It's a FANTASTIC Friday

Last night on the way to the guild meeting, I did stop at the LQS and purchased quilt batting... not exactly what I was looking for, but it will do.  I wanted a blend of 80/20, what she had was 100% cotton.  I also found some blue fabric that I really liked back in the sale ($6.yd) section so bought 4 1/2 yds for the next BB quilt.

Loaded the batting and top onto Mo'e... played with the tension and off I went.  By dinner time I had two rows of six blocks each completed.  And like I had a feeling was going to happen, I'm custom quilting instead of doing an all over edge to edge.

I wasn't sure I was going to like the dark brown thread on the lighter fabrics in the top, but I think they're looking ok.  Love it with the brown fabrics - my little OOPS here and there are not as noticeable.  There's going to be plenty of texture in this quilt.

showing texture in first row... hard to see but I'm doing wishbones in the sashing and border.

 second row....

  moe of second row....

Crossing my fingers that maybe, just MAYBE I can have this one done by Monday. 

Ok, it's after 8 and I'm beat!...

I'm heading for bed and to watch Cool Kids...

take care...

ttyl

Whoops Wednesday

I didn't get any sewing time in yesterday... partly because of a pedicure appt right in the middle of the day and then running a few errands on the way home.  And partly because the water softener was supposed to be delivered ( postponed from Friday) - they called right after I sat down in the chair at the pedicurist and wanted to know if they could deliver today instead.... yeah, not a problem as long as you get here sometime this month.

Another reason was that for some reason yesterday my legs just did not want to bend when I wanted them to... they felt like wet sandbags from the knees down.  Much better today, though.

I got the backing for the first BB quilt loaded...

then went to grab batting and realized that I only have queen size and a couple smaller ones that are for wall hangings, etc.  I have lots of scraps but I don't want to sit down and try and piece enough together right now. 

I went online to see what Amazon might have since their shipping is pretty fast... they had several different kinds of batting including the Hobbs 80/20 that I was looking for - but none in twin size which is what I need; I don't want to have to cut one down. 

Since I ended up waiting ALL afternoon for the salt to be delivered (4:30 when they finally showed up) I decided I'd just wait and go down to the LQS to see what she has ( we get a guild discount on Thurs. which is a perk), but I don't think she carries Hobb's - not that I HAVE to have it - I just prefer it.

Anyway, I decided that since I'm sitting here in front of the computer and since I know where the pics are that I want, I might as well print out the labels I want to use on the BB quilts. 

Nothing fancy... just a pic of each member with my hubby and then a simple Thank you and our names, town, state and 2019 as the date since that's when I plan on giving the quilts to them.  Printed them out on paper backed fabric on my computer.  I don't really know what the life span is for labels like this, but I figure as long as it lasts long enough for them to put a name to my husband's face, it's enough.
btw:  he still doesn't have a clue what I'm up to or that we already have tickets to see the group in Jan.  :)

take care....

ttyl

Monday again already

Woke up this morning to SNOW... LOTS of snow  :(.  Hubby couldn't even open the front door to take Buddy out for morning 'business'... they used the back door and it was funny to watch because hubby would take a step and Buddy would jump into the 'hole' made by hubby's foot ... hubby would lift his foot again and Buddy would jump into that 'hole'/footprint.  Actually it was a smart thing to do since the snow was almost up to the top of little Buddy's head.

This is the patio table out on our front porch/deck... there has to be at least a foot of snow on it.  The pics were taken from inside the house - I'm not a fool!  lol

 Here, you can kind of see the snow on the railings and how high it is... 

 Ok, I opened the door here... well, as far as we could get it open....

We are so grateful for our neighbors who help us out in times like these.  Hubby did go back and shovel the drive again later in the day - because it wouldn't quit snowing!!!  The local weatherman said it would taper off by noon - I guess he didn't say WHERE that would happen - it sure wasn't here :(.

Ok, back to quilting.... I got the sashing and borders onto Ronnie's quilt top on Saturday....

and Mr. Prissy has approved it :).

Sunday, I decided to 'bite the bullet' and do some cleaning in my sewing room.  Things were beginning to fall off tables, etc and I couldn't keep track of the things I would need when it came time to start on the last BB quilt.

Hubby took out a couple of bags of trash for me ( not just from the cleaning) and I decided to tidy up my big tub full of blue fabrics... and purged some of them.  The purged fabrics along with some faux furs and some poly/cotton blend gingham fabrics are in a bag and going to a local 'store'.  I included a couple of patterns with the furs, I think.  I only kept some of the white faux fur along with a pattern for a baby seal; I may decide to make another one someday.  Oh, and I was able to replace the nasty holey ironing board cover, too.  Oh yeah, and I found the missing decorations I had made for the Christmas tree that the guild decorated for the local Festival of Trees; it's too late, but I found them.

The room isn't completely clean, but it's a lot better.  I was able to do some sewing today without having to juggle for space.

Today, a few minutes at a time and lots of resting in between, I finished quilting the project that has been on Mo'e since at least Sept. - probably longer.  I had had the quilting almost done when I ran my hand underneath the quilt and could feel the stitches, which meant the tension was too loose so I quit working on it for a few weeks, then started pulling ALL the stitches out so that I could start it all over again.

It's not perfect, but it's DONE and right now, that's all that matters to me.  It's my quilt and not going to be subjected to the  peering eyes of quilt judges or <gasp> the quilt police.

The thread and bobbins I ordered for Michael's brown quilt arrived today so tomorrow I'm going to slowly start loading the backing, batting and top onto Mo'e so that I can start working on it when I feel up to it, if only for five or ten minutes at a time.  I keep saying that I'm just going to do an all over edge to edge design, but knowing my penchant for custom quilting, I could end up doing that.... we'll just have to see.

And I still have to get started on the last BB quilt, which is a gray/black/white one for Paul.

Ok, I'm calling it a night... I know it's early ( about 7:30) but I got up at 6 this morning and can't remember the last time I took a nap - at least a couple weeks ago.... anyway, I'm tired.

take care....

stay warm SOMEHOW

ttyl

Fantastic Friday

Yahoo!!!!  I finished the blocks for the second BB quilt today... just need to do the sashing tomorrow (or Sunday).  There were only about seven left to do, but they turned out to be some of the most difficult ones because I was trying not to do them all the same.  I also didn't want a lot of them the same as the first quilt top... I think I succeeded.

There are a few pictures, but I got to the point that I just wanted to get the blocks done today and stopped taking pics.  I also noticed that one pic I did want to share apparently didn't get saved and now it's gone.  It was a pic of the first Jacob's ladder I did in blue... something looked 'off'... finally I noticed what it was - the upper left hand block was on wrong... I had it with white in the outer corner and it should have been the blue.  I fixed it - after I finished the second Jacob's ladder block ( it was already cut out and laid out on my sewing table).

I also had to add borders to some of the blocks so that they would fit in with the rest - I had to do the same with the first one and will have to do it again with the third one.

 This is the second Jacob's ladder block

 And I finally remembered that I had rickrack in my stash and pulled it out... it worked out pretty good on this, the very last block.

  Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the quilt that's been on Mo'e for MONTHS finished and taken off so that I can load one of the BB quilts on Monday; since I had to order thread for the first one finished and it probably won't even be shipped until Tuesday which means I should get it Friday... I could have the blue one quilted and bound by then.  Here's hoping anyway.

And that's it for tonight...

take care....

ttyl

Wahooo Wednesday #2!!

The first BB quilt top is done... and with LOTS of pics....  this first one was taken out of the layout... for some reason, I just didn't like it....

 getting there....

 I appliqued music notes onto the bottom of this block... I think it looks better this way.

 Ok, almost there.... I had a couple of plain blocks that I needed to figure out what to do with...

 This block was one of them... this is their logo....

 Here's the last block.... Michael and his wife have three sons... I don't think any of them have dark hair ( except Michael) and I'm pretty sure that his wife is not that blonde nor do any of the boys have curly hair... but it's the thought that counts :).  The family ( and the feet of Jesus shown in an earlier block) were printed onto fabric and then used in blocks.  I'm not sure how well they'll stand up under washing and drying, but I'm hoping they'll be ok.

 Ok, the top is together except for borders... I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get a half way decent pic once the borders were on so I went for this one.  It doesn't show all the blocks ( not enough room at the bottom)...

 and here it is with the borders on....

Now, to go back and finish working on the blue blocks.... after we get back home tomorrow ( or maybe I'll wait til Friday).  "Dinner" with hubby's son & family at Cracker Barrel about noon tomorrow.  Knowing my hubby, he'll probably order pancakes lol.  Then, we'll stop at Walmart on the way home IF they're open and pick up some groceries.

that's it for tonight...
Happy Thanksgiving!

ttyl

Monday again #2

It was sew in weekend at the library and I went, but only for lunch and socializing on Saturday.  I also got a couple of ideas for BB blocks... here's one that Cathy S. was working on in hopes of depleting her scrap piles.  Ha Ha good luck with that, Cathy.  The blocks she is doing are larger than this one that I did because the pattern makes a bigger block than I needed, so I used math ( not a good thing, trust me).. now the block is a little too small, but it will work out once I start putting the top together....  I made this one yesterday - trust me, it's not something that you can just whiz through... it's paper pieced, which I like, but it's also slow since you have to keep playing with fabrics to see if they'll fit and then there's all that trimming.

Today was a little more productive - I managed to get three blocks done, including one paper pieced.

I'm not sure why that left edge is like it is.... I suspect that that particular piece did not print out exactly the same as the other three.... it's smaller, too, so it will be dealt with later.

I decided I'd do a second church for Michael's quilt, but since the first one was dark, I wanted a lighter one this time.  It looks white in the pic but it's a tan colored fabric.  I used one of my 'fancy' stitches on my machine to stitch around the tracings that I did on the fabric.  I used the dark brown thread for the church and bright red for the letters - saved myself some grief and hair pulling by using a red pen (not a marker - the fabric safe permanent pen I can't think of the name of right now lol) to do the inside of the letters e and a; no way was I going to try to do those by machine.

Then it was back to working on the 3 1/2" x 6 1/2" blocks - there are still several that need to be put into blocks.

I have either 22 or 23 blocks up on the design wall... and really wondering if I should just make 30 blocks 6 rows of 5 each plus sashing and borders.... or do the 42 blocks 7 rows of 6 blocks plus sashing and probably no border or maybe a  narrow one.  This is the 19th and I was hoping to have all three tops done and ready to quilt by the end of the month... I haven't even started on the third one!!...  I think I might have to give myself one more week for the tops, and that will leave me a week to quilt & finish each quilt ( a week each!)

Ok, did a load of laundry today so now I'm going to go fold clothes while watching whatever's on tv tonight.

take care....

ttyl

Finally Friday

Again, no sewing done today.  I had planned on going to the sew in at the library, but when push came to shove, I couldn't get myself to get around and go.... MAYBE tomorrow, if only for lunch :).
I did redo the tension on Mo'e AND DID SOME QUILTING....I'm still feeling stitches when I run my hand underneath the quilt, but I tested and looked and it was fine... it's a wall hanging for me, so I'm just going to finish quilting, binding it and call it 'close enough'.

I did get some more blocks made yesterday... I was transferring them over here from my phone while I was telling you that I QUILTED today ( just a few minutes at a time, but better than none at all!!)

 the cathedral window was so bulky from all the layers of fabric, so I took a chance and trimmed out everything that was behind that brown in the center --- sooo much better now.  I also stitched on both sides of the white so that big toes or fingers or whatever else won't get caught under the edges.

this flying geese block is Michael's... I'm thinking I'd better change the side borders to a brown.  I think I'll like it better when I do.

 
I had some small gold squares sitting next to my machine so I decided to use them to make another star block, but there were still some squares left, so I thought "why not put them on the corners and see how that works"...It's different - I'm not in love with it, but I don't hate it either.  Important part is some scrap fabric was used.

Guess that's it for tonight.  I think I'll try to work for another five minutes or so on that quilt.. Cool Kids comes on at 8:30 which is less than an hour from now so I'll see what I can do between now and then.

take care....
ttyl.....

Wednesday almost over

I didn't work on any blocks today.  The closest I came to sewing was to sew up the seam in the lining in hubby's jacket that popped when he fell earlier today while walking Buddy.

I think I made more than enough yesterday :)  Some for Michael's quilt and some for Ronnie's.  I don't want to start on Paul's yet; I already have too much fabric scattered over the ironing board, my cutting surface and around my sewing machine.

 I did this star one last week, but it wasn't big enough so I added the borders yesterday.

I'm about half way done with both their blocks... would like to have them all done by the end of this month so that I can hopefully quilt them next month.  It may only be five minutes at a time, but I'll do my best to get them quilted.  If I can't, then it wasn't meant to be and I can give the quilts to them at a later date - I'm sure we'll be seeing them later in the year.  We'll just have to see how it all works out.

That's it for tonight....

take care....
ttyl