Show and Tell

I set those embroidered cat blocks into a top! Yipee! Here is how it looks. It went together really fast, but that is judging time caught between quilting that baby quilt.

The baby quilt went into the wash today, to wash away all the sticky basting spray that was making it feel so stiff. I'm not impressed with the stitch in the ditch part of that quilt, but used the disappearing ink marker for the first time to mark and follow some curved quilting elements.

So productive 10 days or so. Because somewhere in there I also got through 3 big Harry Potter books. I won't get numbers 6 and 7 done before the big Potter finale this weekend. If it was just me, I'd wait till next week to go to it in the theaters so I could read them again. But alas, I have DDs that want to get to it Friday afternoon.  We'll see.

Less means more

It has felt so good getting overdue projects done at work and in the sewing space. I used to think the more projects I juggled, the more productive I was being, but now I'm seeing that it's just the opposite. I'm slowly working to clean out my bin of quilt tops, and I have fewer UFO bins stashed all over the place. Not that I haven't added to my plate of projects this past year. There are the ICS quilt show ribbons in progress, and the occasional top and wall hanging that just had to be done. I think I got better though and the projects I added in I made a point of finishing in a reasonable time.

So I'm hoping the guild will again do a UFO project starting in September, but if we don't do it formally, I'll do it informally. My long term goal is to start 2014 (yep, 2 1/2 years from now) with a relatively clean slate of quilt projects. My 2013 goal is to be working on a quilt with an eye for juried quilt shows. For the rest of this year, keep plugging away at quilting the tops and setting UFO blocks.

Then even shorter goals are to quilt Brady's quilt (done in the next 2 weeks), layer and quilt the guild round robbin quilt (done by end of July), and get my entries ready for the guild's October show (done by mid-August).

Another UFO off the list

I got some sewing time in this long weekend and spent it completing a summer purse using some great fat quarters I received from Becky Goldsmith last summer from one of their Piece O' Cake fabric lines. All I added was some extra yellow for the handles and a pocket that isn't visible. I've done the pattern before, and this photo doesn't show the side with the outside pocket. The pattern is from Pink Sand Beach Designs and is the Brentwood Bag. I like it because of the roomy outside pockets, it is lightweight but durable, and a good size to hold my stuff.

So thanks a bunch Becky.

July already!

I feel like my summer has just begun, but June is now behind me. No photos today, but just a quick update. My DD turns 18 tomorrow. Those years have just flown by. I'm so proud of my youngest. I have been home from the Sulky experience just one week. In that time I made a nice tote bag as a gift for a coworker using a purchased canvas bag and covering it with batiks from my stash. Good experience. I'm tempted to do another just to fine tune the technique. I then spent an evening cleaning up my sewing area, again. I'm feeling so closed in in my workspace, but it isn't for lack of square footage. I think it's time I addressed the rest of the basement getting the charity items out of there, and doing the filing.

This long holiday weekend I'll get some sewing time. DD wants to start the sewing/quilting of her horse picture we got from Big Fork Bay Cotton Shop. I meet with two quilting buddies to do fabric cutting as the next step in ribbon making for the guild quilt show. I really want to get the summer purse done. I think I need to come up with piecework to serve as handle covers. I also must get Brady's quilt layered.

I find myself not going home to St. Louis to see family just because I don't have that baby quilt done. I need to get cracking.

Sulky Teacher Certification

I spent three days last week in Milwaukee at a wonderful Sulky Teacher Certification class. Boy did they work us hard. Lots of projects were introduced that used many of the Sulky threads, stabilizers, and products. Here is a photo of the projects we could work on under the expert guidance of Ellen Osten and Patti Lee.

 It was a great, and packed three days. I'd like to go back in future years. It really opened my eyes to how the Sulky products should find their way into my sewing and quilting. There was the added benefit of being able to purchase any Sulky products for 50% off. Not just what they had there, two tables full of product. We could order by the bolt if we wanted. Here are their samples for sale:

Now I need to come down from the Sulky side of life and get reoriented on the projects I have still to finish this summer.

Coming up next is to finally layer the baby quilt and get quilting! Need to do that in between catching up on last season's Grey's Anatomy episodes this week. And tending to my real work.

Taking a deep breath

Another couple of hectic weeks at work, but with the girls out of school, I've been able to work on some projects. One is a jelly roll Project Linus quilt my daughter Amanda did on her own. I didn't have to put much time in on this, and just provided guidance to her for how to piece it. PL provided the jelly roll from their fabric stash and Amanda did the piecing. She's not yet sure if she is up for layering and quilting it. We have another Jelly Roll and she may do another one, but first I need to reconstitute it up to the 40 strips it needs, as I've borrowed some from the roll over time for other projects.

Then I've been using my hotel and DVD watching time for the past 6 months to embroider some adorable kitty blocks from The Freckles Collection pattern, It's a Cat's Life. I finally finished the embroidery stage, and am very pleased with the results. So is Alice.

I'll pick out an assortment of neutrals and browns to set the blocks and this will be a bonus project I'll take to Milwaukee next week. More about that trip below.

Jackson's quilt has a back now, but it isn't layered, so it isn't quilted. Since I'd like to go to St. Louis by the end of this month, I need to get that going. I have cut out all the pieces to make a new purse, but the sewing has just begun. In July, I'd like to pick a new UFO quilt top, a big one this time, to layer and start quilting. It's time to also think about the guild's fall quilt show and get photos and measurements on quilts to enter, and those registrations done.

Finally, Milwaukee. I signed up for a three day Sulky Teacher Certification workshop starting next Tuesday. A trip for fun, with lots of project to do according to their website. Plus I'll let myself explore my potential appetite for such a sideline. You just never know.

Retreat Results

Nothing like 3 days of intensive quilting to finally make some progress. I spent a long weekend at a rural retreat center close to Princeton IL with about 30 other quilt buddies from the guild. I brought more than I knew I had time to work on, but worked on my priority projects and got them to where they needed to be.

This is the first one to show off, a quilt top for my newest grand-nephew Brady. The pattern is from a magazine clipping from Quilter's Newsletter, October 2005 that wanted me to use templates for the fabric cutting.The designer is Kelora Lee Goethe and she called her original quilt Stars from the North and the South. Her design finished with a border of background color and applique flowers sprinkled around. With 10 1/2" blocks, it took some math and trial and error to get the star points to work out using an easier flying geese piecing technique. The color fabrics are the same as the ones I used for Brady's big brother's quilt, but I changed out the background for a gray and cream piece. I also left out the final border of flowers.

I don't know where that pink glow in the center is coming from. Maybe a flashback? In real life it doesn't have that pink glow.

I have a long weekend ahead of me. DD Amanda is getting through three hard finals today, and will have more on Tuesday after Memorial Day. Those won't be as intense, but she'll still stress. But I won't so much with her physics, pre-calc and AP history behind her. So I plan to sew again.

On my to-do list: 2 project bags to sew to donate to the guild quilt show boutique; layer Brady's quilt and plan the quilting design; quilt a crazy cat quilt and bind it, and embroider one more cat block (which will mean I'd have 4 of 9 done, or 5 of 9 done?). Somewhere in there will be movies and DVDs to watch. I will also do a sample sandwich of batiks with some fusibles and practice thread painting in preparing my mind for work on Mitchell's cat.

Marilyn