border background.   Still no idea what I'll use for the backing and binding... 

I've been busy - honest I have

I know I haven't posted for a couple of weeks , but I have been busy.... both quilting and non-quilting.  Quilting wise ( actually sewing wise), I hadn't touched my sewing machine since I finished the challenge quilt for our guild's picnic, and really didn't feel like it so, to get myself back into the 'groove', the weekend of July 25th ( while 20 of the guild members were upnorth on retreat) I made this mouse pincushion.

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Since the gals were upnorth on retreat, I declared that I was having a retreat here at home and I proceeded to get back to working on my Dragonfly Dance quilt top.  I stitched 12 of the 16 blocks together with sashing in between each block.  I didn't like the 16 block layout, so ended up with 4 extra.  I also got started on piecing for the border.  ( Ignore the pink plaid at the bottom of the pic - that's backing for a bedrunner that's waiting it's turn on the midarm.)

Then came the hand stitching part again... I didn't get it all done until this past weekend.  I even took the top with me to work on while on  a  'row by row shop hop' trip with my cousin, Cathy, and another member of the guild last Wednesday.  I only got three blocks finished though - Michigan roads are not condusive to hand sewing :(.

The shop hop trip was fun, but I got carried away and spent way more than I should  have.  We went to a cute little shop in  Pinckney first where I bought some cuts of Spartan print fabric and a pattern that I'd been looking for - and the main fabric for it, too.  Then it was on to Ann Arbor and a wonderful quilt shop that just about left me gobsmacked.  I bought four patterns and a yard of a beautiful gray fabric.  The patterns were for cute owl potholders ( future Christmas gifts), a little girl's dress with matching doll's dress ( also for Christmas gifts), a pattern for a Monster Trucks quilt and, at checkout, I spotted and bought an adorable Dogs vs Cats wallhanging pattern.

At the third quilt shop ( in Saline), I bought more cuts of Spartan print fabric and the patterns for a Dog Park quilt designed by McKenna Ryan.  I think I'm using the Spartan prints to make a picnic 'basket' (pattern bought at  quilt show in Jackson earlier this year) which will also be a Christmas gift.   We're going 'shop hopping' again on the 13th and Cathy hopes to hit SIX shops this time.  I'm really going to have to put a lock on my wallet this time :).

On Thursday, I sat down and started picking out stitches from the quilt that's on my midarm machine, but didn't get very far because one of my brother in laws called to let us know that  my husband's other brother was in the hospital and it didn't look good.  We dropped everything to go to Kalamazoo both Thursday and Friday.

Saturday, I took the four 'orphan' blocks from the Dragonfly Dance and stitched them together (no pic yet)....  hand stitching took up the rest of the weekend for the most part.  I also tried this little cutie....

Yesterday was spent unstitching on the mid arm and  making the Dogs vs Cats wallhanging... so cute! Can you see why I couldn't resist it?  

 I think I'll be making one or two more for a donation and a gift.

Today, it's back to Kalamazoo to say our final goodbyes to my husband's older brother.  We got the call yesterday that he was being sent home from the hospital and is expected to only live another two or three days.