August Wrap-Up and September Goal Post

August Accomplishments:

Priority Finish:

"Semper Fi - Combass" 

This is a 70" x 70" original design that I made for my now son-in-law to mark his successful completion of the Marine Corps Basic Training. It is the longest and hardest military basic training in the world, and after watching the 13-week curriculum chart as they went through the program, I'm just sayin, Marines have every right to brag about their accomplishment! Still, as a whole, they are super cool. Most come out also learning to be gentlemanly, and they love their moms (and mother-in-laws)! This photo was taken before the binding was completely stitched down, but it's my favorite. Hoping to have a photo op with the Marine himself sometime in the next few months!

Secret Finishes: One complete and one flimsy.

UFO Finishes:

"Tweedle Dum" (16" x 16") from the Sea Breeze set of McKenna Ryan minis. It's going to look neat to have all 9 finished in a few months, lining the long basement wall. This is the 5th one to get hung. I had some serious thread issues with this one. My machine DESPISES the 
monofilament threads and pitched a fit that broke some of the bobbin-winding mechanism. You can still make it work, but I'll have to take it in to the shop to fix it back to normal. I was disgusted enough that I didn't tear out the 4 lines with tension issues. But now it's happily hanging on the wall next to "Tweedle Dee"!

This is one of my Q3 Finish Along pieces (My goal post link)

Community Sewing:

I finished framing all the blocks for the quilt I'm making to donate to the Cinderella House (a place of refuge for rescued women/girls that were caught in the human trafficking horror).

NETY pull-out:
(This is how I begin to incorporate Never Even Touched Yet items on my monster list of long-ago purchases into my work cycles)

Pick-A-B #3 - I actually pulled this out in July. Got all the fabrics washed, but I'm only about halfway finished ironing them. Hopefully I'll get them finished up this month and cut them out to put it away kitted. No pics of this - the fabrics are white, red, turquoise, pink based, with some florals in there. There will be white blocks that I'll do some red-work stitching on. Things like this fun teapot.

 

September Attention:

(The way I work is not for everyone. It is a cyclical process evolved from the need for variety while producing regular finishes. I'm on a mission to honor the money spent on kits and fabric in earlier years, as well as the interests and tastes of my younger self by finishing every squirreled-away project I found during a serious hunt-and-list session a couple years ago. I also want to allow myself to explore some new interests and trends, though. To those ends, I work best with goal oriented matrices that give me some self-organization on a variety of projects, with something marked as the priority work for a finish. Lists with items meant to be checked off as totally complete in a finite period of time stifle me. So don't look at my list of "goals" as something intended to have everything absolutely completed in a month. That would be amazingly stressful!)


















Complete Finish: "Be Attitudes" -  This is my chosen project for ALYF. It is my cousin's quilt top that I'm finishing as a wedding gift for her nephew.

Secret Finishes: The next 3 projects, and throw in some pot holders


Priority Quilting:  "Devon & Kyle United 2015" - I have only this much hand applique to do, then I can develop and mark the quilting plan and get this baby going at the FMQ station!!!

Piecing Station:  Get Little Miss overhauled so she can start working.

Community Service: Get the Cinderella House quilt to the finished Flimsy stage.

UFO work:  Finish "The Clampetts" from the Sea Breeze mini set."Be Attitudes" (above) is also a UFO! Bonus!  :D

Evening Handwork Station:  It would be nice to put a hanging sleeve on my quilt that Grandma made for my 16th birthday so I can hang that for a while. And please - PLEASE do the labels for "25th, Baby!," "Semper Fi - Combass," "Kelly's Joseph Smith 2," "A Laurel Burch Christmas," "Patriots in Petticoats," and guide label making for Heather's dragon quilt and Marissa's community service quilt. Maybe I can get these tasks moving finally now that I've finished all that hand work on the kids' wedding quilt.

BOMs:
Carry on the once-weekly attention to the projects on the Roll. Finish the center quilting for Kelly's; do 1.5 to 2 months of work on "Star Crazy"; proces block 4 the same way I did block 3 for "Wind in the Whiskers"; adapt the next row of "Americana" to incorporate Scott's desert BDUs and work environment.

NETY Pull-Out:
Go exploring the deep storage and pull out whatever catches my fancy.  :)  And finish pressing the last NETY's fabrics, eh? 

March Reports

Here is my March wrap-up:

Something Old/Something New -

This category of my goals took a big hit this month.  I did not learn how to beautifully repair the tiny nip I made in my double wedding ring quilt, so I didn't gain any new skills. I'll need to do that this month!

 

My something old - quilting still more rings in that quilt - went well for the first week or so of the month until my quilting foot broke.  Still haven't been able to get to the store down in the city for a new one, so that's on a standstill at the moment. 

 

My April something old will be getting the quilting going again on this quilt, and making labels for both of my Dragonfly Party quilts before they need to go off for the various shows that they'll be in this year!   My something new - - - learning how to repair that snip in a gorgeous way. . .

 

Thanks to Lynne for coordinating this link-up!

 

 

NewFO Report for March

[here is the link to this party]

 

Whoa!!  My normal piecing machine is still broken and waiting to be taken to the shop, so the first half of the month I spent any non-DWR time washing/pressing stuff and cutting out the pieces from long-untouched kits in my storage. I got three of them processed!!

 

We have "Simply Fun," a batik set that's going to be a pretty queen size quilt one day, that I bought back in 2008:

 

 

 

I always - ALWAYS - have at least one young feline visitor when working at this table. Also, these are all kits from storage that get initial processing, then they are carefully boxed up with the pattern and notes to be re-stored for future sewing attention.

 

 

 

 

 

"Sunshine" was also cut out- another bed-sized quilt.  I loved working with the spring-like colors, and it came in a super cool fabric tote bag that makes for great continued storage:

 

 

 

 

 

"Anna's Mountains" will be a nice throw quilt some time - I do love toile prints:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And!!!  Something brand new - a couple of months ago I won Emily's "Boomerang" pattern from her blog giveaway away at Crazy Old Ladies Quilt, and I've been really wanting to work it up. I didn't have any fabric on hand for the background, so I had to get that, and bought several fat quarters to use with it. I filled out the requirements from my stash and got everything cut out despite all the "help" from the kittens.

 

 

 

Such sweeties "helping" with the cutting out of the background fabric. They made sure nothing blew away on me.  ;D

 

 

 

 

And then I found out my cousin's daughter is pregnant with a boy. I really wanted to make her a quilt, so I shopped my stash again to make another quilt from the same Boomerang pattern. I loved the idea of using some of my hot-air balloon fabric for the backing, and found a great blue for background fabric, then pulled several quarters and scraps that coordinated with the colors of the backing. I had broken down my quilting machine to piece one of my BOMs together, so I went ahead and pieced the Boomerang baby quilt.

 

 

 

 It made such a nice cheery quilt top, and I love the pattern in this dark background as well as the white that captured my fancy in the first place.  I got the top sandwiched, so this is ready to go as soon as I can quilt again.

 

 

 

Lots of NewFOs added to the list between the stale kits and the new pattern!! Thank you to Barbara for hosting this fun link-up every month. I love it.

 

 

 

 

 

Let's Book It!  Report - 
 

[Here is the link for this party]

 

Still deep in thesis work - two or three weeks left of intense archive digging - so my book attention remains limited to my Affairs of the Heart work. But I do love this project despite the trickiness sometimes of looking at fine hand-applique detail on the black background.  I made some decent progress on block 6. I have these 3 out of the 28 tricky little pieces left to stitch, then I can do the accent embroidery:

 

 

 

Thanks to Sharon for coordinating this link up! It keeps me forging ahead on this long term project that would otherwise be easily set aside indefinitely!

 

 

 

February Reports

Here is my end-of-month wrap-up for February:


Something Old/Something New -

For my something old, See my comments below in my NewFO report about a stack of fat quarters that I won at a shop drawing in 2010, I believe.

My something new: figuring out how to quilt the intricate designs on my "25th, Baby!" that I wanted it have. 

 

I am not a particularly creative person beyond adapting other people's ideas that I find, so I'm really pleased with how my DWR detail work has been turning out. I put personalized focus spots in the center 9 rings, showcasing our initials, wedding year, etc. Then I took a printout of the fancy-wancy quilting pattern I bought to put in the bulk of my rings and adapted a rope-like cablework edge to fence that section off from the rest of the quilt's detailing. Playing around with a plexiglass overlay, I decided that the fill I liked best for this center area was a simple diagonal lining. I wasn't even thinking when I started drawing in the lines with a water-erasable pen, and just decided I wanted the lines 3/8" apart. The funny thing is that this width turned out to be absolutely PERFECT for the ring sections! It matched up exactly from one center mid-point to the next - I drew the lines straight across the elements as if the rings weren't there. I haven't tucked hardly any of my tails yet from all the starts and stops of the fill quilting, but it's going to look super neat when that's all finished.

 

 

 

You can see in that photo above that I decided to use Golden Threads paper to "mark" the quilting designs. I didn't like the melon design that came with the set I bought for the centers, so I drew my own. I also drew out the motif for the connector diamonds because the set didn't even have one of those. I've only got one side quilted in around the center. I move along ring by ring, quilting the center and the surrounding melons (that takes me right about one hour and five minutes), and then I do the micro-stippling fill on the ring to the inside of the one I just quilted. I can't do the micro-stippling around the design work until I pull off the Golden Threads paper, so this quilt-one-band, stipple the former band, approach is working great.  You can see one half-block from the corner of the center field that shows how the micro-stippling looks.

 

 

 

Wow, I'm going to love it all!!  I sure hope I can finish this by mid-August!

For February, my something old will be still more ring work on this DWR. I've been working on this project straight through from August of last year, so I think it now qualifies for an old project!  Something new - learn how to beautifully repair the tiny little snip I accidentally made in one of my center motifs!

 

 

 

 

NewFO Report for February

This month was not as productive as last month in non-DWR work.  But I did get a nice start on something made out of a pack of pink fat quarters I won in 2010 at a shop drawing.  I got 27 FQs in a range of pink or pink-on-white prints. Played around with my EQ program, and one days those FQs, combined with leftovers in my stash, will grow up to be something like this:

 

"Raspberry Lemonade"

 

I may or may not applique lemons in the corners, and I may or may not applique vines and raspberries on the piano-key border. I managed to get all the inner squares made and the center put together in a web. There's more contrast between the yellow and pinks than shows here. It'll be pretty! And I'm not a pink person. I also sewed several strips into pairs as a beginning of that one border.

 

 

 

I boxed it all up today with the notes, so sometime in the future that'll be nice to come back to.  :)  This use of NewFOs from my NETY storage is providing the new-to-my-eyes variety that I need to be able to keep on working on my DWR. Until that project, I had NEVER, EVER maintained dedication for long than 3 weeks running on a single project. I've come a long way, Baby!  ;D

 

 

Oh!  I did get the fabrics washed for the old NETY kit "Simply Fun."  But that's all. It's in a giant pile waiting to be ironed.

 

 

 

 

Let's Book It!  Report - 
 

This project is very slow going! I did finish block 7 (of 36) last night during a Sherlock episode. Back-basting needle-turn applique is so soothing when you're not on a deadline with it.  :D
 

 

 

 

 

I'll probably have to stick with only this book for this linky party until June. My thesis final draft is due by the first of that month, so I'm hoping that'll open some time to pull another book from my shelf and start something new!

So, there are my February reports - go check the link-ups out for some great eye-candy, tips from other quilters, and very good support groups to help you get your work finished.  :D

January Reports & TIPS for quilting a king on a domestic

Here is my end-of-month wrap-up for January:


Something Old/Something New -

For my something old, See my comments below in my NewFO report about my long-time owned "Faceted Jewels" kit.

My something new: "25th, Baby!" Just yesterday I put in the last of the ditch work on my double wedding ring king-size anniversary quilt!! It took 22 hours and 5 minutes.  I'm keeping track of all that stuff on this one. 7 bobbins so far.

It was very new to me to work with such a gigantic quilt, as I only have a table-top domestic machine.  

Tips I've picked up from Leah Day and others about FMQ'ing about support for the entire quilt and puddling were ESSENTIAL.  You cannot work with any fine control at all if a quilt of this size is pulling down on the front, side, or back of the work surface, or sitting stretched out making dead weight along the table. I'm adding in the tip from two commenters to use your ironing board set to your table's height, set along your left side for temporary added tablespace - brilliant!

Do what you have to do to keep the quilt from flowing over the desk edges. I do have to let a wee bit hang just to my left, but I always shift things so that's only the furthest part from my working portion and it makes zero drag on my puddle. Also, at this size you really do want that large Supreme Glider underneath, or as I've seen others do, use a yard of slick clear vinyl.

That puddle will make or break your FMQ success!!  See how much I have it bunched forward in front of me so that you reach down in and frame a little portion of working space at the bottom of that lake bed?  This keeps your work space unimpeded by the weight and bulk of the quilt so you can get smooth stitches. It's a bit awkward, yes, so don't expect to do this for 3 hours at a stretch without good breaks!

Tips of my own that I will pass on:

1)  There is no way on earth that spray basting will be sufficient at this size or for the amount of squishy manipulation you have to do! Thread- or pin-baste.  I placed my pins just under 2" apart along each arc, one in the center of each connecting diamond, and then 4 inside each ring center "square" to support the curvy corners. That was perfect. Didn't get any slipping of the layers, so everything is perfectly flat without ripples. So embrace the process of this kind of basting and watch a movie (or two - it took three of us 2.5 hours to pin baste this sucker!~).  And use the curved quilter's safety pins along with the pin tool.

 

I had to use every pin I own on this quilt, and then move some center pins from outer rings to inner rings for about 11 sets as I worked. That bin weighs maybe 5 or 6 pounds!

2)  Don't be afraid of using a decent loft for a king size. I'm using Tuscany washable wool batt, and find it very malleable in this situation - it doesn't impede the squishing or moving at all. I don't know if I would want to work with a doubled batt at this size, such as wool on top of 80/20, but a cotton, 80/20, bamboo, or silk batt would be fine. I wouldn't want to work with a thicker poly batt, either - too little drape to squish and manipulate easily enough for the center work - but a super thin poly would likely work just fine.



3)  Order of work will help you!  To put the ditch work or stabilizing lines in, work from the outside moving inward in a spiral fashion. Start on one edge. Turn and do the second side, turn and do the third, turn and do the fourth - turn and start a second pass along the first, etc. (On a DWR, it worked perfectly to work in ring sets. On a "regular" quilt, I'd probably work in passes about a foot wide.)   This is so you can remove the pins as you get stretches finished and then all that extra bulk/weight will be out of your way as you squish more and more width into that little harp area.

(When you do the "real" quilting, work in the opposite direction, spiraling from the inside toward the outer edges - this is so you can avoid having to squish the less-drapable heavier-quilted parts into the harp.)


4). Specific to quilting a double wedding ring:

     *If you are using different thread colors, it works better to stabilize all the connecting diamonds first, and then do the stabilizing of the melons and centers.

Don't be afraid of quilting a very large quilt yourself! If I can do it, you can, too!  Just remember to puddle that baby and provide support for *all* the quilt's weight, and you won't be crying like little Navarre.  ;D   (Who actually was complaining that I wouldn't leave the quilt still for him to play with.)

 

 

For February, my something old will be a fat-quarter set of pinks that I've never touched in the 4 or so years that I've owned them. I want to work up a plan on how to use them and maybe get it cut out and kitted for later sewing. Something new - figuring out how to execute the intricate "real" quilting I want to do on this DWR!!

 

 

NewFO Report for January

 

 

Holy smokes! What a great month this was, and super unexpectedly - my thesis work leaves me one hour each morning for the DWR and maybe an hour in the later evening, a couple hours on Sat/Sun depending on family activities.   But I got THREE NewFO's on board!

First I put together my String of Pearls. I intend to use the quilting on this as a learning tool for a motif I want to use on my Dear Jane.

Then, a couple of Saturdays ago I whipped up this super-easy kit - my Bohemia quilt.  It's just a flimsy, pinned on another finished quilt so I could see it up there for a while. I wish I had more of the green and blue batiks on that back-quilt's outer border, because don't they look great as last borders on this flimsy?  ;D This won't be quilted for ages.

 

 

Love the animal panels

 

 

And, as a time-filler while I had to babysit cat meals so the senior gal and the kitten each ate their own food, I washed, ironed, and cut out the batik "Faceted Jewels" kit that's been in my storage for 4 or 5 years. The cutting is way less complicated than you'd think.  It'll look like this when it grows up, but for now it's in an Amazon box on my ready-to-sew shelf in deep storage.

We'll see what February brings - it's amazing what you can accomplish when you consistently put in wee bits of time (and when you can have work areas where you can leave things waiting for your return).

 

Let's Book It!  Report -

I am working my way slowly through my "Affairs of the Heart" book. I got three blocks finished up during our dinner-hour TV time!   

I don't think much will happen here next month, as that time has been shunted to tying and tucking ends on my DWR quilting work.  We'll see!



So, there are my January reports - go check the link-ups out for some great eye-candy, tips from other quilters, and very good support groups to help you get your work finished.