I pulled a group of thread that I thought I would need for quilting the rainbow.
I ditch quilted every seam. The next step...it is 3/4" longer on the left side than it is on the right side. I have to decide whether to leave it like that since all of the strips in it are not straight cuts or trim it and make it square. Also I need to choose binding. Since I will be gone most of the day today it probably won't be a November finish.
Yesterday I finally made a decision about which quilt to baste first. Since this one would fit on my higher cutting table, it is the one I chose. I want to quilt it on my straight stitch machine but I don't like to be in the basement at night so I'll start quilting it this afternoon.
I just couldn't get motivated yesterday to baste a quilt or load one on my longarm. I decided to clean up my mess from making the mug rugs instead. I finished the binding on six more of them too. These are sew and flip, quilt as you go. Now I'm done with mug rugs for awhile. Hopefully I will be motivated to accomplish something today.
I spent some birthday money on a new rack on which to hang my quilt tops that are waiting to be quilted. I also have batting for several of them cut and hanging with the tops. I already had two not so sturdy racks and one of them has collapsed a couple times. This one looks very sturdy. I still have around 40 tops waiting in line even though I have sold several and finished a few. Today I will sort the tops loosely into an order that I think I want to finish them.
Yesterday I worked on my church sewing circle project. More children have moved into the mission apartments so I had to make 6 more stockings. I chose three girls for my project. They are 8, 10 and 10 years old. One of the things I decided to make for them was flannel pillowcases. I made just the standard style of pillowcase this time.
We had our traditional Thanksgiving dinner while my granddaughter's family was here from out of state in October so today we are just going to have pizza. Less fuss and clean up.
I have had these mug rugs for myself layered with backing and batting for over 3 years. I made a set like them for a cousin's daughter for her bridal shower and knew I wanted some for my red kitchen too.
Both of them have the black beater fabric on the back. I also intended to make a valance out of that fabric for the window by the sink. It would probably only take an hour.......
When an online fabric store sends a discount code for my birthday I debate, should I delete the email or shop? This time I decided to shop and found three fabrics that I had been looking for. The first on the left is a Philip Jacobs, the next a Kaffe, and the third a Brandon Mably print.
My driveway was plowed yesterday but at 9 degrees the residue was very icy. I walked very carefully out to get my newspapers. After falling on ice almost 2 years ago I would really rather just stay inside.
I chose more backings and bindings and finished four more mug rugs yesterday. All of these tops have been in a drawer for a year or more.
I had to change thread many times for the quilting thread and then for the binding thread on some of them. These are all in the 8.5" - 9.5" size.
This was the view from my sewing machine most of the day yesterday.
The birds alternated between the forsythia bush outside my window and the bird feeders. There are still some yellow leaves on the forsythia bush.
I sewed mug rugs most of the day. There are 3 matching in size and one larger one here: 9.25" square and 9.5" x 10.25".
I used a favorite batik on the back and for the binding.
These 2 are the same size as the predominantly green ones I showed a couple days ago: 6.5" x 9".
I like this backing fabric too.
I just did ditch quilting between the squares in these 3 mug rugs. The larger ones are 9.5" square and the small one 7.75" square.
I used a batik on the back of these 3.
Here they are all together. Some people like small ones, other people like larger ones. I have used the larger ones for table mats too.
I cut bindings for 6 mug rugs but only got two of them sewn on.
They have the same backing and binding so I didn't have to change thread.
I started quilting the pastel mug rugs.
I went shopping for the 8' fluorescent bulbs I needed and also found a pair or short slip on boots. Winter started last night with our first snow storm of the season.
I finished the binding on the first 6 mug rugs. I had forgotten how long it takes. These are about 6.5" x 9". They all have the same fabric for binding so I didn't have to change thread color. This post explains how I do the binding.
They all have the same backing fabric too. I'm pretty sure this peacock feather print is from the 1990s. I think there was an updated version more recently in a little smaller scale.
I had a drawer full of mug rug tops, leftovers from many projects, and I finally cut batting and backings for them and started quilting them. I have 19 more ready to quilt.
I only got the binding on one of them before bedtime.
I'm happy to have so many buds and blooms on this cactus.
My two red ones usually wait until after Thanksgiving to bloom. The other one doesn't even have buds on it.
Pretty roses.
The first thing I did with the sorting was to pull all of the positive/negative pairs. I put the spools in there for your color fix.
Then I made piles of other groups like this one of letters and numbers.
This shelf is all dots and circles.
This group is all stripes and other geometric prints. There is a lot of miscellaneous too.
All of the art quilters were able to make it here yesterday and we had a lot of fun. After they left I decided I would sort through my black and white prints and organize them. The 8' fluorescent bulbs above it started flickering right after I started so I had to quit. they were fine all day while my company was here. My fixtures are 11-28 years old down there and the ballasts are dying in some of them. With the daylight bulbs being $11 each, I hate to just put in new bulbs and have them burn out right away if the ballast is the problem.
Yesterday I finished the clean up in the basement, slid all of the design walls into position, and baked 2 batches of cookies. I use 3 sizes of chips in my cookies, the regular ones, chunks, and mini chips. There is chocolate in every bite. I also got my hoses disconnected and brought one into the garage. After the art quilters leave today I'll bring the other one in.
No sewing yesterday. I carried all of my porch pots and the ones in front of my garage to the back of my lot line and dumped the dirt. I spent part of the day cleaning up the garage and basement, mixed a batch of cookie dough, ran errands. The two fabrics in the photo were purchased at the local quilt shop when I was there Wednesday. I was going to just get the white background but decided to get the black background too. I forget what the line was called and there were handcuffs too but the fingerprints were all that interested me.
I showed the photo on the left on August 14. There were 3 trays of batiks squares that never got filed back into my stash of squares and I decided to see how far I could get with that limited selection. I added to it but didn't take a photo at the time. I clipped the rows together to clear the wall for the art quilters group. When I gave the colorwash class earlier this month I put the pieces up on the wall to see if it was ready to sew (center photo). I could see it needed more rows top and bottom and also added one column on each side. I finished filling in the top 2 rows last night. I haven't decided if it is done yet and the art quilters are coming Monday so I need to take it down again.
My indoor garden is becoming very colorful. Next week they should all be in bloom.
I was going through the piles of leftover blocks and other scrappy blocks and found enough the same size to make a little 36" x 48" quilt top. I think I'll add a border so it is more of a couch size quilt.
I moved my cement birdbath to its winter location yesterday. I also pulled all of the tomato plants and stacked the cages. I am a little closer to having all of the outside work done.
Yesterday morning was a long arm quilting group meeting at a quilt shop, shopping, laughter, lunch, and more shopping several places on the way home. The rest of the day I got many packages ready to mail. Today I will sew......after mailing packages.
With a little help from my friends I decided on a 2 tone handle for the teakettle. I wanted the upright pieces to look like metal but I wouldn't want to burn my hand so the top is a heat proof handle. I went realistic on my canning jars and put food in them.
A lot of people expressed surprise that I am doing these blocks. I was raised on a farm so my first 19 years all related to farm living. I went to one room schoolhouses through 4th grade. I rode a school bus for 8 years. Country living was all I knew. I didn't move to a town until I was married and this town surrounded by corn fields is only 7421 residents now, around 2500 when I moved here. My parents continued to live on farms into their late 80s so I was visiting farms all the way into my 60s. I love anything related to farming in quilt blocks and can't wait to make the tractor block. It is larger so this will turn into either a medallion style quilt or lots of different size blocks fit together like a puzzle. I might even design a few of my own blocks for it.
My two friends are coming over to sew today so it is time to work on the farm girl blocks again. I made the star with some of the same fabrics as the hen and chick. I can't decide what color to make the teakettle handle so I'm going to search for that today. The other block we are making is the 6 canning jars. I have part of the pieces cut for that block. I will probably make 2 small star blocks in the blue combination. My quilt will probably not resemble the quilt in the book.
I started sewing this colorwash piece together on Saturday night and finished it last night while watching TV. It is about 33.5" right now. It doesn't need a border but I may look to see if I have something that is perfect for it.
Angela from NC, you are a no reply. You need to enable your email address in your Google Blogger profile, then scroll down and SAVE.
I have so many buds on cactus plants and finally they are starting to bloom. This is all one flower. It is the most elongated and large bloom that my plants produce. I spotted a dark rose bloom last night on another one.
I know several of you watched the "Restoration Wild" program on Animal Planet network Friday night because you emailed me. It features my daughter's family property in NC and I'm in the end of the show where all of the friends and family show up for the reveal. It is still available on Comcast ON DEMAND until 11/9. The producer did a great job editing all of the video. My grandson did all of the aerial shots of the waterfall property and my son made the sign that is on the building. My daughter's beautiful mosaic hangs inside the building. It was all very exciting and I'm glad I was there for the reveal. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the waterfall as well as the building.
The colorwash on the left is before tweaking and the one on the right after tweaking. It needed the most help in the turquoise and purple areas but I did move some other pieces too.
I flipped the photo 180 degrees too because I think I like the red at the top.
Helen from Chicago, you are a no reply commenter. You need to either email me with the link on the right sidebar or with the link in my profile or put your email address in a comment. I would love to give you details about classes if I knew your email.
The students did a great job on their colorwash pieces in my class.
They all used 2.5" squares.
They are all much richer looking in person. The camera wants to focus on the light area as if it is a face instead of focusing on the whole thing.
