June starts and finishes

  June------ A better month of starts and finishes......

• The blocks for the Buzz Saw quilt--old NewFO-- are sewn together.   Now to find the border fabric...somewhere in my mess.
• The Tiara quilter arrived and has been put to good use!  :D
• NewFO----Small quilt made and quilted for practice.....going to Phoebe.
• Quilted and finished the watercolor strings quilt....Ripples.
• Quilting done on the guild challenge quilt.  Ready for binding.
• Blocks completed for the jewels string quilt.  Ready to be joined.
• Started flying geese string blocks.....NewFO.....whatever was I thinking!
• Top constructed for braid demo. New FO that was unexpected.    Dana pinned it , so now I need to finish it!

Guild challenge quilted;  small quilt finished for Phoebe;  Ripples quilted and bound;  jewel string blocks;  flying geese string blocks;  French Braid table runner.

  I feel better after reading that list!  I actually did a lot better than I thought this month....at least I got one finished!

July plans  Here's what I need/plan/want  to do.

•   Priority one-----Bind, label,  and finish the guild challenge quilt.  
•   Jeweled string blocks----sew them together into a top.  
•   Braid table runner----"uncover"  the batting ---again hidden in the mess---and finish this up.
•   Make more string  geese!
•   Buzz Saw quilt----- work on the border.    
•   Start a NewFO----????  It better be a small project!  Actually I have that urge or need to create feeling that is only satisfied by working with a watercolor design.  So that's the plan, now I need a good inspiration  image.  

I'm linking to the NewFO party at Cat Patches......check out what others are up to.    Mrs. Cat Patches is a great enabler to get things rolling, and the cats provide endless entertainment.  I'm thinking she should write a book about Smitty's adventures.
Stay cool ---I'm still sorting through bins and boxes----and happy stitching.

Linked to 2013  The Year of Finished projects at Never too hot to Stitch.

It is going to take a while....

    Just to let you know, my "whining" of yesterday---so described by my DD---paid off.   Sir Old Man  (with help from  Hunter from next door)  brought the cutting table up to the sewing room this afternoon!   The actual top is not attached, or made yet, but I can live with this.     I have 2 sides to fill and organize....and a place to cut, trim, and pin if necessary!
   Which brings me to my point.  After going through a lot of bin and boxes of strips and leftover pieces, I realize that I am not Bonnie Hunter, aka the scrap queen.  As much as I love scrap quilts,  I am actually tired of seeing the same fabric and same strips, and so on.  I actually caught myself tossing some strips and hunks aside to trash!
   So some serious, and I mean serious, purging is going to happen.  I just found another bunch of orphan blocks and some patterns too.   I will be putting together a few bundles of  strips, squares, orphan blocks, and such.  I will post some info when I am done, probably Tuesday or Wednesday.....and they will be up for grabs for my followers.  
  See a little whining does pay off.....sometimes!  Thank you, Sir Old Man.  Happy stitching.  

Killing time

   I'm still waiting to get my sewing room disaster back in shape so I can get to the design wall....... I feel like I am just killing time.  I keep getting the promise of "soon".....to me that means like yesterday, but apparently "soon"  means something else entirely in the male vocabulary!   Be warned, if he says soon, she needs to hear  when ever.

    I managed to slaughter/use up some more strings.  There are 48 string  blocks ready to be sewn together.  Since they go together in a certain specific way.....I need the design wall.    I tried the floor, but ran out of space.  I  got confused, stepped on a pin, and in general vented to myself  in frustration!






    So I moved on to these.   More strings only in triangle shape and lots of different sizes.   Here's the pin that inspired this one.   I loved the different sizes of the geese, and thought this one could be fun using strings.  Now, if I can only get to the foundation fabric in the cabinet, which has a table and piles of stuff in front of it.......:(   Soon!

  "This killing time, is killing me"!
Happy stitching.

Catching up again

   Once again, I find myself playing catch up and trying to get back to my plans.  I'm glad I got all the baking done on Thursday,  because I  got a call  from our guild Program VP asking if I could help  fill in the  program for Monday night.  I know how hard it is to arrange programs, so I  agreed.

   That meant I needed to dig out the braid quilts.....oh, yeah, her request was the French Braid...get them washed. One was on the wall, one on the guest bed, and the other packed up till winter.
   I also needed a sample project to demo the piecing technique with....that meant digging out fabric and finding a ruler and rotary cutter.    (My sewing room is in the state of chaos/mess/can't find anything  until the cutting table made by Sir Old Man is brought up from the workshop.)

 I spent about an hour looking for a project box that I had set aside for a future braid project.....no where to be found.  So I raided the stash closet for floral  fabrics---they were the easiest to reach--- instead to make a short runner as a French Braid sample.  

  Luckily this technique is a quick sew project.  The hardest part is picking the fabrics.  I decided to use a different accent for the small squares rather than the large floral that is the starting 6" square.  I actually like this impromptu selection....an unexpected  NewFO for June.

  I had planned to be re-making the Roman shades for the guest room and in the garage......so hopefully that will get done this next week!  




And one more doll quilt!
  This one arrived from Jackie, Mrs. Claus in Iowa.  She is representing Hawaii for the HGTV Message Board group of Mrs. Claus participants.  I apologize for being late in getting this posted.
  I love her creative endeavor on this one.  Scrappy squares are top-stitched down on each larger square. I think the colors are so great and the scattered placement is fun!  Thanks so much for helping.

  One week left of June.....exactly where has this year gone?  I feel like I have been standing still and the escalator is passing me by at 100 mph.  I need to get on and get things done!  Happy stitching.

Lots of stitches

     I know I went overboard with the thread and stitching on this......but I sure did have a good time doing it!    I think I finally have the hang of it after quilting this challenge quilt.













  I used some leaves and loopy vines to fill in around the appliques, but quickly moved on to some stacked teardrops and feathery things.  With this much thread......who is going  to notice a few missed stitches  :D   And hopefully, Sir Old Man will get the cutting table completed so I can get the binding cut for this one.
 
 I have a baking day planned for tomorrow.....cookies for Adventure Week for the kids, and cinnamon rolls for the Production Team.   And just maybe I will have time to squeeze in a few minutes for some stitching.  

My learning curve

New machine, new learning curve.
   It was time to change the needle in the quilting machine---she needs a name, but I haven't found it yet.  Easy, I thought, just pop in the needle.  And immediately I began to get a lot of skipped stitches.  This I was sure was operator error.  I checked my threading and noted that the front--facing me-- of the needle was correct with the groove.  Note---on the quilter, the  needles do not have a flat side.  They are completely round at the top.  The long groove in the shaft faces the operator and the scarf indent faces away.
   I re-read the book and saw a mention about the "eye being at 6:00".  I found a video that showed a slick trick--at least to me--on how to set the needle eye correctly.     By inserting a flower head pin into the eye, I quickly saw that the eye was not quite at 6:00.




   By simply loosening the screw, I could twist the needle to exactly 6:00.  Ta-da......no more skipped stitches.  Such a little tiny adjustment made a huge difference.
   So back to stitching--a little outlining and loops, a few leaf shapes thrown in.   I was getting a little tired and felt like the quilt and I were in a tug of war.  Nothing was moving like I wanted.  Sir Old Man to the rescue with his special car wax that he uses in the shop on the table saw table.   Improvement!!  He has promised another one or two coats to make it slick.

    I got brave enough to try a few feathers afterward.   And then I added some stacked teardrops and before I knew it, half of this quilt is quilted.  

    I am counting myself fortunate that I have had absolutely---knock on wood---no problem with tension.  The bobbin winder works great and I am winding on a medium speed to ensure evenness.  

   One thing I do for large quilts before they are quilted is to stabilize them into sections like Leah Day recommends.  She suggests to machine baste with wash away thread after pinning.  

(Note:  Once the quilt is completely quilted, the basting  thread will dissolve when washed or spritzed with water.)   Then you can begin to stitch any where in the section without the worry of any shifting.    For this quilt with 2 columns  of  applique, I did two basting rows vertically and one across the quilt to create 6 sections to work in.  

  Lastly.....there is the bobbin.  After changing bobbins about 6 times now, I finally have the hang of it I think.  It is the one back-breaking, knee-killing, on the floor to see contortion that is required.  While I can remove and insert the bobbin by feel, I have to be able to see where to clean and to oil.  That means being low...like down on the floor low.  Note to self----pick up a small stool to use in the sewing room for this task.    Believe me, if a real woman/real quilter had designed this, she would have included an auto-clean/auto-change cycle!  

     Insight:  Watch the videos to learn the proper way to do things.... like change a needle!

Happy stitching.

Moving on

Some stitching going on...............

   A little binding added and this one really turned out cute. Perfect for that new sewing room with the turquoise walls and red curtains! The background looks muddy in every photo....it is a gray and black pebble print :(  But it is just Phoebe's size so she will be comfortable while watching her mommy sew.

  Ripples is quilted and bound, too.  I quilted it with a horizontal meandering stitch like ripples in water. (Thanks Nicki, for pointing me in that direction.) Fancy stitching just does not show on the busy floral fabrics.
  I ran out of bobbin about midway through this one.  Luckily that was an easy fix.

 It's hot and humid here now after so much rain.  Much to hot to enjoy these two for now.   Yet two finishes allow me to move on to another finish to be and begin a new project!
  I am prepping the challenge quilt for going under the needle......details in another post to explain what I am doing.
  New project-----a little change up is in order, so I am planning a arty wall hanging based on a photo.

A link to share:
Here's a link to an article on using the Ruby Beholder at Martingale Blog.   It's not just for creating watercolor quilts, but useful for scrap quilts.  They explain better than I can.
Happy stitching.