Make A List Monday

Hello, all!  I am a week late with this post but I did NO sewing this past week.  I did not complete my list but I didn't do too bad.



1. Finish Fun and Done quilt (would do Wednesday at its class but just asked to babysit my grandson!)
    Completed.  You can see it here.
2. Complete Ugly Sister top.  Did not touch this.
3. Quilt at least three quilt tops.  I know I did two but I can't come up with a third.
4. Final border on 2012 BOM.  Still working on it.
5. BOM for August and September.  Did August but had to skip September meeting so....
6. Owl pin cushions for BOM. Completed - on time - you can see them in this post.  Scroll down.
7. Use D9P for leaders and enders I did this.  I still need to add a border and then it is ready for quilting.
8. Earth tones quilt completed to take to NY. Completed.  It morphed into more work than I planned (thus some of the others being put on hold).  It turned out great and they loved it.  You can see it here

So here is my list for the remainder of September and October.

1. Binding on French General
2. Complete Ugly Sister top.  
3. Quilt at least three quilt tops. Should be easier because I have some laps ready and I am going to do edge to edge instead of the custom stuff I did on the two from this month.
4. Final border on 2012 BOM.  
5. BOM for September and October.
6. A set of Owl pin cushions for my cousin's wife.
7. One of the special projects for my BOM.  Will probably be the quilt due in November.  I don't know that I want to do the baby quilt for next month.
8.  Take Five from my Fabric Uglies.
9.  Start a coin quilt from my scraps as my new leaders and enders.
10.Clean the big sewing machines.
11. Start a farm animals book for Blaine for Christmas and maybe a teepee.

Okay, that is a lot.  We will see how it goes.  Today I am off to the oncologist. Should just be a check up.  Wish me luck!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

No Sew "Weekend"

I really wanted to bind my French General jelly roll this week.  I got off work at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday.  I slept for a couple hours and then I started canning.  I go back to work tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.  This is what I got done.

That, folks, is 43 quarts of tomato juice, 13 quarts and 3 pints of apple pie filling and 20 pints of applesauce.

I also received a call today telling me our beef was ready a week before I expected it.  So, I cleaned and defrosted the freezer.  With all that going on I ended up sweeping and mopping our full basement and reorganizing my food storage.

I am beat!  Not a stitch of sewing.  Don't know when I will get back to it but I will.  Hang in there with me.  Monday is my one day off and I am going two hours one way to see my oncologist.  Tuesday I am back on nights.  Next Saturday I am hosting my 30 year class reunion.

My Civil War BOM is having sign up for next year.  I just can't decide.  I love going each month to be with the women and seeing their work but I can't NOT do each month and I am getting overwhelmed.  Work really interferes with my fun!!

So, what are you up to?  Can't wait to see everyone's links for Friday.

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

WIP Wednesday: French General Jelly Roll - It's BACK!!

Hello, all.  I am making another post about my Jelly Roll 1600 in French General.  I think I will get one more post out of this quilt.  You can read the first two here and here.  I really wanted to have this quilted today BUT my current migraines is laughing maniacally and saying, "No way, sister!"  So...here I am, posting about quilting instead of actually doing it.

I like to do edge to edge designs because they are quick and easy.  But I have done enough of those that I feel like I should break out of my box and try harder.  So, I have three different border designs. First I did swags.  Then, I went back and filled in with straight line quilting.

Sorry for the shadows.  It is still on the quilting frame in my basement.  I am doing all of this with rulers.   The swags show up better on the back but they are now rolled onto the take up roller.  For the next border (the cream with the red print) I am doing a floral.

For the body of the quilt I am using a design called Hearts A Flutter.

Now for my confessions.

1.  I took a class with a Handi Quilter educator and she told us, "Groovy boards are quilting for idiots."  Thanks!  I am an idiot and I am fine with that some times.  The heart design and the floral design are Groovy Boards.

There is a stylus attached to the machine carriage and you move the machine and follow the design.  Because I am not doing edge to edge and am mixing designs I have to do a lot of adjusting and pay attention to get them in the right place.  Hopefully, that saves me from being a complete idiot.  Not that I really care.

2.   I royally screwed up the back but found it too late to fix.

See the puckers I sewed into the back?  That made me HAPPY!  NOT!  Since this is for my bed, I just take it as another lesson learned. Hopefully it will be less obvious after it is washed.

BTW, here is the backing for this quilt.

Yes, I know.  C- R - A- Z - Y!  I made the fabric I had on hand work and sort of satisfied my OCD.  I am using bamboo batting for the first time ever.  A lady in my quilt group kept extolling its virtues.  Since I have allergies and it is hypoallergenic I thought I would try it.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

What are you working on?

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

Friday Finish: Turning Twenty Five

Happy Friday, y'all!  I am writing this Thursday night and hope to link up with my normal parties tomorrow.  We will see how that works.  May be next week because I am on the road to NY tomorrow.  It will be a quick trip.  Going to see friends and Niagara Falls and back to Indiana.

My finish this week is a gift for the friends.  They had their twenty fifth wedding anniversary this summer.  I thought I would make a simple quilt.  What could be simpler than the Turning Twenty?  They like earth tones.  I started pulling fabrics from my stash last weekend.  I made the body and I hated it.  So, I tweaked it.

Yes, that is a Bible.  I am a heathen but I own (and read) several copies.  This is a dual version, KJ/NIV.  I added I Corinthians 13:4-8a to the border strips.  This chapter is otherwise known as The Love Chapter.  I had to take a little creative license with some of the wording to get them to fit.  Nothing to change the meaning.  I changed "love" to "it" occasionally and once dropped the "always".   When I was younger I was lead to believe that was a sin.  Turns out, I don't agree with a lot of what I learned from "Nazarene biddies" when I was young!  They are probably spinning in their graves but I am betting on Jack and Becky liking the sentiment here.

I was pleased with the overall effect.  The embroidery is done in a Charcoal Sulky thread.

Some are a little harder to read from a distance but can be seen fine in person.

I quilted this with a variegated thread from King Tut.  Number 983 if you are REALLY curious.  I used a leaf pattern for the body.

Bless my husband's heart.  He told me what he likes are the little bobbles like you see in that leaf center.  He feels like that shows I did it instead of a computer.  If he looked close enough he would find that proof about every six inches!

I did straight line quilting on the outer border and though you can't see it, I did SID around the blocks with embroidery.

Most of the fabric is from Connecting Threads. I had to order a piece for backing and found this stripe on sale, too.  So, I used it for the binding.

The backing is dark brown and I could not get the colors of the binding to look correct and it to still show.  I was able to get the stray threads to show though.  I knew y'all would want to see those!

I am pleased with this quilt.  I had planned it but didn't start it until last weekend.  I didn't start sewing until Sunday and I had it completed - including binding - by 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday.  It has close to 5 hours of embroidery in it.

Hopefully, I will manage to link up with

Richard and Tanya
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts

Some time tomorrow but who knows.  Have a great weekend!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

p.s.  My husband says we can go to quilt shops on this trip!